Forum

According to the ANN Upcoming Releases:

Skip Beat! (G.novel 8) [200] VIZ 2007-09-04 $8.99
The Gentleman Alliance (G.novel 3) VIZ 2007-09-04 $8.99
Beauty Pop (G.novel 5) [200] VIZ 2007-09-07 $8.99

I finally managed to get a copy of the August issue and must say I really like Sand Chronicles so far. I especially enjoy the symbolism with the hourglass, probably because I majored in English at university and have been programed to like such things Razz

I know what happens next because of the summary in the encyclopedia; it should be interesting to see how exactly it happens.

And of course, it will be interesting to see if I like the Honey & Clover manga better than the anime.

If you have a sub and already got sept go ahead and look at the spoiler. If you are getting this at the newsstand and only have aug. don't look. DONT LOOK!

spoiler[H&C was amazing! I love Hagu -chan. I just love small cute girl characters. Plus her hair! So much hair! That Kokoropur fiasco was hilarious.

Sand chronicles hit me really hard. I have a mom that had mental problems too but she never went to the extent of killing herself. I cried at that point and thankful that my own mother never took her own life although she was close and a few occasions.

No Nana...Im used to it.

Baby and Me is really getting good. It went from cute one shot fluff to a trouble guy from the past and Takuyas moms family past and that he's the new heir! WOW! I really like where this is headed now!

Absolute boyfriend....is disapointing me. This is definetly Yuu Watase's weakest work ever. Plus at the moment Riiko is annoying me and Knight althought he supposed to be out of commission comes out of nowhere at the end of this chapter and hugs her. WTF! Explaination please! ]

Now that the end of that rant/love/spoilers. Again. IF YOU DONT WANT TO BE SPOILED DO NOT LOOK! Im just saying just in case because sept. issue is teh awesome!

i dont see why everyone hates absolute boy friend so much. its what i look forward to reading every month. its just so silly and fun and the characters are just fun.

kyokazahaya wrote:

i don't see why everyone hates absolute boy friend so much. its what i look forward to reading every month. its just so silly and fun and the characters are just fun.

It is cute and a bit silly but compared to Yuu's other works its lacking epicness. It's weaksauce in comparision to Fushigi Yugi or Ceres. Plus the characters aren't as great as others. Riiko can get REALLY annoying at times that I just want to put the book down.

I don't hate it because I still read it but I'm not impressed with it. It's probably the young girl in me that always wished for an "absolute boyfriend" as a pre-teen is why I still continue.

And it's the little boy in me that always wished for an awesome robot pal who could fight and jump great distances. Laughing

I haven't read any of Yuu Watase's great epics (although I did watch some Fushigi Yuugi anime once) ... so no expectations from me. I find Absolute Boyfriend's willful stupidity amusing. If I knew any of the characters in real life I'd probably hate them, but this is fiction, so I just like to point and laugh.

I've never been fond of the Robot Lovers stuff (Chobits was tolerable since there was a bit more too it than that, but still annoying and Chii's 'personality' didn't help). It's especially bad when there is a perfectly good human there right from the start. Most of the characters annoy me to some degree or another. Most of the comedy (for me) is probably unintentional. They had a decent secondary character in the bitchy "friend" but tossed her aside as soon as her little story was over and she's never ever mentioned again. Apparently, Riiko is just fine not having any friends whatsoever and isn't terribly concerned at the loss of the one friend she had.

It's light hearted fluff and not particularly interesting light hearted fluff that tries to venture into serious territory every once and a while and fails miserably almost every time. I loved Ceres and Alice 19th, I liked Fushigi Yugi, Genbu Kaiden, and that other one who's title I forget, but Absolute Boyfriend is crap and the only Yuu Watase title (in English) that I don't own.

HitokiriShadow wrote:

Apparently, Riiko is just fine not having any friends whatsoever and isn't terribly concerned at the loss of the one friend she had.

Well all of this boy trouble kinda blinded her to that fact. But I assume that money loving girl would be the new BFF. But I guess not.

HitokiriShadow wrote:

and that other one who's title I forget,

Imadoki?

Absolute Boyfriend really just lacks the depth that I've come to expect from Watase Yuu's titles. It might be better than some other fluff that's out there, but it's still pure fluff and not much else. The only thing I really like about it is that spoiler[for the first time there is real tension in the love triangle and I'm not 100% who the heroine will end up with...pretty sure it will be Soshi though.]

