Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura

Hi all,

It's been way too long since I last posted here! I'm actually a little embarrassed that I just showed up to post about this series. Just about to finish my second semester in college and still having a hard time adjusting, hence why I've relapsed back into anime - just like I used to do in high school... Anyway, I was poking around 'Itunes' this week and saw that 'Funimation' had a free first episode of this anime series, 'Princess Jellyfish.' Judging by the name, I didn't expect much. But, I was immediately sucked in.

'Princess Jellyfish' or 'Kuragehime' is an anime series based off of the award winning josei manga by Akiko Higashimura. The manga was released in 2008 through 'Kiss' magazine and in 2010, an 11 episode anime was produced. The series follows a communal apartment called Amamizukan in tokyo, who is filled with a group of wildly eccentric otaku women. Their interests range from retro transportation, kimonos, etc. The group is terrified of fashionable and beautiful people, but especially petrified around men in particular. The main character, Tsukimi, is fascinated by jellyfish and has been ever since her mom took her to a jellyfish museum. She believes jellyfish look like the dresses of princesses, but she is sad that she never grew up to be a princess. When Tsukimi meets a stylish and beautiful Kuranosuke, she is certain she's met a princess... that is until she finds out she's actually a boy with a hobby for cross dresssing. Despite Tsukimi's fear of men, she develops a strong friendship with Kuranosuke, who helps her blossom and see the beauty in herself.

I was really impressed with this series, because it has such a different storyline. The plot spirals to places you didn't think it could with the addition of problems around the Amamizukan apartment complex, accidental love, gender bender themes, and fashion design. The series is both hilarious and sentimental in all the right places, while also hitting on some pretty mature themes, so despite it's cutesy name, the series is definitely for mature audiences. My only qualms about this anime is that it ends so abruptly, and doesn't show any signs for a second season. And, petty as it may sound... the theme song is way too long and just plain silly. Aside from those minor problems, I highly recommend this series.

Best,
Pseudo Jayne :3

Afterschool Charisma by Kumiko Suekane

Happy Holidays! 

I hope most of you school-going readers are having a wonderful break. I know I've been enjoying it thoroughly and have started dreading going back to finish my first year of college. :( Anyway, I was going through the series I've reviewed and realized I hadn't reviewed one of my favorite Viz Media series, 'Afterschool Charisma.' Funny thing is, I was quite certain I've reviewed it somewhere before! Nonetheless, here we go, either for the second or first time...

'Afterschool Charisma' is a manga series by Kumiko Suekane, published by Viz Media. It's focused in a school setting at St. Kleio's Academy, except this school isn't filled with your average run of the mill kids. St. Kleio's is a school for clones of noteworthy historical figures, all except for Shiro, who is the main character of the series. After the assassination of the John F. Kennedy clone, the students begin to wonder if they too are destined to repeat the same fate as their originals. Is it a coincidence or can the clones never escape the destiny of their originals? In the midst of the student's worries, Shiro sympathizes with his clone friends, who both love and hate him. The series continues with great suspense, conspiracy, and also a good dose of humor - what can you expect when the likes of Freud, Joan of Arc, Mozart, and Hitler clones all go to the same academy? The series is about to release it's 5th or 6th volume, and some of the chapters can be found online through Viz. I'm quite a fan of this series because history and manga really do make quite a good pair. It has fantastic art, as well as an incredibly interesting plot. Seeing historical figures in teenage manga form is also pretty entertaining. Overall, it's a great series and I highly recommend it! 

Amazingly enough, I don't have any qualms with 'Afterschool Charisma,' despite it's puzzling plot twists as the series continues, but isn't that always the case with manga? :3 That's part of the reason we love it, right? Anyway, off to enjoy more of break! Just wanted to send my regards to the manga/anime world. Now to decide what new anime series I want to start tonight! 

Best,

Pseudonymous Jayne :3

Please, no more live action movies...

