Member Reviews
After reading the first volume I'm super intrigued to find out where this story is heading.
I enjoyed this volume a lot. I'm excited to continue this series and find out where it's going, because this was a good start.
I would say the story was compelling. The characters were probably one thing that I liked on this manga as well as the plot. Overall a good read.
I really liked the idea of this and the art style is nice but I didn't connect to the story as I hoped.
Summary:
Rize is so very lonely. It feels like she's been alone ever since her brother left. He went with her father during their parents' divorce. Now, all these years later, Rize still hopes she'll find her brother and bring their little family back together again.
Meanwhile, Kairi is a chronically tired co-worker. As it turns out, he struggles to sleep and happily accepts Rize's shoulder to sleep on. Being around her seems to chase the demons away, while being around him comforts Rize.
Review:
Okaaayyy. There's a lot to unpack here. Searching for My Perfect Brother Vol. 1 is the start of a new mystery series, and it's odd, to say the least. I'm not even sure where to start. Because wow.
Rize's obsession with her brother is unhealthy, to be frank. Yes – it's totally fine for her to want to find him. I get that. But how she thinks about him feels more like a romantic partner than a brother, and it's messed up.
It helps to explain how she ended up so tangled with Kairi, a guy who also could use a lot of (professional) help in his life. There's a big twist on the horizon between these two, and most readers will probably get an idea of it long before the big reveal.
There are a lot of questions left to be answered, but I'm not sure I'm motivated enough to find out. I think this romance is just not the one for me.
Highlights:
Manga
Mystery
Romance
Missing Brother
Trigger Warnings:
Depictions of a graphic nature
Child Abuse (flashbacks)
Murder/Suicide
Will I continue the series? Nope
Thanks to Kodansha Comics and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
You Can Also Find Me On:
Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat's Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy
Not the manga for me. I understand the main character was dealing with trauma, but she is not dealing with it in a healthy way and making choices that aren't healthy for her or the people around her. And the love interest / murderer is needlessly being cryptic. Not enjoying reding about these people's lives and don't like seeing dysfunction and untreated mental illness portrayed as romance.
This didn’t seem very well developed and felt like it was rushed. I was very confused about why it was so difficult to find her brother, what resources were available, etc. It al seemed very forced and confusing and strange. I was excited to dive in but it just wasn’t working for me. I think the artwork was great though.
This started off quite calmly and then morphed into a psychological drama with twists and turns, and then ended on a cliff hanger because this is only volume one. It is surprisingly good and I want to read book two.
Rize misses her elder brother. They lost touch with each other when their parents divorced and they were young. She works in a supermarket while studying at university and She meets Kairi, a colleague with a very dark past who suffers from insomnia. There is a hint that he has done something very dark in his past.
Rize helps Kairi by allowing him to sleep on her shoulder during breaks (as you do) and their friendship grows deeper. At the same time Rise’s cop neighbour decides to help her look for her brother but it appears something may have happened to him and Kairi might have been involved.
It is a good story and well drawn but I want to unravel all the twists and turns and find out what happened. I need book 2!
Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for an eARC of this to read and review.
This was... ... ...
I'm completely at a loss as to how to even begin to review. This was...weird and most definitely messed up. Both the MC H and MC h have SEVERE issues, which the MC h at least could have dealt with by actually, I don't know, LOOKING FOR HER DAM BROTHER!!
Seriously, this isn't set in Medieval days where once someone left, they were gone. Does the internet not exist in this world? A phone book?!? PIs? Ok, she may not have had money for the last one, but people have AGENCY. She could have done some research, figured out how to find someone and then DONE it. She wasn't helpless, but she sure acted like it and it really irked me. She was so passive the entire time, I assume she has some very deep issues that need to be resolved.
And I saw that ending coming a mile away. The more I think about it, the more I am not a fan of this book. I can see some people really liking the darker aspects of it, and will not hesitate to suggest this to them, but for me this just didn't work.
I also didn't buy this as a romance. This was two deeply messed up people in a co-dependent relationship, using each other to be somewhat stable.
2, I wish the MC h had the ability to think beyond her hurt and ACTED rather than let the world act on her, stars.
This is a story where it turned out to be different from what I had expected from seeing the cover and synopsis. It’s an intriguing read and different from any other light novel I’ve read (usually I read more light-hearted ones or at least ones that don’t have a more mystery/darker component to it). The characterization is a bit lacking and the story is a bit rushed and could be fleshed out more, but I do like the art style and overall, I’m quite interested in reading the rest of the series and finding out more about the male lead specifically.
Thank you to Net-Galley and to the publisher for providing me a copy of the story in exchange for an honest review.
This book is wild. I gave it four because it is not my cup of tea but I think if you like thriller manga you would enjoy it. Without giving away spoilers this books has many twist and turns. The main character lost their brother when she was young and has spent her life looking for him and also coming to terms that she may never see him again. I do not know what I was expecting but the story was not it. That is not to say that its bad because I think if I was more into Thrillers I would have enjoyed this and I think this is a series because it ends on a cliffhanger.
Despite the intriguing premise, the story just read so weird. It was insta-love and the FMC was obsessed with her brother, which is not a bad thing considering their past, but then she fell for the MMC because he reminds her of her brother? That read really weird. Not to mention, it was an insta love and the relationship never really felt developed beyond he reminds her of her brother and he can't sleep.
