Jiu Jiu: Volume 2

by Touya Tobina, 191 pages

Takamichi, Snow, and Night make some odd new acquaintances as Takamichi creeps further and further out of her protective, isolating shell.  (Although not as much as the risque cover would jokingly lead you to believe....)

For more details on this surprisingly substantial fantasy / action / dramedy about a wounded demon hunter and her devoted wolf boys, please see my full review of the first two volumes at NoFlyingNoTights.com!

Jiu Jiu: Volume 1

by Touya Tobina, 191 pages

Young demon hunter Takamichi loses her will to participate in life after her brother's death, but her father's having none of it and, instead of letting her wallow, makes her responsible for the care of two abandoned half-demon wolf pups.  Can two eager, loyal, puppy-eyed shapeshifters save her from her self-imposed loneliness?

Ha!  Snow and Night, Takamichi's wolf boys, provide both humor and effective warm fuzzies, especially when they come up against her short-tempered, no-nonsense facade and wriggle their way under it.

Kimi ni Todoke: Volume 15

by Shiina Karuho, 179 pages

Chizu doesn't know how to act around Ryu since he told her how he feels, Sawako doesn't know how to act around Kazehaya since the school trip to Okinawa, and Ayane doesn't know how to act around Kento since he comforted her after her breakup.

Ryu and Kento both make declarations (one loud and to the point, one quiet and subtle) that leave their companions wide-eyed and speechless (and the reader woo-hooing!).  Meanwhile, Sawako's getting gentle advice from Kento and will hopefully do her best to buck-up, be honest, and clear up any misunderstanding between her and the one she loves.  Karuho once again does an excellent job of giving equal time to her equally deserving supporting cast.

Blue Exorcist: Volume 8

by Kazue Kato, 183 pages

As Yukio faces off against a silver-tongued demon, his brother Rin battles to find the heart of an amorphous plague while simultaneously protecting his friend Suguro, who's desperately trying to keep the poisonous clouds from spreading.

Yukio!  So much for being the "normal" twin.  I'm happy to see him finally show a little of his birthright, but I hope he's self-aware enough to avoid the emotional pitfalls that threaten to carry him over to the dark side.  He'd better start by having a real heart-to-heart talk with his brother so neither of them loses his footing.  Once the whole deathly plague thing is taken care of, of course.  And Kuro had better be ok, too.  Kitty!

Flower of Life: Volume 4

by Fumi Yoshinaga, 207 pages

Hanazono and Mikuni make their first attempt at trying to become professional manga-ka, Hanazono's shut-in older sister attempts to re-enter society, and relationships shift and grow as secrets are revealed, bonds are tested, and life moves forward.

A little something that's been niggling at the back of the reader's mind since volume one comes to the forefront with an emotional punch as the title's relevance becomes clear.  Fear and laughter, uncertainty and hope; life offers no guarantees, and family, friendship, and love are complicated--but that just makes them matter all the more.  Yoshinaga's a bit of a genius when it comes to the human condition, really.  She shows its weaknesses and dangers, but with an empathy and optimistic strength that make it feel worth fighting for.  The future may be scary and unknown, but her characters bravely face it, buoyed by each other and by their own inner strength.

Flower of Life: Volume 3

Fumi Yoshinaga, 190 pages

Shopping with friends (or better, without, and meeting up afterwards), creating manga together without breaking the friendship, planning a class Christmas party without letting each other down: the kiddos experience many new things and learn important lessons about consideration for others and responsibility and being honest about their feelings.  The usual silliness, a few surprises, and a shocker or two fill things out along the way.

No one will ever be able to accuse Yoshinaga of playing it safe and predictable, that's for sure.  My goodness.  I love how she knits together all these little plots and plans with one another and with telling snippets and moments that add depth and seriousness and character development.  You laugh hysterically one minute and then your eyes pop out of your head the next and then you want to scoop everybody up for a comforting hug the next after that.

A Devil and Her Love Song: Volume 4

by Miyoshi Tomori, 211 pages

Maria's managed to gain the support of most of the class, but how will they choose to act on that?  And with their insecure, desperate teacher still firmly in the "blame Maria for everything" camp, the choir competition and Maria's future at school remain vulnerable.

