OhHaiDer :]
Sorry for the long disappearance (feels long to me.)
I've been working on art commissions xD
You can check it out here if you like:
http://heavenlysatanic.deviantart.com/
Anyway
Another thing
3000+ hits :D
That makes me happy~
Thanks to all of you who've kept on reading even though I disappear at random times.
Anyway
Today I bring you..
Dear My Doll - Kimito No Yakusoku
Dear My Doll - Kimito No Yakusoku
Story & Art: Teshirogi Shiori
Publisher: Akita Shoten
Rating: 13+
Synopsis: Story 1 (Phantom Lim): Lim and Iota live in a robot country. Lim, who is in love. Iota, whom she loves. The kind robotic maids. Lim has always thought her sunshine-filled days would go on forever, but... what is this promise Iota made with her in the past and the secret that he's keeping from her?
Art Review: 5/5
A very classy lolita/maid style that suits what I understand from the synopsis. Great detailing, gives off a very graceful air.
Story Review: The first story, Phantom Lim, starts off with some nice innocent foreshadowing. My favourite. Lim wakes up to find that this Iota fellow has wandered off somewhere and runs off after him. It is explained that humans just wiped the shit out of themselves (PREDICTABLE) and have built themselves a robot society to take care of them like in I, Robot. Lim complains that her chest hurts, even though she's fine, and Tau tells her that it's the disease of love. Aww. They have to replace this nice maid since she broke down, and the mailman comes. I don't know about the rest of you, but the mailman reminded me of this. Of course, Lim, the main character, is highly naive and has a big heart, while Iota is cruel and indifferent to love, life and 'death'. Typical, but a plot like this never seems to die. And Lim finds out that she herself is a robot, somehow able to feel love. This manga just got a lot more interesting than I thought it would have been. Iota questions how Lim could know about all the things in her memory that he deleted. Of course we know from previous manga that things just don't want to be deleted like you want to. Although, I'd wonder how Lim didn't realise that she was a robot when real human girls have things going on for them that you probably couldn't program. Then again, maybe she should take her not being human to advantage. Iota acknowledges that they love each other and there's a happy ending. I'll be quite honest, this nearly made me cry. Manly tears. The second story, Shichibouten. For some reason when they describe who they are that reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't know why, but when I see Yana I think of Kouichi from Nabari No Ou. It's probably the way that Yana speaks about the 'plague'. Honestly I just think of the Black Plague every time he says it. And of course, Misogi has to be the magical girl with extermination powers. Like THAT hasn't been done before. Misogi says that instead of being a princess heir or whatever it is she's supposed to be, she wants to be a slightly-poor-Tokyo-office-lady-who's-dating-a-sexy-musician-for-Korea. Dreams, darling, dreams. And it turns out that 'plagues' use the concept of negative emotion. Like every other exterminator manga. Oh gosh. I really did like the first manga though. A good, short read.
7.5/10
OhHaiDer :]
Wah
Still hot as hell xx
At least I have my Fuzzy Peach (one of the best candies EVER)
Anyway
Today I bring you..
Cyber Idol Mink~ (oh the nostalgia)
Cyber Idol Mink
Story & Art: Megumi Tachikawa
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: 13+
Synopsis: (mangafox.com) When Mink rushes to buy the latest CD by her favorite pop star, Illiya, she winds up instead with a software disc from the future that allows her to become whomever she wants. When she and her friends decide to program a Cyber Idol version of herself, all Mink's dreams come true. In fact, she is soon discovered as the next 'It Girl' and causes quite the pop culture sensation. However, Mink cannot reveal her true identity to anyone because using software from the future is a serious crime--and being caught could result in her 'deletion.'
Art Review: 5/5
I think that this style is uber cute, Mink is just adorable in every single panel she's in. Tachikawa pulls off the 'loli-cyber-princess' theme so well. The detailing in the manga is clearly shown with the mastery of the lines and grey tones. I find that at points throughout the story, the style is reminiscent of Sakura Cardcaptors.
