Tag: Manga

What’s up? – Mar 2019 edition

What’s up? – Mar 2019 edition

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Damn, it’s been three months already but it still feels weird to be writing “2019” as the year.

March 2019 happens to be a month with 5 Saturdays, so it’s time for a full personal post. One of my dearest readers asked me to elaborate on my observation on influence of peers vs. parents on us and I think I’ll start from there.

It’s actually nothing much and it’s not an absolute conclusion since sample size is very small. Just that, according to yours truly, we tend to listen more to people whom we identify more with. In case of family, it might be siblings more than parents (as happens in my family), in case of friends, it might be 2 years senior more than 10 years senior.

I hadn’t really thought about it much initially, since people tend to tell me time and again how I behave like a parent in general (can’t help it, I have grown up with a lot of kids younger than me apart from my own younger sibling). But the incident 3 weeks back compelled me to look at it from a different perspective and I realized, people do listen to me, they just happen to be my immediate juniors.

Perhaps, because they think that I have gone through/ am going through similar situations as them. More junior people have their immediate seniors to identify with and guide them, I shouldn’t have meddled too much since the beginning. Without going in further details though, I think I learnt an important life lesson.

In other news, I got to talk to founder of a company in anime space 2 weeks back and it was an absolutely delightful experience. Although I consume so much east Asian media, I don’t really get to interact with people from that space (regretfully) apart from fellow watchers of course .

Finally, as an user of a small platform, I got to give my feedback to them about their website and anime in general, so it was great. And I could finally rant that slice of life is so underappreciated as a genre that anime like My Roommate is a Cat would never rank in top 10 for seasonal rankings.

I also got to talk a bit about the piracy issues in India. Trust me people, Indians are ready to buy manga and anime, it’s just out of reach for them right now. It’s obviously easier to buy figurines directly from Japan because no translation or anything is required and there is no margin involved for Indian merchants. Just a small shipping fee and you’re done.

Manga and light novels on the other hand, need to be translated. I don’t really know if English versions are sourced from US or somewhere else, but the prices in India obviously include the transportation costs and profit margins for an Indian seller apart from its original cost. Hence, they seem a bit overpriced to us in general.

I have seen a rise in people actually buying manga. But since they’re so readily available online, and translated to latest chapters even, vs. translated manga volumes being at least 2 volumes behind the Japanese version, people obviously prefer reading them online.

With this, I was doing some calculations and realized, following anime and manga, legally, is a pretty expensive hobby, especially in a country like India. For different series, you gotta subscribe to different services: Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu etc. And then to buy merchandise is another big expense. Thank God for public libraries in US which have some stock of manga at least, if not everything.

I guess March has been a month for many realizations for me. Hmm…. I should write all these down some where.

The last thing to say today is, I started Doctor Prisoner and OMG, I am so hooked. Although I have been hyping the series up for all my k-drama watching friends, I just hope it stays on the course it is now and doesn’t disappoint like other k-dramas which started out strong but went downhill really fast.

Anyway guys, have a happy weekend and hope people in northern hemisphere are enjoying the spring. Bidding goodbye to March….

Edit: Ugh, I was trying to close my post at such a good note. Anyway, was scheduling it for tomorrow but it got published right away for some reason. Enjoy the post one day early. XD

Today’s song: Taeyeon released a new song and although I loved it and MV is super pretty, I couldn’t really listen to it more than 4 times in a loop. But still:

My 2016 In Review

My 2016 In Review

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Oops! I realise I have taken too long a break! In the meantime, I have accumulated so much to write about. And I am finally a bit free, like comparably. My semester exams are over and I finally have some time to myself. Not that I wasn’t watching anime or k-dramas before.

Anime updates: For fall anime, as usual, I started with a bunch, dropped quite a few. And hence, I am again remaining withslice of life or sports anime with me: Natsume Yuujinchou, 3-gatsu no lion, Yuri on ice, Haikyuu, Days etc. Haikyuu finished quite early, only 10 episodes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Days was summer anime, I think. Although many people have been disappointed with the anime, I liked it nonetheless. Yuri on ice is a different one, enjoyable though. Natsume, as usual is the best! I will miss Natsume TT_TT

K-drama updates: I watched quite a few k-dramas this year: DOTS, The K2, W (I loved W by the way. Recommended to a friend as his first k-drama and he fell for the plot as well!! Brought another person to this world, yes!). This time I have picked up Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo and Goblin. I feel Kim Bok Joo is better than Legend of Blue Sea, it might be my personal preference though. Initial episodes of Legend of Blue Sea were hilarious, but I can’t see where the drama is going now. Whereas, it is easier to relate with Kim Bok Joo. Goblin is utterly hilarious! Tvn and JTBC have made some real gems this year.

