Just as well, I'm dying to write about my top ten bishounen and the fact that I've been obsessed with bishies in glasses lately.
But anyway, onto the second manga thoughts post... that is if you don't count this month's spotlight for Sheet no Sukima.
***
Creator: Maki Usami
Genre: drama, romance, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 1 volume/ 4 oneshot stories
Story 1: Caramel Milk Tea
Okada Miki falls in love at first sight with Sasaki Ryuuji, a waiter at a small coffee shop when he looks directly at her one day. However, upon bravely asking him out, she is immediately rejected with a simple "The exit is in that direction." Unexpectedly, Miki is now a part-time worker at the same coffee shop and on her first day, Sasaki shows her the same kind of coldness he'd done so before, which irritates her immensely. "That kind of guy thinks so highly of himself just because he's passably hot," had been the words of one of Miki's friends. Because of this incident, Miki realizes that she must have been crazy to have fallen for a guy like this.
Now Miki is determined to work hard in order to prove that her being at the coffee shop has nothing to do with Sasaki. As the time goes by, both Miki and Sasaki begin to see a new side of each other. Sasaki accepts that Miki is there at the coffee shop to work and Miki learns why Sasaki had been so rude to her when she'd confessed to him. But as time goes by and the two become closer, Miki realizes that she is still in love with Sasaki.
Story 2: Our Time
Eri and Shirou have been friends since childhood, but were separated for four years when Shirou's family moved away. At present, reunited barely a month ago, Eri is less than ecstatic to learn that "quiet and cute" Shirou from the past is now "somewhat of a smart ass."
In a desparate attempt to make her ex-boyfriend leave her alone, Eri carelessly asks Shirou to be her boyfriend-- although knowing her motivation, Shirou willingly agrees. Somewhat taken aback both by her brutish request and his quick response, Eri questions Shirou to learn that he's been in love with her ever since they were kids. Because of this, Eri feels extremely guilty for what she's making him do and finds herself slowly falling for him.
On top of that, Eri has a secret she's keeping from Shirou, which she absolutely does not want him to know. The present-day Eri is not so much the same Eri that Shirou had fallen in love with years ago.
Story 3: A Sparkling Mood
Narumi has a crush on the school's top student Miyamoto, but unfortunately she and her family will be moving away from the city as soon as the end of the semester rolls around on December 25th. In order to do something to convey her feelings, Narumi is set on knitting a scarf for Miyamoto as a good-bye present, but is found out by Miyamoto's friend Kanzaki. While at first seeming unapproachable, Kanzaki turns out to be a kinder person than Narumi expected when he helps her choose a ready-made scarf for Miyamoto. As an added plus, he even takes her to see beautiful, sparkling Christmas lights when she admits to liking the feel that they give her and that she'll be moving away soon.
Because of this short meeting, the two become closer as they work together to decorate the school's trees and bushes with lights for the holiday. Little by little, Narumi realizes that she has grown more attracted to Kanzaki and has completely set aside her unadvanced feelings for Miyamoto to the point that she has even forgotten to buy the scarf she'd intended to give to her previous crush.
But the fact still stands that Narumi will be moving away soon and Kanzaki is still under the impression that she is in love with Miyamoto.
Story 4: No. 1 Girl
At the age of seventeen, Saiko is a popular model who is in the middle of forwarding her career. Unfortunately, amidst this decision is also the conflict of what will happen to her relationship with her boyfriend Hajime. Because of this, Saiko hadn't been able to bring up the courage to discuss this ordeal with Hajime and the two end up growing tense with their relationhip.
While it seems that Hajime can be understanding of her decision, Saiko is still conflicted. After all, she must either move away to further her career at this point, but lose her boyfriend. Or she can remain where she is right now, stay with her loving boyfriend, but lose out on an opportunity to climb the ladder higher to her goal.
Maybe it's not as complicated as Saiko thinks it is.
Thoughts:
I'm a guppy when it comes to oneshots. I get giddy and excited because oneshots are short and sweet, and present to you an entire romance story nicely packaged within a few pages. There is no long, drawn out-development, and there is no room for overly complicated issues to take form. We pick one simple issue and expand on it into a short oneshot manga story.
Basically, one shot stories make for really good doses of crack for the romance lover's soul. They're satisfying and their sweet and they're conclusive too so you're not sitting on the edge of your seat wondering when the conclusion will come around and why it hasn't already. One shots have their charm like longer series have their charm like ongoing series have their charm.
Caramel Milk Tea is actually a rather sweet title for this series, taking it from the first short story of the collection. I personally really enjoyed these four stories, and my favorite of the bunch was the first, Caramel Milk Tea.
The build up of the romance between Sasaki and Miki was a given, but the sudden declaration by Miki that "I must have been crazy to fall for a guy like you" was a little unexpected it. I had expected her to be a bit of a cockroach and continue on her pursuit instead of announcing that she doesn't like him anymore so quickly. Most shoujo manga females are quite cockroach like and it gets on my nerves so I was delighted to see Miki stand up for herself and say, "Screw him." After all, a lot of men are the type who don't bother with girls who are persistent and will become intrigued by girls who become hostile towards them. Men are men after all... greedy pigs.
But I digress... and almost climbed on top of my soap box. Whoops!
Anyway, Caramel Milk Tea was a cute little collection of one shots.
My preferences were the first and third stories. The second one was good too, and I really didn't care much for the last. I enjoyed it through, and anyone else who likes short story romances will probably enjoy them too. Usami Maki's artwork is quite pretty, but very simple and plain. I wouldn't really classify her males as bishounen, but the girls are drawn quite bishie-like so it's still good.
Overall, though short and sweet, it was exactly that. Very sweet (no pun actually intended). And for one, as a hopeless romantic, Caramel Milk Tea's first oneshot is one that I don't mind reading over and over again.
No comments:
Post a Comment