Video: Yandere Kanojo (ヤンデレ彼女) by Shinobi

Here's my video for my Now-Reading 01: Yandere Kanojo. It's basically the same as the Now-Reading post you've seen today. Anyway, here you go! Enjoy my lovely voice, and by lovely I meant my monotone speaking.

Now-Reading 10: Sweet-Delinquent Girlfriend(ヤンデレ彼女[Yandere Kanojo])

This is what a shounen romance should feel like. A heart-warming story between a yankee; a delinquent, and an ordinary guy who fell in love after their first encounter with each other. It’s cheesy at times but it feels more shoujo than any shoujo I’ve read so far. It’s not filled with drama but is filled with happiness.

Yandere Kanojo Volume 1

When a gag manga gives you something bigger than gags and comedy, you know that you’re reading a jewel of a story. I will apologize for fangirling about this series because I’m falling in love head over heels with this series because it’s so light and lovely, it feels like I’ve found the one I want to be with. She doesn’t look outstanding, she might swear a bit here and there but overall she’s just a really nice girl. I met her when I was browsing a certain manga hosting site, looking for a gag manga and she looked like a fun manga to read. She describes herself modestly but she’s so amazing and unique, she should be licensed. As of now, I’m still enjoying her company but we’re going to go through a long distance relationship soon. I hate it but I have to endure.

The mangaka’s pen name is Shinobi which translates to ninja. Her works are mostly 4 koma gag manga and all share the same kind of art style. She is prolific in that she works on two versions of Yandere Kanojo; one for the magazine and one for online publication. Her other works are “Nekura Musume to Internet (Miss Depressing and the Internet)” and “Musuko no Yome (My Son’s Wife).”

Spoiler Alert! If you are gonna read this post, please read the actual manga first!

Now-Reading 9: Minamoto's Story (源君物語 [Minamoto-kun Monogatari])

Have you heard off "Hikari Genji" or "Genji monogatari?" If you've watched a lot of anime, you probably have heard of it. It's the story of a man searching some sort of attachment from females because he doesn't have that maternal attachment. He goes through 14 women to help him achieve that attachment. That's the extent of what I got from this series. Why am I telling you this? This series is basically the modern take on that story.

Every girl encountered by the main character.

If you felt like Seishun Pop! has a ton of sex scenes, this has chapters of it! Considering it's a weekly published series, 8 pages of sex scenes isn't enough! The scenes are showed in a way that leaves the reader to use his/her imagination to create the scene. It's not a hentai manga but it is smut.

The mangaka for this series is Inaba Minori. Believe it or not, like Seishun Pop's mangaka, she's a woman. I'm not discriminating for what they draw but I applaud them for being brave enough to show their work. The good thing about her is that this is her first work ever. She might have drawn doujinshi that no one on the Internet knows but it's good to know that she has room to grow. On to the story shall we?!

Spoiler Alert! If you are gonna read this post, please read the actual manga first!

Warning! This series contains mature themes and nudity. If you are under 18, please turn back now.

Now-Reading 8: Youth Pop! (青春ポップ! [Seishun poppu!])

The ultimate focus of this story is finding that someone who you want to protect with all of your life. It might be family, it might be a partner, it might be a friend or a lover. Whoever it may be, you will go to lengths which you've never even thought about crossing until you found this person. My friends, I give you: Seishun Pop!

Seishun Pop!

This is a nice seinen series that has a ton of sex scenes. Tons. As in there are at least 5 chapters worth of sex scenes. Okay, let's leave that. It's mostly about the relationship Sakuta has with people and "another thing." It's just nice to read this. I marathon'd this and it's amazing! Some of the mature themes are great and they really show some taboo stuff in this series. You just have to read it to know what I mean.

Touta Kitakawa is the mangaka for this manga. Her other works include a balding story fittingly titled "Hageruya" (Hage means bald so I'm guessing it's translation is "Balding"). She has drawn more but these are the available ones that Google-sensei provides. Sorry for blabbering too much.

Warning! This title contains mature themes, nudity and violence.

Now Reading 7: Wagatsuma is My Wife! (我妻さんは俺のヨメ [Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome])

Been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that! I will catch up with all of the weekly post I need to do and more. I've freed up some time to post more stuffs for yous guys! Please give this a read!






