"samui fuyu no hieta kan kôhii / niji iro no nagai mafuraa / kobashiri de rojiura o nukete"*

A couple random manga recently enjoyed:

Hibi Chouchou (roughly "days, butterflies"), Suu Morishita - Shoujo school romance. As you may have noticed, I've a soft spot for quirky, gentle romances. This has all three qualities in spades and the trump suit.** I especially appreciate that the supposedly beautiful heroine is drawn beautifully in a way that other characters are not. She's also the most adorable space-case I've met in fiction for some time -- not stupid, just living through a different set of concerns from her peers. I also appreciate that while the also socially awkward male lead is awkward in ways that often lead to a tsundere character, he is not in fact tsundere. Not that there's anything wrong with adorkable tsunderes -- quite the reverse -- but variety in trait expression is refreshing. Plus, of course, there's the requisite amusing best friends. Ongoing, 1 volume out, unlicensed, scanlation current with serialization.

Hoshi no Furu Machi ("town where stars fall"), Hidanori Hara - Shonen romance with somewhat old-school art -- a personal style formed roughly the same era as Mitsuru Adachi's but on different models. A comparison to Adachi is deliberate, as like Adachi, Hara builds his story out of the details of daily life, though framed by academics instead of sports. After failing out of an elite Tokyo high school, Kotaro is sent to live with distant in-laws on the north coast until he pulls himself back together -- in a city small enough the stars are visible. His new next-door neighbor Nagisa is, meanwhile, pining after his host's son -- who's off to a Tokyo university. So, yes, that would be a title with multiple literal and metaphoric applications. One of those rare shonen romances with very little plot stupids and equal respect for the female and male leads -- and minimal fanservice. Complete at 7 volumes, unlicensed, scanlation complete.

Uchuu Kyoudai ("space brothers"), Chûya Koyama - Award-winning seinen astronaut drama about Mutta and his younger brother Hibito. When they were young, they decided to become astronauts, and now in 2025, Hibito is training for NASA's upcoming manned mission to Mars. When Mutta is fired from his job as an automobile engineer,*** he decides to also follow through on their promise and applies to JAXA's austronaut recruitment program for a proposed moonshot. Mutta is quirky and smart, and probably has what it takes -- but first he has to pass successive rounds of testing. Ongoing, 18 volumes out, unlicensed (through the anime is on Crunchyroll), 5 volumes scanlated.

Hagoromo Mishin ("feather-robe unpaid-obligation," I think?), Yuki Kodama - Bittersweet josei fantasy romance: the evening after engineering student Yôichi rescues a swan trapped in a construction site, a beautiful woman dressed in white shows up on his doorstep, and introduces herself as Miwa ("beautiful wings"), the swan he rescued, and his wife. It works out for the winter, but come spring migration.... Complete at 1 volume, unlicensed, scanlation complete.


* "coffee cans from freezing winters / a long rainbow-colored scarf / I stroll through the back alley"

** Does anyone else play any variation of this?

*** After he headbutts his boss for ragging on his little brother.

---L.

"samui fuyu no hieta kan kôhii / niji iro no nagai mafuraa / kobashiri de rojiura o nukete"*

A couple random manga recently enjoyed:

Hibi Chouchou (roughly "days, butterflies"), Suu Morishita - Shoujo school romance. As you may have noticed, I've a soft spot for quirky, gentle romances. This has all three qualities in spades and the trump suit.** I especially appreciate that the supposedly beautiful heroine is drawn beautifully in a way that other characters are not. She's also the most adorable space-case I've met in fiction for some time -- not stupid, just living through a different set of concerns from her peers. I also appreciate that while the also socially awkward male lead is awkward in ways that often lead to a tsundere character, he is not in fact tsundere. Not that there's anything wrong with adorkable tsunderes -- quite the reverse -- but variety in trait expression is refreshing. Plus, of course, there's the requisite amusing best friends. Ongoing, 1 volume out, unlicensed, scanlation current with serialization.

Hoshi no Furu Machi ("town where stars fall"), Hidanori Hara - Shonen romance with somewhat old-school art -- a personal style formed roughly the same era as Mitsuru Adachi's but on different models. A comparison to Adachi is deliberate, as like Adachi, Hara builds his story out of the details of daily life, though framed by academics instead of sports. After failing out of an elite Tokyo high school, Kotaro is sent to live with distant in-laws on the north coast until he pulls himself back together -- in a city small enough the stars are visible. His new next-door neighbor Nagisa is, meanwhile, pining after his host's son -- who's off to a Tokyo university. So, yes, that would be a title with multiple literal and metaphoric applications. One of those rare shonen romances with very little plot stupids and equal respect for the female and male leads -- and minimal fanservice. Complete at 7 volumes, unlicensed, scanlation complete.

Uchuu Kyoudai ("space brothers"), Chûya Koyama - Award-winning seinen astronaut drama about Mutta and his younger brother Hibito. When they were young, they decided to become astronauts, and now in 2025, Hibito is training for NASA's upcoming manned mission to Mars. When Mutta is fired from his job as an automobile engineer,*** he decides to also follow through on their promise and applies to JAXA's austronaut recruitment program for a proposed moonshot. Mutta is quirky and smart, and probably has what it takes -- but first he has to pass successive rounds of testing. Ongoing, 18 volumes out, unlicensed (through the anime is on Crunchyroll), 5 volumes scanlated.

Hagoromo Mishin ("feather-robe unpaid-obligation," I think?), Yuki Kodama - Bittersweet josei fantasy romance: the evening after engineering student Yôichi rescues a swan trapped in a construction site, a beautiful woman dressed in white shows up on his doorstep, and introduces herself as Miwa ("beautiful wings"), the swan he rescued, and his wife. It works out for the winter, but come spring migration.... Complete at 1 volume, unlicensed, scanlation complete.


* "coffee cans from freezing winters / a long rainbow-colored scarf / I stroll through the back alley"

** Does anyone else play any variation of this?

*** After he headbutts his boss for ragging on his little brother.

---L.