Good morning! Another Wednesday kicks in, another manga is brought! My recommendation for today’s Manga of the Week is a beautiful and light hearted romance [aka shoujo] called Kare First Love, from Kaho Miyasaka!
The age-old dilemma of choosing between your friend and the one you love is the lesson for the day for these bubbly high schoolers. 16-year-old Karin Karino finds herself torn between keeping the friendship of her classmate Yuka and entertaining the advances of a boy named Kiriya. Plain-Jane Karin experiences the gut-tingling roller coaster ride for her love and first kiss as fate pairs her up with Kiriya, who also happens to be Yuka’s object of affection.
Through a series of chance meetings, Kiriya discovers the exquisite beauty lurking behind Karin’s thick glasses and coy demeanor, and asks her to be his girlfriend. But living happily ever after in high school isn’t on the curriculum, as Karin soon finds herself the center of Kiriya’s attention, as well as the bulls eye in embittered pal Yuka’s dart-board of hate.
Why I think it’s a worth-reading manga: this was one of the most classic shoujos I’ve ever read that didn’t bore me to the core. I’m very specific in my tastes to get swept off my feet for simple romances (reads romances without a supernatural or gay or dystopian touch to it). Also, I don’t like drama books or mangas, so shoujo isn’t my go-to genre most of the time. Unless Hachiyumi says the series is worth my time. Then I’ll read it and love it ❤ Point is, Kare First Love was adorable and perfect and you have to read it if you like real characters and a twisting plot!
That’s it, thanks so much for reading ❤ Have I convinced you yet that you need to start reading mangas?? ;D
Hello, there! I know, it’s late, but I bring to you something that hasn’t visit the blog for quite a while: a manga review! And, of course, it’s a yaoi [a.k.a. gay] title, so sit back and relax: Annelise is back to her good shape, haha!
Today’s series is none other than Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, from Shungiku Nakamura-sensei! This review contemplates the series until volume 9, as it’s still being published on Japan.
Ritsu Onodera is the heir to one of the biggest publishing companies in Japan. He loves his job as a book editor more than anything in the world and has been living the dream since he left college and started working.
Perfect? Perfect.
But there is one thing that really bothers Ritsu: everybody assumes he’s got his job and is good at it because he is taking advantage of his dad’s position as the president and owner of the company. And, as it isn’t true, Ritsu is determinate to prove that he can be the best book editor in the world anywhere without his dad’s help.
So he quits and leaves behind his perfect life to end up on the shoujo [romance] manga division of Marukawa Shoten publishing company.
And directly into the hands on the most tyrannical manga editor of all times: Masamune Takano.
As if things couldn’t get worse, Ritsu starts to feel that he knows Takano from somewhere and the feeling seems to be reciprocal…
The Analysis
Just remembering that those are my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
This title was another tip from dear Hachiyumi, responsible for the entry of some of the best manga titles ever in my life, like The Tyrant Falls in Love, Ten Count and Super Lovers. I already knew that I would love it, as she knows my tastes almost better than myself, but wow. THIS SERIES IS SOOOO COOL! It explains in detail how a Manga Publisher works and shows their very difficult routine. As a journalist and a manga lover, I was swept away for all the knowledge that came with my delicious gay romance. Sekaiichi Hatsukoi started as a 4 stars series for me because of the art, that was a little weird, but now evolved into a full 5 stars series!
The narrative follows Ritsu’s point of view almost most of the time, especially on the beginning, but as the story goes by and the other guys in the publishing company gain relevance and their own parallel stories, we start to see the story from almost everyone’s point of view. AND I LOVE IT.
The plot is simple, but has a lot of room for anything to happen, as it is the kind of manga that follows the character’s everyday life. Of course, the story has a point: Ritsu needs to fall in love again with Takano, his high school boyfriend that broke his heart (and had his own heart broken by Ritsu). But until then – and even after, if you ask me, there’s so many nice things that can happen! And things get really tangled when the secondary characters become main characters on their own stories. They also have their problems to solve and stay with their respective lovers, so it is all too exciting!
I wanted to take my time reading this series, as a new chapter is out only every four months at time (just like Super Lovers, may I add…). Seriously, this kills me, but moving on. I couldn’t stop reading! I read volume one and held myself, but as I read the next one, I was doomed. I almost cried when I reached the last available chapter, as only God knows when the next one will reach English readers now.