When the love of your life is named "Ai Wagatsuma," you should expect that she'll become your wife, as her name says (Ai = Love, Waga Tsuma = My Wife). Our main character; Aoshima Hitoshi, is a high schooler who can time travel. Okay, let's lessen that and make it, "temporary time travel ala Hououin Kyouma." Just read the first two paragraphs and I promise you, I will convince you to read this! If not, you get your time back. Seriously! I'll pay you in dream time!

Sorry for not posting for a while. I'm really bogged down by my courses in college. Sorry about that. I hope you didn't all lose faith in me. Come back my dear readers! Come back! Baby, come back!

Now Reading: 6

INBO!!! (Japanese for: Conspiracy) If you haven't figured it out, I have one more and you should know it by now (if you are an otaku like me): Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai (N.H.K. = Nihon Housou Kyoukai [Japanese Broadcasting Association] is a real broadcasting channel in Japan.) I gave you all the clues, and you should know it by now...

Welcome to the N.H.K. Volume 1

Warning! This volume contains mild nudity!

Before we move on, I will explain what a Hikikomori is. The people being called Hikikomori in Japan are shut-ins/recluse who close their worlds and only function within the confines of their apartment/room/house. There are anti-social and usually see the world as a threat to their existence. Hikikomori's are usually otakus who have been hurt by people's comments about them. Some are just afraid of contact with other people and don't feel the need to communicate with other people. I'm also an anti-social person (hence the blog) and I only go out when I need to but that is due to the lack of interpersonal skills on my side. I can understand why people would choose to be Hikikomori and why they choose to be inside their safe zones instead of going with the flow. They are humans too, they are just too afraid of being hurt, either by society's comment or by embarrassment.

Update: December 19, 2013

I'm experimenting with the scheduling of my posts. I've decided to post reviews on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday every week. Every review day is gonna be a different volume of the same title for two weeks. Confused? I'll clarify.

Let's say today's Monday. I'm going to review Ninja Girls Volume 1 today and post it. The next Monday would be Ninja Girls Volume 2. The next Monday after that would be a different title, like a review of Air Gear Volume 1. The Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would be the same. I'll only review two volumes of each title for two consecutive weeks, and then I'm changing the title. Some time after that, I'll go back to the past and review volumes 3 and 4 of that title.

Here! Have a Meruru break!

What about the other days? Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays are kind of meh. I don't know what to put in between but I might as well post some Manga in the Mail stuff or Now Reading posts to fill the gap. I might put two up because I feel like Mail and Now reading aren't as heavy as the reviews, in terms of content.

I also want to try something new, something I don't have and something I want: Wishlist. It's a post that tells people what I want to read and what I'm looking forward to reading. It's kind of like a Manga in the Mail post without having the physical books.

So expect the posts to be somehow longer, and fewer. I don't want to run out of material to post so I'm saving some. There you have it! Thanks for sticking with me!

Now Reading: 5

I'm trying to finish the other Now Reading titles but I feel like I lack the enthusiasm to finish. On to more unfinished business!

WARNING! This volume contains graphic violence, implied rape and a ton of gore.

Okay, I think I've seen the title that could possibly compare to the bloody roller coaster called Batlle Royale.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Volume 1: A country (most likely Japan) passed a law that randomly selects one person a day; between the ages 18-24, to die in 24 hours after receiving an Ikigami (Death Papers, documents that notify a person that he has 24 hours left to live). This law is to get people live healthy and happy lives. If people think that their life is short, they become more productive with their time.

The story is about a man who delivers Ikigami's to the person who is going to die; Kengo Fujimoto. He doesn't side with this law 100% and he still questions this law. Is this job really honorable? It must be! It's for the best of the country! But after a few months, he starts to get used to it somehow.

Art: The art is very good and it complements the story so well. To get the scare factor, you have to draw it as realistic as possible. You can definitely say that it truly belongs to Viz Media's Signature series. The details and expressions on peoples face are accurate.

It's gory and graphic, like it should be. It instantly clicks.

