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manga reading
Jul. 2nd, 2012 01:56 pmOrange Kiss, Maki Usami. Complete. Short romance stories. I don't know about this Japanese ethic of "put in ALL THE EFFORT and they will totally love you."
Benkyou no Jikan & Try Me Boy! & Guuzen ka Unmei ka, Touko Minami. I had been thinking I didn't like one-shots so much, but these were great.
Memory Eaters, Kyung Nam Kang. Complete in two volumes. Pretty and confusing.
Seishun no Tamago, Aya Nakahara. Short stories. Is Nakahara perhaps taller than boys she likes?
Himitsu Kichi, Aya Nakahara. More one-shots, very sweet. The first one features a high-schooler dating a sixth grader, though, which is kind of disturbing even in context.
Nanaco Robin, Aya Nakahara. Complete in 3 volumes. I kind of love this protagonist: she believes in happiness above all and will straight-up punch you in the face if you insult her family. She has a friend who is legitimately fat (rarely seen in manga, even played for laughs a bit as this is) and will unleash the power of the gossip machine on you if you mock her for it. *
Ai no Tame ni Manga, Kazune Kawahara. One-shots. Unlike Nakahara, Kawahara appears to enjoy having guys she likes call her an idiot. Should I really be psychoanalyzing artists this way?
Youkai Gakuenki, Kimuru. One volume. Silly and cute, little girls at school.
Yawara!, Naoki Urasawa. To v7ch3. Her grandpa wants her to win at all judo ever. She wants to wear cute outfits and date boys. This is reasonably decent but apparently goes on forever.
...no Onna, Mari Fujimura. One-shots.
Akage no Anne & Anne no Seishun, Yumiko Igarashi, Lucy Maud Montgomery. HEE.
Heptagon, Chiaki Hijiri. Surprisingly good introspection, via the usual "oops, I'm in a coma now" plot device. Great ending. *
Gokinjo Monogatari, Ai Yazawa. Hadn't read this before, probably have to reread Paradise Kiss now. I don't like how the ending is All About the Babiez.
Cotton, Kita Konno. One volume. Really adorable friendship between women, one of whom is trouble. *
Mimi wo Sumaseba & Mimi wo Sumaseba: Shiawase na Jikan, Aoi Hiiragi. The manga that "Whisper of the Heart" is based on! Boy, kind of loosely based, actually. This was cute, but my favorite was actually the unrelated story in the second volume, in which kids sort of obsess about each other and then! --> talk about their feelings!
Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Fumiko Tanikawa. So sweet and sad! Apparently a prequel to a couple of OAVs.
Mizutama Fabric, Mikase Hayashi. One-shots like to killed me. The second one is all chosen family/OT3 wonderfulness. *
Ohitorisama Monogatari v1, Fumiko Tanikawa. One-shots about different women, really great little slices of life. And #3 is about snooping on your lover, which goes poorly! *
Marine Blue no Kaze ni Dakarete, Ai Yazawa. Through v2 ch3. I'm going to say "minor early work" here.
Addicted to Curry, Funatsu Kazuki. Through v1, lots more available. WOW that is some shounen right there. But it has recipes! Should I continue? I am torn!
So Bad!, Miki Aihara. This... was actually sweet and great. [ETA: though I should really warn for occurrence resembling attempted rape; interesting character moment but could freak people out] Aihara, what happened to you? Your later works are all so skeevy!
Iono the Fanatic, Fujieda Miyabi. Adorable, absurd yuri about a queen who doesn't have enough black-haired concubines so comes to Japan to perv on the girls there. Iono is pushy, brave, and completely invested in getting all the cute girls and sexing them up. Smiling abounds.
Gokujou Drops, Mikuni Hajime. 3 volumes. So, as I mentioned, I've realized I have a certain response to ridiculous girl-on-girl submission scenarios. This delivered that in spades, and really kind of sex-positively. Komari is so cute and dorky, and the oops! I just started masturbating without thinking about it! scene is hilarious and hot. *
Mato-chan, Shinichi Yuuki. 1 volume of 4-panel strips. Mato-chan really likes bugs. This wasn't that funny at first but built up to utter absurdity well.
