Reviews

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 1 by Aki Irie

itaby's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I really like the family and their magic. It's cool that they all have their own item that transform them and gives them access to specific or more powerful magic. The main girls transformation magic felt a bit weird since she is 10 and turn into a young woman who's so beautiful she seems to put people under a spell. Lots of creepy guys creeping on her, and that's kinda gross sibce, again, she is 10 (which they don't know)! Then there is her "relationship" with her "friend" that I absolutely despise. He is such a predatory creep. He doesn't know either, but even if she was an adult, his behavior is still super uncomfortable and gross.

samrushingbooks's review

3.0

*read as part of Manga Madness Readathon (round 6)*

thebookishunicorn's review

2.0

This one was a hard one for me to rate; I loved the art, overall story, magic, and characters but one thing kept bothering me.

The main character Ran, is about 10-12 years old, but with the help of magic shoes can transform into an adult woman which she uses to get her out of things she doesn't want to do. This leads to hilarity and hijinx, but takes a weird turn when she meets Otaro Mikado, who seems to be sexually attracted to her. He doesn't know that she is actually a child, but since the reader knows it makes you very uncomfortable, especially since Ran still acts like the age she really is.

I am not sure if I will be reading the second volume or not, but if I do, it won't be for a while.

kilitastic's review

medium-paced

3.75

eamelyk's review against another edition

4.0

😭😭😭💕💕💕

booklover160's review

4.0

This review will be for the whole series; read at your own risk!

Read 1 volume

I’m surprised with this! The story sounded interesting but initially I didn’t care for Ran. By the end, I really like her! I also love the art style! It’s a sort of mix of 80s style manga and modern style. I’m super interested in the story and am looking forward to more!

coffeedragon's review

3.0

This one is a little weird! I got an e-copy via Edelweiss because I thought the cover looked interesting and the content ended up being pretty interesting in a way I haven't really seen before. The art reminds me a bit of older manga and there's just so much going on (like in the first few pages we see Ran's room and it's a MESS). I'm not 100% sure what the point of the book is yet but there is magic (a plus) and there's...I don't even know what to call it! A guy who likes Ran (our main character) but doesn't know she's actually a kid because she was an adult version of herself when they met (suspicious!).

colorfulleo92's review against another edition

1.0

Whimiscal, magical and way to sexy. The main character is a 9 years old girl, but she puts on magical shoes and poff she is an adult. Could be an cute and silly story but apart from that there is guys trying to be with her romanticly. A 9 year old in a 18 year old body with the brain very much still a child. No, nope, eew. Too problematic, to eew. Beautiful artstyld but geez I'm not going to continuing to read this Manga Series!

curiousmadra's review

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

So this is my second manga that was recommended by my secret Santa from Animeplanet and I gotta say, the art looks absolutely incredible that it kept me interested to reading more. There was such goofy moments especially Rans wolf changed brother randomly kissing girls cause he’s in “heat” like I literally fell to the floor laughing guys, no kidding XD! I also thought the ending was pretty inspiring as well as wholesome seeing Ran advising her young nephew that just because she had the magical power to automatically be in a 20 year old body at 10 years old, that there isn’t actually a “exact” magic power that make you grow up so cherish every moment of your life. I feel we can definitely learn from those words since unfortunately magic ain’t real and hard work has to be put into “growing up”.

Now for the complains that led me to giving this manga a 7. I found that Rans relationship with Outarou rather forced and pretty disturbing since she is again, a child stuck in a grown ups body and is rather naive about his forcefulness. He wasn’t even considering much of her feelings and honestly didn’t need to be in the story. In fact, they should’ve just let him be the villain and not a sudden love interest for Ran. I just wish they focused it a more with Ran and Hibi, although they did get together in the end eventually but with the manga being so longwinded, they could’ve filled those gaps. I also thought there was too many pointless characters they added (like the wacky neighbours) and a character such as the Crow mafia, Ryouko and Tamao who barely got any screen time at all. Even though they were there in some scenes, I just wanted to find out more instead of the story just being rushed every so often for 51 chapters!

Still I would recommend this to people as it is different and again, the art is stunning!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, and Bullying

moonbites's review

4.0

This was a whimsical read. The magical elements in here are super fun and visually appealing. The art itself is stunning, I could just sit there and look at the art and be happy. There was a weird romantic element to it but overall I really liked the story. I am looking forward to reading the next volume!