From the back cover: Romance abounds as Uru's life becomes entangled with all the men around her. A visit to the Takamura house by Shindo and Ichiro has Uru's step-dad worried their lack of visible emotions may cause undue anxiety for his lovely daughter. But is that all he has to worry about? Later, a run-in with Uru has Sou Abekawa reevaluating his feelings for her, and … [Read more...] about Happy Cafe 3 by Kou Matsuzuki: B
Shoujo
The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross 11 by Arina Tanemura: C+
When this series was wrapping up in Japan, I heard rumors about how it ended. Word was fans were peeved because, in the end, the heroine does not make a decision between the twin brothers for whom she has feelings. It turns out that this isn’t true, though author’s notes from Tanemura indicate that her original intention was for Haine to marry both boys and not just one. And … [Read more...] about The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross 11 by Arina Tanemura: C+
Library Wars: Love & War 1 by Hiro Arikawa and Kiiro Yumi: B
At some point in the near future, the national government of Japan passes the Media Betterment Act, which “seeks to exercise censorship over all media, including restricting offensive books.” Libraries are the only institutions able to oppose them, and so local governments build up armed forces to defend their libraries, which continue to preserve banned works in their … [Read more...] about Library Wars: Love & War 1 by Hiro Arikawa and Kiiro Yumi: B
Fairy Navigator Runa 1 by Miyoko Ikeda and Michiyo Kikuta: C
Stop me if you've heard this one before. There's this clumsy, kind-hearted girl who learns she's really a princess and... Oh. You've stopped me. When the female protagonist of a series is “a completely uncoordinated fourth grader,” you just know you’re dealing with a magical girl story. Fairy Navigator Runa is an unoriginal example of the genre, starring a clumsy but … [Read more...] about Fairy Navigator Runa 1 by Miyoko Ikeda and Michiyo Kikuta: C
Cactus’s Secret 2 by Nana Haruta: B-
Miku Yamada has finally managed to make her dense crush, Kyohei Fujioka, understand that she has feelings for him, even though he doesn’t reciprocate. Meanwhile, a pompous classmate publicly declares his affections for Miku and attempts to get Kyohei expelled for stealing the answers to the midterm exams. Later, Miku and Kyohei are both assigned to the Sports Day Planning … [Read more...] about Cactus’s Secret 2 by Nana Haruta: B-