{"id":393,"date":"2017-02-12T12:48:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-12T12:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/?p=393"},"modified":"2017-02-12T12:53:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T12:53:18","slug":"off-topic-post-manga-reviews-and-discussion-second-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/2017\/02\/12\/off-topic-post-manga-reviews-and-discussion-second-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-topic post: Manga reviews and discussion (second post)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Once again I will be talking about the manga which interests me. Like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/2016\/07\/31\/off-topic-post-manga-reviews-and-discussion\/\">previous post<\/a>, I will be limiting my discussion to <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em> manga. In the time between that post and now, two additional manga will be receiving anime adaptations, although it is not yet known when the anime will air.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>To refresh everyone&#8217;s memories, I will again list the <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em> manga which have received or will receive broadcast anime adaptations (with additions).<\/p>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>D\u014djin Work<\/em> by Hiroyuki (Summer 2007)<\/li>\n<li><em>K-On!<\/em> by Kakifly (Spring 2009, Spring-Summer 2010, movie on 2011-12-03)<\/li>\n<li><em>Place to Place<\/em> by Ishiki (Spring 2012)<\/li>\n<li><em>Yuyushiki<\/em> by Komata Mikami (Spring 2013)<\/li>\n<li><em>Three Leaves, Three Colors<\/em> by Cherry Arai (Spring 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara Carat<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Hidamari Sketch<\/em> by Ume Aoki (Winter 2007, Summer 2008, Winter 2010, Autumn\/Fall 2012)<\/li>\n<li><em>GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class<\/em> by Satoko Kiyuduki (Summer 2009)<\/li>\n<li><em>A-Channel<\/em> by Kuroda bb (Spring 2011)<\/li>\n<li><em>Kill Me Baby<\/em> by Kaduho (Winter 2012)<\/li>\n<li><em>New Game!<\/em> by Sh\u014dtar\u014d Tokun\u014d (Summer 2016, second season release TBA)<\/li>\n<li><em>Blend S<\/em> by Miyuki Nakayama (release TBA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara MAX<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Kanamemo<\/em> by Sh\u014dko Iwami (Summer 2009)<\/li>\n<li><em>Kiniro Mosaic<\/em> by Yui Hara (Summer 2013, Spring 2015)<\/li>\n<li><em>Is the Order a Rabbit?<\/em> by Koi (Spring 2014, Autumn\/Fall 2015)<\/li>\n<li><em>Magic of Stella<\/em> by cloba.U (Autumn\/Fall 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara Forward<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Dream Eater Merry<\/em> by Yoshitaka Ushiki (Winter 2011)<\/li>\n<li><em>Hanayamata<\/em> by S\u014d Hamayumiba (Summer 2014)<\/li>\n<li><em>School-Live!<\/em> by Norimitsu Kaih\u014d and Sadoru Chiba (Summer 2015)<\/li>\n<li><em>Anne Happy<\/em> by Cotoji (Spring 2016)<\/li>\n<li><em>Yurucamp<\/em> by Afro (release TBA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara Miracle!<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Sakura Trick<\/em> by Tachi (Winter 2014)<\/li>\n<li><em>Gourmet Girl Graffiti<\/em> by Makoto Kawai (Winter 2015)<\/li>\n<li><em>Castle Town Dandelion<\/em> by Ayumu Kasuga (Summer 2015)<\/li>\n<li><em>Urara Meiroch\u014d<\/em> by Harikamo (Winter 2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you compare the above lists to the ones in the previous post, you&#8217;ll notice that I&#8217;ve made some changes. First, I&#8217;ve added the season when <em>Urara Meiroch\u014d<\/em> is aired, as this information wasn&#8217;t available at the end of July last year. Two additional manga have also had anime adaptations announced, and I&#8217;ve listed them in their respective lists. Finally, only a few hours ago, it has been announced that <em>New Game!<\/em> will be <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nganime\/status\/830748462027124736\" target=\"_blank\">receiving a second season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, to the manga themselves. This time, I will only be reviewing one manga. Instead, I will discuss some other manga which I have yet to read, but which have interested me.