The Essentials
Name: DearS
Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy, Romance
Tankoubon: 8
Serialized In: Monthly Comic Dengeki GAO!
Released: March 2002 - December 2005
Story & Art: Peach-Pit
Published By (Japan): Media Works
Published By (US): TokyoPop
Scores
Story: 7/10 (x 3 = 21 pts)
Art: 8/10 (x 3 = 24 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Total: 77/100 (77%)
Review
DearS is about a boy named Takeya who unwittingly becomes the master of a DearS named Ren. The DearS themselves are a group of aliens who crash landed into Tokyo Bay a year prior to the start of the series. The DearS are conditioned to be a slave race for whatever civilization they cross paths with.
From this point, most of the series is about Takeya trying to figure out what to do with Ren, who is what the DearS call a “zero number” - one that is determined to be unfit to be out in society. Ren was able to escape when the pod carrying her opened during a truck crash. Along the way he runs into Miu, a dears obsessed with how DearS should properly act in society and who is upset with Ren, who has had no such training, and Khi, who is more of a soft-spoken and down-to-earth DearS than most. Takeya also has to deal with his childhood friend and neighbor Neneko as well as his little sister Natsuki.
Over the course of the series, the DearS, and Ren in particular, don’t seem to be everything they appear to be. We eventually discover the dark truth behind the DearS and whether Ren ultimately becomes the key that save Takeya and the rest of humanity.
DearS is a series which hinted that Ren might be bigger than she appears in her importance along the way, but really didn’t get into the meat of the matter until the 8th and final volume. In between is a lot of secondary and tertiary plot lines along with some fluff. The story just seems to ultimately drag on more than it needs to.
The art is probably average or so for a series. It’s not bad but it’s not terrific either. I think DearS will be a hit-or-miss series as far as whether one likes it or not.
First Read: February - May 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Indifferent
