Forum - View topicREVIEW: Haruka -Beyond the Stream of Time- GN 1
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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This review basically hit on every point of my view of Haruka, which is why I no longer even attempt to waste my time reading it in Shojo Beat magazine anymore. It is just a mess and such an obvious rip-off, I really have to admit I'm confused as to why Viz thought it worth translating.
I do also agree that the one thing of interest is that our heroine fancies herself in love with the bad guy. It may not be an original element, but at least it's not from Fushigi Yuugi. |
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Elisian
Posts: 74 |
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This is my first post in here, and I just had to do it. I deffinately see the comparison, but Harukanaru is like Fushigi good. 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. I just had to get that out. I've been following this series for a long time now, and have waited patiently for an American release for my shelf. Now it can go next to four volumes of Fushigi that I didn't sell off.
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Yukihime
Posts: 5 |
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I agree with the review too. I hated Haruka, the plot was all over the place and the confusing paneling hurt my eyes.
The is a dating-sim version of FY but, with out all the convincing drama. Akane is one of those dime-a-dozen heriones. Now if you excuse me, I'll read some Genbu Kaiden. |
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jared_thorin
Posts: 30 Location: Omaha Ne. |
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...Wow I really never found Harukanaru hard to grasp....could just be me though. And as for being a ripoff I'd more readily compare it to Genbu Kaiden then Fushigi itself. Let's face it you've got pretty boys, time traveling, and being a priestess in common...end. I'm not going to say that isn't alot but I'm not done yet. Akane doesn't whine and moan every thirteen seconds about going home, she's not selfish beyond all reason, and some mystical power actually chose her to be the priestess. In FY it was quite apparent by Yui ending up in the alternate world that any girl would do. The characters in Haruka are actually diverse (which is why I compare it to Genbu) and the story most deffinately doesn't revolve around finding eight pretty boys so you can make a seemingly selfish set of wishes. To be perfectly honest I stopped by FY after a while, I came to the startiling realization that I could buy better Yuu Watase stories (Ceres, Alice 19th) and still be reading virtually the same cast because Watase's characters are almost all cookie cutter....sorry didn't mean to turn this into a rant......
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Wow, two people who actually like Haruka. And don't like Watase Yuu very much. Shocking (well, more so that anyone actually can understand and enjoy this series).
Fushigi Yuugi isn't for everyone and it definitely has it's flaws, but I think it's completely ridiculous to say that every Watase character is the same. They may look similar (something you can say about a LOT of other mangakas), but if you compare Miaka to Aya to Tanpopo to Alice, they really don't have that much in common. Even their respective series are quite different. |
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domino
 Posts: 373 |
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I think that setting aside, the two series are nothing alike. But I guess I wouldn't appreciate Haruka nearly as much if I hadn't played the game first. Fushigi Yuugi is about drama and crying while on adventures to find stuff, while Haruka is more about tales of demon purification. They both have main characters called priestess, but that's the end of their similarities. Though Akane is just as unlikable as Miaka...
That said, it will be interesting to see where the Haruka manga goes, since beating up demons in a video game is usually a lot more interesting than reading about people beating up demons... |
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Sakuya Masaki
 Posts: 34 Location: TX, USA |
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I'm actually surprised to find people who defend Haruka. And I'm sorry to say, but I have to wonder if you're not just blinded by the hot boys.
I really cannot follow this series. I tried to read it. I read about 3 chs. of it in Shojo Beat and couldn't make heads or tales of any of it. First of all, the introduction to the story is far too jarring and things happen far too simply and quickly. It just thrusts you into this story w/out really introducing the main characters at all. This review totally hit the nail on the head. The panels are just a mess and the complete lack of background makes it just impossible to tell what the hell is going on. There were several times that I think the mangaka just expects you to make a wild guess at which character is talking at any moment. This series is totally a rip-off of Fushigi Yuugi. I'm not really much of a Watase fan, but FY was one of my favorites in high school. And yes, you can find plenty of flaws in her stories. As for her characters being alike, most of her heroines are pretty unique from story to story (theyr'e not all likeable, but they're at least unique), but she does have a problem w/the "Tamahome clones" that appear in almost every story. But the great thing about FY was that even when you looked beyond the bishies, there was still a good story there. You look behind those pretty faces and there are still actual *developed* characters there that have personality which is key when you want the reader to actually care about the characters. Haruka really doesn't have that. The only praise I can give it is that the artwork is nice and the fact that Akane is so interested in the demon guy could make for something interesting, but the story is just far too all over the place for me to even care anymore. Personally, as I get older, the simple pretty face doesn't do it for me and I need some substance in my shoujo these days, but if you just want that harem of bishies, there are plenty of better stories out there for you to read. |
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Celes
 Posts: 223 Location: Madison, WI |
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Oh man I can't believe there are people here that are not only telling me that Haruka makes sense, but that it is better than Fushigi Yugi. I just about lawled my booty off as I wiped away the tears to read the replies again.
