[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.