ARISA

Arisa and Tsubasa

Konbanwa~

Today I’ll be reviewing the shoujo manga ARISA by Ando Natsumi. The manga is 12 volumes in Japan and has been completely scanlated. Lets begin:

The heroine of this mystery story is the bold, brash, and tomboyish Tsubasa whose often mistaken for a delinquent because of bleached blonde hair and tough attitude. Poor Tsubasa died her hair because she thought it be cute and dreams of being a normal school girls who goes to cute little shops with her friends. Anyway, her parents divorced when she was rather young and she was separated from her twin sister Arisa, who went to live with their mom while Tsubasa stayed with their father. They communicate through letters and one day, Arisa invites her sister to come sleep over. Things seem to be going well, until Tsubasa witnesses Arisa’s sudden suicide attempt. She is shocked, having formed this idea that her gentler sister led a joyful and peaceful school life. She wants to know what drove her sister’s desire to end her life, but since she’s in a coma, Tsubasa decides to take her place at school and find out for herself. She soon discovers that on Friday, during free period, Arisa’s class send their wishes to a mysterious figure known as KING.  The mighty KING will only grant one wish weekly and often uses violence to grant it. Also, if someone angers the KING, the class will make sure to erase their existence; ignoring them, throwing garbage on their desks, and other vicious forms of bullying until they finally leave school.. Tsubasa becomes determined to stop the KING and find out who it is, hoping that this will save Arisa since he may be the reason of her attempted suicide. She soon partner ups with one of Arisa’s classmates, Akira Manabe, who also wants to stop the KING and their violent, unjust methods.

The KING manipulates the class, is able to use others as a chess piece to get what it wants, them easily tosses them aside. And the psychological effects they have on the class is frightening.

The story overall doesn’t have much romance, but there is some here and there. The mystery and action itself

Manabe

is entertaining. Even when you know who the KING is, its difficult to understand their motives, goal, and plan. And though Tsubasa isn’t the smartest, she makes progress following her instincts and is brave to face the cruel KING, is determined enough to protect others. Sure sometimes she does fall into the KING’s trap, but she always manages to make up for it, to learn her lesson so that it doesn’t happen again. Something I particularly liked about this manga is the psychological aspect, how the KING affects the class, why characters do what they do. Inferiority complexes, loneliness, twisted love: the mangaka shows you how it developed inside a character and in some cases, how it drove them to near madness. There isn’t much romance in the manga, though Tsubasa does “fall in love” it was more like she was being manipulated. I do enjoy the relationship between Tsubasa and Manabe: they’re partners who take care of each and watch each other’s back. It’s a wonderful friendship and probably could’ve been a great romance, but they never get to that point. Its implied that Manabe has feelings for Tsubasa, but we don’t really know how she feels. I wouldn’t really call it a romance manga, its more about the malpratices of the KING and how Tsubasa wants to stop them. So I recommend reading this manga and seeing Tsubasa’s battle against the cunning and twisted KING.

~Nadeshiko-chan

You and I

Kaname; Shun
Chizuru
Yuuta; Yuuki

Konbanwa~

Nadeshiko-chan here, reviewing a hilarious slice of life shounen called Kimi to Boku by Hotta Kiichi. It is an anime with 2 seasons (26 episodes) and 12 volumes(ongoing) in Japan, sadly its only been scanlated to volume 6. The story revolves around 5 teenage boys: feminine and lovable Shun Matsuoka, class head and short tempered Kaname Tsukahara, good-looking twins Yuuta and Yuuki Asaba, and half-Japanese transfer student Chizuru Tachibana. Shun, Kaname, Yuuta, and Yuuki have been friends since preschool, Chizuru joined the group after transferring, having met Yuuki when he was a child and wanting to become friends once again.

The manga is just about their daily lives, which are tranquil and rather comedic. It isn't passionate or dramatic, its just a lighthearted story about a group of friends and their time together. All of them are quiet different; Shun being gentle and cute, Kaname being uptight yet short-tempered, Chizuru being a fun-loving fool with a hidden side that’s deeply in love with Mary, the twins always giving everyone hard time while keeping their passive tone. Of course just because they look a like, doesn't mean they're the same: Yuuta’s expresses himself more and is the mature one, talking care of his younger twin. Yuuki’s a lazy otaku. There all different and though they don’t openly express it, its obvious that they all love and care about each other. Their group has one of the greatest bromance ever.

There’s also some romance in this story, but it isn't cliché or melodramatic. Their feelings simply grow slowly through their interactions. Its rather sweet, especially Chizuru’s love for tiny Mary.

