「Yotsuba&!」

Hi ^ ^

Today,I'll introduce you [Yotsuba&」( in Japanese, 「Yotsubato」） written by Kiyohiko Azuma.

This is one of the my favorite comics （●＾o＾●）♡

According to the wikipedia, this series is published in English , too. I didn't know it.

This is Japanese comedy comic. It's really funny and cute ♪

Then, I'll show you the summary of this comic.

This is the story about Yotsuba Koiwai 's dayly life. She is a five year-old adopted girl. She is really energetic , curious, and cheerful girl. Actually, her father calls her `strange`. Nobody knows where she is from. Her father said he picked up Yotsuba in an island located in south. When other's asked Yotsuba, `where are you from?`, she answered ` I came from the really far island where you have to take airplane to visit there`. And also, as you can see, she has green hair!!! Everybody have no idea where is she from.

This story begins with when Yotsuba and her adopt father move to new city with help of her father's best friend ,who is really tall man ,nicknamed `Jambo`. (The tallest man in the picture below)
In the first day, she encounters three girls, Asagi, Fuuka, and Ena. They are the daughters in the neighboring Ayase family. Yotsuba's new life began.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Ena 　　Fuuka 　　　Asagi

Yotsuba is interested in everything near her. For example, in the first day, she is interested in a cicada and,,,,she pretended cicada by climbed to a utility pole. You can see how strange she is,,,right? kkk She is interested in everything, really. Actually, she doesn't know many things a child who is in her age are expected to know. For example, she doesn't know escalators, air conditioners, a playground's swing, and so on.

In daily life, Yotsuba discover's something everyday. Everyday is voyage for her. She can enjoy everything. For example, Yotsuba in rainy day,,,

She didn't use umbrella and getting wet,,,but laughing!! She really can enjoy everything. The man with Yotsuba is her adopt father. He is also really funny.kkk

Most of the story's title is 「Yotsuba and 〇〇〇」. So, this picture is from the story titled 「Yotsuba and rain」. This series focuses on Yotsuba and her surrounded people 's such a wonderful life.

I really like 「Yotsuba&!」（●＾o＾●）♡　This story makes me feel happy.

Actually, this comic is becoming popular.

This story doesn't have an attracted feature like other comics have. (ex. battle, love, etc.)

This story only shows about little child's daiily-life. However, it's really really interesting.

Yotsuba means four-leaf clover in Japanese. I think this name really suits her, because she brings happiness to everybody.

I'm sure Yotsuba will bring you happiness, too.

I really recommend you to read 「Yotsuba&!」(*^^)v

These sites show about this series in details.

http://www.yotuba.com/yotu_comics.html (This site shows 2 sample stories) (in Japanese)

http://www.yotuba.com/ (in Japanese)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotuba%26!

Thank you )^o^(

「Yonkoma manga」

( `Chibimaruko-chan` written by Momoko Sakura on Tokushima news paper)

(Peanuts comic written by Charles M. Schulz)

Hi )^o^(　
Today, I'll introduce you `Yonkoma manga`(a four-frame comic).
Do you know what this is?

Yonkoma manga,a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom. (They also sometimes run right-to-left horizontally or use a hybrid 2x2 style, depending on the layout requirements of the publication in which they appear.) Though the word yonkoma comes from the Japanese, the style also exists outside of Japan in other Asian countries as well as in the English-speaking market.
This is the traditional yonkoma layout. Traditionally, Yonkoma follow a structure known as Kishōtenketsu. This word is a compound formed from the following Chinese characters:

起　Ki: The first panel forms the basis of the story; it sets the scene.
承　Shō: The second panel develops upon the foundation of the story laid down in the first panel.
転　Ten: The third panel is the climax, in which an unforeseen development occurs.
結　Ketsu: The fourth panel is the conclusion, in which the effects of the third panel are seen.

These comic strips appear in almost all types of publications in Japan, including manga magazines, graphic novels, the comics section of newspapers, game magazines, cooking magazines, and so forth.

