One-Shot for the Weekend – Natsu Yasumi Zero Zero Nichime

Natsu Yasumi Zero Zero Nichime (夏休みゼロゼロ日目) | 00 Day of Summer Holiday

Mang-aka: Akizuki Sorata

Genre: Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Slice of Life

Sometimes love visits you in the most simple yet unexpected moments in our daily lives. Where love can come in even a form of a pop of a bubble, to give us the courage we need to take our relationships.

Originally published in Aoi Lala by Hakusensha.

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You’d think that because it’s winter, we’d toss out a winter themed recommendation. Or perhaps choosing a summer one-shot for the winter is way predictable? After a few weeks of adjusting my life in the States again, I hope to start blogging more consistently. Akizuki Sorata has been one of my favourite manga artists of all time, it’s strange that I’ve never really pushed her work as strong as I may have done but I do have my own reasons and frankly, she doesn’t need that extra publicity anyway. Her work can pretty much do all the talking and I hope to cover her most popular work in the near future. I chose a summer one-shot because I really need a bit of warming up, like literally. The temperature just plummeted 20 degrees and my sister has been sending me photos of London being thrashed by snow. I dislike snow unfortunately. I’ve also been suffering silently in my room freezing and I’ve just bought a portable heater to make myself feel like a normal human being.

But weather-y rants aside. This is a breath of fresh air for those who need some escape from the wintry months both physically and emotionally. In some ways summer is about being carefree – do whatever you want and be adventurous and in this instance, in love. Summer love is a strange little thing, it’s always associated with pain and everything seems to fall apart after the sweaty season. But yet, most of us are willing to go through it again, whether we be hurt or not. I believe in taking the plunge. This one-shot is fresh, the scenario is new, but with the nostalgic summer spirit of bubbles cascading in the air. The characters are normal, familiar, they aren’t blown up just like slice of life is suppose to be. And with Akizuki Sorata at the helm, she never fails to add her poetic touch and remind us that reality is often just as sweet as the imagination. So here’s my current winter manifesto, take the harsh winter with a summer heart. Or for some, embrace winter with a mind full of snow(quoting Wallace Stevens).

Rating: 4.5/5

One-Shot on an Impulse – Pinocchio Dreams

Pinocchio Dreams (ピノッキオは夢を見る)

Manga-ka: Fujitsuka Yuki

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School Life, Sci-fi,  Shoujo, Supernatural, Tragedy

Fubuki’s dog, Chloe, gets hit by a car. Kio spots her and tells her to come with him to save Chloe. After Toba Daisuke, who is famous to weirdo, saves Chloe, Fubuki finds out Kio is a robot! She is shocked and creeped out but they eventually become friends. 

The final one-shot in the Kara no Shounen(Empty Boy) anthology by Fujitsuka Yuki, published by Hakusensha. 

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It’s been a long while since we’ve posted anything, but I won’t go into details about our MIA-ness until I feel like blabbing so. Allow me to release upon anyone of you, a post I wrote on impulse, as well as a homage to our most frequent and fun posts – the one-shot recommendations. So how did I get inspired to write about this one-shot? It has to do with a game that some of you might heard of and that is, the League of Legends(which I have been quite obsessed with, although I’m totally into Diablo 3 at the moment). My favourite ‘champion’ or character, to make things simpler, is called Orianna – the lady of clockwerk. So each ‘champion’ or character has a lore and Orianna has a very sad story in which she is a product of her creator’s effort to replace his real daughter called Orianna. It’s a tragic story, but how does Pinocchio Dreams compare?

Well, the only relation is that both stories feature a character that is created through advanced technology. I’ve always been enthralled by the idea of robots learning and attempting to be more like humans, its melancholic yet so soft and gentle(not Orianna though, she’s a killing machine). It’s about a conscience that grows from childhood innocence into a character with much stature and care though they risk being insensitive which often leads to confusion. But, sometimes, the mere act of thought, the act of thinking, is enough to touch one’s heart. Pinocchio Dreams really unleashes a wave of emotions within me. Emotions that I would compare to ‘sympathy’ or ‘pity,’ but really not the words to describe so. It’s positive, full of heart and love. It is hopeful and sweet, melancholic. Like life, its fleeting, yet it is timeless, because those feelings that are experienced, will be remembered for a lifetime.

