Crown - originally written on 16 Jan, updated 12 May

Brief Storyline: An orphan girl is suddenly grabbed from her part time job by her long lost brother, Ren, who, with his good friend, Jake, has come to protect her. Apparently they are royalty and targets of a deadly plot to obtain the throne.

The guys are of course bishi (first things first eh? ;p) and I'm pretty sure those who loved Gakuen Heaven would have a field day with this one too (it being by the same artist). The drawing overall is good, although there are some unfilled in eyes and other parts in scenes here and there. In the action scenes, the backgrounds are drawn in rather more detail to help in understanding what is happening. The guys all look rather different so it is easy to tell them apart.

The author and the artist are different and of opposite sexes. Interesting. So, I'm not sure if that colors my judgement that it is not as girly girl as other shojo, besides the "hot guys" (quoted from the author's words) and silly shojo girl. The last few pages give a tiny bit of entertaining insight into this collaboration.

The girl is, as mentioned, somewhat silly, and a bit too sweet, naive and is more like a little pet or elementary school child than a high schooler. Some of her expressions are rather dramatic and cringeworthy. The guys hold much of the story with their skill and action as mercenary soldiers, in protecting the girl from danger but the girl also has a special natural "talent".

A bit bloodthirsty as quite a few people lose their lives. Not as innocent in this respect as most shojo. The two are really merciless. I suppose it is a life or death fight, but still, a more sanitized storyline would have them solve it another way I suppose, but then again, not everything can be sanitized.

The characters have chemistry and there are a few humourous moments in between killings. :) Ok, ok, it is after all a shojo so one isn't expecting fantastic violence or gore and I believe the creators were going after a comedic feel as well. Thus, there are some really cheesy moments played out and some strange scenes. There are also some OTT emotional moments that don't seem to quite gel with the merciless bloodthirsty atmosphere but probably help to make it more shojo than shonen.


Possible Spoiler
The relationship between the brother and sister is ambiguous, and from comments I've read it seems I'm not the only one to get the insinuations. Some feel it's an incest tease but a few predict that there may be a twist there although in volume two there is not much further indication/development of this, especially if you see the first few pages (the weird scene I was referring to).

The guys' relationship also have slight shonen ai overtones in some of the scenes, although I would say that it is rather minor (well, the artist does do this genre). The story is also starting to develop a slight very much reverse harem feeling at the end, with the two bodyguards already (Jake and Ren, her brother) and now another guy, Chrondrite Condor (interesting name yeah?) probably interested in Mahiro. At the end of volume two, there's another guy to join the harem!

I find Mahiro even more unbelievable when this cute little supposedly sweet silly girl sees her Jake and Ren killing people and things blowing up and she is completely unfazed. Nor is she fazed when she is almost killed. Strange.

An aside - the volume one in my hand is this yellow cover one. Is there really a blue colored cover?

My Rating:
Story: B
Art: B
Recommended? Eye candy - quite a few cool bishies. Storyline is atypical and rather fast paced, action orientated, with bits of comedy and unexpected twists.

Licensed by Go!Comi

Merupuri

Finally bought Vol.1. Had vols 2-4 for a long long time (albeit in English, I never seem to be getting Vol 1 of anything). I prefer the English one, as it seems cleaner and the pictures clearer. Could be due to the fact that the Eng one is bigger. The Chinese words seem many more than English, though that could be my imagination? A bit of eye strain for some of the characters...

Some people didn't borrow this series of mine because there wasn't a vol.1. Ready for it now? Although I know some of my friends still won't borrow it cos they don't want to read it in Chinese.

Had a re-think on this since I bought the last (erm, rather first) volume and realised that it is rather shotacon don't you think?

It constantly reminds me of Bride of the Water God, which I've since abandoned (maybe until they release the entire series, I hear Vol. 3 will finally be out soon), cos it was way too slow. I've sorta stopped reading manhwa cos they seem to be too slow. Well, maybe with exception of Saver which was pretty action packed (but still slow in a sense).

Oh, super cheap thrills but realised the Chinese version had this little color pull out, nothing near poster size (smaller than A4 I think) of the main characters. Colors weren't that nice though.

Flower Ring/Hua Qian

Manga complete at 2 volumes

The story is somehow very simplistic and the characters don't seem to be very well developed. It doesn't have me rooting for any of them. The attacks by the rival seems to be superficial and kiddish. Actually, all the characters seem kiddy, and not just because they are drawn that in that style. The girl seems too demure and a pushover and the mom a tyrant. The guy is a bit bland too.

The only redeeming feature is the drawing and as with most historical mangas, there's opportunity for intricate interesting costumes. However, with long hair, the guys look like girls!

Another thing is that they have these traditional Chinese idiom competitions and the meanings are pretty much lost in translation.

Frankly I didn't finish this and I don't think I will. It just doesn't illicit much interest after the first few pages of plot setting. After that you sense it'll be a typical shojo which it pretty much is. There aren't really any plot twists or developments either, but then again it's only two volumes long (and despite that I still couldn't finish it!).

My Rating:
Story: C-
Art: B+
Recommended? Just for the art, but the story, sigh....so no, don't think so

More info:
Bakaupdates

From Far Away

Manga completed at 14 Volumes

Brief Summary: A girl gets drawn into another world where she is the key to awakening a monster.

