wednesday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wednesday_10_00) wrote2009-09-09 09:12 am
wednesday_10_00) wrote2009-09-09 09:12 am
Entry tags:
Seven Days of Manga (Week Two)
OK, so I'm a couple days late with this. But hey, technically I reviewed more than seven manga, so...yeah.
1. Furueru Yoru no Himitsugoto - Ogura Muku (sweh)
This is a collection of short-ish stories (some of them have more than one chapter). The title story is about two boys, one afraid of the dark, one afraid of bright lights, who become roommates in high school. The boy who's afraid of the dark is very embarrassed about it (and the fact that he's so short), but the other boy helps him overcome this. As cute as this story was, I actually liked the middle two one-shots even better (especially the one about--what else?--the super shy and awkward kid who barely talks). The last story was a little sad for my tastes, though the second chapter of it did have some cute bits. Possibly what I find most charming about this manga is the adorable chibis:
Also, apparently super shy and awkward kids are actually cats:
...I probably already knew that somewhere in my subconscious.
2. Renai Kaizou no Susume - Imai Kurumako (sweh)
Short story collection. I loved (looooved) the title story; the rest were a mixed bag (one in particular was downright yucky). The preschool story was a little disappointing in that it was not as uber cute as the picture in the front of the volume:
To be fair, it would've had to have been really REALLY cute to live up to that. And I thought the sequel for it was kind of a waste, since the kids (who are in high school in the sequel) haven't gotten together yet.
Back to the title story: Niwa is a normal college student, who is assigned "Hitomi" as a partner. At first he's expecting Hitomi to be a girl, but he turns out to be a scruffy, badly dressed guy who hardly talks. Predictably, Niwa and Hitomi become good friends, Niwa gives Hitomi a makeover, all the girls in the class realize how hot Hitomi is, Niwa gets jealous, Hitomi's only interested in Niwa, awww, happi endo. What I really like is the part where Niwa and Hitomi are getting to know each other; Niwa doesn't care about Hitomi's appearance, he really likes Hitomi for who he is and defends him when some girls in the class make fun of him (this is what inspires the makeover). I feel slightly cheated for the title story to not have any sort of extra, but...oh well.
3. Hime to Joker - Haruno Ahiru (sweh!!)
The title story of this volume is four (and a half) chapters long and takes up about half of the manga. (The other stories are cute, but not as good as the title story.) It's about Nanase, a high school boy who wakes up one morning to find that he slept with Takahashi, his homeroom teacher--not that he remembers it. At first he's sort of embarrassed and just wants to put the incident behind him, but then he finds himself being drawn to Takahashi, not to mention regaining his memory of why he was drawn to him in the first place. What makes this story for me is Takahashi, who's the shy, awkward character type that pushes all my buttons. I love the scene that shows their first time, where Takahashi's pretending that he's not a total noob at sex:
The little trembling bunny cracks me up. Every. Time. ...I really like Nanase, too, with the way he notices every little change about Takahashi, right down to his hair being parted differently. Some of the later chapters border on too silly, but they never cross the line (no panda mechas, check) and the characters are always totally adorable.
4. Seitokaichou ni Chuukoku 4 - Monchi Kaori (sweh)
Only the newest one actually counts as one of my seven for this week, but let me also talk about the first three, since I haven't yet:
We open the series with Chiga having just been suddenly appointed vice president of the student council (it's rumored the previous vice president was fired after jumping the president, Kokusai). Chiga happens to see Kokusai get groped on the train on the way to school (and then later in the train station, and at school, and...) and realizes the rumor might be true after all. Chiga takes it upon himself to be a sort of anti-harassment bodyguard for Kokusai, and of course the more time they spend together, the more attracted to each other they start becoming. Eventually Plot rears its ugly head (in the form of a stalker, and a missing niece and some weird crap about some college OBs and their angsty relationship), but Chiga and Kokusai's relationship is definitely the main focus. For the better part of the series (so far), Kokusai and Chiga have been totally crazy about each other, but each thinking the other is not interested in the other, resulting in lots of pining, longing, and painful misunderstandings designed to tug at the readers' heartstrings. (And, in my case anyway, it totally works.) It's also chock full of hilarious gags and puns (my personal favorite: when Kokusai is trying to tell Chiga that he's bleeding but Chiga doesn't get it because everything just sounds like his name: "知賀！違っ--血が！" etc etc.)
