6.10.18 I'm just doing some manga reviews instead of studying for my finals tomorrow ahahahaha rip. I read this whole manga while waiting for my friend to finish her chem lab final because I still feel kinda sad eating alone. It's kind of annoying how humans are such pack animals.
{Spoilers}
If you're in it for the art style, this probably won't be your cup of tea. It's an extremely simplistic style and one where the most important takeaway would be the message rather than the visuals. It conveys a pretty powerful message through a 13 chapter manga with a unique premise. There's this university girl and she's grown up her whole life believing in the Nostradamus prophesy that the world will end in 1999. And so the story takes place 10 days before the world will supposedly end when her nondescript next-door neighbor asks her to be his girlfriend. At first she doesn't see him as anything more than just another novel experience to have had before the world ends. That's how she's lived her entire life. She doesn't really care about money or her future or anyone else's feelings. And so being in this relationship where you have to be considerate of another person's feelings is an awakening experience for her. It's a experience that she never had to go through before, she never had to consider how anyone else thought about her or what other people might be feeling. It was interesting seeing her tussle with her inability to communicate exactly what she was feeling. She definitely had trouble communicating her feelings as we can see from her panic attacks over dying so young and her fear of it and how she just kept all of those secret demons to herself. However, thankfully the world didn't end. She was able to experience a life without the weight of inexplicable death in the summer of 1999 and now she could just live her life the way she wants to. It really was a very simplistic manga with really only one arc, but it definitely gets you to appreciate the lives that we lead and to be grateful for them.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Manga Match 32 Shindere Shoujo to Kodoku na Shinigami
I picked this manga up thinking it'd be a light read, and a parody on some more morbid themes. I was definitely wrong. I'm coming at you the day before I have two finals because to be honest I've lost a bit of the motivation to go onward. I do realize that education is an undeniable blessing and privilege to have, but I just really like reading manga. I haven't been watching any anime series because somehow I've convinced myself that manga doesn't take up as much time as anime...but with the volumes of them that I read that's an unlikely statement.
Also, this manga is tragically only 20 chapters. It's really sad, but the author died after fighting cancer. She made such a unique story and I'm just sad that the world lost such a creative spirit like her. Something about hearing about other people's deaths puts into perspective the amount of time we all have on this earth and how with its finality how we should all strive to be productive with it, for the sake of those whose time was cut too short.
{Spoilers, but you could easily read it all in one sitting and come back to read this}
I would say that this manga is like a very morbid and more horror-like with a more tangible fantasy aspect to it version of Hyouka. You've got the main guy Nishigami who's good at solving mysteries. There's also the whole backstory of him being a death god, a shinigami, in which all of the people he ever loved in the past have died, and while that's never fully explained, nevertheless you get a feeling of sympathy for this guy that wants to care for people, but chooses to distance himself to reduce the risk of someone dying because of him. And then we've got Akira who's a bit too much of a reckless girl. She keeps getting in these mysterious situations in which she keeps dying.
What's most interesting though, is the premise of the god of the island Hahane and the criteria for endless reincarnation. Touka eludes to the implications of the curse, with the mother having to die for their child to receive this immortality, but beyond that it's really not explained. And that's to be expected for a series that was cut off far too quickly.
It was unexpectedly filled with a lot of horror. From the get-go was the death of one of Nishigami's friends right before his eyes which was disturbing in and of itself. I don't know why I was foolish enough to think that it would somehow get better from there. If you're not here for some kind of occult feels more supernatural happenings or insane people, I don't think this is the series for you. Of course, as the name implies, there are some doki-doki times with Nishigami being very tsundere, but that can't mask the creepy aspect of this series. However, I don't feel like it was overdone. Everything was well planned out, something that I've noticed with all mystery genre storylines, which makes sense because you can't have a good mystery without having planned all of the different elements carefully.
I would say that this is a good read if you're looking to step into a more creepy, fantasy, mystery genre mashup if shoujo or whatever you're currently reading is starting to feel a bit monotonous. It's definitely a shame that the story won't ever continue and we will never get the answers to all of the questions we've been asking, but as a standalone piece I think it's possible to find satisfaction reading it.
