I just finished watching all 12 episodes of Monthly Girl’s Nozaki-Kun. I can’t remember who recommended that I watch this, a year or more ago, and I just now got around to it.
My overall feeling is it’s a cute and short kind of mindless fun comedy anime, with a little bit of romance that never ever really ever goes anywhere.
It is left with a little bit of an open ending. This post might have spoilers.
Here’s a quick spoiler free score card before I dive into the reasons for my score.read more
VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF THE SHOJO MANGA SERIES THE YOUNG MASTER’S REVENGE
Plans For Revenge Go Awry In This Romantic Comedy From The Creator Of METEOR PRINCE
San Francisco, CA, February 21, 2018 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media),a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, delivers the print and digital release of THE YOUNG MASTER’S REVENGE on March 6th.
The series, by creator Meca Tanaka, is rated ‘T’ for Teens and will be published under the SHOJO BEAT imprint. Meca Tanaka is also the creator of the acclaimed shojo manga series METEOR PRINCE (also published by VIZ Media).read more
I received volume 1 of Takane & Hana from Viz for free to review here on my blog.
Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Note: This review may contain spoilers for volume 1 of the manga.
Title: Takane & Hana
Mangaka: Yuki Shiwasu
Licensed: Viz
Release Date: Dec 20, 2014 – Ongoing (Japan), February 6th, 2018 – Ongoing (USA)
Length: 9 volumes (and ongoing) (in Japan) Viz will be releasing volumes bimonthly.
Genre: Shoujo, Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy
Geeky: 2/5 – No action, but a good dose of comedy could make this one appeal to geeks of any gender.
Sweetie: 5/5 – Here we have a love story / slice of life manga with some rather unconventional characters. I enjoy the humor and unique characters. This is not a cookie cutter shoujo manga.
Overall: 34/40 85% B “Very Good Manga For Girls”
Story: 9/10 – Takane and Hana meet via an arranged marriage; however, it is not Hana who is supposed to go to the meeting. Hana has an older sister, Yukari, who was selected by the chairman to meet his grandson, Takane. Takane is heir to a successful wealthy conglomerate, where Hana and Yukari’s father happens to work. Yukari refuses to go to the arranged marriage, forcing Hana to have to pretend to be her older sister.
Takane can see through their deception right away, which causes him to be more frank and open around Hana. Takane is used to getting anything he wants, so when Hana storms out of their arranged marriage meeting, he takes an interest in her. He begins to show up at her school with luxurious gifts, wearing expensive clothes, and driving a fancy foreign car.
Eventually Yukari tells Hana that she has changed her mind and wants to meet with Takane. The three agree to meet to explain the situation, but Hana runs away during their meeting. Takane pursues Hana and calls her by her real name for the first time, showing that he knew all along who she really was. Hana steals a kiss from Takane which again shakes up his usual routine.
The two continue to meet, usually going to expensive fancy restaurants. But one of my favorite parts of the manga is when Hana plans their date; she wants to do all commoner activities. Hana plans a day full of karaoke, bowling, fast food, and a scary movie. However, at the first stop of their date, Takane gets called into work. Hana continues to do their date alone by herself, until finally Takane meets back up by sneaking into the movie. He falls asleep exhausted from work. He also worked all night the night before so he could take the day off. Hana learns and sees many different sides of Takane that day, and begins to understand that he really isn’t such a bad guy.
There is a 10 year age gap between the characters though, so their relationship must still remain a secret, because Takane is expected to marry a suitable woman to help him with his career. Takane continues to go to arranged marriage meetings, but rejects his suitors and continues to see Hana. Hana worries that she is not good enough for Takane, but he tells her he will be the one to decide if she is good enough or not.
My only complaint with the story is it has some pacing issues. There were parts of the story where I would stop and see if I missed a page. It seemed to jump around a lot in the first 2 or 3 chapters, and then became more well fleshed out and evens out in the next chapters.
Characters: 8/10 Hana is a typical high school girl, carefree, spunky, athletic, happy go lucky, friendly, and outgoing. Takane is a well groomed businessman and heir to a large fortune. Takane is used to always getting his way and is used to enjoying the finer things in life. However, both of our characters are bored of their routine lives. When they meet, their routine is shaken up.
Takane is very rude, and he loves to be the center of attention. He loves to “look down” on the world / other people. However, he is not without his good points either. He is sincere/honest about his feelings (at least when he is around Hana – around other people Takane is forced to behave politely due to the responsibilities of his family and business.) Takane is a very hard worker, but he also tries to make time for Hana. Takane is not good at expressing thanks/gratitude, or admitting that he is enjoying his time with Hana.
However, Hana learns certain things about Takane. Like when he is truly happy, his smile is different, more like a smirk. His full / peaceful / contented smile is only a fake smile put on out of politeness. Hana realizes Takane only really smiles honestly around her.
