Manga Match 81 Mademoiselle Butterfly

On the MangaRock app, they have these categories about like historical shoujo or about geisha in the red light district or something along those lines. For some reason I'm really attracted to them lately. Not in like a perverse way or anything weird like that, but just the stories they tell and the vibe of them is really interesting to me. I'm sure I'll get over this weird stage soon enough, but they're just really different. You should really try to read one, they're pretty good.

{Spoilers and there's an actual plot this time}

This takes place in the Showa era where it was still common for girls of poor families to be sold off as geishas. Our main character, Butterfly, yes her name is Butterfly, is a young girl who befriends the neighboring tattoo artist Chinatsu. All this time, Butterfly has constantly bothered this guy while he's working and just whenever because he's literally right next door. You can already see where this is going. And you can already tell I like it because it's my favorite childhood friend trope. Anyways, as Butterfly grows up, she begins to realize that her feelings for Chinatsu go beyond just friends. This climaxes when Butterfly gets sold to some random visiting European dude and she solidifies her feelings for Chinatsu. Eventually she gets returned because Chinatsu bought her back or something, I don't really know how this all happened. This transaction and seeing Butterfly's love for him, confirmed Chinatsu's feelings as well that Butterfly was no longer an innocent child. You start to see this transition within him because before, when she was a child, Butterfly would always ask for a tattoo but Chinatsu would only paint with ink on top of her skin. However, when he realizes his feelings for her, he then accepts that she wants to be tattooed and then gives her a beautiful butterfly tattoo. And honestly it's pretty wholesome because he treasures her so much, even though this frustrates her that he treats her as a child under his care rather than as a love interest. But this just makes it cuter somehow? I dunno, it's hard to explain which is why you should just read it for yourself and see!

The main point of this manga, or the climax I guess, was when Chinatsu was drafted to fight in the war. At the time, Butterfly became pregnant and they had to separate for a while, with Butterfly safe in her father-in-law's house. And at one point they believed Chinatsu to be dead. But don't worry! There's a happy ending to the story. Chinatsu comes back from the war, physically unscathed and the family is reunited!

I would definitely recommend the manga. It's pretty wholesome and sweet, with Butterfly not being incredibly annoying, and all of the characters being really sincere and consistent with their character motivations and actions and everything like that. For a 10 chapter work it's incredibly well-done and somehow really endearing.

Manga Match 82 Kuzumi-kun, Can't You Read the Room?

Recently, a lot of the manga I've been reading have been completing which is both satisfying and sad all at the same time. It's satisfying because I'm such a completionist, but also sad because the story's over and we won't ever get to see the canon of what happens in the future.

{Spoilers, except it's slice of life so we're in it for character interaction not plot}

This is definitely more of a comedy than a true shoujo. But in some ways I think it really embodies what it means to be in love when you're young. These characters don't put up a front of being more mature than they really are, and genuinely try to wear their hearts on their sleeves. I would mention all of the side characters, but I'm kind of lazy and bad with names so I don't want to pull up everyone's names. But just know that they're all solid friends and truly deserve the best.

I think I liked the manga so much just because it wasn't like a lot of shoujo I've been seeing nowadays where it's all about kissing and going on dates and love triangles and drama. Instead this is a very contained love story between a popular tsundere and a guy that doesn't talk that much. Think kind of Takagi-san vibes, but with more tsundere and less flirting?

For the most part, I think the most entertaining part is seeing Erika struggle with her feelings. Not in a sadistic way or anything, but seeing her initial denial of her feelings and how she comes to terms with how deeply in love she is with Kuzumi and how she awkwardly deals with and expresses her feelings is great. At times the manga can be frustrating, especially since Kuzumi rarely says anything. However, despite the lack of verbal communication the two have, it's still a wonderful romance to watch unfold.

If you're getting tired of love triangles and a lot of drama, and want a more lowkey and peaceful shoujo manga, this is it. I think that characters develop so well and it's such a happy and wholesome ending that really fills your heart to the brim. Please go ahead and read it!

Manga Match 80 Yoru Cafe

If I spent more time watching anime, I definitely wouldn't have been beat out by V. But instead here I am reading countless novels about ikemen. Am I sorry? A little bit. But for now it's alright to spend my young adult years tucked safely away into the worlds inside these different manga.

{Spoilers, except it's shoujo so you already know}

Well, the first order of business is to clarify that this is a reverse harem. There's this girl Hina and she's recently been widowed. Her former partner was this billionaire guy that was old enough to be her father. When he passed away, she vowed to never love anyone again, but of course this sweet man didn't want his beloved wife to be alone forever. So he set up this shop called Queen's Cafe (you can guess who the queen is lol) and filled it with three ikemen that, unbeknownst to her, were her options for remarriage.