Hello all,

Once again, it has been too long since I last wrote. However, after I found out about the new Paradise Kiss live action movie, I really felt the need to complain… I’m not sure how everyone else feels about live action movies; in fact I’m not sure how I feel about them entirely either.

After I watched the Nana and Nana 2 live action movie, I was stoked because I was seeing my favorite characters in people form! The costumes were fantastic and looked just like the comics, and that’s all I cared about. Though, now looking back – live action Japanese movies are like a dream. They seem perfectly perfect and real when you’re watching them, but once you’re done, you realize how many things were off about them. The acting is usually terrible, there are far too many gaps between the dialogues, which are fine in the manga because you’re just looking at panels, but in movie form it’s just bizarre. Perhaps I’m being insensitive, considering they’re foreign films, but I’ve also watched a lot of foreign films – it being my favorite genre- and there’s no reason for them to be so awful.

Anyway, I’ve tried to watch the Death Note live action movie and the Sailor Moon live action shows only to find myself disenchanted with them. When I heard about Paradise Kiss’ release as a live action movie, part of me was freaking out about how great the costumes must look. But this time… I’m not going there. I’m not going to ruin my anime experience with Paradise Kiss. So, I’m here to suggest the same to you. Stick to manga and anime like we usually do!b

That is all.

Hope this rant hasn’t thwarted everyone away from my blog.

<3 Jayne

Wanted by Matsuri Hino

Ahoy there,

So, I'm back! And, feeling great. Another follower for the win too! I'm loving all my virtual friends! :3 So, because I'm not far enough in any of the new series I've started to blog about them, I decided to pick one of my favorite mangas from the past, also by one of my favorite mangakas - Matsuri Hino. Matsuri Hino is known primarily for 'Vampire Knight' and 'MeruPuri: Marchen Prince.' I believe I've even blogged about both of them. As you can tell, I'm quite a fan of Matsuri Hino, mostly because the art is fabulous (as an artist myself, I always note/judge the art) and the stories are very easy to get into. 

'Wanted' is a one volume manga about an orphan girl, named Armeria who sings to earn money. When she was a young girl, she was in love with a boy named Luce. Luce happens to be a governor's nephew, who lost his parents as well, though he was destined for wealth. Unfortunately, Luce is kidnapped by a notorious pirate named Skulls, during a romantic exchange. Armeria swears that she will rescue Luce someday. After eight years pass, Armeria disguises herself as a boy to join Skulls' crew to save Luce. However, when she joins the crew she learns the truth about her old lover, which is not what you think... You'll have to read more to find out how Armeria fares on a ship of bad natured pirates. This manga is very fast paced, but has a lot of somewhat predictable twists. It's also a pirate shoujo manga, a theme I haven't encounter with my manga reading. I thought it was pretty original when I first started reading it. 

The only flaw with this manga is that it's so short! The story flows quickly, but ends too quickly as well. Makes you want to keep reading for more, as this story could definitely have continued with a few more chapters at least. It's also harder to relate to the characters because its so short, however I still recommend it for a fast read that will still make you smile! :)

Hope to blog again soon,

Pseudonymous Jayne :3

As you can tell...

I haven't been blogging as much. In fact, I haven't posted since the summer. However, a very sweet follower is prompting me to want to blog again. The fact that I even have followers is shocking still. :D

Anyway, I feel like before I start delving into my manga and anime frenzy again, I should update everyone with what's been going on in my life! I'm officially in college! I despise it worse than high school, but I guess that's what I get... I'm only halfway into my first semester, so I really can't complain too much - yet. Also, I kind of have a LIFE. When did this happen? I stopped reading as much shoujo manga and figured out I should probably stop reading about relationships and get one. ^_^ And... so far so good. I've been very happy, not to say I wasn't happy before, but now I feel like I've entered a different void. The last 3 or 4 months I haven't been on here, I've been out in the real world! Part of me thinks I deserve a pat on the back and then part of me feels like I've betrayed my anime/manga lover. However, I'm ready to use manga as coping mechanism for school, just as I did not so long ago. Hard to believe it's almost been a year since I started this blog. Time is flying.

