Having recently been more interested in watching live action drama, I know that I've left this blog fairly unattended. It can't be helped since my interests change often from one area to another pretty sporadically. There is still hope that I'll return to the anime and manga blogging scene as there have been few anime series and manga series I have left unfinished. But while I continue on my new quest to enjoying live action drama, the animanga zone will definitely continue it's extended hiatus.
Of course, that doesn't mean that I've forgotten about it completely. Because in the coming future, I have my own plans to post certain articles in the drama zone in which will include some elements of anime or manga.
With that said, here are two live action drama series based off of ever popular cross-dressing reverse harem shoujo manga, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e by Nakajo Hisaya:
Hanazarkarino Kimitachie also known as Hua Yang Xiao Nian Xiao Nu (花樣少年少女) -- a 2006 production in the Taiwanese Idol Drama genre.
The story line to Hana Kimi is a perfect match for Taiwan's hit television series arena wherein Idol Drama's rule the entertainment industry, showcasing the hottest new artists and stars who are capable of singing, dancing and acting as well as simply looking pretty or handsome. Lead by S.H.E. girl group member Ella Chen alongside Fahrenheit boy group members Wu Chun and Jiro Wang, this series became vastly popular throughout Asia with it's sweet and fun story base as well as rising star cast. While probably not the best drama series production in Asian media, Hana Kimi truly was a hit among young girls all over the world. This series boasts musical numbers from S.H.E., Fahrenheit and Tank.
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e: Ikemen Paradise -- a 2007 production from Japan, it is also referred to endearingly as IkePara.
As with any popular Japanese manga, it is only a matter of time before the country takes it's own productions to create a live action series for the people to enjoy. While not truly following the original manga story line, it takes elements and plot devices from the manga and incorporates them into a separate story altogether. Packed with hilarious Japanese humor and excellent comedic timing, this series boasts some wonderful entertainment as well as elements of slice-of-life philosophy about being young and following dreams. Among the cast are Horikita Maki, Oguri Shun, and rising star Ikuta Toma who pretty much steals the spotlight from the ever beloved main couple. With this series, Ikuta Toma received his biggest break, capturing hearts of young girls all over the Asian region and catapulting him into main leading roles in his own drama series as well as movies.
Both of these above mentioned series have been analyzed to death by this weblog fangirl. There has never been a doubt that Hana Kimi will forever be one of my most favorite shoujo manga ever created as I can easily reread chapters upon chapters without feeling bored about them. As a warning, the articles posted above are fairly in depth and may contain spoilers. But as they were broadcasted more than four years ago as well as are based off of a well-known manga anyway, it probably doesn't hurt for me to spoil just a little bit of the story line. After all, for the most part, romantic comedies typically yield the same predictable formulas regularly.
Showing posts with label shoujo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoujo. Show all posts
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Saturday, February 7, 2009
thoughts: Seishun no Tamago (manga)
Creator: Nakahara Aya
Genre: comedy, drama, romance, slice of life, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 5 oneshot stories
Story 1: Spring Egg
Chika-chan's mother owns a lodging house for college students. The first to come live with them was a boy named Fujimori Tomohiro and since then, it has been love for Chika-chan. Unfortunately, Chika had to learn early on that Tomohiro had no interest in her at all when her mother makes him sign a contract saying that he'll never go after Chika. Not only did he sign the contract, but he also commented that it would never happen.
It has been a year since Tomohiro moved in and three other college students also are lodging with Chika's family. While their relationship is quite close, Tomohiro consistently treats Chika like she's just a little child; even though he knows that she has feelings for him, he openly rejects her time and time again, always calling her "just the lodging house's little brat," in front of others.
After openly offering herself to Tomohiro one night when they are alone at home, he doesn't even show any sign of being moved. Chika is finally set on giving up this one-sided relationship.
Story2: Sunflower Girl
Misaki has a crush on Kurita Kenji and in order to see him all the time, she purposefully eats sweets and junk food to give herself cavities. Kuri's family owns a dental office and upon going in, Kuri is always there hitting on the young girls jokingly or teasing Misaki. Due to summer break approaching, all the girls have the same idea of confessing to the guy they like before they separate and Misaki is encouraged to do the same by writing a letter. Unfortunately, a junior student is also interested in Kuri and has the same idea, beating Misaki to her confession.
In a fit of frustration, Misaki exclaims that she does not like Kuri and even refuses to go to his dental office even though her tooth aches. Realizing that she has been cowardly, the next time she sees Kuri, she breaks down into tears because of her toothache only to learn that Kuri has also liked her as well.
Story 3: Happiness Faces South!
Bon-chan is the type of guy who everyone adores because of a "magic" he creates when socializing. Bon-chan wears untrendy clothes and is extremely cheerful almost all of the time. And Bon-chan fell in love with Sakura at first sight after watching her hit an outstanding homerun even though she was dizzy with sickness from a cold. He later learns that Sakura is the younger sister of a renown beauty at his college.
Sakura had been in love with her sensei from softball and had recently learned that he got himself a girlfriend. Because of this, she got sick and while nursing herself back to health learns that her sister had just gotten a boyfriend. And then Bon-chan shows up and immediately attaches himself to Sakura, claiming that he likes Sakura the most.
But as Sakura begins to fall for Bon-chan's charms after his efforts to chase after her, she knows that she is no beauty compared to her sister. She overhears a few of their mutual friends gossiping that Bon-chan couldn't possible like Sakura and that he might be using her to get to the older sister instead. This occurs not too long after Sakura learns that her sensei and her sister were dating and she is not surprised because in the end, everyone falls for her sister anyway.
But Bon-chan gave his word that he would only look at Sakura and that it was Sakura whom he liked.
Story 4: Prince and I
Mari-chan's neighbor is a boy named Kaoru who is a year younger than her and he does not know how to ride a bike. Ever since she'd met him, she has liked him, and the two are always together, but not as a dating couple. Feeling depressed because even the elementary school kid has a girlfriend, Mari is ecstatic when Kaoru asks her to go to the planetarium with him after she mentions wanting to see it.
But when Kawase-senpai tells Mari that he likes her and wants to go out with her, jealousy takes over and Kaoru tells Mari to go with Kawase instead. After all, Mari had just twisted her ankle and Kaoru wouldn't be able to transport her home on a bike, so it was only right, right? But because of this, Mari has lost hope that Kaoru might care about her.
Story 5: 2 Block Honey
Satoshi and Micchan have been dating for at least a year, but back then, the two matched like such a nice couple. A year into the present, Micchan towers over her boyfriend by at least six centimeters and when she puts on another six centimeters worth of high heels, she is twelve centimeters much taller. And sadly, this affects Satoshi's thinking because he doesn't like that he's so much shorter than his "use to be cute" girlfriend.
Because of this, Satoshi has become irritated to the point that he wants to break up with her if she ever goes out with him in high heels again. But during the date to determine their status, all of the fates are against them when Micchan shows up in the only pair of shoes she can find, the six centimeter heels. They go on their date anyway, but when someone mistakens them for older sister and younger brother, Satoshi decides to end their relationship because of his pride.
Story 6: Spring, Air, Sunday
Sumito died not shortly after getting an agreement from his crush Risa to go on a date with him. At his funeral, his ghost sees Risa who is crying. And then he sees Haruno, his friend who can see him for some reason. Uncaring and cold, Haruno tells Sumito to leave and quit bothering her so he leaves just to find Risa; in doing so, he learns that Risa never really liked him and found it bothersome for him to chase after her. She only agreed to go on a date with him to shut him up.
Depressed, Sumito returns to Haruno's only to find out that she had been in love with him since the beginning even though she acted so cold about his death. And now, Haruno is on the roof ready to join Sumito as a ghost.
***
I really like oneshots, and even though I write a lot for the summaries, I really hope I don't give too much away.
Seishun no Tamago encompasses the greatness that is Nakahara Aya with her interesting characters, her wit and humor, and fun plot devices. This is a collection I enjoyed a lot, though I must say that nothing quite compares to Lovely Complex, not even the fifth story which was almost a direct knock off of Lovely Complex's idea, but with different types of characters and a different storyline.
Of the six stories, I enjoyed the first, third, and fourth ones the most. The third one, Happiness Faces South had one of the most interesting characters in the form of Bon-chan. I enjoyed his presence a lot and wouldn't have minded if the story was a little longer.
Again, Nakahara-sensei's witticisms do not cease to amaze me.
Genre: comedy, drama, romance, slice of life, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 5 oneshot stories
Story 1: Spring Egg
Chika-chan's mother owns a lodging house for college students. The first to come live with them was a boy named Fujimori Tomohiro and since then, it has been love for Chika-chan. Unfortunately, Chika had to learn early on that Tomohiro had no interest in her at all when her mother makes him sign a contract saying that he'll never go after Chika. Not only did he sign the contract, but he also commented that it would never happen.
It has been a year since Tomohiro moved in and three other college students also are lodging with Chika's family. While their relationship is quite close, Tomohiro consistently treats Chika like she's just a little child; even though he knows that she has feelings for him, he openly rejects her time and time again, always calling her "just the lodging house's little brat," in front of others.
After openly offering herself to Tomohiro one night when they are alone at home, he doesn't even show any sign of being moved. Chika is finally set on giving up this one-sided relationship.
Story2: Sunflower Girl
Misaki has a crush on Kurita Kenji and in order to see him all the time, she purposefully eats sweets and junk food to give herself cavities. Kuri's family owns a dental office and upon going in, Kuri is always there hitting on the young girls jokingly or teasing Misaki. Due to summer break approaching, all the girls have the same idea of confessing to the guy they like before they separate and Misaki is encouraged to do the same by writing a letter. Unfortunately, a junior student is also interested in Kuri and has the same idea, beating Misaki to her confession.
In a fit of frustration, Misaki exclaims that she does not like Kuri and even refuses to go to his dental office even though her tooth aches. Realizing that she has been cowardly, the next time she sees Kuri, she breaks down into tears because of her toothache only to learn that Kuri has also liked her as well.
Story 3: Happiness Faces South!
Bon-chan is the type of guy who everyone adores because of a "magic" he creates when socializing. Bon-chan wears untrendy clothes and is extremely cheerful almost all of the time. And Bon-chan fell in love with Sakura at first sight after watching her hit an outstanding homerun even though she was dizzy with sickness from a cold. He later learns that Sakura is the younger sister of a renown beauty at his college.
Sakura had been in love with her sensei from softball and had recently learned that he got himself a girlfriend. Because of this, she got sick and while nursing herself back to health learns that her sister had just gotten a boyfriend. And then Bon-chan shows up and immediately attaches himself to Sakura, claiming that he likes Sakura the most.
But as Sakura begins to fall for Bon-chan's charms after his efforts to chase after her, she knows that she is no beauty compared to her sister. She overhears a few of their mutual friends gossiping that Bon-chan couldn't possible like Sakura and that he might be using her to get to the older sister instead. This occurs not too long after Sakura learns that her sensei and her sister were dating and she is not surprised because in the end, everyone falls for her sister anyway.
But Bon-chan gave his word that he would only look at Sakura and that it was Sakura whom he liked.
Story 4: Prince and I
Mari-chan's neighbor is a boy named Kaoru who is a year younger than her and he does not know how to ride a bike. Ever since she'd met him, she has liked him, and the two are always together, but not as a dating couple. Feeling depressed because even the elementary school kid has a girlfriend, Mari is ecstatic when Kaoru asks her to go to the planetarium with him after she mentions wanting to see it.
But when Kawase-senpai tells Mari that he likes her and wants to go out with her, jealousy takes over and Kaoru tells Mari to go with Kawase instead. After all, Mari had just twisted her ankle and Kaoru wouldn't be able to transport her home on a bike, so it was only right, right? But because of this, Mari has lost hope that Kaoru might care about her.
Story 5: 2 Block Honey
Satoshi and Micchan have been dating for at least a year, but back then, the two matched like such a nice couple. A year into the present, Micchan towers over her boyfriend by at least six centimeters and when she puts on another six centimeters worth of high heels, she is twelve centimeters much taller. And sadly, this affects Satoshi's thinking because he doesn't like that he's so much shorter than his "use to be cute" girlfriend.
Because of this, Satoshi has become irritated to the point that he wants to break up with her if she ever goes out with him in high heels again. But during the date to determine their status, all of the fates are against them when Micchan shows up in the only pair of shoes she can find, the six centimeter heels. They go on their date anyway, but when someone mistakens them for older sister and younger brother, Satoshi decides to end their relationship because of his pride.
Story 6: Spring, Air, Sunday
Sumito died not shortly after getting an agreement from his crush Risa to go on a date with him. At his funeral, his ghost sees Risa who is crying. And then he sees Haruno, his friend who can see him for some reason. Uncaring and cold, Haruno tells Sumito to leave and quit bothering her so he leaves just to find Risa; in doing so, he learns that Risa never really liked him and found it bothersome for him to chase after her. She only agreed to go on a date with him to shut him up.
Depressed, Sumito returns to Haruno's only to find out that she had been in love with him since the beginning even though she acted so cold about his death. And now, Haruno is on the roof ready to join Sumito as a ghost.
***
I really like oneshots, and even though I write a lot for the summaries, I really hope I don't give too much away.
Seishun no Tamago encompasses the greatness that is Nakahara Aya with her interesting characters, her wit and humor, and fun plot devices. This is a collection I enjoyed a lot, though I must say that nothing quite compares to Lovely Complex, not even the fifth story which was almost a direct knock off of Lovely Complex's idea, but with different types of characters and a different storyline.