Then there’s the art, its simplistic and clean. The anime’s more or less the same, expect with color of course.  Anyway the art oddly suites the manga, having a very easygoing and cool feeling to it, It’s a calming slice of life, and I highly recommend.

~Nadeshiko-chan

Mint na Bokura by Wataru Yoshizumi

                        Konnichiwa~

Noel and his precious twin Maria

I am Nadeshiko-chan. Me and my partner Ms. Lee Min Ho came from otakulalaland, a blog we used to do with the Manga Club at our school. Realizing we were the only ones really posting, we decided to start our own blog together! I’ll be reviewing animes, mangas, graphic novels, and sometimes some Vocaloid music videos. Before I start my new review, I’ll tell you little about myself. I mainly watch and read romance shoujo anime/manga, but I also really love shonen animes like Fullmetal Alchemist(I’ve watched both the original and the Brotherhood), Dragon Ball Z, Pandora Hearts, and Soul Eater. I’m someone who’s realistic, but loves to lost in long surreal and fantasy stories. Alright, let’s start! Today I’m going to start with an old 90s manga called Mint na Bokura by Wataru Yoshizumi , a light-heared romance manga about a pair of 14 year old twins, Noel and Maria Minamino. These siblings are very close to each other and have always been together. But then one day Maria transfers to Morinomiya Boarding School because she has fallen in love with the basketball coach there and wants to be closer to him. Noel becomes extremely jealous of this and even betrayed since he can no longer hang out with her. So an outraged Noel decides to enroll into Maria’s new school so that he can persuade her to leave. There’s just one major problem, the only open admission left is in the girl’s dorm. But stubborn Noel refuses to let this ruin his plans! So with a wig, a headband, and a padded bra, he disguises himself as a girl and begins his new life at Morinomiya Boarding School.

While most boys would be too proud to cross-dress,
Noel is willing to do anything for his precious sister!

 But things don’t go according to plan as Noel rapidly falls in love with his roommate Miyu. There’s also Ryuuji Sasa, who develops a crush on Noel before discovering he’s a girl; though he is completely mortified, after a few days he decides to remain friends with Noel, even helping keep his secret by allowing the rest of the student body to think they’re a couple. The story is cute, sweet, and really funny, it can always make me laugh, all of the character’s having their moment; the art also contributes to the humor, especially the drawings of an angry or blissful Noel.

Noel; Sasa; Maria; Miyu

Now for the characters: Noel is the rare male lead in this shoujo manga and he has a huge sister complex; he is overly protective and possessive of his sister, glaring at anyone who tries to “take” her “away” from him. Because of this he can often be aggressive and short-tempered, but he’s usually very friendly, happy-go-lucky, and simple-minded. And when he falls in love with Miyu, he becomes super adorable, easily becoming happy at whatever she does. He becomes jealous and often wants to protect her from “dangers”, but also makes a great effort not to annoy or hurt her. I really love him as a character because he’s both cute and comedic; he doesn’t even try to act girly or anything in his disguise, he’s still himself. Then there’s his sister Maria; she’s loves her brother Noel, but often feels suffocated by his over-protective nature. She is quite feminine, cheerful, and sweet; but she has a bad habit of developing shallow crushes on different boys, she idiotically tries to make almost every boy her prince and every relationship the perfect love story. Usually girls like this annoy me, but I sort of understand her hopeless romantic nature and she does learn from her mistakes and comes to understand real love. Then there’s Ryuuji Sasa, one of my favorite manga characters ever. He’s cool, manly, and easygoing; he loves sports, especially fishing. He’s a good friend to Noel, even helping Maria since she’s his best friend’s precious sister. He finds girls rather annoying, thinking their all shallow, weak gossips, but overcomes this prejudice. The last main character would be Miyu Makimura, Noel’s crush. She’s quiet, serious, and rather secretive. She’s comes off as a bit of a loner, scaring off some of her classmates, but she’s a kind girl. There’s just one thing she really can’t stand: liars. Read and find out how Noel deals with that.

The art is cute, classic 90s shoujo: big eyes, simplicity, and rather thick black lines.

Noel with his crush Miyu

The only thing that bothers me is that I felt the author could've done more, just another chapter or 2 to wrap things up a little more complete since I did feel a little unsatisified. But overall it’s a cute manga and I highly recommend it. Thanks for reading my first review, I hope you enjoyed it and will consider reading this adorable, light-hearted story. Bye-Bye

~Nadeshiko-chan