I did like Chobits too, but more for the plot around Chi's origins and not the robot lover part. That just doesn't do it for me, I guess, which may be why the anime made me want to rip my eyes out Razz

oh my. i feel like im the only one who likes this series. lol. i guess i never really thought that it was fluff but more of a what if you had this and in this case a perfect not real boy friend while trying to deal with life. if I've read all of watses stuff would my opinion be different about this series, I've only read alice 19th and imadoki and like 4 volumes of ceres so i must be missing out since i relaly like this series

kyokazahaya wrote:

if I've read all of watses stuff would my opinion be different about this series, I've only read alice 19th and imadoki and like 4 volumes of ceres so i must be missing out since i relaly like this series

I think you've read enough to know that usually Watase's work has a fluffy exteriour but deals with real issues in the inside and would be able to see that, at least so far, Absolute Boyfriend is a bit lacking in those areas. But that doesn't mean it's wrong not to like it. It just seems to many of us that the series just falls short of what we know Watase can do.

marie-antoinette wrote:

HitokiriShadow wrote:

and that other one who's title I forget,

Imadoki?

Yeah, that's it. For some reason, I couldn't think of the title. The only thing that came to mind was "Tanpopo", which was the main character's name.

Quote:

Absolute Boyfriend really just lacks the depth that I've come to expect from Watase Yuu's titles. It might be better than some other fluff that's out there, but it's still pure fluff and not much else. The only thing I really like about it is that spoiler[for the first time there is real tension in the love triangle and I'm not 100% who the heroine will end up with...pretty sure it will be Soshi though.]

I'd like that to happen, but I don't think it will.

Quote:

I did like Chobits too, but more for the plot around Chi's origins and not the robot lover part. That just doesn't do it for me, I guess, which may be why the anime made me want to rip my eyes out Razz

It was the same for me. I liked everything about Chii's origin and purpose and just about every other aspect of the manga, but the idea of choosing the robot over the actual humans generally doesn't sit well with me. Chii's "personality" of a toddler didn't help.

I finally managed to get a hold of the September SB issue, so can finally say a bit more.

I actually did enjoy Honey & Clover more as a manga than I did when I watched the anime. As I had thought might happen, the pacing just seemed to better fit the manga medium. I look forward to seeing what happens next (and if it's interesting enough, I might try the anime out again).

I'm actually sad to see Baby & Me go, since the sidebar said that there were going to be more longer story arcs coming up. The latest arc was really quite good and interesting, I especially liked how it ended showing that spoiler[the aunt wasn't pure evil]. But I'm still not interested enough in it to actually go and buy the GNs.

Crimson Hero is driving me crazy. I just have been finding it really hard to follow lately, things seem rather convoluted. It doesn't help that so many of the characters look so alike that it can be hard to keep track of who is who. I'm expecting that this manga won't stay in the magazine for too much longer...I actually hope it doesn't, really. There must be better things to take it's place.

Absolute Boyfriend, despite my general views, was actually pretty good I felt. It had a moment that seemed reminiscent of Watase's other works and the fact that they delve into characters more than AB has so far. I'm glad that we're getting close to the end, however, and I'm hoping that the ending might actually help make the series better (though nothing can change the fact that it's still weak in comparison to Watase's other works).

Vampire Knights sometimes gets hard to follow, like Crimson Hero, but I'm still enjoying it quite a bit. I definitely am planning to get GNs of this one eventually, and the art of course is just gorgeous.

Finally, Sand Chronicles. I am really falling in love with this series. It doesn't have the greatest art, but that's okay, it's story is really good. I can't wait to see what happens next and this is another that I plan to buy in GN format, which I suppose is the highest form of praise possible for a series in SB.

I actually stopped reading vampire knight 5 issues ago. I got bored with it.

Although I like Crimson Hero I know it should make it way out unless it get fresher like at the beginning.

Viga_of_stars wrote:

I actually stopped reading vampire knight 5 issues ago. I got bored with it.

I've read everything since Kaze Hikaru finally got taken out. I like the premise of Vampire Knight and, while it is a bit cliche, I am at heart a vampire fan and so can enjoy the same old story line again Razz

Forum - View topic
The Shojo Beat discussion thread

Interview: Voice Actors Rika Hayashi and Hiroki Tōchi Talk About Their New Golf Anime, Tonbo!

Japanese TV Special Ranks Top Anime Songs, as Chosen by Foreign Fans

This Week in Anime - So, Is Sound Euphonium Queerbaiting or Not?

Wonderful Precure! Episodes 1-12 Anime Review

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of Monster Nation Manga Ends Due to Artist's Health

Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction Part 1 Anime Film Review

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Game Review

Forum - View topicThe Shojo Beat discussion thread

Forum

Forum - View topic
The Shojo Beat discussion thread