(I took all of the explanation above from wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonkoma )

Yonkoma manga is wonderful ! It is as funny as normal comic. .http://heppocology.fc2web.com/index.html
This is one of the Yonkoma mangas you can read on the internet. It's really interesting story!! I knew this yonkoma manga from one of my friends. Click `COMIC`, then you can read yonkoma manga. Sorry, it's written in Japanese...But I really recommend you to read this one ＾＾

Thank you (*^^)v

My favorite post

Category: Entertainment
Title of the post `Japanese Comics are quite artistic!´

Hi!
In the last post, I promised to tell you the secret related to bookjacket of Japanese comics,,,right? So, today, I'll tell it to you＾＾

The secret is ,,,

when you take the bookjacket ・・・

you can find the picture which is different from the picture written on a cover !!Many of the Japanese comics have this secret. The content written on a cover is depends on comic. So, I'm always feel exciting when I take the bookjacket and look at a cover ♪

I'll show you some examples　!(^^)!

1. 「D. Gray-man」 vol.15 , written by Katsura Hoshino.

Let's take the book jacket !!

Wow! There's an another short comic!! This short comic shows the process of

taking the picture which is used as a cover. It says , there's a trouble between the

characters before taking this picture . It was really funny !(^^)! And also, I felt as if I

had made a profit because I could read the story which is the people who didn't buy this

comic can not read. And the happiest thing was my most favorite character was the main character of this story ♡kkk

2. 「Black Butler」 vol.1 , written by Yana Toboso.

Let's take the book jacket !!

!?!?!? This picture is very simillar to the one on a cover , but his costume is different. And also, the title is changed to 「黒ホスト」. This means 「Brack Host」in Japanese. Like this, 「Black Butler」 always change the chalacter's costume and put an another title.As an example, 「Black Dancer」、「Black Golfer」 ,「Black Sushiya」,and so on. And also, on a buck cover , there's a summary of that story. This time, there's a summary of 「Black Host 」the author wrote by kidding. This series is popular among readers. All of the readers always looking forward to see next cosplay of character on a cover.

3. 「Kochira Katsusika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo」 vol.150, written by Osamu Akimoto.

Let's take the book jacket!

Oh! What a gorgeous cover!! It's because this comic achieved vol.150 .

It is congratuated by this cover . Can you see the letter 「祝」 at the above of 150?

「祝」 means 「Congratuation」　in Japanese. This comic is the one of the longest comics in Japan.

There's a statue of the main character　「Kankichi Ryotsu」　at the city that this comic takes place.

4. 「The prince of tennis」 vol.35, written by Takeshi Konomi.

This is the special one! This is different kinds of secret from others. But, I want to show you because this is rare one. It has a reversible cover!! Let's look at it.

Let's turn the cover the other way around !

Wow! His hair became shorter! Why?
It's because he played a game of tennis with the promise "the person lose has to cut own hair".
Year,,,he lost. But it was really good game!!
I have never seen such a revercible cover . It's really cool, isn't it?

●　In addition, I'll show you the backbone of Japanese comics, too.
　　 This is 「The Detective Conan」, written by Gosyo Aoyama.

Look at the top of the backbone. You can see the small story,right?
Most of the Japanese comics have such a ingenuity.


In this post, I wanted to show you an attraction of Japanese comics.
They always try to entertain readers by not only the story , but also other things.
They have a lot of quite artistic ingenuity.　Could you see those from this post?
I hope you became more interested in Japanese comics by this post.

Thank you ^^♪

「High School Debut」

Hi^^

Today, I`ll introduce you 「High School Debut」which is written by Kazune Kawahara.

This is a comic for girls which is popular in Japan. According to wikipedia, the series was adopted as a drama CD and as a series of six write novels.

And also, the comic is licenced in North America by Viz Media, which published English editions of all 13 volumes . ( the first picture above)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_School_Debut

Then,I'll show you the summary of this comic.

Haruna Nagashima bellonged to the softball team when she was in junior high school. She gave her all to softball in junior high school. At that time, softball was everything for her and she didn't care other things. At that time, she had boyish haircut and didn't have opportunity to fall in love with someone. Now , she became high school student . Then, she has made her high school debut, she has decided to give her all for a new goal: getting a boyfriend and falling in love. However, she has one small problem—since she never paid any attention to fashion or trends in middle school, she has no idea what she has to do to achieve that goal. But a chance encounter when she met Yoh Komiyama who has really good looks and popular among girls. If he coaches her in how to become attractive, surely she can find herself a boyfriend. Therefore, she asked him to coach her. At first, he didn't accept because it seemed ridiculous. However, he changed his mind because he knew she is really hard worker. The second picture above is the scene hwen Yoh told Haruna that he can coach her. It's written in Japanese. So,I'll translate to English. It says ,,,

Yoh ` I can be your coach.`

Haruna ` Really,,,?`

Yoh ` It's just because I am inclined to do so. Don't cry. It's annoying.`

Yoh then agrees to coach Haruna after her great persistence, but he tells her she mustn't fall in love with him. He has had girlfriend when he was in junior high school. But, something happened and it became bad memory for Yoh. Since that time, he became feel lazy to have girlfriend. That love became trauma to him. That's why he told Haruna that she mustn't fall in love with him. At first, Haruna agreed it. However, little by littele, she is attracted by Yoh. The story from then follows Haruna as she debates whether she should confess to Yoh, or keep her secret to herself.

