Title: Flower
Author:WADA Naoko
ISBN# 978-4-0884726-45
Margaret Comics, 2000

As you might guess from this cover, this is not your typical shoujo manga. I picked this one up because it looked like it would be something fresh and different from my usual cross-dressing, idol singing, teacher-kissing shoujo manga stories :D And it is. This is the first volume of a good 10 volume series. The covers of all the later volumes are so cute! It’s nice to read some longer series after so many one-shot stories. The art style is clean and unscribbly, but the characters do sometimes look a bit odd to me. However, it is still very cute and not odd enough to put me off.

On to the story. Aoi-chan is a bright, pretty, 14-year-old girl who is also an up-and-coming teen model. She is busy with her work and does lots of fun things like magazine interviews. She has many friends at school, including the pretty Yuuko, the studious Kouichi, and the handsome Hikaru, but the one she is closest to is her childhood friend, Ryuuta. Ryuuta is a sportsman type, who likes to get himself messy when going fishing, do crazy show stunts on his bike, and to tease Aoi with various slimy critters. Aoi is close to Ryuuta and has no problem kicking him when he is being a moron. :)

However, in an instant, Aoi’s world is turned upside down. Her friends have planned a camping trip, and Aoi has plans to confess to Ryuuta. Before the trip, her mother asks her to run an errand for her, and Aoi decides to ride her bike. On the way the store, she reaches a staircase, and foolishly tries to imitate a bike stunt she had seen Ryuuta perform earlier. Unfortunately for her, she is not successful as Ryuuta was, and she and her bike take a hard fall.

She wakes up in a hospital, covered in scrapes in bruises. Her mother is at her bedside, and she is surrounded by her friends. Aoi, bright as ever, is in good spirits, and freaks out a bit when she realizes what happened, but all her friends are there and everyone laughs and jokes around. Aoi really doesn’t want to miss her camping trip and is anxious to get out of the hospital. It isn’t until after her friends have left, indeed, it isn’t until much later, when she tries to get up, that she realizes she can’t feel her legs.

It takes a while for what has happened to really sink in. She is still obsessed/distracted by the idea of the camping trip and seeing Ryuuta, and missing her chance to confess, and not being with her friends. She is beginning to feel dread and worry about her legs and can’t quite think about the idea that they may be like this forever. Surely it’s just temporary. With this thought in mind, she tries to stay cheerful, and has some fun trying to learn how to use a wheelchair.

The manga follows Aoi as she realizes the reality of her situation and she and her friends struggle to come to grips with the change. There are awkward moments where her friends forget she can’t do some things any more, obstacles involving wheelchair access (while much better than it used to be, Japan is not as wheelchair friendly as the US is, many places are only accessible by stairs), and pain and frustration during physical therapy. Aoi’s modeling career is now over, and she must learn a new way to do things.

Aoi works hard to be cheerful, but obviously she can’t always put on a smiling face. Her life has changed, but it’s up to Aoi to forge forward and to try to not let her new situation hold her back. Her friends, although awkward at first, are very supportive, and Aoi finds inspiration in unexpected places. But with 10 volumes, you can imagine that Aoi and her friends face a lot of ups and downs!

This series is a good read. It is informative and rather unique for a shoujo manga. I recommend it!

Title: Shinai Virus

(Deep Love Virus)
Author: NAGI Michiko
ISBN# 4-08-846121-5
Margaret Comics, 2006

This volume has a rather eye-catching cover, what with the horizontal layout and the bright red background. The three cute characters there also made it somewhat obvious that there just might be a love triangle in the story (which is just so shocking considering this is a shoujo manga, and shoujo manga… NEVER! have love triangles! Hahah!) so this seemed like an easy buy :) I enjoyed this story very much, though the heroine could be a bit dense/doormat-like sometimes. The art style is a bit too messy for my normal tastes, with scratchy lines everywhere and some weird facial expressions. Hmm, actually, looking at this again, I think it is the heroine that is drawn messily most of the time. The two guys usually look rather nice. Hmm, I wonder which characters the author liked drawing more? ^_^;

Anyway, this is the story of Mako-chan and Haru-kun. They are neighbors, and have been best friends forever. Mako’s mom is often away on business, and Mako and Haru rely on each other. Every day they playfully tease and abuse each other and joke around. Mako is so important to Haru that he often ditches his other friends, including his girlfriends, to hang out with Mako. Mako sort of just accepts this, until one day, Haru does the unthinkable- he kisses Mako! Telling her she is the most important person to him, he gathers her into his arms and kisses her. This opens up a flood of feelings for Mako. She really likes Haru, and is now totally confused.

