Manga: Happy Cafe

Shiawase Kissa 3-Choume (幸福喫茶3丁目) by Kou Matsuzuki
US Title: Happy Cafe
Published by Hakusensha/Hana to Yume
English version TokyoPop
Serialized in Hana to Yume
[Years unavailable, first book pubbed 2005]; 15 books complete
Demographic: Shojo
Genre: Romance

Uru Takamura is a 16 year old High School student whose mother recently remarried. Feeling like a burden on her younger new father, she asks to move out on her own. As she is moving in, she notices people coming out of a nearby cafe talking excitedly and looking completely happy. “If only I could make someone happy…”, she thinks to herself. She spies a flier asking for help on the door and decides to start working there the next day.

Cafe Bonheur, though appearing to be a normal cafe, has rather unique employees. Ichiro-kun falls asleep when he is hungry and must be awakened by putting food in his mouth. While awake, he is a slacker and a bit intimidating. Shindo-kun, wearing only dour expressions, is very scary and has a curt attitude even with customers. Uru is confused how these two could have produced the incredible happiness she had witnessed in the departing customers, until she witnesses an act of kindness from Shindo and spies on him while he makes his cakes and pastries. Uru, too, is unique. She looks like a middle-schooler and possesses herculean strength, which also causes havoc with breakable things like dishes, cups, glasses and doors.

She doesn’t know if she will be able to survive her slightly scary co-workers, friendly customers and her own strength, but she is giving it her all. Perhaps she can succeed in making someone happy, but right now she has her doubts.

When I glanced at Happy Cafe when it fell into my hands, I recognised the cover from a series of books I would pick up and put back down at the Japanese bookstore. Curious, I read the first couple pages. Before I was really aware of it, I had fallen easily into the story.

As others have pointed out on other websites, the story is rather simple and without the interesting points of a grumpy, dour, scary pastry chef, a narcoleptic-ish, lazy, slightly scary alternate employee, and a strange little girl with super strength, it might even be average and boring.

However these unique characteristics make it a story I can and do enjoy. I was beginning to feel my former statements regarding liking only unique shojo was starting to become false, so as a check I read a ‘regular’ romantic shojo manga and became bored and just put the manga down. When I picked this one up a while later, I was immediately pulled in. I think I will continue to claim only unique shojo.

The first book contain five chapters, each one a new adventure as is common in episodic series. Through each story we learn more about our heroine, and I think I am not giving much away when I say we also learn more about her mysteriously scary co-workers as well. She gets the job, how else can we talk about the cafe? The fun part is HOW she keeps it.

I have to admit, I don’t really see a romance yet. There is a super hot guy and blushing and moments of weakness, but it feels more like the beginning of friendship. I can’t wait to see how the series evolves these characters and I look forward to the English translations.

In the meantime, I think I will run off to my local Japanese bookstore and grab a couple issues in Japanese and see what I can read.

Recommendations: Its a fun read. I think that it would be good for people who have problems reading as the wording is easy and the story flows well with the art. If I was stocking this in my bookstore, it would be labeled in that mysterious area between pre-teen and teen. I might’ve actually read this when I was in grade school had it existed at that time. It is fluff. Better readers out there might like it for its fast read and open art. If you are serious about your romance and your artwork, you may not be so entertained.

Tags: manga, shojo

Manga: Otomen

Otomen by Aya Kanno
Published by Hakusensha/Hana to Yume
Serialized in Betsuhana
2006- Present, up to 9 volumes with new chapters every month
Demographic: Shojo

I am not a fan of Shojo, I don’t run out to buy the next newest romance as they are published and I certainly don’t go for the typical stories. When I get my shojo, there is something unique about it. Before this particular manga, you might not have heard me admit to reading shojo, with the exception of Fruits Basket. Why is this manga different from the other shojo? It isn’t typical drama.

Asuka Masamune is the greatest jock at his school. Every sport he participates in he excels, he is a manly man and the apple of every girl’s eye, the hero glint in every guy’s fervor…What would they all think if they discovered that he liked shojo (manga geared toward young ladies), cleaning, cooking, arts/crafts and was afraid of scary places and the dark?

When Asuka was young, his father ran away from home because he wanted to become a woman. His mother, afraid Asuka would do the same thing, began coming down hard on his girly ways. Asuka packed up his stuffed animals and cute things and began becoming a manly man. While in High School, while his mother is away, he cooks and cleans for himself and makes sure everything is spotless. When he discovers his mother is coming home, he quickly roughs up the place and creates an artistic manly mess… which reassures his mother.

