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.

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.

Tsukushite Agemasu – Maid in Love (I will serve you) by Tohma Rei

つくしてあげます (フラワーコミックス) 藤間 麗 小学館 2007-11-26 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

Verdict: ★★★　3 stars
Rating: PG – Itsuki can get a little handsy and not for the faint of heart at times
Read it for: A gender bender with a twist and the fact that the artist writes in her bio “I want a car, but I want a [kids] panda car more”
Also in the volume: Hanabi No Owaru Koro (While the fireworks ended), Boku no Hysteric Girl (My Hysteric Girl)

Story: Yuzuko’s a positive, always charming girl with the horrible habit of verbal diarhoea. Just when she’s done it again and insults someone, she’s saved by a drop dead gorgeous maid from a maid cafe. Little does she know (though the readers are more clued in than this poor girl) that the maid is none other than the high school hottie Itsuki – who’s only doing it as the #1 most popular maid at his father’s Maid & Butler cafe. It’s really a story about (duh) love and some pretty good maid costumes if I may say so.

Triple Kiss by Shimaki Ako

トリプルKISS 1 (1) (フラワーコミックス) 嶋木 あこ 小学館 2008-02 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

トリプルKISS 2 (2) (フラワーコミックス) 嶋木 あこ 小学館 2008-06-26 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★★　4 stars
Rating: PG – Teeters on the racier side of high school teen love.
Read it for: Shimaki Ako at her finest; funny, smart and totally heart thumping.

Story: Ninomiya Yukino has always upheld her promise to the boy she always played with as a child; to be a good person. But she finds herself being tested when she’s suddenly in charge of showing around the new guy in school whom everyone has condemned as plain ugly. Little do they know his unfortunate fringe is hiding his bikei (pretty boy) goodness. So what’s a girl to do? If everyone knew about him, she’d never be able to have him to herself – but she knows her jealousy will only make her break her lifelong promise. Not to mention there’s another ikemen on the scene who’s tugging at the threads in her memory!