So, in volume 4--is this is spoiler? It was on the obi, even, but hey, feel free to skip the next paragraph--is the long awaited realization by the main couple that their feelings are mutual. Well, OK, we have to put up with the weird plotty stuff for like half the volume (WHAT the heck is going on, I keep losing track of the characters so I have no idea what's happening, and clearly I'm not the only one since we now have a little character/plot chart in the beginning of the book--to be honest I've sort of given up on the plot after it dragged on so long and pointlessly in volume 3, I mean, I guess she's going somewhere with it, but I just can't be arsed to care anymore), but when we (finally, finally!!) get to the big scene, it does not disappoint--it's every bit as emotional as expected. Tears all around for the characters and reader. Admittedly, the stuff with Chiga's mom rubbed my embarrassment squick the wrong way (AGH Kokusai, put some CLOTHES on, agh agh!), but it looks like she's going to be supportive of the relationship, and that's cute. I'm kinda worried about volume 5 now--is it going to be all focused on plot now that the relationship issues are more or less resolved?
...How long before it comes out?? :(
5. Yoku Aru Koto - Sayaki Shuuna (meh)
This title translates to "A Common Thing," so I jokingly referred to it as Yoku Aru Manga, A Common Manga, because the short stories it contained were so incredibly cliché. The only real reason I kept it is for one kinda cute story about a guy in a 100 yen shop who sells himself to a customer. (I just love how the story opens: "You come here a lot. How'd you like to take me home, too?" Then, the main character's friend: "So you bought him??" "Well, he was only 100 yen.") None of the other stories stand out in my mind, except--you know what I'm sick of? The uke wanting to top being a joke. Why is this so funny? Why can't the seme just let him? Meh, whatever.
6, 7. B-Kyuu Gourmet Club 2 - 3 - Ima Ichiko (meh)
To be honest, I'm being generous with this grade, because I actually liked the first two volumes. So let me talk about those before I talk about where this went wrong for me. The story (about two guys who had been in their high school badminton club together--and had crushes on each other, though neither knew it was mutual--and later meet when they're working for the same company--started out as two chapters in a short story collection. I had mostly forgotten about it, but when I was sorting through my books looking for stuff to get rid of, I remembered there being a story in the collection that ended with the two guys having a really awkward first time crammed into the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and thinking it was really cute, and that turned out to be the title story. So I picked up 2 and 3 when I was in Japan. The main characters continue to be hilarious and adorable in volume 2; I didn't appreciate some of the focus on the seme's brother so much, because he two-times a guy and a girl while he's trying to figure out if he's straight or gay, and then keeps doing it even after he's decided he's bi, but the main characters seemed as grossed out as I was, so I was willing to overlook that. Plus, theKumapan Kimiko chapters were really hilarious. [There are no cliffhangers or dangling plot threads at the end of 2, so if you'd like to pretend the series ends there, let's call it a heh and you can skip the rest of the review.]
When volume 3 started with this narration going, "Everyone makes mistakes. What's important is how you handle it afterword," I got a bad feeling. And, sure enough--the seme "accidentally" sleeps with his brother's boyfriend. (He'd been awake for four days straight and then unknowingly put in a bed with the other guy. He was so out of it he thought he was with his boyfriend and didn't realize what had happened until he woke up. The other guy, it seems, didn't want to make too much of a fuss because he was worried about waking the people in the next room. [Seriously??]) As much as I despise infidelity, even MORE annoying than this is that we then spent almost the entire volume dwelling on the incident, which was, quite frankly, painful for me to read. And THEN, after angsting about this for what seemed like forever, the "solution" that the characters come up with is for everyone to just pretend it never happened. Don't get me wrong--they're still all THINKING about it, they just pretend to each other that nothing happened. The whole thing seemed pointless and annoying, and really just killed my enjoyment of the series. It's too bad because, as I said, I really liked the first two volumes.
