Tag: Comedy

My Best (♀) Butler, Vol. 1

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My Best (♀) Butler, Vol. 1 by Souko Masaki
Series Name: My Best (♀) Butler
Genres: Comedy, gender-bend
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781646596515
Rating: 4/5
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Description

Rui Aoto’s family has fallen on hard times. It’s up to her to take care of her younger brother Kyo, and she refuses to be a burden on friends or family. When Rui cross-dresses to be able to work at a host club, things go awry. A rich boy, named Tohma, comes to her rescue, and her life changes drastically. To amuse Tohma, Rui agrees to a wager, and must now serve as Tohma’s “male” butler until next march. If she can do so, without exposing her true gender, Tohma will give her $10,000.

Personal & Info

I absolutely could not decide what to read for this week. Normally, I choose random numbers by rolling dice to decide which ebook on my list to read, but this time I was not satisfied with any of my choices. I ended up asking friends for random numbers instead, and then narrowing it down randomly from there. For some reason, I was more satisfied with that end result than my own. Anyway, this is the book that was chosen via coin flip after all others were eliminated.

This is one of the ebooks I got for free from a BookWalker sale. It does not appear to have any physical copies in English, yet.

Depending on your preference for consent, this book might irk you. There is crotch grabbing and peeking up skirts. That’s pretty much the only thing I recall seeing that is worth mentioning for any kind of warning.

Characters

Rui Aoto is the main character. She is Kyo’s older sister and considered flat chested.

Kyo Aoto is Rui’s younger brother. He dropped out of school after a confession to a male classmate went wrong.

Moka seems like Rui’s best friend. She is the daughter of the bakers who take Rui and Kyo in at the start of the book.

Benny is Moka and Rui’s friend.

Tohma is a bored and lonely rich kid. He has a bit of an attitude, and a severe allergy to women.

Saginuma is Tohma’s driver and butler, because they have yet to replace the previous butler. He’s been with Tohma’s family for a long time.

Yoinomiya and Ohgi are the two guys Tohma requested to watch over Rui at school.

Mr. T. Bear is a handmade teddybear from a series of children’s books. Mr. T. Bear is very important to Tohma. Kyo and Tohma are both fans of the Mr. T. Bear books.

Haruki is Tohma’s cousin, and the despot of the school. He has an anger problem.

Hatarai is Haruki’s butler.

Goryoba and Watatsumi are student council members. Goryoba is apparently very strong, and Watatsumi is “elitist.”

There are an abundance of characters with names throughout the book. I know I did not mention them all, and that is intentional. Several of them are insignificant, or only appear once or twice, so are not worth mentioning here.

Story & Thoughts

I went into this manga blind, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s a gender-bend. Those are some of my favorite kinds of manga. Yes, I know, the lady butler part should have made that obvious, but I wasn’t looking too closely at it.

Anyway, the setting is a little generic. The city they live in is divided into ten wards, which divide the people by wealth. Ward ten, where Rui and her friends live in the beginning of the story, is the poorest. Ward one, where Tohma lives, is the richest.

The host club job Rui’s friend Sera sets her up with is super creepy. The employees, who are teenaged boys (this is where the cross-dressing comes in), sit in a lobby where they can eat and drink from the club menu as much as they want. The facility has one way mirrors, where clients can see the employees to choose one to request for a private sitting. It’s supposed to be conversational entertainment, but the clients are all apparently older, and usually creepy, men.

Rui is warned before her shift starts that she should never leave the building with a client, because it’s unsafe, but that’s practically the first thing she does. It’s like she has no survival instinct. She definitely does not come off as an intelligent character early on.

The day to day life adventures Rui has as Tohma’s butler are amusing. She has much to learn, and must learn everything quickly. Reputation and perception are extremely important to do her job, as well as knowing how to use her resources to her advantage. The simple and ridiculous ordeals she has to deal with make good comedy. The people and places are definitely not entirely normal, either.

I have some suspicions about the Mr. T. Bear stories. I think they’re more than just a series of children’s books that Tohma likes.

There is a tiny bit of romance, but I don’t know if it’s enough to label the book as romance. Rui has a crush and gets flustered, but it doesn’t seem romantic to me. It could escalate to be more romantic later, but I won’t know for sure unless I read more.

