#the more i think about it the funnier it gets shoujo manga always has some explicitly gay bitch in the corner

[cosmicrhetoric]

did mint end up fr gay in the new tokyo mew mew. she deserves it she's so important to me she was singlehandedly responsible for little girls everywhere engaging in haterism for the first time <3

[moon-stars01]

~Sugar Rush~

Hoshi x Reader

Author:pseudomint

Summary: Kwon soonyoung finds himself becoming a regular customer in a local ice cream shop after meeting mingyu’s cute co-worker. Sounds normal—unless you leave out the fact that he dislikes sweets.

Pairing:Hoshi(Svt) x reader

Gene:Collage/University,Ice Cream polar,attempt at humor,flirting,Smitten Hoshi,Mingyu third wheeling,Jun and his pick up lines

Rating:Teen and Up Audiences

Word Count:6100

———————-

~SUGAR RUSH~

Hoshi stares at the cute, pastel building, decorated with stickers of ice cream illustrations on the big, glass windows and door. He checks his phone screen once again, only to see the exact picture of the building he found on the internet glaring back at him mockingly.

This is the place. He finally knows where Mingyu’s secret workplace is. Don’t ask him where he got the address from (he might have.. owed a certain pink haired devil named Jeonghan). All he has to do now is to storm inside the ice cream shop and make fun of Mingyu for all it’s worth.

Being friends with that guy for a long time, Hoshi has a vague idea of why would Mingyu hide his workplace. The guy has always been vocal about his worship for anything hip-related, evident by his love for classic Pop, several ear piercings, and fashion style. He’s studying art so that he can become a tattoo artist. Moreover, he has a history as a delinquent back in middle school.

So, working in a local, cute ice cream shop near their campus might not be included in Mingyu’s list of Top 10 Dream Jobs, even as a part-timer.

Hoshi stifles a grin as he pushes the door open, earning a chime from the bell above. The shop is quite vacant, save for three customers, minding their own businesses in three different seats, the ice cream on their plates or cups half-eaten. One of them is bobbing their head to the popular pop song that is heard through the wall speakers. As Hoshi continues to scan the pastel themed shop, his eyes finally land on the glass display, filled with various flavors and colors of ice cream.Hoshi can already feel a toothache—he’s never been a fan of sweets, after all.

Noticing the absence of the employees behind the counters, Hoshi spots a bell placed beside the cash register. His hand hovers above it, uncertain whether calling the shop clerk with a damn bell is even polite—obviously, this isn’t some kind of five-star gourmet restaurant. Not that Hoshi has ever been into one.

Thankfully, before Hoshi could dive further into his impromptu crisis, an employee emerges from the back door. He’s wearing a pastel blue uniform shirt and a pink apron with the shop’s logo on the left side of his chest. Such soft colors, contrast with the dark scowl on his face.

“What the fuck are you doing here, bastard?” Mingyu snarls, clearly aggravated by the mere of Hoshi’s presence alone.

And Hoshi can’t hold it back anymore. He laughs, folding his body in half, one hand clutching his gut as the other supports himself by gripping the counter. Fuck, this is funnier than he initially thought. No matter how he imagined it, the image of Mingyu and a cute ice cream shop just can’t be merged. Yet, here he is—the reality presented right before Hoshi’s eyes.Hoshi wheezes again.

“Stop fucking laughing,” Mingyu hisses, hands clenching on both of his sides. His face is flushed from anger with a mixture of embarassment. “This is why I’d never fucking tell you about this place!”

“Oh, it’s never about the place, ‘Mingyu,”Hoshi replies, wiping a tear from the corner of his eyes. “It’s always been about you.”

Mingyu growls. “I’m seriously gonna kick you out.”

“I’m a paying customer,” Hoshi smirks back. “Treat me like one.”

“Then act like one,” Mingyu snaps, folding his arms across his chest, frown deepening. “Though I bet you can’t even handle the sweetness.”“Gimme the menu.”

“There’s one behind me, written on the chalkboard, asshole.”

“Wow, brilliant customer service,” Hoshi deadpans. “Don’t you have the printed one or something?”

“Aren’t you spoiled?” the hipster grumbles as he magically pulls out a menu, printed on a laminated paper from behind the counter. He doesn’t miss the opportunity to slap it against Hoshi’s chest.The act, however, is caught by one of Mingyu’s co-worker who’s suddenly coming out of the back room.

“Mingyu-oppa! Why did you do that to a customer?!” She screeches, horrified at her oppa’s rude behavior. She’s way shorter than Mingyu, and shorter than Kazuya. She has a (h/s) (h/c) hair that somehow looks soft and fluffy as the strands bounce everytime she moves.When their eyes finally meet,Hoshi’s lost the ability to speak.

Now, Hoshi’s never been one to believe in love at first sight, albeit having heard the idea of it in many sappy romance films. Hoshi’s also met many girls he considers as good-looking, but that’s it. There were no imaginary flowers or love-shaped bubbles or sprinkles of glitters around them, like a typical page of shoujo mangas. He didn’t feel his heart pounding harshly against his ribcages. He’s positive that he had never blushed at someone without any good reason.But his cheeks have never felt warmer than this moment.

The girl in front of him is unbelievably cute; she has an air of innocence around her that makes Hoshi want to scoop her up (no ice cream puns intended) in his arms and pinch those slightly chubby, round cheeks. Her cute button nose is perfect for a nose boop, and oh, how Hoshi wishes to nip her pink, plump lips.The girl’s tongue darts out to lick the very same lips, before she opens her mouth.

“Um.. are you okay? Is my co-worker hurting you?” She asks, brows furrowing in worry. Hoshi forces himself to look at her in the eyes, which is apparently a bad decision, because for the love of baseball, he’s never seen someone having such beautiful, molten e/c eyes—

“He’s fine,” Mingyu answers, shooting Hoshi a knowing look. “Sadly, I gotta admit that he’s a friend of mine, so don’t worry about him, y/n.”

“Oh!” Y/n brightens up, giving Hoshi an impression of a cute dog perking up its ears and wagging its tail. “Finally this l/n y/n gets to meet one of Mingyu-oppa’s friends!” She says joyfully with a voice a bit too loud. “May I also have the honor of knowing your name?”

Hoshi briefly glances at Mingyu, as if asking whether he should be concerned of Y/n’s odd, archaic way of speaking, but Mingyu’s expression works as a wordless assurance that it’s nothing to be worried about.Then, after eyeing Y/n’s extended arm as an offer for a handshake, Hoshi takes it firmly with a smirk.

“The name’s Kwon Soonyoung but you can call me Hoshi,” he purrs, his thumb tracing a circle on the back of Y/n’s hand. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Y/n.”His smirk broadens when a blush blooms on the girl’s cheeks.

“Uh—likewise!” Y/n retracts her hand too quickly. “Um, I’ll let you proceed with your order with Mingyu-oppa—“

“The thing is,” Hoshi cuts her off, leaning on the counter, showing a feigned, saddest expression on his face. “Mingyu was bullying me,” he sighs. The said guy promptly sputters a series of denials. “And this is my first time here. I think I deserve a discount for the bad customer service, don’t you think?”

Y/n lets out a scandalized gasp, giving Mingyu a nasty, chiding glare for treating their customer poorly, even if they’re ‘friends.’ “Then you have my approval!” She declares, jabbing a proud thumb at her own chin. “Don’t worry! I’ll tell boss about the discount later! Now, please pick any flavors!”Hoshi’s mouth twitches as a bubble of laughter arises from his chest. This kid is so gullible, so genuine, so interesting. He almost feels bad for tricking him.Mingyu kicks Y/n’s legs, “Idiot! Can’t you see that he’s tricking you?!”

When y/n shoots a puzzled look at Hoshi, Hoshi’s laughter breaks free from his mouth. In return, he gets a bristling y/n who goes out of her way to be on the other side of the counter just to shake Hoshi’s collar and send him colorful insults. Not the most professional thing an employee should do to a customer, but it’s worth for Hoshi’s own entertainment.In the end, Hoshi’s the one who gets kicked out of the shop before he causes more commotions.

Hoshi comes back at Mingyu’s next shift, mentally convincing himself that he’s here to annoy the hell out of the hipster, not because Mingyu accidentally reveals the fact that y/n has the same schedule with him.Yeah, right.

He peeks over the big windows, and hesitates. The shop is more crowded than his last visit, as expected from weekends. It’s mostly filled with couples and giggling high school girls. Hoshi decides to sit on the unoccupied outdoor seats by the window, waiting for the beeline to lessen.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for the patrons to decrease. By the time he enters the shop, the jingle of the doorbell earns him an automatic response from y/n who’s not even looking at the door. “Welcome to—“ she glances at Hoshi, then frowns. “—oh, it’s you.”

“Oh? Do I see another bad customer service?” Hoshi smirks, strutting closer the counter.

“I’ll show you customer service,” Mingyu threatens, glowering at him.

Hoshi holds up his hands in defense, grinning, “easy there, ‘Mingyu”

“So, are you going to order, Kwon Soonyoung?” Y/n squints at him in suspicion. Pushing aside his inner glee of noticing a mundane detail such as Y/n remembering his full name, Hoshi ponders of giving her an honest reply or not. Will they kick him out once again if he admits that he can barely handle sweet things?

“Hoshi?” Y/n’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts, and his previous scorn is replaced with an owlish blinking. It makes Kazuya more aware of how y/n’s long eyelashes brush her cheeks whenever she closes her eyelids for a brief second.Pretty.“Hoshi!”Hoshi coughs and answers distractedly. “Uh, yeah, sure. I’ll order something.”

Mingyu stares at him like he’s grown a pair of horns, but it’s more like that he can’t seem to grasp that Hoshi, of all people, agrees to order something sweet.

“You sound uncertain, but worry not! The ice cream here will change your mind,” Y/n chirps with an eye smile. Hoshi can feel a thousand of cupid arrows piercing through his fragile, gay heart.