Also, this manga is tragically only 20 chapters. It's really sad, but the author died after fighting cancer. She made such a unique story and I'm just sad that the world lost such a creative spirit like her. Something about hearing about other people's deaths puts into perspective the amount of time we all have on this earth and how with its finality how we should all strive to be productive with it, for the sake of those whose time was cut too short.
{Spoilers, but you could easily read it all in one sitting and come back to read this}
I would say that this manga is like a very morbid and more horror-like with a more tangible fantasy aspect to it version of Hyouka. You've got the main guy Nishigami who's good at solving mysteries. There's also the whole backstory of him being a death god, a shinigami, in which all of the people he ever loved in the past have died, and while that's never fully explained, nevertheless you get a feeling of sympathy for this guy that wants to care for people, but chooses to distance himself to reduce the risk of someone dying because of him. And then we've got Akira who's a bit too much of a reckless girl. She keeps getting in these mysterious situations in which she keeps dying.
What's most interesting though, is the premise of the god of the island Hahane and the criteria for endless reincarnation. Touka eludes to the implications of the curse, with the mother having to die for their child to receive this immortality, but beyond that it's really not explained. And that's to be expected for a series that was cut off far too quickly.
It was unexpectedly filled with a lot of horror. From the get-go was the death of one of Nishigami's friends right before his eyes which was disturbing in and of itself. I don't know why I was foolish enough to think that it would somehow get better from there. If you're not here for some kind of occult feels more supernatural happenings or insane people, I don't think this is the series for you. Of course, as the name implies, there are some doki-doki times with Nishigami being very tsundere, but that can't mask the creepy aspect of this series. However, I don't feel like it was overdone. Everything was well planned out, something that I've noticed with all mystery genre storylines, which makes sense because you can't have a good mystery without having planned all of the different elements carefully.
I would say that this is a good read if you're looking to step into a more creepy, fantasy, mystery genre mashup if shoujo or whatever you're currently reading is starting to feel a bit monotonous. It's definitely a shame that the story won't ever continue and we will never get the answers to all of the questions we've been asking, but as a standalone piece I think it's possible to find satisfaction reading it.
See don't you kind of get Oreki from Hyouka vibes?
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Manga Match 31 Cherry Boy, That Girl
It's another Friday, the Friday before dead week that is, so I decided that it's alright to take a kind of lazy day for once. Tomorrow the grind will begin and won't end for approximately a week and a half. Also, if you have time you should watch Candy Jar. It's a movie on Netflix. LOL maybe I liked it because it triggered me back to the year in high school where I did debate and was absolute trash at it. It's kind of a cliche movie with a pretty typical sort of premise and I can't say the acting is the best or anything, I watch a lot more anime than traditional movies if you couldn't tell, and I can't say that it's the best movie, but it was pretty relatable, especially if the whole college decisions thing is still fresh in your mind. Eto~ but you came here for manga, so manga I will give to you.
You know, there's a few manga I haven't gotten around to reviewing, mostly because they're Webtoons that I read along with as they updated weekly or sporadically, so I didn't really feel compelled to take screenshots, nor am I wise enough to take bullet point notes while I read because...bottom line I'm just lazy. Haha, so you might end up seeing kind of vague reviews, or none at all on those. I haven't really decided yet.
{Spoilers, but it's a cliche kdrama in manhwa form so}
Think about any kdrama you've ever watch, or anything about the general kdrama that you've ever heard about from anyone around you, specifically the kind with the rich heir and the poor girl...and then kind of turn it into a comedy with some psychologically messed up characters that are both good in some respects, but also trash human beings in terms of others. And then you've got this manhwa. Basically it's about this girl named Strawberry, don't ask me why all of them are like fruits and such I literally have no idea, but I think it's kind of funny and quirky, and her romantic life at Sausage Fest High School. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Basically, Sausage Fest High was an all-boys school, but some rich lady took over the school and made it into a co-ed school. However, not a lot of girls want to go to an industrial high school probably, so not a lot of girls go there and so most of the girls that end up attending Sausage Fest High are treated like goddesses. Strawberry is one of these girls, so she's treated really special by all the guys at school, except ironically, not by her boyfriend Mandarin. So she cheats on him with Pear, an upperclassman who seems exceptionally rich. Mandarin gets jealous like a petulant child, which he kind of is due to his sick upbringing by his mom who left their family for a wealthy man and tried to abandon Mandarin in an orphanage several times. Not to mention the fact that he was adopted by some random rich girl, Cherry, to be her pet of sorts. And that's why he turned into this lowkey creepy dude that uses emotional manipulation and his pretty face to get his way. I enjoy characters that have justification as to why they're so messed up in the head, but at the same time he still disturbs me. I dunno, I just have a lot of personal anger towards emotionally manipulative people in general.
