Manga 1 | Everything Else 0

Yep. My lack of updates here is attributed to going on yet another manga binge (and a lil bit of gaming). I simply can’t get enough manga. Every time I run into a deadlock of series to read, I’ll spend an extensive amount of time searching for more. And once I do find more? Of course, I have to read everything.

It’s a never ending cycle. I’ll constantly “catch up” on every new series I find and thus, be without any manga to read. That cannot remain to be since I *have* to have manga to read. I’m just so into manga it’s beyond an obsession. It’s more like a curse.

Yet, I never blog it. More accurately, I never have the drive to blog it. I haven’t figured out why. There are some incredibly awesome series’ out there, many of which deserve to be mentioned at any given juncture, yet… this small juncture that is my blog is not one of them. No, I can’t consider the currently reading manga updates buried in the sidebar as a viable “mention” of said series’.

So why am I here? Will I finally mention some of the more pimp series’? Sadly, nope. I’m just at a crossroad. I’ve nearly caught up on everything I care for and felt like taking a breather. I may watch some anime on this, my precious day off since the manga I have left won’t suck up the entire day. Then there’s this lil Orange Box sitting next to me that I’ve yet to touch. It constantly calls to me.

“Open me.”
“Play me.”
“Quit ignoring me you sonuvabitch, it’s been over a week already.”

Manga. Anime. Games.

It truly is impossible to juggle them all.

Been reading a lot of manga lately hence the sporadic anime updates. Here’s a short update on the one’s I got into recently.

Ai Kora
Magikano
Rosario + Vampire
Rubbers 7
Sekirei
Tona-Gura!

And some with only a few chapters out and I’ll follow until it sucks:

Ayu Mayu
Kimi Kiss
KissxSis
Lucky Star

And some that were already complete:

Tsuiteru Kanojo
Samurai Baby

Plus a bunch of one-shots.

Small list, eh? This doesn’t include the 50+ mangas I had to weave through to find one’s I liked. I can’t just trust reviews and ratings so I have to read a couple chapters myself to see if I’ll like it. The first list I will keep up with. The second list, I’ll need some more chapters to really know.

I do want to jot some things down for a couple of these titles but I’m too lazy… I’m sure I’ll do it eventually.

Oh, there’s a couple I’m also re-reading slowly.

Ichigo 100%
Midori no Hibi

The latter cuz it’s just plain fun stuff. I started over with Ichigo 100% instead of picking up where I left off (around volume 14). I read the series off and on and well, when I tried to pick up where I left off, the characters felt meaningless. I kinda dread starting over since Manaka is an incredibly annoying MC but I really want to know how the series ends. I want to do it right so… yeah. Starting over but slowly to keep my idiot Manaka intake to a minimum.

I think my volumes may not contain the appropriate chapters. I sorted them into volumes based on the info I got from a site but haven’t been able to find another source to back it up. It’s just strange cuz half the volumes will have a cliffhanger at the end of the volume that gets resolved w/in the first few chapters of the next volume.

Either they purposely broke them up so they can get some cheesy cliffhangers in or I screwed up. I call it “cheesy” cuz it only takes a couple more chapters to finish off the story arc PLUS it happens way too often.

‘Nuff babbling, on to this volume. (Oh, btw, there were soooo many fun pics from this volume. I did what I could to cut it down but there’s still a good amount. I can’t help it… it was too fun.)

I don’t know what it is about Eri but she’s always in fun pics.

As is Tenma (and a lil extra Eri).

Okok, maybe I’ll actually type some shit about this volume. Suffice to say, it blatantly answered the burning question of Eri’s feelings. She only (barely) admits it to herself but at least it’s obvious now.

It’s such a shame though. Not only does Harima have no feelings for her, he pretty much doesn’t like her at all. He’s always annoyed by her and brushes her off. Honestly, I pegged her as being observant yet she’s never noticed Harima’s feelings for Tenma.

In fact, I don’t think anyone has. At one point I thought Akira knew but subsequent scenes seem to show that she doesn’t.

Well, Mikoto might. Either she knows somethings up with him or she’s just trying to protect him from all the misunderstandings… or something.

Lately, she’s taken extra notice of Harima so something is up with her.

Ehhhh… besides all that, where the fuck is more Mikoto stories! They keep dropping hints for Mikoto and Asou and even brought that thing about her wanting to go to the same college as the one she likes… which could be… well hell, I have no idea. She’s been flyin’ solo for a while but this better be a sign for things to come.

Of course, I’m lovin’ Eri’s story. She’s a great character and has the best facial expressions. Her story with Harima is just startin’ to run a bit dry and Mikoto’s been overlooked for a while now.