With this kiss, have things changed between them somehow? Are they dating? Is she now his girlfriend? Does he really like her? At school, shortly after the kiss, Mako is still totally confused about how to respond to Haru and exactly where they stand, when Haru suddenly announces that he has a new girlfriend! And one who he is serious about this time, too …and it’s not Mako! This totally crushes Mako. What did that kiss mean to Haru? Was it all a joke? Every time she sees Haru with his new girlfriend, Mako dies a little inside, and she can’t stop crying.

Fortunately, she is not left to her misery alone. Mako is a member of the school’s Kendo club, and her club senior, Sayama-sempai, is there to see her pain and comfort her. He is a serious guy who often treats Mako with a sort of stern affection. He can see what Haru’s behavior is doing to Mako, and he tries to shield her from it as best he can.

Meanwhile, Haru sees Mako being friendly with her club sempai, and slowly realizes that she may not belong to him…. Caught in the middle of two guys who she can’t quite understand, who will Mako choose? This one shot story takes up the entire volume.

Title: Usotsuki na Gemini
(The Gemini Which Is A Liar)
Author: MIYAWAKI Yukino
ISBN# 978-4-09-131535-9
ChuChu Comics, 2008

Ah! Here is one of those series that follows the shoujo manga plot device that I call “Whew! We’re Not related after all!” (or ARE they?!) I bought this because of the cover, which is very cute, and because the title makes it somewhat obvious what it’s about. Now come on, this series ran in ChuChu, which is a magazine aimed at younger kids (Not quite as young as the Ribbon/Nakayoshi magazine group, but certainly not the older readers of Magazines like Sho-Comi or Cheese). I seriously doubt they would publish an all-out incest manga in ChuChu magazine. However, this series does focus on a relationship between siblings that think they are related. If I lived in shoujo manga land and had a twin, I would assume, unless we were identical girls, that we are actually unrelated, because there is an unusually high rate of parents raising kids a siblings when they may or may not be…

Heck, I could take another recent manga, “D.N.A.” by KURUMATANI Haruko, and switch out its manga cover with the Usotsuki na Gemini cover because they have nearly the exact same plot :) I think you can consider this as a review for both series, they are so similar. Anyway, this is the story of twins, Rin and Aoi. They are 3rd year Jr. High students. Aoi is tall and cute, and is great at kendo. All the members of the school club respect her and some even have crushes on her, she is so popular and skilled. Her twin brother, Rin, used to participate in kendo, but when they entered Jr. High, he quit to join, of all things, a sewing club. Rin is also popular with girls, and has even worked as a “rental boyfriend” for some of them!

Rin and Aoi are close, but, like siblings, they fight a lot. Aoi is still somewhat bitter over Rin quitting kendo. She still doesn’t know why he quit.

Things start to get interesting when Aoi hears that an old acquaintance of theirs, Izumi-kun, is going to be at Aoi’s kendo tournament that is coming up. The twins knew Izumi when they were kids. He participated in kendo too, but would always end up crying in the bathroom at matches because he was weak. Aoi remembers this weak, crybaby Izumi from her childhood, and thus is not prepared for the sight of the tall handsome guy she meets at the tournament. Is this really crybaby Izumi? Even more surprising, he wins their match! Aoi vows there will be a rematch, but when she goes to challenge Izumi, he does something even more unexpected. He kisses her!

Aoi is flustered by Izumi’s attention and his interest in her. Izumi is very upfront about his interest in her. Meanwhile, Rin is also aware of Izumi’s interest, and it makes him… angry! His own feelings for Aoi are difficult to admit to. Especially since he knows something about why Aoi has no memories about anything from before she was 6 years old.

Aoi finds Rin’s behavior to be puzzling. Here is her brother, getting all jealous and strange! What is up with him? And wait, did he just KISS her too?! Now Aoi is REALLY confused… are they really related or not?

