Posts Tagged ‘romance’

Boys Over Flowers

Thursday, January 14th, 2010


Overall Rating: A+
Summary: A drama/romantic comedy shojo series created by Kamio Yoko. The TV series is a Korean adaptation of the Japanese manga. The story revolves around Geum Jan Di, a high school girl who works in her family’s dry cleaning shop and a fast-food restaurant. The story begins when Jan Di delivers some dry cleaning to the ridiculously posh and exclusive Shinhwa High School. Only the richest and most talented kids are granted admission to Shinwa, and they don’t even have to go to class if they don’t feel like it. When Jan Di gets there she discovers that the young man whose clothes she’s delivering is about to commit suicide. Apparently, he has been getting bullied because the F4 (or Four Flowers) decided they didn’t like him.

Jan Di saves the boy before he can commit suicide, and her actions soon become public knowledge, and expose the bullying. The public demands changes at the school, Jan Di becomes known as “Wonder Woman”. In order to appease the public, Jan Di is offered a chance to go to Shinwa on a swimming scholarship. Jan Di declines, but her family agrees for her, so our adventure begins!

On the first day of school, Jan Di meets the infamous Four Flowers. They are the most beautiful, popular, rich and powerful boys in the school – Goo Jun Pyo (the leader), Yoon Ji Hoo (the sweet one who plays violin), So Yi Jung (one of the playboys), and Song Woo Bin (another playboy). All of the other students clearly worship the Four Flowers, and try to give them presents and treats. Jan Di is enraged by the boys’ behavior, and fantasizes about confronting Jun Pyo.

She finally gets up the courage to do it after he bullies her friend Oh Min Ji after she accidentally slips and drops some ice cream on her shoe. Jun Pyo demands she licks it off, and when Jan Di confronts him he offers to let her take Min Ji’s place. Instead she pushes Jun Pyo over.

Jun Pyo declares war on Jan Di, and gets the school to bully her. Jan Di refuses to give in, despite the bullying and the rest of the Four Flowers begin to think she’s “interesting”. Ji Hoo is totally sweet and offers her a handkerchief when she’s covered in flour, and protects her from some boys trying to hurt her. Is it love?

In the meantime, no one has ever stood up to Jun Pyo before. He interprets her actions as a demonstration of love, and begins to develop feelings for her as well.

Who will Jan Di end up with?

The beginning of “Boys Over Flowers” drags a little bit, but once things get going it’s a lot of fun. I love stories where A) the main character is a woman, B) the woman stands up for herself, and C) there are pretty boys. I like all of the characters (even the mean girls), and I think they’re do a really good job of developing the relationships (Jun Pyo and Jan Di are particularly hilarious). My only complaint is that I wish there were more female characters and that the women interacted more. Regardless, the series is proving to be a lot of fun, and if you like your high school romance/drama with a healthy side of comedy then I think you’ll enjoy this one a lot.



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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Overall Rating: A+

Summary: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a science fiction romance and drama movie with some touches of slice of life based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel of the same name (時をかける少女 (Toki o Kakeru) in Japanese). The story starts out normal enough, and follows Makoto Konno, a high school girl, and her two best friends, Chiaki Mamiya and Kōsuke Tsuda through their everyday lives. However, soon Makoto realizes she has the ability to leap through time when she goes back in time when she avoids an accident that otherwise would have killed her.

Throughout the film Makoto consults with her aunt. When I was watching the movie this didn’t quite make sense to me (how did she know about time travel?), but when I was looking up information about the movie I found out that the implication is that her aunt is the protagonist of the book, and that movie is set after the book takes place.

Initially, Makoto uses her newfound power to do whatever she wants, and uses it to ace a test, and play karaoke for 10 hours (one of my favorite scenes). However, she soon realizes that her actions can adversely affect those she cares about, and she must use her powers more carefully.

My friends Leah and Will recommended this one to me. It sounded interesting and fun, so I got it from Netflix, and fell in love with it. It’s a great movie, and I wish it had been shown in more theatres in the US. Do yourself a favor and watch this one.



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Nana

Friday, October 2nd, 2009


Overall Rating: A+

Summary: A romance/drama/music shōjo series created by Ai Yazawa, and focuses on the lives of young women who are both named Nana. To top it off, they meet on a train when they are both moving to Tokyo and they’re the same age (20)! That’s where the similarities end. Nana Osaki is a singer in a punk band called Black Stones (or Blast) and is moving to Tokyo to become a star. Nana Komatsu is from a small town and is following her friends and boyfriend to Tokyo, but doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life.

As the story progresses, we learn more about each Nana’s past, and then their stories merge again when they both want to rent the same apartment and decide to move in together. Nana Osaki gives Nana Komatsu the nickname “Hachi” (after Hachikō), because her behavior is similar to a dog’s, and it helps tell them apart (thanks!). Hachi also becomes good friends with the members of Nana’s band, Nobuo, Yasu and the very young, and very promiscuous, Shin.

As the series progresses, Blast gains more and more popularity, but the romantic entanglements become more and more complicated. Nana O’s ex-boyfriend (who left her to join the band Trapnest in Tokyo) returns, and the two bands become intertwined. Hachi’s inclination to fall in love at first site gets her in trouble, and all the other characters have relationships that progress throughout the series.

