Manga Discoveries: Bokura wa Itsumo

So I do like the occasional shoujo manga, but lately I feel like drama shoujo titles have become more like soap operas rather than romantic dramas.  Lately there’s been too much of a reliance on melodrama to get readers.  Even the insanely popular and praised, Kimi ni Todoke has it’s own share of melodrama.  While the addition of melodrama might make for nice “oh snap” moments in the manga, it takes a toll on the human factor.  Bokura wa Itsumo is a exception to the current trend in shoujo manga, and is an immensely satisfying read Read more »

Manabiya – Chapters 1-5

Gonna try something new, and attempt an ongoing manga review.  Manabiya is a new manga written by Kojima Akira, and serialized in Gangan Joker.  Kojima Akira previously worked on Mahoraba (Not to be confused with Maburaho).  Mahoraba is my favorite slice-of-life manga so far.  All the characters were such a treat to watch (or read in this case), and I couldn’t help but smile while reading each chapter.  If the first few chapters of Manabiya is any indication, than Kojima-sensei has done it again. Read more »

Manga: Akumetsu 123

Haha I fail, made this post awhile ago and didn’t realize I never actually posted it X_X.

Short post to break my long absence ^_^. The spotlight is on a manga I believe isn’t out there enough called Akumetsu. At first I thought it was be the generic bad government->rally for revolution/chance-> obstacles->revolution/change win or  government is not so bad after all.  Instead we have one person stand up and take on a villains role to reform the government by assassinating those who are too far gone in their corruption. Perhaps that is part of why I like Tales of Vesperia, people will do the dirty work if no one else will even if its needed. Although in this manga it gets pretty extreme.

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Liar Game: Story of a Woman Learning to Lie

Liar Game is a psychological manga about an honest and naive girl, Kanzaki Nao, who is forced into the Liar Game. Winners in the Liar Game stand to gain an exorbitant amount of money, but losers are burdened with an equally large debt….and Kanzaki Nao, who is too trustworthy and truthful, gets into trouble awfully fast.

I could go on about how fun this manga is, how interesting it is to see the main characters lie their way out of trouble and how intriguing the Liar Game itself is. But I’m not here today to recommend the manga (though you should read it anyway.) No, instead, I just wanted to point something out:

THIS IS KANZAKI NAO IN CHAPTER 1...

The picture above shows Kanzaki Nao in Chapter 1 of the manga. Notice her plainness, her slightly wistful stare, and her small petite Asian figure. Now look at the next picture:

...AND THIS IS KANZAKI NAO IN CHAPTER 78

This, taking place probably several months later in the timeline of the manga, shows Kanzaki Nao in Chapter 78. Notice her plainness, her slightly wistful stare, and her small petite Asian figure…OTHER THAN HER HUMUNGOUS BREASTS.

Yes, my friends pointed it out to me fairly recently, but Kanzaki Nao’s breasts grow ever larger as the series goes on. One might attribute this to changes in the manga-ka’s character design, but there is a simpler, much more logical, explanation:

Kanzaki Nao is wearing a push-up bra, and as she becomes exposed and corrupted by all the lying around her, she herself is getting more comfortable with lying. And the more comfortable she is with lying, the more padding she puts into the bra…resulting in a steadily growing breast size!

We must lament! This is what happens when innocence is lost! The corruption in the world created a liar out of Kanzaki Nao, whose breasts now fool us with false hope! The sinister truth is now hidden behind layers of deception…and padding.

So fathers: heed my words. Teach your daughters to be truthful and honest. Protect them from the corruption in the world.

Or else they’ll end up with large, fake breasts.

That is all. I’m going to read the next chapter of Liar Game now.

~eNamorD (with the cottony lies of padding)

Manga: Pandora Hearts Chapter 38

A wonderful chapter that explains so much about my favorite characters Gilbert and Vincent ^_^. Since the sort-of cliffhanger in chapter 37 I was anxious to see what would happen to Oz since he looked like he had gone ax-crazy but so far he seems pretty normal, as far as normal can get for him.

Such powerful loyalty Gil-chan has for everyone he cares about!

Part of the reason I loved this chapter was because I finally got to see Gil and Jack interact even if only briefly, but it answers a lot of questions about Gil and especially Vincent. This chapter was also fuel for Alice + Oz shippers as she chooses Oz over Jack (but Jack is a good sport about it XD)  But on the serious side, the latest chapters has me feeling pretty sympathetic for most of the characters. Everyone’s past is so depressing and we have Echo who Vincent doesn’t seem to really care about. There may be more spoilers as I continue writing so I’ll continue on after the read on ^_^ *fangirls about how cute waif! Vincent is*

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Manga Review : Futari Ecchi

I can’t believe I’m doing this X_X. Well since I made a post on a yaoi series and one on a yuri series, I might as well do something in the middle. However, good hentai is very difficult to find as most are plotless or unrealistic. Futari Ecchi is probably one of the few I can sit through and not start jumping around chapters in a futile search for plot or wonder if those configurations are even possible. Futari Ecchi is not actually hentai since it only goes as graphic as nudity and covering taboo themes so it’s safe to read for most people.

It's kind of sad if you need your mother to encourage you to *cough*consummate your marriage

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Yaoi Manga Review : Cherry by Ichijou Lemon

I decided it wasn’t quite fair to do a yuri review without a yaoi one so I’ll put one up by one of my favorite yaoi mangakas. It’s plot with smut what more could a yaoi fangirl want? I am in love with the beautiful style of the mangaka since the characters are all so pretty ^_^. I’m also giving extra points for the ukes not looking like girls.

*drools at the sight of bishies*

At first this was like a another usual story of childhood friends becoming lovers but considering it took for one to get married and divorced for them to get together I was highly amused. It was cute to see how possessive the seme gets considering HE was the one who went and got married. Sora, the poor uke, has loved his friend for a long time so them getting together was a wonderful thing to see  (it helps that he’s so helpless when storms come in).

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Yuri Manga Review : Shoujo Sect

So starts the posts on opposite spectrums. First up is a slightly graphic yuri series since I don’t dare to do nsfw posts on Tekky’s blog.

So Shoujo Sect also known as 少女セクト takes place in a school where yuri relationships abound. There’s quite a lot of cliches in this manga so it will either be appealing or unappealing but I’m too tired to find good yuri that isn’t mindless smut T_T. For a manga that starts off fairly light, there are very dark undertones in the background. Unrequited love, rape, and depression are found, although rape is mostly implied. Having not read many yuri series, I can’t say for certain whether this is a good or bad manga but the art gets bonus points for being pretty.

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Manga Review : School Ningyo

Ok, I lied, I’m not done with the horror genre yet ^_^;;; And I also lied to tekky, I’m blogging School Ningyo aka School Mermaid instead!

Another addition to my current horror genre spree, School Ningyo is many things. It’s fetish fuel for those who like to see air headed girls that swim in the air at night. It’s also drama about one friend betraying another. And finally, some romance since the whole background is about two girls who want a particular boy to go out with.

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Manga Review: Doubt

Inspired by Shiki doing her horror manga trilogy on Ito Junji, I decided to review three horror/psychological mangas that I currently love.  These are Doubt, Deadman Wonderland, and Mirai Nikki.  I consider these three series to be the “trifecta of horror/psychological manga”; if you like one, you’re almost guaranteed to like the other two.  So I’m going to start off with the shortest, and the only one that’s actually complete: Doubt.  (Not to be confused with the shoujo manga series Doubt!!) Read more »