BreakRaven

Um, yeah. I'm in love. This manga - or at least this volume, and I assume the manga will actually get better as it goes on - is really, really beautiful.

The artwork is beautiful, yes. Some of the proportions are a little odd. Nai's neck can be as thin as a pencil and Hirato's head looks really small most of the time, but the art is still lovely. The scenery and the lighting and the costumes - everything's so frilly and glittery and detailed and pretty, I just love it. But when I say the manga's beautiful, I'm not just talking about the artwork.

The characters are beautiful. Their personalities, you know? They're amazing. Nai is so adorable and so clueless and so pathetic that I just want to scoop him up and cuddle him. Gareki is amazing. He always acts like a jerk, but it's a defensive reaction - he's really a sweetheart. He's one of the nicest guys ever, in fact. And then there's Tsukumo, who I really want to see more of. (I absolutely love her hair.) She's cool beyond belief. She can pick up guys who weigh ten times as much as she does, and toss them around like rag-dolls. And Hirato is....well, I'm in love, okay? He's evilly polite and friendly. He's definitely not sincere about being the nice-guy host, but that's part of why I love him. He had better be around a lot more in the future, or else.

And then there's Yogi. I've seen part of the anime and Yogi is just too silly - he's a good character, but he's too silly - but he's much better in the manga. I think I might actually like him.

The general mood of the manga is also beautiful. It's sweet and wild and charming and creepy and colorful. The story does bounce around a lot at the beginning so it's a little difficult to keep track of, but really I don't mind, because once it gets going it's awesome.

I'm going to go around and recommend it to everyone I know, now. Because hey, I'm in love. People who are in love...obsess.

(There are some parallels to Pandora Hearts here. Circus reminds me inevitably of Pandora. Nai's....errr....human-not-human situation is a little like Oz's. And then he has a taller, dark-haired guy in a swirly coat (who carries a gun) watching over him. It's not a ripoff of PH, it's really unique. But these parallels kind of make me feel at home. It's maybe the closest thing to PH that I've found, so far. Not as good, but hey, what is?)