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This is definitely one of those series where my main reaction while reading it is, “Hahah only in shoujo manga!” This series is so silly and cracktastic, I kind of wonder what was going through the author’s mind while working on it. I think some of the random twists in this were thrown in for the heck of it. I enjoyed volume 1 of this ridiculous story, and look forward to see how far the story can develop. It’s really kind of a one-joke setup, so I can’t imagine it extending for very long, but who knows.

Anyway, this is the story of average high school girl, KOMACHI Kanade. While she is drawn very cutely, with long twin-tails and sparkles, the mean girls at school call her plain. It’s hard to tell if she really is, given teh way she’s drawn, but then again, everyone in this series is drawn cute. The author’s style is delicate and sparkly. Kanade doesn’t have a boyfriend, and has never been in love. Perhaps it is because she has high standards. After all, no real guys can match up to the ones in shoujo manga. Kanade is a big shoujo manga fan, and her current favorite series is one called “Hachimitsu Baby.” The guy in that series is so great! Kanade’s friends humor her romantic daydreaming and think she’s cute. They hope she can find a boyfriend.

Therefore, when a new boy transfers to their class, a new, TOTALLY HOT boy, Kanade is dazzled. He looks like a shoujo manga prince! This guy, MIYAHARA Hyuuga, is tall and sparkly, and cool. Naturally, he’s good at sports, and all the other girls at school quickly fall for him. Kanade also has her first crush on him when he discovers her love for “Hachimitsu Baby” and doesn’t make fun of her for it like all the mean girls do. Everything about Hyuuga seems so perfect!

Eager to help Kanade, her friends encourage her to write Hyuuga a love letter and make her big confession. Kanade is nervous (what could such a popular guy see in someone plain like her) but she gathers her courage and prepares for her big confession. She has her love letter in hand and a copy of her favorite manga to give to him as an expression of her feelings. Unfortunately, before she can give these items to him, Kanade is intercepted by the mean girls, who make fun of her for daring to confess to Mr. Popularity.

But just like in a scene from shoujo manga, Hyuuga appears to rescue Kanade right at the nick of time! He yells at the mean girls and, to everyone’s shock (as this whole scene plays out right on the school grounds where the whole school is watching the drama) Hyuuga accepts Kanade’s love confession and asks her to go out with him!

Ah, it’s a miracle! A real shoujo-manga experience! Could this actually be happening?! It seems to amazing and perfect to be true! …. and that’s exactly the case. It IS too perfect to be true. You see, as soon as Hyuuga accepts Kanade’s confession, and she agrees to go out with him, he makes a sudden startling revelation– he is actually the author of the “Hachimitsu Baby” manga! And you see all those flowers and sparkles that appeared in teh air during their big scene? He provided those with a box of flowers and a battery-powered fan :) Hyuuga likes Kanade, for sure. In fact, he likes her more than she might actually be comfortable with. As the new couple walks across campus, he opens his jacket to reveal it’s lined with dozens of candid photos of Kanade! Where did he get those? Er, well, it turns out that in spite of his sparkly prince exterior, Hyuuga is a total Kanade fan and STALKER. He takes secret photos of her every day, and his bedroom at home is plastered with posters, dolls, and hand-crafted Kanade goods. ACK!

What was, moments ago, an amazing, shoujo-manga scene, has quickly turned extremely awkward. All the mean girls, who had not wanted Kanade to confess, now pity her and her situation. Hyuuga the hottie is a hentai! HE is extremely devoted to her though, and is totally excited that she is a fan of his manga. He clings to her and follows at her heels like a puppy.

What is Kanade going to do now, with a stalker pervert for a boyfriend?

