Miki Falls, Volume 1: Spring

Miki Falls #1

by Mark Crilley

It's spring—a time for new beginnings. This is Miki Yoshida's final year of high school, and she's determined to make this the best year yet. Miki is in control . . . . . . until Hiro Sakurai shows up. The tall, handsome new student is hiding something, and Miki wants to know what. As she breaks down Hiro's defenses, she is unnerved by how much she cares about him. Too bad he is the one guy who can't care for her back. But Miki is falling for Hiro, and nothing's going to stop her from getting close to him—not even his dangerous secret.

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Comics, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Mark Crilley is an American comic book creator and children's book author/illustrator. He is the creator of Miki Falls, Akiko, and Brody's Ghost. He is also noted for his instructional videos for drawing in the manga-style. Crilley distributes drawing advice to artists via YouTube videos and his DeviantArt account. In August 2010, he starred in some how to draw videos for Funimation on demand. Mark Crilley's wife is Miki Crilley who he named Miki Falls after. The two have a daughter, Mio, and a son, Matthew.
Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cri...

Reviews

[Rain Misoa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst. Manga. Ever. I'm warning you now. The things I have to say about this manga are not good ones. If you happened to like this manga then all the more to you but stay clear from this review. Just letting you know now to avoid insulting anyone in the future. With that said... on to the review.

I'm going through a major manga kick right now. It's been a while since I just sat down and read manga so I went to the library and just took out a whole bunch of manga. One of them was Miki Falls: Spring and its sequel Miki Falls: Summer, just to see what they were about since I had never heard of them. I'll be honest, I didn't think it would be something I would thoroughly enjoy because it looked really cheesy and... look at the art. It's horrendous. (More on the art later.) But I never judge anything until I read it for myself. I don't think it's fair when someone says they hate something before they give it a try... so I gave it a try... AND OH GOD I HATE IT! What was the point to all this? The plot was the dumbest thing to ever be created, the characters were shallow as hell, the art style was just... ew, and the climax? HA! Don't make me laugh. One of the worst "twists" to ever happen in a story since Toilet. (Twilight for those of you who don't know.) I've read my share of bad manga in my life... but this one takes the cake and gobble it down like the fat slob it is. My word... I just cannot believe I was able to finish it. I seriously thought about giving up a quarter of the way through. That's how bad it was! Bah! But enough of my babbling. Let's more on now.

Mark Crilley... I don't know you. I don't know the kind of things you are into... but what the hell, man? What were you thinking when you wrote this? The story is so bland and is almost EXACTLY (it is) like Twilight! This whole "society" you created for your manga was among the worst ever. Really? That's the "big secret" Hiro was hiding? You expect me to take this seriously after something so ridiculous is revealed? Needless to say, I was not a fan of your story. It was shallow just like your characters (more on that later) and I do not appreciate how you think that any of what you showed here is what love truly is. You don't go around stalking people, being obsessed with people, and expect them to just fall in love. It's stupid. I was bored out of my mind reading this. Nothing exciting happened, everything was just thrown together without much thought, and the climax left me rolling my eyes. Another thing I didn't like about this manga was how everything was being told to you. It's a MANGA. You don't have to EXPLAIN the scene if we are seeing it for ourselves! If you want to explain things, write an actual NOVEL. There was so much text about a scene that was going on... EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SEEING IT HAPPEN RIGHT BEFORE US. That annoyed me to high heaven. Oi... my head... this whole story... just... a let down all together. The fact that this took place at my favorite country, Japan, was another insult to add onto the list. To see such a vile story happening in Japan... why would you stab me in the heart!? WHY!?

The art was no better. I know I really shouldn't complain about art styles because everyone has their own taste in art... but shit! I've complained about everything else, I'll complain about the art, too. It's a mess to say the least. The characters look really disgusting. They have fat faces and really thin bodies. Their jaws are way too large and why the hell are their mouths in the middle of the face? They were just not pleasing to the eye. The scenery... is a little better, I will admit that BUT! even that was pretty dull to look at. There wasn't a lot of details put in and sometimes it looked like you were staring at a blank page instead of looking at beautiful Japan. The artwork was just dreadful. It hurt to look at. I wasn't able to stare at a page for longer than ten seconds before I felt myself just feeling disgusted. Crilley needs to work on his art before he is able to get anyone to really appreciate his work.

