Manga Review: Nisekoi: False Love, Volume 15, by Naoshi Komi

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Volumes: 22+

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 14. 16.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Love triangle! Comedic antics!! Gang warfare?! You won’t want to miss out on Shonen Jump's laugh-out-loud feel-good manga series! It's hate at first sight when Raku Ichijo first meets Chitoge Kirisaki. But much to their chagrin, the two are forced into a false love relationship to keep the peace between their feuding gangster families.

Raku's childhood friend Yui declares her love for Raku! When Chitoge overhears, she freaks out! Raku's left to spend the day alone with Yui after everyone in the house leaves for vacation. When Chitoge and the others catch wind of it, they'll do anything to stop the two from being alone!

Review:

Yui is continuing to cause trouble. I don’t take her as seriously as a contender for romance, and really wouldn’t mind a girl being introduced as a real character who doesn’t care about Raku romantically, so her declaring her love for Raku annoys me. I don’t mind her goading the other girls into embarrassing situations, though.

Next, Marika tries a new tactic to get Raku’s attention: ignoring him. This only concludes in a super sweet scene between them, though, where she gets all sappy and Raku is super sweet to her. Then we see a confession from Chitoge, to a side character, while trying to convince them of her “real” relationship with Raku.

The last big plot is a school festival, including a lot of very cute cosplay, and a beauty contest. The beauty contest was actually rather funny, with a surprise twist at the end, and I appreciated that. I do find Haru’s crush as annoying as Yui’s, and mostly just unnecessary, though. I do like her relationship with her sister. 

As always, a very fun volume.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring by Masashi Kishimoto

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: January 2016

Volumes: One-shot Epilogue

Spoilers?: No.

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

Goodreads Synopsis:

Naruto was a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. Then he channeled that energy into learning amazing ninja techniques and saving the world! Now Naruto has achieved his dream to become the greatest ninja in the village and his face sits atop the Hokage monument. But new troubles are bubbling up in the shinobi world...

With the world now safe and the ninja villages working together, Naruto's work as Hokage seems pretty mundane. Giving his son, Boruto, enough attention is the toughest task he has. But then Sasuke uncovers a conspiracy that may involve surviving members of the Uchiha clan. And at the same time, Sarada is begins to have doubts about the truth of her origins.

Review:

This is a kind of epilogue to the series, at least one of them. It’s in the future, featuring all of the previous main characters’ kids. Sakura and Sasuke’s daughter is the main character, Sarada Uchiha, and she’s trying to figure out who her father really is, and how that defines who she is. Sasuke has been absent from her life since she was a child, she doesn’t even remember him, but she wants to. And now she’s wondering if Sakura is her real mother.

There’s a lot of fighting and misunderstandings, but in the end the characters are all there for each other. Naruto is a smarter adult and trying to teach his son well, Sakura is a good mother to her daughter, and it’s neat to see each characters child, and how they’re all doing now.

I didn’t follow the series, but this was still an okay volume. I’m sure real fans will enjoy it more.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: The Heiress and the Chauffeur, Volume 1, by Keiko Ishihara

Rating (Out of 5): ~4
Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Volumes: 2.
Spoilers?: No.
Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.
Volume: 2.
Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

At an all-girls school during the Taisho era in Japan, rumors swirl that heiress Sayaka Yoshimura is having a forbidden love affair with her chauffeur, Shinobu Narutaki! Sayaka scoffs at the rumors, but could a romance between master and servant actually be brewing?

Sayaka wears a crimson ribbon that signals she is at the top of her class, and her classmates all revere her. So when Narutaki ignores decorum and breaks school rules to protect Sayaka, will she stand by him or dismiss him as the school demands?

Review: 

This is a historic series, and while I’m not usually a historic reader, I don’t mind it here. Though the setting isn’t given a lot of depth, and might not even be fully accurate. That’s not a big deal to me. Mostly we get the clothes, little technology and modern ideals, and more modesty in society. It is very pretty, too.

Sayaka goes to an all-girls school, and spends a lot of time with her chauffeur Shinobu, making people think indecent things. Even when Sayaka is being bullied and unsure of things, she still stays strong, though. Even when everyone around her scolds them for her chauffeur going where he shouldn’t, and questioning whether they have an intimate relationship, she doesn’t back down. She stays strong and defends him and herself. I do admit that Shinobu saves her more than he should, but I kind of think it’s a fault on him and his protective instinct, not because she can’t defend herself.

I particularly admire that when Shinobu is forced to be punished, she even takes that on herself so no one else can do it, in a way to protect him. Her inner strength and smarts is nice to see. I’m really looking forward to picking up the next and final volume and seeing how it ends.

There’s also a one-shot at the end of the volume, and it’s a cute story about siblings forced to repay a debt and trying to get out of it. It had a relatively surprise ending that I appreciated.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!