Midori Days (Midori No Hibi)

This show is about a guy who wakes up one day to find that his right hand has been replaced with the top half of a girl. This girl's real body has fallen into a coma and her spirit has attached itself to the guys hand because she has a really big crush on him. The premise is kind of ridiculous, and slightly perverted, but the show was surprisingly decent.

The guy, Seiji, is a sort of delinquent at his school. He's a tough guy who seems to fight more than he attends class. This all changes however when one morning he waking up with Midori as a right hand. Midori is a girl who goes to a different school than Seiji and knows him from the times she's seen him at the train station, but she's always been too shy to go up to him to confess her feelings to him. When she wakes up on his hand however, she's over-joyed. Also, as the figure on Seiji's hand isn't actually Midori herself, but her spirit, she has lost her inhibitions and tells Seiji that she loves him when she first sees him.

Seiji opens up a bit and people at school are less afraid of him as a result of Midori's effect on him. Potential rivals for Midori's love appear when Seiji's softer side comes to light. Of course this is troublesome for Midori because she can't really compete with a real person when she's a hand. Because she's his hand, Seiji has to constantly wrap her up in a bandage to hide her existence from others. Though this routine is a bit aggravating for the both of them, they get used to it over time.

Midori's struggle in the show is ultimately her self-confidence and sense of self-worth. I mean there's nothing abnormal about her emotional state for someone that age, but when she left her body to be with Seiji she ran away from some issues she was dealing with. Part of the show is her ability to regain the strength to brave her situation in life. Seiji on the other hand has no confidence issues he needs to work out. Rather, in the show he slowly opens himself up more to others and finds a sense of balance in his life. Eventually Midori does decide to leave Seiji and return to her own body. After she has returned, will she once again be able to confess her love to Seiji? Will she want to? Who knows?!?!

Overall I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this show, especially after how much I expected to not like it.

 

Here's the intro. You can find the first episode dubbed on YouTube 

Aishiteruze Baby by Yoko Maki

This manga's pretty cute. It's about this high school boy who has to take care of his 5 year old cousin, who was temporarily abandoned by her mother. Kippei starts out as a playboy of sorts with no responsibilities and when forced to be the replacement mother for this little girl, he slowly grows to be more responsible. It's more of a comedy than a drama, but there are a few emotional moments. Chances are you'll end up smiling a few times throughout the series.

Kippei's relationship with his girlfriend was also refreshing. She wasn't the typical dumb, clumsy girlfriend. Instead she was calm and collected and not freaking out about stuff. Women in general had more of a powerful voice in this manga, which is rare in manga in general, so to be appreciated when found I guess.

Overall, cute.

Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda

 Well, I'm not finished this as of yet, and I'm not too sure I will. Don't get me wrong, it's not horrible. In fact I've read much worse. When I started reading it I thought it would be interesting because the premise at the beginning is that people misjudge her based on her skin tone which is darker than the other girls because she's on the swim team. This makes people assume she a party girl, or easy, I guess would be a g- rated translation. I think they're called ganguro girls in japan. Either way, she isn't one of these girls but people see her tan and assume that she is. So as I say, I walked into this expecting this kind of thing, and while there was some of this conflict in the beginning, it soon fell away to needless drama. Now drama isn't all bad, in fact it can be quite good, but the issue of her tan wasn't really resolved. She was kind of ashamed of her tan, but only because Toji supposedly didn't like tanned girls. If a person were to consider this issue resolved in the first couple of volumes, when it stops being the primary focus, than it would be because she thought the guy didn't mind. Basically it seems like a lot of her resolutions are based on his acceptance of her rather than some inner reassessment and acceptance of herself. And this kind of thing generally tends to get under my skin. 

Another thing I have issues with is the lack of communication up to the point of... I don't even know. I mean when her friend is sabotaging her, that stretch of the plot line, well I got sick of it about half way through. I'm all for jealousy n such, I mean it's a shoujo, we're kind of expecting relationship problems yes? But it seemed like it was dragged on for too long. 

Drama is good, but it's a delicate emotional tool. Just enough and you've got gold, too much and it sucks. The lack of communication seemed a bit unbelievable at times, which frustrated me a bit, and the characters in general seemed to act in a way that almost deserved the angsty agony they brought upon themselves. I mean I haven't even finished it and I already dislike most of the characters, not so great.
 