Hell, even Karen is gettin’ some love.

She’s been appearing a bit more often and I’m lovin’ it. Her story hasn’t extended past her dealings with Imadori and Lala but they’re so fun to see… especially when it’s that trio.

Which begs the question I have yet to ask: why the hell does she like Imadori? Hahaha, I have no idea why I didn’t think about it until now. She’s such a wholesome character yet she goes after him.

And he’s so mean to her.

Hahaha… but I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose. He really is just a… a… lazy slacker.

Aw shit, now that I really think about it, what was up with that bullshit that happened in volume 12? Karen brushed off Imadori after he came over that one night… then shit went right back to normal.

Fuck, I totally forgot about that. There was no point to it, was there? Blah.

So where does everything stand? In a nutshell:

Eri > Harima > Tenma > Oji
Asou > Mikoto > ??? (WHO DAMMIT?!)
Yakumo >???> Harima (Is she really that nice or curious or…)
Karen > Imadori > NOTICE KAREN DAMMIT

The rest I don’t care as much about. They’re all nice stories but only the one’s above drive me nuts. I WANT SOME CLOSURE OR AT LEAST PROGRESSION.

And dammit, Harima needs to notice Eri. He doesn’t have to fall for her but he needs to notice her… or maybe that’ll make things worse? Haha… Idk… if it’s not obvious I like Eri better than Tenma but just by a bit. Mikoto is about the same as Tenma which is why I want more Mikoto lovin’.

And of course, Karen beats them all, hehe.

On a final note, I give up.

After bitchin’ and moanin’ the last few chapters for some story development or OMG some resolution, I give up. Since much of the silliness involving non-primary or non-secondary characters is subsiding, the main stories are getting dragged out. What’s worse, much of it is still due to misunderstandings.

Therefore, from this point on, I’m gonna try and not get so into the stories and enjoy School Rumble like I did when I first started reading. Just an entertaining, incredibly funny series with a host of fun characters.

But sadly, that will have to wait. This manga is gettin’ a lil angsty and I hate that. I definitely don’t want to lose interest so I’m gonna take a small break.

Plus, I wanna start watching the anime again, hahaha.

Now, to wrap it all up…

Enjoy Yakumo’s true smile.

I wanted to put this entry up with volume 15 but after reading it and given the number of pics I grabbed from it… it might turn into a long post. Soo~ I’ll just leave this one with these two volumes.

Ahh, the many fun faces of Eri.

My lord, this volume went all over the place. As I was reading, I was lost half the time. It starts off with some closure to Eri’s lil ordeal then kinda goes all over the place with it’s stories.

The most interesting parts were about Harima. It seems he’s (VERY) slowly taking notice of Eri… well, more specifically he’s taking notice that Eri is taking notice of him. He still doesn’t like her since she’s been such a bitch to him but hey, it’s a start.

Then there’s Harima finally telling Tenma about his manga. Though, I never understood why it was such a big deal. He equates showing her his manga as if he’s confessing to her and I don’t know, seems a bit silly. Ah well, at least he finally did it. It didn’t lead anywhere but he did it.

For other stories, It seems Asou is really love-struck. He’s so hung up on Mikoto and she hasn’t really shown any sign of interest. That flashback chapter when he visited Hanai’s dojo didn’t make much sense. So he felt dissed and decided to fight Hanai… umm, nope, didn’t get it. Mikoto needs more lovin’! At least show me she’s interested in someone.

And then there were some other stories but nothing worth talkin’ about. Haha, I will note that I feel sorry for Tanai-sensei. Hahaha… poor guy. Every time he gets a story, he gets screwed.

Lastly, obligatory Karen (and co.) pic.

Ehhh, now that I think about it, I suppose these were just recaps/extensions/updates/etc… of current stories to set up the New Year (and new term). A way to round things out for the next story arc, I guess.

WTF Tenma has a talent?

That chapter was so random, it makes me think it was thrown in just to give her a talent. Kinda cheesy but it was quite a funny chapter so it balances out.

The scan quality is getting really inconsistent so it’s gettin’ harder to find clean pics. Sadly, I’ll have to deal with it but… they’ll be worth it! Cuz, like…

I can’t pass up Mikoto in a ponytail.

Anyway, this volume was confusing as hell like that last one. It wasn’t as random as the last one but there was some random shit thrown in. Ahh, but let’s go in order.

It started off with a series of one-shot valentines stories which kinda linked together but was a bit messy. The stories were nice though cuz it pretty much confirmed Eri has feelings for Harima. Up until now, all her inner monologue’s kept going back and forth but when she used that magazine’s advice and tried to give Harima chocolates, it was subtle but it has to mean she’s interested.