I think one of the worst parts in this book has GOT to be the characters. Let's start off with Miki, our protagonist. She was pathetic. At first, she started off okay. She seemed strong and focused on making herself a better person. She didn't need a man to live life to the fullest and I liked that about her. However, once Hiro, the love interest, comes into the picture, she threw all her ideals out the window! She became obsessed with him! She wanted to know more about him even though he clearly told her to stay the hell away from him. She started to stalk him and tell him that no, she wasn't going to give up on him. Some people might call that determination. I call it degrading yourself to a man that clearly wants nothing with you. What was Miki's main reason for going after Hiro? Oh, because he was "mysterious." What a disgrace she is... Hiro is no better. He had no personality. He was boring, bland, dull. Nothing to him. He was just hiding a "secret." That's it. Nothing to add into the fray of bullshit that was going on in the story. He played the typical role of douchy, myserious guy that you see in YA literature today. -_-" The fact that this is in a manga... oh God. Help us. The last character I am going to talk about is Miki's friend, Yumi. THE WORST CHARACTER EVER TO BE CREATED! She was even more shallow than Miki. She is completely boy crazy. All she talks about are boys. All she thinks about are boys. All she's about are BOYS!!! According to her, a girl shouldn't live unless she has a boyfriend. If you're seventeen and you've never been on a date, you're a sad excuse of a girl. "It's better to be with someone you hate than being alone." What kind of twisted logic does this chick have? She annoyed the hell out of me. I normally don't get all feminist-like but she just made every single woman look like we wanted nothing more than to have a penis between our legs. The hell!? Yumi needed to be killed. Strangled to death, run over by a bus, shot in the head, I don't care how! She just needed to be murdered because saying stupid shit like that should NEVER go unpunished. I'm sorry if I seem really bitter but she irked me the wrong way. How can one say such things? It was insulting. The characters in this book... really killed the entire read for me.

Oh God... just... don't read this book. I mean, if you are really, really, REALLY curious then give it a try. But I would NEVER recommend ANYONE to read this disgusting piece of crap. It's stupid, insulting, rubbish. Worst shoujo I had ever read! (Said this a million times because it is SOOOO true.) The plot is ridiculous, the art is atrocious, and the characters are an embarrassment to society. If you want to read a shoujo, go with something that has more class. Not this bullshit. As I said earlier in the review, I took out the second volume from the library as well. BUT THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM READING IT NOW AFTER READING THIS CRAP! I'm staying away from it. This was the tip of the iceberg... I rather not go down with this ship. >_< Good luck if you ever decide to give it a try. I'm off to bleach out my brain. *Walks off muttering about the crap she just read*

[edel · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of things about this volume really irked me.

First and foremost, the art wasn't all that great. The characters had insanely flabby faces, ugly chins, and mouths that are too small and too high on the face. I know we shouldn't judge by people's appearances, but the characters were just atrocious. They were supposed to be Japanese, but since I feel like the art is more Westernized than anything else, they seem Caucasian to me. It seems like wishful thinking on the author's part. However, the scenery was exceptionally well drawn. I really liked the scenery. The soft pencil feeling was great for the scenery. But I prefer sharp clean pen lines over the soft shades and gradients.

Secondly, the story was just plain embarrassing. I was immediately reminded of Twilight. Miki just falls over Hiro without knowing what he's like at all, over than the fact that he's "mysterious". Typical annoying teen girl. The other characters were extremely annoying as well. They were so unbelievable and unrelatable. I felt no connection at all.

I guess if bad art isn't that much of a deal to you, feel free to pick it up. But if you're a realist (and/or pessimist) who enjoys more authentic manga, this is not for you.

