King of the Lamp, Tenshi Ja Nai and Ultimate Venus

King of the Lamp

Manga: Complete at one volume

Brief Summary: Five oneshots in one volume, with three on the same premise of a genie helping girls find love. The fourth and fifth ones have light supernatural themes building up to a romance.

Got this as I liked Ultimate Venus and I like the mangaka's drawings overall, for its clean and neat appeal. However, as mentioned below, once again the characters look exactly like her previous ones. For one of the stories, you would not be wrong to think the female protag was the one in Ultimate Venus and wonder if it was an extra/side story of sorts to that.

The first three are rather typical boy meets girl or vice versa and girl falls for him, tries to get his attention/affection. So fortunate there is a genie around the corner that is actually a womanising king that has been given the punishment of helping at least 1000 girls fulfil their love requests. Rather simple stories.

The fourth one seemed a bit different from any that I've read from her so far and it was the most interesting to me, although the ending was again predictable and came a bit too abruptly (mainly cos it's a oneshot I suppose so it couldn't be helped).

The fifth one, as I've also read on ANN, wasn't that good. I agree. It seemed a bit strange and fluffy. It was one of her earlier works.

This volume is a bit more "racy" (is that the word?) than the other series she's done (although nothing explicit). Think she was targetting a bit older readers (teens as opposed to tweens , although in this day and age...). I think I must add that a friend of mine who read this was a bit taken aback by it despite reading (and liking) Ultimate Venus. I would say it's not near smut but as mentioned, there are some intimate scenes. I must say that I wouldn't argue with my friend that we both hope it doesn't teach teenagers that it's a shame not to lose "it" and that sex equates to love, or that one needs to use sex to gain love from the man. Unfortunately, it might. And that's the worry.

My Rating:
Story: C
Art: B-

Recommended? An ok read, but nothing really out of the ordinary and each story is rather too short. A stronger linking background story (the part about the genie) would be have good for the first three stories. As it is the first three are rather disjointed and can be read in any order.

Tenshi Ja Nai

Manga: Completed at 8 Volumes.

Brief Summary: A guy pretends to be a girl and attends an all girl's school because he is in showbiz as a girl. A new student discovers his secret and...(you know where this is going)

This one is a break in the usual routine, being the opposite of the usual girl disguises as guy and gets into an all boys’ school (think Hana Kimi, Ouran High School Host Club and Girl Got Game). Instead, very strangely, it’s a boy that dresses and acts like a girl. Of course that provides the comedy and of course someone finds out early on. The whole premise thereafter becomes rather clichéd again but there are a few original twists and turns.

For one thing, I do appreciate that the girl is not so dotty, immature and ditzy as some others (really tired of the girl struggling with making chocolate for the boy – enough already, thankfully no such thing in this one). She usually has her head screwed on tight and doesn’t loose it to “love”. However, do feel she’s more like the guy in this series sometimes, as the guy is now a “girl”.

There is a bit of reverse harem as well, with at least three guys falling for the girl. There’s even a teacher-student element thrown in, together with blackmail and other side themes. There’s also a serious love rival with no big faults but I shall not give that away.

And then you must have the fangirls (I really wonder after reading all these whether Jap girls are really in any way like this - it’s really too exaggerated!). The guy, as a girl, also has a whole host of them. And fanboys too, obviously. So these cause the girl protagonist grief.

My Rating:
Story: B
Art: B-

Recommended? Interesting for the twist in concept, with many different other side stories thrown in. Not particularly wow, but readable.

Similar: All those others I mentioned above regarding the girl-boy disguises. Actually, it also reminds me of her new work, Ultimate Venus. The characters have you going deja vu!

Also someone mentioned Maria Holic was similar but there are more shojo ai overtones in that one (am not quite sure it is going to be "romance" boy girl style)

Ultimate Venus

Brief Summary: Orphaned girl gets adopted by super rich grandma.

The storyline is quite interesting, but still it is pretty much a Cinderella story where the poor girl realises she is actually a "princess" (I mean in the sense she is now super rich). There is some mystery behind the relationship between her mother and the grandmother that is still waiting to be hatched. There is also some ominous happenings when she's at school that is linked to her being the candidate to inheriting her grandma's companies (and thus wealth).

And then there are the bishi boys/men. There are two main contenders - the guy who is assigned to look after her bodyguard style and a classmate. Later there is another one but I won't give his role away. Their motivations are made a bit more clear in volumes 2 and 3, but the story is still quite slow going. Now after reading volume three, it's starting to develop into a reverse harem. :)

The girl follows the usual shojo school girl character somewhat - rather naive and ditzy, getting easily agitated. On the other hand, at least she's not too clumsy or stupid.

I must say that the characters look too similar to Tenshi Ja Nai, which was written by the same mangaka. Actually, in her extra story in vol 3, the characters look the same as the ones in the main story itself.

All in all, it sounds promising and hope the development gets better and not head down the hill of a routine shojo plot....even husband read it! ;p heeheh

My Rating:
Story: B
Art: B, the characters look alike mostly, and the drawing is clean but the scenes and characters are not very elaborately drawn or detailed. There is just enough to make the panes look pretty mostly.
Recommended? Sounds interesting so far.

More info:
Bakaupdates

Full House Kiss

Ongoing Manga
Author: Yuwa Shiori

This is the somewhat common formula of having the girl become an orphan and coming to stay with some handsome guy (or guys in this case) due to some dire consequences (I think we've read one or two like this?). The only thing that stands out is that there is some underlying mystery concerning the deaths of her parents and the disappearance of her sister.

The guys are all different and the girl is so far not that silly but she is not that smart either.

