What I Recently Read: "Ningyo Oujisama" ("Mermaid Prince") Volume 1 by Yuana Kazumi

Title: 人魚王子さま / Ningyo Oujisama / Mermaid Prince Volume 1
Mangaka: 和深ゆあな / Yuana Kazumi
Publisher / Imprint: Tokuma Shoten / Zenon Comics
Magazine: Monthly Comic Zenon
ISBN: 9784199802164
Purchase: Amazon JP / Amazon US / Yes Asia / Honto JP

Genre: Seinen, comedy, gag

Synopsis: 30-year old Manato Kogane has been unemployed for a year. With dwindling savings and his youth slipping away, his only hope is a lottery ticket. When his lottery ticket falls into a pond, Manato jumps in after it and sees a mermaid. After some contemplation, he goes back to the pond hoping to take a picture of the mermaid so he can profit from the media circus. However when he actually meets the mermaid, she tells him that she is collecting coins from the pond so God will grant her wish to become human and find love. As thanks to Manato for feeding her, the mermaid gives Kogane her coins, but instead of using the coins for himself, Manato offers the coins and a year of his life to make the mermaid's dream to become human come true. And with this, Manato's life with the mermaid Sango begins.

First Impression: Oh, the cover is really pretty, but should I buy this? It might be nasty "surprise". No, it's a clean gag-comedy gender-bending series! I love the artwork!

Artwork A: The color page is gorgeous! I like the watercolor-look of both the cover, the color page, and the black-and-white comic pages. The backgrounds are detailed but don't overwhelm the foreground. The mangaka uses sparkles, bubbles, and glow to enhance comedic and fantastic moments.

Recently Read: "Innocent" by Sakamoto Shinichi

Title: Innocent (イノサン） volume 1
Language: Japanese
Mangaka: Sakamoto Shinichi (坂本眞一）
Publisher / Publication: Shueisha / Young Jump
ISBN:  9784088795652
Purchase: Amazon JP 

Synopsis: This series is the fictionalized story of Charles Henri Sanson who was the fourth generation Royal Executioner of France. He served during the reign of Louis 16th. This first volume covers from when he was expelled from school to his first execution job. It is based on historical events, but the details are fictionalized.

First Impressions: Wow! The artwork is gorgeous! But yeeks! There are a lot of disturbing scenes in this manga. I'm not sure I can handle this.

Artwork A+: Both the color illustration and the black and white illustrations are amazing. The black and white illustration are technically excellent as well as emotive. There's detail to drool at for days and fantastical scenes of beauty and horror, sometimes in the same image.

 

There are some scenes of torture which I found unnecessarily erotic considering how upsetting the violence was. But still, the images were lovingly drawn. There is lots of use of light and shadow to make evil people look extra sinister. The drawing styles of the backgrounds shifts throughout the volume.  It's very different than how the faces in the foreground are drawn. I got used to it quickly though.

Manga Review: "Black Rose Alice" Volume 1 by Setona Mizushiro

Title: Black Rose Alice
Mangaka: Setona Mizushiro
Publisher: Viz / Shoujo Beat
ISBN: 978-1421571607
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis: LINK

First Impressions:  I've wanted to read this series for long time, but I've never had the patience to deal with Japanese because of the katakana for the non-Japanese names and the complicated story. I'm glad I waited because the name in the first half of the volume would have infuriated me. I had some inkling of the vampire mechanic in this series, but it's nice to finally read the details.

Breakdown: 

Artwork C+: All of the faces are typical Setona Mizushiro. In a way, the character designs feel recycled from past works. It's not a bad thing, but it did set character personality expectations based on past works for me. The cover isn't that interesting to me, but the artwork that is supposed to be in color are pretty. The backgrounds are serviceable but sparse. They don't really add much to the story and none of the story pages strike me as memorable. I guess overall the art work is just there.

What I Read Recently -- Manga Reviews

Title: Insufficient Direction
Artist: Moyocco Anno
Publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 978-1-939130-11-2
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis --

Moyocco Anno's biographical manga about her married life with Hideaki Anno

Artwork -- A: The manga is drawn in a fun style that reminds me of newpaper comic strips. It's different from Moyocco Anno's usual style, which was cool. It shows artistic range.

Presentation -- A: Of course I love the bigger book size because it's easier to read. There's a generous appendix that explains the references in the manga. The translation reads very smoothly.

Story -- B: This is a tough manga fairly rate story-wise. There are many references to anime and manga and some inside marriage speak that only married people would truly understand. This means that the manga has limited accessibility. Honestly speaking, 90% of the references blew right past me, but I understand geek marriages perfectly well because I am a geek married to another geek. Anyhow, the compilation is broken into very short episodes that last a handful of pages. This makes for quick reads and small contained gag-based storytelling. I laughed a lot, mostly because the manga hit closer to home than I wanted.

Overall -- A-: I liked this manga. Rompers and Director-kun are presented as an adorable and real geek couple. I also appreciated the quick-hit gag-style storytelling. This is a must for Moyocco Anno's adult fans who have read more of her works than "Sugar Sugar Rune." Younger people and non-geeks will probably find this manga to be inaccessible.
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Title: Library Wars Volume 11
Artist: Kiiro Yumi
Publisher: Viz (Shoujo Beat)
ISBN: 978-1421564319
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Short Review: Iku faces the reality of war and her participation in it. The standard crying and questioning values comes forth as Iku deals with the possibility that she may have shot somebody. There's also an examination of violent vs. non-violent approaches to protest and how both can be highly politicized. The pacing of the chapter was nice. I read through it quickly in one sitting. This chapter also prompted me to reflect on what freedoms are worth dying for. There is a fun and funny short story at the end of the volume. I was grateful for this respite after such an emotional and weighty read up to it.