Anyways, back to the plot. So Mandarin gets jealous and cross-dresses as Cherry in order to make Pear fall in love with him so that Mandarin can steal back Strawberry. However, in the process, Strawberry grows closer to the boy-phobic Walnut Kang, the true heir to a huge corporation and overall rich golden boy. And you can probably see where this is going, with Strawberry and Walnut falling in love. And then Walnut's sent to America because apparently that's where rich kids go to become more cultured, which in America's current state I think is pretty questionable, but that's a whole other topic in and of itself. And then Mandarin tries to win back Strawberry because he thinks that he needs Strawberry in his life to, not exactly maintain balance and maintain the status quo, but more like he needs that stability and kind of mindless idolatry. He was in love with this idea of the old Strawberry who liked him and went along with him, but that wasn't really Strawberry's true nature now or even in the past.
It was pretty much the same story of there being a lot of misunderstandings. Probably the most interesting character was Mandarin, just due to how he reacted to things built on his life of suffering, neglect, and honestly mental abuse. And all of this culminates in a sort of bitter feeling towards Cherry who saved him from a life in an orphanage, but also compounded on his mental instability. So I don't really know how to feel about Cherry because while it seems as though she shows remorse for what she did to Mandarin, at least a little bit when she tells Walnut she can't help him because she can't choose sides between Mandarin who seems to unhealthily need Strawberry in order to be happy and Walnut and Strawberry's romance, it also seems as though she hasn't really fully accepted responsibility for how Mandarin turned out. Like throughout the story she didn't really become a better person, although she did support Strawberry and help the relationship between her and Walnut in some ways.
Overall, this manhwa had a lot left to be desired. At first I thought it was a novel concept with the guy cross-dressing to get his girlfriend back, but it quickly spiraled into something I wasn't really into and didn't really expect or desire in a story. A few times I wanted to quit reading, just because it became too predictable and too ridiculous, however I finished it...because I'm not a quitter. LOL it just really bothers me to start something and never finish it. That's why I have a lot of things that are finished, but are so poorly executed. I should probably work on that. Anyways, I wouldn't really recommend this unless you want a kdrama plot inside a manhwa. I don't really think it's worth your time. It didn't really give me the doki-dokis and I lowkey hate all the characters. Sorry.
You know, there's a few manga I haven't gotten around to reviewing, mostly because they're Webtoons that I read along with as they updated weekly or sporadically, so I didn't really feel compelled to take screenshots, nor am I wise enough to take bullet point notes while I read because...bottom line I'm just lazy. Haha, so you might end up seeing kind of vague reviews, or none at all on those. I haven't really decided yet.
{Spoilers, but it's a cliche kdrama in manhwa form so}
Think about any kdrama you've ever watch, or anything about the general kdrama that you've ever heard about from anyone around you, specifically the kind with the rich heir and the poor girl...and then kind of turn it into a comedy with some psychologically messed up characters that are both good in some respects, but also trash human beings in terms of others. And then you've got this manhwa. Basically it's about this girl named Strawberry, don't ask me why all of them are like fruits and such I literally have no idea, but I think it's kind of funny and quirky, and her romantic life at Sausage Fest High School. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Basically, Sausage Fest High was an all-boys school, but some rich lady took over the school and made it into a co-ed school. However, not a lot of girls want to go to an industrial high school probably, so not a lot of girls go there and so most of the girls that end up attending Sausage Fest High are treated like goddesses. Strawberry is one of these girls, so she's treated really special by all the guys at school, except ironically, not by her boyfriend Mandarin. So she cheats on him with Pear, an upperclassman who seems exceptionally rich. Mandarin gets jealous like a petulant child, which he kind of is due to his sick upbringing by his mom who left their family for a wealthy man and tried to abandon Mandarin in an orphanage several times. Not to mention the fact that he was adopted by some random rich girl, Cherry, to be her pet of sorts. And that's why he turned into this lowkey creepy dude that uses emotional manipulation and his pretty face to get his way. I enjoy characters that have justification as to why they're so messed up in the head, but at the same time he still disturbs me. I dunno, I just have a lot of personal anger towards emotionally manipulative people in general.
