Aurora's best of Manga! Volume 3 - Fruits Basket

#1 - The World God Only Knows
#2 - Fairy Tail
#3 - Fruits Basket

The first manga to make me openly weep, and make me think “what do I do with myself now that the story is over?”

In this 23 volume completed series Natsuki Takaya weaves a sad and emotionally wrought story about a clan who has been cursed for hundreds of years, and the ever-optimistic girl who comes to learn their secret.

Our protagonist is Tohru, an adorable, if slightly slow, high school student who has not only lost her parents, but in order to unburden her family and friends is living in a tent by herself. She soon learns that she has unknowingly built her tent on the property of the school’s prince, Sohma Yuki. Partly out of pity, and partly in desperate need of the help, Yuki and his older cousin Shigure take in Tohru in exchange for her cleaning and cooking skills. Soon after this move, another cousin – Kyo – enters the fray, and the family secret is accidentally let out of the bag: when hugged or embraced by a member of the opposite sex, these three turn into talking animals. Not just any animals, of course, but each cursed member of the family turns into a member of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, plus the cat who is part of the original legend.

Sound complicated enough? Trust me, that just skims the surface of how intricately this curse weaves sorrow and disdain throughout this family. In typical shojou fashion the tale is all about how love and acceptance heals all and solves the world’s problems, but the torment that Natsuki-sensei puts her characters her through is heart-wrenching. I don’t think I spent a single page of the last two volumes without tears in my eyes. I vacillated back and forth between happy tears and sad tears, but definitely tears the whole time.

This was one of the first shojou manga that I read, and I’m glad I read it before I watched the anime. I love the anime, but it just kind of stops… it doesn’t even introduce the entire cast! I know that it was limited by the boundary of 24 episodes, but it still leaves me saying: “but it’s not finished yet!!!”

So, I’m going to leave this review kind of short, because if I go on I would ruin it for those of you looking for a good “chick-flick” manga equivalent. I can only gush about how wonderful the story telling is so much before it becomes tired. All I can say is, if you’re going to read one, and only one shojou manga, make it this one.

Until the next time,

Matta ne!

Aurora's best of Manga! Volume 2 - Fairy Tail

So do you know what it means to have glue, glitter, and chocolate under your finger nails? It means you are bad for neglecting your blog! At least, that's what it means for me. Sumimasen!

And, let's move on...

#1 - The World God Only Knows
#2 - Fairy Tail


While twiddling my thumbs between jobs I would stroll along the information highway looking for new things. One of my many stumbles was this fantastically typical shonen title: magical battles between macho guys and large-breasted women, sprinkled with humour. The thing is, Mashima Hiro sensei has created characters with such a strong sense of loyalty, friendship, and integrity, that it is easy finding yourself liking each and everyone of the members of this guild of magic users.

That being said, none of these characters are without flaws, sometimes many: Natsu is hot-headed and quick tempered, Lucy is a bit naive, Gray is competitive, and for some reason always stripping... but never-the-less, they are good people with beautiful hearts. I should also add that their beautiful bodies don't really hurt, either. At one of my previous jobs, a co-worker was telling me how her son is an avid fan of manga and anime, and that the only thing that really bothered her was the sexual depiction of women. She then pointed to the cover of my volume of Fairy Tail that I had. I then flipped through the tankoubon and came to a page with Gray, and his former sempai, Lyon, both with their shirts off, displaying their incredibly toned bodies and rippling abs. My coworker, being her wonderful self, then decided that if it was even, it was ok. We laughed, and smiled, and all was good.

I love this series, hands down. It is already over 250 chapters, with as many as 17 volumes available in North America through Kodansha Comics (Volumes 1-12 available through Del Rey). It may be formulaic, but it is a formula that works!

Now, lets hope I don't get too distracted by Christmas gift crafting again...

Matta ne!

Aurora's best of Manga! Volume 1 - The World God Only Knows

And so the journey begins!

#1 - The World God Only Knows (TWGOK)

I was first introduced to this title as an anime, streaming its way through Crunchyroll, and was immediately taken. The brash character of Katsuragi Keima, the protagonist known as “the capturing god”, is easily the most unlikeable likable character I’ve ever watched or read. With a catchy opening theme, a bumbling idiot savant sidekick, and a new take on an old premise, this was a show I kept my eye on.