Hana is also not honest about her feelings for Takane. She decides to treat their relationship like a game. Both of our characters are competitive and love to tease each other, and neither of them want to lose this “Game”.
I really love these characters, but I did deduct a few points because all of the minor characters are far less developed. This is only the first volume though, so I expect this to improve.
It’s also worth pointing out that many readers may be uncomfortable with the age gap in this manga. In Japan though this age gap is very common. Even in other shoujo manga, such as Sailor Moon, Mamoru was a college student and Usagi was only 14. While age gaps like this may seem odd to American readers, it is important to understand these cultural differences.
Artwork: 10/10 The artwork is cute, and it makes me smile/laugh. I love Takane’s smirk. Hana is cute. Takane would maybe be handsome, but his facial expressions are usually very smug/conceited. The background and coloring techniques are also cute. The art and character designs are also very consistent throughout the first volume.
OPPOSITES ATTRACT IN THE NEW SHOJO MANGA SERIES TAKANE & HANA
New Romantic Comedy Series TAKANE & HANA Debuts in Print And Digital Editions This February
San Francisco, CA, January 24, 2018 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media),a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, delivers a fun new romantic comedy with the release of TAKANE & HANA on February 6th.
The series, by creator Yuki Shiwasu, is rated ‘T’ for Teens and will be published under the SHOJO BEAT imprint. Volume 1 carries a print MSRP of $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN. TAKANE & HANA also launches digitallyvia viz.com and the VIZ Manga App, as well as from the Nook, Kobo, Kindle, iBooks, comiXology, and Google Play stores. Future volumes of the series will be published in English by VIZ Media on a bi-monthly basis.read more
Titles Include (but not limited to) 5 Centimeters per Second, Your Lie in April, Hiiro no Kakera, Emma, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun, Nisekoi, Wolf Girl and Black Prince, Playful Kiss, Boys over Flowers, and many other great romance titles.
I just finished my review for Betoyo Bento here. In this review I mentioned how I just had a birthday a few weeks ago and my best friend gifted me with 2 subscription boxes. Here is the 2nd of those subscriptions – Boxychan Anime Box. I liked this box so well that I subscribed myself after opening this awesome box. I’m also going to update my top ten list of subscription boxes for geeky girls to reflect my love of Boxychan. What makes Boxychan so great in my opinion are two things – 1.) It has stuff you’ll actually use. I don’t know if “every” box is like this, but I’m assuming each box contains one manga and one dvd. – that’s actually stuff I want! stuff I’m already buying. Yes, little figures and posters and candy and other things are good – but this is stuff that’s expensive, manga is usually around $10-$15 a pop, Dvds around $15-20 a pop. Speaking of the word “Pop” that brings me to point 2.) This box is full of officially licensed products! Including the VERY popular “Funko Pops” YES! 🙂
When signing up for Boxychan you can choose many different “themes” – anime is just one of MANY geeky themes, they have comics, gamer, toys, geek, themes and more!! — I stuck with the anime theme, because I loved almost everything in this box!! I loved it so much I signed up for the longest subscription, the 9 month option. This is not a paid post or sponsored post. My friend bought me the one month box as a birthday gift, with her own money. I then used my own money to subscribe to the 9 month option – I just want to be very CLEAR that I GENUINELY love Boxychan. It is my favorite box. Oh by the way, interesting little tidbit for you – the 9 month option, only takes your first month’s payment of $28 up front – unlike MANY of these boxes where if you want the year subscription you’re paying hundreds of dollars – but I assume if you try to cancel before the 9 months are up they “clip you” for the remaining months then. But I like that they don’t want the whole fees up front – very kind! You also get discounts for longer subscriptions (I believe, but can’t remember for sure, that a single box is $35 a month), so it was a no brainer to me to sign up for the full deal.
The other things you do when signing up are indicate your gender, and your “age” (child, teen, or adult) – I think they may customize the box to fit this demographic info! I say this, because the manga I received was VERY girly (GOOD Just what I like!! SHOUJO!! It’s very hard to find Shoujo stuff in these monthly boxes because most of them just focus on “mainstream” shounen stuff.) It also had sailor moon! (another “girly” shoujo item). And Totoro – which appeals to both male and female, but probably more towards girls for the kawaii factor. It had Tokyo Ghoul too which I think is more popular with boys, but probably one of the most popular anime series in recent years.
Lastly, when you sign up, you are asked your shirt and shoe sizes. The June box did not have any wearable items, but it’s good to know they have from Extra Small up to 2XL.
They call themselves the “original” themed mystery box – I’m not sure if that’s accurate. I’d not heard of them before – but to me they’re “claiming” to be the first anime subscription box available on the net. Which if it’s true, gives them some “street kred” and reliability.
Anyways I know what all you lovely people want to see, the box opening photos! So let’s get to it!
