Loveless Volume 4 by Yun Kouga REVIEW

Blurb: Ritsuka! Soubi! Loveless still continues. (No really, the series is still STILL ongoing. SMH)

Storyline: WOW! The story progresses so rapidly in this volume that I cannot even believe it. This is mainly about the female ZERO team Koya and Yamato. With that, the whole volume is small because it focuses on that storyline alone. It's dramatic and heart-wrenching. Some things happened in this volume that really acts as foreshadowing for the rest of the series. There's also a chapter that focuses on the actual child innocence that is frequently bashed and ignored which is a fresh change of pace for this series.

Art: KOUGA YUN IS FAVORITE MANGAKA.

Characters: We got introduced to Yamato and Koya, the female ZERO team and their relationship. Both ZERO teams are two of my favorite characters in the series other than a character that hasn't been introduced yet. We finally get to see Nagisa and what she's about. We also meet a friend of Ritsuka's named Omasu(???!). We get minor character development with Natsuo and Youji. Then some major development with Ritsuka.

Grand Verdict: This Volume was definitely one of the more emotional ones. If only I had volume 5 for more flow.

Loveless Volume 3 by Yun Kouga REVIEW

Blurb: Ritsuka's story continues in the third volume of the Loveless series by Kouga Yun.

Content: In this volume we get the ending of the ZERO storyline, go into a septimal moon storyline, and start another ZERO storyline. Things were very tense in this volume especially with Soubi and Ritsuka. Ritsuka is losing trust in Soubi and Soubi is getting more secretive (somehow). We see more of Soubi's past (which like Ritsuka's present is not that great). I didn't have many complaints about this volume, there were moments that made me feel angst which is definitely intended given the fact that this is a really angsty series and I know it gets only worse from here.

Art: I will never trash talk Kouga Yun's art. It's just good okay? I'm biased here.

Characters: As stated before, Soubi gets even more secretive in this series... and he always just seems to become more and more like a giant question mark. We see more of Ritsuka's mother and how she mentally torments this poor kid. We get introduced to the female ZERO team, Ritsu, and another lady that I forgot the name of.

Verdict: I genuinely feel that this volume serves as a transitional volume more than anything else. Nothing too big happened so there wasn't really anything huge to react to.

Loveless by Yun Kouga REVIEW

I went back to the store today and bought six volumes of Loveless on clearance. I picked them up without a second thought and no regrets. Those of you judging me at this moment, screw you and your judgement.

I must say that I am so happy that I decided to pick these ups. This series was one of the first animes I've watched. It's also one of the first animes that I owned completely. This series has been ongoing so long that Morning Musume still had Goto Maki in the group. I love that cultural reference because Morning Musume was one of the first idol groups I listened to.

Regarding the Shounen Ai tag, people are going to really quickly refer to the main characters as a romantic relationship but I am really hesitant to do so at this point. Not just because of the age but because of occurrences that happen in other volumes. That being said, this is a review of the first volume.

Manga Rule #2: Yaoi and Shounen Ai are drastically different. Do not ever use them interchangeably because the difference is the rating.

I liked the page after the cover page. The art is gorgeous. Yun Kouga's art is really nice, simple, and cute. I also feel that in terms of story-telling this is a really good buildup for events that have yet to happen. Some people may not think so but this volume is really light and things get really intense from this point forward.

Since it's still ongoing, I don't know how the story ends but I will be there when it ends. I need to see how Loveless ends. ~

Manga Classics: Emma REVIEW

So, here we are at the end of my list for the Manga Classics. There are a few I have left to read but I don't own them and have no way to currently acquire them so I shall be doing more reading of other things. What fun.

Speaking of fun, this was a fun read. I believe that Emma was the only book that made me react at all to it. As in, I do this whole body cringe at some points. When a certain couple FINALLY gets together I was just in so much shock that it finally happened that I couldn't contain myself. This adaption has definitely made me want to read the book. That's a shame, I have five copies of Pride and Prejudice and no copies of Emma. I desperately need a job.

This was a really light and dramatic read. I think that everyone knows a person that is an Emma or a Harriet and so on and so forth. I, of course, spent the whole time wanting everyone to get with the person that they were supposed to get with but I was stuck waiting until two hours later when I finally finished it.

Of course, this isn't the full novel of Emma by Jane Austen and I really cannot wait to read that.

I'm not sure how those that liked the original novel would feel about it but I certainly enjoyed it. I definitely recommend it.

Manga Classics: Les Miserables REVIEW

The first thing I need to mention is that this is an adaption, obviously, and I have never found the title of the original work to apply to an adaption so well.

Les Miserables indeed, fuck me.

Let me elaborate because it's not so much that I thought that this was bad. I thought it was pretty magnetic but my fear is that it is an adaption. If the adaption was this conflicting how conflicting is the original is. Also, the original novel is really chunky, it's larger than the largest book that I read, which is Atlas Shrugged. Atlas Shrugged took a month to read for 17 year old me, how long would it take 23 year old me to read Les Mis? Maybe a week, I have tons of books to read this year. I'm scared.

As far as the art goes, it may be one of my favorites of this series of books. SunNeko Lee does a good job, they can make it cute when they want it to be cute, gruesome, beautiful, etc. That sort of versatility is hard to find in art, specifically this sort of art.

Reading this makes me anxious to read the original, I'll probably set aside some time during the summer to read it. For now, more netgalley.

Higurashi; Cotton Drifting Arc Volume 1 by Ryukishi07 REVIEW

So, when I broke my promise from like ten days ago and went to the bookstore to buy books, I found this puppy in the clearance section at HPB. Higurashi was one of my more favorite animes when I was into anime. I also saw Galaxy Angel and would have bought it if it didn't have water damage.

Manga Rule #1; If it's your favorite anime, you absolutely have to buy the manga.

But as I was saying, this was one of my favorite animes. One of my favorite arcs of the anime was this specific arc and I didn't realize it until I started reading it. But yo, this arc is one of my favorites. It brings in Shion, essentially the best character in the franchise, and it's just hella messed up.

On one side, I'm happy that I got this on the first volume of this arc but at the same time I'm not because this isn't my favorite part of the arc. The arc starts slow but by the end you wish you were watching bunny videos. Just ah.

Higurashi is an intense series, don't read it if you don't like intense things. Otherwise, you should 10000000% read it.

Manga Classics Great Expectations REVIEW

Back at it with the Manga Classics, I have two more to read through and find myself fearing the length of one of them... For now though, Great Expectations.

I have never read Charles Dickens and feel a bit hesitant to after this graphic novel. I'm starting either notice trends in older writing or Stacey King really likes a certain kind of story line. It could be either or but it gets repetitive and boring.

However, these trends are in line with normal human behavior, and I'm in realization of it. But still, I've read three books almost in a row with these kinds of trends and it gets boring. It's like, I get it people act one way but are another sometimes, but it's annoying.

Other than that, the story felt very boring. I had great expectations and received massive disappointment in return. It just remained flat with a few really intense moments that felt out of place in the general outline. The ending act was full of twists that were so stupid and simplistic for me to even guess ahead of time.

However, I have read a lot worse, and if you like Charles Dickens maybe give it a try? Or don't you're not missing out on much.

Manga Classics Pride and Prejudice REVIEW

I've been trying to read Pride and Prejudice for years. Since my high school years and it's been a decent amount of time since High School about 5 years, depressingly. I haven't read it completely since then.

The first Manga Classic I've read was The Scarlet Letter and I loved that enough that I wanted to read the book (I don't own it and thus haven't read it yet but it's on the list!) So, naturally, I went onto Netgalley and requested almost ever Manga Classic that they had available. I've been meaning to read Pride and Prejudice so I read this one first.

I wasn't disappointed, the fire under my butt to read the actual novel has been reignited and if it's on the only shelf in my house I will definitely get to reading it in the daytime tomorrow.

The art for this was pretty good, it's better than anything that I can do, but there were some moments that were not very pleasing to my eye but it wasn't the art that captivated me (it was really pretty at some parts though) it was the story.

I didn't realize the actual reasoning for the title until I actually got to a point in the manga that pointed a giant arrow at it. Which I appreciated a lot.

Anyway, I definitely enjoyed this, it's a vastly quicker read than the original novel would be. Essentially, if you've been wanting to read Pride and Prejudice, but fear that it's much too long for your precious time. I feel that this serves as a really good TLDR alternative.