
a review by Nura7

a review by Nura7
So, Dengeki Daisy. I have to mention that we speak of the "hidden identity" tag here, and I love it!! In my personal opinion, DD is probably the classic in genre when it comes to hidden identity combined with an intelligent, more than average, male lead. So, onto the review now!
Plot: I would describe DD as a heart-warming manga with well-thought comedy. Really, the comedy is good! Before anything, I just want to say that I dislike shoujo sweetness. Despite the fact, that I have a lot of titles listed on my profile under Romance, do not get fooled though - I do not read too sweet titles! Ungh. Okay, I have read such but. Ungh. Anyway, if I had to compare DD's "sweetness" to some other title, it would probably be Kaichou wa Maid-Sama!. For some reason the atmosphere is kind of comparable. The story is about a very intelligent male lead who is a hacker. That's very right, something rather unusual. There aren't many titles that involve hacking out there. So, the plot is not that much into the hacking world, do not worry - no backdoor's, no injections, no DDoS attacks etc. Rather, the plot focuses on the hard choices one can face in life, it focuses on how much it is important for a person to be kind, to be protective but also to be forgiving. I have to say that the favorite part of mine in the plot is the fact that the male lead, Kurosaki Tasuku, hides his hacker identity and the fact that he always backs up the female lead. One interesting side note, as I speak Japanese, the part in his name, Tasuku, even though the kanji character for it is not the same but phonetically it is the same as the word/verb "to help/rescue". Isn't it cool?! ;D Anyway, I would rate the title with an 8 out of 10.
Characters' Design: The characters' design, at first, is nothing memorable because the manga starts up rather light, as a comedy. But the development is rather obvious later on, when the manga switches from that silly-dilly-willie Dengeki Daisy style to a very intense romantic plot. Oh, did I mention the age gap? Ho-ho-ho. We get a hot, intelligent and mature male lead ...I would hit the 9 out of 10 button! But the female lead, indeed she was also well-developed to suit Kurosaki. Still, she felt somewhat weak. Or maybe I am too much of a fan of strong female leads...? Okay, maybe someone might argue on that one. Because she was portrayed as a person who went through a lot...but boy. Still, I saw her as a weak character, no idea why. Certainly, she wasn't annoying like many female leads in shoujo genre. However, I think she could be more developed on the "display of her maturity" side. I get it, I get it - she is just a high-school girl, but the plot suggests that she is rather mature. And because of the female part, unfortunately I would end up rating the characters' design in total as 8/10. But, psst. Kurosaki's intelligence is hot as heck.
Art Style: Yup, not gonna lie. I liked the male's design. Well, what? I am into guys - what do you expect me to rate? XDD Okay, okay. Let's be serious. The art is not so clean. Some panels are obvious, that the manga-ka was in rush. But can you blame? I can't imagine working that, to be honest. Overall, the art style itself is well-developed. I have seen rather shocking drawings in the manga world, the proportions can be wrong and bad etc. However, in DD we get rather correct proportions, well, not perfect but still! Hence, I will rate it with an 8 out of 10.
21 out of 22 users liked this review