I missed being here!!! Hope to post soon,
<3 Jayne

Pet Shop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino

Ahoy,

So, I'm back in action again on the manga front! Now, if I could only find some new anime series to watch and review... Anyway, I'm happy to start reviewing a series that is new to me, though in reality it's actually a pretty old series - I just completely bypassed it because it's a "horror" manga. Anyway, I'll begin. 

'Pet Shop of Horrors' is a horror manga series by Matsuri Akino, consisting of 41 chapters and an additional follow-up story that was released in 2008. The series first appeared in 1995 and ran through 1998. (Yes, I know I read a lot of 90's manga, usually considered the worst, but I think it's my true age showing through that I read so much of it!) 'Pet Shop of Horrors' follows the whereabouts and happenings at the eccentric pet store ran by the even more eccentric Count D. Count D's pet shop appears to be an average pet store with dogs, cats, and other typical animals, but when strange disappearances are linked to purchases at his store, the police becomes involved. The chapters show different encounters with Count D's customers and the unusual and rare pets he sells, as well as the unlikely friendship between Count D and the officer recruited for his case. As his officer attempts to catch Count D red handed knowingly selling dangerous pets, he begins to see that Count D is one of the most enigmatic people he will ever meet. 

I'm only about halfway through the series, but I was very impressed with it's unique story line. However, I'm not impressed with the artwork, which looks like the general 90's style of manga character sketches. I don't like to judge a manga series entirely on its artwork, so I'll say that the storyline is definitely strong enough to ignore the artwork. One of my favorite aspects of the manga is that most of the animals in Count D's shop appear to be human, which plays around with the question of what distinguishes animals from us at all. It's really a very intriguing series and I highly recommend it!

Read it here: http://manga.animea.net/pet-shop-of-horrors.html

And, now I'm off to enjoy summer away from the computer screen! ;)

Best, 

Pseudonymous Jayne 

Gravitation by Maki Murakami

Hello again,

So, look who's getting back on schedule here? I have been having such a good week, though to be honest I  still haven't been reading very much manga, and especially not watching any anime. I did catch up on some of the series I've reviewed though, since quite a few of them had new chapters released last month. This week I'm diving into the past for my manga review and picking one of the first manga series I ever read. In my opinion it's one of the best manga series made because it includes music, drama, romance, and it's hilarious. So, without further ado I'll introduce 'Gravitation' by Maki Murakami.

'Gravitation' is the story of Shuichi Shindou and his band who are on their way to becoming music icons, while also following the exploits of Shuichi in his attempts to make famous romance novelist, Eiri Yuki, fall in love with him. Shuichi and Yuki could not be more opposite, as Shuichi is a charismatic jokester and Yuki is harsh and cruel. The manga is both serious and comically ridiculous as it includes a lot of typical shonen-ai qualities, but also quirky additions like panda robots, machine gun femme fatales, and spontaneous nose bleeds. The story is also heavily rooted in the romance between Shuichi and Yuki, who are known for their majestic and sometimes painfully one sided gay romance, as Yuki cruelly plays with Shuichi's infatuation.

When I first read this manga, I was not impressed with the art. It looked rushed and in the old style of manga from the 90's. However, as I read more volumes, he art improved as did the unusually compelling storyline. I was definitely more interested in the romance between Shuichi and Yuki, because at that time I didn't realize my favorite genre was shoujo... but, the rest of the plot still kept me interested to keep reading. I don't think this manga is for everyone, as it takes itself a little too seriously or just not at all. The series ended in 2002, but new chapters are released for a sequel series called 'Gravitation Zero' or 'Gravitation EX'. The original series even has an OVA anime, which is supposed to be pretty good, though I didn't enjoy it as much as the manga.

Read 'Gravitation' here: http://manga.animea.net/gravitation.html

Best wishes,
Pseudonymous Jayne :)