Title: CooRie: 秋やすみ (Akiyasumi)
Vocals: rino
Release Date: 9/29/04
Catalog No.: LHCA-5001
Rating: 3/4

I have the singles of rino singing the ending to Nanaka 6/17 and the intro to Narue no Sekai from last year and have been waiting for CooRie to release a full album. I love her singing, especially from the above mentioned shows but this album is a bit weak. 8 out of the 12 tracks are songs from anime shows like Nanaka 6/17, Narue no Sekai, Da Capo, and Midori no Hibi, with 4 original compositions (one of which is only half a minute long).

The intro/endings to the other shows that I haven't watched didn't impress me to much. rino's voice is very soft, but can keep up with relatively fast songs like the intro to Narue, Midori no Hibi, and the cover song for the album. I was hoping there would be a song on there like the ending to Kiminozo, but unfortunately, there wasn't a slow ballad that stuck with me. Good CD overall, but my favorite songs are the ones I already have the singles to.

First edition comes with a raffle ticket for an opportunity to attend her latest concert free of charge. The deadline was 10/20, which happened to be the day I received the CD, so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Title: 藍より青し (Ai yori Aoshi) Vol. 14 LE
Artist/Author: 文月晃 (Kou Fumizuki)
Book Size/Pages: B-6, 187pp., w/o furigana
Original Serialization: Young Animal Vol. 6, '04 - Vol. 12, '04, Young Animal Island Vol. 1
First Printing: 10/5/04
Rating: 4/4

I get to cheat for this review since I've already "read" almost all of this volume before I got it. Like I suspected, the recently released drama CD covers this volume. In fact, it covers almost all of it with the exception of the last chapter and bonus chapter. However, I've already read the bonus chapter as I got that Young Animal Island issue, so the only new item in this volume for me is chapter 118.

Limited edition comes with an Aoi figurine.

For the main story, read the summary from the latest Ai yori drama CD. Chapter 118 has Tina and Aoi back home and after some typical michief, Tina and Aoi have a talk on the riverbank where Tina makes Aoi say that she loves Kaoru. Meanwhile, back home, the news reports that Kaoru's father has died (ooo, they finally go back to that). The bonus chapter is written up in the synopsis of Young Island, under "Magazines."

Title: Crossover Vol. 1
Artist/Author: 瀬尾公治 (Kouji Seo)
Book Size/Pages: Small B-6, 200pp., w/furigana
Volume: 1/7
Original Serialization: Weekly Shonen Magazine Vol. 25, '02 - Vol. 29, '02
First Printing: 10/17/02
Rating: 4/4

This is the previous work of the author who is currently doing Suzuka in Shonen Magazine. I have more than half the series already as I started my magazine subscription just a few months after Crossover started, but never really paid attention as I wrote it off as just another sports manga that I didn't have the time to read. But like I've said before, I'm less discrimintory, and I like Suzuka, so I decided to start this series.

To my surprise, I enjoyed this first volume. Unlike Suzuka, this series leans more towards the sports side more than the romance side, but it still kept the relation between the hero and the heroine in the forefront.

Bonus includes a profile of Natsuki and Mizuki and two pages of fan art.

1. 檸檬 (Lemon): 緒方なつき (Natsuki Ogata) was the star of his middle school basketball team and will soon need to pick the high school that he wants to attend. All his teammates think that he should go to 藤ノ原 (Fujinohara) High as that school has one of the best basketball team in the nation. He goes and tries out. Despite being short, he's really fast and out-maneuvers the other players and catches the attention of the coach. Later as he's walking out in the snow, he meets 橘水希 (Mizuki Tachibana), who serves as the team manager for another high school's team, Mariannu. The team is very weak, but have a strong sense of unity. Today, they're going to be playing Fujinohara as the final game of the season. Mizuki invites Natsuki to come and gives him a sample of her lemon slices, something that she gives the team for good luck. It's a blowout, but Natsuki sees that the coach for Fujinohara isn't satisfied with his team's performance and is rather harsh on them. During the game, one of the players on Mariannu gets injured and with no replacement players, the opposing coach tells them it's a wash. Mizuki pleads with him to allow the game to finish out of respect for the seniors, but he pushes her aside causing her to spill her lemons.

