Manga Review: Again!!, Volume 2, by Mitsurou Kubo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: April 2018

Volumes: 12.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

To Keep the Flame Burning

Kinichiro's traveled back in time, and whether this is reality or just an incredibly realistic dream, he's doing high school all over again. He's decided that bringing the school's ouendan cheer squad back from the brink of dissolution is the key to a better high school life, but it might take some begging to get there. Kinichiro's not much good at begging--but a former ouendan member known as the "Master of Groveling" might be able to pull it off...

Review:

Kinichiro is determined to make this ouendan club a success at the assembly, and so he tries to get the old members to come back, and he tries to get the current members to not ditch at the last second. He has quite a failure attempt at it, too, which is disheartening to him, and leads to him going it alone.

It's rather an uphill battle for him.

It leads to a temporary success for him, as he officially gets to join the club. Afterward, we get to see, once again, that Aki is messing up her new school life. She's so used to her great present time, that she's screwed everything up, since she forgot to act like she used to. Ruining the future and acting all uppity has ruined her friendships, and now her future boyfriend thinks she's crazy. It's not going so good for her.

Now that they've passed one hurdle, I'm not sure what's coming up next for the Ouendan club. But I'm definitely enjoying their personal life changes and struggles.

Manga Review: Again!!, Volume 1, by Mitsurou Kubo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: February 2018

Volumes: 12.

Spoilers?: Yes.

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

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kinichiro isn’t even that bad. It’s just that on the first day of high school, his narrow eyes made him look shifty, so people assumed he was trouble. Now it’s graduation, and he’s looking back on three years with no friends. He never even joined a club. But after a bloody collision and an accidental fall, he wakes up a high school freshman, with the chance to try it all over… AGAIN!!

Review:

Imamura is going to his graduation ceremony, glad that high school is finally over. All of his classmates fear him and want nothing to do with him, all because of a misguided introduction when school started that was never cleared up. He has no friends, and he's glad to be over it, with all of his regrets and wonders.

Only, when he goes to an abandoned club room, gets caught by a girl, and chases after her, they fall down the stairs, and they wake up back at the entrance ceremony three years ago. It takes a while for them to realize it, and that it's not a dream. Somehow they're the only ones from the future.

Imamura unintentionally starts changing things, reacting differently with foresight, and talking to the Ouendan club leader out of curiousity. He was always curious about her and the club that fell apart, but never thought to do anything. He doesn't really intend to, either, but suddenly new things are happening, and he's making friends.

On the other hand, Aki is experiencing everything very differently than she remembers. She's having a hard time remembering that the future hasn't happened yet, and is ready to speed it up. Like her meeting with her boyfriend, who thinks she's a freak right now for her actions.

Imamura was trying to avoid it at first, but by the end of the volume, he seems determined to help the Ouendan club and find out what happened. Things are going to get dramatic and messy soon, it seems.

This is quite fun so far, and I definitely enjoyed this first volume. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes next.

Manga Review: orange: The Complete Collection Part 2 by Ichigo Takano

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Publisher: Seven Seas

Release Date: May 2016

Volumes: 6.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

An Epic Love Story Across Time

Naho immediately feels a connection to the new boy who has transferred to her class. Kakeru is calm, kind, and seems to like Naho as well. But their relationship gets thrown for a loop when Naho receives a letter from the future. The letter explains that Kakeru will die unless Naho does exactly as the letter says. But changing fate is no easy task. When the letter starts to get things wrong, Naho worries that she will still lose Kakeru forever. Luckily, Naho has her friends to back her up. Not only do they want to see Naho and Kakeru get together, they also have time-traveling letters of their own...

Orange: The Complete Collection 2 also includes a bonus story, Haruiro Astronaut. This five chapter story is about a pair of twins who discover that they can't share everything in life--or at least not an alien that suddenly becomes a part of it.

Review:

This series is both sweet and heartbreaking, at times. We know how this ends in one realm, in one possibility, and at times we see how it follows the same path. It's hard to see all of the missed opportunities, to know how it ends when you're too scared, and how it goes when, even knowing that, it's hard to do something different. I can understand the hesitation, and yet it's still hard to see her follow the past.

