I hate you more than anyone! vol.2

For a title suggesting that one main character hates the other more than anyone, it’s rather strange to find them having already kissed at the begining of volume 2.

But there’s no smooth sailing for Kazuha. She’s still not sure about her feelings for Sugimoto, (even if the reader knows damn well). On top of that, Her friend has feelings for him. So she struggles with the feeling to step down and let her friend have him. But Sugimoto wants Kazuha. Kazuha is just dense as a brick.

Then Arata, comes out of nowhere and decides that he will have Kazuha (he initally mistakes Kazuha for a boy, and they click, but uopn learning he’s a she, becomes conflicted.)

At this point it’s like this. Arata is bent on having Kazuha, as is Sugimoto. But Kazuha doesn’t want Arata, and she’s conflicted about Sugimoto. But her best friend is still going to try to ger Sugimoto, regardless of whether he wants her or not either.

SO MUCH DRAMA!! it seems really silly writing it all out.

Only as the volume nears its end and Kazuha makes a shaky decision to call Sugimoto who doesn’t make it to the phone in time do we get drawn in….as the possibility for their relationship to pull a Ross and Rachel and end just about as quickly as it began.

MORE PLEASE!!

I hate you more than Anyone! vol.1

Say that 5 times fast! Okay, so reading the first like 2 pages was very confusing for me.

This series, is actually, just ONE of like 6 series that have to do with the same family. And it’s in retrospect. Meaning, in the other series, Kazuha is protrayed as like 25 or maybe even older than she is in this one, as  a highschool student. So her siblings introduce her on the first page and ask how much as she changed..blah blah. and i didn’t understand where it was all coming from. i was lost for a bit.

And i don’t know why they started with the last series. this one is like 18 volumes. the other ones are much shorter and they seem just as interesting, plus i would already be aquainted with the characters if they had started at the begining. Just some thoughts.

Okay, so onto the present,  err past.

Kazuha is a tomboy. She’s awkward with other boys. Never had a boyfriend, but she’s in love with her younger brother’s day care teacher. who she sees atleast once a week when she picks him up.

However we learn very quickly that the teacher, is oblivious to her affections. But then there’s Sugimoto, who is a friend of the teacher and also a hair stylist.

He shamelessly puts the moves on Kazuha, but she rebuffs him the entire way.

Also, he wants to cut her hair. And tricks her into it. She’s very angry with him, silly misunderstandings keep them apart and their relationship is like a roller coaster about to  break, pretty rocky.

Slowly she develops feelings for him and tries to forget about the teacher who is engaged to be married.

Surprisingly, for Sugimoto being some she hates more than anyone, the last scene is them kissing.

He’s not such a bad guy, but he sure is a strange one to figure out, but then again, so is she. so it’s only fair.

Besides what the back of the book says, Kazuha is one of the ugliest “irresistably cute” main characters i’ve ever seen. But she’s a good character. and I really enjoyed all the drama  even if the artwork was too crowded at times.

Yurara Vol.2

There is very little change in the forumla in this volume.

Yurara realizes she likes Mei, and she thinks that just maybe he might like her, but she thinks it’s only because of her Gaurdian Spirit self. Not just plain old Yurara.

It’s made more than ovbious that Yako is interested in Yurara and jealous that it’s so ovbious that she likes Mei.

I guess the only eventfull thing that happens in this volume is that, her other self goes into hiding because a perverted spirit won’t leave her alone and the gang has to solve it, short of their major player.

Oh, and she tells Mei that she loves him and at the very end he tells her he loves her too.

You may be wondering, you don’t really seem to like this series, why are you reading it?

Well, simply put, i love the OTHER Yurara, also. she’s a great character, i love her design and her won’t take shit from nobody attitude. She saves this series for me.

Hopefully, the male leads will develop more and the series will get a plot. Cuz this jumble of ghost stories, aren’t really scary, or funny, or memorable.

Yurara vol.1

I read the first chapter in Shojo Beat. and i thought that it was the shit. This is the series that made me hunt down everything that Chika Shiomi has published in America. However….upon getting the actual first volume home with me…i was not as impressed.

Yurara is a highschool girl, who has always had the ability to see the spirits of the deceased who have, for some reason, not passed on into the other world.

On her first day of highschool, she is attacked by a spirit who’d been haunting a desk by the window where a boy commited suicide after being wrongfully accused.

Yurara also meets two boys. A blonde who’s quiet and serious and a brunette who’s flirty and outgoing. Neither one of them are that interesting and the for a “romantic thriller” it’s lite on thriller and lacking any believable romance.

Yurara, is shy and pretty much boring, but when faced with this evil spirit, she transforms into a darkhaired bombshell who  “ain’t scared of no ghost!”

To solve the case, she has to transform.  Mei and Yako, also have spiritual powers and help her out. But Mei, is very ovbiously attaracted to Yurara’s other self. Each chapter, a ghost presents itself and the gang solves the mystery.

It’s kind of boring. But, it’s not bad. I just wish it would go somewhere or stop going in such predictable circles.

Canon vol.3

I really hate to give away surprises, or plot elements when writing these reviews, but i’m not really sure what to stress more. So i’ll just keep trying my best.