One day, Asuka is confronted by Juto, a classmate. He claims he’s been watching Asuka for a while now and promises not to tell if he lets him hang around. When Asuka falls for Ryo, a girl who is oddly masculine in demeanor, Juta enthusiastically encourages the romance. Meanwhile, Juta is secretly taking all the scenes and writing his wildly popular new manga–Love Chick–under a well-known nom-de-plume. As it so happens, Asuka is a huge fan of Love Chick… who’s main character is a girl named Asuka who wants to have a romance with a guy named Ryo. .. and he remains clueless.

Hilarity and obfuscation ensues. As Asuka gets more comfortable around Juta and Ryo, he begins to slip and soon his secret is slowing being revealed….

Ok, do you see why I find it interesting? Well, mebbe not. This could be construed as a ‘typical shojo’, but there is enough goofiness, silliness, and just randomness to keep it fun. Every few chapters Asuka lets his girly nature loose at an odd time, depressing himself and someone who depends on him, only to redeem himself with his manly reflexes or abilities.

Here’s an example: Ryo asks Asuka to help at a daycare where she volunteers. He comes in and plays ‘manly’ games with all the children, who end up getting bored, until he takes the eggs Ryo was serving as the snack and makes a lovely board for the children. When they all leaves, one boy remains behind who has ruined a doll display. Asuka shows the boy how to make new dolls with the egg shells and they enjoy their time, but the boy insists that Asuka isn’t a man. The next day the boy has a fit when the other kids go to play with egg dolls, as he is having his fit, he accidentally throws a doll out the window then jumps after it to save it. Without a thought Asuka jumps out after him, rescuing him in a ‘manly’ style. It is amusing, the boy later calls Ryo his papa and Asuka his mama.

I am half reading the stories in Japanese and half in scanlation… though the first volume I read was in English. I ran across the series after I was introduced to Vampire Knight via a cosplay performance by Alone Together at a Kinokuniya Bryant Park event. I was deciding that perhaps I would give shojo a try and this one seems to shown me that all shojo isn’t just drama and soap.

I picked up a magazine this weekend and found that there was an announcement for a live-action drama based on this series that was to begin in August 2009. That would be interesting to watch! I’d love to see how they portray the characters.

Tags: manga, otomen, shoujo

Japan Day NYC 2009

Event: Japan Day NYC :: Official Website: http://www.japandaynyc.org/
Date: 31 May 2009 :: 8am 4-mile Run, 10am to 5pm Festival

I missed most of the event and I am very upset about it. However, I did get about two hours at the end. Watching the J-pop singers was very fun and it was entertaining to watch the crowd grow and shrink around the stage.

When I arrived at around 3pm, I expected to find things winding down as it was a hot and sunny day out. However, the East Meadow lawn was filled with hundreds of people in varying outfits. From everyday casual city clothing to kimonos to cosplayers and everything in between. I wanted to sample some of what the tents had to offer, but as I approached, I found that some lines were closed and others where the wait times were over 50 minutes long. As a result, I bypassed the many interesting things in favor of the J-pop that was occurring on the stage.

Instead of being lured to the Go, Shoji, or Hello Kitty tents, I found myself crowding the stage area to listen to Ai Kawashima and the Yaz Band. Instead of participating in the multiperson jump-roping area, I snapped a few pictures and returned to the stage. Ai Kawashima’s singing was great and the Yaz band had me wanting to buy CDs. During a short break where the band left the stage and the equipment was rearranged for Ai to do her solos, I explored some of the now closed tent lines. There was a Chopsticks game, and something about Yo-Yo Fishing. People were walking about with what looked like yo-yo water balloon, quite interesting. There was also a closed tea tent that looked as if it had been closed for quite a while, I suppose they sold out. It wasn’t long before I returned to stage to listen to Ai Kawashima again. After a while, I couldn’t stand the sun much, so I wandered into an area not too far away under the shade of a few trees.

Before long, I was too annoyed with all the chattering. There was a woman on a cell phone and some people conversing in either mandarin or korean, I couldn’t tell because I was too annoyed to check it out, so I stood up and began my wanders again.

