My Category: Mature Coming-of-Age Drama
Ongoing: Currently 27 chapters scanalated by Evil Flowers. (Kyon Pyon did the some of the earlier chapters, but is now apparently inactive and Evil Flowers hosts their releases for this series.)
Synopsis: A beautiful and mature sixth grade girl from Tokyo suddenly has to move out to the country side of Japan with her family. The girl, Natsume, then meets a boy and from then on she begins to feel 'something' in her body, like a surging wave....
( Source: mangaupdates)
Overall, 9/10.
Story: 8.5/10
Basically it's about Natsume, the main character, transitioning from a 12-year-old child to a mature adult (which is why I categorized it as coming-of-age though she's just hit puberty). I believe, as long as the series is not axed (which I dearly hope not!) it will only end when Natsume develops into an adult. Or at least a mature teenager. The manga focuses on Natsume's relationship with Kyou, the main male lead and how they fall in love with each other as well as Natsume's competitive feelings towards him. However it has a lot of other elements too. A lot of drama goes on, but it all helps the characters grow and none of it is just something cooked up to spice up the manga. It is genuinely to further the story and characters and keeps you very interested. The overall tone of it is quite... dream-like and low, not high-pitched and bubbly, but it does have it's exciting moments. You can tell the author is experienced and I'm confident she has the story planned out and the skills to execute it well.
Characters: 10/10
The characters are truly awesome! This is definitely a character-driven story and the characters damn well deliver. I believe in every one of them. The author is incredible for being able to let these pubescent teens' voices speak loud and clear. All their doubts, insecurities, and thoughts are very well portrayed, and their interactions are as natural as breathing. I can't even begin to talk about the characters themselves, all of them are so brilliantly brought to life. If I started this would be a very long section, so let it just be said that they are all extremely believable and relate-able, and the main three I just love.
And I should also mention that I am intrigued and encourage the love triangle that seems to be growing. This is saying a lot since I'm definitely not a fan of love triangles; too formulatic and poorly executed, in most cases. But this seems interesting and I am definitely looking forward to its development.
Art: 9.5/10
The artwork is gorgeous, elegant, and absolutely breath-taking! Asakura-sensei manages to find that balance of telling stories and making brilliant art to drool at in every page. This I can assure you is a feat that I very rarely see mangaka achieve. Oh, how I wish I could find the words to describe Oboreru Knife's beauty! You must read it to experience it yourself ;) The only reason I gave a 9.5 instead of a perfect 10 is because of the large eyes (which I usually despise but am okay with here) which I am not fond of. But ah, the gorgeous artwork for me helps Oboreru Knife sell because it gives it a even higher reread value. I only consider purchasing manga if the artwork and story are both good. Unfortunately, it is not licensed in English.
Enjoyment:10/10
I very definitely enjoyed Oboreru Knife. It came as a surprise because I was looking for a light shoujo read when I stumbled across this. I was rather lucky because I found another excellent shoujo manga, Tonari no Atashi, at the same time, which I will cover in my next post. I am definitely going to look out for George Asakura's work, she might just turn out to be one of my favourite mangakas.
If you are looking for a well-executed mature shoujo manga (with gorgeous art to boot!) to sink your teeth into, you should definitely give this a try!
Overall, 9/10.
Edited: I mistakenly thought George Asakura was a he! My apologies.
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