I hate to admit it, but the more OEL's I read the warier I become about purchasing them for my personal collection. While there are a few gems that stand out among the rest, most just wind up being disappointing. When Roadsong began it had so much potential - the plot was good, the characters were interesting and the art was nice too look at, but in the end it just didn't really deliver. I DO understand that it's difficult to develop plot and characters in only three volumes, but to be honest I'd rather that the author had sacrificed a bit of plot to delve a bit more into the characters and their motives than vise versa. These guys have been on the run for several months...and yet between volume 1 and volume 3 they don't really "grow" at all - they're still reacting to their situation (and each other) in exactly the same ways, which seems unlikely to me.
Something else I didn't care for (although this is entirely an issue of personal genre tastes) is that the story couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be serious or funny. In the first volume a whole boatload of people are killed in an explosion, the main characters are accused of the crime AND the REAL killers are after them - it sounds like a pretty serious issue...and yet the villains are more like a joke than a real threat and neither of the main characters seems to care that they've just lost the people that were most important to them. I know that people deal with grief differently, but it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief about their attitudes. In the end, although it seemed obvious I was supposed to care/sympathize with the different characters and their situations, I just couldn't do it.
The artwork itself was well-done, kinda cute and light-hearted - although there was a slight shift in style between volumes 2 and 3, it didn't detract from things too much. But again, (and this is just personal preference) I really think this story would have benefited from a darker style rather than a humorous one - something...anything to make me feel like the characters were actually in some sort of REAL danger.
Overall, I would probably only recommend adding this series to your library's collection for two reasons: One - it's three volumes long, perfect for if you're trying to beef up your graphic novel collection AND stretch your budget; Two - it's a guy-oriented manga that doesn't have an "epic" battle happening on every other page. Although, truthfully, I don't think your typical teens will find as much at fault with this story as I did - I really believe that much of my un-enjoyment was just personal preference.