On one side of the stage were closing lines of food. The lines were so long, I couldn’t check out what I was missing out. On the other side of the stage was a golden object with poles on a table under a tent and behind gates. I assumed it was from the earlier parade of fifty people. Yet another interesting thing that I missed.

Soon, it was time for Ai-san’s music to finish and she finished to a cheering audience. Along came the MCs and the stage crew set up for the following band. Orange Pekoe had an interesting style to them. I liked about half of what they did. In the middle of the starting song. It began to rain. I had to put my camera away for while. It never got much past a heavy drizzle and some wind, but the packed lawn and stage area was sparsely populated in minutes. I pulled out my camera again and snapped a few pix of the emptiness, before stowing it out of the rain again. Only a few fans remained to watch Orange Pekoe. When I say a few, I don’t mean like three here. There were plenty of people who had umbrellas. No, when I say a few I mean compared to what had been there previously. It was still impossible to get to the front of the stage. Just as the rain cleared up, the group went into a song I didn’t much care for, so I wandered again. This time I wasn’t worried about what I was missing, I was checking out the closed tents and being amused watching how long the line still was for the Kabuki facepainting booth.

When the band finished their set, I returned to the stage area for the finale. I was to be a large Karaoke type ending. The song was “On Top of the World”. I was afraid I would mess up because I didn’t know the song. However, my fears were for nothing. Turns out I knew the tune well enough because it was a 60s song by the Carpenters and all I needed were the words… which were being displayed. It was quite a wonderful ending in the sun. All the musicians returned to the stage and they did various forms of solos depending on their style. During this time, I discovered Taro Masuda. A violinist. I thought he did a fabulous job in his solo and it made me regret arriving too late to see his section. I made a note to discover his music when I returned to the internet. And I didn’t disappoint myself. The crowd was great too, singing along to the song. I would like to have seen a professional recording of it.

During that last song, I discovered the location of a classmate of mine. He is in Japanese language classes with me at TENRI Cultural Institute. How did I discover him? Quite interesting that…He was picked up during a solo bridge on a camera that was panning the audience. Amusing I would see him at the very end of the day. He informed me of some of the more interesting things I missed. Seems there was a fantastic karate performance, some wonderful classical guitar music and COBU Taiko drummers.

While the East Meadow was being cleaned up, my classmate and I wandered around looking for his companions who seemed to have disappeared while the rain fell. A mystery! Was it a vortex? We encounted children doing cartwheels down the slope, a huge group of cosplayers, and even Ai Kawashima! We hovered at the edges while Ai-san did here interviews and her voice recordings. My classmate wanted to get a photo with her. So when she was leaving, he called (a bit rudely) “Ai!” She jumped. Poor dear was frightened by his calling her. When he asked about a photo (not in Japanese, btw, he was too embarrassed… I think he woulda done fine), she nodded and allowed me to snap the photo of the two of them. I think she was very surprised. We thanked her for her time, and as they walked away, for whatever reason, her bodyguard said Thank You as well… was he thanking us for be being quick and not threatening? I don’t know, but our mission was accomplished.

We never did find his companions. We took a quick walk to get some water at some point in our search, when we ran across a Shamisen player, it was a quite entertaining street performance. After a while we headed our separate ways. The festival was over and the cosplayers had even broken out. I think I will have to volunteer next year in order to get myself there on time. But even if I don’t I will definitely have to do better next year.

Tags: anime, j-pop, Japan Day NYC, japanese, manga

New York Times recognises Graphic Novels

Introducing The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller Lists – ArtsBeat Blog – NYTimes.com.

I like this concept and I give a big whoop to the New York Times. However, I do have an issue with how they are handling the manga section. Since much manga has many vols in each series, I think they should list top selling series rather than top selling volumes. This first posting is already proof of this flaw.  If was to use the NYTimes to find a manga for someone who I knew liked manga, this wouldn’t be useful at all. Especially if the only thing I knew was that this person did not like the manga called Naruto. Now, where does that leave me? Either picking something called Eden or MPD-Psycho, or not using the useless list. I admit, I am interested right now in checking out this MPD-Psycho, and I would like to know what other non-Naruto books might be interesting.

It works just fine for the other sections, but as long as children, teens, adults and friends of manga readers are buying manga, the topsellers are almost all going to be Naruto or Bleach for a while. That is a little too monotonous for me. I would be turned off looking at the list at all after a few mostly unchanged weeks.

Tags: LinkedIn, manga