The grammar is bad, but still readable. Already at chapter28 but it's lacking some details. I felt like everything just happened fast. For example, her master just accepted her as an apprentice and treated her like a granddaughter just because she sold a ginseng and he said she can identify some herbs. Was he that impressed? it didn't say. Also, she accepted him easily. For someone who was betrayed in her past life, I was expecting she'd be a bit guarded but not. I don't know what she saw in him. The rumor spread by her sister that he was a slut because someone saw him with his grandfather just happened the next day. How did that happen? I don't know. It would be good if there's a bit more details to make it more interesting because I felt like things just happen. Don't know, maybe it's just me. Still story is not bad so far.
I'm surprised this suddenly popped out on this site. Read this abt 4 years ago and I'm kinda surprised it isn't completed yet. I enjoyed this one quite a bit ;)
I literally seen this Novel at around 1200 rank, I was really attractive because of the title but felt that it will not be written in the way as expected from the title, since it was a isekai World. To think it is in top 50 now...
I came across this material two years back, and at the time, I considered it one of the worst things I had ever read. Yet here I am, still pondering it after all this time—so surely that must mean something, right?
Alien 9 stands as a cornerstone of underground manga culture. Despite the wild events that unfold within its pages, the plot remains easy to follow and makes coherent sense as a coming-of-age narrative. However, after delving into numerous other works by Tomizawa, including the sequels, I've come to believe that Alien 9 was perhaps a fortunate anomaly.
Milk Closet held the potential to nearly match the brilliance of Alien 9 if only it had taken the time to allow its characters to develop and convey meaningful depth. Unfortunately, after just a few chapters, the focus on the characters begins to wane, and bizarre occurrences happen so swiftly that I found myself utterly lost during the second half of the manga. It reminds me of those nightmares where scenes shift without logic, yet while you're in the dream, you don't pay much heed to the lack of coherence. In fact, this dream-like quality is arguably one of the manga's most notable attributes, best approached as almost pure abstract art. Another standout feature is its staggering ruthlessness. Indeed, Tomizawa transforms the torment of children into an actual form of artistic expression.
While I acknowledge the artist's imagination, for any potential comeback to succeed, he desperately needs to collaborate with a skilled writer who possesses a similar degree of madness to complement his vision.
If you have read any of Hitoshi Tomizawa's works, you know that he writes some crazy stuff filled with symbolism. That's pretty much how you would describe this series in particular.
Plot: Essentially, there are many universes beyond our own, and in our universe, there's a syndrome affecting children called "Liesel Syndrome," where a child disappears into another universe. The M.I.L.K squad is a group led by Liesel ("Sis") herself, tasked with helping the children who are transported to these vast universes. That's about all I could gather from the plot.
Art: The art is actually quite consistent and looks good. Unless, of course, you're not a fan of the 'Moe' art style. However, the aliens he creates are genuinely horrifying in their own way. They resemble large, mutated insects of some sort.
Characters: I found it difficult to take much away from these children. Each was given a specific trait and stuck with it. You can barely remember their personalities.
Enjoyment: I really enjoyed it since I'm a fan of Tomizawa's works, including his most famous creation, 'Alien 9.' But if you're not into being mindfucked, you might want to steer clear of this series.
Overall: It was a psychological horror story about poor children dealing with horrifying creatures. Reading this series will leave you very confused and surprised. The symbolism piles up, making it incredibly confusing and messy.
If you enjoyed this, you should definitely check out Tomizawa's other work, 'Alien 9.' It features a trio of cute girls handling alien encounters with yuri undertones.
This is without a doubt one of, if not the most bizarre manga I've ever read, especially when it comes to the designs.
The plot revolves around a group of girls who can leap between different universes using Santa-like hats. These hats must only be worn while they're on duty. Their mission? Simply put, it's to jump from universe to universe, stopping creatures from using the children of those universes as food. There are 600 universes, but they're not supposed to visit all of them—just the ones assigned by their teacher. The goal of these creatures is to "lock" each universe with its children to create a grand unified universe.
The characters are underdeveloped both mentally and physically, and their parents are nowhere to be found. They fight daily to save each universe from these creatures and their plan for a grand universe. They're looked after and taught by both a teacher and a doctor who provide them with the knowledge to handle the tasks for each assigned universe.
That’s the basic premise of this manga. However, the underlying themes are where the true story lies. What Hitoshi aimed to create here was a series centered around themes such as responsibility, individual growth, accountability, equality, and coming of age. Hitoshi used his stylized art to attempt to tell the story through symbolism and simple character dialogue, but he failed miserably with over-the-top flash scenery, nonsensical fight scenes, and just outright strange designs. While I do appreciate his designs, he took it a bit too far in this case.
The main issue with this title is that he never properly set up the story at the beginning and tried to dive into it a quarter of the way through with his symbolic art style and minimal dialogue. Not to say the story never gained momentum, but the structure was never fully developed and often fell flat due to the weird scenery and designs. If he had simply focused on developing the symbolism and character arcs, the story would have been much stronger. Too often, it felt like he got carried away with the scenery.
