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こいこい７ (Koi Koi 7) Vol. 2 LE
So who's this Asuka girl. It's been a while since I read the first volume and after some review, I realized that there was a new character introduced here. Maybe it's the long delay between volumes, but the stories, while fun to read, don't really click with me just yet. Having read most of Hanaukyo Maid Tai between this volume and volume 1, I can definitely tell the similarities as they're by the same author. This limited edition comes with several postcards, a postcard holder, and a special cover. There's a bonus chapter inside with the Goko school newsletter as well as pullout poster of the Koi Koi 7. 7. 月読さんの”ゆううつ”って漢字でかける？ (Can I Write Tukuyomi's "Depression" in Kanji?): Miyabi, while admired by many of her classmates and wanted by the Goko club, isn't all that happy. A mysterious girl with an eye-patch appears one day and causes her to collapse and remember events in the past. Later, she's alone with Tetsuro and asks him if he would still care for him knowing her weirdness (she proceeds to inflate her head as that's one of her traits). Of course he says yes. 8. 哲郎受難の日 (Tetsuro's Day of Agony): Yayoi accidentally rips Tetsuro's pants on the way to school, so she has him wear a girls uniform. He's not wearing glasses which is enough for him to go through the day without being noticed. However, that mysterious girl with the eye-patch knows and gives him a kiss. 9. 立て！ 「五光会」今は立て！ (Stand!, "Goko Club" Now Stand!): The Goko school is holding another festival and each of the girls is participating to win a vacation trip. As Yayoi is flying Tetsuro in to school, he sees the girls with the eye-patch and recognizes her as Asuka, the girl he thought he had lost in the past. 10. フィーバー！！ ミヤ様、五光会 (Fever! Miya, Goko Club): Yayoi is a little bummed but happy that Tetsuro has found his lost friend. If she is to be destroyed, she wants to be turned into a crab-stuffed bread, her favorite food. Yayoi talks to Asuka and after she receives confirmation that she is who Tetsuro remembers, Asuka slashes Yayoi up with her box cutters. Meanwhile, Tetsuro witnesses a fellow student supervisor for the festival being assailed. 11. 五光会特攻 (Goko Club Suicide): Tetsuro comes to the rescue and with Sakuya's help, they find Yayoi. Fortunately, Yayoi can't die and comes back to life again. Miyabi is outside in the rain dealing with Asuka. |
Title: こいこい７ (Koi Koi 7) Vol. 2 LE |
彼氏彼女の事情 (His and Her Circumstances) Vol. 10
No more cultural festival anything! The Kyoto trip is a nice and simple story that fortunately is just that. There's no deep meaning other than it's just a few kids having fun. Coming off last volume, this was a little refreshing. The two chapters that focused on Maho's chapter were insightful, but seemed a little out of place as they were just inserted there. The bonus is the Act 0 chapter which was derived from the drama CD (for summary, see that). There's also a handwritten letter from what I think is just some random stuff from the staff (can't read their handwriting!). 43. ACT43 陽射しのいい部屋１ (A Brightly Sunlit Room 1): While studying in the well-lit room in her boyfriend, Takashi's, house, she reflects on how she first met him. Back in third year middle school, she was smart, but not very well liked among her peers. One day on her way back from school, she sees an alley that she didn't notice before. She finds a house there that she admires and finds out that it belongs to a dentist named Takashi. She befriends him and eventually comes to like him. 44. ACT44 陽射しのいい部屋２ (A Brightly Sunlit Room 2): This time it's the story from Takashi's side. At first, he was resistant to the relationship as she was still a child. They part for a few months, but after she graduates from high school, they meet again with no hard feelings and start to date. 45. GO GO 京都１ (GO GO Kyoto 1): Right before winter break, Yukino's class goes on a field trip to Kyoto. They have some little situations on the train there. At one of the temples, a few guys are being obnoxious around Yukino and gang so Arima slugs them. Their teacher sees this but pretends he doesn't. 46. GO GO 京都２ (GO GO Kyoto 2): The next day, the group goes sightseeing but manages to be split up. It's now Yukino/Arima, Rika/Aya/Takefumi, Maho/Tsubasa/Kazuma, and Tsubaki/Asaba. Each go their separate ways and plan to meet later on. 47. GO GO 京都３ (GO GO Kyoto 3): Kazuma and Tsubasa are talented singers as they try to earn some change to ride a boat. Meanwhile, Arima and Yukino take a quiet stroll. That night, Yukino wants to continue staying out, but Arima finds out she has a fever and makes her get some rest. They go home a few days later. |
