From the back cover: When goofy inventor Senbei Norimaki creates a precocious robot named Arale, his masterpiece turns out to be more than he bargained for! Basking in the glow of his scientific achievement, Senbei scrambles to get Arale in working order so the rest of Penguin Village won't have reason to suspect she's not really a girl. But first Senbei needs to find her a … [Read more...] about Dr. Slump 1 by Akira Toriyama: C+
Comics
Otomen 5 by Aya Kanno: B
Otomen is the story of Asuka Masamune, a manly-seeming boy who harbors a secret love for “girly” pursuits like cooking and sewing. In this volume, his tomboyish girlfriend, Ryo, is picked to represent the second-year students in the school’s Ideal Woman competition, and draws on things she’s learned from Asuka in order to meet the challenge. The third chapter focuses on Juta, … [Read more...] about Otomen 5 by Aya Kanno: B
Otomen 3-4 by Aya Kanno: B
These two volumes, although mostly comprised of one-shot chapters with silly plots (Kanno writes that she's trying to hit all the major shoujo clichés), still manage to introduce two new characters and elevate the status of Ryo and Asuka's relationship to “officially dating,” though that doesn't result in any changes in the way they interact. Volume three begins with Asuka … [Read more...] about Otomen 3-4 by Aya Kanno: B
Emma 1-2 by Kaoru Mori: A
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
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-