Manhua: 1/2 Prince

Hello everyone!

In this post I'm going to present you another Asian comic, but today as different of the other latest post this one is about a Taiwanese Comic, they are also called manhuas, and this one is named ½ Prince.

First, as cultural reference, I've noticed that usually Asians call half and write as "½" people who change from girl to boy or from boy to girl(as other example, Ranma ½).  And well, this is a very fun and interesting story (as most comics I've recommended you, xD). Believe me, once you start reading it you won't stop reading it until you reach the last released chapter and you'll be laughing like crazy most of the first chapters. Well, here is it:

cover of the
1st book of the novel

       ½ Prince

Original Name: ½ 王子

Pronunciation: Èr fēnzhī yī Wáng zǐ

Story created by Yu Wo and drawn by Choi Hong Chong

Released in 2004

Magazine: Dragon Youth Comics(龍少年 Lóng Shàonián)

Publishing Company: Tong Li Publishing

Genres: Gender Bender, Comedy, Adventure, School Life, Shoujo, Shounen, Action, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Harem.

                  Summaries:
 

     From MangaFox:  It is the year 2100 A.D. and humans have invented a virtual reality game called "Second Life". Feng Lan, due to a bet with her brother, vows to beat him in the game without using her feminine charm to attract others to help her. Thus, she becomes the first transgendered character in "Second Life" - in other words, she is the only person who has a gender in-game opposite from hers in real life. As her popularity rises due to her looks and bloodthirsty skills, can she keep her identity a secret from her loved ones and friends?

From The Little Corner:

It is the year 2100 A.D., and humans have developed a virtual reality game with a realism level of 99%. Feng Lan, due to a bet with her twin brother, vows to succeed in playing the game without using her "female benefits." Due to this, she becomes the first and only female to play as a male character in "Second Life." As her infamy rises as a bloodthirsty warrior, can she keep her identity a secret from her real life acquaintances whom she has beaten up?

 
   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
 …The protagonist is a 19 year-old female student named Feng Lan, who is challenged into playing the nearly arrived game Second Life by her twin brother. As the first person to log into the game, Feng Lan is given a wish which she uses to give herself the privileged of creating a male avatar whom she names as Prince. In game, she strives to prove to her brother that she can be a capable player.

By today March 14, 2012 the manhua is still ongoing. The manhua is based on a Taiwanese novel with the same name.

The comic, apart from having a good story, also have good drawings (there’s bishies :P) and it is not much different from the original story, though the drawings of the manhua might not be as good as the drawings of the novel covers.

There might be many characters, and maybe you would want to do a character map. The chapters are not commonly released, so if you read it and reach the end, you’ll have to wait at least 2 and half months to read the next chapter (that’s somehow tiring and frustrating).

The novel have already finished, so if you want to read it, you can read it complete, there are not original Englis translations, the novel is just in Chinese, but you can find some fan translations.

Thanks for read; I wish you had liked it.

GBU, good-bye, have a nice week!

PS: Sorry for not posting for many weeks, but on those past weeks I had a lot of homework and projects also my computer hard-drive stop functioning, again. So I need vacations or classes break to go again to the US.

And as I had a lot of things to do, I barely could read the updates from my favorite Asian Comics and I couldn’t read any new manga, except for Psyren from which I bought a Shounen Jump magazine for $90 MX and some classmate from Escucha lend me Pandora Hearts manga volumes from 1 to 7(I read them on the bus on the way from school to my house, xD).

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the pictures used above, neither the information given in the summaries. All the right goes to their respective owners.

Manhwa: Love in the Mask

Hello everyone,

How are you?

As always, I wish you're doing fine, and healthy (I'm sick again);

but now I'll make you another question and is…          

have you ever been in love?, had you ever dream or known of an impossible love? … 

if it is yes, or maybe, then I will recommend you to read the cute manhwa that I bring to show you today: Love in the Mask.

I decided to post about this beautiful manhwa because on Tuesday(Feb 14) it would be Valentine's Day or Day of Friendship and Love, a day in which everybody(or most people) wants to be in love, or find somebody to love, or be with the beloved ones. And as the title and the summary below says this Korean comic is a love story:

Love in the Mask Manhwa

MangaFox or EatManga

Original Name: 가면속의 사랑

Pronunciation: gamyeonsog-ui salang

Story created by: Han Yu-rang

Released in 2009

Magazine: nnim

Publishing Company: Kkonnimm

Genres: Drama, Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Action, Harem, Martial Arts, Gender Bender, Tragedy, Mistery

Summary: Hyun Bin has to live surviving as a man. Fate has come to trap her compassion in a mask like a bird blazing only in it's cage...

