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Sorry this is so late in the day, but happy birthday, coffeeandink! You are more awesome every year, and I hope this one brings you tons of good reading, fun vidding, HEIRLOOM TOMATOES!!!!, and $2 manga.

Lin, Selena - Robe of Stars, Veil of Feathers, vol. 01-02 (orig. Chi.)

(林青慧 - 星之衣*羽之紗 Eternity)

Unsurprisingly, I have now forgotten everything about this, save the art was pretty and the story involved angels and demons.

There's the princess of heaven, and there's some big power of heaven that will help in their war against the demons, only no one knows who will wield that power. The princess is to marry whoever wields the power, at least, I think.

Um. And some demons show up to wreak havoc. It's not very dark and rather like Angel Diary in tone, and obviously not too memorable.

Mizushiro Setona - Million Dollar Woman (Chi. trans.)

(１００万ドルの女)

Natsumi's older brother borrowed giant sums of money from a rather shady business, and now that he can't repay the loan, the mob intends to take Natsumi to be their boss' son's woman. But it turns out that Natsumi is actually the son Hagane's sempai, and he's had a crush on her for a while.

This sounds like it should be so much sketchier than it is, and although there are some awkward moments as Natsumi moves into Hagane's apartment (!!), Hagane overall refuses to have Natsumi pay back the loan via physical favors, thank goodness. It's a rather slight story, but I liked that Natsumi had a say in what happened to her, and I am still rather amazed at how not-sketchy it ended up being. Also, Hagane's butler/valet is sort of hilarious—afterward, he pines because Hagane no longer spends much time with him, even though he was the one pushing Hagane to go after Natsumi.

The other shorts after this were largely forgettable, although I remember that they were rather melancholy and slice-of-life-ish, and that I kept thinking that they would go one place when they went another.

The art is also much closer to Mizushiro's 1999nen than to the later After School Nightmare.

Not bad, but probably also not necessary unless you're a completist.

Sugiura Shiho - Silver Diamond, vol. 03 (Eng. trans.)

I feel as though I keep repeating myself, but this series is really just so charming! I can never decide who I like more: the ever-practical Rakan, who is unfazed by people falling into his garden but will whack someone for putting a foot on the table; Chigusa, who has absolutely no comprehension of human behavior whatsoever ("I'm trying to seduce you"); or Koh, who is already filled to the brim with awesome by virtue of being a talking snake.

( Spoilers )