Manga Review: Ashita no Ousama

Ashita no Ousama
Mangaka/Author: Yachi Emiko
Japanese Josei manga
scanslated by Wingtipcafe
Chpter downloads at website or you can find it on OneManga
http://wingtipcafe.com/en/?page_id=55

The Story:
Yuu a very plain girl from the country gets dragged along to see a play by a classmate. She ends up falling in love with the theater and is determined to become an actress. After getting accepted by a theater troupe as an odd-job girl she starts learning about the theater. The story continues with Yuu learning about what she wants from the theater and there is a romance blooming between Yuu and the actor that inspired her to join the theater.

The characterizations of the various characters are good and it is so nice to see a mature cast instead of teenagers. I enjoyed how it showed Yuu fantasizing about a relationship and knowing that is is fantasy. The bit about unrequited love was also spot on. ^_^

Artwise it uses a lot more backgrounds then I see in shojo today. I gulped this series down so fast that I didn't really notice much about the detail in the art but what I did notice was good.

Manga Review: The Changelings (The Change)

The Changelings
by YAMAUCHI Naomi / HIMURO Saeko
Chps 1-10
Scanslated by Wingtipcafe

This is the story of a brother and sister who crossdress. The sister because she acted like a boy and the brother because his mother believed that he would die if brought up as a boy. Life goes on for them until female Kira runs away because her father doesn't want her to have a boys coming of age ceremony. Then she gets called to court and of course everyone loves her. Stuff happens and her brother Kira comes to court as a female to be the companion of the crown prince.

The plot of this isn't that strong and the character's aren't the greatest. The best part of this series is how matter of factly they treat the fact that more than one wife was expected and the little details on how their lives worked. I have no idea how accurately those details were, but they are what made me keep reading the series. The art (technical skills) isn't that strong but it did a good job of expressing the story.