Arisa

First Volume of Arisa

Left:Sonoda Arisa, Right: Uehara Tsubasa

Manga Title: Arisa by Ando Natsumi

Genre: Romance, Mystery, Shoujo

Summary: Twin sisters Arisa and Tsubasa were separated when their parents divorced but promised to send letters to each other to keep in touch.

Three years later, (aged 14) they finally met up again. Tsubasa was envious of Arisa's school life and hence Arisa suggests they switch places for a day. When Tsubasa reaches home, she goes on about how she envies Arisa to which Arisa said, "You don't know anything, Tsubasa. You don't know their secret, and you don't know my secret." After which she committed suicide by falling off the apartment window.

Arisa stays in coma while Tsubasa, determined to find out the truth , poses as Arisa and went to her school. There, she discovered the class's dangerous secret, known as the "King's Time"

Main Characters:

Uehara Tsubasa:

She's a delinquent and in her school, she's known as the "Demon Princess". She has poor grades and hangs out with guys or rather, her "pals" as girls tend to be afraid of her as she often gets into fights.

She dyed her hair blonde prior to the story and she thought her sister wouldn't recognise her. She loves her sister very much and would go to the extremes to help and save Arisa. She is also determined and strong-willed, often choosing to believe in Arisa in several instances.

She's the older of the twin.

Sonoda Arisa:

She's the Class Representative of Class 2-B and has good grades. She's rather popular in her class and is out-going as well. Deep down, she's a nice and kind girl who's insecure about her relationship with her mother, afraid that Tsubasa would take her away.

She's the younger twin.





Akira Manabe:

Arisa's classmate who doesn't really get along with others in the class. He is initially suspicious of Arisa, believing her to be the "KING" but later finds out that Tsubasa is pretending to be Arisa.

He helps Tsubasa in finding out who the "KING" is and has a childhood friend in the same class as him who hates Arisa (hell-bent on getting her revenge on her) because she believed that Arisa was the "KING" and she's the KING's first victim. She attempted suicide when she received the KING's traitor letter but survived.




Yamashita Midori:

Arisa's boyfriend and classmate. He's very popular in school and is known as a kind and gentle person, especially to Arisa. He is devoted to her and goes to extremes to please her and protect her. He doesn't seem to know that Tsubasa is pretending to be Arisa.

However... (I shall not continue since it will spoil the story)

The Manga

The story plot was intriguing to say the least. Plot twists were beautifully done as well. I was hooked onto it when I finished the first volume (after grabbing it on impulse) in the library and immediately finished the whole series in two days. The art was pretty as well and to be honest, that was what attracted me to grab the book from the library shelf. 

The characters were fine though we have quite a few twisted people with wrapped up personalities/personas  that are quite well developed (IMO). Tsubasa goes through a lot in this series and her undaunted determination is admirable as she whole heartedly believes in her twin sister. Midori's character is rather interesting and perhaps unexpected to us but the author did drop several hints and clues along the way as to who the real "KING" is. 

The class is full of psychopaths i swear. They seem to go along with whatever they feel is right - when being manipulated by XXXXXX and Kudou (A transfer student in the class who's sickly). They see themselves as the "victims" but in truth, they also victimise others. They are obsessed with the "KING" and would do anything to protect their secret. 

This series isn't what i would expect out of a shoujo manga since it can be dark and mysterious at times but -shrugs- all's well in the end. At least there's the romance between Arisa and Midori. And i have no idea why but Tsubasa doesn't end up with any of the guys in the series. 

I thought the series would be shorter but with how things were being developed, I'm glad it lasted for 44.5 chapters - smiles -