The Midnight Secretary series concludes with Kaya and her boss finally coming to an understanding of how their relationship will proceed. He’s been kicked out of the vampire clan for refusing to give her up. Both Kaya and the reader are misled into thinking that a very attractive woman he’s making dates with is a source of jealousy — but the plot’s more convoluted than that. Which makes this volume less satisfying than some of the others by Tomu Ohmi, […]

A simple premise, executed with care for all the characters, makes for an enjoyable read in My Love Story!! volume 1. Takeo and Sunakawa are schoolboy best friends. Takeo already looks like an adult, though, and maybe a wrestler — he’s large and bulky. Sunakawa, on the other hand, is your typical manga pretty boy, so he always gets the girls. Until they meet Yamato. They rescue her from a groper on the train, and when she comes to Takeo’s […]

The author of Midnight Secretary returns with another supernatural romance, although many will find the lead here more interesting. Tomu Ohmi’s latest translated manga series, Spell of Desire, has the same naive young lady forced into close contact with a mysterious, brooding, darkly handsome, magically powered man from a group of fantasy creatures, but this version adds cute animals. Kaoruko runs a small-town herb shop on her own after her grandmother’s recent passing. She’s never had a boyfriend, and she’s […]

Food Wars! is due out in print at the beginning of next month, but it’s been available digitally (along with book 2) for months now. If you enjoy cooking competition manga like Iron Wok Jan or Yakitate!! Japan, this is another strong entry in that category. It’s written by Yuto Tsukuda and drawn by Shun Saeki. Soma Yukihira is a scrappy teen cook. He’s been raised in the family restaurant, and he’s quite talented, but unpolished. He winds up attending […]

I admit, it can be difficult keeping up with Ooku: The Inner Chambers. One volume comes out every year or so, and the premise — an alternate history of Japan in which most of the men have died, causing the women to take over leading the country — can be complicated for most readers, who don’t have any knowledge of Japanese history. Yet it’s so well done! I adore Fumi Yoshinaga’s art, with its thin-line detail and expressive characters. She […]

I keep hoping for deeper themes in this series, which is a mismatch, since by this point, I should realize that Happy Marriage?! will always go for the misunderstanding and refusal of the characters to talk to each other as symbolism for troubled relationships that still hold together. I suspect a certain type of reader likes that certainty, the reinforcement that problems can be overcome (and probably the reassurance that “at least my marriage isn’t that bad!”). Chiwa has previously […]

The final volume of the short Sweet Rein series by Sakura Tsukuba is also a kind of romance, as Santa Kurumi finds out that spring is mating season for the human Reindeer. As a result, Kaito, already handsome, is nearly irresistible to girls, making Kurumi jealous. The story that results has potential, but the relationship aspect falls strangely flat, with most of the chapter devoted to Kurumi’s waffling about what she wants to do. It’s a younger-aimed series, so that’s […]

The two have finally admitted their love for each other, a particularly difficult revelation for the vampire Kyohei, who sees humans as inferior. However, that in some ways makes their boss/secretary relationship more difficult, particularly when attending social events. He’s willing to go public with their relationship, although when Kaya dresses up, she looks remarkably young, a callback to her struggle with her “baby face”. Also complicating volume 6 is the presence of Kyohei’s parents, a human father and vampire […]