Manga Match 36 Love Barometer

Well, I've been busier than ever these days. I don't know how people work and go to school full time. If I had to do this for a sustained amount of time I might actually die. It kind of sucks working three days a week and going to school for the other 4. Seriously draining. On a happier note though, the weather today was really nice. It was clear blue July skies and the planes flying through look suspended in time and space. It kind of how I imagine being a fish and looking up to see a whale above swimming along serenely. I might just have a weird affinity for whales if I'm being honest. Once I wrote a story, god knows it's been a long time since I've written anything, about whales and noise pollution. Well, actually it was for a scholarship contest, but I misread the deadline and never ended up being able to submit it which is a shame. It was pretty good for my writing at the time...not that it's gotten any better because I haven't been writing anything at all recently.

{Spoilers}

I think it's becoming more apparent to me that in a lot of these romance manga/manhwa I've been reading these days there contains this message about judgment and terrible people in this world. A lot of the time the protagonist will be dogged by these judgments and people, and I've just been thinking that this kind of story line is so common and how reading so many of these where the protagonist goes through this similar thing of rumors going around about them and about misunderstandings among other things is really a reminder of how we shouldn't judge people because we don't know their full story. Funny enough though, this kind of mindset makes me overly empathetic and I sometimes fail to cut out toxic people fast enough because I give them too much of the benefit of the doubt. This was so off topic and probably no one understood that train of thought, not even me lol.

Okay, right off the bat I've got to be honest and say the art style didn't really appeal to me at the beginning of the manhwa. I wasn't immediately sucked into this world, and I didn't really know if I wanted to be. I almost didn't even read the entire first chapter before doubting if I would really stick it out until the end. However, I decided to pursue it, just to see how far I could get before something either caught my eye or turned me away from the series altogether. And the thing that caught my eye was Sado's strawberry point. Like his shirt was strawberry themed, his socks, his food, his phone charm. It was a weird thing to hold me to the series, but that's really what made me keep reading. Then, after the strawberry thing wore, off I became attached to this pure romance that was blooming between Chaewoon and Sado. The way that Sado showed his steadfast affection for Chaewoon and the way that they both cared for each other really just did something for my heart. Maybe it was because the creator wrote both of them as such righteous characters that were so admirable that it just seemed so right to see them end up together. Every single scene where they were goofy and in love just left all of these warm fuzzies into my heart that I didn't invite, but ones that just nestled their way in.

And it wasn't just a two dimensional story, no. It held within it commentary on other characters that are prevalent archetypes in romance manhwa like the jealous popular girl and the sleazy guy that everyone falls for. In the case of the guy, it was more of a lesson on how perspective is everything. At the time, when Chaewoon was a freshman she thought that that guy was amazing and all-powerful, but then two years later she was able to step back and with Sado's help, come to realize that in actuality he was just a weak and shallow guy that had no power over her. Sounds kind of cheesy when I recap, but I think if you've ever been through a relationship with a guy kind of like that you'd be reassured. Mhm. And then in the case of the jealous popular girl, Hanna, it goes more into her inferiority complex. Her story probably resonated a little bit too much with me. The whole comparison thing really hit home. Comparison really is the thief of happiness, but for some reason it seems to always come back and haunt me. I'm not trying to say that Hanna wasn't to blame or anything, but she had her reasons for what she did and how she reacted.

And then can we just talk about Sado and his relationship with his family? First of all his relationship with his sisters right away was just the most adorable thing. But then once it goes further into why exactly he's so nice to them and how for the first little while he didn't even know they existed was really shocking and intense. Nevertheless, I'm glad that although Sado's mom and dad were questionable folks, at least he and his sisters had their grandparents and were able to grow up into outstanding members of society with hearts of gold.

So, there's that. I'd like to say that after reading all of these romance manhwa that I've suddenly become some sort of love expert, however that's sadly not the case lol. Oh well heh :') I can't really justify reading all of these, but it's a great way to spend time in my three hour long stats class. *yikes*

Oh, and this has a really great bonus arc at the end. Besides the part where it shows what would've happened if Sado and Chaewoon would've met in high school instead of college, the historical drama bonus arc was amazing. Like A1 quality right there. 10/10 would read the whole series just for that. I mean, it's not even that long, only 60 episodes.