1. Furueru Yoru no Himitsugoto - Ogura Muku (sweh)
This is a collection of short-ish stories (some of them have more than one chapter). The title story is about two boys, one afraid of the dark, one afraid of bright lights, who become roommates in high school. The boy who's afraid of the dark is very embarrassed about it (and the fact that he's so short), but the other boy helps him overcome this. As cute as this story was, I actually liked the middle two one-shots even better (especially the one about--what else?--the super shy and awkward kid who barely talks). The last story was a little sad for my tastes, though the second chapter of it did have some cute bits. Possibly what I find most charming about this manga is the adorable chibis:
Also, apparently super shy and awkward kids are actually cats:
...I probably already knew that somewhere in my subconscious.
2. Renai Kaizou no Susume - Imai Kurumako (sweh)
Short story collection. I loved (looooved) the title story; the rest were a mixed bag (one in particular was downright yucky). The preschool story was a little disappointing in that it was not as uber cute as the picture in the front of the volume:
To be fair, it would've had to have been really REALLY cute to live up to that. And I thought the sequel for it was kind of a waste, since the kids (who are in high school in the sequel) haven't gotten together yet.
Back to the title story: Niwa is a normal college student, who is assigned "Hitomi" as a partner. At first he's expecting Hitomi to be a girl, but he turns out to be a scruffy, badly dressed guy who hardly talks. Predictably, Niwa and Hitomi become good friends, Niwa gives Hitomi a makeover, all the girls in the class realize how hot Hitomi is, Niwa gets jealous, Hitomi's only interested in Niwa, awww, happi endo. What I really like is the part where Niwa and Hitomi are getting to know each other; Niwa doesn't care about Hitomi's appearance, he really likes Hitomi for who he is and defends him when some girls in the class make fun of him (this is what inspires the makeover). I feel slightly cheated for the title story to not have any sort of extra, but...oh well.
3. Hime to Joker - Haruno Ahiru (sweh!!)
The title story of this volume is four (and a half) chapters long and takes up about half of the manga. (The other stories are cute, but not as good as the title story.) It's about Nanase, a high school boy who wakes up one morning to find that he slept with Takahashi, his homeroom teacher--not that he remembers it. At first he's sort of embarrassed and just wants to put the incident behind him, but then he finds himself being drawn to Takahashi, not to mention regaining his memory of why he was drawn to him in the first place. What makes this story for me is Takahashi, who's the shy, awkward character type that pushes all my buttons. I love the scene that shows their first time, where Takahashi's pretending that he's not a total noob at sex:
The little trembling bunny cracks me up. Every. Time. ...I really like Nanase, too, with the way he notices every little change about Takahashi, right down to his hair being parted differently. Some of the later chapters border on too silly, but they never cross the line (no panda mechas, check) and the characters are always totally adorable.
4. Seitokaichou ni Chuukoku 4 - Monchi Kaori (sweh)
Only the newest one actually counts as one of my seven for this week, but let me also talk about the first three, since I haven't yet:
We open the series with Chiga having just been suddenly appointed vice president of the student council (it's rumored the previous vice president was fired after jumping the president, Kokusai). Chiga happens to see Kokusai get groped on the train on the way to school (and then later in the train station, and at school, and...) and realizes the rumor might be true after all. Chiga takes it upon himself to be a sort of anti-harassment bodyguard for Kokusai, and of course the more time they spend together, the more attracted to each other they start becoming. Eventually Plot rears its ugly head (in the form of a stalker, and a missing niece and some weird crap about some college OBs and their angsty relationship), but Chiga and Kokusai's relationship is definitely the main focus. For the better part of the series (so far), Kokusai and Chiga have been totally crazy about each other, but each thinking the other is not interested in the other, resulting in lots of pining, longing, and painful misunderstandings designed to tug at the readers' heartstrings. (And, in my case anyway, it totally works.) It's also chock full of hilarious gags and puns (my personal favorite: when Kokusai is trying to tell Chiga that he's bleeding but Chiga doesn't get it because everything just sounds like his name: "知賀！違っ--血が！" etc etc.)
