Lisolette chapter one and other manga stuff
I read the first chapter of Natsuki Takaya's new series Lisolette no Majo no Mori today. I expected it to be crap, but it actually was quite good. It's too early to judge the series at this stage, but this chapter seemed good. Not awesome or amazing, but good. And it certainly looks like it has the potential to be very interesting.
I thought I would hate the main character (I looked at her splash illustration and thought 'great, another Tohru Honda'), but I actually quite like her. Lisolette seems kind and gentle, but she doesn't look like she's going to be a inhumanly perfect, never-endingly-kind and saintly heroine. She's living in a house with two young servants, and is dying. Though of what we do not know yet. She seems to have a close relationship with the little boy and girl who are serving her (and appears to come from aristocracy), and she's very beautiful. She beautiful in a very kind of modest, 'organic' way if you get what I mean (i.e. not flashily good looking).
This also looks like this is going to be a series with a lot of mystery to it, and most likely a lot of Takaya signature angst and tears. It does look like it could be quite good, and I just hope that this is not going to be a big disapointment like Gate 7 was. This series is one that could really just go either way, so please don't let us down Takaya-sensei! Fruits Basket and Hoshi wa Utau were brilliant, so please pull off another great series!
On to other manga, I'm continuing to read Loveless. I'm up to volume 4 now, and it continues to be brilliant. But seriously; I have never read a manga with such adrogynous characters. Yun Kouga puts CLAMP to shame! I have such a hard time reading this manga figuring out who is male and female *~* ! It's still great though! I've also recently got back in to Negima too. I've picked back up from volume 9, and I think once I've finished Loveless I really would like to read some more. Negi is just adorable (>.<)! He is the most adorable thing in the world! Even more adorable than baby Russia. And that is adorable. He is by a far shot one of the most likable characters I have ever come across in manga! I just love Negi to bits ^^! And the other, huge cast of female characters in this manga are also all so likable. How Akamatsu manages to create such a large number of female characters with such different, unique and likable personalities is truly incredible! Out of the 31 characters in the Negi's class, every single on of them is unique, interesting and likable. Say what you want about the sexualised aspect of the series; I don't think I've ever seen a manga with such a wide cast of strong, capable, and interesting female characters. It is the characters that make this manga, and they are the reason I love it so much!