Anyways, back to the plot. So Mandarin gets jealous and cross-dresses as Cherry in order to make Pear fall in love with him so that Mandarin can steal back Strawberry. However, in the process, Strawberry grows closer to the boy-phobic Walnut Kang, the true heir to a huge corporation and overall rich golden boy. And you can probably see where this is going, with Strawberry and Walnut falling in love. And then Walnut's sent to America because apparently that's where rich kids go to become more cultured, which in America's current state I think is pretty questionable, but that's a whole other topic in and of itself. And then Mandarin tries to win back Strawberry because he thinks that he needs Strawberry in his life to, not exactly maintain balance and maintain the status quo, but more like he needs that stability and kind of mindless idolatry. He was in love with this idea of the old Strawberry who liked him and went along with him, but that wasn't really Strawberry's true nature now or even in the past.
It was pretty much the same story of there being a lot of misunderstandings. Probably the most interesting character was Mandarin, just due to how he reacted to things built on his life of suffering, neglect, and honestly mental abuse. And all of this culminates in a sort of bitter feeling towards Cherry who saved him from a life in an orphanage, but also compounded on his mental instability. So I don't really know how to feel about Cherry because while it seems as though she shows remorse for what she did to Mandarin, at least a little bit when she tells Walnut she can't help him because she can't choose sides between Mandarin who seems to unhealthily need Strawberry in order to be happy and Walnut and Strawberry's romance, it also seems as though she hasn't really fully accepted responsibility for how Mandarin turned out. Like throughout the story she didn't really become a better person, although she did support Strawberry and help the relationship between her and Walnut in some ways.
Overall, this manhwa had a lot left to be desired. At first I thought it was a novel concept with the guy cross-dressing to get his girlfriend back, but it quickly spiraled into something I wasn't really into and didn't really expect or desire in a story. A few times I wanted to quit reading, just because it became too predictable and too ridiculous, however I finished it...because I'm not a quitter. LOL it just really bothers me to start something and never finish it. That's why I have a lot of things that are finished, but are so poorly executed. I should probably work on that. Anyways, I wouldn't really recommend this unless you want a kdrama plot inside a manhwa. I don't really think it's worth your time. It didn't really give me the doki-dokis and I lowkey hate all the characters. Sorry.
LOL she's broken. I was also lowkey shook at his confession.
Me when someone tells me about all my flaws as if I don't already know lel
Their relationship wasn't that great because of their lack of trust and communication, but it sure does make for a great drama
LOL Strawberry describing tests is actually me
When Cherry's like this it makes me respect her character a bit more, but honestly I just get triggered thinking about her and Mandarin.
This was the one time I actually thought Strawberry was a mature and decent human being. Otherwise she was just so naive and blockheaded that it wasn't possible to be anything other than frustrated and annoyed by her.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Manga Match 30 Doridosim
It's the long three day weekend, I'm all alone because everyone left me to go travel or go home, yesterday I helped out with senior banquet for my club which in total took 7 hours plus the hour I spent doing a sort of pre-hangout my upperclassman kind of roped me into, and I'm exhausted. I don't want to do work right now, so I'm coming at you with another manga. LOL honestly there's just so much manga because it's easier to read in between classes than anime. Like I always forget my earphones and I don't like watching things without sound, so manga is kind of the only option. Also I realized since I have lecture in one of the biggest lecture halls on campus, I think people are actually looking at my phone lol. Also I can't wait for school to end in two weeks. My roommate is like a hyena when she laughs, but magnified so you can hear her 5 doors down, and her snoring is atrocious.
Something that kind of sucks about being an introvert is the fact that I get so tired after excessive social interaction. Like I had an adequate amount of sleep, but I just want to go back to sleep right now. Also I might have tonsillitis, but I can't tell because the on-campus clinic is closed until Tuesday. RIP, hope I last that long.
