wednesday_10_00

Entry tags:

flailing,
pimping

Two.

Two posts in 2015 (before this one). Two. Sheesh. Maybe I can improve on that in the next couple of weeks. Before I get into reviews, some housekeeping:

1. I know I owe

gnine some fanfic recs; should I post them here? (This is like that "anyone who's not here, raise your hand" joke...) If there's somewhere else that you would see it sooner (email or whatever), I can do that, too.

2. I have a tumblr (or here if you don't care about about tags, which is just crazy talk). It's...90% Haikyuu and cats, but if you are interested in those things (or don't mind scrolling past them), feel free to follow.

On to reviews:

Okottenai nara Kotchi Muite - Kasai Chiaki (heh...)
Rokumiya Daiki is a member of the school's badminton club, and has been adopted by the puppy-like Iijima Yuu (art club). Yuu is totally in love with Daiki and Daiki...honestly kind of likes it, even if he knows the relationship is weird.

On the one hand, Yuu and Daiki are totally adorable. I was kind of expecting Daiki to be more mean and put Yuu off more, but it's pretty obvious early on that he's crazy about Yuu (just in a more tsundere way, compared to Yuu's puppy-like enthusiasm). Though...this being a Qpa title, it's pretty porny, and I am SO uncomfortable when so much of the sex happens in public places. (Find a room and lock the door, PLEASE.) On the other hand, I hate (HATE) Yuu's gross brother. I hate him in Yuu and Daiki's story (go away and leave them alone and WTF is going on between him and their stepfather, GROSS), and I don't really like him any better in his own weird triangle story. So...this is kind of a mixed bag for me. (note to

mangaroo - Daiki is a stand-in for Iwaizumi or Kasamatsu, yes/no?)

Tonari no Wakazou - Sawa Machiko (sweh...)
LOVE the title story, an opposites attract story about two neighbors (and their cat). Also, huge bonus points for the kitty POV extra. I don't think I have anything to say about it; it's exactly what the cover looks like. The one-shot after it (about two high school boys getting to know each other when one accidentally breaks the other's glasses and has to help him all day) is super cute, but the guys don't really get together, so...?

between the sheets | Blue Moon, Blue- Hashimoto Aoi (sweh | heh)
I had seen this book (and then its sequel) floating around as being really popular, but for some reason I thought it was part of another series? And also the cover of the first one is kind of a turn-off for me? So I avoided this for a while. (Turns out the insides are pretty, actually. Soooo pretty. Also, fact: tsundere characters are cats)

Anyway: Aoba Takafumi is a (pretty) bartender who is super-popular with his customers but makes it a point to turn down any offers they make. Ichise is some sort of super-rich hotel executive (complete with hot secretary who really needs his own story, Fukuhara) who is determined to pursue Takafumi until he gives in. Eventually Takafumi agrees to go to dinner (to a really fancy restaurant, because he apparently has really fancy tastes) and then to sleep with Ichisei...but he doesn't want a relationship. This, of course, only makes Ichise even MORE determined to pursue Takafumi. I love the "sex friends fall in love" trope anyway, but this is just a super cute version. Ichise is so doting and it's adorable to see Takafumi get so flustered by it. So, naturally, I was really excited for the sequel, and...meh. I love the characters like crazy, but I didn't love anything about the plot (so over the third wheel thing). Oh, except Takafumi bartending for the hotel party, which was all kinds of adorable (also, Fukuhara is hilarious).

Ohayou to Oyasumi to Sono Ato ni | 2 - Hamada Kamome (sweh! | heh...)
I...kind of do not love the premise of this (Tachibana Kaito, an aspiring chef, sees a beautiful "girl" [fate! love at first sight!], who turns out to be Kataoka Isuke ["my, that's a...manly name you have...." *Kaito dies*], a college student who ends up getting a job at the cafe where Kaito works. I also do not love the contrived way they end up living together, but...once we get to that point, this story is so ridiculously adorable. (The hand-holding! Kitty hands! Seeing otters! ["The otters are cute!" "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S CUTE"] The cleaning! The...okay, basically everything they do is adorable.)