“Right, because Hoshi absolutely loves ice cream,” Mingyu mutters under his breath beside his co-worker with a blatant sarcastic tone.Y/n doesn’t seem to hear it, much to Hoshi’s relief.

“So...” Hoshi drawls, scrutinizing the menu near the cash register. “Do you have a flavor that isn’t too...” he grimaces at the next word, “sweet?”

“That’s impossible, go home.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Mingyu.”

“I can recommend you some,” Y/n replies, ignoring Mingyu and Hoshi’s glaring contest. “We have wasabi flavor, bitter melon flavor—“

“Some extreme recommendations you have there,” Hoshi sweatdrops.

“Hey! They taste fine, I guess,” Y/n looks hesitant herself. Hoshi wonders if the girl even understands basic marketing strategies—she could’ve at least pretended to be confident with her promotion. “I mean, I’m sure they’re better than natto flavored ice cream or anything.”

“You hate natto?” Hoshi smiles in amusement, inwardly happy to know one fact about Y/n.

“I despise it!” Y/n huffs, not even bothering to conceal her disgust. “Anyway! If you’re not interested with our out-of-the-world flavors, maybe you’d love our triple shot espresso ice cream! If you’re still not convinced, we still have a variety of diet frozen yogurts that are guaranteed to be low-sugar!”Hoshi hums at the mention of anything caffeine-related, “triple shot espresso ice cream doesn’t sound bad. Get me the smallest cup, y/n.”

“Roger!” Y/n beams, giving a military salute before she busies herself with Hoshi’s order. Her moves behind the counter are swift, practiced, and surprisingly not clumsy. Her hips sway a little to the beat of the music—whose great idea it is to play a suggestive jazz music at a fucking ice cream shop in Saturday afternoon?—but Hoshi’s not really complaining. In fact, he enjoys the show a bit too much; he doesn’t even realize that he’s been propping one arm on the counter to support his chin while watching y/n with a mushy smile.“Wipe that disgusting expression off your face,” Mingyu comments, unimpressed.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah? As if I could overlook someone who looks like they’re seconds away from jumping my co-worker in public!” Mingyu hisses this time, still considerate enough to lower his volume.“Don’t worry, I’ll do that in private,” Hoshi winks.

“That’s not what I—“

“Do you want any additional toppings, Hoshi?” Y/n unintentionally interrupts their bickering. She’s now holding a small paper cup of a coffee-colored ice cream, head slightly to the side in an adorable manner, waiting for Hoshi’s response.

Although Hoshi’s brain is already short-circuited due to the amount of metaphorical sweetness that Y/n radiates, he still manages to croak out a reply of “almonds are fine”, in hoping that if the ice cream is still too sweet for his liking, the almonds would be able to balance the sugar.

Mingyu handles the payment without initiating any arguments with Hoshi for once, probably wanting to speed up the process of Hoshi leaving the shop. Either way, Hoshi has to leave indeed. He has other things to do, too.

“Thank you for purchasing, please come again~” come a chorus of synchronized phrase from Mingyu and Y/n; the former sounding bored and forced, while the latter sounding more cheerful.“I will,” Hoshi retorts jocosely, then flicks his gaze over Y/n, “if Y/n calls me her oppa, too.”

“Okay, Hoshi-oppa,” y/n breathes out without missing a beat. Her face instantly bursts into a myriad shades of red, complemented by a small, shy smile etched on her lips, and-Hoshi suddenly thinks he has a severe case of heart palpitations.

He inhales sharply, and turns his heels towards the door. “It’s decided, then,” he chuckles over his shoulder, giving his last smirk towards y/n, and exits the shop.

(He eats his ice cream on the way to his apartment and is genuinely surprised at the rich taste of coffee instead of sugar.It adds one more reason to visit the shop again.)

 Hoshi’s next visit includes an unwanted guest, much to Hoshi’s distaste.

For a better term, he was following Hoshi in secret. Usually, Hoshi would easily sense something behind his back, but the particular street that the ice cream shop is located at is always busy. It’s to be expected from a street that connects commercial, academic and several residential buildings. That being said, the crowd of people makes it hard for Hoshi to notice whether someone is following him or not.In the end, Jun makes his presence known loudly by the time he enters the shop.

“Oi, Hoshi! You refused to hang out with me just to buy some ice cream?!” he stomps his foot on the ground. “Wait, I thought you don’t like ice—“

Hoshi, who’s currently leaning on the counter right in front of Y/n, automatically massages the bridge of his nose and quickly interjects the purple haired before he spouts something unnecessary. “Jun, did you really follow me all the way here?”

“Does it matter?” the purple haired shrugs, sticking his nose up in the air. “I’m here now. That’s what you get from ditching me.”

Hoshi sighs in exasperation, “I did not ditch you. I told you to reschedule our hang out.”

“Same thing,” Jun scoffs stubbornly.

Mingyu bashes his forehead on the counter, emitting a depressed aura all over the shop. “Great. There goes all of my peace at work.”

“Oh, Mingyu! Fancy meeting you here!” Jun greets with a grin. “So you’re the reason why Hoshi’s here?”

“No,” both Mingyu and Hoshi say flatly.

“Um, are you going to order?” Y/n, who’s been observing the situation, speaks up, attracting a pair of black orbs towards him. Then, Jun regards Hoshi and Y/n, back and forth, in a thoughtful manner.

“Oh ho? I see now,” he grins wickedly, elbowing Hoshi to the side and takes over his place, resulting in the dancer stumbling and hitting the glass display of ice cream. Paying no attention to Hoshi’s heated glare, Jun leans over the counter and brings his face closer to Y/n. “You’re pretty cute, I guess. Hoshi has a good taste.”Y/n makes a choking noise from her throat, and Hoshi’s left eye twitches.

“Who the heck are you?” Y/n scrunches her nose, taking one step backwards defensively.

“Wen Junhui, but you can call me darling,” Jun smiles flirtatiously. Y/n only stares back with a palpable discomfort on her face.

“...Then, are you going to order?” She repeats hesitantly.

“Sure. As long as you’re included as the bonus.”

“Uh,” y/n frowns deeper. “May I know the flavor of your choice?”

“Anything would do,” Jun answers, “but if you were an ice cream, you’d be my favorite flavor.”

“What?”

“And I know you’d like me too,” jun then lowers his voice into a whisper, like he’s going to tell the world’s deepest secret, “because I have an 8” popsicle down there.”

Mingyu’s shoulders are shaking from laughter, finding the whole situation amusing and ridiculous. Any other day, Hoshi would, too, but right now, he only feels a second-hand embarassment from Jun’s abhorrent pick-up lines. Even y/n looks utterly unimpressed by Jun’s flirting.

“Alright, Jun, that’s enough,” Hoshi interjects impatiently. “No one wants to know about your nonexistent 8” popsicle dick.”Mingyu laughs louder.

“Tch, you’re no fun, Hoshi,” Jun glares at him childishly, then whirls his body towards Y/n crossing his arms in his usual bossy manner. “Fine, I’ll order something. Get me a big cup of butterscotch and vanilla ice cream with marshmallows and oreos on top.”

“...Coming right up,” slightly taken aback by the change of attitude, y/n mutters and wordlessly scoops the ice cream into the cup, while Hoshi is inwardly cringing from the amount of sugar Jun’s order has.

The purple haired pays and finally leaves the shop, not before gesturing a V-sign to his eyes and then to Hoshi’s—indicating that their conversation isn’t over.

Hoshi shakes his head. “There’s nothing to be discussed in the first place,” he mumbles under his breath. Jun dragged himself into this situation. Then again, Hoshi’s known Jun long enough to tell that the purple haired wasn’t seriously flirting with Y/n. The dancer could properly make his fangirls swoon if he wanted to.

Looking back to his prior act, however... it’s almost as if he was testing Hoshi, because his eyes were holding a familiar knowing gleam—the exact glint in Mingyu ’s eyes when Hoshi first met y/n.

“But seriously, who is he?!” Y/n fumes. “I can’t believe he made a dick joke straight to my face!”

“He’s Hoshi’s ex,” Mingyu grins, nudging

y/n with his elbow. The younger blanches, mouth gaping upon hearing the information.

“Yup, and I’m totally dating you, Mingyu,” Hoshi rolls his eyes.

“R-really?!” Y/n’s eyes grow as wide as a saucer. Hoshi bites back a grin, almost forgetting how gullible Y/n is.

“Relax, we’re lying,” he snorts. “Can I take my order now?”

“Oh, right!” Y/n straightens her back, although she doesn’t seem to be convinced by Hoshi’s reassurance.

Hoshi selects the exact menu he ordered on his last visit, although this time he chooses a cone rather than a paper cup. He also makes a mental note to try another variety of topping next time.

“You two looks close,” y/n comments all of a sudden as she works behind the counter. It doesn’t take a genius to know who Y/n is talking about.“Jun’s my childhood friend,” Hoshi

smiles, quirking an eyebrow at Y/n’s pout. She’s sulking, for some unknown reason, albeit Hoshi has a silly, vague (and hopeful) idea of it. “Rest assured, there’s nothing between us,” Hoshi continues, watching how Y/n subtly relaxes her shoulders. “That goes for me and Mingyu, too,” she adds as an afterthought. Mingyu has never nodded so aggresively.

“That explains why you guys are on a first name basis,” Y/n says abashedly, avoiding Hoshi’s gaze. “B-but! Your relationship is none of my business, of course! This

l/n y/n was just curious, please forgive me for prying!”

Still blushing, she shoves the cone under Hoshi’s nose. Hoshi chuckles and takes it, purposely brushing their fingers together, deepening y/n’s blush. Satisfaction sprouts inside his chest—even without any cheesy pick-up lines, y/n’s naturally a blushing mess around him.Adorable.

“This is sickening to watch,” Mingyu groans, “now pay up, bastard.”

Out of reflex, Hoshi gives him another snide remarks about bad customer service (again), to which Mingyu retaliates with another empty threats.

The doorbell jingles as two chatting customers enter the shop, and at the same time, it’s Hoshi’s cue to leave. He looks back at Y/n, who’s unexpectedly staring at him in silence, and grins cheekily when Y/n flinches due to being caught.“See you next time,” Hoshi says in soft tone, before he playfully boops y/n’s on the nose.

