Posts Tagged ‘shojo’

« Older Entries

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.



, , ,
Posted in Features, Hobotaku, Reviews | 1 Comment »


Nightschool

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Overall Rating: B+
Summary: A urban fantasy/supernatural shōjo comedy series by Svetlana Chmakova, which follows two sisters, Alex and Sarah Treveney, who are witches. The manga itself (which is an OEL or Original English Language) centers around the Nightschool, an ordinary high school during the day, but teaches magic-based classes at night. At the beginning of the manga, Sarah has recently become a teacher at the Nightschool, and Alex is being homeschooled by her astral, a mysterious creature that is always with her. Why she is homeschooled has not been revealed yet, but it may be a part of a mysterious prophecy…

In the first volume, Alex sneaks off to practice her magic in a cemetery despite Sarah warning her not to. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a bad idea as she accidentally runs into some vampires and hunters. She manages to escape, but the hunters seem interested in her, which is almost probably not a good thing.

Speaking of the hunters, they are the other group that gets a lot of focus in the first volume. They protect humans from the “Night things”, but unlike most hunters in this kind of story they don’t wantonly kill the vampires, witches, and werewolves. Instead they focus on dangers to humans, and then make sure they are no longer a threat.

I had read a couple of chapters of this when it showed up in the Yen Plus manga magazine (which is where I originally read Soul Eater as well), and was interested in the plot. I ended up checking out the first volume when it was released and I was glad to see my interest held. I really enjoyed seeing the side of both the hunters and the vampires, witches and werewolves. It added a lot of depth to the supernatural aspects of the manga. On top of that, the character development was really solid, and I’m interested to see where things go from here. All-in-all a solid story and I look forward to reading volume 2.



, , , , ,
Posted in Hobotaku, Reviews | 2 Comments »


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.



, , , , , ,
Posted in Hobotaku, Reviews | 1 Comment »


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!



, , , ,
Posted in Hobotaku, Reviews | 6 Comments »


K-On!

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Opening Theme

Overall Rating: A++

Summary: K-On! is a slice of life/comedy/music anime that started out as a four-panel manga by Kakifly. For anyone unfamiliar with Japanese culture, almost everyone in school belongs to an after-school activities club. K-On! centers around the light music club at an unnamed high school, and the four Japanese high school girls who join the club to prevent it from being disbanded (I know, it’s a horrible pun). Not the best way to form a band, but I’m sure there have been worse. In the beginning, Ritsu (drums) wants to join the light music club with her best friend, Mio (bass). Mio…has other plans, but Ritsu tears up her application for another club, so Mio is in! Unfortunately, they need at least four members to keep the club going, and all the previous members graduated last year. Mugi (keyboard) joins accidentally as well when she’s looking for the choir room, but is easily won over by Ritsu’s enthusiasm (as you may have guessed, Ritsu is about 90% enthusiasm, 9% sarcasm and jokes, and 1% follow-through). However, they still need a fourth member to keep the club going, so they put up flyers around the school. Meanwhile, they drink tea and eat cakes to keep their energy up (I am assuming that’s why they’re doing it, but realistically who cares?)

That brings us to Yui (guitar). Yui is clumsy, and wants to join the light music club because she thinks it means “easy” music, and she wants to play the castanets. Flashback to Yui as a little girl playing castanets. She has no experience playing the guitar or reading music. Not to mention the fact that she doesn’t even have a guitar. Oops, but least she’s a fourth member! They convince her to join by plying her with tea and cakes, which would work on most people I think. I know it would work on me.

The show actually focuses less on the girls playing music and more of their friendship and the relationship between the characters. When the rest of the club realizes Yui doesn’t have a guitar, or the money to buy one, they all get jobs to help her buy her first one. Over the course of the anime, the band (and especially Yui) gets better and better, and the girls become closer friends.

I had heard good things about K-On!, so I decided to track down some episodes. Unfortunately, it isn’t released yet in the US so it took me awhile to track it down, but it was worth the effort. If, like me, you have ever wished you were a Japanese high school girl who was in a band, then you will love the show, trust me. I can’t count the number of times I said some variation on “too cute” while pointing at the screen and squeeing. It’s just that kind of show. In that sense it reminded me a lot of Azumanga Daioh, but with a band. Speaking of which, all of the music in the show is performed by the voice actresses, and it’s all very catchy. I have downloaded everything they’ve put out so far, and I love it all.

In short, this is one of the best new anime I’ve seen, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this kind of show.

Finally, I leave you with Mio being so moe it hurts. Their adviser makes costumes for them to wear when they are performing, and so it’s almost inevitable that she would dress Mio up in a maid outfit. So kawaii! Or, to steal a line from the show, “Moe, Moe, Kyun!”
mio3

Ending Theme



, , , , , ,
Posted in Hobotaku, Reviews | Comments Off


« Older Entries
« Older Entries