This is the worst manga I have ever read. Now granted, I will not lie and say I am a manga veteran. I mostly only read shojo, I've read maybe only 100 or so different series total. But this is the WORST SHOJO MANGA EVER. Everything that is in this review is spot-on. There is no other way to describe this atrocity and I too wonder why Shojo Beat wanted to alienate their fanbase by bringing this over and translating it. If you are looking for another Fushigi Yugi, read Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden, also by Yuu Watase, which may just be better than the original. If you are looking for another girl in another world adventure that is NOT like Fushigi Yugi, try Red River or hell, even Inuyasha. If you are looking for a shojo manga that has nothing to do with Chinese mythology, try just about anything else in Viz's shojo line. If you are looking for $8.99 toilet paper, then Haruka is for you. |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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This review is spot on. The series gets more comprehensible as it goes on, but its far too little and way too late to redeem the mess that was the first three chapters. To call the characters one dimensional would be far too flattering and the early chapters rush from plot point to plot point while making little effort to make any sense at all. Why is the Bad Boy on the bridge? Why is he suddenly with the Hot Bishie Guard? We do conversations switch to something completely different between two panels with no warning at all? This is unquestionably the worst series to run in Shojo Beat and after four or five chapters, I just stopped reading it. It's trash even if you completely ignore the similarities to Fushigi Yuugi.
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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Yikes, judging by everyone's reaction, I'm going to stary far, far, faaaar away from this! I've never read an incoherent manga, and I don't think I'd want to find out.
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Bara_Megami
Posts: 106 |
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True, her heroines are all unique, but the love interest is ALWAYS "Mysterious Hot Guy" (Tamahome, Toya, Night...only read the first volume of both Alice 19 and Tanpopo, but I'd wager that a hot bishonen with a mysterious past is the love interest.) The thing that bugged me about Fushigi Yugi was spoiler[that TAMAHOME IS A FRIGGIN BOOK CHARACTER, yet he becomes real for HIS TRU LUV. Weak. Looks like Absolute Boyfriend is turning out that way too (but I'm still cheering for Soshi *GN reader*) I mean, at least Chobits had a good reason for Robot/Human lovin'...] That said, the Haruka games look REALLY GOOD, and I would love to play them, but the 5 minutes of the anime I saw was pure torture, and the manga looks to be even worse. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Yes, but only in the anime. In the manga spoiler[the guy at the end of part one is Taka, who admittedly is Tamahome in spirit or something...but at the same time he isn't Tamahome and he's lived in the real world his entire life.] And I think that the love interests are quite different from each other too, even if they look more alike (which is a problem...I can always tell the girls apart with Watase, but sometimes it gets tricky with the guys). Tamahome is quite different from Tooya who is quite different from Limdo (who doesn't look much like Tamahome anyway, probably because they are both in the same world/franchise/whatever). And while most of them have some mysteries in their past...what series out there doesn't have some of that? |
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Sakuya Masaki
Posts: 34 Location: TX, USA |
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ROFLMAO!  Couldn't have said it better.
This series is terrible! And as a fan of shoujo, I find it insulting that the people at Shojo Beat would think we would want to read it. |
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Pinkwings
 Posts: 234 |
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Thats really too bad. The art looked nice on the cover.
....But its a harem and I hate harems now. Even if it is a reverse harem. I like knowing who is gonna get with who before hand so I can focus on their relationship and not get disappointed. Weird I know.. |
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Empathy
 Posts: 52 Location: San Diego |
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Okay, the first chapter was terrible! But the other ones were not that bad. I, too, don't know what Viz was thinking, but maybe they licensed it because La Corda De Oro was doing well??
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