Manga Review: "Hatsu * Haru" by Shizuki Fujisawa on Lovely Manga Blog

This series is well-written typical shoujo. It would make a great starter shoujo and at the same time satisfy veteran shoujo readers who love to see their favorite troupes played with nice writing and super cute characters. This is a series that I would like to see licensed with tween and teen readers in mind.

To read the full review, go to the Lovely Manga Blog:
http://lovelymangas.com/2015/03/16/manga-review-hatsu-haru-by-shizuki-fujisawa/

Review of "Zetsubou Baby" on Lovely Manga Blog

 

First Impressions:

The first I saw of this series was the last chapter in an Issue of Cheese! magazine. I thought the chapter was hilarious and I wanted to know how this odd couple came to be. Without reading the words, the illustrations in this series are misleading. Reading the story, I keenly felt Kasumi’s social awkwardness and I understood her desire to flee the aggressively aggressive rich boy who insists upon chasing her and dragging her kicking and screaming out of her shell. On top of all of this, the series is hilarious!

Read the entire review on Lovely Manga Blog.

Link: http://lovelymangas.com/2015/03/14/manga-review-zetsubou-baby-by-hina-sakurada/

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: "The Ice Queen" by Rikachi

Title: Koori no Joou / 氷の女王 / The Ice Queen Volume 1
Mangaka: Rikachi / リカチ
ISBN: 4063418960 / 978-4063418965
Publisher / Publication:  Kodansha / Bessatsu Friend (Betsufure)
Purchase: Amazon JP / Amazon US / Yes Asia

Synopsis:
Nika is a 3rd-year middle-school student with social anxiety. One day she drops her eraser in class, and slacker Akira picks it up. After school, Nika follows Akira to an ice rink in pursuit of her eraser. There, she discovers Akira's beautiful figure skating and her own love of the ice. Alternatively, Kiwako is a brash young champion ice skater and Akira's childhood friend. Akira tells Kiwako that one day Nika will become her rival. Which genius ice skater will become The Ice Queen?

First Impression:
Oh, the cover is so pretty and it's about ice skating! Uh-oh! Another timid shoujo heroine. Oh, but she's cute and she doesn't hate herself. She just has a hard time finding the words to say and speaking up. I can relate.

Breakdown --

Artwork B+:   The cover initially attracted me to his title.  I like the flaming red hair and the movement of the main characters in the illustration. In the comic, the skating sequences are very dynamic and give a sense of speed and whirling motion.

Update! What I Recently Read: "Waltz no Ojikan -- Let's Dance a Waltz" Volume 1 by Natsumi Ando

UPDATE!

"Let's Dance a Waltz" has been licensed by Kodansha USA! Information here! If this series seems interesting to you, please support it by purchasing the book in Spring 2015! It would be a great starter manga for a tween or a young teen, of course, in conjunction with a talk about healthy weight loss.
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Title: "Waltz no Ojikan -- Let's Dance a Waltz" (”ワルツのお時間”）
Mangaka: Natsumi Ando
Publisher: Kodansha
Magazine: Nakayoshi
Genre: shoujo
ISBN: 9784063643909
Purchase: Amazon JP / YesAsia

Synopsis: When Hime Makimura was young, her mother told her that she could become like a princess. Now that Hime is in middle school, over weight, and unpopular, she believes her mom's expectations were too high and that the world is a cruel lie. Tango Minami is a popular high school boy who hides his job as a ballroom dance instructor to maintain his image. But what happens when Tango's mom urges Tango to take Hime as a student?! Will Tango's embarrassing job be revealed to his classmates?! Will Hime find the self-confidence needed to be like a Princess on the ballroom floor?! And what will it take to get Tango to dance competitively and challenge his childhood friend Yuusei?

The first volume includes chapters 1 - 4. There is a postcard pack-in included with the volume.

First Impressions -- 
Hime is really cute! She seems like a girl that we shy and unpopular girls can relate to.  The main male character Tango is an ass in a bad way.  I don't like people who hide their true selves for the sake of popularity. Oh gosh, please let Hime understand that being like a Princess comes from the heart and not from her surface appearance.