Other dramas: In the latter half, I watched quite a few other dramas as well. Love O2O, Virtuous queen of Han Dynasty etc. I don’t remember all the names but for rom-com, love O2O is my recommendation, for now. If I remember any other which I found good, will update the post.

Variety updates: Weekly idol had been my top choice for this year as well. However, I am losing interest in it somehow. I finished whatever English subbed episodes were available for Knowing Bros. I took a bit interest in K-pop star 6 as well. The absolute favorite of mine is however Go Fighting! I started watching it for Lay but the comedy is the best. Highly recommended variety show (I am yet to try running man by the way.)

K-pop updates: Infinite! Infinite! Infinite! Yes, my recent favorite boy band came with an album this year and the title song grew up on me as usual. I got into VIXX as well, courtesy to my sister, and now I am a fan. I don’t really listen to YG groups, but black pink has certainly caught my attention. I like Big Bang’s recent song Fxxk it too. Other than that, Lay and Sistar did a good job. Lay’s ‘monodrama’ has been on my playlist for quite sometime.

Webtoons and Manga Updates: I were to release my translations for some manga but then my college started, and I did not find time to put the text in those blurbs at all. And my sister fried the hard disk of my old laptop, so all my work is gone now :/ Many webtoons ended this year, I dropped almost all of the ones I was reading because updates were really slow. Same with manga. I dropped Dice, Thousand Nine Tails, TAL, City of Dead Sorcerer, Skip Beat, Haikyuu (Damnit! Didn’t know they were these many) I am still waiting for Barakamon updates. I started reading Tsubaki-chou lonely planet, again courtesy to my sister. Another one is Fujiwara-kun no Daitai Tadashii, because I was translating it.

Language Learning Updates: Both of my languages are on hold and whatever I learnt till now went down the drain. The revision is on my agenda right now. I borrowed tons of books from my library for some winter reading, I am going to hoard some more. Let’s get some motivation!!

These are my updates for now. In weather updates, Pitts weather is super erratic. One day, it’s sunny with 15 deg C temperature, next day it’s snowing with -5 deg C temperature. Really weird.

Anyway, I need to get back and do some work so that I can write more tomorrow. I will also update a bit about the courses I took this semester and how I came to love blogging once again. See you all and happy holidays!

And for the customary song in each post, here:

My Anime List

My Anime List

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

As I said in my last post that I registered on MyAnimeList as EastAsianLover. I finally finished my list yesterday and I am disappointed in myself after seeing that I haven’t been able to cross 300. My total anime that I have watched, dropped, held-on or am watching count to a total of 269. The more disappointing thing is that this number includes movies, OVAs and seasons of each anime separately.

My friend: 269? Are you kidding me?
Me:What 269! My four years totally went to waste. I was pretty sure the number would cross 300!
My friend: Don’t joke around. That’s such a big number!!!
Me: There’re people who have watched 500+ series and I call myself an animelover? TT_TT

As for manga, I don’t even want to start digging the database. With anime, I knew the number of total anime on the site is within my reach. But manga database should be huge. It is regretful that they haven’t included webtoons yet. I mean they have become so popular and they should be there, definitely.

Anyways, I have just begun with manga list. The main problem is that with reading anime’s name, I used to know if I have watched it or not. But I have read soooo many one shots and such, that I don’t think I would ever remember what I have read and what not. But I do need to make the list because I need to keep a tab too. Ah! Such heavy work. I’ll go to make my list and if you’re on the site, we can be friends. Comment below with your username. See you on the site….

Manga Recommendation: Seiyuu Ka! (声優かっ!)

Manga Recommendation: Seiyuu Ka! (声優かっ!)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Today I bring you a manga which teaches you about the voice actors in Japan. Seiyuu is the Japanese word for voice actor. A story by Minami Aki, many say, it accurately depicts the general hardships, a voice actor faces during their début and further in their career.

