Ouran High School Host Club

Original Title: 桜蘭高校ホスト部
Alternative Titles: 樱兰高校男公关部
Host Club
OHSHC
Ouran High Host Club
Ouran Host Club
Ouran Koukou Host-bu
Author: Hatori Bisco
Genre: Romance,Reverse Harem,Gender Bender,Comedy,Shoujo
No.Of Volumes: 12 (ongoing)
Original Run: August 5 2003 (ongoing)
Publishers: Hakusensha, VIZ Media, Chuangyi
Other Related works: Ouran High School Host Club (anime)
Ouran High School Host Club (visual novel PS2)
The Plot
Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at Ouran High School, a fictional school located in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Because of the superlative cost of the school uniform, Haruhi resorts to wearing long slacks, polo shirts and vests. Combined with her large glasses and tousled short hair, Haruhi's look causes her to be confused for a boy.

Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Third Music Room, the working place of the Ouran Host Club, a group of six attractive male students (Takashi Morinozuka, called "Mori"; Mitsukuni Haninozuka, called "Hunny"; twins Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin; Tamaki Suou, and Kyoya Ootori) who spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi accidentally knocks over and break a vase valued at ¥8,000,000, estimated to be US$80,000.

In order to pay off the large debt, Haruhi is employed as the club's "dog" and constantly ordered to do menial tasks like serving food or cleaning up. The Club president, without knowing she is really a girl, promotes Haruhi to "host" as soon as he discovers her potential. Even after the truth comes out in the Club, Haruhi continues the charade and is allowed to pay off the rest of her debt working as a host; in order to accomplish this, Haruhi conceals her true identity/gender from the customers.
from www.wikipedia.com
My Review
Ouran is one very good manga.I love the story about the blunt,clueless,boyish Haruhi hanging out with the weird & unique handsome guys in the story.The hosts all have diferent personalities & of course their so called "differet types" for their female customers to choose from.Personalities ranging from the kawaii shotacon Honey-senpai to drama queen or i should say king Tamaki.The art is nice.I love the school building, wish that was my school.The costumes are creative & of course its fan service to not only the female costumers but to female readers as well.

Arcana Soul

Original Title: アルカナ
Author: Kotegawa Yua
Genre: Horror,Romance,Supernatural,Mystery,Psychology
Year released: 2001
No.Of Volumes: 2
Publisher: Shueisha
The plot
from selene scans
Murakami and Nakabayashi are just policemen trying to do their jobs. When there is a bomb explosion inside Shuei Primary School, they were asked to do their jobs as policemen and check out the lead. It turns out a doctor from a mental institution called in to warn about the explosion immediately before the bomb went off. And so begins their association with the mental patient with no name who they would eventually call "Maki"
For some reason, Maki can "speak" with spirits. There are spirits all around us and Maki can communicate with them. These spirits tell Maki about deep dark things... Things that go on when no one else is looking...
My Review
I found this manga quite interesting but I did not really like the art very much.Well at least I did not like the way the guy is drawn.I thought the mixture of romance & horror was pretty good.The scary parts are well drawn though.The chibis are cute but most of the time or you can say all o the time, Maki(main girl) is pretty much expressionless or like she is dopey & oh yah the chapters are named after tarot cards & arcana has something to do with tarot cards too.

Gakuen Alice

Original Title: 学園アリス
Alternative Titles: Alice Academy
Author: Tachibana Higuchi
Genre: Comedy,Magic supernatural,Romance
No.of volumes: 16 (ongoing)
Original Run: 19 Febuary 2003 (ongoing)
Publisher: Hakusensha
Other Related works: Gakuen Alice (anime)
Gakuen Alice ~Kira Kira Memory Kiss~ (PS2 Game)
Gakuen Alice: Waku Waku Happy Friends (DS Game)
Gakuen Alice ~Doki Doki Fushigi Taiken~ (Gameboy Advance Game)
The Plot
Gakuen Alice is the story of a 10-year old girl Mikan Sakura who is devastated when her best friend, Hotaru Imai, transfers to a special school for "genius" kids in Tokyo. After hearing horrible rumors of what happens in the Academy, Mikan runs away from home to seek out her dear friend, and finds that the school Hotaru transferred to, Gakuen Alice, is specifically for children who each have a special power called an "Alice". To Mikan's surprise, a teacher there, Narumi, discovers that she too has a unique Alice, and admits her to the school.