“It’s the thought that counts right?” – Kio, from Pinocchio Dreams

Fujitsuka Yuki is a great mang-aka, her art is unique and distinguishable, girly and manga-y(not sure myself what that means), yet they convey all the character’s emotions, and her story-telling beautiful. I have written about another one-shot from the same anthology before – Sunny Spots Typhoon, and I highly recommend the entire anthology. This one-shot is one of the best I’ve read and I love re-visiting it, over and over again. This one-shot was first published in Lala DX in 2006 and after being compiled in the Kara no Shounen anthology, Fujitsuka Yuki included a short little continuation which is just bliss.

A rather lengthy rant for a one-shot. Have a good week, and perhaps, we will meet again soon.

Overall Rating: 5/5

-chungky

One-Shot for a Weekday – Toujuushi

Toujuushi, Bestiarius
(闘獣士, ベスティアリウス)

Manga-ka: Kakizaki Masasumi

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Historical, Shounen, Tragedy

A.D 70, the Roman Empire had nearly overtaken all human civilisation. The imperial empire soon ventured across the lands of the orcs and Albion, the land of Wyverns. As one Roman soldier is defeated by a great Wyvern, his encounter with the being changes the life of his son forever.

Published by Shogakukan in Shonen Sunday, 2011. Split into part 1 & part 2.

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Okay, making up for last weekend’s one-shot post. I didn’t really know what to expect when I began reading this one-shot. This was totally out of my range  I mean, yes, it is shounen manga but it’s art was also very different since its sort of old school and seinen-y(lol) with that impeccable eye for detail (maybe like manga like Berserk?).

Anyway, this was a very nice read. You’ll probably know where the story will head but it reads a bit like an epic piece (I mean the term ‘epic’ as oppose to meaning ‘mindblowingly awesome’ that’s used colloquially). It sort of follows the epic hero plotline which is why it may feel so familiar. What I really liked about it was the clever of marriage between history and old folkloric fantasy which made it seem so real. It can almost convince you that Wyverns do exist and they were just slaughtered to extinction by the Romans. It reminds me of stories like King Arthur or Gawain and the Green Knight for example. This one-shot promises a bit of adventure and is very heart-warming as we see a human and intelligent being share an incredibly close bond that one might only imagine between a father and son.

Rating: 3.9/5

One-Shot for the Weekend: Hibi Kira Kira (日々キラキラ)

Hibi Kira Kira | 日々キラキラ | Radiant Everyday

Manga-ka: Coga Mayumi

Genre: Comedy,  Drama,  Romance,  Shounen Ai

It’s summer holidays for Tomoaki and he is helping out at the daily morning exercise for kids. But recently, he notices that a young man living beside the park has been looking at the exercise group every morning. Is the young man a Lolicon that is targeting his kids, or is it entirely something else?

Serialised in Canna magazine and collected in the Blind of Mind anthology tankoubon, published by France Shoin in 2011.

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Whoa, M.W has been pretty empty this week. I’m actually working on a manga-talk post for a while now but it’s just using me a lot of brain juice…putting thoughts down can be so difficult…

Anyway, a 16 page Shounen-Ai one-shot for this weekend. I don’t venture into the Yaoi genre, but Shounen-Ai is becoming one of my favourites. I’m hesitant to use the term Boy’s Love since it seems to lean more on the Yaoi side of things which features more of the sexual aspect. One thing I really like about shounen-ai manga is that it has a more mature sort of story-telling.  From the titles I’ve read, they really concentrate on character development and their feelings. With this aspect in mind, it makes me as a reader think how sweet it is which is what this short one-shot did. It made me feel all bubbly inside. The one-shot is about one misunderstanding another. Meeting someone new through the most unexpected places, the least expected times, meeting someone who might just change your life forever.

Rating: 4.5/5

One-Shot for the Weekend: Ability Shop

Ability Shop | あびりてぃ しょっぷ

Manga-ka: Tashiro Tetsuya

Genre: Fantasy,  Mystery,  Romance,  Shounen,  Tragedy

Toshiki is a below average student and often the target of ridicule. After he accidentally runs into a shop sign and breaks it, he enters the shop and finds out it will sell him abilities.. But these abilities don’t come cheap.

Published on GanGan Online in 2008 as a one-shot by Square Enix.

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I’m surprising myself by choosing so many shounen manga one-shots these couple of weeks. That continues this week with a simple story about greed.

