I'm not dead, I swear, and neither is this blog. I have some big plans for reviving things this year, after the long hiatus while I dealt with the loss of my database, and finally accepted that it will be ages before I get the desktop back online and its archive recovered, then my DB resynched. My lack of commentary lately was also caused by a lack of reading of late. I haven't lost my love of manga, of course, I just hadn't been able to buy much with the holidays and making the hard decision to focus more on paying down debt versus spoiling myself with manga. I also realized I was putting way too much pressure on myself by trying to get a new review/commentary type entry per week, so now I'm going for one per month. Most of the coming reviews will be a mix of older titles, and some of the newer stuff I started reading last year before my self-imposed manga hiatus.
Meanwhile, I've received my first new manga volumes for 2010! These are all Christmas gifts (I have an awesome best friend, eh) and include several titles I plan to review in the coming year.
- Kitchen Princess 7 & 10 (6, 8-9 backordered and will ship when back in stock) - I flipped through volume six of this ten volume series at Barnes and Noble random volume of this and read a huge plot spoiler that actually made me go "wow!". After glancing at the rest of the volume and seeing the cute artwork and getting the gist of the premise, I decided to start reading it. I have 1-5 already and am loving it; it is sweet and sad, and in some ways reminds me of Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. As soon as the other volumes get in, I'll be rereading the whole thing and reviewing it here!
- Magic Touch 3 (4 & 5 on backorder) - previewed this one in Shojo Beat before its unfortunately demise, and I liked the unusual set up for the romance and characters, and Chiaki is just too adorable! Looks like it is a 9 volume series in all, with the English release of vol 6 coming in February. From the release schedule, the last volumes should all come out this year, so I'll probably wait till then to review.
- Bleach 28-29 - still enjoying this series, as noted in my earlier review of volumes 1-25, which is still on-going in Japan and up to 42 volumes there. Unlike some other series *cough*Inuyasha*cough* it is still managing to maintain some freshness with the volumes I've read. We'll see if I say the same when we hit the mid 30s though
- We Were There 6-7 - though this is a shojo series, in some ways its as mature as Tramps Like Us in its focus on a serious train-wreck of a relationship between one seriously screwed up guy, and immature, insecure girl who finds herself having to grow up fast because of this relationship; I've been spoiled to most of the ending but still enjoying reading how things get to that point. It is actually at 13 volumes in Japan and apparently still on-going, so will be curious to see how they take it from the point I know of. Planning to review the first seven volumes this year.
- Ouran High School Host Club 13 - bulk bought most of this in February 09 because it is seriously hilarious, while also being touching and sweet. Its still on-going in Japan with 15 volumes out so far, so will likely review after reading 13.
- Hot Gimmick Big Edition 3 - interestingly, I never had any interest in the series before, but after reading a bit of it, I got hooked. Ryoki and Azusa, the leading males are just so screwed up! Since Viz is doing the Big Editions, I decided to buy it that way, making it my first manga series I've bought in this format. The final volume, 4, will be out in March, covering the 12 original volumes. May also pick up the novelization, which goes for an apparent fan favorite ending :-D
So those are the new additions to my bulging bookcases! What about anime? None yet, but I suspect it will be Romeo x Juliet having enjoyed watching it on Funimation.com already and quite liking it.