Yep, so if you're looking for a love story so sweet you'll get a toothache (idk what that feels like tbh it's just an expression) this is the love story you're looking for. It's got nice development, a great supporting cast, and many doki-doki times.

TBH I choked when he said the Oxford dictionary was in the pillow. Like honestly I've also thought about sleeping with my textbook underneath my pillow in hopes of information osmosis occurring lol

asdfghjkl; poor Mingyu this pure boi is a very cute cupid and I hope he finds happiness in the future

:') this was just really funny with Sado shining like the sun

Can you tell I only screenshotted really amusing stuff this time? Heh. Also, lowkey I thing Jangyu liked Chaewoon as well :((((( which makes me kind of sad because he's a great guy, but he's even greater for letting Chaewoon x Sado happen

Manga Review 20 Watashi ni xx Shinasai!

I'm pretty sure this is a well-known manga by most otakus, but I found out about this manga by a friend. Randomly one day she asked me if I'd ever read it and if I hadn't that I should. She knows me so well, in fact she was the one that got me into anime in the first place. We sometimes joke that she was the one that led me astray and into this unstoppable addiction.

{Spoilers}

Yukina lives a double life; by day she's a regular junior high student without many friends because of her habit of staring at people and her icy cold gaze and by night she's a sensational cellphone novelist. Because of her readers wanting more romance in her stories, Yukina shifted her genre from friendship and adventure to romance which led to some difficulty since she didn't know anything about romance. One thing led to another and she ended up roping the school's prince and golden boy Shigure into doing missions with her. Things wouldn't be complete without a complicated love web with Shigure and Akira loving Yukina and Mami loving Shigure and then Akira and Hisame loving Mami and pretending to love Yukina. It's not even close to a triangle, it's just a mess.

As far as the plot and pacing goes I'd say it was perfect. There's a reason it's so well-known (besides me because I dunno a whole lot of mangas) with the pacing keeping you satisfied but just hungry enough to know what happens next to keep you on the edge of your seat. There was never a useless character or a pointless arc. It was a well constructed piece of art. It was a true coming-of-age in terms of Yukina slowly realizing what love was. At the beginning she was only after physical love, thinking that that was all you needed to be 'in love' and after her readers commented that something was missing between the two main characters of her story she slowly started to realize that there was something beyond the physical aspect of love. In some ways this inward struggle as you start to date people for something beyond their looks and more for the bond that the two of you share is relatable to Yukina's inner turmoil as she tries to figure out what exactly love is and how it feels. And it's not always easy as Yukina soon finds out. In fact it's really hard when things are thrown in her way like Akira's love for her and her love for him which are both love, just not the same love. Or when she realizes that her first love was for her kindergarten teacher and she wasn't sure if she was over it yet. She hadn't learned about the different kinds of love and what they meant. And the way the author so poignantly describes the different sensations of the varieties of love that Yukina experiences leaves the reader with a feeling of turmoil, of confusion, of sadness, of happiness all alongside her.

Although most of the manga is based upon Yukina's experience as she finds out what love is, alongside her journey is the people around her also learning what love is. The person she most directly touches is Shigure. Their relationship at first is rocky with the dynamics between them cloudy. The waters start to clear once the missions aren't just for blackmail purposes anymore, but are actions with intentions of discovery and love behind them. With Yukina, Shigure can take off the golden boy mask he wears with everyone and that's really the key to his heart. When he's able to be genuine with someone and learns to love someone truly and deeply it allows him to become the kind of person he was on the inside and let it shine through towards the outside. Without Yukina he would've never been able to let loose and let go of the perfect image in front of his stepfather. As far as Hisame goes, his love was a bit more complicated. If I were to stick a label on it "tsundere" would be the closest thing. Except his version is an extreme one. At times when he's talking about his novel as Dolche his fantasies turned into novel points seem almost obsessively manic. However, even though he lives in a world of fantasy it's hard not to love him and fall a little bit in love with his teenaged confusion. He doesn't know how to express his feelings and, like Yukina, starts to lose his way a little bit into the pit of physical contact without love behind those actions. His feelings for Mami were rather convoluted, but came from a good place in his heart where he wanted the best for her. As for Mami, she's probably the pure maiden type in this story. She's the most mature and knowledgeable when it comes to romance and reading one's own feelings which allows her to transition from loving Shigure to loving Akira in one of the smoothest parts of the manga. But it doesn't mean she doesn't have her own chip in her shoulder. She's a bit of a crybaby, but that makes her even more adorable and she never gives up (refer to the Christmas extra chapter). Akira was maybe one of the most bittersweet characters in the manga. He loves Yukina unconditionally and with an undying devotion. He was willing to be anyone she wanted him to be and do anything for her. And he still didn't end up with the girl. It wasn't the right kind of love. But he was mature and let her go. He was still her guardian angel, her knight in the wings. He deserves a lot of cute plushies and hugs.

