Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. As we all know, I have a knack for rooting for the person in the love triangle that doesn't end up with the main guy/girl. It's my secret special talent apparently. Because apparently in shoujo, if the girl falls in love with the guy who has loved her all along instead of the mysterious broody guy, the world would end.
{Spoilers except it's shoujo and a love triangle so you already know how it's going down}
So, this manga revolves around this girl named Mako who loves taking pictures. She's like a secret protege. And she moves to a different city after her grandfather passes so she can join the photography club there and have a change in scenery. She lives in a boarding house with her longtime childhood friend Kei, this broody guy who hates having his picture taken Amemura, and a few other people.
And you know Kei is such a sweetheart. He went to go pick Mako up from the train station because he knows she gets lost easily. He invited her to the photography club. He's always been looking out for her. But S M H Mako really just sidelines this boi for Amemura. I mean Amemura is also a pretty sweet guy. But Kei is just ???? Anyways, the whole thing lowkey ends up being about Amemura getting over his photography trauma and then he and Mako fall in love. That's the end. Poor Kei :(((
Would I recommend the manga? I mean sure if you're looking for a kira-kira shoujo manga, this is a pretty good one as far as that goes. And it's pretty short as well. And full of ikemen. So, yeah if you're not looking for a lot of substance and just want a relaxing read, go ahead and read it.
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Manga Match 70 Oh! Holy + Moon Yoo
One of the lesser acknowledged blessings in this world is Webtoons. Minimal ads, reliable weekly updates, and great quality stories. If y'all aren't already on Webtoons I'd recommend checking out.
Lowkey when I write these reviews I get super paranoid that these people will read my review and come murder me in my sleep for not taking the time to fall in love with their work. But then I remind myself that honestly my opinion doesn't really matter and then I just go on with my life.
{Spoilers, except I don't remember everything that happened so...}
Recently, Oh! Holy ended. I remember at the beginning I thought it was just going to be a sort of slap-stick rom-com situation, but it turned into something that was much more supernatural and borderline creepy at some points. I thought it was just going to be the development of romance between Holy and Jamie, but it got really complex with the addition of Jamie's family drama and TR (Toiler Reaper). Honestly speaking, I almost unsubscribed from the Webtoon because the pacing wasn't really doing it for me. It didn't seem like much was going on. But, because I'm such a completionist, I really try not to unsubscribe from things unless they're unbearably cringe.
Would I recommend this Webtoon? I think the art is pretty good, the characters are pretty charming at certain points, and the story is compelling at certain points if you can get over some of the reoccurring gag jokes like Holy being super strong and fawning over Jamie. For me it wasn't a super satisfying ending and I never got too invested in it so I'd say it's alright if you're looking for a bit of a unique storyline and want to get into the supernatural genre, but aren't yet sure if you can handle spoopy situations.
I would've done a separate review for Moon Yoo, but I just feel like I don't have a lot to say about both of them. So, I decided to combine them.
I think Moon Yoo was definitely a wild card. The deadpan humor, the egotistical and dark protagonist, the unconventional art. All of it was a bit outside the box and definitely not what I was expecting. And I wasn't expecting to like it so much. It was full of all of these quirky stories that followed Moon Yoo, the last man on the moon. The premise of the story was that Earth built a station on the Moon to destroy an asteroid that was headed to destroy Earth. And then I forgot what happened, but there was somehow a miscount of seats because of super spy stuff or something and Moon Yoo was left as the last man on the moon. He was almost entirely alone except for this super buff kangaroo. And it turns out their plan to destroy the asteroid only partially worked because the world still was reverted to sometime in the past and had to start rebuilding. So their only source of entertainment on Earth was to look at Moon Yoo through CCTV that were still rolling on the moon base. This in itself was pretty funny since Moon Yoo was doing various unsavory things, but because of the way the video got to Earth, everyone misunderstood him as this noble and admirable guy. They even got a guy on Earth to dub over this stuff, but he ended up dubbing over the kangaroo instead of Moon Yoo. It was just random things like this that really made the Webtoon as a whole really stand out. It was a lot of stupid humor.