Y/n doesn’t—can’t—reply because she has to serve the next customers, but she manages to send a meek smile towards Hoshi’s direction.

Fuck, Hoshi thinks later, as he ambles back to his place. He can’t believe he finally had the balls to nose boop y/n. He can’t erase y/n’s blushing face from his mind. He can’t stop smiling giddily right now—passersby are probably whispering about him, but he couldn’t care less.All he cares is that he’s honestly in some deep shit.

~~~~~~

 Hoshi spends the next few weeks coming to the ice cream shop. He sometimes misses a day or two, partially due to being exhausted by dancing practice or just college in general. Another reason is because he’s fed up with eating ice cream (no matter how much he’s come to tolerate it a little ever since coming to the shop) and his diet as an athlete doesn’t allow him to overeat anything sweet. Which is ridiculous, since he doesn’t have other excuses to see Y/n; visiting the shop frequently without buying anything would be weird. Though, as days go by, he becomes more creative with his orders, like switching to low-sugar frozen yogurts or an iced Americano float (with the float being removed, much to Y/n’s confusion). Soon, he also finds out the existence of food—such as toasts and grilled sausages—in the shop’s menu.(“You need to stop ogling at Y/n and pay attention to our menu instead,” Mingyu once chastised wryly.)

Regardless, Hoshi enjoys most of his visits. Y/n is a fun person to talk to; Hoshi is often swayed by her personality and ends up being more talkative than he actually is, earning a frown from Mingyu. Later, Y/n reveals that she’s a dancer at Hoshi and Mingyu’s rival college, and she has jokingly asked Hoshi several times to dance against her.Hoshi’s never given an outright answer, however. As much as he wants to meet up with Y/n outside of the shop, he wants it as a date.

And that’s where the problem lies. He doesn’t know how to properly bring it up. He could ask Y/n in the shop, right beside Mingyu, but getting rejected in public would be awkward. In the end, that thought is always buried to the back of his mind.

Today is no different. Hoshi visits the the shop again—after being absent for a week prior—with no intentions of bringing up the date. As usual, he only wants to see the dancer. Even before stepping his feet inside, his heart thumps in anticipation to Y/n’s welcoming smile. So, as soon as he pushes the door open only to notice the absence of one of the workers behind the counters, his face falls.

“Asshole, I should’ve gotten offended of how disappointed your face is when you saw me instead of Y/n,” Mingyu scowls, to which Hoshi grins sheepishly. “She’s gonna be late today. I know what you’re thinking—she’s fine. There aren’t any dangerous emergencies or something like that, calm down.”

“I am calm,” Hoshi replies, burying his hands into his pockets. “I know she’s gonna be fine. She has such a caring co-worker after all,” he smirks at Kuramochi, who huffs in slight embarassment.

“Shut up. Who knows what stupid thing she’s gonna do,” the hipster’s lips curl downwards, an attempt to hold back his smile. “Anyway, since she’s not here yet, I can finally interrogate you.”

“What is there to interrogate?”

“What is y/n to you?” Mingyu ignores his words, giving him a pointed look instead. “If you’re only playing with her, Hoshi, I swear – “

“Oi, can’t you trust me a little?” Hoshi sweatdrops. “Do I look like some kind of heartthrob? You know me better than that, ‘Mingyu.”

“With your face, it’s easy to become one.”

“Very flattering.”

“Anyway, I’m being fucking serious right now,” Mingyu glowers at the dancer solemnly. “Tell me what you want from her.”

Hoshi eventually sighs, and briefly scans the whole shop. Luckily, it’s one of the weekdays, so there aren’t many customers inside. Besides, they’re too engrossed in their conversations or electronical devices to eavesdrop on Hoshi and Mingyu.

“Look, I don’t want anything from her,” Hoshi begins slowly, but he’s only rewarded with a skeptical look from Mingyu. “Okay, maybe I’ve been meaning to ask her on a date, but—“ he narrows his eyes at the hipster. “Wait, she’s single, right?”

“Isn’t it a bit too late to be asking that?” Mingyu purses his lips into a thin line.

“Oh, Hoshi, you’re here!”

Both the hipster and the dancer whip their head alarmingly to the familiar voice. There stands y/n with her trademark grin, her bag slung around her shoulder. Panic blossoms inside of Hoshi’s chest—he didn’t hear the jingle of the doorbell, and judging from Mingyu’s startled response, he didn’t, too. They don’t know how long has the dancer been standing there. It’d be bad if Y/n managed to hear their conversation.

So, Hoshi studies y/n’s facial expression, searching for something, but the dancer only looks perplexed—probably due to Hoshi’s sudden stillness.

“Hoshi?” Y/n blinks up at him, making Hoshi more conscious of their height difference. Eyes trailing down to her neck, the pastel-colored collar of the shop’s uniform peeks out of her oversized sweater that falls until her mid-thigh, with the sleeves covering up her whole hands.

Sweater paws, Hoshi’s mind shuts down as tiny Hoshi’s inside his brain run in circles, screaming “ABORT! ABORT!” with high-pitched voices. She’s fucking wearing sweater paws.

“Hoshi-oppa!” Y/n frowns, successfully drawing Hoshi’s attention. “Don’t zone out like that, you’re scaring me.”

“Right, sorry,” the dancer mutters as he watches Y/n disappearing into the back room, before she shows up again without her sweater while tying the apron on her lower back.

“I see that you haven’t ordered something!” Y/n grins brightly, this time placing both of her hands on her hips. “So, what are you here for today, Hoshi?”

Hoshi, still distracted, racks his brain to all of the menu he’s ordered in the past. Triple shots espresso ice cream with almonds. Iced americano float, but without the float. Wasabi ice cream because he was feeling adventurous. Hazelnut spread and sliced banana on toast—

No, that’s not What hoshi wants all of this time. He wants—

“You,” he blurts out, mumbling, unaware of Mingyu choking in the background. However, when he notices the lack of response from the dancer, the haze in his brain suddenly dissipates, and everything becomes crystal clear again. “Shit, I mean—“

“Okay,” Y/n says, e/c orbs shyly peeking from underneath her lashes towards Hoshi.

“I was—huh, what?” Hoshi pauses, dumbfounded.

“I said okay,” Y/n averts her eyes, playing with the hem of her apron. “You can have me.”

Hoshi stares and stares, trying to process Y/n’s affirmation. That sounds too suggestive—too good to be true. Maybe his brain is tricking him. Maybe this is only a scene that he unconsciously creates inside his mind which is brought to life in a form of hallucination.

But when Y/n starts to fidget under his gaze, Hoshi lets his brain register the fact that this is, indeed, a reality.

As the gears inside him begin to work again, Hoshi doesn’t pass the chance to poke some fun at Y/n’s answer which basically serves as a free teasing material for Hoshi to use.

“Oh? How bold,” he then comments, smirking in satisfaction as he observes how realization gradually dawns on Y/n’s face.

“I didn’t mean to phrase it like that!” the dancer exclaims defensively, her cheeks now tainted with red. “Y-you were the one who blurted out weird things in the first place!”

“Sorry, sorry~” Hoshi grins unapologetically, to which Y/n pouts at. “But, as tempting as it sounds, you should let me take you on a date first, y’know,” he continues, his playful grin faltering a little due to slight nervousness.

To his relief, Y/n utters a timid “okay” and nods, a tint of pink still decorating her cheeks. At that, Hoshi doesn’t bother to hide the ever-growing smile on his lips and an excited glance to Mingyu who’s pretending to read a magazine and acting all disinterested, albeit the small curl on the corner of his mouth tells otherwise.

The next thing Hoshi knows is him exchanging phone numbers with the dancer and discussing their date in a short stretch of time due to the arrival of a group of customers.

Hoshi doesn’t get any ice cream that day, but he does get something—someone—sweeter in return.

 ~Three months later~

 Hoshi sips on his hot, black coffee, the steam fogging up the lenses of his glasses. He steps aside when a patron comes out of the shop hurriedly, but he manages to halt the door from closing with his right knee. Hoshi then opens the door big enough for his body to get inside as the familiar chime of the doorbell greets his ears. The shop is silent, empty without customers, highly caused by the “CLOSED” sign on the door with a red, thick font.“I’m sorry, we’re already closed—“ Y/n says from Hoshi’s left side while stacking some brochures. When she finally turns her head towards the door, a beatific smile appears on her face. “Oh! Hoshi.”

Hoshi smiles back, placing his coffee on the counter and leans towards Y/n, to which the latter eagerly closes the gap between their mouths. They share a quick kiss as a greeting, before Hoshi withdraws slightly.

“Hey,” he murmurs, lips brushing over

y/n’s. He steals one or two more kisses, just because he can’t help himself.

“Hi to you too,” Y/n whispers, giggling. Hoshi cradles his lover’s cheeks with one of his palms, prompting Y/n to nuzzle against it. From here, he can also make out Y/n’s e/c eyes twinkling in delight—so captivating and blinding that it stupefies him.

“For someone who’s on her last day of work, you sure look happy,” Hoshi comments, arching an amused brow.

“I am happy!” Y/n replies, pulling away fully to finish her tidying duty. She moves swiftly behind the counters, the sole of her shoes creating noisy sounds against the tiled floor. “But not in a way you’re thinking.”

“Enlighten me, then,” Hoshi says, bringing the paper cup of his half-drunk coffee to his mouth and takes a sip.

“I like this job,” Y/n confesses, finishing her work and untying her apron. “My co-workers are nice, and my boss is generous to give me discounted ice cream.”

“I think the latter plays a bigger part,” Hoshi teases, knowing Y/n’s sweet tooth.

“Shut up,” the dancer juts her tongue out. “Meeting you here is what makes this job more special,” Y/n casually states, offering a smug smirk at Hoshi’s flabbergasted expression.

“Wow, Y/n,” he breathes out, before whistling with a shake of head. “You sure become bolder with your words nowadays.”

“Wh-what’s that supposed to mean?!”Y/n questions, pupils turning cat-like.Hoshi hums. “Well, you used to blush so much around me—“

“That’s – “ as if on cue, red creeps up to y/n’s cheek. “That’s because you always gave me those kind of eyes and used that kind of voice—!”

“What about now?”hoshi smirks, revelling in the way Y/n gets all worked up because of him. A nasty personality he has, indeed.

“Ugh, I’m not gonna talk about it!” the dancer scrunches her nose, a habit that Hoshi’s taken to notice whenever Y/n is frustrated. “Anyway! I was talking why I feel happy to quit work! It’s because I can spend more time with you now!”If Hoshi’s heart pulsates rapidly due to the abrupt swarm of affections in his veins, he does a great job of hiding it. “The real reason why you quit is because of the upcoming dancer season. We’d still be busy, either way,” he points out instead.

“Must you be so pessimistic, Hoshi?” Y/n pouts, looking a little dejected. Hoshi exhales guiltily.

“My bad,” he chuckles, ruffling the crown of Y/n’s head. “You know that I’d always try to make time for you, right, Y/n?”

“Of course you do, you whipped asshole. Only you would come to a shop that sells something you dislike.”

“Mingyu-oppa!” Y/n jumps due to

Mingyu’s unannounced appearance from the back room, before gawking at his revelation. “Wait, what? Does Hoshi not like ice cream?”

“Ask him yourself,” Mingyu shrugs.

Y/n immediately whirls towards Hoshi, displaying her best puppy face to lure the truth out of her boyfriend. And concede Hoshi does, not before shooting daggers at a snickering Mingyu.

