What Manga are you reading?

[SierraLea]

I just finished Bakuman 19 too. They always make me laugh!
Has anyone read the end of Dengeki Daisy? I can't find it and am really worried about Akito, or whatever that kid's name is. Who is he, really?

[MangaRocks!]

Has anyone read the end of Dengeki Daisy?

Well, since (as far as I'm aware) it's still publishing in Japan, I think the only people who know the end right now are the mangaka and (possibly) the editor...

[skreyola]

I am currently reading Kare Kano. It was great untill the end of volume 6. Did they seriously have to ruin it like that? It was so pure and endearing before that.

I just read vol. 1 of that. It looked interesting enough to pursue... is there a good stopping point before vol. 6?

[mysngoeshere56]

D.N.Angel, volume 11.

[Kaori]

Question for people reading this thread: I currently have a couple of series lined up to read that are only available in Japanese and haven’t been scanslated or licensed yet As far as I know. If I write up my thoughts about them, would anyone read, or would it not be worth it to read a review of something only available in Japanese?

Diotima is a Korean manwha that is thoroughly mediocre, or perhaps a bit below that, despite having a Emanon-like female lead who also gives off Irresponsible-Captain-Tylor vibes in the way that she is in some ways startlingly competent and in other ways a complete slacker. It’s basically a slice-of-life story set on a space station that collects space debris and occasionally has a rescue mission, so in terms of setting it also has some passing similarity to Planetes, which I have not yet read. There was one minor story-arc that I found somewhat touching, and there were a couple of successfully humorous moments, but other than that the lack of a plot and mediocrity of the work left me at the end wondering why I was reading a slice-of-life story anyways since I don’t particularly like that genre. The fan translation I read was not very good, so that was not helping matters either.

Detarame Mousouryoku Opera v. 1 (complete): The story is about a 19-year-old woman who gets transported into another world to help out a former prince who is a common citizen now that his country is a democracy ruled by a parliament. He has an ability called Opera which rearranges the molecular structure of matter in order to create objects, and his imagination is incredibly powerful but because he lacks spatial ability he can't control his Opera properly without the help of Hifumi, whose spatial ability is pretty much that of of a savant.

Pretty much everything about this manga is right up my alley. I love the "transported into another world" trope, I love the manga's concept of Opera and what it does with it, I love the completely fantastical and whimsical feel of the manga. The female lead is determined and focused and has a goal in her life, but she isn't so overloaded with talent that she comes across as being perfect; the male lead also has some balance of talents and flaws, and the way the abilities of the two leads fit together and complement each other is very appealing.

It also does have some shortcomings. Though the characters are likeable, the mangaka relies a bit too much on quirks like "monstrous spatial ability" for characterization, but more importantly, mainly due to the political intrigue going on, the story feels like it needed to be much longer than it was. At the end of the final chapter we're given some statements about what will most likely happen in the future for the characters, but I really wanted to see those things worked out in the story rather than just reading a statement of "this will probably happen." Overall, however, I adore this manga and it saddens me that it is only one volume long.

By the way, this is by the mangaka more known for Ouran High School Host Club, which is mind-boggling to me because I read a bit of Ouran and could not get into it at all. So if you like Ouran that is probably not necessarily an indication that you would like Detarame Mousouryoku Opera. However, anyone who likes utterly fantastical things, or fantasy/romance, or intriguing twists on magic, should check this out. In terms of content it is completely clean and has no objectionable content whatsoever except for the Opera ability bearing more than a passing resemblance to magic (for those people who prefer to avoid stories containing magical abilities).

[MangaRocks!]

Question for people reading this thread: I currently have a couple of series lined up to read that are only available in Japanese and haven’t been scanslated or licensed yet As far as I know. If I write up my thoughts about them, would anyone read, or would it not be worth it to read a review of something only available in Japanese?

Sure! While I haven't yet learned Japanese, I for one am always open to listen to reviews on what's out there.