Plot – This story is about Kino Hime who joins the Hiiragi academy, a top notch school for voice actors. She is inspired by a Seiyuu called Sakura Aoyama who helped her when she was little. She has kind of complex towards her younger sister who is cute and adored by everyone unlike her. The major problem is, she has very scratchy voice, and that’s why she earns the nickname – Gori Hime (Gorilla Princess). Her another problem is Kudou Senri, the son of her ideal, who is harsh and blunt about Hime’s voice. He doesn’t leave any chance to insult her. In the initial days, she is put in a group of bottom four students in the class.

Seiyuu Ka! 1

Everything changes when she is scouted by a famous voice acting company and she has to pretend to be a guy and hide her real identity from everyone. She keeps improving and making new friends on the way. Plus she changes the hard Kudou Senri in her guy form, little by little.

Analysis – This manga talks about the recklessness of a girl who is determined to prove herself. Human beings’ determination to do something is their biggest weapon is what this manga teaches. It also tells about the importance of friendship in one’s life – unselfish one on the top of that. In terms of values, the 70 chapters have lots of elements to learn. A girl who stands up to face her problems even when her own mother looks down on her, I’m touched *brushes the tears away*

Seiyuu Ka! 2

Other things – Again, if we talk about the art, it’s great! It’s full of many many great looking guys 😉 Has many romantic elements too, not just between Hime and Senri but others too. A good time pass and a great read! I am a sucker for good plot in manga and this one does justice with the plot as well the characters. Also, great to learn about the voice acting industry in Japan since much research has been put before writing it. Highly recommended!

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/seiyuu_ka/

Today’s Song – Another Naruto OST from Asian Kung-fu Generation 

Side Story 1 – I got myself a language exchange partner for Japanese. I hope my Japanese studies would come on track now, since we decided to write each other everyday. I am very happy and excited.

Side Story 2 – Today was supposed to be my “No Laptop Day”. I am addicted to this guy and my day starts and ends with my laptop. So I decided to have a day when I won’t use it. But damn my plans. There is nothing I can do without it.

Manga Reco: Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki (陽炎稲妻水の月)

Manga Reco: Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki (陽炎稲妻水の月)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I saw the cover photo on the website and the drawing style – I knew it had to be Ame Arare Sensei’s manga. And I was right. This mangaka’s drawings are so very intricate and delicate. I want to meet Sensei once in my lifetime TT_TT

Genre – Romance, Tragedy

Plot – Four one shots again. First three stories are tragedies and last one is a happy ending (which made the day I read it on, otherwise I would have drowned in the puddle of my own tears).

1. Kagerou no Shou – Kagerou was sold by her parents to become an oiran (read ahead). She was a bold child and became friendly with the person who transported her to the red-light district named Ryuuji. Before he left her there, she asked him to be her first customer. Now, years later, she is ready to take the customers but Ryuuji doesn’t have enough money to buy her services even for one night. Does her dream come true? Go and find out! TT_TT

2. Inazuma no Shou – Wakana is another oiran, and beautiful and popular one on that. She wants to free herself from the shackles of the prostitution and lures out rich men into giving her expensive presents which she pawns in order to save money. One of them is Mitsunori, who is a high ranking person in society and a shy guy who wants Wakana’s services only. But Wakana gets disappointed when Mitsunori gives her inexpensive presents out of love. After spending one proper night with her, he disappears for three months. On the other hand, Wakana becomes pregnant with his child. In the end, he comes to buy her out and make her his wife. What is the end to this love story? Go and find out! TT_TT

Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki 2

3. Mizu no Tsuki no Shou – This is one of those stories, which start happily and you’re happy happy. And suddenly, tragedy befalls and all you can do is ponder what happened. This is the story of Suigetsu, who by chance meets her brother one night as a customer. Her brother promises to buy her out in future. But the poor guy he is, he can’t afford her services everyday and no one knows the secret that they are cousins. His master also gets surprised when he asks him to bring him there again considering he had been reluctant till now. But Suigetsu gets terminally ill before losing her virginity. Her brother tries to obtain medicine illegally but are his efforts enough to save her? Go an find out!  TT_TT

