Title: Onegai Sensei Author: Taamo Publisher (JP): Shogakukan Imprint: Flower Comics Year: 2008 ISBN (JP): 978-4-09-131897-8 Licensed in North America?: No Also Known As: Publisher (US): ISBN (US): Anime Version? No Live Action? No

Here is another title by Taamo, a mangaka I am starting to like a lot. Once again we have a cover with a distinct delicate style. The colors are light, and the white background makes the cover stand out on the shelf. And hey, with a title like “Onegai Sensei”, how can this not be a teacher-student manga? ^_^ This is a collection of short stories, and the first one is, indeed, about a girl who falls for her teacher. I suppose my only nitpick about this manga is that the girl who falls for her teacher doesn’t actually wear the style of school uniform she is drawn in on the cover. In the story, her uniform has just a white shirt and one of those loose bow tie things. Hrm.

Anyway, story 1 focuses on a girl named Rika who has had a lot of boyfriends. She falls in love very easily, and with many types of guys. However, once they start to like her back, she loses interest and breaks up with him! This unpleasant behavior most likely is the result of her own bad experience being dumped in the past. Now Rika has fallen for someone new- her cram school teacher, Tanabe. Rika does her best to catch his interest, but he is the type to firmly reject any advances from students. Tanabe will not break the teacher-student trust. This is a bit extreme, considering he himself is just a college student and teaching at a cram school is his part-time job, but yay for morals! ^_^ Well, lets see how long he lasts? Rika does not give up, and Tanabe is obviously not indifferent to her. He protects her from some of his obnoxious college friends, after all. But even if she CAN get him, will Rika be satisfied and not break up?

Next is a sweet story about a girl and the rich boy she meets during the summers. It all began when Sueo-chan was a small child. She was a tomboy then, and her family lived in the country. One summer, she meets a boy from a very wealthy family. Tsutsui-kun is proud and arrogant, in spite of the way that the villagers gossip about his family. Sueo-chan is not bothered by Tsutsui-kun’s attitude and becomes his friend. Every summer he arrives in time for a local festival, and as the years pass, they remain friends (even though his arrogant attitude doesn’t change much). But one year when a letter for Sueo arrives instead of Tsutsui, she decides to go and find him. Their class differences and arranged marriages threaten to keep them apart. Will Sueo and Tsutsui find a way to be together?

I really like the last story in this volume, even though is is a bit predictable ^_^ Matsuri-chan is a 17 year-old high school student who almost desperately wants a boyfriend (the princely type that most shoujo manga girls dream about). Just when she has almost given up hope, she meets a strange boy while on her way home. He helps her when she falls, but other than that, he seems to be somewhat surly. When Matsuri introduces herself, he is either reluctant or unable to tell her his name. This annoys her, so she leaves, but as the days pass, she keeps seeing him at the same spot by the river. He doesn’t look to thrilled to see her, but what can she do, this is the road she takes home every day.
Strangely enough, they end up bonding and striking up a friendship when he fends her hands away, claiming that he will turn into a tiger if he is touched by a girl, and they both realize that they are Dragonball fans (LOL)! Matsuri decides to call this strange boy “Tsukutsun” after the character he just imitated. They end up becoming friends and meet every day at that spot by the river. Matsuri begins to really like Tsukutsun, but things get strange when she realizes she is the only one who can see him…