This topic isn’t new, just think of Escaflowne, Anatolia, Queen’s Knight, Kyo Kara Meoh and even Amatsuki (I’m sure you could name many others), where someone is sucked into another realm/world and, somehow despite being rather plain and nondescript in the normal world, is now a special person of some consequence there.

And then there is the romance, though this isn’t exactly your typical hearts and flowers shojo. In fact, I was wondering all the time whether this was written for males or females. There is a deep romance element but a large part of the story is centered on the royal politics. The fight scenes are also spectacular, going on for quite a few pages a time. So it did seem more for guys, but then again, I know some girls like their fight scenes too, and the romance part didn’t seem like something the guys would be that interested in (I could be wrong).

The characters have good chemistry, especially the two protagonists. Of course the guy’s got issues (and the girl is sweet and nice) but they are settled later on. The drawing isn’t bad but the characterization seems more towards the older 90s style, which you can see from the girl’s hairstyle. The guy also isn’t your typical bishonen, though he seems cool enough.

The story is rather typical with bad guys galore, but there wasn’t really adequate explanation on the whole concept of how she became so special - some similar stories would have had her ancestor or something coming from this world into ours sometime in the past, and having a lineage in the fantasy world to begin with (e.g. Meripuri). With this one, it wasn’t really touched on at all (or did I miss it?).

My Rating:
Story: B
Art: B
Recommended? There are so many titles with the same topic so if you’ve read a few you may be weary already, but if you haven’t this isn’t a bad start I guess.

Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen

Manga: Ongoing

Basically quite cute and innocent, but it's quite obsessed with the idea of the fact that the two protagonist's countries were at war. Characters are drawn nicely although they have a very "young"/immature look.

So far, every chapter seems to be a repeat of the prior one in a sense as they get angry with each other, then something happens that forces them to become closer and then they get angry again with each other. Need to wait and see how it turns out and whether there is a more complicated storyline.

Eeks, just realised her eyes on the cover are red, I wonder why?

My Rating:
Story: B-
Art: B-
Recommended: If every chapter is going to be so similar, you can give it a miss after reading a few.

Meripuri

Manga: Complete, 4 volumes

Finished Merupuri and managed to get all vols except 1. Sort of bought this on a whim (I didn't even unwrap to look inside!) and discovered quite early on after I bought it that it is a very different genre from the ones I've been reading. I didn't realise that from the synopsis and expected something rather different. Basically the reasons I bought it were that, 1. It was written/drawn by the same author as Vampire Knight, which I quite liked, and 2, it had only four volumes (I was trying to save $$!) ;p ok ok, been telling everyone this (that this is not my usual style) - hmmm..why is that? To justify my read? heheheh One thing's for sure, this is probably one manga my husband would never pick up, though he read most of non shoujo manga.

As a friend says, it's quite a sweet love story, and it moves pretty fast from volume two onwards and most of the plot actually ends in the first part of volume 4 - I think the rest of the last volume was just for the sake of fillers to make one full volume.

The fast pace and short and easy read is good for those who don't like a draggy storyline. There's also a lot of chemistry between the two characters, though I've read at least one review describing the plot as a reverse harem type (i.e. the girl with many admirers). Oh well, it's a fantasy right? ;p

My Rating:
Story: B
Art: A - love the details in the dress, etc. A friend said the bodies of the people are too long, but this is quite typical in a lot of shoujo.Recommended? Ok for a light read, but nothing much in terms of depth. Sweet.

Bride of the Water God

Manga: Ongoing

My first Korean manga, or rather manhwa. I kept reading it wrong and it should be read from left to right. Only figured that something was wrong after nearly one volume! Hahhaha…

The drawings are nice, as has been consistently reviewed on other sites. I’m constantly wondering how the artist does all those intricate costumes. However, I do find the bodies so long that it becomes too unreal.

The story reminded me so much of Meripuri it’s quite incredible. Take for example, the guy who turns young/old during the day/night, and the forbidding mother, the (initially) reluctant bride, the close rival love interest, magic, etc. etc. etc…But still, perhaps as it’s Korean, there is a different feel to it. A bit draggy and slow so hopefully the future volumes will get going (realized this was the sentiment of Amazon commenters as well). Hopefully it won’t go in the region of 20 volumes either.

My Rating:
Story: B-
Art: B+
Recommended? Let’s see where this goes…

Goong (translated as “Palace”)

Manga: Ongoing
Drama (Princess Hours)

At 18 volumes and still ongoing, I’m not sure if this is going to go on and on forever. I haven’t seen the drama although I’m sure it was probably very popular (and long).

This manhwa has the usual shoujo storyline, involving royalty, but this is where it gets a lot more complex as there is politics involved. Also, the couple is already married though till now it’s pretty much a farce. There are a lot of court rules/etiquette/material and whilst this gives the artist good ideas for the costumes, it also provides a lot of stuff to digest as the dynamics of the couple unfold. This is pretty angsty sometimes and the girl is crying a lot cos she misses home, etc. and the guy is at his meanest and confused best.

The rival plays a significant part and unfortunately (fortunately?) tends to complicate the issue just nicely cos he tends to appear at the most timely (untimely?) situations when the girl and the guy are just about to have a tiff, etc. so he becomes her main confidante and tries to develop her feelings for him that way (like Spiderman my husband would probably say though I don’t know why).

For someone who doesn’t like more than 6-10 volumes, it is a bit long to plough through, esp as the end is not in sight.