The story itself is what one may call predictable; it’s about a boy being bullied and wanting to improve himself then goes too far and suffers the consequences. The idea and theme is very much about human nature which is particularly why I chose it.It’s a morality story and there are quite a number of stories of the same kind using the ‘shop – selling – something – funky’ idea(sorry, no idea what else to call it).

The story opted to be dark in the later stages of the story and though it didn’t exactly attain that aura it wanted, at the end of the day it got the message across – That we should not always take advantage of what is around us, and that we should trust ourselves to strive for better because from one end of life or another, we’ll not be alone.

Have a good weekend.

Rating: 3.5/5

You can read the Japanese version for free on GanGan Online here!

One-Shot for the Weekend: The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident

Alternative titles: 深山鶯邸事件 | Miyama Uguisu Yashika Jiken | Miyama Uguisu Tei Jiken | The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident

Manga-ka: Katou Kazue

Genre: Action, Fantasy, One Shot, Shounen, Supernatural

The one-shot pilot of Ao no Exorcist. Monaka, the heiress to a prestigious family, is staying with her sadistic and controlling uncle after the death of her parents. Her life is given a twist upon the arrival of an unsual exorcist claiming the mansion is being haunted be a demon.

Published as a one-shot in Jump SQ  in 2008.

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We destroyed a record last week by not publishing a one-shot but ‘real’ life called. I read this without prior knowledge of Ao no Exorcist, I haven’t read the serialisation or watched the anime so I sort of fail in being all trendy in the anime world. So anyway, I don’t think that many people out there know of Ao no Exorcist’s origins since it is of a different name so I shall remedy that.

The story’s setting is really your average Shounen manga. You got the bad dude with a hostage and then your hero. What really stood out for me was the story/flashback of ‘the nameless demon.‘ It gave the story a deeper aspect which I thought made it great as a prologue. It was simple but touching with it’s themes of care and kindness, maybe you would shed a tear. It was also kind of refreshing to have a more western interpretation of demons in the story.

I have no idea what happens in Ao no Exorcist but if you’re a fan, I recommend visiting Ao no Exorcist’s roots as it may be thought-provoking or even allow you to look at the serialisation in a new light. I always welcome the idea of knowing how a story developed from it’s original stimulus. Oh, why do shounen manga heroes always begin as a loser?

Rating: 3.7/5

One-Shot for the Weekend: Obake Life

Obake Life | オバケライフ

Manga-ka: Takahashi Ichirou

Genre: Comedy,  Horror,  School Life,  Shounen,  Supernatural, Romance

A girl who can see spirits opened up a manga and read “Those who read to this point in my manga will die without fail on the same day”. Terrified, she tries to break her curse, with a jumpy spirit who wants to marry her…? 

Published as a one-shot in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2008.

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It is very unlikely we would ever come across a one-shot placed in the genres of horror, comedy and romance. Being shounen manga, I guess that makes it slightly more likely since they can be quite bizarre. Shounen manga with romance? I’ll definitely give any one of those a try.

Okabe Life didn’t disappoint. In fact, it tied all the themes together but they were ‘mild,’ but not weak if you know what I mean(you probably don’t). It saw a reasonably good balance. The whole story was play-ful in a comedy way but it wasn’t to the extent where it was a parody of horror manga. Oh, and the male protagonist is quite the ball of awesome, I love how much energy he has, I might consider an engagement.

It’s not mind-blowingly epic, but it’s so absolutely likable! This is the first time where I REALLY wanted a shounen one-shot to continue into a series. It just has so much potential to do so. I’m probably saying this since I loved how the romance theme finished the story!

Have a good weekend!

Rating: 3.9/5

 

One-Shot for the Weekend – Onegai, Sensei : Altair no Koibumi

Altair no Koibumi | Altair’s Love Letter

Manga-ka: Taamo

Genre: Shoujo, Romance, Slice of life, Drama

Sueo, a countryside girl, becomes friends with Tsutsui-kun, the lonely city boy. After that, every summer he goes to see her, without fail. Sudenly, he doesn’t show up, for three years! She sends him letters, but he doesn’t reply. What’s going on?!

Published as the 2nd story in the Onegai, Sensei Anthology Tankouban by Taamo.

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This one-shot illustrates that love makes no comprimises, that it is both painful but also spectacularly beautiful. It’s a long one-shot spanning at about 60 pages and it deserves it.