Story Review: I can honestly say I picked this manga because my mother, not knowing a thing about manga, went and bought me it thinking I would enjoy it, and I just wanted to finish this silly series once and for all. The first page just has narration from Mink, talking about transforming into the person you want to be (aka: a cute celebrity.) What I failed to understand about this manga is that Mink (once again) is terribly cute but everyone calls her ugly. And we can see that she has an obsession with Illya, and she just cutely flails around the room watching him on TV. I do love the mannerisms that Tachikawa has given Mink, with her tendency to repeat the same word in her thoughts when she becomes over excited. Most of the time with excitable, overly cute main characters, it becomes very tedious and annoying and it often leaves one with the overflowing need to sock her in her plate sized eyes, but it finds a balance with the fact that we are spared her high pitched Japanese voice dub, or even worse, the English dub. She walks off to school thinking," If only I could be as cute as Azumi Mizuhara." And I'm thinking, you look exactly like each other, except that she has a different hair style than you. Quit being stupid. It kind of mad me laugh in the scene where they are in the store getting the CD and they see a life size standee of Illya. I once saw a standee of Justin Bieber once in a store, and I thought to myself, what's a midget doing in Shoppers Drug Mart? Two panels later, Motoharu makes his first appearance on his motorcycle. He fails to make himself look cool and knocks himself out, nearly. And that's the gag for the whole series. Every other chapter Motoharu is bleeding from his head or some other. They discover that the CD they got was not in fact Illya's CD but another CD-rom called Wanna-Be. That name is absolutely hilarious, to be honest. Additionally, the CD has the names of the computers it can run on. Apparently in 2099 we have Macintoth and Windaws. So, I'm guessing that the top computers will not only exist in 2099, but they are now being run by rednecks. We go back to Motoharu, who is losing his job because he has no more singers. His dad says to give up so that he can go on a vacation. Motoharu gets mad and calls him an idiot. Like I've said before, oh, a child's love for their parent. So beautiful. They finish off the program and call it Mink, and she suddenly goes through a transformation sequence that should remind you of something else. After that nostalgia moment, we have the first appearance of the rival of Mink, Azumi Mizuhara, the typical self-centred, jealous girl who won't like how popular Mink is about to get. We also meet Om, the little robot that signifies the existence of the Wanna Be software. He actually doesn't know what year it's in. You'd think if it was stuff from 2099 it'd have a watch included or something. Although I'm thinking something. Motoharu and Mahoko are brother and sister. One has black hair and the other is blond. INTERESTING. Mink eventually transforms and makes her ad for the Blueberry Tea ad. The slogan is,"Autumn Colour. We found it." Don't worry, you're not the only person confused here. What I'm also confused about it how they portray her. Half the time, I'm thinking that they are trying to make her look like Navi or something. It is cute how they all promise not to tell about Cyber Idol Mink, but I can tell that Tachikawa will take advantage of that and make someone betray the other. Besides whenever Om mentions the threat of the people from the future, it makes me think of the Matrix. And if the people from the future were actually like the Matrix and not just something like this, then you know they mean business. Mink walks in and sees that the agency president is gone and all they have left is a teddy bear in his spot. Fucking teddy bear. I'm finding this manga more and more amusing when Mink isn't escaping because of the manga law that states," No matter how pitiful a character, if said character is on the "good" side, the character will always overthrow the rival due to the fact that they have a better personality," Mink is just so ditzy that all of Azumi's plans don't work. Thinking of it reminded me of this. I love how throughout this manga, the Wanna Be software makes her have wings, and stars flying everywhere, and no one questions just how that would even work in the 21st century. Kanoka purposely sprays Mahoko with juice and they run off to clean her face as a distraction, and Motoharu mumbles about how forgetting her tissues makes her unable to get a boyfriend. Oh Japan... you and your stuff. I don't like this cellphone that they give her. It's like a cheat code. She can clone herself and search for items like it was an 'Accio' spell or something (yes I'm a nerd, shut up. At least I liked the series for the books and the books only.) Although I shall forgive Mink for being a cheater because she's absolutely adorable. I'm not surprised as Illya is shocked that Mink ran away from him. He's a hot celebrity, so it's no surprise that he's quite self centred. Oof, now I like Mink even more as she calls Azumi a wench. Glad to know that she's not a pushover like every other adorable lead character. Johnny Hotta is a bit of a creep, though. He says creepy things and rides on children rides. He's a mean man. I find it funny how Johnny Hotta and Illya were hiding under water. They were probably hearing this while hiding underwater (by the way, was I the only one who heard this song and shit their pants?) One inquiry about the filming of Mink and Illya's drama, why is the security so shoddy? Johnny Hotta bursts in one of the scenes and ruins the shot, you'd think they'd have tough guys to guard the place. They should hire ninjas for this job. I do have a bit of a problem with the house fire scene. I know it's set in the year 2000 but don't they know how control a fire? Better yet, they had CGI back then. Crappy, but probably a lot safer. The beach is destroyed and the filming is doomed until Om says,"I'll find the beach! I'll find it on the internet!" Of course, you can find everything on the internet. Or maybe not. And now it's starting to get a little bit ridiculous with the amount of times they are using this cellphone as a plot device. Apparently she finds herself inside of a pyramid trying to find a place to transform, and the software somehow revives a dead prince. Not even being fazed by the slightest of Om, being an ancient prince and all, he tries to marry Mink, or Ishana, the girl from the legend. Of course, this will end in the cheesiest way possible. She some how revives Ishana from the dead and they go live happily ever after. That cellphone can do anything. With all those gadgets you'd think it was Inspector Gadget. A new character appears in chapter 10, Yuka Akane. She is an obvious ditz but somehow a far greater one than Mink herself. She is shown in a montage of her cute obliviousness, although one scene does get a bit creepy sounding. Yuka: Ouch! I cut my finger. Guy 1: I'll do it for you! Guy 2: No, I will! Guy 3: I said I would. Sometimes obsession goes a bit too far. I don't get the 'steamed pork buns' part in chapter 11, only because when Mink says it, the author has drawn a fish with creepy eyes right beside it. While Mink is performing the 'Alice in Wonderland' play and falls off of the suspended prop moon, Illya comes out of nowhere to catch her oh-so-gracefully. Of course, that would not be physically possible, but it's manga. All adorable girls fall slowly for their bishie guy to catch them. And once again, the paparazzi have managed to near kill Motoharu and generally do things that they aren't supposed to. I ask once again, where are these fabled security guards? Someone could walk in their and have a massacre and there wouldn't be anyone to stop them, except perhaps Mink, with her cheat code cellphone. Oh Mink, you're a genius. Catch a cold, get sucked into your computer, attempt to eradicate computer viruses with a cold remedy. You know, for dealing with computer things, you'd call tech support or something. Then again, tech support wasn't always the most helpful thing. Oh, but if only deleting viruses could solve the problem. And here we can see by the creepy guy, sitting at a computer at an undisclosed location, this is the new plot device. Soon Kyo, the super hacker from the future, makes Mahoko and Kanoka and they make a trio called Minkle. Really, now? Man, someone put time bombs in Mink's leis. You'd think it'd be a little heavier if there were bombs in them.. And as soon as Kyo and Mink become the best of friends, the cops show up. And somehow, a lame plot device arises to prevent Mink's deletion by a total cop out,"If she has touched the people's hearts we cannot delete them." As the manga comes to a close, it fast forwards so quickly you could imagine it as a video with chipmunk voices. The description of the island sound and look a lot like the Mother and Child isles in The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker (I MISS THAT GAME. FUCK.) Although the ending is adorable, it is rather disappointing. Then again, I'm just finicky. It doesn't matter, this manga was absolutely cute, and I enjoyed reading this.
