Manga 1st Volumes
Reviews of various manga by reading their first volumes only.
The Magic Touch by Tsubaki Izumi
Togu Chiaki is pretty normal but she is incredibly good at massages, and is part of the Massage Research Society (club) at her school. There is a guy at school named Moriizumi Yosuke with the stiffest body she's ever seen. She longs to straighten him out by massaging the stiffness out of him. One day she runs into him at school and he tells her she can only massage him if she succeeds in making him fall in love with her. Also, she has an evil sister who has been using her (Chiaki's) name when she treats men like garbage, which causes the real Chiaki no end of trouble. Hijinks ensue, and Chiaki falls in love with Yosuke. But will he ever fall in love with her? Will she ever get to massage his stiff back?? Will her sister ever get what's coming to her???
The premise of this manga is extremely silly, a fact that the author concedes in the blurbs at the end of the manga. This is more of a comedy than a drama, which works pretty well for it. Chiaki is energetic, nice and talented, and not a completely clueless moron. So that's good. However, I'm not too excited about the male love interest, Yosuke. There's something about his personality that just doesn't seem to fit well with Chiaki, and to enough of a degree that I'm not quite convinced they will work as a couple. Chiaki's sister also seems needlessly jerkish, but she ends up being almost more of a comic-villian caricature than anyone to actually take seriously. I did really like the tangentially-related side story "Teach Me, Prince". I'll consider getting more of this one, but I'm not in much of a rush to do it.
Otomen by Kanno Aya
The outwardly manly, extremely talented and strong captain-of-the-kendo-club, Masamune Asuka (a boy), secretly loves sewing and cooking and cute, girly things to an embarrassing degree. Tachibana Juta, meanwhile, is sort of a womanizer type guy, which irks the kind and honorable Asuka. One day, there is about to be a mugging on school grounds, and a girl named Miyakozuka Ryo is trying to defend the would-be victim. Asuka steps in to awesomely save the two of them, and from that point on Asuka realizes he likes Ryo. Hijinks ensue as he makes great effort to get to know Ryo better, and for some reason Juta tags along. Will Ryo ever realize that Asuka has feelings for her? Will Juta get her instead?? Really, what is Juta's deal anyway???
This manga was much lauded when it was released here, and I actually don't mind it too much. Asuka's girliness is kind of annoying sometimes, because the author plays it up like people think it's such a terrible thing to be good at sewing and cooking, when in reality no one really cares. So you have to kind of look past that in order to enjoy this manga. Juta's personality is pretty annoying too, but it's supposed to be, and there's more to him and his character than it seems at first. Ryo I find to be needlessly clueless. Although it is a bit refreshing to have a shoujo manga with a male lead, whose female love interest doesn't really swoon over him at all when all the other girls around him do. This dynamic is very different than I'm used to reading in shoujo, so it's refreshing and different and I'll probably at least get another volume to see if the author can get away from the girly-is-bad plot and on to something more interesting.
Four-Eyed Prince by Mizukami Wataru (Note: Del Ray)
Oohashi Sachiko has had a crush on her glasses-wearing prince, Masuda Akihiko, for a long time. But when she confesses to him, he immediately turns her down in a rude and dismissive way, absolutely crushing her spirit. But then, when her grandmother can't take care of her anymore, she moves in with her dead-beat mother, who it turns out... is housing her four-eyed prince, Akihiko! Akihiko continues to be vaguely rude to her that first night, and she runs out after him to try and mitigate things, but can't find him and ends up in a cocktail bar where she meets a young waitstaff member Akira, who is about her age and is super nice to her. They hit it off pretty well, and hijinks ensue. But what is she going to do about her four-eyed prince at home? And what about Akira??
I really hesitated buying this one because I'm not really into the whole "glasses guy" thing, and I thought that's what this manga might be about. But it turns out to be not quite the case, so I am able to enjoy the story without having to be into the whole glasses-guy fetish. Anyway. Even though Akihiko is incredibly rude (at first) and doesn't seem to care at all about Sachiko's feelings, I actually liked the plot and found the characters and situations they got into to be interesting. Akihiko's annoying personality does have a reason and given the way the plot goes in the first volume, you can be pretty sure it's not going to continue in that vein for the entire series, which is why I'm willing to give this one a chance. I do plan on getting the next volume, and as long as the comedy remains good and the situations interesting but not too ridiculous, I do plan on continuing this one for as long as it goes.