But, even though I have these criticisms, I do admit that I could see myself finishing the series sometime in the future because it does have that shoujo draw where you want to know what happens in the end and you want them to be happy (... though you hate them). So I say read it, but there is definitely better out there.

Hana-Kimi: For You In Full Blossom by Hisaya Nakajo

 This was an awesome manga. True it's 21 volumes or some such amount, but it never gets boring and when it ends you get that bitter sweet feeling where you really want it to continue, but are happy that it ended happily. The relationships were well done, and quite honestly, never in my life have I expected to read, and enjoy, a romance story about long jump... but there it is I guess. For me it's one of those that gets better every time you read it (because yes I've read it more than once). Its really sweet, I recommend.

               

Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba

 This manga was really good. It was more intellectual than most mangas out there. 

It's about a guy who finds a notebook and by writing peoples names in the notebook he can kill them, and that sounds cheesy I know, but they play it out in a way that makes it work. The notebook is the belonging of a shinigami, a death god, and that's how people die in everyday life, but one shinigami's notebook fell down to earth and this guy picked it up. He then starts killing people he feels are evil.

It's pretty good. After a certain event takes place I was kind of mad and the story kind of went down hill a bit, but it was still pretty good. It is also an anime and a drama, but in those two, they change some elements of the story... the manga is always better.

                         

Cardcaptor Sakura by Clamp

The anime for this was on all the time when I was younger and I really enjoyed watching the show, but the manga differs from the anime a bit, which isn't a bad thing.

The story is about a girl named Sakura who finds a magical book, and is assigned the task of capturing magical cards.

First off, the first series is only 6 books, the second one is only 6 too, and this kind of surprised me at first because the first season of the anime had something like 50 episodes, and after reading the manga I saw how much filler was in the anime. The card captures in the manga are all major cards (none of the cheap cards like the move card...) and the captures all meant something. Meaning they either developed plot or developed character, so if it was not for plot development it was a capture that required some effort and allowed Sakura to grow as a character, like the water card. On top of this, the manga also has homosexuality in it, which is not in the anime. Nothing explicit, just a character implying that he/ she has a crush on someone of the same gender. People might make a big deal about it here, which is probably why they took it out of the anime, but it's so subdued and platonic that taking it out is kind of pointless.  By doing so they lessen the intricacy of the plot development and the connection between the characters, so I'm glad I read the manga for that reason (among others).

Sakura is a great heroine. I've read over 100 mangas, and I'd say that Sakura is one of the strongest heroines I've read about in manga form. It's kind of ironic that it's for kids, but great I suppose. It's hard to find proactive females in manga. Even in the shoujos, the ones focused on girls, the 'action' is still left to the guys and the girls are for the most part withering, weak, delicate, know nothings; or if they do fight well they are portrayed as kind of heartless. It's rare to find a happy medium. Cardcaptors would be an example of the girl getting some action.

Overall its a cute manga, I mean those who've watched the anime already know the basic story line, it's a good one. It's an original story and its well told, and the manga is better then the anime. I recommend.

                

Boys Over Flowers: Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio

 This was the story that got me into manga. Some arbitrary stroke of luck had me stumble across the j-drama when it was coming out and I watched the whole thing (the jdrama is much better than the older version so don't worry if you watched that and didn't like it). So after the first season I was kind of impatient and looked it up and found the anime, which is monstrously long, but worth it I guess, and I've been watching anime on tv since I was a kid so it was an easy transition, then I found out there was a manga... which began my current obsession that is manga.
 
The story is good. I'd like to think of it as one of the classic shoujos, especially compared to a lot of what's coming out today, over hyped drama. The drama in Hana Yori Dango was kind of angsty, as it was a high school drama, but I'd argue not overly so... or maybe there's worse out there, take your pick. There are quite a few problems the heroine faces, but there is a logic to them so her feelings make sense. Though sometimes you just want her and Tsukasa to get over themselves. The art is not my favourite but the story makes up for it, and to be fair I have seen far worse art out there.
 
Anyway, it'll be a trek no matter through which medium you go for the story (though I recommend the manga because it's always better and the anime/ dramas usually change things). It is long, but a lot happens so it's worth it, and if you get into it it'll feel a lot shorter than it actually is, and you'll wonder where it all went when you're close to the end.
 
Every shoujo aficionado should in some way or another acquaint themselves with this story because it's one of the good ones.

