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: 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. 

Manga Review: Hotarubi no Mori e + Short Anime Review

Name:  Hotarubi no Mori e aka what fangurrrl tears are made of
Author & Artist: Midorikawa Yuki
Chapters: 1
Genres: Drama, One Shot, Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural, Tragedy
Plot:

 Hotarubi no Mori e tells the story of a young girl named Hotaru and her friendship with Gin, a strange young man wearing a mask, who she meets at the age of six in a mountain forest near her grandfather's country home. Hotaru learns that her friend is supernatural and that touching Gin will cause him to disappear forever. Hotaru returns every summer to spend time with Gin, and their relationship matures as both struggle with its limitations.

Review:
I was recently reminded about this gem of a manga while scrolling down my facebook newsfeed and went a long with fangirling about this manga since I don't have any friends that like manga.

It starts off with little girl meets masked boy in mysterious forest (who turns out to be a spirit btw) and start a friendship together.

Manga Review: Diamond Life

Name: Diamond Life
Author & Artist: FUJIWARA Akira
Chapters: 14
Genres: Drama, Josei, Romance, Slice of Life, Tragedy

Plot: Kanae dropped out of high school, because her father is a gambler while her mother ran away with her boyfriend. Kanae is twenty-two years old, and very poor working for a cleaning shop. She comes to have something to do with Haruki Oda quite by chance. Haruki is an IT millionaire and called "money-mad man," or "the god of death." Then Kanae's life makes a sudden development. Money cannot be made by love alone, though love cannot be bought with money. People of today want to have both love and money. This get-happy-story is a must read for the present-day people.

Review:
The thing I love about Josei is that it's so much more easy to read in terms of not gagging from over cheesiness. I guess if you love melodrama then this may not exactly be for you.

What I love about this series is it really addresses some pretty interesting, lesser known issues and I actually found myself learning more about. If you can take anything away from this manga, it's that you learn some important life lessons and I felt more knowledgeable about things (I can't really tell you what they are since it'd kinda spoil it).

Manga Review: Mars

Name: Mars
Author & Artist: SOURYO Fuyumi
Chapters:
Genres: Drama, Mature, Psychological, Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Tragedy
Plot:
Kira believes that Rei and all other men in the world are dirty. She stays away from her classmates, hiding in her art. What happens when the delinquent motorcyclist and playboy, Rei, gets ahold of one of her drawings, and actually wants to keep it?

Review:
Now I perpetually avoid tragedy cos I'm a crybaby but seeing as I was in the mood of some psychological romance I thought, why not?

At first glance it's typical bad boy and anti-social, man-phobia girl but there seems to be such an inevitability on how it all unfolds. It's the dark side of human nature. It explores our natural instinct of violence and atrocities of man.

Manga Review: Mugen Dokei

Name: Mugen Dokei
Author & Artist: Saitou Ken
Chapters: 1 - finished
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, One Shot, Romance, Shoujo, Tragedy,
Plot:
In a world where time consists of two kinds of clocks, the Clock of Eternity, which indicates the life span of the universe, and the Silver Clock, which indicates the life span of a person, lived Mu, a carefree girl who despises the contradiction between eternity and the Clocks. Then she meets a boy who’s Silver Clock runs faster than any other person she’s met…

Review:
Let me start off by saying this has got to be one of the best one shots I've ever read. I've read this awhile ago and I've been itching to do this review for awhile now. It's so well put together and the subtle foreshadowing is utilised well.

The whole premise is living in a world where you life span is dictated by your watch. Eerie  and tragic but definitely intriguing and romantic.
I can't say much without spoiling it but if you love everlasting love, character development along with tsunderes then go ahead and read it.

Manga Review: Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan

Name: Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan
Author & Artist: SAHARA Mizu
Status: Completed
Chapters: 8
Genres: Drama, Psychological, Romance, Slice of Life, Tragedy
Plot:A pianist who attempted suicide 3 times, Juri, is taken to help her aunt at a prison where murderers who killed indiscriminately are sentenced to death. There, she meets a man named Yuu who took the lives of 3 people. A mother's antagonism--a brother's death... Together they embrace the violent rebellion in their hearts caused by the large, deep scars they carry. However, before long, they both embrace an earnest hope in their hearts. "I want to live"...
Review:
I'm the type to avoid tragedies because I don't like crying XD
But I really recommend this to everyone, even people who avoid tragic endings. The title roughly translates to "Our Happy Hours" which is quite contrary to the overall sad and depressing undertones of the story.  Everything about this story is so meaningful and heart-wrenching. The characters have a lot of depth and darkness but they somehow retain childlike innocence especially in the romance department. It has a feeling of realism rather then your typical shoujo, fluffy romance (and if your look for that kind of story then I wouldn't recommend this). There's not much else I can say about this, it just left me thinking about it for awhile and left a deep impression on me. Just read it to get what I mean :D

It was based on a novel by Gong Ji-young and there's even a korean movie adaption of it which I have yet to watch. Take a look at the Maundy Thursday Trailer below:

Manga Review: As the Shinigami Dictates

Name: As the Shinigami Dictates
Author & Artist: Mimori Ao
Status: Completed
Chapters: 8
Genres: Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural, Tragedy
Plot:
Ayumi is a 16-year-old who has a crush on her classmate, Musashi. One day, the God of Death appears before her, and announces that she has only one month to live. There's no stopping the hourglass of fate!! Life is short, girl, so love with all your might!!
Review:
I personally avoid tragedy but for some reason I gave this a go because the story seem interesting. The story is not something completely original but the author gives her own twist and spin on things. Ayumi is a bit of a whiny character who obeys, her long time crush, Musahi's every command despite arguing with him a lot. Overall she's a pretty mediocre character, there's nothing special or dumb about her; she's just your typical manga heroine. Although I could add she has a strong sense of what is right (I guess).Musahi on the other hand is pretty typical as well, the guy who bosses the girl he likes around but it's his own awkward way of showing that he likes her (-rollseyes-). The shinigami, Shiro, is a refreshing character and I would describe him as an celestial being who learns what it is like to be human from Ayumi. And eventually he learns what _______ is.
All in all, it's a sweet story and even though it appears that I have described it negatively I actually really enjoyed it.

Manga Review: Heaven's Door (Hongou Ranko)

Name: Heaven's Door 
Author & Artist: Hongou Ranko
Status: Completed
Chapters: 4
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Psychological, Romance, Shoujo, Tragedy
Plot: 
 [Summary by: Love_Blossom]
Harumi has been in the hospital practically her whole life because she has cancer. She finds out she only has a few months to live and wants to do dangerous thing. Masato just got hospitalized today. He meets Harumi and they talk about how life is so short. Then he holds out his hand and says, "Lets go to the sea!" And so, for the few days they have to live, they enjoy it to their fullest...
Review:
This story revolves around Harumi and Masato who are going to inevitably die before they should. The things that happen in this manga are pretty crazy and a bit unrealistic although it makes the story better. What stops this from being those typical shoujo is that the characters have some deph. Despite their tough exterior, all they want to do is live; unlike most people they've got days to live out a lifetime. I guess even though they're both young, they have to grow up quickly and face the concept of death but the characters handle it well.
It's really touching and teaches us that we shouldn't waste our time because life is short. If you avoid tragedy, just give it a go anyways, you won't regret it.