"However, like most weapons, a love story can be deadly in the wrong hands."

Random manga and manhwa scanlations I've recently liked, in non-random order:

24 Colors, Kozue Chiba - A one-volume shoujo school romance with a standard premise but an execution that's just about perfect. A story about two inarticulate artists needs very good art, and this does -- light, airy, delicately paced, and mirroring the protagonists' emotions and art styles. Possibly not a frequent reread, but your first time won't be wasted. Unlicensed, scans complete.

Akuma to Love Song (lit. "Devil and Love Song," with an understood "Her"), Miyosho Tomori - Maria Kawai is a girl who's too perceptive and blunt for others' comfort, and after being expelled from a swank Catholic school transfers into the local public high school. Will she get along with her new classmates? What, you don't think so? Well, you're right. This is filled with elements we've seen before, complete with ostracism and bullying, but for once the writer is at least as intelligent as her genius character is supposed to be, and the morality is off-kilter enough to not be sickening. It doesn't hurt that the storytelling's pretty darn good. Unlicensed, scans on-going.

Ashita no Ousama ("Tomorrow's Prince"), Emiko Yachi - A country mouse attending a Tokyo university falls in love with the theater. Fortunately for us, given how overstocked the world is on idol stories, Yu cannot act to save her life -- instead, she discovers a talent for scriptwriting and direction. Part of how refreshing this story is may come from it being a josei drama, rather than shoujo. Scans cover the first two bunko volumes, leaving me wanting the rest of the series. Unlicensed.

Bartender, Araki Joh & Kenji Nagatomo - Ryu tends bar. That's about it. Well, sometimes he dispenses wisdom on a daily-life scale, and occasionally he learns a thing or two himself. A couple stories are a bit corny, but every once in a while a seinen slice-of-life manga about mixed drinks is exactly what you need at the end of the day. Unlicensed (but not for long I suspect), scans on-going.

Corseltel no Ryujitsushi ("Dragon Mage of Corseltel"), Ayuma Isurugi - Most mages in the kingdom of Corseltel specialize in working with dragons of only one element, but Maciel works with all seven.* Being the greatest dragon mage, he has to deal with constant would-be challengers seeking to prove themselves against him -- plus would-be students trying to prove themselves to him. This may sound like the premise for a blood-pounding fantasy adventure yarn, but what we get instead is a gentle episodic series about being a child-care provider.

Really.

You see, because of his abilities, dragons send their babies to Maciel for tutoring -- so he spends his days (between outside distractions) herding a bunch of elf-eared toddlers and, along the way, helping them develop their magic (sometimes on the distractions). "Cute" is an overused word with manga, but this is indeed cute -- and not only because Maciel's charges are all cute mute chibis. The biggest flaw of the series -- aside from how the kingdom's army of fairy-winged amazons doesn't show up nearly often enough -- is that it doesn't end so much as stop. There's a sequel series from another publisher, apparently starting where this drops, but it has not been scanned. To which I say HMPH! like a camel.

Dear Waltz, Ji-Un Yoon - An unexpectedly good drama about a high-school girl who, when her emotionally distant father goes overseas for work, inserts herself into the household of her late actress mother's former manager -- creating a new family for herself, apparently by sheer willpower. The result is an intelligent and nuanced story about the varieties of loneliness and connections. Scans stop right when the consequences of early mistakes are starting to show up, which is frustrating. Supposedly licensed, but I've yet to see it in a store or I'd buy it.

Do You Want to Try?, Kyung-Hee Cha - Through a bizarre but for once actually hilarious series of events, heroine Hye-Wan accidentally kisses the school jjang (gang leader) in public. In response, he asks her out -- as a girlfriend of convenience, so he'll have an excuse to turn down creepystalkerchildhoodgirlfriendwannabe, because a girl who can stand up to him might have a chance of surviving said rival's response. Plot complication #1: Hye-Wan's little brother turns out to be one of the jjang's lieutenants. Plot complication #2: the cute other lieutenant. Surprisingly fun, as far as the scans go. Unlicensed.

Dragon Half, Ryuusuke Mita - A ecchi gag fantasy series heavy on the stripperific costumes but light on the funny. Mink (whose dragon mother married a pervy dragon-hunter) is stronger than she's dumb, an achievement that takes some doing, and she's on a quest for a potion to turn herself fully human in order to catch the attention of her crush object, an idol singer (yes, in a fantasy-adventure world). Mark it up as another big dumb ecchi series, and yet -- despite all the flaws, I read through to the end. Which makes it one of the more successful big dumb ecchi series. Not as good as Ozanari Dungeon, though. Unlicensed.