I do intend to read more of this series eventually. It bugs me that it’s only available digitally. I’m going to have to figure out which source I would prefer to use, because I don’t usually commit to any digital manga.

Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 2

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Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 2 by Yuu Watase
Series Name: Absolute Boyfriend
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-fi
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shojo Beat
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-0568-8
Rating: 5/5
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Description from the Book

Rejected way too many times by good-looking (and unattainable) guys, shy Riiko Izawa goes online and signs up for a free trial of a mysterious Nightly Lover “figure.” The very next day, a cute naked guy is delivered to her door, and he wants to be her boyfriend!

Riiko needs money after giving all she had to help pay for Night, so she finds a job at the same place Soshi works. Not wanting Night to worry, she doesn’t tell him about her new job, but Night finds out anyway. What’s even more worrying to Night is how Riiko is beginning to feel for Soshi…

Personal & Info

I’m rereading this series after several years. The reviews take into account how I remember feeling my first time through, and how I feel reading it again after so long.

Characters

Riiko Izawa is the main character. She is a bit of a slob, and considered flat chested. Her parents are working abroad, so she currently lives alone.

Soshi Asamoto is Riiko’s next door neighbor and childhood friend. They have known each other since they were little kids.

Gaku Namikiri is an eccentric business salesman who seems to neglect sharing the most important information until after it’s too late.

Night Tenjo is an artificially intelligent prototype boyfriend “figure.” He is supposed to be the perfect boyfriend in every way, based on the features the customer chooses.

Mika Ito is Riiko’s friend from school. This volume shows off her nasty side.

Satori Miyabe is a girl at Riiko’s school. She seems to keep to herself and does not like Mika.

Story & Thoughts

The first half of this volume focuses on how nasty Mika is. There’s a lot of bullying, and Night has a fan club that is absolutely bonkers. It’s crazy how much all these girls get away with.

The volume as a whole focuses on the blooming romance of the love triangle. Riiko and Soshi are getting feelings for each other, and neither of them seem to know how to handle it. Add that on top of the girl drama and Night’s undying affection for Riiko, and the story is pretty dang captivating.

I don’t remember which content is in which book until I read it, because my memory kind of jumbles everything together. When I figured out where this volume was going I was filled with dread. The first time I read it, I was distraught. This volume has a heart wrenching cliff hanger, because Riiko is on a timer to make a decision before it’s too late, and the final panels just throw that right in your face.

It doesn’t get me as much as it did the first time, but the drama still increases my heart rate from the dread and anticipation. The tension between Riiko and Soshi. The accident with Night that could have happened at any time, but happened now, when the romantic stress and drama is high. Like the first volume, I think this one holds up well. I’m giving it the same rating I did the first time.

Maga-Tsuki, Vol. 1

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Maga-Tsuki, Vol. 1 by Hoshino Taguchi
Series Name: Maga-Tsuki
Genres: Comedy, Ecchi, Harem, Romance, Supernatural
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook 
ISBN: 9781682332221
Rating: 3/5
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Description

Yasuke is your average fifteen year old peeping tom. He wants nothing more than to confess his feelings to his childhood friend and crush, Akari. Unfortunately, he might never get the chance after he accidentally breaks a mirror at his family shrine, releasing a sealed calamity goddess, causing a curse to befall him. Now, he must keep the goddess so close that it’s awkward or die, with the only way to revive him being a kiss from the goddess herself. If he can’t make the goddess, Orihime, happy, he could be stuck cursed forever.

Personal & Info

This is a digital manga I got for free from a BookWalker sale. Unlike other digital manga I’ve gotten this way, this one is available as a physical book. The shop links here lead to the physical editions, but you can find the digital version on most of the same sites, anyway. The BookWalker link is included, because that’s where I got it.

Characters

Yasuke Arahabaki is the main character. He has a crush on his childhood friend and wants to confess his feelings, but he doesn’t know how to go about doing so. The timing never seems right.

Akari Inamori is Yasuke’s childhood friend and crush.

Miyano Arahabaki is Yasuke’s sister. She’s a Shinto priestess.