Of the six stories, I enjoyed the first, third, and fourth ones the most. The third one, Happiness Faces South had one of the most interesting characters in the form of Bon-chan. I enjoyed his presence a lot and wouldn't have minded if the story was a little longer.
Again, Nakahara-sensei's witticisms do not cease to amaze me.
Friday, January 23, 2009
thoughts: Himitsu Kichi (manga)
Creator: Nakahara Aya
Genre: comedy, drama, romance, school life, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 4 oneshot stories
File 1: Boyfriend's Secret
Ikeuchi Kana is a first year high school student who can't stand childish boys. At a coffee shop near her house, she met the mature and good-looking Kaneda Kyouichi who, according to her investigations from the shop owner, is a twenty year old college student. She confesses to him not soon afterwards and he unhesitatingly agrees to go out with her.
Of course, after learning that Kana is a high school student, Kyouichi displays strange behavior, expressing that he thought she was the same age as him. The matter is, there is a secret about Kyouichi that the shop owner lied about, and when Kana finds out, it is a matter of whether or not she still wants to date him and if so, whether or not she wants her friends to find out. Also, Kyouichi has the nickname of Kanegon?
File 2: My Own Secret
Haruka Hiroko was walking home one day and by chance saves a boy being bullied. "I want to be a strong guy like you!" the boy exclaims, and by doing so, Hiro-chan angrily tells him that she's a girl-- although she has always been mistaken for a guy since young. Even though she dislikes that, at school it seems she has a reputation to keep as a cool judo club member and so keeps a secret about having a crush on the school idol, Yoshinaga-kun.
At school, she meets the weak boy she saved earlier, learning that his name is Kotake Jun and that he's in the handicrafts club-- he is quite girly as well. Meeting him afterschool at a convenience store, Jun unexpectedly learns that Hiro-chan has a crush on Yoshinaga and agrees to help her become girlier so that she can confess her feelings. In return, Hiro agrees to train Jun in judo so that he can become stronger.
An unexpected twist in the end has Hiro reevaluating her crush for Yoshinaga and her relationship with Jun.
File 3: Girlfriend's Secret
Seiji is the main vocalist to a local band and he is also in love with Eri, the girlfriend of one of his band members, Katagiri. But when he fell for her, it was because she told him she was moved by his singing. He had no idea that she was the girlfriend of Katagiri. By chance, Seiji learns something about Eri-chan and ends up in a complicated mess of secrets in order to help Eri-chan stay with her boyfriend.
But as time goes by with Seiji being the only person who knows this secret, it seems to draw the two closer, causing Seiji to become more and more jealous of Katagiri and his relationship with Eri-chan. In the process, Seiji is also told something revealingly shocking about himself.
File 4: My Secret
Afro Kawashima is thirty-four years old, has twelve years of experience as a performer, and is stuck on doing uninteresting and stupid gags and so he is not a famous actor. He is also the father of Kawashima Emi who is tired of being the lame actor's son. As this is the situation, Emi keeps his relation with the well-known Afro Kawashima a secret, and no matter how dotingly his father acts towards him, Emi can only return indifference.
And then one day, Afro Kawashima shows up to school revealing all the lies Emi had been telling about his family background. Not only that, but now everyone knows that the two are father and son.
***
There's something unique about the way Nakahara-sensei details her stories, even in oneshots. Each oneshot in this collection details a particular secret that each of the main characters has. As the readers, we learn about these secrets pretty early on, but the secret is still kept going up to the end of the short story.
The unexpected twists, especially in the first three oneshots are fun when found out. The second story may not seem to have a secret other than Hiro-chan's obsession with the school idol, but the surprise at the very end will have you rolling in your seat with laughter.
Between her witticisms, her surprises, and the facial expressions and whatnot, Nakahara Aya does not cease to amaze in her delivery of storytelling.
I like her work a lot for these reasons, as there has not been a story in which some part did not make me want to laugh out loud. These are especially found throughout Lovely Complex, but that will be for a different post in the future.
Himitsu Kichi is a fun and cute oneshot collection full of laughs, if not romance. Nakahara-sensei displays her awesomeness yet again.
Genre: comedy, drama, romance, school life, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 4 oneshot stories
File 1: Boyfriend's Secret
Ikeuchi Kana is a first year high school student who can't stand childish boys. At a coffee shop near her house, she met the mature and good-looking Kaneda Kyouichi who, according to her investigations from the shop owner, is a twenty year old college student. She confesses to him not soon afterwards and he unhesitatingly agrees to go out with her.
Of course, after learning that Kana is a high school student, Kyouichi displays strange behavior, expressing that he thought she was the same age as him. The matter is, there is a secret about Kyouichi that the shop owner lied about, and when Kana finds out, it is a matter of whether or not she still wants to date him and if so, whether or not she wants her friends to find out. Also, Kyouichi has the nickname of Kanegon?
File 2: My Own Secret
Haruka Hiroko was walking home one day and by chance saves a boy being bullied. "I want to be a strong guy like you!" the boy exclaims, and by doing so, Hiro-chan angrily tells him that she's a girl-- although she has always been mistaken for a guy since young. Even though she dislikes that, at school it seems she has a reputation to keep as a cool judo club member and so keeps a secret about having a crush on the school idol, Yoshinaga-kun.
At school, she meets the weak boy she saved earlier, learning that his name is Kotake Jun and that he's in the handicrafts club-- he is quite girly as well. Meeting him afterschool at a convenience store, Jun unexpectedly learns that Hiro-chan has a crush on Yoshinaga and agrees to help her become girlier so that she can confess her feelings. In return, Hiro agrees to train Jun in judo so that he can become stronger.
An unexpected twist in the end has Hiro reevaluating her crush for Yoshinaga and her relationship with Jun.
File 3: Girlfriend's Secret
Seiji is the main vocalist to a local band and he is also in love with Eri, the girlfriend of one of his band members, Katagiri. But when he fell for her, it was because she told him she was moved by his singing. He had no idea that she was the girlfriend of Katagiri. By chance, Seiji learns something about Eri-chan and ends up in a complicated mess of secrets in order to help Eri-chan stay with her boyfriend.
But as time goes by with Seiji being the only person who knows this secret, it seems to draw the two closer, causing Seiji to become more and more jealous of Katagiri and his relationship with Eri-chan. In the process, Seiji is also told something revealingly shocking about himself.
File 4: My Secret
Afro Kawashima is thirty-four years old, has twelve years of experience as a performer, and is stuck on doing uninteresting and stupid gags and so he is not a famous actor. He is also the father of Kawashima Emi who is tired of being the lame actor's son. As this is the situation, Emi keeps his relation with the well-known Afro Kawashima a secret, and no matter how dotingly his father acts towards him, Emi can only return indifference.
And then one day, Afro Kawashima shows up to school revealing all the lies Emi had been telling about his family background. Not only that, but now everyone knows that the two are father and son.
***
There's something unique about the way Nakahara-sensei details her stories, even in oneshots. Each oneshot in this collection details a particular secret that each of the main characters has. As the readers, we learn about these secrets pretty early on, but the secret is still kept going up to the end of the short story.
The unexpected twists, especially in the first three oneshots are fun when found out. The second story may not seem to have a secret other than Hiro-chan's obsession with the school idol, but the surprise at the very end will have you rolling in your seat with laughter.
Between her witticisms, her surprises, and the facial expressions and whatnot, Nakahara Aya does not cease to amaze in her delivery of storytelling.
I like her work a lot for these reasons, as there has not been a story in which some part did not make me want to laugh out loud. These are especially found throughout Lovely Complex, but that will be for a different post in the future.
Himitsu Kichi is a fun and cute oneshot collection full of laughs, if not romance. Nakahara-sensei displays her awesomeness yet again.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
thoughts: Special A
This is slightly overdue only because I had wanted to post it first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, last thing at night will have to do because of all the work hours I've been getting. And because of all the work hours to come, posting this month may be postponed.
Oh well...
It was a long and hard decision as to what I wanted to do with this anime. When I first set eyes on it, I was gleeful. I'm a hopeless romantic after all and the series was clearly labled as "romance" and "comedy" and also had the word "shoujo" following it. Granted this was before I really understood what "shoujo" truly meant in terms of anime and manga, I wanted to watch S. A. anyway.
The beginning of the series was quite the fun ride. There was humor, there were bishounen, and Hikari-chan was pretty adorable. Akira was absolutely wonderful with her violent tendencies, her high-class behavior and her creepy doting on Hikari. Tadashi wasn't bad. The twins were a little odd and Ryuu was kind of hot. Sadly, Takishima Kei was rather arrogant and that sort of annoyed me. I don't care that he's rich, talented, and good-looking. He was arrogant and he was annoying.
All-in-all, I'd enjoyed those first few episodes of Special A.
But as the series progressed -- and I scouted out the manga to get a second view of the series -- I began to become irritated with it.
Why did I come close to dropping the series altogether? It was quite simple. I had never, ever been so irritated with the two main leads of a romantic comedy like I was with Hikari and Kei. (We shall make no mention of Peach Girl at the moment since I prefer to think I never watched it, though since Suzuken was cast in it, I may make mention of the series some other time.)
Basically, it was sufferable to watch as each episode, Kei shows absolute obviousness on just how much in love he is with Hikari, and the stupid girl just assumes that he's trying to pick a fight or challenge her or look down on her. And as for Kei, maybe if he understood just how thick-headed Hikari was, he should have just come straight out about his feelings for her instead of waiting for her to figure it out on his own. I'm quite certain that everyone and their mothers and uncles and distant cousins are quite aware that Hikari is not going to figure anything out on her own about Kei's feelings or even her own.
As far as the storyline goes, it had quite a bit of potential. But sadly, it would have had more potential had it been shortened into maybe a four OVA series. Or maybe if the episodic feature were more interesting. Instead, each episode only added onto the stupidity that was Hanazono Hikari -- only God knows how she managed to get into S.A. with that missing brain of hers -- and the arrogance that was Takishima Kei.
Needless to say, I got bored of it very easily.
The series is simply just a story of the everyday lives and few not so dramatic events surrounding the seven members of S.A.
The members compete with jealous students in their high school. The members compete with each other to decide on where to go for a vacation. The members go on a vacation in Hawaii. The members work on the school festival. Hikari gets recruited as a tutor for Kei's little brother Sui.
The members meet and play "family" with Yahiro's little brother Chitose-- and I must say, this episode was actually quite fun. There was the all too rare fan service shot that shoujo manga usually doesn't have, but in anime, it's a must. Observe this when watching the part where Hikari must pick an Hibiscus flower for Chitose and Kei comes to her aid.
Other plots include Hikari dressing up to attend Yahiro's birthday party as Kei partner. Hikari has gotten a cold and must be taken care of by her S.A. friends because Mama and Papa are off on a trip. In the same episode was crammed the Megami and Yahiro dating episode where Megami speaks for the first time and even sings for Yahiro.
If this scene weren't preceded by Hikari-chan making a moron of herself, pyon. It'd actually look cute... pyon.
Basically, lots and lots of things occur with no definite destination like any typical episodic storyline. The only thing that the series plays off of is the idea of an excellent group of students called the S.A. and their daily lives, and Takishima Kei's undying love for Hikari as well as their eternal rivalry.
All else are just inclusive factors in the storyline that could be done without if necessary, but add to all the fun that should have been a decent shoujo manga to anime adaptation.
So why did I pick up this series again?
It's hard to say. For one, even after wanting to drop the anime, I continued to follow the manga and some of the details pertaining to future plot devices were rather satisfying for my hopeless romantic, shoujo manga obsessive mind. No matter what, S.A. is a shoujo manga romance first and foremost. I've probably sat through worse series/movies/etc...
And the manga boasted a very interesting "passionate kiss" scene between Hikari and Kei that made the fangirl moe-ness in me squeal with pleasure. I was curious to see just how much of the manga that the anime would adapt.
So with that in mind, I picked up Special A once again after getting ahold of every episode up to the end, and then watched it without prior biases and some things to look forward to.
As expected, the personalities of those in S.A. continued to annoy me. When the series changed themesongs, it did nothing for its own welfare and I was starting to have my doubts. But I persevered.
I think of the four couples advertised in this series, Tadashi and Akira have the best story, even though it's quite short. I love them the most.
I must say that I rather enjoyed the relationship development between Akira and Tadashi. Between the two of them, they probably have the loveliest romance in the whole anime series. A few things were altered in comparison to the manga and I feel like I like the anime version quite well. This is not to say that I don't like the manga version, because either way, Akira and Tadashi make a rather adoring, if not lovable, romantic couple.
Boy twin, Jun-kun was given a pairing with Hikari's personality twin Ushikubo Sakura who had to go through pains to win the young prince's heart. Megami was paired up with Saiga Yahiro -- an odd combination that was brought about due to Megami's need to protect Akira and Tadashi by giving Yahiro something else to focus on, like a girlfriend. They were quite cute and I liked how Megami could bring out a different, kinder side to Yahiro and saw Yahiro for the good person he was. Ryuu, of course, as hot and mature as he is, has those rare bestial-doting tendencies and so was left with his animals and without a love interest.
Left for the ending was the final pairing of Hikari and Kei -- who were both together from the start. With a little twist of manga plot around anime plot and we give Hikari a reason as to why she needs Kei in her life. And thus she realizes that she needs to be more honest with herself. So, using the Grandpa Takishima wants to take Kei away from Japan plot device, our remaining six S.A. heroes fly to England to find their Number One and bring him back to school with them.
For every hopeless romantic fangirl in the world, this is the Special A moment we all await.
