My library, Shinobi Life and Dengeki Daisy

I've discovered my library carries manga. Really, really good manga. Yes! So far, I've read some of Sgt. Frog and Barefoot Gen (very good that last one... must read for anyone interested in Hiroshima before and after the bomb... will review later).

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I've read (and bought) the first two volumes of Shinobi Life by Shoko Conami. It is a surprisingly funny, suprisingly sweet story. And the best part is that it somehow manages to also pull stunts with time travel without completely snapping my disbelief suspenders.

Why? Because I want them to live happily ever after. I want it so bad I could scream.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Shinobi Life is about a ninja/bodyguard from a long, long time ago in Japan who, due to an explosion while guarding his princess, gets thrown into a lake. Just above the water of the lake is a portal to a different period of time... the modern world. It just so happens that said portal exits right above where the heroine of our story, a plucky rich girl named Beni, is being threatened by a kidnapper. This is no big deal to her since she gets kidnapped all the time. Besides, if someone murders her, she can blame it all on her dad who can never protect her adequately or some other weird reason. That part didn't come through too well in the translation. But oh, watching the ninja's reaction when he encounters our world is just too awesome to worry about rationality! And watching the two of them fall for each other is just amazing... very well done.

Now, about the time travel aspect, it does get very confusing. And they do employ the "if you see yourself you will disappear" card. However, they also have some interesting twists within the story that make sense, even after re-reading earlier chapters. In fact, they make those earlier chapters more fun.

So, if you're looking for good romantic comedy, please take a look at Shinobi Life. So far, I love it.

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A fantastic manga has been licensed for our viewing pleasure. As wonderful as Shinobi Life is, I have not yet found a romantic comedy in manga that can top Kyousuke Motomi's Dengeki Daisy. (Note: the link is added for reference purposes... I'm not promoting Amazon) I really hope they don't ruin it because the humor is just incredible, the plot is surprisingly down to earth, the mystery feels solid (so far), and the romance is great. Yes, there's some over the top nonsense, but nothing that makes you go "ooooookkaaaaaay" and put it back on the shelf. And there's some parts that just made me laugh out so loud I woke up my sleeping baby.

So, I will be putting my name down for the English version.

BTW, Kyousuke's other works are also very, very good. Beast Master is short, but funny and sweet. I mean, seriously, the way he draws the girl animals can't stand makes me laugh even thinking about it. He's done some short stories that are also fantastic. I can't believe he's a guy, to be honest. The romance is just too good. The only thing that makes me believe it is that the guys in his stories are very believable. There is no typical fantasy nonsense in the guys he creates. He has become my favorite mangaka.

That is all. You may return to Hulu.

Genealogy

Just wanted to spread the word about the new Family Search stuff on FamilySearch.org. Indexing is fantastic and the results of indexing, the new Record Search (pilot), is just mind-blowing. This is the way genealogy should be and, God willing, will be.

All stuff mentioned resides in the pull-down menus at the top of the website. Check it out.

Can't believe I'm reading a category romance novel

I really can't believe I'm halfway enjoying it. It's an early work by Debbie Macomber. I tried picking up one of her later books and found I just couldn't get into them. This, though, is actually enjoyable.

Getting back to learning French. I want to be able to understand my husband. :)

I think I'll have to stop on the romance novel, though, at least until I've finished my current novel. Same genre... mostly.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Just wanted to say that I thought this movie was okay. After seeing the Prisoner of Azkhaban, and the first half of Goblet of Fire, I expected great things from the Order of the Phoenix. Unfortunately, what I saw before it annoyed me enough that we turned it off was a heavy-handed political statement. I just couldn't believe that any group of people would be so blind to a potential threat that they would act as if it didn't exist. I could see people creating a scapegoat group and blaming the trouble on them.

Not to mention the acting among the main kids has gone downhill again. The kid who plays Potter did well enough, but the chick who plays Hermione did awful. It didn't help that it felt like I'd missed a majority of... something. I don't think it has to do with not finishing Goblet of Fire since the second Matrix movie had the same feel... and I definitely saw all of the first movie.

However, overall the movie did all right. I haven't seen all of it, got too annoyed, but I think if I gave it another chance or watched it during a time when I don't feel so rushed, I think I would have enjoyed it more.

What I've been doing lately

If you haven't checked out my other blog (There and Back Again), I've been very busy... in general. Sewing, cooking, gardening, cleaning, accounting, raising kids, working with special needs... it's all added up so I'm taking a break this summer. Still doing a lot but with less stress and more consolidation and/or delegation.

I'll post again (hopefully) after I've rested a bit... probably August or September.

[sigh]

This was supposed to be a way for me to get used to blogging and yet I feel bad that I haven't written anything in ages. Too much time spent on more important things.

Like manga!

Yes, I've become a bit of a junkie. But considering that it's inspiring me to take more chances with my writing, not to mention showing me that strong characters are often just as and sometimes more important than plot, I don't think it's a bad thing.

Anyway, I've been reading a lot of scanlations lately (yes, I'm a bad girl). Out of guilt, I won't comment on the scanlations, only on the manga I've bought, i.e. official versions (which I've found are often much better... not always though).

So, that leaves the manga Tramps Like Us (the whole series) and the few volumes of Ouran High School Host Club I've bought (which means one, vol. 4... not the best but I needed closure on an anecdote). Today, I'll talk a little about Tramps Like Us and tomorrow OHSHC 4. And yeah, a lot of these reviews are going to be out of order. Prepare.

