Former loner Mei is still getting used to her new relationship with popular boy Yamato. The world is full of rivals who want him, though, from Aiko, former fat girl embarrassed by her stretch marks, to Megumi, teen model who wants a “prince charming” who’ll look good next to her. She ropes Yamato into modeling with her as a pretend volunteer in Say I Love You volume 3 by Kanae Hazuki. Although Mei is open with him about her feelings, […]

story by Yuma Ando; art by Yuki Sato We’ve fully moved out of the school arena, a process that began in the previous volume. Here, in Sherlock Bones volume 6, Takeru is a rookie police officer completing his first case. Also working on the force with him are former classmate Miki and import showoff Kento. Kento’s convinced that the murder of the anchorman’s wife was a mugging gone wrong, but Takeru knows the truth. The anchorman did it, but how […]

As Say I Love You volume 2 opens, we’re at the beach. (If you want seasonal summer reading, manga’s the way to go.) More significant than seeing the very busty Asami in a bikini, though, are the flashbacks the loner Mei has. We learn why she wound up with no friends and no memories — an over-protective father went too far in trying to keep her safe. Say I Love You is different from a lot of other shojo manga […]

I’ve seen this premise before, in such titles as Beast Master. There’s an unsocialized boy, Haru, feared by other students. He meets and befriends the solo Shizuku, who only wants good grades so she can get a high-paying job and has “no time to worry about other people”. Together, the two learn more about caring for others in My Little Monster by Robico. Haru was suspended on the first day of school for fighting, resulting in increasingly exaggerated rumors about […]

story by Yuma Ando; art by Yuki Sato Just as the stories started to get repetitive to me, this volume of the series ends with a significant change for the characters. First, though, most of Sherlock Bones volume 5 concludes the mystery started in the previous volume, in which a lady mayor has killed a blackmailing former paramour. There’s much emphasis put on her looks throughout, with statements such as, “You’re young and pretty, and yet you’re also competent.” Thus, […]

I sometimes find it confusing, keeping up with both the new characters and club alumni in this series about anime and manga fans. Thus, it’s a help to me that so much focus is put on Hato, the crossdresser and BL artist. He’s so distinctive a character that he’s easy to follow. Aspiring creators may also particularly enjoy the discussions of developing an art style and learning by copying. There’s also a school festival in this volume, which provides a […]

I never totally succumbed to the first xxxHOLiC series, but CLAMP (Legal Drug, Chobits) has its fans. I was glad, then, that this relaunch (“rei”, we’re told, means “return”) was comprehensible to the new-ish reader. Sure, if you read previous volumes, there are subtleties between the characters that you’ll notice, but the overall setup — mysterious witch Yuko takes clients and torments the nice young boy Watanuki who cooks for and takes care of her — is understandable enough. More […]

Say I Love You is a common type of shojo manga love story — loner high school girl is picked out and romanced by popular boy — that’s made special by art with josei touches. Mei won me over the same way she did Yamato. She’s been neglected by those she thought friends and bullied by other girls in her class, so she becomes a loner, trusting no one. Finally, when harassed by Yamato’s friend, who’s pulling up her skirt […]