PS. The lead male's name is Hiro Sakurai. One of my favourite Japanese dramas, Koizora, has a lead character also named Hiro Sakurai. Hirio Miki Falls now has a name to live up to because every time I see that name I think of Hiro Koizora. The Koizora manga Is amazing as well.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miki Falls:Spring is about this girl named Miki. She is determined to make her final year in high school great but when Hiro Sakurai shows up her life changes completly. Hiro is a cute boy that looks kind and friendly but when other people want to be his friend he ignores them and goes away. Instead of trying to fit in he wants to be alone. Hiro wants to keep every body away from him even Miki, but he knows that trying to keep her away will hurt him more. Miki suspects that he is hiding something, and if he is she is determined to find out what it is.

This story is about love and trusting the person you love the most. In this book you will see how hard it is to be with the person you love when you know you can't be with them. You will see how hard it is to keep a special feeling you have for some one to yourself just because you know its wrong and can't be with them. You will see how at the end love is above everything. Read this book and you will see if Hiro has a secret or not...

[Elizabeth (Elzburg) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t lie, I did not have very high expectations going into this book. That’s probably because I always can’t help but fear the worst whenever I read something written by someone I’m familiar with, whether it be a friend, an author whose book(s) I’ve read before, or in this case, someone whose YouTube videos I had begun watching in grade 5. Those videos are the reason I bought this series, but I’ve been apprehensive to read them for a while now for the aforementioned reason, and also because this is Crilley’s first manga venture and I knew that the art was going to be a bit… Off. I can’t say that I was wrong about the art, but as for the rest of the book I was happily surprised.

The concept of this book is along the lines of things I’ve read millions of times before, however it has been twisted on its head and I found myself liking it a lot. In the past, I've complained about the cliché where the main character is some quiet emo loser who inexplicably and unrealistically catches the attention of some hottie who is stupidly resolved to follow them around and court them despite how shitty the main character is. Well, Miki Falls is interesting in how these roles are switched! The main character, Miki, is the hottie who stalks the quiet emo loser despite his shittyness. I'd say it's done rather well because we see that Miki's infatuation is not for any inexplicable or stupid reason, and as a matter of fact we as readers are also interested in finding out more about said quiet emo loser. This book puts some otherwise lacking perspective into the hottie stalker character.

On the negative end of the spectrum lies the lack of understanding of the sequential art medium that is evident within this book. It's as if Crilley wrote the script and was like, "This wordplay is so good, I've got to keep it in the final version," and just drew an illustrated novel around it instead of using it to shape a manga. There is SO much overlayed text that tells us about what characters are doing or feeling instead of art showing us, effectively disregarding the whole point of using a graphic medium. However, this is one of Crilley's older* series and I've watched a video of his where he directly references this, so I know that he has since learned from this mistake. I'm more baffled that none of his editors pointed this out to him in advance and that this book was allowed to be published this way.

*Miki Falls, (2007), is older than his newer work, however in the grand scheme of his career he had actually already been publishing comics for six years before starting this series, so I'm surprised that he was still making this mistake at that point in his career.

While there is an evident juvenile understanding with regards to showing and not telling, the panel layouts and pacing were well done and the mystery was intriguing enough to keep me interested in the story. I found the romance to be satisfying because of the sense of a slow burn that was built and because of the lack of any over-exaggerated fangirling or fantasising about the love interest. This book is also infused with Crilley’s signature sense of humor, which is good but at the same time almost jarring in that it is so different from the humor that is found in Japanese manga.

I’m glad that I own the whole series so that I can continue reading right away.