Yoh is really cool guy (><)♡

One of my friends loves this comic. She really loves Yoh . kkkkk

Haruna is active and honest girl. She tries really hard to succeed in her love.

I really recommend you to read 「High School Debut」.

These sites show about it in details ＾＾

http://betsuma.yahoo.co.jp/kou_introduction/index.html

http://www.s-manga.net/comics/cm_20040325_bm_mgc_4088477286_koukou-debut-1k.html

Thank you (^^♪

「Kyou Koi wo Hajimemasu」

In this story, the protagonist, Tsubaki Hibino is becoming more
and more beautiful through experiencing first love.

Hi （●＾o＾●）
Today, I'll introduce you 「Kyou Koi wo Hajimemasu」 written by Kanan Minami.
This title means 「Today, I'll start our love」. This is comic for girls.
This comic is popular in Japan. I rent from my friend and read it ^^
This is really nice story♪　Then, I'll show you the summary of this comic.

Despite Tsubaki Hibino's talent in styling other people's hair, she isn't comfortable with doing the same for herself. Her presure is styling her younger sister`s hair and make her cute. She believes such a cute and stylish hair style doesn`t suit her and always provincial hair style.

She is a nerdy student and she studied really hard to enter to good high school. However, she failed in most of the entrance exam for high school. Therefore, she had to enter to the high school she took an exam as a safety measure. She really ashamed of herself and decided to study really hard and go to good university. On her first day of high school, she is immediately looked down upon her delinquent-like classmates for her old-fashioned taste. In an entrance ceremony, the person who got the highest grade in the entrance exam makes a speech. She was looking forward to see that person because that person must be her rival. When she heard that person`s name, she felt really excited because his name was Kyota Tsubaki , who shares the same name as her. However, when she saw him, she was really disappointed becaue he has long hair which looks slovenly hair style and his speech was the one lack of seriousness and sounds ridiculous. She felt really frustrated becaue she lost toward such a playful guy. After the entrance ceremony, she went back to her class room. In coincidence, her seat was next to his seat. She tried to stay away of him. However, when Kyouta saw her, he began making fun of her with her old-fashioned taste. When she was tased by the top student, Kyouta Tsubaki, she defiantly cut his hair. Of course, he got angry and asked her to do something for an apology for it. Then, surprisingly, what Tsubaki did was cutting his hair. Kyouta is a playboy who is famous among girls . Interested in her actions, Kyouta decided to make her his next target . Kyota, who also has control of the class makes Tsubaki need him during the class activities, although Tsubaki attempts to resist his advances. Gradually, the two begins to fall in love with each other until Tsubaki discovers that Kyouta can't commit himself into a relationship due to his mother and a nurse he trusted. However, after understanding Tsubaki's trust in him, Kyouta begins to heal emotionally as he opens his heart up to Tsubaki. But with both of them having their first experience in love, troubles start to weigh and test their relationship.
(I took some of this summary from wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyō,_Koi_wo_Hajimemasu )

This story is really cool. At first, Kyouta had trauma toward woman because of his mother and nurse he trused. Actually, that's why he became playboy. He was afraid of commiting himself into relationship and betrayded by someone. However, Tsubaki's sincere feeling towards him made his hurt open. I think Kyouta could fall in real love finally. They really love each other. They are really nice couple ＾＾♡

I really recommend you to read this one.

This site show about it in details.

http://www.sho-comi.com/sakuhin/kyokoi.html

Thank you (*^^)v♡

「Akuma to Love Song」

Hi ^^

Today, I´ll introduce you 「Akuma to Love Song」 which is comic for girls written by Tomori Miyoshi.

Akuma means devil in Japanese. So, this title means 「Devil and Her Love song」.

I bought this comic when I went back to Japan during last vacation.

Then, I´ll show you the summary of this comic.

