Manga Review: Tsuki no Shippo

Name: Tsuki no Shippo 
Author & Artist: Ueda Rinko
Chapters: 42
Genres:  Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Harem, Historical, Martial Arts, Romance, Shoujo 

Plot:

Usagi is the granddaughter of the leader of a prestigious ninja village, but she's such a klutz that she's never made it out of the lower class. Frustrated with Usagi's lack of progress, her grandfather sends her to marry Lord Hanzo with an order to breed many ninja children. But the lord has no interest in her or her childbearing potential!

Review:
Ueda Rinko is probably not the most original artist around but she probably has my favourite art and the most entertaining/addicting stories. More or less, she embodies what stereotypical shoujo plot lines are all about: bishies and dumb but lovable heroines.

Usagi, despite her lack of talent in shinboi law and possessing any common sense, is your average 15 year old who is a little selfish, demanding and boy crazy. I usually hate characters like this but given her age and sudden betrothal I can forgive her for feeling this way. Plus she's the type of annoying that isn't grating or hate-able.

Reading list for June/July

Sorry for lack of activity in the review department and otome gaming but I've mainly been busy and burnt out from life in general.
Anyway since I'm not sure what to review at the moment, I'll give a short list of relevant series that I've finished reading this past month along with a summary.

I'm excluding oneshots and other odd series because they're too boring to be mentioned or ongoing series that haven't really picked up yet. So in chronological order we have:

80s and 90s

Shiroi Mado no Mukougawa by HIKAWA Kyouko (1980)
Your typical childhood friends school life story that builds up to the confession scene and ends. It's quite charming though and has a bit of the late 70s manga art in terms of style without the galaxy eyes. Being a fan of Hikawa's works, it's nice to see her art evolving compared to Kanata Kara which is one of my favs.

Tokyo no Casanova by KURAMOCHI Fusako (1983)
It's a story of false incest where the main gal finds out her bro ain't her bro and she starts having feels for him basically. It's quite dated with hair styles and clothing but I like it for that. It has some idol/actor industry themes to it to if you like that kind of stuff.

Manga Review: Ojou-sama no Untenshu

Name: Ojou-sama no Untenshu
Author & Artist: SHIHARA Keiko
Chapters: 9 - completed
Genres: Drama, Historical, Romance, Shoujo
Plot:

From Omari's Sister: "It is the Taisho Era at a certain girl's school. There one young lady embodies the ambition and is the envy of every girl. The crimson ribbon adorning her marks her as the top student. She is none other than Yoshimura Sayaka. Always at her side is the chauffeur her family employs, Narutaki Shinobu. Are the two in love as rumored amongst the female student body!?" Note: Untranslated one-shot from the first volume—"Ruka to Touzoku (Ruka and the Thief)"

Review:
It's been awhile since my last manga review. I'll try to do more when I can since I hate those sites that post things that are irrelevant and don't stick to their core goals (hope you don't mind my Otome Plays.). I have less and less time, thanks to university and coupled with procrastination (yup even with things I enjoy doing), I've been reading less but expecting more.

This manga, for example, has beautiful artwork, a nice, basic storyline sprinkled with just the right amount of angst which doesn't get old too fast.
The characters are sweet, normal people who just want to be together.

Manga Review: Toukyou Lastochika

Name: Toukyou Lastochika
Author & Artist: MIYOSHI Furumachi
Chapters: 12 (approx.)  - Completed
Genres: Comedy, Historical, Romance, Shoujo, Slice Of Life, Tragedy
Plot:

In 1910, Hana Tsumura is hired to work as a servant for the Arima estate, throwing her into a turbulent whirlpool produced by the changing times and her meeting with Mitsuyuki, the young master of the household.

Review:
Recently, I bought this on Renta, a paid, online manga service in English since when I saw this, I had to buy it. I read this awhile ago but was hopelessly waiting for scanalations to pull through. Though I'm really happy to legally obtain it since it was such a good manga. It cost me about $8.64 USD so not too bad for 2 volumes of manga and I might make a post about my experience with Renta if anyone is interested.

I love historical manga, this being set in the Meiji era, had me intrigued from start to finish. It's a battle of social classes and the inevitability of how the two main characters were never meant to be. 

Manhwa Review: Antique Romance

Name: Antique Romance
Author & Artist: KIM Mi Jung
Chapters: 27 - finished
Genres: Drama, Historical, Mature, Romance, Shoujo
Plot:

From Esthétique: "I am a human, but a doll... Feelings are not needed. Physically alive, but not mentally. I am a painting trapped inside a rusted frame. The cold skin of a statue. Like a stuffed bird-- Killed and set for display. I wonder... I wonder, on whose display I will be placed..." Includes extra story, The Dancing Marionette (Vol 3).