“Yes, y/n, I don’t eat much sweets. You happy now?” he admits reluctantly, tugging the collar of his jacket in embarassment.

“Oh my god, Hoshi!” Sawamura bounces on her feet. “After all of this time, you didn’t come here for the ice cream?!”

Hoshi sighs, not before downing the remnant of his coffee and throwing it in the nearest trash bin. “I don’t see what the issue is. It’s not like I exactly loathe ice cream, I just can’t handle it if it’s too sweet—“Y/n, however, wastes no time to approach Hoshi on the other side of the counter, circling her arms around Hoshi’s neck and kisses him hard on the mouth.

The hipster groans in agony, covering his face with his right palm. “This isn’t the outcome that I wanted,” he bemoans, lamenting in his misery.

Hoshi laughs nasally, eyes closing in pure mirth as Y/n continues to pepper kisses on his face. It eggs Mingyu even more as he seethes in irritation.“Okay, stop it, Y/n! Why the fuck are you so pleased at the idea of Hoshi trying to get himself diabetes for you?”

“Oi, that’s too exaggerating, don’t you think?” Hoshi sweatdrops.

Y/n ends her ministration and frowns at Mingyu. “But Mingyu-oppa! If I were in Hoshi’s shoes, I’d do the same! But currently he’s not working in a natto-based restaurant or something, so I shall reward his bravery in some other way!”

“Don’t do it here,” Mingyu snaps, “I’ve cleaned and locked all shit in the back room while you were busy with that idiot. Grab your bag and sweater and just go home.”Teary-eyed, Y/n beams brightly, “I express my sincerest gratitude for you,

Mingyu-oppa!” She exclaims, before dashing to the back room to collect her belongings.“Yeah, yeah,” Mingyu waves her off, rubbing the back of his neck. “Don’t read too much into it. It’s my last day too, figures I’d do more than usual.”

“Aw, it wouldn’t hurt to admit that you care for her, ‘Mingyu,” Hoshi coos.

“And you!” Mingyu then throws the dancer a resentful look. “You owe me for all of the time you’ve made me into a fucking thirdwheel, bastard!”

At that moment, Y/n has come back, already clad in her warm, oversized sweater, and proceeds to stand next to Hoshi. That’s when an idea strikes him.

“Thirdwheel?” Hoshi asks, tilting his head at Mingyu in a faux innocuousness. He pulls his unsuspecting girlfriend closer by the waist, to which Y/n lets out a soft gasp. “Whatever do you mean by that, Mingyu?”

“Huh?” Mingyu croaks out, widening his eyes when Hoshi lowers his head to Y/n’s face with a shit-eating grin.

“What are you – shit, don’t you two dare making out again – give me a damn break, I’m trying to close the shop here! If you two don’t stop right now, I’m gonna kick out both of you with a fucking broom – oi, did you hear me?! Alright, for fuck’s sake, Y/n, save the moan for later and GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE—“

[pellicano-sanguino]

Now that Kurenai Yuzuru's taidan is drawing closer, I wanted to write something short about some of the roles she's done that I have fond memories of.

These are mostly from Reon's era, since most of my Hoshigumi shows are from that time. I need to see more shows from Kurenai's own top star run.

Mercutio from Romeo&Juliette 2010

This was the first zuka show I saw, and still my favourite show to this day. I could go into all the details about how I love this musical, but now I'm just going to mention the casting. It was perfect. Everyone got a role that fit their acting style perfectly. Kurenai was a natural Mercutio, the best one I've ever seen. She nailed Merkku's immaturity, playfulness and – most importantly in my opinion – his recklessness.

Memorable scenes are Mercutio's song number when he tempts his Montague buddies to go with him to crash the Capulet's party, him and the boys bullying Nurse, confronting Romeo after hearing the news about his wedding (I was quite shocked to see Mercutio threaten Romeo with honor violence, claiming he's going to slit his throat if he won't give up Juliette) and the fight scene followed by Mercutio's death including a final song of ”goodbye friends and PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES!”

I admit, I don't usually care for it when zuka gives a dying character one final song that they sing in weak, slow voice, milking the tragedy for all the drama its worth. It often fails to be sad and just feels cheesy and soap operaish. But I found the song of dying Mercutio very touching, when I saw the scene for the first time I cried real tears. Despite the language barrier, Kurenai managed to reach to me with her voice and her acting and make me shed tears for Mercutio's death.

Sid from Officer and Gentleman

Officer and Gentleman isn't the kind of movie I'd thought would get a zuka adaptation and yet it exists. Zuka is very clearly targeted for women and this movie is more for the male audience. I know it has a romance and is therefore regarded as a love story but in my opinion this flick is more like a coming-of-age story about the character growth the male lead goes through (also, it oozes toxic masculinity, a thing more common in films for men). Anyway, the zuka version is actually a pretty good show. Ouki Kaname totally steals every scene she's in. But today I'm here to talk about Kurenai.

Kurenai is probably best known for her talent in comedy. Sometimes I've heard people say that's the only kind of shows she should do and that always made me sad, because Kurenai isn't a one trick pony trapped to do only one character type. I have been very impressed at her talent in playing sensitive men. Many otokoyaku roles rely on strong and cool male image, but Kurenai sometimes gets roles that let her show emotions, the men she plays are allowed to be vulnerable. Sid is one of these. Sid is young and a bit naive and makes stupid decisions, but when he thinks he's done a mistake, he is ready to take responsibility of it. The scene where he goes to propose Lynette breaks my heart every time. That look on his face when he finds out he's been lied to, it just hits me right in the feels. There is something so naturally charming and lovable in Kurenai that seeing her characters get hurt makes me feel awful. Like, no, don't do this to her!

Karenin from Anna Karenina

I have not read this book, but its one of my mother's favourites, so we watched this show together and she pointed me all the things that she thought zuka had adapted well and the parts that they had changed. She was especially impressed with Kurenai's Karenin. According to my mother, the character of Karenin is often done quite poorly in other adaptations of the book, he is often portrayed as just a onesided, simple man who's a little dumb and doesn't have much depth of character. Much like Sid, Kurenai's Karenin is allowed to show his emotions and not be just a boring, stoic figure who reacts to his wife's affair with mild disinterest. There is kindness in Karenin, it's not always easy to see, but it's there. He lost his own parents and a brother that was dear to him, and because he remembers how horrible it is to be alone and lose your family, he adopts Anna's and Vronsky's child, not wanting her to be left alone.

Antonio from Tale of Coimbra

I have opinions concerning this show. Namely, I think it misses a golden opportunity to put the zuka trope of reunion of lovers in the afterlife to proper use. Big part of the Coimbra legend are the coffins of Pedro and Inez being placed so that when they rise in Doomsday, the first thing they see is each others' faces. And zuka just had to go and twist the story so that Inez doesn't die (and they don't even get a happy ending despite that! Poor Pedro, he just can't win.). Also, very, very disappointed at the lack of Corpse Queen and tearing out assassin-Makaze's heart with a line ”You broke my heart, therefore you have none!”

Ahem. Sorry about the rant. Anyway, Kurenai is in this musical. He plays a guy named Antonio, who is...   umm... I think a pirate or a robber or something along those lines. The group of robbers/pirates gets made into scapegoats for Inez's murder, and Pedro, Pimenta, assassin-Makaze and some soldiers mercilessly slaughter them all. Kurenai's role gets very little stage time, but I wanted to mention this role, because I was very impressed with her stage swordplay skills. I don't know if I should credit the director for this, or if Kurenai did some research of her own, but her legwork is strong and sometimes I can even identify the poses she makes as part of real swordplay moves.

Warrior seeking to fight with Reon, from Takarazuka Floral Dance Scrolls

This is my favourite nihonmono revue. The music, the dancing and the costumes are all great. In one of the numbers Kurenai plays a warrior who doesn't get along with another warrior, played by Reon. I don't know what their beef is about, Kurenai just hates Reon's guts and sends ninjas to ambush him when he's spending time flirting with local ladies. Reon being Reon, he defeats all the ninjas and makes a daring escape with courtesan-Nene. They are heading towards a river, intending to ride a boat to safety, but by the riverside Kurenai confronts them. Holding his sword he opens his arms like inviting Reon for a hug. Come at me bro! And so they fight, doing the samurai slash thing where time freezes after they've struck at each other and then the one who lost slowly falls. The one who falls is Kurenai, and Reon and Nene proceed to their romantic boatride.

This number has left an impression on me, because I think the nihonmono look suits Kurenai really well. She made a very handsome and cool-looking warrior.

Shibata Rihito from Mei-chan's Butler

Takarazuka and shoujo manga have walked hand in hand since the days of BeruBara Boom and even before, inspiring each other. Every now and then zuka does a show based on a manga. This one, unfortunately, is based on a manga I have never read and therefore I had no idea what was going on during most of this musical. But I still found it rather entertaining (the prop work sure was something different, with weird video projections, shadow theater and parachuting puppets). I admit, the many colourful side characters steal the show from Kurenai quite often, being wilder and weirder than her character is. I will have to give special mention to Makaze's evil butler, I love it when Makaze plays villains. But at the end, this is Kurenai's show. She was a very dashing butler.  

Memorable scenes include a weird, artsy, dream-like interpretive dance scene where the shadow theater is put to good use for * symbolism *.

 Because I haven't read the manga, I have no idea what is going on here. My bet is on drugs.

Also among the memorable scenes is the fencing. I still think Kurenai is pretty good with a sword.

I need to come up with name for this trope, where the opponents lock their swords for a while to glare at each other and chat.

Bourguignon from Second Fortuitous Meeting

Many zuka comedies are wasted on me because so many of the jokes are language based and I still don't understand much Japanese. But this one I liked very much. Admittedly, I got to read a translation once, so this time I got the jokes, but even ignoring the spoken jokes, it's just a really fun show. Every character was fantastic, Kurenai's role as a manservant forced to fake being his own master included. Her talent in comedy is very strong, she masters small things like the tone of her voice, the expressions of her face and simple bodylanguage and makes her character absolutely hilarious. I have noticed  that one character pair zuka shows tend to have is pairing a cool and serious master with a sassy, loud, no-filter-between-brains-and-mouth servant, who works as a comedic relief softening the seriousness of their master. In a show like Second Fortuitous Meeting, where everyone is sassy, loud and has no filter between brains and mouth, Kurenai needs to tone her comedy up quite a bit so that Bourguignon will appear even funnier than his master.