Also, thanks for your excellent review of Hatori-sensei's Detarame Mousouryoku Opera-- I'd seen that on her list of works on MAL, but it had no real information or any user reviews for it yet, so I had no idea whether or not I should check it out. Now, I most definitely will!

[the_wolfs_howl]

Silver Spoon chapters 74-75 - It's only when things like this happen that you realize just how much Hachiken has grown. It was wonderful to see him acknowledged more by the people he knows.

[mysngoeshere56]

Read the first volume of Shugo Chara! today.

[skreyola]

Finished the third volume of UltraCute. Decided half-way through the volume that I really didn't care whether she got that guy (or another, or any at all), so I'm dropping the series.

[Kaori]

Also, thanks for your excellent review of Hatori-sensei's Detarame Mousouryoku Opera

My pleasure! Glad you found it helpful.

Oh, and it will be a little while before I write about those Japanese-only manga (my Japanese reading speed is slow), but when I do I will make sure to mention that they are Japanese-only. Anything else I read is probably a scanslation.

[Vii]

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime ch.40: Cute as always~
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Zen and Shirayuki y u so adorable?! :<

[mysngoeshere56]

Cardcaptor Sakura, the 3rd volume in Dark Horse's first omnibus.

[MangaRocks!]

Whew, I've read a lot lately!
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime chapter 40: Haha, that *was* cute. Looking forward to whatever the next arc will be!
Detarame Mousouryoku Opera chapters 1-3 (complete): Decided to read this thanks to Kaori's review of it above, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's really cute, for one thing -- and, for another, I also like the setting, as well as the characters' personalities and abilities. I do agree that, while there is a vague sort of closure at the end with the probable future given, it feels more like the beginning of a series rather than a 3-chapter one shot; and, to be honest, despite the mangaka's Millennium Snow series not having had *any* sort of ending before its recent restart, I would *much* rather see a continuation of Detarame than that one. (Oh well. ) In any event, though, this was certainly worth my time, and I'm glad I read it.


Karneval, "Gareki's Side Story" part 1: This featured an interesting look at more of Gareki's past, and had a nice little cliffhanger, too. Looking forward to more, as always!


Pandora Hearts chapter 84: Bwahaha!! Oh man, the title of this chapter was incredibly appropriate. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: "Trickster," indeed-- that was one master-level troll. The previous chapter was left on a cliffhanger directly in the middle of a quite important sentence; then, in this chapter, all sorts of little details leading up to that conversation, plus more of a certain flashback (which was surprisingly adorable ), *and* a cool realization by Oz were all revealed... but *still* not the end of the sentence! Seriously, though, this *was* good-- and I can't wait for the next chapter!
Taiyou no Ie chapter 21: Aw, all those new flashbacks + memories from Daiki's point of view were adorable. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: That said, unless this is one of the few shojo that completely breaks away from the expected-couple norm (and at this point I very much doubt that it is), I know poor Daiki has no chance -- however, it's still hard not to root for him a little now. Also, Hiro's reaction once he realized just how much time Mao and Daiki would soon be spending with each other was pretty amusing. And this upcoming conversation should be interesting, as well...


Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun chapter 41: Bwahaha, the expressions in this chapter-- SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Yamaken's when Shizuku's comeback left him speechless, Shizuku's when she was realizing all that stuff, and both Shizuku's and Haru's when they happened to meet up.


Dengeki Daisy vol. 12: Fantastic, as usual. There's so much I could comment on-- SPOILER: Highlight text to read: the humor, the brilliant rescue, Rena finally appearing to admit to liking Kiyoshi in return (as it was already obvious that he liked her-- and for a side couple with relatively subtle interactions and little page time in comparison to the main one, they're amazingly adorable ), the stuff with Akira (whom I'm really feeling some pity for now), the reveal of what appears to be the top baddie behind everything, and more. This series is seriously good, and I can't wait for the next volume!