I am kinda getting tired of the slow pace of Iku's and Dojo's romance. I want to see what they are like together as a romantic couple in these dangerous situations. The "almosts" and "holding back" are getting on my nerves. I feel like it's inhibiting character growth at this point.

Overall B+:  It's a thoughtful volume, but on the whole I was left unsatisfied with the lack of romantic progress between Iku and Dojo.
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Title: Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Volume 4
Artist: Maki Minami
Publisher: Viz (Shoujo Beat)
ISBN: 978-1421559735
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Short Review: Hime is cast in a role and must overcome the misgivings of the sound director. As per every talent or fighting shoujo or shounen manga, Hime has a shortcoming that she must overcome. I loved every moment spent in the chapter showing Hime in her male disguise interacting with Kudo. The rest was standard idol-manga schlock that was handled in standard fashion. There were no surprises good or bad.

At this point I'm only into this series for the relationships between characters. I couldn't care less about the idol storyline.

Overall B-: It's still a fun read and the moments between Hime and Kudo are precious. The idol crap doesn't appeal to me at all.

What I Recently Read -- Mini Manga Reviews

Title: Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Clockmaker's Story
ISBN: 9781937867645
Purchase: Amazon US / Barnes and Noble

Review -- B-: For an Alice in the Country of XYZ follow on story, this is pretty good, but compared to other shoujo in general it's quite middle of road.  This story supposes that Alice falls in love with the Clockmaker Julius.  I've always like Julius, so I thought this was really cute.  Where it fell apart for me was when Julius acted aggressively. It seem very out of character. As with all the Alice in the Country of XYZ books, there is some implied sex, but nothing is shown explicitly. The narration during the scene in this book is pretty bad.  The writing is quite ham-fisted. But... I have to remember that this was written for tweens and teens. If you like the Alice in the County of XYZ books, then this is a must buy.  It could also be a good buy for a teen who wants a little bit of eroticism without explicit scenes. Otherwise, this book can be skipped without missing much.

Title: No. 6 Volume 5
ISBN: 9781612623597
Purchase: Amazon US / Barnes and Noble

Review -- A: Shion confronts his humanity as he and Rat carry out their plan to infiltrate the No. 6 Correctional Facility to rescue Safu. This is a grim volume filled with death and suffering. It made me feel very emotional.  There is a lot to mentally chew on in this chapter, and it is a page turner. Overall, it's another great volume in this wonderful shoujo sci-fi series.

Title: Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Volume 3
ISBN: 9781421559728
Purchase: Amazon US / Barnes and Noble

Review -- B: This series continues to grow on me. I'm not really into Hime.  I think she's quite bland,  but I do like her manager, Yamada P, and Mizuki. This volume focuses on Mizuki's past. I'd say the moral of Mizuki's story maybe be a little weird to American readers. We are used to people overcoming and winning, rather than understanding their own limitations and settling for what they can do. And then there's the blame shifting and the idea of how futile it is to encourage a seemingly talentless person. American optimism dictates that hardwork and determination always pay off and can override innate ability. Anyhow... I found myself knitting my eyebrows at times during the volume (My expectation was, of course, that the talentless character would work hard, become a success, and then kick Mizuki to the curb -- but nope.). At the same time, I understand this way of thinking, because sometimes it's better to redirect a person, rather than watch them keep hitting a wall. Anyhow, this continues to be pleasant cotton candy series. It's nice to read when I need mental vacation.

What I Recently Read -- "Futari no Renai Shoka" Volume 1 by YamazakiKore

Title: Futari no Renai Shoka (ふたりの恋愛書架） ("Their Love Bookshelf")
Mangaka: Yamazaki Kore (ヤマザキコレ）
Publisher/ Publication: Houbunsha / Manga Time Kirara Forward
ISBN: 9784832242616
Purchase: Amazon JP / YesAsia

Synopsis:

Kanako is a free spirited lonely women who lives in and runs a used bookstore, and Akio is a lonely young man who loves books. The two meet at a swap meet and have an instant rapport. They meet again at Kanoko's bookstore, where Kanako impulsively proposes to Akio, only to find out, despite looking like an adult, he's at the end of his third year in junior high.  The story continues when Akio enters high school and mainly focuses on the couple's getting their friends to accept their relationship and their eventual decision to live together. Yes, this is an age gap romance, but it is very sweet and there is no sexual content.

This volume includes chapters 1 - 5 and two bonus stories. The series is two volumes in length.

Artwork B+: It's simple and functional with nice use of screentones giving it a slightly shoujo feel. However, the artwork is nothing special. It doesn't really stand out, but I suppose that's good because flashy artwork would overwhelm this delicate story.


Presentation C-: This book is small, which means the text is small. I have bad eyesight, so the size of the text was a burden on me. There were many times when I had to take a picture with my tablet to magnify the page so I could read it. I bought a magnifying glass to ease reading the second volume.  The text size problem is even worse with the mangaka's handwritten chicken scratch. Some of it I simply could not read despite magnification because there was not enough print resolution. Other wise the dust cover is nice and there is a color page at the beginning.