This situation in real life would be awful and creepy, but in this manga, it’s drawn very funny and cute. Hyuuga nosebleeds in a funny way, and his total change from hot prince to Kanade-otaku is very silly. He is such an over-the-top character, and would obviously not deliberately do anything to hurt her. The art style alternates from delicate sparkly shoujo, to cartoony super-deformed, with some 70′s shoujo parody thrown in for good measure. Hyuuga IS a shoujo mangaka, after all! He knows the value of roses and sparkles :) While I have read manga where the guy turns out to be a shoujo mangaka before, this is the first one I’ve read where the guy is also so crazy. Oh, and should I mention he has a twin? How random! Anyway, this is volume 1 of a continuing series.

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I picked up this series because it looked like it might be a bit more ecchi than it turned out to be ^_^; Alas, no smut here, but the story is cute, and, at 2-volumes long, it’s a fast read. I don’t know much about this author. I’ve seen a few of their short stories in some anthology volumes, but I think this might be their first stand-alone story. I really like the covers on both volumes — very eye-catching! This was somewhat difficult to get through, as many of the characters have accents.

The story begins with a flashback. As a child, our heroine, Akane, had a very traumatic experience. You see, one day when her family was visiting a kimono shop, Akane tried on a kimono, but a boy a little over than Akane taunted her. He laughed, saying she looked like a Kokeshi doll. He was so mean that Akane cried all day, and ever since that time, she hated that boy, YANAGI Rita, and hated all kimono.

Flash forward 10 years, and Akane finds herself once again back at that kimono shop. This time she is coming to live there as a free-loader. Akane is not looking forward to meeting Rita again, and sure enough, he hasn’t changed much in 10 years. Sure, he’s totally hot, but he is also still a jerk who, even after all these years, calls her Kokeshi-chan. Akane wants nothing to do with Rita, but it turns out that he is the heir to the kimono shop, and will eventually take over running it once he finishes university. Because Rita has such a mischievous personality (even his family admits this), they have a favor to ask of Akane — can she look after Rita and try to keep him out of trouble? Naturally, this does not sound like a great idea to Akane, but after being reminded that she’s being allowed to live there as a free-loader, she really has no choice to but to do as she’s asked.

Her task proves is a challenging one, as Rita is very handsome and charismatic. He is also extremely talented when it comes to selecting kimonos for customers and dressing the women. His good looks and suave public personality (not to mention his status as heir to the shop) make him quite a good catch, so of course women flock around him. In particular, there is a beautiful daughter from a local wealthy family that may or may not be engaged to Rita.

Even though Akane still feels the trauma from her childhood encounter with Rita, now she finds herself drawn to him. She even allows him to dress her in a kimono. After gaining some new perspective to his behavior when they were kids, she begins to see him in a new light. Could she be falling for him? But he is still so flirty and mischievous! How does he feel about her? Akane is a several years younger than Rita, and he treats her like a child. Or, even worse — as a doll to dress up. And what about the girl he might be engaged to? She is much prettier than Akane.

Rita is a very difficult-to-handle kind of guy. His behavior bounces from hot to cold, romantic to brotherly. Sometimes he seems to see Akane as a girl, and other times he seems to see her as a plaything. It’s hard to tell how he really feels!

This series is a decent read. Both Akane and Rita are annoying at times- she bursts into tears a bit too easily, and he keeps sending mixed signals, but I still enjoyed this story. It spans 2 volumes, with the main story filling 2/3 of each book. Each volume has an unrelated side story at the end, and I has happily surprised to see that the random story in volume 2 is a boys love story. You don’t see that very often in books that aren’t specifically BL-themed. The art in this series alternates between clean/detailed, and messy/cluttered. I will say that all the kimono are pretty, and I love the scenes that show Rita dressing people in kimono. He looks very sexy there :)

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I was kind of hypnotized by the eyes of the girl on this cover into buying it. Look at those yes, all big and blue and unblinking. @_@ I was also attracted by the title. Their Secret? Ooh, I like secrets! There is an English blurb on the cover that says “What Makes Two Of Us.” I am not sure what they were going for with that, but regardless, my flimsy willpower broke, and I bought the manga. And hey, this is by the same author as Hitsuji ga Ippiki,” another title I really enjoyed! Ok, I’m sold! This is the first volume of a 3-volume series. The main story here takes up the whole book. Guess what the secret is? It’s a body-swapping secret! Woo!

