Midnight Secretary

Midnight Secretary is a manga written and drawn by Ohmi Tomu. It was released in the year 2007 and has been classified in the following genres: josei, romance, smut, and supernatural.

Kaya thought she had found the perfect job when she became the private secretary of Kyouhei Touma – the director of a tableware company of the same name. Kyouhei is a capable director, but his arrogance and sluttish behavior are almost legendary. Kaya is doing her best to prove that she is capable in her work, but one night, by accident, she discovers his secret… of him being a vampire!

taken from Mangafox

Right from the beginning, it has been implied that the two characters would end up together. How? Simply by the fact that the synopsis of the manga only states their names. Next, one of the genres is romance, which further strengthens my initial impression. Moreover, this manga has a vampire character and vampires, in a general sense, are characterized to be manipulative and at times, push the plot forward (or romance). The manga screamed cliche to me, but not cliche enough that i’d stray away from it.

Midnight Secretary has art that puts importance on simplicity. The smut scenes are meant to be quick and vague, which is probably used to enhance the reader’s imagination. Moreover, it constantly reminds us about the darkness vampires holds. It doesn’t fail to go all out black whenever possible— especially when highlighting scenes involving Kyohei Touma. I’m a first-timer when it comes to talking about manga art, but I feel like it’s okay. Not too detailed and not too sketchy.

Plot-wise— it wasn’t as cliche as I thought it’d be. The josei vibe was blatant because it does show realistic romance to a certain degree. It only becomes unrealistic because of the supernatural markers— the existence of vampires. I like how the relationship between Kaya & Kyohei develops— the mangaka took her time in developing the bond. It’s not the simple “I have a crush on this person; therefore I must pursue him.” It’s not like that because it shows the struggle in admitting one’s feelings for the other and it happens for both sides. For a manga with 35 chapters, it really showed the difficulties and tensions with loving a vampire. Moreover, it leaves its readers with a huge cliffhanger, which I feel will never be continues. It allows the readers to think of possible scenarios of how they want to continue the story.

Grade: 1.75

Kamisama Dolls

After finding a site to torrent anime series (that are complete), I decided to download Kamisama Dolls because of the influence of a certain Population GO writer. Honestly, I never had any plans to watch Kamisama Dolls because it looked like some girl-centric anime involving mecha. The name is quite misleading and so was the first picture I ever saw of it— which basically showed some robot and girls. I decided to continue downloading it so that I have a series to watch when exams were over. However, that wasn’t the case because life decides to whack the idea of marathoning the series is a good idea as opposed to reviewing for an English long test.

Naruto ch.570

Now things are getting exciting with the latest Naruto chapter. Of course, a lot of people have been wondering why I still follow such an overrated & shounen-overload series. My answer to them— “Because I do.” Naruto is a wonderful series if it was followed manga-wise. I suggest throwing off following blasted Shippuden and just stick to the basics— the manga. The recent chapters have been lagging because the fight between Madara/Tobi/unknown orange dude against Naruto & Killer Bee hasn’t been resolved. From the looks of it, such a development shouldn’t be quick because it’s a face-off and well… face-offs are meant to be long.

However, the Naruto series doesn’t make it long because of the actual fight, but through the dialogue that occurs in each chapter. What I love about chapter 570 is how it shows the development of all the dialogue that occurred during the fight. The appearance of Songoku, the 4-tailed beast, paved the way of understanding for Naruto. All tailed beasts have a name and when Naruto found out that the nine-tails’ name was Kurama, Naruto sensed a deeper bond with the tailed beats inside of him.

The formation of the bond between Naruto and Kurama is a rocky one. Kurama is unsatisfied with Naruto, but slowly comes in terms with not only Naruto’s skills, but also Naruto’s way of life— Naruto’s mindset. Kurama knows how humans are— who wouldn’t after being transferred from one jinchuuriki to another. If I were in Kurama’s position, I would’ve noticed the same thing in humans. Humans are either afraid of raw power or so ignorant of the power, that they find ownership of the power as merely a game. However, Naruto is different and it takes more than 500 chapters for Kurama to realize that (quite a long time if you ask me). Unlike the other jinchuurikis, Naruto took all the negativity thrown at him and turned it into something positive (or stubborn). Maybe Kurama found the change in his jinchuuriki’s personality new— that’s why he couldn’t acknowledge Naruto.

But like all shounen protagonist, Naruto is stubborn and has the ‘never give up’ mindset. That’s why even when Kurama throws as much hatred and pain towards Naruto, Naruto simply takes it all in and turns it into something. That’s the magic Naruto has and maybe that’s why, by this chapter, Kurama has begun to accept Naruto. The fact that Kurama was willing to share his power with Naruto without death as a price showed how much their bond grew. Maybe finding out the real name of the nine-tails pulled all the loose ends together, but the cliffhanger chapter 570 puts us in is worth it all. I honestly want to see what mayhem Naruto & Kurama can pull off together. Finally, the jinchuuriki and the beast have finally made amends.

Un-Go

Team Picture! (From episode 4, 5 or 6)

Ah Friday, such a glorious day— except for the fact that I had to watch the last episode of Un-Go. Why was Un-Go only 11 episodes?! Why?! It deserves more episodes as opposed to Guilty Crown, which has certainly gone down the drain now, in my blunt opinion. However, I believe that 11 episodes was enough to uncover the underlying personality of Yuki Shinjuro— and of course Inga AND Kazamori.

The Hunger Games

Image taken from Goodreads

In all honesty, I’m not a bookworm nor a book lover— hell, you could say I read books because I’m forced to. Therefore, I’m not the greatest person to ask book suggestions from (anime is a different story). The reason behind this unappreciative glance I have towards books is that I’m hard to please. I always feel that there is something lacking in any book may it be lack of descriptions or lack of a connection. However, to know if a book has gotten me “hook, line and sinker” is when I can’t stop reading. In most cases, the most definitive act of showing I like what I’m currently reading is that I read it anywhere— I just got to finish it.

Well, The Hunger Games has managed to catch my attention. Truth be told, I wasn’t supposed to buy the book. I was supposed to ask a friend for the e-copy she had so I wouldn’t have to spend. However, seeing the book on display at Fully Booked nagged me to buy it. Another reason for my interest in the book is that the movie would be showing next year. Also, the trailer sold me, so I decided to try the book. Did it catch my attention, but did it manage to keep it?