Story A-:  This is a small story about a couple. I like the way the focus is on Kanako and Akio, and so far, there is no love triangle to weigh the series down. There are only a handful of side characters, and they serve mostly as sounding boards for Akio as he muddles through his feelings for Kanako and weighs whether he should move in with her. Kanako, despite being free spirited, is not annoying. There are times when her pain and loneliness come through. Akio is a "herbivore" but we are not led to dislike or pity him a negative way. I sympathized with both characters and I felt that they are a good match. The magic of this story is that the age difference drops away until the reader is gently reminded of it.

I like the way the story lets Akio and Kanako's romance proceed without sex. Rather, they have small intimate moments that build companionship. It's a very cozy romance, and I love being wrapped up in it.

I did not like Nanao, Kanako's former Professor who shows up in the fifth chapter. This character is a gag androgynous character who, of course, is way too familiar and touchy-feely. It's a tired stereotype.

More details about the story are in my Twitter feed.

Readability -- difficult: This manga series does not have furigana. There were a lot of new words for me to learn and there were slang phrases I wasn't familiar with. I used my kanji dictionary app a lot during the fifth chapter when Kanako's ex-Professor shows up. I also wasn't familar with many of the books referenced in the conversations. I don't know how much meaning was lost, but I'm satisfied with what I did understand.  The size of the text is an issue especially if you are not fluent. I imagine fluent readers can infer the kanji, but for non-fluent readers, making out the radicals is an exercise in patience. If you are comfortable reading without furigana, this is an excellent book to read. I felt it was well worth the time I spent looking up new words.

Overall B+: This is a wonderful slice-of-life age-gap romance. The small text is a big detractor for me, but sweetness of the story more than makes up for it.

What I Recently Read -- "Mikado Boy" Volume 1 by Riko Miyagi

I've decided to start writing reviews of the Japanese language manga I've been reading. I used to write synopsis years ago, but I received some complaints because readers could not read the content in English themselves either because the title was not licensed or scanlated. However, now I feel there are a significant number of readers who are learning Japanese or who can read Japanese at some level.  With these reviews I hope give an opinion on manga that are not Crimson Flower projects, and give readers some idea of ease of readability.

Title: Mikado Boy (ミカド・ボーイ) Chapter 1
Mangaka: Riko Miyagi （宮城理子）
Publisher/Magazine: Shueisha / Margaret
ISBN: 978-4088450704
Language: Japanese

Synopsis: Hideto Shibata (Hide), along with his younger sister, lives with his brother and his brother's wife, and attends an elite military school.  On his way to his first day at school, he rescues a cute girl and receives a kiss as thanks.  Later he discovers that his school handbook is missing! After school, he meets the girl again and she has his handbook! After giving chase, Hide finds himself in a mysterious office being questioned by a weird man and his busty assistant. When the weird questioning is done, Hideto is informed he's passed the test and is now a "Mikado Boy"!

"Mikado Boys" are basically child spies. In this first volume, after the introduction and Mikado Boy explainer, the story moves onto the first case for our newest child spy.  This first case involves protecting the son of a Lower House Congress Member from being murdered! Within this story, the difference between the haves and have nots is explored, as Hide is teased and then later comes to be respected by Hamada, the boy he's supposed to protect. We also learn a little about Gin, Hide's mysterious partner and master of the "Honey Trap".

This story is set in the 1930's around the beginning of Japan's involvement in World War II.

This volume covers chapters 1 - 4.

Artwork -- B+: It's nice, but typical. Nothing particularly stands out about it, and that's good because it doesn't overwhelm the story. The characters are all cute, handsome, or gorgeous, except for bad guys who are either faceless or unattractive.  The mangaka does a good job of drawing expressions and distinct faces. The characters also look their age, which is always refreshing! The action is well drawn and easy to follow.

What I Just Read: "Another" and "Otomen" Volume 16 (Manga Reviews)

Title: Another
Story: Yukito Ayatsuji
Art: Hiro Kiyohara
US Publisher: Yen Press
ISBN: 978-0316245913

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impressions:

I couldn't get passed the first few episodes of the anime because it was too slow, but in manga form I can follow it.  Wow... does nobody notice the mass psychosis? All right, I'm going to put aside the absurdity of this curse and accept and enjoy the story that's being told.

Breakdown --

Artwork A: The color pages are gorgeous and the comic artwork is uncluttered. There is a lot of focus on faces and eyes, while having just enough background to indicate place and mood.  The characters look like middle schoolers, the adults look like adults, and there's very little fanservice to distract from the story.  There is also nice use of screentones to create the dark atmosphere. The artwork balances well with the story -- it supports the story rather than overshadowing the story.

Presentation A- : This is tome! The thickness made it difficult to read in the tub and the gym. I think it would have been better to break it into two volume omnibuses rather than packing all 4 volumes into one book. However, the book is so lovely that all is forgive.  The cover is striking.  The hot pink and contrasting purple and gray appeal to me. There are quite a few lovely color page between each volume. And then there's the large size. I love larger size manga because my eyesight is crap and I need larger text. The translation also read smoothly and naturally.  Needless to say, at $17.99, this is an excellent bargain considering it's four volumes ($4.50/volume!!!).

Story B: The story itself is ridiculous. While reading this, so many solutions to the "curse" crossed my mind, including the most obvious solution of everybody recognizing the mass psychosis. Curse stories usually annoy me in this sense because they become self-fulfilling prophecies. But... the curse must be forced or else there would not be a story.  The central mystery of the story doesn't become apparent until the end. Once the revelation of how to stop the curse is made, the story becomes very paced paced and nail-biting. I like Sakakibara and Mei, the two main characters. The side characters were good too, accept for the crazy wench that goes all Lord of the Flies toward the end. I didn't like her and I suppose that was the point of her nasty character.