7.5/10
OhHaiDer :]
Oh man
35 C in Canada today
Died trying to get bubble tea x
Course, it's worth it ;D
Anyway
Today I bring you..
Cry Eye~
Cry Eye
Story & Art: Sorano Akira
Publisher: (haven't found it yet. Sorry~)
Rating: 18+
Synopsis: (mangaupdates.com) Asahi and her friend Yamato went together to an exclusive event as test players for a new game from the cellphone-game company "Sky Nova." The test players were a diverse lot of all ages, from ordinary teens like Asahi to popular idols. The company took all of them on a cruise to explain the rules of this island-based, treasure-hunting survival game. Suddenly, during the presentation, all of the participants lost consciousness. They woke up on an actual island wearing a strange watch with the words "Game Start." Now they are all stuck in this survival game, which has become all too real and deadly!
Art Review: 4/5
I think this art style is very well pulled off. The characters are cute, and the gore is pulled off pretty well, balancing grotesqueness and creepiness in a horrific masterpiece.
Story Review: The first panels start off with the main character with the main character bitching about how boring her life is, and that she wished that she had adventures in her life. And obviously by this "Do or Die" page right next to that page, this is obviously going to turn out somewhat like Saw. Or for those too much of a wimp to watch thrillers, Survivor, except no one survives. Apparently they go on this campaign to beta test their cellphone games. That's fine and all, but I don't understand why you have to put them all on a boat and send them to a deserted island. I don't know about you, but it sounds sketchy to me whether you know the whole story or not. I'm liking this Asahi character already. She knows how to cook things in the wild and already has had dangerous adventures with her father in the forest, and she's adorably naive all at the same time. Too bad in about 20 pages or so she's probably going to be covered in blood, and this'll turn into some weird 'Higurashi When They Cry' sort of thing. Asahi is tempted by Yamato to enter this game despite her pleas of not knowing a thing about gaming (the perfect woman.. -sighs- I shall continue to search) with the thoughts of possibly finding some rare edible plants. And here we meet yet another cute girl, Misaki. I feel sad seeing all these cute girls knowing that they are possibly going to die horrible, gruesome deaths. Of course, with all that cuteness there is another side, she's scary towards guys as we can see. And now, continuing on with the introductions, we meet Kaito, 'The Guy Who Wants To Kill Himself', who looks a lot like L from Death Note. He's suicidal, so the resemblance ends there. We then meet the loli-shota portion of the story, Iihina, who is apparently a princess. What makes me wonder is what a princess is doing beta testing video games. I think at this point, they're just throwing a bunch of stereotyped people onto a boat just to see what happens. Takeshi appears, an old, creepy guy. I'd think with all these gamers on a ship this guy would have appeared sooner. Speaking of gamer stereotypes, they go off to hear the rules for the game, and the person explaining has huge tits, dressed in a witch costume with a cat-like demeanour. I'd say this bears resemblance, for anyone who knows what I'm referencing. I feel somewhat bad for Asahi. After being dumped on the island and starting the game, in which is explained that the cellphone is a major tool, she had dropped it earlier. Because for every horror movie, no one has a cellphone. Those are just the rules Asahi. Although, I'd say, screw the rules, I have money. Or green hair. 52 pages in, I was wondering where the 'horror' portion was going to come in, until the next page, where someone emits a blood curdling scream and Asahi goes to investigate. Never a good idea, but it's fun to watch, as she finds the creepy guy, Takeshi. Of course, he's covered in blood and the fun shall begin. Good thing that guy died first, I don't think this manga needs a rape scene with all this underage creepy nonsense. And now, here's another stereotypical character, the jackass who doesn't believe any of this is real and sets off all the traps on purpose. Big mistake, as she accidentally kills the girl she's with Kill Bill style. I do like that they try to catch the reader off guard by starting off with a cute, innocent situation and completely turning into gory horror, instead of every page being horrifying and depressing, and you think to yourself," There's nothing else in here