2. 門出 (Departure): After seeing Mizuki get abused, Natsuki jumps in to play. He doesn't reverse the 150+ point deficit, but manages to score one last basket after executing his specialty move, the crossover. After the game, the coach for Fujinohara comes up to him and tells him that he's been accepted to join his basketball team. The Mariannu team comes out later and asks him what high school he's going to. He responds saying that he didn't make it to Fujinohara and will go to Mariannu instead.

3. 新入部員 (New Team Members): High school has started and at the first day of practice, Natsuki meets a fellow new member, 片山英二 (Eiji Katayama). To Natsuki's surprise, Eiji's long reach gives Natsuki some difficulties in trying to out-maneuver him. Meanwhile, the other prospective members of the team try their best to dribble.

4. 王者の理由 (The King's Reason): Natsuki and Eiji have become somewhat rivals, on the court and even for Mizuki. They decide to go and scout out Fujinohara's practice and there, they see 前田隼人 (Hayato Maeda), a new star player who is similar to Natsuki in size and specialty.

5. Basket Boys in Spa: The Mariannu team hangs out at Natsuki's aunt's hot springs as Natsuki tells stories about his experiences on his middle school basketball team. The team captain later announces that their first game will be against 笹谷北 (Sasayakita), the school that Natsuki's ex-teammates attend.

Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 47
Issue Date: 11/3/2004
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 506

The big announcement concerning Negima is in issue 48, according to the previews page in this volume. Cover girl is 18 year old Aya Matsuura. She really doesn't look 18.

Suzuka: ＃３５揺動 (Vacillations): Honoka kisses Yamato, tells him that she wants to always be with him, and then runs off. Suzuka comes up to him after witnessing this and just tells him to do his best tomorrow at the meet. The next day, Suzuka beats her personal record (but she's done better unofficially). As Yamato looks on from the stands as Suzuka is being interviewed, he feels even more distant. Honoka comes and sits at his side, touches his hand, and to her surprise, he decides to hold her hand.

Negima: ７１時間目 ネギの選択 (Negi's Choice): Kotaru tells Negi that they should fight WIlhelm together. Konoka and the other girls break free from their bubble, capture the Slimes, and remove Asuna's pendant which allows Wilhelm to be vulnerable. Negi attacks and defeats the foe. Negi refuses to finish Wilhelm off, and Wilhelm tells him about his 9 spells. The next day, after WIlhelm vanishes, Negi feels depressed, but Kotaro is there to ruffle him up.

Hamanaka Ai: ０５６N先生 (N-Teacher): Rinko gets saved by the popular new English teacher, Tota. While discussing the possibility of a relationship, it turns out that Nakamura-sensei had dated him before.

King's Sword: ８張飛危うし (Chohi in Danger): The three heros catch up the enemies and Ryuhi engages them. He manages to slay some of the bandits, but gets out-numbered. Ahi decides to jump in and help out and the chapter ends with him getting slashed.

Full Swing: ５認めない (I Don't Acknowledge You): It's been 10 months since Tama's hand got busted and now he's joining the school's tennis team. During his first day of practice, he's already disliked by 百瀬駿 (Shun Momose), a fellow teammate who doesn't like how he plays tennis like baseball. Douchi shows up at practice and Shun freaks out as he's been Shun's idol and reason to play tennis. However, he's also displeased that Douchi knows Tama. In the end, Shun tells Tama that he'll never accept him as a tennis player.

Tsubasa: ６０心の奥 (In the Heart): Sakura is still sleeping from last night's party and so Shaoran has lunch with their new host, Ashura. Mokona sends a bottle of wine back to Yuuko (I wish I still had Young Magazine) and Ashura tells Shaoran a bit more about her country, the fighting they do with Yasha and about the castle in the sky. Shaoran tells her to take him to that castle in the sky and he goes out, prepared to fight in order to do so. During the battle, he spots the two people who look like Kuro and Fye.

Changing Now: ＃２５開発！！　男たちの涙 (Development!! The Men's Tears): Has a documentary where the creator of Machina VV explain how they made him. It also has an epilogue about their surprise when they hear of his destruction.