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Click to read all of my Miki Falls Reviews:
Volumes: 1*, 2 (not read), 3 (not read), 4 (not read)

*Current review

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked reading Mark Crilley's Akiko books with my kids, so when I saw this from him, I thought I would check it out. On the surface it looks like a kind of western incursion into the manga market, combining some western elements with manga, setting it in Japan. I don't know how this got started but was skeptical that it was a market-driven series.. though I now see Crilley splits his time living in Japan and Michigan... so maybe it was really his homage to manga. It also features Crilley's style of artwork, softer, less focused, less crisp than a lot of manga. Some people seem to hate the art. That I didn't mind. The dialogue seems like Crilley, which is a good thing, with his style humor. I think teens would find this very likable.... but I hate it that Miki begins liking truth and beauty and not needing boys and falls immediately for a Twilight-like hero, mysterious, distant, cool... and then this is all she cares about... which should make her boy-crazy girlfriend happy... I turned the pages, found it mildly entertaining...and generic, not edgy.

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read it back in 2007, I loved the four books series, but with a re-read, I think it's cute but I don't love it. The story is about a girl called Miki who falls for a new guy in their school, who is cold and mean called Hiro. She pushes herself into his life though he told her more than once that he isn't interested. I found Miki too aggressive. She discovered that Hiro isn't human, and has a strange mission in her town.

[Mir · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the concept/twist here a bit vapid, personally, but there is nothing objectively wrong with the book, I guess. I just didn't really care about the story or characters and expect to forget it promptly.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an earth-shattering story, but fun, wholesome, and gorgeous. I had a pretty great time.

[Kaylee Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miki Falls 1: SPRING
Mark Crilley
manga

Miki Falls is like the romance series of manga. You know the type of story where the guy is hiding something from the girl. So the girl meddles and the guy ends up having to tell her everything and they end up best friends. Well in this story the girls name is Miki and the boys name is Hiro Sakurakai. She starts off falling out if a window and the she starts the story from the beginning. Miki decided that she was not going to be the same as the year before. She was more of a push over the year before and now she is going to push back if she gets pushed. She tests the new version of herself out on the way to school when her friend Yumi scared her.

After all that and she got to school and heard about a new student named hiro sakurai. by lunch everyone knew about him but he didn’t start till the next day. After school she went to kyuudou club (which is like archery). She accidentally shot her arrow over into a rice paddy and while she was trying to find her arrow she found hiro. Hiro was surprised then he shut down. Miki got interested about why he was like that. The next day at school he was the same way towards everyone else to. So MIki would try to talk to him every day until he got broke down.

Then one day he actually stopped and told her to leave alone that he just can’t have friends. Although she kept trying and he did eventually he invited her to go walk. They walked literally to the middle of nowhere. They went to a temple. Almost right after that she saw him while she was at a girls day out with her friends she saw him spying on other people. so she continued to spy on him. she followed him everyday until one day neither his parents or him was there so she snuck into his basement. She saw and started reading the journals in his basement.

Then he came home and caught her. He told her to sit down and he explained everything to her. She knew that he was either crazy or he was telling the truth. Everyday after that they were like best friends. They would walk home together. Go places together. One day a car almost ran over MIki so Hiro pushed Miki out of the way she got so wet he invited her over to get her a change of clothes. She over heard his mother and him arguing over whether they could stay friends. They ended up not being friends for a while but by the end of the book they were friends again.

In my opinion it is an awesome book. It does end on a cliffhanger so I was excited that there was three more books. Before i read this book i thought that mangas where stupid. Now i am almost done with this series and is about to start another. My brother tried to get me to read a manga before but i just got confused. This manga is an easier one to read than some of the others. This is a good book for people who just started reading mangas to read. In conclusion to me this is an awesome manga to read.

written by: Kaylee Wallace

[Tapanga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever

[Sarai · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Booklist
Crilley, probably best known for his Akiko novels and comic books, weighs in with the Miki Falls series, about lively, curious high-school-senior Miki, ready for adventure and romance. Attractive new student Hiro Sakurai piques Miki's curiosity, but he is not interested in making friends. Stubborn Miki, however, refuses to take no for an answer, which leads to a surprising revelation about the secretive young man. Except for an odd twist at the end (which, presumably, will be developed in future volumes), there are no surprises here. Crilley's manga-inspired illustrations, on the other hand, are terrific. Ranging from crisscrossing sequential panels to spot art, varied in size and artfully connected to further the plot, the pictures cleverly instill the story with abundant emotion, humor, and drama. An overlay of light shading and almost delicately rendered facial features and details give the book a softer feel than much manga. Despite the age of the characters, this will attract more middle-schoolers than older comics fans.