that's going to impress me, it'll take a lot to... oh my god.." Although I'm starting to not like Yamato, because I don't think he realises the gravity of the creepiness when he says "I got on this gorgeous ship to be with Asahi! If she dies all my plans are ruined." I think more than your plans will be ruined if you came across Asahi with her blood and guts splattered across the island with that creepy zombie face everyone seems to make when they die. It somewhat reminds me of Franken Fran. There's a reminiscing scene from the eyes of Asahi about the first time her and Yamato had talked to each other. He approaches her mentioning that she could be making real money out of the game 'Prison Break'. Of course, Asahi, not knowing a thing about gaming, says that she's never been to jail and couldn't make money that way. It made me laugh since it reminded me that in Chinese jails, people are actually forced to take 14 hour shifts gold mining in World of Warcraft. I do find it rather delightful with the addition of the explanation of the game by Yamato, with it heavily relying on the theme of betrayal. I just like clever foreshadowing and irony in manga and such. What makes this even more amusing is the fact that Asahi is clearly not interested in the huge gaming addiction that is prominent in almost every character in the whole manga and a reminder to us that not every character is like the reader (yes, I'm talking to you, guy-who-is-unhealthily-addicted-to-games-and-lives-in-his-mother's-basement.) I do have a problem with some of the action scenes, since the transition between them are kind of abrupt and I don't even understand what exactly is going on in the scene in general. I remember Asahi finding the creepy guy but then all of a sudden there's a stick and she's falling off of a cliff and now she's screaming randomly while wearing other clothes? She wakes up beside to her "foul mouthed beauty" after falling off of the cliff. Just another aspect of her cuteness. But as I'm reading I keep getting a mixed message of what this manga's feel is like, a combination of Hunter X Hunter and Higurashi When They Cry. Although every time I see Asahi's hair tie thing, I keep thinking of Amu from Shugo Chara. Like I need to remember THAT again. I do understand that a lot of the banter between Asahi and other characters is because she's inexperienced or just a little bit slow, but at times I don't even understand where it even makes sense into the conversation. Perhaps I am even more slow than Asahi. It's amusing how the 'foul mouthed prince' (I have omitted his name due to the length of time it's taking me to read these manga on my shitty internet) just sits there through all this madness reading a book. There's no one to bother him while he's reading, after all. This is starting to get ridiculous. Apparently, in Japan, to have made the earlier mentioned "Prison Break" game they actually put people in a prison and gathered data from it. I really don't want to know how they figured out the Mario series. Perhaps it relates to that odd fetish of having a woman with high heels step on furry little animals. Again, with the scenes in this manga, one moment she's wearing this tanktop and another she's wearing her uniform again. The abruptiness (yes, I just made that up) of the panels is making this more confusing than it has to be. There's even more unexplained abruptiness as the witch-cat-girl is horrifically tortured and killed. For now, there are no more scanlations, I think I'll come back to this manga, I guess I'm the sort to be magnetically drawn to gory mangas. It was not bad, a good read if you're just as crazy as I am.
7/10
OhHaiDer :]
Hi guys x
Sorry I haven't done stuff in a little while
I thought I'd have time to do another big series
But I guess I'll wait until we get back to Toronto.
For now I'll just do a bunch of smaller series for the next couple days.
Today I bring you..
A Prince Needs A Princess~ (Don't it sound cheesy?)
A Prince Needs A Princess
Story: McMahon Barbara
Art: Kishida Reiko
Publisher: Ohzora Shuppan
Rating: 13+
Synopsis: (mangafox.com) Clarissa is on a mission. The Kingdom of Marik needs a prince, and it's Clarissa's job to see that Jack Brown takes on his rightful position--even if he doesn't want to. Is it just Marik and the king that need Jack, or will Clarissa get her prince, too?
Art Review: 3/5
I don't hate or like the style. It's detailed and somewhat pretty but it's one of those weird 80's-90's mangas where there is only small distinction between the two genders, which is in the hair and the eyes.
