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!

Guest Review: Nagisa-chan on Peach Girl

I forced one of my online friend +Nagisa chan to do this review and she's cool enough to be a special guest here! Please read her review and welcome her wholeheartedly, thanks!

Telling more about Nagisa before we head on over to the review, she's the typical shoujo loving girl. She loves Sailor Moon and this series, Peach Girl. She has a modest sized collection of otaku-related stuff Nagisa hates yaoi intensely but surprisingly, she can stomach every dirty joke I throw at her! She's the girl friend that every otaku needs (do not fall for her, even if you are desperate).

Anyways, enough rambling, here I present you with Nagisa's review of Peach Girl!

Bi-Monthly! Omaera Zenin Mendokusai 1: Tomodachi Jiyanakute, Sensei Desu

What will you do when one of your students doesn't have any friends? She suggests that you; her teacher, become her temporary friend only until she makes another friend. Will you agree? Ahhh, complicated relationships! Here's a new series offered to us by Tobi (pen name of the mangaka) and is serialized in Comic Meteor.

Omaera Zenin Mendokusai! translated means, Everyone is a Pain (that's the really idiotic translation, but for me it should mean like that and not "You guys are all troublesome" because that sounds wrong). 

The chapter title is: Tomodachi Janakute, Sensei Desu (友達 じゃなくて, 先生 です) translates to, "I'm not your friend! I'm your teacher!" I just want to show off my Japanese. Thanks Textfugu!

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

Warning! This title contains adult themes.

Review: The Wallflower Volume 1

1 mansion, 4 bishounen, 1 girl, 1 goal to "free rent." Four gorgeous teenage boy are tasked to do the (almost) impossible, to turn Sunako Nakahara; a macabre-loving girl, into a proper lady. Tomoyo Hayakawa really made something funny and beautiful with this title! Here you go, The Wallflower Volume 1!

You have just read the whole plot of the story. It's funny and it's definitely shoujo (hmm, just google "Free! Iwatobi Swim Club" so you have an idea), but guys, don't be discourage, there is still something for you here. Maybe a lesson about not calling girls ugly? Come, come, don't be shy!

Manga in the Mail: 23

Miwa Ueda, her work on Papillon (Hana to Chou = Flower and Butterfly) is just amazing. It was the first shoujo manga that I've ever fallen in love with. Now, I'm on the hunt for her work Peach Girl, both the original release by Tokyopop and the re-release by the same publisher (the only difference is that the first one was flipped [meaning that they were mirrored and read from left to right instead of right to left.])

 

Review: Lament of the Lamb Volume 1

A vampire story with a love story at the side. You've got it wrong if you think this is about twilight. If vampires were real, Kei Toume's version would be the ones. Her art and story telling just give me the chills without it being a true horror manga. It's like one of those tragedy stories of the medieval times where suicide and murder are a means to convey extreme feelings. I present you, Lament of the Lamb.

"Mingled among the sheep, there is a wolf. And by his own lonely fangs, he is bent..."

The expressions of the characters on the front cover is what you will have after you read this. The sadness you get from reading something emotional, something dreary. You'll have to read it to understand what I'm talking about.

Review: Toradora! Volume 1

Long awaited review? Really?! I can't believe you guys! Sorry for the wait though! Yeah, it's the manga adaptation of the light novels. Surprisingly, it's nearly the same as the anime adaptation!

Fun fact: The author thought about the title and tried putting the characters' personalities. Tiger and Dragon, the "tora" part is Japanese for tiger, the "dora" part is the shorthand for dragon in romaji (I know little about the Japanese language but I know that they have a "western" style syllabic system for "western" words.)

Manga in the Mail: 19

So here's 15 volumes of a shoujo series I ordered recently. I was inspired by the anime so I bought this lot for cheap and most of them are in very good condition. Awesome sauce! Here's the scary part: the cover art is full of bishounen! (bi [bee] comes from bijin meaning beautiful woman, so they combined it with shounen and we get beautiful boys!)

The Wallflower Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15

Errr, I can explain this! No, it's not what your thinking! I'm not that!

Review: Arisa Volume 2

More shoujo goodness! Yes, the second volume of my first shoujo series this new year! Well, not really the new year but let's just say the winter season. Iko yo!

So, I've finished this volume last year but because of my confusion on my college schedule (I literally thought my classes start the 7th of January so I was freaking out) and laziness that I didn't really bother to review this until now. Forgive me okay?

Gomenasai!

Review: High School Girls Volume 1

So if you've been reading my blog from the very start (which I doubt anyone did), I have posted my now-reading post about High School Girls Volume 1. I've just finished it recently and I want to say, it's a documentary about an all girls high school.

Warning! This contains a bit of fan-service. A bit. A girl can probably stand it.

To start it off, this is a slice-of-life comedy manga that can either make you look at women differently. Your opinion about girls being all tidy and neat might be destroyed so if you don't want to see the ugly side of a girl, then do not read this. If you want to laugh out loud about the facts of the girl-life, then please, do so.

