Toki Doki
a review by NextUniverse
a review by NextUniverse
Short review because short story rada rada rada.
This is just a blown out of proportion one-shot.
To be fair, for a one-shot this is pretty good, but considering its acclamation, I went into this believing this would be able to fit in with general manga despite its length. I won't say that this then suddenly becomes worse because it wasn't what I expected, I am not some entitled person that would downvote because I didn't get what I wanted. However, I also won't say that this story isn't automatically better because of some handicap, short stories are still able and liable to make great stories despite the length. It is merely the average that comes and goes really. Seriously have no clue as to how people connected to this but I guess they did, to each their own.
The narrative is already given in the synopsis ~~(yo AL stole that from MAL Rewrite lmao)~~, what I talk about is how the story goes around it to present it. I think everything about the execution is fine really, with good pacing and it doesn't feel too dramatic, in fact, there is more fun and games throughout really, which just enforces the happy atmosphere that this one-shot tried to bring, in that, do the most with the life you have. It does well in that category. Characters are presented quite well too, they have their background and their development which does seem a little forced, but I can't say that isn't to be expected. Tagaki and Poppo's pairing feels well made too, both characters are made well for one another rather than existing for the sake of it, in such a short amount of time I have to give props on the decent characters that don't feel like they came out of some shoujo one-shot. What really got me was the damn ending (everyone seems to hate endings now don't they), and how that literally turns this story into something you could post onto r/thathappened. I would like to keep this spoilerless but for anyone who wants a bit more understanding featuring implicit spoilers then:
I know Komi Naoshi isn't supposed to be taken seriously (well actually I don't know if he should or shouldn't), but this man literally runs on only one idea with manga he makes, goddamn Nisekoi checks out too much, he just can't fit another plot device which isn't the main one.
Art is good. It has that slightly bubbly/sparkly feel to it you get from Shaft or what have you and the character designs are fine but tweaked in a way that makes this Komi's own style. For example:
That ending really killed it for me. It might do the same for you. I won't lie, I didn't expect it, but that made it even worse in this case. Felt more like a "wtf!?" ending more than anything. For the most part, though this was quite average in terms of the norm with fun times that teenagers have. Nothing more to add to that matter really, so I can't see why the enjoyment factor should be high honestly.
63.5 out of 104 users liked this review