Story Review: I picked this manga somewhat on a roulette system (me just closing my eyes and scrolling the page up and down variably for a few seconds) and this came up. Being a Harlequin Pink manga, this is probably going to be a very cheesy manga. And stereotypical one too. Like I haven't seen the "girl makes the man a king/prince and then they get married" scenario. Clarissa, for whatever reason, reminds me of Glenn Close (no, I didn't pick this picture just because Clarissa actually looks like she shoves carrots in her face, I just thought it was funny.) Clarissa goes up to our male lead, Jack Brown. That's almost the most used white name ever (the most common one is John Smith.) She says that the king (his grandfather) from the nation of Marik (when you think about it that could be the best or worst nation ever) and he screams I DO NOT HAVE A GRANDFATHER. Literally, that's impossible, sir. And he continues to ignore her pleas and tell her that he is American and he therefore doesn't care. And you shouldn't be so surprised that he would give up his chance to be king. A lot of kingdoms just turn out to be just as pointless as this one. And I can tell with him changing her wardrobe just to talk to him, this is going to be one of those 'good girls gone bad' stories. Which isn't all bad, character development is NICE once in a while. I can tell with all these people in Jack's family killing themselves in accidents, it's just foreshadowing for him doing that himself. I'm just saying. I have manga clairvoyance. And if I'm wrong, you may have a cookie. I really wish that Jack would stop changing wardrobe every 3 pages. I'm having a hard time recognising him half the time. Wait a minute, Jack is 30 years old? I thought he was 18. Now there really is no excuse for him to be acting like a whiny bitch to everyone. Holy shit, the king looks like Gandalf. And when Gandalf (I'll just name him that for the rest of the series) says," I thought an ordinary carpenter would jump at the fact of being king" I instantly thought of Mario overthrowing the Mushroom Kingdom. He tries to intimidate Gandalf by proposing that he does some carpentry all creeper like. Firstly, does anyone else's mind go to a bunch of cheesy porn lines as he says that? Secondly, because carpentry is very irritating. Have you SEEN carpenter's crack? What has been seen, cannot be unseen. I do find it funny that throughout the beginning of this manga, Clarissa calls him Prince Jean Antoine and 'your highness' and he doesn't say anything. Either this guy is conceited or just isn't listening to her. And of course the predictable plot device to get Clarissa and Jack together, the "If-I-win-I-get-a-kiss-from-you" device. Jack wins, and so starts the process of good girls gone bad. Goodbye dresses, hello leather. Hopefully not like this, though. I'm starting to like this guy, Jack. He doesn't want fancy titles, or balls (has just realised what she just wrote. Hehe. Fancy balls.) All he wants is his quaint little job IN AMERICA. He'd even argue to have fast food at the ball he's attending. A true American -salutes- Although this press has the annoying tendency like the American press to give out top headlines that are absolutely pointless like the one made about Jack's argument with the royal chef about fast food. Jack goes to pick up a friend to build a ski resort in Marik. His name is Tom Tucker. I mean Turner, my bad. Clarissa seems to be fixated on selling those anville soaps. And every time she says it I think of one of those anvil moments from Looney Toons. I really don't get this chick, though. She does in fact like him and she is supposed to be moving on but she refuses to and keeps reminding herself to keep her distance from Jack, and when she finds out that Jack is in fact not a construction worker but a CEO of a construction company, she appears to be devastated. I really don't get why that's all bad, really. Apparently it's for revenge. Clarissa goes to Gandalf and tries to get him to reach out to Jack and praises him. Gandalf looks at her and says," You love him, don't you?" That's just code for "get off of his dick, woman." And the big happy ending. In 2 or 3 pages with no dialogue whatsoever from her she decides that Jack goes from "someone she never should have fallen in love with" to "the only person I'll ever need." Jack decides to accept the throne of Marik as well. I'm all for happy endings but I'm thinking that ended a little too conveniently. We see a montage of their marriage and future children. Although it made me laugh a little when one of the kids had black hair and the rest of them were supposedly blond. I think I speak for everyone when I say,"OWNED." Maybe she IS a golddigger (no seriously, they throw this word around like 20 times Must be a thing of the 90's.) DOUBLE PWNED. There's also a preview story for people who actually enjoy these sorts of things, called No Competition. With the opening of the twins who look nothing like each other, they call one pretty and the other ugly. I guess this will be a manga rendition of 'The Ugly Duckling'. I actually thought that duckling was cute throughout the whole story, and it is the same here. I actually think this girl is cute. Although I'll know where this is going, a guy will intervene, her and her sister compete, and she becomes even cuter and still wins. The whole manga's not in there, and I'm tired of these cheesy mangas, so I'm not even going to bother. I feel somewhat stupified after reading this manga, it's literally a made for TV soap opera in manga form. Cheesiness to the point you could have liquidated cheese coming out of your ears.
6/10
OhHaiDer :]
Hello~
I think I'll stick to one huge series a week for a little bit.
A lot more relaxed for me.
Today I bring you..
Kyou, Koi Wo Hajimemasu~
Kyou, Koi Wo Hajimemasu
Story & Art: Kanan Minami
Publisher: Shogakukan
Rating: 18+
Synopsis: (Wikipedia.com) Despite Tsubaki Hibino's talent in styling other people's hair, she isn't comfortable with doing the same for herself. On her first day of high school, she is immediately looked down upon her delinquent-like classmates for her old-fashioned taste. When she is teased by the top student, Kyouta Tsubaki, who shares the same name as her, she defiantly cuts his hair. Interested in her actions, Kyouta decides to make her his target. Kyouta, who is not only a promiscuous playboy but also has control of the class, makes Tsubaki need him during class activities, although Tsubaki attempts to resist his advances. Gradually, the two begin to fall in love with each other until Tsubaki discovers that Kyouta cannot commit himself into a relationship due to his mother and a nurse he trusted. However, after understanding Tsubaki's trust in him, Kyouta begins to heal emotionally as he opens his heart up to Tsubaki. But with both of them having their first experiences in love, troubles start to weigh and test their relationship.
Art Review: 4/5
I kinda liked this style. The eyes on the girls creeped me out a bit at times, but at others the eyes were very well done. The hair and detailing is pretty, and the guys aren't too bad to look at either.