The story is primarily focused on Mikan and her experiences at the Academy, from the everyday bore of classes and exams, to the unexpected clashes with the Anti-Alice Organization (AAO). Despite her initial view of the so-called greatness of the school, Mikan slowly finds out that beneath the grand facade of the Academy lies a never-ending stream of lies and deception.

Mikan, meets a boy named Natsume, whom she at first hates but unconsciously cares for him, and eventually starts to form a friendship with him, and soon, he became someone whom she loved. Natsume has the Alice of fire and is in the Dangerous Ability class. Natsume hates the Academy and is forced to do its dirty work. Narumi thinks that Mikan, holds the key to save Natsume and change the Academy. Natsume and Mikan's friendship grew until Natsume was very fond of Mikan, to a point where he admits his feelings for her, and admitted to himself that he loved her and would do anything to protect her.

Along with the many friends she comes to make, including Natsume's best friend, Ruka Nogi, and the class representative, Yū Tobita a.k.a. Iinchō, Mikan comes to love the Academy and its teachers, but its increasingly manipulative and sinister actions toward her make it a dangerous place to be.
from www.wikipedia.com
My Review
I liked Gakuen Alice it was cute & touching in a way.Its kind of sad actually thinking that such kids are Government Property & have to be seperated from their parents.Its entertaining & cute to watch Natsume bullying poor Mikan.The stories were interesting although the thought of kids adventures sounded childish at first.The art was filled with the err.. spray paint look or maybe it was screentone.But it looked nice & somehow reminded me of christmas actually.This was definately cute.

Fruits Basket

Original Title: フルーツバスケット
Alternative Titles: Furuba
Furūtsu Basuketto
水果篮子
Author: Natsuki Takaya
Genre: Romance,Drama,Fantasy,Shoujo
No.Of Volumes: 23
Original run: January 1999 – November 2006
Publishers: Hakusensha, Tokyopop, Madman Entertainment, Chuangyi
Other Related works: Fruits Basket (anime)
Fruits Basket (Drama CD)
Fruits Basket (1 art book + 2 fan books)
The Plot
Fruits Basket follows the life of high-school student Tohru Honda, who was recently orphaned when her mother, Kyoko Honda, died in a car accident. After that, Tohru lived with her grandfather, but when his house needs remodeling, Tohru resorts to living in a tent in a forest and holds down a job to support herself. Despite suffering many hardships, Tohru remains optimistic.

One day, Tohru comes upon a house in the forest that is the home of her classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousin Shigure Sohma. When the Sohmas discover that Tohru is living in a tent, they are quite surprised by her inner strength. The entire area is Sohma property, and Tohru asks to be allowed to stay in her tent (affectionately dubbed "her castle"). Feeling sorry for her and desperate to end their bachelor days of filthy living conditions, the Sohmas offer her their spare room in exchange for cooking and housework. After a landslide buries her tent, including her mother's picture and school clothes, she has no option but to accept. Soon after she moves in, Kyo Sohma comes to challenge Yuki.

Tohru soon discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private and secretive at school: thirteen members of the family are possessed by the 12 animal spirits of the Chinese Zodiac (jyūnishi in Japanese) plus the spirit of the cat who was, according to legend, left out of the Zodiac. They transform into animals when hugged by the opposite sex or when put under a great deal of emotional or physical stress (such as being sick). When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohmas allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that had previously befallen anyone not "Inside" the Sohma family who had discovered the secret.

The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family, as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fits in, as well as the feared Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family. Soon, after living with the Sohma family she began to like, then love, all of the Sohmas, and sets out to break the zodiac curse.
from www.wikipedia.com
My Review
Fruits Basket is a very good manga with lots of plot twists.Its quite entertaining to see the Sohma family memebers turning into animals.If you like a story where romance is not only focused on just 1 couple, this is where you enjoy the romance within Sohma household besides Tohru.The anime version has quite a no. of changes made.Akito is the biggest change of all.Anyway about the art, I heard the drawing of Tohru is considered "moe".I'm not sure about that myself.The eyes have the glass-like look.Oh yeah.I didn't really like the person whom Tohru ended up with but thats just what I think.

Suki ni Natte mo Ii no?

Original Title: 好きになってもいいの？
Alternative titles: Is it okay to love you?
Suki ni
Author: Ohta Saki
Genre: Drama,Romance,School Life,Shoujo
Publisher: Shougakukan
No.Of Volumes: 4
The Plot
When Yuuki first meets Akihisa she is less than impressed. Not only is he stalking her, but he also tries to seduce her knowing full well she's a high school student who already has a boyfriend. She can't stand him at all so why is she so drawn to him? On the surface Akihisa seems like the worst kind of man... Is he just toying with Yuuki or does he really care about her?
from www.mangaupdates.com
My Review
When I first read this series I thought it was realy weird.The age difference is too big!I thought the ending was kinda sweet yet confusing.Some parts of the story are also real confusing.It seems that a lot of readers hate both the male & female leads though.Anyway the art was nice & looked like it went through photoshop.I'm not sure if it went through photoshop or not but to me it looks like it.The chibis are cute.

Goong

Title: Goong 궁
Alternative Titles: Princess Hours,Palace
Author: Park So Hee
Genre: Comedy,Drama,Romance
No.Of Volumes: 18 (ongoing)
Publishers: Seoul Munhwasa,Yen Press
Other Related works: Goong(Drama series)
The Plot
Due to a promise between the former king of Korea and an ordinary, strong-willed girl's grandfather, our heroine finds herself betrothed to a seemingly cold-hearted prince of Korea. How can she marry a guy who she overheard him proposing to another girl! Both unwilling parties agree to the marriage, each with his and her own different motivations for the agreement to marry. Can love bloom under the strain of love rivals and political ambitions?
from www.onemanga.com
My Review
This is not a manga but manwha, Korean manga.The sory is really great.It mixes lots of political issues & school girl romance altogether.The gags are hilarious.The don't have chibi scenes but extremely funny exagerated expressions.They focus on saying that a Princess's life ain't that pretty.The art is very good, the dresses were really nicely designed.I like the eyes.They are so nice.This whole manga can make you switch moods easily, a serious moment can suddenly trun into a gag.The prince can be hateful yet charmingly cute the next moment.Its seriously worth the read.

Otokomae! Beads Club

Original Title: 男前！ビーズ倶楽部
Alternative Titles: Manly! Beads Club
Otokomae! Beads Kurabu
Handsome Man! Beads Club
Handsome! Beads Club
Author: Motomi Kyousuke
Categories: Comedy,Romance,School life,Shoujo
No.Of chapters: 5
The Plot
Have you ever seen a "very manly girl"? The heroine in this story, Oikawa Ibuki is just that type of girl. To find her true soul mate, after transferring school, Ibuki was determined to act like a gentle lady. Yet on her first day of transfer, due to her righteous sense she went to save a small dog, and at the time she was seen by the suspicious "crow messenger"! Is Ibuki's whole image ruined!? And who is this mysterious "crow messenger"!?
rom www.onemanga.com
My Review
This manga was really funny.The heroine isn't the the normal cutesy girl anymore.I found it really funny when the other members stalk the couple around.The girl is violent & thats the good part of it.I always liked mangas with independant & strong heroines.The art was cute.Just loved the chibi punches the heroine throws.Her pissed off face was very cute.The chibi expressions looked pretty similar to those of the online game: maple story.