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wednesday_10_00) wrote2009-08-30 07:30 pm
wednesday_10_00) wrote2009-08-30 07:30 pm
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Seven Days of Manga (Week One)
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sara_tanaquil mentioned, on the plane ride back from Japan we discussed how she should read one manga a day and then review them once a week. I decided to jump on this bandwagon, sort of--I don't have any problem with not reading enough manga (more like the opposite... >.>;; ), but I thought it would be a good goal for me to try to review seven manga a week, at least until I run out of my shopping orgy pile. So, here goes Week One:
1. Amai Kimi ga Suki - Moto Haruko (sweh)
This is collection of short stories, and some of them, to be honest, are not that great, or just strange. But two of them, the (two and a half chapter) title story and one other about a guy who's afraid of talking on the phone, are adorable and totally make up for the others. The title story, I think, can be summed up with one picture:
If you guessed "This is a story about a boy who doesn't talk much, but loves his boyfriend and loves doughnuts," you'd be right. If you guessed "This is a story about a boy who gets a job at a doughnut shop because his boyfriend loves doughnuts, and then, when he tastes a fresh-out-of-the-fryer doughnut, cries because his boyfriend isn't there to share it with him," you'd also be right and a REALLY good guesseror mind reader. This story is so adorable it HURTS.
2. Kirepapa 4 - Takagi Ryou (sweh)
This manga continues to be SO stupid (WHY are there all these male actors in the Mizuki movies--who are they, and what the heck are they doing? Not getting killed, surely, when Shunsuke played one of them?--but we never see any sign of the woman Mizuki is supposed to be in love with?), but SO FUNNY. It just doesn't even matter what stupid plot device the author comes up with, because she always finds some way to put a hilarious twist on it. (Nobody can out-poison Chisato!) And, also, genuinely touching--like when Shunsuke (who is, like everyone in this manga, SUPER jealous) sets aside his feelings of jealousy because he knows how important Riju is to Chisato, awww.
3, 4. Seven Days Monday-->Thursday and Friday-->Sunday - Tachibana Benio/Takurai Rihito (sweh!!!)
This is the infamous manga that I all but busted down the doors of Animate to buy the new volume of. Not because it ends on a particularly bad cliff hanger, mind you, just because I wanted my happi endo, darn it! The story is that Seryou is super popular in school, and goes out with a different girl every week. Everyone in the school thinks it's some sort of game for him, but actually he takes each girlfriend very seriously and is looking for someone to date long-term--he just never finds the right girl. Enter Yuzuru, Seryou's sempai in the kyuudo club, who (jokingly) suggests that Seryou date him one Monday morning. Seryou, however, takes this seriously (and, actually, is pretty hurt when he realizes it was a joke), and they start dating. And of course, they're drawn to each other right away--the angst comes from the fact that neither thinks the other is taking the week seriously and that their relationship will end (or rather, go back to just being sempai/kohai) once the week is up.
I love, love, LOVE the slow pace of this story, seeing how the two are drawn to one another, and the ache in the chest when they (especially Yuzuru) angst over not wanting the week to end. (The chapter that ends with "Two days left..." practically makes me cry.) And, of course, the ending is totally sweet and adorable and I've read it (OK, most of the second volume) approximately five thousand times. (Though I really, really wish they'd given us a little more rabu rabu in the extra chapter at the end--it's really necessary to waste pages telling us that Seryou's not doing the weekly girlfriend thing anymore? Dude, WE KNOW.) I did find Shino (a rival, of sorts--mostly in Yuzuru's head, but) to be pretty annoying, but I guess we're supposed to hate her like Yuzuru does? Anyway, she doesn't show up too much, so it's not really a big deal, but I don't exactly wish her happiness with Seryou's brother or anything.
5. Pochi to Tama - Tamaki Yura/Shusai Fumiko (sweh!)
This can also be summed up with one picture:
Shuuji and Taichi (nicknamed Pochi and Tama) move in together, and are ridiculously happy. That's...pretty much it. The conflicts are either silly ("Pochi does all the housework! Should I help out more?") or nonexistent (in the first chapter, about the worst thing that happens is that Tama catches a cold). Even the parts about their friends Mike and Kakei getting together, which I thought would be kind of bleh, turn out to be pretty cute. (Mike has the cutest dog!) This is just 100% adorable fluff.
