Juline by Narumi Kakinouchi

Title: Juline
Mangaka: Narumi Kakinouchi
Age Group: Teens
Series is: Completed with 5 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 1
My Rating: 1/5

There are four martial arts clans in the valley of the Sleeping Dragon Mountain: Kenga, Jeweled Mirror, Water Crystal, and the Black Pearl. But the Black Pearl is plotting something sinister. All of the members of the other clans are getting up to quit and joining it. Reasons unknown, Juline who is heir of the Kenga clan must get to the bottom of this! What kind of secrets are lurking behind the scenes with the Black Pearl?

I got lost in this manga. Reading it, I was scratching my head. The manga's transitions from panel to panel was horrible. It was completely choppy, making it hard for me to keep focus. There were times where I've read brief novels, but brief mangas? This was one of the first. It made the storyline less sense because the reader wouldn't be able to follow.

Characters were not developed properly and didn't exactly have a personality either. None of them had presence. They were there but not exactly there at the same, if you understand what I mean. I did find Juline annoying whenever she talked though.

The art was nice but at the same time, it appeared to be brief as the manga itself. The art lacked lines, just like the story lacked content. It got under my nerves how the drawings of the characters seemed to be missing pieces and the backgrounds were barely there.

I was not pleased with Juline and would never recommend this to any manga fan. Definitely not going to venture out to get the following volumes.

When I turned the manga over, I was shocked to see that it cost $12.95 for USA and... $19.95 for Canada?!? Who in the right mind would pay for this at such an expensive price?? $0.95 maybe...

Bookmooched copy from Cassie.