This was one of the first anime that I remember watching and it heavily influenced my desire as a child to become a patissiere just like Ichigo. When I grew up I realized that baking was more of a hobby than a career for me. And especially since I've seen so many amazing baked creations and such on Instagram, I'm really glad I didn't go to college for a business degree. LOL I wanted to be a business major so I could really run my own baking business. I think we dodged a bullet there.
The manga version of Yumiero Patissiere is a little different from the anime. In the anime, the romance was definitely left more open-ended from my memory so that they could make that sequel where they're all adults. But all of the characters are pretty much the same and the story follows very true to the anime. So really I didn't read it for anything new, I read it for some sort of creature comfort I would say.
The manga and anime both follow this girl with an incredible sense of taste which goes along well with her creative imagination. She's scouted by one of the best pastry chefs in the world and ends up going to this super elite baking academy called St. Marie Academy. There she meets Kashino, Hanabusa, and Andou aka the Sweets Princes. She's thrust into this world and has to work really hard at practicing her baking skills to catch up to everyone else. Thanks to her hard work and practice she's able to flourish at the Academy despite her klutzy nature.
There's definitely a level of fantastical magic going on here with the element of Sweets Spirits. The Academy is actually connected to the Sweets Kingdom which is this lovely magical world where little fairies make sweets and come to the human world to apprentice with the dream of becoming Royal Patissieres.
And the story basically just follows the main four and their sweets spirits as they all work hard for their dreams. There's nothing more I could ever desire. Maybe it's just because of the nostalgic aspect, but I felt very satisfied reading the whole thing through. If you're also interested in baking or like rather fantastical works, I would say this is a good read. It's definitely very shoujo-y, but it's also inspiring to see how far imagination and hard work can take you. Just a very comfy read that gets you though the tough times.
Showing posts with label school manga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school manga. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Manga Match 90 Classi9
You know, when I picked this manga up I didn't expect to love it so much. I hadn't even realized that I liked it until I got to the end and the scanlator said something along the lines of "even though the ending was rushed because the manga got discontinued, it was still good" which is a sentiment I share. There were a ton of screenshot-worthy and picturesque moments to capture that are both aesthetically pleasing and emotion evoking. Is emotion evoking even a proper phrase?
{Spoilers, but it's pretty light-hearted slice of life}
This story takes place in Vienna with a bunch of famous musicians you've probably heard of all enrolled in the same school. It fallows Taki Ren's experience through the school with familiar arcs such as the music festival and internal competition which could be likened to a school festival and sports competition of sorts. The only thing is, this school is an all-boys academy, so for Ren to enroll, she has to hide her identity and pretend to be a man.
She encounters many famous musicians who are with her in the trouble-making class S- which include Wagner, Back, Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky. Those names should be pretty familiar to you. Each of these famous musicians (and a few bonus characters) are portrayed in the manga in a way vaguely similar to their real life historical counterparts, but with a few artistic liberties taken to make them more personable and engaging in the story. Overall, all of these musicians will wiggle their way into your heart and make you feel like you know each of them by the end. Personally, when the cast of characters is this large, I tend to lose track of who is who and end up frustrated because it seems like a fruitless exercise to get to know everyone. Perhaps because all of their names are familiar or perhaps because each of their personalities and dynamics were so unique, I didn't have quite the same trouble trying to remember everyone's names!
Because this is a slice of life kind of manga, there's no definitive plot per say. It's more about the camaraderie that develops between Class S- and some of the funny antics they get up to because of their eccentric personalities. The class as a whole starts to get closer with the introduction of Ren who catalyzes their relationships into a more intimate one of familial ties which is pretty cute to watch unfold.
Overall, I definitely didn't do a good time persuading anyone to read this. But you should read it regardless of my execution because the story is so good. Usually with manga that have a similar premise, they lose themselves when the plot starts to revolve only around romance. In this case, the romance takes the back seat as each of the musicians works to build the others up and enjoy their time at the school. 10/10 would recommend. I'm not sure why the manga was cut short, but it was wrapped up nicely with a bow of an ending with all of the feels that I'm certain you will enjoy.
