Megami no Carnaval
( Carnaval of Goddesses | Megami Carnaval | Megami no Karunabaru )
by Takatsuki Nagy
In front of Mochizuki, a normal high schooler, appears a wounded girl named Mayuki. Mochizuki takes her to his home and finds out that he has gotten himself involved with a war that goes far beyond any human comprehension. One after another, Mochizuki and Mayuki confront girls that bear an unfortunate destiny, to fight to the death. Mayuki and Mochizuki are left with no option left but to fight.... Here, a new storyline is unveiled! (Baka-Updates)
In front of Mochizuki, a normal high schooler, appears a wounded girl named Mayuki. Mochizuki takes her to his home and finds out that he has gotten himself involved with a war that goes far beyond any human comprehension. One after another, Mochizuki and Mayuki confront girls that bear an unfortunate destiny, to fight to the death. Mayuki and Mochizuki are left with no option left but to fight.... Here, a new storyline is unveiled! (Baka-Updates)
This manga caught my interest among the list of recent manga weeks ago because of the word "Carnaval" in the title. Anything that sounds like or has a relation to the word "carnival" will always capture my interest. It has been the same to one of my current favorite manga, "Karneval"
And then, when I saw the volume cover, I saw an "X" mark in blood . . . and that got me thrilled~ . . . I'm so morbid that I get attracted to bloody stuff. Wahahaha! However, the boobs of the girl in the cover were HUGE, that it screams ecchi/hentai! That made me have second thoughts . . . . rarely do I encounter extremely perverted manga with decent stories.
So yeah, I ignored it. Then one day Browserboy assured me that though it has ecchi, it doesn't have H scenes. And it seems that he finds the manga awesome. Well, we had similar likes, so I guess there was a chance for me to like this as well, so I finally gave it a try.
Okay, now that I've read it . . . well, as I've feared, it does have the stupid fanservice . . . and even has the freakin' stereotypes and cliches . . . story's honestly not that original and story flow/narration sucks . . . but it had been pretty interesting . . . especially the latest chapters of the first volume! Oh I was entertained~
The leading girl provides you with mainly two types of fanservices: hott babe and moe item fanservice. "Hott babe" because she has fighting skills, she kills, she's selfish, she has the master mentality, and all other traits that evil women have in common; she's also the "Moe Item" because she goes blushing when people compliment about her body, then makes such sexy poses unintentionally but has this face that makes you want to glomp her, and she's also being abused by females to use her for fanservice (abusive females like Haruhi Suzumiya; and yeah, you can say the leading girl is sort of like Mikuru in that sense), and so on. So if you're into that fanservice, you'll really love her.
But I don't like her.
I don't enjoy such fanservice, and neither will I like the leading girl even if she didn't provide such. I love cruel babes, but cruel babes that have such tragic pasts that beg the reader to symphatize with her is something I find annoying. Just cut the drama. If you're a bitch, then be a 100% bitch. The tragic past stuff just makes her moe. Uuugghh . . . .character background stereotypes . . .
And the leading guy? He's the dude I don't understand the most. He did something nice to the girl, but she used him in a dangerous situation without his consent, and now he's sort of dead . . . but he's not complaining about it (he only complained about the weird situation she got him into, but he didn't exactly complain that she didn't have any sense of gratitude or something). And now they're like friends, even if she said it so frankly and tactlessly that she's nothing to him but something to be used. It just didn't feel . . . natural. I can't believe I'm saying this but . . . . this is where I feel that a lot of angst is necessary. How could he like trust or become close to her after what she had done?! Even if whatever he does won't help since he can't hurt or kill her . . . but still . . . . it was just like he only got angry at a few panels, then later it's as if nothing happened. Whaaaaaat???!!! . . . . I don't feel much emotions on the characters from this series because it seems to be focusing on the unecessary emotions and making the necessary ones too quick.
Or maybe it's just me.
By the way, the leading guy is also the weak-guy-but-pretty-useful-only-during-the-right-moments-and-when-he's-with-the-right-person stereotype. It's usually, if not always, like that if the leading lady is the strong one. *sighs* As for the other characters, we have the fanservice-hunting evil loli, he perverted idiotic best friend, the smexy-though-doesn't-really-look-like-someone-of-her-profession older sister, the semi-tsundere and good girl who has a secret crush on the leading guy, and the best friend of the semi-tsundere good girl who will always tease and cheer for her friend's love life, the pathetically obsessed female stalker, and so on. Not all of them are exactly stereotypes, but some types have been seen in several anime/manga that I've watched/read. If you like any of those kind of characters, then you might like them.
As for me, I don't.
The interesting characters for me are the two villains that had showed up so far~ I thought all powerful characters are only women in this series, but thank goodness that there are guys too!!! The taller dude is still a mystery . . . I mean, it's still a mystery on what he's exactly like. But he seems to be plotting something . . . and that had made the story interesting for me. While the other dude is hilarious! I totally love the scene when he interacted with the leading guy! They had been freakin' hilarious!!! Bwahahahahahahha!!!!
And then, when I saw the volume cover, I saw an "X" mark in blood . . . and that got me thrilled~ . . . I'm so morbid that I get attracted to bloody stuff. Wahahaha! However, the boobs of the girl in the cover were HUGE, that it screams ecchi/hentai! That made me have second thoughts . . . . rarely do I encounter extremely perverted manga with decent stories.
So yeah, I ignored it. Then one day Browserboy assured me that though it has ecchi, it doesn't have H scenes. And it seems that he finds the manga awesome. Well, we had similar likes, so I guess there was a chance for me to like this as well, so I finally gave it a try.