4. Nagasaki Bojou – This was the most different and definitely the most informative one. It is about the times when foreigners started coming to Japan. Otaki is chosen to serve in a colony of Dutchmen. It would be her first time but she has apprehensions about a foreign partner, the language barriers and other things. She is very reluctant but her luck, she meets a super nice guy who cares for her and doesn’t touch her without her consent. They fall for each other and Siebold (her partner) proposes to her. In the meantime, her very beloved senior catches a really bad illness. Otaki, against the rules, return back with the permission of Siebold. When discovered, she is asked to server other customers since she ran away. In the end, Siebold takes her as his wife before everyone’s eyes. Slap in your face, you bad people. Take that!!

Analysis – The topic is same as Hira Hira. Setting is kind of same, just that it deals with the time before Geishas appeared. The courtesans at that time were called oirans, and everything was much more complex and difficult during their time. More you can read here.

The theme is told by the title itself. It means something you have near you but you can’t have it – something on those lines. The major difference in both of the pieces is that the first one was more concerned with their lives, this time it’s more about love.

Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki 3

Again, it teaches that human beings have no right to tamper with the lives of other people and treat them as trash. These ladies were the most intellectual and artistic beings of their times. They were in the power to reject the most influential people. But they weren’t in this position or profession by their choice. Call it fate or circumstances of their parents that they had to do the work against their wills.

They are not to be demeaned in any manner, no matter what! After all they are also human beings, with pride, feelings and emotions.

Other things – Art is awesome as expected from Ame Arare Sensei. I have read a lot of historical manga but those sharp lines, those details, from eyelashes to the flowers on their dresses, that is something I admire a lot about Sensei. If you read this sensei, I’m your very very very big fan, though I have read only 8 stories of yours.

Warnings – Doesn’t have that much details but contains a few scenes which may offend some people. But since topic is sensitive, scenes need to be so, to deliver the right emotions. So read on your discretion! It is definitely NOT hentai, take my word.

Read here – Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki Manga

Today’s Song – Haha, this is a funny MV. It will definitely help after reading the manga, I’m telling you:

Fandrawing Post 4 – Saiunkoku Monogatari Chibi Ran Ryuuren

Fandrawing Post 4 – Saiunkoku Monogatari Chibi Ran Ryuuren

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I know I should be writing but I have an exam tomorrow and I haven’t started preparing for it yet. So I won’t be able to write, just for today. But I want to keep my daily streak. Hence the fan drawing, two days in a row. This is from a historical anime called Saiunkoku Monogatari. Very interesting anime but it’s story is kind of incomplete. It needs another season. >.<

About Ran Ryuuren, he is the most carefree and my favorite character in the anime. Though he has lots of responsibilities on his shoulders, he doesn’t take stress. Keeps travelling and playing flute, like he has no care in the world. But he is, most of the times, the first one to help, where he can reach. The coolest character!

Side Story – Finally, I gathered courage and told the closest friends to me about the blog. And they misunderstood the name (as usual, since it’s name contains lover ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)! Just would like to clarify that my blog’s name means that I love East Asia and NOT that I have a East Asian lover. I did have apprehensions about this. *Facepalm*

Fandrawing Post 3 – Holo from Spice and Wolf

Fandrawing Post 3 – Holo from Spice and Wolf

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Not my latest creation but it used to be one of my favourites at the time I drew it. Holo’s fierce eyes. From the anime Spice and Wolf

I hope I haven’t posted it yet  (^.^)

Manhua Recommendation: Once Again (初.末)

Manhua Recommendation: Once Again (初.末)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I’ve appeared with another review and this time it’s a manhua. You know what’s a Manhua is, right? No? Manhua is chinese version of manga. Many of those are colored and they are generally done by hands and not computer softwares, is what I’ve heard.

This manhua has been written by Feng Xi Shen Lei. Also called, The Beginning and the End: Once again, this particular piece reminds you that humans get so busy in work, that they forget why they were working in the first place.

Once Again 1

Plot – The manhua follows the story of a guy named Yuan Ge who is handsome and at a high post in some company. He sees everybody in the terms of gain the relationship with that particular person will bring to him. He travels in subway trains despite him being on a higher position because he thinks that traffic jams are a wastage of time.So you can basically see what kind of Scrooge he is!

