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Start With A Happy Ending
If a Neko God (a cat god) gave you seven days of free time before going to heaven, what would you do? Here's the catch - you're a cat during this time!
200 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 8, 2016
This was a beautiful, touching series of stories. If you're a cat-lover, you'll be doubly moved but anyone can appreciate the sad, sweet tales in this volume. The best part is using the simple lessons that these characters learn and thinking "I should make the most of my life, too." But don't let that mislead you; the morals and suggestions in this manga are not heavy-handed, they simply make one think. It's natural to consider one's life when faced with another's death, and that's what happens here. The stories aren't depressing, they're uplifting, and the inclusion of the Cat God, all the adorable kitties, and a pinch of light humor makes the stories a tremendous pleasure to read.
January 15, 2013
Full spoiler alert: In order to really talk about this manga, I have to spoil it a little. This will irk some, so if you're wondering whether or not to get it, then I recommend it with reservations. The best way to describe this series is "bittersweet". The endings are uniformly sweet, but it's never without at least a small dose of sorrow. If you don't prefer a series where every ending is guaranteed to end about the same way, then you might want to either skip this one or check it out at the bookstore or library.
That said, on with the review.
I think that the artwork in this series is decent, but I'll admit that it's not the best I've ever seen. It's deceptively light-hearted at times and reminds me greatly at times of [[ASIN:034548262X Love Roma]]. This both works for and against the stories at times, as it helps keep it from being as heart wrenchingly tragic as the stories could be but also keeps them from being quite as serious at times as some of these tales deserve.
Now story-wise, here's where the spoiler comes in: the dead pretty much stay dead. In the beginning of each chapter there is a death and the person d'jour is given a week to experience life in the body of a cat, typically one they either took care of or saved. They free themselves from the negatives that were bogging them down, but still have to pass on to the afterlife at the end of the story. This is a pretty bold move, as sometimes with stories of this nature you'll discover that the ghost isn't really a ghost but is just in a coma. That's not the case here and while I would occasionally dust in my eye reading some of the stories, I had to give the creator some respect for doing this. I feel a little bad writing this spoiler, but once you've read the first story you've read the basic idea of each story. The chapters are more complex than that, I admit, but that's the main brunt of the stories here.
The stories themselves aren't really connected directly to each other except with an occasional tenuous link, so each one can be read independently of each other. I honestly recommend reading this in bits and spurts because after a while the similarity of the stories make them blend together. It's a good manga and I enjoyed it, but I wish I hadn't read it all in one sitting so I could more savor reading each story for the first time. This might not bother some, but it's something to take into consideration.
That said, on with the review.
I think that the artwork in this series is decent, but I'll admit that it's not the best I've ever seen. It's deceptively light-hearted at times and reminds me greatly at times of [[ASIN:034548262X Love Roma]]. This both works for and against the stories at times, as it helps keep it from being as heart wrenchingly tragic as the stories could be but also keeps them from being quite as serious at times as some of these tales deserve.
Now story-wise, here's where the spoiler comes in: the dead pretty much stay dead. In the beginning of each chapter there is a death and the person d'jour is given a week to experience life in the body of a cat, typically one they either took care of or saved. They free themselves from the negatives that were bogging them down, but still have to pass on to the afterlife at the end of the story. This is a pretty bold move, as sometimes with stories of this nature you'll discover that the ghost isn't really a ghost but is just in a coma. That's not the case here and while I would occasionally dust in my eye reading some of the stories, I had to give the creator some respect for doing this. I feel a little bad writing this spoiler, but once you've read the first story you've read the basic idea of each story. The chapters are more complex than that, I admit, but that's the main brunt of the stories here.
The stories themselves aren't really connected directly to each other except with an occasional tenuous link, so each one can be read independently of each other. I honestly recommend reading this in bits and spurts because after a while the similarity of the stories make them blend together. It's a good manga and I enjoyed it, but I wish I hadn't read it all in one sitting so I could more savor reading each story for the first time. This might not bother some, but it's something to take into consideration.
October 23, 2014
The stories in this manga are slightly sad, but also really sweet and will make you think about what you can do to make your life better too. :)
The artwork is cute and the ideas behind each story are all different even though they all involve the same thing, which is someone dying and being a cat for a week to fix some of their mistakes or problems.