The characters are the best part of this title. I wouldn’t classify them as the strongest point, as we’ll get there, but definitely they are what would appeal the most to any other person in the world besides myself and Hachi, haha! Ritsu is a good protagonist, not overly dense or cocky, but not helpless and pathetic either. Takano is a dominant and stubborn boss that will do anything to get his mangas published right and in time and to get into Ritsu’s pants. [spoiler alert: Takano always gets what he wants, so he got into Ritsu’s pants several times.]
that would be Takano lol
I find highly amusing Ritsu’s perpetual denial of any good feelings that grow inside himself for Takano during the story and that’s new for me. I usually have no patience with indecisive characters, but there was just something about Ritsu that made me love him. To be honest, I love all the characters in this series, haha!
However, I must insist that the strongest point ever in this series is the backstage of the manga publishing companies in Japan. This is the kind of knowledge that you usually only have if you work in the area or is very close to someone who does it. Seriously, it was priceless for me to see how my lovely babies are born and now I want to thank all the editors that brought me the manga titles present on my collection!! ❤ THANK YOU, GUYS!
Now, let’s talk about Nakamura-sensei’s art. It definitely evolves during the series and gets so much better… Here’s a comparison between an image on the beginning of the series and one more ahead:
from letf to right: Takano and Ritsu <3*and again, some volumes later!*
Amazing, right?? Nakamura-sensei isn’t fooling around by any means, haha!
Overall, if you like gay titles, are deeply interested on how this crazy manga publishing world works and love real and alive characters, just stop whatever you’re doing and go read Sekaiichi Hatsukoi!!
That’s it, thank you for reading! Have you missed my manga reviews? Haha!
*ps: I do not own the illustrations, they were found on Google, belong to Shungiku Nakamura-sensei and were used with illustrative purposes only 🙂
Good morning and congrats, you managed to reach the middle of the week once again and I am proud of you ❤ Our Manga of the Week this time is a very different title: Sade, from Senno Knife!
It consists of a one-shot edition of comics based upon erotic tales written by the Marquis de Sade, the Grimm Brothers and Pauline Réage. Its format is shoujo, manga for girls.
This is one of the most helpful blurbs of the history.
Why I think it’s a worth-reading manga: because it is different. This is a 18+ rated title because it contains sex and torture scenes, be warned, but the art is peculiar – not my usual type, but harmonic – and it’s not vulgar as you would expect from a manga with sex scenes. Also, the stories are manga adaptations from classic tales, so it’s a kind of high culture manga, if that makes sense lol Anyway, if you enjoy 19th century manga titles, adaptations from the classics and highly intriguing plots, read this one shot!
That’s it, thanks for reading 😀 Later we shall have a blitz and a book review, stay tuned!
Hi, there! Welcome to March’s first edition of Authors of my Heart ❤
Today is manga author day, so next Friday we will see a book author 🙂
Today’s mangaka is a very special one, as she is responsible for truly defining the kind of art that I prefer on my manga titles. You’d think it was Matsuri Hino, but no lol
It was Kaori Yuki-sensei!
As you may have already read in this post, we’ve met in 2005, as soon as Panini Comics released Angel Sanctuary here in Brazil and I was hooked since page one. On the first time that I’ve read this series, what kept me loving this series was Yuki-sensei’s art, as I didn’t understand most of what was happening (and with reason; I was 10 and the title is rated 16+ lol). I only really understood this series on its core when I re-read it, five years later.
Kaori Yuki has several series and oneshots under her name and I’m ashamed to say that I found this out writing this post. I only knew the titles that I had read and two tbr series from her. I’m a lousy excuse for a fan, I know The awesome part is that I have several titles to read from her now ❤
The angel Alexiel loved God, but she rebelled against Heaven when she saw how disgracefully the other angels were behaving. She was finally captured, and as punishment sent to Earth to live an endless series of tragic lives. She now inhabits the body of Setsuna Mudo, a troubled teen in love with his sister Sara. Setsuna’s misery mirrors the chaos among the angels, and their combined passions threaten to destroy both Heaven and Earth.
Why is Setsuna so mixed up? Despite his attempts to be noble, he’ll fight anyone anytime; he ignores all authority; and he harbors feelings for his sister that can only be described as “incestuous.” Why is he such a mess? The reason may be found with two demons from the underworld and their enemy, an insane angel who is distributing an insidious computer game called Angel Santuary.
The first one we never forget, right? One of my favorite things about this title is the characters dynamics. They are so real and their relationships (not only amorous ones) are always so fogged, so… Grey. Seriously, just read this, haha!