Seoritsuhime, nickname Orihime, is a goddess of calamity who was sealed and enshrined inside a mirror at Yasuke’s home.

Danzo Matsubara and Eiichi Nitta are Yasuke’s friends at school. They seem perverted and girl crazy. Matsubara more so than Nitta, he’s so girl crazy he gets violent from jealously.

Hinata Amaterasu claims to be Orihime’s sister. Whether it’s genetic or honorary, I have no idea. She is apparently in charge of running the realm of the gods despite her immature behavior.

Kunihiko Inamori is Akari’s father. He is the owner of their family sushi restaurant.

Story & Thoughts

Upon starting this, I was under the implication the publisher description implies a proximity thing. It has nothing to do with proximity. The fact is, Yasuke and Orihime must be touching in some way at all times. If they are not touching, Yasuke will drop dead, and Orihime will have to revive him with a kiss. Obviously, this leads to some awkward public and private situations.

Yasuke’s life gets difficult because of this. Everyone he knows has a problem with how physically close the two of them are, all the time. They can’t so much as use the bathroom or change clothes without holding hands. Some people find it so problematic, they try to convince them to separate.

It makes things with Akari especially stressful, because how can he confess his feelings to her when he’s always holding hands with another girl and refusing to leave her side? Most of the drama between Yasuke and Akari could be avoided if she were let in on the goddess thing from the start. Instead, she’s left confused and frustrated.

The series is apparently harem genre, but if it is, that must come in more later. This volume doesn’t really have anything in it to make it seem like a harem. It comes off as more of a love triangle, but it can be hard to tell things like that from just one volume.

Overall, I like this book. It’s not amazing, but it’s a cute and funny romantic comedy. I wouldn’t mind reading more of the series. The plot twist toward the end has me curious to see how things will play out. I also can’t help but wonder if that twist will happen again with other people. It would make sense if that’s how the harem thing gets incorporated.

There are some bonus comics in the back, as well as some translation information, and a short behind the scenes comic with the creator. Taguchi’s mascot is a hamster and that’s adorable.

I think I’ll be adding this series to my to-read list, but it won’t be a priority. It will likely be a long while before any more reviews for it get added.

Rosario+Vampre: Season II, Vol. 14

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 14 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7967-2
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

As with many previous volumes, is book advertises a free mini-poster inside. It’s one of the two sided types that does not fold out. One side is a cute group image of most of the important characters. The back side is the same picture of Moka as the back cover of the volume. Not as single “mini-poster” in the entire series is perforated, so I have no idea why they are even advertised as posters. None of them are worth tearing out if you don’t want to damage the book. I can’t imagine any of them would come out with a clean tear.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

San is a siren graduate from Yokai Academy who’s been living in the human world ever since she left school.

Tohofuhai is one of the Three Dark Lords. He looks like an old man most of the time, and his specialties are seals and magic.

Tenmei Mikogami is one of the Three Dark Lords. I had to laugh at the translation choice for his title. Instead of referring to him as a strategist or some other word you would expect, they chose, “maneuverer.”

Story & Thoughts

This is the final volume for the series, and it wastes no time getting started. Fairy Tale headquarters crashes into the town. Obviously the gang survives the crash, because they’re the main characters. Alucard is awake and it’s time to take him down for good. No idea why they thought human weaponry would be a good idea. Monsters generally defy logic, so that tactic seems like a waste of lives.

Despite the length, there are only two chapters in this book. The first one, containing the final battle takes up most of it. It’s an epic showdown, and everyone gets to participate. We even get to see some characters from the school and people met earlier in the series, like San.

There are some pretty awesome tropes, like two old guys getting epic for a final showdown. Tsukune and Moka get featured, too, this time with a new look for the final battle.

The second chapter is the epilogue. The gang goes back to school, and it’s ten months after the events of the battle. The silliness returns in this chapter as everyone is transitioning back to normal life. Tsukune and Moka are experiencing some changes, and everyone is fighting over Tsukune again. Life is good, but doom lurks in the future.