Breakdown --

Artwork B+: It's typical Natsumi Ando. There are big eyes, flower sprays, and sparkles everywhere. The cover, though, is beautiful and attracted me to buy it before I knew that it was by Natsumi Ando. That character designs are simple and clean. The characters can be distinguished from one another and the character's emotions are easy to read. The dance scenes are very dynamic and fluid and give a sense of the rhythm and the feel of the dance. These drawings are also the most detailed and are quite lovely. I also like the ballroom dress designs. There are lots of frills and flowing fabric that please my maiden's heart.

Presentation C: The dust cover is very pretty. Otherwise, it is an ordinary book. There are no color pages and on some pages, the text is really small because the book is small format. There is a post card packed into the volume. It's flimsy and monochrome, so I'm not sure how useful or collectible it is.

Story C: I like Hime, Yuusei, and Sumire a lot.  Hime has the potential to learn to love herself as she is, and Yuusei and his dance partner, Sumire, are the kind of caring people who could protect Hime as she goes through the process of self discovery.  However, Yuusei and Sumire are side characters who look like love triangle fodder, and the focus of the story is on the relationship between Hime and Tango. I understand that this is going to be a journey for both Hime and Tango, but Tango is too much of an ass for me to believe that Hime feels anything for him initially. I would like it more if Hime was focused on the dancing and self-improvement, while Tango wrangles with his popularity "issues".

While I like having a chubby female main character, I think the mangaka missed the opportunity to do something interesting with that character. Rather than her coming to like herself as she is and showing that body type does not impact the beauty of dance,  Hime is transformed into a Princess after getting put in to dress and having her hair and make-up done. To pile on the insults, Hime losses 40 lbs in two weeks by the end of the volume. And now suddenly-skinny and made-up Hime is a cute girl that Tango notices. This is an awful message to girls. I understand that I am approaching this from the standpoint of an American and that notions of being overweight and lady-like are different to Japanese people. But 40-lb weigh loss in two weeks is a dangerous expectation to set regardless of culture.


Anyhow, this is typical brain-rotting shoujo. There was potential for Hime to grow and become like a princess through her discovery of her natural dancing talent, but instead the story is reduced pretty princess production through hair, make-up, dress, and weight loss, and she's dancing because she's crushing on Tango. It's hurts my soul, but I have to give this a C because it's typical of shoujo to take this vapid viewpoint. But outside of the context of shoujo, this is an F.

Readability -- Easy: This series has furigana and many of the words are spelled out in hiragana rather than kanji. Because I am not a native speaker, the lack of kanji for some words drove me nuts because of the myriad homophones in Japanese. Regardless, this series uses typical shoujo language, so readers used to shoujo should breeze through this. The only things new to me were the dance terms, some of which had weird Katakana. Fortunately, all of the terms were in my iOS dictionary. The entire volume took me a little over an hour to read.

Overall C+: This is vapid and potentially damaging to already fragile tweens and teens. However, this is typical shoujo, so hopefully readers enter expecting purely imaginary fluff. The pretty pictures and Hime's and Yuusei likable personalities save some of the story for me.  However because it follows a strict shoujo formulation, I don't feel like I need to read the rest of the series. If you are learning Japanese and want something to read, this is a good first manga. Otherwise, unless you are a hardcore shoujo fangirl who loves ALL the tropes, you can skip this a miss nothing.

What I Recently Read: "Hanabusa-san: The Guard of the White Horse Loop Line"

Title: Hanabusa-san: The Guard of the White Horse Loop Line
Mangaka: Ritsu Miyako
Publisher: Hakusensha
Publication: Bessatsu Hana to Yume (BetsuHana)
Genre: Shoujo, Slice of Life
ISBN: 9784592187073
Purchase: Amazon JP

Synopsis: This volume compiles three chapters with interconnecting stories revolving around Hanabusa, the conductor of the White Horse Loop Line.