Born under an evil moon harboring dark secrets, Earl Cain C. Hargreves, the youthful heir of the aristocratic Hargreves family, is a man on a quest to find the truth about his family’s past. Written in dark, harrowing episodes, The CAIN Saga chronicles how Cain solves the strange crimes that seem to plague his cursed existence, yet somehow bring him closer to deciphering the puzzling circumstances surrounding his father’s tragic death.
I spoke of this one very recently, so I’ll just add that I love the mysteries that Cain has on his hands during this series!
Lawrence is a young male prostitute whose actual aim was to look for his brother. Unknowingly, he did find his brother – the owner of the young boys prostitute club. However, his life was about to change when he witnessed the killing of one of the biggest serial killers – Dr. Wolfgang Adrain Cray. Instead of running away, he searches for the murderer and falls in love with him. Adrian, who is basically a nice person (he is a school teacher) takes in Lawrence and reciprocates Lawrence s love. but Lawrence s brother was not too happy about losing a possible money tree and sends out his gang in search of Lawrence.
You may have noticed that Kaori Yuki’s stories tend to not win the happy manga of the year prize, right? Oh well, on Boy’s Next Door, she outdoes herself. I’m not usually one to cry while reading manga, but I did here. I felt the pain, the agony, the crushed love. I really would love to re-read this title and review it, but I don’t know if I am strong enough. What awaits me is too real…
That’s it about Yuki-sensei ❤ I also innovated this time and prepared a list with my TBR list of her titles:
Thank you for reading 😀 If any of my TBR titles of this post caught your eye and you want a review for it, just say so in the comments that I’ll work faster towards the chosen title 😀
Hello and Happy Wednesday 😀 Today will be another day full of book news, but let’s stick to our good and old Manga of the Week section for now, haha! Our star today is a lovely title: Ultramaniac, from Wataru Yoshizumi-sensei!
Shy Ayu Tateishi has just made a new friend at school. But this new friend, much to her surprise, is no ordinary classmate. Nina Sakura may look like a normal middle school girl, but she’s got a big secret.
She’s a witch.
Or, rather, she’s studying to be a witch. And, apparently, she’s not doing her homework. Her spells are devastating in their ineffectiveness and often result in the most embarrassing situations for poor Ayu.
But things wouldn’t be so bad if Nina’s sorcery didn’t make Ayu look silly in front of the one boy she secretly adores. All she wants is a simple love potion. What she gets, however, is a new best friend who almost flunked out of witch school!
Why I think it’s a worth-reading manga: this title is light and funny, but not silly. If you want a good high school romance title to pass time, cheer you up or rest your brain, Ultramaniac is the perfect one! 😀
That’s it! Thank you for reading and brace yourself for another day full of news, haha! Have you heard of Ultramaniac before??
Good morning! We have reached another middle of the week day and I want to hear everybody saying: “Manga of the Week day!” when I count to three! One, two… Three!
No? Not really? Okay, I can live with that, haha! Anyway, today’s chosen one is the second title that I’ve read from Kaori Yuki-sensei: The Cain Saga!
Born under an evil moon harboring dark secrets, Earl Cain C. Hargreves, the youthful heir of the aristocratic Hargreves family, is a man on a quest to find the truth about his family’s past. Written in dark, harrowing episodes, The CAIN Saga chronicles how Cain solves the strange crimes that seem to plague his cursed existence, yet somehow bring him closer to deciphering the puzzling circumstances surrounding his father’s tragic death.
Why I think it’s a worth-reading manga: Kaori Yuki owns one of the most beautiful and flawless art of all times and her stories are always dark, disturbing and highly entertaining. The mysteries contained on The Cain Saga will make you grip your chair while reading. Cain himself could be Sherlock Holmes’ son, as he is eccentric, intelligent and deadly to his enemies – both metaphorically and literally. Also, he has a weird relationship with his butler and to this day I’m not sure if the butler was a trustworthy person lol
That’s it, thanks for reading 😀 Have you ever read a title by Kaori Yuki-sensei??
Hello, good night! After what it seems like forever but indeed were only two weeks, I decided to write another yaoi manga review! 😀 Who’s excited?! Yes, you! Not really, but bear with me.
I’m closer than ever of my goal of reviewing all my recent reads and I’m really excited about this! But going back to today’s target: Miwaki Shikake – Amai Wana, from Yonezou Nekota-sensei! (This title struck me as particularly odd as there is a trace connecting its parts, so I translated it on Google and the title happens to be awesome: Captivating Fascination – Sweet Trap.)