Story Review: This is just one of those shoujos where I hate the male that the female falls for, and I hate the school that they attend. Kyouta is the worst sort of person. He’s known to be a player and is seen frequently in the beginning feeling up chicks. He even has a lover, who the translators apparently named Yuui, who proudly announces that she is a C-cup when Kyouta rejects her while Hibino is watching. I don't know about you but when you get caught fooling around with girls even though you claim to be serious about Hibino, that pretty much says it all, instead, the whole fact that she was there was ignored by Kyouta's sweet talk. I do rather like Hibino, the main character. The first day of high school, she does meet Kyouta, and he is entirely an ass to her. He pulls her hair and calls her stupid, and she cuts his hair (which is rather infuriating, I’ll agree, he looks like he’s trying to pull off the ‘long haired bishie’ look but failed and now just looks like a greasy pot head.) She also is pretty naïve, which ends up to be very amusing as she is very straight forward and often ruins a serious situation with her inability to recognise subtle wordplay, euphemisms and things that teenagers in the 21st century would know. In one of the chapters where Arisa beats her up after becoming Kyouta’s girlfriend, she says that she’s going to give something to her, but Hibino doesn’t really get the saying and asks loudly what the hell she meant. I think that was one of the first times I’ve ever laughed at a shoujo. Usually I’m yelling at them because they all can’t just stop thinking with their hormones and do something smart for once. She tries to do everything by a schedule and to perfection like a school assignment and that only adds to her cuteness. As I mentioned, I hate the school she is attending. Why is it in every shoujo the girls in the school act as if the hot male character who falls in love with the main character is their possession, and they don’t even think about if they got caught by a teacher or a janitor (I’m seriously waiting for the manga that will have a super janitor. With a cape, and sunglasses, and a secret lance hidden inside of his mop, and a jetpack!) or, worse, just happening to have the sort of guy who will only be nice to the girl he likes, and will just beat the shit out of anyone else if they try anything, even if it was a girl that was bothering her. That ALMOST happened this time, but not quite. They even get two college guys to rape her during a race in the public bathroom, claiming they only wanted to scare her. Um, to scare someone, whatever happened to wearing a scary costume or pranking her. Since when does getting two guys to rape her only serve as a purpose to scare her? What is she, the female Chuck Norris? I don’t think she needs that much to be scared. Hibino’s only friend is very predictable. She becomes her friend because Kyouta was teasing her and because she thought that it might make her look better or get a chance with him. This time around, Miho didn’t want to betray Hibino and actually wanted to help her, but Nishiki unbeknownst to Hibino and Miho goes and tells everyone about Hibino and Kyouta’s relationship and they eventually do reconcile. What amuses me is that they make a deal that whoever wins has to say everything they were thinking about their misunderstanding at the moment, and neither of them win, but Miho decides to just speak up about everything. What is amusing is that she decides to let Hibino cut her hair while she does it. I don’t know if Hibino is the vengeful type, but she might decide that Miho looks better without a head by the end of this. Sakura, Hibino’s sister, is kind of a whore, but she gets away with it for a single reason. A bad one, I might add. Just being a little sister. She first meets Kyouya by visiting the school one day, and asks Hibino to introduce her to ‘the hot guy’. Even though Hibino tells Sakura that Kyouta is a jerk (not straying far from the truth on that one) she goes and talks to him and decides there that she is going to chase after him. Reminds me of Akane in Hot Gimmick, who tries to go after Ryouki. Of course, being a younger sister, and not an ironic manga means that Kyouta does not like the poor slutty younger sister. They try and trick Sakura into being “alone” with Nishiki, one of the many guys who have fallen in love with Sakura. She decides to give up and just go sleep with Nishiki anyway. What bothers me is that she says, “Enough is enough, this will be fine, I can like you.” That’s just code for “Meh. I’ll hit it, I guess.” Now I like Hibino even more. Usually, the girls who terrorise the love interest of the guy they all like do terrible things to her and they eventually apologise, and the heroine just cutely smiles and tells them it’s ok and that she forgives them and they root for her in the background. Hibino, after hearing their apologies, tells them not to apologise as she will never forgive them. You go girl. And even after then they are still helping her against more Kyouta fans. I do find it rather cute that Kyouta does eventually become a better person, but it still doesn’t excuse for him being a jackass just because women just happened to ‘betray’ him as a child. Kyouta wants to comfort Hibino after he finds out that she nearly got raped, and Hibino says “you’d do anything for me? Even… belly dancing?” And Kyouta pulls up his shirt. Made me laugh, since it reminded me of this. Another dramatic arc all starts with Hibino's refusal to have sex. At one point, Hibino says that she wants to stay a virgin until her honeymoon. That’s a great endeavor, except that she calls the concept “The Virgin Road.” And eventually Hibino, with her classic planning, tries to make Kyouta happy by starting to learn about sex. Hibino reads a shoujo manga in a