Beyond the characters themselves and the plot and the pacing and all the great things about this novel, was the feelings I got from this. Maybe because the pacing was so great and the characters so well developed that I was able to get a lot of romantic feelings. Or maybe because it was so relatable on the level of finding out about love and not really knowing how you're feeling that made it resonate so deeply with me. (In a non mystical way, just a heart-touching kinda feel)

One thing I have to point out though, is that it is rather sexual and I don't think it's that realistic for a middle schooler to have these thoughts and feelings. It feels rather mature for middle schoolers. Like I don't know what middle schoolers these days are doing, but I sure don't think they think about things quite like this. It seemed more of a high school kind of feeling because realistically middle schoolers aren't quite so, developed? Or so I thought way back when 6 ish years ago.

Overall this was a brilliant manga. I was telling my friend how it gave me actuall doki-dokis. I felt my heart actually pump faster, which is kind of cheesy but it's the truth. It's one of the best shoujo mangas I've ever read. It feels complete, it feels whole, it gives you the most pleasant feeling once you're done reading it. I really recommend reading it if you're puzzling out your love life or just want something kind of dramatic but really fun to read.

Manga Review 19 Faster Than a Kiss

I've been going through some of the shoujo manga on this list I stumbled across on the Internet because completed manga are somewhat harder to find and sift through. I've been picking out the more interesting looking ones and just browsing and to be honest nothing is really that exciting.

So the premise of this manga is a girl named Fumino and her little brother Teppei are orphaned and shuttled from one unhappy house to another until her teacher decides to end her suffering...permanently. Haha I made it sound really ominous right? But it's not really. Instead she demands he marry her and he really did...or did he? And so the entirety of the manga is based around the forbidden relationship between sensei and student and the awkwardness that comes along with the age gap between a more mature person and a person that is still developing. And it revolves quite a bit around the physical aspect of their relationship. One problem I have with manga is the fact that they dance around the forbidden nature of a kiss and sexual intercourse as if they were the same, and while I guess they both count as physical contact they're kind of on different levels, not to forget the fact that they kiss on the cheek and neck seemingly without a problem. That's just a sort of dissonance and skew in logic that I don't necessarily agree with. It certainly gave a lot of tension and suspense with the question of "when with they kiss?!"

Even though this manga is a shoujo/slice of life mashup, it's extremely slow paced. It's actually the same arc over and over again. It goes love triangle, almost being found out, love triangle, almost being found out etc over and over. In terms of length it's pretty medium in duration with its 57 chapters, but they felt so long and drawn out. I personally didn't like the pacing and the fact that it was just the same arcs over and over again. I would've probably liked it more if there weren't so many of the same arc. I understand that repetition is unavoidable. If Fumino just accepted Kazuma's affections right away that would've been extremely unnatural and wouldn't have allowed for a more natural progression of their relationship. It allowed for Fumino's emotions to develop gradually, even though I think most high school girls would react differently in this case.

There were some small inconsistencies as well. For instance, Fumino is portrayed as a bit of a ganster-like figure, although I'd like to say that it was more of a hero for justice. It plays upon the cliche of the girl being strong, but not realizing that it's okay to rely on someone as well. There was definitely the strong emphasis of Fumino having to rely on someone else...but if she's able to punch a guy trying to harass her friend I don't think she'd need sensei's help quite so much.