Amami and Hachidori are your regular workers on a high-tech firm. Hachidori is the perfect image of the hard-working and demanding sexy boss and Amani is the perfect image of the hateful employee that wants to get back at his boss for being a tyrant.
Only that they aren’t.
Amami and Hachidori have history together, a very annoying past on Amami’s point of view.
And their history is about to get deeper and even more personal when Hachidori saves Amami of being molested by another man in the middle of the street. Will Amami be able to be grateful to a man he can barely respect?
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
I really enjoyed this title. It was short and funny, with the right amount of sexiness to it and a good dose of surprise in the plot. It could have been bigger, even for a short story and I really wanted to have seen Hachidori being a queen, but oh well. It was amusing anyway! Four stars 😀
The narrative pace was fast and mainly from Amami’s point of view. Hachidori has his moments as well, more to the end, as a way of wrapping all the events of the title. It worked for me, but the plot left room for so much more, ugh!
Yes, the plot. It was surprisingly complicated for such a short story! I can’t complain much, Nekota-sensei did a good executing job and wrapped things up, but I wanted more. #spoiled
I seriously loved the characters on this manga. Amami was so clueless that it was funny. Usually, I tend to find this type of character rather bothersome, but not this time. Also, there is an interesting fact here: Amami leads the reader to understand that he used to be molested by older boys as a kid. As a result, he is extremely homophobic. I guess I can’t really blame him, but the way Nekota-sensei cures him is the best 😉
Hachidori also were a very different type of dominant protagonist. He’s obviously a top in bed matters, but still dresses up as a woman at a gay club. It’s a shame that Nekota-sensei didn’t draw him like that, because I can’t imagine this scene to save my life, haha!
Anyway, there is a huge bonus on this title: the art*!
from left to right: Hachidori and Amami ❤Hachidori being a diva ❤and how they work together lol – I removed the dialogues to avoid spoilers 🙂
If you look for a quick and pleasant yaoi read, this title is totally for you!
Thanks so much for reading! ❤
*ps: I do not own the illustrations, they were found on Google, belong to Yonezou Nekota-sensei and were used with illustrative purposes only 🙂
Good morning, happy Wednesday for you and welcome to a very busy posting day! We have several news in the oven, so stay tuned 😀 For now, let’s begin our Wednesday with our Manga of the Week: Sekai-ichu Hatsukoi, from Shungiku Nakamura-sensei!
Onodera Ritsu quits his job and transfers to the publishing company Marukawa Shoten. Sadly, he gets assigned to the editing department that handles shoujo manga; and Ritsu, who vowed to never fall in love again, working on love stories is impossible. Panic ensues when he realizes that the arrogant and tyrannical head editor turns out to be his former first love!
Why I think it’s a worth-reading manga: BECAUSE I NEED MORE PEOPLE READING THIS MANGA! I finished the last available volume some moments before the start of this post and more people need to know this title so it can get translated faster!! Yes, I’m that selfish, haha! As always, this title was suggested to me by the amazing Hachiyumi and I loved it. The review is coming sometime this week or the next – it really is going to depend on my blog tour schedules, haha! Anyway, now to the rational reasons. This is not an ordinary yaoi manga. The reader has the chance to know how the process of manga publishing in Japan works and it is awesome!! I wish I could be a manga editor, haha! So, if you’re interested on several gay romances happening all at once and learning more about Japan’s publishing world… READ THIS. PLEASE. I BEG YOU. Thanks.
Hello, good Monday to you! I’ll do a proper announcement post later, but there are some changes on my blog sections and weekly posting 🙂 The first one I’ll tell you here, but you may have already noticed: the section Authors from my Heart ❤ will now be a monthly deal. On the second week of the month, we will have Book Authors and on the third, Manga Authors. I was running out of authors, haha! lol
Now, to the point: manga author chosen for today! It’s no one less than Arina Tanemura *–*
We have met when the anime for Full Moon wo Sagashite was released and my friend and I ran to start watching it. The songs were a blast, the art was cute and we loved the characters. It had an unexpected dark and dramatic turn, but it was worth-watching and, to this day, it’s one of my favorite animes ever! ❤ And, as I loved the anime so much, I started to read her works online – Tanemura-sensei’s work would only start to be published in Brazil on 2009, but at least they started by Full Moon! *–* (I still have to complete my collection, though. Ugh!).