<\/p>\n<p>The manga I will be reviewing is Tomekichi&#8217;s <em>Swap\u21d4Swap<\/em>, serialised in <em>Manga Time Kirara Carat<\/em>. It follows two girls, Haruko Ichinose and Natsuko Nikaid\u014d, who are almost entirely different from each other (the former being a top student with a rather small chest and the latter being a large-breasted &#8220;dumb blonde&#8221;). When, one morning, they accidentally bump into each other, they inadvertently kiss, and find themselves in each other&#8217;s bodies.<br \/>\nNeedless to say, this is a yuri series with emphasis on kissing. In this manga, whenever two specific girls kiss each other, they swap bodies, which is what sets this manga apart from other manga in its genre such as <em>Sakura Trick<\/em>. It also deals with some of the potential issues of, well, needing to be someone else. At the beginning, only Haruko and Natsuko are shown to be able to switch, and only with each other, but as the manga progresses, we are introduced to another couple (Akiho Mishima and Fuyumi Shikata) with this same quirk. One thing I liked is how, given that Haruko is jealous of Natsuko&#8217;s breasts, she fondles them almost immediately after swapping bodies the first time. Other things include a specific student&#8217;s fluctuation in grades, as well as &#8220;Natsuko&#8221; being exceptionally good at video games, then suddenly becoming a lot worse after switching.<br \/>\nI&#8217;d give this manga a B+ at the moment. I find that this manga relies on its gimmick a fair bit, with the other parts being standard schoolgirl series material. But it does quite well, by showing how the fact that the girls need to kiss to switch can lead to others interpreting it as, well, the girls being in love with each other. Indeed, in the latest chapter I&#8217;ve read, a girl who is in love with Haruko challenges Natsuko after seeing them repeatedly kiss.<br \/>\nA bit of trivia, though. Tomekichi was originally a BL (yaoi) and otokonoko (crossdressing boys) author\/illustrator. I don&#8217;t know why the author switched to yuri, but <em>Swap\u21d4Swap<\/em> is Tomekichi&#8217;s first yuri work. The names of the girls who can switch are themed; their given names each represent a season (haru = spring, natsu = summer, aki = autumn, fuyu = winter) while their family names are numbered (ichi = one, ni = two, mi = three, shi = four).<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of other <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em> manga which have taken my interest. While some of these manga are additional manga by artists whose previous works have received anime adaptations, such as S\u014d Hamayumiba&#8217;s <em>Dropout Idol Fruit Tart<\/em> (about, you guessed it, dropout idols, serialised in <em>Kirara Carat<\/em>), Sh\u014dko Iwami&#8217;s <em>In the Head of S-G-S Children<\/em> (about three quirky elementary schoolgirls, serialised in <em>Kirara MAX<\/em>), and many of Cherry Arai&#8217;s manga (much of which forms a single continuity with <em>Three Leaves, Three Colors<\/em>), as well as Makoto Kawai&#8217;s upcoming manga <em>Amaetai Hi wa Soba ni Ite<\/em>, some are by artists who have yet to establish themselves within the <em>Kirara<\/em> label.<br \/>\nSome of these manga include F\u016bro Fuzuki&#8217;s <em>Olive! Believe, &#8220;Olive&#8221;?<\/em> (about a magic club&#8230; with actual magic and another world, serialised in <em>Kirara<\/em>), Izumo It\u014d&#8217;s <em>Machikado Mazoku<\/em> (a child of a demonic being vs. a magical girl&#8230; and they go to the same school?, serialised in <em>Kirara Carat<\/em>), and Hiroki Haruse&#8217;s <em>The Life After Retirement of Magical Girls<\/em> (a magical girl is shocked to find that her new roommates, former magical girls, are <em>former<\/em> magical girls not doing anything productive, serialised in <em>Kirara MAX<\/em>). You may have realised it, but these may have taken my interest by having, well, fantasy elements.<br \/>\nInterestingly, <em>Olive<\/em> has a fully voiced commercial, but with a little-known voice actress (Manami Honda) voicing the lead, Suzu Tsukinomiya (if this does receive an anime, I wonder if she&#8217;ll reprise the role, or will they go for a better-known voice).