shoujo manga. SHOUCEPTION. Sometimes Hibino’s habit of valuing only marks doesn't allow her to make much sense especially when she says, “If he finds out how low my grades are I’m sure to be hated.” Yeah, that would only be true of Kyouta was the High-Expectation-Asian-Father. When you think about it, the only reason why this manga is as long as it is is because Hibino is always dragging her feet when it comes to new experiences and she becomes over excited and ends up hurting Kyouta inadvertently. Frustrating, only because that sort of thing happens in real life. Sorry, guys. A new story arc appears with the Entry of a new character.. Haru.. who appears draped in cats. It’s not even a girl so you can’t even make a crazy cat lady joke. The first plot device that Haru uses is that he’s too tall for Hibino to see behind him and she asks him to switch seats, but he proposes that she breaks up with Kyouta first. This is a stupid plot device, just switch seats with someone else… It does evolve into a more serious matter but Haru didn’t even have the balls to go through with it. Somewhat half assed.. AND THE VIRGIN ROAD LIVES ONNN (For some reason, when I wrote that, I thought of this. Pro-tip: Dragonforce sucks, so you only need to listen to the chorus for that to make sense.) How eerie, after Kyouta and Hibino break up, Haru and Kyouta talk and they eventually go to the topic of Haru nearly raping Hibino, Kyouta becomes angered at Haru and punches the shit out of him, and all we see is blood on one of the cats that accompanies Haru while the police drag Haru and Kyouta away. Hibino tries to visit Kyouta after he is suspended and she meets his father, who looks all nice, but then we are reminded that he’s a drunken bitch, if anyone remembers that Kyouta’s past entails his father being a crybaby bitch about his mother leaving him. After reconciling yet again, Hibino decides to stay a little longer, blushes cutely and decides to use his telescope. What made me laugh was that she pointed it at the ground and said,” The moon is so beautiful..” I do like with the Haru arc that they perfectly portray how the Japanese act towards foreigners ie. Hibino dragging him to the place he needed to go then running off, and being very shy about their levels of affection. My Japanese teacher told me that the people in Japan actually do that. I'm not being racist. Hibino says that she ‘unconsciously’ picks the island that Kyouta likes. So does that mean that someone knocked her out and made her pick an island? Seems disturbing if you ask me. Not a lot of consent in this, is there? Does this cloth smell like chloroform to you? They go on the trip and Kyouta purposely misses the boat so that he can see the stars on the island. They eventually get a hotel room, and the inevitable happens. Don’t worry, it’s not too NSFW, all the important things are covered by convenient item placement, and it’s not even the end yet, who would make this end right at that moment? At least Hibino knows how to protect herself. Hibino’s still adorably old fashioned after all this time. "Doing THAT is just for making babies, right?” Oh yeah, because all teenagers have sex in hopes of having a baby. We know ALLL about making babies. Sakura leaves for the fireworks festival and brings a change of clothes. Hibino asks what they are for and she says “If they become undone she won’t have any idea how to put it back on." That’s a great combination. Whore-ish and stupid. While Kyouta is gone in America, Hibino decides that she does want to start fooling around. Unfortunately for her, things just aren't that easy to obtain. Awkward moment: Going to buy condoms and then all of a sudden some neighbor who knows your mother shows up and starts talking to you. Kinda laughed at Kyouta’s huge ass suitcase. Although you’d think that with Japan they would make everything smaller, not bigger. That’s an American thing. I think I’m allowed to say: Bigger suitcase is best suitcase. Oh Hibino, another one of your shy and subtle acts. "Can we go to your room"=FUCKFUCKFUCK. That’s just proving all of the teenager stereotypes. I find that this manga doesn't seem to be all creative to someone who has read a huge amount of manga. It seems to be a combination of Hot Gimmick, with Kyouta being a huge jerk to her most of the time and being manipulative, Kimi ni Todoke, with the unpopular scary girl becoming cute and popular, and We Were There, with the pressures of kissing and having sex and such. Overall, a cute romance that I enjoyed reading, although all the events become more and more frustrating. A long read, and still ongoing if you're interested in picking it up (although from mangafox.com alone I've found out what goes on to chapter 87.)
7/10
OhHaiDer :]
Hello hello~
As I promised here is a bigger series that I have lost countless brain cells over the past week
Today I bring you
Full Moon Wo Sagashite~
(Now I can finally put this shit to rest!)
Full Moon Wo Sagashite
Story & Art: Tanemura Arina
Publisher: Shueisha
Rating: 13+
Synopsis: (wikipedia.com) Full Moon O Sagashite is a romantic story about an orphan girl, suffering from a deadly throat illness, who sets out on a quest to fulfill a promise she made to become a famous singer. She made this promise to a childhood sweetheart, whom she met in an orphanage, and her drive to stardom is motivated by her wish to be reunited with him. Several shinigami appear to her, and she enlists their help to fulfill her dream.
Art Review: 3/5
The detailing of this manga, I have to admit is pretty good. The hair, at it's less extreme moods (yes, the hair in this manga go through moods.) looks pretty. What does bother me a lot about this art style is that all the girls have eyes that are nearly bigger than their own heads. If they were anywhere near realistic, they would kind of look like this.
