February 2024   Children of Whales Title: Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau English Title: Children of the Whales Story by: Umeda, Abi Publishing Dates: Jun 6, 2013 to Jan 6, 2023 Serialized by: Mystery Bonita English- Viz Signature November 21, 2017- ? Fun Fact: While the series heavily reminds readers of dystopian seinen anime series and has a main male character, it is a shoujo. It's origins are entrapped in a mystery revolving finding ancient scrolls of sea explorations???? Synopsis: Chakuro is tasked with the duty of being the island's record keeper due to having hypergraphia. His daily life consists of participating in the island's mysterious traditions, harvest and staring out into the sea surrounding his homeland...however this sea is a sea of sand, and his life is forever changed when a mysterious foreigner appears informing him there is secrets beyond the sea that will put his friends in danger. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ SPOTLIGHT THREAD RULES: 1.Whenever future spotlights start coming in, try to remember to edit your previous first comment in this thread and add onto it your thoughts on the new spotlight, same applies to when you have an update of the current spotlight series (like for example you having gone from not watching it to having completed it) this way the replies will be less for all members to look through once future spotlights start coming in. If you don't get what I mean by this, then feel free to ask me in the comments board. I'm still trying to sort out this problem myself in order to try to make this thread easy to read. 2. Always remember to mention in your response (even better if titles are bold) which series are you speaking of, that way members know which spotlight are you discussing. The comment from ooReikoo on Jan 25 2023 is the first comment of these new spotlights from 2023 onwards... (the members who made comments prior to that date....feel free to edit your previous comment with your new thoughts. 3.Try to keep this clean and civil, pure hate and arguments will not be tolerated and will not only be deleted but it may result in loss of club membership. 4. The club may have the app feature, but please remember to use this thread to discuss spotlight opinions. 5. Spotlights may have a month mentioned in order to label them, however they will not exactly be monthly, nor are you restricted to discuss only the most recent spotlight. Feel free to bring up any spotlight in club's history....just always remember to mention which series you're referring to. 6. Alot of time goes into the spotlight (I should seriously consider working as this site's article writer haha) so please don't go about reusing our hard work elsewhere. Obviously, some of these are more reminders then actual rules ;) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Previous Spotlights click spoiler button below -January 2024 -January 2023 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ RICEA42991's Spotlight Comment: Children of Whales This manga was the first time I picked up a manga and decided to read it solely for the purpose of this club hehe Normally I would pass a plot like this up, but I'm surprised...after passing the 5th volume, the story went from dull, and graphic to interesting and engaging. I haven't finishing reading it yet past the 7th volume, but so far it seems like a unique series that's worthy to mention Sugar Apple Fairytale....haven't yet watched it but really want to soon. Pretty Boy Detective I actually picked up this manga locally by chance and very glad I did. Initially I thought the art was nice, but after 2 volumes I started to really like this manga and am looking forward to future volumes....even though I have a feeling they won't use it's full potential. I haven't watched its seinen anime past the second episode, but so far I prefer the shoujo mangas artwork and its more hints of romance. DN Angel Like I said I was again suprised that D.N Angel never has been apart of the relations until now. I also just found out today that the manga only ended fairly recently from 2023, yet barely much was heard about it. After such struggle in publication I would have thought long time fans would have more to say. For the longest time I believed this was a shonen..but its shoujo! I remember back in 2008/2010 this series was frequently talked-about, nowadays not so sure. I kind of regret not giving it a chance back then during it's big days. And what a great pick for a monthly spotlight of a male main character shoujo anime. Thats not often done unless its reverse harem. I haven't gotten hands on the manga yet, but I did finally watch the anime September 2022 and it grew on me....I was actually disappointed it wasn't longer. My opinion on A Sign of Affection.....well I find it's art while modern, it's still very pretty and I love it's manga volume covers and colors....even the manga volumes themselves are nice looking. However as for the story..........I wont say it's terrible, if it was I wouldn't be still reading it at 6 volumes so far......but it feels more like a josei....the plot has been done lately a bit too often (I nearly wrote the wrong title of this spotlight 3 times) except that Yubisaki no RenRen is the only one thats a shoujo. So while it's not a terrible story, it feels like a slice-of-life romance and I'm happy that it becoming a anime means more deserved attention to shoujo getting anime......but at the end of the day I'll still say that I definitely think there are better shoujo manga still publishing that deserve to get a anime instead especially since Yubisaki no RenRen is still a 'new' manga series. The anime of it though.......too early to say much but so far I will say this.........I prefer the manga art, the anime art looks too simple compared to it's manga art. Even some seinen anime being announced this same year are getting more beautiful 'shoujo' looking art in comparison. I don't know much about Ajin-Do but their designs dont look good so far...complete contrast to their 'Licca' anime they did back in the 90's. I hope it turns out better then how it looks so far.  Kimi ni Todoke- I don't have much to say on this series since I still haven't read it even after knowing about it all this time. But I do remember that it was very popular on myanimelist back when first released in 2008, and many users were talking about it. It was also this club's very first spotlight series at the time too. So, I thought it was perfect timing to reflect on this club's new admin change, and it's early years......on the same month of the spotlight posting which also was on the very same month of the manga being released! To top it off since those years not only did it get an anime with 2 seasons, and 2 specials, but it also got a new sequel manga that just ended in 2022 and is getting a whole new anime season in 2024! Great news for shoujo...if only the sequel would get movie based on it. If it did, I'd definitely begin reading/watching this series alot quicker then I eventually will.(edit: got a season 3 a month after I said this) 2008 experiences.....Wow 2008 was such a eventful jam-packed year me, in life an in anime fandom. It was the year I joined myanimelist, when prior to that I was focused on art, writing and videos and 2 other forum sites that are now defunct. An anime fan since childhood, but joining myanimelist had me discovering alot lesser known works. I was watching at the time Marmalade Boy (oh the memories), Peach Girl and recently had finished Pretear....I watched mainly magical girl before joining this site. My manga reading literally started when I joined here...before that the only manga I read was those that were the anime series I had seen. In 2008...I read my first 3 one-shots(all shoujo)...and started reading my first manga only series (at the time) freshly licensed....Skip Beat! Myanimelist experience on 2008- During that time of August...somehow I guess the months prior was mainly navigating the database, joining/participating in clubs....including this one (clubs kept me busy), and getting through the anime series mentioned above. I still remember the series that were frequently talked about, and when the clubs on here were so active! I miss those days, the users and the amazing shoujo anime being created! Momohime originally commented the following : This is your chance to give your opinions on this manga: I haven't but I'll eventually give it a whirl since the story is pretty good. (edit- Momohime apparently did enjoy it enough to make it her forum ID) |
WAKE UP! 
