Manga Review 12 Annarasumanara

What just happened. I literally binged that all at once. Ughhh Ilkwon Ha is a master. Truly amazing.

(Just saying, I wrote this original post on 4 hours of sleep in the midst of studying for an AP Bio test. My soul had left my body at that point.)

This story had such surrealistic vibes. It was a wild ride. Just visually it was absolutely breathtaking. There were pops of color but otherwise it was a poignant grayscale. It was everything all at once. It was impactful. It was beautiful. It was meaningful. It was insightful. The list honestly goes on.

It deals with the unrealistic expectations and demands families often place on their children. It deals with societal expectations. It deals with having to grow up in the face of hardship. And most of all it just pulled at my heartstrings.

While I was reading this I didn’t cry...but i was damn close to. Just the illusions that L would create to make 'real magic' was honestly a whirlwind. This genre definitely wasn't romance like it said it would be. It honestly doesn't even really need the romance to stand on its own two feet. It’s got this amazing vibe to it where some of the images are photographs while others are pure drawings. The marriage of these two give it a more realistic and tangible feel than it otherwise would. This was a clever move on the artist’s part because it made it almost seem like an anchor to ground the readers that might get completely lost in the illusions L spins. Imagine Oyasumi Punpun and Paradise Kiss (but a more PG version) and magic all wrapped into a giant bundle of everything you could never imagine for yourself.

This work is so artfully done and so well thought out that it honestly amazes me that more people don't talk about this masterpiece. Everything about the characters and the plot are so well thought out and the visuals that show their interactions without any dialogue whatsoever speak volumes. Just take Ildeung for instance. At the beginning you can’t help but take him at his face value where his face is almost half his body. But as you read through the 28 chapters (that absolutely destroy you and make you reflect on your life), you begin to realize why the author did what they did. It’s truly amazing the depths to which this story transports you.

It’s a piece that transports you to a magical, kind of desolate dimension. I think that anyone would enjoy a piece like this because it’s short (almost too short T^T), it gets to the point, and it’s extremely impactful in the message it gives. It’s not a "Never grow up" type message as you might think when you first read it through, its more of a "Follow your dreams as best you can and hold on to them tight".

You can already tell it's going to be riveting when even this has got you mesmerized.

See those surrealistic vibes?

Old habits die hard hehe

*waits for a continuation that will never come because even the ending was beautiful*

Manga Review 1 Kitchen Princess

I told myself a while ago that I would grow sick of shoujo manga just like I did with fan fiction and then I'd be able to move on with my life. Sadly that has not happened yet. I hope it happens soon because I can only take so much more; this is just an endless cycle of self-destruction I swear. Anyways without further ado: here is my first manga review (even though I wanted to bake today but I woke up late).

{Not Spoiler Free}

One of the simple joys in my life is the joy of reading complete manga. You know why? Because then I don't have to worry about cliff hangers and have to keep 20+ tabs open on my phone just for manga. I don't let people use my phone for this reason. It's quite embarrassing having to explain your obsession with other people who don't understand.

So I came across this manga by accident because I was searching through one shot manga (refer to my love for completed manga) even though this one clearly wasn't a one shot. It's a relatively short manga with around 47 chapters, not including the sections where the author includes recipe. Yes this manga does indeed provide the readers with the recipe to recreate every single thing made in the series which I found to be a nice touch.

This is a bit of an old school manga mostly because it is from 2005-2008, so the eyes are really really big which can get a little scary after a while. Big eyes are cute but this was a little too much.

The story itself was okay. It kind of reminded me of Nisekoi where the main character has a treasured item and spend their whole lives fixated on finding the one who gave it t them, in this case Najika's spoon and her Flan Prince. At first this was a really cute story. Najika was bullied by the most popular girl in school over a boy and then later became friends by said popular girl Akane. The fact that the author humanized Akane by displaying her humanity and weakness as a normal person striving for perfection was really touching. The author didn't have to show Akane having an eating disorder, but I think personally that was a really nice touch to humanize her.

My favorite character is Hagio-sensei. She's such a cute old lady and is always so supportive of Najika. Her presence in the manga is so soothing and when the setting is at Lavender House I inwardly sigh in satisfaction.

Since this was a shoujo manga, romance was to be expected. However, did it have to be like this? Did Sora really have to die? Couldn't she just have realized that her feelings were for Daichi instead somehow? Did they really have to kill off the princely character? No. But they did. I think all three of the guys were kind of similar. Daichi was a bit of a tsundere, Sora was the mature, prince, and Seiya was stuck up which makes them all different. But I felt like they were still vaguely similar. Maybe it was just me reading this manga late at night or what but I just got that impression of similarity.

The fact that the manga ended with Daichi as the Flan Prince made the story feel really satisfying and full circle. It wasn't the best manga I've ever read by any means, but it was still fairly good. Mostly I just liked the fact that it was a cooking/baking manga. I feel like we need more of these in the anime/manga community. Props to the author for this culinary piece and adding to the culinary section of the manga/anime world.

Awh just look at these two!! Just look at them!!!

Still secretly happy that she ended up with Daichi even though it was only through Sora dying that the ship sailed.