i never find out 'til i'm head over heels
Apr. 30th, 2006 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amatyultareI've done a lot of talking about anime and manga tonight already....anyone who wants to can go to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
colgateanime and post a comment about the Fruits Basket anime and/or the MeruPuri manga, since I posted those summaries tonight....but I feel like a tiny bit more. Anyone curious about what I thought about the manga I bought yesterday (why yes I have read it all....)? Maybe not, which is why there is such a thing as an lj cut. Anyway....
Let's do this alphabetically.
Aishiteruze Baby v 1: Yet more evidence that I am a sucker for marketing. Shojo Beat (magazine and manga line combined) is going to own my soul eventually. The plot: 15 year old flirt Kippei is required to take care of his adorable 5 year old cousin Yuzuyu. It's adorable fluff of the 'aww the cute kidlets' variety, but avoids cliche-status by making Yuzuyu a real character instead of a placeholder. The artwork is good, especially since there's just so much cuteness involved.
Beauty is the Beast v 3: Not a lot of backstory needed here; it's about a girl named Eimi who moves into the dormitory at her school and her various adventures stemming from dorm drama, as well as her blossoming romance (sort of?) with the mysterious Wanibuchi. In this volume Eimi acquires a guy who has a crush on her and tries desperately to get her attention--but let's face it, she's clueless. I continue to like the story and some of the humor is simply great, but the artwork is so....bland. When there are two main characters that you literally cannot tell apart except by whether they're wearing boy's or girl's clothes, you know you have a problem. (On the other hand, neither of those characters were in this volume very much).
Crossroad v 1 & 2: Our awkward-but-conceals-it-by-being-snarky heroine Kajiuri finds herself potentially homeless after her grandmother dies, her mother having run off a while back with the latest in a long series of men. However, K is rescued, ish, by her two 'step brothers' that she's not actually related to--their father dated her mother for a while--but really loves, despite not having seen them in seven years. Overcoming complications, they try to have some kind of normal life together. There are some unrealistic moments, plus some themes that make me a little uncomfortable (student/teacher relationship, what?), but it's overall quite cute. I like the artwork as well, although I suppose I'm slightly biased because one of the main characters looks a bit like a young Dominic Deegan. (Here's a longer summary with some pictures--the one I'm talking with is Natsu, the one with the glasses)
Model v 1: A struggling artist student who moved from Korea to England (I think) searching for inspiration, finds it in a drunk guy who's dropped off at her house by a mutual friend one night. He's gorgeous, but turns out to be a vampire who chose to become one of the undead in order to preserve his beauty for eternity (yeah, he's a little narcissistic). Our heroine is unimpressed by his attitude but for some reason agrees to let him have some of her blood in exchange for being allowed to paint his portrait. Um...it's really pretty, but the characters have so little personality. The vampire is arrogant and creepy, the heroine is perpetually annoyed (although who can blame her), and the other two characters we see for more than a couple of pages are complete question marks at this point. There are *hints* of character development, so I'll try volume two, and we'll see from there.
Rozen Maiden v 1: Our protagonist Jun has isolated himself in his room and amuses himself by ordering and then returning things from online stores--but it backfires when he receives a sentient, magic using doll named Shinku who considers him her manservent. She hasn't come just to drink tea, though; she is looking for something (although what, we're not clear on yet) and has her own enemies. Honestly, I like the story and I'll pick up the second volume, but I don't have a lot to say about this one.
W Juliet v 5 & 6: A little more backstory is needed here--W Juliet starts when the pretty blonde Makoto transfers to S High School and meets the energetic, loud, and aggressive Ito, who is actually a girl but dresses like a boy because she doesn't think she looks good in girly clothes. Makoto and Ito are both in the drama club and become good friends--then more than friends, when Ito discovers that Makoto is actually a guy! He's promised his father he will spend the rest of his high school career pretending to be a guy. Ito promises she'll help Makoto keep his secret, and the two fall in love as they overcome an amazing variety of obstacles. Anyway, with volumes 5 and 6, I realized why I really like this series--the depiction of Mako and Ito's developing relationship is just wonderful. There are complications, zany hijinks, and so on galore, but the heart of the story is the romance, and it's done very well.