I loved it! I think this is my favorite manga to date. I loved the narrative. I loved the art. There was nothing special about the costuming of the characters, but I liked the style and detail of the drawings. Can't wait to read the next one!

[Ayesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book "Spring", by Mark Crilley, an ordinary girl named Miki is the main character. Miki's going through her last year of high school, but when a new student named Hiro Sakurai comes her life changes. Even though Hiro looks like a very nice guy, he won't let anyone be his friend. Hiro would rather be all alone than even try to fit in. Miki is surprised that he is hurting his self by keeping her away from his self too. Now Miki is concerned about him and she's determinded to find out what he's hiding from everyone, even her.
This book will teach you about love, trust, and how to keep away from the person that you love the most. You will see how hard Miki tries to stay away from Hiro even though she loves him with all her heart. Miki knows that she can't be with him. You will see how hard it's to keep your secrets to yourself about that special someone. You'll learn how to stay away from the person that you love the most....

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Mark Crilley so obviously I decided to read this manga. Honestly, it wasnt that great and I was very disappointed. There are two main points as to why I didn't like this book: one was the art, and one was the story. The art was absolutely awful- especially the faces. He always draw such amazing things in his youtube videos, so why on earth would he draw like this? I don't even consider it manga, it is more like a western style comic. The eyes are too small and the face is way too high on the head. Miki is supposed to be actually quite cute, but the way he drew her makes her look almost a deformed manga character. I will admit the story got a little bit better as it went on, but that isn't saying much. It was way too simple and a lot of the time predictable. Overall, this book seems like the work of an amateur rather than of the stunning artist he really is.

[Գրետա Մանուկյան · Rating 1 out of 5]

The compositions are nice, and the pencil coloring, although certainly far too faded and smudged here and there, does really add something interesting to the overall feel of the manga. But other than these two things there's nothing more.
Non existent conflict, questionable world building, mediocre 1 dimensional characters and way too much text for a comics or even a manga. The writing of the girls is.. definitely written by a man. The guy is.. .... also definitely written by a man.
There's no mystic, no love story, no japanese spirituality, no magic, no adventure, no character and no flavor. It's not even a shoujo manga, which I assume it was trying to be. Nevertheless can't say it was terrible, it was just quite bland.

[Beneful · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just so...ughh. I seen what he did on youtube and when I came to read his manga it was just so horrid. His characters looked so sloppy compared to the ones he did on youtube. It's like a whole other person did the manga. The storyline was so typical and common. It wasn't funny or interesting. I read the manga for a little bit then stopped since their mouths really irked me. The expressions were weak and the characters annoying. Nobody can relate to them. I skipped pages and found out the story was still bland. Worst series ever.

[Anthony]

I was suprised when miki yelled at her mother.

The setting is Fukuyama high. Miki wanted to have a new life at school but she met someone to change all of that for her.The conflict os person vs self vs person vs socity.

Why did hiro say "I know you but i cant be with you".I A theme of this book is love. My favorite part of the book is when miki helps hiro hook up he friend up. the character hiro changed when he let miki in his life.

i thought this was ok. On a scale 1 to 10 it would be a 6. why? because its not that action its all drama. i hope you like romance because its all about that.

[Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE Mark Crilley! And I can see he put a lot of effort, work, and heart into his Miki Falls series. I like the pace of the storyline, and I absolutely love the characters, especially Yumi :) I gave it 4 stars because I know he'll get better, but I would have given him 5 stars if not for that tiny little detail.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can't.

1) Don't like the art.
2) Don't like the running narrative. For goodness sake, show don't tell.
3) Bland characters
4) Bad boys are so boring
5) It's missing all the sound effects that normally go in manga.
6) Did I mention how un manga like the artwork is?????