When things start going different, when the letters aren't following what's happening in real time, it's uplifting. It's nice to see when Naho and Kakeru are finally honest and open with each other, and it actually goes in a good direction. It's also nice to see their friends growing and supporting each other.

After the main story ends, there are a few extra short stories, featuring non-related characters, and they were cute and fun.

I really enjoyed this short series, and I'm looking forward to reading more by Takano.

Manga Review: orange: The Complete Collection Part 1 by Ichigo Takano

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Publisher: Seven Seas

Release Date: January 2016

Volumes: 5 Singles/2 Omnibus

Spoilers?: Some

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf. (Also available on Crunchyroll.)

Part 2.
Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Everyone has regrets in life. So who wouldn't take the chance to change the past if given the opportunity? When sixteen-year-old Takamiya Naho receives a mysterious letter, claiming to be from her twenty-seven-year-old self, her life is suddenly thrown into flux. The letter informs her that a new transfer student by the name of Naruse Kakeru will be joining her class, and to keep her eye on him. What is Naho to make of the letter's contents and its cryptic warning?

Review:

As the new school year begins, Naho receives an odd letter from her future self. She doesn’t know if she should believe it at first, but as what it says starts to come true, she decides to listen to its advice, to right some of her future regrets. It’s all leading up to save her new friends death, but Naho doesn’t know if it’ll work, and how much she can change how quickly.

I can’t believe how good this book was. Following her own advice, Naho begins changing, taking chances she normally wouldn’t have, and mostly for the better. It’s forcing her to have more fun, more experiences, and have more courage with her crush. Her tight group of friends are all growing up, and trying to be there for Kakeru, a new boy in class who’s being eaten up by his own regrets.

I love how much Naho changes. How she grows as she pushes herself, and so how much changes as she takes the courage to go after Kakeru, even a little bit. Their relationship is sweet and still getting stronger, but there’s also all the friendships. Naho has two girl friends and two other guy friends, and they’ve all known each other a long time. Their friendship is strong, and they’re there for each other when they need to be. There is a big romance here, but the friendships take just as much attention, which I appreciate.

This volume was surprisingly well-done, sweet and slow and important. I like that we get to see how their future selves are doing, what they’re finding out, and how they’ve turned out with all the regrets. I like that as the present changes so much, the younger kids future is clearly changing in the present, but that it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s for the better or the worse. The original future wasn’t terrible, even if they did want to change things, and they did miss their friend. It’s just different now, not necessarily worse or better.

I was really impressed with this book, and I can’t wait for the next one, to see how the series wraps up.

Manga Review: Kamisama Kiss, Volume 15, by Julietta Suzuki

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: June 3, 2014

Volumes: 20+

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 16.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nanami has gone back in time in order to find the fallen kami who cursed Tomoe, but the past is a lot more violent than she expected. Before she can even start her search, she has to deal with suspicious villagers and a mortally wounded Tomoe!

Review:

This volume continues from the last, with Tomoe in danger of dying, and Nanami going into the past to change things, or at least figure out how to save him in the present.

I’m just not getting a good feeling about any of this. I mean, it seems like Nanami is just messing up everything. Unless her interacting with people in the past doesn’t necessarily change the future, in Suzuki’s version. Because it seems like everything she’s done has really messed with the future, particularly Tomoe’s. But maybe this is also how it’s supposed to work? I don’t know, but it has me worried.

Either way, it’s nice to see the characters past. Tomoe was very different back then, and it’s neat seeing the glimpse we’ve gotten of him falling in love for the first time, compared to how horrible and destructive he was then. Yukiji was much different than I expected, and I don’t understand quite how her and Tomoe’s relationship worked (especially given how Nanami interrupted it, unless that’s how it was supposed to happen?). Then there’s Akura-oh, who is just plain bad, in the present and the past.

Also, Mizuki is just adorable. He’s so sweet, and the poor guy just doesn’t want to be left alone. The sweetheart.

Then there were two extra episodes at the end that dealt with the ordinary everyday life of the group. It was a little reprieve, and something we haven’t had the chance to see in a while. They were funny, especially when Tomoe gets drunk.

