House Cleaning

So three or so years later, the old blog is getting a short revival. While this might be no import to anyone, I’d just like to give this another go, despite my inability to continue anything long term.

Shoujo, Josei & BL
I did often post shoujo and josei manga reviews, but I did give it a spin with one BL manga, which I fully intend to continue. So this is now officially a review blog for female targeted manga.

Doujinshis
While purchasing doujinshi can be a little bit of a problem for the geographically challenged, with the rise of pixiv it’s not hard to notice the talent that used to be only found through hours of hard trawling through badly put together cgi search engines. I will try to highlight a few circles that I follow and often enjoy.

Regarding Summaries
I once posted a summary for a series that I really loved, Gakuen Ouji. However, this may have given the impression that I write summaries regularly. I have no plan to do summaries on demand. Should I do it, it will mostly because of other factors, like a lot of time and unemployment.

That should cover most areas, and happy reading!

An excuse, a reason or two

So I can’t say this is on hiatus, mostly because there’s never been anything on it for a long time. However I guess it’s to say, a lot of things happened and well, I went with the flow. Now this isnt and wasnt a personal blog so all I can say was it was great. And I did wish I could continue posting regularly. I wanted to keep showing people what great quality shoujo manga could be and also slowly work in my unhealthy BL obsession too. However I will give it another shot – it’s not the end! You may however see shorter summaries to deal with the fact that I will have less time and more work to do.

Boku no Pet wa Salaryman (My Pet is a Salaryman) by CJ Michalski

僕のペットはサラリーマン (バンブー・コミックス 麗人セレクション) CJMichalski竹書房 2006-06-27 売り上げランキング :Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Yes it’s the anticipated BL review! The reviews I give will be unfortunately biased. So I’ll have to rate it twice, with a H factor and on story. Why is a BL review on a shoujo review blog? Because sometimes (and sometimes badly) the genres overlap. Which wasn’t really how I got my BL addiction. But it’s one of the things I read and enjoy.

H Rating: ★★★☆ 3 and a half  stars – sex in every chapter but no real explicit shots.
Story: ★★★☆ 3 and a half stars
Rating: NC-17 - Oh there’s a lot of sex.
Read it for: The absolutely hilarious one shots which pad the volume to make it worth every yen.

Summary: Nao has always loved his pet dog John, but when John is hit by a car, John’s soul somehow enters the body of the driver Ishizaki, and a ridiculous love triangle ensues. Ishizaki is a section chief of his company, and he doesn’t have time to deal with the innocent grieving Nao. But everytime he sees him, his animal instincts perk up.
Other short stories include Love Warrior, Love Hunter, Oh!Yeah!!Z, and Boys Love.

Koukou Debut by Kawahara Kazune Vol 13

高校デビュー 13 (13) (マーガレットコミックス) 河原 和音 集英社 2008-12-25 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★☆ 3 and a half stars

Rating: PG

Read it for: The finale of a long celebrated series. For us it’s the end of the teen romance of our time, for Kawahara Kazune it’s only the start.

Story: Yoh and Haruna have met the biggest barrier to their relationship yet, and it’s become evident that their romance will have to come to an end. However if Yoh sacrifices his dreams, he can stay with Haruna as they wish. But is that really the best decision for them both? In the grand finale of this manga, it goes out with a lesser bang.

Don’t leave me alone here.

It has been many months since my last entry. And my apology leaves much to be desired. And many who may have stumbled on this site are looking for the next summary or finding out what happens in some series I have mentioned (*cough* Gakuen Ouji *cough*). I will try to do my best to get back on track in the next week. And there may be a little more of BL reviews rather than shoujo depending on which genre I decide to tackle first.

However to give a brief summary of what has happened in the past few months.

• I satisfied my fangirl tendencies by attending a real live Comiket, which has also created my filthy obsession with doujinshis.
• Due to my program in Japan having a very close proximity (one floor) to a book store with a great range, I have had to ship home 25 kg of comics.
• I have been ousted as a pervert.
• A research proposal I created in a pre-honours subject which potentially could become an actual honours topic, revolving around the identity of Fujoshi, female fans of homosexual comics has received a very good mark. I am, needless to say, very pleased.
• I have a mountain of shoujo manga, and a minituare mountain of BL.

Oresama Teacher by Tsubaki Izumi Vol. 1 & 2

俺様ティーチャー 1 (1) (花とゆめCOMICS) 椿いづみ 白泉社 2008-01-18 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

俺様ティーチャー 2 (2) (花とゆめCOMICS) 椿いづみ 白泉社 2008-05-19 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★★☆ 4 and a half stars
Rating: PG - Shoujo violence but with barely anything saucy

Read it for:
「男ならさ、そんなチンケなケンカなんかしてないで。ドカッと大きいもん目指しなよ」
“If you’re a guy, you shouldn’t do such uncool fighting. Aim for something huge.”
「トカッて・・・例えば？」
“Something huge… Like?’
「だ・・・大統領になるとか・・・？」
“P-President maybe…?”

Story: Mafuyu just got kicked out of her school, where she is notorious as the area’s #1 yankee leader. In a last act of desperation, her mother enrols her into a school known for taking in kids regardless of their past. There she’s trying her hardest to live straight and by the rules, despite her unfortunate bumpy start with her homeroom teacher Saeki Sensei, she’s coping with fitting in. Even if she’s become classmates with the school’s own #1 delinquent Haysaka, she definitely wont let anyone know her former life as a gangster!

