One of my favorite manga at this time is one called S.A Special A. Some of you may have heard about this being licensed by VIZ. I've entered many blog entries on the series, but I'm going to add to the list by listing good points and bad points of this comedy series. This entry may not make sense for those who haven't read this title.

Good points:

• The art gets better as the story goes along. It may start out a little clumsy, but by the 4th chapter, the art has become good.
• The heroine is strong. I don't read a lot of shojo manga that has a heroine quite like Hikari. She practices pro-wrestling, she's been called non-human before, and to top it all off she has a strong determination. She doesn't give up easily, seeing as she's been trying to defeat the same guy for the past 10 years.
• The heroine a super smart girl. I hear of girls in manga who have to retake exams, feel bad about themselves for getting average grades, aren't good acedemically overall. Hikari is second place in her entire school. It's not just a regular school either. It's Hakusenkan, a private, elite academy. The only thing she lacks brains in is the matter of the heart, a.k.a., the love and affection that others besides her family feels for her.
•   Bishi...more and more bishi. It seems that all the guys in this story are very handsome (hot, others may say). However, among fans it seems only Kei has been considered hot. I myself think that Kei is hot, but I like Ryuu better because he has a pure heart. A PURE HEART!!! (Hmph) Don't leave out Tadashi or Jun either. Tadashi isn't a very social person, but he could score a girl easily from his looks. That is, if they can accept his hair style. I swear, it looks all ove the place sometimes. Jun has a baby face. He's the shortest boy of all of them too. However, he has a bad boy split personality that makes him sexy in front of the girls.
• The story has a stong friendship point. These seven students, six rich and one commoner, are all friends no matter what. In their case, it doesn't matter who's richer than who because they've always been together. They care for each other (most of the time), they argue (like a healthy friendship should be like...it seems), and they help each other out when it's desperately needed.
• Like any good series, it doesn't only focus onm Hikari and Kei. The other S.A members exist too, and Minami Maki did a good job on including them into the plot. We get to learn more about Akira's past and what it has to do with Yahiro and Kei, we get some time with Tadashi hanging out with Hikari (he gets beat up by Kei later on, but...) Later on (even though it's long overdue), we get a two-chapter arc with Ryuu and his relationship with the twins and Finn. We learn more about Aoi and his determination to do his job correctly (getting Kei to leave Japan and go to London, yey.) and his overall feelings for both Kei and Hikari.

Bad points:

• Geez...it's too repetative. For the first few chapters, Hikari rambles about wanting to defeat Kei Takishima. I think the manga-ka had to do this because the series originally ran in a bi-monthly magazine, taking breaks every issue (so that was one chapter every four months). She had to remind readers what Hikari's main goal was. She also had to introduce the characters incase readers didn't know who everyone was, or in they needed a reminder.  After it started running in the bi-weekly Hana to Yume, the repetative introductions stopped. However, the goal was the same: defeat Takishima! It's not until chapter 12 or so that Hikari stops challenging him one chapter after another and their relationship starts to develop more.  Even now, as of chapter 20, it's not focused on Hikari and Kei's rivalry as much.
• The manga-ka is mixed up with information. One time the S.A class is the only A class. Then there's a regular A class. Then there's a student body A class. Then we're informed that the person in 8th place of the school is in B class. Wow...I'm so confused....Then there's the matter with their birthdays. Whos' older than who? If they're all in the same grade, then the order should go as follows, oldest to youngest: Akira, Ryuu, Tadashi, Kei, Megumi/Jun (twins), Hikari. However, Kei is already 16 in chapter 3, but Akira is only 15 at that time. Tadashi turned 16 in September the following year, making him already younger than Kei. So...does the order go like this: Kei, Akira, Ryuu, Tadashi, Jun/Megumi, Hikari? If that's so, then Kei must've started school late because if this is the case, then he's a grade higher than all them and he would be leaving before any of them...that would suck...
• The art changes too much. Take a look at chapter 1 and 4. See the difference, then look at chapter 5 and chapter 10. Then go ahead and look at chapter 12 and 17. Skip all the way to chapter 31 and compare them to chapter 53. Compare chapter 66 and 68. Gosh, if you can't do that, then I'll tell 'ya! The art keeps on changing. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say it switches off to getting better to getting worse back to getting better again. The manga-ka can get a little clumsy at times. It reminds me of when Fruits Basket's art was changing. It really bothered fans.
• It's getting long. I like stories that are 10-16 volumes long. If anything goes beyond that, and I don't like it as much, then I simply stop reading it until it ends (then I see how it ends ^^). S.A is, at this time, 10 volumes long, with 68 chapters out. It's getting to the point where I think it might reach a critical part soon. I just hope it doesn't drag out like Hana Kimi or Fruits Basket did (Fruits Basket was worth it, but it was still a pain to wait for).

Those are the points I've made. I like S.A. It's my favorite manga besides Gakuen Alice right now. I just hope the ending doesn't disappoint me. S.A volume 1 will be on sale in November, by VIZ. In it includes the first 4 chapters (each around 40 pages long), and a short story at the end called Unfinished Chorus.