Chapter 1: Four passengers get on the train over several days. One passenger's luggage handle is broken, another passenger is down on his luck and looking for a job, another passenger is newly arrived from the sticks and takes the long way to her station everyday, and another passenger is a dog who was abandoned by a boy.

Chapter 2: It's the city centennial. Is Hanabusa going? Meanwhile two former passengers want to visit Hanabusa, though one passenger is looking for Hanabusa senior, who died five years ago. There is an interwoven theme about clocks and watches in this chapter.

Chapter 3: It's a flashback to Hanabusa's childhool and adolescense. Hanabusa was abandoned on a train which begins Hanabusa's life as a conductor apprentice under the senior Hanabusa. Then adolescent Hanabusa meets a drifter who gives Hanabusa a glipmse of the larger world outside the city and the White Horse Loop.

Note: We never learn whether Hanabusa is male of female.

Artwork -- A: It's about as lovely and detailed as shoujo gets. The two pages spreads are full of flower sprays and lovingly drawn architecture. The character designs are very appealing. Everyone is distinct and clothing details add a nice touch to each character.

Presentation -- A: This is an HC Special, so the book is larger than the usual Betsuhana compilations. There is also a color page. I like the cover art a lot. In fact, the cover is what inspired me to make this blind purchase.

Story -- Chp 1 A- , Chp 2 D, Chp 3 B:  The compilation is broken into three chapters about the daily routine of train conductor Hanabusa. Flashbacks are used frequently to fill in Hanabusa's background. The many stories of the individual passengers are told concurrently and weaved together to create a final connected story.  The first chapter starts a little slow, but once it gets going, it's by far the best chapter. The second chapter went nowhere until the very end, and at that,  it was still unspectacular. The third chapter covers Hanabusa' s childhood and adolescence. Parts of this tale are poignant, but I had a hard time accepting the conclusion the mangaka makes about Hanabusa. Overall, I'd say the stories are uneven, and went a storyline dragged, it was a real slog for me to get through.

Manga Review -- "Mikado Boy" Volume 2

Title: Mikado Boy (ミカド＊ボーイ) Volume 2
Mangaka: Riko Miyagi (宮城理子)
ISBN: 9784088451251
Publisher: Shueisha
Publication: Margaret Magazine
Purchase: Amazon JP / Yes Asia

Synopsis:
Hide and Gin are given their second mission to investigate a teacher at their school who has been accused of espionage.

Mini-Review -- A:
I've been gushing about this series on Twitter, so obviously I'm enjoying the heck out of it. This volume is jammed packed with intrigue and surprises.  By the end of it, I was somewhere I didn't think I would be and, quite frankly, this volume ends on a deliciously unsettling note. I have to ask myself is this shoujo? And how on earth is this series in a magazine like Margaret?!

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 Recent Read: "Hana and Earth" by Sanae Uno

Title: Hana and Earth Volume 1 (Hana to Earth, 花と地球)
Mangaka: Sanae Uno (宇野紗菜）
Genre: It straddles the border between shoujo and josei, slice-of-life
ISBN: 9784253198431
Purchase: Amazon JP / Yes Asia ($9.98 includes shipping to the US)
Genre: It straddles the border of shoujo and josei

Synopsis:
Hana dreams of running her grandparents' healing herb cafe and living an idyllic life under the skies of Hokkaido one day. When her grandparent retire to the city, Hana's quits her corporate job and takes over their cafe and sundry store business. Enter Earth. A long-time customer of the store recommends him as part-timer, but says he doesn't like to be touched.  Earth is a socially-awkward 20-year-old college student who hides his face under glasses and long bangs. When Hana tries to move his bangs, Earth accuses her of sexual harassment. It turns out that Earth is suffering the after effects of middle school bullying. Can Hana bring Earth out of his shell? And how do the two handle their budding attraction to one another.