Rikatteba! by Hasegawa Suzu

So I’ve taken a short moment out of my exam preparations for this, being the only time where I get intensely long moments of being by myself and with a computer on hand (and not actually typing furiously to get an assignment in on time, or late). I’ll be leaving the country in less than a month so there’s probably only silence to come.

リカってば! 1 (1) (まんがタイムコミックス) 長谷川 スズ 芳文社 2006-09-07 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★★ 4 stars
Rating: PG – It may be josei but there’s no hanky panky
Read it for: Bikini shots!

Summary: “I’m sick of you looking down on me!” Sakura Rika has a rocky history in love with men, suffering the fate of the few females in Japan with a 180 cm frame. Deciding men can’t stand to look up at her, she decides the only way is to find one who can look down (physically that is). It’s a short walk for her Mr Right; she doesn’t even realise her coworker Tsukada Kousaku (aka Minimum Tsukadacchi) has always been madly in love with her (“There are plenty of guys out there who don’t care about height”). In typical office rom com fashion, she’ll never realise and he’ll never confess.

The long and short hiatus

I know it seems that this site has a short lifespan. But never fear, it will be back. And I say that with burning vengeance as one who refuses to let it die. A month later I type this entry, and I’ve got a boxful of the same shoujo drivel that I wanted to summarize. It’s hard because I’ve been hitting the wall of assignments and preparation – which makes me realise I have to give things up sometimes. I have sadly traded in this part time shoujo reviewer occupation to catch up on some psp games that I bought a while back (Star Ocean guys, love it, buy it). But the problem is psp games are portable, meaning I could play on the train or the bus. Shoujo reviewing, however, is a desk job that unfortunately isn’t something I see as much as I should.

At the end of the day, this site still stands and I am still the ever fervent shoujo fan I claim to be. It’s just schoolwork has piled up. In order for me to study next year in my exchange, I need the marks I boast (by no means am I an exceptional student, though in my dreams I play one). In order for me to have the marks I boast, I need to put my mind to work. Along with an honours pre-requisite subject, I’ve had to put in the long hours to perfect a report or study for the right test. (shortcut suggestions are welcome)

I’ll try to post the occasional shoujo review, however it’s not a guarantee. I will try to kick into gear sometime. So for the time being, kick back read some nodame and be ready to laugh and cry your heart out.

Gakuen Ouji (Academy Prince) by Yuzuki Jun Vol. 5

学園王子 5 (5) (講談社コミックスデラックス)
	柚月 純 講談社 2008-08-11 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 女生徒と書いて、ケダモノと読む Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

After this I was so tempted to write a sparkly bubbly review constantly screaming 『学園王子最高！！！！』 I still haven’t felt right since then. But also SPOILERS ARE IN THIS POST SO DON’T READ AFTER THE CUT IF YOU DON’T WANT A BAD STORY TELLER TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS.

Verdict: ★★★★ 4 stars
Rating: NC-17 – Clearly to be read by the kind of sexually fustrated females that are depicted in this series
Read it for: Damn Yuzuki and her cliffhangers! If there’s any new series you’re thinking of picking up – make this a priority.

Story: Rise’s dreamt of a quiet life and for her to get through school without problems – but it won’t seem that way in her school, Joshi High an all female turned co-ed private school. But the new student Azuki’s only got one thing on his mind, not to be raped by the sex hungry population of his new high school. And he’ll even drag his new unwilling participant Rise if he has to.

Don’t wanna go to bed now…

It’s going to be another busy week (meaning I’ll be churning out reviews slow and not so steady), so this coming week will be without a doubt, quiet. So as a quick week roundup, here’s some short bites of some volumes I will be reviewing (as in I am in the process of reading or am too lazy to do a full review yet).

リカってば! 1 (1) (まんがタイムコミックス) 長谷川 スズ 芳文社 2006-09-07 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Rikatteba! – by Hasegawa Suzu
This was a Josei comic that caught my eye (pretty cover). It’s filled with short vignettes that follow the story of office worker Rika and her troubles with love trapped with a 180 cm height frame. With her petite coworker Tsukata, Rika’s continuing her search for love, even when she has an admirer next to her. It’s cute but the kanji lacks the small hiragana which slowly kills me who is blessed with abyssmal kanji skills.

魂シズメ 1 (B’s LOG Comics) 小笠原 宇紀 エンターブレイン 2007-12-27 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Tama Shizume (Sacred Soul) by Ogasawara Uki
If you’ve heard of this lady, she’s best known for her porn-o-riffic boys love series with minimal plot, subtle fantasy tones and plenty of well toned men. She’s made a transition into drawing for the popular B’s Log comic magazine with her new series. I’ve yet to read fully through it though it has an interesting concept. Sadly I’m a little disappointed that she’s stopping her characters from ripping their clothes off and having their way with each other.

男の子はハチミツ (フラワーコミックス)
	桜田 雛 小学館 2008-05-26 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Otoko No Ko Wa Hachimitsu (Boys are Honey) by Sakurada Hina
Promising title and cover. Rather disappointing looking inside. A series of one shots which deal with High School, Love & H in classic Sho-Comi Cheese! style.

学園王子 5 (5) (講談社コミックスデラックス) 柚月 純 講談社 2008-08-11 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Gakuen Ouji (Gakuen Ouji) Volume 5 by Yuzuki Jun
Oh to finally have this in my collection. It’s still yet to be picked up from the store but I’m a super fan of this series. My fingers are poised for hopeless romances and sexual innuendos.