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It takes a lot of soul for a manga to blow me away in mere chapters. The last series that achieved this was Blue Period, so I'm very excited to read 'Tales of Craftsmen from Kanda Gokurachou' because I have a soft spot for super informative, but also artistically entertaining, series like this. Every page leaves me adoring this manga to a higher degree. The way craftsmanship is is handled fluidly without *too* much explanation on the balance between the labour and effort of each everyday piece is an absolute treat to the eyes. I can't help but adore the extensive research that was made ... to further explain each chapter from the scanlation team.

I am eager to read more of this and will jump onto every new chapter that arrives.

“The Boy and The Herron” was a little disappointing for me.

The introduction had me really hooked, I knew I would enjoy a film about childhood trauma. And whilst it did live up to that by the conclusion, the more it progressed the less interested (and frankly put, confused) I became. The ending, while very abrupt, was sold-enough for me and at least ties SOME things together during its climax. I enjoyed those semi-biographical aspects of 'passing the torch to a newer generation,' to both rebuild the world into a better place and for storytelling as a whole, and for Miyazaki himself acknowledging that he will ... not be with us forever.

Whilst this pulls some strings for us, I found it difficult to really empathise with other characters, such as Mahito, despite sharing similar deep wounds of loss. I think the cast itself is overall weaker than previous films. The Heron, for one, is nothing like I expected. I always assumed it was more akin to Ryuk, or heck, even Pennywise, both in mannerisms and tone. Whilst I believe its ultimately wrong to criticise such character over a comparison, I couldn't help but be consistently disappointed in this character. None of the comedic dialogue really landed for me and they were something I've heard countless times in other films regardless.

It’s a story of grief and acceptance, a young boy’s tale and an old man’s goodbye, sweet in that sense at least. I may enjoy it more given a rewatch, but that wont stop myself feeling underwhelmed overall.

Debut manga "Drowning Fireworks" by Minenami Ryou (Shounen no Abyss) tackles various dilemmas regarding sexual frustration, intimacy, and the temptation of infidelity—which, in my opinion, is reminiscent of many Suizou Oshimi's manga.

Eita struggles greatly with the concept of "depth" in a romantic relationship, especially in the eyes of his bedridden girlfriend, Koaki. She believes that meaningful connections will always be limited due to her weakened and worsening conditions. Eita somewhat agrees but denies reality, thinking that a soul-to-soul connection is sufficient without considering material aspects, as people are flesh and blood.

Problems arise when he meets Koaki's cousin, Kasumi, who has returned home after a work ... transfer. He sees her as an identical person to Koaki but without any health issues; she is "normal." What unfolds throughout the story is intriguing to me for a few reasons. I appreciate that both female characters are antithetical to one another—Koaki is weak and frail but expresses a lot of love and politeness to Eita, while Kasumi is free and independent but does not reciprocate any romantic feelings towards Eita, which becomes one of many struggles.

There is also a lot of social pressure, worsened by the fact that nobody at his university is aware of his current status and keeps this information secret. Torn between his desire for sexual intimacy with his first love and a nearly identical relative whom he believed he loved, Eita becomes entangled in a web of secrets.

It's honestly quite tragic—venting one's lust on someone who looks exactly like the girl you claim to love, only to have your actions meet an unexpected ending. The cousin of the girl you thought you loved turns out to be the person you constantly needed to keep sane, while she herself has no concept of love.

One thing I wish was expanded upon within these characters is logic and reasoning, especially for Eita. Often, it seems as if he simply goes along with the scenarios to keep the premise going without much thought, which bothers me as this story could have had more depth and even been longer. Eita doesn't hesitate to be drawn into the lust of another woman, particularly in the second half of the volume when Kasumi becomes pregnant or when he becomes overly clingy with Sao. It's strange considering his sense of morals and his quiet and reserved nature. I think the biggest flaw of this series lies with Koaki—by the end of the story, she becomes an absolute mess and resorts to the lover's suicide yandere tropes... sigh.

The art style is fairly simplistic and easy to understand, and it's quite solid for their first work, all things considered. I believe Ryou also has a good eye for meaningful gestures and how they are framed on the page, which is best reflected in her current manga, "Boy's Abyss."

Overall, I still had fun and enjoyed this manga. For Oshimi fans, I suggest giving it a read if it interests you. It was a decent debut work and is short enough to read in one sitting, so you won't be missing out on too much!

Shiori no Nikki, a spicy drama about a typical Japanese housewife, who discovers her husband’s diary, chronicling his many affairs with her over the years. Distraught by the news, Shiori seeks to heal her broken heart by sleeping with an ex-boyfriend from her school days...

Story: 5/10
I'm going to be straight up, this manga was a massive disappointment. With only 3 volumes I expected some possible short sequences and a nice tie to the end - it didn't. After completing the first volume barely anything has happened, we got the introduction of things that are already mentioned in the synopsis and some mindless sex. That said, ... the sex was boring and tasteless, I will warn this is borderline Hentai too. Ironically It took away from the story.