[Books on Stereo · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much angst.... But this series is promising! Can't wait to read the rest!

[Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

My middle school had this series, and I never read it. I never read any manga as a kid, I just kind of stared at the covers. But I remembered this one because I liked the season titles and no other reason. So now I got the chance to read the first book and I took it purely out of nostalgia. I thought this was just a high school romance story. NOPE. It was just about one of the biggest whiplashes I've felt from a book since the ending of that dumbass book Of Flesh and Fire. But with this book it was actually a good thing, because it was so unexpected but I loved it. I read this book right next to my friend/coworker, and every single time something new came to light in the story I would turn to him and be like "you will NOT believe this." It's safe to say I was having fun with it.

This book was hella camp, and that was the best thing about this whole thing. Just by reading some of the top reviews here for this book I can see that some people just thought the whole thing was trash, which is fair. The characters are weird, the story is outrageous, and this is just not up some people's alleys. I think if I had read this in middle school I may not have liked it as much, but it's hard to accurately pinpoint what 11-14 year old me would be interested in anyway. Personally I liked how absurd this whole thing was and how unexpected Hiro is as a character. You have to go into this story with no expectations to like it, and you cannot take it seriously in the slightest. It's clearly meant to be ridiculous, and books that embrace the silliness and don't try to take themselves too seriously are 100000% better than books that take themselves seriously and are just awful to begin with.

One thing that was on the forefront of my mind the whole time I read this book- this reminded me a lot of Twilight. And a bunch of other people mentioned the same thing in their reviews, so I'm not alone in this! I have absolutely no idea if Crilley was inspired by it or not (or other similar stories in the paranormal romance genre), but seeing as this book was published about a year and a half aftere Twilight was, it could be. Or it could be a complete coincidence. One of the first things that struck me as Twilightesque was Hiro on the cover because his outfit was quite similar to what Edward wears in the scene when Bella confronts him about being a vampire. Now this book is older than the film, so obviously that is a coincidence.

Don't mind the shotty quality of the photo, but I still feel the need to share this:





You see what I mean? But there were still so many other points when the book reminded me of Twilight: new kid in town, literally the way the guy is all guarded and mysterious, the whole "we can't be friends" monologue, THE WAY HE PUSHED HER AWAY FROM THE CAR?! It was so hilarious I loved it. Where as some people might hate how similar this book was to Twilight, I also love that series because it as also wonderful and camp and is a load of fun if you don't take it seriously, so I loved this book too. It was just hilarious, even if the "twist" in of itself wasn't as satisfying as I would have liked. But I'm still intruiged nonetheless.

As for the other aspects of the book, it's fine, but it didn't have to be super special or stand out to me. As of right now none of the characters have a lot of depth to them, but it's only the first book so that's fine. I also don't really mind if the characters stay sort of shallow in this series seeing as it's a four book manga series and each book would only take me half an hour or so to read. Miki was alright although there isn't much to her right now besides the fact that she's trying to be a "new person" for her senior year, which I can understand. She seems pretty normal, but not in a boring or annoying way, that's just who she is. Hiro is hilarious because he's so awkward and uptight, but it's even funnier than someone like Edward Cullen because Hiro just seems like he's always like that to begin with, never mind the fact that he's literally Cupid or whatever he's supposed to be. It doesn't really make sense yet although I think I understand the basic idea of what's going on. Also his design makes him look like Josh Hutcherson which I thought was funny. Yumi was kind of annoying, and that's about all I'm gonna say about her.

I think 90% of the reason why I liked this book was because of how absurd it was and how it was completely different from what I was expecting. If I had known going into it that it had a magical aspect to it I may have not been as surprised or liked it at much, but I enjoyed the fun experience I had. I don't have too much to say about this volume in particular because it's so short and it only served as an introduction to the characters. I'm assuming the next book is going to start to introduce more of a plot, and I'm interested in seeing what the main conflict is going to be. Safe to say I'm really enjoying this series so far because of its light-hearted and absurd nature, and I really hope that the rest of the series is like this and continues to just kind of include random and strange things.

