Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun or Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun…

Here’s a scene: Chiyo Sakura, a high school student, is in love with this guy in school, Umetaro Nozaki. So, what’s a girl to do when she has such strong feelings that can’t be contained anymore? She gathers up enough courage to confess her feelings and hope for the best, right? The outcome of that plan however, wasn’t what she expected. She receives an autograph from him instead.

It’s not often that a girl’s confession gets mistaken for admiration but that’s exactly what happened to her for he was also a renowned shoujo manga artist. It would seem that despite being an expert in producing love themed works, Nozaki is completely oblivious to Chiyo’s feelings for him. So, she took the next logical step. She became his assistant.

And so, that is how this anime’s romantic comedy began. Luckily for Chiyo, she actually has the artistic skills to back it up. With the available opportunities to be close to him  as an assistant, she hopes that one day she would be able to get her feelings through to him. For her sake, I sure hope that’s true. Her cheerful and friendly disposition may not be enough to draw his attention.

Umetaro is always thinking about his work. What his characters will be modeled after or how best to draw a romantic scene involving a bicycle. He gets Chiyo involved in this research process much to her pleasure but she almost always finds herself in odd situations that could hardly be called romantic. Umetaro never smiles but Chiyo knows that behind that expressionless face lies a sensitive soul. There are other side characters that play a role in this anime. Each one of them bringing in a different comedy aspect to the story. Episode 2 introduced two more characters and it is by far the most hilarious I’ve seen so far.

This series also has a serialized manga, which was first published in Gangan Online back in August 2011. It has since been listed no. 3 as one of the top mangas recommended by bookstores and ranked no. 11 in 2014 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi’s list of top 20 manga for female readers. If that doesn’t impress you, there’s also a drama cd released in June 2013 by Frontier Works.

 

Love Stage!!

Oh, my. It’s already summer! Have you guys taken a look at the list of summer released animes yet? If you haven’t, be sure to check it out! There are lots of fantastic ones to watch and my list just keeps on growing, lol. Here’s a website that lists them(AniChart.net). What I like about this website is that they also list the count down for the next episode’s release. I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty useful for me. Out of all the ones I’m going to watch, I’m choosing to write about Love Stage!! in today’s post.

If yaoi is not your thing, then read no further. But if it is, then, by all means continue! From the moment I read the description for Love Stage!!, I knew I was going to like it. There hasn’t been any good ones (not in my opinion at least) since Junjou Romantica or Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi until now. Izumi Sena comes from a show business family. His father was a musical actor turned singer and currently the President of their family entertainment agency, Sena Productions. His mother is a model turned actress and his older brother is the lead vocalist for a rock band. As for Izumi? He chooses to be an otaku instead and aspires to be a manga artist some day…if only he could draw.

Life seems like an endless circle of reading manga, working on his drafts and returning to a bedroom full of LaLaLuLu merchandise. But one day, his family’s manager at Sena Productions, who happens to be a close family friend as well, announced that the family was to do a commercial shoot with the same sponsor they did it with 10 years ago. It had to be done with the same cast to commemorate their 10th year business anniversary. Izumi was not in the least bit excited about this shoot because for him, acting back then was a very traumatic experience. He was dressed up to look like a little girl and he was a bundle of nerves. He was pretty much set on refusing until his older brother bribed him with an alarm clock that had a LaLaLuLu wake up call. How hard could it be? It would just be like cosplaying! But this was just the beginning of his new life in show business…

It’s in this shoot, he reunites with his co-star back then, Ryouma Ichijo. It was actually Ryouma that had helped calm Izumi’s nerves in the past by lending him his treasured marble. According to him, if he wished upon the marble to be calm, it would happen. And for the second time 10 years later, it worked like a charm once again. Unbeknownst to Izumi, Ryouma had looked upon this marble thinking of him every time because it matched the color of his eyes and had fallen in love with him believing that he was a girl! The oblivious Izumi continued with the shoot until they came upon the last scene…the kissing scene! (>.<) squeee!

What did I tell you? This is the perfect start to a perfect yaoi romance, right? What I love about this anime is that both guys are seemingly straight but the attraction between them was so strong and undeniable that it was futile to resist. With Izumi’s feminine build and looks, it was hard for Ryouma to put a stop to his 10 years long crush. And Izumi couldn’t really withstand Ryouma’s gentlemanly persistence for very long.

This anime, which began airing in July this year, is actually an adaptation of the manga series written by Eiki Eiki and illustrated by Taishi Zao. The manga was serialized in the issue  of Kadokawa Shoten’s Asuka Ciei magazine back in July 2010. So, if you’re impatient like I am to find out what happens right after the first anime episode, you can read the manga version of it. There’s a slight variation to the story but nothing that would impact the main story plot. Also, there’s a light spin-off romance story between Rei Sagara, the manager and Shougo Sena, the older brother if you’re interested. The short manga/ novel is called Back Stage!!, has about three volumes and is still ongoing. Although, it seems more like just three chapters. You can pretty much see glimpses of their romance in Love Stage!! as well.

So, if I were you, I’d add this to the list of animes to follow and watch it with much anticipation as both Izumi and Ryouma struggle with their love and sexuality for each other! ❤

Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary)

I’m a little hesitant about writing this review because I get a lot of mixed feelings about the anime and often times I like to write reviews on the ones I like and would recommend. So, if you’re reading this, just keep it in mind that it’s entirely up to you to watch it and decide for yourself.

With that said, Kyoukai no Kanata is an interesting anime. Written by Nagomu Torii and illustrated by Tomoyo Kamoi, this manga won in the Kyoto Animation Award competition in 2011, had its 3 volume manga published last year and just finished airing the anime  recently in December this year.  To sum it up briefly, it’s a supernatural action anime with a hint of comedy and romance in it. But of course, that’s not enough to tell you much about it and why I got such mixed feelings.

To start with, I find the main female protagonist, Mirai Kuriyama, to be the most interesting of all the characters. Don’t let her innocent look with glasses fool you. This girl has the ability to manipulate her blood into a weapon (kinda like the characters in Deadman Wonderland. If you haven’t seen that anime, that’s another good one to watch.) Mirai is a Spirit World Warrior, one who fights youmu (I could have sworn it was called youma in the anime. Translates to Dreamshade I believe). When the youmu is dead, it leaves behind a crystal rock, which the warrior can trade for money. And yes, there are other warriors like her and no, the regular folks don’t know about them.

The thing about Mirai’s ability is that her blood manipulation ability is seen as a threat and feared by many. In fact, a tragic incident from her childhood due to her ability traumatized her greatly and she has been feeling guilty over it ever since.

Next comes the male protagonist, Akihito Kanbara, the half human half youmu. He has a cheerful disposition, a twisted perversion for girls wearing glasses (you can see where this is going) and he is also an immortal. So, for example, even after Mirai stabs him with her blood sword many times in her attempt to kill him, purely for practice she claims, he doesn’t die. He still feels the pain and despite her fatal attempts, he forgives her just because she was a ‘bespectacled beauty’ and persuades her to join his literary club. He also helps her out in fighting other youmus and buys her meals. What a guy.

There are other characters that are in their lives and play a certain amount of role with each displaying certain warrior abilities, but I’ll skip that cause that’s not really important to me. Now, the interesting thing about this anime is the world they live in, what with the fights and youmus involved, and the story behind Mirai’s abilty and Akihito’s youmu powers.

The youmus are non-aggressive by nature but recently something has changed and they have been attacking the warriors with more persistence. This has something to do with Beyond the Boundaries phenomenon that is approaching and that the warriors fear about. Mirai’s ability, although looked upon as a treat, is also a rare gift that could give the warriors a fighting chance against this phenomenon. Akihito’s half youmu side, happens to be related to this strange phenomenon and that’s why his ‘warrior friends’ aren’t just close to him because they like him, but because he has to be monitored.

Interesting so far, right? Now, the thing that gets to me is, how the anime ended. I don’t want to go into all the details cause that would just be a spoiler, but all in all, the ending was ‘satisfactory’ but also confusing. If you’re okay with that, then you’re good. But I’ve heard from people how they hated it and wanted to know the hows and whys of it. To be honest, me too. I haven’t read the manga to determine if they actually explain some of the stuff that happened, but if after reading it and I am left even more clueless, I would just shrug it off and accept it as just the way it is. ^_^

Ultimately, I liked this anime, I guess. There are some moments of laughter, some drama and there’s a fun episode with a dance and singing sequence that people would like. The animation is so kawai, colorful and cool fighting scenes too. Try it and see if you like this anime.

Gingitsune or Silver Fox…

Have you ever wondered about shrine maidens and what sort of importance do they have in Japanese culture? Shrine maidens or miko if you will, are supplementary priestess that are trained to perform shrine rituals such as cleansing and sacred dances. Well, in this anime, it seemed to suggest that this particular shrine maiden has a special gift. Makoto Saeki, successor of the Saeki Inari shrine, has the sight to see the shrine’s herald it houses. Can you guess what is the herald at the shrine? Yep, it’s a silver fox called Gintaro.

It appears that every shrine has a pair of heralds. Makoto’s shrine houses the silver fox whereas other shrines may house a different herald such as a lion-dogs, turtle, monkeys. But it’s almost always a pair. Why? Unfortunately, this anime doesn’t really explain it, so I can only guess that the story behind that would eventually be revealed. Gintaro’s other partner had disappeared a long time ago leaving behind the shrine. The why and repercussions of that absence is beyond me. You may think, what in the world is this anime all about then? Well, it doesn’t entirely focus on the heralds unfortunately. Its main focus appears to be on the slice of life of the people with this gift of Sight.

Makoto isn’t the only one with the sight, although it is a rare and important gift. In a family, only one may inherit the sight. When that person dies, the gift is passed along to the next successor and it could skip a generation too. Besides Makoto, one other character that holds this gift is Satoru Kamio, a boy who came from the Kamio Shrine. His shrine happens to hold silver fox heralds as well. And one particular herald sticks to him and is a “young” one of 80 years old. Heralds live to over thousands of years if not longer. As I have mentioned earlier, this anime seem to be focusing more on the the life surrounding the characters with the gift of Sight. Although Makoto and Satoru share the same kind of gift, their life and upbringing were totally different. Makoto’s life was filled with love and laughter surrounded by friends and a father who dotes on her. For Satoru however, his parents died leaving him behind with his relatives who mistreat him. As a result, he adopts a quiet and anti-social personality. Out of desperation however, he one day chose to leave his family shrine to come live with Makoto’s family. Makoto befriends him and soon, he experiences life like never before.

Although this anime is kind of bland for me, but I couldn’t help but continue watching it just to see how their life unfold. The heralds don’t really have any big role other than being a messenger between the people that worships the God it serves. Gintaro seems to be the only one with some sort of power and that power is of divination. Grouchy but patient with Makoto, it lives day to day just lazing about on roof of the shrine.

The manga created by Sayori Ochiai, first published back in March 2008 in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump magazine and later serialized into a full manga in 2009. It is still ongoing at volume 10. Even though the anime ended after 12 episodes, I still have high hopes that it would continue on to a second season. There are still some questions left unanswered after all…

“No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular”…

…or in its Japanese title, “Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!” or just WataMote for short. Here’s an anime featuring a girl attempting to become popular and maybe get a boyfriend along the way but does not quite succeed. Or does she?

Tomoko Kuroki decides it’s time to change her social status before it’s too late. High school year is approaching and she doesn’t want to be the unsociable loner that everybody seems to think she is. (Actually , she is). Everybody is just too blind or ignorant to see what a ‘popular’ person she is. (Actually, she’s the blind and ignorant one). 

In each episode, she takes certain measures. This is when it will dawn on viewers that there’s probably not going to be a happy ending for this kid. God help her. Not to be mean, it’s just so hilarious to watch. She gets A+ for staying positive, having high self-esteem and the courage to better herself.

The sad thing is, she really could do it…if she didn’t take it too overboard or misses the important points. For example, puckering your lips with alluring eyes doesn’t mean looking like something the cat dragged in…Also, take the weird behavior out of the equation would do nicely. But she doesn’t have a clue much to her brother’s bewilderment.

Her mother worries over her daughter’s strange behavior but pretty much leaves her alone instead of giving much needed advice. Her younger brother, Tomoki, is often embarrassed by her strange ideas of improving herself and just doesn’t want anything to do with her. However, he finds himself witnessing her attempts whether he wants to or not and feeling a little sorry for her.

This anime is still ongoing at episode 6 and so is the manga, written by Nico Tanigawa. Not only should one watch this anime because of its hilarious main character, but one should also watch this anime because of how it relates to all of us in some way.

Summer Anime to watch?

It’s been a while since I’ve watched any anime…shocking. I’m amazed that I managed to stay away for so long. But I’m probably going to renew my anime obsession now that the summer anime is in.

Of all the anime I checked out, these are the three anime I’m thinking of following.

1. Blood Lad (Trailer)

I couldn’t help but be pulled in by this one. A vampire that has no interest in biting a human? Is a fan of all things Japanese? Just so happens to be the leader of a demon territory despite his young and sloppy appearance. Thrilled to finally meet a human that somehow strayed into the demon world. Human girl gets killed and becomes a ghost. Vampire loses interest but is determined to bring her back to life again so that she, once again as human (if that’s even possible), can fulfill his long time fantasy of befriending (?) a human. For now, her bones will have a place on his gaming console (…).

Hilarious. Supernatural. Has a hint of romance and adventure. What’s not to love?

2. Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun 2 (Trailer)

I should have realized that this was a second season and not jump right in on the first episode. A lot of things didn’t really make a lot of sense to me. But I will rectify that shortly until the 2nd episode is released. So far, I like the premise of having a group of guys that have a certain bond and have hidden ‘demonic’ powers they could tap into to fight demons. The youngest character albeit a little immature, seems to be the most interesting. I guess it’s because I have yet to see what he is capable of. I can’t really say much about this first episode as I did not watch the 1st season to be able to connect the dots but the story seems interesting enough.

3. Uchouten Kazoku (Trailer)

Yet another supernatural anime. I think you’re beginning to see a trend here, right? Lol. This time this anime is about a shape-shifting tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) and his relationship with the crow tengus (goblin but in this case “heaven dog”) and a psychic human that can fly. The tanuki or Shimogamo Yasaburou as he is commonly known in the demon world, is a mischievious character. He loves to shape-shift and mimic humans. But interestingly enough, he loves to shape-shift into a human girl. lol. This is where the humor comes up I suppose. But a part of this anime seems to hint on a bit of drama involving the other characters, which I’m sure they will later reveal. How is it possible that she can fly when she’s human? What sort of relationship exist between the old bird and the human girl? Does Shimogamo play a bigger role in this whole anime? I sure hope as the story progresses, it does not fail to answer my questions…

Latest anime spring release: Suisei No Gargantia!

Amy, Red and Chamber.

Suisei No Gargantia or Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is without a doubt the best mecha anime I’ve ever seen in a long time. Not since Evangelion and Eureka Seven. Its vibrant colors, smooth animation and the interesting albeit predictable story plot had me craving for the third episode already.

The story begins with a space battle between a plant-like alien species called the Hideauze and the Galactic Alliance of Humankind set in the distant future. Just when the humans thought they had the upper hand, the enemy regenerates and they were forced to flee.

Piloting one of the space battle machines was 16 year old Ensign Ledo (or actually his name kinda sounds like Red but pronounced as Ledo). As ‘Red’ enters the wormhole with his retreating fleet, he was attacked by one of the flying aliens causing him to be thrown off course and losing consciousness. When he came to, 6 months have gone by while he was in cold sleep. The world he crash landed into was filled with water with no land in sight. The humans on this planet lived on fleets of ships, diving to the bottom of the ocean to salvage the remains of past civilization for valuables to trade and surviving pirates that seek to steal from the weak. This, his AI unit revealed, is planet Earth, the birth-place of humanity that his people believed to be a myth.

At this point, my brain was shouting Waterworld, the movie that Kevin Costner was starring in. The one where Earth has been enveloped by the oceans and how humanity have gone on survival mode where the fittest survived and piracy ensues. Despite the similarities though, I was so impressed by this future kid with the vivid purple eyes and what his AI unit, Chamber could do, that I soon pushed aside any thoughts of comparing the two. Besides, this is about Red trying to coexist with the primitive humans of planet Earth while he searches for a way to contact his missing Gargantia fleet.

Battle hardened Red appears to be more mature than his age implies. But I suppose any sort of war does that to a person especially for one that was trained from an early age. In this future, chances of visiting their home planet is rare and only awarded to the worthiest of fighters. And while fighting in space, a person has no control over his own sleep patterns (this is only my assumption though judging from the episode I just saw). His AI unit has the capability to induce sleep on its human pilot and awaken them when it’s time for battle.

The first human that Red makes contact with is Amy. Due to the unprecedented language barrier, Red was forced to take her hostage while buying some time for Chamber to process the language. Amy’s curious mind and friendly manner allowed her to overlook the incident and to communicate with Red with Chamber being the translator.

The plot so far is predictable. But it’s a plot that’s likeable nevertheless. Battle scenes involving Chamber is awe-inspiring. Graphic detail in this animation is imaginative and colorful right from the turqoise green of the oceans up to the infinite space above. There has yet to be any character development to determine the dynamics between the female and male protagonist, but I get the feeling that it’s still going to be awesome.

Produced by Producation I.G. that brought Patlabor and the infamous Ghost in the Shell series and directed by Kazuya Murata that has worked on anime like Code Geass, Eureka Seven and Mobile Suit Gundam, you definitely don’t want to miss this latest spring release!

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (The Monster seated next to me)…

Just a few days ago, I blogged about Suki-tte Ii No Yo the anime that was based on the manga version released in Dessert magazine by Kodansha, Japan. Another recent release also released in this magazine was Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun or in English, The Monster seated next to me. Unlike the other anime, this one doesn’t make you cry. It makes you ponder and laugh over the most ridiculous moments. And instead of a pet cat hanging around the characters, you have…a rooster. Pfft!

The anime starts with Shizuku Mizutani running an errand for her teacher. She was supposed to pass class notes to this boy that never shows up in class. Having never seen him before despite the fact that his assigned seat is right next to her, she was somewhat surprised to discover Haru was quite the rebel. As soon as he found out she was looking for him, he proceeded to jump out of the window to escape. A little disturbed, but accepting of the fact that he doesn’t want to be found, she hands the notes over to somebody else and leaves.

What Shizuku doesn’t realize was that wasn’t the end of Haru. For some reason or other, Haru found Shizuku’s efforts to be touching and after a few brief and odd encounters, he decided that he was in love with her and voluntarily started coming to school. And much to her dismay, she finds herself sucked in by that confession and starts wondering if she was in love with him as well.

This anime as you can imagine, is a romantic comedy. Shizuku only cared about studying and getting no. 1. Having friends or caring about anything else was only a distraction. Unfortunately for her, Haru’s decision to come back to school and staring at her in class puts a kink to her plans. What aggravated her even more was that Haru was actually a genius. If it wasn’t for the fact that he hasn’t been showing up in school, he would have beaten her to the no.1 spot! But despite all that, her confusion over her feelings for Haru made her change a little and accept not only him into her private bubble but others as well.

Haru is what makes this anime so funny yet endearing. He reacts violently when there’s trouble. He tries to be friendly but his glares only intimidates everyone around him. He finds a rooster and proceeded to adopt it, carrying it around with him and talking to it. Jumping out of the windows or doing anything ridiculous became a common occurrence to the point that his classmates have accepted it.

SPOILER: As for his love confession to Shizuku, that’s a bit of a puzzle. He says that he loves her. And at some point, Shizuku reciprocates but he then tells her that his love for her wasn’t the same as hers. Huh?! You can see why this vague reply bothers Shizuku who doesn’t like distractions. After a while, Shizuku made a decision not to be in love with Haru anymore but Haru again does the unexpected and confesses to her again. This goes on for quite a bit and even till now at episode 7, one isn’t sure if they would actually get to be together officially.

But that’s not what this anime is all about. Sure, their interesting love for each other is one of the key attraction. However, there’s the other aspects of how both of them change their attitudes and opinions about life and relationship with others and coping with past issues that carries the story. The side characters each play an important role towards Shizuku’s and Haru’s character development. Most romance anime can be predictable, but  with Shizuku who is mature and serious and Haru who is just crazy and unpredictable, you get the feeling that there’s going to be a different sort of ending to their relationship. Still, I’m going to root for them and hope for the predictable. ^_^

There are 10 volumes of the manga written by Robico back in 2008 and the anime is currently ongoing with episode 8 coming up.

Suki-tte Ii No Yo (Say I love you)…

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good high school romance after Kimi Ni Todoke. The story plot that always gets to me is always how a socially awkward girl gets the attention of the most popular guy in school. How can two people so completely different from each other in their behaviors fall in love? For the guy he has been so used to girls flocking around him and for the girl to have even one guy paying attention to her seemed almost a miracle. That’s the beauty of this anime, the coming together of polar opposites. As the couple explore their love for each other, one can be reminded of how their first love was like when they were at that age. Were we like that too?

This anime is based on a 9 volume manga that came out in 2008 in a japanese magazine called Dessert (one of the episodes makes a reference to the magazine)by Kanae Hazuki. Guess what I’m going to be reading after this ;D lol Anyways, the female protagonist, Mei Tachibana goes through school without having any friends. After a horrible experience in kindergarten, she believed that friends are not needed since they basically betray each other and hurt you whenever it’s convenient for them. Her habit of ignoring and pushing people away led to people bullying her and laughing behind her back. One day, a kicking encounter with the most popular guy in school ended up with a surprising outcome. The kick she gave him had gone straight to his heart.

Yamato Kurosawa has loads of friends. More girls than guys due to his good looks. When Yamato fails to impress on Mei, he couldn’t help but take notice of her. While trying to apologize to her on behalf of his friend for flipping her skirt, he got in return her animosity. The more she pushed him away, the more he wanted to get to know her. Not giving up, he gives her his phone number, hoping that she would call him. When it seemed as if she’d never call him, one day he got a distressed call from her saying that she was being stalked. He goes to her aid and protects her by kissing her!

Confused and angry at how easy it was for Yamato to just kiss her even if it was to protect her, she tries to distance herself from him. A first kiss for a girl is a big deal and being kissed by him had her thinking thoughts she shouldn’t indulge in. How could the most popular guy in school possibly be romantically interested in her? Somehow, she couldn’t help but hope that it could be true. An outburst from her concerning his casualness over the kiss, had him showing her his sincere intentions with more kisses…

Each episodes presents a dilemma in their relationship that most people can relate to from their first relationship with the person they love. The awkwardness, the brink of discovered intimacy and the trust that one forms for each other after overcoming certain obstacles. The characters are beautifully drawn and graceful. The calm and peaceful scenes is reminiscent of the anime Kimi ni Todoke. Even the opening song to the anime brings a sense of nostalgia. I highly recommend this anime simply because of how well done it is. And also because there are cats. ;3 It’s currently ongoing and episode 8 will be showing soon. The only problem I have with this anime is that it leaves out some of the side character’s stories that is in the manga. I think if they had included it in, all of the characters would have been appreciated better.

Werewolf bodyguards…Jiu Jiu!

Anybody remember Guru Guru Pon-Chan? The female dog that fell in love with a human, wished she could be human, actually succeeds in becoming one by kissing a magical bone? Well, if you liked that story like I did, you should try Jiu Jiu. I’m still not entirely sure what jiu  jiu actually means but I’m guessing it has got something to do with being a bodyguard.

Takamichi is the heir to the clan of hunters that hunt evil monsters. Her older brother who was the original heir died protecting her and because of that trauma, Takamichi shuts out everybody from her life. The less emotional attachments she has with people the better. But things started to change along the way when her father decided to entrust her with two half human half wolf pups. Being the cute pups they were, Snow and Night managed to wiggle their cute furry butts into Takamichi’s heart. After just three years, they grew up to be two strapping handsome men willing to die protecting her from any harm.

At first Takamichi finds their clinging and over-protective ways to be annoying and often puts them at arms length…or tries to. Almost every morning, Night and Snow manage to escape their cages to snuggle up with her in bed…naked. But after a near encounter of possibly losing them, she began to realize that she was just as lonely and dependent on them as they were on her. From that moment on, she decided to be open with her feelings and slowly rely on them to protect her.

The relationship between Takamichi and her werewolf boys isn’t entirely clear. At the moment if feels like it’s more of a master and subordinate relationship but it was hinted from the first volume that it could develop into something more and quite possibly a love triangle too judging from the two good looking male protagonists and their constant bickering on who deserves to protect her more and jealousies that abound from her paying too much attention towards one or the other.

The art is beautifully drawn and I especially liked the way the artist drew them as pups. So kawai! But they look gorgeous as fully grown men too. Ooh! Story wise, nothing has developed beyond their master-subordinate relationship, but that might change in the future volumes to come. A light drama-comedy read with a hint of romance. Who do you think she will fall for? Would it be both of them or neither? Snow or Night? I’m partial to Night since he comes off as the quiet and serious type. Snow is more cheerful and playful. Since Takamichi is the melancholic type, would she have more things in common with Night or would she naturally seek her complete opposite that might make her feel whole?

Published and translated by Viz Manga, Jiu Jiu is created by Touya Tobina (Other works: Sarashi Asobi and Clean-Freak Fully-Equipped). Currently, volume 1 & 2 is out. Volume 3 will be out in January 2013.