Surprisingly, I am quite pleased with the ending. Even though it took twenty-four painstaking episodes to arrive at that point, I like what I saw and I saw what I liked. While there was no "passionate manga kiss" placed into the anime, there were various endearing moments between Hikari and Kei towards the ending few episodes that make up for the stupidity, arrogance, and annoyance from the first half of the series. There were enough "huggles" moments to make the shoujo fangirl in me grin whole heartedly, and I still stand that Ryuu is quite hot and needs to find himself a girl.
All in all, I was very pleased with what came of picking up S.A. once again. To tell the truth, I rather enjoyed those last few episodes of S.A. and when Hikari finally realized her feelings for Kei, it was a weight off of my shoulders -- and probably off of every other fan/viewer's shoulders. It's a little unnerving watching the clueless Hikari go through life only thinking of challenging Takishima Kei until she could catch up to his undeniably impossible level.
I will admit. Hanazono Hikari has heart. At least she's not one to give up just because things look too difficult and she's a hard worker and does everything with the utmost fullest of her extent. She's a very idealistic girl. Sadly, she's also a very stupid girl as well who probably only gets to her high academic level through sheer luck and determination.
I can't help but to think that maybe Kei could give slack just a little and lose to Hikari for once. But then again, doing that would just be an insult to Hikari's willpower and he probably knows that as well which is why he never lets up on his skills.
"You're special," is what Hikari tells Kei, and for the first time in the entire series, I actually thought she was extremely cute.
The ending is good. I liked it. Even if the beginning was beyond rocky, the ending is quite worth the arduous journey-- that is if one can be patient enough to withstand the entire journey to get to the ending. And so there is little good to say about Special A because all that is good about it would be the bishies, the romances, sometimes the comedy, and the final good ending.
Although, I have to point out that this series boasted some of the most eerie set of people within a group of seven. Between the inhuman physical abilities, beyond high intelligence, and strange personalities, its hard to say that people like this truly exist in real life. Hikari, Sakura, and Akira alone could team up and beat the living snot out of a war-trained muscle man. Ryuu could easily be the smartest person in the entire series without all his obstacles. And Takishima Kei is just impossible in existence.
Special A... watch it or leave it. I would say, leave it for a rainy day and watch it while you're waiting for something better to come along.
Oh well...
It was a long and hard decision as to what I wanted to do with this anime. When I first set eyes on it, I was gleeful. I'm a hopeless romantic after all and the series was clearly labled as "romance" and "comedy" and also had the word "shoujo" following it. Granted this was before I really understood what "shoujo" truly meant in terms of anime and manga, I wanted to watch S. A. anyway.
The beginning of the series was quite the fun ride. There was humor, there were bishounen, and Hikari-chan was pretty adorable. Akira was absolutely wonderful with her violent tendencies, her high-class behavior and her creepy doting on Hikari. Tadashi wasn't bad. The twins were a little odd and Ryuu was kind of hot. Sadly, Takishima Kei was rather arrogant and that sort of annoyed me. I don't care that he's rich, talented, and good-looking. He was arrogant and he was annoying.
All-in-all, I'd enjoyed those first few episodes of Special A.
But as the series progressed -- and I scouted out the manga to get a second view of the series -- I began to become irritated with it.
Why did I come close to dropping the series altogether? It was quite simple. I had never, ever been so irritated with the two main leads of a romantic comedy like I was with Hikari and Kei. (We shall make no mention of Peach Girl at the moment since I prefer to think I never watched it, though since Suzuken was cast in it, I may make mention of the series some other time.)
Basically, it was sufferable to watch as each episode, Kei shows absolute obviousness on just how much in love he is with Hikari, and the stupid girl just assumes that he's trying to pick a fight or challenge her or look down on her. And as for Kei, maybe if he understood just how thick-headed Hikari was, he should have just come straight out about his feelings for her instead of waiting for her to figure it out on his own. I'm quite certain that everyone and their mothers and uncles and distant cousins are quite aware that Hikari is not going to figure anything out on her own about Kei's feelings or even her own.
As far as the storyline goes, it had quite a bit of potential. But sadly, it would have had more potential had it been shortened into maybe a four OVA series. Or maybe if the episodic feature were more interesting. Instead, each episode only added onto the stupidity that was Hanazono Hikari -- only God knows how she managed to get into S.A. with that missing brain of hers -- and the arrogance that was Takishima Kei.
Needless to say, I got bored of it very easily.
The series is simply just a story of the everyday lives and few not so dramatic events surrounding the seven members of S.A.
The members compete with jealous students in their high school. The members compete with each other to decide on where to go for a vacation. The members go on a vacation in Hawaii. The members work on the school festival. Hikari gets recruited as a tutor for Kei's little brother Sui.
The members meet and play "family" with Yahiro's little brother Chitose-- and I must say, this episode was actually quite fun. There was the all too rare fan service shot that shoujo manga usually doesn't have, but in anime, it's a must. Observe this when watching the part where Hikari must pick an Hibiscus flower for Chitose and Kei comes to her aid.
Other plots include Hikari dressing up to attend Yahiro's birthday party as Kei partner. Hikari has gotten a cold and must be taken care of by her S.A. friends because Mama and Papa are off on a trip. In the same episode was crammed the Megami and Yahiro dating episode where Megami speaks for the first time and even sings for Yahiro.
Basically, lots and lots of things occur with no definite destination like any typical episodic storyline. The only thing that the series plays off of is the idea of an excellent group of students called the S.A. and their daily lives, and Takishima Kei's undying love for Hikari as well as their eternal rivalry.
All else are just inclusive factors in the storyline that could be done without if necessary, but add to all the fun that should have been a decent shoujo manga to anime adaptation.
So why did I pick up this series again?
It's hard to say. For one, even after wanting to drop the anime, I continued to follow the manga and some of the details pertaining to future plot devices were rather satisfying for my hopeless romantic, shoujo manga obsessive mind. No matter what, S.A. is a shoujo manga romance first and foremost. I've probably sat through worse series/movies/etc...
And the manga boasted a very interesting "passionate kiss" scene between Hikari and Kei that made the fangirl moe-ness in me squeal with pleasure. I was curious to see just how much of the manga that the anime would adapt.
So with that in mind, I picked up Special A once again after getting ahold of every episode up to the end, and then watched it without prior biases and some things to look forward to.
As expected, the personalities of those in S.A. continued to annoy me. When the series changed themesongs, it did nothing for its own welfare and I was starting to have my doubts. But I persevered.
I must say that I rather enjoyed the relationship development between Akira and Tadashi. Between the two of them, they probably have the loveliest romance in the whole anime series. A few things were altered in comparison to the manga and I feel like I like the anime version quite well. This is not to say that I don't like the manga version, because either way, Akira and Tadashi make a rather adoring, if not lovable, romantic couple.
Boy twin, Jun-kun was given a pairing with Hikari's personality twin Ushikubo Sakura who had to go through pains to win the young prince's heart. Megami was paired up with Saiga Yahiro -- an odd combination that was brought about due to Megami's need to protect Akira and Tadashi by giving Yahiro something else to focus on, like a girlfriend. They were quite cute and I liked how Megami could bring out a different, kinder side to Yahiro and saw Yahiro for the good person he was. Ryuu, of course, as hot and mature as he is, has those rare bestial-doting tendencies and so was left with his animals and without a love interest.
Left for the ending was the final pairing of Hikari and Kei -- who were both together from the start. With a little twist of manga plot around anime plot and we give Hikari a reason as to why she needs Kei in her life. And thus she realizes that she needs to be more honest with herself. So, using the Grandpa Takishima wants to take Kei away from Japan plot device, our remaining six S.A. heroes fly to England to find their Number One and bring him back to school with them.
Surprisingly, I am quite pleased with the ending. Even though it took twenty-four painstaking episodes to arrive at that point, I like what I saw and I saw what I liked. While there was no "passionate manga kiss" placed into the anime, there were various endearing moments between Hikari and Kei towards the ending few episodes that make up for the stupidity, arrogance, and annoyance from the first half of the series. There were enough "huggles" moments to make the shoujo fangirl in me grin whole heartedly, and I still stand that Ryuu is quite hot and needs to find himself a girl.
All in all, I was very pleased with what came of picking up S.A. once again. To tell the truth, I rather enjoyed those last few episodes of S.A. and when Hikari finally realized her feelings for Kei, it was a weight off of my shoulders -- and probably off of every other fan/viewer's shoulders. It's a little unnerving watching the clueless Hikari go through life only thinking of challenging Takishima Kei until she could catch up to his undeniably impossible level.
I will admit. Hanazono Hikari has heart. At least she's not one to give up just because things look too difficult and she's a hard worker and does everything with the utmost fullest of her extent. She's a very idealistic girl. Sadly, she's also a very stupid girl as well who probably only gets to her high academic level through sheer luck and determination.
I can't help but to think that maybe Kei could give slack just a little and lose to Hikari for once. But then again, doing that would just be an insult to Hikari's willpower and he probably knows that as well which is why he never lets up on his skills.
"You're special," is what Hikari tells Kei, and for the first time in the entire series, I actually thought she was extremely cute.
The ending is good. I liked it. Even if the beginning was beyond rocky, the ending is quite worth the arduous journey-- that is if one can be patient enough to withstand the entire journey to get to the ending. And so there is little good to say about Special A because all that is good about it would be the bishies, the romances, sometimes the comedy, and the final good ending.
Although, I have to point out that this series boasted some of the most eerie set of people within a group of seven. Between the inhuman physical abilities, beyond high intelligence, and strange personalities, its hard to say that people like this truly exist in real life. Hikari, Sakura, and Akira alone could team up and beat the living snot out of a war-trained muscle man. Ryuu could easily be the smartest person in the entire series without all his obstacles. And Takishima Kei is just impossible in existence.
Special A... watch it or leave it. I would say, leave it for a rainy day and watch it while you're waiting for something better to come along.
Monday, November 17, 2008
thoughts: Spicy Pink (manga)
As a treat to my readers (population: 2?) I've decided to do a multiple posting of a few selected Kurahashi Erika-sensei manga as well as one Yoshizumi Wataru manga.
Basically this is my apology for being "gone" for the first two weeks of November even though I promised a lot of posts. As life plays it, I have work, work, and more work, and then I have homework. In the coming year, I will also be quite busy as more school work comes to me in the form of a new degree program.
And since I have no pressing readership duties, I figure that I can put off this blog if necessary. After all, this is basically something for me to do while I'm bored anyway. Right?
Aside from that, while I have at least two items I would like to post during December, I know that I may have to stall for a while. And so depending on my status, there may be no posting in December, and if so, there will only be two items... three at the most. I will try my hardest to create a spotlight for December as well, but I promise nothing.
Thank you for all you support up to now... for anyone who actually reads this blog. This week will be full of thoughts and first impressions. And the November spotlight may be scooted to the last week of the month, as has been the issue.
***
Creator: Yoshizumi Wataru
Genre: josei, romance, shoujo, comedy
Volumes/Chapters: 2 volumes (12 chapters)
Endou Sakura is a twenty-six year old shoujo mangaka who, after a serious relationship ended with her high school sweetheart, never bothered with another boyfriend. But then one night, her friend, Misono asks her to help fill a seat at a goukon and she agrees. It is there where she meets Koreeda Iku, a plastic surgeon who gives her a bad first impression by telling her what she should do with her face to look prettier.
Determined that she would happily never see him again after that night, she is surprised to find him surprising her with a visit as she sits at a local cafe planning her next manga. He tells her that he fell for her and that he would like her to be his girlfriend. Wanting a little bit of romance in her life in order to aid her in writing shoujo manga, Sakura agrees. She later learns that he too had had a reason for wanting a girlfriend, and on top of that, other complications arise as the two go through the relationship.
This particular manga was fun to read through because it was more down to earth than a lot of the other shoujo manga I've read (as oneshots or short stories); and this one is also filed under the genre of josei, which is a demographic aimed at older women and their love lives.
Yoshizumi-sensei not only draws her characters and settings to detail, but also creates characters and situations that are a little easier to grasp. Character's feelings are conveyed in a clearer, more precise manner.
In Spicy Pink, our two main characters are always at each other's throats when they aren't being lovey-dovey, and that's because Sakura is depicted as a stubborn yet carefree girl who has accomplished her dream of becoming a mangaka. Koreeda Iku is a plastic surgeon, and whether or not he likes this profession is in question since he had inherited his family's business. He is rather condescending in his tone when speaking with Sakura, and he's also rather aloof when it comes to their relationship.
It's a fun little combination, and the whole story basically follows the two as they learn to fall in love, learn more about each other, and go through the happy times and the complications together. Even though this is labeled as shoujo manga, and all shoujo romances are entitled to a happily ever after with the main characters, it was a little hard to predict how the end would come out when a third party joined for romantic interference.
But alas, happily ever after did happen and I'm grateful for that.
On the side, Koreeda Iku's younger sister, Risa, meets Sakura with glee as she is an eternal fan of Sakura's shoujo manga. Through Risa, Sakura learns about Koreeda's ex-girlfriend who passed away, Natsuko, and because of this incident, one of their obstacles forms. Also through Risa, Sakura meets her ex from highschool, Akira who is interested in dating Risa.
Another side story involves Sakura's mangaka friend, Misono and her relationship with Sugioka who had lied to her about being a doctor. The reasons that Misono always wants a rich boyfriend is because she has expensive taste as a mangaka, and whenever a man realizes this, even though Misono can afford everything she wants, they don't want to bother paying for it. So they leave her. Sugioka turns out to be a bookstore clerk and afraid that he'll leave her one day after learning about her expensive living, Misono leaves him first.
