Animal Academy and the value of American anime/manga review magazines

Or magazine, as the case may be.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, a manga will seem unappealing to me.  I will leave it to fall to the bottom of the list or just forget about it and read something else.  Sometimes, this will be a big mistake I will find out about later when I am reading a magazine.

Animal Academy was one such title.  I passed it over until I read a review in Otaku USA that made me think I'd like it, so I gave it a try, and I really enjoyed it.  It was cute but not saccharine and dodged many shojo manga tropes that make me crazy.

Basically, it's the story of a girl so dumb she only got into one high school she'd never really heard of out in the extreme boondocks.  As it turns out, it's a school where animals able to transform into humans go to learn how to be convincingly human.  She's the expert in that, which is a novelty to someone who's always been at the bottom of the academic stack, but she isn't supposed to tell anyone she's human. 

For some reason, it reminded me of a less-hyper version of Gakuen Alice.  It's genuinely adorable, and I'm looking forward to where it goes from here.


Have you ever read a review somewhere that made you give something you'd overlooked a try that lead to you finding a new favorite or just a good read?  Do share where you found the tip and maybe why it made you reevaluate if you remember.