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.

               

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.

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 ^^

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.