Volume 1 covers chapter 1 through 4, and the entire series spans two volumes.
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Initial Impressions: Oh wow! The cover art is gorgeous! Honestly, I bought this book based only on its cover. Ugh... the first chapter doesn't have much momentum. It's slowed down by too much atmosphere.

Breakdown:

Artwork C+: A lot this is a style preference.  The cover is gorgeous and watercolored. Unfortunately, this didn't didn't translate well into black and white. The lines aren't as delicate and panels are sparse.

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've Read Recently -- Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Activation

Title: Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Activation
Artists/Authors: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Hajime Yatate, Kunio Okawara
ISBN: 9781935654872
Purchase: Amazon US / Barnes and Noble

First Impression:  This book has been sitting on my shelf for a while. I've been avoiding this because I feared the old style artwork would turn me off and I know I have trouble following action in seinen manga. Meh... it's a typical gundam story -- there's a faction fighting for freedom from another faction and a single super mech piloted by teenager that can change the tide of the war. And yes, I can't follow the action sequences.

Breakdown --

Artwork A: The mech design is detailed and lovingly drawn. The character design is as expected. However, the characters can be told apart and they are expressive. The color pages are gorgeous and serve to make this a special release.  I count not being able to follow the action as a weaken on my part, so I don't feel it's fair for me to judge.

Presentation A-: This book is heavy.  I couldn't read it for more than 15-minutes in situations where I had to hold the book. My poor wrists couldn't take it. I ended up reading this at the gym on the treadmill or the exercise bike and at home on my desk. Although I like the hardcover presentation and the thick paper stock, I wonder is there a way to get the same look while being lightweight.

As you can see, the cover art is very nice.  There are similar glossy color pages between the chapters in the book.  Also there are some nice bonus essays toward the back the book. This book looks great on my shelves, and honestly I'd buy it just because it looks nice regardless of whether I'd actually read it.

Story C: This is a typical gundam story. None of the characters stood out to me. The main character, Amuro, is blah and the main villain Char is vanilla.  Char is supposed to be an ace pilot, yet he can't beat a noob. Yeah, I understand the main character can't die immediately, but that doesn't mean they have to confront each other immediately. But I digress.  There's some whiny woman who got on my nerves.  I can't remember her actual name, but in my head she's "random waifu".   Anyhow, I couldn't tell you the names of two factions that are fighting and for what specific reason other than "freedom"... but I'm not even sure that's it.  I guess nothing really sunk in from this first volume.  All I really understood was Char's primary mission.  So basically, the story and the characters didn't leave any kind of impression on me good or bad.

Overall B:  I like gundam anime A LOT, but this didn't do anything for me.  However,  I did appreciated the technical drawing and the presentation of this book.  It's a handsome book that looks great on my shelf and I like looking at the artwork.  In this sense I recommend it. If you are looking for a story, though, there are far more interesting mecha/gundam series out there.  "Knights of Sidonia" left a far stronger impression on me than MSGundam The Origin.

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.

Recent Reads! " Summer Wars" Part 2

Title: Summer War's Part 2
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

"Summer Wars" Part 2 was a lot more fun than Part 1. My husband again criticized the series for not faithfully representing the IT profession, to which I reminded him again that no one wants to see a manga about real IT work and workers because they are BORING. Again I recommend readers let "Summer Wars" take you into its world and just go with it.

The thing I ended up liking the most about "Summer Wars" is even though the events that are taking place on a global scale, the story itself is focused on the relationship between the members of one family and one couple. The family must come together to solve the global problem and Kenji and Natsuki must grow up and discover their true strength so they can lead in Granny Sekai's place. It's got action and sci-fi, but at the same time it's grounded in a sweet old-fashioned slice-of-life scenerio. And to top is off, the pacing is very good. I couldn't put the book down until I was done.

In summary, I give "Summer Wars" Part 2 an A, and the series as a whole an A-.  I highly recommend this series and I encourage you to purchase it to send Vertical the message that this is the kind of stuff we like. More please!

Link to review of "Summer Wars" Part 1

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.
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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? @_@

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.