So cheezy, this, but I'm still reading it.  Maria seems to be singing "Amazing Grace" in solo a cappella every other chapter, and music is hard to translate into emotion on paper alone so it plays more hokey than anything.  Also, somebody needs to fire her teacher.  Sheesh.

Flower of Life: Volume 2

by Fumi Yoshinaga, 174 pages

Hanazono's class gets caught up in quiet, unassuming fellow schoolmate Sumiko Takeda's homemade shojo manga just as the school's preparing for exams and then the annual cultural festival.  As Hanazono and Mikuni take on the challenge of writing their own comic for the manga club's contribution to the festivities, Majima's unquenchable opportunistic nature sees potential self-profit in the romance-filled pages circulating around school.  Class D's competitive spirit kicks in!

This is probably the most fun, unpredictable school cultural festival story I've come across (school festivals are a very common story frame in manga--and I've read a lot of manga!).  I won't spoil you, but I laughed out loud multiple times, was a little gob-smacked, and had my heart strings tugged on.  I might have to buy these...after all, it's only a four-volume series....

*worries her greedy OCD completionist tendencies will get the better of her budgetary common sense*  :-P

Flower of Life: Volume 1

by Fumi Yoshinaga, 174 pages

Sixteen-year-old Harutaro Hanazono is a year older than, and a year behind, his classmates when he joins them a month after school starts.  He's a little nervous, but a smile from another boy in the front row encourages him to introduce himself and get the inevitable explanations for his late start out of the way by cheerfully announcing that he was in the hospital being treated for leukemia, but that he "got better!" following a bone marrow transplant and is looking forward to becoming friends with everyone.  As the other students--some of whom had moments before been snickering and cracking harmless jokes--sit in stunned silence, their homeroom teacher lazily intones that they'd all better be really nice to the new boy or they're going to look really evil.  As a group, they swear they will be nice!  Hanazono quickly makes friends with kind Shota Mikuni, who smiled so nicely earlier, and, by proxy, makes the acquaintance of Mikuni's friend, the uber-serious, adult-looking, talk-your-head-off otaku, Kai Majima.  Despite a rocky start with awkward, prickly Majima, Hanazono soon feels at home and does his best to learn from and enjoy the high school experience.

This is so good!  It's hilarious and warm-fuzzy-generating and thoughtful.  Hanazono's exuberance and honesty are part of his nature, but they're also clearly influenced by his illness, which has left him unable to have children.  His goofy family (consisting of his older, bone-marrow-donating sister and his professional chicken-sexer [seriously! it's a real job!] parents) holds him a little closer, too, having nearly lost him.  Watching their dynamic, and sitting in on their talks with Mikuni when he comes over, you can see the love and feel your eyes start to tear up even as you're encouraged to giggle at them.  It's lovely.  Adorable Mikuni, with his insecurities regarding his weight and his past failings as a friend, is treated with as much care and affection.  Even Majima, annoying as he can be, isn't entirely unsympathetic, thanks to his amusing idiosyncrasies and Mikuni's support.  This is as much a picture of the class and their teachers as it is of Hanazono, so we get insight into the hearts and minds and lives of many others.  Much of it is excellently played for laughs, but there's enough true-to-life complexity mixed in with the silly extremes to make you think some deep thoughts as you read and grow to care about the lot of them, imperfect and human as they are.  This is one of those series that makes you look around and appreciate the little things and the caring people in your life.

Dengeki Daisy: Volume 10

by Kyousuke Motomi, 190 pages

Teru's friend Rena has resigned herself to her upcoming arranged marriage to a powerful young businessman, but when Teru accidentally runs into and is attacked by Akira at the hotel where she was supposed to be lunching with the happy couple, Rena worries that her fiancé's suspicious behavior may be linked to Akira and the others seeking to force Kurosaki's hand.

Yay, Teru's friends (and former harassers) at school look to be getting some page time!  Although we don't see nearly enough of them, the teen side characters of this series are one of its selling points, as they regularly surprise the reader by not filling the roles their "types" normally do.  I appreciate that Motomi makes the effort to slip in a little unpredictability in the character development of even minor members of the supporting cast.

Dengeki Daisy: Volume 9

by Kyousuke Motomi, 192 pages

Teru desperately wants to find Kurosaki, but he's too guilt-ridden to come back.  She does know one way to convince him to come running, but will she really throw herself to the wolves just to see him again?