I randomly bought this as an e-book (late night e-manga browsing: sooo dangerous to my budget), and when I got to the end, it advertised a second volume, which made me SUPER happy. I'm not thrilled with the plot (random guy temporarily living with Kaito and Isuke, Kaito going to Italy for a year), but the characters are cute enough to carry it, except I really, really did not need a chapter about the cafe owner's tragic love story. Apparently the story is still running, so hopefully we'll just forgot that ever happened and concentrate on Kaito and Isuke for the next volume.

non-BL:

Hiso Hiso -silent voice- (1-3) - Fujitani Youko (sweh!)
When BL authors do non-BL stories, I generally either avoid them on principle or approach them with caution. This, however, is completely adorable and wonderful, and I now think I was silly to avoid it for so long. It's a story about Daichi, a 7-year-old boy who has the power to hear the thoughts of objects, animals, and humans when he touches them, and Kouji, a high school boy who had the same power when he was a kid (and, spoiler that everybody could see coming: he gets the power back after meeting Daichi). Kouji was traumatized by how his parents treated him because of his power, but Daichi's parents are 1000% awesome are supportive of what he can do. There's a really great cast of characters (I really appreciate that Kouji, Tamaki, and Yuusuke all seem like regular high school boys without being overly obnoxious or annoying--I stopped reading flat because I couldn't stand Heisuke anymore), and the voices of the inanimate objects is the icing of the cake. Kouji's cell phone might be one of my favorite characters, and I love little touches like the refrigerator yelling "Ahhh, hurry up and close me!" or Kouji explaining that sleeping on a hotel pillow is uncomfortable because the pillow is nervous.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

90% Haikyuu and cats

If I'm ever asked to describe you... (Haven't read under the cut yet. Back later!)

Edit: true story - I skipped from "heh" to the first "sweh" review, so I almost missed this:

Daiki is a stand-in for Iwaizumi or Kasamatsu, yes/no?

Maybe? On visuals alone, he's missing the dark hair which is so critical to their stalwart manliness. But of course, what makes Iwa-chan and Kasamatsu so awesome is that they are sports samurai. Even though they don't natter on about it, they live their sport, are committed to their sport, and are honorable in their sport. Also, natural leaders of men. Is Daiki a sports samurai?

Also, I am too old to be crushed on 2-dimensional high school boys, so it's a good thing this comment is written in invisible pixels.

Edited 2015-06-29 17:01 (UTC)

he's missing the dark hair which is so critical to their stalwart manliness

Ah, see, I didn't realize the dark hair was so important. As for your question, I'm going to tentatively say yes, although it's a little hard to tell because, you know, this is a BL manga, not a BL sportsball manga.

Edited 2015-06-29 17:15 (UTC)

it's a little hard to tell because, you know, this is a BL manga, not a BL sportsball manga.

It sounds like there might not be enough sportsball in that BL manga. (WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?)

The dark hair is less important than the samurai character, but...its simplicity and plainness is kind of part of the package? Like Akashi would be waaaaaaaaaaaaay too flashy to be one of the triplets. (Naming Akashi because isolation, calligraphy, violin. So dignified.)

Edited 2015-06-29 17:22 (UTC)

Well, now the problem is that you'll have to read this to tell me if he fits the model or not. For science!

Naming Akashi because isolation, calligraphy, violin. So dignified.

Well, also, to me anyway, calligraphy and (especially) violin say "rich boy," which doesn't seem to fit into the samurai character.

Thank you for the reviews! Lots of those sound tempting.

As an aside, I am really happy to see so many titles in Amazon now with Kindle links. (Clarification: I hate reading manga on Kindle. But anything that is available for reading on Kindle is probably also available on e-book japan, which has an AMAZING ipad reader.)

I would still always want to have favorites in paper version, but I used to feel, in the run-up to a Japan trip, that I had to buy ALL THE BOOKS or risk discovering a gem too late and having to order it and pay exorbitant shipping. Or wait two years until the next trip. While Kindle prices are not as cheap as used from Japan, the difference between ~400 yen used and ~600 yen Kindle is sooo much better than ~400 yen and $10-12. And with the enormity of my backlog, it makes a lot of sense to just wait to buy a book until it rises to the top of my mental pile and I'm actually ready to pick it up and read it.

Thanks especially for the pointer to Hiso-Hiso silent voice - that has been in my ?? list for a while. (?? being "Should I follow up on this?") In fact, haha, I apparently have only volume 2, which I'm certain must be because s-vamp gave me one of her extras at some point. I should definitely throw in 1 and 3.

GAH! I feel like I need the two of you to set me up on ebiJapan in August.

I feel like you wanted me to show it to you on the last trip, but then you decided you weren't going to buy any e-manga and didn't care after all. But I'm happy to show you (again) on this trip.

On this trip, we will have me actually buy a manga and "read" it. Maybe Okottenai nara Kotchi Muite.

Oh, good plan. Storytime!

Okottenai nara Kotchi Muite

... and, ironically, that title was the only one out of the current crop of reviews that didn't have a Kindle link. I noticed, because I was checking each one.

Manga is hard!

I highly approve of emanga storytime in principle. Actually, I'd love to see what a Japanese emanga looks like on the iPad mini - I wonder if the smaller screen will make much difference.

Secretly, all of the manga in this post (except Hiso Hiso) were read on my iPad. So whether a book has a Kindle version available doesn't necessarily mean anything.