From various Asian Comics pages: Hyun-bin grew up under the cruel hand of street gangsters, selling gum in the subway with her little brother. However, after an unfortunate event, Hyun-bin runs away and is taken in by a businessman to be trained to become a bodyguard. However, she must hide that she is female, and pose as a man. And so, for eight years, she grows up as a cold, male bodyguard. But is this how she'll be forever?

From Tinte: Suh Hyun-bin grew up under the cruel hand of street gangsters, but after her little brother dies, Hyun-bin runs away and is taken in by a rich family to be trained to become a bodyguard. However, she must hide that she is female, and pose as a man. And so, for eight years, she grows up as a cold, male, and bodyguard. It looks like she'll be this way forever--until a fateful encounter with Lee Yun-ha shakes her very foundations, and leaves her conflicting with herself, as her feelings of love clash against her feelings of duty.

By fall/autumn of 2011 the manhwa was already completed.

This story will make you cry a lot, believe me. The story is sometimes so sad that you'll feel bad for the main characters. Is a really good story, thought the drawing are the one that my friends usually call "generic manhwa", except the end, which I classify as typical Mexican dramas ending.

If you start read it, you will be so fascinated that you won't stop reading it, not even in the ending even if you already have theories of how the story will end.

This story does also have the common element in Korean stories: Business, gangs, a pretty poor girl and a rich handsome boy; but it does also have another fact which is what caught my attention and it is the gender bender, from after reading this story I got a certain fascination for reading gender bender stories, xD.

Another thing is that this Korean Comic has many characters that if you want you can do a characters' map.

I wanted to post about this manhwa since the past semester, but I couldn't first because my computer became trash, and then because it was on the US. But by this manhwa is by which I got to know many other Korean Comics as it was on the top or most popular list, even if it wasn't the first one I started to read. Also I wanted to publish of it now because there's had been many weeks since I published an entry with information of a manhwa. 

Thanks for reading; I wish you'd like it, have a nice upcoming week, GBU a lot. Good bye. :3

PS: I wish you could be with someone on Feb 14, and not be a Forever Alone on that day.

Manga: Iris Zero

Hello everyone,
Sorry for not posting on the past two weeks (I think it was two weeks), but my stupid mac doesn’t work anymore and I’ve been living without internet or computer for long time T-T. I've just been living by reading novels and sending text messages with the cellphone, without mangas, manhwas or Facebook games. For me it was maddening because there were lots of social protests and other social issues here in Nuevo León México, and i didn’t have mean of communication except cellphone! Yesterday I said “I’m getting insane” while laughing in front of the bathroom mirror, I was really driving insane!!!!!
Anyway..., leaving that aside...

From today onwards I’m going to post the summary and recommendation of Asian Comics in another way, ‘cuz I’m finally in vacations and the blog doesn’t matter for my school grade anymore, yeah!!!!! So the English teacher won’t check it anymore and I can also make entries in Spanish. If you want to read the comic just click the name of the manga. Here it is:

       IRIS ZERO Manga
Original name: アイリスZERO(アイリス・ゼロ)
Pronunciation: airisu zero
Story created by Shiki Piro and drawn by Takana Hotaru
Genres: Mystery, Psychological, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, School Life, Shounen, Seinen, Supernatural
Released in 2009
Magazine: Comic Alive
Publishing company: Media Factory


Summary: In a world where every boy and girl has a special power called Iris, Toru who, as a result of not having any kind of special power, was bullied from a young age, lives by his motto: "low exposure”, “to live without standing out." But his peaceful school life changes when he receives a certain "Confession" from the schools most popular girl, Koyuki. His motto begins to shake!!
The school fantasy story that shakes the heart begins with their meeting.


By today, 15/December/2011 it is still ongoing and have released 5 manga volumes.