<\/p>\n<p>I could discuss these manga in detail, but my understanding of Japanese kanji and vocabulary is limited, and to fully translate the Japanese Wikipedia entries, I need hours, mostly for looking up kanji with my dictionary. So, instead, I&#8217;ll just link to Wikipedia:<br \/>\n<em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manga_Time_Kirara\" target=\"_blank\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ja.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89%E3%82%89\" target=\"_blank\">Japanese<\/a><br \/>\nIn the Japanese Wikipedia, the following currently running manga have their own articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Three Leaves, Three Colors<\/em> by Cherry Arai<\/li>\n<li><em>Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro<\/em> by Satoko Kiyuduki<\/li>\n<li><em>Place to Place<\/em> by Ishiki<\/li>\n<li><em>Yuyushiki<\/em> by Komata Mikami<\/li>\n<li><em>Hakoiri Drops<\/em> by Y\u016b Tsurusaki<\/li>\n<li><em>Slow Start<\/em> by Yuiko Tokumi<\/li>\n<li><em>Shimekiri Gohan<\/em> by Aki Konishi<\/li>\n<li><em>Olive! Believe, &#8220;Olive&#8221;?<\/em> by F\u016bro Fuzuki<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara Carat<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manga_Time_Kirara_Carat\" target=\"_blank\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ja.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89%E3%82%89%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%83%88\" target=\"_blank\">Japanese<\/a><br \/>\nIn the Japanese Wikipedia, the following currently running manga have their own articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Hidamari Sketch<\/em> by Ume Aoki<\/li>\n<li><em>Harumination<\/em> by Daioki<\/li>\n<li><em>Kill Me Baby<\/em> by Kaduho<\/li>\n<li><em>A Channel<\/em> by Kuroda bb<\/li>\n<li><em>New Game!<\/em> by Sh\u014dtar\u014d Tokun\u014d<\/li>\n<li><em>Blend S<\/em> by Miyuki Nakayama<\/li>\n<li><em>Machikado Mazoku<\/em> by Izumo It\u014d<\/li>\n<li><em>Swap\u21d4Swap<\/em> by Tomekichi<\/li>\n<li><em>Dropout Idol Fruit Tart<\/em> by S\u014d Hamayumiba<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara MAX<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manga_Time_Kirara_Max\" target=\"_blank\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ja.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89%E3%82%89MAX\" target=\"_blank\">Japanese<\/a><br \/>\nIn the Japanese Wikipedia, the following currently running manga have their own articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Kiniro Mosaic<\/em> by Yui Hara<\/li>\n<li><em>Is the Order a Rabbit?<\/em> by Koi<\/li>\n<li><em>(A) Strawberry in Soda Water<\/em> by Cherry Arai<\/li>\n<li><em>Magic of Stella<\/em> by cloba.U<\/li>\n<li><em>Comic Girls<\/em> by Kaori Hanzawa<\/li>\n<li><em>Hand Stand!<\/em> by Arima<\/li>\n<li><em>School Resort!<\/em> by Ragho no Erika<\/li>\n<li><em>The Life After Retirement of Magical Girls<\/em> by Hiroki Haruse<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara Forward<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manga_Time_Kirara_Forward\" target=\"_blank\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ja.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89%E3%82%89%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89\" target=\"_blank\">Japanese<\/a><br \/>\nIn the Japanese Wikipedia, the following currently running manga have their own articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Dream Eater Merry<\/em> by Yoshitaka Ushiki<\/li>\n<li><em>Hanayamata<\/em> by S\u014d Hamayumiba<\/li>\n<li><em>School-Live!<\/em> by Norimitsu Kaih\u014d and illustrated by Sadoru Chiba<\/li>\n<li><em>Anne Happy<\/em> by Cotoji<\/li>\n<li><em>Yurucamp<\/em> by Afro<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Manga Time Kirara Miracle<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/ja.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89%E3%82%89%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF\" target=\"_blank\">Japanese<\/a><br \/>\nIn the Japanese Wikipedia, the following currently running manga have their own articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Sakura Trick<\/em> by Tachi<\/li>\n<li><em>Castle Town Dandelion<\/em> by Ayumu Kasuga<\/li>\n<li><em>Urara Meiroch\u014d<\/em> by Harikamo<\/li>\n<li><em>Vivid Monsters Chronicle<\/em> by Kiki<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I would list the finished manga, but it would make the lists too long.