Strangely this is based on/related to ? some game which I've never seen before but the description I read on wiki was quite funny and strange (and a bit ambiguous).

My Rating:
Story: B-
Art: B-
Recommended: Interesting, but besides the mystery it's also quite typical.
Similar to: I saw quite a few comments that this is very similar to Fruits Basket, but I've not read that so I can't say. I haven't really gone through Wallflower but in essence there is a similarity, though I would say the emphasis for that one is really quite different.

More info:
Bakaupdates

It's Love

Manga: Complete at 7 volumes

Brief Summary: An orphan is taken in seven years before the manga starts, by a family with three boys. She is bullied by all three but they all have the same reason they don't want her as a sister - because they've all fallen for her!

Discovered this manga/manhwa quite by accident. The characters are rather beautifully drawn, and quite characterestic of Korean drawing style that I've seen so far in Goong and Bride of the Water God (is it just me or do they like to have two pigtails or buns?).

Basically this is a reverse harem, with the three guys being brothers, all different and successful in their own ways. It's a tormented sweet innocent story, but at least the girl is not the one that keeps working at the relationship. It's nice to see the guy (in this case, guys) working at it for once! ;P All the guys care for her in their own way and it's kind of sad to know that she can only have one of them! ;p

My Rating:
Story: B-
Art: B-
Recommended: Keeps you in suspense!

Hadashi de Bara wo Fume

Manga: Ongoing

Brief Summary: A poor orphan girl who lives with her brother and all the little baby orphans he picks up ends up having to "sell" herself to a rich man (to be his "pretend" wife) when her brother disappears and she is at her wits end trying to make get money to feed the brood.

A few people have already commented that this offering from the author of "Tail of the Moon" will be just another shojo and have even offered up their suspected endings to what is now only a 3 volume complete manga. ;p A few people aren't quite enthused with the girl, who has been described as silly, dumb and unrealistic.

What I really like about this is that the girl is drawn so sweet and cute. The guy is not bad too but of course his character sucks (what'd you expect?) right now so hopefully he'll get better and hopefully the girl, who's innocent and a country bumpkim won't get buillied too much. :)

As this is still in its infancy there isn't much to say yet, but so far so good and will keep following it.

My Rating:
Story: B
Art: B
Recommended? The characters are drawn very pretty so the art itself is quite redeeming. It's actually quite a different feel from her previous works.
Similar to: Hanayomesama wa 16sai

Tail of the Moon/Tsuki no Shippo

Manga: Completed

Was looking for a short manga, and came across Tsuki no Toiki, which is the precursor for this one. After finishing that one, it led me to this one, as the characters follow on as well.

Seen an ad before at the back of shojo volumes but it just never appealed to me, probably the look of the two main characters. The guy is ok but the girl is drawn to look very very young and almost puberscent and that makes them an oddly matched couple. I so wish the girl had been drawn more mature.

Have read a few commentors write that they find this a bit childish. Well, it's quite common for the girl protangonist to be just that and unfortunately she is shown to be unsophisticated, bumbling, clumsy, unrefined and all....but of course, with a good heart. Sounding a bit like Itazura Na Kiss? Ya, in a way it does remind me of the many so mangas I've already reviewed below. The difference probably is the time period? This one is a ninja period manga and that put me off a bit (though, I did also get absorbed in Nabari No Ou).

Though I can appreciate some of the things she goes through, as it's nice to see her grow up through having those experiences. Unfortunately though, some of them are really quite silly. As I finish the last volume, 15, I'm left a bit disappointed. The ending is a bit abrupt and perhaps, even, cheesy (not to mention unbelievable)? I would say more but being too specific would spoil it for those who haven't read it. I can see now where the comments on it being a bit simple/childish come from. The sequence of events is a bit choppy and I get the feeling of being stopped and put into a new scene in staccato like steps. The characters' feelings are really expressed very well and are also chopped off mid-emote. I just don't feel too much for them after a while. Felt it had potential but somehow there was something amiss. I had to down the rating of this one to a B- from a B.

And, for some reason, the fonts on this manga are huge. Somehow contributes to the kiddy feel.:)


My Rating:
Story: B-
Art: B
Recommended? Typical but there are some endearing parts.

Gakuen Alice

Manga: Ongoing
Anime: Complete at 26 episodes, should be a season 2

Actually, didn't want to pick this one up at first as it didn't appealing at all, as I'm not really interested in those mangas/storylines about elementary children (I completely couldn't stomach strawberry marshmellow) - I mean, how complicated can they get right? And I'm not that into cutesy. But happened across this anime and decided why not, to see what the fuss was about, cos apparently this seems to be qutie a popular series. The thing is that it is simple and cute, and I think the saving grace is that there is something more interesting in the form of the "Alices" (special powers), and the mystery of the school, etc.

The main protagonist, Mikan is cute, but she's also kinda (very?) silly. Overall there's a lot of comedy involved with her character's actions and especially in her interactions with her "best" friend Hotaru. I really can't stand the latter's attitude and behaviour somethings. It gets on my nerves!

Overall, it's just a light anime but fun. I heard the manga is better, but I'm not sure I'd want to get it. A friend and I calculated that it would take me perhaps 5-6 years (depending on how many chapters this manga eventually has) for me to complete it, if I really wanted to, that is. Seems like they are releasing four English volumes a year, each with around 5-6 chapter. With already 100 chapters (in Japanese) so far, there should be more than 20 English volumes. I guess I'm not really going to collect so many but it's more because I wanted to see the difference in story and feel between the anime and manga. As the story delves into the school and the children's activities there are a lot of little stories that are quite stand alone. It also goes into the relationships between the children and it can be rather touching.