Overall A-: This is an enjoyable read if you accept the curse and let the story take you into its world.  The artwork is nice and the presentation is excellent.  I encourage readers to purchase this omnibus.  At $17.99, you will get a lot of bang for your buck.
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Title: Otomen Volume 16
Story and Art: Aya Kanno
US Publisher: Viz -- Shojo Beat
ISBN:  978-1421554808

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Mini Review: C+
Ryo and the Otomen boys put on a play and Asuka's mom decides to save her son from his feminine ways by ruining his life. This volume closes the Yamato arc and in general signals the series is ending soon. I was kinda "meh" about this volume, but it was a quick read, so I was okay with it. Obviously the series had run too long, so the entire volume felt like filler, with a sudden rush of plot at the end.　The rushed feeling at the end is kinda weird considering that there are 2 more volumes to go!

My Favorite Unlicense Shoujo and Josei Manga of 2013

This seems like a pointless list for me to make because most of the unlicensed manga I love I make into Crimson Flower projects. So I thought I'd talk about some of those and a few titles that are on my radar. I'm limiting this list to shoujo and josei since the only non-shoujo/josei title I bought was "Kerberos in the Silver Rain". All right, so lets get on with it!

Favorite New Series/Oneshot Compilation of 2013

1. "Baraou no Souretsu" by Aya Kanno
2. "Kanojo ni Naru Hi" by Akane Ogura
3. "Haikyo Shoujo" by Tsukiji Nao
4. "Lip Smoke" by Mai Nishikata
5. "Hanaibara" by Mio Kawahara (currently being worked on for CF) 
6. "Kanojo ni Naru Hi -- Another" by Akane Ogura
7. "Boku no Hitsugi de Bansan o" by Nari Kusakawa
8. "Kisu ni Renzoku" by Yuu Toyota
9. "Honjitsu, Akane Hiyori" -- Today's Weather is Akane by Yui Sakuraba (planned for CF in 2014)
10. "Jinrou Chronicle" by Lay Mutsuki

Notes:

"Hanaibara" -- An illustrator, Hassuku Yanase,  moves into a country house his eccentric grandfather left to him.  Living in the house are an erotic fiction writer, Soyogo Muro,  and his younger sister, Kanako Muro, who he uses as his model for his works.  Yanase decides to be the illustrator for Soyogo's latest work. (Okay, technically this is seinen since it ran in Avarus).

"Today's Weather is Akane" -- Akane promises to marry Shu when he returns from abroad. Akane is expected to continue on her father's traditional Japanese restaurant, but when Shu returns, he wants to open a Western style restaurant instead.  Meanwhile, Akane's father bought Natsuhiko, who is ALWAYS irritable, into the family business for the obvious reason... heh-heh... It's a typical historical shoujo love triangle, but it's very done well while keeping the drama to a minimum. This is a wonderful easygoing short series that I hope CF will bring to you all in 2014.

Honorable Mentions:

• "Anniversary" bu Yu Uemori
• "Bread and Butter" by Hinako Ashihara
• "Princess Ledahlia" by You Higuri

Favorite Oneshots of 2013 (Translated this year)

1. "Boushi no Ue no Oka" by Nao Tsukiji
2. "Puzzle" by Morie Satoshi
3. "Tosagare Renren" by Nari Kusakawa
4. "Blushing Boy MacArthur" by Lammy Uchimiya
5. "Kutsunashihime" by Akanatsu

The most fun project I worked on this year -- "Lovely Vampire Weddings". The artwork was too lovely and the stories were infectiously sweet.

I know many of your have the chance to read a lot more unlicensed titles that I did, so please share some of the glorious finds on you favorite list.

My Favorite Licensed Manga of 2013

Here's the list the licensed manga from this year I read and I liked the most.  This isn't a best manga list. I feel in no way capable of making those kinds of judgements, nor do I read much of anything that experts would consider "best".  Actually, I was hard pressed to name any new licensed manga I really liked this year, so these are the works I sorta enjoyed, but I can't say I'm cheerleading for any of these series.  The ongoing and other manga I read, though, I loved.

I decided to separate licensed manga from unlicensed manga, so I'll start with licensed stuff first.  The lists are in alphabetical particular order.

My favorite new manga of 2013

• "Another" by Yukito Ayatsuji and Hiro Kiyohara
• "Ayako" (the super spy half of story) by Osamu Tezuka
• "Heart of Thomas" by Moto Hagio
• "Inu x Boku SS" by Coco Fujiwara
• "Utsubora" - The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura
• "Vinland Saga"by Makoto Yukimura (Hubby's pick)

Disappointing new manga of 2013

• "Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz" by QuinRose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru
• "Are you Alice" by Ikumi Katagiri and Ai Ninomiya
• "Crimson Empire"by QuinRose and Hazuki Futaba
• "Knights of Sidonia" by Tsutomu Nihei
• "Midnight Secretary" by Tomu Ohmi
• "Pink" by Kyoko Ozaki
• "Sweet Rein" by Sakura Tsukuba"
• "Wolfmund" by Mitushisa Kuji