It's pretty sweet though because even though those ikemen were put there just as her marriage options mostly out of obligation to Hina's husband, they were all able to mend each others' wounds in small ways by just supporting each other. And you got to understand a little bit of the backstories about each of the members and how they were related to Hina's late husband.

For a 15 chapter story, it was decently fleshed out. There were a lot of parts where it felt kind of forced and jammed in there, but for the most part it was decent. The only one that I really disliked was the lawyer. He was some random dude that fell in love with Hina, only to find out that he was Hina's husband's lawyer. And then once the husband died he thought it was his turn to swoop in on her and the makeshift family she found in the cafe. And he was kinda creepy about it. Sure, it could've been a lot worse, but he was also lowkey a stalker.

Would I recommend this manga? It was pretty good I guess. A lot of parts were sudden like when Hina fell in love even though she vowed to never fall in love again. Like why did she fall in love with this guy? I dunno, just seems like they could've gotten to know each other better before the whole thing. So maybe the chemistry was just a little bit off. In a nutshell, you could definitely find a better manga. And I don't have that much experience with reverse harem manga to recommend anything better, but I'm sure they're out there somewhere.

Manga Match 79 Mune ga Naru no wa Kimi no Sei // & a short aside about the importance of shoujo manga

I really should've reviewed this manga before I forgot all about it. I wasn't forgetful necessarily because I was busy, in fact I could do with some more busywork. But because I had some time to fill I just kept adding to my list of manga until I could no longer keep a lot of them straight. Such is the life of a manga glutton :')

{No spoilers because I forgot a lot of it}

I guess if I were to sum up the whole manga I'd say it's just a compilation or rather the model for your stereotypical shoujo manga. It's got the hard-working and sweet protagonist Tsukasa and the tall, dark, and handsome love interest that comes to her rescue, Arima. And then you've got kind of my least favorite additions to the love triangle, or in this case a love square (is it a love square because both of them have someone that's crushing on them? or two separate love triangle?). I see least favorite because I hate seeing the manipulative ex's like Arima's ex that totally uses her accident as an excuse to get back together with Arima. And then the playboy time which is the epitome of the guy pursuing Tsukasa...I guess sometimes the playboy trope is...ok? Actually I'm not even sure if it is, but if you ever meet someone like him in real life please run away. I'm worried for your safety. 

Would I recommend this manga? Maybe if you've never read a shoujo manga before and you want the most vanilla one out there just to test it out. But otherwise, I would say that even if you're starting out with shoujo, you won't really know what you want or what you like unless you experiment. Do you like forbidden love? Do you like love triangles? Do you want it to be a high school setting for some slice of life/school life? Do you like a more jokester love interest? Do you want it to be more wholesome? Do you like perhaps a tragedy? A comedy? 

Oftentimes I think shoujo is something written off as childish and full of like unrealistic moments that make your heart race, and yeah sure maybe shoujo is a little like that. But I also feel like it allows you to have a lot of different experiences you wouldn't have otherwise been able to have. And it's just fun to read! To live vicariously through some pages and dream some unrealistic dreams sometimes. 

Manga Match 78 The Lion and the Bride

You know, there was a point in my life that I really enjoyed in a twisted sort of way when things took kind of a weird turn in manga like this. It's hard to explain, but I mean in like Daytime Shooting Star when she ended up going out with the classmate instead of the hot teacher. Those kinds of twists. And I think I still might be in that phase of my life. Because I was up until 3 AM reading this. Aiya.

{Spoilers because there's a strange plot here and it didn't make much sense I think it's because I was up late reading it}

So, there's this girl named Yua and her parents died. She's been living with her grandmother who also falls ill. And she's been dating her teacher for a while now. Then her grandmother dies and her teacher asks her to marry him and because she's young and naive she says yes and is in for a huge surprise when she gets home. It turns out that her classmate Subaru is Sensei's son. And that means that she's kind of his mom?

And then all sorts of ridiculous stuff happens. It's like in a regular shoujo with the whole love triangle except it's between father and son which is YIKES as you can imagine. And then Sensei's ex-wife comes back and it turns out his love for her honestly has never faded which deeply hurts Yua. And so they decide to divorce. Except, plot twist, Sensei never submitted the papers so she's all clear. And then along the way she realizes that she really loves Subaru. Which is the major plot twist to me.

The whole thing was honestly a wild ride. I definitely wasn't expecting this when I picked it up, but there we go. That was the whole manga.

Something that I thought was really interesting was how Yua talked. Sometimes she would refer to herself as "beautiful and perfect" and I wonder if that has to do with her trying to reassure herself of her worth because she's gone through so many dark times. I could be reading too much into it because it could just be the translator's interpretation. Who knows?

Overall, if you like really dramatic plot twists this would be a good manga to read. Or if you can't decide if you like childish guys (Subaru) or older and mature men (Sensei) more then you don't have to choose. You can have both in this manga. I can't say that I've ever seen this premise in any other manga, so if nothing else it's an interesting read.