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A couple random manga reports:
Monkey High! volume 1 by Shouko Akira - Somehow from skimming series summaries, I had gotten the impression that it was the male lead who cynically compares the social hierarchy of high school to a band of monkeys squabbling for control of a hill. Actually, it's the female lead Haruna -- a former queen bee (to switch metaphors) dethroned when her father resigns from parliament in a corruption scandal, and because of which she transfers schools. As one does in these situations. Based on the first volume, at any rate, the series is freakin' adorable. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as Love*Com or High School Debut, but it's up there with those with adorability. It's also, yay, not a series with a drawn-out courtship: the main couple are together by the end of the second chapter, and the story will be their evolving relationship. And like so many good sweet shoujo romances, the secondary characters are a hoot. More interesting from a genre point of view is the rare example of a female tsundere in a shoujo series, which results in her being rather more interesting than usual for the character type. Licensed & complete at 8 volumes from Viz, and I need to read the next 7 STAT.
Ayahatori Shoukanjou ("text-weaving book of summoning") chapters 1-2 by Mika Kajiyama - Okay, I wasn't expecting this manga series to exist, and I should have: our teenage heroine is from a clan of magic workers called text-weavers, whose power comes from summoning familiars out of books. During her initiation ceremony, she summons Ono no Komachi to be her familiar, but instead of getting one of the three most beautiful women in the world, she gets a drop-dead gorgeous man.* In nearly full Heian dress,** and with aristocratic Heian snark set to stun. Cue shoujo romcom hijinx, complete with magic and wicked fan-wielding and a kirin*** in chibi form. Yes, I should have expected one of that last to exist as well. Serious notes are provided by noodling over the reality and humanity of summoned beings, and whether bound familiars have free will. Ongoing, 2 volumes out, unlicensed, scans of the first two chapters are available.
Yukarism chapters 1-2 by Chika Shiomi - Another reincarnation fantasy, about a best-selling teenage author Yukari who writes Edo-period historical novels based on his past-life memories as an oiran in the Yoshiwara red-light district. Okay, so it's something of a spoiler to mention the gender-bending, but it's revealed at the end of the first chapter, and it's not like it wasn't signaled broadly with a given name that's usually for females only, written with the kanji more commonly read as murasaki ("purple"), as in the author of Genji. Plot mechanics so far look to revolve around meeting reincarnations of others from his/her past life, including a couple meet-cutes, and exploring what exactly happened back then. Secondary characters look likely to be hootful. Oh, and Shiomi's art has gotten even prettier since Yurara and Rasetsu. Ongoing, no volumes out yet, unlicensed, 2 chapters scanned.
Cat Paradise volumes 1-5 by Yuji Iwahara - Fluffy shounen fantasy adventure with a cute female protagonist and her scruffy cat. Toss in a knitting obsession, a high school student council with cats and with powers, a demon bound under the school (where else?) trying to free itself, powers granted by a dead princess and her cat to help with the battle, yadda, yadda -- and we're off. The story wraps up in 5 breezy volumes, and if you're familiar with Iwahara's plotting style from Chikyuu Misaki or King of Thorn, the twists of the finale are not all that surprising but satisfying regardless. Some fanservice, which is largely inoffensive aside from a couple jokes at the expense of the short-and-busty student council VP, and more gore, which is occasionally quite effective. Not as good as either Chikyuu Misaki or King of Thorn, but worth checking out if you want a certain kind of adolescent adventure fantasy. Licensed & complete at 5 volumes from Yen Press.
Another discovery is a recent used book store find: a Japanese EN-JP/JP-EN dictionary (from Sanseidô), pocket-sized but thanks to modern printing technology (5 point type on thin paper) it has more entries than my so-called Pocket Kenkyusha, a trade paperback three times the thickness. It's very cute. Disambiguation of senses by unreadable kanji FTW, or at least For The Practice.
Speaking of which, ( a report on the state of my Japanese practice. ) But not on calligraphy -- we're not going there, 'k?
'K.
* She used a collection of legends, rather than her poetry, so no wonder things went wrong.
** No hat, for some reason, so no Heian hat mockery.
*** Who are apparently highly stylized giraffes what?
---L.
