summary: misao isn’t really a complete airhead like everyone thinks.. she’s just too distracted by all these spirits and monsters surrounding her that other people can’t see. it was mostly a bother and an inconvenience (if tripping somebody doesn’t get more serious than an inconvenience, anyway) until her 16th birthday.. when the stakes were suddenly raised… because she is the senka no musume. prophecy has it that whoever should drink her blood will have their life prolonged, whoever should eat her flesh should live forever, and whoever should wed her (and get a child upon her) will have their clan prosper. or so it was explained after the reappearance of her childhood friend, kyo… who has moved back to the property next to her house and is now a teacher in her high school. he is now also the head of his tengu clan and has come to claim misao as his bride.. but, he’s not the only one… there are more monster clans out there than just the tengu. and they all want her.

commentary: based on the covers and the title, i, for some reason, thought it was going to be like a soap opera.. general hospital in manga format. i decided to check it out after finding out it was fantasy. the plot itself turns out to be the major factor.. tengu, shirohebi, kitsune, etc, all want to possess misao.. and, if you didn’t get it yet, take her by force if she won’t come willingly… playing into the whole smut appeal of the flower comics label. not quite smut yet by volume 5, but there is a promise that we’ll get at least one scene before the end of the series, lol. in any case, power struggles within clans and surrounding her seem to pretty much be the entire driving force. i labeled this “student teacher” mostly because of how they are set up in school, which she still has to regularly attend but we see less of. (it seems to really only take about 5% of the entire story.) as much as there is a veritable danger of discovery in school for a taboo relationship, i appreciate the focus on the two main plot issues. this really could stretch in every direction. funny, though, how school seems to be very important for a lot of the background.. that seems to be pretty much how she meets everyone (except for the retainers). she meets most of the contenders in her school – one by one – and even meets another significant character through the college her dad works in. in any case, interesting read so far… i hope it ends well.

synopsis: after the death of her father, momoko has been asked to continue to her father’s work – writing erotic stories under his pen name. with her father’s debts to pay off, her mom in the hospital, and a little brother to support, she takes on the job… although this means that she’s always tired and she doesn’t have the free time that other high school students can afford: no time for hanging out, no time for dating. the only people who know her secret are her family and her editor… that is, until ranmaru, the hottest super model (and playboy) who happens to also attend her high school, discovers it, as well. in order to keep her secret, ranmaru has demanded that she become his slave….

commentary: pretty farfetched, but not uncommon… it’s really strange that they are asking a high school girl to write erotic stories, not to mention, this being a job to take her father’s place. it doesn’t even matter if they think she’s got the talent to write well, because that’s just rather odd. talk about one of the most awkward jobs to pass down to your children. but, oh, well. it’s also a little odd to me that he’s sleeping around, and providing her with ‘material,’ although there is a strong suggestion that they’ll get together; it seems like one is encouraged to overlook such transgressions, in the message that it’s a much happier thing to love than to be loved. (i only agree up to a certain point… my name is not hosea.) in any case… setting all that aside, the story is pretty funny… at times, cute and fluffy… at times, so not. about once for every chapter in the first volume, we get a snippet of her latest story… which i find rather hilarious. her imagination and dialogue.. seriously… “my king cobra is about to burst”? wtf? haha. this series is just too amusing…

summary: it is a well-known and strictly enforced fact that the company mizuura mai has just started working for forbids office relationships… so why is it that katou tomoya (also known as “ace”), one of the top elites of the company, has decided to ask her to date him? besides, she’d only started 3 weeks before and she barely knew him. she doesn’t know where this suddenly came from! knowing full well what it’s like to be let go by a company, she doesn’t want to risk it and decides to turn him down after a seemingly appropriate length of consideration time. before she even gets there, he names her his personal secretary, to the irritation of some other OLs who have been there longer and have, therefore, had crushes on him for longer. however, katou tells her that he had never felt this way before and so was willing to take a risk with her, requesting that she give a relationship with him a try anyway. mai soon finds herself acquiescing, and their secret relationship begins.