Evyione, Young-Hee Kim - The short take is "a gender-flip The Little Mermaid," but as a description that's made of TOTAL FAIL, conveying nothing of how lush and creepy this manhwa is. The art and atmosphere compares to that of The Bride of the Water God. Or to Tanith Lee when she's on. And the mermaid king? -- drool-worthy mature bishounen. I was going to say it won't remain unlicensed for long, but it turns out it already is. Oops.

Honey Hunt, Miki Aihara - After dissing idol stories, here I'm mentioning one. Heroine is even the daughter of two celebrities, who decides to become an actress to get back at her mother after getting caught in the cross-fire of their high-profile divorce -- talk about cliches. However, there's elements that make it more -- such as how, when two bishies target Yura, it's for a complicated mix of motives instead of because the story wants everyone to fall over themselves for this butterfly-emerged-from-cocoon. Not to mention the charm, and pacing, and the art (Yura has the most wonderful luminous eyes). This is the most compelling idol story I've read since Pearl Pink, even though there isn't a whiff of romantic comedy. Why didn't anyone tell me the mangaka of Hot Gimmick can write something this good? Recently licensed, to run in Shoujo Beat next year.

Hoshi no Harmony ("Harmony of the Stars"), Kyoko Hikawa - An old-school shoujo volume from 1970s, when boys were all two full heads taller than all girls, and wore bell-bottoms. These two multi-chapter short stories, both school romances, hold up decently despite their age and sweetness, and the climax of the second story will make make you stand up and cheer. From the author of Kanata Kara/From Far Away. Unlicensed, like most older shoujo manga, including:

Hoshi wo Tsumu Donna ("Pluck the Stars, Donna") - Dammit -- this early Chiho Saito series has only three chapters scanned, ending with the story barely started despite dripping with ballet dramaz galore, complete with sibling rivalry. Why, why, o universe, must you taunt me like this? WHY?


Most these, alas, are now lost in a hard disk crash -- the ones downloaded since my last back-up of that directory.


* Earth, air, fire, water, wood, light, and dark, if you're curious. The dark dragons are apparently the smart ones.

---L.

"However, like most weapons, a love story can be deadly in the wrong hands."

Random manga and manhwa scanlations I've recently liked, in non-random order:

24 Colors, Kozue Chiba - A one-volume shoujo school romance with a standard premise but an execution that's just about perfect. A story about two inarticulate artists needs very good art, and this does -- light, airy, delicately paced, and mirroring the protagonists' emotions and art styles. Possibly not a frequent reread, but your first time won't be wasted. Unlicensed, scans complete.

Akuma to Love Song (lit. "Devil and Love Song," with an understood "Her"), Miyosho Tomori - Maria Kawai is a girl who's too perceptive and blunt for others' comfort, and after being expelled from a swank Catholic school transfers into the local public high school. Will she get along with her new classmates? What, you don't think so? Well, you're right. This is filled with elements we've seen before, complete with ostracism and bullying, but for once the writer is at least as intelligent as her genius character is supposed to be, and the morality is off-kilter enough to not be sickening. It doesn't hurt that the storytelling's pretty darn good. Unlicensed, scans on-going.

Ashita no Ousama ("Tomorrow's Prince"), Emiko Yachi - A country mouse attending a Tokyo university falls in love with the theater. Fortunately for us, given how overstocked the world is on idol stories, Yu cannot act to save her life -- instead, she discovers a talent for scriptwriting and direction. Part of how refreshing this story is may come from it being a josei drama, rather than shoujo. Scans cover the first two bunko volumes, leaving me wanting the rest of the series. Unlicensed.

Bartender, Araki Joh & Kenji Nagatomo - Ryu tends bar. That's about it. Well, sometimes he dispenses wisdom on a daily-life scale, and occasionally he learns a thing or two himself. A couple stories are a bit corny, but every once in a while a seinen slice-of-life manga about mixed drinks is exactly what you need at the end of the day. Unlicensed (but not for long I suspect), scans on-going.

Corseltel no Ryujitsushi ("Dragon Mage of Corseltel"), Ayuma Isurugi - Most mages in the kingdom of Corseltel specialize in working with dragons of only one element, but Maciel works with all seven.* Being the greatest dragon mage, he has to deal with constant would-be challengers seeking to prove themselves against him -- plus would-be students trying to prove themselves to him. This may sound like the premise for a blood-pounding fantasy adventure yarn, but what we get instead is a gentle episodic series about being a child-care provider.