Otomen vol. 15: Ah, that's better. The last couple of volumes of this particular series hadn't been as good as the previous ones, but this is more like it again. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I like that the parody is still ongoing, too (even though it's a little lighter now than it was in the beginning of the series)-- like a character actually commenting on "the sparkles" ; the purposefully-ridiculous, literally-out-of-nowhere rainstorm; etc. And it was nice to have a bit of focus on both Tonomine and Yamato in this volume, too.


And finally, Kieli novel #8: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Well, I'm glad that Kieli's still reminding Harvey of his promise , though of course there was another troll there once she finally got him to give in (although this time I was fully expecting it, so I LOL'd-- especially because this time it was actually a *purposeful* troll by another character that caused the interruption ). What Harvey said to her afterwards (and kept on saying several more times throughout the book) was really sweet (and even more romantic), though, so that more than made up for it anyway (...for now). I like how everything is wrapping up as it heads towards the conclusion now, with those little connections to previous characters and such. It was also very interesting how likeable (or, to put it more accurately, how completely unhateable) Sigri became, despite what he'd done in the past; and how, as nuts and as nasty as Joachim could be, his end here at the close of this volume was nevertheless quite somber and elicited a good deal of pity, as well. Very much looking forward to the final volume!

[SierraLea]

My current Bookshelf is
Bakuman 19. They did it again. I was rolling on the floor, not to mention how realistic and gorgeous some of the characters look on particular panels. This will probably be a long standing favorite.
Boys Over Flowers 7. Can't they have a happy ending just this once? There's way too much drama in this one, but the suspense keeps me reading.
Chibi Vampire 6. Big Surprise! Looks like Maaka's not the only one with problems.
Dengeki Daisy 10. Turn up the heat all you want, Teru. Kurosaki better keep his hair.
Eyeshield 21, 20-23. It took almost four volumes to get through a single game, but what a game it was! A lot of good moments for the supporting cast.
Fairy Tail 1. I thought this was from the author of One Piece, but it turned out to be someone different. I like this one too.
kare Kano 6. See earlier post.
Rave master 8 and 17. With these gaps, I haven't been able to actually read them yet, since I have to read the first seven online.
Rebound 1-12. Another one with gaps, I only got ast the first one. It jumped into the story way too fast, but once it let me catch up I started liking it. I already know who my favorite character is.

[Kaori]

Yowamushi Pedal v. 1-5: So, the premise of this manga is that the main character, Onoda, is an otaku who rides his mamachari (utility bike) from Chiba to Akihabara every week, a 90-km round trip. When he starts his first year of high school he wants to revive the anime club so that he can have someone to talk to about Akiba and his otaku interests, but instead some other freshmen in his class notice his ridiculous amount of raw talent in cycling, and he ends up joining the road racing club instead and loving it. This manga is completely absurd shonen fluff, which shows in the way that some of the characters are extremely stereotypical (level-headed and intense type-A guy; fiery, loud, and showy guy from Osaka; guy who looks lazy but has a remarkable talent) and even little things like changing gears get made into a huge dramatic affair. It's also really easy to see what the mangaka is doing in terms of plot: he drags certain things out in that shonen fight-scene way in order to maintain suspense and excitement, and the fact that the main character is very talented but a complete neophyte to road racing allows the mangaka to show Onoda’s extraordinariness while still having him lose races at the beginning of the manga so that there's plenty of room for him to grow.

If you're looking for originality in plot, depth of characterization, or even good artwork ("messy" is how I would describe it), look elsewhere. On the other hand, this manga is a heartwarming story of friendship with a main character who is just plain nice. There are not many manga that warm my heart or make me laugh out loud, and this one does both. I'm not sure how much of my enjoyment of this manga is due to my personal interest in cycling, but I am really enjoying this, despite the fact that sports manga is not normally my thing. People who have an interest in cycling or sports manga or both should check this out.

