Manga Review: Orange Planet, Volume 2, by Haruka Fukushima

Rating (Out of 5): ~2.5

Publisher: Del Rey

Release Date: 2009

Volumes: 5

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble.

Volume: 1. 3-4-5.

Goodreads Synopsis:

SCANDAL AT SCHOOL!

Rui has many boys interested in her–including Taro, the cute guy who’s always loved her; Eisuke, the gorgeous teaching intern; and of course, Kaoru, the one she really has a crush on. But then word spreads that Rui and Eisuke are roommates, and the school is none too happy about the coed living arrangement. Rui says it’s innocent. Will scandal destroy Rui’s love life forever?

Review:

Why do I keep reading this authors books? I honestly don’t even know any more. I guess I liked it when I was younger, but now I just get annoyed.

I don’t like Rui. She’s exaggerated and freaks out over everything and she just gets on my nerves. Having her freak out over every kind of sexual situation and hate on Tachibana for his playboy ways was so cliché. Most of the plot and the characters are so cliché, none of it is new or exciting for me. The humor is too exaggerated and over-the-top.

In the first volume, having Tachibana move in with her made no sense, mostly just convenient. Having someone find out and freak out about it also seemed convenient for dramas sake. Same with having Rui’s parents pass away and her move in with her aunt, then live on her own. Though I guess since that’s changed, maybe that’ll be good for her?

I was annoyed with them changing Nakamura be gay. If that had been a thing, maybe for awareness or actual characterization, then okay. But it was simply to throw a twist in. Completely changing the end of the first volume for it to work pissed me off, but it also didn’t make sense with everything he did with Rui, unless it was to make Taro jealous. Only none of that was given any development.

Then we skip ahead two years, and Rui thinks she’s found the guy who gave her the bear, and (surprise!) he’s a jerk. I was already convinced it was Tachibana, since the boy is supposed to be significantly older than her.

Why am I even contemplating picking up the final three-in-one, even if it is only one book? Ugh. This was annoying and so not my style anymore, but I do hate giving up on a series so close to the end. I don’t know if I’ll finish it or not.

Manga Review: Instant Teen, Volume 4, by Haruka Fukushima

Rating (Out of 5): ~1.5-2

Publisher: Tokyopop

Release Date: 2005

Volumes: 4

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Natsumi is a regular girl, except for one little detail--she transforms into a hot, curvy woman when she eats scientifically engineered experimental "Miracle Nuts!" A fifth-grader one minute, a supermodel look-alike the next, Natsumi isn't sure who she truly is or where she really belongs. The only person whom she always feels totally herself around is her childhood friend Asuma. But when he tells her that he's going to move to another town, will she lose her best friend forever?!

Review:

I was expecting this to be a cute, short series. I’ve read other series by Fukushima and enjoyed them. So I was disappointed to find that not only did I not like the story, but the characters even got on my nerves.

The character development was not good, and that was my main problem. Natsumi, the main character, is a kid who wants to grow up. Her feelings for wanting to grow up faster are childish, but not particularly in a bad way. My biggest problem with that is that she never really grows out of that, she never realizes that where she is now is fine and she doesn’t need to, nor should she, try to speed that up. Asuma, her childhood friend, is always there for her, and trying to get her not to grow up so fast, but she never really listens to him.

I just didn’t like Natsumi. She’s childish and selfish, she doesn’t think about anything before she does it, and she never learns. She makes similar mistakes over and over and yet never learns from them. She’s selfish in her decisions, and never learns to think about how they affect others.

The other characters never really get developed, either. There’s even a big time skip between volumes three and four, where side characters get married without actually showing the reader that they’re thinking of going in that direction.

Nothing really got enough attention to be developed. The characters and their reasons rubbed me the wrong way. 

I’m disappointed with this series, really. I was hoping for more than it gave me.