Whew! Okay, I'm done now. Did anyone actually read all of that? Maybe not...ah well, what is LJ for if not for rambling? (And angsting, but I've been in a good mood lately). However, it's getting close to midnight and I do have work tomorrow, so I had better get to sleep. Later, all!
colgateanime and post a comment about the Fruits Basket anime and/or the MeruPuri manga, since I posted those summaries tonight....but I feel like a tiny bit more. Anyone curious about what I thought about the manga I bought yesterday (why yes I have read it all....)? Maybe not, which is why there is such a thing as an lj cut. Anyway....Let's do this alphabetically.
Aishiteruze Baby v 1: Yet more evidence that I am a sucker for marketing. Shojo Beat (magazine and manga line combined) is going to own my soul eventually. The plot: 15 year old flirt Kippei is required to take care of his adorable 5 year old cousin Yuzuyu. It's adorable fluff of the 'aww the cute kidlets' variety, but avoids cliche-status by making Yuzuyu a real character instead of a placeholder. The artwork is good, especially since there's just so much cuteness involved.
Beauty is the Beast v 3: Not a lot of backstory needed here; it's about a girl named Eimi who moves into the dormitory at her school and her various adventures stemming from dorm drama, as well as her blossoming romance (sort of?) with the mysterious Wanibuchi. In this volume Eimi acquires a guy who has a crush on her and tries desperately to get her attention--but let's face it, she's clueless. I continue to like the story and some of the humor is simply great, but the artwork is so....bland. When there are two main characters that you literally cannot tell apart except by whether they're wearing boy's or girl's clothes, you know you have a problem. (On the other hand, neither of those characters were in this volume very much).
Crossroad v 1 & 2: Our awkward-but-conceals-it-by-being-snarky heroine Kajiuri finds herself potentially homeless after her grandmother dies, her mother having run off a while back with the latest in a long series of men. However, K is rescued, ish, by her two 'step brothers' that she's not actually related to--their father dated her mother for a while--but really loves, despite not having seen them in seven years. Overcoming complications, they try to have some kind of normal life together. There are some unrealistic moments, plus some themes that make me a little uncomfortable (student/teacher relationship, what?), but it's overall quite cute. I like the artwork as well, although I suppose I'm slightly biased because one of the main characters looks a bit like a young Dominic Deegan. (Here's a longer summary with some pictures--the one I'm talking with is Natsu, the one with the glasses)
Model v 1: A struggling artist student who moved from Korea to England (I think) searching for inspiration, finds it in a drunk guy who's dropped off at her house by a mutual friend one night. He's gorgeous, but turns out to be a vampire who chose to become one of the undead in order to preserve his beauty for eternity (yeah, he's a little narcissistic). Our heroine is unimpressed by his attitude but for some reason agrees to let him have some of her blood in exchange for being allowed to paint his portrait. Um...it's really pretty, but the characters have so little personality. The vampire is arrogant and creepy, the heroine is perpetually annoyed (although who can blame her), and the other two characters we see for more than a couple of pages are complete question marks at this point. There are *hints* of character development, so I'll try volume two, and we'll see from there.
Rozen Maiden v 1: Our protagonist Jun has isolated himself in his room and amuses himself by ordering and then returning things from online stores--but it backfires when he receives a sentient, magic using doll named Shinku who considers him her manservent. She hasn't come just to drink tea, though; she is looking for something (although what, we're not clear on yet) and has her own enemies. Honestly, I like the story and I'll pick up the second volume, but I don't have a lot to say about this one.
W Juliet v 5 & 6: A little more backstory is needed here--W Juliet starts when the pretty blonde Makoto transfers to S High School and meets the energetic, loud, and aggressive Ito, who is actually a girl but dresses like a boy because she doesn't think she looks good in girly clothes. Makoto and Ito are both in the drama club and become good friends--then more than friends, when Ito discovers that Makoto is actually a guy! He's promised his father he will spend the rest of his high school career pretending to be a guy. Ito promises she'll help Makoto keep his secret, and the two fall in love as they overcome an amazing variety of obstacles. Anyway, with volumes 5 and 6, I realized why I really like this series--the depiction of Mako and Ito's developing relationship is just wonderful. There are complications, zany hijinks, and so on galore, but the heart of the story is the romance, and it's done very well.
Whew! Okay, I'm done now. Did anyone actually read all of that? Maybe not...ah well, what is LJ for if not for rambling? (And angsting, but I've been in a good mood lately). However, it's getting close to midnight and I do have work tomorrow, so I had better get to sleep. Later, all!
