I can’t believe it’s been over thirty years (!!!) since shoujo manga Marmalade Boy came out. It’s actually still readable though the drawing style may seem too quaint for those who prefer the current renderings, this is actually my manga generation so my preferred drawing style that is clean and wholesome. An upcoming J-movie adaptation is headed to the theaters on April 27th, the first time Japan has done any adaptation of this story whether movie or drama. Taiwan adapted Marmalade Boy in the early 2000s and it was HORRIBLE, yes in all caps bad. The movie has four fantastic veterans playing the spouse-swapping parents and youngsters Sakurai Hinoko and Yoshizawa Ryo as the lead step-siblings who fall in love. This actually looks cute and a nice walk down the MB heyday memory lane. Continue reading
Category Archives: Japanese Manga

Japan is stacking the summer 2017 deck in terms of highly anticipated adaptations, not only is there the live-action version of Gintama coming with Oguri Shun, there is also the live-action adaptation of classic shonen hit manga Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. … Continue reading

More character posters are out for the highly anticipated summer Japanese movie live-action adaptation of popular shonen manga Gintama (Silver Soul). The first set of movie posters released last month were of the three main characters – Oguri Shun as … Continue reading

A phenomenon has been sweeping Japan and now the rest of Asia since the summer, one that is poised to set new records and break old ones. All of Japan has been enamored of anime movie Your Name since its … Continue reading

Attack on Titan is arguably the most popular manga in the world right now, with One Piece aging and Naruto just ended. Those reading along with the manga (me!) can see the story headed towards a final arc, or at … Continue reading

This manga to live-action adaptation feels like it’s fifteen years too late. No, let me amend that to say that it really is fifteen years too late to be adapting a very popular shoujo manga which had its heyday in the … Continue reading
This is a repost of the ridiculously long summary and review of Candy Candy the Japanese manga that I first wrote three years ago when I was watching Friends, Our Legend. There was a lovely little interlude in that drama … Continue reading
Let me start off by saying tsundere heroines are not my typical preference in my mangas. Never have been, never will be. That’s one reason I didn’t like Hana Yori Dango and its ilk. I find the hate-not/hate-like-love progression rather … Continue reading
Drama lovers have no inkling what perseverance and determination a manga lover needs to have to endure an addiction to a long-running serial. It’s thirty plus years now for oldies like Glass no Kamen, and most recently I’ve been reading 7 … Continue reading
I’ll be the first to argue that the quality of mangas has been on a steady decline since the late-90s. But as an addict of the original brand of crack, I can’t help but still read them regularly. Call it … Continue reading
Folks – I hereby declare Atatsuki no Aria (暁のAria or Dawn’s Aria, and Chinese title is 晨光中的詠嘆調) the best pure shoujo manga series I’ve read in years. It’s harkens back to the classic shoujo storytelling of yore – where the … Continue reading
Mangas, or Japanese comic books, were my first source of entertainment. Before I watched my first TV show, I read my first manga. More than a quarter of a century’s worth of manga reading has made this medium my most … Continue reading
Instead of sleeping like a good koala should have been doing, I nearly pulled an all-nighter re-reading my stash of 7 Seeds. Yes, it’s that good. And no, I’m not exaggerating. … Continue reading