What Hitoshi ultimately attempted here was to recreate the magic he achieved in Alien Nine. The story and themes are similar, but lack the quality found in his earlier work. This proves that overindulgence leads to bad habits and an unsatisfactory result.
Story: 3
Art: 9.5
Characters: 5
Enjoyment: 7 (it's quite fun if you're a horror fan or love monster designs)
Overall: 4.5/10
I highly recommend the superior Alien Nine. But steer clear of Emulators—it's essentially the same concept, only rushed and pointless. Also, the OVA is decent, though it only covers Volume 1.
Popular Reviews
Alien 9 stands as a cornerstone of underground manga culture. Despite the wild events that unfold within its pages, the plot remains easy to follow and makes coherent sense as a coming-of-age narrative. However, after delving into numerous other works by Tomizawa, including the sequels, I've come to believe that Alien 9 was perhaps a fortunate anomaly.
Milk Closet held the potential to nearly match the brilliance of Alien 9 if only it had taken the time to allow its characters to develop and convey meaningful depth. Unfortunately, after just a few chapters, the focus on the characters begins to wane, and bizarre occurrences happen so swiftly that I found myself utterly lost during the second half of the manga. It reminds me of those nightmares where scenes shift without logic, yet while you're in the dream, you don't pay much heed to the lack of coherence. In fact, this dream-like quality is arguably one of the manga's most notable attributes, best approached as almost pure abstract art. Another standout feature is its staggering ruthlessness. Indeed, Tomizawa transforms the torment of children into an actual form of artistic expression.
While I acknowledge the artist's imagination, for any potential comeback to succeed, he desperately needs to collaborate with a skilled writer who possesses a similar degree of madness to complement his vision.
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Plot: Essentially, there are many universes beyond our own, and in our universe, there's a syndrome affecting children called "Liesel Syndrome," where a child disappears into another universe. The M.I.L.K squad is a group led by Liesel ("Sis") herself, tasked with helping the children who are transported to these vast universes. That's about all I could gather from the plot.
Art: The art is actually quite consistent and looks good. Unless, of course, you're not a fan of the 'Moe' art style. However, the aliens he creates are genuinely horrifying in their own way. They resemble large, mutated insects of some sort.
Characters: I found it difficult to take much away from these children. Each was given a specific trait and stuck with it. You can barely remember their personalities.
Enjoyment: I really enjoyed it since I'm a fan of Tomizawa's works, including his most famous creation, 'Alien 9.' But if you're not into being mindfucked, you might want to steer clear of this series.
Overall: It was a psychological horror story about poor children dealing with horrifying creatures. Reading this series will leave you very confused and surprised. The symbolism piles up, making it incredibly confusing and messy.
If you enjoyed this, you should definitely check out Tomizawa's other work, 'Alien 9.' It features a trio of cute girls handling alien encounters with yuri undertones.
The plot revolves around a group of girls who can leap between different universes using Santa-like hats. These hats must only be worn while they're on duty. Their mission? Simply put, it's to jump from universe to universe, stopping creatures from using the children of those universes as food. There are 600 universes, but they're not supposed to visit all of them—just the ones assigned by their teacher. The goal of these creatures is to "lock" each universe with its children to create a grand unified universe.
The characters are underdeveloped both mentally and physically, and their parents are nowhere to be found. They fight daily to save each universe from these creatures and their plan for a grand universe. They're looked after and taught by both a teacher and a doctor who provide them with the knowledge to handle the tasks for each assigned universe.
That’s the basic premise of this manga. However, the underlying themes are where the true story lies. What Hitoshi aimed to create here was a series centered around themes such as responsibility, individual growth, accountability, equality, and coming of age. Hitoshi used his stylized art to attempt to tell the story through symbolism and simple character dialogue, but he failed miserably with over-the-top flash scenery, nonsensical fight scenes, and just outright strange designs. While I do appreciate his designs, he took it a bit too far in this case.
The main issue with this title is that he never properly set up the story at the beginning and tried to dive into it a quarter of the way through with his symbolic art style and minimal dialogue. Not to say the story never gained momentum, but the structure was never fully developed and often fell flat due to the weird scenery and designs. If he had simply focused on developing the symbolism and character arcs, the story would have been much stronger. Too often, it felt like he got carried away with the scenery.
What Hitoshi ultimately attempted here was to recreate the magic he achieved in Alien Nine. The story and themes are similar, but lack the quality found in his earlier work. This proves that overindulgence leads to bad habits and an unsatisfactory result.
Story: 3
Art: 9.5
Characters: 5
Enjoyment: 7 (it's quite fun if you're a horror fan or love monster designs)
Overall: 4.5/10
I highly recommend the superior Alien Nine. But steer clear of Emulators—it's essentially the same concept, only rushed and pointless. Also, the OVA is decent, though it only covers Volume 1.