Orange

This is one of the most honest, relevant, and beautiful graphic novels I have ever read. While the story is by no means a happy one and may not resonate as strongly with everyone, there is no shortage of situations and thoughts to which readers can relate (and probably have related, at some point in their life). What this manga might lack in storyline is easily forgiven in light of Zhang Bin's amazing full-color artwork, painterly and often brilliantly vibrant in contrast to the tone of the story. The combination is both dichotomous and truly delightful at once - bright colors to balance out some the dark themes.

Bottom line: this is a quick and easy read that will dazzle your eyes and leave your brain full of ponderings, long after you've turned the last page.

According to the author note, this was never planned to be a comic. This was a series of drawings they strung together afterwards with narration to resemble a character study. They didn’t know what was drawn. Just that it was sad.

No wonder, because despite decent standalone pictures it DOES NOT translate well to graphic novel storytelling. All we get is a series of semi-photorealistic portraits with repetitive angsty narration. No character arcs are ever explored. It’s just one wreck of a lost girl in a world of constantly blurry pictures screaming. Quite frankly, this was one of the whiniest comics I’ve read and I regret paying to read this. Selling my copy as soon as possible.

If you’re interested in this type of story, go watch Anno’s Love and Pop.

The art in this graphic novel is outstanding. I first read this because a fellow staff member confiscated it during a summer camp for mature content. I spent a lot of time flipping through it, just looking at the art-- not even observing the story line. It doesn't matter that the main character Orange is hard to connect to because she's whiney and selfish, the art itself makes this manga worth reading at least once.
I had a very hard time liking the main character of this graphic novel. She was whiney and self entitled-- a condition which she never recovered from during the plot line.
Even though the characters lack redeeming qualities and the story line was just okay, I would consider this a must read.

Orange show a needy youth, unable to building own life and to be happiness and which is losing the faith in the adults. The main character doesn't feel more nothing, she is losing in this chaotic world and she do strange thoughts about the life. But the love for a strange alcoholic man, who is at the appearance uncaring and inconclusive, it will changes herself.
The story is a lot strange in some point, but anyway intrigue until at the surreal ending. The characters practically are only Orange and the alcoholic man, they have a good characterization, especially for Orange we can see the whirlwind of self-destruction thoughts, we can feel the oppression in the soul of her, and I very like this, because she appear for who have to be in the story, namely a problematic young.

But the real strong point of this manhua isn't the story, but the draw. Sincerely I bought it because I was attract by the cover, one of the amazing cover that I ever seen in a comic. But each page is pure art, Benjamin have great tastes for the colors and a particular style, this comic seems more a collection of paintings, about the art is one of the best comic of always.

Orange can like who search stories different by the usual manga, and for who give more importance at the draw respect the story.

Comecei a ler por recomendação, e achei que não passaria de um romance bobo com uma história rasa, mas ainda assim li. Li e não me arrependi.
Chega a ser genial o envolvimento dos personagens com a história, a forma que o autor a conduz e as consequências que cada ato gera nela.
Em poucas palavras e evitando spoilers: É uma história que te prende, que te faz querer continuar e que te dá aquele "gostinho de quero mais" ao final.

----SPOILERS----

A verdade é: Ninguém queria que o destino de Kakeru se cumprisse, e sabíamos que isso não ia se repetir. Mas mesmo assim, todos os pontos na história se encaixam de uma forma que não são nada previsíveis, exatamente pela personalidade teimosa da Naho.
Um ponto bem explorado é o conceito de que mesmo as coisas mais bobas podem influenciar o futuro, mas a natureza dos personagens não muda, e isso é claro.
Coisas como o atraso de Kakeru e o suicídio da mãe dele foram coisas imutáveis e que deram uma certa pressão. O mais simples de se pensar é que tudo se resolveria apenas por causa da carta.
O final também foi ótimo. "Kakeru não está mais conosco", é a mensagem dada por uma "Naho do futuro". Desde o início, imaginei que Kakeru ia SIM tentar se suicidar, mas no final alguém ia salvar ele, colocando no plot a desculpa já manjada de "oh, obrigado por salvar minha vida!". Mas não, o próprio Kakeru se lembra das mudanças simples cometidas por Naho e seus amigos, mesmo que seja uma marmita preparada por ela, o que mostra que mesmo o mais simples no dia a dia pode mudar o futuro. Adorei isso.
A última cena foi previsível, até, mas isso não tira o mérito da história que se desenrolou até lá. Nota 10, sem esforços.