{Spoilers, but it's pretty light-hearted slice of life}
This story takes place in Vienna with a bunch of famous musicians you've probably heard of all enrolled in the same school. It fallows Taki Ren's experience through the school with familiar arcs such as the music festival and internal competition which could be likened to a school festival and sports competition of sorts. The only thing is, this school is an all-boys academy, so for Ren to enroll, she has to hide her identity and pretend to be a man.
She encounters many famous musicians who are with her in the trouble-making class S- which include Wagner, Back, Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky. Those names should be pretty familiar to you. Each of these famous musicians (and a few bonus characters) are portrayed in the manga in a way vaguely similar to their real life historical counterparts, but with a few artistic liberties taken to make them more personable and engaging in the story. Overall, all of these musicians will wiggle their way into your heart and make you feel like you know each of them by the end. Personally, when the cast of characters is this large, I tend to lose track of who is who and end up frustrated because it seems like a fruitless exercise to get to know everyone. Perhaps because all of their names are familiar or perhaps because each of their personalities and dynamics were so unique, I didn't have quite the same trouble trying to remember everyone's names!
Because this is a slice of life kind of manga, there's no definitive plot per say. It's more about the camaraderie that develops between Class S- and some of the funny antics they get up to because of their eccentric personalities. The class as a whole starts to get closer with the introduction of Ren who catalyzes their relationships into a more intimate one of familial ties which is pretty cute to watch unfold.
Overall, I definitely didn't do a good time persuading anyone to read this. But you should read it regardless of my execution because the story is so good. Usually with manga that have a similar premise, they lose themselves when the plot starts to revolve only around romance. In this case, the romance takes the back seat as each of the musicians works to build the others up and enjoy their time at the school. 10/10 would recommend. I'm not sure why the manga was cut short, but it was wrapped up nicely with a bow of an ending with all of the feels that I'm certain you will enjoy.
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. This is Chopin, the poet of piano, playing for Liszt and Ren and it looks like they've been transported to an underwater wonderland. Just looking at this image gives me goosebumps.
The internal competition is something that I think, if the manga were to go on, would definitely be a "redemption round" kind of arc if they were to continue on for another year. I mean just look at all these cinnamon rolls helping out their friend.
This whole section of trading partners was amazing. I haven't seen anything quite like this in terms of utilizing both sides of a page in order to create this kind of intimate moment. It weirdly enough reminded me of a father-daughter dance at weddings?
Putting together these screenshots of the manga, I realized that it's been a long time since I've done screenshots. But I hadn't really felt compelled to, even for this manga, until I saw that scene with Chopin playing the piano. I even read past that part and meant to continue my streak of not including pictures, but I just had to go back and capture this. Please please read this! It's so good and so worth it.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Manga Match 87 Manga Dogs
Welcome to my first post of 2020. Currently it's not yet 2020, haha I'm writing these in advance as I finish up some bits and bobs of manga and anime throughout my summer. As my summer classes have wound down and my internship only sporadically assigns me stuff, I'm able to read a lot more and...uh I guess this means I have time to watch a lot more but I'm in a mental block now when it comes to manga. *wheeze*
{Spoilers, except it's really short and more slice-of-lifey rather than plot-heavy}
So, this story follows a girl who's enrolled in a high school that recently launched a track for people interested in becoming mangakas. Honestly the only reason that Kanna enrolled in the school is to have more time for her recently debuted manga Teach Me Buddha. Yes, I do acknowledge that the title is wack and the little inserts of Kanna's manga that the author puts into the actual manga is even more wack. I'd say it's so incredulous that you might want to read the manga just to see these parody clips of her manga. With the help of her joke of an editor, they've certainly turned into a beast of their own.
Between Kanna's genius plan to go to school and work on her manga and antisocial nature, she's not really looking to get a slice-of-life "we love high school and youth" experience out of high school. She's more so looking towards her future of being a professional mangaka and somehow getting her manga out of the bottom rankings of the magazine. This turns out to be difficult when the three other guys that are in her manga-track class start to bother her, calling her Sensei and asking her for advice on being a professional mangaka...all without any of them having any practical experience in basically anything. Whenever there's a contest for making manga, none of them are ever motivated to finish a four panel comic even. But, I think that's part of the charm of this manga, is that the three of these boys aren't there to become professional mangaka per say, but more so there for the experience of youth and to express their love of manga.
