Merry Month of Manga: SECRET OF THE PRINCESS

I've covered a bit of BL, so why not go for a change of pace by covering a yuri one-shot?  After all, I'm always up for reading more Milk Morinaga manga.

SECRET OF THE PRINCESS (Ohime-sama no Himitsu), by Milk Morinaga.  First published in 2014 and first published in North America in 2017.

PLOT:

Ever since she was a little girl, Miu's mother has drilled into her the importance of being cute and femme so that she can land the prince of her dreams someday.  When Miu blackmails the school volleyball star Fujiwara into a relationship, she thinks of it as simply a way to practice romance until she meets an actual boy.  As the two get closer, Miu's feelings start to change and the guilt of their secret relationship starts to get to her.

Merry Month of Manga Review: PRESENT FOR ME

This review is not unlike my recent one for Time Killers.  It's a collection of early short works from a noted creator, although in this case the creator is noted only by manga reviews willing to plumb the depths of Bookwalker.

PRESENT FOR ME (Present For Me - Ishiguro Masakazu Tenpenshu), by Masakazu Ishiguro.  First published in 2000-2004 and first published in North America in 2015.

PLOT:

In this collection, we see a group of psychic kids try to survive on a desert island, a robot tries to guide a girl to his home in the distant future, an unemployed man finds new purpose as a lasso-wielding superhero, a group of film students hash out ideas for a film about the end of the world, a young man gets an unpleasantly magical new roommate, a biker tries to get a new helmet from a tinkerer, and a teen hero tries to find purpose in his life after his villain retires from evildoing.

Merry Month of Manga Review: LOVE FOR DESSERT

In 2008, Aurora Publishing hoped to reach that ever-elusive josei audience with a few anthologies of their own.

If this was the best they had to offer, it's little wonder that they failed.

LOVE FOR DESSERT (Nosatsu Cream), by Hana Aoi.  First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2008.



PLOT:

This racy collection of short stories share the stories of a business woman who discovers her surly coworker loves her covered in whipped cream, another who finds her aimless boyfriend more alluring after he gets a suit, a high school girl who is disappointed to learn that her childhood sweetheart is far less princely than she remembered, a hostess whose virginal art school classmate offers to serve as her bodyguard, an unemployed woman whose fortune leads her to a tutoring gig and her new love, and a college girl who discovers that her spacey boyfriend may be more caring that she realized.

Merry Month of Manga Review: ALL NIPPON AIR LINE

Comedic BL stories are always in short supply, and that shortage is not helped by books like this one.

ALL NIPPON AIR LINE (Rakuen Sanman Feet - All Nippon Air Line), by Kei Azumaya.  First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2008.

PLOT: 

There is no airline quite like All Nippon Air Line.  It’s renowned for both its service and staff.  Each crew member is more handsome than the last, and each one is irresistible to crew and customer alike.  Their first class lounge is spacious and comfortable.  Their pilots are some of the best in the industry.  But mostly it’s renowned for the epic amounts of gay sex had by everyone in the company, from the director all the way down to the lowliest steward.  They sleep with each other, with other pilots, with the customers.  It seems no one can resist the alluring men of A.N.A.L.

Merry Month of Manga Review: GIGANTO MAXIA

When Kentaro Miura takes a break from working on Berserk, he can usually be found making other, shorter manga (well...when he's not playing Idolmaster). 

GIGANTO MAXIA (Gigantomahkia), by Kentaro Miura.  First published in 2014 and first published in North America in 2016.

PLOT:

In a far future world, the former gladiator Delos wanders the waste with a young, ethereal spirit named Prome.  The two end up in the middle of the desert, where Delos is captured by a group of half-beetle people who force him to fight for his life.  Delos wins both the fight and their favor, but soon they all find themselves under threat by a far-off empire with a towering, all-consuming colossus.