Forum - View topicREVIEW: Evergreen GN 4
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2441 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Aw, man, I just started volume 3, and have really been liking this series. Oh well, there's always the hope there might be another Toradora! volume someday.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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Poorly-kept secret is right; I found it very easy to guess after the first chapter!
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1034 |
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I get the impression the manga was canceled prematurely and Takemiya only had a couple chapters to wrap everything up.
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9832 Location: Virginia |
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I'm not sure it was supposed to be a secret from the reader.
We didn't get to see Hotaka's thoughts on the matter, but realistically what choice does he have. Niki is in the same bind. Force yourself to hate someone you actually like or give up and reconcile. The emergency is a bit contrived, but there is nothing like the feeling of being at the risk of losing your life to put it in perspective. What I didn't buy is that they needed to keep their friendship a secret at school. |
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Melicans
Posts: 620 Location: Canada |
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I don't think I've ever agreed with a review quite as much as I do with this one. It was the last half of the volume, right after the "reveal", where it all fell apart, and it very much feels like the series was cancelled and they had to rush the ending. It's a shame, because it was a really enjoyable series up until that point. Even one more chapter, letting the fallout get spaced out a bit more, would have done wonders.
That said, spoiler[I never understood Hotaka's nightmare; it was not properly resolved. Okay yes, the figure that stabs him is a young Niki, but how did her hate transfer into his dreams when they never met? Did the nightmares stop after?] I felt there was no resolution on those points.
Volume 8 is due mid-December. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Agreed. Still, I wish it was handled better. Not a series I think I'll be keeping, but I did enjoy it for the most part. As soon as spoiler[it was revealed that they both had duplicate keys, which was really] early on in volume 1, it was clear as day.
This is also why I didn't like the ending. Sure, they had to keep the secret spoiler[of being siblings] hidden, as they were "famous" for being a couple, I can't see how they couldn't be friends afterwards. There is one explanation, and that is the public blow up Nikki had in front of her friends. But then...if there is no reconciliation there, what sort of impression does that leave on the minds of her friends? Strange to just leave that dangling. Have no regrets checking this series out, as most of the journey was good, but no so much the destination. But, this also means that I won't be re-reading the series, as I'm very much a destination reader, and I can no longer enjoy the journey a story takes one through when I know that the ending isn't to my liking. And, my dislike of the ending has nothing to do with the reveal. I did keep reading after what the reveal would be was clearly spelt out in the first volume. But, it was rushed, and not handled well because of it. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1291 |
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Really the only question was whether Hotaka's father was actually Nikki's biological father, or if he was her adoptive father. It seems a bit odd that he would get two women pregnant within a few months of each other. Not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but a bit unlikely. I was certainly in the "step-siblings" camp during the run of the manga and was entirely wrong... I still think that makes more sense. (My speculation on how things would have happened in the spoiler block:)
spoiler[The birth of a child can frequently cause strain on a marriage and I could totally see Hotaka's father falling for the beautiful co-worker who just started working at his office and is struggling as a single mother with no support from the father of the child. It would start out as just trying to help. He would take her out for dinner to help her stretch her budget; watch the baby for her when she had errands to run on the weekend; etc... All the while making up excuses for his wife because they have been fighting and he doesn't want to have the "You're having an affair" argument on top of everything else... Then, all of a sudden, they ARE having an affair... His wife finds out... She kicks him out of the house and he starts living with Niki's mother...]
The only thing I can think of is... spoiler[Since he was with Niki at the festival, and appeared to be alone with her, it stands to reason that he wouldn't have actually LEFT her there. Instead, he would have taken her with him to the hospital. She would have been clutching his side, in her little yukata with her little mask, and glaring daggers at Hotaka until her mother arrived to take her home. My understanding was that he had left Niki's mother and returned to his wife when Hotaka got sick, so I'm sure her mother was NOT with them at the festival.]
[Unmarked spoilers ahead since the topic was in the review...] I didn't mind this part that much, myself. While I felt that it was rushed, probably because the manga was cancelled earlier than the author had anticipated, I don't see it as Hotaka changing from "being in love with Niki" to being completely devoted to her as her brother. The way I read it was that he accepts the fact that she is his sister, since that IS reality. He accepts the fact that it means that they can never be together the way he has always wanted and frankly still wants to be. So he dedicates himself to making sure that the girl he loves is happy and never, ever has to feel like she has been abandoned again. I thought the manga made it perfectly clear that Hotaka was never going to marry, never going to love another woman, and never going to leave Niki's side, at least in a figurative sense. Sure, Niki might meet someone and get married, but he would be there, the caring brother, to make sure that man treated her right. If she had children, he would be their favorite Uncle who was always there to help them. He would probably end up as a thorn in the side of Niki's future husband, though, she would probably make it clear that she and her brother are very close and it is something the guy would have to deal with if he wants to be with her... |
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