The story of Spicy Pink is full of twists and turns and makes for good drama if it would ever be adapted into live action. On top of the complicated romances, we also get a sneak peek into a "manga" version of mangaka lifestyle from brainstorming ideas, getting ideas rejected, receiving inspiration, and finally meeting deadlines at the last minute.
I, for one, have always enjoyed Yoshizumi Wataru's work due to the stories, the artwork, and how cute some of the characters can be. Much like many others, Yoshizumi-sensei is an excellent bishoujo/bishounen artist.
As of present, I am still waiting for some of her other works to be translated in order to be able to read them. I would suggest Spicy Pink to anyone who is interested in a cute love story.
Basically this is my apology for being "gone" for the first two weeks of November even though I promised a lot of posts. As life plays it, I have work, work, and more work, and then I have homework. In the coming year, I will also be quite busy as more school work comes to me in the form of a new degree program.
And since I have no pressing readership duties, I figure that I can put off this blog if necessary. After all, this is basically something for me to do while I'm bored anyway. Right?
Aside from that, while I have at least two items I would like to post during December, I know that I may have to stall for a while. And so depending on my status, there may be no posting in December, and if so, there will only be two items... three at the most. I will try my hardest to create a spotlight for December as well, but I promise nothing.
Thank you for all you support up to now... for anyone who actually reads this blog. This week will be full of thoughts and first impressions. And the November spotlight may be scooted to the last week of the month, as has been the issue.
***
Creator: Yoshizumi Wataru
Genre: josei, romance, shoujo, comedy
Volumes/Chapters: 2 volumes (12 chapters)
Endou Sakura is a twenty-six year old shoujo mangaka who, after a serious relationship ended with her high school sweetheart, never bothered with another boyfriend. But then one night, her friend, Misono asks her to help fill a seat at a goukon and she agrees. It is there where she meets Koreeda Iku, a plastic surgeon who gives her a bad first impression by telling her what she should do with her face to look prettier.
Determined that she would happily never see him again after that night, she is surprised to find him surprising her with a visit as she sits at a local cafe planning her next manga. He tells her that he fell for her and that he would like her to be his girlfriend. Wanting a little bit of romance in her life in order to aid her in writing shoujo manga, Sakura agrees. She later learns that he too had had a reason for wanting a girlfriend, and on top of that, other complications arise as the two go through the relationship.
This particular manga was fun to read through because it was more down to earth than a lot of the other shoujo manga I've read (as oneshots or short stories); and this one is also filed under the genre of josei, which is a demographic aimed at older women and their love lives.
Yoshizumi-sensei not only draws her characters and settings to detail, but also creates characters and situations that are a little easier to grasp. Character's feelings are conveyed in a clearer, more precise manner.
In Spicy Pink, our two main characters are always at each other's throats when they aren't being lovey-dovey, and that's because Sakura is depicted as a stubborn yet carefree girl who has accomplished her dream of becoming a mangaka. Koreeda Iku is a plastic surgeon, and whether or not he likes this profession is in question since he had inherited his family's business. He is rather condescending in his tone when speaking with Sakura, and he's also rather aloof when it comes to their relationship.
It's a fun little combination, and the whole story basically follows the two as they learn to fall in love, learn more about each other, and go through the happy times and the complications together. Even though this is labeled as shoujo manga, and all shoujo romances are entitled to a happily ever after with the main characters, it was a little hard to predict how the end would come out when a third party joined for romantic interference.
But alas, happily ever after did happen and I'm grateful for that.
On the side, Koreeda Iku's younger sister, Risa, meets Sakura with glee as she is an eternal fan of Sakura's shoujo manga. Through Risa, Sakura learns about Koreeda's ex-girlfriend who passed away, Natsuko, and because of this incident, one of their obstacles forms. Also through Risa, Sakura meets her ex from highschool, Akira who is interested in dating Risa.
Another side story involves Sakura's mangaka friend, Misono and her relationship with Sugioka who had lied to her about being a doctor. The reasons that Misono always wants a rich boyfriend is because she has expensive taste as a mangaka, and whenever a man realizes this, even though Misono can afford everything she wants, they don't want to bother paying for it. So they leave her. Sugioka turns out to be a bookstore clerk and afraid that he'll leave her one day after learning about her expensive living, Misono leaves him first.
The story of Spicy Pink is full of twists and turns and makes for good drama if it would ever be adapted into live action. On top of the complicated romances, we also get a sneak peek into a "manga" version of mangaka lifestyle from brainstorming ideas, getting ideas rejected, receiving inspiration, and finally meeting deadlines at the last minute.
I, for one, have always enjoyed Yoshizumi Wataru's work due to the stories, the artwork, and how cute some of the characters can be. Much like many others, Yoshizumi-sensei is an excellent bishoujo/bishounen artist.
As of present, I am still waiting for some of her other works to be translated in order to be able to read them. I would suggest Spicy Pink to anyone who is interested in a cute love story.
thoughts: Love Love Shock (manga)
Creator: Kurahashi Erika
Genre: romance, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 1 volume (5 chapters)
Two years ago, Natsukawa Mei confessed to a boy she liked whom she met at a summer institution. Due to her appearance and having a cold at the time, she was mistaken as a boy and crushed when the boy tells her "I'm not interested in dating guys... sorry."
But in the present day, Mei has vowed to work harder to win the heart of this boy the next time she sees him. To her surprise, Miura Azusa, that very crush of hers from two years ago, appears on television and is currently known as the vocalist of the rising band Sonic Boom. Because of this, Mei is determined to enter the next singing contest in order to get close to Miura and confess to him once again.
Unfortunately, during the competition, Mei is told by Miura that she won't be able to win if she is simply a fan trying to get close to him. He didn't recognize her at all and so Mei is even more determined to win and show him up. But just as he predicts Mei does not win and is even taunted by Miura about it. With anger and determination, she rushes up to the stage and announces that she will definitely be a singer and makes the challenge to surpass Sonic Boom one day. Because of this, one of the members of Sonic Boom is impressed and pleads to the judges to let Mei pass into the next stage and become a singer for the company.
The road is bumpy for Mei when she meets the winner of the competition, Sakuragi Riko who dislikes her immediately. But the two are thrown together into a duet to make their debut and life goes on from there. The members of Sonic Boom become close to both her and Riko and when the girls debut, they hit it big.
As the time goes by, Mei is determined to make her confession once again after she's become famous enough. But obstacles pile up, one after another, and it almost seems like Mei will never be able to get together with Miura.
This is another short and sweet story by Kurahashi Erika. Again, cute characters and character designs. Kurahashi-sensei seems to have a love for the artist industry, as many of her stories revolve around celebrities, singers, and the like.
These, I have to admit, are pretty interesting as there are so many possibilities when it comes to telling a story about people in the entertainment industry-- a la Skip Beat! Of course, this may also have to do with the fact that many Asian communities can easily scout new and young talent-- I know Hong Kong does it regularly-- and then debut them. Everyone can become a star... it's just a matter of whether or not they remain a star.
I enjoyed this story a lot and thought it was really cute. Which seems to be Kurahashi-sensei's style. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to read something short and sweet, much like Charisma Doll or even her oneshot collection, Miss Prince.
Genre: romance, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 1 volume (5 chapters)
Two years ago, Natsukawa Mei confessed to a boy she liked whom she met at a summer institution. Due to her appearance and having a cold at the time, she was mistaken as a boy and crushed when the boy tells her "I'm not interested in dating guys... sorry."
But in the present day, Mei has vowed to work harder to win the heart of this boy the next time she sees him. To her surprise, Miura Azusa, that very crush of hers from two years ago, appears on television and is currently known as the vocalist of the rising band Sonic Boom. Because of this, Mei is determined to enter the next singing contest in order to get close to Miura and confess to him once again.
Unfortunately, during the competition, Mei is told by Miura that she won't be able to win if she is simply a fan trying to get close to him. He didn't recognize her at all and so Mei is even more determined to win and show him up. But just as he predicts Mei does not win and is even taunted by Miura about it. With anger and determination, she rushes up to the stage and announces that she will definitely be a singer and makes the challenge to surpass Sonic Boom one day. Because of this, one of the members of Sonic Boom is impressed and pleads to the judges to let Mei pass into the next stage and become a singer for the company.
The road is bumpy for Mei when she meets the winner of the competition, Sakuragi Riko who dislikes her immediately. But the two are thrown together into a duet to make their debut and life goes on from there. The members of Sonic Boom become close to both her and Riko and when the girls debut, they hit it big.
As the time goes by, Mei is determined to make her confession once again after she's become famous enough. But obstacles pile up, one after another, and it almost seems like Mei will never be able to get together with Miura.
This is another short and sweet story by Kurahashi Erika. Again, cute characters and character designs. Kurahashi-sensei seems to have a love for the artist industry, as many of her stories revolve around celebrities, singers, and the like.
These, I have to admit, are pretty interesting as there are so many possibilities when it comes to telling a story about people in the entertainment industry-- a la Skip Beat! Of course, this may also have to do with the fact that many Asian communities can easily scout new and young talent-- I know Hong Kong does it regularly-- and then debut them. Everyone can become a star... it's just a matter of whether or not they remain a star.
I enjoyed this story a lot and thought it was really cute. Which seems to be Kurahashi-sensei's style. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to read something short and sweet, much like Charisma Doll or even her oneshot collection, Miss Prince.
thoughts: Miss Prince (manga)
Creator: Kurahashi Erika
Genre: romance, shoujo, drama
Volumes/Chapters: 3 oneshot stories
Story 1: Miss Prince
Hisahara Koto started dating Kagawa Tatsumi for two weeks after meeting him at her workplace as a babysitter for his younger siblings. Her main concern about dating Tatsumi is that he is extremely too perfect, and compared to him, she feels like she can't keep up with him. Although she really likes him, she can't help but to wonder if he's okay with having an ordinary and plain girlfriend. Tatsumi-kun is a good guy, representative of the class, and simply great at everything he does. All of the girls admire him and unanimously decide that Koto doesn't deserve to be with Tatsumi.
Complications arise because of Koto's insecurities and interference between the "fan girls" at school. The relationship between Koto and Tatsumi seems to be hanging very loosely, not mattering that Tatsumi has never seen a problem in dating Koto in the first place. When Koto loses the ring that Tatsumi gives her, she decides that she isn't good enough for Tatsumi after all and tells him that she wants to break up.
Story 2: Strawberry Kiss
Izumi Makino spends her days looking pretty and dating a variety of boys. Because of an incident last summer involving Minato Shiraishi who kissed her while she was asleep in class, rumors spread about the two of them and Makino seems unable to ever forgive Shiraishi for this. But in the present, Minato approaches her and tells her that he was in love with her then and is still in love with her now. Though he is the last person she ever wants to see, she knows that she'll never be able to forget who stole her first kiss.
Due to a school committie event involving a tour for dating spots, Makino learns that she has been paired up with Shiraishi. She ends up having a pretty good time with him and accepts that he likes her. Deciding to give him a chance, she agrees to go on a date with him and eventually ends up falling for him slowly before their first official date when he helps her out of a tough situation. But her various boyfriends keep coming to bother her and realizing that Shiraishi must think she plays around, she promises herself that she will go on the date and confess that she has fallen for him. Unfortunately, the two are already getting off on the wrong foot and there is no telling what Shiraishi feels for her anymore because of her dating so many guys.
On the day of their date, Makino trips and falls and makes her late for her date with Shiraishi. Afraid that Shiraishi may have stopped liking her, she forces herself to hurry to the meeting place, even on her bad ankle.
Story 3: White Calendar
Yukimi Kataoka and Junya Fukino met back in elementary school only to learn that Yukimi is a whole year ahead of Junya in school. The fact, however, is that Yukimi is really only ten days older than Junya, but because of the date that he was born, he couldn't attend the same grade as Yukimi. Since their meeting, they've been inseparable and as they live next door to each other, they go to school together every morning and head home together every evening. Everyone comments that Junya and Yukimi are like brother and sister, but the two like to stress that they are the same age, even though they treat each other like kids.
At school, Yukimi is dragged into the cooking club by her friend where all the girls go to in order to find a boyfriend. After all, the cooking club classroom looks right out into the sports field and the aroma of food attracts all the boys to the window to meet the girls. Yukimi is immediately asked out by one of the boys, even though her goal in the cooking club was to show up Junya in cooking skills. On Junya's side, he has a girl attached to him claiming to be his girlfriend and badmouthing Yukimi because she is a rival as well as in the cooking club.
Jealousy unfolds when Yukimi realizes she likes Junya romantically and Junya sees Yukimi being confessed to. Of course, the two can no longer see each other as just kids again.
***
The stories in Kurahashi Erika's manga are usually sweet and cute and this collection of oneshots is no exception. Miss Prince, like any other shoujo romances is a fun read up to the end because of the simplicity of the stories and the adorable factor in the characters and their designs.
I enjoyed these stories a lot, and of the three, my favorite was White Calendar, though it is quite hard to imagine love blossoming at such a young age. It's still cute and sweet and that's what makes these oneshots such good doses of "Chicken Soup for the Hopeless Romantic's Soul."
For short stories with a good cuteness factor, I highly recommend Miss Prince to anyone.