This was probably the last genre I'd ever thought I'd end up reading, but I did anyway after reading a post on Manga Therapy about what a good manga this was. I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the flaws, I am very glad that I had the opportunity to read this.

Story: 7
Like I said, I haven't read much slice-of-life, so I cannot accurately compare this storylines to the storylines of any other slice-of-life manga. However, I can say that the storyline was pretty linear until it showed the future; then it was a little negligent. I would have liked it more if the storyline showed the troubles of the other characters; that would have made it more touching to know that despite the troubles of the characters, they still are trying their hardest to make Kakeru happy. Then there's that weird time travel stuff. That was just....whatever. Not a lot of effort was put forth in developing the whys and hows, but it gave the manga a neat twist.

Art: 9
The art really fit. It wonderfully portrayed emotions, and I loved how the text from the letters was shown as the story progressed; that gave it an eerie feeling....

Characters: 6
Meh. You know those super illustrious individual characters that everyone loves to love or hates to hate? Not found here. The characters were really great as a group. The little things that they would do, the lengths that they would go to, made me cry (and I'm rather cold-hearted as is). Separately they were bland, generic characters with thin veneers of personality. "Bland" in the sense that they were unrealistically pure in their motives, feelings, etc....I think Suwa and Kakeru were the most well-developed characters.

Enjoyment: 8
I cried when Kakeru described his depression. Accurate to the point of being eerie (second time I've used that word to describe this manga).

Overall: 8
Would be a 10 if not for the characters. But despite your misgivings, whatever you heard, you inclinations, whatever, read this. There is some beautiful insight in this manga that you shouldn't pass up the chance to read.

Naho and Kakeru's story is heartbreakingly beautiful, indeed a masterpiece. Let's wait and see Orange become a classic in no time. Hands down to Takano Ichigo sensei. What I love about Orange is that it tackles about mental illness/depression and suicide, which is /I guess/ rare for your typical shoujo manga, it's also brave because people nowadays needs to be aware how serious depression is. It's cute, yes, but this manga deals with more serious issues. I'm not into sci-fi but the time travel/parallel world amazed me in this one. I had goose bumps while reading the last part. The story is promising, the art is great and detailed, I have some issue with the characters but it's fine, I love Suwa anyways. Meh!


Review posted in Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1709483904?book_show_action=false

I'll just skip the synopsis thing and pass directly to the important part.

Story - 9: It surely is a refreshing shoujo manga, adding some sci-fi to give it an interesting argument that makes you want to know if the characters will be able to accomplish their goals. Although they have the same typical events from a manga shoujo they're affected by the "knowing of the future" premise that is pretty cool.

Art - 8: It's good but a little bland, lacks backgrounds sometimes or just use simple ones. Still I like that some places actually exist and you can see the map with the direction of many locations.

Characters - 8: I really love to see how a group of friends actually are together instead of the girl just go behind her crush all the serie and just be with her "best friends" in a couple of occasions. Still the characters sometimes fall over and over again with the obstacle (don't have courage, depression, etc) and that a character cries almost every 5 pages can be a little annoying. Also the charaacter's development was sometimes too forced, like the main character feels always insecure until a friend tells her something "nice" (but it was always similar things all over the serie). Leaving that a side, the relationships between the characters are natural and likable.

Enjoyment - 8.5: Although is not perfect and fails in some things is very interesting to read. Also is from a decent length, instead of volumes and volumes of fillers.

-THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILER-
In many ocassions it just got a little confused and pissed off with certain things such that "Future's Naho" was actually in love with Kakeru and viceversa even if they stopped talking each other for many days in numerous ocassions and have more bitter moments than actually romantic ones.

