‘Tomoe’s Whimper’: A poem for ‘Kamisama Kiss’

*Kind of difficult writing from a male perspective, but Tomoe’s character is so mysterious…here goes:

And she tickles my logic with her babbling

lips and those coy eyes

And I a yokai  who sips

from the red light  district

Is pulled in

Her longing is my whimper

from her cries and echoes,

frail under her strength

strong in her gentleness and

Her longing is my whimper

To have a human goddess

right under my clutches

right under my killing aura and 

powers of fire, I want only one

fire to possess her.

And her longing is my whimper

my secret worship of her

and her tiny voice, long hands and

her shrill scream when I catch her

in a lie or sighing because she loves me

but I am yokai- I can not be loved

a human can not be trusted.

I long to make her whimper

She is me I am her.

She needs me- I want her.

But oh, the longing in her eyes when we fight together

When we tear down walls of pride by shamelessly

baring all unspoken words

of what we wanted before we were…

I know I’m already hers.

Is she mine?

Manga Review: ‘Bamboo Blade’ Vol.1

Bamboo Blade is an interesting manga, it reminds me a little of the movie Chocolate which is about a sweet, but very dangerous girl. Well, in Bamboo Blade, Tamaki Kawazoe is a thin, seemingly shy girl with one secret: She can maneuver bamboo like no one’s business with deadly strikes! Now, Kendo instructor Kojiro wants her. Not just because he see that she is good, but because he is broke, in debt and a friend placed a bet with him that if he can get together a good Kendo team and have them defeat his team, Kojiro could win all you can eat Sushi!

That was a sweet deal for Kojiro.

But not enough for Tamaki. She is not interested. 

Throughout the manga you meet interesting and fun characters and you get a peek into why Tamaki is so precise with her bamboo blade. The first chapter is called “The Girl With a Broom”, but she is  no simple girl. Kojiro tries to pull all the stops with her and get her to join but nothing can get Tamaki to join the Kendo team, unless she can be the hero.

This is where the movie Chocolate comes in with slight similiarities: Tamaki loves slapstick comedies and movies about superheroes-she copies the heroes moves. If no one needs rescuing, she will not pull out her stick and fight.

This was a very good manga and for some, may start off quite slow and there are some spots where I wasn’t sure if it was a person’s dream or reality(very few spots) but the storyline is well worth buying the book.

4 Stars

Book Details:

Bamboo Blade by Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi

Published: YenPress(2005)

ISBN: 978-0-7595-3005-8

220p

Price: US $10.99

*Book received for review from YenPress for my unbiased review

‘Oninagi’ Book Club and Brief Review…Comments Welcome!

Just a brief announcement.

I began Oninagi by Akira Ishida last night and so far I am enthralled by the appealing storyline(although the demon- as -a -good -guy theme is kind of starting to get old to me as far as mangas are concerned), but anyway Nanami is a 16 year high school girl with a crush on Sanjouin Senpai-and has since middle school.

Her first day of school turns on sour heels when she meets Tomotaka and her deadly sword Oninagi. Tomotaka considers Nanami a demon because she can feel a strange presence around her, but there is no “taint”. Nanami is scared and then they are both faced a with a foe so deadly, that nanami end up saving Tomotaka! But how did she? When Nanami woke up in her bed suddenly, she doesn’t recall using any of her ancient powers to save Tomotaka….what is going on here?

Update Review: I’ve completed Oninagi and it was worth the read. The images were spot on and I enjoyed how little Nanami is portrayed as innocent but whens he transforms, she becomes this little diva, and powerful person and no one can stop her! There appears to three demons who are sent to protect her as well(because of her ancient secret). One them has arms which turns into swords while the other has hair that turns into whips(spikes?) and Nanami’s last protector has a weird marking on his face and his fist is like a wedge. there appears to be some (possible) romantic tension between two characters as well.

All in all a great book and I am anxious to read Vol. 2!

So begins Nanami’s story….if you have read this far or further, please place your comments/review here on This Post.

Book Details:

Oninagi by Akira Ishida

Published by YenPress(2007)

ISBN: 978-0-7595-3034-8

176p

Price: 10.99

*Book received for review from YenPress for my unbiased review.

5 Stars

The Write Web Book Club: ‘Oninagi’ and ‘Bamboo Blade’

The Write Web Book Club presents…Oninagi and Bamboo Blade (both Vol. 1) as the next two reading material for the month of November.

These are mangas, meaning they must be read “backward”. So you begin with the main cover(as you see on the left here) and work your way through, turning the pages from left to right.

I choose these two books because I am pretty sure there are otaku and graphic novel fans out there and I am so into mangas and have been for a small time now. As an official manga/graphic novel reviewer for Yen Press, I will be reviewing these books for you and am so excited about the adventure!

So for all of you who love a great book with pictures and a (hopefully) engrossing storyline, please join me in reading these.

In some cases, or should I say in most cases mangas are turning into animations. If you have seen any in animation format, feel free to join in anyway.

*I will send out a tweet and a brief post when I will begin the books. Thanks!