Story opens with him ignoring the news of his wife’s death while being in a company meeting. Apparently he makes all the arrangements for his wife’s funeral but is unable to attend. On the top of that, he thinks that he has completed his duty towards his emotionless wife (which he thinks she was). He can’t even remember her face well.

After some days, he starts noticing a 14-15 year old girl in the train he takes. He has been shown intelligent enough to deduce what a person’s profession and position might be in their respective companies by their clothes (pretty much same as Sherlock Holmes, no, it’s not shown like that though). But this girl is mystery to him. He sees her everyday but as soon as he is distracted by even one thing, he loses sight of her.

Since he never gets to talk to her, she slowly starts driving him nuts. He goes as far as to get checked for pedophilic tendencies in him since the girl is way younger than him and he takes his feelings for love.

Once Again 2

*Spoilers start* – Can’t do without the ending can I? But if you’re still tempted to keep it unknown, I must say that it’s pretty interesting. So you can go and read the manhua yourself to uncover the girl’s identity.

He finally decides to chase her and reaches his old school where past memories come to him and it is revealed that the girl is his deceased wife only. Earlier, he blames his wife for everything but now he discovers that it was him all along. He had promised the girl that he would earn a lot of money to buy precious gifts for her. As he starts becoming ambitious and rising the ladder in his company, he asks his wife to change for him. She has to leave her job of kindergarten teacher, shun her cute image to be able to blend among the wives of higher ups, suck up to them for his husband and ultimately along the way, she falls sick. On the other hand, Yuan Ge stops coming to home, or comes late at night and goes early in the morning and such and such. The wife has been shown pretty caring. She prepares food for him as early as 4 o’clock. This finally breaks him and he realizes his mistake of ignoring her completely.

Analysis – From life point of view, I think that the author has shown a proper present life scenario. I mean, I don’t know if it happens everywhere around the world, but it does apply to Asian countries, especially patriarchal societies where they think that it’s a girl’s duty to look after the household and related chores.

Even if we don’t go to that side of the story, it in general depicts how the life has become so fast paced that we forget every thing, including our relationships. There is no time for talking, for sharing emotions, for anything. We’ve become too busy in earning our bread.

Thus we need to rediscover ourselves because we’re missing a hell lot as this guy Yuan Ge realizes. We need to re-remember main purpose in our lives which we have lost sight of, becoming too entangled in the society and material life.

Other things –  Art is good. Plot is awesome. I loved the self discovery thing and the author doesn’t fail to compare the thoughts of the guy pre and post his realisation of the truth like he hated the monotonous breakfast she used to keep for him every day on the table and later he finds out that even though she was sick and coughing all the time, she would get up every day to prepare fresh food for him. So he basically lives his life once again, through memories, to get to know that had he cared for her health earlier, she may have been alive today. But they say that we realize value of something or someone when we lose it. It’s the fact of life and that’s what has been shown here.

In just seven chapters author has shown all kind of emotions and I respect that. Oh, now I realize, this one also has seven chapters. In the end, I would say, highly recommended!!

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/once_again/

Manga Review: Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku (僕はキスで嘘をつく)

Manga Review: Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku (僕はキスで嘘をつく)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I don’t know what happens to me sometimes and I stumble upon such things which aren’t worth the time. This time I bring you a review which says DON’T read the manga if you don’t want to end up hitting your head on your wall as to why even the story was made. I mean who can write 7 chapter manga on just one kiss? Yeah, this managaka did.

Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku 1

Plot – So the story goes like this. There is this girl Kitazono Meiko, who has a complex about her slanted eyes and hence, secludes herself in the library reading books. One day she falls asleep and is kissed by a guy. When she wakes up to find him, she is met by four super-handsome boys – Shindo, who is the library monitor, is a senior, Mikoshiba is another senior who is one of those cold kind of guys. Then there is Mogami, who is in her class and is outright about his feelings for her. Last one is Hachiya, a junior of hers who is cute type. And then the seven chapters are all about finding the guy who kissed her.