Would I say that there's a ton of plot and much of a reason to know everyone's names? Absolutely not. This is an almost entirely fluffy manga that relies on ikemen and bizarre situations to keep you engaged. You can imagine those anime where the main character is totally uninterested in high school and then gets pulled into the whole experience by being forced to join a club or something like that. This gives off the same feeling with extremely wack characters that keep the manga interesting.
Would I recommend this to a friend? Yeah, if the friend were a little down in the dumps and looking for something funny to keep them entertained. Truth be told, I had started this manga before, but dropped it because I just didn't find it engaging enough amidst all of the other manga I was reading. However, I've been going through a mini-kick of manga that are about manga. The inception kind of draws me in and it's funny seeing how mangaka tell the story of their kinda daily lives in terms of the realities of their profession and such. Also, the side panels that are reserved for the mangaka were translated in the scanlation I read and the mangaka is really funny as well. So, it's a good laugh with not a whole lot of plot. But I would still recommend!
{Spoilers, except it's really short and more slice-of-lifey rather than plot-heavy}
So, this story follows a girl who's enrolled in a high school that recently launched a track for people interested in becoming mangakas. Honestly the only reason that Kanna enrolled in the school is to have more time for her recently debuted manga Teach Me Buddha. Yes, I do acknowledge that the title is wack and the little inserts of Kanna's manga that the author puts into the actual manga is even more wack. I'd say it's so incredulous that you might want to read the manga just to see these parody clips of her manga. With the help of her joke of an editor, they've certainly turned into a beast of their own.
Between Kanna's genius plan to go to school and work on her manga and antisocial nature, she's not really looking to get a slice-of-life "we love high school and youth" experience out of high school. She's more so looking towards her future of being a professional mangaka and somehow getting her manga out of the bottom rankings of the magazine. This turns out to be difficult when the three other guys that are in her manga-track class start to bother her, calling her Sensei and asking her for advice on being a professional mangaka...all without any of them having any practical experience in basically anything. Whenever there's a contest for making manga, none of them are ever motivated to finish a four panel comic even. But, I think that's part of the charm of this manga, is that the three of these boys aren't there to become professional mangaka per say, but more so there for the experience of youth and to express their love of manga.
Would I say that there's a ton of plot and much of a reason to know everyone's names? Absolutely not. This is an almost entirely fluffy manga that relies on ikemen and bizarre situations to keep you engaged. You can imagine those anime where the main character is totally uninterested in high school and then gets pulled into the whole experience by being forced to join a club or something like that. This gives off the same feeling with extremely wack characters that keep the manga interesting.
Would I recommend this to a friend? Yeah, if the friend were a little down in the dumps and looking for something funny to keep them entertained. Truth be told, I had started this manga before, but dropped it because I just didn't find it engaging enough amidst all of the other manga I was reading. However, I've been going through a mini-kick of manga that are about manga. The inception kind of draws me in and it's funny seeing how mangaka tell the story of their kinda daily lives in terms of the realities of their profession and such. Also, the side panels that are reserved for the mangaka were translated in the scanlation I read and the mangaka is really funny as well. So, it's a good laugh with not a whole lot of plot. But I would still recommend!
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Manga Match 85 Tomo-chan is a Girl
Well, to anyone that looks at the MAL page and sees that this manga is over 900 chapters...jokes on you. Each chapter is only a page long so it'd moreso in the 4-koma style rather than in actual 35 page or so chapters.
{Spoilers, but it's a pretty short read so there's not too much to say}
Honestly I followed this on and off throughout its publication. Mostly because the chapters were so short and after a while I just found myself gravitating towards other things. However! Because I'm a completionist I just had to finish it and now here we are.
The story follows this clumsy tomboy named Tomo who seems a little rough around the edges. I mean that she has very little self-awareness and is wayyyyy too eager to have competitions and fight because her father owns a martial arts dojo and has taught her since she was young. She has a childhood friend (fave trope!!!) Junichirou who also goes to the dojo. The story loosely follows their developing feelings for one another. It's mostly Tomo pursuing Junichirou at first because he's dumb and only sees her as a sparring partner and friend. Hehe obviously things get more interesting as time goes on with an epic battle at the end.