The summary and cover intrigued me, and I couldn't wait to discover this story. Rize's character is interesting and you quickly become attached to her. We soon wonder what happened to her brother, and even though we quickly get suspicious and I quickly guessed the plot, the twist is pretty cool.
As for Kairi, we don't get much information about him, apart from the fact that he's rather endearing and running away from something in his past. The two make a rather unlikely duo, but one I really enjoyed. Volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger, and once again, even though I'd guessed it, I really want to read the sequel because I'm so intrigued by how things will turn out for these two!
Though the storyline of this Manga is darker than I normally read, I did find the content interesting.
I liked the “cleanliness” of the pages. Sometimes there is so much verbal content, pages feel cluttered and confusing to me. This book had clean direction and asterisks were placed between frames, making it easy to read.
The ending left a nice opening for the next volume. I look forward to it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this review opportunity.
Thank you to net galley for sending me an advanced review copy of searching for my perfect brother!
I really wanted to like this more. The art style was gorgeous and the story did have so much potential but the interactions between the characters themselves along with the little information we got on them was quite underwhelming. Its absolutely not a bad manga but i'd probably not pick the next volume.
Thank you so much for letting me read this manga. I very much liked the artstyle of this manga. The story is rather disturbing.
At its core, this is a darker story about a lonely woman who obsessively misses the brother she hasn't seen since she was a child, and the relationship she strikes up with a co-worker who has a dark past.
The storylines being set up here in this first volume are interesting, but the way the writing went about it felt off - like there was no real reason for things to be happening, other than the story needs it to. Why do Rize and Kairi connect further in the first place? He just happened to fall asleep on her shoulder and realizes it's the only way he can get pure restful sleep so he asks her to help. How does Rize find out about Kairi's past? She stumbles upon his diary that lays everything bare. Why does Rize's policeman neighbor care enough to research where her brother might be? Oh, he just feels bad for her and the case nags at him so why not.
The characterization of the main characters Rize and Kairi don't feel too solid either, beyond two big parts about them - Rize is obsessed with her brother, and Kairi has that big secret and can't sleep because of it. The snippets of their lives and workplace don't mean much and feel like they pass in a blur when the story isn't focused on the co-dependent relationship developing between the two.
As for the realationship...I can tell that everything here is being done on purpose. This isn't an accidental toxic relationship being touted as true love and a romance to aspire to. These are two broken individuals who have found each other and found co-dependent ways to need each other - and now other aspects of their lives are entwining them even closer together. My only issue is that I can't tell what the purpose of this is. I suppose reading further volumes will bring that more to the forefront, and I think I'll check out a couple more just to see where the main storyline is going.
The art is fine...it feels a little amateurish and the world doesn't feel real or lived in.
This is an interesting opening volume to a story I'm not quite sure how I feel about, but I'm interested to see where it goes.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read and review this!
A well written and set up manga with a gripping storyline that has made me want the next instalment straight away. There were no gaps, the manga read well and didn’t skip or jump and I became heavily invested in the characters and plot.
This is a very heavy Manga with a very mature content, and I did enjoy it, it made me think, could I live beside someone I knew that had committed a crime and didn’t go to prison for it? And things go even deeper. And to make things better the art also looks very good.
I recommend this manga to fans of obscure dramas with a side dish of romance.
Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics, for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.
Interesting. Feels like its going to be super dramatic (kind of like Something's Wrong With Us) Will probably read the next book just to see how things go...
Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha for letting me read an ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this graphic novel, in exchange of an honest review.
La verdad, el principio del tomo fue tranquilo y un poco meh. Me pareció extraña desde el comienzo la fijación de la protagonista con su hermano mayor... y su un poco ridículo y forzado "amor por dormir". En fin, dejé pasar eso para seguir avanzando con la lectura, pero lo que vino después fue más extraño.
El primer "giro" de trama fue inesperado, no había leído nada similar, me sorprendió en ese sentido. Pero ese misterio que comienza a crecer, transforma la historia de mi típico romance shojo en una novela de suspenso y no me gustó el cambio. Ni menos la reacción de la protagonista a este. Onda, la sorpresa y estrés por ella, le duraron re poco... lo dejó pasar por el "poder del amor", lo que en este caso yo no vi nada justificado.
Ahora, de cara al final del tomo, el nuevo y más sorpresivo giro de trama sí fue predecible :( Y no por ello más agradable. Al menos ahora, la prota sí reacciona con la angustia que esperaba, pero bueno.
En general, no me gusta este tipo de tramas. SPOILER[Que la chica se enamoré ultra rápido de un chico que no conoce de nada, que le permita a diario "dormir sobre su hombro" sólo porque le recuerda a su hermano, y que luego, SABIENDO que este chico es un asesino, no le dé demasiada importancia y siga enganchada de él. Amiga, tienes que ir a una consulta psicológica, tu tienes serias carencias emocionales que estás compensando de la forma equivocada. Busca ayuda profesional, por favor!]
En fin, no continuaré con la historia, porque no me gusta el ambiente general de la novela, y me estresan sus personajes principales, tanto la chica poco consecuente, como el chico doble cara. De todos modos, esta historia podría gustarte, así que por favor, dale una oportunidad si no te molesta leer sobre personajes con moralmente grises/negros y amor tóxico o tramas lentas de suspenso y misterio.
TW - Eso sí, por favor ten en cuenta el contenido sensible que se trata en la historia, entre ellos: SPOILER[ maltrato infantil, maltrato físico y psicológico, asesinato, pérdida de ser querido (hermano).]