The screen of the Mini is only a little smaller than a BL manga (I think it's bigger than a shoujo or shounen manga--though with shounen I tend to read in landscape, because of the two-page spreads, and it is a little small for that).

Secretly, all of the manga in this post (except Hiso Hiso) were read on my iPad.

Cool! Good to know.

I'm curious - what does a monthly shopping order look like for you these days? Do you have a set of sites you check for e-book availability before you decide to throw a physical copy in the Amazon shopping basket? Do you pretty much stick to one e-book source only?

I'm aware of several resources (Amazon Kindle, Honto, E-Book Japan) but have only ever bought one or two titles on each of those, so I haven't fully established a pattern. Ebi is definitely emerging as my personal favorite so far.

Monthly orders from Amazon are magazines (Dear+ and BexBoy) and any shounen and shoujo I want. Monthly orders from Comi Comi (yes, two monthly orders...) are BL manga that have papers or other extras.

I browse EBJ once in a while to see if there's anything I want to buy. I don't plan purchases on any specific interval. I love to try new things with e-books because I don't have to worry about shipping fees or getting rid of the book if I don't like it (or, worse, decide whether or not to keep it if it's just okay). Sometimes, when I'm putting together my monthly order, I'll see something that I'm not sure about buying, but if there's a digital version, I will go ahead with it.

(sad fact: if I'm not sure whether I want to get it, but there's a special paper, I will probably buy it. I may have a problem.)

I sometimes buy from Renta! if what I want isn't on EBJ. Both have good quality, but I like to keep as many of the books together as I can, and they have separate apps for reading, so. (I also think Renta's ticket system is stupid and gimmicky, but whatever.) I pretty much never buy from Amazon or Honto because I find their quality sub-standard. (It's been long enough that I guess that may have changed, though, I don't know.)

I pretty much never buy from Amazon or Honto because I find their quality sub-standard. (It's been long enough that I guess that may have changed, though, I don't know.)

I can't speak for Honto (I think it's been a while since I bought from them) but I just bought Bukiyou na Silent 5 on Kindle, and it looks as terrible as ever on the Kindle Paperwhite. (There is a story behind why I did this which would just make me look stupid if I explained, so don't ask. ^_^;;)

I have no idea if maybe it would look better on a Fire, but I'm not about to buy a Fire to find out. And if I want to view it on the Kindle App on the iPad, I have to erase all the content from my American Amazon acct in order to activate the Japanese one, which is just a pain.

I do like how novels look and read on the Paperwhite, so I'm most likely to buy novels from Amazon rather than EBJ.

I have to erase all the content from my American Amazon acct in order to activate the Japanese one, which is just a pain.

I have it set so the Kindle app is my Japanese account, and I use the Cloud Reader for my US account. You can pin whatever you want in CR so you don't need internet access for it, too.

What I find awkward about the novels I've bought on EBJ is that the default text size is GINORMOUS. I don't need to be turning pages every five seconds, thanks.

For science (and fairness):

Thanks for the reminder about Amazon Cloud Reader. I think I had that set up at one point, but got frustrated with it and deleted it - I don't remember why, maybe because at the time I was trying to use it to read novels and look up vocabulary words with a Kindle dictionary (a function which works far better on a native Kindle).

Anyway, as an experiment, I switched my Kindle iPad app back to the Japanese store and downloaded BnS 5. BnS 5 does indeed look far better on the iPad than it does on the Kindle Paperwhite, so that's a good thing.

I would still prefer to keep as many of my ebooks as possible in one place, and EbiReader has been the superior of the platforms so far, so no real change, but... scientific findings.

BnS 5 does indeed look far better on the iPad than it does on the Kindle Paperwhite, so that's a good thing.

Yeah, I wouldn't expect manga to look good on the Paperwhite, honestly. Once it's in the Kindle app, does it look as good as the best EBJ manga, though? The ones I got (from Amazon and Honto) didn't look bad, exactly, but I saw them and thought I could never switch to digital manga.

At some point (especially if I buy much stuff in other apps), I'm going to have to start cataloging my digital manga, maybe into a separate shelf in BookPedia? Just kind of annoying because there's no barcode scanning.

Let's be honest: buying manga used in Japan is a false bargain, because the cost of going to Japan and staying there is more than shipping. However, we all love to go to Japan, so whatever. For me, personally, it's mostly about the "shopping orgy" aspect of it--that is, browsing bookstores and filling baskets and finding quest items. Which is why I am really going to concentrate on doujinshi on this trip (some of which is just impossible to find online). I can get manga whenever. I have a few OOP books that I'll be looking for, and probably August releases, and that's about it.

That being said, I love e-book manga, and am feeling less and less need to duplicate with paper copies.