The Magic Touch by Tsubaki Izumi
Togu Chiaki is pretty normal but she is incredibly good at massages, and is part of the Massage Research Society (club) at her school. There is a guy at school named Moriizumi Yosuke with the stiffest body she's ever seen. She longs to straighten him out by massaging the stiffness out of him. One day she runs into him at school and he tells her she can only massage him if she succeeds in making him fall in love with her. Also, she has an evil sister who has been using her (Chiaki's) name when she treats men like garbage, which causes the real Chiaki no end of trouble. Hijinks ensue, and Chiaki falls in love with Yosuke. But will he ever fall in love with her? Will she ever get to massage his stiff back?? Will her sister ever get what's coming to her???
The premise of this manga is extremely silly, a fact that the author concedes in the blurbs at the end of the manga. This is more of a comedy than a drama, which works pretty well for it. Chiaki is energetic, nice and talented, and not a completely clueless moron. So that's good. However, I'm not too excited about the male love interest, Yosuke. There's something about his personality that just doesn't seem to fit well with Chiaki, and to enough of a degree that I'm not quite convinced they will work as a couple. Chiaki's sister also seems needlessly jerkish, but she ends up being almost more of a comic-villian caricature than anyone to actually take seriously. I did really like the tangentially-related side story "Teach Me, Prince". I'll consider getting more of this one, but I'm not in much of a rush to do it.
Otomen by Kanno Aya
The outwardly manly, extremely talented and strong captain-of-the-kendo-club, Masamune Asuka (a boy), secretly loves sewing and cooking and cute, girly things to an embarrassing degree. Tachibana Juta, meanwhile, is sort of a womanizer type guy, which irks the kind and honorable Asuka. One day, there is about to be a mugging on school grounds, and a girl named Miyakozuka Ryo is trying to defend the would-be victim. Asuka steps in to awesomely save the two of them, and from that point on Asuka realizes he likes Ryo. Hijinks ensue as he makes great effort to get to know Ryo better, and for some reason Juta tags along. Will Ryo ever realize that Asuka has feelings for her? Will Juta get her instead?? Really, what is Juta's deal anyway???
This manga was much lauded when it was released here, and I actually don't mind it too much. Asuka's girliness is kind of annoying sometimes, because the author plays it up like people think it's such a terrible thing to be good at sewing and cooking, when in reality no one really cares. So you have to kind of look past that in order to enjoy this manga. Juta's personality is pretty annoying too, but it's supposed to be, and there's more to him and his character than it seems at first. Ryo I find to be needlessly clueless. Although it is a bit refreshing to have a shoujo manga with a male lead, whose female love interest doesn't really swoon over him at all when all the other girls around him do. This dynamic is very different than I'm used to reading in shoujo, so it's refreshing and different and I'll probably at least get another volume to see if the author can get away from the girly-is-bad plot and on to something more interesting.
Four-Eyed Prince by Mizukami Wataru (Note: Del Ray)
Oohashi Sachiko has had a crush on her glasses-wearing prince, Masuda Akihiko, for a long time. But when she confesses to him, he immediately turns her down in a rude and dismissive way, absolutely crushing her spirit. But then, when her grandmother can't take care of her anymore, she moves in with her dead-beat mother, who it turns out... is housing her four-eyed prince, Akihiko! Akihiko continues to be vaguely rude to her that first night, and she runs out after him to try and mitigate things, but can't find him and ends up in a cocktail bar where she meets a young waitstaff member Akira, who is about her age and is super nice to her. They hit it off pretty well, and hijinks ensue. But what is she going to do about her four-eyed prince at home? And what about Akira??
I really hesitated buying this one because I'm not really into the whole "glasses guy" thing, and I thought that's what this manga might be about. But it turns out to be not quite the case, so I am able to enjoy the story without having to be into the whole glasses-guy fetish. Anyway. Even though Akihiko is incredibly rude (at first) and doesn't seem to care at all about Sachiko's feelings, I actually liked the plot and found the characters and situations they got into to be interesting. Akihiko's annoying personality does have a reason and given the way the plot goes in the first volume, you can be pretty sure it's not going to continue in that vein for the entire series, which is why I'm willing to give this one a chance. I do plan on getting the next volume, and as long as the comedy remains good and the situations interesting but not too ridiculous, I do plan on continuing this one for as long as it goes.