Rushed and formulaic, but cute. I had some major issues with Arto’s/Armeria’s sudden fall into gender conformity the second she was discovered as a woman. She’s been traveling the seas as a man for eight years! Then all of the sudden she’s too dainty to even fend for herself? I was really disappointed.

Even though the manga focuses on Arto/Armeria, she truly was a useless and uninteresting character. Captain Skulls/Luce was the saving grace for this manga. He made for a more interesting character that actually had some minor growth and development over the course of the book.

A far cry in quality from Matsuri Hino’s other works. Not worth buying, but makes for a quick read if you’re looking to kill a couple hours. ( )

This was a nice cute piece of fluff from the same manga-ka as Vampire Knight. Some of the outcome was a little predictable, but aside from that is was a nice little one shot. And the art was drool worthy of course given that the author also draws Zero. :DD ( )

This was a nice cute piece of fluff from the same manga-ka as Vampire Knight. Some of the outcome was a little predictable, but aside from that is was a nice little one shot. And the art was drool worthy of course given that the author also draws Zero. :DD ( )

This was a nice cute piece of fluff from the same manga-ka as Vampire Knight. Some of the outcome was a little predictable, but aside from that is was a nice little one shot. And the art was drool worthy of course given that the author also draws Zero. :DD ( )

I have been on a manga buying/reading spree lately. I’m a little late to the manga scene, at least compared to my husband, and have been trying to make up for it by picking up more or less every old manga I find at used book sales. Wanted by Matsuri Hino was one such purchase. This is a standalone manga from the creator of Vampire Knight. Yup, that’s right.

I mean. I’m not a huge fan of Vampire Knight myself. Actually, I’m not a huge fan of vampires in general. (Unless they’re named Alucard. Then they’re awesome.) But that’s a discussion for a different day.

Wanted is about Armeria, a young woman who is searching for her childhood friend and first love, Luce, who was captured by pirates eight years earlier. Since that day Armeria has been searching for him. When the story opens she disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of the pirate known as Skulls, the same man who kidnapped Luce. Of course her cover is soon blown, and, well...

Look, guys. This is a shojo manga. It’s pretty obvious where the story is going.

Armeria, or Arto as she’s known to the crew, is a fairly likable heroine. After finally finding the ship of the pirate captain who kidnapped her friend so long ago, she dresses as a boy and boards the ship. Of course, her cover gets blown soon afterwards. However overused this trope is not just in manga but in all media, the beginning of this scene was humorous and definitely used the pirate adventure setting to its advantage.

And its scenes like this that made me enjoy the manga despite it being predictable.

Of course, once the plot gets moving along, everything’s over. There’s no fulfilling ending. No last chapter that wraps everything up nicely. In fact, the last chapter of the manga isn’t even another chapter of Wanted. It’s a very short standalone story set in the Meiji Era, which, while a good story in and of itself, is quite the jump from the 17th century Mediterranean Sea. In the end, I felt unfulfilled.

The last chapter, or the last chapter involving the characters from Wanted, only added new plot elements. Nothing was wrapped up. New characters were introduced. There wasn’t any sort of conclusion. At the same time, it wasn’t as if there was any great cliffhanger, indicating a push for a second volume some time in the future. The story just stops right when it really gets going. It felt almost like the actual last chapter was just forgotten, left out and replaced by the ending standalone chapter.

To be honest, this would have been much better off as a series. It has the potential for a lot more than it is. Sure, Armeria is a bit of stereotypical shojo heroine. She misunderstands things. She doesn’t see the obvious even when Skulls, the reader, and the rest of the pirate crew all do. And, yeah, she has to be saved a rather infuriating number of times for a single volume of manga.

But! (And it’s a big but.) She is more self-aware than many other similar characters. She readily admits that her memories of Luce are somewhat tainted now, that she’s put him on a pedestal in her memories and has trouble reconciling that with reality. That’s a lot deeper than we get from a lot of other manga’s, and I was quite happy to see it addressed.

The pirate adventure parts felt like a pirate adventure. There was misadventure. There was some swashbuckling. The pirate crew, while largely remaining anonymous background characters, are a rather lovable bunch with very varied personalities. I would have liked to see more of them, and, in longer running series, probably would have proven to be a good cast of characters.

While fun, Wanted by Matsuri Hino wasn’t without its problems. In the end it feels unfinished rather than a standalone volume. However, were more volumes to be released in the future, I'd definitely pick them up. If you like shojo manga or are a fan of Matsuri Hino’s work, pick up a copy of this manga. If you don’t like shojo manga, or if you don’t like trope-y manga, this might not be the book for you.

This review and more can be found on Looking Glass Reads. ( )