-
Palace of Water
Warnings: Violence, Abuse, Mild Sexual Content, Death My Thoughts One of my favorite story arcs in Kodocha was the on-location shoot for Sana’s first film, Palace of Water. It is during an arc where Sana grapples with her personal relationships and realizes feelings she didn’t know existed. Brief snippets of the film are included in the story for different parts of the shoot, and for years I had always wondered what the movie would have been like! The premise sounded really interesting, and the bits of story that are shown showed the usually cheerful Sana taking on a more somber, chilling role. This is an ever-present desire whenever I read…
-
Peach Girl
Also in this series: Peach Girl: Sae’s Story, Peach Girl NEXT Also by this author: Pre Mari, Loco Moco, Papillon: Flower & Butterfly Warnings: Violence, Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, Bullying, Statutory Rape, Abuse My Thoughts Peach Girl is a nostalgic series for me, it is one of the first shojo series that I really got hooked onto. I loved the bold art style and the characters, the romance, the drama. I really related a lot to Momo, an outgoing but insecure girl that worries about her tanned skin and struggles with a manipulative and jealous friend, Sae. This manga struck a chord with me particularly because of the duality between Momo…
-
Loco Moco
Also by this author: Pre Mari, Peach Girl, Papillon: Flower & Butterfly My Thoughts Love confessions are one of those things from my youth that I honestly miss. Confessing to the person that you have a crush on is nerve-wracking, and when looking back there are often so many missed opportunities. I remember the crushing feeling the first time I found out that a high school crush that I had been nursing for months ended up becoming a friend’s boyfriend. This happened a few times, I never felt sour about it but shrugged it off that I was just too slow to act on those feelings. This feeling of being…
-
Papillon: Flower & Butterfly
Also by this author: Pre Mari, Loco Moko, Peach Girl Warnings: Violence, Gaslighting, Grooming My Thoughts What a disaster, a downright sloppy mess with an awful plot and annoying characters. Papillon is a drama filled teen romance manga about competing twins that tries to dig into some touchy subjects like insecurity, childhood abandonment, post-partum depression, and traumatic loss. Ageha is a quiet and shy country girl that feels that she is undesirable next to her beautiful and popular city girl twin sister, Hana. The first few volumes of the manga deal with the twins butting heads over boys. Hana feels left out if she doesn’t receive the same love and…
-
The Couple in the White Room
Warnings: Violence, Homophobia My Thoughts Widely considered to be the first yuri manga, The Couple in the White Room was a defining work that helped to usher in wider acceptance of lesbian romances in the 1970s and 1980s. This story can easily be surmised as a dramatic tragedy in the spirit of theater classics like Romeo and Juliet. “Once I have known her, I must die. For that shining smile that is so difficult to describe, I must die. For those light, delicate hands, I must die. For her, I must…” The story follows Resine, a soft and feminine girl dealing with the tragic loss of her parents, and Simone,…
-
The Secret of Friendship
Also by this author: High School Debut, My Love Story!!, Sensei! My Thoughts Maintaining a friendship after entering a new relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend is one of those tricky things to navigate, especially if your best friend is single. It is not uncommon in both manga and in reality for friends to slowly drift apart as more time is invested in the new relationship. The single best friend becomes a third wheel, and can sometimes end up feeling lonely or abandoned by their friend, it becomes something of an expectation in friendships. The Secret of Friendship, or Tomodachi no Hanashi, subverts that expectation and presents a strong female…