RICEA42991Feb 17, 4:22 PM
 Current Avatar: Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke |
| Kimi ni Todoke- I actually picked this up the date today when I saw it as the club picture! Only five chapters have been scanlated so far, but I already am really enjoying it :) I'd have to say it reminded me of Akuma to Love Song right off the bat, in the sense that both main characters are grossly misunderstood, even though all they really want is to be friends with everyone. That's really where that comparison stops though. (If you haven't started Akuma to Love Song, I highly recommend that one as well!) I don't know much more since I only read the first five chapters, but I have to say, I can't wait to read more! x) |
RICEA42991Jul 29, 2023 4:51 AM
| [font="\"lucida grande\", tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif"]Kimi ni Todoke- My current favourite, and I am really excited to know what's gonna happen in ch. 34 (okay, I do know partially what's gonna happen).[/font] :) Any recommendations (other than Perfect Girl Evolution) for people who like Kimi ni Todoke like myself? |
RICEA42991Jul 29, 2023 4:52 AM
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| You guys, can anyone tell me where to read this...Kimi ni Todoke |
RICEA42991Jul 29, 2023 4:55 AM
| Kimi ni Todoke- I picked up this series because the body language on the covers is SO cute. The story started out pretty good for me, but Sawako's low self-esteem was just a little too painful and pathetic during the misunderstanding with her two friends and I nearly stopped reading. That was soon fixed though. I've never enjoyed the appearance of the stock rival character so much! Sawako grew a bit of a backbone and I thought she was much cuter with it. :) I’ve only read 5 volumes, but I’m really waiting to see if Kazahaya will directly address his early statement about wanting to dispel his “refreshing” image. I guess they both have image troubles. |
RICEA42991Jul 29, 2023 4:57 AM
RICEA42991 said: This comment is where the 2023 spotlight members comments starts I'd say that I liked Haikara though I didn't read much of the manga I only watched the series and the films, I think the 70s series is better than the films as the films feel kinda rushed. Also the art style was modernized for the films which I thought was unnecessary. As for the manga I've been warming up for the art style of Waki but I haven't warmed up yet so the manga has been on hold. I think i got few volumes from sale when they had them on kindle for free but that was about it.t I'm not sure why the manga art style felt bit off to me back then as I loved the art in the 70s series and it features few pics straight from the manga. It was maybe the paneling and the simplistic approach to the characters as from what I remember. I had been spoiled with the lustrous art and flowy paneling on some of the other 60s - 70s shoujo so maybe it was related to that. However like I said I've been warming up to the art these days Another similar series to Haikara us Kasei Yakyoku though I heard its classified more as josei so I'm not sure if I should bring it up here. About Ore Monogatari and Kamisama Kiss, I've been looking more into Kamisama Kiss and its art when it comes to the animation and I'd say that it is one of those series I should be getting into but haven't gotten into yet. Ore Monogatari is in similar position though I heard the focus is more on the romance RICEA42991 said: As of 4/4/2023 I finally had a chance to watch the first Haikara movie and it left me with even more disappointment that it got so ignored. It was a sweet movie, I wished it spent more time on Benio being a stubborn 'modern' minded woman, but it makes sense for them to speed things up a bit since it was a movie and not a series. The dub was actually well done too. I haven't seen the second movie yet though since it's even more difficult to find then the first and it was never dubbed, but from what I heard it's closer to the manga's ending compared to how the original series ended. I also thought the comedy was good in the original series, I think some of that comedy was also in the first movie though I think it was kinda less at focus because the plot needed to move more quickly I guess because the movie didnt have much time for the emotion of Benio to grow or the comedy related to that. If I remember there was couple scenes of the film which had the same emotion than in the 70s series. Another thing I would wished for the movie was that they played the original series theme song again. I think they played it at one point maybe in the 2nd movie but it was only the melody without lyrics and it was kinda in the background. The new theme songs of the movie I guess had some emotion but I liked the themes in the 70s more. |
ooReikoApr 5, 2023 7:27 AM
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