What I didn’t like – First of all, how can four guys fall for the same girl at the same time? I’m so freaking jealous. I mean, one or two is right as happens in a lot of shoujo mangas but this is too much. Second, how can one fall for a guy who has stolen her first kiss while she was sleeping without knowing who, how and what he is. There comes a time in the manga when one needs to ask herself, what am I doing, where am I? The story is something that can’t happen even in dreams. Meiko is just after knowing the name of the guy and then she would fall for him out of the blue? BOOM! What crap!

I became so thankful to the Mikoshiba guy when he confronts her about the same. What a dumb girl. And in the end, she chooses the one, who kissed her. If we talk about the probability of choosing the right person, its 1/4. And it happens. What in the world….. (-_-* )

Some would say it’s at least different. Yeah. And so are other lots of works which present an acceptable universe to comprehend. This one is just out of the bounds. I’m sorry for the harsh words but I just can’t do anything about that.

Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku 2

Other things – Art is good. I’m following the same mangaka’s another manga – Reimei no Arcana which I’ll review after it finishes (which I don’t see anytime soon) and that story has some weight. But this one seriously fails on the plot. I thought, since it is short and not as short as a one shot, it may be an interesting read but now I so regret reading it. I know seven chapters are not many, they won’t take much time too. But it’s still stuck in my head. So if you ever find this one in recommendations by your favorite manga site, DON’T get into the trap of lesser number of chapters. It could’ve finished in just one chapter, may be two at most. Has hints of humour too here and there and that’s it. I can’t find any other plus points since I’m so pissed off with the story itself.

I’ll give rest to it here. I don’t want to degrade the mangaka coz I like her other story and faithfully following that one, but I would rather not read any manga than dealing with these kind of plots. Of course, that is upto my discretion. but if you are still curious and end up reading it, tell me how you find it in the comments below. I won’t post the link here since I don’t want you to curse me when you finish it. ¯\(°_°)/¯

Oh, and it’s not colorful opposed to what is being suggested by above two pics. They are just the cover pages.

Manga Reco: Love So Life

Manga Reco: Love So Life

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Yeah, yeah. It’s been two days after I said I would write frequently. And now I’m running away from it by telling this sort of thing? Oh no no. This is the manga review I’ve been planning for long. I had just forgotten about this heart warming manga by Kouichi Kaede. A recent release of it’s chapter revived all the memories.

So this manga follows the story of an orphan high school girl, Shiharu who suddenly gets involved with two cute twins and their guardian, Sei (I hope this is the right name but since the children call the guy by this name I’ll write this only). The twins Aoi and Akane have already lost their mother and their father left them with his younger brother Sei and ran away. Sei, a TV presenter by profession, is a handsome unmarried guy who, initially faces a lot of difficulty maintaining the balance between the new members in his life and his job but ultimately develops necessary love and affection for them to be able to handle his now messed up life. On the other hand, the unfriendly twins find solace in Shiharu’s care for them at the day care centre and Shiharu lands up daily babysitting job for the children. Now she is helping the babies to learn things to stand up in the society and she is growing with them too. Also, she is developing feelings for Sei. From romance point of view, this manga is still in development stage even after 62 chapters but the love element between Sei and Shiharu has been introduced much later (although in such scenarios, it is kind of obvious that they will fall in love with each other in the end).

There are many other involvements including the twins’ grandparents on their mother side who want to take care of them and are quite persisting in this regard even after Sei’s refusal. There is one another guy who likes Shiharu and their neighbor. Everyone is invloved with babies one way or other and they become the reason for their relationships with each other. All in all, it is a good manga and I’m soo looking forward to it’s anime if it is made anytime.

Still not convinced? This will give you A waaayyy big reason to read it –

images (1) images love-so-life-1599056 love-so-life-1929495

 

These swiggly wiggly little twins are soooo freaking adorable. I first read the manga just because I saw them.

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/love_so_life/

Enjoy!

Manga Reco: Hira Hira (ひらひら)

Manga Reco: Hira Hira (ひらひら)

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

This brilliant work by Ame Arare  is an awesome collection of four stories related to “Geishas” (courtesans).

Hira hira

Hira hira itself depicts the waving sound of handkerchiefs, flags, paper etc. in Japanese. It is also associated with frilly and lacy things related to girls.

All the stories are basically historical tragedies, set in Edo period. The first story called “Strings of previous existence” tells the story of  a girl Akane who falls in love with Tadaaki, servant of a feudal lord who is frequent guest of her. What does she do to charm him when he doesn’t show any emotion towards her?