It’s a satisfying end, but I’d definitely like to see how the relationships play out. Does Tsukune keep his harem and have babies with everybody (because it’s pretty clear most, if not all of them want kids), or does he make Moka his one and only? They’re too young to make a final decision, but a couple possible solutions are mentioned.

I’ve come around on liking Aqua after seeing how much she genuinely cares for Moka. She’s a little psycho, but she’s not all bad. Her backstory is unfortunate, though.

The bonus comics are an extension of the epilogue, and tell what happens with some of the characters.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6949-9
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster. As with volume twelve, and several others, this one is a fold out. It features a colored sketch style picture of Inner Moka and Aqua.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Kahlua is Moka’s older sister, and Gyokuro’s eldest daughter.

Gyokuro is the leader of Fairy Tale.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Aqua is Moka’s eldest sister. She has an obsession with Moka.

Story & Thoughts

This book picks up where twelve leaves off. Tsukune personally challenges Gyokuro in hopes of beating her before he completely becomes a ghoul. Between Tsukune and Moka fighting her, this battle takes the majority of the volume. However, before it’s entirely over, we learn a little more about the rosario and what Gyokuro’s studies reveal as its true intention.

Koko’s battle with Kahlua also wraps up in this volume. I would have liked to see her do the entire battle by herself, but unfortunately she needs assistance. It makes sense, though, because a huge aspect of the story is constantly team work. I just think Koko deserves a massive self-earned win.

Vampires have strange abilities in this series. Koko and Moka don’t seem to have any odd abilities, but that might just be because they haven’t grown into them yet. Their family members, however, have freakish abilities that I don’t think fits into any vampire lore.

I love that Kurumu and Mizore are team fighters. They’ve had a long journey through the series to become good friends. But, I don’t think their big attack for this volume makes any sense. How do they get holy water, and why does it need to be holy water? I think it was pretty clear regular water would be enough for their needs. Season one made that very clear.

The ending of this volume hits hard. It’s a blatant, “to be continued,” in the middle of trauma, tears, screaming, and impending disaster. You might want to make sure you already have the fourteenth volume at the time you read this.

The bonus comics at the end mostly focus on a few Fairy Tale members with some question and answer silliness.

Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 1

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Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 1 by Yuu Watase
Series Name: Absolute Boyfriend
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sci-fi
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shojo Beat
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-0016-4
Rating: 5/5
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Description from the Book

Rejected way too many times by good-looking (and unattainable) guys, shy Riiko Izawa goes online and signs up for a free trial of a mysterious Nightly Lover “figure.” The very next day, a cute naked guy is delivered to her door, and he wants to be her boyfriend!

Has Riiko died and gone to heaven? The cute guy turns out to be sweet, smart, a great cook, and lots more. And he looks like a million bucks, which is what he’s going to cost Riiko if she doesn’t return him in time…

Personal & Info

I don’t remember which grade I was in at the time, but this is a manga I read in school with friends. I think it was early high school. One of my friends found this series and shared it with our group. We all loved it, and some of us bought copies for our own collections. I haven’t read it since then, so this is a reread after many years.

There’s something people should know about this particular mangaka, though. I’ve read a few different series by Yuu Watase, so I feel like I should warn people. She likes to punch you in the heart with her stories.

As an older manga, this series has author notes in the margins. I feel like I never see those in modern manga anymore. It’s nostalgic, and I miss getting more insight into the creation and story of the series.

Characters

Riiko Izawa is the main character. She is a bit of a slob, and considered flat chested. Her parents are working abroad, so she currently lives alone.

Soshi Asamoto is Riiko’s next door neighbor and childhood friend. They have known each other since they were little kids.

Masaki seems to be Soshi’s brother, but they don’t outright specify.

Ishizeki is a boy from school Riiko has a crush on during the beginning of the story. He appears throughout the volume.

Mika is Riiko’s friend from school.

Gaku Namikiri is an eccentric business salesman who seems to neglect sharing the most important information until after it’s too late.

Night Tenjo is an artificially intelligent prototype boyfriend “figure.” He is supposed to be the perfect boyfriend in every way, based on the features the customer chooses. His height and weight are on the back cover of the book.

Story & Thoughts

Initially when I read this the first time, I gave it five stars. At that time, I was around target age group for the series. It made me laugh constantly, and I absolutely loved it.