-END OF SPOILER-

I guess that the final message of this manga is to trust in your friends, try to find solutions with more people instead of keeping them just to yourself and that if you have the chance of doing something, you should to avoid keepng with regrets.
But all the story revolves around having regrets and maybe that's the biggest failure in the whole serie is that they don't just get over it and keep with that feeling all their life. Even if because they know what are their future's themselves regreted they try to "live to the limit", we all may be regreted about something else and we should just overcome to it and know that the life won't always be in the way we want and that we can't actually know what will happen because of our actions.
The character's don't seem to learn that, they just keep saying about sharing the problems to make them lighter, saving Kakeru, etc.

to conclude, I'll resume in here

PROS:
-Interesting premise
-Decent length
-Nice relationships between characters
-You don't get bored
-Good management of suspense
-Enjoyable comedy
-Importance of friendship and trust message

CONS:
-The character's development may be a little forced
-Confusing in some parts
-Inconsistences between the Naho & Kakeru relationship from the 'future's version.
-Needs a "You don't know the future" and "get over it" message

How I said before, this manga is interesting and engaging. If you're now an overanalyzing person and just want to break the routine from typical and cliche shoujo manga or just want to have a good time then you should check this manga or wait for the anime release!

Orange is a unique shoujo. So unique, in fact, that it made a switch to a seinen magazine at about the halfway mark.

It goes far beyond the cookie-cutter romcoms that seem to dominate the shoujo market, focusing on a dramatic, slowly-building relationship which not only involves the boy and girl falling in love, but the girl saving his life in the process.

STORY (8/10):

I've heard a lot of complaints recently about time travel anime/manga, referring to it as cliche and it making sure the characters won't get into any real danger, as there's a reset button available at any time.

However, Orange doesn't have this reset button - the manga explores some very interesting themes involving parallel worlds and alternate reality. Also, as there is no real way for the characters themselves to time travel, there is still danger that keeps the story gripping.

ART (9/10):

The art in Orange is very good. I loved the full-color pages, and this manga has a very unique way with facial expressions that can tell you a lot about a scene, even if there's little to no dialogue in said scene.

CHARACTER (7/10):

Despite the fact that I still gave the Character category a good score, this is my main issue with Orange. It has a full set of characters, the majority of which have clearly defined personalities - there's Hagita and Asusa, who fight like an old married couple but deny they like each other. Hiroto, a muscular big eater boy who is also best friends with Naho.

And then there's Naho herself.

Much to my disappointment, we didn't really learn much about Naho, other then she likes Kakeru and wants to save him. Her MAL bio basically says she likes Kakeru and wants to save him. That's pretty much her only defining character trait.

However, due to the personality of the other characters, as well as the above-average translation in which the dialogue flows very well, I was still able to give the Character category a good score.

ENJOYMENT (8/10):

I read all of Orange in one night, and it did a great job at keeping my attention through its mixture of suspenseful and sad moments, as well as some humor to keep everything from getting too depressing.

OVERALL (8/10):

I highly recommend Orange, even if you aren't traditionally a shoujo fan...or is this seinen? I really don't know. Despite my complaints about the main character, this is a very unique, enthralling manga that deserves its spot in MAL's top manga.

---

CONTENT WARNING: This manga is officially rated Teen in the North American print release. The only real content issue is mild language; however, those sensitive to the subject of suicide are advised that this manga may be hard for them to read. Anyone who can handle/comprehend the mature themes is old enough to read it in my opinion.

I was a little skeptical when I started reading this manga, but it is really heartwarming. People need to read the manga for what it is. The story is about a group of friends who wish they could’ve saved their friend. That is the premise. That is what the manga revolves around. The concept is very unique and I have never read a manga like this.

Of course, there are flaws. I wish the sci-fi theme could have went a little bit deeper. In my opinion, there was not much character development. Naho didn’t have much of a personality, but the other characters balanced that out and it made for an enjoyable read. The other three friends just were not memorable though. I remember Naho, Kakeru, and Suwa. Don’t ask me what the others names are.

I love anything that deals with mental health. This manga did an okay job with it. Kakeru’s feelings were very much realistic. How it was dealt with is where I was side-eyeing the manga.

Overall, there’s a strong plot but the characters are lacking.