Krozam's Manga Diary

[Hanover Fist]

Yandere Kanojo by Shinobi



Online version
Joker magazine version

I found this on the same scanlator site where I was snarfing up Krozam's latest recommendation above. The first point to note is that the "Yandere" here is an unusual abbreviation of yankee dere, so the main character is a lovey Yankee/delinquent rather than the usual meaning of an insane person in love. The manga is a romantic comedy about the delinquent girl that gets struck with love at first sight with a boring studious guy. Her feelings are quickly returned, but she wants to keep the relationship a secret to preserve her tough delinquent reputation. Cue the comedy.

The manga is released with different chapters in two places, online and the magazine Joker. The cast and continuity are the same in both, but the chapters focus on different scenes of the overall narrative. So it's double the fun each month. It may be best to alternate between the two sources arc by arc rather than snarfing up one completely then starting the other, but that's just me though. So far there are 56 chapters scanlated of the Joker magazine releases and 69 of the online chapters. They are all together on Batoto if you prefer reading online.

Yandere Kanojo's art isn't that great, but the humor more than makes up for it. It uses many cliche elements but still manages to get me to laugh out loud nearly every chapter (although sometimes that's from the scanlator's comments on the credits page). There is a gradually expanding cast and the story delves into their backstories at a good pace to keep the comedy flowing, while still providing some plot and heartwarming moments. Then around chapter 55 (online) things got all serious, but we're back to the goofiness now at c69.

It's not amazing, but I think it's certainly worth the time for a good laugh with occasional drama flurries. Call it between 3.5 to 4 out of 5.

[Irie Naoki]

Before I start I just want to say that I have absolutely no previous experience in "critiquing" mangas so take this as you please.

Victorian Romance Emma by Kaoru Mori.





What I absolutely love about this manga is the setting; the era of Victorian England. The story is about the forbidden love between our two main protagonists: a wealthy merchant and a low class maid.

William Jones, our male protagonist, is the eldest son of the "House of Jones," a very wealthy merchant middle class family trying to rise through society and make a name for themselves. With William being his father's heir, he shoulders a tremendous amount of stress not only to take over the family business but to also marry a girl from another wealthy family and take on a prestigious image in the high class society.

Emma, our female protagonist, is originally from a poor seaside Yorkshire village. She works as a maid for Mrs. Stowner, a private tutor for middle class children, who educates Emma in reading, writing, and a variety of other subjects.

It is your rather ordinary run-of-the-mill forbidden love between two very different people of two very different standings in society. What I do like about this manga are the characters and the settings. All of the characters introduced in this manga are all really interesting and enjoyable. There was the possibility that a love triangle would form but it thankfully never did. I found no dislike for (almost) any of the characters as I found it so fun to see the interactions between all of the characters. This excludes a couple of the kids which were, in a couple of cases, annoying.


But I feel like the strongest points of this manga are the art, which is absolutely gorgeous as shown in the image above, and the setting. When I read the manga, I felt like I was in Victorian London. I was so immersed into this place that I, many times, wished I could be there myself to see it with my own eyes. The manga has the tendency to exaggerate a lot on what they are about but it never got to the point that it broke the immersion. I never felt like I was reading a book about Victorian London; I felt like I was in Victorian London, that I was right there in the middle of the streets.

I honestly love this manga and I'd recommend anyone to read it. It's not just about romance but a true Victorian story of love and more. The amount of detail and dedication Kaori put into this manga really does show. By the end of the last panel, I really didn't want to say goodbye to William and Emma. For me this was definitely a 5/5


Now this is my first time doing this so please let me know of any grammar or spelling errors.

[Krozam]

I read Emma several years ago, and it was indeed an enjoyable read. IIRC, I pretty much marathoned the whole thing in one sitting. I don't remember it well enough to rate it (I didn't rate the stuff I read back then, and even if I had, the scale would have shifted since then), but it was good enough to warrant a recommendation. Not a "must read" level recommendation, though.

I've also checked out Yandere Kanojo earlier. I'm not a fan of 4-koma manga (omake are fine, but I find that sort of storytelling far from ideal as the main form of storytelling in a longer story), and I've stalled it indefinitely, but I suppose I found it moderately enjoyable. Recommendable to people who like that sort of thing.

[Krozam]

I just marathoned a manga called Chocolat (by Kubonouchi Eisaku). A night well spent. The first couple of volumes are so-so, but then it gets pretty good. The epilogue chapter is very nice, almost had me tear up. Almost. It's too bad the author didn't quite have what it takes to squeeze the best out of the concept and the characters. Art-wise, the dramatisation is good, but writing-wise, it's a bit lacking, IMO. While I wouldn't really call it a "great" manga, it's still a good one, well worth reading. 3.5/5 stars.