But surprisingly, it had a really good plot if you continued following along with it. I'm kind of sad that it didn't get more views because it was such a unique concept with a very prideful protagonist that eventually sacrificed his chance to go back to Earth in order to save all of humanity. It was a pretty touching sequence of character development, especially when you think back to how much he's grown throughout this whole experience.
I'd definitely recommend you read this. I think it deserves a lot more acknowledgement and attention because of how unique the story is. But you'll have to acclimate yourself to the art style which is where I think he lost people. It was quirky, engaging, and unlike a lot of the other Webtoons on the platform.
As you can see, I've been doing a whole lot of reading rather than watching these days. I'm currently subscribed to over 50 manga and...I don't even know how many Webtoons. It's kind of crazy, but a really nice hobby to have I think.
Lowkey when I write these reviews I get super paranoid that these people will read my review and come murder me in my sleep for not taking the time to fall in love with their work. But then I remind myself that honestly my opinion doesn't really matter and then I just go on with my life.
{Spoilers, except I don't remember everything that happened so...}
Recently, Oh! Holy ended. I remember at the beginning I thought it was just going to be a sort of slap-stick rom-com situation, but it turned into something that was much more supernatural and borderline creepy at some points. I thought it was just going to be the development of romance between Holy and Jamie, but it got really complex with the addition of Jamie's family drama and TR (Toiler Reaper). Honestly speaking, I almost unsubscribed from the Webtoon because the pacing wasn't really doing it for me. It didn't seem like much was going on. But, because I'm such a completionist, I really try not to unsubscribe from things unless they're unbearably cringe.
Would I recommend this Webtoon? I think the art is pretty good, the characters are pretty charming at certain points, and the story is compelling at certain points if you can get over some of the reoccurring gag jokes like Holy being super strong and fawning over Jamie. For me it wasn't a super satisfying ending and I never got too invested in it so I'd say it's alright if you're looking for a bit of a unique storyline and want to get into the supernatural genre, but aren't yet sure if you can handle spoopy situations.
I would've done a separate review for Moon Yoo, but I just feel like I don't have a lot to say about both of them. So, I decided to combine them.
I think Moon Yoo was definitely a wild card. The deadpan humor, the egotistical and dark protagonist, the unconventional art. All of it was a bit outside the box and definitely not what I was expecting. And I wasn't expecting to like it so much. It was full of all of these quirky stories that followed Moon Yoo, the last man on the moon. The premise of the story was that Earth built a station on the Moon to destroy an asteroid that was headed to destroy Earth. And then I forgot what happened, but there was somehow a miscount of seats because of super spy stuff or something and Moon Yoo was left as the last man on the moon. He was almost entirely alone except for this super buff kangaroo. And it turns out their plan to destroy the asteroid only partially worked because the world still was reverted to sometime in the past and had to start rebuilding. So their only source of entertainment on Earth was to look at Moon Yoo through CCTV that were still rolling on the moon base. This in itself was pretty funny since Moon Yoo was doing various unsavory things, but because of the way the video got to Earth, everyone misunderstood him as this noble and admirable guy. They even got a guy on Earth to dub over this stuff, but he ended up dubbing over the kangaroo instead of Moon Yoo. It was just random things like this that really made the Webtoon as a whole really stand out. It was a lot of stupid humor.
But surprisingly, it had a really good plot if you continued following along with it. I'm kind of sad that it didn't get more views because it was such a unique concept with a very prideful protagonist that eventually sacrificed his chance to go back to Earth in order to save all of humanity. It was a pretty touching sequence of character development, especially when you think back to how much he's grown throughout this whole experience.
I'd definitely recommend you read this. I think it deserves a lot more acknowledgement and attention because of how unique the story is. But you'll have to acclimate yourself to the art style which is where I think he lost people. It was quirky, engaging, and unlike a lot of the other Webtoons on the platform.
As you can see, I've been doing a whole lot of reading rather than watching these days. I'm currently subscribed to over 50 manga and...I don't even know how many Webtoons. It's kind of crazy, but a really nice hobby to have I think.
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Manga Match 69 Kimi to Wonderland
Hello one and all, it is quickly approaching dead week as I'm writing this. There's a lot of stuff to be done before we're done for the school year and most definitely a lot of exciting things coming in terms of school involvement opportunities and stuff. It's been a wild year, but one where I've gotten out of my comfort zone A LOT.