Interspersed are stories about other characters such as Carol who is actually my favorite. She looks like a dumb airhead, but she's actually a savage I swear. And if you like kuudere girls that're also savage that basically sums up Tomo's other friend Misuzu.
Tomo, Misuzu and Carol honestly make the best trio. Name a more iconic trio, I'll wait.
There's nothing else I can really say. Sorry, I'm just not really good at writing about comedy manga and anime. Just trust me when I say that it's good and go ahead and read it!
{Spoilers, but it's a pretty short read so there's not too much to say}
Honestly I followed this on and off throughout its publication. Mostly because the chapters were so short and after a while I just found myself gravitating towards other things. However! Because I'm a completionist I just had to finish it and now here we are.
The story follows this clumsy tomboy named Tomo who seems a little rough around the edges. I mean that she has very little self-awareness and is wayyyyy too eager to have competitions and fight because her father owns a martial arts dojo and has taught her since she was young. She has a childhood friend (fave trope!!!) Junichirou who also goes to the dojo. The story loosely follows their developing feelings for one another. It's mostly Tomo pursuing Junichirou at first because he's dumb and only sees her as a sparring partner and friend. Hehe obviously things get more interesting as time goes on with an epic battle at the end.
Interspersed are stories about other characters such as Carol who is actually my favorite. She looks like a dumb airhead, but she's actually a savage I swear. And if you like kuudere girls that're also savage that basically sums up Tomo's other friend Misuzu.
Tomo, Misuzu and Carol honestly make the best trio. Name a more iconic trio, I'll wait.
There's nothing else I can really say. Sorry, I'm just not really good at writing about comedy manga and anime. Just trust me when I say that it's good and go ahead and read it!
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, November 14, 2018
Manga Match 43 Clear Up After Rain {Ame Nochi Hare}
Oof. Well I've come to be grateful that when I was working it kept me pretty busy because now, with nothing much to do, I've been pretty bored. Not that that's anything to complain about, I love relaxing, but it makes me anxious for the tumultuous times ahead with a heavy school load. I'm not the only one feeling the pressure as my younger sister is also finding the transition from summer relaxation into schoolwork mayhem to be overwhelming. It's a sobering feeling not really being able to help her, nor really understanding how I can help her. I'm grateful that the conventional teaching methods worked for me, but it also keeps me from being able to really sympathize with my sister.
{Spoilers}
Wow I didn't even know how to transition that so I didn't even try *dab*
I've been browsing some different subsets of anime and there's a pretty popular kind on switching bodies/genders. It started off with a manga recommendation to read Shishunki Bitter Change and then it got me into this manga that's already completed. Clear Up After Rain was a refreshing change to my usual formulaic shoujo reads. It was different in the sense that there was this mystery element of these five boys all changing into girls whenever it rained by a stroke of fate or maybe misfortune. But the mangaka really took it up a notch by adding in the element of not just romance, but the evolution of the boys into people that were sympathetic towards the problems girls had and were able to find romance to treasure through their fateful encounters as both boys and girls towards the people surrounding them. It was a bit stressful at times because it seemed to be only a matter of time until someone found out their secret, however by trusting in the secrecy of the bubbly chairman and the serious dorm head, the five of them were able to keep this gender-change phenomena a secret. Towards the halfway point in the story I couldn't help but feel distress as our five main boys weren't getting any closer to solving the mystery behind their gender change and this becoming an increasing problem in their relations with their love interests. However, it was discovered by Yuusuke that the only way to stop the phenomena was to confess your true feelings to the one you love. And this lead to the conclusion of a diverse group of love interests and their counterparts. For Yuusuke it was maturing enough to realize that love was the one thing he didn't want to have to compete with against his golden boy brother. He realized that the girl he loved was far more important than just a win and wanted to mature enough to truly and sincerely love her. Oof that was the feels. And then there was Madoka who for the majority of the story found his fiancee to be more of a sister than a true love interest. However through seeing her mature as well as the sympathy towards women that he gained through his time as a girl he was able to realize his feelings for her. Not only that, but he was also able to confront the reason why he stopped chasing calligraphy as his career and was pushed forward from his stagnant phase. And then the last and most complicated of the requited loves is Hazuki. As a boy he's fallen in love with a girl, Asumi, and as a girl Asumi's older brother, Takuma, has fallen in love with him. Not only that, but the girl who he loves has a classmate who also loves her, although unrequited. When Hazuki is confronted with wanting to confess his feelings for Asumi and having to answer Takuma's confession, he realizes that he can't answer Asumi's feelings while not having answered Takuma's confession. In the end he's able to successfully tell everyone what he means to tell them in earnest and is able to have a happily ever after with Asumi. And then we've got the two karate boys, Goro and Touma. Both of their loves were unrequited, with Goro falling in love with the girl who loved Asumi and Touma falling in love with Hazuki. They were both able to earnestly speak their true feelings to the ones they loved, a smack of reality to the face when the other three boys were able to live happily ever after. But I think in the end it ended up being a satisfactory ending.
