Sakura of DOOM

(original title: 失恋チョコラティエ)

Souta has been in love with his sempai Saeko ever since he laid eyes on her in tenth grade, but she's forever interested in cooler men than him. After a five-year stint in Paris, Souta has now returned to Japan to open his own chocolate boutique in order to win chocolate-loving Saeko's heart.

The characters consist of Souta, who is a bit idealistic and frequently makes me want to whap him; the flighty Saeko, who reminds me of Komatsu Nana, but without Nana's generosity or kindness; Souta's friend Olivier from France, who always seems optimistic and teasing; Souta's sister Matsuri, whom we only get glimpses of so far; and Souta's old co-worker Kaoruko, who is gruff, practical, and brusque in order to hide her emotions. (I, of course, love Kaoruko best so far.)

The premise of this sounds very much like a more flighty work of shoujo, but so far, the series actually reminds me most of Nana or Honey and Clover in tone. First, there's the mix of two stories: Souta and his store's rise in the small world of chocolatiers comprises one, while the other focuses on the lives and loves of Souta and his fellow chocolate store workers. But what really makes me draw the comparison is the way Mizushiro sensitively depicts everyone's love lives. Almost every character in the series has an unrequited crush on someone, and it's interesting to see how different characters use that emotion. Some choose to use it as inspiration or motivation to change themselves, while others choose to ignore it, to work to win over someone else's heart, or to simply enjoy being in love, even if it is unrequited.

The manga is full of small moments and significant glances, emotional subtext and things left unsaid. Some of the characters behave in ways the reader probably won't condone, but like Yazawa and Umino, Mizushiro has a great deal of sympathy for her characters and their frequently misguided hearts without necessarily agreeing with their actions.

And although Souta is the central character, I don't feel like the weight is terribly tilted toward the male characters. I suspect Kaoruko and Matsuri in particular will get more as the story goes along, and even though the women are frequently the objects of men's affections (the story so far is very heterosexual and cisgendered), I haven't gotten the sense that the are objects in terms of the plot. Instead, it seems as though Mizushiro will be delving into everyone's psyches.

The art is also very lovely; I don't remember any particular panels as standing out, but the character designs are pleasant and easy to distinguish between, and I of course love any of the sketches with chocolate in them. I'm a little sad Mizushiro doesn't go into raptures over assorted specific chocolates in her author's notes, but that's probably just me.

Sympathetic and complicated characters with some self knowledge and a narrative about chocolate: what's not to like?

I really hope this gets licensed along with Mizushiro's Kuro Bara Alice; it's lovely and feels very adult.

Ichihashi Nanao has just transferred into super preppy Mehabia Academy, where one of the strange traditions is having a student judiciary club pass judgment on cases brought before them. She ends up being roped into the club by the charismatic Hanegi Reika, who plays the judge.

The series is largely very mystery of the week, looking into cases like a student accusing a teacher of sexual harassment to a case of possible plagiarism. As with all mysteries, nothing is as straightforward as it seems, although the sexual harassment case was actually extremely typical and not surprising at all considering the percentage of sexual harassment cases in fiction that actually have someone culpable, as opposed to IRL.

There are bits and pieces of character development scattered throughout the cases, from Reika's Angsty Background to Nanao growing into herself as a member of the club, but overall, I wanted more of the club members and less of the mysteries. I also felt that the series often fell prey to the Ordinary Girl Amongst Gorgeous Guys trope (see: Fushigi Yuugi, Ouran, etc.), although thankfully, the gorgeousness of some of the other guys in the club isn't emphasized as much as Reika's, as Reika is the capricious judge with a tragic background who is so beautiful he's probably more gorgeous than most of the girls. There is, of course, cross-dressing and a maid cafe involved.

Overall, this is not bad, and the art is clearly morphing between Mizushiro's older style and her newer one in After School Nightmare; you can see faces and chins getting less round, hair getting slightly less poofy. But it's not overwhelmingly awesome, and I wish it had more of an arc.

Wow, end of the series!

( Series-destroying spoilers! )

So far, I've liked all the Mizushiro Setona manga that I've read, and this is no different. Mizushiro seems to be particularly good at focusing on the small and the everyday, on the moments that make you think your world is ending, even if it's just your skanky boyfriend breaking up with you and immediately going out with another girl. Because as Buffy illustrated so well, those are world-ending moments. It's just not the world most people think of.

Rika's just been through aforementioned breakup; worse, she's had an injury that's taken her off the track team. She used to be the best high jumper in the school, but now the same girl her ex is now going out with seems to be taking her place there as well. One day, she meets three other disaffected people in a chat room and flippantly suggests that they blow up the school.

What follows isn't a description of how they plan to blow up the school, but rather, how four broken and hurt people can come together and find comfort in each other. Much like After School Nightmare, there are several elements in here that I should find extremely squicky, but I don't because of the atmosphere Mizushiro invokes (ex. the teacher/student relationship). I particularly like Rika and Mr. Money and how the both of them hide their pain behind smiles.

Although I was a bit iffy on the portrayal of one of the women in the series, who's shown as preying on one of the teachers, I like Rika and Polaris. If only the older women wouldn't be so consistently sketchy!

It's really hard to put down why I liked this so much, since it's very dependent on the pacing, the attention to detail, the over-the-top premise coupled with the grounding in emotional reality, the use of space and wordless panels.

The art style's closer to 1999nen than it is to After School Nightmare, but it's still more stylized than 1999nen.

Also, the series ends with a short story about human cows that rachelmanija found incredibly disturbing and creepy and I did not, possibly because I've now read several manga in which the ultimate expression of love is the offer to let the beloved consume your own flesh! Oh manga. I love you.

Anyway, definitely recommended to people who liked the two other Mizushiro works I've read, and generally recommended to people who like slow, slightly creepy, but still quiet manga.

I've read so much manga this year that I'm separating it out from my 2006 books post. I'm still a little stunned by the fact that I read 217 volumes of manga this year, and that's after not logging some random scanlations due to user oversight.

Like the books list, this is a list of manga that I read this year, not manga published this year. My favorites are rather capricious and down at seven instead of ten. I'm not sure if it's because I'm feeling a little grumpy today, or if some of the series that I would have put on here ended up losing some of my interest as I started reading volumes as they came out, instead of in one big chunk (Bleach, Tramps Like Us). Other series ended up not being in the favorites group because I haven't read far enough in them to figure out if I do like them long term (Paradise Kiss, Oyayubihime Infinity, Her Majesty's Dog, Eternal Sabbath, Monster). The only reason Nana isn't on here at all is because all I did was reread vol. 1 this year; I mean to one day catch up on the 16 volumes out in Japanese (really!).

I'm not actually going to write up detailed summaries or plot synopses; I've blogged all these series before and will link the titles to the relevant entries and/or tags. Also, I'm way too lazy to link up the entire list of 217 volumes, but rest assured, they are all meticulously memories-ed and tagged because I am obsessive compulsive and should probably find a better hobby that doesn't involve alphabetization. Extreme librarianism! It's almost like a sport! ;)

Listed below are my seven favorite series from this year, in alphabetal order.

1. ( Mizushiro Setona, 1999nen 7 no Tsuki Shanghai )



2. ( Mori Kaoru, Emma )



3. ( Nishi Keiko, Four Shojo Stories )



4. ( Takaya Natsuki, Fruits Basket )



5. ( Yuki Kaori, Godchild )



6. ( Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto )



7. ( Minekura Kazuya, Saiyuki Gaiden and Saiyuki Reload )

Total read: 217 (25 rereads)

( Complete list of manga read in 2006 )