Ha ha ha.  Teru's always been a little foolhardy, but she's not stupid.  I like that she can be pragmatic and unconcerned about pride (hers or Kurosaki's) when the result is a healthy smack upside the head and a return to togetherness.  Romantic melodrama is not in short supply in this series (especially that loooong stretch in the middle before everybody admitted they knew what they knew), but that's easily dispensed with in favor of more satisfying progress now that everything's out in the open and everyone's on the same page.

A Devil and Her Love Song: Volume 3

by Miyoshi Tomori, 205 pages

Hana's the cutest, sweetest, most diplomatic person in the whole classroom, but she's been out ill since before Maria transferred.  Now that the two finally meet, will Maria be able to count Hana as a friend?

Maria's misunderstood bluntness is further complicated by others actively trying to poison her reputation and isolate her.  Hana's a nice enough girl, but nobody's immune to pride, insecurity, and jealousy.  Maria's solution, though, is surprisingly creative.  It's getting easier to see what her little pod of real friends see in her.  A little uneven, this series, but worth the sit-down to read if you've nothing better to do and want a break from heavy reading.

A Devil and Her Love Song: Volume 2

by Miyoshi Tomori, 197 pages

Yusuke continues to try to coach Maria on being more "lovely" (that is, cute and girly) in her behavior and gestures in order to smooth her way with others, but such artifice does not come naturally to her.  Of course, sometimes being "lovely" just means considering other people's feelings before you open your mouth, which Shin does his best to get her to understand, too.  Meanwhile, an inter-school choir competition is coming up and Maria's teacher really has it out for her.

This volume is a marked improvement over the first one.  The character development of the lead quartet is coming along nicely and it's interesting to see how Maria's perceptive nature brings out the truth (and often the best) in the people who give her a chance and stick by her.  She's a little flat herself, still, but little glimmers of growth and expression surface here and there as she deals with and learns from those around her.

A Devil and Her Love Song: Volume 1

by Miyoshi Tomori, 188 pages

High school transfer student Maria Kawai does not get off on the right foot with her new classmates.  She's beautiful, she's blunt, and she got expelled from her last school for hitting a teacher (doubly shocking in that it was a private Catholic school and the teacher was a nun).  Not exactly a recipe for making friends.  In fact, they rather quickly label her "Maria the devil."  Is there any hope of a normal, happy high school life for this chilly misfit?

This is shojo manga, so of course there's hope.  Firstly, it takes the shape of two boys, the outgoing nice-guy blond and the broody abrasive dark-haired boy, both of whom find themselves drawn to her awkward honesty--even when her critical words are directed at them.  But other than that, the popular girls hate her.  The boys (including her insecure teacher) feel threatened by her.  And Maria quickly discerns that the one girl who seems to be nice to her is hiding a lot of her real, less agreeable personality.

There are some surprisingly apt philosophical and emotional comments here, but this first volume is a little all over the place as it tries too hard to set up the premise.  There's enough newness and humor buried beneath the standard choppy elements to get me to try the next one, but I hope it improves soon.

Blue Exorcist: Volume 7

by Kazue Kato, 187 pages

Rin's temper flare-up gets him the worst possible response from the Vatican...an execution order.  But is Mephisto, the bearer of the bad news, actually telling Shura and the kids to break Rin out?  If they're going to help Suguro's dad and stop a deadly epidemic, they'll have to do it fast.

Woo hoo, sneaky Mephisto.  And we get to see Father Fujimoto's heart get a little nudge in the right direction in the previous volume's continued flashback.  Bonds are strengthened and desperate measures taken as the younger generation pools its resources and prepares to fight evil.  (That's what I like to see!)  But now I'm worried for Rin's level-headed brother Yukio....

Blue Exorcist: Volume 6

by Kazue Kato, 201 pages

Because he'd like to stay alive, Rin's on his best behavior as his classmates and fellow exorcists try to sniff out a rat in their midst before it's too late.  Some of his friends are even starting to talk to him again, but when an angry Suguro yells at his father, Rin's memories of his own hurtful last words to his adoptive parent Father Fujimoto snap his control over his temper.  His fiery remonstration of Suguro might do the other boy some good, but it also sets off alarms back at the zero-tolerance Vatican...

Flashbacks via a letter from Suguro's father to Rin begin to give us a little background on the old man's true motives and his fateful encounter with Father Fujimoto.  And it's nice to see the family environment the other boys grew up in, as it adds a little more depth to their characters and the setting.  Ah, siblings.  So much fun (to annoy).

