You are My Pet/Tramps Like Us

Sumire and Momo

Konnichiwa

Today I’ll be reviewing the josei  Kimi wa Pet by Ogawa Yayoi. The series is actually a spin-off of another one of her series, Candy Life, which I plan on reading later. The series is 14 volumes in total and is completely scanlated. Lets begin:

Sumire Iwaya is an intelligent, successful, and beautiful woman who works for a big newspaper, though not in the department she wants. She has big dreams and hopes to one day transfer to a more serious department, such as the English news section. She’s a determined woman with big dreams who wants to maintain her image and apparently too intimidating for her fiancée. He tells her she is too perfect, and that being around her is uncomfortable. Heartbroken, frustrated, and depressed, she returns home, where she finds an unconscious young man lying in a box in front of her home. She takes the young man inside, who quickly becomes comfortable, acting happy-go-lucky and appearing rather simple-minded. He’s personality and curly hair reminds her of her childhood dog “Momo”. She comments how she could keep him as pet, and he tells her he’d be perfectly fine with that. Thus, he is named Momo and “officially” becomes her pet. Though a rather unusual relationship, the two of them easily accept it and begin their life together. While she attempts to keep him a secret from her co-workers and later her conventionally perfect boyfriend, the two of them grow closer and closer, developing a strong bond.

And since this is a romance, this bond steadily becomes love.

Well, steadily on Sumire’s part. Momo falls in love very early in the series, and he does a great job of hiding it. Though he appears carefree and simple-minded, Momo, or Takashi, is actually very clever and complex, he can also be very serious at times: when he does show his seriousness, Sumire is always shaken and unsure

what to do. He loves dancing, but unsure about his future. You really see him mature and grow as the series goes on. And even though Sumire is more settled into her life as an adult, you also see her grow as a person. In the beginning, she isn’t very honest with herself or those around her: in front of everyone beside Momo, she tries to act like the perfect woman, always confident, calm, and collective. Her family is extremely strict, judging, and prestigious, so it makes sense that she would put up this front. With Momo, she lets herself be the lazy, emotional, and insecure. She can be a crybaby, a smoker, and a excited pro-wrestling fan. Even with the man she planned on marrying, who she planned on spending the rest of her life with, she put on this act. But the same way she helps Momo mature, he helps her grow and get rid of this façade. Gradually, her co-workers realize she isn’t cold and always serious, they see her slightly dorky personality.

Main Characters: Momo, Sumire, Sumire's hilarious best
friend, Sumire's boring perfect boyfriend(and first love),
and annoying (and pitiful) Shiori

I rarely enjoy slow romance, usually because the ones I find have ridiculously slow pace, but I liked the pace of this one. I liked seeing their love grow, I think because seeing their master-pet friendship was entertaining and the other characters they interacted with were compelling. Their past also played a big part in the story, so when a new aspect of their past was revealed, there was always a ripple in their relationship. A change

preceded by a little bit of drama. There was something to hold your attention besides the slow building romance. I feel in many slow romances, there isn’t much there, so gets boring. Something that does bother me though is her boyfriend Hasumi. They met in college and is Sumire's first love. He is kind, loving, and appears to be nearly perfect, but he got on my nerves quite a bit. He claims he wants to see the real Sumire, but not the "real" Sumire. I felt he had his own illusion of her true self and didn't understand her very well. He does really care about her though, so I can't really dislike him too much. I got impatient with Sumire at times too: every time they were together she had to act, she even states numerous times that its exhausting being with him too long. So why be with him? But in her mind, since she loves him so much its only natural to try so hard to keep him. I kind of understand it and I kind of don't, sometimes I was annoyed and sometimes I was sympathetic.
Anyway, this manga manages to be a realistic slice of life while also being an unrealistic comedy; and I love that when things do start getting unrealistic, the characters’ sort of point it out. Though there were parts in the manga that confused me, they're usually insignificant dreams that you can move past.

Overall, a really great josei. I know it’s also been adapted to a drama and a live-action movie. I think I’ll check one of them out since I really enjoyed the odd story based around a pet and master relationship, the characters, and watching their love grow.