Most memorable scene is Bourguignon sitting down in protest like a misbehaving infant when Dorante demands they leave.

This show got a sequel. It was just as fun as the first one, even though this time I had no translation and so had very little clue what was going on. Something involving a pumpkin thief.

Beniko and Reon's father from REON!!

Otokoyaku in drag for comedy reasons is quite a common thing in zuka, and usually I find it as amusing as real men in drag (in other words, not very). But I adore Beniko. The reason why her comedy works is that the joke isn't just putting otokoyaku in drag, Beniko is a carefully designed sketch character. Her costume, her curls that she constantly keeps shoving back over her shoulders, the way she speaks (this has to be some sort of dialect, I swear), she is just incredibly funny. I don't think I can properly explain why I find her so amusing, after all I don't even understand what she says. There's just something about Beniko that always makes me smile.

There was also a number where Reon sang about her family. Makaze and Kurenai played her parents. Makaze made a very charming Japanese beauty in her apron (I usually don't like it when they make her wear dresses, but here she looked so natural it suited her well). She had to bend her knees a little to appear shorter than Kurenai. Kurenai as Reon's father was weird looking, with thick eyebrows that made him look like a comic character. But he was a very sweet father, eagerly making faces and shaking a rattle at baby Reon, and smiling even when the fighting kids accidentally poured a tea kettle on him. I've always felt that Makaze and Kurenai had great chemistry together and seeing them play a married couple was adorable.

Gemini from Etoile de Takarazuka

Again, putting otokoyaku in drag isn't fun if you don't give her character. Well, in this revue Kurenai had to put her skills to the test by switching between two characters several times during the same number. The split-personality Gemini suffered from manic-depressive behavious. 

The female side was happy and giddy and optimistic (”Everybody loves me, I'm so pretty, and so witty, I'm so gay!”)

...and the male half was gloomy and depressed and had no self-esteem (”Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms...”). 

I have to respect her for managing these quick switches between otokoyaku and onnayaku, cheerful and gloomy, the changing between characters was done smoothly.

Also, I want that dress...   suit...   costume...   thing...   I want that dresssuitcostumething. I would wear it to every dance ball ever.

Frederic de Marmont from Napoleon

This show had a ton of characters, many of them quite colourful ones, and unfortunately Marmont was often left as only the observer of things happening around him (well, the story is being told by him, so it kinda fits). Nevertheless I think Kurenai was very handsome in the uniform, and I think Marmont got some important scenes. He knew Napoleon from the military school and there's a song number where he voices concern for his friend's endless thirst for more victories. In the end, he is the one who decides to surrender Paris, understanding that it's madness to keep fighting and lose more lives when losing the battle can no longer be avoided.

The part I remember Kurenai most in this show is actually from the minirevue. She dances a rather romantic dance with Makaze. I will say it again, these two had great chemistry together.

Philippe from Sun King

I know there are probably only like a handful of fans who like this show besides me, but I loved it. I've always been a sucker for French imported musicals in zuka. This show is another example of good casting, everyone gets a character that no one else would have done as well as they have. Kurenai, being the best there is at comedy, gets the comedic relief character Philippe the gay-tailed pheasant, who also shows to the audience how the royals and nobles lived in a fantasy bubble completely separated from real life. She gets three songs and she sings them well. I haven't mentioned it before now, but I really like Kurenai's voice. It's a very recognisable, charming, unique voice. I also have to show respect at how easily and naturally she wears the gaudiest costumes. This show has some really ridiculous costume designs for the nobles to show how separate they are from common folks, but Kurenai wears hers with pride. I can almost picture her looking at a costume desing and being like ”Wow that is the ugliest thing I've ever seen, when can I try it on?”

Percy Blakeney from Scarlet Pimpernel

When Reon and Nene graduated, my star also left Hoshigumi and I followed her to a new home troupe, so I haven't seen that many Hoshigumi shows after Reon's era. But when I saw that they were going to make Scarlett Pimpernel, I had to get it. I had seen Kurenai perform Percy as a shinko role and I thought she was brilliant even then.

Of course I was going to use screenshots of the fencing scene. What else did you expect?

Once when I was sick and couldn't even read books, just rest, I borrowed some audio books from the library. This is how I was introduced to Scarlet Pimpernel. I liked the audio book a lot, especially the menacing, raspy voice they gave to Chauvelin. I was delighted to discover one of the first stories to use the idea of a masked hero. Men who like Batman are not allowed to make fun of me for liking Scarlet Pimpernel.

Scarlet Pimpernel is such an entertaining story and Percy is such a charming hero, saving innocents and having fun while doing it. I like Kiriya Hiromu's Percy a lot too, but Kurenai's is my favourite. She really gets into the character and makes a very lovely Percy. Having to wear disguises in this show, she once again shows her ability to fit into all deliciously awful outfits (like the suits they wear to the party held by the prince of Wales). But even out of disguises, I've got to admit Percy's got style. I also obviously adored the sword dance in the mini revue. Kurenai's Percy brings a smile to my face whenever he's on screen. This is probably the role I will remember her most from.

I will miss Kurenai terribly. Whatever she decides to do after leaving Takarazuka, I wish her good luck and happiness as thanks for all the times she brought me lauhter, tears and joy.

[venus-says]

Round of Randoms #1 - Shorties

The one with the skeleton, the cat boys, and the card game.

Look who's back!

After a much-needed break to cool off from the Aikatsu marathon, here I again to delight the world with my unnecessary opinions. XD

You may be asking yourself, what is this? Well, I was thinking of what to do to come back to the blog, but still on my break mindset and I didn't want to get back to my regular stuff. So I thought about it and decided to get back to my roots and one of the reasons why I created this blog in the first place and went down on my anime list and see what was there that I could watch and bring to here. I've made a huge list of things, divided them into categories, and I'm planning to watch them in between the regular shows I comment here. I was lazy and pretty much only picked stuff that came out this year, but is still a somewhat diverse range of the usual things I talk about here.

Since I wanted something quick and easy to do at first I went with my "shorties" category that is composed of shows with a run time of 15 minutes or less per episode, and "one-shot" OVAs, in other words, things that I could watch on a single day with not much trouble. These are "reviews" of the entire season so they won't be as detailed, but that was never the point of these to begin with, If there's a show on my list that I have a lot to talk about I'll probably do it on a separate post.

Anyway, let's begin.

MYSTERIA Friends

Starting off is MYSTERIA Friends (or Manaria Friends in the original). This wasn't a show that was on my list actually, but once I saw that it was only 10 episodes of 15 minutes each and that both Yoko and Nana were voicing characters on this show I was "okay, I need to watch this now". I had no previous knowledge of anything related to this show and I was kinda excited to see what it was about, I don't know what I was expecting from it, but in reality, I got really disappointed.

Like, the show technically is gorgeous, I think that because of the shorter airing time they could pay more attention to the drawing and animation and you get stunned by the visuals. The soundtrack is also pretty decent, there's nothing exceptional aside of maybe the insert song Nana's character sings in one the episodes, but the general background music is pretty effective on putting yourself on that world.

With that being said, this is probably where the positives end. The show has no plot, which in itself it's not a problem, most of this short shows are episodic anyway and that's one of the charms of this type of anime, but in this case it's a problem because it just seems empty, the show seems to be trying to talk about inter-species relationships, but it actually never touches on that what gives this "empty media" vibe. This ties in with another problem that is the fact that this fantastic, magical setting has no purpose of being there other than aesthetics, I feel that the excuse of going "magic medieval" was we gonna show how this human and this half-demon can get along and bring peace and harmony to this world, but they never touch on the topic and it becomes pretty obvious that they only went with that route because the author has a thing for girl dragons.

Which ties in with my biggest problem, the useless ecchi. Honestly, the amount of ecchi they got to put in such a short amount of time is unbelievable, like, right on the second episode Grea is pain because she's molting, but the scene is shot as like she's having sex and the moans are more like pleasure moans rather than moans of someone who's in pain, and is just so uncomfortable, and to add more into this weirdness Anne steals the shed skin of Grea's tail and in the final episode she's smelling that like those pervs smelling on panties and IT'S SO AWKWARD. This threw me off so much, I think I only got through because the show was very short and I know the suffering would be very low, otherwise I would definitely have dropped it right on episode 2.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Honda-san was that show that I had always seen people commenting on and was very interested in watching since the beginning, but I never did because I'm lazy, so when I decided to do this I knew I had to put the show on the list and finally watch it, and that's a decision I definitely don't regret making.

Honestly, this show is so good. It's not that comedy that will let you laughing your pants off, but it doesn't mean that it ain't funny. It's mentioned in the show that the manga that originated from this anime was written by Honda-san himself about his experiences working on a bookstore, I don't know how truthful the stories are, but is this sense of "damn this really happens irl" that makes everything way much funnier and it is a true joy to watch. The anime isn't ambitious, I don't think it's trying to convey a message or make a commentary or anything, but this doesn't come as a detriment for the show, this anime didn't need any of that and they don't try to make it be about something big. It's just a wholesome show about life that is really comforting, especially if you're an adult that already had some experience with retailing.

What else do I have to say? I love the style, I love the soundtrack, I love the weird situation that happens, and the characters are just amazing, aside of Honda-san I love manager Armor she's lots of fun, and Chief Pestmask (who's VA is, look at that, Hikasa Yoko once again) who doesn't appear a lot, but when she comes she sure leaves an impression on you. This show did crush my fantasies of working on a bookstore someday, but I loved every second of it anyway. XD