      Well, as you’d read, this manga is about people with powers called Iris(it is futurist, and according to the story kids were born with iris since 21 years ago, but when it started the chance of having Iris was .1%), and this comic genre is classified in fantasy, mystery and supernatural, most of the people would think it could be something really extraordinary, but no, it is just based in a normal high school, and it is completely about high school(teachers, students, grades, school groups, etc.). Thou it is based and all the stories are developed in or are about high school issues, it is really interesting because sometimes reading comics from amazing things or people doesn’t let you appreciate what is around you in your normal life, sometimes you could wish to have an amazing life or something really extraordinary in your life too. But, by reading this manga, you can change your way of thinking and perception about the world as it is about high students life (I’m think most of the people that read this blog is still student).
The main character, Toru, does also have an interesting way of thinking, which is another factor that can make you like this manga. His motto of “low exposure” have maintained him keeping him out of meeting people or befriend them, but as Koyuki started talking to him, a lot of problem arises and he met other people with whom he became good friend later.
Sorry if i'm being redundant.
      I liked this manga because this semester was really crazy, and in International Baccalaureate, the classes weren’t boring as they were in Bicultural, also there were lots of problems another issues with my classmates as they weren’t before, Iris Zero made me think more about it, and about life as it is right now. I really liked this manga. I’m really grateful that a friend recommended me this manga. So I also recommend you to read it, and I’m sure that you will also like this Japanese Comic.
Thanks for reading,
GBU,
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Have a nice weekend!



PS: I don't know who wrote that summary but I found it in different manga webpages.

Manga: Karin / Chibi Vampire (Halloween)

Hello everyone,

How are you doin’? I wish you are fine, and your life is quite or relaxed.

As in one of my past posts, I’m really tired, and want to take a rest; I had more problems that I thought I would have on the past weekend. ºдº  (problematic and gross)

            Anyway! As everybody knows, Halloween is near, maybe you're preparing your costume to wear on that famous date and planning a party or planning to attend a party. I hate Halloween ¬_¬, but I bet you love it or at least like it,  so today I’m going to present you a Japanese Comic about vampires, OѡO but no the typical story of vampires, and not of the normal vampires that everybody knows: KARIN(かりん , In America is best known as Chibi Vampire) created by Kagesaki Yuna:

       Maka Karin is a cute, cheerful, friendly, high school girl, who loves sunshine, cooks with garlic, and has a part-time job as a waitress. Everything in her life is pretty average, except for one thing, Karin is a vampire. She lives with her parents and two siblings who are also vampires. But among them, she's different. Once a month, she experiences an intense bleeding from her nose, because her body overproduces blood; so if there's a person near, she doesn't take the blood from the human, instead she give him/her blood. If things are done right, this can be a positive experience that benefits the victim as much as the vampire. 
However one day as school she meets Usui Kenta, the new student, and gets the feeling of a nosebleed. Also he gets suspicious about her, can he tell that she is a vampire? Karin must keep in secret what she and her family is from human society.

It seems like she is always involved in problems and that she never know how to do things right!

          As in the summary can be seen, this is a very funny manga, it is filled at first with comedy, and some volumes later with romance(a romedy as my friends call it, the romantic-comedy). e.a What's fun at first, is obviously Karin's nosebleeds, then her reactions when Kenta approach her, and when her vampire family is introduced(the most funny character of her family is her grandmother, also the Maka family is really random xD). What caught my attention to read this manga was the fact that Karin was different of other vampires, because her family was like any other vampires that can't be in the sun, eat or smell garlic, and drink blood.

The genres of this manga are Comedy, Drama, School Life, Shounen, Romance, Supernatural, Fantasy, and Adventure. The story environment is principally based in Karin High School and working life at the beginning, and as the story develops it focuses more on Karin relationship with her family and Maka's family history(which is really interesting and complicated). The romance is seen, as I’ve said before, as story develops, and everything is because both of the ones that become the main characters had a secret in common. :3

            As other mangas, this comic have an anime, but the cartoon is not really based in the story, it have a lot of Ecchi, so some things are seen in anime as sexual oriented, and not in the innocent way that are seen in the manga. Also if you prefer to watch the anime, it is shorter in comparison to the manga and, as YamaNade, doesn't tell the complete story, which is really sad because this story have a really beautiful ending. When I was reading the end of the manga I was all excited and almost crying(it looks like I'm not a fanatic ¬¬ ), I loved this manga, it became one of my favorites after I read the end, even this is one of the few Asian comics I've read and aren't still ongoing. So I highly recommend you to read it, you'll not regret reading it.