Review:
It seems like most of the manhwas that I end up and enjoy reading are the ones set in with darker mature themes which are inevitably coupled with tragic elements.
This has all the drama in a European ambient setting.

Some warnings before picking this up would include themes of prostitution and rape which are basically red flags that indicate that this ain't some fluffy shoujo.

There's also a certain scene that is horribly cryptic. It's not horror in a supernatural sense but the monstrosity of what humans can do to each other. It parallels closely with reality despite cliches and plot devices.

My Latest Fix: Ciel

Name: Ciel The Last Autumn Story

Author & Artist: RHIM Juyeon

Chapters: 22 Chapters approx. Ongoing

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural

Plot:With the author's characteristic humour and creativity, the work describes one girl’s fantasy adventure. Yvien Magnolia's beauty widens the small villagers' eyes she is living but she never knew what her future would be, since it is destined too high to imagine for her at that time....

As the lord of the manor tries to kidnap her, Yvienne flees to Lowood Institution for wizardry and witchcraft she never thought to go leaving behind her family.

In the school, she meets interesting people, like, January Lightsphere who shines purple aura compared to his noble but peculiar family, and Lariatte, an orthodox fighter family's heir, who will be her closest mate.

Review:

I put this on hold 2 years ago since I was really busy and now I've come back to it and have really enjoyed re-reading it so far. It's really a breath of fresh air from the shoujo I typically read, I'm not sure whether to attribute this to the fact that it's a manhwa.

Although I usually prefer manga art, this author has pretty nice art, it really is based on personal preference.

The female lead, Yvienne, is a somewhat haughty about her looks though this is mostly for comic relief. I like how her mother and herself promote strong-independent-women-ness that most manga and manhwa lack.
It's not all about physical strength alone but also thinking smart which is exactly how Yvienne is portrayed.

Manga Review: Hadashi de Bara o Fume

Name: Hadashi de Bara o Fume
Author & Artist: Ueda Rinko
Chapters: 57
Genres: Drama, Historical, Romance, Shoujo
Plot: From Viz:

Poor Sumi Kitamura… Her irresponsible older brother Eisuke keeps bringing home orphans for her to take care of even though they can barely afford their own basic needs! Just when Sumi's financial problems become dire, wealthy Soichiro Ashida enters her life with a bizarre proposition: he'll provide her with the money she so desperately needs if she agrees to marry him. But can Sumi fool high society into thinking she's a proper lady? Moreover, is it worth giving up everything for this sham of a marriage?

Review:
Remember how I took a trip to the manga shop and totally spazzed out? Well I saw this amoungst the many titles that were being translated and I had to stop myself from laughing. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would consider translating this. First of all the Jerk with a Heart of Gold trope only works if he's a adorable tsundere not some rich d-bag.

I read this awhile ago and gave up halfway because it was shoujo at it's best and when I say best I mean it's really bad. Everything you can hate about shoujo is in this story. Add a psychotic third wheel and you may just have the single best badly-executed manga ever.
What I mean is it's so stupid it's funny. Reading it the second time around to kill time and also with my expectations lowered gave me some enlightenment.

I don't recommend this unless you have absolutely nothing better to do.

Spoiler alert highlight to see:
There's a really hilarious moment when the two dumb leads are making love and the crazy ass mofo third wheel pulls a "Here's Johnny" moment. Like he literally goes around the hotel with an ax and starts smashing up doors. I laughed for hours.

Manga Review: Otogimoyou Ayanishiki

Name: Otogimoyou Ayanishiki
Author & Artist: Hiwaka Kyouko
Chapters: 21
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural.
Plot:
Suzu, an ordinary girl who possess extra-ordinary power to summon demons, was left with a flute, the only keepsake of her disappearing ‘Father’. In the flute, dwelt the guardian spirit who responds to her plea in danger.

Review:
I came to the sudden realisation that the author of this manga is the same as Kanata Kara and I thought the two stories were very familiar, blonde moment there.

Art has a very 90s-esque to it and it's very similar to Kanata Kara although romance is very minimal so if you're looking for sappy romance, this is not for you.
It's very plot driven and I find the story intriguing. I thought the characters were a bit similar to the author's previous works and there wasn't much character development.

The female lead, Suzu, relied on Shinkuro too much, plus she suddenly gets powerful in the story and she wasn't shown to have trained much. Characters are bland and are again, a bit too similar to Noriko and Izark from Kanata Kara. I guess I've been drawing too many comparisons but that's the conclusion I've come up with.

The side characters are a lot more interesting, I mean you got a kitsune here (fox spirit) who's really funny and the villains are a lot more scarier too.
I thoroughly enjoyed it but it doesn't stick in your mind so much and I don't think I'd be reading it again anytime soon.