Now, several years later, rereading it again for the first time since then, I still like it a lot. It doesn’t make me laugh as much as the first time because I have a good memory, so it’s not like the humor is hitting for the first time. The laughs may not be as obviously out loud, but the story still makes me smile, and that’s pretty great. Based on that, I think it holds up well.

There’s a love triangle, as there usually is in almost any series popular in the 2000s. Night is the obvious love interest. The other is Soshi. He obviously likes Riiko, and his brother seems to know he does. Riiko is oblivious to his feelings so far, but she notices some unexpected reactions to being around him that hint she likes him, too.

I think Night is exactly what Riiko needs at this point in her life. Not the stress of the price tag, but the support he gives. She could probably get the same from Soshi, but based on their current relationship, they would have to progress a lot to get comfortable enough. Night doesn’t have an awkward crush phase to get passed. He is already 100% devoted to Riiko, even if she is unsure about him herself.

I love the art. Yuu Watase draws in an easily identifiable style that is cute and pleasant to look at. The chibi and exaggerated reaction images all look great, too.

This is a romantic comedy I highly recommend to anyone interested in the genre.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5702-1
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume has a mini-poster inside, like volumes elven, eight, seven, and five, it’s a fold out. The poster features Kahlua and Koko sweeping up leaves.

I didn’t recognize Kuhlua on the cover right away. She looks obviously tan in the panels of the manga, and she even looks tan on the color fold out mini-poster. I’m not sure why she looks so pale on the cover. It makes her look like a completely different person.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Aqua is Moka’s oldest sister. She is has an obsession with Moka.

Kahlua is one of Moka’s many sisters. She participates in the family profession of assassination.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Gin and Haiji tend to be tag team fighters. We finally find out what monster Haiji is.

Gyokuro is Kahlua and Koko’s mother, and the leading member of Fairy Tale.

Story & Thoughts

Things get intense in this volume as everything that can go wrong does. Everybody is fighting somebody. It’s so close to the end of the series now, that everything is combat. Unfortunately, Mizore and Kurumu are benched for the volume. We see them unconscious toward the beginning from the events of volume eleven, but that’s about it. Yukari and Fangfang aren’t in this one much either. They appear for maybe a page and that’s it.

The first fight that takes up a large chunk of the book is the confrontation with Aqua. Tsukune finally gets his chance to use his training against her dimension sword. Moka and Tsukune fight together for this battle. It’s nice to see him be a relatively competent fighter compared to how he originally started off in the series as a whole. He’s had a tremendous amount of growth in such a short time.

Koko, whom we haven’t seen much of in a while, finally gets a chance to shine. She gets to show her improvement in skill and confidence with a battle of her own. I get that she’s been spending a lot of time training and everything, but I think it would have been nice to have her in the story more with the main group. She’s one of my favorite characters.

The bonus comics feature Kahlua. She is given a mission by her mother that requires seduction, which apparently is one of the few skills she did not learn in her assassin training.

I think there was a typo on one page when Gyokuro says, “the tide of battle is already turning against us.” I’m pretty sure she means, “against you,” because the following panels show supporting evidence of the typo.

What I Love About You, Vol. 1

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What I Love About You, Vol. 1 by Rurihara Zurachi
Series Name: What I Love About You
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781646598717
Rating: 4/5
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Description

Tatsu Yunoki has a hair fetish. One day, when he wakes up with Kotoka Hatsushima in his bed, his life is turned upside down. Kotoka claims destiny has thrown them together due to their mutual fetishistic interest in each other and the ability to tolerate the other’s interests. Can they make a relationship work?

Personal & Info

I got this ebook for free from a BookWalker sale. It seems most of the books I got this way are available as digital only.

I have no idea why the author name on the cover is spelled different than the name for the listings.

Characters

Tatsu Yunoki is the leading man, and he has a hair fetish.

Kotoka Hatsushima is the leading lady. She is twenty three, and works as a copywriter for a publishing house. Supposedly, she fell in love with Yunoki’s back at first sight.

Eno Yunoki is Tatsu’s younger sister. She has a leg fetish, and does not seem to care if they belong to a man or a woman.

Story & Thoughts

I find myself pleasantly surprised after going into this without so much as reading the description. The first few pages were enough to hook me. The premise itself is amusing. Two people with different fetishes are attracted to each other, and decide to try to make a relationship work. But these aren’t the obvious fetishes you would expect.

Tatsu likes hair, long, pretty, silky hair, which Kotoka just happens to have. Kotoka likes backs, and apparently she can determine personality characteristics just by looking at someone’s back. She likes the characteristics she sees in Tatsu’s back, and that’s what leads to everything.

The story focuses on the two of them navigating their unique relationship. They start off relying heavily on their fetishes to bond, and quickly move in together. Their relationship is surprisingly wholesome. Although, it seems like Kotoka would like to be loved for more than just her hair. She constantly tries to get Tatsu to look at parts of her other than her hair.

The most wholesome part is that they are both learning to love someone for more than just their fetish. Both of them are used to being attracted to people purely because they fit their fetish, but the longer they are together, the more they start to like each other for other reasons. One of the most blatant indicators as an example is when Kotoko hugs Tatsu from the front instead of the behind. She ALWAYS hugs him from behind. Watching them grow closer is so heartwarming.

It’s fast paced and silly. The story is continuous, but some segments are only a page long before it jumps to a different day. There are captions at the top of almost every page identifying the subject of what goes on in those panels. I don’t think they’re necessary, and I almost forgot to read them a few times.

I don’t think I would buy this series for my shelf, but I definitely wouldn’t mind reading more of it. If you want a funny, romantic, light hearted read, give it a try.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5240-8
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster inside. Like volumes eight, seven and five, it’s a fold out. This one features Mizore and Kurumu in a sort of spy pose theme. They are wearing nice clothes and posing with guns.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up with Fangfang’s fight scene. The first two chapters finish that off. All in all, it’s not a long battle compared to others. I’m glad Fangfang gets to shine at least a little bit. It seems like his main problem in life is he doesn’t know what he is good at. However, it must be devastating to find out Yukari can essentially master anything he can’t do within the timespan of only a month. Geniuses can really make a person feel inferior without intending to.

We see a few returning villainous faces from season one. Some we already know about, and some are a surprise. This leads to Tsukune getting a fight scene that spans about three chapters, with many cut-aways to keep up with what others are doing. There’s some recap here as well in case the reader doesn’t remember who he is fighting and what their previous interaction was.

Kurumu and Mizore get to fight, too. I think it’s cool and interesting that Mizore and Kurumu have become a team duo for combat. That has been slowly building up over time, because they seem to train specifically with each other quite a lot.

Basically, this is another high combat content volume. We’re at the tail end of the series, so it’s not that surprising. I’m fully expecting even more combat encounters in the three volumes after this. We are far away from the light hearted romantic comedy the series started out as, but the characters are showing their depth and skills, proving how hard they have trained, and how strong their friendships have become.

The bonus comics are a little random. They feature Ludie of all people, and her crush on Xilong.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4879-1
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. Like volumes nine and six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. The first one is Tsukune with some kind of circuit board pattern on his arm, and the second one is a pretty picture of Ruby with a magic circle on her abdomen.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Many members of Moka’s family make appearances.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is combat heavy, so don’t expect a lot of humor and fan service. Most of the book is a single fight scene, and the start of another. The good thing about this, though, is we get to see Ruby shine. She doesn’t usually get to do much, but she’s the star of the volume. I find it surprising she’s not the one on the cover.

The gang has spent a whole month training, and it’s finally time to go save Moka. We don’t get to see what everyone has learned, but we do get to see some of Tsukune’s new abilities, and a substantial amount of Ruby’s. I don’t think I ever thought about what kind of spell caster Ruby is before. Apparently she’s a conjurer, and that’s pretty cool.

I do think this volume is a bit stereotypical. It follows the final dungeon trope of everyone taking turns fighting the strongest foes while crunched for time. I like the trope because it gives the characters a chance to show off their skills, but at the same time, it’s a cliché.

There are only three bonus comics at the end of the book, because there weren’t enough pages. They are mostly about Moka’s time in captivity.