Thanks for everything,
I wish you'd liked it,
sorry for taking so much time in finish this post, I had a lot of homework.

 Goodbye everyone,

Have a nice Day,

GBU all!

Karin anime 1st ending:

Manga: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

こんにちわみんな！(Konnichiwa Minna!)

元気ですか？(Genki desu ka?)

いつもよう、私はあなたに大丈夫な望む．(Itsumo you, watashi wa anata ni daijoubu na nozomu.)

Today I'm going to present you another manga, right now I'm in a Japanese-like-mood, xD , also, I'm happy as in the past week, because today there were just 2 homeworks (Math and English), so I read a chapter of the Spanish class book "Cómo Agua para Chocolate" and then I played 3 games at the JA Titan game, and I lost all of them. That was frustrating ¬¬ .

         Anyway, the manga that I bring today to present you now is ‪Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (ヤマトナデシコ七変化;  you can call it YamaNade, is way much shorter) created by Hayakawa Tomoko. This manga have different names at America and Europe such as The Wallflower, Perfect Girl Evolution(PGE), My Fair Lady, The Perfect Lady, etc., the closest translation to the literal meaning is "Various changes to become the ideal(perfect) woman(lady)", :3 as the title says, it is about to turn a girl into a "perfect lady": 

         In a gorgeous, spacious mansion, four handsome high-school boys live there, renting the house to a widow rich woman who is always traveling searching for a new love. Suddenly, one day she offers to give them the mansion rent for free for three years if they manage to turn her wallflower niece (which was going to become the lady's heir) into a "perfect lady", but if they failed, the rent price will triplicate. However, the four bishounen did never imagined what kind of girl they are going to meet, and how problematic it will be to deal with her because she wouldn't want to change because of the trauma she have since middle school after being rejected and called "ugly" by the boy she confessed, and now had become a gloomy, agoraphobic, horror movie lover, fashion-illiterate reclusive girl, who tends to break into explosive nosebleeds whenever she sees anyone attractive; this was more than what they expected, they needed a miracle to succeed in their mission for the free rent…

         This story is really interesting: full of comedy, also of romance. At first what would make you laugh is the reaction the bishounen had when they saw Sunako(the lady's niece), and then of what they do trying to turn her a lady and integrate her into the high society life, or what she does when she is excited or angry, her reactions are also really weird and funny. I love this manga almost as much as One Piece, is really one of my favorites >-< . The genres of this comic are Shoujo, Harem, Slice of life, Comedy, Romance, and School Life. The plot gets more and more interesting as chapters passes and it is not the typical comedy or stupid love story you will always see, you can't even be sure if there is really love, but in anyway you will have a good time reading this manga, thou it is a bit large. :D

         There’s also anime and dorama of this manga, but is much shorter and haven't obviously the whole story that you might misunderstand something; the manga have published right now 112 chapters of at least 40 pages each, and the anime have a little bit more of 20 episodes. I don't know much about he dorama, but when I just watched the first episode I didn't wanted to watch anymore, it changed the original mangaka's story :S (example: the rich lady had a son, which in the manga isn't true, because then the heir of all her richness would be the son, not the niece). Also in the manga, the mangaka tells you some of her experience and tells you about her little cute cat, which she adores really much (some of her experiences will make you want to make a facepalm, the reasons have to be inferred from what you may read).

Well, that's all for now, I wish you liked this post.

Have nice and relaxed weekend, (mine is going to be stressful)

Goodbye, GBU!   ^.^　ありがとうございました！

Sunako hits Kyouhei. Takenaga, Yuki and Ranmaru tries to stop her.

Manga: Working!!

Hello world! ,

How are you? I wish you are healthy and well rested, because I'm really tired. I think I'll become insane one of these days TT.TT, I really need and want to take a rest.

Anyway, let's continue.

Today as the past weeks I'm going to present you another comic, Working!!(ワーキング！) created by Takatsu Karino; This is a 4-Koma manga, which means that is a four celling Japanese Comedy Comic, yeah!!! (Those manga maybe at first are a little hard to read, but they are really cool and fun.) x3 This story is a weird one, but believe me, you will laugh like crazy :D :

   Takanashi Souta, a young man of 17 years old, was looking for job. He is recruited by the cute Taneshima Poplar in the streets to work on a familiar restaurant named Wagnaria, and now he must learn to adjust to his brand new job. In his new work none of the coworkers are what can be classified as "normal people": a cute little senpai with the obsesion of becoming bigger, a bully and suborner chef, a girl with androphobia and hits men when she see them, a manager who does nothing but eating, a waitress that always carry a katana(samurai sword) with her, a girl with the obsession of not be seeing as abnormal by others, a fawning girl with mysterious aura, a general manager who is always absent because he's searching for his wife, and a chef who seems to be emotionless; also Souta is not normal, he have a weird obsession with cute little things.