Then there’s Tenma wanting to give Harima chocolates. That didn’t really make sense but at least she ain’t hatin’ on him so much. Plus, she’s starting to learn more of Harima’s “secrets”… umm, I don’t really know what that means either but if they’re gettin’ closer, then it’s a good deal.

Just a random Yakumo pic cuz I couldn’t get too many nice pics in this volume. It has no relevance to anything. She’s just cute like that.

Next we go to the Europe story arc… which WASN’T EVEN EUROPE… and 2-C is now in Kyoto but it’s not even a big deal to them that shit got changed… WTF, I so didn’t get that. I hope I missed something cuz that was beyond nonsensically random.

Oh but that’s not enough to mess with me. Now we got some random story going on with British foreigners that are trying to mess shit up with the class and… fuck. I totally don’t get it. There’s been plenty of funky chapters so I figured this was one of them at first.

At first.

Then it kept going. Hell, there hasn’t been a “villain” for class 2-C since the 2-C and 2-D rivalry waaaay back in volume 5-6 so this felt like a cheap way to introduce some. Unlike the guy’s in 2-D, these foreigners do come off as genuine punkasses so that much isn’t too bad. The whole thing is still crazy random though.

Most of the lil stories within it weren’t that interesting until the end. Who is Eri talking about? Is it Tenma? Is she referring to herself? Is it vague on purpose? Eri is perceptive so I can assume she knows Harima likes Tenma but at the same time, I don’t think it was shown that she ever confirmed it… or really even acknowledged it beyond a simple “hmm” scene.

Ahhh, I’m lost. I still get plenty of LOLOLOL moments but the story is going in a funky direction. My interest has gone down a notch… which isn’t horrible since it was soooo high up there but still, it’s a bit disturbing.

I should stop typing and read the next volume before my wall of text gets worse.

Ahhh but one last note. Why the hell is Oji so pimp at everything he does? I swear, he’s gotta be the pimpest guy in the whole class.

A rather light volume, in terms of story progression.

It only took a couple chapters to close out the basketball arc, of which didn’t even lead anywhere. I assumed they’d go into more about the girl’s team afterwards but instead they went off on a series of one-shots revolving around their finals.

Man, early in the volume, Eri seemed like she was gonna start something before idiot Harima shut her up. I wanted some more of their story but instead, the focus shifted to Tenma. I don’t mind but there is very little development with any Tenma related stories so the other characters are more fun to see. Plus, there seems to be some Mikoto development (finally) and that was snuffed quick, too. There was the lil tidbit in chapter b31 but hardly much to be excited about.

In a nutshell, it wasn’t a very exciting volume. I suppose I’ve gotten caught up in the Sukuran story arcs so these simpler stories fail to entertain as much. The previous volumes, since around volume 7, went from arc to arc so this slowdown, especially since it was practically the entire volume, wasn’t expected.

Hopefully things pick up in the next volume.

Wo0t to more Karen goodness.

Chapter 144 was the best chapter evar. Ok, so not quite that impressive but anything with Karen in it goes up a few notches automatically.

I wonder what’s up with her now, though? Chapter 145 briefly showed Karen brushing off Imadori then it went off into some other stories and left Karen hanging.

BOOOO…

Afterwards, things go right back to the main characters.

What could’ve been a great time for Harima turned into a disaster while he was at the Tsukomoto house. Tenma surely thinks less of Harima now… gawd he needs to speak up to her. Or Yakumo should.

Someone needs to do something cuz it’s starting to drag out this misunderstanding. Or Tenma needs to stop being an idiot, haha.

Then things moved along again. Just like that, it’s back to more Harima/Eri story. Before I go on…

Why are fart jokes so funny!

I laughed for a good 5 minutes during this scene. Hahaha… I’m laughing now.

Okok, anyway, Eri is showing a much nicer side of her but of course, she thinks it’s just to some random worker guy.

Still, she’s cute when she’s nervous.

The whole arranged marriage thing felt out of place… almost random.

In terms of story development… nothing really happened. Everything remains as it is, though Eri and Mikoto’s characters were explored a bit more.

Throughout these 12 volumes, Harima hasn’t even slightly faulted in his love for Tenma. No matter what situations he gets into, ya know, typical one’s where other MCs in romantic comedies would “think weird thoughts”… he still remains steadfast. It’s rather amazing though a bit sad since I’m slowly starting to think Eri might be a good match for him.

Then there’s Yakumo who’s thoughts I still can’t figure out. She’s way too innocent!

Aaaaand Mikoto and Karen need more love!