Monkey High! volume 1 by Shouko Akira - Somehow from skimming series summaries, I had gotten the impression that it was the male lead who cynically compares the social hierarchy of high school to a band of monkeys squabbling for control of a hill. Actually, it's the female lead Haruna -- a former queen bee (to switch metaphors) dethroned when her father resigns from parliament in a corruption scandal, and because of which she transfers schools. As one does in these situations. Based on the first volume, at any rate, the series is freakin' adorable. It's not as laugh-out-loud funny as Love*Com or High School Debut, but it's up there with those with adorability. It's also, yay, not a series with a drawn-out courtship: the main couple are together by the end of the second chapter, and the story will be their evolving relationship. And like so many good sweet shoujo romances, the secondary characters are a hoot. More interesting from a genre point of view is the rare example of a female tsundere in a shoujo series, which results in her being rather more interesting than usual for the character type. Licensed & complete at 8 volumes from Viz, and I need to read the next 7 STAT.
Ayahatori Shoukanjou ("text-weaving book of summoning") chapters 1-2 by Mika Kajiyama - Okay, I wasn't expecting this manga series to exist, and I should have: our teenage heroine is from a clan of magic workers called text-weavers, whose power comes from summoning familiars out of books. During her initiation ceremony, she summons Ono no Komachi to be her familiar, but instead of getting one of the three most beautiful women in the world, she gets a drop-dead gorgeous man.* In nearly full Heian dress,** and with aristocratic Heian snark set to stun. Cue shoujo romcom hijinx, complete with magic and wicked fan-wielding and a kirin*** in chibi form. Yes, I should have expected one of that last to exist as well. Serious notes are provided by noodling over the reality and humanity of summoned beings, and whether bound familiars have free will. Ongoing, 2 volumes out, unlicensed, scans of the first two chapters are available.
Yukarism chapters 1-2 by Chika Shiomi - Another reincarnation fantasy, about a best-selling teenage author Yukari who writes Edo-period historical novels based on his past-life memories as an oiran in the Yoshiwara red-light district. Okay, so it's something of a spoiler to mention the gender-bending, but it's revealed at the end of the first chapter, and it's not like it wasn't signaled broadly with a given name that's usually for females only, written with the kanji more commonly read as murasaki ("purple"), as in the author of Genji. Plot mechanics so far look to revolve around meeting reincarnations of others from his/her past life, including a couple meet-cutes, and exploring what exactly happened back then. Secondary characters look likely to be hootful. Oh, and Shiomi's art has gotten even prettier since Yurara and Rasetsu. Ongoing, no volumes out yet, unlicensed, 2 chapters scanned.
Cat Paradise volumes 1-5 by Yuji Iwahara - Fluffy shounen fantasy adventure with a cute female protagonist and her scruffy cat. Toss in a knitting obsession, a high school student council with cats and with powers, a demon bound under the school (where else?) trying to free itself, powers granted by a dead princess and her cat to help with the battle, yadda, yadda -- and we're off. The story wraps up in 5 breezy volumes, and if you're familiar with Iwahara's plotting style from Chikyuu Misaki or King of Thorn, the twists of the finale are not all that surprising but satisfying regardless. Some fanservice, which is largely inoffensive aside from a couple jokes at the expense of the short-and-busty student council VP, and more gore, which is occasionally quite effective. Not as good as either Chikyuu Misaki or King of Thorn, but worth checking out if you want a certain kind of adolescent adventure fantasy. Licensed & complete at 5 volumes from Yen Press.
Another discovery is a recent used book store find: a Japanese EN-JP/JP-EN dictionary (from Sanseidô), pocket-sized but thanks to modern printing technology (5 point type on thin paper) it has more entries than my so-called Pocket Kenkyusha, a trade paperback three times the thickness. It's very cute. Disambiguation of senses by unreadable kanji FTW, or at least For The Practice.
Speaking of which, ( a report on the state of my Japanese practice. ) But not on calligraphy -- we're not going there, 'k?
'K.
* She used a collection of legends, rather than her poetry, so no wonder things went wrong.
** No hat, for some reason, so no Heian hat mockery.
*** Who are apparently highly stylized giraffes what?
---L.