In terms of relationships in the manga, they were a bit random. Like her uncle's relationship with his martial arts student. Pretty unnecessary, but cute at the same time. I guess that lent his psyche towards being more empathetic in regards to the relationship with a large age difference between sensei and Fumino. Ah, Kurosawa. The guy that showed up and had one of those spontaneous high school crushes on Fumino, promised to show her the benefits of having a boyfriend the same age as her...disappeared for a lot of chapters even though they were at school and could meet all the time...and then came back towards the end without making a move. And he wondered why it ended up like that. Consistency is key as we learned from the number of times sensei saved Fumino and showered her with affection. Something else kind of random and what felt a bit childish was Shouma's crush on Fumino. He already had Meg and it was almost established that they would go out, but in the end it seemed as though Shouma liked Fumino after she showed her good sides while admiring sensei. So I feel like all of these crushes are a bit superficial. They're all like "oh he/she's so nice and brave" without any other real substance. Fluffy.

Overall, if you're looking for something fluffy and doesn't take a lot of brain power you could read this. It's a medium read, perfect to download for a three or four hour flight. It's the same arc over and over again and it's not one you get super emotionally invested in. It's like watching a Disney movie, you know you're going to be satisfied with the ending so there's no real reason to get stressed out while the plot unwinds. I think there's better manga out there, but this is a pretty good relaxing one.

Here's some screenshots for you *throws confetti*

I would say that you could just read this for the little oneshot that's in the middle of the series because it's actually really good. I really enjoyed it.

He lifts. 

I present to you Hell's Ma-kun turned Prince Charming.

This was actually one of the highlights. Teppei was such comic relief, but he made the series so enjoyable.

The dynamic between Kazuma and his dad is pretty common in manga, but it gets me every time

Shot to the heart. Poor Shouma

You really can't help but feel sorry for Shouma

Manga Ramble 18 Chocolate Cosmos

Whenever my parents come into my room while I blog I feel really awkward. Because even though I'm going to college in the fall and I have a job and I'm by no means the proverbial child living in their parents' basement, I still feel like it when I blog. Heh.

One thing I noticed when it comes to older manga is that they're more predictable and cliche. Well, in some senses. If I had to define this manga in a single phrase I'd say that it's Daytime Shooting Star but with a happy ending if you know what I mean. While I'm definitely not saying anything against Daytime Shooting Star because I frickin loved that manga, the ending surely shook me to the core. In this manga the protagonist Sayuki has a lot of romantic idealizations that don't come true because she has a strict appearance. However when she's on the beach she has a chance encounter with a handsome stranger who awkwardly enough...goes to her school...and is her teacher. How she didn't recognize that dude as her teacher I have no idea, but hey he's cute. But everyone else seems to think he's cute as well which makes it hard for her to get close to him. Even though she makes every effort to get close to him, it seems like he will never reciprocate her feelings. Except he does. Because this is entirely unrealistic because the only thing that sets her apart from the other girls is that encounter on the beach. But I suppose all shoujo manga romances have to be based upon something similar anyways. To feed the fantasies of all the teenage girls. And so they get together and live happily ever after. That's the easy summary anyways.

Of course there's some maybe love triangles and some hints at other relationships. For example it seems like Sayuki's senpai or her senpai's older sister might've been Katsuya's past lover or perhaps even current love interest. This suspicion only lasts a chapter to be frank. A more subtle but more constant love conflict is the maybe love between Yuushi and Sayuki with the whole childhood trope and all. But that's addressed with Sayuki laying her old feelings for Yuushi to rest and Yuushi being the great guy he is and saying that he's okay with her dating another guy. It would've been a cute relationship. But it also would've been like Daytime Shooting Star and leave me scarred forever. They had me there for a second, they really did.

To address why I thought this was like Daytime Shooting Star but with a better ending it has to do with the premise and how it was resolved. While there was the whole drama with other people being involved in the romance, it boiled down to the teacher and the student. And while there was the whole drama with what if they were found out that was quickly resolved with Yuushi's sacrifice. So it was a more simplified version of the plot. Not to mention that the teacher and student actually ended up together. I'm still amazed at that. I thought the whole reason they avoid the route of the teacher and student actually ending up together is legal reasons. But huh go figure! (Just kidding, it's just speculation since I've read other manga where the teacher and student end up together, it's just a more rare outcome is all)

Overall it's a pretty short read. It's only 16 chapters long. The plot is easy to follow and the character mentality is easy to relate to. It's simplistic and ends happily. Not too shabby at all. I recommend reading this if you're in the mood for something lighter and happy.

