Manga: The Water Dragon's Bride by Rei Toma

One of ShojoBeat's newest titles, The Water Dragon's Bride by Toma Rei is a cute little historical fiction, fantasy, shoujo manga about a girl sent back in time/another world. Arisa Asahi is spirited away when she was young into the pond in her backyard. She wakes up underwater in the presence of a strange man, so ethereal looking he doesn’t even seem human, which is reasonable considering he isn’t! 

Anime: Kiss Him, Not Me! by Junko

Kiss Him, Not Me! is a ridiculously hilarious anime about this girl, Serinuma Kae, who went through a dramatic physical change in her appearance, completely by accident, drawing the attentions of several guys. Fact of the matter is Kae is a fujoshi, a girl who likes BL or boys' love. She would much rather watch boys get together and in a relationship instead of being in one herself.

Manga: Planet Ladder by Yuri Narushima

I am going to be completely honest... I have never heard of this series before. I have read nearly every single title put out by TokyoPOP, my local library growing up having purchased a lot of them for their readers, but never had this one. I borrowed this from another library, very nice library it is but a very small manga section so far. Anyways, they have mostly newer manga, considering it is a newer library, they don't have many from the 2000s era of TokyoPOP manga, before they went bankrupt. So this series stood out to me, took me by surprise.

Manga: Crimson Hero by Mitsuba Takahashi

As the first review of the new year, I thought a throwback was in order! This is one of Shoujo Beat's older series, Crimson Hero by Takahashi Mitsuba. It's one of Shoujo Beat's only manga series to have been left discontinued, with only localizing fourteen volumes out of the full twenty. This is in desperate need of a pick-me-up. 

Light Novel: The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai

 

I guess you guys didn't see this one coming! Or maybe you guys did... let me tell you though, I didn't. I had no idea about the light novel until recently, I just don't keep up to date anymore with anime and manga news all that often. So imagine my surprise when I went on the Kindle store to finally buy The Garden of Words the manga and found this instead! There were some discrepancies with me trying to buy it, mostly due to the fact that the light novel isn't it's own listing and is linked to the physical manga listing. I couldn't find the Kindle manga listing until I chatted with customer service who kind of fixed it. You can find the manga now, but the light novel is still linked to it, not yet a separate listing.

Anime: The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai

This review has been a long time coming! This is going to be a throwback to my very first review on this blog... The Garden of Words by Shinkai Makoto! This film has finally reached Netflix, really it's been on there for a while but I haven't gotten the motivation to watch it as of late. I finally motivated myself to watching it though, so here we go!

The Garden of Words is a coming-of-age, slice of life film that revolves around Akizuki Takao, a fifteen-year-old first year who dreams of becoming a shoemaker in this day and age. He always skips first period on rainy days, going to a nearby park. One of these days he meets a woman at the park in the gazebo, drinking beer and eating chocolate.

Manga: Miracle Girls by Nami Akimoto

Miracle Girls by Akimoto Nami is an old shoujo manga from the '90s when computers were a new thing in the world. Originally, this was published by TokyoPOP and has now been long out of print and in need of a rescue. I think it would be appropriate for Kodansha to pick this up due to the fact that their Japan office is the one who distributed it in the first place, and they can fix it up like they did to Sailor Moon. 

The story revolves around identical twins with psychic powers and their journey in high school trying to juggle their powers and love lives.

Manga: Kitchen Princess by Natsumi Ando

Kitchen Princess by Ando Natsumi is a really cute shoujo manga centered around cooking. This is a classic for me, it was originally published by DelRey, I believe, in America and after DelRey shut down, it was rescued by Kodansha, who published it in Japan. It is 10 volumes long, originally DelRey's publishing, but now it is available as a 4 volume omnibus series with Kodansha. There is a light novel that accompanies it but unfortunately Kodansha hasn't rescued that yet, I'm hoping that they will. Although, I'm really glad they brought this series back, it caused a spark in me, leading me to love flan! 

Manga: 0x0 Memories by Kozue Takeuchi

Another oneshot manga that never came over to the US, 0x0 Memories by Takeuchi Kozue is a shoujo manga about a young girl, Tsuda Rei, who lost her memories from a hit to the head with a soccer ball. This is a really good manga, I enjoyed the story and it was a cute little short that could definitely be published under the Shojo Beat imprint. 

Manga: "Suki" to Ienai by Yukino Miyawaki

This is going to be one of my shorter reviews due to the fact that this is a oneshot manga, originally sold in a book with two other oneshot manga. It is also only available to read off of a manga piracy website, due to the fact that it hasn't been brought over to the US. "Suki" to Ienai by Miyawaki Yukino is a shoujo manga about a girl, Shina, who is in love with her adoptive brother, Kiri, who does not know that he is adopted. 

Manga: Red River by Chie Shinohara

One of my absolute favorite series makes its debut on my blog, Red River by Shinohara Chie! I cannot stress enough how much I love this manga. The series had a long run, ending with 28 volumes. It is a historical fiction manga dating back to the B.C. era in the Hittite Empire during King Suppiluliuma’s rule, really near the end of his rule. Many of the events that happen within the manga are actual events that was recorded in history, which I personally think is amazing. This manga, I believe, is the first of its kind. I have never see another manga to use this time period in this location, most mangaka write about Japanese history due to the fact that it’s what they know. You don’t normally get to read western history in manga unless it’s about Egypt, but this is not a story centered around Egypt, it is about the Hittite Empire during the peak of its reign.

Manga: Tail of the Moon by Rinko Ueda

Tail of the Moon by Ueda Rinko is a series I could not put down! I had originally read this manga way back in either middle school or high school and loved it enough to reread in recent months. This is a charming manga, depicted in the Tensho era of Japan, is about ninjas. Momochi Usagi is the great-granddaughter of the head of the Momochi clan, an elite family of ninja, but despite this fact, she’s still doesn’t have her qualification to be a ninja. Her great-grandfather, Momochi Tanba, sends her off on her first assignment, to marry Hattori Hanzo, one of the highest ranking ninjas in Iga and the handsomest man as well, and bear his children!

Manga: Pearl Pink by Meca Tanaka

Pearl Pink by Tanaka Meca is a cute, short, four volume shoujo manga series that focuses on a young girl Momono Tamako who, after about ten years, meets with her childhood friend who had promised to marry her if she became stronger. Of course, there must be a bit of a twist, so her friend, Inui Kanji, ends up forgetting about her and his promise...

Manga: The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai

The Garden of Words by Shinkai Makoto is a wonderful coming-of-age, slice of life, shoujo manga centers around a young first year boy, just starting high school, and a woman who has started to give up on life. Once these two meet, they start to change each other, preparing themselves for what lies ahead in their lives. I had to reread this manga to remember the details, like the characters' names, since it's been a while from when I last read it. The story is superb and it really moves you, making you sympathize with the characters and feel as though you're them. 

"Shinkai has often been hailed as the next Miyazaki..." -Variety