Bye-Bye

~Nadeshiko-chan

Sky of Love Manga Review

Hiro and Mika 

Konbanwa~

Ms. Lee Min Ho went over the Sky of Love movie, now I’m going to go over the Sky of Love manga that it was based off. By the way, the manga was based of a book that Mika wrote. She’s also considered the author of the manga, the art is done by Haneda Ibuki, who did a fantastic job. Her inking is wonderful, it gives off a very classic manga feel even though it was made in 2007. It suites the “slice of life” genre and time period the story takes place very well. Anyway. As a manga, Sky of Love is a josei and is 10 volumes complete in Japan and has been completely scanlated. Me and Ms. LeeMinHo started reading it when it was still being scanlated, we freaked out each time a new chapter came out. We freaked out because this is a beautiful story. Lets begin:

Mika is a cute and timid high school girl and like many high school girls, she dreams about experiencing a wonderful love. Her best friend Aya has the same dream and believes she’s already met her prince, a delinquent named Nozomu. When she attempts to impress him, he goes past her and acquires Mika’s cell phone number. Much to her dismay, he calls her frequently. During summer vacation, he calls her once again, but this time he’s drunk. His friend Hiro takes the phone away and begins talking to Mika. He asks if its okay to call her and the two converse every day. Though Mika doesn't know who Hiro is, she feels calm when she hears his voice and is eager to meet him. When school starts they finally meet. At first she doesn't believe that the voice that put her at ease belongs to the delinquent she was terrified of. But, she understands that he isn't a bad person, that in fact he’s very kind and they begin dating. And the more time they spend together they more in love with each other they become. They experience many sad events and sometimes they hurt each other, but at the end, Mika still feels that her moments with Hiro were one of the most happiest moments of her life. The love story is heartbreaking and beautiful, its hard for me to express how much I loved reading about Mika and Hiro. As a coming-to-age story, its also wonderful. Besides

watching their love story, you also watch Mika grow up: graduating from high school, going to college, and growing up to be someone more independent. Even when the manga ends, you know the story isn't over because Mika is living her life. Its an amazing manga, a wonderful story. The movie is great, but since its just a movie it had to cut a lot of stuff out and rushed developments. I highly recommend watching the movie and then reading the manga. Its just such a beautiful story and I love it so freaking much, really you NEED to read this. 

~Nadeshiko-chan

Dear Mika

I know you probably aren't reading this, but if you are, I just want to tell you that me and my friend really admire you. You went through a lot, there were moments where you could have given up and people would've understood, but you didn't give up. You always got up again and continued moving forward. Our dream is to one day, to meet you and give you big hug. I know it'll hard, but I want to make that dream come true! I really love you Mika and I hope you're happy. 

Usagi Drop: Delightful and Disturbing

Daikihi and young Rin: a
heartwarming picture of a father
and his daughter

~Konnichiwa~

Nadeshiko-chan here and since yesterday was father’s day, I’ll be reviewing Bunny Drop by Unita Yumi, a manga with one of the best yet worst father: Daikihi. I have very mixed feelings on this josei and to be honest I’m not quite sure I’d recommend. Oh yeah, by the way, this was my very first josei! And it sure was memorable. Anyway, lets begin my explanation of this odd little manga:

Daikihi is a 30-year-old bachelor and an overgrown teenager of a man He’s just found out that his grandfather is dead and travels back to his hometown for the funeral. When he arrives, Daikihi and his family are shocked to discover that the old man had an illegitimate love child. On top of that, it was with a much younger woman, she’s in her 20s I believe. Rin is the name of this child and catches Daikihi’s attention since she’s a rather quiet little girl and obviously completely helpless: she doesn’t know anyone in the family, her mother abandoned her after the death of the grandfather, and she must cope with the death of her father at such a young age. Daikihi seems to be the only one sensitive to this little girl’s feeling and is outraged when he sees how his family only sees her as an embarrassment, not wanting anything to do with her. In a fit of angry spontaneity, he declares he’s going to take care her himself. The first 6 volumes are adorable, Daikihi and Rin making an adorable father-daughter pairing, Daikihi being rather immature for a parent and Rin being pretty mature and independent for a 6 year old. It’s really funny and rather heartwarming watching Daikihi try to figure out parenthood and the proper way to raise Rin; Rin really becomes a big part of his life and he admits that all the sacrifices he’s makes for her are definitely worth it. Daikihi’s relationship with Yukari Nitani, a single mother, also keeps the manga interesting for those romantics; plus they also have the adorable friendship between Rin and Yukari’s son Kouki. In fact in volume 5, the manga fast-forwards to when the two are in high school, and you can see the Kouki definitely wants to be more than friends. You can’t help but root for Kouki as he tries to win Rin’s heart, realizing the mistakes he made in the past.

Childhood friends Rin and Kouki, aren't they precious?

But then you read volume 7 and 8 come, and cute little josei becomes chillingly disturbing. Try to guess what sick twist Unita Yumi came up with? Have Rin fall in love, not with Kouki, or even the smart boy from her class, no, she has Rin fall in love Daikihi! What the heck?! And like an idiot, I kept reading, I hoping that maybe because Daikihi was the first stable thing in her life, she only thought she was in love with him because of the drama going on with Kouki and meeting her mother. But that’s not the case; at some point, even Kouki’s and her mother are supporting her! At least they made it slightly less disgusting by revealing that Rin isn’t actually the grandfather’s daughter, but rather his adopted daughter; Rin’s mom had gotten pregnant and he had volunteered to help raise Rin. But this only makes it slightly less disturbing though since we still have the huge age difference and the fact that Daikihi is practically Rin’s father! What made me even madder was that Daikihi, noble, kind-hearted father-figure Daikihi, actually accepts her feelings! They get together after her graduation, I felt so sick and disappointed in both in them. This adorable manga became something so creepy.

I don’t really think Rin loves Daikihi romantically, nor do I believe that Daikihi really loves Rin romantically. I feel Rin, after the abandonment of her mother and death of her “father” grew too emotionally dependent on Daikihi, so as graduation and such came, she became scared of leaving him and all the new changes she’d have to face; she took the concerns she had about Daikihi getting older and romance as a way to stay with him, to have things stay exactly as they were. Then there’s Daikihi, who never really says he loves Rin and even tells her that she can leave him for a younger boy whenever she wants, not to worry about him. Never says “I love you”, just that he’ll be with her. He just doesn’t look like he really see her as a lover, I think he’s just worried about Rin and doing what she wants or something, I’m not really sure.

Teenage Kouki and Rin

Anyway, because of the creepiness of volumes 7-10, I can’t really recommend this manga. And I know what you’re thinking, if I thought it was so disturbing, why I would read all 10 volumes. Well technically I only read to 9, but anyway I’m stubborn and was idiotically hopeful that something was going to change. But when I got to 9 and Rin tells Daikihi she wants them to have a baby and make them as happy as Daikihi made her, I realized it was futile and stopped. . I’ve recently discovered they’ve made into a drama and to be honest I’m a little curious; I’ve done a little research and I think its about their original father-daughter relationship, which I love and would love to see as a drama adaption. I’m a little hesitant though, worried they’ll thrown in some creepy wedding between them at the end. If I end up watching it I’ll post, but anyway the first 4 volumes of the parent-child relationship are adorable and I highly recommend reading those and stopping. Volumes 5-6 are okay since you think Kouki will eventually win Rin’s heart and you could read those chapters, but it’s not as enjoyable when you know Rin’s going to choose her father-figure over her childhood friend, whom she shared her first kiss with and whom she even admitted was her first love. Anyway the arts okay, having a rather unique style compared to other shoujo and josei mangas, so I think you’d have fun reading those first few volumes. But don’t be foolish like me and keep going, it’ll only bring disappointment, anger, and sickness.

You have been warned.

~Nadeshiko-chan