Free Manga!

Woohoo! In the past two days, I have received EIGHT free manga: six for reviewing purposes, from the delightful company Broccoli Books (by the way, broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables- fruit? -green things...). The other two were from the also delightful company Del Rey Manga. I put up the Q-KO-CHAN banner for them, and I WON! They not only sent me volume one, but also volume two! Which is, apparently, the whole series. To thank these wonderful people for saving me $20.90, I will review these two volumes also. I am sooooo excited! Here is a list of all the volumes:
Leave it to Piyoko, volume one of two (?), by Hina.
Yoki Koto Kiku, volume one of maybe one, by Koge-Donbo
Kamui, volumes one through four, by Shingo Nanami
So far, from what I've read, they ALL seem like pretty decent manga. Of course, I haven't read them all yet, so they may all be great! I am very, very excited, as you can tell. Much love to all, especially Broccoli Books and Del Rey Manga! Wow, that was really pluggy. Whatever. Bye!
~Lahela~

Q-KO-CHAN (promo)

This book looks pretty interesting, and there is a promo thing involving showing the banner and stuff... Apparently they will enter me in a drawing for a free volume if I do a couple things for them. So, click on this link: http://www.delreymanga.com/qkochan and look at the banner.
~Lahela~

MeruPuri (review)

Starting off, this is the most gorgeous art I have pretty much ever seen in a manga. Everything is intricately detailed, and all the guys are hot without being too overbearing or TOO pretty. They are pretty, but only just pretty enough.
This is one of the weirdest premises for a story I have ever heard. Here it is in short: Girl meets small boy. Small boy goes home with girl because small boy appears to be lost. Girl feeds small boy and lets small boy sleep in her room. Girl wakes up with a big boy in her bed. Girl freaks out. Small boy has curse that turns him into big boy in the dark. Small boy can only be turned back into small boy with kiss from his beloved maiden... In this case, girl.
Anyway, it's very strange, but, Lord help me, I love it. In normal cases, if a hot prince (which is what the boy turns out to be) fell in love with a normal, everyday girl, whose parents are, of course, not living in the hous at the time, the girl would at least feel flattered. Not Airi, who has dreams of living a simple, poor life, in a house she and her husband build themselves. Apparently, it is much more appealing to live in a cottage-like thing on the plains than a castle in a magical country... Someone for got to clue me in on that.
The story is a bit of a reverse harem, so Airi's got at least three guys after her at one time, and surprisingly, she doesn't enjoy it one bit. Actually, that's not surprising for manga, just real life.
Anyway, the art is beautiful, the story's cute, the guys are hot, and the series is only four volumes, which are all out now. If it weren't for the few confusions and mild unanswered questions of the last volume, I would definitely give this series a ten. (I really like giving tens!) But, since I didn't completely adore how things were wrapped up, I give it probably a 9/10.
~Lahela~

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons (review)

Througout my mildly short life, I have read thousands of books, so if I say a book is good, by God, that book is good! Anyway, Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, by Barbara Cohen and Bahija Lovejoy, is most definitely in my top five.
This story is based on your normal, everyday, cross-dressing Iraqi legend. It's about a poor man with seven daughters and his rich brother with seven sons. Basically, people believed daughters were unlucky, and sons were, and the financial situations of the two brothers simply enforced it. The rich brother is a jerk, and frequently gloats about his wealth to his poor relatives.
The main character, Buran, is the fourth of the seven daughters. She is smart, hates house-work, and loves to play chess with her father. Eventually, the father gets sick, and the family is at a loss about what to do to get by. Of course, Buran suggests to her parents that she dress up like a man, and become a merchant in a far-away city, like her seven male cousins. They think she's out of her mind, but eventually must give in.
She leaves, becomes rich, but then... a complication! She falls in love.
I cannot tell you how much I looooooooove this book. I have forced several friends and relatives to read it, and they have all loved it too. I have had the book since the fifth grade, and the cover is taped on, my dog chewed on the spine, the pages are yellowed, and many are bent because I read it over and over... Well, at least several times a year. The story is told from two perspectives: that of Buran, and that of Mahmud, the Prince of Tyre. (I forgot to mention that. Oops!) Please, please, please read this book! I can almost guarantee that you will never regret it. If I had to rate it, I would give it a 10/10.

About the Blog

A couple years ago, I actually did have a blog, but it kind of sputtered and died, because it was a group blog, and people changed the password, and forgot, and other stuff. Anyway, I am starting another, mostly just to see how things work out.
About the name: My grandmother was born in the Philippines, and lived in Hawaii, which was where my mom was born. So, I basically grew up exposed to Japanese food. You may think that this makes no sense, but the Hawaiian people are mostly Filipino, while the food is mostly Japanese, with some purely Hawaiian stuff thrown in. Since a young age, I've known how to make sushi, fried rice, onigiri (rice balls), and some Korean foods, like kimchi. For as long as I can remember, I have adored one thing above all: rice candy. It comes in little boxes of six with a tattoo, and can cost anywhere between fifty cents, and a dollar twenty. When you take of the plastic wrap, there is a thin sheet of clear rice paper wrapped around a delicious orange-y colored center. I love that stuff.
Basically, this will be a blog about whatever the heck I want. If I want to vent about the school system, I will; if I want to talk about the dangers of dripping on tile floors (someone, namely me, could slip), I will. But, probably, this blog will be reviews: movies, books, anime, manga, restaurants, theme parks... You name it, I'll review it. Read if you want. I'd be glad if you did, but if not, whatever. Life will go on.
~Lahela~