 Favorite ongoing and other manga I read in 2013

• "Blank Slate" by Aya Kanno 
• "Bride's Story" by Kaoru Mori
• "Olympos" by Aki
• "Skip Beat" by Yoshiki Nakamura
• "The Betrayal Knows my Name" by Hotaru Odagiri

Series I dropped in 2013

• "Attack on Titan" by Hajime Isayama
• "Dawn of the Arcana" by Rei Toma
• "Dengeki Daisy" by Kyousuka Motomi 
• "Kamisama Kiss" by Julietta Suzuki
• "Oresama Teacher" by Izumi Tsubaki
• "Vampire Knight" by Hino Matsuri

What I just Read: "Inu x Boku SS" Volume 1

Title: Inu x Boku SS
Mangaka: Cocoa Fujiwara
US Publisher: Yen Press

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impressions:
I really like the anime, but I wonder will I get bored retreading the same story. Nope, I'm not bored at all.  I still love these characters.  I'm not comfortable with the garter belts. Why did the mangaka have to do that?

Breakdown:

Artwork -- B: It doesn't especially standout. The story feels more shoujo-ish than shounen, so I guess the garter belts are needed to add a moe touch??? I don't like how the teenage girl's faces are drawn to make them look like 6-year-old children.  But again, this must be the moe thing. But taking the artwork as a whole, I'm neither offended or impressed, so I guess it's good enough.

Presentation -- B-: The presentation doesn't really stand out either. If I hadn't watched the anime, I would have never bought this book because the cover makes it look like moe manga with borderline questionable content.  I imagine marketing this is tough because you want to catch those guys into moe, but the story clearly is more geared to a female audience. (Personally, I would have pushed the shoujo aspects.) Moving on... the translation reads smoothly, but there are no color pages and there's nothing special about the format of the book.  Considering this, I wonder why the book is priced $10.99. It's not a good value. I recommend looking for a discount.

Story -- A: This first volume is more about establishing the characters and the setting.  The two main characters, Ririchiyo and Miketsukami, are very well introduced.  Ririchiyo is rich girl who isolates  herself with cruel words rather than suffer repeated hurt from being prejudged only by her family's reputation, and Miketsukami is very manipulative man in the guise of a masochist.  He acts like he unconditionally loves Ririchiyo, but there are hints that something's fishy, especially in Miketsukami's past. The interaction between Miketsukami and Ririchiyo puts me on edge in a good way.  I want Ririchiyo to have a true friend, but Miketsukami sometimes seems like the crazed-stalker type. The other characters are interesting too.  They are an assortment of weirdos that we quickly see have the potential to be a makeshift family for one another.

Overall -- B+: Don't let the cover fool you. This series has heavy shoujo elements.  I don't understand the minds of moe lovers, so I can't say whether this would appeal to those readers.  However, for people who are strictly into shounen, this is probably not for you.  Shoujo lovers, you must get this!  It's got all the master and servant goodness you love!

What I Just Read: "Sweet Rain" by Sakura Tsukuba

Title: Sweet Rein / Yoroshiku Master
Artist: Sakura Tsukuba
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impressions:
I could have sworn I read this.  I've even translated a couple of chapters, yet I don't remember any of these stories.  Hmm... that's not a good sign. Ugh... not the magical boy who loves his master on sight unconditionally for no good reason thing again...

Breakdown --
Artwork -- B: I've read too much Sakura Tsukuba, so all the artwork looks very familiar.  All of her male main characters have the same face.  The sameness is boring, but I do like the fluidity of the lines and the pages aren't overwhelmed with screentones and sparkles.

Presentation -- C:  There are a ridiculous number of ads at the end of the book. Setting that aside,  the translation reads smoothly, though I did catch a couple of typos. Most of the sounds effects are complete gibberish (VUP, VUM, VHM, PWOFF... and so on...), which drove me nuts. I longed for the Japanese sound effects so I wouldn't have to look at this nonsense.  I really would have loved some color pages, because as you can see by the cover, Tsukuba's color artwork is gorgeous. Also, I hate the title localization. It makes it sound like some bad bondage story.

Story -- C: This series started as infrequent oneshots in Lala DX. If I remember correctly, it became a regular series that ran in Lala DX at or after chapter 3. This is evident in the first two chapters. The magical boy who unconditionally loves his master trope is getting old for me. Along with that, the characters are quite bland.  Kurumi is a good girl who's lonely and that's it. Kaito is happy and hyper and that's it (he is the personification of a dog.). When I first read this 6 or 7 years ago, it was fresher to me because I hadn't read that much manga yet, but since I don't remember much about the story, it must have not left a strong impression on me the first time. Rereading it, I understand why it didn't stick. There are no surprises in this story.  The beginnings of a story start in chapter 3, and it seems to simply be an exploration of whether Kaito actually loves Kurumi of his own freewill or is his love hard-coded because of the master and servant relationship they have. It's not like we don't know the answer to the question, which makes the question pointless. This manga is pure sugar, which is fine if that's what you want. But for me, all sugary good and no evil is very boring.

The oneshot at the end, "Sweet Bite Mark", is more interesting than the series, but the ending is disgusting.  I don't know why it had to go there other than for shock value. Yuck...

Overall -- C:  This is another thoroughly mediocre manga series, but I think it would be an excellent starter series to introduce shoujo to new manga readers.  I also think if you like troupy cotton-candy-fluff shoujo, you'll love this.  If you've read too much shoujo like I have, you may want to skip this. I feel this stands no where near Tsukuba's other series "Land of the Blindfolded" and "Penguin Revolution". (Honestly, it's like night and day.)