[Arnela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've watched plenty of Crilley's art tutorials on youtube, so I was always on the lookout to get my hands on some of his books. I've always held off until I found these ones, because I wanted to read his stories [and observe his art] as he grew as an artist.

And boy did he grow.

I really like the art style, it looks like it was all done in graphite pencil, the hatching for shade and texture was my favorite part, it reminded me of the sort of sketchy art styles I really love. But it also shows that this was one of his earliest works [probably the first that made it into publication by a larger company]. His characters, primarily the girls, are very thin, long limbed [reminiscent of sailor moon legs], and at times the anatomy is just a little off [by that I mean the rest of the scene is very well managed and then there's just that one part that ended up looking wonky, like it didn't belong, for most readers they probably won't spot it the first time through]. He definitely improved over the four volumes he drew for the Miki Falls' series, and I'm really proud of him for it.

Now the story itself wasn't my cup of tea. The main genre is romance, with a secondary genre of fantasy [so think of it like college, this book majored in romance and minored in fantasy]. I'm not a romance person, not because it can't be done well, but because I see it shoe horned into a lot of other genre's and people use it to move the plot along when something else would have done the same decent job [or in more cases than not, a different plot moving device would have worked better]. So I guess I'm just tired of it, and reading something that's ALL romance, all the time, with romance being the big thing that moves almost all aspects of the plot just doesn't appeal as much to me.

Aside from that, I'm still capable of saying this book had a creative angle to it, with the type of fantasy it focused on and the powers and how love was a sort of magical resource that could run out, or be destroyed [like it wasn't renewable anymore] and magical beings known as deliverers had to take love from a dying relationship to one that could flourish and nourish that love [let it grow]. Which is an interesting take on love, and I was curious enough to want to read the rest of the series [instead of feeling like I should finish it since there's only 4, and I already got through the first one].

If you're into shoujo manga and fantasy this is definitely for you, lots of drama, lots of tension, lots of doping things in the name of true love.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miki Falls has just started her senior year of high school, and she's determined to be more assertive and in control of her life. So when a mysterious and secretive new boy, Hiro Sakurai, starts at their school, Miki's newfound determinedness begins to work on chipping away Hiro's barrier.

Turns out Hiro has a huge secret, which I'm slightly loathe to spoil. He's part of a secret society that binds him with very strict regulations, and spending time with Miki is absolutely against the rules. Of course, Miki's persistence convinces Hiro to find some loopholes.

The first book details Miki's curiosity and pursuit of Hiro. The second book gets into the heart of what Hiro does, and introduces conflict between Hiro's colleague and Miki. And, of course, the warming seasons of the titles echo the blossoming love that's developing between Miki and Hiro.

I know Crilley's work from the excellent all-ages series Akiko; Miki Falls is aimed at a slightly older audience, but still works for younger readers.

Though Hiro drives much of the external plot, Miki's determination and confusion remain absolutely compelling. The artwork, much more manga-influenced than Crilley's past work, is very strong. Crilley uses lots of reaction shots, close-ups on faces and eyes, and the pencil-shading is so nuanced that you can read so much into the characters' faces, despite the open, cartooniness of the figures.

While I'm not entirely sure it's up to Akiko's standards (not yet, anyway), it's a charming series, and definitely recommended.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miki Falls has just started her senior year of high school, and she's determined to be more assertive and in control of her life. So when a mysterious and secretive new boy, Hiro Sakurai, starts at their school, Miki's newfound determinedness begins to work on chipping away Hiro's barrier.

Turns out Hiro has a huge secret, which I'm slightly loathe to spoil. He's part of a secret society that binds him with very strict regulations, and spending time with Miki is absolutely against the rules. Of course, Miki's persistence convinces Hiro to find some loopholes.