At this point, you’re saying “but isn’t this on your MANGA list?” Yes, it is! I mentioned that this was how I was introduced to the series; I was so taken I needed my TWGOK fix faster than the episodes were coming out. I quickly looked online for the original manga, and found it was not available yet this side of the pond. In order to follow the story, I had to be sneaky, and visit a scanlation site (this would be where fans take their spare time scanning, translating, and editing the works directly from Japan). I found a good source, and as soon as it is licensed over here you can be sure that I will add it to my collection! The anime has been green-lit for North American distribution, so I’m hoping the manga is soon to follow.

You probably want to know why I like it, huh? Well, let’s start with the premise, and then it should become pretty clear. Keima is known in the online world as the “capturing god”, stating that he is able to capture the heart of any female, no matter the situation. The Demons of “New Hell” – a kinder, gentler kind of Hell – is looking for a way to capture rogue/escaped souls that have rooted themselves in the hearts of humans. Keima receives a request through his website to help capture hearts, and of course he accepts. What was not communicated was that Keima’s expertise had an addendum: he can capture the heart of any two-dimensional female, within the dating sim, or “gal game”, dimension.

Without the information being known, a cute young-looking girl falls from the sky and introduces herself as Elsie, a demon of “New Hell”. She is there as his case worker to help capture the hearts of real girls. The plan is essentially to take that space in the girl’s heart currently occupied by the renegade evil soul, and fill it instead with love (“an honest kiss should be enough”), thereby evicting the ethereal baddie. Simple, yes? Sadly, for all of Keima’s genius in the gaming world, he has zero tact or desire when live, three-dimensional girls are involved. It takes a threat of death under contract for him to kick into gear, and be able to put a show, episode after episode, where he puts his knowledge of situations in gameplay into real world practice. It’s like an anime version of meta fiction – or, metagaming I suppose? Look at me, inventing words!

I think one of the other appeals is the idea that this is a harem genre without the bumbling male lead. He is callous, arrogant, stubborn, and completely self-centred, and yet somehow, by recreating the situations in the games he plays, he is able to get girl after girl fall for him. Astounding, really.

Thus, my first manga recommendation is, um… recommended? Tomorrow, entry number one for ANIME!!

Ja nai!

New Job, New Blog Series!

As I begin a new venture, I want to strive to keep up my new blog schedule. While I will continue to write longer articles and link them here, I want to do something else, too. In order to do that I have constructed a new series about my personal favourites! People often ask me what I recommend in terms of anime to watch and manga to read, and I always find myself flummoxed. Fortunately, having my collection evaluated for study has forced me to prioritize my titles and preferences.

I took some time at the end of my work day today, and wrote down the first fifteen anime that came to mind as ones I love, and then did the same for manga. Obviously, I haven't watched or read everything that's out there, so the list has changed as a discover new gems. For now, however, I will stick to the list I've written up. I will go through it in no particular order, if only because I can't bring myself to rate them in any sort of order. It equates to a parent picking his or her favourite child - you just don't ask someone to do it.

Starting tomorrow I will count out the top 15 manga and 15 anime, one at a time, and help you all fill out your own collections, or at least your viewing repertoire. Feel free to share your own opinions of my faves, since I will not begrudge anyone for their own feelings.

I feel prompted now to ask: What's your number 1? Is it as hard for you to pick as it is for me? Do you prefer to watch or read? That's probably enough questions for you all. ;)

Until tomorrow!
Matta ne!

Lights. Sound. Live-Action!

I've had a few people ask me what I think about the current Hollywood project to make a live-action version of Akira. To be perfectly honest, I'm excited! Everyone else seems appalled, but let's think about this rationally.

Firstly, we haven't seen the script or the storyboards, so we don't know if they are doing an accurate recreation or simply an interpretation to represent Western culture. Gary Oldman seems to like the script, and he's picked some big winners in the past. Who are we to argue with Commissioner Gordon?

Secondly, the cast has still to be finalized, so all of this speculation about how "it's gonna suck if Bella is in the damn thing," is just that: speculation. It looks like they are approaching a lot of greenhorns for some of the major roles, and that can be equally good as it can be bad. All in all, if Twitch is reporting accurately, then I think WB seems to be heading in the right direction in terms of casting, but again, NOTHING is finalized, so quit your griping.