Character: 3/10
As mentioned, there is little to know development for Shiori over the span of 2 volumes!! She discovers she's been cheated on for over 3 years and breaks down from it. Her course of action? To cheat back of course! The way this story presents itself was unsatisfactory for me, we are barely presented any qualities on her husband that would want to make us even root (no pun intended) for Shiori. If cheating is going to be involved/explored within a manga I would love to have an emotional attachment towards the couple/relationship to begin with. I'm aware that its only 3 volumes but the fact this has happened over 2 and 1 remains gives me little hope this will even end well lol. The most development we have seen was from a side character.

Art: 6/10
Honestly the art was fine, above average for me but it wasn't my style to really give it a 7. The characters have a sort of muppet appeal to them if u noticed from the cover. The noses reminded me of Kasane but a bit dumbed down. The panelling was also fine, nothing mind blowing and insane. Pretty conventional format, its used time and time again and doesn't fail. The flow was good there's that.

Enjoyment: 5/10
TL;DR this was an easy yet boring read, mellow drama and relationships along with constant sex addicts that ironically pull away from the story. It was more or less a snooze fest waiting for some advance in development. A girl on the shore and heck, even Metamorphosis, had a more compelling character and plot about sex lmfao. Its a pass for me, I don't suggest reading it unless u are really that horny xD

This review will contain spoilers.

"Even if a parting is inevitable, its not as if those memories would just disappear..."

The central genres of this manga are Slice of Life and School-Drama, NOT Shoujo-Ai. I will touch on about this statement later though.

STORY: 6/10
The story takes place between Yano and Aya and their day-to-day interactions during school-club activities. Yano Is a quiet and introverted girl who moves schools often because of her parents, she is the newest transfer student in Aya's classroom. She often doesn't socialise much and has learnt to not open up from her past and avoids personal interactions with people as she deems ... it to be all pointless. Aya is the complete opposite, she is child-like and an enthusiast for swimming and is constantly thinking of being in the water, she can actually swim too, unlike Yoru. Her thoughts go right through her head and tends to have no filter when speaking to people

The two are clearly polar opposites, and their dynamics are set to play off each other. I liked this with the many references to both the moon and the ocean, almost as if they hold a mirror to each other. A good metaphor for them both reflecting on their own thoughts on one another. I felt like this was focused too much on smaller nice details rather that the main themes. It felt very missing considering they didn't really come to each others issues that much, they kinda just floated around lol.

The pacing felt alright but the story wasn't long enough in my mind, with the way this was being written, this could have ended up as a 5 volume series at least. I hate to say I but it felt kind of rushed towards the end. I think proper arcs of the summer-break, festival, final exams and graduation/post-school could have all been way longer and would have deepened the story more. This would have fleshed out the characters, story and their relationships a lot more, was a bit sad over this to be honest. The other side-characters were okay. I wanted more time with them to feel a better connection so again, longer story. Drama between said characters also would have been less shallow if there was previous exposition for me to actually care about them, some things just seemed lack-luster due to having little panel time. The key themes could have been built upon more and GL should have been more relevant in their relationship thus couldn't give anything higher than a 5/10.

ART: 10/10
This series has some of the best artwork I've ever seen. If you enjoy other manga such as Ran and the grey world you'll for sure enjoy this one! The panel structure is also easily a Top 10 from any manga I've read, it flows very nicely and almost every page is beautiful. I love the symbolism in the art too, great to pull apart when reading.

CHARACTER: 5/10
This is objectively the weakest part of the series to be honest. I liked both characters as I could relate with them, but the progression of their relationship together was disappointing so to say. Not to mention they barely change, both as a "duo" and separately. My overall rating for this section wold have been higher but other databases listed this as a "Girls-Love" manga so I was kinda confused, could just be MAL being MAL again. Aya does show interest throughout the manga and literally announces her liking towards Yoru, yet nothing happens? It was really frustrating considering its labelled "shoujo ai" to begin with...

So I thought it was slightly disappointing to see not much happen in their dynamic together considering the tropes they were assigned from chapter 1. By the time there were a few chapters left she explicitly mentioned that "just because others said they get along well, doesn't mean we are friends." The final chapter we get a time-skip to them starting work, Yoru becomes an Oceanographer (dream job) whilst Aya becomes a Oceanic-Photo/Videographer, she doesn't show any affection towards her old friend.

ENJOYMENT: 8/10
Personally, I really liked the manga and its simplicity. The art is beautiful and each page is breath-taking. Thank god the author has more works. I enjoyed this a lot despite the lack of emotional-bonding with each other.
I'm just going to assume it got a rushed ending or something...
Its a good chill-out manga.

OVERALL: 7.25 (7/10)
Ironically, this manga only goes toes-deep with its theme on Girls Love, If one would even consider it that.
So, If you're the type of person reading romance stories just begging the characters to finally kiss one another and get together
then this isn't the story for you. Think of it more as a Slice-of-Life about misinterpretation, understanding others and self-doubt between some girls :3