commentary: i feel like i’ve moved from the secret high school romances to the secret office romances, lol. first of all, let me just say that i love the clean cover.. with the “behind closed doors” peek because of the cover paneling. one of the things about this story that is different from the others i’ve read is that it’s not just days that pass by between chapters. a whole month or three goes by in the blink of an eye when katou goes on a business trip (mostly to russia) with the company president. i can’t help but feel that this is pretty much what it’s like as a working adult – time seems to pass more quickly. at the same time, it seems like their relationship is developing very quickly. in any case, this can’t continue on for too long if they get found out. i’m interested to see what happens when they get farther down the road. will they be suspended from their positions? will mai eventually quit working there so they can get married (if they decide to)? will katou-san transfer out (however unlikely i think that will be)?

summary: on the summer of her 19th year, tezuka ayane, works part-time as a tutor for 14-year-old narumiya kou… although it doesn’t seem like he needs one. his grades have fallen, but it’s more for lack of trying than ability. he manages to convince her to keep on coming anyway, even if her services aren’t needed. an easy job… but as time passes, she finds that she might have developed feelings for the temperamental middle-schooler, which does not necessarily go by unnoticed, as she is warned that if she acts upon it, it would be a crime and a shame to society. 6 years later, she still can’t forget that summer. she now teaches the choir in a high school, and has been proposed to by a fellow teacher. she has even tried auditioning for work as a pianist, as she had once wished to do when she was younger. life seems to be going along smoothly, until kou’s path crosses hers again – not only has he been playing the piano for venues she has auditioned at.. but he’s also one of the new teachers in training at her school.

commentary: not for the young, there are a lot of depictions of nudity… mostly in flashbacks and thoughtful narratives. the style of the story is interesting, as the mangaka only gives you little peeks of what happened in the past, giving you the motivations for the things that have happened in small doses. of course, this also means that some angst comes in to play. i tagged this as “student-teacher” because it starts as such, and the flashbacks in each chapter bring us back to being conscious about it. interestingly, he still seems to call her sensei even though he has asked her to call him “kou” again. i am dreading an increase in angst in the second volume, as i don’t think that her boyfriend/fiancee/whichever will give her up that easily.

summary: kugayama shuusei is the prince of the school – cool, aloof, and popular with girls. that doesn’t give him any excuse to put down girls when they’ve gathered up so much courage to confess to him, though! or so nishimori aoi expresses as much when she confronts him for the way he dumped her best friend, moe… even though moe herself isn’t really that mad, since she was turned down completely. when shuusei moves in next to aoi’s apartment, she is rather shocked. more shocking is when she finds herself cooking him a meal because the guy looked ready to pass out – it didn’t even look like he knew how to feed himself! living next to him, she sees a different side to him.. and learns that he finds all women a bother because they go confessing their love to someone they barely even know. one day, however, she messes up while cooking for him, and his apartment is pretty much ruined when the sprinkler system goes off and pretty much soaks everything through. to compensate, shuusei ends up living with aoi….?!

commentary: aoi is pretty gutsy and cute… and, as shuusei puts it, “prone to violence.” she’s a good friend who defends what must be defended and she doesn’t really hold back when she thinks she’s right. i don’t really quite get shuusei, though. i understand (and find funny) all the hijinx that can ensue with the whole guy-and-girl-find-themselves-living-together-alone thing, but his actions don’t necessarily match what he said in the beginning. even if he were to find her interesting, i didn’t really see a warming up period. XD i’m really liking this story, though.. and i can’t wait for the next volume. :3