Hey, Your Cat Ears Are Showing! Season 2

So when I heard Hora Mimi was getting a second season, I was both excited and apprehensive. This one of the rare short shows that have an episodic narrative but that has an overall plot to the whole thing, and I was quite satisfied with the ending of season 1, it was sweet and heartwarming as the rest of the series was and I really didn't think a second season was needed, thus I really didn't watch it while it was airing. But this was the perfect opportunity for me to finally watch it.

And this season was a very good surprise, it expanded on what the first season had built and it became three times gayer by giving Dong Dong and Jin Zhu partners, Jin Zhu partner being an Ear People but from another species, which made this season even more fun and cute. The final arc of this season where they established that Da Shu and Miao had met each other before the events of season 1 is probably the only thing I don't like about this sequel because on my eyes it looks silly, but I wouldn't call it a negative that renders the show. Hora Mimi remains a very adorable, heartwarming show that everyone definitely should check it out.

The Girl From the Other Side

Totsukuni no Shoujo was never on my radar for mangas so I wasn't aware of its existence. A few months back I saw someone reblogging gifs from this OVA on my dash and I got really intrigued by it, the aesthetic was kinda similar to Ancient Magus Bridge but it was darker and it had this antique style to it that made me fall in love instantly.

Since I don't know the manga, I'm not familiar with the characters and their stories, but even though I was in the dark I could grasp the concept without major difficulties because the characters are very expressive, and the music is very well used on passing to was what is going on with those characters. I thought an anime with no dialogue would be boring, but this OVA was very captivating, not just by its visuals but also by the narrative and the music that got me hooked from beginning to end. I feel like this is a very shallow review of the thing, but I don't think I'm smart enough to elaborate more on what to say about this show.

I'm not familiar with the manga and I don't know how things work there, neither I know if such style could hold up for an entire season, but I definitely wanna see more, and I'll definitely look up the manga if I can make my tablet work again someday.

Zenonzard THE ANIMATION - Episode 0

And to wrap up we have Zenonzard, which was another show that I wasn't aware of until I decided to do this thing and it's only here because the poster looked cool, and it was officially available on youtube with subs and no region locks so I thought, "why not?"

This is probably the weirdest of the bunch since it's a show based on a card game, and I haven't watched one of these in ages, and it's weird, but I was kinda into it? Like, I don't like that most of the girls in this show have ginormous breasts and this thing of a female coming to an apparently normal boy saying "I choose you" seems that it's going to backfire and will create a huge mess in the future, but as the episode was progressing I was getting more and more into it?

The plot doesn't seem as good, if they even have a plot. It does a crap job at explaining what this game is and how it works, and also the CG used for the monsters is horrendous. But it got me interested, it had some great music playing and I think this is what caught me the most, even though there's one song, that I believe is sung by Nanase who did voices for Aikatsu, that I feel like it was very misplaced. I also like the futuristic aesthetic, I'm a sucker for these things and I was pleased for the most part of it.

I don't know if this will become a thing, but if they actually release an anime and if they publish it on youtube like what they've done with this ONA/Special/Prequel? I may keep watching it. Which comes to as a surprise to me.

And this was the first Round of Randoms (provisory name) of this blog. I quite enjoyed doing this thing, I think I'm gonna keep doing it to always have something different and new around here. What did you think of it? Have you watched any of these shows? What are your opinions about it? Is there any show you have to recommend? And what's a good name for this new thing I'm trying to do? Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end, and I'll see you guys at another time.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – Last time I said that this series never quite tipped over into melodrama, but let’s face it, that’s what happens here. I mean, it’s good melodrama, and you really feel the tortured emotions of these girls who just want to be able to love each other. If I’m honest, the fact that this series has a happy ending feels a bit unrealistic given everything that’s been stacked against them since the start, but that’s OK, because it fits the work emotionally, and no one wants to see this end with someone visiting another’s grave. If you enjoyed Emma but wish it had more lesbians, Goodbye, My Rose Garden should be right up your street, and I always enjoy seeing Japanese authors write Victoriana. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 10 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – Kou is back and in charge, and the most interesting part of this volume was her decision to make Aoba the main character designer for the new game, even though she’s not the most talented artist in the room. Sometimes you just want a style. Elsewhere, Kou and Rin’s relationship continues to be “Rin is as blatantly gay as possible, Kou does not get it, but it’s getting more and more blatant by the volume,” and I figure a dam has to break at some point. As for the others, Nene is promoted to full-time employee after, of all things, an airsoft battle, and we see some of the aftermath of the previous game the team released, including some BL doujinshi popping up. This is cute, and nothing else, but it is very cute. – Sean Gaffney

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 7 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – I don’t think there’s any currently running series that leaves me quite as desperate for the next volume as Tomoko Yamashita’s thoroughly excellent The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window. In this volume, we have Mikado learning to value the safe places he has had in his life while shying away from behind Rihito’s safe place, various people trying to dig up information about the professor, Erika’s mother finally growing a backbone and urging her daughter to run away while she can, and many not-so-subtle hints about the professor’s true identity. There’s a lot of plot, there’s a lot of emotion, and there are a lot of striking visuals. I love it so much and am bummed that it recently ended in Japan. At least there’s a forthcoming anime adaptation to look forward to! – Michelle Smith

Practice Makes Perfect, Vol. 4 | By Ui Hanamiya | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – There’s a bit less sex in this final volume, mostly because it is a final volume, and we have to wrap up all the plot threads that are not “let’s treat sex like practicing for a sport.” I was pleased to see that the manga made all the right choices. There’s a brief “I’m jealous the girl I love spends her days surrounded by hot guys,” but it doesn’t last and the hot guys are all rooting for him. I will admit I *hate* very public proposals, but if I can get over that, it was sweet. Best of all, Nohara is forced to choose between getting married or her career… and she chooses the career, going to Italy for two years and enduring a long-distance relationship. They even both get Olympic golds! Though not in sex. I hope this sees print; it was great. – Sean Gaffney

Pretty Boy Detective Club, Vol. 1: The Dark Star That Shines for You Alone | By NISIOSIN and Kinako | Vertical – As someone who can appreciate both pretty boys and mystery novels, I was intrigued by Pretty Boy Detective Club. Actually, I am still intrigued by the premise and think it would probably make a fun anime. As a light novel, though, I really wasn’t a fan. This first book in the series is told from the perspective of Mayumi Dojima, self-proclaimed “extreme contrarian,” who enlists the aid of a group of eccentric middle-school detectives in finding the elusive star she saw ten years ago. Mayumi’s narrative voice is not particularly enjoyable to begin with, but also because we’re following her, we see absolutely nothing about how the boys investigate her case and almost nothing about the boys themselves, except superficial things and one recurring joke about how one of them is in love with a first grader. I truly did want to like this but ultimately it merits only a “meh.” – Michelle Smith

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 10 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – New arc starts here, with more than one snake possessing people and wanting out. Unfortunately, one of those snakes is in Kyutaro, and does in fact get out at one point, which leads to a scene that manages to be both scary and sexy, because he attacks Fumi late at night when they are both, not to put too fine a point on it, rather horny. Honestly, this is one of those series that’s worth reading for the art alone—it’s simply terrific here, especially when we get to see how badass Fumi can be, wielding both a sword and a headbutt with equal perfection. It looks as if we’re going to have snake vs. snake battling next time, which hopefully will not lead to clan vs. clan. I always enjoy when a new volume is out. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 11 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – The kidnapping arc finally wraps up, with a lot of action and also a lot of heartfelt debate about what it means to be a good leader, including a glorious scene where Sariphi plays Fenrir like a fiddle, telling him “his majesty would come to where I am” knowing that it will get him to do it as well. After a very bloody battle, which takes up most of the middle of the book, His Majesty is so worn down he actually gets ill enough to turn human… a dangerous thing given that he’s in his chambers. Fortunately, he has his queen by his side. Also fortunately, there’s another wonderful battle scene, mock this time, between Lanteveldt and Jormungand. This remains a highly underrated shoujo series. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 10 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I always seem to fall behind with this series—as I review volume ten, volume eleven is due out—but reading it always reminds me how much I enjoy it. For one thing, we finally get Kiki’s backstory, and I enjoyed it—it’s not tragic, and she’s on relatively good terms with her father. The issue is that she’s being told to get married and return home, and she’s not ready to do either yet. The manga seems to be shipping her and Mitsuhide hard, but I dunno. As for our title character, she’s as happy as can be right now, which is perhaps ominous given this series is 21 volumes and counting, but it’s nice to see. Unless you’re an Obi shipper. Of whom there are a whoooooole lot. This is still wonderful. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 1 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – This comes from the creator of Ao-chan Can’t Study, so the fact that it’s all about sex is not particularly surprising. More accurately, it’s all about our newly married couple NOT having sex—they’re childhood friends, and do love each other, but are both rather embarrassed about the idea, and both easily can “not be in the mood” if things aren’t perfect. The volume—and likely the series—involves them trying to get the other one into the mood. Best part of the manga is the wife, Sumika, who is the ‘deadpan stoic’ sort, which makes it funnier that she’s a rather horny newlywed. The husband, Ikuma, is alas more of a standard nerdy drip. Still, there’s enough fun here for me to read more. – Sean Gaffney