Tramps Like Us, volume one.

Summary: volume one introduces us to Sumire, a cold, competent reporter who has just recently been demoted for knocking her boss flat on his back when he tried to make a pass at her. Between that and her recent breakup with a janitor, she's very confused at the way her life has turned out. Her life gets a little bit of focus though when she finds a young man sleeping in a box in the alley near her trash. She keeps thinking he's familiar somehow and so she takes him in. After much thought, she decides that his hair reminds her of a dog she had when she was a kid named Momo. He needs a place to stay, she feels like she can talk to him and become vulnerable around him just like she did with her dog, so she tells him he can stay as long as he pretends to be her pet. To her shock, he accepts, even after he discovers it will be a completely non-sexual relationship. By the end of the volume, things are starting to look up for her when she finds an old friend who wants to be a little bit more. The only problem, of course, is Momo.

Review: Okay, that's not the only problem. Sumire, in spite of her perfect appearance, is a basket case and incredibly shy. I absolutely loved the fact that Sumire works very hard to seem perfect because she's so incredibly insecure. And I loved how she was able to let those insecurities go around her best friend Yuri... and Momo. Momo himself is so cute and energetic he just screams puppy; yet it's also clear he has more going on underneath the surface, and in the world outside Sumire's apartment, than seems to be the case at first glance. Plus, Hasumi (the guy who fills Sumire's requirements for a boyfriend) is a genuinely nice guy. You keep hoping he'll turn out to be some monster within (like another guy Sumire dates in this volume) but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. This, of course, makes the story all the more interesting.

About the story, this has a solid beginning. Having read the whole thing through, I can tell you that there's nothing wasted in this beginning. Everything has a reference to later points in the story: truly no waste. It's refreshing to read that strong a story, especially in romance, a genre that has really been turning me off lately. It's also nice to see the Cinderella plot turned on its ear. But more on that some other time. :)

The only thing I don't like is something I see now and then in manga and that's what seems to be a propensity for violence within a supposedly loving relationship. In this manga, it's not real bad (I've seen manga with much worse violence for much less reason) and it makes sense within the construct of the story. So, I rewrite it in my head if I think it's a bit much. But it does make me wonder just how accepted physical abuse is in Japanese society. (Of course, if it's accepted, then they wouldn't consider it abuse, now would they?)

Next time, I'll review volume 4 of Ouran High School Host Club.

Fullmetal Alchemist vol.2 and... Dragon Knights?

So, after my excitement over the first volume, my husband surprised me with the second. I read it in an afternoon and I'm still impressed. In fact, I enjoyed this volume better than the first.

The first was great when it came to action and humor. There was depth in the story, but not as much as the second. Reading the second is like wading in those swimming pools people get installed in their backyard... you know, the ones with the diving board? Anyway, it's like wading from the shallow end toward the diving board. There's a point where the ground dramatically slopes away and you realize you've just hit deep water. That's what volume two feels like.

The story of the Elric brothers continues (obviously) but this time in the course of looking for the Philosopher's Stone (or anything that might help them get their old bodies back) they end up meeting the Sewing-life Alchemist and his daughter. And what began as a fun romp takes a darker turn due to the new characters introduced. Events that seemed isolated begin to tie together until you realize the story is much bigger than you expected when you first started reading.

Overall, I enjoyed the depth. It's not overdone or maudlin. Characters behave just as you would expect them to behave and when they don't, it never seems out of character. The plot gets pretty thick in this one: I can see why people say InuYasha moves at a snail's pace if FMA is closer to the norm for decent plots. And yet, even though I felt a little breathless at the end due to the pace, it was never too much. It also helps that the humor doesn't go away. In fact, Hiromu Arakawa creates just the right balance of comedy to drama (and occasionally tragedy) to the point where I've decided that the first two volumes should be permanent features in any decent fantasy library, whether or not the author is into manga.

Oh, and just a quick note on the artwork... Hiromu Arakawa does a fantastic job of conveying emotions. I know very little else about art, so that's all I'll say for now.

Looking forward to volume three. :)

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So, my step-mother heard that I'm into anime and manga (kind of hard not to since I've been gushing about the shows I've seen/comics I've read to just about everyone) and she mentioned a series some kids mentioned to her: Dragon Knights.

She knows I'm a Firefly, Terry Prachett kind of girl, so she thinks this will be right up my alley. In the reviews I've read on Amazon, it seems to be just as fun as she describes it, with just enough drama to keep the plot going.

But I'm not sure I'll be able to afford two long-running series. *sigh* We'll see. Necessities first, then fun.

And in the meantime, I've started writing again. Fifteen minutes a day at least. Actually, it's turned out more like one or two hours once or twice a week, but still, I'm shocked I'm getting any writing done at all considering all the other things I'm doing. I have FMA to thank. Most of the time when I read something, I end up not liking something about it and think, "I can do better than this." Often this gets me writing simply so I can prove to myself that I really can do better. Every fantastic book I've read has actually kept me from writing, since I feel I can never write as good as the book I've just read.

However, FMA has had an effect I've never felt before. I haven't found any fault with it, and yet I haven't stopped writing. I read it and couldn't wait to jump back into my own world... not because I think I can do better. I just want to write again. Odd.