Really.

You see, because of his abilities, dragons send their babies to Maciel for tutoring -- so he spends his days (between outside distractions) herding a bunch of elf-eared toddlers and, along the way, helping them develop their magic (sometimes on the distractions). "Cute" is an overused word with manga, but this is indeed cute -- and not only because Maciel's charges are all cute mute chibis. The biggest flaw of the series -- aside from how the kingdom's army of fairy-winged amazons doesn't show up nearly often enough -- is that it doesn't end so much as stop. There's a sequel series from another publisher, apparently starting where this drops, but it has not been scanned. To which I say HMPH! like a camel.

Dear Waltz, Ji-Un Yoon - An unexpectedly good drama about a high-school girl who, when her emotionally distant father goes overseas for work, inserts herself into the household of her late actress mother's former manager -- creating a new family for herself, apparently by sheer willpower. The result is an intelligent and nuanced story about the varieties of loneliness and connections. Scans stop right when the consequences of early mistakes are starting to show up, which is frustrating. Supposedly licensed, but I've yet to see it in a store or I'd buy it.

Do You Want to Try?, Kyung-Hee Cha - Through a bizarre but for once actually hilarious series of events, heroine Hye-Wan accidentally kisses the school jjang (gang leader) in public. In response, he asks her out -- as a girlfriend of convenience, so he'll have an excuse to turn down creepystalkerchildhoodgirlfriendwannabe, because a girl who can stand up to him might have a chance of surviving said rival's response. Plot complication #1: Hye-Wan's little brother turns out to be one of the jjang's lieutenants. Plot complication #2: the cute other lieutenant. Surprisingly fun, as far as the scans go. Unlicensed.

Dragon Half, Ryuusuke Mita - A ecchi gag fantasy series heavy on the stripperific costumes but light on the funny. Mink (whose dragon mother married a pervy dragon-hunter) is stronger than she's dumb, an achievement that takes some doing, and she's on a quest for a potion to turn herself fully human in order to catch the attention of her crush object, an idol singer (yes, in a fantasy-adventure world). Mark it up as another big dumb ecchi series, and yet -- despite all the flaws, I read through to the end. Which makes it one of the more successful big dumb ecchi series. Not as good as Ozanari Dungeon, though. Unlicensed.

Evyione, Young-Hee Kim - The short take is "a gender-flip The Little Mermaid," but as a description that's made of TOTAL FAIL, conveying nothing of how lush and creepy this manhwa is. The art and atmosphere compares to that of The Bride of the Water God. Or to Tanith Lee when she's on. And the mermaid king? -- drool-worthy mature bishounen. I was going to say it won't remain unlicensed for long, but it turns out it already is. Oops.

Honey Hunt, Miki Aihara - After dissing idol stories, here I'm mentioning one. Heroine is even the daughter of two celebrities, who decides to become an actress to get back at her mother after getting caught in the cross-fire of their high-profile divorce -- talk about cliches. However, there's elements that make it more -- such as how, when two bishies target Yura, it's for a complicated mix of motives instead of because the story wants everyone to fall over themselves for this butterfly-emerged-from-cocoon. Not to mention the charm, and pacing, and the art (Yura has the most wonderful luminous eyes). This is the most compelling idol story I've read since Pearl Pink, even though there isn't a whiff of romantic comedy. Why didn't anyone tell me the mangaka of Hot Gimmick can write something this good? Recently licensed, to run in Shoujo Beat next year.

Hoshi no Harmony ("Harmony of the Stars"), Kyoko Hikawa - An old-school shoujo volume from 1970s, when boys were all two full heads taller than all girls, and wore bell-bottoms. These two multi-chapter short stories, both school romances, hold up decently despite their age and sweetness, and the climax of the second story will make make you stand up and cheer. From the author of Kanata Kara/From Far Away. Unlicensed, like most older shoujo manga, including:

Hoshi wo Tsumu Donna ("Pluck the Stars, Donna") - Dammit -- this early Chiho Saito series has only three chapters scanned, ending with the story barely started despite dripping with ballet dramaz galore, complete with sibling rivalry. Why, why, o universe, must you taunt me like this? WHY?


Most these, alas, are now lost in a hard disk crash -- the ones downloaded since my last back-up of that directory.


* Earth, air, fire, water, wood, light, and dark, if you're curious. The dark dragons are apparently the smart ones.

---L.