Orange Marmalade - no its not for your toast!

Orange Marmalade is one of those rare stories you come across that deals with social issues - albeit not directly since our protagonist here is a vampire-girl who wishes to get along with humans. I might have come across a few that deal with not-so-common life-issues, usually seen in Aya Nakahara’s work.

But this one beats them all with respect to how powerfully, yet subtly, the author has managed to bring out the plight of an outcast. 

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The story is a Korean supernatural drama web-comic written by Seok Woo. Apart from the fact that it is gorgeously drawn, making it look more like a series of screenshots from an anime, the perfectly paced story and narration makes it even more enticing to read.

Feasting on the "Fruits Basket"

Fruits Basket, also called Furuba, is a fantasy, slice of life manga by Natsuki Takaya. Now don’t be repelled by the fact that it’s just-another-shoujo-manga because it’s not. This one’s for those who love manga that tends to lean towards the philosophical side of life and is the best example of one of those life-lessons kind of manga that deals with some serious life issues in an intellectual way.

So here’s what I think of the manga, along with a brief description of the story.

Plot: The story revolves around a young high school girl Tohru Honda (Don’t worry, this is where the cliché ends.) who, after losing her parents, lived in a little tent on the outskirts on the city and tried her hardest to support herself without anyone’s help. Her life, which was already out of ordinary, takes another turn when she finds out that her classmate, Yuki Sohma, is actually a part of a strange family that is possessed by the spirit of the 12 zodiacal animals; and every time they are hugged by the opposite gender, they transform into their zodiacal animal. 

Shugo chara – Manga Review

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Shugo-Chara seems, at first glance, like a cross between Cardcaptor Sakura and Gakuen Alice, with the main Tsundere heroine Amu Hinamori being quite similar to Sakura with her job of cleansing the "bad eggs" - much like how Sakura cleansed the cards in Cardcaptor Sakura; and her main rival Ikuto Tsukiyomi being a perfect rip-off of Natsume Hyuuga. Really, there’s absolutely no difference! 

And yet, there’s something about it that draws you in – be it the goth-punk-tsundere lead girl or the emo and flirty Ikuto. The manga has a nice blend of comedy, action and fantasy without anything blindingly ‘shojo’ in it.

Plot

The story of Shugo-Chara revolves around Amu Hinamori who is, as earlier described, a perfect tsundere goth-punk character who has a reputation of being ‘cool and spicy’ in the middle school she studies in. However, this is not her true character. Her true self happens to be an extremely shy girl with absolutely no talent in socializing which she covers up perfectly with a cold exterior demeanor. Tiring of this duel personality, one night she makes a wish to give her enough courage to be her true self. 

Adventures of a Rose (A shoujo review)

Pulling from our favourites once again folks, here's something especially for the ladies! Barajou No Kiss (a.k.a. "Kiss of the Rose Princess")!!
This is a shoujo that I absolutely loved for its uniqueness... OK, maybe not so unique since the story keeps reminding me of Card Captor Sakura now and then, but it's still unique to a great extent never the less.
To begin with, the entire portrayal of the manga screams 19th century England, and yet, somehow it oozes the Japanese essence in the story as well as the art - the kind of blend that is hard to get and the mangaka has managed to capture the essence of both elements and mix them up perfectly. Anyway, so without further ado, let me dive straight into the details you're all waiting to find out.

Plot: 
The story of Barajou No Kiss is a fantasy, action, adventure and romance story by Shouoto Aya that revolves around a high school girl (now that's what I call a real surprise!), Anis Yamamoto, who is given this strange choker by her father that looks like a black neck-strap with a pretty rose at the center. Her father specifically warns her not to lose the choker and that if she does she will be punished severely! Now, now, its not because the choker is super rare or expensive. The choker has a long story of its own that will be revealed later - no, not in the review, I mean in the story. 

xxxHolic

xxxHolic: Review by Seema Kakade

There are some Manga that are so popular, that they don’t even need an introduction, let alone a review. Yet, I've seen a lot of people shunning away from these amazing pieces of works either due to a misleading title or a shoujo-ish outer appearance. Case in point - xxxHolic.
So for all those who are lingering around this manga without enough confidence to start reading it, I’m here to give you a brief overview of this cult classic.

xxxHolic, also simply known as Holic, is a fantasy, psychological and philosophical story by the famous group of manga artists CLAMP. Since the story happens to be a crossover series of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and Card Captor Sakura, many incidents in the story might throw you off the course, but I assure you, that you can totally understand the story even if you don’t know squat about the aforementioned stories. So, without further ado, let me give you a brief introduction of the story.
Plot – The story opens with a young high school boy, Watanuki Kimihiro, who has supernatural powers to see demons and spirits (no, it’s not the usual cliché story of saving the world; there’s much more to it in this one!) being, as usual, followed, trapped and tormented by a bunch of spirits, while he does everything in is power, which is next to nothing, to get rid of them. While he is busy performing this feat, he ends up landing in front of a strange, old styled building that is squeezed between two modern sky scrapers.

xxxHolic 1 Cover

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Monday Manga Madness Redux: Aishiteruze Baby

- A review by Seema Kakade

Genre: Shojo Manga

Aishiteruze Baby, a.k.a. I love you, baby is one of those rare manga you come across that manages to portray the beauty of the father and child relationship perfectly. As misleading as the title maybe, which, I believe, is the reason why half of the shonen manga lovers might have shunned away from it, the manga isn’t much about what it appears from the title.

Monday Manga Madness: Tower of God

A review by Seema Kakade



It’s not always I come across a story that is something different from a 16 year old high school teen doing everything to find a boyfriend for herself and when she does, the guy turns out to be a vamp or a monster etc. OR a 16 year old high school teen that is suddenly bestowed with a supernatural power and now has to save the world. So, well, you get the idea how cliché most stories are getting lately. But, Tower of God, here, blows the mountain of cliché stories up in the land of cliché-ness to win itself the title of the King of Originality hands down!

Tower of God