Silver by Fujita Kazuko

Silver by Fujita Kazuko (2000)

My Category: Adult Romance Novel (for 18+)

Completed: 9 volumes, 61 chapters. Scanalated by Jshoujo Scans.

Synopsis (mangafox): Geraldine Francis is the innocent daughter of a wealthy aristocrat. Being sheltered all her life, she is oblivious to her cousin Charles' true intentions when he lures her in and makes her fall hopelessly in love with him. It is only after the murder of her father that she realizes his love was nothing but love for the money and the land that came with her name. She vows revenge, and she throws away her past in order to become "Silver," the perfect woman. With a new face, and a new lease on life, she will turn the tables on the man whom she once loved so that this time, it is he who will be left with nothing.

Adaptation of English fiction Silver by Penny Jordan.

Overall, 4/10.



Story: 5/10

For someone unfamiliar with English romance novels, the plot might seem more original and refreshing, but I personally have read some before and find it... rather typical. The first 23 chapters in an arc where Geraldine is 14, and swooning over her cousin Charles. Those first 20 chapters was honestly quite painful... Geraldine is shown as completely innocent and naive, and you kind of want to smack her. I understand the author wanted to show how pure and child-like she was, but it felt as though she had no redeeming features. I was extremely close to dropping the series around chapter 20. After that though... the revenge part was quite interesting sometimes, and she doesn't become an all powerful mastermind overnight, which sometimes may happen in manga. There were a few plot holes, and some hard to believe premises, such as Jake's blindness. He didn't seem blind at all, walking around in strange places just fine, investigating on his own, etc... it seemed as though the author just made it so that Jake wouldn't recognise Geraldine, but then again Geraldine had gotten plastic surgery, so really what was the point? The development of her new persona, Silver, was slow and consistent throughout the story, and some of her moves were a little impressive, some quite stupid. Beware that there is a lot of sex scenes, and most of it isn't exactly very romantic... Silver is supposed to be a mistress of seduction and deception. I'm not sure if this is the right manga for you if you are looking for steamy romance mangas. If you're looking for high drama and sex scenes, you might want to give it a try. 

Overall the premise had potential, but the execution fell flat for me. It was also rather predictable... I won't be reading this again.

Characters: 4/10

Um... to be honest I hardly cared for the characters at all. They seemed rather cookie-cut to me... Geraldine, former innocent aristocrat child, now a beauty filled with pain and torn between love and revenge. Jake, good guy with painful past, haunted but noble and kind. Charles... asshole with a tragic childhood. Meh.

Art: 7/10

I'm going to try and group different art styles, so I'll be calling this Type 2000. A stereotypical Type 2000, with simple but clear backgrounds, very pretty characters, especially boys, and quite a few shoujo effects. Not that I'm saying it's bad, mind you, it's just a certain style. I call it Type 2000 because I notice a trend of shoujo mangas having this kind of art style around 2000. Silver is a josei manga, but still. All the characters all very pretty and long limbed, and it is easy enough to differentiate one another. No complains about the art.

Enjoyment: 3/10

I'm frankly quite surprised I even completed the series... It's for someone who enjoys a lot of drama, high society and smut.

Overall, 4/10.