Genre: romance, shoujo, drama
Volumes/Chapters: 3 oneshot stories
Story 1: Miss Prince
Hisahara Koto started dating Kagawa Tatsumi for two weeks after meeting him at her workplace as a babysitter for his younger siblings. Her main concern about dating Tatsumi is that he is extremely too perfect, and compared to him, she feels like she can't keep up with him. Although she really likes him, she can't help but to wonder if he's okay with having an ordinary and plain girlfriend. Tatsumi-kun is a good guy, representative of the class, and simply great at everything he does. All of the girls admire him and unanimously decide that Koto doesn't deserve to be with Tatsumi.
Complications arise because of Koto's insecurities and interference between the "fan girls" at school. The relationship between Koto and Tatsumi seems to be hanging very loosely, not mattering that Tatsumi has never seen a problem in dating Koto in the first place. When Koto loses the ring that Tatsumi gives her, she decides that she isn't good enough for Tatsumi after all and tells him that she wants to break up.
Story 2: Strawberry Kiss
Izumi Makino spends her days looking pretty and dating a variety of boys. Because of an incident last summer involving Minato Shiraishi who kissed her while she was asleep in class, rumors spread about the two of them and Makino seems unable to ever forgive Shiraishi for this. But in the present, Minato approaches her and tells her that he was in love with her then and is still in love with her now. Though he is the last person she ever wants to see, she knows that she'll never be able to forget who stole her first kiss.
Due to a school committie event involving a tour for dating spots, Makino learns that she has been paired up with Shiraishi. She ends up having a pretty good time with him and accepts that he likes her. Deciding to give him a chance, she agrees to go on a date with him and eventually ends up falling for him slowly before their first official date when he helps her out of a tough situation. But her various boyfriends keep coming to bother her and realizing that Shiraishi must think she plays around, she promises herself that she will go on the date and confess that she has fallen for him. Unfortunately, the two are already getting off on the wrong foot and there is no telling what Shiraishi feels for her anymore because of her dating so many guys.
On the day of their date, Makino trips and falls and makes her late for her date with Shiraishi. Afraid that Shiraishi may have stopped liking her, she forces herself to hurry to the meeting place, even on her bad ankle.
Story 3: White Calendar
Yukimi Kataoka and Junya Fukino met back in elementary school only to learn that Yukimi is a whole year ahead of Junya in school. The fact, however, is that Yukimi is really only ten days older than Junya, but because of the date that he was born, he couldn't attend the same grade as Yukimi. Since their meeting, they've been inseparable and as they live next door to each other, they go to school together every morning and head home together every evening. Everyone comments that Junya and Yukimi are like brother and sister, but the two like to stress that they are the same age, even though they treat each other like kids.
At school, Yukimi is dragged into the cooking club by her friend where all the girls go to in order to find a boyfriend. After all, the cooking club classroom looks right out into the sports field and the aroma of food attracts all the boys to the window to meet the girls. Yukimi is immediately asked out by one of the boys, even though her goal in the cooking club was to show up Junya in cooking skills. On Junya's side, he has a girl attached to him claiming to be his girlfriend and badmouthing Yukimi because she is a rival as well as in the cooking club.
Jealousy unfolds when Yukimi realizes she likes Junya romantically and Junya sees Yukimi being confessed to. Of course, the two can no longer see each other as just kids again.
***
The stories in Kurahashi Erika's manga are usually sweet and cute and this collection of oneshots is no exception. Miss Prince, like any other shoujo romances is a fun read up to the end because of the simplicity of the stories and the adorable factor in the characters and their designs.
I enjoyed these stories a lot, and of the three, my favorite was White Calendar, though it is quite hard to imagine love blossoming at such a young age. It's still cute and sweet and that's what makes these oneshots such good doses of "Chicken Soup for the Hopeless Romantic's Soul."
For short stories with a good cuteness factor, I highly recommend Miss Prince to anyone.
thoughts: Charisma Doll (manga)
Creator: Kurahashi Erika
Genre: gender bender, romance, school life, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 2 volume (9 chapters) + extra chapter
Mizuki Sara has a secret that she's keeping from all of her classmates, her friends, and even her rival in the music industry Shidou Hayase. She is actually the currently top and going music artist Sala whom everyone is raging about because nobody knows exactly what gender Sala really is.
The idea came about when Sara was young and wanted to go into the music industry. In order for her to attract attention, her mother created a ploy wherein Sala was introduced to the public without any background information. Because of the way she dressed and the way she spoke, there was no telling whether Sala was a guy or a girl. This brought a lot of attention and now Sala is one of the rising music idols among her peers.
Sara is more than capable of securing her status with just her singing and her onstage charisma, but her mother insists that she continue to act out the persona of Sala because she lacks charisma. Without a choice in the matter, Sala remains and Sara must now juggle her worklife with her school life.
But things become complicated for her when she is unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend who had dated her because she looked like Sala in the first place. Because of this little comment, Hayase, another rising star in the music industry, takes pity on Sara and makes a fool of her boyfriend by telling the public in an interview that he plays around with girls and then dumps them.
After this incident, Hayase and Sara become friends within school and Sara realizes that she's become interested in Hayase. Even before they began talking to each other, however, Sara had already been a fan of Hayase who is the main vocalist for a band called The Rise. She even shows him her fan member card, "entry number 07777."
The two get along very well as Hayase and Sara, and Hayase comments that he likes Sala's music and thinks that Sala's voice is great. Sara comments that she thinks Hayase's music is way cooler and they end up striking a really close friendship.
But as the rising star Sala, Hayase is in every way, shape and form her rival. When Hayase meets Sala for the first time, his immediate impression is that Sala is very much like a girl. And later on, he even realizes that Sala really is a girl.
The story progresses from there with Sara trying to juggle her even more complicated lifestyle as Sala and Sara, who are both friends with Hayase, without telling him the truth. The series is short and sweet, and of course, the truths are revealed in the end and the main couple end up together. There is no drama, and there is no astounding complexities to this story. Basically, this is a teenage romance filled with trivial complications easily resolved.
Charisma Doll makes a good read because it is cute and sweet.
Kurahashi Erika draws simple, but she draws pretty as well. The transitions between scenes are sometimes a little jumbled.
But Charisma Doll was one of the first shoujo manga I'd read and so I treasure it as one that I will always like. This is a very enjoyable story for those who want a short and sweet piece of work, but something longer and with a little more depth than a simple oneshot.
Genre: gender bender, romance, school life, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 2 volume (9 chapters) + extra chapter
Mizuki Sara has a secret that she's keeping from all of her classmates, her friends, and even her rival in the music industry Shidou Hayase. She is actually the currently top and going music artist Sala whom everyone is raging about because nobody knows exactly what gender Sala really is.
The idea came about when Sara was young and wanted to go into the music industry. In order for her to attract attention, her mother created a ploy wherein Sala was introduced to the public without any background information. Because of the way she dressed and the way she spoke, there was no telling whether Sala was a guy or a girl. This brought a lot of attention and now Sala is one of the rising music idols among her peers.
Sara is more than capable of securing her status with just her singing and her onstage charisma, but her mother insists that she continue to act out the persona of Sala because she lacks charisma. Without a choice in the matter, Sala remains and Sara must now juggle her worklife with her school life.
But things become complicated for her when she is unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend who had dated her because she looked like Sala in the first place. Because of this little comment, Hayase, another rising star in the music industry, takes pity on Sara and makes a fool of her boyfriend by telling the public in an interview that he plays around with girls and then dumps them.
After this incident, Hayase and Sara become friends within school and Sara realizes that she's become interested in Hayase. Even before they began talking to each other, however, Sara had already been a fan of Hayase who is the main vocalist for a band called The Rise. She even shows him her fan member card, "entry number 07777."
The two get along very well as Hayase and Sara, and Hayase comments that he likes Sala's music and thinks that Sala's voice is great. Sara comments that she thinks Hayase's music is way cooler and they end up striking a really close friendship.
But as the rising star Sala, Hayase is in every way, shape and form her rival. When Hayase meets Sala for the first time, his immediate impression is that Sala is very much like a girl. And later on, he even realizes that Sala really is a girl.
The story progresses from there with Sara trying to juggle her even more complicated lifestyle as Sala and Sara, who are both friends with Hayase, without telling him the truth. The series is short and sweet, and of course, the truths are revealed in the end and the main couple end up together. There is no drama, and there is no astounding complexities to this story. Basically, this is a teenage romance filled with trivial complications easily resolved.
Charisma Doll makes a good read because it is cute and sweet.
Kurahashi Erika draws simple, but she draws pretty as well. The transitions between scenes are sometimes a little jumbled.
But Charisma Doll was one of the first shoujo manga I'd read and so I treasure it as one that I will always like. This is a very enjoyable story for those who want a short and sweet piece of work, but something longer and with a little more depth than a simple oneshot.
Friday, October 31, 2008
thoughts: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (anime)
otherwise known as The Wallflower or Perfect Girl Evolution
Episodes: 25
Genre: comedy, romance, shoujo, reverse harem
With the number of reverse harem shoujo manga out there, I become quite pleased when I find one that has been adapted into anime format. Ever since I discovered Ouran High School Host Club, I squeal in delight at the idea of watching any form of romantic comedy, shoujo manga adaptation, specifically reverse harem genre. Those are fun because unlike usual harem anime, the female protagonists don't give away fan service boob shots every five seconds and their chests aren't made out of synthetic materials the size of Mount Everest.
Does every female really have to have ginormous breasts in order to be in anime? Really now. That's why I like shoujo manga and anime. The chest is usually not the main focus of the screen.
Backing off of my soap box now...
And reverse harems are usually classified shoujo demographic while harems are classified as shounen or ecchi. To be given the choice, I will always choose shoujo reverse harems over ecchi harems. Less headache, less fan service... and occassionally a bit more tasteful in comedy and storytelling.
To date, this is the third reverse harem shoujo anime I've watched since anime became a regular diet on my viewing list. The first being Ouran High School Host Club and the second being Fruits Basket.
Of course, we make no mention that I've been gorging myself on shoujo reverse harem manga for the past six months as well -- Hana Kimi is god's gift to all shoujo fans out there!
hehe It's so amusing...
What better series to make mention of during this holiday season than one dealing in the dark arts and covered in skeletons, anatomical figures, and guts and gory.
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is a mouthful. But luckily it also has two other titles that it goes by: The Wallflower and Perfect Girl Evolution. From here on out, I shall be using whatever name pops up in my mind and whatever is easiest to type.
This series is mainly very straight forward about one girl and four guys living under the same roof with a given mission. Basically, to make a long synopsis short, these four men have been given the task of turning Nakahara Sunako (our heroine) into a proper and glamorous "Lady". This task proves to be rather arduous as Sunako-chan isn't simply a girl with low self-esteem and bad skin care habits.
It's the religion for followers of the 'Anatomical Figure' way. Or just morbid.
Her beauty is actually kind of creepy as well. I prefer the SD Sunako. Cause I'm weird like that.
Nakahara Sunako is morbid, twisted, and she's interested in everything that has to do with horror, dark arts, and the darkness of life itself. She hides her face under her hair, she hides herself in her dark room, and she probably wears the same comfortable looking track suit in every single episode. Her favorite holiday is Halloween and her best friend is a science anatomical figure named Hiroshi-kun whose guts are showing on one half of his body. Her other friends include Akira-kun and Josephine, another anatomical figure and a skeleton, respectively.
Within the twenty-five episodes, Sunako-chan is in her SD form at least 90% of the time. Only whenever she become very passionate about something having to do with her beliefs or with Kyouhei does she actually turn back into her original form as a young girl. Her heckcare emotions define the SD form and her emotional ups and downs define her normal look.
It can only be imagined how hard it would be for four young men, unexperienced as fashion consultants, to teach this girl how to become a proper lady for the sake of their rent. It also doesn't help that the girl nosebleeds every single time she comes in contact with anything overly "beautiful" or "dazzling" as she calls them.
In essence, the series is simply that straight forward. Hilarious antics ensue, interesting monologues, plot devices, and twists incur which sum up to the entire episodic series of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.
Our four male protagonists thankfully each have a personality of their own (as usual reverse harem men do).
Takano Kyouhei is probably the main male protagonist as the storyline boasts a bit of a relationship between Sunako-chan and him. Kyouhei is rough and rude and impatient, but even as he claims that all he cares about is free rent, he readily understands Sunako's circumstances and takes care of her as well as his friends living within the mansion. He is proclaimed as "the prettiest of them all", which is kind of disturbing, but his demeanor and personality could contradict his own looks. As contrasted to the other three, at least he tries to fight his own "prettiness" and acknowledges it as some sort of issue...
All in all, I feel like this guy probably has the most depth than the rest of his co-male characters.
Oda Takenaga is a rather quiet, smart, and refined young man with the personality and background of a young master. Toyama Yuki looks like a girl, acts like a girl, and could probably be a girl as he is the most gentle and caring of the bunch-- I feel little sympathy for him being mistaken as a girl regularly and forced to dress like one. And Morii Ranmaru is simply a playboy with no personality-- I don't like him in the slightest.
The other regular supporting character is Kasahara Noi who is depicted as the "Lady" who worked hard to look and be the way she is at present. She is in love with Takenaga, admires Sunako-chan, fights regularly with Kyouhei, and gets along with the rest quite well.
I have little to say about this series but giving such a recap of the characters and the storyline. The series itself does not leave an impression. And while I am quite amused with the horror and dark arts themes circulating this series, the plot devices become quite old after a while.
Everything is usually quite funny the first time around. And then the ideas are reused, recycled, and repeated so many times that it loses its appeal.
I liked the dark arts theme. I enjoyed the "talking" anatomical figures, and Sunako-chan's SD form was actually very, very adorable. But her nose bleeding, her constant hiding in her room, her continous moping about being "ugly"... it all just ended up becoming quite annoying. Her fascination with anything dark and twisted always piqued my interest, but got old real fast.