My third point: Akira is an awesome piece of sci-fi history! I mean, it is one of the only anime titles to be so well known, to the point where some classify it as sci-fi first, then mention it is anime. While Hollywood has an exceptional knack for ruining awesome stories, sometimes they get it right, and we shouldn't be so quick to judge. With the current political and economic climate I think this is the right time to revisit the post-apocalyptic world depicted in Akira. I think that we need stronger sci-fi representation in film these days, and this might be the adaptation to do it.

All in all, I'm happy anytime anime and/or manga are brought to the forefront in North America, since it needs more promotion over here if we want to keep the industry going. Think of it this way: if the WB version of Akira does bite it big time as a movie, it will just encourage people to pick up the original! So, as stated at the beginning, I am excited for the new live-action Akira, if only so that I can pass judgement on it when it comes out, and not before-hand.

Ja nai!

Lolly-gagging again...

Look at that! As soon as I say: "Oh, this is just to post until I finish writing the article," I find myself laying my writing responsibility by the wayside. Again, not for lack of things to say, just finding myself a bit lethargic these days. Looking for work and not having a structured day leads one only to procrastination!

I started writing a preface to the article I was writing, and found that it was actually better suited for the actual article, so am now thinking back to what I've written, read, and watched. Still watching One Piece, but there are 78 episodes to get through, so it might take a while. I've started watching Honey and Clover, which I've been reading since the summer. Both through reading and watching it is very obvious that this is a shojo title. It is not apparent only in the story, but also in the artistic treatment. The poetic language partnered with abstract imagery spins on the screen as Takamoto falls in love and for some odd reason remembers riding a bicycle as a kid and philosophically thinking about how far he can go without looking back. What does that have to do with the plot? Absolutely nothing. Is it artsy and trite? Of course! Does it work within the context of this story of love triangles within love triangles within love triangles (I suppose it is more of a love dodecahedron...)? Darn tootin'!

I got completely absorbed into the manga over the summer, and was stopped only by immediate availability. The wash of greys in the manga translate gorgeously into the colour of the anime. The big question now is whether I will get ahead faster on screen or will I finish it on paper first?

Any thoughts?

Mata ne!

Sailor Moon

I love it when I'm at home and there is a knock on my door between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.. It means that there is a package for me (more than likely, anyhow)! Today is one of those days!

As I look lovingly at the brown, cardboard rectangle that clearly says "Amazon.ca" on its front, I already know what's inside. I grab the little tab and pull across carefully, opening the make-shift box. I notice how incredibly large the two volumes of manga are, and then flip them over: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Vol. 2 and Codename Sailor V Vol. 2.

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

I do a little dance and pet them, my new acquisitions. I sigh happily and put them down, suddenly realizing that I am behind in my reading, since I haven't finished Sailor V vol 1 yet, and have been putting off the first volume of Sailor Moon. I think I'm a little scared, since it has been so long! I have a select few of the "original" volumes released in the 1990s by Mixx, but they are the wrong way around, and poorly translated, and mostly there for collection purposes. Trying to read them is painful. I think this might be why I hesitate with the new volumes, despite the new translation and original "right-to-left" orientation.

How's this: I promise once I've read them to give you guys the full scoop, okay? For now, I shall return to admiring the cover of volume 2... Ami is so pretty as Sailor Mercury...

Mata na!

If Life Were a Shojou Manga

Jeez! I'm just pumping them out! But seriously, what if life were a shojou manga? Do you think you would be happy or annoyed?

Me? Not really sure... probably just not want to be the protagonist. ^_^

How to make writing manga interesting!

Bakuman: An Awesome Manga, About How to Write Manga!

No, seriously... this title is engrossing and completely worth the read! Click on the link above to see how the creators of Death Note have created another cult hit!
  

Cafe Latte Rhapsody

This really and truly is one of the BEST BL titles I have ever read (and that's a lot of them...). I invite you to share my love! Make sure to click on the link to read all about it!

Highschool of The Dead: Manga, Volume One

Highschool of The Dead; Manga, Volume One

Take advantage of the zombie craze you say? Don't mind if I do! Click on the link above to read my review of Highschool of the Dead.