The one thing I really love about it is that it ends in a very melancholy way, it’s so full of emotion. I’m not sure if some would agree with me but I think sadness can really be the most powerful emotion of all. The ending is in fact a “good” ending, but this element of sadness is consciously in the air from the beginning to the end which just leaves this profound impact.

If I were to choose one word to describe it, it would be ‘powerful,’ you don’t symphatise the characters but you feel their emotion. You don’t care about their flaws or what they’ve done wrong and if we were to ever do something for them; it would be to pray for their happiness. It’s one step beyond other love stories with it’s brilliant concept and nostalgic atmosphere.  I was on the edge of tears.

A story where childhood meets love, where no one bears witness to their everlasting devotion, but the night and the stars above. Will Vega and Altair be able to meet in the rain?

Rating: 4.9/5

One-Shot for a Weekday ~ Kaze no Yubiwa to Hikari no Udewa

 Kaze no Yubiwa to Hikari no Udewa  | The Ring of Wind and the Bracelet of Light

(風の指輪と光の腕輪)

Manga-ka: Kawase Natsuna

Genre: Fantasy,  Romance,  Shoujo,  Supernatural

Our heroine is a girl who was born with magical power, and can give that power to magic users, since magic users don’t have power on their own. But her teacher sealed her power with a ring and a bracelet. She’s travelling to a sacred temple in order to take off the ring and the bracelet, but on the way, she meets two magic users who saves her from those who attempt to steal her money, ring, and bracelet. Although she’s determined to not trust magic users, she ends up travelling with them…What fate awaits this trio?

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I didn’t have time to post a one-shot for the weekend so I decided to post a one-shot for the week-day. Yes, I’m so very creative. I’ve read a few beautiful one-shots recently but most of which were scary or sad. This is a one-shot for a week-day so I thought I’d better select something more cheery and one with some kind of hope or sense of adventure to give your week-day a boost since they’re commonly associated with work.

Here, I present to you a light fantasy one-shot. While initial thoughts might include something about an angsty love triangle, the story rebutts that claim to produce an atmosphere you wish would never end. What I refer to personally by that, is stories that have that care-free atmosphere which is often found in adventure stories. That feeling you get when the boss has just been beaten or maybe something’s been resolved and you just want the characters to live on peacefully in happiness and watch them live in happiness. This one-shot gives me that very feeling. The story itself focuses on the heroine’s mind-set of not wanting to trust magicians and how these two young men prove her wrong. The art is simple and charming which adds to the easy-going pace of the story. A nice fun fantasy with that feeling of together-ness.

Rating: 3.7/5

One-Shot for the Weekend – Yoru to Yakusoku

(夜と約束 | Night and Promise)

Manga-ka: Mitsuki

Genre: Comedy,  Shounen,  Supernatural,

Yoshino Shinya is a high school boy who is bullied all the time at school, which leads him to have no friends. However, no one knows that he is actually half-youkai, and due to that, he has the desire to eat human flesh. But because of the promise he made with his youkai father never to prey on humans, Shinya tries to resist his youkai blood that is thirsty for human’s blood, and live as a normal high school student. Will he be able to keep the promise he made with his father and keep his secret hidden?

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It’s rather hard to find a good shounen one-shot for me. I mean, I don’t read a lot of shounen manga in the first place but I also think that it’s because of the nature of most shounen manga – they have complex storylines that a normal one-shot length cannot sustain. Well, anyway, since I found one – I’m particularly excited!

The story focuses on a teenage half-ling, human and youkai, a werewolf to be exact. The overall story has a very good balance of everything, it’s characters are well developed and it has a simple, but yet solid plot which is perfect as a one-shot. The story also offers this nice undertone of  fan-service. I’m not sure whether I’ve grasp the whole concept of fan-service quite yet(I probably don’t even know how to use the term), but the hero is quite likable and I find his ‘urge-to-eat-humans’ quite a suggestive act. The ladies of the series are also quite blessed and there was a mild saucy scene which was quite funny.

The art of the youkai is pretty amazing, it has lots of nice detail and shading; it sort of reminds me of “Western comic” art like Marvel. I did however, nearly stop reading since I found it a bit freaky but I’m glad I didn’t. I think it would make a rather good ongoing series. It also has some friendship theme thrown inside which I give lots of bonus points for!

Late one-shot again, I’ve been quite busy and today is a rather special day for me so lots of love to all of you.

Rating: 4.5/5