6. Unmei na no sa - Narazaki Neneko (heh)
This is actually a sequel of sorts to Henai Prince and a short story in Isshoni Kurasou. However, it's about different characters, so it's not too important to read the others first. The characters from the other books are in this story, but there's a little chart at the beginning explaining everyone's relationships to each other (and even without it, it's not confusing). I haven't read Ishhoni Kurasou, and barely remember Henai Prince, but I didn't have any trouble keeping up.
Anyway, in this volume, Jin wakes up one morning to find that he spent the night with some guy he didn't recognize and (of course) doesn't remember. It turns out the guy is Ryouhei, brother of the boyfriends of Jin's cousins, so even though Jin leaves while Ryouhei is sleeping, they run into each other again at the cousins' house. Ryouhei turns out to be a famous scriptwriter (of whom Jin is a big fan)...and had been a 28 year old virgin, who demands that Jin take responsibility and be his life partner. (Ryouhei's speech at this point was when I put down the sample copy in the store and picked up my own copy to buy.) The rest of the story is similarly silly but fun and sweet.
7. Haretaru Aozora - Fukai Youmi (not rated - DNF)
This was an experimental purchase, based on the front cover, which had an adorable picture:
and the back cover, on which the summary promised a story about a bully and a nerd. And so there was such a story, and it would have been totally sweet well, ignoring the part where the bully is selling his body to pay off his father's debts, except that it ends with the nerd going to prison (juvy?) because his parents put so much pressure on him to do well in school that he ended up stabbing and killing his mother. (No lie: near the beginning of the story, the narration is like, "last night, I killed my mother," and I thought it was some sort of dream, or misunderstanding, or, or something, because this is BL! There's no mother killing in BL, right?)
At this point, I started flipping through the manga, and saw a whooole lotta unhappiness and death. So I started thinking I would get rid of it...except, then I made my way to the end of the volume, where there's an extra chapter for the bully/nerd story. So I read it, and it was totally adorable, ending with the bully telling his little brother (who he'd been taking care of by himself for years) that they were going to be a three person family (三人家族 - sannin kazoku) from now on. Believe me when I tell you I got a LOT of flack from my traveling companions over my decision to keep this. ("But, but...they're a sannin kazoku!" I would say, as they looked at me with confusion in their eyes.) But keep it I will, and enjoy the happy(?) sannin kazoku, although I will never read anything else in the volume, since, according to a review on Amazon, half of the ukes in the other stories DIE.
***
I'm pretty much choosing titles at random, so if anyone has a request to make for next week, feel free. (Spines should be legible in this picture.)
sara_tanaquil mentioned, on the plane ride back from Japan we discussed how she should read one manga a day and then review them once a week. I decided to jump on this bandwagon, sort of--I don't have any problem with not reading enough manga (more like the opposite... >.>;; ), but I thought it would be a good goal for me to try to review seven manga a week, at least until I run out of my shopping orgy pile. So, here goes Week One:1. Amai Kimi ga Suki - Moto Haruko (sweh)
This is collection of short stories, and some of them, to be honest, are not that great, or just strange. But two of them, the (two and a half chapter) title story and one other about a guy who's afraid of talking on the phone, are adorable and totally make up for the others. The title story, I think, can be summed up with one picture:
If you guessed "This is a story about a boy who doesn't talk much, but loves his boyfriend and loves doughnuts," you'd be right. If you guessed "This is a story about a boy who gets a job at a doughnut shop because his boyfriend loves doughnuts, and then, when he tastes a fresh-out-of-the-fryer doughnut, cries because his boyfriend isn't there to share it with him," you'd also be right and a REALLY good guesser
2. Kirepapa 4 - Takagi Ryou (sweh)
This manga continues to be SO stupid (WHY are there all these male actors in the Mizuki movies--who are they, and what the heck are they doing? Not getting killed, surely, when Shunsuke played one of them?--but we never see any sign of the woman Mizuki is supposed to be in love with?), but SO FUNNY. It just doesn't even matter what stupid plot device the author comes up with, because she always finds some way to put a hilarious twist on it. (Nobody can out-poison Chisato!) And, also, genuinely touching--like when Shunsuke (who is, like everyone in this manga, SUPER jealous) sets aside his feelings of jealousy because he knows how important Riju is to Chisato, awww.
3, 4. Seven Days Monday-->Thursday and Friday-->Sunday - Tachibana Benio/Takurai Rihito (sweh!!!)