The outside box is rather plain compared to some of the competitors, for example, Doki Doki, which I reviewed here, uses a flashy bright pink attractive box. While Pusheen Box uses a box that looks like a cat on all 4 sides, which I’ve reviewed here. However, Boxychan keeps it very simple, with just a smile on one side of the box, and their logo on another side. Similar almost to amazon’s familiar packaging. The paint was also rubbing off of the outside of the box. – Not a big deal, but seeing it didn’t leave me with high expectations for the opening lol.
However, once cut open, this little box is just crammed full all the way with awesomeness. Also pink wrapping paper – which again to me seems to indicate that they probably select the items based on your gender and age group. The beautiful wrapping paper and seeing how FULL the box was started to lift my spirits and I started feeling excited.
OMG SAILOR MOON!!!!!!! I was even more excited removing the wrapping paper to see the Sailor Moon Blind Box Figure. 🙂 So let’s start the review with that item. My only “complaint” is Damn that’s a big ass box for a tiny fingertip sized lil guy! LOL. The packaging of the figure was exciting though! Although it also sort of defeated the purpose of it being a “blind” box. The figure itself is painted well although it does have rough “edges” – I am used to this though since I collect “Asian balljointed dolls” which often have unfinished seams and I’m not bothered by this, but for some people who are unacustomed to seeing a figure or doll with rough seams showing, it may look cheap but this is actually quite common for toys from asian countries. Either way, tiny lil Artemis is so kawaii (bonus points for me since I love cats lol) and the base is engraved with the moon rod and beautiful scrollwork. Once again, this item says “For Girls” on it, which is another indicator that Boxychan may select items taking your gender and age group into account – I cannot prove this, but am impressed by how many “girly” items were in the June box which leads me to wonder if it is in fact shipping out different items tailored to your demographics which it requests upon signing up. – I would be interested to hear from any men out there if they also received the same items in their June Boxychan box in the comments below.
Pics:
Next up, we have the Totoro lanyard from Studio Ghibli. It’s cute and bright blue. You’ll probably see it in several other photos in this review since I slipped it on to take pictures and then didn’t take it off until after the review.
The anime that I received is Kirameki Project – I have not seen it or heard of it before — and I haven’t watched it yet, because my cats broke my TV and my laptop has no dvd player… 🙁 orz. I’m saving up (and waiting hopefully for a sale) to replace my TV. I need to mount it on my wall because my cats are so naughty.
Anyways though, it looks cute? It also looks like it has huge amounts of fan service though which is a bit of a put off – There’s a pretty prominent “Panty Shot” on the back of the packaging.
It’s a “giant robo” or “mecha” anime however, one of the mecha looks like a “doll” (from wikipedia). Wikipedia also says it’s a quirky and cute show, although they are also quick to point out that it has a huge amount of fanservice – most of which comes from said doll-like robot. They also note that it has a lot of drama (which to me is a plus as that’s my preferred genre for anime).
The manga, “Nui!”, on the other hand, that I received is ADORABLE – I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Fruits Basket or well a fan of Shoujo in general. It’s about a girl who loves her stuffed animals so much that they become human. Sometimes they can’t always control when or where this transformation will happen, and of course, all of them are in love with their owner. I really loved this manga – and once again had never heard of it before. Which is a pretty impressive feat since I’m usually “in the know” when it comes to all things shoujo.
Note that despite the pics below, the manga is in black and white (as most manga are), it just had a few colored pages inside.
There was also this weird (but kinda cute in it’s own way) “Pin” you know the kind you place on a hat, purse, backpack, jacket, etc – Of a baindaid (a popular “fashion” item in “Decora Fashion” which is a fashion trend in Japan where you wear as many accessories as humanly possible. This lil baindaid has a face and greenish blush on it’s “cheeks”. There was also a rubber, black Tokyo Ghoul bracelet (not pictured).
And last, but certainly not least, the Funko Pop Tokyo Ghoul figure. It’s Funko Pop, and Tokyo Ghoul, two of the hottest, most popular things in geek culture. There’s 2 versions, a girl, and a guy (forgive me, I’ve actually not yet watched Tokyo Ghoul so not real familiar with the characters) in this series. I received the girl figure. It’s cute, and I love Funko Pops! – Secretly wish it would have been one of the sailor moon funko pops instead – but still happy with this lol.
Once again, I can’t tell you just how impressed I am with this box – for $28 (for the 9 month plan) every month, I will get manga, anime dvds, funko pops and officially licensed anime goods! This stuff would probably easily cost over $65 if buying everything separately.
Hands down, Boxychan gets my vote for best anime subscription box – WAY better than Doki Doki – and slightly better than Betoyo.
I still also really like Pusheen Box because it’s so damn kawaii — but Boxychan has more “universal appeal” — even if you don’t like anime, they have other themes too – seriously, go check them out :). www.boxychan.com
PS: I signed up and my box has already been sent – which means I MAY get another June Box – if that is the case I may end up giving away a few duplicate items in a future blog post(s) – stay tuned :).