I absolutely adore Nana. The anime is based on the manga and so far it has been completely faithful to the original series. The addition of the music really adds to the story, since in the manga you have to imagine it. Although it is typically categorized as shōjo, Nana has josei themes. For example, the relationships in Nana are not idealized (a common feature in shōjo), but are instead very realistic, which is one of the reasons I love the series. It’s very easy to relate to all of the characters and get drawn in (though that can also be frustrating since they can make dumb decisions!). That said, it retains a lot of the comedy of shōjo-style manga, which helps offset the heavy emphasis on romance and drama. In short, it’s one of my all-time favorite series, and I can’t recommend the manga and anime enough. Be forewarned, there is minor nudity in the manga series (I haven’t seen any in the anime yet), but nothing serious.



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Otomen

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Otomen1_500Overall Rating: A+
Summary: A romantic comedy shōjo series created by Aya Kanno, which follows Asuka Masamune, a tall, masculine and cool high school student. Asuka is the captain of the kendo team, excels in judo and karate, and everyone in the school thinks he’s the greatest. However, Asuka has a secret – he loves all things cute, sweet and lovely like cooking, shōjo manga and sewing.

As a child, Asuka’s father left his mother because he wanted to become a woman, and as a result Asuka’s mother forbade Asuka from acting like  a girl. To avoid hurting his mother Asuka tries to hide his love of cuteness and be masculine. However, when he meets a girl named Ryo Miyakozuka he falls in love and all bets are off.

For her part, Ryo isn’t like most girls. She cannot sew, cook, bake, make bento or do any of the the normally “girly” things. Instead Ryo is tough, an excellent fighter, and likes movies that involve fighting (see a theme?). She and Asuka become fast friends along with Juuta Tachibana, a playboy classmate who is always following Asuka around.

It turns out that the reason Juuta is following Asuka is because that he is secretly mangaka Jewel Sachihana, and the main character in his popular manga, “Love Chick”, is based on Asuka (but is a girl). Asuka secretly reads and loves “Love Chick”, but has no idea it’s based on him. Once Ryo shows up, Juuta bases the male lead on her creating an excellent commentary on the manga itself as well as many of the standard tropes of shōjo manga . Will Asuka and Ryo get together? The answers are hilarious and adorable.

Here’s the thing, I have been wondering what an appropriate word in Japanese would be for a man who is feminine, but not gay and doesn’t cross-dress. Apparently, the word is Otomen.

When I read the back cover of this manga in the Cary Barnes & Noble, I fell in love with the concept since (aside from sewing) I love all the things Asuka talks about, and went through a long period (re: High School) where I tried to hide that and act masculine and cool (I’m pretty sure I failed at that stuff though). After reading Otomen, it’s now one of my favorite manga (at least that I’ve read recently) and I can’t wait for more of it to come out. Volume 4 comes out in November (I hate it when there’s a 2 or 3 month break between volumes being released) and I plan to pick it up as soon as it’s out.

If you like romantic comedy shōjo manga, and your male protagonists to be a bit girly, then you will absolutely love Otomen. Even if that doesn’t describe you I recommend a least giving this one a try. <3!



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Vampire Knight

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Vampire KnightOverall Rating: A+

Synopsis: A romance/supernatural shōjo created by Matsuri Hino, which focuses on the love triangle of Yuki Cross, Zero Kiryu, and Kaname Kuran. All three attend Cross Academy – a prestigious private school which is divided into two classes: the Day Class, which is made up of mortals, and the Night Class, which consists of vampires. The purpose of the school is to try to allow humans and vampires to live together peacefully. However, most of the students and staff in the Day Class have no idea this is going on, and apparently think it’s normal for a bunch of bishōnen to only come out at night. Clearly they need their beauty rest.

Two people in the Day Class know the secret of the Academy, Yuki and Zero. Yuki is the adopted daughter of the headmaster of the school, Kaien Cross, who is a former hunter. Her earliest memory is of a snowy night when she was covered in blood and attacked by a vampire. Luckily, Kaname saved her from the vampire attack, but she can’t remember why Kaname was there or what happened before he showed up.

Zero is a year older than Yuki, and is the child of hunters who were killed by a vampire. He was also taken in by Head Master Cross, and works with Yuki as a prefect for Cross Academy. The Prefects make sure that the Day Class students never learn the secret of the Night Class.

Meanwhile, Kaname is the president of the Night Class, and a pureblood vampire. Purebloods are the most powerful of vampires in the Vampire Knight world, and can control or easily destroy even other noble vampires. However, Kaname chooses not to exert this control and as a result he is respected by all the other vampire noble students. He believes in Head Master Cross’ goal of humans and vampires living together peacefully, and his presence keeps the other vampires in check. Normally stoic and reserved Kaname clearly dotes on Yuki, which confuses the other vampires at the school and infuriates Zero.

As the series progresses, we learn more about the past of the three main characters, the society of vampires in the Vampire Knight world, and of course the relationship between Yuki, Zero and Kaname. Who will Yuki choose?

When I picked up Vampire Knight, by Matsuri Hino, I wasn’t expecting much. The premise seemed fun, if a little cheesy, but the outfits were gothalicious (yes, it’s a word, I just made it up, so leave me alone). Usually I’m pretty good at gauging how much I’ll like a manga early on, but this one surprised.

Sure, the story is a little cliché in parts (like how broody Zero and Kaname are over Yuki), or how obvious Zero’s secret is, but overall I love the series. So far, six volumes have been released in the US so far, and volume 7 is scheduled to be released on August 4th, and you can check out a preview online at Shojo Beat. Regardless, if you like supernatural romances, then check out Vampire Knight for a fun and interesting series.



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