Open Sesame - Reviews

Open Sesame
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Nusakan's avatar
Sep 7, 2012

This is my first review so I apologize for how bad it may be. But since this manga doesn't have any reviews I wanted to post one.

I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed the manga. The flow of it and setting fit well for me. However I will try to review it without being too biased based on my own personal preferences.  

We'll start off with the story. For the most part, the story/plot is weak. It drops hints throughout of a major event that occurred, but it takes until near the end to tell you what it is. The rest of the manga is random events or encounters with new or existing characters. It could be called a giant filler with hints at plot, or day to day life for others. It is a partial harem in that the main male character gets a lot of attention, and the story takes place in a school that just changed over from being a all girl school to co-ed, making the male to female student ratio horrible. The main male character on the upside isn't your usual indecisive overly nice guy type. He is a bit more straight forward. The ending for me wasn't bad. It could have been better but it wasn't bad but it left me with a lot of questions, mostly about other characters. One other point I want to mention is that this manga moves forward with time. It's not one of those ones where time kind of inexplicitly stands still for long periods. In that regard it is similar to Azumanga Daioh, where the seasons passed and years progressed.

The artwork was pleasant to look at. For the most part, I enjoyed the settings and character designs. One of the main problems I found with the artwork though is that a lot of the characters appearing in it later had similar hair. It became a bit difficult to tell some apart beyond name and style of speech.

As far as the characters go, there was a fairly consistent cast of characters throughout,  each with their own personalities and quarks.  At times the personality would change for a short time to fit the need of the story, but they end up back to normal after a chapter or two. The main two characters develop fairly well, but the secondary characters don't really have much development beyond the daily progression of the manga. the cast of characters were enjoyable enough but at times a little bland. One thing worth mentioning is that at times they seem a little too perfect. Always having the perfect thing to say or the perfect response to a situation. But this trait wasn't a negative for me.

Overall I would give it a nine or ten on a personal level since I really enjoyed my time reading it. However for a less  biased review I'd rate it around six or seven. I enjoyed the characters, the daily routine, and the final revealing of the events of the story.

6/10 story
6/10 art
6/10 characters
7/10 overall
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Proto57's avatar
Aug 28, 2020

For me, this manga is a mix, a mix between very good things that deserve a 9 or a 10 and between things that deserve a 5 or a 6 that's why I rated it 7.5.

Let's begin, The story is interesting but quite frustrating. Let me explain. The start is blurry and it's normal because it's made like that. You will be introduced to the characters and to the setting. You will learn some things that happened in the past and that are really important but the author decided to do not reveal it until the very end. It will be one of my main trouble with this manga. You know that the story is deep but the real story will be in break until the last part of the manga where everything will finally happen. During 50 chapters if not more, it felt like every chapters were mainly fillers that were talking about secondary characters with MCs's help. (the boy and the girl)

The pro : they will slowly develop their feelings for each other

cons : the author was everytime introducing some another characters with same hairs than others, it was almost impossible to recognize who is who and it was very confusing. There are WAY too much characters introduced only for the sake of 3 chapters where MCs's will help them. It will be like that during 50 chapters or so... As I said it felt like fillers and I was just reading quickly at this part until it becomes interesting in term of story. Another bad point, the partial harem. Throughout the story, many girls will be attracted by MC. I said partial harem because MC is strraight forward when he doesnt want so it's not used to make bad drama or to confuse that much the characters. MC, most of the time, will finish to reject the girl quickly.

I really didnt enjoyed the fact that most of the story is settled at the end, it was frustrating to read during those "fillers" because you just wanted the story to progress and to know what are those secrets wrapped around the characters that the author didnt want to say at the start.

Characters : It's a mix, I would put a 9.5 for the main cast (main boy and main girl). MC is strong, he does boxing so no wonder why. he doesnt hesitate to fight to defend someone and he's brave. He will show it a BUNCH of time during this story. He's straight forward as I previously said. He's not an idiot that will cause misunderstandings because he cant communicate properly like some other romance "drama". The only minus point was that he was a little bit more tense with the main girl.

Main girl is bright. At the start I didnt like her that much but she quickly became cheerful and bright. It was a big surprise how much I appreciated her. She's smart and extremely well developed. The more the story progresses, the better she is.

this cast is very good, the only thing that made me lower the note was the other characters... As I said, this is too much. Way too much... Oh gosh. Harem girls were not that useful (apart aoi), other characters were "garbage" characters that you see only during 3 chapters made only to create 2 more chapters before the story continues and finally MC's male friends are only "useful" at the start and, well, they are not useful so anyway... It's a 4 for them and Aoi who can arguably be considered like a main character gives 3 points alone...

The art is good without being a hit.

Overall, the plot seemed unbalanced because the story is put in "break" after the start and at this point, the story was SLOW until the end where everything happened in 6 or 7 chapters. In between it was full of bad characters and uninteresting stories. The only point that made this readable was the great importance of both MC that shared a lot a beautful and "normal" moments, you know those daily moments where you learn to know your crush but it was just too long once again... I think it was necessary to develop the main characters, at the end I really liked their bonds because of those "fillers". I think the character development sacrificed the balance of the story. It was one or the other I think, it's the feeling I have. I really liked reading it and I read everything in one day (well I was just quickly reading the fillers of course so it's easier lol). The ending was satisfying even if it could have been better. The most satisfying thing was that main characters had overcome all that blurry past and were finally carefree. It gave depth to their bonds and I really enjoyed that, the magic of a good drama romance I guess. 

Do I recommend reading it ? Actually yes, even with the 7.5 I gave, I really liked it and if it were not for those useless characters and that "dilemma" I pointed out earlier, it would have been a solid 9 for me. But as I said, the dilemma was necessary to develop the main characters like they are at the end and their bonds so it's not that bad we could say. The story was great after those fillers.

7/10 story
7.5/10 art
7.5/10 characters
7.5/10 overall
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