It was a good thing that Sunako-chan proved to at least be efficient in some areas where many shoujo manga girls are not. She can cook, she can clean, she's not academically stupid, and she has her set of common senses despite being morbid and twisted. Sunako-chan is not an idiot; she just simply sees the world in a very, very twisted way.
Did I mention that she's very dark and twisted?
The guys annoyed me too. I mean, are there truly men out there who look as beautiful as women... and even more so when they actually dress up as women? I feel a little down just thinking about the fact that a man could possibly be prettier than me when he puts some effort into it-- though it takes little effort to get to that point.
But still... I guess this is just a typical Japanese manga thing to have men be able to look just as beautiful as a woman.
Men who look "pretty" are kind of creepy in my own personal opinion.
As far as the series goes, it was all good entertainment. I like anime and manga aimed at the shoujo demographic. It's as simple as that. If the series had ended with a good romantic wrap-up between Sunako and Kyouhei, I would have been happier, but there was only a hinting and Sunako still nosebled all over Kyouhei. So even as the anime series is over, I hold no hope for any progress in their relationhip any time soon in the manga which is still ongoing.
Nonetheless, the relationship between them is quite heartwarming. Of course, this is setting aside the fact that Sunako tried to kill Kyouhei on many different occasions, can't seem to look him in the eye without having a nosebleed, and calls him "dazzling creature" in a rather resenting tone. Otherwise, they seem to like each other and can get along fine.
Side characters in the series were nothing but background noise and quite annoying. The episodic plots were some you would have to take with a pinch of salt and a spoon of sugar.
The landlady who is also Sunako's aunt, affectionately addressed as "Oba-chan" by the boys, is an interesting lady what with her constant changing of boyfriends and her outrageous entrances and exits. All-in-all, she's not a bad person and I can see how Sunako would enjoy her presence so much despite her being such a beautiful woman.
I enjoyed the series up to a certain point. I liked the theme music. And Sunako's seiyuu Takaguchi Yukiko did an excellent job, especially with all the voice changing between Sunako's human form and SD form.
As far as the must see factor on this series, I'd simply say this is something I wouldn't mind watching simply to pass the time. If you're looking for something wonderful to tell your friends about, this series probably isn't it. But it was fun, it was funny, and it was entertaining. I will admit that I really enjoyed the anime a lot. It's just not something I would become hooked on such as the likes of Ouran High School Host Club or Lovely Complex.
I've seeked out the manga version and plan on viewing it soon. It is still ongoing and so there is still much development to be seen. Hopefully it will satsify my fangirl desires where the anime could not.
I found that I quite enjoyed the relationship between Kyouhei and Sunako and I liked to see them together like this, with Sunako in her SD form. It's rather cute.
Episodes: 25
Genre: comedy, romance, shoujo, reverse harem
With the number of reverse harem shoujo manga out there, I become quite pleased when I find one that has been adapted into anime format. Ever since I discovered Ouran High School Host Club, I squeal in delight at the idea of watching any form of romantic comedy, shoujo manga adaptation, specifically reverse harem genre. Those are fun because unlike usual harem anime, the female protagonists don't give away fan service boob shots every five seconds and their chests aren't made out of synthetic materials the size of Mount Everest.
Does every female really have to have ginormous breasts in order to be in anime? Really now. That's why I like shoujo manga and anime. The chest is usually not the main focus of the screen.
Backing off of my soap box now...
And reverse harems are usually classified shoujo demographic while harems are classified as shounen or ecchi. To be given the choice, I will always choose shoujo reverse harems over ecchi harems. Less headache, less fan service... and occassionally a bit more tasteful in comedy and storytelling.
To date, this is the third reverse harem shoujo anime I've watched since anime became a regular diet on my viewing list. The first being Ouran High School Host Club and the second being Fruits Basket.
Of course, we make no mention that I've been gorging myself on shoujo reverse harem manga for the past six months as well -- Hana Kimi is god's gift to all shoujo fans out there!
What better series to make mention of during this holiday season than one dealing in the dark arts and covered in skeletons, anatomical figures, and guts and gory.
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is a mouthful. But luckily it also has two other titles that it goes by: The Wallflower and Perfect Girl Evolution. From here on out, I shall be using whatever name pops up in my mind and whatever is easiest to type.
This series is mainly very straight forward about one girl and four guys living under the same roof with a given mission. Basically, to make a long synopsis short, these four men have been given the task of turning Nakahara Sunako (our heroine) into a proper and glamorous "Lady". This task proves to be rather arduous as Sunako-chan isn't simply a girl with low self-esteem and bad skin care habits.
Nakahara Sunako is morbid, twisted, and she's interested in everything that has to do with horror, dark arts, and the darkness of life itself. She hides her face under her hair, she hides herself in her dark room, and she probably wears the same comfortable looking track suit in every single episode. Her favorite holiday is Halloween and her best friend is a science anatomical figure named Hiroshi-kun whose guts are showing on one half of his body. Her other friends include Akira-kun and Josephine, another anatomical figure and a skeleton, respectively.
Within the twenty-five episodes, Sunako-chan is in her SD form at least 90% of the time. Only whenever she become very passionate about something having to do with her beliefs or with Kyouhei does she actually turn back into her original form as a young girl. Her heckcare emotions define the SD form and her emotional ups and downs define her normal look.
It can only be imagined how hard it would be for four young men, unexperienced as fashion consultants, to teach this girl how to become a proper lady for the sake of their rent. It also doesn't help that the girl nosebleeds every single time she comes in contact with anything overly "beautiful" or "dazzling" as she calls them.
In essence, the series is simply that straight forward. Hilarious antics ensue, interesting monologues, plot devices, and twists incur which sum up to the entire episodic series of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge.
Our four male protagonists thankfully each have a personality of their own (as usual reverse harem men do).
Takano Kyouhei is probably the main male protagonist as the storyline boasts a bit of a relationship between Sunako-chan and him. Kyouhei is rough and rude and impatient, but even as he claims that all he cares about is free rent, he readily understands Sunako's circumstances and takes care of her as well as his friends living within the mansion. He is proclaimed as "the prettiest of them all", which is kind of disturbing, but his demeanor and personality could contradict his own looks. As contrasted to the other three, at least he tries to fight his own "prettiness" and acknowledges it as some sort of issue...
All in all, I feel like this guy probably has the most depth than the rest of his co-male characters.
Oda Takenaga is a rather quiet, smart, and refined young man with the personality and background of a young master. Toyama Yuki looks like a girl, acts like a girl, and could probably be a girl as he is the most gentle and caring of the bunch-- I feel little sympathy for him being mistaken as a girl regularly and forced to dress like one. And Morii Ranmaru is simply a playboy with no personality-- I don't like him in the slightest.
The other regular supporting character is Kasahara Noi who is depicted as the "Lady" who worked hard to look and be the way she is at present. She is in love with Takenaga, admires Sunako-chan, fights regularly with Kyouhei, and gets along with the rest quite well.
I have little to say about this series but giving such a recap of the characters and the storyline. The series itself does not leave an impression. And while I am quite amused with the horror and dark arts themes circulating this series, the plot devices become quite old after a while.
Everything is usually quite funny the first time around. And then the ideas are reused, recycled, and repeated so many times that it loses its appeal.
I liked the dark arts theme. I enjoyed the "talking" anatomical figures, and Sunako-chan's SD form was actually very, very adorable. But her nose bleeding, her constant hiding in her room, her continous moping about being "ugly"... it all just ended up becoming quite annoying. Her fascination with anything dark and twisted always piqued my interest, but got old real fast.
It was a good thing that Sunako-chan proved to at least be efficient in some areas where many shoujo manga girls are not. She can cook, she can clean, she's not academically stupid, and she has her set of common senses despite being morbid and twisted. Sunako-chan is not an idiot; she just simply sees the world in a very, very twisted way.
Did I mention that she's very dark and twisted?
The guys annoyed me too. I mean, are there truly men out there who look as beautiful as women... and even more so when they actually dress up as women? I feel a little down just thinking about the fact that a man could possibly be prettier than me when he puts some effort into it-- though it takes little effort to get to that point.
But still... I guess this is just a typical Japanese manga thing to have men be able to look just as beautiful as a woman.
As far as the series goes, it was all good entertainment. I like anime and manga aimed at the shoujo demographic. It's as simple as that. If the series had ended with a good romantic wrap-up between Sunako and Kyouhei, I would have been happier, but there was only a hinting and Sunako still nosebled all over Kyouhei. So even as the anime series is over, I hold no hope for any progress in their relationhip any time soon in the manga which is still ongoing.
Nonetheless, the relationship between them is quite heartwarming. Of course, this is setting aside the fact that Sunako tried to kill Kyouhei on many different occasions, can't seem to look him in the eye without having a nosebleed, and calls him "dazzling creature" in a rather resenting tone. Otherwise, they seem to like each other and can get along fine.
Side characters in the series were nothing but background noise and quite annoying. The episodic plots were some you would have to take with a pinch of salt and a spoon of sugar.
The landlady who is also Sunako's aunt, affectionately addressed as "Oba-chan" by the boys, is an interesting lady what with her constant changing of boyfriends and her outrageous entrances and exits. All-in-all, she's not a bad person and I can see how Sunako would enjoy her presence so much despite her being such a beautiful woman.
I enjoyed the series up to a certain point. I liked the theme music. And Sunako's seiyuu Takaguchi Yukiko did an excellent job, especially with all the voice changing between Sunako's human form and SD form.
As far as the must see factor on this series, I'd simply say this is something I wouldn't mind watching simply to pass the time. If you're looking for something wonderful to tell your friends about, this series probably isn't it. But it was fun, it was funny, and it was entertaining. I will admit that I really enjoyed the anime a lot. It's just not something I would become hooked on such as the likes of Ouran High School Host Club or Lovely Complex.
I've seeked out the manga version and plan on viewing it soon. It is still ongoing and so there is still much development to be seen. Hopefully it will satsify my fangirl desires where the anime could not.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
first impression: Nanaco Robin (manga)
So I worship the ground that Nakahara Aya-sensei walks on because I love her works and all. In fact, I even did a whole spotlight on her as the very first for this blog. Ever since, I've gotten my hands on all of the manga by her that I could, and while I haven't really written my thoughts on the ones I've read, I will in the near future.
Here today, however, is a current series by Nakahara-sensei which has one volume out so far (two chapters available to me in English) and hopefully more to come soon.
The story sets up the first chapter with Nako crashing a wedding and taking away the groom. It's quite the exciting opening for any story and we later find out that she has crashed this wedding not for her sake, but for her sister's sake. Because the marriage was arranged and her sister and the groom are in love, she helps them elope. Unfortunately, the younger, delinquent brother of the groom seems to have lost a place to live, she realizes that she is responsible for this and so her family takes him in wholeheartedly.
The premise of the story is a very good one with lots of potential. Seeing as how it's a romantic shoujo comedy, there are so, so many possibilities at hand with the male protagonist moving in with the female protagonists.
Also a part of the already known plot is that the little brother, Konatsu, is quite the "misunderstood" delinquent -- another one of those "bad boys with a heart of plate gold" types who can be nice sometimes even though he seems really rought. We find out as well that Nako had been in love with the man she helped to bring her sister together with and is currently recovering from that lost love.
The first chapter alone ends with the entire series' set up. Konatsu moves in with Nako's family, we meet all of the younger siblings within her family, we meet Nako's friends, and we also establish a first impression based relationship between Konatsu and Nako which is close to the classic "I don't even want to be in the same room as him/her" type.
Much has occurred within the second chapter including meeting Konatsu-kun's "best friend", and there is still more to come, I'm sure.
The personalities are still a little hard to distinguish, but Nako-chan is quite the strong-type female character as she can easily punch the living daylights out of Konatsu-kun. Konatsu is being an extreme brat, but he has his reasons, though that does no mean I will keep my self from throttling him. I love Nako's best friends, especially Bu-chan. Her siblings are interesting creatures too and I look forward to seeing all the comedic antics they provide.
This will definitely be a good series and wouldn't be surprised if it becomes popular in the future as it progresses. There are so many characters to work off of and the relations between the family and others (the customers who frequent Nako-chan's family store) seem to have good dynamics.
As far as my interest is concerned, I am completely looking forward to reading more of this series as it comes out by chapter. I love Nakahara-sensei's work and wouldn't miss any of it.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
thoughts: Skip Beat! (anime) -- the audition and the significant failure
Episode 2: Banquet of Shivering
Episode 3: Missing Feelings; An Emotion She Lacks
I'm not fond of blogging anime by episode just because I'm a lazy person. I like reading others blog about anime by episode, but only after I've already seen that particular episode because blogs always give away a basic summary of the episode's direction. That, and I like to be able to have my own first hand impressions from watching the anime itself rather than reading a rough summary about it and then being ready for possible surprises, sad scenes, comedic scenes, and stuff like that.
Here right now, however, I wanted to mention my thoughts on these two episodes of Skip Beat!, though more notably episode 3 because of how symbolic it is for the rest of the storyline. In truth, episode 2 was nothing special because it felt more like a transition stage where Kyoko goes from ordinary girl to "some girl doing what she can to get into showbiz for the sake of revenge."
Episode 2 was really just a place for dear Kyoko-sama to display her demonic side to the fullest. Yea, this is the one where she literally haunts poor Sawara-san and his family until he gives her a chance in the entertainment industry. It's an episode full of lolz and one must give props to Sawara-san for enduring as long as he did and for caving in and letting Kyoko do as she pleased rather than calling the cops and having her arrested for disturbing the peace-- in which case the girl would probably still find a way to come back and haunt him.
