Manga Review: The Secret Sakura Shares by Akira Hagio

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: December 2015

Volumes: 1 Omnibus/2 Singles

Spoilers?: No.

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

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

When Aoi Narinomiya, the last daughter of a prestigious family, discovers that her grandfather has gone missing, leaving her to carry an astronomical debt, both she and her dog, Sakura, are inches away from finding themselves on the street. When her enigmatic classmate Kei Katsuragi shows up on her doorstep to repossess everything her family once owned, Aoi makes a desperate plea for Kei to take in her beloved Sakura--maybe she could at least be spared...?

It seems, though, that Kei is far less interested in owning a dog than he is in calling a pedigreed kitty his own, and Aoi soon finds herself playing the part of the young man's prized pet! Disturbingly, it turns out to be a comfortable and reassuring life that Aoi feels she hastoo quickly settled into, but could Kei have ulterior motives that go beyond just "owning" her?

Review:

I was pleasantly surprised with this book.

When Aoi is left with a large debt, she’s taken in with her dog as a pet to Kei. But instead of it being a slave-like life, she’s taken care of like a real pet—groomed, pampered, treated with love and care. Even if she protests it and feels like she doesn’t do enough, Kei wants her there and he likes having her as his “pet”.

While I do think that Aoi should have spoken up, tried to do more if she wanted to, I liked their relationship. I think that Kei treated her well, and that they had good chemistry. I like how he protected her, even pretending to be gay for appearances.

This was a sweet shojo series, relatively sweet and romantic without any real physical stuff, with a simple plot. I enjoyed it a lot, and hope more like it are picked up. I also liked how it was released in omnibus format, all in one volume. Very pretty, and easy to collect.

Manga Review: My Little Monster, Volume 1, by Robico

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: March 11th, 2014

Volumes: 12 (+1 special volume)

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 2.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mizutani is a self-absorbed overachiever, concerned only with maintaining the highest grades in school. Haru is an impulsive short tempered brute, who scares everyone with his explosive bursts of violence. Haru gets suspended on the first day of school when he encounters some bullies harassing a student and dispatches the bullies with great bloody violence. Mizutani is tasked with delivering school materials to Haru who interprets this as an act of friendship and latches on to Mizutani, much to her dismay. And so begins a strange and potentially combustible relationship!

Review:

This volume did not start out as exciting as I thought it would, but it was still very good. It started a little slow, I guess.

I enjoy the pet dynamic in shojo manga, where the boy is adorable but violent, and the girl kind of tames him. It’s just an adorable dynamic, in my opinion. And I don’t think there are enough manga translated with it. Which is part of why I jumped right on board with this series, I’m sure.

Mizutani is the girl, a little disinterested in the people around her, instead wanting to focus only on her studies. Then there’s Yoshida, who’s skipping classes, wanting friends but a little naïve, and quick to violence. He quickly takes a liking to Mizutani, but then decides that maybe it’s just as friends, whereas Mizutani goes through the opposite reaction.

I particularly liked that they were both pretty upfront about their feelings. That rarely happens, in anything, and it was refreshing. It should definitely lead to some interesting developments in the coming volumes, and I’m looking forward to that.

We also got to meet some other characters, some who seem to become their friends, which is new for both Mizutani and Yoshida. I look forward to getting to know them, and seeing how that develops Mizutani and Yoshida’s characters. 

This was a bit of a slow volume, and I think very much a beginning to the series. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next, though. I'm liking the setup, the way the story is told, and the characters so far.