{Spoilers, but it's really short and fluffy so not really}
I think this story was a good mix of fluffy, cheesy, and substantive. I think I'm also just very partial to stories with animals in them so this might be entirely too biased.
It focuses on a girl who lost her ability to hear other people well and the ability to understand animals after getting into an accident as a child. She later encounters a dog that's now human because of the accident that they were both in. It's a cute plot that both follows the two's budding relationship with one another while they simultaneously help out animals because of their animal-comprehensive ability.
There are some super cute parts where they help out different animals and help them find forever homes or help them actualize their dreams. The mini arc where this older dog's dying wish is to go on one last walk with his owner really brought tears to my eyes. Hey, like I said, the animal ones really get to me.
{Spoilers, but it's really short and fluffy so not really}
I think this story was a good mix of fluffy, cheesy, and substantive. I think I'm also just very partial to stories with animals in them so this might be entirely too biased.
It focuses on a girl who lost her ability to hear other people well and the ability to understand animals after getting into an accident as a child. She later encounters a dog that's now human because of the accident that they were both in. It's a cute plot that both follows the two's budding relationship with one another while they simultaneously help out animals because of their animal-comprehensive ability.
There are some super cute parts where they help out different animals and help them find forever homes or help them actualize their dreams. The mini arc where this older dog's dying wish is to go on one last walk with his owner really brought tears to my eyes. Hey, like I said, the animal ones really get to me.
And just in general, the whole concept of the story was really endearing and because it was such a short read, I think it's worth checking out!
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Manga Match 68 Hana no Kishi
You know, I thought this manga was going to be different from what it actually was. I don't know why though. The synopsis was pretty accurate and everything. But for some reason I thought it was going to be different.
{Spoilers, but it's kind of just about honor and battling}
This was definitely an...interesting read. There's this girl named Kurono Ran who's disguised as a male knight in order to fulfill her deceased brother's lifelong wish to be Ohtori Sei's, this super pretty high-tier ojou-sama, knight. Because in this world rich people have knights I guess? I don't really know. Everything revolved around this school and the idea that only one person could be Ohtori's first knight and everyone would challenge Kurono for that honor. There was no real world-building outside of this premise.
And of course there's a love interest. It's this also rich dude named Ibara. His trope is the super-rich, but #relatable guy because he acts super humble. He just reads manga and eats cup noodle all day, but he's a pretty cool guy with morals. He even wants to be normal, but his brain and his fighting skills are too powerful so his family wants him to usurp his older brother. So from this short summary, you can see there's a lot of family politics packed into these 29 chapters.
Basically there's a lot of knights fighting Kurono for the honor of being Ohtori's knight. There's a lot of Kurono denying her feelings for Ibara which arguably all stem from the fact that he's the only one that treats her like a girl. There's sudden drama as there always is when there's revealed to be head trauma on Kurono's part which made her forget her brother's betrayal and how he didn't actually die. And there was a whole coup orchestrated by her brother ALL SO OHTORI DIDN'T HAVE TO END UP AS THE NEXT LEADER OF THE OHTORI GROUP because the guy didn't want her to take on the hardship. I mean that's sweet and all, but I think Ohtori really had it. She was sweet, confident, supported, and intelligent. Way better than that puppet he wanted to put as the next head of the group pppft. Not a lot of this added up, but it was alright.
Would I say this was the best thing ever? No, probably not. Would I say that it was alright and there were some doki-doki moment? Well, yeah sure I'll grant it that. Did everything add up for me? No, not really. Do I recommend it? I mean, it's a nice thought but not really sure about the execution part. Maybe you'll like it if you've got a hankering for a short gender bender?
{Spoilers, but it's kind of just about honor and battling}
This was definitely an...interesting read. There's this girl named Kurono Ran who's disguised as a male knight in order to fulfill her deceased brother's lifelong wish to be Ohtori Sei's, this super pretty high-tier ojou-sama, knight. Because in this world rich people have knights I guess? I don't really know. Everything revolved around this school and the idea that only one person could be Ohtori's first knight and everyone would challenge Kurono for that honor. There was no real world-building outside of this premise.