Episode 3 begins with the infamous newcomer auditions wherein Kyoko will try to hit it off in the entertainment world and where Kyoko gains a good impression towards the president of LME. As many of us who read the Skip Beat! manga already know, Kyoko's talent presentation is out of the ordinary and her shortcomings earn her no spot in the further audition as she is booted out almost too quickly.
It is because of this audition, however, that Kyoko finally finds herself realizing that she is pathetic for revolving so much around Shotaro, and yet even then she cannot help it. Kyoko had spent her entire life living for the sake of Shotaro to the point where no matter what she did, it was always for Shotaro and no one else, not even herself or for others who might care.
To make a long point shorter, Kyoko realizes that because of her past with Shotaro as well as her history with her mother, she has lost the will and the ability to love-- period. It isn't a romantic love that she has lost because of Shotaro, but it is the ability to care for or let other care for her at all.
Because of her mother leaving her when she was young, Kyoko has placed all of her time and energy in Shotaro because she whole-heartedly believed that Sho would be her prince for life and lover her forever. And then not long ago (refer to episode one) Shotaro broke her heart without remorse. And to this day, even though he is not around her, he still manages to taunt her in her reveries.
It's a sad, sad situation to realize something so depressing and so pathetic about oneself.
Kyoko failed the auditions because she lacked the ability to love. And because she lacked the ability to love, she feels as if she's lost the ability to do anything else anymore. And thus she's given up on her pursuit of the entertainment industry, which would mean that she's given up on her revenge for Sho, no matter how much she still resents the bastard.
I'm happy to learn that I'm not the only person who was moved by Kyoko's scene in which she realizes how pathetic she is, how she had lost her important human feeling of love, and how she'd wasted her entire life being Shotaro's slave girl. While in the manga I hadn't been too moved as I was this time seeing the scene in animation and hearing the devestating sobs coming from Kyoko, I still recognized it as a significant turning point in Kyoko's journey.
Because now that she's realized what is wrong with her, Kyoko, with enough willpower and determination, which she has, will be able to pinpoint it over and over again and learn how to overcome this hurdle.
In following episodes, assuming they continue to follow closely to the manga as they have done so far, we get to see this new and revived Kyoko breaking down all those walls one after another. Each time a situation presents itself to brutally assault her and her emotions, she will fall, but she will also rise back to the occasion and take on the challenge once again without fail.
This is what makes Mogami Kyoko such an idealistic girl and such a counter heroine for all those weepy romance shoujo manga heroine who's lives depend on whether or not their designated hero will fall in love with them too. Don't get me wrong; I like a good cheesy romance oneshot as well as the next shoujo manga fangirl. I just also like to read or view some stories with depth and substance sometimes as well.
Skip Beat! is definitely a unique manga in the class of shoujo demographic. While I too feel like the romance in the manga is devloping rather slowly like others, I also feel like I wouldn't change the pacing and the storyline for any reason.
Getting back on topic, episode 3 was a rather significant plot device which will later on be emphasized due to Kyoko's undying determination for the things that she does. What makes Kyoko such a unique person is her ability to continue standing right back up everytime she happens to fall, and no matter how hard and how far she falls. That and her innocent, yet tainted nature-- a unlikely combination in one person, but not impossible as seen by Kyoko's existence in the fictional world.
Anyway, as per usual, I look forward to seeing more of the anime adaptation. I look forward to continuing to read the manga. These first three episodes have so far covered the entirety of Volume One of the manga and so at this rate I hope that my favorite parts of the manga will be able to reach the animation.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
thoughts: PxP (manga)
Creator: Yoshizumi Wataru
Genre: romance, shoujo, school life, mystery
Volumes/Chapters: 1 Volume (3 chapters);
also includes the oneshot story Baby It's You
And so it goes, this is the second Yoshizumi Wataru manga I'll be posting about. As I'd mentioned before, I've become a fan, I've read a few of her works and there are two others that I want to read although they are quite unavailable to me.
PxP is a short, but interesting and exciting story about a thief by the name of "P" who steals trivial things for the price of 300,000 yen. Nothing that "P" steals is ever expensive and only ever valuable to the person who wants it. "P" is so named because of the calling card left behind in place of everything that has been stolen.
Because of "P" the student council is bringing up the issue of stopping the infamous thief. Included in this student council are the President Tomotoshi Daiki and the Vice President Himeno Ruri. The suspected student who could be "P", the president claims, has to be none other than Suki Yuuma, a special student within the school who not only has his own lab, but is introverted and very strange. Also his nickname is "Professor" so the thief's name "P" corresponds with the first letter of "Professor."
What we learn early on in the manga, however, is that President Tomotoshi is only half correct.
"P" turns out to be the "P" from "Princess" which is English for "Hime" or Himeno Ruri's nickname. So while the student council is trying to investigate the matter of "P", Himeno Ruri is secretly creating more havoc behind their backs. Suki Yuuma, of course, is her most precious partner in crime as he uses his brains and networking to help Ruri with her "work."
This manga was quite interesting as it was fast paced with a small helping of light mystery added onto the side. Three significant items are asked to be stolen by "P" throughout the three chapters and it is interesting to have three significant back stories to each item.
The first was a teddy bear from the infirmary, the second a Junk Jungle concert ticket stub, and the last was *gasp* a Norman Rockwell Museum pen that only Suki Yuuma owns.
The non-mystery portions of the story were very lovely to follow as well. While Ruri and Yuuma work together, Ruri openly expresses her love for him, but Yuuma seems rather reluctant to admit his own feelings to her. The reasoning for this is readily revealed after she finally confronts him about his ex-girlfriend from back in his middle school years.
PxP is a fun story to follow and I really wouldn't mind if Yoshizumi-sensei continued on with more interesting plot devices for our infamous "P" to partake in. I also wouldn't mind seeing how the relationshpi between Ruri and Yuuma turn out and whether they continue to go about this line of "work." But alas, when I really think about it, PxP was really made to be a short three chapter story anyway and I like it the way it is.
That aside, I also point out that as far as bishounen are concerned, Suki Yuuma has been added onto my list of Very Good Looking Glasses Characters-- My Beloved Megane-bishie Guys. As is typical of Yoshizumi-sensei's characters, he is quite good looking. Slap on a pair of glasses and he is absolutely irresistable.
I'm moe for him. This could be bad.
Genre: romance, shoujo, school life, mystery
Volumes/Chapters: 1 Volume (3 chapters);
also includes the oneshot story Baby It's You
And so it goes, this is the second Yoshizumi Wataru manga I'll be posting about. As I'd mentioned before, I've become a fan, I've read a few of her works and there are two others that I want to read although they are quite unavailable to me.
PxP is a short, but interesting and exciting story about a thief by the name of "P" who steals trivial things for the price of 300,000 yen. Nothing that "P" steals is ever expensive and only ever valuable to the person who wants it. "P" is so named because of the calling card left behind in place of everything that has been stolen.
Because of "P" the student council is bringing up the issue of stopping the infamous thief. Included in this student council are the President Tomotoshi Daiki and the Vice President Himeno Ruri. The suspected student who could be "P", the president claims, has to be none other than Suki Yuuma, a special student within the school who not only has his own lab, but is introverted and very strange. Also his nickname is "Professor" so the thief's name "P" corresponds with the first letter of "Professor."
What we learn early on in the manga, however, is that President Tomotoshi is only half correct.
"P" turns out to be the "P" from "Princess" which is English for "Hime" or Himeno Ruri's nickname. So while the student council is trying to investigate the matter of "P", Himeno Ruri is secretly creating more havoc behind their backs. Suki Yuuma, of course, is her most precious partner in crime as he uses his brains and networking to help Ruri with her "work."
This manga was quite interesting as it was fast paced with a small helping of light mystery added onto the side. Three significant items are asked to be stolen by "P" throughout the three chapters and it is interesting to have three significant back stories to each item.
The first was a teddy bear from the infirmary, the second a Junk Jungle concert ticket stub, and the last was *gasp* a Norman Rockwell Museum pen that only Suki Yuuma owns.
The non-mystery portions of the story were very lovely to follow as well. While Ruri and Yuuma work together, Ruri openly expresses her love for him, but Yuuma seems rather reluctant to admit his own feelings to her. The reasoning for this is readily revealed after she finally confronts him about his ex-girlfriend from back in his middle school years.
PxP is a fun story to follow and I really wouldn't mind if Yoshizumi-sensei continued on with more interesting plot devices for our infamous "P" to partake in. I also wouldn't mind seeing how the relationshpi between Ruri and Yuuma turn out and whether they continue to go about this line of "work." But alas, when I really think about it, PxP was really made to be a short three chapter story anyway and I like it the way it is.
That aside, I also point out that as far as bishounen are concerned, Suki Yuuma has been added onto my list of Very Good Looking Glasses Characters-- My Beloved Megane-bishie Guys. As is typical of Yoshizumi-sensei's characters, he is quite good looking. Slap on a pair of glasses and he is absolutely irresistable.
I'm moe for him. This could be bad.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
first impression: Skip Beat! (anime)
Oh, Kyoko-sama how I had yearned for thee...
I honestly thought that someone out there was horribly pissed at me and wanted to make me miserable. It took a good long while for me to find my beloved first episode of the Skip Beat anime adaptation of which I'd been looking forwad to since I first heard about there being an adaptation. When everyone else was blogging about the first and second episodes, I was still clinging to the edge of my seat in wait.
But, all of my waiting has come to a good result. I finally got my hands on the first episode and thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of watching Kyoko lose her sanity and unleash her silently brewing Kyoko-demons when Sho finally unveils his scheming, moronic, asshole of a personality of which could have only held Kyoko at his beck and call. Any other girl would have already dumped the jerk a long time ago rather than waiting for him to openly admit that he only really asked Kyoko to be with him so that she could do the cooking, cleaning, and worshipping and working her butt off to make sure he had a place to stay while he rose to stardom.
As any other person known to follow the Skip Beat manga religiously, I hate Shotaro's spoiled brat ass.
But anyway, it seems that the first episode of Skip Beat does well to cover the first act of the manga. We get to see how Kyoko slaves away to make her Sho-chan happy and be able to live royally. We get to see how anything and everything she does is for Shotaro (that bastard) and as much as I hate to admit it, the manga shows this aspect a little better than the anime does. We get to see everything that had to do with the old Kyoko and how she was such a kind, sweet, and caring person.
And then Pandora's box -- as the first episode title implies -- is opened and all hell is unleashed in the fury that is Kyoko's grudge demons. When Kyoko finds Sho telling his manager how he isn't the least bit happy with Kyoko's praises, how he only asked her to come with him to Tokyo to support as a live-in maid and not as a girlfriend, and how he was more interested in women such as his manager Shoko-san, Kyoko snaps.
For those who have digest the manga again and again, we all know that Kyoko doesn't cry and plead with Sho like a weak little girl. Instead, she rages with anger and declares that she wants revenge for everything that Sho has said and done to her. She's through with being a little underappreciated slave girl and she vows to make Shotaro grovel at her feet for forgiveness by beating him down at his own game. And when Sho invites her to join the industry so that she can do such a thing, as far as the manga goes, Kyoko takes up his offer with open arms.
But up to now we are only shown Kyoko's spirit and determination. After all, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and Kyoko has had a horribly hard life even as a child -- all of this revealed in the manga and hopefully soon to be revealed in coming episodes. For those of you who haven't even glanced at the Skip Beat manga, Kyoko-sama has a long road ahead of her to travel if she wants to reach a height much further than that ass of a man Shotaro.
As far as the anime goes, it is very fast paced and very accurate compared to the manga. I have a feeling that the anime will continue to follow exactly as the manga, but hopefully it won't loiter around privy details so that we can make it up to the filming of Dark Moon (or maybe that will be part of a sequel to Skip Beat's anime which would be fine by me as well).
I can't seem to grasp the voice that is Tsuruga Ren. Konishi Katsuyuki is a good strong male voice. But somehow, it doesn't seem to give off that same vibe that Ren has always given me. But due to the very few scenes that Ren appears in for this first episode, I may be jumping the gun by commenting on him.
As for Miyano Mamoru, he is doing exemplary excellent as Sho. I like it. He can pull off the moody, coolness that is Sho as well as the moronic secretive character that only Kyoko has ever seen. He sounds good as an asshole and I praise him well. Knowing that he can sing is a good thing too as Sho is supposedly a rising star in the singing industry and extremely popular and talented as well.
Inoue Marina is doing fine as Kyoko. Although I think I'll appreciate her more when she retains her "evil Kyoko" tone which she will have to have for a good few episodes to appease Kyoko's anger until her innocent and naive side comes back out.
All in all, the anime adaptation was not what I had been expecting. The animation isn't all that great and the character designs are carbon copies of the manga. The music is passably good, and as the anime is sticking with the original storyline, there is little to question about it.
I look forward to seeing the rest of the cast soon. As far as spoilers go, the next episode will be the infamous casting auditions and Kyoko meets Kotonami Kanae for the first time. I can't wait to see the interaction between Kyoko and her good friend Moko-san, and I definitely can't wait until Kyoko meets with Maria.