So, in volume 4--is this is spoiler? It was on the obi, even, but hey, feel free to skip the next paragraph--is the long awaited realization by the main couple that their feelings are mutual. Well, OK, we have to put up with the weird plotty stuff for like half the volume (WHAT the heck is going on, I keep losing track of the characters so I have no idea what's happening, and clearly I'm not the only one since we now have a little character/plot chart in the beginning of the book--to be honest I've sort of given up on the plot after it dragged on so long and pointlessly in volume 3, I mean, I guess she's going somewhere with it, but I just can't be arsed to care anymore), but when we (finally, finally!!) get to the big scene, it does not disappoint--it's every bit as emotional as expected. Tears all around for the characters and reader. Admittedly, the stuff with Chiga's mom rubbed my embarrassment squick the wrong way (AGH Kokusai, put some CLOTHES on, agh agh!), but it looks like she's going to be supportive of the relationship, and that's cute. I'm kinda worried about volume 5 now--is it going to be all focused on plot now that the relationship issues are more or less resolved?
...How long before it comes out?? :(
5. Yoku Aru Koto - Sayaki Shuuna (meh)
This title translates to "A Common Thing," so I jokingly referred to it as Yoku Aru Manga, A Common Manga, because the short stories it contained were so incredibly cliché. The only real reason I kept it is for one kinda cute story about a guy in a 100 yen shop who sells himself to a customer. (I just love how the story opens: "You come here a lot. How'd you like to take me home, too?" Then, the main character's friend: "So you bought him??" "Well, he was only 100 yen.") None of the other stories stand out in my mind, except--you know what I'm sick of? The uke wanting to top being a joke. Why is this so funny? Why can't the seme just let him? Meh, whatever.
6, 7. B-Kyuu Gourmet Club 2 - 3 - Ima Ichiko (meh)
To be honest, I'm being generous with this grade, because I actually liked the first two volumes. So let me talk about those before I talk about where this went wrong for me. The story (about two guys who had been in their high school badminton club together--and had crushes on each other, though neither knew it was mutual--and later meet when they're working for the same company--started out as two chapters in a short story collection. I had mostly forgotten about it, but when I was sorting through my books looking for stuff to get rid of, I remembered there being a story in the collection that ended with the two guys having a really awkward first time crammed into the bottom bunk of a bunk bed and thinking it was really cute, and that turned out to be the title story. So I picked up 2 and 3 when I was in Japan. The main characters continue to be hilarious and adorable in volume 2; I didn't appreciate some of the focus on the seme's brother so much, because he two-times a guy and a girl while he's trying to figure out if he's straight or gay, and then keeps doing it even after he's decided he's bi, but the main characters seemed as grossed out as I was, so I was willing to overlook that. Plus, the
When volume 3 started with this narration going, "Everyone makes mistakes. What's important is how you handle it afterword," I got a bad feeling. And, sure enough--the seme "accidentally" sleeps with his brother's boyfriend. (He'd been awake for four days straight and then unknowingly put in a bed with the other guy. He was so out of it he thought he was with his boyfriend and didn't realize what had happened until he woke up. The other guy, it seems, didn't want to make too much of a fuss because he was worried about waking the people in the next room. [Seriously??]) As much as I despise infidelity, even MORE annoying than this is that we then spent almost the entire volume dwelling on the incident, which was, quite frankly, painful for me to read. And THEN, after angsting about this for what seemed like forever, the "solution" that the characters come up with is for everyone to just pretend it never happened. Don't get me wrong--they're still all THINKING about it, they just pretend to each other that nothing happened. The whole thing seemed pointless and annoying, and really just killed my enjoyment of the series. It's too bad because, as I said, I really liked the first two volumes.