The portagonist of the story, Maria Kawai is very beautiful girl who is really good at singing. She was expelled from her previous school, St. Katria Girl's School , and soon, transfers to Touzsuka High School, a public school with low standards. Her sharp tongue and straightforward personality often leads everyone else to hate her. She says waht she wants, albeit too bluntly and harsh, even when she intends to help others. Her arrogant fecade and point blank statements are the reasons she is hated by most people and it seems she too is indifferent towards them. When she was expelled from her previous school, she was told "You defile people" from her best friend, Anna. She realized that she hurted even her only friend,Anna, from what she said. She was shocked and prolongs it. When she entered into Touzuka High School, she was hated by all of the classmates except two boys Shin Meguro and Yuusuke Kanda. With a devil's aula like hers and arrogant facade to pair it up with, it's just too hard to be understand. Therefore, Maria needs to deal with bullying, adjusting, fitting in and romance. Bit and bit, she began to be understood by others and integrate herself into a class.

I think Maria lives on the straight and narrow. She is really cool.

She is always hated by everyone, but she always tries to change herself.

She always sings a song to encourage herself.

Her hope is to be able to be liked by others and also by herself.

Her strength of character is ideal for me.

I really recommend you to read 「Akuma to Love Song」.

These sites show about it in details.

http://margaret.shueisya.co.jp/ (inJapanese)

http://ogak.fc2web.com/NewFiles/topframe.html (in Japanese)

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=11243 (in English)

Thank you !(^^)!　　

「Kamikaze Kaitou Jeannu」

Hi ^ ^

Today, I´ll introduce you ´Kamikaze Kaitou Jeannu´ written by Arina Tanemura.

This is a fantasy comic for girls. I read it when I was in elementary school.

It is really famous and popular comic. I think most of the Japanese girls have read this.

It was also adapted as a anime series. Of course, I watched it too ^^

Then, I´ll show you the summary of this comic.

16-year-old high-school gymnast Maron Kusakabe is visited by the angel Finn Fish, who gives her a task. God's power is scattered across the Earth, and if He does not gather enough by the turn of the millenium, He will die. To block Him, the Devil has sent out agents to gather His power, which is the beauty in human hearts, in the form of chess pieces. With Fin's assistance, Maron transforms into the reincarnation of Jeanne D´Ark in order to hunt Demons hidden within works of art. Since that time, she began defeat damons in the night. When Maron defeats a Demon, the artwork disappears, and to the outside world it is as if she has stolen it, and she becomes known as a `Kaitou ("phantom-thief") Jeanne`. Therefore, she began chased by police. However, she always defeat damon elegantly. POlice has never succed in catch her. Maron's best friend is Miyako, the daughter of a police detective in charge of Jeanne's case. Therefore, she always feels sorry for her.
As the series progresses, Maron and Miyako fall in love with new classmate Chiaki, who is also secretly a demon hunter, Kaitō Sinbad. He is the guy who moved to Maron's apartment. His room is next to her room. He has really good looks and became popular among girls soon. Chiaki at first "fakes" falling in love to get closer to Maron, knowing Maron is Jeanne. Maron is also attracted by Chiaki, but she doesn't know he is Kaito Sinbad.she is Later he falls in love truthfully after realizing that Maron's worth the effort, even if she does "hate" him. Maron, on the other hand, is confused and does not know what "love" means because her parents abandoned her when she was around ten years old because they were having problems getting along, so no one taught her. As a result, she does not know how to respond to Chiaki's advances. Eventually, she realizes that Chiaki is not a bad guy after all. She is deeply hurt, however, when she learns that Chiaki is her rival, Sinbad, and that he only went after her because he knew she was Jeanne.

(I got most of this summary from wikipedia since this story is too difficult for me to explain by myself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze_Kaito_Jeanne )

Maron is depicted as a lonely young woman who hides her feelings behind a warm smile.

She suffers a lot, because she has to hide the truth that she is `Kaito Janne´to her best friend Miyako. And also, after she knew Chiaki is `Kaito Sinbad´, she suffers because she couldn´t be sure how should she deal with him. Behind such a suffering, she grows a lot. I think she has a deep inner strength.

I really recommend you to read ` Kamiaze Kaitou Jeannu` .

These sites show about it in details.

http://annex.s-manga.net/janne/ ( in Japanese)

http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/jeanne/ (in Japanese)

http://kaitoujeanne.tripod.com/index.html ( in English)

Thank you ＾＾