I really enjoyed this manga. I liked it so much that it is actually one of my favourites. ~
Some people might not like it because of how similar the stories seem if you aren't paying attention, but I think that most people would be able to find at least one chapter that they really like!
The artwork is cute and the ideas behind each story are all different even though they all involve the same thing, which is someone dying and being a cat for a week to fix some of their mistakes or problems.
I really enjoyed this manga. I liked it so much that it is actually one of my favourites. ~
Some people might not like it because of how similar the stories seem if you aren't paying attention, but I think that most people would be able to find at least one chapter that they really like!
February 1, 2013
Start with a happy ending isn't so much bad is it is boring. Its messages are predictable, one off characters underdeveloped and the artwork is cute, but nothing special or great.
June 9, 2013
Maybe a bit too cute manga, but somehow really touching. The cats are cute and I think there's something important in every story.
August 3, 2015
A dash of fluff, a bit of sadness, a pinch of reality and a pocketful of life lessons abound - Start with a Happy Ending, Vol. 1 makes for good light reading. Also, kitties!
February 12, 2024
DNF
I've been slowly reading this for a while and have gotten most of the way through it, but it's difficult, at this point, to find reasons to keep reading. I was really enthusiastic about it at first--it was sweet and affecting and the art style is characterful and well done. Unfortunately, the format becomes a really significant weakness. I wish that the author had instead put more time into a focused story, expanding on _one_ of these chapters/sets of characters, but instead we repeat the death/cat resurrection with new characters over and over, with the message almost always being a variation on the same theme. The characters are mostly strong for how little we see of them, I love the cats, I love the Cat God, but the story itself is just so repetitive and the more times the mangaka tells it the further we get into strangely moralizing and shame-oriented territory, rather than the more positive early stories. One of these characters' main "turn your life around" problems was kinda just being fat. Terrible. For many of the characters, their central issue is simply being really passive and non-communicative in their lives. I understand that this is maybe a more culturally Japanese thing, but for me it just became frustrating to read these characters make the same mistake over and over in different ways. It really does just come down to the fact that the premise and approach cannot support a full volume of chapters and still have things to say. I needed it to find some more depth with what it was doing and it just couldn't provide. Hopefully it does more with its final chapters, but I just don't know if it's worth it to find out anymore.
I've been slowly reading this for a while and have gotten most of the way through it, but it's difficult, at this point, to find reasons to keep reading. I was really enthusiastic about it at first--it was sweet and affecting and the art style is characterful and well done. Unfortunately, the format becomes a really significant weakness. I wish that the author had instead put more time into a focused story, expanding on _one_ of these chapters/sets of characters, but instead we repeat the death/cat resurrection with new characters over and over, with the message almost always being a variation on the same theme. The characters are mostly strong for how little we see of them, I love the cats, I love the Cat God, but the story itself is just so repetitive and the more times the mangaka tells it the further we get into strangely moralizing and shame-oriented territory, rather than the more positive early stories. One of these characters' main "turn your life around" problems was kinda just being fat. Terrible. For many of the characters, their central issue is simply being really passive and non-communicative in their lives. I understand that this is maybe a more culturally Japanese thing, but for me it just became frustrating to read these characters make the same mistake over and over in different ways. It really does just come down to the fact that the premise and approach cannot support a full volume of chapters and still have things to say. I needed it to find some more depth with what it was doing and it just couldn't provide. Hopefully it does more with its final chapters, but I just don't know if it's worth it to find out anymore.
April 4, 2024
Ugh. Stupid fucking book made me cry, something which I hadn’t even realized was a possibility going into reading it. I started crying at the first chapter, and following that I was on the verge - no, the brink - of tears for the remainder of my read. Well needed, 10/10. The author did a phenomenal job… I think this is one of the best Mangas I’ve ever read. It’s simply beautiful. And to think I picked up by chance due to a Black Friday sale at which it was selling for a dollar - what if I had neglected it, like so many others? Alas, such is life. No use overthinking it, like I have this review that’s been edited 3x now. Thank you Risa Motoyama - I needed this read.
May 11, 2023
I didn’t expect to cry this much. This was SUPER GOOD 😭😭😭😭😭
June 7, 2023
Such a great book! It is both a comfort read and an eye-opening one.
August 12, 2023
As a person who procrastinates often, this is what I exactly needed.
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December 29, 2019Cat manga. Not as good as Chi.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews