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This blog is a storage space for various thoughts, observations and musings centering on shōjo manga (少女漫画, Japanese comics for girls), josei-oriented manga (Japanese comics for women) and manga created by women (in the widest sense). Topics from other fields of relevance, such as music, art, literature and film may be discussed here as well.

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For the most part, Japanese names appear in their original order - surname first, followed by the given name.

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Viewing all posts in category: Manga



Visual kei-inspired shoujo manga

Hayakawa Tomoko (who is a fan of baro’s Bansaku)’s manga series Yamato nadeshiko Shichi Henge is on the cover of this month’s Betsufure. I wonder if I should buy it… but then again, I have just gotten five new manga mags and I won’t finish all of them till next month anyway. I’ve also noticed that Ikezawa Satomi’s Othello is running in Betsufure, too. Another series that has visual kei references…

In other manga mag news: There’ll be a 40-page Akuma de sourou yomikiri in Betsuma 8 featuring Takeru’s and Kayano’s little brother ^-^ Definitely looking forward to that one^^

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Categories: Manga, Various.
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Posted on Jun 25, 2002 (Tue, 5:21 pm). .

New shoujo manga and anime discoveries

I’m growing more and more bored with Asuka: X is fine but I buy the tankoubon anyway, the same goes for Gouhou Drug; there are no other series I’m following in Asuka at the moment… there will be something new from Kazumi Yuana in Asuka 8 so I’ll wait for that and see if I like it. If I don’t I’ll have to find a new magazine I can read monthly. It’s kind of difficult though cause you either find mags with romance-only or fantasy-only stories in them… and even though I’m buying Asuka mainly for it’s fantasy stories, I’ve liked the debut yomikiri that were more comedy and romance oriented best (like the two stories by Ama Mianko — or is it Amami Anko? there’s only hiragana so I can’t say for sure). I’ve ordered a whole bunch of mags to see if I like the stories in them. I noticed I should’ve ordered Lala too (I didn’t think of Hakusensha mags >_<)... Oh well, I do that in a month or so.
I’ve had so much free time in the last three days and I’ve read a few manga tankoubon. Two of them were Akuma de sourou 4 and 5. I’m enjoying this series more and more. It’s probably one of the cheesiest stories I’ve read in a long time, but in a serious, touching way. Kayano is alright (her constant crying can be a bit annoying at times), so are all the other characters (all very well developed, all with their own background stories). I loooove the fashion in the manga. It’s awesome! I must say I adore Takanashi-sensei for her fashion taste^^ Well, it basically matches my own and that’s why I sometimes enjoy just looking at the character’s clothes as much as I enjoy flipping through Kera. It’s such a shame Akuma de is ending very soon. The last chapter started in Margaret 6. I hope Takanashi-sensei will start publishing a new series soon!

I’ve also been watching a few new anime series. Short impressions:
.hack//SIGN – the first episode wasn’t to thrilling, too RPG-ish. The music was too loud at times, I couldn’t make out the dialogue very well (oh well there were subtitles, but…). The series started to get me with episode 2 though… It has that certain bit of mystery that it needs to keep me interested. Can’t wait to see more of it! (It’s been licensed a few days ago, so fansubs are hard to get. I’ll wait for the commercial release then.)
Chobits – hmmmmm. The animation is well done, so is the voice-acting. The opening and ending are the usual anime j-pop. The story is a bit different than in the manga, I like it nevertheless. The whole magical maid-parody CLAMP style concept is cool, I’m just hoping it’ll get a bit darker (not like I want anything to happen to Chii, no no).
RahXephon – I love it! Wasn’t too thrilled when I saw the first episodes a few months ago but the more I watch of it the more I fall in love with it^^ Ah yes, I love mecha stories… I’m glad there’s neither a whiny Shinji-type character nor an in-your-face-sexy kind of girl character in there. I especially love the more quiet and serious parts (even though the action-packed fight scenes are awesome). I’ve also noticed that the ending theme sounds a bit like the ending theme of Please save my earth… I haven’t watched PSME for years but I think the styles of both songs are very very similar. Oh well, it’s one of Yohko Kanno’s typical styles I guess. I like RahXephon’s OP (Hemisphere by Sakamoto Maya) better though.

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Categories: Anime, Manga, Various.
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Posted on May 28, 2002 (Tue, 9:24 pm). .

Hayakawa Tomoko

I just wanted to write a few lines on Hayakawa Tomoko, shoujo mangaka, visual kei fan, Bansaku follower. She’s cool. Her early short stories are quite cheesy (I bought the tankoubon just for the visual kei cover boys ^^;), Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, a series currently running in BetsuFriend, is very good though. I’m not that far into the story yet, but everything I have read so far is very much enjoyable. No whiny or too-tough-to-be-true heroine you’ll end up hating withing the first three pages, but a gothloli who prefers dead things to living beings and darkness to light. A girl who hides behind her hair and in her room. But also a girl who secretly gets nosebleeds from looking at the bishounen around her and who is so damn pretty without really noticing it. Definitely recommended. I wish there were more shoujo manga like that.

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Categories: Manga, Various.
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Posted on May 15, 2002 (Wed, 5:50 pm). .




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