      Some of the characters are not introduced since the beginning, but as the story develops. :P This manga is more about the working life than of Takanashi own personal life(like most mangas), that there's even a moment when you'll ask yourself who is the main character of the story n.n?? . Other character that appear frequently are Souta's four sisters (a lawyer, a novelist, a drunk woman, and an elementary school girl) from whom he was ashamed of being family. xD As time passes with Takanashi working at Wagnaria, there happen lots of interesting events in which comedy, romance, and irony take place. The genres of this manga are Seinen, Slice of life, and Comedy(obviously). OɜO

       This manga is not really famous, instead is more famous the anime from this manga, but as I prefer to read than to watch TV, I read the manga. As I've said that its genre is comedy, this is what made this manga famous, because some situations that occur at Wagnaria are just so stupid and laughable; and other thing I'd said is that there's a point in which you'll ask yourself "who is the main character?", most of the people that had watched the anime thinks that Inami is the main character and not Takanashi(if you read the manga or watch the anime you'll know why –w– ), that's why it is confusing to read this kind of mangas. Other thing that can help you and guide you throughout the story is reading the mangaka notes, those can be found at the end or at the mere beginning of each volume, and usually have a chibi version that the mangaka made of himself/herself. 

It is all for today, have a nice weekend, 

Goodbye, GBU. 　さようならみんな！ :)

Manhua: Knight Princess

Hi everybody!!!

How are you all?, I wish you are all fine and healthy ^ᴗ^ (I’m sick right now ¬¬)

            Today, in difference to the other days, I'm going to finally present you a Manhua from China, remember that also Vietnamese and Thai comics are called Manhuas. :D

The Manhua I'm going to present you today is… Knight Princess(Qishi Gongzhu; 騎士公主; 骑士公主) also known as Cavalier Princess, written and drawn by Cen Xiao Jing.

Qui Shi Gong Zhu first volume cover

The environment in which this story is developed is a beautiful and fantastic world created by its Mangaka, in the palace of a country named Bocinia with an Arabian architecture and dressing, but at the same time with oriental traditions from China:

            Yanshi is a girl that had wandered with her father for fourteen years, and just recently has discovered that her mother is actually Bocinia's current queen, she was separated from her when she was just an infant. Now, in order to see her mother, Yanshi and her father enter the palace, but not in a normal way: she entered disguising herself as a boy, working as bodyguard, and her father crossdressed, working as a maid; however, she never thought that she would run into the Princess of Bocinia, and then become her bodyguard by mistake… OɜO

Principal characters as children

            The genres of this Manhua are Shoujo, Drama, Comedy, Fantasy, Historical, Romance, and Gender Bender.  With regard to the characters, in the beginning is just Yashi and her father, when they finally got into the palace more characters take place in the story, some of them also becoming very important in the developing of the plot (like Abelie, Salsuke, and Archie), making romance take place in this story.  e.a

            This Manhua caught my attention since the moment I saw the summary from the a manga web page, this is the first Manhua I had read, it is really interesting, a good story with good drawings, and also it caught my attention because the drawing style from this Chinese comic looks somehow like the drawing style of Tanemura Arina(a japanese Mangaka), it made me remember Sakura-hime Kaden, xD .  The story is really cool and beautiful, since you start reading it, you won't stop reading it. >-<

If you are interested in Asian Comics, this is one of the best options to start, because is really short, sadly it is short because the Mangaka had some personal problems and  was in a emotional depression  –_– ᵁ , so they stopped to release the comic, and the end of the story was published as a novel, and you can find various translations of the summary of the end at Mangafox.com forum(Knight Princess Important News, page 8).

 

The two princess and their knights(names from left to right):
Yashi-Salsuke , Archie-Abelie

Thanks for reading, I wish you had liked it,

Goodbye, GBU, have a nice day~! :3