Manwha Review: Orange Marmalade

SUMMARY

Baek Ma Ri has a secret she has worked her whole life to keep; she's a vampire. A peace treaty between vampires and humans has been in place for 300 years, but the fear of vampires is so deeply rooted in society they do everything they can to keep their identities a secret. Ma Ri herself has been deeply traumatized by the discrimination she has faced ever since she was a child. Now, she has finally settled into a new school and is determined to graduate without incident by self-isolating herself from her classmates. But as always, things don't quite go as planned, especially when she surprisingly piques the interest of the popular and distant Jung Jae Min.

TL;DR

This is actually a Korean webtoon by Seok Woo which means that it is structured differently to a manga and it is also in colour, which made a nice change! I made the mistake of thinking that each page was the size of a manga page and got thoroughly confused by the story which seemed to jump all over the place before realizing that each page is actually a lot longer, so keep scrolling!

I was very impressed by this manwha/webtoon (I think I'll call it a webtoon for here on out). The pace was fantastic, it didn't feel like some parts dragged on forever while some were skipped over. The characters themselves were brilliantly varied and flawed. Rather than simple straightforward flaws like jealousy and laziness, the flaws were much more complex and realistic, especially seen in Ma Ri's friend Soo Ri.

Additionally, this story isn't only about turbulent romance and friendships. There are much bigger things at stake. The balance in this story between romance, friendship, discrimination and bullying, and societal values is truly excellent. None are neglected to favour a particular storyline and this is what makes the webtoon stand out from other mangas and manwhas I've been reading lately. It's rare to not only sympathise with a character but also empathise with them too. I came away from reading this thinking "wow, I want to talk about this with someone". And I may need to reread it sometime soon to go over the finer details I may have missed the first time around. Anyone else do that?

And now, Jeeves, take the reader to the spoilers!

FULL SUMMARY

Ma Ri herself is a great protagonist, but if I was being picky, I'd say she is a little too nice. Obviously she tries to keep people at a distance for protection, but even then she has a "sacrificial lamb" "I'll do anything to save you in the end" thing going on which is less realistic and so commonly done in mangas. However, her non-discriminatory idealism, interesting reactions to situations, and true teenage girl in love behaviour goes a long with me. And once Jae Min stops the weirdness we see in the first few chapters (the circumstances continuously constructed to get Jae Min interested in Ma Ri are a bit of a stretch) and gets on with trying to win her over, he really wins me over too, especially as he becomes more and more complex as a love interest as the webtoon progresses. Their romance is also incredibly endearing and sweet, which, as a romance lover, is one of my main priorities for a good manga.

Pace is also a huge deal for me because a lot of shoujo manga has characters falling in love or making huge changes overnight, which is fine if you want a quick romance fix, but is not so great for really enjoying a storyline. I also loved how there was a balance of different storylines for Ma Ri. The usual tactic of artists is usually to focus on other characters briefly for additional storylines, but Ma Ri is the sole focus and has enough depth as a character that she can produce multiple storylines herself. There's her relationship with Jae Min, the developing friendships she has with her friends, mismatched values with Han Si Hoo, dealing with prejudice from acquaintances and society, responses to vampire/human events that happen outside her immediate world, her relationship with her constantly moving family, SO MANY PLOTLINES that all work together so that you aren't overwhelmed and add to Ma Ri's character.

I briefly mentioned character flaws above, and what immediately comes to mind is Woo Mi's reaction to seeing Si Hoo drink Chae Rin's blood. Although she knows that Ma Ri is a great person, it becomes hard to wipe that image from her mind and it starts to affect her relationship, more so when an apparent "attack" on a human becomes news and Ma Ri eventually is exposed. Rather than the usual "you're my friend no matter what" selfless trope, she begins to sink into a very human and realistic reaction: fear. I know I'd be terrified if I'd been in her place, considering I'm so incredibly squeamish. She can't help but let it affect her.

I loved how slowly they revealed Jae Min's hatred of vampires. It didn't even occur to me until they were dating that we didn't actually have any clue how he felt about them, and I thought it could go either way. Their relationship after her reveal seemed true to that of a teenager. Do I try and persuade them? Should I be mean because I'm hurt? Do I give them the cold shoulder? I'm pretty sure both of them did all three at one time or another.

