Manga Review: Zombie-Loan vol. 1 by Peach-Pit

Title: Zombie-Loan vol. 1
Author: Peach-Pit
Pages: 208
Publications: October 17, 2007
Publisher: Yen Press
Summary taken from goodreads: 

Michiru Kita's a weak-spirited girl who has a hard time saying what's on her mind. One day, she notices mysterious, ring-like markings around the necks of two of her classmates, Chika Akatsuki and Shito Tachibana - two boys who miraculously survived a horrible accident six months ago. Michiru, possessing the rare ability to see these rings, knows that they warn of impending death. Thinking that, perhaps, she can do something to save her classmates' lives, she approaches them...but it seems the boys have already made a different kind of deal and garnered themselves a heavy debt.

1.5 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

It's hard trying to connect with a main character who keeps everything inside while letting everyone walk all over her when you're the type of person who's pretty vocal about her opinions and is too lazy to do half of the stuff that people ask her to. 

That, and the stilted, cliched lines used in the action scenes made me want to quit the book after the first two chapters. But I forced myself to finish the volume because I wanted to give the book the benefit of the doubt, hoping that it would get better at the end. 

And it did, if only just a little bit. Michiru finally grew a bit of a backbone with Chika and Shito's help, but it was still pretty annoying since they had to figuratively keep on pushing her into a corner so that she had to finally speak up. Who knows what would have happened if she hadn't stuck up for herself; she'd probably just continue to fake a smile while continually regretting her decisions, which would have been so completely angsty and unneeded. 

I would have probably burned the book if it went like that. 

You wonder why your life sucks? Well, it's probably because you DON'T DO ANYTHING TO TRY TO CHANGE IT and let people treat you like a doormat. You have no hope, no reason, and therefore, no will to live, and because of that, you're practically already dead, just like Shito tells her. 

She really isn't the most likable protagonists.

Anyway, I'm going to continue reading this series, mainly because I had already bought the next two volumes since they were on sale a couple of weeks ago, and also because I'm really hoping that Michiru will experience some character growth in the next volumes, or else I really will be wasting my time. 

EDIT: I've already read the next two volumes, and even though it wasn't as annoying as the first volume, there wasn't much character growth and it was still pretty stilted, so I'm not continuing the series and can't bring it in me to review the two volumes that I read.