no subject
I enjoy reading your reviews :) I keep forgetting to ask you - are you watching True blood or have you read the sookie stackhouse novels? :) (I only ask because you liked Twilight and while this isn't the same it might still appeal (even though I haven't read Twilight so I'm kinda talking out of my ass XD))
no subject
(To answer the question in your e-mail: I got notified of this comment, but it wasn't showing up on the page. Did you have to re-submit it?)
no subject
(I didn't resubmit it just showed up O_o maybe lj was having a delay...)
no subject
no subject
Ogura Muku: You have furueru??? I am really really jealous, I've been trying to get my hands on it!!! >_< If you liked it I think you'll LOVE Sentimental Garden Lover, esp. with all the cats that are BEYOND ADORABLE (and I don't even LIKE cats!). I have a favourite quote/scene there, let's compare and see if we get the same thing! XDDDD
The rest is more meh for me (didn't really like Renai Kaizou though the chibis were quite cute, never liked Haruno Ahiru, and the only thing I liked about Bkyuu was vol.1 ch.1 and the fact that uke is played by Hirakawa in the drama CD. :P
no subject
Actually, I have read Sentimental Garden, I just never reviewed it. >.>;; Now I'm going to have to go back and look to see if I had a favorite scene. XDD (All I remember is that I liked the second cat better than the first, because he's more, well...catlike.)
no subject
Oh you have!! :DDD Okay then I'll tell you mine first and you have to show me yours. XDDDD It's when Fuji tries to buy groceries for Hiro is chased away by the fishmonger by a broomstick, and gets lost hiding in Taki's bag, and later when he finds Hiro again he clings on him and tell him:
フジ：「サンマのほうきがおじさんはカバンで迷子になっちゃって．．．」
比呂：「こうかあ、買い物しようとしてくれたねえ．．．」
I love how Hiro understood everything Fuji said. <3333
no subject
Haha, I figured we would be different on this one, because mine is totally the favorite only a cat person would have:
Shima's so freaking adorable, aaagh ♥ ♥ ♥ I think everything about Shima just screams "CAT," and that's why I love him so much. Fuji is cute in his way (though I find that little tuft of hair on his head kind of annoying...), but he doesn't act like a cat AT ALL, which is really distracting to me. (I had the same problem with Wanko to Nyanko...)
I did really like the lines you mention, though. Hiro understands フジ語! XDDD Right after that would be the moment when Hiro and Taki meet, and Hiro thinks Taki's also a cat. Hee!
no subject
uke?picture!Seitokaichou ni Chuukoku 4 - It's also chock full of hilarious gags and puns
Suspected already with Wagamama Kitchen, but now your review of this series has me thinking this whole language thing is what is getting in the way of my enjoyment with this artist's books. I really don't dislike them in any major way, but I clearly don't feel the funny (sweh?) you do. :/
I actually had to re-read #1 of this series recently because it had been too long a break before reading #2 and I didn't like it as much as I thought I did (hence why I'd pre-ordered #2). I feel hrm-y about this now but am reluctant to get rid of serials that aren't finished (why, why, WHY am I so stuck on completing things?).
no subject
To be clear, the sweh was for volume 4. The series as a whole I'd be lower on, since parts of it are confusing and annoying. I was kinda iffy on the first volume, but liked the second one better...so I guess if you're not liking it by then, I'm not sure I would keep going. (If you do, don't buy 3 right when it comes out; wait for 4 and then read them both at once, because 3 is very wtf.)
I think most of the humor is not really punny (or otherwise language related), so that may just be a case of YMMV. :/
no subject
no subject
no subject
I will look forward to reading Seitokaichou now, and totally plan on skimming volume 3, because if no one else understands it, goodness knows I won't.
(Bwahaha, I just realized the bunny has the "new driver" sticker over his head! That's what that is, right? At first I thought it was a funny-shaped heart.)
no subject
(There are SOME parts of 3 worth reading, like...did you get Dai Ni Button? One of the characters from that has a bigger role in 3.)
no subject
no subject