Volumes: 1/1 (Complete), OOP but not hard to find
Shoujo
Genre: Romance
Summary: This manga is a collection of 3 short stories, with Aquarium being about half the volume and then the other two being much shorter.
Aquarium: Naoka claims to be unhappy about her new high school’s school uniform, but in reality she is unhappy she wasn’t able to get accepted to the same school as her crush. She goes to the local Aquarium to soothe her disappointment and then a boy tries to talk to her. She has him pegged as a player, but is he really?
The Flying Stewardess: Aoki, a fresh high school graduate, has a job many little girls can only dream of- a flight attendant! While dealing with the new found glamour of her job, she bumps into an crush, Egawa. He invites her on a date, but is he really interested in her, or does he just want to brag about dating a flight attendant?
Your Heart is Your Kingdom: Koko, ten years ago, was sitting in church next to her crush Suzuki and heard a sermon that touched her heart- “Your heart is the kingdom God dwells in, and no one can hurt it.” Followed by an explanation of the concept of soulmates. Koko felt then that Suzuki must be her soulmate, but she always tenses up and hasn’t talked to him since. Can she tell Suzuki how she feels before he ends up going out with someone else?
Review: Overall, I think these stories are too old school style in both art and story to be of much interest to modern readers. And the poor editing and printing quality really doesn’t help much either. (It looks like it was Xeroxed…) But fans of the older Shoujo style might enjoy these short stories a bit more, though gotta say they are nothing particularly special.
Aquarium: This story bothered me, there’s a dramatic twist where the main character cuts herself, in an attempt to make the guy leave her alone. It felt like forced drama and manipulative. I think the story was supposed to be about how the main character bottles up all her emotions and unhappiness inside until she explodes, but it just wasn’t done well.
The Flying Stewardess: I kinda liked this one, but the romance was kind of tacked on to the story and then the story ends very suddenly.
Your Heart is Your Kingdom: This was the sweetest of the three stories, but honestly I was put off by the religious feel of it and the soulmates thing. YMMV.
Recommended: Overall these Shoujo stories are not bad, but also kind of not great either. As romance goes, they’re light, fluffy and short.
Rating PG13: Most of this is rather inoffensive but that one scene bumps up the rating, IMO
Other Works by this Mangaka in English (from most to least popular): Call Me Princess, Princess Prince, Just a Girl, Popcorn Romance, Miss Me?,
Let's Stay Together Forever
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