By: Sean Gaffney

[captainehren]

List of anime that influenced me

While watching CDawgVA talk about the anime that influenced him, I got to thinking of what has influenced me. I’m older than many fans now, so what I grew up with isn’t what everyone else grew up with. 

1) Sailor Moon

This show was the first real anime show I ever watched, though I had watched “anime” when I was younger in Voltron and Akira. However, they didn’t have nearly as strong an impact on me as Sailor Moon. I heard about it from one of my friends, and she was the kind of overly obsessed fantard that makes you cringe when you think of anime fans, but that came a bit later. I was in 6th grade and she told me I should try watching Sailor Moon in the morning. So I did.

I was instantly hooked. The girly clothes, the magic, the romance, the daring and mysterious Tuxedo Mask... I was in love! And so I got as many Sailor Moon things as I could get my little hands on. I got the small dolls, I also managed to get a hold of an Artemis plush that got ruined, and a big Sailor Venus doll. I really, really wanted a Tuxedo Mask doll, because good God he was pretty, but I could never find him. 

Over the years, I frequented anime stores, or Japanimation as we called it. I got a couple of Sailor Moon CDs, one of which was an import from Japan. I got a couple of imported manga from Japan that I could never read. And when the manga started being translated by Mixx Entertainment, I got the Mixx Manga magazine, which was kind of like Shoujo Beat or Shonen Jump except they smashed both the Shonen manga in with the Shoujo manga. I think I sold my copies to Half-Price ages ago because I needed whatever money they were willing to give me for it. And when I saw that Mixx was finally putting out the manga volumes for $10, I got my grandma to buy them for me. I was in high school when they were coming out then.

I learned to draw anime style by copying Sailor Moon’s style. My first attempts were awful, but I kept trying. I had a Sailor Moon character of Sailor Neptune way before I ever knew about the outer senshi showing up later in the series. (she was Serena’s sister and showed up to take Tuxedo Mask.) And later in 6th grade, my too obsessive friend not only claimed she had written a script for a Sailor Moon play that I was to play Sailor Jupiter in, but that, over the phone, she claimed she was turning into Sailor Moon when she looked into the mirror. And that she was having adventures in the mirror while talking to me on the phone. As I said: too obsessed.

Needless to say, Sailor Moon is one of my staples. It broke my heart when I had to sell my old Mixx manga Sailor Moon volumes and the newer ones that I had collected so that I could get some money. It’s okay. One day I will get them again.

2) Tenchi Muyo! or Tenchi Universe

I had not watched a lot of anime after Sailor Moon. There just wasn’t a lot that interested me and no real way of watching it unless I convinced my grandma to pay for it. I think I was in high school when Tenchi Muyo! showed up on Cartoon Network. I know I was thrilled to learn that Cartoon Network was airing Sailor Moon, so I was still in Sailor Moon mode. Whenever it showed up, I was hooked. I got on that train and careened right off the cliff. I love this stupid show, but the manga is soooooooo much funnier. Oh so much! This is where a lot of my old humor came into play when drawing my Harry Potter fancomics in high school, as well as the numerous comics that I started, but dropped when I got bored with them. (Attention span of a gnat.) It became more fun to just tease the shit out of my friends who wanted to know how the stories ended, but were sorely disappointed when I didn’t bother with them.

When I started writing out my super long and stupid Harry Potter fanfictions, it was a few years after high school. Before then, I was drawing them in high school when I wasn’t doing homework. And lo and behold, I’d copy the page layouts from Tenchi Muyo! and Oh! My Goddess, but only Tenchi Muyo! got a lot of interest from me. It might have helped that Tenchi Muyo!’s humor is pretty on par with Monty Python and other such British comedies I had grown up on, so it wasn’t a huge stretch to start picking up on how to draw some of its humor.

3) Fullmetal Alchemist

If you’re a long time fan of mine, then you know that this was bound to show up. FMA was one of those animes that I had no idea about until I randomly caught it on Cartoon Network when I was staying over at my great grandpa’s house. I was with my grandma and we were taking care of her dad--my great grandpa--who was suffering from dementia among other problems. The rest of the family took turns taking care of him and accompanying him on trips so that he was never left alone for too long. He had a problem of ending up in trouble and never bothering to ask for help when he couldn’t get back up. Now, I knew about a few more anime at this time, because I had anime loving friends in high school and out of high school who knew of stuff to suggest to me. I’d watch it on Cartoon Network and be somewhat interested in it. I watched Cowboy Beebop, Trigun, Outlaw Star (which has one of the best anime closing themes I’ve ever heard omg)... I can’t remember anything else at the moment.

I turned on the TV and found cartoon network was playing its late night anime block and watched FMA. And never looked back. Now, while my love of FMA is not as apparent as my love of Sailor Moon, it’s still there. I made my own Edward and Alphonse Elric dolls, for crying out loud! I would get the manga and I loved the art style so much I started trying to incorporate it into my own a little, much the way it happened with Sailor Moon and Tenchi Muyo. I would sit and listen to the soundtracks I would get from one of my friends. I have a signed picture of Vic Mignogna that I have stored away in a nice, safe place. I’m a fan. And it still stays with me to this day. I spent so much time playing with Harry Potter and FMA with one of my friends that we blended them together. 

Yeah. That’s right. My Mini-Erik series shows this bizarre shit in there and i will always be proud of how insane we got with it.

4) Princess Tutu

This one sounds goofy, and it is a little goofy, but it is so much deeper than you can possibly imagine. if you love magical girl stories as well as ballet, then you will love this. I love this. I LOVE THIS. This seriously came about when I found out that we had an anime channel. Back when my mom had a premium package for the cable, I could get free anime series to watch. I watched Pretear on there and a few other things, but what I took to the strongest was Princess Tutu. And trying to get my mom to sit and watch it with me because I know she will enjoy it if she gives it a chance was ridiculous. For some reason, she can’t handle anything where the characters have high pitched voices. She equates it to children’s voices and she can’t stand that. Not only that, but she, to this day, equates animated shit to cartoons for children. As I said, it’s fucking ridiculous to get her to watch this thing and enjoy it even though I know for a fact it has everything I know she will enjoy if she just stopped being a dumbass about it.

So this one has forever inflicted itself upon me. I still want to come up with a knight and princess like Fakir and Ahiru, but that will come when it comes. In the mean time, it will never leave me. Ever. I will always recommend it.

5) Fate/Stay Night (Fate series)

If you’re a long time fan of mine, you also know of my obsession with this series. It will never leave. NEVER. It always calls me back! Just like FMA, Princess Tutu, Tenchi, Sailor Moon, and a few others! But I think the most inspiring thing about the series is not so much the story, but the characters. Namely the heroes. See, I had a book I had taken from my great grandpa’s house upon his death. Actually, I had a lot of books that I had accumulated after his death, and all of them were mythology based. I staked a claim on those faster than you can blink. I have a Welsh Mythology book, an Irish mythology book, and two Scandinavian folk tale books that I got from his house. Well, I had read through the Irish one and enjoyed the Cattle Raid of Cooley and Cuchulainn, but it didn’t stick in my head. It was Fate’s Lancer that shoved that bastard right into my brain and he made a home there. I had always been a huge fan of King Arthur, and seeing a female King Arthur kinda weirded me out at first, but I liked the idea so much that I kept it for my own versions of King Arthur. 

“The Dark Queen”, “The King’s Hound”, and “Hound of the Dark Earth” all came from utilizing the images of the characters of Lancer Cu and Saber Arthur, but using them in my own way. So even now I’m still playing with these stories, and it has everything to do with fate/Stay Night being a huge influence on me.

6) Axis Powers: Hetalia

Oh, Hetalia. We have a love/hate relationship, you and I. I love you to pieces, but your fans tend to be fucking psychotic and/or stupid. Or at least the ones I always encounter minus one of my besties. My bestie Alex introduced me to Hetalia and I keep coming back to it while she’s kind of stopped caring. I always come back to things I enjoy, such as Harry Potter, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, yadda yadda.

 I instantly fell in love with America and continue to this day. I also fell in love with England, and later France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, China, Russia, Lithuania, and Japan. To this day, I have characters that are at least in some part influenced by the characters of Hetalia. My character Jimmy Stark was influenced by America, my character Bastian Wylde came from England, same with Fabian Santiago from Spain. I think even Darius Lis came from my usual portrayals of Lithuania in roleplays. How these came about was from a lot of role playing with Alex in various stories, including,but not limited to, Twilight and Harry Potter. We always paired Alex’s version of India with England, so in Twilight they became vampire lovers and in Harry Potter they were students. And then we used India in The Witch’s Son/Phantom of the Opera type shenanigans back when I was just trying to figure out how to make The Witch’s Son work.

However, I stayed far from the fandom outside of making overly dramatic fanfictions of a dumb parody cartoon. I know I had at least two Mexican idiots try to tell me that the Texas Revolution was America stealing Texas from Mexico instead of Mexico being an abusive dickwad and Texas raising a shotgun to his face and saying “No More.” Or that Palestine would have never picked on a young Israel, even though Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and a number of other places around Israel all declared war on Israel for simply existing. Israel won its independence in fire and blood, and then kept on surviving every single time these same nations never learned their lesson and declared they would “drive the Jews into the sea” ie kill them all. Or that America was never a conservative nation. However, they’re small fry in comparison to the bizarre fantards on gaiaonline. Had at least one of them molest my America and then, when I played such a thing straight and had America scream “BAD TOUCH! I NEED AN ADULT!” they started screeching about “straight helatians” being impossible and “straight hetalians” in their fandom. Like... dude? Seriously? The boys liking Hungary’s tits and ass don’t connect with you anywhere?

7) Hellsing

This one is more for two characters, specifically Alucard and Anderson. I played Alucard for years and then finally wanted to incorporate him in something without like... actually doing Alucard. If you know me, you know what I’m referring to. Anderson, however, kind of more just... visually influenced another character that has absolutely zero to do with him... though I suppose you could make the connection because they’re both priests that murder. The image in my head was more of the scarecrow variety, though, with Anderson’s long arms being more lanky, as well as his body. So perhaps a little of Batman’s Scarecrow fell in there somewhere, too.

