Gakuen Ouji

Status: Ongoing
Also known as: Gakuen Prince

Joshi High - a former all-female school that recently became co-ed, and at first glance, every man's dream. Due to strict lifestyle girls are forced to live, their lust towards men has grown to its peak and they throw themselves over any guy that enters through the school gates like starved animals... literally, starved animals.

Sadly for our main protagonist Mizutani Azusa, that seems to be the case. Being a bishie has never been harder when an army of fangirls are ready to rape you on your first day at school. Desperate for a way out, he does the only thing he can think of: he uses friendless megane girl Okitsu Rise as his shield and tells the whole school she's his girlfriend!

Art - 9.3 / 10.0
Say whatever you want about Azusa, but the boy is hot. This mangaka sure knows how to draw her bishies: say goodbye to the stick-like, femboys you've ever known and say hello to toned, tall ikemen that spend the majority of the series half-naked. And some facial expressions are just drawn perfectly. And the way the jokes are pulled off in this manga are awesome; the art is just the right balance between sparkly and non-sparkly. Because, as you know, sparkliness is what shoujo comedy is all about. (Half of it, anyway.)


Plot - 9.6 / 10.0
So here's the deal: either you're squealing right now in unison with me, or you're giving me a man-are-you-crazy-look whilst reading. Or you haven't read this manga at all, which you should do the second you exit this page, and make up your mind what you think about it.

Somebody at Baka-Updates called this manga a 'hit or miss' manga, and I agree to 100%. This kind of series isn't something for everybody. Also, all the readers seem to have different perceptions of it. Some of it love the delicious drama and eat it right up, sparkly or non-sparkly; others find the entire thing hilarious and laugh their way even through the serious panels. Yet again others find themselves disgusted by the set-up and refuse to read any further.

If you haven't read it yet, you'll probably find it's a combination of all three. You just have to see which side you prefer.

....Still got a hard time choosing?

As for me, I love the plot. Really. It's as ridiculous as it can possibly become, sometimes -- but exaggerations be damned, it's a shoujo. I get a handful of reality every single day, and as much as I love it applied to two-dimensional, black-and-white figures with too-big-eyes and always-perfect-hair, some exaggerations are allowed. After all, we're talking about the genre where it's a common occurence that gorgeous celebrity guys appear at your school and fall in love with you out of all girls fawning over him, and where it's considered normal that you trip over your own feet and have your first kiss with your archenemy (and soon-to-be love of your life). That's just shoujo, people. Get used to it.

Also, it isn't that unrealistic, if you think about it. Remember that whole Dionysus party thing in Ancient Greece? Where all these cooped up women who were forced to abide by the strict rules of society let loose and tore apart wild animals with their bare hands and ate them raw? Yeah, it's sort of like that, in a modern version. Besides, I used to have an idol-like guy at my high school. If the girls hadn't been half as oversexed as they already were there, it wouldn't have surprised me if they pulled off some stunts depicted in the manga. (Then, of course, there are some things that are just plain crazy, but yeah.) /rant

My musings about the realism of this series aside, I think the plot twists are pretty damn good here. It keeps me hanging, wondering what is going to happen next. I just wish it could proceed forward a little bit faster and more naturally, because the pace they're going at right now is Shounen Jump-esque. We have long arcs depicting one single day, and then the days suddenly fly by and you don't even know how long time has passed. But other than that, I think it's awesome.


Characters - 9.4 / 10.0
It's like the series itself: either you hate 'em or you love 'em. There's really no in-between. As for me, I love the protagonists. Mizutani is neither your stereotypical moron, happy-go-lucky guy or bad guy. He's just a guy, with all his faults and good sides, and that's what makes him so special. The same goes for the girl, Okitsu: she's strong, but in a different way than your usual shoujo heroines. (Although she does have a healthy dose of tsundere à strong heroines...) The dynamic between them is remarkable.

However, there are some characters that just don't make sense - the villains are too two-dimensional, too evil. There's no motif, no anything. I know there are just plain sadistic people in this world, but somehow it just feels like an excuse to throw the protagonists into scenarios where they can either a) show off skin or b) have moments of lublub.

Romance - 8.6 / 10.0
Well, it's definitely not your stereotypical light-hearted first-love shoujo, that's all I can say. As this manga leans towards the smuttier kind, it's also leaning towards a more rough, violent kind of romance à Kyou Koi wo Hajimemasu. The good part is that it's not your fave bishie doing the nasty shit, but nonetheless, there are quite a few scenes that will just outright awaken your disgust or incredulity. Even so, the protagonists themselves have really cute moments. I think the romance is developed at a natural pace (I know I put so much emphasis on this, but I hate love-at-first-sight stories), and you can relate to it somehow, despite its unnatural set-up.

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To be honest, I don't really know whether I should recommend this or not. Gakuen Ouji in my opinion is brilliant - plotholes galore in some areas, too much ecchi in some others, but brilliant nonetheless - but if you're the conservative kind, you're better off sticking to your innocent male leads like Ren in Strobe Edge or Kazehaya in Kimi ni Todoke. But if you enjoyed Kyou Koi wo Hajimemasu, or would like a more sexified version of Toradora! with a bunch of crazy fangirls, then go ahead. You'll enjoy this one. I know at least I did.

Overall Rating: 9.5 / 10.0

Credits for scans: Esthetique and NOIR

Full House Kiss

Status: Ongoing

Orphaned, broke and living in a house of bishies as their live-in maid. Fruits Basket sans its curse, anyone?

And at first, Full House Kiss may seem that way. Its main character, Suzuhara Mugi, resembles Tohru close enough: kind-hearted, hard-working and strong. Except that Tohru had no living family yet, but Mugi still has her sister, who went missing prior to her parents' death, and the reason why she wants to enter Shoukei High so badly -- the only connection she has left with her.

But then the plotline takes an 180 degree turn and we're left staring blankly at the page as Mugi is announced as Shoukei High's new art teacher, a favor done by the leader of La Prince (aka the House of Bishies) in exchange for her becoming their maid.

Stop there for a second, and take this into account before we continue: Mugi is 15 years old and has never attended high school.

...Yeah. WTF-plot-twist indeed.

Art - 3.6 / 10.0
I've never liked the 90s style of manga drawing. Sure, there's always the touch of nostalgia, but you rarely see me squealing over it the way I do about modern, post-CG art. The female leads haven't changed much over time, but the bishies from the 90's either look like girls with short hair or cardboard paper versions of Barbie's Ken. And the latter is exactly what the guys in Full House Kiss look like: flat and out of fashion. I can't say I like that style much; S.L.H or Barajou no Kiss is more down my alley.




Plot/Concept - 9.0 / 10.0
I have to give kudos to the mangaka for her plot, because if there's anything that keeps me reading, it sure is that. Per classical shoujo, there are several plotholes -- like that whole teacher-thing, and also, (SPOILER!) it's just weird that nobody has discovered she lives with the bishies yet except that one journalist. If La Prince really does have such a huge fangirl base, you'd think they'd at least stalk outside their residence like normal fangirls, if there ever are any such. (END SPOILER) But all in all, the plot moves forward in a really interesting way and you never really know what's going to happen.

Characters - 8.8 / 10.0
I love how the characters are shaped in a way that they fulfill their stereotypes but still break their molds; it makes the story refreshing and new, despite the age-old scenario of innocent-girl-lives-with-a-handful-of-bishies. The main girl is like a carbon copy of Tohru from Fruits Basket, but I had never had a problem with Tohru, so that's fine.

However, despite the fact that I do like this manga's cast, I can't help but feel that there's something missing. Maybe it's the interactions between the cast itself -- even though the whole best friends/brothers competing over the same girl cliché is getting old, I can't help but feel a tinge of disappointment at the lack of bromance. (I'm a sucker for that -- there's a reason why I keep reading Naruto, and it's not because of the lame hark-the-next-Hokage jutsus.)

Also, the characters don't really seem to go through any significant development. Then again, we're only 21 chapters into the story, so that might change. Regardless, I can't feel anything for the characters just yet, and as a result, I feel very little for the story as well.


Romance - 8.1 / 10.0
I've been complaining about the lack of doki-doki action in some popular shoujo manga as of late, but at least here, Full House Kiss doesn't disappoint. The moments are, more than often, unexpected and perfectly timed, as opposed to the clumsy and highly predictable way they usually occur in normal shoujo. The romance develops at a normal pace and there's no sudden spur-of-the-moment love as it is in even one of my favorites, Reimei no Arcana. Nor is it torturously slow like Perfect Girl Evolution, leading you to question whether or not it really is a romance shoujo.

Sadly, due to my lack of being able to sympathize with the characters nor particularly liking the art, the romance scores lower than it should have had the circumstances been otherwise. Also, I can't seem to find a character I want to root for, since I feel equally detached to each one of them.

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I like this manga, regardless of what impression I might have given you during its review. But as with its cast, there's just something missing. I hope that that something will be replenished in chapters soon to come, or I'll lose the interest I have. As of right now, all I have is the same clinical curiosity of wanting to know what's going to happen next the way it is for me and Five.

Overall Rating: 7.9 / 10.0

Credits for the scans: Aerandria

Rockin' Heaven

Status: Finished

Three words: So. Freaking. Good.

You’re probably waiting for some epic plot to unfold here. Some legasp-double-rainbow-oh-my-god setup, or some freaky plot twists that got us all otaku swooning, maybe. Sorry to disappoint, but the plot is as common as any: girl applies for a former all-boys high school, gets bullied and teased, falls for the leader of the bullies.

Surprisingly, Sawa (the main character) is not a boy-hater, crossdresser or one of the countless shoujo heroines that seem to go to school for the sake of falling The Bishie of Her Dreams. And perhaps even more so that I don’t hate any of the characters involved, including the guy. Now we can all ask ourselves the question: what does this mean? (And no, not a double rainbow, regardless of whatever the cover may suggest.)

Art – 8.9/ 10.0
Cute and bubbly, which is the reason why I chose it. After Five, I really needed some guys that didn’t have snouts for noses, so I opted for this manga specifically for its cover. Definitely not going to disappoint: Ran (the male lead) is hawt. And thumbs-up for the brilliant depiction of facial expressions; I like how the mangaka steps out of the stereotypical frame for a cold guy and really gets across all the little things in what can easily be perceived as a poker face. Minus points for the colored chapter covers; what’s up with all the purple hair?

Plot/Concept – 6.9 / 10.0
If there’s anything that’s slightly disappointing about this manga, it’s the plot. It’s pretty predictable, and I found the final plot twist a little bit rushed. (And some minor details a bit disappointing (SPOILER!), like Tsubaki randomly going straight in the end of the story, as if his feelings for Ran meant nothing. I thought it was rather disappointing how the mangaka just disregarded his sexuality like that, as if having a gay character didn’t fit into a happy ending.) (END SPOILER) But like some reviewer said at Baka-Updates, at least the leads didn’t kiss in the first chapter. The romance develops quite naturally.

Characters – 9.6 / 10.0
You know what? I don’t give a damn if some people think Sawa is a Mary-Sue or Ran is a jerk. If you look a bit closer, you can perfectly see Sawa’s flaws, or that Ran is not half as much of an emo!tard as he seems. The mangaka shows this to us in the little dialogues or Sawa’s thoughts. This proves that there can be a strong heroine who can still be emotional; a cold, angst-ridden guy who may think of himself but isn’t hopelessly self-absorbed. The story centers a lot on character development, and that is pulled off in a splendid way. I loved every single character to bits, even the minor ones.

Romance – 9.1 / 10.0
This factor is made out of two other factors: plot and characters. You already know what I think about both. The thing is, the plot damages the romance somewhat, since you know what’s going to happen. But what really gives this romance such a high score is due to the characters. Of course, there were times when I wanted to scream at Ran—there’s only so much angsting you can take—but all in all, you could understand them. It somehow turned this story from just another fluffy high school shoujo to a more down-to-earth, realistic love story. The feelings and the actions of the characters.

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As humiliating as it is to admit it, I actually cried to this. I sat at my computer at the crack of the dawn, even going as far as to hunting down the scanlation group and downloading the chapters that hadn’t been uploaded to Mangareader.net, just to finish it. And if that doesn’t convince you, just try it. And if you didn’t like it, too bad; you just missed out on enjoying one of the best shoujo out there you can find.

Overall Rating – 9.5 / 10.0

Credits for the scans: Shoujo Manga Maniac

Love So Life

Status: Ongoing

With a premise not too different from Aishiteruze Baby, we’re introduced to two adorable chibi twins whose father unceremoniously dumped his children to his workaholic younger brother. Said brother, a popular bishie TV announcer, doesn’t know how to act as Papa Bear take care of children at the age of 25, so he seeks the help of high school student and trained Mama Bear daycare worker Shiharu to babysit them.

Art – 8.8 / 10.0
The art is quite exquisite in this one. While the heroine is your average dish of shoujo cuteness, the male protagonist is drawn in a more josei-like way (unlike a lot of other manga, who prefer their males to look like they’re permanently stuck at sixteen regardless of their true age).

And the twins... it’s like sugar overload. They’re so cute I spend every chapter squealing over them. The scenery is drawn quite well, too—and I like the lack of glitter, sparkles and flowers in the panels that express moments between the couple. It’s expressed in a simple and quite natural way, thus coming off as far more realistic.

Plot/Concept – 7.0 / 10.0
I find the plot refreshing and sweet, though I wish they could stop enunciating how Shiharu is an orphan, how her dream is to run a daycare center, and how much she misses her mother in every single chapter. It’s also moving a bit slow; there’re a lot of fillers that don’t really serve any purpose to move the plot itself forward. You can also find a few plotholes that don’t really make sense, like why no guys in Shiharu’s class has made a move despite all of them seeming to crush on her, or why (SPOILER! Highlight to see) Shiharu’s childhood best friend didn’t give her any White Day presents despite having crushed on her for eight years. (END SPOILER)

Characters – 7.2 / 10.0
I love most characters in the story, but I really wish Shiharu was less of a Mary-Sue. She reminds me of a more polished, perfected version of Tohru in Fruits Basket; she’s popular, well-liked, unbelievably kind, good-looking, smart, obedient, responsible, brave, insert any other positive adjective you can think of here... it’s almost bordering on ridiculous. Seiji, the male, is also a bit of a Gary-Stu. While that makes both of the characters quite lovable, it also makes them come off as unrealistic.

Romance – 7.8 / 10.0
While I give it a definite plus for not being too fast, the story is moving ahead at a tremendously slow pace. If there at least was some other reason why it does so—like Sawako’s character development in Kimi ni Todoke—that would’ve been fine. But the mangaka seems perfectly content throwing in filler after filler serving no greater purpose than to show how flawless Shiharu is, how much she fits into their family, how much she loves her deceased mother and the twins. The few moments that brings the story forward are more-than-squeal-worthy, perhaps as an effect of all the dragging, but at least it keeps me reading. I like how the romance is kept realistic at least, even if it is at the cost of countless fillers. (But at least we get to see the super-moe twins, so whatever.)

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The story is the epitome of kawaii-ness, the kind that will leave a smile on any family manga fan’s face. Despite its raving reviews because of this, the lack of plot and character development leaves some threads hanging loosely in my appreciation of this series. I’ll definitely keep reading—I’m quite interested in how the romance will develop, and I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end—but for now, I remain to be swept off my feet by this manga.

(...And like with most shoujo manga, I’m completely confused by the title. What’s up with that ‘so’? Do they mean “love, so live”? Or “I love such a life”? The mysteries of this world of moe remain to be solved...)

Overall Rating – 7.8 / 10.0

Credits for scans: Which Scanlations

Magic Shoe Shop

Status: Finished

Meet Number 9, the humanoid robot servant for young lord Liffeti. The setting is in a steampunk-reminiscent world where science and magic coexist. Number 9 enters the shop of shoemaker Machika, who can make any kind of shoes, with a single wish—“I want shoes that can stop dreams, please.” And so the story begins.

I know what you’re probably thinking—Chobits, right? I guess it’s hard not to, considering how it is the manga about robot/human love. But Magic Shoe Shop really outdoes the genre, despite being only an oneshot, and within its fifty-or-so pages, you fall in love with both the story and characters alike before you know it. And believe you me, it’s as far from Chobits as it can get, so no worries about déjà-vus here.

Art – 9.0 / 10.0
It’s by the same mangaka who made Rockin’ Heaven, only minus all the purple hair (thank God). It also keeps the bubbliness and sparkles to a minimum, as it’s not so much a comedy as it is simply a love story. But the art is gorgeous, the bishie is realistically cute, and Number 9 is simply adorable.

Plot/Concept – 8.7 / 10.0
The plot is... well, special, to say the least. It wasn’t really what I expected, but I’m glad about what I got. It moves at a steady pace despite its short length, and the concept is really interesting.

Characters – 8.9 / 10.0
There were really only three of them—Number 9, Liffeti and Machika—but I really liked them, regardless. Number 9 is one of the most unique heroines I’ve seen up to date—in a normal manga, she’d most likely have passed off for a sidekick—and Liffeti is like one of the male leads you see in high school shoujo pre-angst-mode (i.e, as they’re usually depicted in the here’s-how-I-used-to-be-before-my-depressing-past storytelling that we all know). And Machika... well, he’s just plain awesomeness, really.

Romance – 8.5 / 10.0
Liffeti and Number 9 makes a refreshing combo with a smooth chemistry that leaves little space for drama but just enough to give the whole story a little doki-doki effect. The romance is surprisingly down-to-earth despite its fantasy genre. What I do find slightly annoying, though, is how everything clicks together so coincidentally and smoothly; almost a bit too smoothly. It gives the romance a bit of an unrealistic touch I’m not quite fond of.

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All in all, Magic Shoe Shop is really cute. If you’re looking for a light yet good read, this one won’t disappoint you. But the ‘wow’-factor isn’t high, so it’ll most likely not stick on your mind for long—but it’s always worth a reread in case you forget. I know for sure I won’t tire of the sweetness of this piece of eyecandy.

Overall Rating – 8.8 / 10.0

Credits for scans: Loyal Kiss