Manga Review: Yubisaki Milk Tea

Title: Yubisaki Milk Tea
Author: Miyano Tomochika
Release: Monthly
Status: Hiatus
Genre: Gender Bender, Seinen, Romance
Art: A
Originality: S
Story: S
Characters: S+
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: This is about a boy who crossdresses as a hobby and uses it to get close to girl who’s awkward around others. He falls in love with that girl but he’s also in love with his neighbor who is several years younger than he is. This is an excellent manga of the Seinen genre. I love how the author plays with the various problems that teenagers go through as they grow up although it does make me question the difference in Brunei’s and Japan’s maturity in their teenagers. I find the complicated characters absolutely fascinating as their reasons for doing the things they are not ones I have ever considered before so they really broadened my perspective on the issues people face. For example, the reason why the main character likes to crossdress is because he rejects his male self as he is disgusted at himself for having impure thoughts about his younger neighbor who he treasures dearly so he wants to create an ideal persona cope with those feelings. It is an incredible manga that those who love Seinen works simply must check out.

Manga Review: Shikabane Hime

Title: Shikabane Hime
Author: Yoshiichi Akahito
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Supernatural
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: This is about a girl who died but came back as a living corpse that fights alongside her partner, a member of a organization of exorcist monks, to eliminate others like her that have fallen completely to their regrets and are now killing the living. I loved the anime for its intense scenes and characters but the story is a little bit different for both. They generally have the same plotline but characters differ from each other as far as I can tell. The main characters are pretty much the same though. Unfortunately, the manga doesn’t live up to the awesomeness of the anime since it managed to keep an element of horror with the music and the lighting effects while the art style for the manga only rarely manages to attain the same level of intensity that the anime had. It’s a decent shonen manga but it has yet to show me the same flair that the anime was capable of.

Manga Review: Shinigami Trilogy

Title: Shinigami Trilogy
Author: Mashima Etsuya
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Supernatural
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is about a reaper who becomes infatuated with a young sickly girl while waiting for the old man he’s supposed to wait for to die. He likes her so much that he’s willing to share his life force with her so that she can live a longer life. Unfortunately for and him and the rest of the world, this young sickly girl is actually a megalomaniac who wants to achieve world domination who makes a professional conman look like an amateur. This is proving to be an interesting read. Rather than going for the regular slice of life and comedy combo direction a story set-up like this would usually take, it actually seems to have an actual plot. People die despite the comical way that they do and there are plenty of factors that could play into the story so it’s hard to tell whether or not the plot should be taken seriously or if there’s going to be an instant fix at the end. It doesn’t excel at anything and yet it is interesting to see how things will turn out.

All Day Raya Trip!

Last Thursday, me and about 80 or so students in my year went on an all day Raya trip to our teachers’ and our friends’ houses. We split up into two batches of two groups in buses per batch so that we wouldn’t have too many people in one house. Most of the guys were put onto the UIC bus while me, Rif, Khai and Shaminan were put onto a different bus since they ran out of room there. I think that was a good thing since we got a whole free space since there was only 10 passengers on our 30+ seats bus.

There was also Jin and Alim who tagged along with the other batch using their car. The planned trip started around 9 in the morning and ended at about 10 at night making it a 13-hour trip for those who stuck the whole way. I went home at the third last house because I lived near the teacher for that house at 8 so I shaved off 2 hours from the trip. It seems that I gave the girls’ bus of the other batch a scare when I waved as they passed by. According to Rif and Khai who were still around to hear their thoughts, I appeared by the side of the road out of nowhere like a ghost when the bus headlights hit me and my waving hand made it look like I was a spectre trying to hitch-hike. LOL! I have a talent and hobby for scaring people.

Welcome to the Enrichment Centre. After all this is done, there will be cake...

1st stop at Cikgu Rosita's and Shaminan's already beat.

Never seen a flower like this before. Anyone knows what it is?

Right outside of Cikgu Izam's place. He wasn't there on our first try.

So we visited Cikgu Azlan's next. All our teachers seem to have nice gardens.

Inside of CIkgu Azlan's house. Very nice interior

Lol... AHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Super lol!!

Note that door in the archway. It was at this house my warning about the toilet queue came into effect. Shaminan had to wait till the next house to hit the loo.

His way of keeping his mind off the toilet...

We passed a reservoir of some sort to the next house.

I was told that huge building was the Katok school

Rif was trying to corrupt the youth into locking the door. It worked. Couldn't get them to call Shahminan "pehin" though.

Khai has a cup on his head and I'm not quite sure where his neighbor's eyes are aimed at

I repeat. The kid locked that toilet door, not us.

It was at this point the girls came up with the panji-panji pose for group photos later.

I was seriously worried when the bus stopped here. Good thing no one we knew lived up on the hill.

My best pictures always seem to be flowers for some reason

This was our 11th house I think...

This was a mini torch I brought along. Was helpful on my walk back home.

Cikgu Aqilah's new house. The design was amazing.

The Cake is (Not) a Lie!

I only had the cheesecake though. I simply love cheesecake.

Believe or not, this is a Patio

Told ya

This reminded of a crystal from an RPG I once played

Behold the Ghost Bus tailing us!

