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.

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.

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

thoughts: H3 School (manga)

I betcha anyone who comes across my blog for this first month has been wondering: "I thought this was a place for anime and manga. But all I've been seeing is anime. Where's the manga? And what about shoujo manga and stuff... What does D.Gray-man have to do with shoujo manga?"

Well, I guess if people actually read my sorry attempt at blogging anime and manga, they would be thinking that. I know I've been wondering the same thing since I'm advertising anime and manga. Sadly, anime is so much easier to blog (in my pathetically half-baked opinion), but that's probably just an excuse.

But hey, the wait is over. Here before your very eyes (or really just my own eyes) is the very first shoujo manga review/post at anicabyss!

Well, it's really nothing to be proud of, but you get the excitement, right? No? Okay, that's fine too. But aside from this one, I will be presenting a few other thoughts and "reviews" over manga and some other anime. But not all at once. Sort of a way to make up for my undeserved absence in the past two weeks. After school started and I finished watching Hatenkou Yugi, I found no motivation to continue writing posts since I couldn't think of much to mention, but here I am back again.

*****

Creator: Takada Rie
Genre: comedy, romance, school life, shoujo, sports
Volumes/Chapters: 5 volumes

Anyway, as far as shoujo manga goes, all typical couples have the same characteristics (from what I've been able to decipher). A tall, cool, handsome, very, very awesome and smart boyfriend who is only suitable with the cute, shorter, very pretty, and crazy-in-some-way, academically not so smart girlfriend. So maybe some of those traits aren't exactly the correct assumptions, but you get the gist.

Before I continue on, I wanted to mention something quite significant. I'm not a fan of shoujo manga female protagonists even though I love reading this genre for all the sweet and fun romances. It's like watching short romantic comedies in black and white.

Secondly, Ozora Hanabi is one of my most favorite shoujo manga heroine ever created. You thought I loved Hana-Kimi, but I don't love Ashiya Mizuki half as much as I do Ozora Hanabi. You thought I was a big fan of Nakahara Aya's manga, but even her shoujo manga heroine don't stand a chance against the "holy terror" that is Ozora Hanabi. I absolutely love this girl. I can't say that I harbor the same affection for her boyfriend, but he's good looking and cool, and he completes her perfectly. They have a crazy sweet and awe-inspiring relationship and it's great. So I've no complaints about him.

To be honest, to this day, I don't know if I've found a cute and lovey-dovey couple in which I also liked the male counterpart as much as I like the female half or vice versa. Maybe Li Shaoran and Kinomoto Sakura I like equally, but it's not a definite because they're relationship was never elaborated on. But when it comes to couples, there's always something about one of the two I don't like and could care less about if he or she weren't paired with the other.

But this is information for another post another day.

This post is a review, or more like personal opinions and thoughts, about H3 School by Takada Rie.

As a brief summary, Ozora Hanabi is like the pimp/protector of all the girls of her all girls high school and finds herself joining the student council when her school merges with the Meibi High all boys school. On the very first day after the merging, Hanabi meets with Garaku Yasuaki and immediately gets off on the wrong foot with him despite finding him absolutely attractive. We later learn, however, that the only reason Yasuaki treated Hanabi so coldly was because he has a horrifying fear of girls and cannot speak or act whenever he's around them. And thus, while falling in love with him, Hanabi is dead set on helping him cure his fear of girls.

Basically, the story is quite simple and straight forward. It's nonlinear and so you don't really think about it following one big plot through to the end. What we see is a series of different events and plot devices surrounding the relationship of Hanabi and Yasuaki as they date and go through their years in high school. Though without any ultimate destination and seeming like it could go on forever, the story still manages to wrap up quite nicely and contains very endearing stories within each chapter. Some of the plot devices, I will admit, are rather tacky. But in the end, the whole of the series is definitely that of a "Must Read" manga shoujo romance story.

Most importantly, Hanabi and Yasuaki prove to be a very cute shoujo manga couple. Throughout the entire manga, you can feel the goosebumps raising as the two interact with each other. Hanabi will always do crazy things that tend to end up being very adorable, and Yasuaki may seem cold but will say things that are so sweet you feel like shivering.


The only other characters we encounter in H3 school are Kuon Yoshitomo and Aido Tokihisa -- the only two regulars to the entire storyline. They are both part of the student council as well, Kuon being the president and Tokihisa simply self-proclaiming himself as Yasuaki's rival. Enter Suno Takeru who is Hanabi's childhood friend; he is not only vieing for Hanabi's affection, but also claims to be the closest to her because he "practically raised her" as he taught her how to become tougher and to stop crying all the time.

This attempt at including a third-party as an accessory to the main couple relationship was a rather half-assed attempt since it didn't seem to cause much friction between Yasu and Hanabi. After all, it seems that when the two got together, they were settled and nothing could really come between them. In the end, Hanabi chose Yasuaki and as the readers, we already knew that would be the conclusion. This is a good-natured, light-hearted comedy romance after all; separating the two because of something as stupid as jealousy over a childhood friend would be too harsh on the fans.

This is the first time that I read through a manga series that hadn't already had prior hype and advertisement about it's greatness. In fact, I don't think very many people aside from the fans who scanlated Takada Rie's work or who like a good reverse harem story actually give much credit to how delightful this manga series is. Unlike Ouran High School Host Club or Lovely Complex, H3 has yet to hit the screen as an anime adaptation, and is rarely mentioned in topics about good shoujo romance manga.

Of course, I'm sure if mentioned, many would agree that H3 School is definitely a good read.

After all, who can resist the sexiness of the very Ozora Hanabi... right? She's cute, she crazy, she's pretty, and she's excellently created by Takada-sensei. Hanabi, I will claim, single-handedly runs the entire H3 show. Without her, I wouldn't have had as much fun reading the series.


In terms of artwork, as I've stated before -- somewhere not here, I think -- I'm not a good judge of what is good artwork and what isn't. But I know what I like and I like what stands out as pretty and smooth to me. Takada Rie's work is nice and not too crowded. Her character designs are a little on the wild side and so her female protagonists always seem to have some sort of crazy streak to them. The male protagonists always seem so calm and quiet.

Then again, a lot of shoujo manga out there are about the same when it comes to the combination of male/female protagonists.

H3 School did good in portraying Hanabi's wild side both in image and action as well as in her dialogue. The moment that she admitted to Yasuaki that she was a "holy terror" I found myself nodding in agreement and chuckling at how honest this girl was and how well she knew herself. When she "played" the piano to appease Yasuaki's father, I laughed out loud because even thought this is manga, I could just hear the "BAM!" of the piano keys reverberating through the hall. So wonderful.

Simply stated, there are just too many memorable moments in this series that I don't know how many I can mention without continuing longer than is necessary. From Hanabi's craziness to Yasuaki's sweet and coolness, and even Tokihisa's idiocy and Kuon's... creepy "hell if you're miserable" character... I love it all!

Anyway, H3 school... Good manga, good story, good romance. I like it a lot and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm glad that I decided not to pass up this one and move onto other things.