Title: Lemon Planet
Author: HAZUKI Megumi
ISBN# 978-4-08-846153-3
Margaret Comics, 2007

I have been meaning to summarize this manga, but somehow I never got to it. Such a shame! This is such a nice little series. Not to be confused with another popular shoujo manga called “Orange Planet”, Lemon Planet is a sweet little story about childhood friends and growing up. This series is completed at 2 volumes and has nice, detailed artwork and entertaining characters. I am glad I finally remembered to mention it here :)

It’s summer vacation time, and no one is more excited about it than 2nd year high school student Karin-chan. Why is she so happy? Because her beloved Saku-chan (Sakumi-senpai) is coming home from college to visit! Saku-chan, along with his younger brother Tatsumi, have been Karin’s best friends forever. As childhood friends the trio were always together. Sakumi hasn’t been gone long, but now that he is back, Karin can really see a difference in him. He has changed a little, seems more adult. Just seeing him makes Karin’s heart beats faster. Her crush on him hasn’t changed.

However, along with any physical changes in Sakumi, something else is different. Until now, Karin, Tatsumi and Sakumi all knew each other so well, they did so much together, that it is strange to think that he has met people she doesn’t know, done things and been places she hasn’t. Karin feels especially weird when a college sempai, Hinatsu-san, calls Saku. Saku’s reaction to the call is obvious. He likes Hinatsu! The very idea of this makes Karin ache. She likes Sakumi so much! And while everyone is aware of her worship of Sakumi, she has never actually confessed to him. He obviously can’t see her as a girl, just as a childhood friend. What should she do?

Meanwhile, Tatsumi is the same age as Karin, and is in her class at school. He is aware of KArin’s obvious affection for Sakumi, however what are his feelings? He seems to care for Karin very much, could he be the one to comfort Karin when Sakumi rejects her? Then again, will Sakumi reject Karin? Karin is a bright, cheerful girl with a unique sort of glow about her. Slowly, over that summer, Sakumi begins to see how special Karin is. A love triangle begins to form. Will Karin gather the courage to confess? Will Tatsumi make his feelings known? Will Sakumi realize how special Karin has always been to him?

Title: Puri x Puri
(Prince x Princess)
Author: KIRITANI Miki
ISBN# 978-4-592-18561-1
Hana to Yume Comics, 2008

I think there must be a rule somewhere that says all shoujo mangaka must, at some point in their careers, do a story about an idol singer. And bonus points are awarded if there is crossdressing involved. Seriously, it is amazing how many times the crossdressing idol singer plot pops up! It also makes me begin to wonder about actual J-idol boys and girls. ^_^ I wonder if there have ever actually been any crossdressing idols? Anyway, this was purchased because of this really cute cover! I didn’t read the back, so I thought they might be brother and sister or something. But no, that is actually the same person!

Prince x Princess tells the story of a once-famous idol singer girl named KAGUYA Yuki. She is 16 years old, cute, smart, and a very talented singer and idol! Then why is she “once famous” and not on top of the entertainment industry? She was framed! When she was 14, Yuki was part of an idol trio called Kira Kira Moon. She went by the named “Yukki” then, and she was much shorter and even cuter. The other members of the group were jealous of her, and one day tey locked her in a bathroom so she ended up missing an important concert. She was fired from her talent agency and was thought to be done with show business.

However, Yuki is determined not to give up. She loves the spotlight (she really changes into a much more sparkly, energetic person when under spotlights) so one day she auditions at a talent agency. To her amazement, even though she has grown 20cm taller sincer her days as “Yukki” and she is no longer quite so adorably cute, she is selected by a manager! However, the job is not quite what she expected! There is an idol group who needs a new member, and has been advertising a new member’s arrival. Yuki has been selected to become that new idol group member. Only one slight problem- the group, ZAST, is an all-male group! The manager slaps a wig on Yuki’s head, gives her some boy clothes, and introduces her to the guys as their new bandmate!

Before Yuki realizes it, she is now a part of ZAST and going by the name of Kaguya Fuyutsuki. ZAST are very talented and work hard. However, how long can she maintain her disguise? It would also be nice if she didn’t keep running into her former Kira Kira Moon bandmates! Yes, this series reminds me of so many other idol series (Ichigo Channel, for example) but the artwork here is really nice, and I like the love triangle that forms :D The members of ZAST are cute, and Kaguya is a funny character. I look forward to the next volume ^_^