Title: 彼氏彼女の事情 (His and Her Circumstances) Vol. 10 |
十兵衛ちゃん２ (Jubei-chan 2) DVD Box 1
After seeing the preview disc, I was pretty excited about the rest of the series. However, I have to say that I was just a wee-little disappointed in episode 2-6, but not by that much (not enough to drop it a rating). While it was cute the first time, the constant jumping around between serious and non-serious scenes started getting to me. The way he phased out Shiro and Hajime also disturbed me a bit. With those two out of the picture as serious characters, there's no counterbalance to the two strong female leads. The video comes in an anamorphic letterbox setup and as with all R2s, the video quality is superb. The audio is standard Dolby compressed stereo. This limited edition box set comes with two discs and liner notes. The liner notes have summaries of the 6 episodes, an interview with the voice actresses of the two main characters, Felicia and Jiyu. It also includes a production log, Yui Horie's experiences in learning swordsmanship, and a few comics. The DVD comes with 6 episodes and a 20+ minute segment where Yui Horie takes on the Jubei challenge of learning Yagyu Jubei's school of swordsmanship. Three hundred years ago, Yagyu's Jubei's daughter, Felicia got encased in ice. When she finally thawed, she found out that her father had left an eyepatch and she believes she's the rightful owner and so she starts her hunt for Jiyu. Meanwhile, Jiyu is trying to get her life back to normal after last season. She befriends the new transfer student, Felicia without any suspicions. However, she is challenged by several new foes, one of whom is Felicia and the other descendants of another school that had fought against Jubei. She doesn't have the eyepatch anymore but that's quickly solved by a pint-sized Koinosuke, his son Ayunosuke who always happens to be there when she needs to transform. Despite Felicia actually being her enemy, she protects her at all costs. At the end of the last episode, Felicia finally reveals herself. |
Title: 十兵衛ちゃん２〜シベリア柳生の逆襲〜 (Jyubei-chan 2~The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu) DVD Box 1 |
こどものおもちゃ (Child's Toy) Vol. 7
Finally finished. This volume was close to a 300 page monster and took more time than I had originally planned. While it was terribly surprising, I'm satisfied with how this series ended. If it were me, I'd cut out a bit of the "fat" surrounding her illness as that kept going and going. The little epilogue at the end was a nice touch as I'm a sucker for that type of stuff. Bonuses are the plethora of artwork originally presented in the monthly. There's a feature of the international releases and a lengthy letter from the author. From the shock of Hayama leaving for Los Angeles, Sana falls into a depression that her mother has seen once before. Her mother left this incident out of her book, but already had the manuscript where she describes how Sana had a psychological illness for 15 days after emotional trauma learning that her mom wasn't really her mom. They recall that it was Naozumi who helped her overcome her sickness the first time around. This time, she's able to overcome her shock by taking a secret trip with Hayama and talking to him. Hayama finally agrees to leave for Los Angeles and Sana agrees as he's being sent to go see a famous doctor who can fix his arm. After a few years, Sana is working at a psychological helpline and Hayama is able to use his arm enough to win a karate tournament. While brief, they have a reunion. |
Title: こどものおもちゃ (Child's Toy) Vol. 7 |
えんxむす (En x Musu) Vol. 4
It's been a while since I've finished book 3. This volume is a little better in that the whole bloody jungle arc has finished and the story has returned a bit back to the comedy that I remember from the first volume. There's still some carnage, though. There's a summary page as well as a mini-comic concerning the author. 27. トラップ (Trap): Sakura and his maid, Chui, lure Gisuke, Sonya, and Shizuku out of the forest. As Shizuku and Sonya are dangling in the river, Gisuke looks on helplessly. He then sees Sakura on the other side of the riverbank just about read to dump in toxic chemicals. 28. 円光寺櫻 (Sakura Enkoji): Asuka, the rebel, saves the day by managing to catch the barrel of toxic chemicals by a rope and then throwing the rope up so that it snags Sakura's feet. When Sakura falls, the barrel gets thrown back on the riverbank. Once they capture Sakura though, the original candidate for the Dragon clan, Tendou appears. 