Manga in the Mail: 15

Since I love Suenobu-sensei's Limit, I bought her other work: Life. I've only read the first few pages online and with a box cutter and a bloody arm greeting me, I was sold! Suenobu-sensei sure knows how to make a dark shoujo manga! I'm excited to read it!

 

 

Life Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

It's another shoujo manga my dear readers! What can we expect?

Review: Limit Volume 2

So... I'm still in awe after reading 5 volumes and I'm preventing myself from reading the last one. I don't want to kill this feeling of surprise of WHY THE HELL ISN'T THIS A SEINEN SERIES?! (Sorry WcDonalds) I'm lovin' it!

Warning! This volume contains graphic violence, verbal abuse and blood.

I don't even know why this isn't talked about. Most of the manga collections I've seen on video sharing sites don't have this title. Why is it not famous? This is a seinen manga with teenage girls as it's characters. However, the issues that are expressed here are definitely shoujo. Am I repeating myself? I'm sorry, I'm just disappointed to see that this title isn't a part of some famous person's collection. You should have!
It might not be an Attack on Titan but this is Literature!

Review: Arisa Volume 1

First of all, Happy New Year and let's start our year off with a new series to review!

I recently received this in the mail and it's a shoujo manga. I love shoujo manga but the past 4-6 months are filled with action, shounen romance, seinen and battle manga. Lately, I've been craving for more shoujo manga so I think this is the right title to get me in the mood.

I've finished this volume last night and I'm really glad I picked this up. Awesome start of a series so buckle up! Let's dive in into shoujo territory!

Review: Limit Volume 1

First off, have you read Battle Royale? If you haven't, why haven't you? I don't own it and I read it online *cough*illegally*cough* and finished it. Anyway, if you liked that title, then I'm sure you'll love this!

Warning! This volume contains graphic violence, verbal abuse and blood.

It's a shoujo manga despite it's serious, dark and somewhat horrifying atmosphere. It's mainly about the hunted being the hunter. This is too serious to be a shoujo manga, it should be a seinen series! I like shoujo but I don't think the young shoujo audience should read this. It's just too graphic. It also has a live-action drama that aired recently which is awesome! (I'm gonna watch it after I finish the whole series!) Anyway, come with me as I review the volume! Yeah!

Manga in the Mail: 11

Arisa said, "What a Wonderful World!" because she's part of MANGA IN THE MAIL! OOHHH SNAP! ERMEHGERD!

The first five volumes of Arisa by Natsumi Ando (other works: Zodiac P.I., Wild @ Heart and Kitchen Princess)

Arisa Volume 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5: I don't know much about the story, it was an impulse buy, kind of. As I said in my "Haul" post that I like Natsumi Ando's Zodiac P.I. That was an old shoujo manga but she did pull off a series. I could not judge her work based on what I remembered because I was not in the mood for shoujo anymore at that time so I might have given it a poor grading. That said, I did get through the 4 volume title, though it was slow. My first impression as of reading the synopsis on a manga website, I find that the two titles (Zodiac P.I. and Arisa) have the same mystery element playing. I'm not into mystery really, except for those that kill off people in gory and graphic ways.

The story is about two sisters (identical twins) separated at birth. They promised to write each other after their parents' divorce. Now Arisa attempted suicide because of some secret that Tsubasa doesn't know about. Arisa is in a coma and Tsubasa is bent on finding out why her sister had attempted to commit suicide.

That's the gist I got through reading the synopsis. I have two new Natsumi Ando works, I hope I don't have a hard time reading them. Anyway, the reviews are probably not gonna be shown until late January because I'm not sure when I'll have the time to read them. Anyways, cheers and have a good day!

Haul 1: December 20, 2013

I just had this idea of a new segment where I post what I physical bought at a bookstore. My wallet is literally crying right now. I kind of regret this purchase because it ate up a lot more than what I was thinking of spending. Here we go.

bee-tee-dubs, 1 more night and it's Christmas Day! Send me some manga! (A guy with a blog can wish right?)

From left to right, top to bottom:

xxxHolic Volumes 15 & 16, Negima! Magister Negi Magi Volume 24, 26 & 28, Wild @ Heart (The Complete Series Omnibus) and Hell Girl Volume 7, 8 & 9 Omnibus

Manga in the Mail: 9

Battle Royale, a theme that is gory and is down-right awful. When I think about survival, I think about Bear Grylls. *Crickets chirping* Just kidding.

Let's do that again. When I think about survival, I think about the human instinct. The basic command of finding food, water and shelter. If a situation deals you with more people, it becomes a disaster. You can live by yourself and survive by yourself if you are extra careful. Adding people into the survival mix is gonna get you killed sooner or later. Why? Conflicts, self-preservation, lies and other stuff that people can do for their own survival. That's what made me buy this series. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you: Limit.

Manga in the Mail: 3

The second pair of volumes in my recent manga haul: 12-09-2013

Countdown 7 Days Volume 1 and Lovephobia Volume 1

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.

Review: I Am Here Volume 1

I'm currently at the extras page of this volume. It's 300+ pages of good shoujo manga! This is story is kind of generic, like Cinderella without the step family and talking rats. Step into the sunlight my friends!