Benkyou no Jikan & Try Me Boy! & Guuzen ka Unmei ka, Touko Minami. I had been thinking I didn't like one-shots so much, but these were great.
Memory Eaters, Kyung Nam Kang. Complete in two volumes. Pretty and confusing.
Seishun no Tamago, Aya Nakahara. Short stories. Is Nakahara perhaps taller than boys she likes?
Himitsu Kichi, Aya Nakahara. More one-shots, very sweet. The first one features a high-schooler dating a sixth grader, though, which is kind of disturbing even in context.
Nanaco Robin, Aya Nakahara. Complete in 3 volumes. I kind of love this protagonist: she believes in happiness above all and will straight-up punch you in the face if you insult her family. She has a friend who is legitimately fat (rarely seen in manga, even played for laughs a bit as this is) and will unleash the power of the gossip machine on you if you mock her for it. *
Ai no Tame ni Manga, Kazune Kawahara. One-shots. Unlike Nakahara, Kawahara appears to enjoy having guys she likes call her an idiot. Should I really be psychoanalyzing artists this way?
Youkai Gakuenki, Kimuru. One volume. Silly and cute, little girls at school.
Yawara!, Naoki Urasawa. To v7ch3. Her grandpa wants her to win at all judo ever. She wants to wear cute outfits and date boys. This is reasonably decent but apparently goes on forever.
...no Onna, Mari Fujimura. One-shots.
Akage no Anne & Anne no Seishun, Yumiko Igarashi, Lucy Maud Montgomery. HEE.
Heptagon, Chiaki Hijiri. Surprisingly good introspection, via the usual "oops, I'm in a coma now" plot device. Great ending. *
Gokinjo Monogatari, Ai Yazawa. Hadn't read this before, probably have to reread Paradise Kiss now. I don't like how the ending is All About the Babiez.
Cotton, Kita Konno. One volume. Really adorable friendship between women, one of whom is trouble. *
Mimi wo Sumaseba & Mimi wo Sumaseba: Shiawase na Jikan, Aoi Hiiragi. The manga that "Whisper of the Heart" is based on! Boy, kind of loosely based, actually. This was cute, but my favorite was actually the unrelated story in the second volume, in which kids sort of obsess about each other and then! --> talk about their feelings!
Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Fumiko Tanikawa. So sweet and sad! Apparently a prequel to a couple of OAVs.
Mizutama Fabric, Mikase Hayashi. One-shots like to killed me. The second one is all chosen family/OT3 wonderfulness. *
Ohitorisama Monogatari v1, Fumiko Tanikawa. One-shots about different women, really great little slices of life. And #3 is about snooping on your lover, which goes poorly! *
Marine Blue no Kaze ni Dakarete, Ai Yazawa. Through v2 ch3. I'm going to say "minor early work" here.
Addicted to Curry, Funatsu Kazuki. Through v1, lots more available. WOW that is some shounen right there. But it has recipes! Should I continue? I am torn!
So Bad!, Miki Aihara. This... was actually sweet and great. [ETA: though I should really warn for occurrence resembling attempted rape; interesting character moment but could freak people out] Aihara, what happened to you? Your later works are all so skeevy!
Iono the Fanatic, Fujieda Miyabi. Adorable, absurd yuri about a queen who doesn't have enough black-haired concubines so comes to Japan to perv on the girls there. Iono is pushy, brave, and completely invested in getting all the cute girls and sexing them up. Smiling abounds.
Gokujou Drops, Mikuni Hajime. 3 volumes. So, as I mentioned, I've realized I have a certain response to ridiculous girl-on-girl submission scenarios. This delivered that in spades, and really kind of sex-positively. Komari is so cute and dorky, and the oops! I just started masturbating without thinking about it! scene is hilarious and hot. *
Mato-chan, Shinichi Yuuki. 1 volume of 4-panel strips. Mato-chan really likes bugs. This wasn't that funny at first but built up to utter absurdity well.