Beck Mongolian Chop Squad by Harold Sakuishi

Beck's a great story, basically about this kid who gets into a band. It's really inspiring and down to earth. The day to day crap was really relatable and was almost enjoyable to watch because even though bad things happens to Koyuki (I think he even says at some point 'when it rains it really pours for me' or something) he still doesn't get majorly depressed and looks at the situation positively. 

I also thought that the passion for music was successfully transferred to the reader and at some points I really wanted to pick up a guitar and start playing, though I don't know how. Some of the ways they related to the American music industry was kind of gimmicky, but it was pulled off a lot better than I've seen else where, like they won't just throw out some musician's name just so that the reader's like 'ooo they know who that is!!!' which I find largely annoying, but the people they did incorporate were given a couple of lines to explain who they were and how they fit into the story so it wasn't that bad. The story did feel like it was dragging on in some places, but those were usually the places that the guitar guy was being a douche, but it gets resolved so I guess you just have to suffer through it (though the story usually makes up for the suffering, and I guess it could be seen as a good kind of tension). I'm not done it yet so I don't know if I'm satisfied with it yet, but there are a few indicators of a happy ending so I think it'll pay off. So to sum up... give this one a shot.

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino

I love Vampire Knight!! It's one of my favourite mangas, I'm on volume 4. The plot is interesting and compelling and the characters are very likable and have sufficient depth to keep you interested. I really like how the characters are drawn and the layouts and just the art in general I guess. This is a definite must for all shoujo lovers AND it has vampires, what more could you want? This is the series that will turn you into a screaming fan girl... not something we would hope for, granted, but in this case I think we can give the fan girls a bit of credit.

Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

I really enjoy this series, it's one of my favorites. I have seen the anime and am currently reading the manga (just starting) so I feel that I can't really talk about the series as a whole, but the elements I liked from the anime have presented themselves in the manga, so far. 

The story is about a girl named Haruhi who gets into a very prestigious private school on scholarship, but is actually one of the few students coming from a poor family. She is only at the school to get an education and does not try to make any friends or pay any special attention to her appearance, so wears the boys uniform everyday. She looks for a place to study one day and accidentally goes into a room being used by the host club, a club where 'dreamy' boys from the school set up a cafe like place for girls to come and be pampered by the 'type' of their choice. Haruhi goes into this room and accidentally breaks a very expensive vase. She then finds herself working for the host club to pay off this debt, and eventually working as a host herself, as a boy. Everyone thinks that she's a boy, and the members of the host club eventually find out, but then try to keep this a secret from the rest of the school. Different members of the club start to fall in love with Haruhi and try to win her affections... but she's just so apathetic about the whole thing that she doesn't try to engage with any of them. 

What I think draws me to this series is that its kind of a mockery of all shojou stories. You have all of the typical stereotypes that are played out ( manipulator, boyish, strong silent, etc) in an over the top rendition that just makes you want to laugh and then you have the heroine which plays the part of you, she is almost detached from the story, but fully integrated into it. There are times when it seems like she's saying 'are we really doing this right now?' but ends up doing it and having fun (like when you're fed up with the ridiculousness of a story, but are happy when the couple gets together). Lets just say she's the voice of reason, and for once A HEROINE WHO ISN'T STUPID!! As I feel that it is making fun of the genre, I must also say that that isn't all it does. It actually has a pretty decent story line and some good characters. I recommend!!

Hot Gimmick by Miki Aihara

This manga sickened me. Don't get me wrong, I read the whole thing and thought it had the potential to be kind of romantic, but it ended up being a story about unhealthy obsession and relationship abuse. I understand that love is a passionate affair of swirling emotions and non-nonsensical actions and what not, but there is a fine line between a healthy relationship and an unhealthy relationship, and HG is an example of the latter. Hatsumi was treated with no respect by Ryoki and was referred to, and considered a slave (which has the potential to be interesting, but was just exploitation in this instance), a dog, and a piece of luggage. She was also admittedly afraid of Ryoki throughout the entire story and because of his insistence, began believing that she was stupid and worthless. This is not love. And I understand that Ryoki's childhood was in some way deficient and may be the cause of his actions and thoughts, but its not OK just to accept that as an excuse for his behaviour. One of the cool things about stories is watching the characters develop into new people by learning some life lesson. Hatsumi did not grow, and neither did Ryoki. This was an example of an emotionally abusive (and sometimes physically abusive) relationship that was applauded by friends and family. They show movies in high school warning kids about this kind of thing because it is wrong and all people, no matter their gender, should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve as a human being. I shudder to think that this is socially acceptable and hope that no young girl gets a hold of it.

Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya

I enjoyed reading this series. The story is about a girl who stumbles upon the family secret of the most popular boy in school, which is that certain members of the family change into the animals of the chinese zodiac when hugged by a member of the opposite sex.

The reception of this manga is mixed, and depending on who you talk to they either loved it or didn't. I liked it. I thought Torhu was a strong heroine, though this isn't blatantly apparent (though I think that the whole idea behind inner strength is that it happens inside of you, so it might not be that readily apparent to onlookers). She has a quiet strength and is the rock that holds everyone together. 

I thought that the characters were well done too. The manga was long enough to go in depth on most, if not all of the characters which made the story line pleasingly complex and intricate.
 
I'm loved the ending, I thought it was really cute, and actually, this is one of the cleanest manga I've ever read. Most mangas directed at an audience over the puberty line are all about romance and relationships, if shoujo, or have the girls in suggestive clothing, if shounen. This one's a shoujo and though there's romance in it, that isn't the focus, the curse is. So I guess its one of the refreshing ones, as it still manages to pull off a great storyline with compelling characters. It's one of my favourite mangas ^^

Goth by Otsuichi

I really enjoyed this manga, it's one of my favourites. It has something of a morbid story line, focused around various cases of murder... but I wouldn't say it's primarily a murder mystery. There is definitely that aspect to the story, but because the main characters react as they do to these murders.. well lets say that the death helps to set the mood of the story more than drive plot (at the beginning of the story anyways). Both main characters have some connection to an obsession to death and are drawn to various morbid activity throughout the story. There is only one or two really graphic pictures, for the most part it's just the concepts that are kind of gruesome, and because of that the subject matter isn't as repulsive as it would be if the story was all guts and gore. It's more intriguing that repulsive, and in a dark kind of way you always want to know what happens next.
 
Something else that's kind of interesting about this story is how the character relationships are set up. I'll start of by saying in no way is this a romance... it's the opposite, but the way in which the characters relate to each other in conjunction with how the story progresses is reminiscent of a romance. The two main characters are a boy and a girl, the story is mostly narrated by the boy though, the girl always seems distant in this sense, as if we're watching her. Even the part where the girl is telling us about her past we see her through her eyes as something foreign... so we never really get into her head.
 
The boy is obsessed with death though. He was first drawn to the girl because he wanted to kill her (or wanted her hands), and for the rest of the story the girl and boy are what one could consider as friendship. Throughout the story though he's interested in her death, not plotting it per say, but interested in the possibility. The girl always seems to attract people who want to kill her and the boy always shows up, and at one part fights someone because he wants to be the one to kill her. It is kind of like a romance in that the boy is so obsessed with the girl, or the part of the story the readers are shown he is anyway... but just to restate, this isn't a romance.
 
The art is pretty nice and goes with the over all mood. I'm glad it's getting published in English.

The One That I Love by Megumi Tachikawa

This... was really bad. The book is comprised of several... you can't even call them stories because they are all around 7 pages in length and go no where. They all hint at a possible story, but none of them actually puts in any time to create something worth reading. It's more like a collection of possible love story ideas someone else could write about if they wanted to write a romance... but chances are that someone interested in writing a love story would already know about possible plot twists... making this completely and totally useless!! I can't see how anyone could read this excuse for a collection of decent plot lines and call it a nice collection of love stories, and the art is grade b. There is nothing redeemable at all... it's just so horrible. and pointless. Honestly, why.

The Legend of Chun Hyang by Clamp

This manga is based off of an old Korean folk tale about a girl who stands up against the corrupt leaders of the villages she goes to, kind of like a Zorro idea.

It's only one volume long, which kind of sucks. The story has a lot of potential and the characters could definitely been expanded upon, and the ending is somewhat unsatisfying because it ends with the mother hinting at and a possible continuation of the story, one that we'll never know about. Also, Chun Hyang and the guy only went up against two corrupt village leaders, and it was stated in the beginning of the chapter that they would later get married, which was mentioned because she was a peasant and he was some higher up the social scale guy, but that relationship was barely touched upon besides a mild flirtation. The story could continue in so many ways, and should because what they give you is a beginning to a story, an introduction, but it doesn't follow through with the substantial plot it hints at becoming. But then again there are many manga plot lines that drag on and on... so I guess it could be seen as an OK thing that they didn't let that happen...

Overall, a good story, but an unfinished one in my eyes.