Manga Review: Love at Fourteen, Volume 3, by Fuka Mizutani

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: June 23, 2015

Volumes: 5+

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kanata and Kazuki are unwittingly pit against each other during a feud between the girls and boys, and their budding relationship is put to the test when personal feelings explode their mature facades! With their perfect student reputations also on the line, can Kanata and Kazuki reconcile their differences, or will their argument become someone else's gain?

Review:

I love how realistic this series is. It’s mature, in the way that it handles first love, and the way they’re mature characters, while insecure. The way the characters look at each other, their feelings develop, is subtle and slow, but at a steady, realistic pace.

Kanata and Kazuki have a fight, without meaning to or understanding how it happened. They try keeping up their good faces in front of their classmates. And then they make up, and it’s shy and sweet. They go out together, try to do things to impress each other. Kanata tries lip gloss, and wants Kazuki to notice.

Then there’s Nagai, who tends to show anger when he gets attention. I know some people will be uncomfortable with his developing relationship with their teacher, but I’m not. Maybe I should be, given I’m not sure how far apart in age they all are. But I kind of like how she teases him, pushes him. And how, in return, he’s starting to get to her.

And Shiki. I cannot express how pleased I am this series has straight couples (potential ones), and a gay character. I love it! She’s in love with Kanata, and I enjoy the way she thinks in third-person. She gets little chapters of thoughts, showing her feelings and growing friendship with Kanata, as well as her jealousy of Kazuki. I’m so impressed with this.

Then we got peaks of new characters at the end of the volume. I don’t know if we’ll see more of them, but I love the glimpses we get of other characters. Just little thoughts from main and side characters in snipets, the subtly showing worlds of thought and growth and work. 

I love this series already. I’m wildly impressed with the development and thought and complexity. I can’t wait for the next one, every time.

Manga Review: One Piece, Volume 73, by Eiichiro Oda

Rating (Out of 5): ~2-2.5

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: January 2015

Volumes:  78+

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1-2-3. 72. 74.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Trouble is everywhere in the mysterious kingdom of Dressrosa. As his crew searches for a way to stop the island’s tyrant, Doflamingo, Luffy continues his quest to win back the Flame-Flame Fruit. But when he learns more about Rebecca and the true history of the kingdom, how will it affect his plans?

Trouble is everywhere in the mysterious kingdom of Dressrosa. As his crew searches for a way to stop the island’s tyrant, Doflamingo, Luffy continues his quest to win back the Flame-Flame Fruit. But when he learns more about Rebecca and the true history of the kingdom, how will it affect his plans?

Review:

I have not read a single previous volume of this series, nor have I seen any of the anime. I had no knowledge of what this series is really about before reading this volume. And so it should come as no surprise (it wasn’t to me, even if I tried), that I was confused and lost and not really into this volume.

This is volume seventy-three, so clearly a lot has happened already. The characters are all established, and there are a lot of them. And I recognized maybe two. There’s a lot of fighting going on, as battles are in progress before and through to the end of this volume. There are weird creatures, and at least three story lines going on at one time.

If I wanted to read this series, I would need to start from the very beginning. Because I had little real idea of what was going on and why and how it started. There’s some big coliseum fight going on, and some of the sexist undertones made me uncomfortable at the beginning (as one woman fought several men, and the audience watching cheered for them to kill her already), but I can’t judge fully without knowing the whole story. Plus, I know there are other female main characters that have large parts in this series.

There’s just a lot going on in this series. And I’m too far gone to have any way of really understanding it at this point, unless I started from the beginning.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, and Erik Jansen from MediaLab PR. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Komomo Confiserie, Volume 1, by Maki Minami

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: September 1, 2015

Volumes:  5

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 2.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

As a little girl, Komomo Ninomiya delighted in picking on Natsu Azumi, the son of her family’s pastry chef. Ten years later, when the family fortune is lost and she has no place to live, Komomo encounters Natsu again in her hour of need. Now that Natsu is a master pastry chef in his own right, he’ll help Komomo—but only if she works for him at his new confiserie!

 

Review:

 

Honestly, there was no way I wasn’t going to fall in love with this series. Being Maki Minami—with her characters and humor—and set in a confections shop. That sounds like a perfect combination to me.

Firstly, the confiserie. Oh god, the food. There’s so much sweets in this volume already. Komomo loves sweets, and she ends up working for a childhood kind-of-friend Natsu, who makes sweets. They’re gorgeous and look delicious, and it just makes me want to try everything. It’s like watching the Food Network channel. I’m jealous of all the food the mangaka got to eat as “research”.

I was impressed that this series is set up so differently from her previous two. Komomo, to start with, is a spoiled, egotistic brat. She’s used to being rich, getting everything handed to her, and it’s hard when she loses everything. She has to get a job, and she’s terrible at working, practically refuses to.

I was also not expecting Natsu. When we first meet him, he’s a crybaby little kid who Komomo picks on. And then he turns into a sadistic, confident chef. The way he pushes Komomo is sadistic and mean, but I think it’s also the only way to handle her. He’s the only one who really gets her to buck up and do what she needs to. She learns because of him.

We meet a friend of Natsu’s, who is quirky like Minami makes them. And then Natsu and Komomo start at public school (a first for Komomo). Komomo’s bullied by the popular girl, but she barely even notices. She’s been raised to take everything with her head held high, never show weakness. The popular girl acts catty and cries for sympathy, and Komomo teaches her. I was impressed with how well Komomo took the bullying and turned it right around on all the bullies without an ounce of anger or revenge in her attitude.

This was a fantastic first volume. It was so different from her previous books, and it was a lot of fun. The sweets had me drooling, and some of the characters had me impressed. I’m excited for the next one.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, and Erik Jansen from MediaLab PR. Thank you so, so much!