As a fan of shoujo manga, romances, and fun anime such as Skip Beat, even if the results are not what I expected, I know I will sure continue to watch it. After all, I followed Special A all the way to the end, there is no reason to pass up Skip Beat at all -- ugh... bad comparison, but you get the point.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
thoughts: Random Walk (manga)
Okay, so I took a few more days off from blogging than I intended to. But have no fear, Ani is back and she's got quite a few posts up her sleeve. Not only that, but I may even start writing those features I've promised as well as finally posting that Amatsuki thoughts post I've been holding since the creation of anicabyss.
But anyway...
Creator: Yoshizumi Wataru
Genre: romance, shoujo, slice of life, school life, drama
Volumes/Chapters: 3 volumes (15 chapters with extra ending)
Ever since reading PxP, I ended up becoming a fan of Yoshizumi-sensei's work. Her character designs are very pretty and very cute, her stories are usually quite laxed with a made for drama feel, and her female protagonists are typically pretty strong-headed types. Her artwork is great, in my opinion, as there isn't too much noise in the background and a good amount of attention to detail.
Random Walk is a cute little story that centers around a girl named Yuka who goes through several relationships which end up in heartbreak for her each time. But because her father had told her to "experience good love so that you can be a good person" Yuka-chan seems quite ready to brave the topsy-turvy storms of having a love relationship with boys. Throughout the three volumes, she falls in love quite readily with some of the guys who walk into her life including an old boyfriend who had been caught cheating on her before as well as a boy who already has a five year relationship with another girl.
All-in-all, the manga is just another cute story to pass the time. The only thing that would keep one hooked to Random Walk is the idea that Yuka-chan needs to find a boyfriend at the end, at the very least. I felt very sorry for her throughout and only hoped that she would finally find someone.
I have to say that Yuka's choice in boys are quite... bad.
The first candidate was the son of a friend of her father's. Shiki Nozomu is a second year at her high school whom she meets for the first time when she and her friend Touko go to a karaoke. Touko had planned on playing the meet, play and ditch card on Nozomu and his friend so that they wouldn't have to pay for anything, but end up getting caught. Yuka later learns that Nozomu goes to her school and is the son of her father's friend who wants her to meet and date his son. And so when she reveals this as well as showing Nozomu the letter of recommendation that his father wrote, they agree to try dating. When they finally become serious, it appears that Nozomu is not only not serious about Yuka-chan, but he also ends up falling for another girl he meets at the library.
And thus ends the first love story in Yuka-chan's high school career.
As she is crying over her break-up with Nozomu, the second love story walks passed her in the form of Furuya Kaito, a third year in her high school. She meets him the second time outside when she's photographing a ladybug, and then the third time she meets him is at her step-mother, Youko-mama's studio where he makes his first move, kissing her and telling her that he thought she was cute. The relationship would have progressed quite nicely except for the fact that we learn that Kaito already has a girlfriend and this girlfriend is the head of the photography club Yuka just joined, a girl named Saori who is very nice and very kind to Yuka. Thus, even as Yuka knows this, she begins to date Kaito while feeling extremely guilty as Saori and Kaito have been together for a couple years.
As this relationship was doomed to end in the beginning, I was pretty shocked that Yuka actually went through with it. While it was true that Kaito really expressed genuinely that he was in love with Yuka, that still didnt' change the face that he already has a girlfriend whom he is also in love with. That said, he was quite pushy and I think that that was what got Yuka interested in him as she's the type to give in to someone as pushy as him.
The last of Yuka-chan's heartbreaks had also been the first. In the second year of junior high, she met a boy named Tsutsui Hikaru who fell for her and came on strong. Because of this, she ended up falling for him as well since his pushy personality won her over. But later on, she found him cheating on her with a tutor and so the two broke up. At present day, Hikaru is back and he wants to do things over with Yuka. But lo and behold, of course, this relationship does not play out the way Yuka wants and so she is left broken hearted again. In the end, Hikaru ended up choosing another girl over her.
To be honest, I'm all for giving second chances and all, but this relationship was kind of short and ridiculous considering how much time Hikaru spent trying to get Yuka to go out with him again. And then he just turns around and breaks her heart all over again.
By this time in the storyline, I pretty much predicted the ending very easily.
Throughout, we are introduced to all of Yuka's friends including an older ex-stepbrother of hers from her father's second marriage. Even after the divorce, Yuka still keeps in contact with her second stepmother, Sachie-mama, and her father had kept in contact with Touwa, the stepbrother. Upon seeing how Yuka easily spouts off her relationships to him, it wasn't hard to guess who the main couple in the end would be.
I would have to say, even though it was highly predictable, it was also quite sudden as Yuka had always mentioned that she and Touwa never got along with each other in the past. Although we do learn that Touwa had been opposed to the marriage between his mother and Yuka's father because he already had a crush on Yuka.
Very cute story, very cute characters. There's little else to say about this manga, and I think I've already said too much.
The manga also boasts the side stories concerning the love lives of Yuka's friends, Negishi Touko and her on again off again boyfriend, Chiba Hirotaka and his relationships, as well as Ishimara Katsura and her little endearing love story with a student teacher.
Overall, the manga was fun to read and I enjoyed watching Yuka go through her high school so dazzlingly. I don't approve of some of her boyfriends, but that's really something I can't really criticize. It's not a must read as far as the story goes, but if you're a fan of Yoshizumi-sensei or a fan of cute shoujo manga, I would highly recommend this one to anyone.
At least for the fangirls out there, there is a good select amount of bishounen goodness in the entire story altogether. lol
But anyway...
Creator: Yoshizumi Wataru
Genre: romance, shoujo, slice of life, school life, drama
Volumes/Chapters: 3 volumes (15 chapters with extra ending)
Ever since reading PxP, I ended up becoming a fan of Yoshizumi-sensei's work. Her character designs are very pretty and very cute, her stories are usually quite laxed with a made for drama feel, and her female protagonists are typically pretty strong-headed types. Her artwork is great, in my opinion, as there isn't too much noise in the background and a good amount of attention to detail.
Random Walk is a cute little story that centers around a girl named Yuka who goes through several relationships which end up in heartbreak for her each time. But because her father had told her to "experience good love so that you can be a good person" Yuka-chan seems quite ready to brave the topsy-turvy storms of having a love relationship with boys. Throughout the three volumes, she falls in love quite readily with some of the guys who walk into her life including an old boyfriend who had been caught cheating on her before as well as a boy who already has a five year relationship with another girl.
All-in-all, the manga is just another cute story to pass the time. The only thing that would keep one hooked to Random Walk is the idea that Yuka-chan needs to find a boyfriend at the end, at the very least. I felt very sorry for her throughout and only hoped that she would finally find someone.
I have to say that Yuka's choice in boys are quite... bad.
The first candidate was the son of a friend of her father's. Shiki Nozomu is a second year at her high school whom she meets for the first time when she and her friend Touko go to a karaoke. Touko had planned on playing the meet, play and ditch card on Nozomu and his friend so that they wouldn't have to pay for anything, but end up getting caught. Yuka later learns that Nozomu goes to her school and is the son of her father's friend who wants her to meet and date his son. And so when she reveals this as well as showing Nozomu the letter of recommendation that his father wrote, they agree to try dating. When they finally become serious, it appears that Nozomu is not only not serious about Yuka-chan, but he also ends up falling for another girl he meets at the library.
And thus ends the first love story in Yuka-chan's high school career.
As she is crying over her break-up with Nozomu, the second love story walks passed her in the form of Furuya Kaito, a third year in her high school. She meets him the second time outside when she's photographing a ladybug, and then the third time she meets him is at her step-mother, Youko-mama's studio where he makes his first move, kissing her and telling her that he thought she was cute. The relationship would have progressed quite nicely except for the fact that we learn that Kaito already has a girlfriend and this girlfriend is the head of the photography club Yuka just joined, a girl named Saori who is very nice and very kind to Yuka. Thus, even as Yuka knows this, she begins to date Kaito while feeling extremely guilty as Saori and Kaito have been together for a couple years.
As this relationship was doomed to end in the beginning, I was pretty shocked that Yuka actually went through with it. While it was true that Kaito really expressed genuinely that he was in love with Yuka, that still didnt' change the face that he already has a girlfriend whom he is also in love with. That said, he was quite pushy and I think that that was what got Yuka interested in him as she's the type to give in to someone as pushy as him.
The last of Yuka-chan's heartbreaks had also been the first. In the second year of junior high, she met a boy named Tsutsui Hikaru who fell for her and came on strong. Because of this, she ended up falling for him as well since his pushy personality won her over. But later on, she found him cheating on her with a tutor and so the two broke up. At present day, Hikaru is back and he wants to do things over with Yuka. But lo and behold, of course, this relationship does not play out the way Yuka wants and so she is left broken hearted again. In the end, Hikaru ended up choosing another girl over her.
To be honest, I'm all for giving second chances and all, but this relationship was kind of short and ridiculous considering how much time Hikaru spent trying to get Yuka to go out with him again. And then he just turns around and breaks her heart all over again.
By this time in the storyline, I pretty much predicted the ending very easily.
Throughout, we are introduced to all of Yuka's friends including an older ex-stepbrother of hers from her father's second marriage. Even after the divorce, Yuka still keeps in contact with her second stepmother, Sachie-mama, and her father had kept in contact with Touwa, the stepbrother. Upon seeing how Yuka easily spouts off her relationships to him, it wasn't hard to guess who the main couple in the end would be.
I would have to say, even though it was highly predictable, it was also quite sudden as Yuka had always mentioned that she and Touwa never got along with each other in the past. Although we do learn that Touwa had been opposed to the marriage between his mother and Yuka's father because he already had a crush on Yuka.
Very cute story, very cute characters. There's little else to say about this manga, and I think I've already said too much.
The manga also boasts the side stories concerning the love lives of Yuka's friends, Negishi Touko and her on again off again boyfriend, Chiba Hirotaka and his relationships, as well as Ishimara Katsura and her little endearing love story with a student teacher.
Overall, the manga was fun to read and I enjoyed watching Yuka go through her high school so dazzlingly. I don't approve of some of her boyfriends, but that's really something I can't really criticize. It's not a must read as far as the story goes, but if you're a fan of Yoshizumi-sensei or a fan of cute shoujo manga, I would highly recommend this one to anyone.
At least for the fangirls out there, there is a good select amount of bishounen goodness in the entire story altogether. lol
Monday, September 29, 2008
first impression: Naisho no Tsubomi (anime)
When I first saw the summary of this anime, my thoughts were quite cruel. It was summarized about a little girl who was growing up and going through that phase of puberty where everything was completely foreign to her. Not only does she have to deal with her period coming soon, but she also had to deal with certain growing feelings of attraction towards a boy in her class. This is unfamiliar territory for Tsubomi.
Frankly, I wasn't really interested in it. A bunch of kids growing up. So what?
But then when I accidentally clicked to the title again not knowing what it was, for some wierd reason I decided that I might give it a try. After all, it's only 3 OVAs long and while the other two aren't available with subtitles yet, this first one might serve some minor entertainment. They're a bunch of kids, right? What harm could there be? Because in essence, I've learned that anything based off of shoujo manga has good endings, cute storylines, and nothing too heavily dramatized. Even angsty themes aren't too heavily traumatic.
I like good happy themes. And slice of life comedies with a twist of "girl growing up and learning to become a woman" kind of piqued my curiosity.
The advertisement of this short OVA series was no lie. Everything mentioned in the summary took place with Tsubomi meeting another girl in her class, Saya, who was much more mature and level-headed than she was. You wouldn't have guessed that Saya was just some snot nosed elementary school kid-- of course, upon further viewing, you learn that there is so much more to Saya and that there's something about her own life she may be hiding from Tsubomi. Otherwise, she's a very good source of mature information whenever Tsubomi seemed lost concerning her mother's pregnancy.
Of course, there was that friend who just had to point out that "Tsubomi's mommy and daddy did naughty things" and that's how babies are made. How cruel to make a little girl realize such a thing... Honestly, NO ONE likes to even think that their parents are doing it like a happy couple because it's just gross to think that way. Even if it is the truth.
In Tsubomi's case, "doing naughty things" such as having sex is definitely a no-no and her young and innocent little mind doesn't comprehend the whole situation. She only knows that it's bad. And so thanks to Saya's mature look on things, she is told to understand that, "it's okay since they're happily married and they love each other."
Is that really right? LOL Who knows nowadays.
The premise of Naisho no Tsubomi is interesting and cute. I wouldn't say it's original since a lot of movies and series have done these issues to death. After all, a girl advancing into the adolescent puberty stage is a natural element of life. The American movie, My Girl was all about a girl growing up and becoming a woman and falling in love... and things like that -- it was also quite popular back when I was growing up.
I'll have to admit, it was quite adorable to watch the girls discussing things such as sex and how babies are made like they were professionals in this matter. Amusing actually.
I'm not too stuck on this series, but I would like to see how things progress between Tsubomi and her friends as well as with the boy she's suddenly attracted to, Daichi. He's a nice kid who tries to help her and be there for her, so you may wonder whether or not he's already discovered his own mature-ness... if boys even really get to that point. Also the next episode preview makes mention that Daichi gets help from Saya as well after he and Tsubomi witness their friends kissing and start to see each other in a different light.
Geez... so young and innocent.
Honestly, in America, kids these days aren't as innocent as portrayed in this anime. They know a lot more things than you would expect them to know, and even more so than you would know yourself at the age of twenty-four and going. Sometimes, you don't even want to know what they know, because it could become a bit awkward. Maybe in Japan, despite their openness in the media about sex and whatnot, the kids are actually very innocent. Or maybe shoujo manga is just simply aimed at being completely innocent and fairy tale like.
Good ethics, maybe. I know we in America kind of lack that sense in a lot of places. Sadly.
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