Manga Review: Baseball Heaven by Ellie Mamahara

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Blu Manga

Release Date: 2010

Volumes: 1.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. RightStuf.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ogata is a shortstop for the baseball team, the Tokyo Elephants. A new rookie pitcher named Uno is popular among the team. But for some reason, Uno is cold only to Ogata. Ogata is worried that it's his sexual orientation that is keeping Uno away. So one day Ogata decides to confront Uno. But what he finds out from Uno is completely different from what he expected.

Review:

The artwork was more average in this story, pretty in some panels and more okay in others. The expressions and faces were just average to me. The story line and the characters didn’t really stand out for me, and I found it a little slow-going at points; it did drag on with open endings for several chapters, and that annoyed me a little. Not much in the way of smut, and the romance was slow and just a little meh.

Otherwise, it was okay, and a little cute.

Manga Review: You & Me, Etc. by Kyugo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Blu Manga

Release Date: 2011

Volumes: 1.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Iku and Keita have been buddies since childhood, and have played sports together their whole lives... until their final year in middle school, when Keita's baseball career abruptly ended as a result of the severe injuries he sustained when saving Iku from being hit by a truck. Ever since that accident, Iku has distanced himself from both the game and his friend, presumably out of guilt. Can these two friends patch up their differences, and become something more...?

Review:

This volume had three main stories. One about two guys who were in baseball together, and one of them got injured. Another short one about classmates, one guy who catches two guys fooling around, and he’s already thinking he needs something new in his life. The last one about the main guy and his friends son.

The one about the two baseball buddies I found really sweet. I liked their connection, and how they reacted after the one got hurt. The ending, and the second chapter, were very cute. The third one, about the friends son, was rather sad, but very sweet in the end.

I was impressed with the depth to the characters and the story in this one. The artwork was okay, and there wasn’t much smut, but the romances were still sweet. I quite enjoyed this one.

Manga Review: Liberty Liberty! by Hinako Takanaga

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Blu (Tokyopop)

Release Date: 2009

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. .

Add on Goodreads 

RightStuf Synopsis:

After fleeing Tokyo trying to escape a personal crisis, hapless Itaru winds up drunk and passed out on a neighborhood trash heap. His misery is documented by prickly cameraman Kouki, who works for a local cable station, and soon the two end up roommates and co-workers. But with a company full of quirky characters, including a perky, winsome crossdresser, and their own personalities to contend with, will Itaru and Kouki ever truly understand one another? Story and art by Hinako Takanaga.

Review:

This was just a pretty average story. The artwork is not as great as Awkward Silence, though all right.

This one is about a photographer who ends up taking in a stray—a guy who has no place left to go, and ends up staying with the photographer. He ends up working for their cable company, then getting a job of his own, and stays as a roommate. The photographer has a female friends who was nice, and pushy enough for them.

The romance is very slow here, especially since the photographer doesn’t think he has any interest in men. But I liked the stray, and I really felt for him at one point. The plot is slow, and the romance is just starting to develop when the book ends.

Overall, it was okay. The storyline and characters didn’t really grab me, but it was a nice book. I hope to pick up more of Takanaga’s previous books, and I hope some of them are better.

Manga Review: Cause of My Teacher by Temari Matsumoto

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Blu Manga

Publish Date: 2009

Volumes: 1; One-Shot

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon (marketplace). Barnes and Noble (marketplace). Powells. RightStuf!

Goodreads Synopsis:

After gathering up all of his courage, Tohru was finally able to ask out his teacher, the handsome Minazuki. But now that they are seeing each other, there's a problem. Tohru loves how attractive Minazuki looks in his glasses, but his teacher always takes them off when they kiss! Does he not want to see Tohru up close? And why is he kissing a girl with his glasses on? This title also features the continuing adventures of Hiiragi and Asagi, the ninja duo from Shinobu Kokoro.

Review:

I’ve never been a huge fan of yaoi. Not because I have any problem with it, just because I’m straight and so I tend to read more straight-couple stories. Lately, though, I’ve started reading more yaoi, and wanting to read more yaoi, so I might be picking up more in the future. I picked up this one mostly by chance.

It contains several very short stories featuring hierarchical relationships, most of them including a teacher. I’m not going to go into detail about any of them, because it’s really not worth it. I mean, the book is roughly a hundred-sixty pages, and there are six stories and two even smaller bonus stories. A couple focus on a teacher/student relationship, one has two teachers, one has two students, one has a hidden royalty figure and teacher, and one has a royalty figure and his guard. And several of them are very short, and the only reason most of them didn’t feel rushed was because the attraction started before the story did.

I did enjoy the stories. They were shorter than I thought they would be, and I didn’t really form any connection with any of the characters, but I still liked the stories overall. The plotlines were interesting, the attraction was mostly done well, and the sex was nice. The artwork was nice, at least for the most part. 

I don’t really have a lot to say about this, other than it was a good read, very short, and with not a whole lot of depth.