This was just a little extra, but it was so funny and innocent I had to add it in.

Yuushi shenanigans

Yuushi x Hagiwara sensei

"Yuushi is very pure" :') smol

"I was shy in middle school" Man I love Yuushi

Lookit this happily ever after

Breaking the fourth wall and it's glorious. It feels like when you stick until the end of the movie and there's a little silly outtake. Those are some of my favorites.

Manga Ramble 17 16 Life

The tricky thing about manga reviews is that unless they're really old or they're really short they're not complete yet. And it's hard to fairly and properly review something that hasn't been completed. So I've been reading some older mangas just to keep an unequal balance in my review ratio (let's forget about the ratio of baking posts please).

So this is a fairly short manga with only 11 chapters and another filler sort of episode. It revolves around this girl who is fairly average with no real aspirations. Her friends say she should go into music, but while her family is musically inclined, she herself feels like she's not worthy of pursuing the same career. When she goes to sing karaoke by herself she's scouted and under some unfortunate circumstances turned into a singer. Because of the short duration of this manga, the plot is very rushed. The rationale the author tries to whip up behind the whirlwind romance between the protagonist and the main love interest is quite rushed, but might actually happen in show business. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors? But anyways the way it plays out it seems like Takase only kisses Saya at all to convince her to stay on as a singer against her wish to stop singing for fear she isn't good enough. It seems his actions if interpreted in a certain way all point to him selfishly doing this for his own gain rather than for true feelings for Saya. With the cliche point of falling in love just because someone passionately kissing you *cough* Saya *cough* and the other cliche of falling instantly in love because of seeing Saya work hard, you've got yourself an extremely cliche manga. Though it's full of cliches and an extremely straightforward plot, it's not to say that this wasn't a little bit uplifting all the same. Saya does become a successful performer (thank god there was no arc about her sister becoming jealous and sabotaging her) and she and Takase end up living happily ever after. There was a slight hiccup with some other random Erina girl trying to monopolize Takase, but that's pretty easily wrapped up. Same with the problem of Saya resembling Takase's ex. There's not a whole lot of drawn out conflict at all.

Overall if you're into a shorter read and you want something that's not very stressful this is a good one for you. It's heartwarming, it's earnest, and it's just got this kind of innocence about it. That's probably due to the fact that she's 16 and naive, but it's just cute. And the ending is very satisfying if you love happily ever afters.

I just thought this was funny because he's like "Let's go eat bear paw" and she's like "wtf nah man I'll take a hamburger"

Ah, I forgot to mention the meaningless love triangle (if you could even call it that) with Takase, Saya, and this blonde boy. It doesn't really do much and it's kinda pointless, but eh it's there.

Manga Review 14 Kawaiitte Itteyo

Well it's been a while. I usually pre-schedule my posts so you can't see it from my side, but I've been taking a break due to testing. But if you follow this blog consistently you wouldn't know unless you've been told (Do you feel like an exclusive insider now? Cool right?) Anyways, onto the actual review.

Like with most manga, it's easy to find ones that are a dime-a-dozen without a different sort of approach to plot or character development. To me these are the most important thing because what's a story without plot. It's like a sandwich with no filling, good bread but not a good sandwich. So what I have to say about this manga is it's good for the short term fuzzy feelings inside, but it's not great if you're looking for a more in depth sort of bildungsroman or something along those lines. This probably has to do with the fact that this is a shorter manga. It only has four chapters which makes it a quick read, especially since each chapter is a different pairing and a different season (or at least I think that's what the author was going for). Because of the brevity of each set of characters' appearance it was hard to make more than a shallow connection with the character before the plot was advanced and sped up. I guess this is the problem with shorter manga; you just can't get the same content with a limited amount of space. In addition, it's kind of funny how old fashioned it is. Like the style is very simplistic and while that could be a reason to like it, ya know so you can focus more on the plot, it did sort of bother me that the characters floated in space at some points. But maybe that's just me being picky.

Overall I'd say that you could go ahead and read the manga if you're bored and just want a quick pick-me-up, but don't expect much from this. Like it's cute, but nothing special.