29. ゴーイング・ホーム (Going Home): Tendou tells Asuka to hand over Gisuke in exchange and he'll let her take Sakura to which she obeys (with a gun to her head). Tendou then lets Gisuke go home as he wants him to get stronger before he officially challenges him. 30. 転校生 (Transfer Student): Asuka enrolls in the same school where Gisuke and Sonya attend. At first, they get attacked by Chui, who is seeking revenge for her master. Tendou's maid comes and stops her. Asuka decides to move in with Gisuke and the other girls. 31. ソーニャのお引越し (Sonya's Moving): Yukina, Gisuke's other maid who was at home while he was out being abused in the jungle has an idea. Since she doesn't like Sonya that much and wants to be Gisuke's sole maid, she tricks her (not hard to do as Sonya's a big and dumb maid) into moving out of her current room. Conveniently though, there are no other rooms, so she ends up staying in the dog house. This plan backfires when Gisuke invites her to live in his room together. 32. ソーニャの宿題 (Sonya's Homework): Sonya reveals that she has no reading nor writing abilities and instead of turning in a report to her teacher, she makes up for it by making her some lunch. She does eventually do an oral report, but in it, she reveals how close she is to Gisuke. 33. スローターハウス （前編） (Slaughter House, First Part): Sonya recalls the time she was working as a maid in the Dragon clan. Since the house was run quite strictly with maids killed when something goes wrong, Sonya was quite unpopular as she's naive and always plays around. This got her quite a many beatings from her peers. 34. スローターハウス （後編） (Slaughter House, Last Part): One of the people Sonya plays with is an old man in the park. When the head maid (the murderous one) finds out about an escape plan, Sonya confesses even though she doesn't understand the question nor implication. That old man comes saves the day as he's the leader of the clan who doesn't usually show his face much (hence why Sonya didn't know him as her boss). |
Title: 恋愛出世絵巻えんxむす (En x Musu) Vol. 4 |
鋼鉄天使くるみ (Steel Angel Kurumi) Vol. 3
It finally strikes me that the Steel Angels who wanted Kurumi back were from the Academy. This issue has a lot of Steel Angels getting their clothes ripped off from battle. I guess that's one aspect of this series, but they could have make the story a little more interesting. I didn't notice that there was stuff behind the dust jacket. In this issue, it has some alternate lyrics to the intro of the anime. It doesn't make much sense though. In addition, it has the color pages as well as a mini-comic where Kurumi and gang see their seiyuu counterparts. 12. 密会 (Secret Meeting): After experiencing being super Kurumi, she wants Dr. Akagi to help her become more powerful which for one, includes the ability to fly. She says it's impossible, and indeed it is as she tries to affix some wings but fails to fly. Meanwhile, the Academy have invited generals from all over the world to show their strongest Steel Angels. The winner will receive the latest and greatest technology from the Academy. 13. 日本鋼鉄天使大決戦 (The Big Battle Among Japanese Steel Angels): The American and France Steel Angel lose by having their country's emblem removed from their clothing. The last one standing is 葵 (Aoi) and his (her?) master, 神宮寺忍 (Shinobu Jinguji). However, they're told that Kurumi is representing Japan, so they go and seek out Kurumi to defeat her. 14. ９００年目の対決 神維家と神宮寺家 (900 Year Old Showdown, Kagura Family and Jinguji Family): Apparently, Shinobu's family and Nakahito's family know each other. Kurumi is currently away so she's not available for a fight. Shinobu has Aoi start attacking, first Saki and then Karinka. While he easily defeats Saki, Karinka manages to avoid his finishing sword move. 15. 破れ！ 時皇真空剣！！ (Broken, Jikoshinkuken): Karinka unleashes an attack and thinks it's almost over, but Aoi presses on and manages to defeat his double-Angel heart opponent. Kurumi then comes back and without even trying, she's able to parry his sword move and eventually have him give up. 16. 新しい絆 (New Binds): Nakahito and his brother, Kamihito, are training in the mountains with their three Steel Angels accompanying them. Kamihito shows them the his powers but accidentally causes Kurumi and Nakahito to be trapped in a cave. As he can't remove the boulder blocking the entrance, he and Kurumi take the long route and walk through the mountain. |
Title: 鋼鉄天使くるみ (Steel Angel Kurumi) Vol. 3
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