There’s trouble brewing behind the kabuki curtain. Ryusei’s dad doesn’t want anything–or anyone!–distracting his son from his chosen profession. It’s no secret that he disapproves of Ryusei’s romance with Akari. Now he’s determined to sabotage their relationship any way he can!
A Collection of Volumes 1 – 3! Unlike most shojo, Hot Gimmick isn’t all sweet boys and rose petals. It’s much more real and complex and sometimes even chilling! The artwork is top-notch, the drama is high-tension, and I couldn’t help but keep on rooting for the hapless heroine, Hatsumi, as she deals with real-life problems: family ties, blackmail, awkward first kisses, and a very disapproving landlady. What’s not to love?
Edgar and his small band must travel to the Isle of Manan, once home to the Blue Knight Earl. But the island is surrounded by merfolk, whose tragic songs cause rough seas and shipwrecks. And even if Edgar and his companions reach the island, they face death if it turns out he isn’t a true heir to the Earl…
It’s business as usual in Penguin Village: an alien arrives on Earth in hopes of becoming a superhero to the weakling humans, a bank robber tries to kidnap Arale and baby Gatchan, and Arale wrecks the town police car–again!
Arina Tanemura's Short-Tempered Melancholic and Other Stories is a single-volume compilation that tells several short stories in which quirky heroines are put face-to-face with experiences they aren't used to having - love and romance. In each of the tales, the main character discovers love in places she least expects it, usually directly under her nose. While all four shorts could easily be labeled as formulaic and their twists and turns as predictably obvious, they all have a certain charm that is likely to leave receptive readers and shoujo fans feeling pleasantly satisfied.
Akari considers herself completely average, and lives her life outside of the spotlight. One day she quite literally runs into Ryusei, one of her male classmates, injuring him in the process. Discovering that he’s a young up-and-coming Kabuki theater actor, she chooses to become his assistant in order to atone for the harm she’s caused. What she soon realizes is that, behind his gruff exterior, Ryusei has a gentler side. He soon comes to rely on Akari, and Akari finds herself falling for him more and more each day. As their love blossoms, however, they’re dealt a harsh blow – because of Ryusei’s family obligations and position as the heir to a line of Kabuki actors, Akari isn’t considered a suitable mate.
"There's a demon lurking in in Tokyo." So begins this tale which, unlike many other manga, deals not in literal demons but in the figurative, personal ones which haunt the lives of young, directionless adults. The star of this story is Meiko, a twenty-something college graduate working as an office lady at an average, unremarkable company. She's the breadwinner in her relationship; her live-in boyfriend Taneda works a low-paying part-time job as a visual designer. Meiko's life has stability and her relationship with Taneda is adequate, but she begins to feel haunted by the sense that there's no passion in what she does on a day-to-day basis.
Nicoletta travels to Rome with every intention of confronting her absentee mother. Her plans are thrown into flux when her mother, Olga, begs Nicoletta to keep herself a secret for just a little longer; her husband, for various reasons, prefers not to be involved with divorced women and might send Olga packing if he discovers the truth. Nicoletta grudgingly poses as the daughter of Olga's friend and takes up residence in Rome, becoming an apprentice at the restaurant owned by Olga's husband. Nicoletta is mystified by the strange requirement that the restaurant be staffed primarily by older men who wear reading glasses, and scoffs at the women who patronize the establishment just to get a glimpse of their favorite waiter... until she herself begins to fall for the sensitive and kind Claudio.
Lydia Carlton is a fairy doctor, a specialist with the ability to serve as an intermediary between the fairy and human realms. Unfortunately there are few people left who still believe in fairies and Lydia's knowledge and skills are rarely put to use. That is, until she embarks on a trip to London to visit her father, and is intercepted by a certain Mr. Huxley. Huxley claims to be an acquaintance of her father, sent to escort her to his side, but he seems suspicious. Lydia's suspicions are confirmed after a man claiming to have been held captive by Huxley leaps from her room's armoire and begs her to escape with him.
Bride's Story (Otoyomegatari)
Author: Kaoru Mori
Publisher: Yen Press
ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Yen Press
Brief Overview: Amir is a young woman of a nomadic tribe who's sent to live with her new husband, Karluk, and his family. She's somewhat old to be a bride - she's already 20 years old - and her new husband is 8 years her junior. As they begin their lives together, Amir adapts to her adoptive family's culture and begins to develop feelings of love for her young husband.
Thoughts: I'm a bit of a "follower" when it comes to manga. Though my awareness of what anime series are out there is pretty comprehensive, the manga field is so vast that it sometimes becomes overwhelming. Luckily, I have a network of manga experts who I admire and respect, so when a great majority of them begin to chime in with positive words on a particular series, I've learned to pay attention. The other day I began to hear a lot of praise for this book, a new hardcover release from Yen Press, so I made the decision to pick it up at my earliest convenience. This was definitely the right decision - though I'd been lacking sleep all week, once I picked this book up I wasn't able to put it down until I'd finished it, and by that time it was well past midnight (whoops!).
