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Here is a manga that has a very eye-catching cover. The cover and a brief online preview were enough to get me buying this series! I am really enjoying it so far. The artwork is very pretty, and while it does employ several shoujo manga plot devices, I am still very curious about what will happen next. I don’t have anything else by this author, and I look forward to seeing more from her. This manga was a bit difficult for me to read because the characters don’t speak the standard Tokyo dialect. It appears to be some form of Kansai-ben, but I don’t now which one (Osaka, Kyoto, etc). I would guess Kyoto, since the author talks about living there, but I really have no idea. At any rate, it slowed me down a bit 🙂
SENOU Mikuni lives with her single parent mom, and goes to high school every day hoping for some kind of romance (as do most shoujo manga heroines). Her mom works at a university as part of an animal studies department (with an unhealthy obsession with penguins) and is very absorbed in her work, so Mikuni ends up doing most of the cooking and cleaning. At school, Mikuni’s life is average except for the presence of one guy, FUJII Chiho. Mikuni really likes Chiho, even while at the same time calling him an idiot when he teases her. Mikuni’s friends all think it’s pretty obvious that Chiho likes Mikuni, but Mikuni is too clueless to realize it. This is why she is shocked when Chiho passes her a note asking to meet her outside of class, and when they meet, he confesses to her! Yay! Mikuni is thrilled, and life could not be better! She really likes Chiho, and it IS very obvious how much he is devoted to her.
Naturally, this being shoujo manga, things will not be easy for Mikuni and Chiho. Something will try to come between them, and in this case, it’s their teacher! Nishizono-sensei is a handsome guy, if rather serious-looking with his blank expression and glasses. He encounters Chiho and Mikuni about to have their first kiss, and is a rather unwelcome interruption. Nishizono talks with Mikuni afterwards, and rather shockingly predicts that she and Chiho will last about 3 months before they break up. Mikuni, in the midst of new romantic feelings, is not thrilled to hear this unwanted prediction from her teacher. Nor is she happy later on when he restates his prediction, and at the same time makes some advances on her! Mikuni is extremely angry at her ‘sexual harassment’ teacher at this point, but things only go from bad to worse when her mom announces she is going away on work/university-related business, but hey, she is leaving Mikuni in good hands while she is away. Enter… none other than Nishizono-sensei! Thanks to wonderfully clueless mom, Nishizono will be living with Mikuni! It’s great when shoujo manga parents, in their usual habit of totally disappearing so shoujo manga heroines can have all their crazy adventures, actually thinks it’s a bad idea to leave their child all alone. It’s bad when they pick the number 1 threat to their child to take care of them! Ooops…
What should Mikuni do!? How can she actually live with this harassing teacher! What about Chiho! How can she tell him! Chiho is so wonderfully open and honest about what he is thinking and feeling about Mikuni (while being incredibly hot at the same time ^_^;) Mikuni is afraid he will hate her. Meanwhile, what is Nishizono thinking? He has some back history that is hinted at, and an unexpected side-occupation.
So much for Mikuni’s carefree normal high school life!
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