Hapi Mari by Enjouji Maki

Hi guys,

I'm trying to get back on track with this blog, so here I am. I've recently entered a relationship, which has made me read a lot less manga lately. It's funny how my relationships correlate to the type of manga I read! Anyway, I still decided to review a manga series I began reading a little while ago, which is why it happens to another shoujo one. It's also another Enjouji Maki manga, like 'Private Prince,' which I adored, if you you remember.

'Hapi Mari' is the story of the unlikely relationship between Chiwa and her arrogant boss, Hokuto. When Hokuto requests to marry Chiwa as a business agreement, Chiwa agrees so that she will be able to cancel her father's debt. However, Chiwa and Hokuto are completely different and neither knows what it means to be married. After moving in together to keep up appearances, Chiwa and Hokuto begin to fall in love, which makes the whole arrangement more than what they had intended. The whole series is really enjoyable and quick paced, but just sums up the love/hate relationship between two really immature people.

While 'Hapi Mari' can't really be considered an original story, as there are many with unsuitable random marriages, Enjouji Maki creates the usual humor, smut, and cute story lines that keep you reading for more. So far, only 15 chapters have been released on the internet.
Read it here: http://manga.animea.net/hapi-mari.html

Sorry for the short review this week! Hopefully it will be enough to convince everyone to read 'Hapi Mari'. I can't emphasize enough that it's one of my favorite series so far, but I also just love Enjouji Maki manga so I'm incredibly biased! :)

Best,
Pseudonymous Jayne :3

Hana-Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo

Hey folks,

I missed a week again... I'm pretty sure no one cares, but I'm mad at myself because I'm supposed to follow through with my commitments, right? Anyway, I don't have much time to rant today, so onwards.

This week I want to review 'Hana-Kimi' (aka 'Hanazakari no Kimitachi') by Hisaya Nakajo. Hana-Kimi is one of the most popular shoujo manga series in both the United States and Japan. It's about Mizuki Ashiya, a transfer student from the United States who admires a Japanese high jumper named Izumi Sano who goes to a high school in Osaka, Japan. When Ashiya gets the chance, she transfers to the school in Japan as an exchange student, except there's one flaw. Sano's school is an all boys school, thus begins Ashiya's cross dressing to disguise herself as a boy in order to be near Sano, the boys she idolized for athletics, but later falls in love with. The story continues with Ashiya's risky experiences being a girl in a boy's school and the love that forms between Sano and Ashiya, who ironically end up sharing a dorm together. From the beginning, Sano knows Ashiya is a girl, but throughout the story he helps her protect the identity without her realizing it, because he knows that once the secret is out he'll no longer be able to protect her.

Hana-Kimi is a typical cutesy shoujo series with themes on gender bender and sports. I'm not usually a fan of sports themed manga, so this is one of the first times I actually wanted to recommend one like it. I really enjoyed the art in this manga too, finding myself taking numerous screen shots of the amazing character designs. Overall, I definitely recommend it for a shoujo fan, wants their first taste of a sports themed manga. My only qualm with the series is that it's ridiculously long. I definitely spent a good two months finishing this one.

Read it here: http://www.mangareader.net/279/hana-kimi.html

Well, I can't write much today.
Best,
Pseudo-Jayne

Tamashii no Futago by Mitsukazu Mihara

Hi guys,

I'm back on schedule again! I've been suffering from extreme senior-itis these past few weeks, especially because I only have about three weeks left of school. I also know where I'm going college now, so all of the stress is pretty much non existent. I'm also getting used to the idea of staying in town for college, thus I'm feeling 100% right now. However, I have a looming last calculus test of the year approaching, but instead of studying some more I've decided to blog. It really is a great stress reliever!

This week, I've decided to review Tamashii no Futago or 'The Twin Souls' by Mitsukazu Mihara. The still unfinished series is about two lost souls who both died at the same time, and can only be seen by those who have a 'twin soul' somewhere else. Alex and Rita fly around surprising people who can see them, all the while inadvertently getting closer to each other while helping other souls meet their twins. Because only a few chapters have been released in english (six, to be exact), the back story on how Alex and Rita died is still in question, but we do learn that their deaths were under mysterious circumstances. Both characters seem to suffer some kind of amnesia that even they can't remember, due to the traumatic manner of their deaths.

I'm a huge fan of the art in this manga! Alex dons an old halloween costume and Rita is a little girl dressed in womanly clothes, which makes for adorable, but melancholy character desins. Overall, it's a great beginning to a manga that I'm sure will have a lot of twists and turns as it continues. If you like supernatural and dark themed manga, Tamashii no Futago is for you! My only qualm with the series is that it's a little confusing because of the non-biological twin concept. It takes a very literal meaning behind twin 'souls'.

Read it here: http://www.mangareader.net/1470/tamashii-no-futago.html

Wishing everyone the best,
Pseudo - Jayne :)