sonic youth with sonic dreams

Sorry, this will probably be a recurring theme in the blog until I eventually get over hnr (which is?? never???).... *laughs hysterically while 'I Should Live In Salt' by The National plays*

For those who don't get the drill; I talk about shoujo (or josei) manga to get over a recent shoujo manga heartbreak of mine. And yes, I read more shoujo manga to get over shoujo manga. Huh.

I never really had the chance to talk about mangaka Yamakawa Aiji before. I first read her work Yajirobee, which is a really cute 2-volume series about a girl and her hot shoujo (step)dad™. I swear there's more to the story but that is not mine to tell for now.



I read her other work Stand Up! for the first time last night... and I judged myself for not reading it sooner. It's a sweet and wonderfully done shoujo manga about tall girl Furuya Utako (nicknamed Utamaru) who falls in love with her seatmate, popular guy Harada Naoyuki. The synopsis is not catchy enough, yeah, but Yamakawa Aiji never fails to deliver her stories in a pure, charming way that you just know that if this manga was done by anyone else, it wouldn't be the same.


What I like the most about Stand Up! is that all of the characters are really likable, most especially lead characters Furuya and Harada. Utako is just the cutest and Harada, while he subtly teases Utako at first (in a non-degrading or misogynistic manner at all, which is... pretty rare in shoujo, considering), is gentle, non-imposing, and is pretty much the best first boyfriend anyone could ask for. I swear, if a lot more guys were like Harada in shoujo manga (or better yet, in real life), the world would totally be a better place.

With that said, Yamakawa Aiji is certainly a new shoujo mangaka favorite, and will definitely read more of her works in the future. 

.... is exactly what I'd describe the HnR ending. Hah. I'm sorry, but this is what you'd call a hell of a fucking MESS.



(I'm probably going to be doing a lot of swearing so if that bothers you, go away while you can)

My biggest disappointment with the ending was that I really, really feel like a better story could have been told with the extra 20-something pages the author allotted for this chapter. But what happened?

( Spoilers underneath the cut, and a lot of disappointment )

Whoa, it's been months since I've last written something! I'm beginning to think I don't know how to write a proper blog entry, considering I'm still in the process of getting used to micro-blogging format courtesy of that monstrous excuse of a website called Tumblr. Lol, here I am talking trash about the website, when in fact for months I've been using it as a form of escapism from reality - to the point that I check every hour, every day. It's gotten that bad. ANYWAY.

( here i am getting all ranty mcrant thanks to tumblr, geez )

And as for fandoms, I'm only really following a few nowadays, and these past few months I've gotten immersed into the fandom for Hirunaka no Ryuusei, making edits and fanart and all, which made me feel all reminiscent of my iconing days back in LiveJournal. I started following this fandom back when there was still a thorough lack of scanlations, and because I adored Shishio a lot and saw that people liked Shishio and Suzume together, too!

( Ranty mcrant part 2 feat. life ruining shoujo manga )

Which is why I have been diverting my attention to Haikyuu!!, a sports anime/manga series about volleyball, and up to this very day I still wonder why I've gotten so attached to this series, considering that I only really convinced myself to read the manga because of this dirty yaoi doujinshi by Junko. I guess it's just that, the entire cast is super adorable, characterization is great, the story arcs are actually short, and as my boyfriend said: they make volleyball look hella interesting - which I totally agree with, considering that volleyball is one of my worst sports ever. While I really love the entire Karasuno team, and initially read the manga for KuroKen and the Nekoma team, Oikawa from Aobajousai really caught my eye - a.k.a. oh no another two-faced douchebag I'll probably love! Yes, he's good at the sport, and yes, he's got a terrible personality - but I really like that he's not a genius at his craft, and that he worked fucking hard to get to where he is now. I have a thing for characters like these. You go, Oikawa, even if you're fucking trash.

Also, the anime has just started last month and it's the best thing that's been happening to me for 8 sundays now! I'm too lazy to post gifs and photos here but if you go check my Tumblr, I've got a shitload of Haikyuu posts that it's probably about 80% of my blog now. I'm surprised no one has unfollowed me because of that - in fact, I've been gaining followers and some of my existing followers like the series too. Hmm. Surprise, surprise.

Hirunaka no Ryuusei, admittedly, has become a favorite shojo manga series of mine lately, despite just having read it out of the blue. I've become smitten with the perky yet mysterious Shishio Satsuki and his relationship with the naive yet surprisingly strong Yosano Suzume. Notice how I'm mentioning Shishio first as if he's the main character of the series, lol.