We had a lot of fun that day and Shaminan really gave us a lot of loltastic pics. Khai even came with a magic sinjang that summoned a cat out of nowhere. I myself had been to the toilet as many times as we visited houses, not every house though I had to use three times at Asilah's house. I think that leg massager device at her place got me too relaxed. Most of the food we ate was good but kudos to Cikgu Izam and Afiq for their Shepherd's Pie and Stuffed Potatoes, they were absolutely amazing! Hopefully I'll be in for more treats this Saturday for the school's Teacher's Day & Raya Celebration. That's it for now.

Manga Review: Bamboo Blade

Title: Bamboo Blade
Author: Totsuka Masahiro, Igarashi Aguri
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Sports, Slice of life, Comedy
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: S
Humor: A
Action: A

Impression: This is the story of two Kendo instructors that make a bet on which of their all girls’ Kendo team will win a face off against the other’s. The prize is a trophy that one of them won back in their high school years against all you can eat free sushi at the other one’s family sushi restaurant. Unfortunately for the guy who won the trophy in the first place, he still has to gather up the remaining remembers of his team before they can fight. The strength of this manga lies in its characters and jokes rather than the story which in IMHO is rather lackluster. It’s still a decent plot overall but I don’t think of it seriously at all and I read it for the great jokes it has. The Kendo scenes are actually quite well done but since I myself took up Kendo, I really have to wonder if the author intentionally made the characters so n00bish to the basics in Kendo just so that he could educate the readers a bit on the martial art. If he isn’t then I must have been better at it than I gave myself credit for.

Manga Review: Bamboo Blade B

Title: Bamboo Blade B
Author: Totsuka Masahiro, Sutajio Neko
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Sports, Slice of Life, Comedy
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is a spin-off based on the main story starring a really tall first year middle school girl who hates kendo because she’s lousy at it. All the clubs in her school want her to join because of her height and the Kendo club is no exception. The club is going through a change though as the school has decided to unite the girls’ club and the boys’ club into one big one but as a result one of the instructors have to leave. Again, the story is very lackluster and the characters and jokes just don’t live up to the level of the original manga. Spin-offs rarely contribute anything or live up to the main manga so I really have to wonder why exactly they have these spin-offs in the first place.

Manga Review: Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru

Title: Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
Author: Arai Kano, Caramel Box
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Gender Bender, Slice of Life, Romance
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: C
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: C

Impression: This is supposedly the manga adaptation of the anime adaptation of an eroge where a guy goes to girls school as per his mother’s will and becomes a respected member of their school in the process. At least that’s what I can remember since the anime was a few years ago and I only watched the first two episodes. The anime was pretty bad and despite both of them having dull plot developments, I actually like the manga better because it’s cuter in every way and therefore much more likeable. The fact that it’s also pseudo yuri gains my approval since it’s always fun seeing a tsundere who’s into yuri even though it actually isn’t. Basically the only reason it’s worth reading is because it’s a cute manga with a few good jokes and references here and there.

Manga Review: Inuyasha

Title: Inuyasha
Author: Rumiko Takahashi
Release: Weekly
Status: Finished
Genre: Shonen, Romance, Supernatural
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression (Manga):
I’ve been trying to avoid reviewing the most popular and long running works since a lot of people already know how good they are but I decided to give Inuyasha a review since the second season is about to premiere. It’s the story of a young girl named Kagome would finds herself back in the warring era of Japan after being taken through the well in her family’s shrine and releases a half demon by the name of Inuyasha from a seal that one of her previous reincarnations placed on him. This being a manga that lasted more than a decade, a LOT of things happen and a LOT of characters are introduced. The story is actually good but it went on for way too long since the antagonist always kept finding new ways to save his skin for every one of the power-ups that Inuyasha gets, especially in the last quarter of the story even though loose ends were being tied up. In any case, Inuyasha is a story that appeals to both guys and girls that I really do recommend checking out despite the length.

Impression (Anime):
I watched the entirety of the first season of the anime and all four movies which by the way were actually pretty good shonen anime movies unlike the Naruto and Bleach ones. I mean, the studio was even willing to change small parts of the story just so that movies were worth watching. The third one was my favorite out of all four they made. The production quality of the anime was pretty good with the direction and the music and with fewer episode for the second season I can only imagine just how much better it’ll be. I have high expectations for it and can’t wait to see it in wide screen. Still, the last 21 volumes of a 12 year old shonen manga in a 26 episode season really seems like way too little screen time. I’d say 39 episodes might be just about enough and 52 will give them enough time to focus on individual scenes for everything. Hopefully the director knows what he’s in for and that he’ll do Kagura’s death scene justice since that was my favorite scene.

Manga Review: Spiral Alive!

Title: Spiral Alive!
Author: Shiroudaira Kyou, Mizuno Eita
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Mystery
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is a spin-off of the original manga where a normal girl is going after a guy who likes a girl who one of the blade children. It starts off with the characters about to take part of some big event but then it skips ahead to some time later when the event is regarded as some sort of case that was significant. Characters from the original manga start to appear at this point and the spotlight goes to them trying to figure things out instead of the main characters of the spin-off. It never reaches the awesomeness of the original manga but it does act as fanservice for those who liked some of the side characters from the original manga once it hits the second part. It doesn’t really fill in any gaps from the original manga so you don’t have to read this to get a better understanding of the main story.