The first book details Miki's curiosity and pursuit of Hiro. The second book gets into the heart of what Hiro does, and introduces conflict between Hiro's colleague and Miki. And, of course, the warming seasons of the titles echo the blossoming love that's developing between Miki and Hiro.

I know Crilley's work from the excellent all-ages series Akiko; Miki Falls is aimed at a slightly older audience, but still works for younger readers.

Though Hiro drives much of the external plot, Miki's determination and confusion remain absolutely compelling. The artwork, much more manga-influenced than Crilley's past work, is very strong. Crilley uses lots of reaction shots, close-ups on faces and eyes, and the pencil-shading is so nuanced that you can read so much into the characters' faces, despite the open, cartooniness of the figures.

While I'm not entirely sure it's up to Akiko's standards (not yet, anyway), it's a charming series, and definitely recommended.

[Astin Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miki Falls, Volume 1: Spring is a book about this young girl who is on her last year of high school and she ends up meeting the new guy in town but when she first tries to talk to him things end up really bad. After that day she tries to figure out why he is always in the shadows and wont talk to anyone. This book was really good. The author was very descriptive of what was going on and it was really easy to get into and stay focused on reading it. One part of the book that I liked was when Miki was constantly trying to make friends with the new kid and how she would constantly try to figure out why he wouldn't let anyone get close to him. I mostly hated the part at the very beginning when she falls off the roof but then jumps to where its the first day of school. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to read about mysteries and anyone that likes easy and fast pass books.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was disappointing. Miki starts out sounding like she's going to care about something more than boys, which her friend laughs at, making her indignant. She's going to go after big goals, big ideas!

Nope. All about a boooooooooy.

Which, without her little speech at the beginning, would be less disappointing. And girl does not go halfway in her obsession over Bland McBlusherson. He's so mysteeeeerious! She's just got to force him into friendship!

M'kay, but why though.

There is a mystery involved about him, and spoiler alert, it's weird and dumb. I mean, I didn't expect it to be the exact thing it was, perhaps because it was weird and dumb. I was in the neighborhood, but not the address.

I wouldn't recommend this, but I wouldn't actively steer people away from it either. It has a Twilight quality some might like, and it's not like it's the worst. Just dumb.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5

I know this wasn't the most original story--but I still really enjoyed it. My only real problem with it was the lack of presence of any of Miki's friends when she was around Hiro. And even though it didn't feel like manga--I'm still unsure why everyone feels the need to say it's horrible manga, because (from my understanding) it really isn't manga!--I enjoyed the pencil sketch style of art, and I think it fit the setting rather well. I will at least read the next installment before I decide whether or not I'll finish the series.

[Alina Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grouping the Miki Falls books together as I read them in one sitting!

I thought the Deliverers was a really cool concept which I wish we got to know more about. I did not love Miki and Hiro's relationship - it felt like it got deep soooo fast. Miki's determination to befriend Hiro was fun however.

I think Spring is the strongest title and then it devolves with each remaining title. I think I would've enjoyed this more as a young adult. Unfortunately, its simplicity in what could have been a great fleshed-out concept is too big for me to dismiss!

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miki Falls: Spring

What starts off as a pretty real-seeming, easy-to-read, intriguing story quickly turns to a bunch of crap about a god of love, deliverers, hold spirits, the idea that people are “destined” to be together. It’s not really for me personally. But I read these back in the 4th grade, and I’d like something to do while waiting for the plane to get here, so I’m alright with sticking out this very fictional young-adult series.

[rin ! ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so good! It wasn’t what I expected. AT ALL. In the start it’s like, “oh this is going to be a boring school manga” but NO. Also, the art style seemed to change between styles which I thought was a little weird, but I don’t think I should judge it by that. Miki seems a bit like a stalker, but the storyline is awesome. I’m looking forward to reading the other 3 books!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

I was so nervous this wasn't going to hold up to how I felt when I read it in high school, but fortunately the first one did. While the characters seem a little one dimensional, as does the plot, you start to see the characters come off of the page by the end of book 1. I love the set up for this story, and can't wait to read the rest of it again.