I also think that self-realization is incredibly hard and is usually taken for granted in mangas. You know, when it suddenly occurs to the character that what they did or thought was wrong? Usually it's out of the blue and they just realize it for themselves, but it takes a big person to do that and not all of us have that ability. For Jae Min, it's seeing his behaviour towards Ma Ri being done by other people right in front of his eyes. Just like Woo Mi, even though he knew Ma Ri wouldn't hurt a fly, it didn't manage to negate years worth of hatred towards vampires. Finally, when he sees her being viciously bullied and attacked when she did nothing to provoke it and does not reciprocate their attacks, he is able to sort his feelings out.

Although the part where he drinks the sachet of blood in front of his classmates is a bit weird. Something of a throwback to his weirdness in the beginning chapters, me thinks.

I didn't really have a problem with Soo Ri doing a 180 on how she feels about Ma Ri and vampires, and the fact that she never doubts her like Jae Min and Woo Mi do, because of Ma Ri's extreme act to save her. She saved her life, and yes she had vampire healing powers, but with all the blood I don't think it meant that she didn't feel the pain of being crushed under heavy pylons, or the pain of being healed again, and we know vampires can die and aren't immortal so there was a possibility she actually could have died. I think Soo Ri knew all this, and it clicked for her that Ma Ri's distant behaviour before the event was because she was deeply hurt by their prejudiced comments about vampires, and in spite of this saved her anyway.

Man I loved Orange Marmalade. They really need to make an anime from this. It's practically drawn and coloured in already!

Anyway, definitely one of my top recommendations!

Manga Review: Hajimari No Niina

SUMMARY

Amamiya Chitose died at 15-years-old. Her death severely impacts her longtime friend and boyfriend, Itami Atsurou, who grows into adulthood unable to get past his first love. Then, 10 years later, 10-year-old Aoyagi Niina jumps over a wall and into his life.

But Niina is no ordinary girl. She recognizes Atsurou as the boy she was in love with in her previous life. Now his neighbor, Niina attempts to bring happiness to Atsurou, who remains unaware that she was formerly Chitose. As a young girl, and then a teenager, Niina struggles not only with keeping her her memories of her past life a secret, but also with working out where Chitose ends and Niina begins.

Can Niina keep her secrets safe? And can she make the man who loved her in her past life fall in love with her again, despite their age gap?

TL;DR

Something that some readers may struggle with in this manga is the large age gap. In order for Niina to have Chitose's memories, she had to be born at the same time Chitose died, and therefore the age gap between Niina and Atsurou is 15 years. Past this, this is a very sweet manga which takes a twist on the usual boy meets girl at school that we usually see in shoujo manga.

Atsurou's devastation at Chitose's death is clear to see throughout this manga in the lingering issues he has which influence his life decisions, as well as in the flash backs which reveal more of the story. It was actually refreshing to read about someone being shaken by something that actually deserved the intense emotions it stirred. So often something minor things happen to a character, but they still stay home from school for days on end drowning in sorrow.

The way that Niina is characterized is also fantastic. You see moments where Chitose's memories can't help but shine through and affect Niina's reactions, and moments when she is just herself - a new person. This internal struggle is believable and captivating, and you can't help but admire her for being such a young girl but with a lot of maturity.

I found this manga incredibly enjoyable to read, and I always love it when I leave a manga replaying several of my favourite moments in my head. I know that I've found a good one!

Just as an IMPORTANT FYI, if you read the mangahere.com version of the manga, at the end of chapter 3.5 there is a major spoiler for the story which I think they scanned by mistake. If you read the side story, don't click through to the very end. I did it both times I read this manga because I didn't know, and then forgot.


Be careful! More spoiler iceburgs ahead!

FULL SUMMARY

Hmm, yeah, so the age gap. Happily this manga does wait until she is a 16 year old teenager before they introduce the romance, although we see that Niina has loved Atsurou since she was a little girl (if you don't also count her previous life). The mangaka also seems to combat what might be a bit of a creepy storyline by aging Niina, but not Atsurou. I mean of course he gets older in age, but he isn't drawn any differently and instead looks like the handsome young man in his 20s at the end of the manga that he did in the beginning. This isn't exactly realistic, but I didn't mind it.

Aww, how cute are they!

One of the plot lines I loved is how they brought in Chitose's brother and parents. It would have been easy for this manga to stick to Atsurou and the revelations between the two, and I think I've seen a manga do just that, but the more you get to know about Chitose in the flashbacks, the more you start to wonder about the people she left behind. Therefore I am really happy we got to see them, even if it was by a giant coincidence that Chitose's brother becomes Niina's substitute teacher. Those silly pregnant teachers going on materinity leave at convenient times! *shakes fist*

How she gets to see her parents is a very constructed plot line, seriously has anyone ever had their class be invited back to the teacher's home for extra study classes? Surely that's against some kind of rule. But at the same time it's a very humbling scene that tugs on the heart strings. The fact that the mother is using Chitose's old volleyball knee pads and they give Niina an apron to wear that Chitose made. Again, it's all pretty convenient that all these Chitose-y things are coming up at once, but it's also great for Niina to see that Chitose wasn't forgotten, even though the family went on with their lives.

Poor Kanata-kun, the love rival that never stood a chance. I liked his presence in the manga a lot because it felt to me like I could read the story that would have been written for Niina has she not had Chitose's memories. Without them, Atsurou would have been just an adult neighbour, and Niina would have moved with her family to the new city as they did anyway, and she would have gone to school, met Kanata-kun, and perhaps he would have become her boyfriend. It kind of feels like with Niina having her memories, that he's been cheated out of an important relationship. Seriously, I felt huge heartbreak at the scene when he hears Niina talking to Atsurou on the phone and leaves the drink can on the stairs, even though he'd been waiting for her because he'd seen she was upset. Gah! Poor baby!

Some of my favourite moments were definitely the ones where Chitose's memories interfere with Niina's present. Niina knows she is her own person, but she can't help the influences of the past she remembers, like when she stuffs three ingredients in the onigiri, and when she tells Atsurou happily that he kept his promise of being by the lake with Chitose again, and when she speaks as a much more mature person than a 10-year-old when she takes care of Atsurou and says he'd "always get sick like this."

Of course, this doesn't really register for Atsurou, who recognizes when she says something weird and out of place but doesn't put two and two together until he realizes she knows the chicken Fujiko's birthdate when she couldn't possibly. It's physical evidence right before his eyes, and then it all adds up, all the parallels and strange moments.

I love how he tricks Niina into admitting her past memories without Niina even knowing she's done it. For Niina, both her lives overlap in many ways and so she doesn't notice when he mentions a moment in Chitose's past as if Niina did it. Awesome beans! Clever boy. It's also nice that he keeps his new-found knowledge a secret, because he clearly has already started to build up feelings for the girl but if he had mentioned it then, I don't think Niina would have been able to believe that he was considering her separately from Chitose.

Finally, another plot moment that pleases me greatly is the father's reaction. If you were able to forget the age difference, it's brought to the forefront again with a realistic fatherly reaction of horror when he realizes his 16 year-old-daughter is dating a man in his early 30s, no matter how much he has always liked Atsurou. The horror does somewhat blow over quite quickly, but he still tries to keep them separated and test them in case this is just a convenient fad. He's looking out for his daughter! Yay for a manga father who actually takes responsible care of his child instead of working all hours and leaving them home alone which is a common trope. It makes the moment when Atsurou hears Niina for the first time in a year and runs to the door all the more joyous. I LOVE IT!

Manga Review: Strobe Edge

 
I'm about to introduce you to the best romance manga you have ever read. Brace yourself.

*ALREADY FANGIRLING* Okay, calm down. Let's begin.

Strobe Edge is written and illustrated by the talented Sakisaka Io. It began serialization in 2007 and ended in 2010 with a total of 10 volumes. I've just found out there is a live action film adaptation which will be coming out in March 2015 and I am trying to control another fangirl reaction. The manga has been completely scanslated so you can read it in its entirety.

SUMMARY

Kinoshita Ninako is a sweet, kind and caring schoolgirl who is small and looks young but has a strong, honest personality. A chance encounter with a boy on a train has her starting to fall in love for the first time. However, not only is Ichinose Ren the most popular boy at school, he also already has a long-term girlfriend. After he rejects her kindly, she decides she still wants to be his friend and starts to bring out a more relaxed, happy side to Ren than his usual quiet and withdrawn demeanor.

However, Ren's unusual attitude towards Ninako sparks an interest in his friend Andou Takumi, who surprisingly finds himself falling in love with this kind-hearted special young woman. And Takumi, who has so often let Ren be the one to shine, decides he no longer wants to live in Ren's shadow.

TL;DR

This story centers primarily around love, and the love triangle between Ninako, Ren and Andou. There are side stories, but these also concern love, so if romance isn't your thing then this manga may not be for you, however good the story and however well it is drawn.

But if romance is for you, then you will struggle to find a manga to top this one. From the characters to the drawing to the plot, this manga has everything you could ask for. Realism, escapism, heart-warming characters, relationships, and scenes, it's got it all. Ninako is an extremely likable protagonist who cares greatly for the people around her. She is incredibly sweet and occasionally I felt like I just wanted to reach into the manga to pinch her cheeks.

Ren and Andou are also brilliant as love interests, and it's Ren that ultimately captures my heart. I say ultimately, but from the moment I was introduced to him I wondered where I could get one. The fact that these characters don't just materialize into the story, but have important back stories that influence how they currently live their lives is extremely compelling and it brings them to life.

The plot progresses really nicely so that it feels neither too rushed or too slow. As characters shift and change, you really believe them and the mangaka guides us through their emotions so nicely. Although the ending is rather predictable, as is the case with most shoujo manga, I really enjoyed the journey. I can't count how many times I've read this manga, so I give it 2 thumbs, 8 fingers, and 10 toes up.

And now for spoilers...

FULL REVIEW

This is by far the best manga I have read so far, because everything works together so brilliantly. The drawing is great, the plot is fantastic, the progress is believable and no one suddenly goes off the deep and acts out of character. The characters are believable and relatable, the love interests have interesting stories of their own, there is a side story so that you can see that there are other things in this world that matter and happen, not just to the protagonists. The length is great, and it doesn't end abruptly after the characters get together like so many mangas where you see all of the struggle and none of the reciprocal romance. There's just so much good in this manga! I'll try and think of some bad but there's hardly any to me.

I definitely added the speech bubble above... just so you know ^_^

Ninako is a fantastic character because she doesn't do stupid things, and oh what a relief it is. She doesn't follow the usual tropes that other protagonists fall into like dating a guy just because the one she likes is unavailable. "Date me and I'll make you forget all about him." How about no?

You can see that her desire to be Ren's friend is genuine. She doesn't want to weasel her way in to his life and his good books; by falling in love she has come to care about him. And you can see by how she treats her other friends that she is a really good person. Her friends don't feel like convenient characters to show she isn't an outcast, she is just as considerate of them as she is with Ren. She's also considerate on Andou as well, even though she finds that more difficult because he is actively pursuing her. But isn't that a natural reaction when someone you like and treat as a friend declares they're in love with you and won't give up!

Of course this manga does deal with many familiar romance conventions: the love triangle, the popular idol of the school as the love interest, awkward working situations etc etc, and they don't occur in completely new and unusual ways that I've never seen before, but when I read them I feel that they are in a way treated differently as I get a different feel for them.

For example, love interests are sometimes dating other people at the start of a manga but Ren and Mayuka's relationship is different. It's long term, which is slightly unusual, and is based not only on attraction but emotional need. Ren has always felt isolated, and Mayuka opened herself up to him, spent time with him, actually wanted him to be around. Mayuka was dealing with her parents' separation which had rocked her world and she not only needed a sounding board but also something that promised to be constant, and Ren did just that. And so they fell in love. And we are led to believe that they genuinely loved each other and they even say so, which definitely gives them some depth.

Mayuka's relationship with Ren is also fantastic as a comparison to Ninako's. While Ninako's is platonic despite her feelings, we can see how Ninako changes Ren more than Mayuka was able to. While Mayuka provided companionship and the feeling of being wanted, she began to put her work first despite the fact her relationship was important to her.  Ninako on the other hand brings Ren completely out the darkness of isolation, which had been started by Andou years earlier. She enables him to open up to others around him and his classmates begin to see him as more friendly than they realized. And she also represents his equal in terms of a partner. Whatever Ren puts into the relationship she can match with emotions, feelings, attention etc, unlike Mayuka.

SQUEEEEEE! This is one of my favourite drawings of Ren. Isn't he beautiful? I was a goner almost at the beginning, and my friend Sakiko and I would sigh endlessly over him. He's beautiful. Okay. I shall try to limit my discussion of his looks to just this.

Which isn't hard because there is so much more I can say about him. I need to go back and reread exactly why he felt isolated from such a young age, perhaps it was from his parents ignoring him? Anyway, at school, long before he attended the same one as Ninako, he was an isolated fellow without friends because his classmates would misunderstand him or be jealous of his looks and smarts. Then Andou comes along and we see the drawing where Ren feels like he is going to be buried by darkness and isolation around him, and then Andou figuratively reaches out the hand of friendship. It's not a big deal to Andou who is friends with everyone, but it's huge to Ren.

I really like this aspect to the story, it creates an incredibly interesting relationship between Ren and Andou. Yes, they end up competing for the girl but they have a strange relationship whereby they are close, but not close at all. Some of it is due to the incident with Andou's ex-girlfriend, but it's also because they are polar opposites - the social butterfly Andou and the quiet loner Ren. Even so, Andou feels like he lives in Ren's shadow somewhat, whereas Ren believes he lives in Andous. This could be seen as negative, living in someone's shadow, but they don't let jealousy pervade their relationship (at least till Ninako comes along). In fact it can be seen as a complimentary, because they clearly hold each other in high esteem to believe they cast a shadow. It's great that these boys' relationship is thoroughly explored throughout the manga as well. Without it, it just wouldn't have been as good.

Oh Andou. It's odd but all the way through the manga I was completely in line with Ninako's feelings for him. When she was first getting to know him and didn't quite know what to expect with him, I felt that too. When she did her best to protect him and his feelings I felt like I wanted to protect them too. But also the fact that she refused to date him to get over Ren and, as even Andou says near the end, she never came to think of him as anything more than a friend, I felt that too. I also felt heartbroken for Andou when he admitted to himself that Ninako never really "looked" at him (considered him) once, as her feelings were always tied to Ren. It was clearly both something he admired in her, because she was steadfast and unwavering unlike his ex-girlfriend, and hated because it did mean she always looked at Ren instead of him.

The bit where the ex-girlfriend comes down the stairs and promises she's going to chase after him seriously now instead of supporting his new love is a bit convenient. Luckily it's not like she literally appeared out of nowhere at that moment, she had been a part of the plot before, but yeah... convenient so that Andou doesn't become a loose end. In fact I wouldn't have minded if the ex-girlfriend had been left out altogether and that incident between her, Andou and Ren was introduced to us in some other way. Either that or she needed to have been more of a threat to Ren and Ninako than she was. There was a lot of promise for her to be a real threat, but it kind of seemed to tail off.

There we go! Some constructive criticism instead of just I love it I love it I love it!

I have a few favourite moments which I can try and recall. Again, it's been a while. I love the small moment when Ren is listening to music on his headphones and Ninako ends up listening to the other ear bud. I thought it was immensely clever how Ninako's face slowly fades in Ren's mind when Mayuka breaks down in front of him and tells him how much she needs him. I also love when Ren smells the air, realizing it's "half winter half fall," then Ninako does exactly the same out loud behind him.

They are so on the same page. GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES ALREADY!

Ahem.

I am now reading Ao Haru Ride, another manga by the same mangaka. The drawing is just as great, the plot, the progress etc etc and I'm so excited about it, although it has not been completely scanslated yet so I am waiting for that. However, as good as it is, it hasn't quite replaced Strobe Edge as my absolutely favourite shoujo manga of all time. It's definitely up there with the best! But I don't think I'll ever find one as good as this.

If you do know of a manga that would compare, please let me know. I'm desperate for some more good ones!

In conclusion, I highly absolutely recommend this manga. I love it to pieces and have read it over many times. I hope you enjoy it as much as me, otherwise I really built this up to be something for nothing ^_^ I hope Sakisaka Io brings out more mangas like this, and that they are scanslated. This was truly a pleasure to read.