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REVIEW: Haruka -Beyond the Stream of Time- GN 1

chichiriNoDa wrote:

Elisian wrote: Fushigi was chock full of the same character over, and over. Oh wait that's what Yuu Watase does. Harukanaru Toki No Nakade tells a similar story with better characters, and prettier art. Well excuse me, give me a mangaka who have made tons of series that didn't have any such similarities with their previous work. (Exclude Clamp cause they are group). And yeah the review for Harukanaru is right on everything. I couldn't even pass the first page. Horrible art, copy-cat, confusing panels. Btw just follow Celes's recommendations.

You know If you couldn't make it past the first page you don't really have a whole lot of debating room

If you don't like a series, don't read it. It's as simple as that. But don't insult those of us who do.

If you don't like a series, don't read it. It's as simple as that. But don't insult those of us who do.

I was a fan of Fushigi Yuugi. I have the Suzaku, Seiryuu, and Oni boxes, as well as Eikoden. I even watch them once in a while. When I don't get sick to my stomach watching all the melodrama crap that you have to put up with.

HaruToki is a wonderful series, with very thought out and detailed characters. I can barely read Japanese, even with the use of an extensive dictionary, but the characters grow massively, and each character is given a chance to shine, unlike certain other series which focus on a single character or two. Especially Yasuaki's growth, which Director Tsunaki of the anime even admits makes him his favorite character.

And while there are many male characters, it's not really a harem series. Of the 11 male characters in the series, only two of them are even romantically attracted to Akane. Most of them care for her, but it's different than romantic love. Yorihisa wants to protect her, and she helps him see that there's more to life than duty. Tenma's an idiot who needs to die... I mean, um... Tenma... nevermind, I'm not going to try to make him sound good... I hate him. Shimon is like the younger brother who knows that he'll find someone for himself, but finds it hard to wait while those around him find those they care about, and wants to help as much as he can. Inori wants to protect Akane, but is conflicted between what he has always known, and what he sees in front of him. Tomomasa just likes teasing her, he's not attracted to her. Takamichi cares for Akane, but the most important woman to him is his mother. Yasuaki doesn't have "human emotions," but he feels drawn to Akane for some strange reason. Eisen cares deeply, and even loves Akane, but he knows that it would never be possible, because he must become Emperor after his brother, and she must return to her own time (and Tenma still needs to die, and I wish Yorihisa and Yasuaki made good on their threats to him). Akuram doesn't care for her, he only desires her power. Ikutidaru already has someone, who is with child. And Sefuru is too confused about where he stands to care for anyone.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about Suefumi, as he just showed up in volume 14

You know, I think I'm going to go pull out my manga and start reading again... Well, after I re-watch the DVD to write my review of it.

If you don't like a series, don't read it. It's as simple as that. But don't insult those of us who do.

You know what my immediate response is? Minekura Kazuya. In EVERY ONE OF HER SERIES, there is ALWAYS THE SAME GUY.

CHO HAKKAI (Saiyuki). MISHIBA TOKI (Bus Gamer). KUBOTA MAKOTO (Wild Adapter). THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME.

Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors (OAV)
Plot Summary: Adapted from the famous samurai masterpiece, Hakkenden tells the tale of eight samurai brothers. Reincarnated and bound to defend the Awa clan, these eight souls must find one another and unite to stop a powerful demonic force. However, the demons that oppose them are determined to keep them seperate and even place them in mortal combat against one another. It is up to Shino, the bearer of the Murasame, to find his wayward brothers and convince them to fight as allies.

We're not giving credit to her for creating the genre, by no means.

We are however saying the Haruka is a clear rip-off because there are so many elements that are EXACTLY the same. For example, that demons have the exact same physical attributes that made spoiler[Nakago's tribe outcasts]. Both have priestesses needing to gather warriors. Both have Japanese schoolgirls sucked into historical worlds. We could go on.

There is no way that this series came to exist without the mangaka having read Fushigi Yuugi.

marie-antoinette wrote:

We're not giving credit to her for creating the genre, by no means. We are however saying the Haruka is a clear rip-off because there are so many elements that are EXACTLY the same. For example, that demons have the exact same physical attributes that made spoiler[Nakago's tribe outcasts]. Both have priestesses needing to gather warriors. Both have Japanese schoolgirls sucked into historical worlds. We could go on. There is no way that this series came to exist without the mangaka having read Fushigi Yuugi.

I agree. This isn't a question of what you think of Watase's works. There's no question that she did not create this genre. Whether you like Watase or not doesn't matter, but the fact still remains that Haruka is very obviously taken from Fushigi Yuugi. There are far too many similarities. You could call it a rip off of whatever time-traveling-schoolgirl series you wanted to because there are plenty of them out there, whether it had the reverse harem or not. The fact would still remain that Haruka is just an inferior series.

*is confused* I still don't think these two series are really that much alike. They have similar aspects, but completely different stories. This is almost as bad as the Naruto/ Dragonball Z similarity crap. Just because it is similar does not make it a rip off. Try an inspiration...maybe, but not a rip off.

I'm not sure if Haruka is a total rip-off of Fushigi Yugi; sure, it has a lot of the same elements but...*shrugs*.
Though, that's not to excuse it from being a bad manga. Because it definitely is, IMO. The pacing is bad and the art leaves something to be desired. The characters are cliched or just rather uninteresting. Nothing against the fans though; Feel free to like Haruka.

And I find Yuu Watase to be a tad overrated. Personally, I didn't think Fushigi Yugi wasn't that great either. I enjoyed Imadoki and Alice 19th, but I find some of her manga to be repetitive, cliched and shallow. But again, nothing against the fans.

bright red hair.