I’m finally caught up with this series, and while I love that, the long wait between volumes kind of sucks. Either way, I’m excited for the next one.

Novel Review: My Man Michael (SBC Fighters, #4) by Lori Foster

Genre: Adult Romance Fantasy (with SEX)

Rating (Out of 5): 4 (maybe 3.5)

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley)

Spoilers?: Minor (main element is spoiled, with hints of other things)

Buy it here: Amazon.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Knocked out in one world, he?ll take on another.

On the verge of a title shot match, fighter Michael ?Mallet? Manchester is injured in a car accident. And just as quickly as his career was taking off, it?s over. Then Kaylie Raine appears, offering him a second chance at becoming whole. Even though Mallet thinks it?s the pain medication talking, he accepts her challenge. And on an extraordinary journey with Kaylie, he?ll get a chance to fight again?to save the woman who has saved him.

Review:

This was my first Lori Foster book in a while (aside from some short stories) (also, this one was the one I read before the one reviewed last week), and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

This one takes a very, very different turn from the others in the series, which is why a lot of people don’t seem to like it as much. I didn’t have a problem with that, which is probably because I’d only read the first book in the series, and I read it a couple years ago, so it was very fuzzy in my brain. I can understand why some people would be upset, if they really liked the other books because of the fighter element and because they liked seeing the other fighters from the other books, but I didn’t mind.

The book starts with Michael, or “Mallet”, being in the hospital. He’s gotten very hurt, and has very likely lost the use of his legs. He’s grumpy and upset about this, generally not very good company. And then a girl shows up, who gets his attention but keeps disappearing. The girl, Kayli, wants his help with something. In the future.

(One thing that I [kind of] liked about the synopsis, is that it keeps this part of the book hidden. But I want to talk about that part, and apparently some forewarning wouldn’t be a bad idea, so I’m going to spoil that for you.)

This is the part of the book that I think most people didn’t like. Kayli is from the future, and she takes Michael back to the future with her. I did, at first, have a problem with the added futuristic/time-traveling element to a series that was otherwise contemporary, but it grew on me. And I really enjoyed this book, so I’m happy to overlook that.

I really enjoyed the world that Foster built in this book. This future has its problems, but is mostly just really cool. I liked it.

I also really liked Kayli and Michael. Michael seems to have changed a lot from the previous books (at least, from when we first saw him in SimonSays—I haven’t read the third book yet), and I really liked him. He didn’t seem to jump on the love-train too quickly, but once he decided that he wanted Kayli, there was no other choice for him. He wanted her, and so he was determined to have her. And he wasn’t too pushy, either. I really liked that part. I liked Kayli, too. She was sweet, and tough, and very shy, which was just really nice. Her naïve shyness was done in a very sweet, honest way, and I liked that.

And the sexy part of the romance was very nice, as well. Their whole chemistry, the way they interacted, was just really well done. I really liked it. Foster really knows how to make a good romance, which is something I'd forgotten.

There was a subplot romance in this book, which at first I didn’t like and really didn’t want to happen, but ended up turning out really well. I was a little surprised at how easily I opened up to it, but I did. I liked it. And I thought it worked rather well for the ending.

One part that I did not like about this book was the sexist part. Foster seems to be putting in little bits in her books about how women are just women and thus not as strong or capable as men, while at the same time having the women fight to prove how strong they are, and that was a very big element in this book. And it was really pissing me off a couple of times. It seemed like, at the end of this book, that the guys were coming around, but not that they really believed it, and that they still thought that women shouldn’t be fighting against men because they weren’t as strong or capable. And I just wasn’t as content with that part of the ending as I would have liked to be.

Also, with the fact that, throughout the entire book, Kayli was fighting for her spot as head of the defense team, and yet at the end of the book, she decided that she would give it up for Michael. I don’t like that she was going to do that, and I don’t think she should have been even thinking that way, at all.

That part of the book just really got on my nerves. As I said, it was a little bit better at the end, and the rest of the book is enough to make me say that I did really enjoy it, but that part still bothers me.

To sum up, I really enjoyed this book. A lot. And I’m really looking forward to reading the third and fifth books in this series, as well as Foster’s other books.