Story: I'm in the halfway mark of the volume which finishes the first story of the first Ikigami recipient in this title. I like how the plot, incorporates the Ikigami recipient's past into the story. It felt the same like when I was reading Battle Royale, as it highlights each "victim" as a main character. I like that kind of story telling: introduction, backstory, present day. How did each character come to be? Will the past factor in the person's actions within his/her last 24 hours?

The pacing is good and it doesn't waste space on useless action. It skips time of inactivity but sometimes, it feels like it jumped over some details that I want to know. Overall, it's a nice page-to-page experience.

Bottomline: Read it. If you want some realistic action and some inhumane rule/law/act, this is for you. I warn you though, I don't want novices to be reading this yet. This is a dark manga that presents a realistic plan to make people do what you want them to do. This is Machiavellian stuff right here.

Now Reading: 4

More now reading posts! This time, it's a horror manga!

Read this at school and I was feeling "I don't have anything to do, so I'm gonna read this even though I can't concentrate" while I was reading this. The perfect atmosphere to be reading this is in a closed room with only a lamp beside you. You need earplugs to silence any noise from the outside world. Then, prepare for a thrill ride!

Scary Book Volume 1: Reflections contains two stories; The Mirror and The Demon of Vengeance.

I have read 3/4 of "The Mirror" so this will be based off of that. The mirror is a story about Emi who is a really beautiful girl who is kind of a narcissist. She loves looking at herself in the mirror. In one stormy night, the mirror cracked and along with it, an evil presence comes to life. Emi is soon haunted by this presence, slowly destroying her life.

Art: The art is outdated but it doesn't lose it's eerie-ness. It looks like the early mangas published and it is. You can see the early Disney influence here.

This is such a good read if I had the right atmosphere at the time I began reading it. It's chilling to know that you might be just a mere reflection of a mirror. Who's the original? Who is the real YOU?!

Hopefully this story ends perfect. I'm expecting some insanity from Emi as she is now...

No. This is not Emi. Or is she?

Now Reading: 3

I admit, for the past 3-4 months, I have developed a sort of ADD for manga. I read more than 3 volumes simultaneously (as in reading another title while not finishing the other ones) nowadays. So I still have 5 or more volumes to put up.

This is my second yuri manga title so I might be a little hard on this one. Please do consider that I have not finished this volume yet and this is just a partial of what I think. Hope you keep reading.

Strawberry Panic: The Complete Manga Collection. I think this omnibus contains two regular volumes. It's about the Etoile (French for star, googled it) Competition and it's participants. It explores the relationships of the participants in this competition. This is a yuri manga (slang for female-to-female relationship) and it is totally weird for me.

I'm totally weirded out in manga, because girls are acting like boys but still retain the "maiden" part of their personality. I'm not against same-sex relationships but this is just awkward. The relationship of "seme to uke" (Japanese for "top and bottom") feels so forced that I people can call it sexual harassment.

This is a catholic school kind of environment and these girls are just sexually frustrated that you feel like the elephant in the room. I'm not a hater, I'm just saying that this is awkward. I love the art style, I like the plot, I just don't like how girls are treated here.

I would like to finish this as soon as I have the time so I can move on from the awkwardness.

Now Reading: 2

To continue my Now Reading spree, here is my second unfinished volume!

High School Girls Volume 1 is what it sounds like. It's about 3 new high school students who are trying their best to survive everyday difficulties. If you're a guy like me, reading this is kind of like an eye-opener (though I have an idea on the problems and gags they do) in the world of young women. It's funny enough to make you laugh but I can only read about 2 chapters at a time. It feels old because it still doesn't have stable ground for the plot to take place.

I hope I can get through the next half.

Oh yeah. BTW, I hope you're ready for period jokes if you pick this up.

Now Reading: 1

I haven't finished a volume yet because I have a lot of reading to do and the finals are this week so yeah.

This is just one of the many of volumes I am currently reading.

Black Lagoon Volume 2. I'm halfway through the first chapter and it's not so interesting yet because it takes you back in time where WWII is still happening. The Black Lagoon Company is going to dive in to get the treasure inside a sunken submarine. I'm not that far yet but I know what's going to happen as I have seen the anime adaptation of Black Lagoon first before I picked up the manga.

Anyway, I'm planning on reviewing Black Lagoon Volume 1 so people can catch up on the story. More Now Reading coming up!