Those are the titles that I have read from her so far:
By day, Kusakabe Maron is an ordinary high school girl with more then her share of problems. But by night, she is Phantom Thief Jeanne. As the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, her mission is to steal demon-possessed paintings and neutralize their evil. Jeanne’s only ally is the angel-in-training Finn. Together, they must fight evil by night while surviving high school by day.
Ironically, my first read title from her wasn’t Full Moon, haha! It was Jeanne. I admit that I don’t remember ANYTHING, so I guess this is a must re-read, haha!
Ion Tsuburagi chants the letters of her first name as a charm to bring good luck when she needs it. Then she meets Mikado Hourai, the president of the Psychic Powers Research Society at school, and touches a mysterious substance he’s been developing. Now chanting “I-O-N” gives her telekinetic powers!
My second read was this one shot, I.O.N. I remember that I wasn’t impressed despite its cuteness, but I have the impression that this will be another post were I don’t remember anything about the mangas I’ve read…
In this bittersweet tale of puppy love, tragedy, and aspirations of pop-star fame, 12-year-old Mitsuki’s life finds hope when a comical pair of magical beings appears. Rated for teens.
So helpful. Yes, Full Moon was my third title from Tanemura-sensei and easily my favorite one, haha! This is a rare case in which I think the anime is better than the manga, but I liked reading it nevertheless. I highly recommend it if you like shoujo [romance], comedy, drama and fashion – Tanemura-sensei’s clothes are sooooo pretty!
In return for a business loan of 50 million yen, the prestigious Kamiya family gave their daughter Haine away to the Otomiya family. Haine, now an Otomiya, is appointed to the student council of the exclusive Imperial Academy, a private school for the aristocracy. Even though Haine is of proper lineage to be on the council, she finds herself struggling to find her place among the many secrets of its elite members, especially those of the president who holds her heart–Shizumasa Togu, aka “the Emperor.”
Another title in which I remember nothing, but I have to be fair: I was able to buy only the first volume when this was published in Brazil and now it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to complete my collection 😦 Damn you, Brazilian market! I still want to finish reading this! Hm, restarting may be a better word.
“Supernatural things don’t exist in this world!” Kaho Mira absolutely hates all things supernatural, so why does Hikaru-sempai keep persuing her to join the Supernatural Research Club?! But one day, Mira barely escaped the clutches of the White Rose Academy vampire, Rose. Now, she had no choice but to join the Supernatural Research Club with Hikaru-sempai for help! And they unravel much more about Rose they never knew before…
After years (I mean it literally), I would only pick up a title from Tanemura-sensei again last year and my chosen one was this one shot. It was lovely! A sugared-romance like all her works, but with a bit of mystery on it. A nice 4 stars read 😀
At age 31, office worker Chikage Deguchi feels she missed her chances at love and success. When word gets out that she’s a virgin, Chikage is humiliated and wishes she could turn back time to when she was still young and popular. She takes an experimental drug that changes her appearance back to when she was 15. Now Chikage is determined to pursue everything she missed out on all those years ago—including becoming a star!
And right after Vampire Rose, I read the first volume of Idol Dreams. This struck me as a cute and deep series, but I still need to read more before form an opinion. Sadly, I couldn’t find the next one yet, ugh!
I’m still considering if I’ll continue to read new works of Tanemura-sensei, since my interests nowadays lay on yaoi titles filled with hot sex scenes other kinds of titles. Let’s see what the future holds for our relationship, Tanemura-sensei! ;D
Hello, there! Happy Wednesday 😀 We managed to reach the middle of the week, yay!
Today’s Manga of the Week chosen one ugh, I’ll always remember Simon and Baz with chosen ones mentioned now is slightly different from the other manga titles that I have been presenting you. Princess Ai is a manga created by no one less than Courtney Love! =O
Ai is the only royal princess of Ai-Land, a magical kingdom caught in the midst of a horrific revolution. When Princess Ai makes a hasty escape from her war-torn land, she finds herself in modern-day Tokyo. Confused and in shock, Ai wanders the streets in this strange new land to unravel the secrets that could tear her and her kingdom apart … The first volume of Princess Ai is a journey to the heights of fame and fortune found in this world and beyond!
Why I think it’s a worth-reading manga: Princess Ai has a very unique story, mixing romance with aliens, music and fashion. I had my reservations when I started the series, but soon enough Courtney Love proved that she could write a manga worth of attention just like the original Japanese ones. Besides, Ai herself is a very loveable character and one of the strongest main female characters that I know. Just read it, lol.
The awesome part is that I have several titles to read from her now ❤
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The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 