More than any other non-shojo series, Emma is the one I most frequently see being mistaken for shojo. It's easy to see why: it's a low-key love story between a lovely and graceful maid and the liberally minded son of a wealthy merchant family. When we first meet Emma and William, she is working in the home of his former governess, Mrs. Kelly Stownar, whom he's been very remiss … [Read more...] about Emma 1-2 by Kaoru Mori: A
Manga
Cactus’s Secret 1 by Nana Haruta: B-
Miku Yamada has a problem: the boy she likes, Kyohei Fujioka, is oblivious to her feelings. When she attempts to give him chocolates for Valentine’s Day, he cheerfully offers to help her practice confessing her love for someone else. He seems to be more affected by memories of a childhood friend than by her, but occasionally makes comments that cause her to believe she has a … [Read more...] about Cactus’s Secret 1 by Nana Haruta: B-
Love*Com 17 by Aya Nakahara: B
After the main Love*Com story finished, mangaka Aya Nakahara published a few additional bonus stories, which are collected in the series’ seventeenth and final volume. Three stories depict Ôtani and Risa during their junior high years and one revisits the gang four months after graduation. One of the major flaws of Love*Com in its later volumes was that, in a transparent effort … [Read more...] about Love*Com 17 by Aya Nakahara: B
How to Capture a Martini by Makoto Tateno: B+
As a first year in high school, Naoyuki Hibino experienced his first love, first kiss, and first sexual experience with an upperclassman named Shinobu Okada. When Shinobu abruptly disappeared after his graduation, Naoyuki was crushed but did his best to forget him. Four years have passed since that time, but when Naoyuki happens to run into Okada, who’s working as a bartender, … [Read more...] about How to Capture a Martini by Makoto Tateno: B+
ZE 4 by Yuki Shimizu: C+
It’s maintenance time for the kami who serve the kotodama users of the Mitou family, which provides an opportunity to introduce some members of the extended family. Volume three dealt primarily with the couple of Genma and Himi, an arc that carries over into the first few chapters of this volume. Himi, who had once been the kami of Genma’s father, protects his new master … [Read more...] about ZE 4 by Yuki Shimizu: C+