I normally really don't like teacher/student relationships, honestly, and I was a bit disappointed to find out that Shishio was Suzume's teacher - I was already sold with the thought of Shishio being Uncle Yukichi's "weird boyfriend"! But what's really promising about HnR is that Shishio and Suzume's relationship is more than just the usual ~forbidden love~ trope. Considering that they first met outside of the school, you'd know that they didn't just fall for one another as just teacher and student.

Though of course, despite all my love and praise for HnR (*cough* and Shishio *cough*), it also has its flaws.

( Spoilers under the cut if you haven't read til the latest chapter! )

I kinda take back what I said from my previous post - that I could hardly tolerate fanservice anime/manga anymore - because there are actual good ones.



So, I've just read every single chapter of Yamada-kun and the 7 witches in one sitting (sort of). It was not my first time hearing about the series, really. I've been seeing the title a lot from my f-list, though never a preview of the actual series itself. From the title itself, however, I was assuming it was a yaoi/BL manga, seeing as it seems like something CJ Michalski would name her manga, prolly because of her work entitled The pretty wolf and the 7 goaty. I'm quite relieved that there's an actual similarity to the names and not just a usual blunder of mine.

It wasn't until earlier, however, that I found that an anime of the series will be released pretty soon, and that there's actually an existing live-action drama of the series already. Plus the gif set was pretty promising - though I've got to admit, the boy-to-boy kissing scenes got me hook, line and sinker. So I figured since the series got both an anime and a drama already, it's probably not so bad, and that I could give it a shot.

This series thoroughly exceeded my expectations. The mangaka of this series, Yoshikawa Miki is the one who did Yankee-kun to Megane-chan as well. And oohh, she's actually a former assistant of Mashima Hiro, mangaka of Rave and Fairy Tail! No wonder the art style was eerily similar. Anyway, I've read Yankee-kun to Megane-chan before - found it pretty funny and all, but I never got the chance to go past volume 1 or 2, nor did I want to catch up on later chapters. So I was expecting more or less the same vibe from this one, but boy was I so wrong. The reviews were right, every chapter gets more and more interesting; and lo and behold - there's more to this manga than just fanservice! *sobs* It was a really refreshing read, as compared to that useless manga I read yesterday.

The story starts with a delinquent student named Yamada Ryuu who gets into an accident with the smartest student in their year, Shiraishi Urara. But here's the thing, they actually switch bodies. How? Kissing. As the series progresses, we find out that there are other students in the school who have the same ability as theirs, so Yamada and his friends go on a ~quest~ to find these witches! There's a gratuitous amount of fanservice in this manga, for both guys and gals alike, so it's bound to be an enjoyable read for anyone, as long as they're not icky on the guy-to-guy kissing. There's a harem, yes.. in a way, but it's not the ridiculous sort that's the usual in shonen rom-com manga. But really, this was such a great read. The recent chapters got me bawling, tbh. I can't wait to read the upcoming chapter!!

While we're at it, imma showcase my favorite OT3 from this manga. I love Yamada and Shiraishi a lot, really, and I'm really pining for them, but this takes the cake:



Miyamura/Yamada/Itou ftw! As to why they're both smitten with Yamada, I'm not saying anything, so go read the manga!



Jfc this manga's hilarious, ok. One of my headcanons (or it's probably CANON IDK) is that Miyamura is actually bisexual aahhhh plz be true lol



One last because Miyamura and Itou are hilarious (and I ship them, too!).

As of late, I've been drifting along with the mainstream and actually getting into current anime series such as Free! and Shingeki no Kyojin, but I have to admit that I've become easily hooked to the latter. Because of that, I've been desperately seeking out friends from the fandom to discuss the latest chapters and spoilers with. Hence, I've been nagging friends to watch the series so I could have someone to fangirl with and actually get what I'm saying.

So far, my latest victims include a high school friend of mine and my boyfriend, both of whom I've been coercing to watch SnK because they both seemed interested. Luckily, I got them both hooked - though they aren't exactly up to date with the series (one follows the anime only, the other has only read up 'til the female titan arc). But! I found out recently that another good friend of mine has apparently been following the series and has read the manga, too, so I've been able to discuss some spoiler-y stuff with him. Yay!


Yes, Yagami Laito, this never gets old.

( The downsides of getting your boyfriend to like SnK, and possible spoilers, so read at your own risk )