This is the infamous manga that I all but busted down the doors of Animate to buy the new volume of. Not because it ends on a particularly bad cliff hanger, mind you, just because I wanted my happi endo, darn it! The story is that Seryou is super popular in school, and goes out with a different girl every week. Everyone in the school thinks it's some sort of game for him, but actually he takes each girlfriend very seriously and is looking for someone to date long-term--he just never finds the right girl. Enter Yuzuru, Seryou's sempai in the kyuudo club, who (jokingly) suggests that Seryou date him one Monday morning. Seryou, however, takes this seriously (and, actually, is pretty hurt when he realizes it was a joke), and they start dating. And of course, they're drawn to each other right away--the angst comes from the fact that neither thinks the other is taking the week seriously and that their relationship will end (or rather, go back to just being sempai/kohai) once the week is up.
I love, love, LOVE the slow pace of this story, seeing how the two are drawn to one another, and the ache in the chest when they (especially Yuzuru) angst over not wanting the week to end. (The chapter that ends with "Two days left..." practically makes me cry.) And, of course, the ending is totally sweet and adorable and I've read it (OK, most of the second volume) approximately five thousand times. (Though I really, really wish they'd given us a little more rabu rabu in the extra chapter at the end--it's really necessary to waste pages telling us that Seryou's not doing the weekly girlfriend thing anymore? Dude, WE KNOW.) I did find Shino (a rival, of sorts--mostly in Yuzuru's head, but) to be pretty annoying, but I guess we're supposed to hate her like Yuzuru does? Anyway, she doesn't show up too much, so it's not really a big deal, but I don't exactly wish her happiness with Seryou's brother or anything.
5. Pochi to Tama - Tamaki Yura/Shusai Fumiko (sweh!)
This can also be summed up with one picture:
Shuuji and Taichi (nicknamed Pochi and Tama) move in together, and are ridiculously happy. That's...pretty much it. The conflicts are either silly ("Pochi does all the housework! Should I help out more?") or nonexistent (in the first chapter, about the worst thing that happens is that Tama catches a cold). Even the parts about their friends Mike and Kakei getting together, which I thought would be kind of bleh, turn out to be pretty cute. (Mike has the cutest dog!) This is just 100% adorable fluff.
6. Unmei na no sa - Narazaki Neneko (heh)
This is actually a sequel of sorts to Henai Prince and a short story in Isshoni Kurasou. However, it's about different characters, so it's not too important to read the others first. The characters from the other books are in this story, but there's a little chart at the beginning explaining everyone's relationships to each other (and even without it, it's not confusing). I haven't read Ishhoni Kurasou, and barely remember Henai Prince, but I didn't have any trouble keeping up.
Anyway, in this volume, Jin wakes up one morning to find that he spent the night with some guy he didn't recognize and (of course) doesn't remember. It turns out the guy is Ryouhei, brother of the boyfriends of Jin's cousins, so even though Jin leaves while Ryouhei is sleeping, they run into each other again at the cousins' house. Ryouhei turns out to be a famous scriptwriter (of whom Jin is a big fan)...and had been a 28 year old virgin, who demands that Jin take responsibility and be his life partner. (Ryouhei's speech at this point was when I put down the sample copy in the store and picked up my own copy to buy.) The rest of the story is similarly silly but fun and sweet.
7. Haretaru Aozora - Fukai Youmi (not rated - DNF)
This was an experimental purchase, based on the front cover, which had an adorable picture:
and the back cover, on which the summary promised a story about a bully and a nerd. And so there was such a story, and it would have been totally sweet well, ignoring the part where the bully is selling his body to pay off his father's debts, except that it ends with the nerd going to prison (juvy?) because his parents put so much pressure on him to do well in school that he ended up stabbing and killing his mother. (No lie: near the beginning of the story, the narration is like, "last night, I killed my mother," and I thought it was some sort of dream, or misunderstanding, or, or something, because this is BL! There's no mother killing in BL, right?)
At this point, I started flipping through the manga, and saw a whooole lotta unhappiness and death. So I started thinking I would get rid of it...except, then I made my way to the end of the volume, where there's an extra chapter for the bully/nerd story. So I read it, and it was totally adorable, ending with the bully telling his little brother (who he'd been taking care of by himself for years) that they were going to be a three person family (三人家族 - sannin kazoku) from now on. Believe me when I tell you I got a LOT of flack from my traveling companions over my decision to keep this. ("But, but...they're a sannin kazoku!" I would say, as they looked at me with confusion in their eyes.) But keep it I will, and enjoy the happy(?) sannin kazoku, although I will never read anything else in the volume, since, according to a review on Amazon, half of the ukes in the other stories DIE.
***
I'm pretty much choosing titles at random, so if anyone has a request to make for next week, feel free. (Spines should be legible in this picture.)