Thank you, Japan, for creating this manga. <3

[mysngoeshere56]

Got a Pandora Hearts volume from the library.

[MangaRocks!]

Gin no Saji, a.k.a. Silver Spoon, chapter 76: Haha, this chapter. The snow stuff was so cute. And that was a truly hilarious SPOILER: Highlight text to read: interruption , as well as all the stuff with the bacon again, LOL.
Kimi to Boku. chapter 23: How is this always so funny and sweet and adorable and heartwarming and good?!

Taiyou no Ie chapter 22: LOL! Well, that conversation went way better than I had expected. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: That scene with Mao's two friends was pretty painful, though. But LOL about the pictures afterwards.


I also happened to re-run across some previous recommendations for some of Yuki Midorikawa-sensei's other works, which I had somehow forgotten about , so I remedied that right away!

The first one was Akaku Saku Koe, a.k.a. The Voice That Blooms Red, volumes 1-3 (complete): I really enjoyed this. The girl's curiosity, quick decisiveness, and morals; the boy's hypnotic voice; the amusing, older-brother-like police force dude; the simple and sweet little romance; all of it.

And the second was Hiiro no Isu, a.k.a. The Scarlet Chair, volumes 1-3 (complete): This was a great little fantasy. I liked how strong the girl was, and it was also quite interesting how the character who was the driving force of the story was explored only via memory, flashback, or discussion SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (until very near the end)-- all of which continually changed how you looked at the characters and events, depending on what was revealed. Despite the intrigue, though, I think I found it slightly less satisfying than Akaku Saku Koe, because SPOILER: Highlight text to read: for one, the death(s?) was(/were?) pretty sad, but they were also all kinda crammed in at once -- each could have done with a little more underscoring to make more impact; for another, not only the deaths but also the plot felt a bit rushed there at the end; some things were left a bit more open than I'd like (hence the question marks in the first point ); and while the outcome of the light thread of romance running through this was pretty heavily implied, it still doesn't have quite as much closure as the other series did. All that said, though, this was still quite good; I just liked Akaku... slightly better.

Both were well worth the read.

[Lingering Wind]

I've recently been reading Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama, but other than that I may look into Oresama Teacher since it's been recommended to me several times.

[mysngoeshere56]

Shugo Chara! volume 2.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Silver Spoon chapter 76 - Oh, this series XD Always with the food....

[GeneD]

Attack on Titan ch 46 SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Ymir keeps a cool head. Still we got little new information and I could kick Reiner for cutting off Ymir just as she was about to reveal some things. Interesting that there's some kind of inner conflict/memory issues in Reiner and Bertholdt, which raises the question if Eren won't at some point also develop a sort of dissociation between his human and titan self, maybe his conviction of purpose is so strong it's keeping him single-minded. Welp, here's waiting for next month.

[This is Song]

I'm reading volume 5 of the Sailor Moon manga now, also am going to get volume 10 of Ranma 1/2 today!

[KazeShiki]

I'm not big on manga but a few series that have caught my attention
Sengoku Youko - from the author of the oh so famous Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. Very similar over-the-top action. Fun stuff and underrated considering its predecessor's hype.
Nobunaga no Chef - I would never have guessed a story that combines cooking and Nobunaga's historical conquests would be so good. It's not super amazing but it's good at what it does. Problem is it makes you hungry for delicious food you will never be able to afford.
Denpa Kyoushi - A cross between GTO and TWGOK, so basically an otaku teacher who fixes his students' problems. So far, it has maintained a non-serious repetitive structure that, while predictable, maintains its entertainment.
Akame ga Kill - A darker manga but I'll just say the author isn't afraid to kill off characters. Who will die next? Deathflags everywhere. I just hope it doesn't start dragging into pointless plot.
One Punch Man - not sure how to describe this other than hilarious, original action. Really great art and the mangaka has even streamed himself drawing before.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Silver Spoon chapter 77

[MangaRocks!]