Blue Exorcist: Volume 5

by Kazue Kato, 195 pages

When a dangerous artifact is stolen by a traitor in the ranks, the exorcists travel to the location of the artifact's equally dangerous partner, which happens to be under the protection of the home temple of Rin's classmate Suguro.  Tensions among the students are already high, as the others appear to have shut Rin out, but he does his best to be useful now that his secret's out and hopes they'll eventually accept him.  Clan conflicts within the temple family don't help matters, nor does the fact that Suguro's extra tense due to his rocky relationship with his aging father (whom he sees as irresponsible for having given up leadership of the temple years ago).

This series has definitely improved its pacing and transitions since the first volume.  It's also starting to diverge from the anime, which appears to have split off with its own ending after its schedule surpassed the available book volumes.  And that's fine with me, as I'm enjoying having no preconceived notions of what's coming next.

Ouran High School Host Club: Volume 18

by Bisco Hatori, 224 pages

Tamaki and Haruhi have finally confessed their love to each other, but they have yet to actually go on a date.  Haruhi's got something important to tell Tamaki, but he's been so busy lately, she's barely seen him outside of the host club.  Tamaki being obsessive Tamaki, though, there's a perfectly logical reason: he's majorly stressing over planning the perfect first date.  When they realize his problem, his dependable friends in the host club come to his rescue and promise to help him make it a most special and happy occasion (which naturally will involve a lot of covering for wacky Tamaki's wrong turns and excesses).

*waaaaaaaaaaaaaah*  This is the last volume!  I'm sad to leave these ridiculous kids, they make me laugh so.  But I will enjoy thinking of them as "adults" who've stuck together and gotten older and wiser and no less ridiculous.  And since Hatori kindly gives us little panels throughout with her scribbled thoughts on their futures as well as two little side stories of the months ahead, I've got plenty of fuel for imagined future shenanigans.  If they caused this much trouble as privileged teens with their own host club, think of the impact they're going to have on the world once they've got fulltime jobs with influence and have come into their trust funds....  :P  *squee*

Kimi ni Todoke: Volume 14

by Karuho Shiina, 170 pages

The class trip to Okinawa is well underway and the kiddos take in the sites and snacks and enjoy the warm weather.  They also take in a lot of time with each other.  Everybody splits off during free time: Sawako and Kazehaya take a little craft class together, Ayane pushes the curfew envelope with her new boyfriend, and Chizu and Ryu run around with nonstop-talking Joe.  (And their loud, wise, man-child teacher Pin predictably chases after the hot tour guide.)  But under the surface, dynamics are changing.

Aw, poor Ayane!  She sees love, requited and otherwise, all around her and wants to know what it feels like, too.  She just doesn't see the potential in the shoulder she's crying on.  What's Chizu going to do with her new knowledge?  Personally, I'd like to see deadpan Ryu lose his cool just a little, but it's fun watching his perpetual calm make shout-first-think-later Chizu crazy.  And I get so happy and anxious watching Sawako and Kazehaya go from nervously cozy with one another to ridiculously self-consciously awkward.  Hee!  and D'oh!  Don't stress, kiddos, you'll figure it all out eventually.  :)  So good, so good.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei: Volume 2

by Koji Kumeta, 169 pages

In this second volume following the antics of a suicidal teacher and his class of head-cases, we meet yet another student, a creator of dojinshis (self-published zines and comics); but she doesn't write the kind of lofty essays Zetsubou-sensei remembers from his youth.  An impersonator of Admiral Perry, famous for "opening" Japan to the West in the 19th century, drops by--only this guy has taken the concept of "opening" to extremes.  Also, in his world-weariness, sensei often takes the chance (between attempts to throw himself from the window) to be a wet blanket and dispense (questionably sound) advice to the younger generation.  This time around, they discuss such topics as overshadowed things (like second-place athletes, siblings of celebrities, etc.), criticism training, and the benefits of instability.

So very silly and morbid.  Just don't read it when you're tired, as all that dense, rapid-fire text and flipping back-and-forth to the end-notes to interpret it requires more brain cells than I usually have at my disposal after, say, 8:00 in the evening.  If you're awake enough, however, and in a perverse, cynical mood, it's a hoot.