Our heroine is the very petite and cute Kiki, who is a high school student and model. She is very busy with her work, but she loves it. These days she can be seen in a bunch of ads for some candy. Even though she loves her work and is reasonably popular, all is not smooth sailing for Kiki. Her unusual job has created a weird atmosphere for her at school. She gets a lot of attention, both good and bad. On one hand, there are her fans, who squeal a lot (the girls) or drool a lot and fill up her locker with love letters (the boys). But she also has her anti-fans, girls who for some reason (jealousy, perhaps) like to make cutting remarks about Kiki from a distance just near enough for Kiki to overhear. It’s petty and mean. Fortunately, Kiki does have a few close friends, including her classmates Risa and Mirei.

There is a boy at school that Kiki likes, one who doesn’t act like a drooling fanboy around her, and isn’t mean, either. He treats her like a normal person, and even helps her out of some tricky situations. Unfortunately, Kiki is too shy to really do anything about her crush. She wonders if perhaps her school’s legendary mirror could help. The school legend says that if a couple kisses in front of the mirror, their souls will entwine (or something to that effect). Essentially, they will be together. Kiki blushes at the thought, embarrassed to even think of herself and Takumi kissing in front of the mirror.

One fateful day after school, at a fateful time, Kiki is at school near the staircase where the legendary mirror is. She’s in a hurry, but stops when something large lands right on top of her and knocks her to the ground…wait, not something… someONE! Who? Ah, it’s Teppei, Takumi’s best friend! He had also been at the top of the staircase where the mirror is, and slipped on some spilled water, falling from the stairs and landing on Kiki.

Kiki doesn’t know Teppei very well. He also helped her out once by saving her from a stray baseball that crashed through a classroom window, but he is otherwise a very quiet guy. He’s a mystery to Kiki, but not for long! Both parties are stunned because, as in true shoujo manga fashion, they didn’t just collide; they collided with a KISS! Yes, when Teppei landed on top of Kiki, his lips landed on hers. As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough, something strange happens after their liplock. Kiki feels really weird, and Teppei looks confused too. What’s happening? Wait, why is she looking at herself as if she’s somewhere else? Hey, this isn’t her body! Wait, they were in front of the legendary mirror! Plus, there was also an extra pane of glass there waiting to be used to repair the classroom window broken by the baseball. Their reflection in the mirror reflected back again in the glass. Did it really…?

Yeah, thanks to this collision in the hallway and just the right time, and in front of that mirror, Kiki and Teppei have switched bodies! Oh, how awkward! How will they be able to switch back? Will Kiki have to live as Teppei forever? What about the guy she likes? Teppei isn’t thrilled either. In fact, he has a girl he likes too – Kiki’s best friend Mirei! This body switching will certainly make any thoughts of romance awkward! But wait, perhaps this can work to their benefit. Kiki is now Teppei, who is Takumi’s best friend. Teppei is now Kiki, who is Mirei’s best friend. It’s a great opportunity to be close to the person they like! But how will Kiki and Teppei manage to act out their roles when they barely know each other! And how long will this situation last? They discover that they can swicth back when they touch each other, but the moment they break contact, they switch bodies again. Doh. Therefore, Kiki and Teppei spend a suspicious amount of time around each other, often holding hands. Oh no, this will give people the wrong impression!

Poor Kiki, what an awkward situation! Will she ever be able to return to her own body for good? In the meantime, will she be able to act like a boy? Plus, she has her modelling and commercials to do; will Teppei be able to do her work? How can she stand being around Takumi? And Teppei is now in HER body! Ack! Let the adventure begin!

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