It was just the right amount of romance, suspense, drama, and mystery to keep me intrigued and reading more. It was a well thought out piece and I'd really recommend reading it. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when I started reading it and it was a bit confusing and slow to start off with, however I couldn't help but root for these pure boys and their romance.
{Spoilers}
Wow I didn't even know how to transition that so I didn't even try *dab*
I've been browsing some different subsets of anime and there's a pretty popular kind on switching bodies/genders. It started off with a manga recommendation to read Shishunki Bitter Change and then it got me into this manga that's already completed. Clear Up After Rain was a refreshing change to my usual formulaic shoujo reads. It was different in the sense that there was this mystery element of these five boys all changing into girls whenever it rained by a stroke of fate or maybe misfortune. But the mangaka really took it up a notch by adding in the element of not just romance, but the evolution of the boys into people that were sympathetic towards the problems girls had and were able to find romance to treasure through their fateful encounters as both boys and girls towards the people surrounding them. It was a bit stressful at times because it seemed to be only a matter of time until someone found out their secret, however by trusting in the secrecy of the bubbly chairman and the serious dorm head, the five of them were able to keep this gender-change phenomena a secret. Towards the halfway point in the story I couldn't help but feel distress as our five main boys weren't getting any closer to solving the mystery behind their gender change and this becoming an increasing problem in their relations with their love interests. However, it was discovered by Yuusuke that the only way to stop the phenomena was to confess your true feelings to the one you love. And this lead to the conclusion of a diverse group of love interests and their counterparts. For Yuusuke it was maturing enough to realize that love was the one thing he didn't want to have to compete with against his golden boy brother. He realized that the girl he loved was far more important than just a win and wanted to mature enough to truly and sincerely love her. Oof that was the feels. And then there was Madoka who for the majority of the story found his fiancee to be more of a sister than a true love interest. However through seeing her mature as well as the sympathy towards women that he gained through his time as a girl he was able to realize his feelings for her. Not only that, but he was also able to confront the reason why he stopped chasing calligraphy as his career and was pushed forward from his stagnant phase. And then the last and most complicated of the requited loves is Hazuki. As a boy he's fallen in love with a girl, Asumi, and as a girl Asumi's older brother, Takuma, has fallen in love with him. Not only that, but the girl who he loves has a classmate who also loves her, although unrequited. When Hazuki is confronted with wanting to confess his feelings for Asumi and having to answer Takuma's confession, he realizes that he can't answer Asumi's feelings while not having answered Takuma's confession. In the end he's able to successfully tell everyone what he means to tell them in earnest and is able to have a happily ever after with Asumi. And then we've got the two karate boys, Goro and Touma. Both of their loves were unrequited, with Goro falling in love with the girl who loved Asumi and Touma falling in love with Hazuki. They were both able to earnestly speak their true feelings to the ones they loved, a smack of reality to the face when the other three boys were able to live happily ever after. But I think in the end it ended up being a satisfactory ending.
It was just the right amount of romance, suspense, drama, and mystery to keep me intrigued and reading more. It was a well thought out piece and I'd really recommend reading it. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into when I started reading it and it was a bit confusing and slow to start off with, however I couldn't help but root for these pure boys and their romance.
I was so happy at this point. It was the turning point after which all of the love stories came to a conclusion and all the boys switched back to normal.
Hngh they're so cute as girls
*secretly sad that ToumaxHazuki never sailed*
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?
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