What I read Last Week: Manga Reviews!

I did quite a bit of pleasure readying last week, so I have four books to write about now.  I'll do full reviews for two book and quick review for the other two as they are follow on volumes to series I've been reading on an ongoing basis.

Title: Summer Wars, Part 1
Artists and Story:  Mamoru Hosoda and Iqura Sugimoto
US Publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781030130150
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impression:  The cover makes it look like slice-of-life. I don't like slice of life, but this is Vertical, so I bet this cover totally misrepresents the actual train wreck of a story inside.  Whoa! What?!  This isn't a trainwreck?!!! It's actually a nice slice-of-life story with sci-fi elements.  I really like this!

Breakdown:

Artwork -- A: It's nice and simple.  The facial expressions are telling, the characters look distinct, the characters actually look their age, and backgrounds are nicely detailed. The color pages are really pretty (it helps that I love sunflowers).

Presentation -- B+:  I love the front and back covers. They are very telling of the story -- this is a slice-of-life story with sci-fi elements.  The color pages are gorgeous and the translation reads smoothly.  The drawback is the lettering. It looks amateurish.  I don't like manga with cased fonts used for the main dialog.  On top of that, the line spacing is too wide on some pages.  I think the inconsistency of line spacing is what bothered me the most.

Story -- B+: This is a typical loser-boy pursues a girl who he thinks is out of his league shounen story.  The main character is a loser even though his math skills are second in the nation, and the girl is just pretty and popular.  What's best about the story in this part is the interaction of the main character, Kenji, and his love interest's grandmother. The grandmother is the star of this part, and I wish there was some back story about her.  The sci-fi elements involve computer hacking in a virtual world. I just accepted the representation of the mechanics of this world because if it were realistically represented, it would be boring.  Anyhow, on the whole the pacing is good and Kenji and Wabisuke's interaction with the grandmother are quite interesting.

Overall -- B+:  This is a pleasant read with enough mystery to keep the reader wanting more. I highly recommend this title to Crimson Flower readers.
-------------------------------------------------

Title: Crimson Empire
Story and Artist: Quinrose and Hazuki Futaba
US Publisher: Seven Seas
ISBN: 978-1937867232
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impressions: Meh... it looks like typical Quinrose.  The first chapter is really interesting. Can we continue with Sheila's back story, please? Meh... who are all these bishies that are being thrown into the story? What the heck is going on? Where did these bishies come from? @_@

Where to read manga online LEGALLY

I've been stewing on this post for a while, but RL and excitement at MU got in the way.  Finally I have time!  This post is mostly going to be about Japanese websites, but I'll throw in the few English websites I know about first.

English websites

Mangabox --

This is the newest free manga websites.  As of now it hosts manga from Kodansha JP (not the same as Kodansha USA). New titles and chapters are available multiple times a week.  The translation quality is generally good.  The title that are available now are shounen and seinen. Here are the series that interested me:

• District Hakkenshi [T-8]
• Araidoki
• The Chronicle of Ayoka

I'm still exploring the series on this site.  I'll Tweet the title when I happen upon something I like. This site is also available in Japanese. The Japanese site has more titles.

Crunchyroll --

This site has a paid option and a free option, and as of now, only has Kodansha JP shounen and seinen titles.  If you can't afford to pay, then you can only read the latest chapter of the titles they have available.  The backlog will not be available.  There are many popular shounen titles available like "Attack on Titan" (the back catalog is not available for subscribers), "Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches", and "The Seven Deadly Sins".  I have a subscription to the service, but none of the current titles interest me. The translation quality on this site varies.

Various --

All of the US manga publishers have some sort of mobile app, flash-based browser viewer, or presence in online bookstores.  In the apps and on the websites the first chapters of all of the series are free to read.


Japanese Websites

This is only a listing of the few Japanese websites I visit often. I'm sure there are many more. Most of these websites have both PC and mobile versions of their readers.

• Polaris Comics -- SHOUJO!!!! But not typical shoujo. Polaris has a variety of shoujo series and oneshots, most of which I've been loving. I have been buying the tankoubons as they come out.  This is where "Kisu ni Renzoku" runs.
• Comic Meteor -- This is primarily shounen (it's like Polaris' twin brother), but most of the series would also appeal to females.
• Hana to Yume Online -- Lots of shoujo favorites are there like "Ojikoi". There are also early chapters of many popular Hana to Yume and The Hana to Yume series.
• Lala Melody Online -- This has original and content that has also appeared in Lala, Lala DX, Ane Lala and Melody magazines. Right now, there are some nice oneshots to read.

I will add to these lists as more websites launch (I'll add the links to one of the columns of this blog). Lucky for us, Japan is launching more and more legal online manga websites every month, and a few of them offer English versions.  If you know of other LEGAL websites to read manga, please leave the name of the website and a text version of the URL (not a link) in the comments sections.

Repost: Manga Rambling

First of all, I hope everyone in the US had a tasty and safe Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was small here with just me, my husband, and Omari. We fried turkey legs and had all the usual sides -- mashed potatoes, yams, southen style collards, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.  Everything was insanely tasty. (I will admit to being proud of my home cooking. My grandmother taught me well.) Hopefully our leftovers will last us through the weekend.