And of course there's a love interest. It's this also rich dude named Ibara. His trope is the super-rich, but #relatable guy because he acts super humble. He just reads manga and eats cup noodle all day, but he's a pretty cool guy with morals. He even wants to be normal, but his brain and his fighting skills are too powerful so his family wants him to usurp his older brother. So from this short summary, you can see there's a lot of family politics packed into these 29 chapters.
Basically there's a lot of knights fighting Kurono for the honor of being Ohtori's knight. There's a lot of Kurono denying her feelings for Ibara which arguably all stem from the fact that he's the only one that treats her like a girl. There's sudden drama as there always is when there's revealed to be head trauma on Kurono's part which made her forget her brother's betrayal and how he didn't actually die. And there was a whole coup orchestrated by her brother ALL SO OHTORI DIDN'T HAVE TO END UP AS THE NEXT LEADER OF THE OHTORI GROUP because the guy didn't want her to take on the hardship. I mean that's sweet and all, but I think Ohtori really had it. She was sweet, confident, supported, and intelligent. Way better than that puppet he wanted to put as the next head of the group pppft. Not a lot of this added up, but it was alright.
Would I say this was the best thing ever? No, probably not. Would I say that it was alright and there were some doki-doki moment? Well, yeah sure I'll grant it that. Did everything add up for me? No, not really. Do I recommend it? I mean, it's a nice thought but not really sure about the execution part. Maybe you'll like it if you've got a hankering for a short gender bender?
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Manga Match 67 Soshite, Hare ni Naru
When I first saw this manga, I was pretty intrigued by the synopsis. It just seemed really weird to me that this girl would marry some guy even though he had fallen in love with her sister. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it was pretty cute.
{Spoilers, but it's only 6 chapters so}
So this manga revolves around a multi-generational all-female household. There's a grandmother, her two daughters, and one of the daughter's two daughters. So five women in total. And it's about their daily lives, obviously because it's slice of life.
I think something that makes this manga more intriguing than others is that it doesn't paint this perfect picture of how life will look like when you're 30. The two daughters are working women, 30, and seemingly not close to marriage. The two older women are trying to mend the past and their kind of falling out with one another. If you end up reading this, it's interesting to look at their family dynamic and the lives that each one individually leads. The mangaka was definitely very smart in how they chose to intersperse knowledge here and there to let the reader come to some of their own conclusions before revealing what was really going on. And all throughout there were super lovable characters like the rakugo guy and how he fell in love with one of the sisters. That was really wholesome. Or how the other sister had this guy who fell in love with her. He helped her realize that she really did want to work full-time and to not be scared of failure. And when they never confess their love it really gets me. I dunno why, but the whole thing of "I can't tell him/her about my feelings because it'll just get in the way of their dreams" is super sweet but also stupid noble. Really just gets me feeling some type of way aiya.
Overall, I'd say it was a wonderful 6 chapters. It was short, but there was a lot of feelings and stories to be shown all throughout and it was a great read-through.
{Spoilers, but it's only 6 chapters so}
So this manga revolves around a multi-generational all-female household. There's a grandmother, her two daughters, and one of the daughter's two daughters. So five women in total. And it's about their daily lives, obviously because it's slice of life.
I think something that makes this manga more intriguing than others is that it doesn't paint this perfect picture of how life will look like when you're 30. The two daughters are working women, 30, and seemingly not close to marriage. The two older women are trying to mend the past and their kind of falling out with one another. If you end up reading this, it's interesting to look at their family dynamic and the lives that each one individually leads. The mangaka was definitely very smart in how they chose to intersperse knowledge here and there to let the reader come to some of their own conclusions before revealing what was really going on. And all throughout there were super lovable characters like the rakugo guy and how he fell in love with one of the sisters. That was really wholesome. Or how the other sister had this guy who fell in love with her. He helped her realize that she really did want to work full-time and to not be scared of failure. And when they never confess their love it really gets me. I dunno why, but the whole thing of "I can't tell him/her about my feelings because it'll just get in the way of their dreams" is super sweet but also stupid noble. Really just gets me feeling some type of way aiya.
Overall, I'd say it was a wonderful 6 chapters. It was short, but there was a lot of feelings and stories to be shown all throughout and it was a great read-through.
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