Gin no Saji, a.k.a. Silver Spoon, chapter 77: Wow... that was a bit unpleasant. (Poor Aikawa. ) SPOILER: Highlight text to read: And I felt bad for Mikage, too, with the news that she received -- but that's only going to fuel her resolve even more, now...

Kamisama Kiss, a.k.a. Kamisama Hajimemashita, chapter 96: ...My immediate reaction upon finishing this chapter: "GAH-- TOO SHORT!!" (Which is a very good thing, BTW. ) SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Oh man... this arc really is almost done now-- in fact, according to Mikage, this is indeed Nanami's final journey into the past-- and it's getting intense. And sad. (And it's about to get even sadder still -- but it's so good!) Can't wait for the next chapter!
Kimi to Boku. chapter 24: LOL!!

And Dawn Of The Arcana volume 10: Wow-- I have to say, I'm impressed. Going from not liking the series very much after the first volume to thinking "it's good" from the second volume on, now this volume has just raised my opinion of the series once again. In fact, this was easily the best vol. of the series so far. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Man, the whole thing with Nakaba and Azhal and Akhil was actually downright heartbreaking. And I loved Azhal so much for his character here-- he accepted Nakaba's decision (even before she could try to apologize to him for it) immediately, willingly, and without any hard feelings towards her whatsoever, even though she herself knew that for her to decide like that was wrong... and then still continued trying to reassure her even as he was literally just a moment away from his own death. (I have to admit, I was actually tearing up a bit throughout that entire section + its aftermath. ) And then the second half of the volume was a real surprise-- I did not expect to find that Caesar and Nakaba had officially divorced and then remarried others within their own kingdoms as a part of each of their respective plots to eventually take control of their countries. ("Doing what they must," indeed! ) And this whole volume toughened Nakaba up quite a bit, too. Looking forward to seeing where this goes from here!

[SierraLea]

My current bookshelf is
Boys over Flowers 16-22. Tsukushi may be one of the most thickheaded, stubborn heroines ever. I feel so sorry for Tsukasa!
Eyeshield 21 28-32. I love how this manga has a lot of special moves for the players like Prince of Tennis but has a lot of heart to its characters too. Hiruma just keeps getting better and better!
Gothic Sports 1-3. This one is kind of fun, but more like a slice-of-life than a sport manga.
Kare Kano 7, 10-14. Is it a rule in Shojo that every character has to have an immense imotional struggle, family probelms, or something hugely wrong with their life? This is overkill!
Much Ado About Nothing, Manga style. Someone took Shakespeare and did a comic book version, complete with funny faces that can have me laughing for hours. Not to mention the story is also top notch. If you haven't already tried it, do. It's totaly worth it.
Rebound 17-18. Another sport manga with cool moves and a lot of heart, but this one also includes elements outside of the game, like graduation and the whole deal with Three Men's Hoop. Nate is still my favorite, though.
Wandering Son 1-3. This is why I've been asking about religious views pertaining to Transexuality. It's a good book to read to get a better understanding of it, before you form an opinion.

[Mouse2010]

Just finished Volume 4 of Wandering Son. Looks like I got caught up to the point where the anime begins. It'll be interesting to read the next couple of volumes and see how they compare to the anime. SierraLea: I also found that this series challenged me to think about how transgender individuals fit into my views on gender and sexuality. I don't have any good theological answers, though; I never really came to any conclusions. It was a good challenge, though.

And . . . I just started Black Bird. I am enjoying it, but it's already a very guilty pleasure. I bought the first volume because I was intrigued by the mixed reviews that compared it to Twilight. It definitely is similar to Twilight, but I also see similarities to True Blood/ the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. It's not fair to judge the whole series on one volume, but I think I could potentially like this a lot better than the Twilight series, which I found to be gripping the first time around but ultimately not the sort of books I wanted to reread.

Still, there are aspects of Black Bird that I find troubling. (No, I don't mean the whole demon thing. That stuff doesn't bother me: this is clearly fantasy. It's no more "troubling" to me than unicorns and dragons would be, which is to say, not at all.) I am more bothered by the way Kyo treats Misao. Are the heroes of shoujo manga ALWAYS such patriarchal bullies? Are there any shoujo romances with nice guys? To be fair, it's not that I don't like Kyo-- it's more that I look at the relationship and think: "This is so dysfunctional. Someone needs to give Misao a list of the warning signs of an abusive relationship." And then I wonder whether I should really spend my time and money on works that glorify borderline abusive relationships. These are, of course, the same objections people often raise to Twilight, which explains some of the negative reviews of Black Bird.

[Kaori]

Yowamushi Pedal v. 6: ^___________^ The love of cycling really shines out through this volume, just as in the rest of the series, and the friendship among the characters continues to be incredibly touching.

WOMBS vv. 1-3: A seinen SF military drama and the current project of Shirai Yumiko, whose debut into the world of published manga was Tenkensai (released in the US as Tenken). AFAIK this has not been licensed or scanslated by anyone and is only available in Japanese. The premise is that humanity has migrated to another planet, where they are in the middle of a long ongoing war against another race that arrived there after they did—and the human army heavily relies on a special unit of female soldiers who have had alien embryos implanted in their wombs. Doing so allows them to transport themselves and others through a “coordinate space” (sort of an alternate dimension); it’s basically teleportation, but it’s the cornerstone of humanity’s desperate guerilla tactics. What this all boils down to is that the story is about these more or less pregnant women in the military. It follows one particular new recruit and her friends as they go through training, take part in their first military operation, and then start to discover their talents for special skills like discovering and reclaiming the points used in this teleportation process.

At the end of v. 3 the army is gearing up for a major operation that they hope will land them a decisive victory, and there’s also some scheming being done by some researchers which hasn’t fully been revealed yet. One would think with a premise like this there would be some serious sociological commentary going on, or at least some heavy feminism, but the manga doesn’t really have the sociological depth of something like Oooku; Shirai just likes writing stories about women filling typically-masculine roles, I guess. I would say the most enjoyable aspect of this manga is the characterization—I don’t know what to say about it other than that the characters all seem very much like real people to me, and I enjoy seeing their distinct personalities.

Shirai’s previous work, Tenkensai, had a very remarkable and beautiful art style that used a lot of soft brush work and made little if any use of screentones and other computer-assisted techniques. It also took ten years from conception to completion for Shirai to make just that one volume. While some of Shirai’s former style still present, WOMBS has a mixture of brushwork, more typical manga-style line work, screentones, and even a few images here and there that seem to be computer-generated. Personally, I can see that the mangaka is working really hard to make all of those things blend together into a coherent style and to not make the juxtaposition of those different elements too jarring, but it just isn’t working for me. It also doesn’t look like the same care went into each drawing as went into those in Tenkensai; the artwork in WOMBS seems hasty in comparison, and one can’t help but wonder whether it’s because of the publishing company pushing Shirai to produce at a faster pace (Tenkensai was a doujinshi, meaning Shirai made it by herself, without being under a contract to anybody, and then found someone to publish it after it was complete). However, with each volume of WOMBS taking one year to come out instead of the ten years that Shirai spent on Tenkensai, I guess that a hastier art style is the unavoidable result.

Are there any shoujo romances with nice guys?

Immortal Rain, Kimi ni Todoke, and W Juliet all leap to mind immediately, as well as Ten no Ryuu, Chi no Sakura. I’m sure there are some others out there as well.

[Vii]

Are there any shoujo romances with nice guys?

Kimi ni Todoke, Hibi Chouchou, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, Nineteen Twenty-One, orange.

[Mouse2010]

Thanks, guys! I've heard good things about Kimi ni Todoke; maybe I need to try that.