Which is why I am really going to concentrate on doujinshi on this trip (some of which is just impossible to find online). I can get manga whenever. I have a few OOP books that I'll be looking for, and probably August releases, and that's about it.

While I completely understand that reasoning, it makes me a little sad, because I've always gained so much from poaching off your shopping list (as in poaching ideas, not ninjaing the manga!). Still, I have your & Amparo's "potential to buy" lists for that, so. While I still think I'll be focusing on manga over doujinshi (or at least equally with doujinshi), it really would be nice to have lighter suitcases coming home this time. Deferring more purchases to e-manga would definitely help with that.

I have mixed feelings about the prospect of doujinshi shopping. While I'm sure I will have some priority items on my list, I get really uncomfortable when it comes to competing for scarce items. At least it always felt like it wasn't that hard to find multiple copies of manga we all wanted.

I know it's every fangirl for herself and all that, but I feel like you do so much of the research that I rely on to construct my shopping list, and you deserve to reap the rewards rather than having to compete with me (or whoever) for stuff you recommended in the first place.

It would be awesome if you guys shove duplicate copies of things you recommend at me - I'd be a lot happier knowing that I'm not taking away someone else's prize.

Edited 2015-06-29 18:46 (UTC)

Comiket aside (I am going to have a VERY specific shopping list for Comiket), I honestly don't know how much I'm going to be looking for specific doujinshi vs. just randomly buying from certainly pairing sections. I have some samples bookmarked in pixiv (and will have more, once I get caught up on all the RTS 5 posts), but I don't know how many of those I'm going to list up to take to Japan.

(I WILL fight anyone who tries to get between me and dull's MidoTaka doujinshi, but I honestly don't expect anyone else to care about those, so I don't foresee a problem.)

That's good, then, because I am not so competitive with fandom/pairing doujinshi - happy just to browse for random finds. I get stressed out over original author doujinshi.

Oh, then no problem at all. I've bought pretty much everything I want from the last two Comikets, so I barely even have anything on my original author list, and nothing I really care about. Just a couple of "it would be nice if I found this" things.

Ohayou to Oyasumi to Sono Ato ni

This is one that I had just added to my shopping list due to Amazon recs, so it's good to hear your opinion.

I stopped reading flat because I couldn't stand Heisuke anymore

Same here; it ended up in my culled list while still mostly unread. That makes me kind of sad, but I just have so many things in my backlog that I can't spend time on volumes that don't excite me.

Yeah, I had the same "kind of sad" feeling about flat (because it started out so adorable, and then Heisuke just became unbearable for me), but Hiso Hiso fills the void it left in my heart, so yay.

Yes, here is good! I actually read LJ every day (even if I'm HORRIBLE about posting myself...err...oops?)

But Haikyuu recs for the win!! Actually, if you have Kuroko no Basuke recs as well I'm all for those (...I may have been pushing Kuroko on

spacealien_vamp while I was there...I felt it was only fair after she got me watching Haikyuu ^__-)

OH SPORTS ANIME, how has this HAPPENED?! *headdesk* And how is it all SO SLASHY?!

Oooh, and look at other manga recs I'll need to go check out...^^

SPORTSBALL! It's a curse. A horrible addition. Also, really awesome and fun.

I was going to ask you for KuroBasu recs! (LOL) I honestly haven't found any good ones yet. But I haven't had a lot of time to look, either, because I've been spending all my free time lately going through the Comiket catalog. I'm into so many pairings! This is going to be my most intense Comiket ever.

Are caught up with the manga for Haikyuu, or just seen the anime? (I can't rec BokuAka if you haven't met them, haha.) Anyway, here are a few to start:

For your "sex competition" request:
i can do better (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2323055/chapters/5115740) (buu)

Also, by the same author, not a competition, but still kind of a similar story from Kageyama's POV:
am i gay? please help (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2546768/chapters/5661938) (This one isn't finished--and may never be, given the author's battles with depression--but I think it leaves off in an okay place)

also KageHina:

The Absence of Words (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1858323) (artenon)

Really short, but really sweet. Based on the poem The Quiet World (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179259), by Jeffrey McDaniel.

some DaiSuga:

You'd fit my lonely arms so perfectly (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2628422/chapters/5864243) (boxofwonder)
Dialed the wrong number AU. Crazy-neighbor-Oikawa might be my favorite part of this fic.

(Do you love Oikawa? I'm not done pimping Haikyuu to someone until they love Oikawa.)

Snapshots (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2209833) (minijhi)
Is this the Time Traveler's Wife? (I've never seen or read it, so I don't know.) Anyway, AU where Daichi can time travel.

I will be back with more later!

Oooh! Ooh! So what are your KuroBasu pairings?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Two.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject