[*Whatever By The Books*]

M to N no Shouzou stands completed at six volumes, but doesn’t seem very popular — it’s not licensed in English, and there are no groups consistently scanlating it. The mangaka of this quirky series is none other than Tachibana Higuchi-sensei, the one who got me into scanlating (Gakuen Alice) in the first place, almost two years ago now.

Gee, talk about feeling old. XD Like Gakuen Alice, M to N is published by Hakusensha, serialised in Hana to Yume. Why on earth is M to N quirky? Definitely because of the characters, who more-or-less embody the term ’strange loves’. Just look at the title. M is for masochist, N is for narcissist. The two characters have problems in their past that resulted in their current out-of-control state when hit by some stimuli. It’s a comical effect, yet Higuchi-sensei’s portrayal is sensitive enough that you not only laugh at, but also empathise with the characters.

The art style in M to N is purely Higuchi-sensei; but possibly because this is an older manga (drawn eight years ago, in 2000), I find the quality can be slightly inconsistent. That said, I’m biased and love the art in Gakuen Alice, which just seems to get better and better. :P

Higuchi-sensei takes the chance to let her darker side free in this manga — compared to Gakuen Alice, characters are much older and, well…weirder. At heart, though, it is still a great shoujo romance. JE Scanlations will be releasing chapter 8 in about five minutes’ time. Go have a look if you’d like. ;)

Today, instead of an anime review, I bring you a manga kinda-preview. I’ve seen only four chapters so it’s really more of a preview than a review. Oh, you wanna see the chapters too? Hop on to JE Scanlations What, you want an anime too?! Geez, so demanding! Wait a month or so, it’s screening in January.

Characters: Characters can still be pretty 3D, despite the overall silliness of this manga. There are touching points, there are two-faced characters. (Not like Ami-chan, though.) There are also some random 2D bitches who sit around being jealous. We don’t care about those. XD It’s too early for any serious backstory, though.

Kanako reminds me a little of Gakuen Alice’s Mikan; maybe it’s the way she’s a survivor, and frank. But the similarities probably end there. For one, Kanako is tall. :D (Jk, that’s not a point.) I’d be very interested in seeing where Maria’s character is taken; why did he crossdress? What is his relationship with ChocoCoronet (read chap 4 to understand this reference)?

Art: Art is very nice. I like the mangaka’s style; it’s polished and pretty, and the characters are able to display a wide range of emotions. (Maria is always so cute~~) I’m a bit scared of her chibi, though, but not as scared as I was by the SD in Skip Beat anime. XD

Scanlation stuff: Editing difficulty: middling. Some sfx were a PitA to wipe (Necroseer knows this XD), but it’s still easier than GA, I reckon. Less text. Readable text. (Easy to translate!) But long chapter 4. Booooo.

Plot: Girl meets boy…in girls’ school? Girl falls in love with boy…boy threatens her oblivion if she reveals his identity. Hmm. Not quite your usual Mills and Boons, or schoolyard romance at that. While not quite Ryuuji and Taiga either (here there’s at least some tension from Kanako, and it’s not like they’re pursuing other people), I’m not sure whether the complications in this one are complex enough. Did that make sense? Doubtful. XDAh well. We’ll have to see how it goes.

In chapter one to four, Kanako has transferred into Ame no Kisaki high school (second year); just a year below her, Maria has recently graduated to high school as well. Kanako catches Maria undressed, and finds out his secret; Maria pulls strings to dorm in the same room as Kanako, ostensibly to ’supervise’ her (so she doesn’t reveal his secret). Meanwhile, Kanako’s association with village hottie (I mean, yuri fantasy) Ishima Ryuuken-sama gets the other girls in the school jealous…..Click on continue for a whole rant about Kanako’s Man Allergy. Continue Reading »

Hmm. As December draws nearer, the end of the Spring 2008 season approaches. And in January, we get new anime~ An afternoon of research brings you this rather long post where I shall try to intro the anime lined up for the start of the new year. Brace yerselves! Sources include both Fansubwiki’s page and MyAnimeList .

Which anime will you be keeping an eye out for?

* KOUHAKU NO REGIOS * Scifi/Fantasy
I like the art for this one, and it’s another fantasy anime, this time with beasties that have been contaminated by pollution. (A green anime? XD) These beasties have forced humans to live in self-contained mobile cities known as Regios, and KnR is about Reifon Aruseifu in a Regios known as Czerni.. And you know what, I just noticed how similar ‘Regios’ is to ‘Regions’…I wonder whether that was their starting point. Official site
Starts airing: 10/1/09
Watch/blog: Yes / Yes

* HETALIA AXIS POWERS * Historical Fantastic Comedy
I couldn’t believe Danny when he told me this was being made into an anime…especially since the source material was doujin. The picture is from a scanlation on the awesome LJ comm, by the way. Visit if you want to find out more. It’s an adorably funny manga about countries being personified. XD (And maybe yaoi!) I don’t know anything about History or I reckon it’d be funnier…sigh! Official site
Starts airing: 24/1/09
Watch/blog: Yes / Yes

* GENJI MONOGATARI SENNENKI *Historical Shoujo
Genji! Yes! -resists urge to fangirl- Ahem. This actually looks pretty interesting — based on Genji Monogatari, the story of a great Japanese seducer. I was about to compare him to Casanova, but I thought that would be unfair. But yeah, definitely think this might be an interesting watch, if it doesn’t get overly historical. XD Official site
Starts airing: ?/1/09
Watch/blog: Yes / Yes

* KUROKAMI: THE ANIMATION * ??
A Sunrise production! Must watch. Based on a Korean Seinen manga, if I’m not wrong. (Lim Dall-Young and Park Sung-woo?) About a game programmer (Keita) who gets caught in a battle between two mighty beings (I think), one of which is Kuro. Daisuke Namikawa, who is also a voice in another Winter ‘08/’09 anime (Ita-chan in Axis Powers Hetalia~), by the way, is the Seiyuu for Keita.Official site
Starts airing: ?/1/09
Watch/blog: Yes / Yes

* MARIA†HOLIC * Romantic Comedy
The lead character in MariaHolic (Kanako) enrols in an all-girls school to find her yuri partner since she has a touch of androphobia, but ends up with more than she bargained for, because the girl she picks (Mariya)…is actually a boy? And a sadist, to boot? Sounds interesting. :D This is NOT Marimite, by the way. That one’s below. Official site
Starts airing: ?/1/09 (Preview 12/30)
Watch/blog: Yes / Yes

* SORA WO KAKERU SHOUJO* Adventure
The sky..pieces..girl..wha? Another Sunrise project (aside from Kurokami) My Japanese is actually pretty lousy cos the title actually says something about a girl who leaps through space. XD Not to be confused with the Girl Who Leapt Through Time, though the name -is- a nod to that classic. Set in year 311 of the Orbital Calendar, it is a time of space stuffs and space colonies. Akiha Shishidou, one of the colonists, encounters a big bad AI called Leopard.. Official site
Starts airing: ?/1/09
Watch/blog: Yes / Yes

Click on ‘more’ for the rest of the 16 series. Or visit the picture gallery to see the pictures that I put up on this post.

Continue Reading »