Onto to the manga rambling! I've been having some evolving thoughts as I've been exposed to more kinds of manga and reading bits and pieces about manga licensing in the US.  I've always been on the fence about scanlation, but I think I'm moving off that fence. In face of the knowledge that all but a very few series and oneshots are ever going to get licensed in the US, I now believe scanlation has its place in spreading manga love. I still have problems with money not going back the original artist directly by way of scanlation. And I still hate manga aggregators and people who post Japanese raws to the public Internet. They are horrible parasites that are killing the manga industry and they need to go away. But let's not beat that dead horse further.

I've come to the conclusion that as a customer, I should support what I want more of with my dollars.  Supporting US publishers for stuff I don't want out of obligation or "pity purchases" does not get me what I want. Instead the US publishers take it as that content is what readers want more of and then publish more of that. Since the kind of shoujo and josei I like are considered poison to the US publishers, it makes no sense for me to put my money into the seinen, shounen, moe, high school love train, and low quality smutty shat that the US publishers are offering in order to get what I want. Rather my money would be best spent on encouraging the Japanese publishers. And so this is what I've decided to do. I am now almost exclusively buying Japanese manga. I'm still buying Skip Beat and checking out some of the special hardcover editions of classic manga, but otherwise there is no other content I'm interested in.

I know the vast majority of you can't read Japanese. As part of getting off the scanlation fence, I'd now say go read scanlations if you have no access to the a licensed version in your language.  HOWEVER if you read the scanlation, please let the Japanese publishers know that you want more content that you like by purchasing as many of the Japanese manga that you can afford.  It's okay if you can only afford one volume of your favorite series. Just make the gesture and own a piece your favorite series.  Let the publisher and the artist know that you like what they are doing and you want more.  I also think that if you want localized manga anywhere near the extent of a manga aggregator, it's gonna come from Japan and not a US publisher.

Buying Japanese manga is easier than ever, and now with the weakened yen, Japanese manga is now cheaper than localized manga, and this includes shipping! Here are some websites to purchase Japanese manga:

• Amazon JP manga (shoujo/ josei) /magazines (shoujo / josei)
• YesAsia
• Honto (雑誌 = magazine , コミック = comics (manga) (shoujo / josei)
• Books Kinokuniya
• Sanseido Books -- if you don't have a local store, call up the nearest one to order books and arrange the magazine subscriptions.
• Akadot/Bookoff (used books) -- Do not browse this website at work. Hentai is front and center on the home page and despite what the page says, you can't turn it off.

I use Amazon JP and YesAsia for online purchases, and I go to Sanseido, Kinokuniya, and Bookoff physical bookstores.

Anyhow those are my current thoughts on manga. Go out and enjoy scanlations, but let the US and Japanese publishers know what you want more of by voting with your dollars. (In other words "Princess Jellyfish" lovers, go read the scanlations without guilt, but at least buy a few volumes of the Japanese manga to let the Japanese publisher know that you want it and to let the mangaka know that her work is loved.)

What I just Tried to Read: "Pink" Chapters 1 - 8 (Post is Mature)

Title: Pink
Artist: Kyoko Okazaki
ISBN:  978-1939130129
Publisher: Vertical

MATURE POST AHEAD

What I Just Finished Reading: "Ayako" by Osamu Tezuka

 

Title: Ayako

Artist/Author: Osamu Tezuka

ISBN-10: 1935654780

First Impressions:

Holy crap! This book is thick! It's starts off as a super cool spy story with horrible artwork and then turns into some hillbilly incest train wreck of the likes of the worst reality television show. There is way too much incest in this manga... ugh... why????  The super spy story portion is quite enjoyable. The hillbilly incest story is ... well, if you like this sort of thing it's good. Personally, I don't like the subject matter, but it's told well. However mixing a super spy thriller with an hillbilly incest train wreck drama is like someone taking a crap in my ice cream.

Artwork -- B: I do not like Tezuka's drawing style, but I understand that was the style of the time. I found it confusing because it looks like old Popeye or Disney comics, but the drawings depict serious drama and include sexual situations. It also feels like the character designs are horribly racist.  But again, that's me imposing my modern sensibilities.  However, the backgrounds are detailed and the pages that narrate the historical context are lovely.

Presentation -- A:  It's a nice looking book even though it's a tome. The lettering is easy to read and the translation reads well, even though the simulated hillbilly speak was kinda hard to parse at times.  But if you've ever been to a town in the deep South, you'd know that it sounds like the townsfolk are speaking a foreign language (first hand experience).

The Story -- B:  This is kinda tough because I loved the spy portion of the story, but got tired of the incest hillbilly story. And then combining the two together was almost unbearable for me.  I understand how they tie in, but I think the country part of the story needed to be toned down or maybe less time should have been devoted to it. Either way, it was too much for me.

Overall -- B+:  Taking my preferences out of it, this was a nicely drawn expertly spun story. The pacing was good and there was never a time when I was bored.  I also learned a little something about Post War II Japan. Inserting my preferences, I loved the super-spy story and could have done with a lot of less of the stuff that happened in the country. I think it would have been far more interesting to have Ayako arrive in the story without us knowing a thing about her and then having the past events explained in short flashbacks.  Should you buy it?  If you wanna read some classic manga because you're curious, go for it!  If a spy thriller mixed in with a hillbilly incest drama sounds interesting to you, go for it! If you like your nice and safe shoujo bubble, skip this, put it out of your mind, and go back to your sparkling bishounens. Me? I've got one more Tezuka book on my shelf and after I read it, I'm done with Tezuka. I don't need to read anymore because so far I've found Tezuka's manga to be unpleasant.

