Review: MAYO CHIKI!

 Of course, I can't talk about shonen manga without some sort of horny nonsense, and boy does this one live up to both parts of that phrase.

MAYO CHIKI!, based on the light novels by Hajime Asano and illustrations by Seiji Kikuchi, with art by NEET.  First published in 2010 and first published in North America in 2012.

PLOT:

Sakamachi Kinjiro is a teen boy with a serious problem.  He's got a terrible fear of women which tends to manifest as sudden, involuntary nosebleeds.  Through a series of accidents, he discovers that the butler serving the resident rich girl Kanade Suzutsuki is secretly a girl.  Said butler, Subaru Konoe, is all too ready to kill Kinjiro for uncovering her secret but Kanade has a better idea.  In return for keeping Subaru's secret, Kinjiro will go on dates with Suburu to cure his gynophobia.  Misadventures ensue, and Kinjiro is going to need to man up fast if he (and his blood pressure) are going to survive.

Review: RAVE MASTER

During Tokyopop's prime, they struggled to get their hands on big-name shonen manga titles.  They really only managed to do so twice.  One of those was Love Hina.  The other was this.

RAVE MASTER (Rave: The Groove Adventure), by Hiro Mashima.  First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2003.

PLOT:

Haru Glory has spent sixteen idyllic years on Garage Island alongside his sister.  Then he fishes a strange, snowman-like creature out of a pond, inadvertantly setting into motion the renewal of a battle between the forces of darkness and light, of Dark and Rave.  An ancient warrior stumbles into their village proclaiming that only Haru can wield the powers of the Rave, so now Haru must master his new weapon against the the forces of Demon Card while searching for the four remaining Rave Stones that can bring this battle to an end.

Review: AIR GEAR

This month we're looking at nothing but shonen manga.  The focus has been on Viz's offerings for the better part of two decades, but I'm going to start with a somewhat forgotten title from Kodansha.

AIR GEAR (Ea Gia), by Oh! Great.  First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2006.

PLOT:

Itsuki Minami is the talk of his junior high class.  He's the leader of the Eastside gang, has incredible strength, and lives with the tough but beautiful Noyamano sisters.  One day, the violent and vindictive Skullsaiders gang take their violent revenge upon Itsuki's gang, which plunges him into despair.  That's when the sisters reveal that they are members of a secret gang of their own.  They bring Itsuki into their fold, gifting him a pair of special motorized in-line skates called Air Treks.  These combined with his natural strength and agility give Itsuki the ability to do all sorts of fantastic feats.  Now Itsuki has the tools he needs to rebuild his gang, take back his turf, and spread his wings.

Review: YAKUZA FIANCE

 Perhaps the hardest thing about this month is finding romance manga that are messed-up enough to fit the theme but aren't awful.  

This year, I managed to find one.

YAKUZA FIANCE (Raise wa tanin ga Ii), by Asuka Konishi.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Yoshino is the granddaughter of an Osaka-area yakuza clan, but all she wants is a normal life.  That's why she's so frustrated when she learns from the local tabloids that she's being engaged against her will to Kirishima, the grandson of a Tokyo clan.  

At first, Kirishima seems too good to be true: handsome, polite, and attentive.  Then the mask slips and the real Kirishima is revealed, a cold, cruel, sadomasochistic enforcer.  At first Yoshino is frightened, but then resolves to scare him off with a stunt of her own.  Who could have guessed that it would backfire and that Kirishima would end up genuinely smitten with her as a result?

Review: RIZELMINE

Don't think we're ignoring shonen romance, as here's a wretched little one-shot example from the creator of D.N. Angel.

RIZELMINE (Rizerumain), by Yukiru Sugisaki.  First published in 2001 and first published in North America in 2005.

PLOT:

Tomonori Iwaki is having a very bad day.  It began when he learned that the teacher he's been crushing on is getting married.  It only got worse when he came home, only to find a tiny, obnoxious little girl named Rizel claiming to be his wife.  Rizel is a secret government experiment, a being who needs to learn about love to further her development, and her "dads" (who are totally not government spooks) easily bribe convince his parents to go along with it.  Rizel loves her new husband, but Tomonori wants nothing to do with her and his rejections come with explosive results.  Things only get more chaotic from there, as some of Tomonori's classmates, an American-made knockoff of Rizel, and a coma threaten to part the unwitting couple.