Second story, “Dream mirror”, deals with a girl Miyuki, who leaves her house for her sick younger sister Yukie. Her family is not well enough to continue Yukie’s medical treatment. So she becomes a courtesan to earn easy money. But what happens when she receives a letter saying Yukie is getting married when she doesn’t find herself in a condition to show herself to everyone?

Third story, “Jade’s bird” is about Hisui, a girl who has been raised by Shinza Emon, a person of great authority and post. Hisui grows up to become a courtesan under his supervision and falls in love with him. But Shinza gets engaged to daughter of some feudal lord. Does he realize his feelings towards Hisui?

In the fourth and the last story, “Flower Lantern”, Hotaru is someone who doesn’t get many customers. One of her frequent customers is Shigezou, a flower seller. Hotaru snaps after an ex-customer of her, insults her in  front of younger ones. How does Shigezou help her? Is he really coming for her or is there some other reason?

Find out here: http://www.mangahere.com/manga/hira_hira/

In terms of art i’ll give this manga 4.5/5, stories 4/5 and emotions 5/5. This manga shows you that these girls are not just selling their body for fun. They may have circumstances which compel them to do such work just like present world. People have to do something to fill their stomachs, sometimes unbelievable. You and me are in far better off place than many others. And it teaches that they have emotions too. They are human beings after all (I’m writing this particular sentence, a lot lately….. Obviously, some people are being treated like animals, some worse than that and some, who don’t even deserve it, are being treated as Gods. No one is being seen as human being…..that brings me to the question…. what is a human being…….. but this is becoming too philosophical……… no offense to anyone!)

Oh well, this was my first manga review and I chose tragedy for that, I don’t know why. But oh well!

New form of comics: Webtoons

New form of comics: Webtoons

by eastasianlover ♥ 11 Comments

Have you ever read a webtoon? Of course you must have! You haven’t? You are definitely missing a lot! A lot!

Webtoons from Korea are becoming very popular these days. They are very easily accessible and are free of cost. And since they consist of colorful pictures, they are more appealing to the audiences. The effects sometimes are awesome. They go in a long panel, not pagewise. This, in many situations, helps to have more continuity in the chapter and provides more impact and weight in delivering the right emotion.

Orange Marmalade

Some of the authors talk about how they make them through their webtoon itself. In one of them which I finished recently, The Friendly Winter, there was a chapter in which author told that he had used his own clicked photos as the base for backgrounds. That included his neighborhood buildings, shopping malls, streets etc. We can very well assume we are seeing a different kind of South Korea (real may be?) through those pictures.

The freelance translator community for webtoons is ever increasing too. There are a lot of groups and translators working on them like people on webtoonlive.com (at least they don’t need scanlations, that’s why the translation and all is economical too!)

And the plots! All of the stories I have read till now are fresh and out of this world. Be it ‘The Friendly Winter’ or ‘Nineteen Twenty one’. There is a vast variety of genres too, just like manga. Each one seems to give some message also. There are a lot of famous movies from South Korea which are adaptations of various webtoons. The examples include Apartment and Hello Schoolgirl by Kang Pul and Secretly Greatly released in 2010. Flower Boy Next Door, the K-drama starring Park Shin Hye and Yoon Shi Yoon, is also inspired from a webtoon called “I Steal Peeks At Him Every Day”. It also has elements related to webtoon making. You can easily see the characters in the drama (I have just watched the drama, not read the webtoon) using photoshop to draw the characters.

The Friendly Winter

Webtoons are replacing the expensive Manhwa and Manga making. Both the forms of comics have seen a fall in sales in the recent years. The international craze for these is not going down since a lot of material is available online free of cost. But the home business is facing losses. And this is encouraging more people to take up this new introduction in the market. I am not saying manga reading is inferior or something. It has its own charm. It is a lot of hardwork. (Watch or read Bakuman and you’ll find out!) But seeing the trend, webtoons and similar forms may take over the other two in terms of popularity and fandom, in the coming years.

In the end I will say, the webtoons are totally changing the meaning and essence of comics making and reading. You try too. You easily find them on manga sites or see here: http://www.webtoonlive.com/