What I Just Finished Reading: "Tropic of the Sea" by Satoshi Kon

Title: Tropic of the Sea
Artist/Author: Satoshi Kon
Publisher: Vertical
ISBN:  9781939130068

Purchase:  Amazon / Barnes & Noble

First Impressions:  Oh, the cover is pretty!  The story is pretty meh. There's nothing particularly good or bad about the story or the artwork. This manga is thoroughly mediocre.

Artwork -- B:  It's functional. Many pages are intricately detailed, but nothing ever caught my eye, so I didn't pause very long to see what was going on the panels.  It's very draftmen-like -- it's not pretty, nor is it ugly;  it's just there. The only illustration that stands out to me is the cover.

Presentation -- A-: The cover is gorgeous and promises a lot more than what's inside. The translation reads smoothly and the wording seems true to the lackluster characters. Not having access to the Japanese now, I don't know whether the blandness was intended or whether there's more color to the characters in the original Japanese.  The afterword being in English reading order was a little jarring. I was very confused at first (you have to flip the book backward).  There are some nice extra illustrations at the end.

The Story -- C:  The story is like "Goonies" without the fun and wonder.  It's a coming of age adventure and the last hurrah for some young adults before their small town gets mowed down and turned into a tourist resort destination.  The townspeople are good and believe in their local mythology. The developers are bad and only after money. And, of course, the main character's father is the one who sold the town out. YAWN.  Sooo as a fun exercise, if I write the words "Teenagers" "Mermaid Egg Legend" and "Land Developers", what complete story flashes across your mind? That half-second mental construction is the story.  That's it. There's nothing to anticipate. Boo...

Overall -- C: This manga is thoroughly average. Nothing out of the ordinary happens in the story. The artwork is draftmen-like. It's very mechanical in construction and so consequently there is no "heart" or passion in this story or the artwork. It just lies there like unflavored gelatin. For me, this is worse than being bad, because at least it's interesting to see how bad something bad can get. I recommend buying this if you wanna buy it for the "Satoshi Kon" name.  Otherwise skip it, because what you imagined in half of a second was probably a lot more interesting than this manga.

NYCC Manga License Announcements

Lots of good manga license announcements were made at Comic-Con in New York over the past two days.  For a full listing of the announcements please go of Anime News Network:

Vertical: Announcement 1/ Announcement 2
Kodansha USA: Announcement 1/ Announcement 2/ Announcement 3
Viz
Yen Press

This blog posting will only cover licensing announcements that matter to Crimson Flower Readers.

Vertical:

• "Attack on Titan: Before the Fall" Light Novels
• "Clothes Named Fat" by Moyoco Anno

Kodansha USA:

• "Attack on Titan: Before the Fall" Manga
• "Attack on Titan: No Regrets" (the Levi Spinoff)
• "Attack on Titan: Junior High

 Viz:

• "Black Rose Alice" by Mizushiro Setona

Yen Press:

• "He is my Only Vampire" (Junketsu + Kareshi) by Aya Shouoto
• "Demon from a Foreign Land" (Iki no Ki) by Yuki Kaori

We got a lot of great licenses, 3 of which were former Omari's Sister projects! Please buy the English releases and support manga licensing in the US.  I have a feeling that new batch of licenses will boost the industry and we'll see a lot more manga in 2015. A bright manga-filled future is ahead!

Note: All licensed materials have been removed from the blog and the servers. The blog posts are still there to read the comments, but the links are not active.

Manga Review: Voice Over! Seiyu Academy

Title: Voice Over! Seiyu Academy
Artist/Author: Maki Minami
Publisher: Viz (Shoujo Beat)
ISBN:  9781421559704

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble (Also Available Digitally)

Initial Impressions:
I approached this skeptically because I'm tired of reading "I wanna become an idol" manga. I only picked it up because Holanio and Sora from Tumblr seemed to be really excited about it.  The first chapter was lackluster, but I kept reading. The second chapter -- yeah, yeah, senpai notice me... But by the 4 chapter I was hooked once the manager character showed, and I became curious about what his plans for Hime are.  So... I guess I'll get the second volume, but only if it's on sale.

Artwork -- B: It's typical Maki Minami.  Lots of screentones and all the females look like 5-year olds. I don't particularly like the female character designs because they look like elementary school kids, but I can read the expressions and distinguish the characters from one another.

Presentation -- A: The redrawing and typesetting are superb. Also the translation reads easily and they dropped the honorifics (san, chan, kun, sensei, sama, etc...) I wish there were color pages, but that's a nitpick.

Story -- B-: It took 3 chapters for me to get into the story. It starts as a typical "I wanna become an idol" story (she's not a good voice actress in the roles she wants, senpai doesn't notice her, she's grouped together with handful of eccentric losers,... etc.) The end game is obvious, and I kinda wish she'd say "screw it" and embrace her natural talent rather than chasing after something she isn't. In this respect, the story is tedious. The characters are forgettable. I had to look up Hime and I can't tell you any other characters' name.  That's just how generic this is. What's got me interested in this series is how the industry rep plans to use Hime.  Will the story get creative in this respect?

Overall -- B: This is a generic idol shoujo cotton candy. If you like idol-shoujo, go for it.  If you like Maki Minami, go for it. If you're new to shoujo and like the little you've read so far, this is a must read.  If you've read a ton of shoujo and have grown tire of idol-shoujo, you can skip this title and miss nothing. I'm gonna get the second volume to see if the story detours from the generic idol story, though.