Okay, now that I've read it . . . well, as I've feared, it does have the stupid fanservice . . . and even has the freakin' stereotypes and cliches . . . story's honestly not that original and story flow/narration sucks . . . but it had been pretty interesting . . . especially the latest chapters of the first volume! Oh I was entertained~
The leading girl provides you with mainly two types of fanservices: hott babe and moe item fanservice. "Hott babe" because she has fighting skills, she kills, she's selfish, she has the master mentality, and all other traits that evil women have in common; she's also the "Moe Item" because she goes blushing when people compliment about her body, then makes such sexy poses unintentionally but has this face that makes you want to glomp her, and she's also being abused by females to use her for fanservice (abusive females like Haruhi Suzumiya; and yeah, you can say the leading girl is sort of like Mikuru in that sense), and so on. So if you're into that fanservice, you'll really love her.
But I don't like her.
I don't enjoy such fanservice, and neither will I like the leading girl even if she didn't provide such. I love cruel babes, but cruel babes that have such tragic pasts that beg the reader to symphatize with her is something I find annoying. Just cut the drama. If you're a bitch, then be a 100% bitch. The tragic past stuff just makes her moe. Uuugghh . . . .character background stereotypes . . .
And the leading guy? He's the dude I don't understand the most. He did something nice to the girl, but she used him in a dangerous situation without his consent, and now he's sort of dead . . . but he's not complaining about it (he only complained about the weird situation she got him into, but he didn't exactly complain that she didn't have any sense of gratitude or something). And now they're like friends, even if she said it so frankly and tactlessly that she's nothing to him but something to be used. It just didn't feel . . . natural. I can't believe I'm saying this but . . . . this is where I feel that a lot of angst is necessary. How could he like trust or become close to her after what she had done?! Even if whatever he does won't help since he can't hurt or kill her . . . but still . . . . it was just like he only got angry at a few panels, then later it's as if nothing happened. Whaaaaaat???!!! . . . . I don't feel much emotions on the characters from this series because it seems to be focusing on the unecessary emotions and making the necessary ones too quick.
Or maybe it's just me.
By the way, the leading guy is also the weak-guy-but-pretty-useful-only-during-the-right-moments-and-when-he's-with-the-right-person stereotype. It's usually, if not always, like that if the leading lady is the strong one. *sighs* As for the other characters, we have the fanservice-hunting evil loli, he perverted idiotic best friend, the smexy-though-doesn't-really-look-like-someone-of-her-profession older sister, the semi-tsundere and good girl who has a secret crush on the leading guy, and the best friend of the semi-tsundere good girl who will always tease and cheer for her friend's love life, the pathetically obsessed female stalker, and so on. Not all of them are exactly stereotypes, but some types have been seen in several anime/manga that I've watched/read. If you like any of those kind of characters, then you might like them.
As for me, I don't.
The interesting characters for me are the two villains that had showed up so far~ I thought all powerful characters are only women in this series, but thank goodness that there are guys too!!! The taller dude is still a mystery . . . I mean, it's still a mystery on what he's exactly like. But he seems to be plotting something . . . and that had made the story interesting for me. While the other dude is hilarious! I totally love the scene when he interacted with the leading guy! They had been freakin' hilarious!!! Bwahahahahahahha!!!!
Anyway, as for the main story . . . I like the idea of immortals that existed because of some red snow phenomenon. It's still a mystery on how exactly it happened, but little by little we get to learn more about these beings, how they started, and what other kinds there are (one of the reasons why I liked the later chapters of the first volume more than the first few is because we get to find out that there are more variations between these immortals . . . and they aren't necessarily women). If I put aside the parts which are set in the school and the sexy-waitress restaurant (because transfer student crap is so overused, and the later one is damn perverted fanservice), events so far had actually been interesting and intriguing~ So it turned out to be . . . not as bad as I've expected. I almost dropped it, but good thing I thought of reading on or else I would've missed the actual interesting chapters in this manga. *sweatdrop*
Though I admit that I liked it, I don't consider myself hooked to this. Even if the action and bloody stuff have been cool, and there was crack (I didn't enjoy all the crack though, because some had been plain stupid); they had not been enough to make up for the headaches that the fanservice, stereotypes, and headaches caused on me. *sweatdrops*
So in other words, this simply isn't my type; but it hadn't been that bad. People who enjoy or don't mind the fanservices I disliked in this series will most likely enjoy this, because it had been really bloody awesome. So yeah, if you're one of those, and you also like action + violence stuff, and also a sucker for supernatural/fantasy stuff, then I guess there's no harm on trying this one out~
Though I admit that I liked it, I don't consider myself hooked to this. Even if the action and bloody stuff have been cool, and there was crack (I didn't enjoy all the crack though, because some had been plain stupid); they had not been enough to make up for the headaches that the fanservice, stereotypes, and headaches caused on me. *sweatdrops*
So in other words, this simply isn't my type; but it hadn't been that bad. People who enjoy or don't mind the fanservices I disliked in this series will most likely enjoy this, because it had been really bloody awesome. So yeah, if you're one of those, and you also like action + violence stuff, and also a sucker for supernatural/fantasy stuff, then I guess there's no harm on trying this one out~
Alright . . . . start reading!!!! Hehehehehe. I'm gonna be helping out in scanlations of this~
READ: 1 volume out of 1 scanlated volume of a 3 volume ongoing manga
VERDICT: May Read from Time to Time
It's cool . . . but the perverted/ecchi + moe fanservice, some stereotypes and cliches, had been such a let down to me. But story had become more exciting and interesting for me in the later chapters, so I'm continuing this~
If those things bother you (or you rather like those kind of stuff), and you also like bloody action + supernatural stuff, then you might enjoy this~