{Spoilers, but you already know the main guy and girl are gonna end up together so}
So the story mainly revolves around this nice guy named Kang Dol and his love life. There's nothing really special about him, he's pretty awkward and he's kind of overshadowed by his popular friend Hoo so he seems more like a traditional background character more than anything. But, the most popular girl, Dosim, in the theater department sees his kindness and falls in love with his sweet nature. Plot twist though, the two originally get together when Dol gets drunk and mistakenly confesses to Dosim instead of his actual crush, Dosim's friend Yang Yang. Yikes. Dosim is over the moon with happiness, but Dol doubts the genuineness of her feelings, as he had a past relationship where he was just used and thrown away by his high school crush who was very much the most popular girl in school, similar to Dosim's social status. However, Dol finally realizes how sweet Dosim really is, but things get kind of messy as Dosim realizes that Dol didn't mean to confess to her in the first place and Dol's friend Hoon becomes this competitive love interest.
It's your very typical sort of school life, romance, sort of set up. I think one thing that's nice about this is that Dol isn't perfect. He still gets jealous of Dosim hanging out with other people, but also doesn't want to come off as overbearing. He has a sense of how much is too much, but he also really loves Dosim in this awkward sort of way which is endearing. Dol is the classic nice guy, a prime example of nice guys not finishing last.
If you're looking for another manhwa to read, this is a pretty good one. It's got a pretty standard romance plot line in a university setting. There's nothing super standout, except some of the characters and their eccentric backstories I suppose.
LOL maybe I need to branch out into other genres, this romance-school life combination is starting to become too familiar.
I think something that's also pretty cute is the name of this manhwa. It's Dosim's name and her pet name for Dol put together.
Something that kind of sucks about being an introvert is the fact that I get so tired after excessive social interaction. Like I had an adequate amount of sleep, but I just want to go back to sleep right now. Also I might have tonsillitis, but I can't tell because the on-campus clinic is closed until Tuesday. RIP, hope I last that long.
{Spoilers, but you already know the main guy and girl are gonna end up together so}
So the story mainly revolves around this nice guy named Kang Dol and his love life. There's nothing really special about him, he's pretty awkward and he's kind of overshadowed by his popular friend Hoo so he seems more like a traditional background character more than anything. But, the most popular girl, Dosim, in the theater department sees his kindness and falls in love with his sweet nature. Plot twist though, the two originally get together when Dol gets drunk and mistakenly confesses to Dosim instead of his actual crush, Dosim's friend Yang Yang. Yikes. Dosim is over the moon with happiness, but Dol doubts the genuineness of her feelings, as he had a past relationship where he was just used and thrown away by his high school crush who was very much the most popular girl in school, similar to Dosim's social status. However, Dol finally realizes how sweet Dosim really is, but things get kind of messy as Dosim realizes that Dol didn't mean to confess to her in the first place and Dol's friend Hoon becomes this competitive love interest.
It's your very typical sort of school life, romance, sort of set up. I think one thing that's nice about this is that Dol isn't perfect. He still gets jealous of Dosim hanging out with other people, but also doesn't want to come off as overbearing. He has a sense of how much is too much, but he also really loves Dosim in this awkward sort of way which is endearing. Dol is the classic nice guy, a prime example of nice guys not finishing last.
If you're looking for another manhwa to read, this is a pretty good one. It's got a pretty standard romance plot line in a university setting. There's nothing super standout, except some of the characters and their eccentric backstories I suppose.
LOL maybe I need to branch out into other genres, this romance-school life combination is starting to become too familiar.
Ah yeah, this girl was also a minor source of conflict in the story, she's kind of Dol's counterpart in a way? She made me kind of sad because she was so nice and noticed Dol for being a really spectacular human being, but because in Dol's heart there was only room for Dosim she was kind of sidelined.
LOL something that's so relatable is how Dol sees himself as being super ugly in a "how could anyone like someone like me" kind of way
ASDF it ended pretty cute with the two of them getting couple rings
I think something that's also pretty cute is the name of this manhwa. It's Dosim's name and her pet name for Dol put together.
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