Reviews / The Key In The Cage

I love it but I wish there was another part

I really enjoyed this but...The artwork had a lewd stuff i mean the mermaid..it made the breast just like that doesnt seems like the author try to censored it a bit

Fantastic! Great story <3

Superb!!!

A sad manga about inevitability and choices. Sometimes there simply are no good options, and the protagonist is left to choose between a moment of beauty or prolonged heartache; and both options will have devastating results. I enjoyed reading this manga. I really like the premise of the world built around the story and wish it would evolve into more than just a one shot.

Lovely art style, reminds me a bit of a reverse gendered "The Shape of Water", but a bittersweet ending.

This was a wonderful story with a heroic main character with a splash of science. I love when a main character goes against someone close to them to do what is right! Ended beautifully in only a few pages and the art style was gorgeous! I highly recommend to anyone.

The climax was fast but it is a one shot but I believe it was able to build up the tension well. The art style is stunning & it was a bittersweet story about creation.

I agree with people in that the ending was rushed and should’ve been better, but wow was that a interesting story.

A quite unique one-shot manga with a charming, sketchy art style and a strong message. All is pretty much written in the synopsis, but I recommend reading this anyway. Many should learn from The Key In The Cage how to write short, but impactful stories and I'm looking forward to more manga from Shino Matsuda!

The front illustration caught my eye. It's definitely beautiful. The art from the rest of the manga isn't perfect, but still good. The story is beautiful as well. The only thing I didn't like is that the last part was too rushed, a couple of extra pages wouldn't have been bad.

Stunning art and beautiful yet bittersweet story. Very enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this work.

What a lovely story! The art style is pretty and the detail in the surroundings and backgrounds is very impressive! It's a classic story about conscience which I always enjoy, and I thought the story was well executed! I only wish the plot could have been expanded upon more because I think the story would shine even brighter if given the opportunity to breathe with more space for characters to become attached and grow. Even so, in the space used they did a magnificent job getting the story across, and it was absolutely lovely!

amazing, I would like to see more! the end was very abruptly.
you could have developed much more the story, also i got a bit lost, due to the graphic design.

Really nice story, but sometimes the art style was a little lacking

Wow. I applaud the main character for doing what he thought was right, but the ending was sad. I thought the artwork was beautiful.

The art wasn't consistent with the expectations given from the cover. The backgrounds were beautifully done, but the characteds were off in some panels. A lot of attention was paid to the initial panels and the mermaid.

The story is based on the classic concepts of living for comfort versus conscience.

Me gustó mucho la historia porque te hace pensar en el egoísmo humano. El final es triste pero le da mucga realidad. Me encantó el estilo de dibujo, es muy atractivo.

I felt the story was good but a little lacking and seemed really close to The Shape of Water. Also felt the artwork was rushed and a little rough around the edges.

The cover art drew me in to check out this manga. The beautiful art fits perfectly well the bittersweet and melancholy mood of the story. This is one of the few manga I read that made me stop and take my time observing the art and the text.

Definitely "The Shape of Water" vibes here. I really feel like this story would have benefitted more if it weren't just a one shot. More backstory or development would have made it all more meaningful.

Not a bad story for a one-shot, I thought it could have been expanded a bit more, so we could gotten a bit more background the world and its characters, in which we would have hopefully gained a better attachment to the characters; but I still felt for its length, the story was straight-forward and didn't leave many questions unanswered.

Though the art is a little rough, I felt it was quite fitting for the story. The artist did well to contrast everyone else from the mermaid's design, as she is supposed to be quite beautiful in this story's world.

Though it is a bit predictable and not quite new in premise, I would have given the story 3 1/2 stars if I could.

The cover art is beautiful and unique, with a look that almost reminded me of Amano's art, so I wanted to love this. The backgrounds inside were indeed beautiful, but the people looked a little rough. Regardless, from an aesthetic perspective, this was a lovely manga. That being said, unfortunately, the story didn't really work for me. Parts of the concept were interesting, but overall it felt a bit derivative and ultimately, too much happened in too short of a time span. We weren't really given any moments or reasons to care about these characters or what was going on. I think this story could still work as a one-shot, but would benefit from some better pacing. Regardless, if the cover art intrigues you as it did me, go ahead and take a look. It isn't very long so even if you don't end up enjoying it, you won't exactly have lost much time.

Interesting and melancholy short story about the arrogance of man. Nothing groundbreaking but the art style is beautiful.

Nice story,love the art style.

Wow this is good! I like the art a lot and the story is interesting.

beautiful story, makes you think

Pretty good!

I love the art style. The story is also rather bittersweet and it allows you think more about how the world works.