Manimani

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By the author of Usagi Drop, there are six stories here, all with the theme of "overcoming age differences", sometimes pretty taboo ones. (If you've finished Usagi Drop, this shouldn't be surprising.) If you can handle that, and don't mind the author's very distinct artwork, then this is very clever and surprisingly deep series of one-shots.

Story (7): The first and last tell the story of a woman who moves back to the countryside and finds herself pursued by her younger childhood friend.

The other four tell interrelated stories: a girl feels cut off from her classmates after she starts dating a cram-school teacher; ... two chapters about her single mother; and the story of her teacher.

Some of the relationships are a bit creepy (working adults with ninth grade kids in two cases), but all are played like tales of true love. But the author tells the stories well, and interweaving the four helps give an added degree of complexity and interest to the stories.

Art (5): I thought her art style fit Usagi Drop; none of the characters there were really pretty, but they weren't really supposed to be. In a pure romance manga, however, I found that the same style didn't really suit the material very well. The male characters, in particular, all get the same distinct dumb look on their faces that I found distracting.

Character (8): Except for the whole "adults sleeping with middle schoolers" thing, I found the characters very appealing. They felt like real characters struggling with real, messy lives--and it's difficult to get across that impression in such short stories, so kudos to the author.

Enjoyment (7): I liked this series of shorts, but didn't love it. Some of that is bias, admittedly; I'm not a huge fan of one-shots. So if you like these super-short stories, kick this score up a bit. Otherwise, it was quite enjoyable... ignoring the whole "sleeping with ninth graders" thing. (I know, I'm harping, but... ewww.)

Overall (7): Like I said, if you like her art style and don't mind the age difference aspects, these are a great series of one-shots. Otherwise, like me, you'll probably find it a bit hit-and-miss; some of them were great (I thought the mother's story would make a great serialization), but others left me just a little disconcerted.