Manga Review: The Golden Sheep, Volume 2, by Kaori Ozaki

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Vertical Comics

Release Date: February 2020

Volumes: 3.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

After rumors start to spread at school that Tsugu and Sora have run off together to Tokyo, Asari tries to get closer to Yuushin. Yuushin, having lost his living punching bag, is left with aimless aggression, until he asks his coach to let him take the pro boxing test. In Tokyo, the old friends collide and painful truths are laid bare...

Review:

Tsuga and Sora are off on an adventure, off in their own little world, and silly me thought it would be a break from the bullying drama. Ha ha, silly me. I should have read the room better.

While Tsuga and Sora are learning how to mature and run a business, Asari and Yuushin are still dealing with their normal high school lives, of pressure and putting on a certain face and acting like they're so cool. Asari tries to get closer to Yuushin, while Yuushin is dealing with his own pressures that makes him act out. This all comes to a head when Yuushin discovers what Tsuga and Sora have been up to.

The next volume is the final one, and I have hopes that we'll get a good ending. But also, I don't really know how good of an ending I want for Yuushin and Asari, cause they're both kind of terrible. I'm having a hard time sympathizing too much. Especially when I really like Sora and sympathize with him, and I do like Tsuga despite how stupidly optimistic she's being about Yuushin.

Despite my conflicting feelings, this is a very good series so far. It's harsh when it needs to be, and I would recommend. We'll see how it ends, though.

Manga Review: The Golden Sheep, Volume 1, by Kaori Ozaki

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Vertical Comics

Release Date: September 2019

Volumes: 3.

Spoilers?: Hints.

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

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Golden Sheep features story and art by Kaori Ozaki the author of The Gods Lie. “They say if you write down your wish, bury it under Sheep Tower and then dig it up after 7 years and 7 months, your wish will come true…” Tsugu Miikura, a high schooler who loves to play guitar, due to family circumstances, moved away from the rural town where she had spent her childhood. After several years, she’s back in her old hometown. She reunites with her childhood friends—Sora, Yuushin, and Asari—the friends she’d buried a time capsule with back in elementary school. Tsugu is overjoyed to be with her friends once more, but the bonds that she thought would never change have in fact started to grow major cracks…

Review:

I didn't know what I was getting into when I started this volume.

The volume starts in a very drastic place, and then goes backwards a bit. We meet Tsugu, who moved away from her hometown and best friends when she was younger, and is suddenly able to move back. There've been some family circumstance changes, and now that she's back, she wants everything to be the same. At first, it feels like it could be. But, slowly, the pieces of teen angst and change start showing through.

There are some very serious themes explored in this volume. Bullying, in particular, is harsh and awful, and we even get to see two different sides of it. And suicide, though I won't go into detail on that one, but warning none the less.

Tsugu is really the bright spot of this so far. She's optimistic, but also blunt and doesn't hide from things. When she discovers what's happening with Sora, she doesn't hide from it, and she doesn't shy from being there for him.

This volume took a very dark turn for a while in this volume. It's realistically harsh, and I definitely think it's well done in that. It's realistic in how it portrays being a teenager, too, while also being thoughtful about it.

I'm also glad to say that things seem to be looking up at the end of the volume, though. And knowing this is a short series, I'm hopeful that it won't go too dark and dreary in the end.

Manga Review: The Delinquent Housewife!, Volume 1, by Nemu Yoko

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Vertical Comics

Release Date: September 2018

Volumes: 4.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A family comedy manga about a high school boy and his sister in law who moves in, who has a BIG secret from her past.

Tohru Komukai and his bride-to-be, Komugi, move in with his family just until they find a place of their own. Or, that was the plan, until Tohru suddenly leaves for a long-term business trip overseas, leaving Komugi to fend for herself on her in-laws’ turf. While Komugi is pretty, considerate and appears to be an ideal housewife, the truth is she doesn’t know how to do a lick of housework, and can’t cook at all. Also, she has a secret past as a member of an all-girls bosozoku biker gang! The only member of the family to learn these secrets is Dai, Tohru’s younger brother, and he helps Komugi keep up appearances until she can learn how to hold her own as a domestic goddess...

Review:

Komugi and her fiance have moved in with his family while they plan and settle things, and then suddenly he's called away overseas on business. Which leaves Komugi with her fiance's family, not knowing them too well at this point.

Komugi is trying hard to help and fit in and get along with everyone. But she's clearly the odd one out. And also, she used to be a delinquent, and now she sneaks out of the house at night to meet up with her girl friends, and of course she can't tell her fiance's family any of this, because they wouldn't approve.

I was honestly very interested in this series, originally. I don't really understand why she would be living with her fiance's family, but maybe that's an American thing for that to seem weird; especially once he's gone for who-knows-how-long. But once it was obvious that Dai, her fiance's brother, likes her, I lost some interest. I'm still intrigued by Komugi's character and her challenges regarding her delinquent past, but I'm not interested in that whole unrequited soon-to-be brother-in-law drama. I don't think that's necessary.

I believe this is a short series, so I might try more. I'm not sure at this point.

Manga Review: The Gods Lie. by Kaori Ozaki

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Vertical Comics

Release Date: 2016

Volumes: 1.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Goodreads Synopsis:

Natsuru Nanao, a 6th grader who lives alone with his mother, strikes up an unlikely friendship with the reserved and driven Rio Suzumura. Natsuru plays hookey from soccer camp that summer, and instead of telling the truth to his mother, he spends all his time with Rio and her kid brother at their rickety house, where a dark secret threatens to upend their fragile happiness.

Review:

This is a story about Natsuru, a boy, who forms a friendship with Rio, a quiet girl. He lives alone with his mom. She lives with her little brother, and takes in a cat that Natsuru finds. They form an odd friendship at first, and slowly grow closer. When Natsuru finds out some of the things that Rio has been through, has had to deal with in order to grow up and take care of her brother, he wants to help her, and take her away from it all.

Life can be very unfair at times, and for some people in particular. Rio has been through some very bad things, and she did what she thought she had to, to move past it. When everything is revealed, it's a sad story. But Rio and Natsuru still had their close friendship, even when they were apart.

Despite some of the awful things, this was a really sweet story. Bittersweet, maybe. And the ending is really nice. It leaves it a little open, I suppose, but I think it leaves it open for better things. I think they both were able to grow and be better despite, or because of, it all.

I really liked this story, and I hope that Ozaki's other manga gets picked up at some point. (I'm still holding out hope for Immortal Rain.)