About a young sorceress (MIR) who has lost her powers and wants to be free, of her destined fate. She is permitted to attend high school. And her goal is to make 100 friends. Starting with the leader of the WANWHA (BA-RI).

Eun-Jin Seo has quickly skimmed over the introductions of the main characters to fully introduce the apparent ‘intrigue’. Who is Ba-Ri? What does this mystery boy have to do with MIR’s lost memory? And how involved are MIR’s family in her sudden ‘free’ education?

The story doesn’t start strong, but I think that it could potentially end so.

I’ll definitely be looking for the next volume when it comes out!

Read less manga this month, but I’ve been busy. I also decided to ‘give up on’ several series—but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to finish them. I’m just easily distracted by other series. I’ll go back and finish them eventually.

Summary of August:

Favourite: Actually not a manga (for once) was ‘Slam Dunk’ by Takehiko Inoue. (Author of my favourite series ‘Vagabond’). Its totally enjoyable.
Least Favourite: Pantheon High - I also don’t technically call this manga. I’d normally call it ‘ameri-manga’-which rarely prove to be real contenders when put up agains true ‘japanese manga’. It wasn’t all that bad either, but I’ve begun to read some really great series this month like Octopus Girl, Galaxy Railway 999, 3X3 Eyes etc. See, its stiff competition.
Most Surprised by (in a good way): Octopus Girl—disturbingly enjoyable.

What an interesting perspective on past lives & reconciliation—”I don’t want to reveal too much”! The final romantic relationships between characters was really satisfying too.

What I loved about this story was the allusions to other things like imagery from ‘Nausicaa’ and recognizable regions like ‘Odaiba’. Also, you have to appreciate Toru Fujieda’s attempt at turning a dull ordinary girl into something significant. A lovely feel-good story.

This is a really fun & slightly angsty teen romance story between a ‘thief’ and an ‘idol’. It reminds me of a mix between ‘Sensual Phrase’ by Mayo Shinjo (but maybe not so sensual) and ‘Marmalade Boy’ by Wataru Yoshizumi. A very fun and light read—I recommend it.

Every manga fan must read something by Leiji Matsumoto! He is as significant an author/artist as Hayao Miyazaki & Katsuhiro Otomo. This series is fascinating: its more of a ‘metaphor for life’ than an actual fantasy epic. I really appreciate the ‘history of the anime’ in the first few pages of this book—highly unexpected.

What’s great about this book is actually all of the ‘filler’. I’m not sure if the anime I saw was totally hacked to bits (which is likely) but I appreciate all of this side story happening in the first volume. Also, I’ve been noticing that I can hear the voices of the characters in my head as I read. Even the voice-acting in the Japanese of the anime is so exaggerated that the voices are totally memorable. Heh!

This is disturbing! It reminds me of ‘The Little Mermaid’ on acid. I don’t usually care for ‘horror’ but I found this one strangely humourous—I’m actually looking forward to reading the next volume.

This is so quirky! Its very nostalgic…even though I’d never seen it before. Lots of fun—too bad it never ends, eh?!

64 items baby! Beat that! You can tell that I’ve had a lot of extra time on my hands this month, eh!? Heh!

This has a similar premise to Fruits Basket. Its not quite as charming and there doesn’t seem to be as much chemistry between the main characters; but it is still an enjoyable read.