summary: of the suzuki twins, kotori was always the more obedient and reliable one, while nobara was the daring and outgoing one. born with the same genes, their parents wonder how they could be so different from each other. due to perhaps too much daring on nobara’s part, she slips and almost drowns during a family outing… but it is her dad who saves her and dies. “it’s all your fault. i wish he hadn’t saved you.” at about 12 years old, nobara is shocked to hear this, but knowing her fault and not wanting to cause her mother any more pain, she opts to live with her grandmother while kotori stayed with their mother. four years pass, but nobara and kotori are still quite close. in an effort to see her mother whom she still loves, nobara and kotori switch places for a few hours once a week – kotori pretends to be nobara at work, while nobara pretends to be kotori and spends her time baking with her mom… until one day, kotori is murdered while in nobara’s guise. seeing the tragedy that she has caused yet again, nobara vows to continue the charade and become kotori forever. “goodbye, kotori. goodbye, me.” there is only one thing that keeps the charade from being perfect, though – the one person who can truly tell them apart – and that is nobara’s boyfriend.

commentary: twin replacement is probably not a new concept (take “smile”, for example.. or obana miho’s “partner”), but this story steps up on the tragedy that surrounds the matter. i really and truly feel sorry for nobara and her family. how much death, tragedy, and guilt can a girl take? without all this, their family relationship is heartwarming to watch… even with nobara being content to take her sister’s place a few hours a week just to see her mother. kotori seems to be a really nice girl, but we’re not really given to see if she has any of her own friends… which is most likely intentional, since the story is told primarily from nobara’s pov. maybe we’ll see more when nobara fully enter’s kotori’s world in vol 2. interestingly enough, despite all that has happened to their family, i don’t feel the total angst and despair that i had rather dreaded from reading the back of the book (the type i usually avoid, so picking this up was a risk – but the girls were illustrated so nicely in the back cover…). there is the loss, understanding, and sympathy… and i really want to continue on to vol 2, where i hope she finds hope again.

summary: tachibana mei has lived through 16 years of life without friends, much less a boyfriend. she gave up on the idea of making friends or even getting close to people at all when she was young, finding that you can’t rely on anybody, that people will turn their backs on you and betray you. because of this, she has always been quiet, keeping to herself. some people in school may even find her weird. when nakanishi, a guy in her class, tries to flip her skirt, she exacts due justice and retaliates… but it’s kurosawa yamato, his friend who happened to be with him, who receives it. one of the most popular guy in school, especially with girls, she finds it odd that he then takes an interest in her. he insists on getting her number, but she refuses, so he gives her his, instead… telling her that she can call him any time. when she actually needs someone, and unable to reach her family, she helplessly calls out to him… and, unexpectedly, he responds and reacts right away. unexpectedly, he also gives her.. her first kiss. little by little, he finds a place with her… and introduces her back into a world with friends.

commentary: i absolutely adore this story, and, right now, it’s one of my favorites. mei is one of those girls who keeps everything within herself, trying her best to just let all snide comments about her pass. this doesn’t mean that she’s weak, however. it’s mostly just useless to respond back to them; she knows very well how to stand up for herself, when necessary. yamato is compassionate and easy to be with, and it’s not hard to see why girls are attracted to him. though a lot of the story focuses on them, watching their relationship develop, we also learn more about the characters that hover close to yamato. so far, i find that i can’t hate any of the characters, even if they can say some potentially damaging things to mei. it’s rather sweet to watch how they trust each other.

summary: feeling betrayed and left behind by family, friends, and lover, shou climbed up the railing of a bridge, thinking to end it all. kyouko, a teacher in his school, happened to find him in the midst of doing this and pulls him back. although he resented this at first, her tears turned his thoughts around, and she became his reason for living. however, his former lover and her admirer aren’t going to let them be.

commentary: if you’ve ever watched the drama “majo no joken” (“the witch’s condition” aka “forbidden love”), this story would be very familiar to you. it is geared towards angst and tragedy, dealing with bad decisions, loss, betrayal, obsession… you sympathize with the characters, because it’s not really necessarily their fault that things fell apart the way they did. it almost seems like life has it in for them, and they’re carried away by wild waves about to crash in the rocks. with only one volume to the story, it’s easy enough to read, although the themes are more serious than other manga i usually read.