So. In this volume, Canon reaffairms that yes, she does have feelings for Sakaki. And once again…things aren’t as they seem.

We get to go back to the day that Rod killed Sakaki’s parents. Apparently, Canon was there. She was out wandering the hospital’s grounds (because i guess she had some terminal illness, though if this was mentioned in vol.2 i hardly can recall) and came upon them. ROD was going to kill her then and there, But his father Ricardo (wtf kind of a name? but anyways..) jumps infront of her and he dies. And Rod feeling bad for killing his old friend, vows to keep her alive, so he can feel better about himself.

Rod goes on to say that he learned of the value of the “human heart” like Ricardo did. But Sakaki doesn’t care and is hell bent on having him killed. So he tries again to manipulate Canon and just about gets the job done. But she snaps out of it.

Another Vampire is thrown into the mix. And the a-hole basically wants Sakaki dead, and Canon dead, and though he’s on Rod’s team, if it’s true that he’s been giving his life force to Canon to fiend off her disease…well he wouldn’t mind if Rod died to.

Basically, it’s become this weird sort of love triangle. Canon in love with Sakaki, Rod in love with Canon (my asumption, but it sure does seem like it) and POSSIBLY Sakaki in love with Canon.

It tries to imply that there is that possibility in a few panels. Basically it’s a tough call. and I’m curious to see how this one will end. But i do not predict that it will end, well.

Canon vol. 2

It was in this volume, where I lost intrest in the series. Or should i say, my excitement, tapered off. In this volume, you learn that everything you thought you knew…was wrong.

I really hated that. The twist. that made it a very different kind of story. Especially considering that Canon is ovbiously falling in love Sakaki and now we learn that we can’t trust him.

I really hate that. But it was interesting to read. An exciting read, though sometimes confusing to follow,what with all the fighting and the blood.

I don’t want to give away the plot too much, but Sakaki, is not a good guy. And Maybe, ROD is. the plot thickens….

Canon vol.1

In the begining i got confused as to who the main characters were. Because, the first couple of  chapters, could be , or should i say are, stand alone stories. They introduce you to the character and her past, without really starting the plot. I haven’t read a manga that’s started out like this before, so for that it gets points.

Canon is a young woman, who for some reason unbeknownst to her is the only person not killed, when her entire class was attacked and slaughtered. And though she doesn’t know what the killer looks like, she knows that he was a vampire and that he was the one who turned her into a vampire.

In the first volume, she struggles with a new found desire to consume human blood and her moral conviction that it is wrong. She is set on returning to normal and avenging her classmates.

She has a raven or bird of some kind that has become her servant of sorts. He’s usefull because he can smell when other Vampires are approaching. Which comes in handy, because Canon is the lowest form of a vampire that there is and other vampires, repulsed by her existence, are out to kill her.

At the end of the volume, we learn that her arch enemy’s name is ROD and Sakaki, a half-human vampire is asking her to help him, since Rod is his enemy also.

I really enjoyed this volume, it was mysterious and suspenseful. There was an awesesome set-up and i really liked Canon as a main character. As well as the art. it’s very strong in this series, but not too crowded and messy.

overall, a good read.

Fall in love like a Comic vol.2

Can i just start off by saying that i really like, the nice, cute, clean artwork that this manga has? Basically though, it’s a lot of fluff. I mean,  and i hate to spoil it, but there are like 3 or 4 chapters and in the last one they get married. She’s only in highschool!!! It happens to quickly. Everything in this manga is just so hard to swallow.

He’s too perfect. TOO. PERFECT. And Rena’s too real. They just……it doesn’t work to be convincing. Most of the stories in here are trivial. But, if your in the mood for cheap entertainment, this will get the job done. It’s not bad for what it is, it just could be better.

And the best thing about this final volume, is that it has several How-to pages in the back that deal with making your own manga. Pretty good advice, almost makes it worth while to own it!

Gakuen Alice vol.1

So, i gave into the buzz and bought it. After a quick leaf through in the store, i was certain i wasn’t going to like it. But, amazingly, i did. Will, it fill the void that Fruits Basket will leave in my soul? I don’t think so.

But, here’s the premise, as best i can describe it.

Mikan has a Friend named Tomoyo. She loves this friend. But Tomoyo is leaving to go to a new school for super smart kids. Severly destraught over Tomoyo’s absence, Mikan heads out to Alice Academy.

At Alice Academy, they teach and train people known as Alices. And Alices have special powers, and they work for the government. It’s a lot like a girl version of X-men. I picked up on that right away.

So, she runs into a teacher of the school, who upon meeting her decides that she is an Alice. But she’s not sure and she doesn’t even know what her ability is. The other kids in class pick up  on this and decide that unless she is discover her Alice skill they will boot her from the school.

And that’s the jist of the first volume. Is she? or isn’t she?

I’m really lookng forward to the seond volume. It’s very funny and I’m very interested in seeing how her relationship with a certain tempermental high powered Alice boy turns out.

I think that there’s still a good chance for this manga to get old quickly but, hope springs eternal.