X-Day

Teen angst dramas; they sound appealing at first, but then we always find they're tacky and repetitive in the end. The sad fact is, the world has been forced under the impression that teenage angst revolves around love, popularity, and school, and crams people into that mold. The same point is put across as we are introduced to Rika Saginuma, the lead character, and a girl caught in the web of all three. After dropping out of the track team, losing her boyfriend, and facing exams, she becomes stressed and jaded, and soon joins a group of four people she met in a chat room who share a common goal; to destroy the school. At first, we're pulled into their view, that school is the reason behind all their problems. But as time goes on, as the four of them end up meeting outside the campus and learning more about one another, they come to realize that there is more to their problems than they thought, and to fight them, they'll have to stop blaming the school by using their own strength. X-Day isn't really about destroying the school; it takes us away from the world we're used to and reminds us that there is life outside of school. Slowly they too come to realize this, and that is what all together saves them from themselves. This emotional two-volume collection is dark and gripping, and ends all too soon, but still gets its powerful message across. A good pick for more mature fans of the shoujo genre.

Okay, if you read the back of the manga, you will think its about four kids who want to blow up there highschool. If you think this is a disgraceful plot, then you may miss one of the worlds greatest mangas. In reality its about four people, all with problems that make them hate there lives. They meet up in a chat room and decide that the center of their worries is the highschool they all attend (one person turns out to be a teacher). The day the plan to blow it up is X-day. The story is not so much about getting X-day to happens as it is seeing four characters with nothing their lives come toghether and seeing love and freindship blossom. Realizing that they have other people out there that feel their pain, and that maybe after all, they do have a true friend in the world. In a way, its kind of beautiful.

So much manga seems to thrive on the "other" side of high school life--romance (Marmalade Boy, Peach Girl, I.N.V.U.). It's a nice and much-needed change to see the darker side of high school.X-Day thrives on characterization. There are four characters, who mostly go by their online aliases--11 (Rika, the main character), Mr.Money, Polaris, and Jangalian (also known as Mr.Katano, the biology teacher). They meet up on a chatroom one day, all of them seeming to have enough of school, and make plans to blow the school to pieces. They all have their reasons for wanting to do it. Rika because she is losing her identity to Kako, the girl who is currently dating her ex-boyfriend and on top of that is that the star of the track team (a role that originally belonged to Rika). Jangalian because he is sick of all the politics and gossip surrounding him (and mostly centering around him) coming from the other teachers. Polaris and Mr.Money's reasons haven't been explored as thoroughly yet, but from the preview-synopsis of volume 2 given in volume 1, there's certain to be more detail about them in the next volume.The artwork isn't mind-blowingly impressive, but it works very well in this manga. The facial expressions. The contrast of light and dark.It is much darker than the usual shoujo-highschool drama manga. I'm being a bit biased when I say this, but it worked for me and I really got into it, but that's mostly because its extraordinarily relateable and reminscent of my own high school experiences.It's much more realistic, and it doesn't shove drama down your throat (Marmalade Boy and Peach Girl tend to do this). All in all, an interesting and refreshing read. It's my favorite manga at the moment. Also, the insertion of a chatroom conversation was a pretty neat addition.Give X-Day a try. Anyone who understands:(quote, Rika) "How can such little things keep hurting you so much"Will probably find X-Day an enjoyable and relateable read.

I didn't expect to like X-Day much. It's subject matter almost turned me away, but I picked it up anyway, because it was Toykopop and I hadn't read it yet. It is really good. Dark, and kinda cool,with a little romance thrown in for good measure. The characters are very likable. I am interested in seeing where this story goes. Darn, yet another series to be addicted to. I am going to be so poor.

This is a very good manga, so far it's one of my favorites. It's about a group of people who each have their own lives, but come together to plan on blowing up their school on X-day. (whether it happens or not, you have to read and find out) I really like this book because it deals with real life, there are no super powers or princesses; just issues. From a girl who bottles up all of her sadness and only smiles to a boy who is physically abused, just to name a few. This is a very good book and I reccommend it to anyone. Don't get me wrong, I love my fantasy mangas also, but this one can really make someone relate.