<\/p>\n<p>Author trivia:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cherry Arai and Yui Hara have the rather rare distinction of having two of their manga adapted into anime. Hara is the only <em>Kirara<\/em> artist to have two <em>Kirara<\/em> manga (<em>Kiniro Mosaic<\/em> and <em>Wakaba*Girl<\/em>) adapted into anime (Arai only has one, with the other, <em>Engaged to the Unidentified<\/em>, being a <em>Manga 4koma Palette<\/em> manga published by Ichijinsha).<\/li>\n<li>Yuiko Tokumi has drawn a <em>lot<\/em> of <em>Saki<\/em> fanart.<\/li>\n<li>Cherry Arai and Aki Konishi have been drawing manga for <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em> since 2003.<\/li>\n<li>Sh\u014dtar\u014d Tokun\u014d originally worked in the video game industry.<\/li>\n<li>S\u014d Hamayumiba&#8217;s original pen name was &#8220;S\u014d&#8221;, and had published manga in <em>Manga Time Kirara Forward<\/em> under this name.<\/li>\n<li>cloba.U is also a developer of Flash games and a yuri artist, and some of cloba.U&#8217;s inspriations include Namori (author of <em>YuruYuri<\/em>; it is possible that Namori&#8217;s <em>Reset!<\/em> was the inspiration for <em>Magic of Stella<\/em>).<\/li>\n<li>Kaori Hanzawa was originally a sh\u014djo manga artist, with two manga published in Shueisha&#8217;s <em>Ribon<\/em> magazine.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Ragho&#8221; is the circle name, &#8220;Erika&#8221; is the name of the individual in question.<\/li>\n<li>Afro is also the author of <em>Puella Magi Homura Tamura<\/em>, a humourous take on (redacted because of spoilers for <em>Puella Magi Madoka Magica<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Work trivia:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Three Leaves, Three Colors<\/em> is <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em>&#8216;s longest running manga, and has its own side stories, including <em>Seinaru Megumi<\/em> and <em>(A) Strawberry in Soda Water<\/em>. <em>Hidamari Sketch<\/em> is the second longest running manga.<\/li>\n<li><em>Manga Time Kirara MAX<\/em> is nearly six years older than it&#8217;s oldest currently-running manga, <em>Kiniro Mosaic<\/em>. The previous oldest manga in the magazine, kashmir&#8217;s <em>Maru Hon no J\u016bnin<\/em>, was only six months newer than the magazine.<\/li>\n<li>Conversely, <em>Sakura Trick<\/em> is the only currently-running manga which began in its magazine&#8217;s first issue.<\/li>\n<li><em>(A) Strawberry in Soda Water<\/em> has the indefinite article in the title in the serialised manga pages, but the volumes omit the indefinite article.<\/li>\n<li><em>Kiniro Mosaic<\/em> and <em>Is the Order a Rabbit?<\/em> are often the subject of crossovers due to their somewhat similar themes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other trivia:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ai Kayano has had roles in no less than seven <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em> adaptations: Isana Tachibana in <em>Dream Eater Merry<\/em>, Chiho Aikawa in <em>Yuyushiki<\/em>, Megumi Sakura in <em>School-Live!<\/em>, Aoi Sakurada in <em>Castle Town Dandelion<\/em>, Mocha Hoto in <em>Is the Order a Rabbit?<\/em>, Rin T\u014dyama in <em>New Game!<\/em> and Nina Natsume in <em>Urara Meiroch\u014d<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>So far, only five anime adaptations of <em>Manga Time Kirara<\/em> manga have had second seasons: <em>Hidamari Sketch<\/em> (+ 2 more seasons &#038; OVAs), <em>K-On!<\/em> (2-cour second season + movie), <em>Kiniro Mosaic<\/em> (+ feature-length episode), <em>Is the Order a Rabbit?<\/em> (+ standalone episode) and <em>New Game!<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That will be it for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once again I will be talking about the manga which interests me. Like the previous post, I will be limiting my discussion to Manga Time Kirara manga. In the time between that post and now, two additional manga will be receiving anime adaptations, although it is not yet known when the anime will air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14,7],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-off-topic","tag-manga","tag-off-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innocenceseekers.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}