Story Review: Now this one's a doozy, as people noticed from my notes. Please bear with me, I just find that this is one of the most retarded and generic manga ever. Like this one. Or this one. And countless more that I don't feel like remembering right now. And I probably just did the most retarded thing on the face of the earth. Honestly. But I will manage, this time. Basically, this manga is about this young girl who gets a malignant tumour in her throat. Her grandmother HATES music and does not allow her to sing. Honestly, I'm not one to root for people that I absolutely hate, but your grandchild has a malignant tumour. You're kind of a bitch if you prevent her from doing what she wants. She's the one dying, not you (although with your age you're probably next.) Fortunately for this dying girl, these shinigami show up, but apparently they give her a 16 year old body (to make this all seem a little less creepy) and a kick start on her musical career before she dies 1 year later. And so, magically they all let her into the business. But it turns out that she's doing this all because she wants to meet some guy, which obviously irritates the shinigami. But they grow onto her. Also, 12 year olds don't know jack shit about love, as you all know. Soon another shinigami by the name of Izumi comes and more complications arise, since Meroko used to know him and Izumi comes and tries to take Mitsuki's soul because he thinks Takuto is incompetent (not straying far from the truth, in my opinion.) But eventually, with some coincidental emotional bonding, he grows to like her as well. But obviously, all of this failing to take her soul gets the big guys pissed off. But that comes back up a little later. We see some side plots, with Takuto being a whore, Ooshige being a whore, flashbacks to when the doctor was in one of those long hair metal bands (at least, that's what it LOOKS like to me.) We also find out that this whole time, Eichi was actually dead, because his plane crashed randomly into the Pacific Ocean, and Mitsuki just failed to accept it, and this whole time she was still madly in love with this dead guy. Jailbait and accepting of pedophiliac feelings. You're on a roll there, Mitsuki. Takuto even takes the time during a couple chapters telling Mitsuki over and over again that he loves her, but to no avail. She's still a wee bit necrophilic. And as FullMoon (Mitsuki's cover name) rises in popularity some angry fan sends her a bomb. Looks like this manga can end with a... *puts on sunglasses* bang. *someone throws a shoe* No but seriously, her manager opens it, and I laughed for the rest of the manga whenever someone opens a package of some sort. But now back to the pissed off bosses. They capture Izumi and give him all his forgotten memories, which make him mad. And then they try to capture Mitsuki and take her soul. But then Meroko and Takuto decide to break into the castle in the underworld or something and try to steal the list and erase her name. I find it amusing that it's so easy as that to prevent someone from dying. Imagine the person writing the list accidentally knocking over some white out all over the paper, or some ink (because they are just that backwards in technology, perhaps.) I wonder what that would mean metaphorically. Speaking of metaphors, none of the ones used in the manga actually make any sense. At one point one of them goes,"A sunny garden, a mirage in the rain, the white shore, the white tetra-pot, the shortcut to the bird's pie.." I are confuse. The death master, for whatever reason, gives Meroko help in screwing up the system, and they rush off to help Mitsuki. While Takuto takes his dandy time to save Mitsuki, they continue having moar flashbacks. And when he does show up, the boss is about to throw the scythe at her and he jumps in front of her and they both die. Until two pages later, when they realise why she's not dead yet, it's because she met the shinigami and they're emotional powers are too great. Once again.. This makes no sense, this is bullshit. As usual these mangas have terrible conclusions, with shit that makes no sense. Apparently Mitsuki gets the surgery but somehow her voice is saved. Takuto, wounded, explodes into a spirit, until somehow, he becomes reincarnated, because apparently his body was just in a coma all this time. He shows up at Mitsuki's new debut concert, we see Eichi fade into the distance, the end. Honestly, a lot of things bother me about this manga. First one being that Mitsuki is a really selfish girl. She's got all these shinigami busting their ass, not collecting her soul, and towards the middle she starts getting angry and moody and suicidal all because she really can't let go of the dead Eichi and they keep claiming that they love her. Another thing is that with all the young female characters all looking alike (Mitsuki, Madoka (Mitsuki's musical rival), Moe (the human that became Meroko), Haruki (Takuto's girlfriend from when he was alive), Fuzuki (Mitsuki's grandmother) ) I can't tell whose flashbacks is whose. It doesn't matter, they are a whole lot of suicidal, emotional little girls, you can't really tell much of a difference between all of them even if you knew their names. Also, Takuto falling in love with Mitsuki. In case everyone forgot, she's 12. And by the end, she's 15. Love? I really doubt it. Also, that's mildly creepy that Takuto keeps forcing himself onto her. In the end, it started generic, it ended generic. This manga is claimed to be heartbreaking, emotional, a tear jerker, a story that can claim everyone's hearts. I mean, SURE it can. If you've lived under a rock for your entire life. I don't recommend reading this manga, it's just another mindless magical shoujo that will make you lose brain cells.
4/10
I know that I don't do random-ass posts like this but I'm just letting you guys know that the post WILL come.
I've been just reading a huge series and wanted to take my time.
I might be doing this a couple times during the summer so I ask for patience
I also wanted to let you know I MAY be disappearing for 2 weeks.
Anyway, to entertain you while I finish up this series
Here is a picture of a puppy.
A very classy lolita/maid style that suits what I understand from the synopsis. Great detailing, gives off a very graceful air.