8) Fushigi Yuugi

I literally only heard about this when I was... I think high school and then got out and ran into it later because of my bestie Amanda. This one is one of the lesser influences, but I suppose it still counts because some of it still lingers with me today. 

9) Ouran High School Host Club

A silly manga and a silly anime that makes the Captain a super happy person. This influenced more because of the stereotype characters in the same way Hetalia did. I’ve been noodling with the idea of romances surrounding similar types, including twins with a chick. We’ll see where that goes... if it goes anywhere. 

10) Anything CLAMP has created

Not gonna lie... I was a huge CLAMP fiend when I got out of high school. While I don’t really give a shit about the yaoi in the stories, my interest has always been in the cute, girly, adventure, or the DESIGNS. Jesus fuck, I would kill to be able to design some of the outfits they design. I’ve never been that imaginative with clothing. The detail put into the designs made me try to do the same with my own artwork, for good or ill. And the art styles were ones I emulated, particularly from eeh... Angelic Layer and Tsubasa Chronicle. I, in fact, used to rely on the manga from Tenchi, Sailor Moon, and Tsubasa Chronicle to get ideas for page layouts and whatnot when I drew comics. I incorporated a lot of it into my drawing style and then let it relax into something else when I finally got bored with keeping up with CLAMP. 

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 9/2/20

Yay! Sean’s back!

Barakamon, Vol. 18 + 1 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – I had thought this was something like an epilogue to the series, but it ends up being more of a hodgepodge—there’s a number of 4-koma strips, there’s interviews and yes, there is a short “years later” mini-chapter that assiduously avoids showing us Naru looking older, though it teases it. Instead, the majority of the book is an artbook, showing off color illustrations. And that’s the reason to get it as well, as you’re reminded that the art was also a big strength with this series. The pieces are very character oriented, showing Handa and company in a variety of poses and places, and it adds to the overall peaceful feel that we got from this series. I’ll miss it. Also, show us teenage Naru, you cowards. – Sean Gaffney

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 2 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – I never actually reviewed the first volume of this series—it came out in the height of COVID isolation, and I was bogged down in other things. It’s quite good, though, being a fairly tortured yuri drama without quite tipping over the edge into melodrama, although the reason it reads so well is that it balances on that edge quite nicely. Here we learn the story of Alice and how she became everyone’s favorite suspicious person, as well as the tie that binds her past with Hanako’s. As for the two of them as a couple, we aren’t there yet, and may not ever get there—it’s unclear if there’s a happy ending coming here. Nevertheless, you hope for one—these two need some good things happening to them. – Sean Gaffney

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 2 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – I really wish I liked this more. I like the setting—England in 1900—and two heroines who love books (and talk about Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes!) and want to thwart society’s expectations of women while still being constrained by them. But everything just moves so fast! I found myself wishing this was a romance novel instead so it could have a little time to just breathe. They love each other, they find out secrets, Alice’s mom and fiancé conspire to get Hanako sent away, Alice finds her, more secrets are revealed. Nothing really lands with any emotional impact because it’s cruising right along and, in fact, comes to an end in the next volume. I will probably see it through to its conclusion but am overall kinda disappointed. – Michelle Smith

Horimiya, Vol. 14 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – This is the manga that never ends. It goes on and on, my friends. Given that the writer and publisher seem dedicated to avoiding the original ending of the webcomic, there’s not really much that can be done here except ‘everyday high school life’ shenanigans,’ to the point where I was for once reasonably pleased when Hori’s sadist/masochist tendencies come to the fore again, as she spreads a childish nickname for Miyamura just so that he’ll get mad at her. That said, despite the two being a seemingly close couple, at the end of the day Hori is still a horribly flawed character who needs constant validation and can’t trust her own feelings. She’s the most annoying and most interesting part of this. – Sean Gaffney

I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! | By Ayami Kazama| Yen Press – This is an excellent combination of biography, information, and comedy, as the author and her husband take us through the steps they took in order for her to have a child—more steps than you’d expect, as they eventually need in-vitro fertilization—and how she felt as she went through the process, ranging from “why am I doing this? My husband is the one who really wanted kids” to “I am getting in touch with my inner animal!” Scattered throughout are facts about preparing for nursing your child, Japan apparently not teaching expectant mothers how to push, and the lack of meds in their non-Tokyo hospital. All this is done in a fun way, with the author’s self-portrait having an arrow in her head. – Sean Gaffney

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 4 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – Should you sacrifice your dream for love? Well, not if you’re in a romance manga, but it’s a question that’s thought about long and hard in this volume, as Nanase discovers that Dr. Tendo is getting an offer to study abroad so he can research a condition that killed someone he knew in his past. He is seemingly fine with abandoning it and staying with Nanase, but another patient with the same condition shows that he’s not as cool and collected as you’d expect. As with previous volumes, this strikes a good equal balance between the medicine and the romance, and there is also some lightness of tone, such as Nanase mistaking her lovesickness for a heart condition after the two spend the night together. – Sean Gaffney

A Man and His Cat, Vol. 2 | By Umi Sakurai | Square Enix – The more we see of Kanda’s late wife, the more we see how much her death has devastated him, and we are grateful for Fukumaru for being there. That said, Fukumaru is a big, awkward, untrained cat, so this inevitably leads to events like the cat breaking precious pictures and the like. The cat is also somewhat jealous of anything that gets in between him and his master. So it’s a nice mix of cute ‘the cat is destroying the house and acting like a cat’ antics and ‘the cat is basically the one thing keeping his owner away from despair.’ Kanda’s utter adoration of Fukumaru’s cuteness (made funnier by the fact that, to most everyone else, Fukumaru’s pretty goofy-looking) may be the best part of this. – Sean Gaffney

My Dress-Up Darling, Vol. 1 | By Shinichi Fukuda | Square Enix – Wakana has an unusual hobby—he admires and creates traditional Japanese dolls. In part because of this, he’s become a loner, but that changes after his popular high school classmate Marin discovers his talent with a sewing machine and convinces him to help her make a (sexy) cosplay outfit. Marin is passionate but not a skilled seamstress, so she hopes Wakana’s experience making doll clothing will be of some use. My Dress-Up Darling is rated “mature.” The first volume does include some risqué images and topics of conversation; however, it’s not overly explicit. Later volumes might become more so, but right now the story itself is surprisingly wholesome and the characters endearing. I’m really looking forward to reading more of the series and seeing Wakana and Marin’s relationship develop. But perhaps even more, I’m hoping to see Wakana follow Marin’s example and become more confident in himself and his interests. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia SMASH!!, Vol. 5 | By Hirofumi Neda| Viz Media – The last volume of this series really does not stray from its mandate of ‘gags.’ We see 1-A and 1-B team up for a rescue exercise, the highlight of which is seeing that even the SMASH!! author thinks that Itsuka is a better Momo than Momo is. There’s some of Deku being such a hero fanboy that it’s hilariously creepy, and everyone participating in comedy training. (I was not prepared for Uraraka’s fantastic Aizawa impression.) There’s tanabata festivals, held back by a personality change in Bakugou (this actually comes up TWICE). And we end with a “years in the future” that isn’t really, with only Deku left to be the straight man. I’m happy this is ending now, but it was also a good deal of fun while it lasted. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 8 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – As expected, ‘making the relationship public’ gets put on the back burner, mostly as reality is far too complicated for things like that to go smoothly. Instead we spend much of this volume transitioning into a new arc, featuring Shirayuki and Ryu going up north to snow country to study as herbalists there… with the added addition of Izana, who is traveling there incognito to annoy his brother and to study Shirayuki further. In between these things we get a story looking deeper into Obi, who I sometimes get the feeling the author would be more happy making the lead character. It adds up to a good solid volume of the series, though I suspect the next volume will set a better pace. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 9 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – The rule of thumb in this series is that Takagi is more readily able to admit her own feelings to herself than Nishitaka is to himself. His embarrassment and wariness of any action that he’s goaded to by Takagi leading to a “ha ha, so you like me!” moment drives whatever he does, and the moment he gets over this the series ends. (Mostly—the unlicensed next-gen series shows he never quite gets over it.) Takagi CAN occasionally be embarrassed—my favorite chapter in this volume, where they’re sending texts to each other, ends with her blushing—but for the most part is content to tease him every day and patiently lead him to a point where they can be a couple. It’s not happening anytime soon. – Sean Gaffney

To Be Next to You, Vol. 8 | By Atsuko Namba | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – On paper, To Be Next to You looks like standard shoujo fare. Nina Uemura is in love with her next-door neighbor, Kyosuke Tachibana, and to try to forget him, she started going out with a classmate. But when Kyosuke collapses with a fever on Christmas Eve, she bails on her boyfriend (Miyake-kun) to take care of him. Miyake-kun realizes that whatever happiness they can achieve together will always be vulnerable to being swept aside in an instant, and breaks off their relationship. What I love is how skillfully Namba-sensei has shown Nina’s maturation process throughout this series—she’s definitely not the same oblivious girl we encountered in volume one—and that we get little moments like Miyake-kun telling his friends what happened and them crying on his behalf. Between this and That Blue Summer, I have become a true Namba fan. I hope we get more from her soon! – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown