remember this guy: He's the creator of the manga series "Miki Falls" It's not very easy to find in bookstores. Luckily I found it at Borders today, along with Fruits Basket vol.20, and Kodocha vol.9.

On the Miki Falls front...

So far "Miki Falls" is proving to be as interesting as the author stated. After reading the sample on Mr. Crilley's page, I decided that maybe I should check the manga out. I've only read maybe less than 1/4 of the book so far, but it's entertaining.

I suppose it's contains a lot of shoujo. So on that note:

The male protagonist: Hiro Sakurai. Let me first say that most male protagonists in Shoujo manga are very mean, hot-headed and cruel at the beginning of a lot of the mangas. This is usually due to something that happened to them in their past of just part of their persona. And then this female protagonist comes along and 'helps' him, as well as falling in love with him. So he's a better person in the end and has a girl. While this can be a fun thing to watch in a manga, it get's very annoying due to the many authors that use this element. ((many of these authors don't do a good job at this either.))

Hiro, seems very solitary and mean at the beginning of the manga. But you can tell that he doesn't want to be and that it's not in his nature. As for a twisted past I don't know ((I haven't read that far yet)) And while Miki is trying to reach out it seems that he's interested and not royally irritated as the regular bullhead ((pissed-off-shoujo-male-protagonist)) Basically he's not a pain in the butt.

The only thing that bugs me about this manga is the fact that we have a girl trying to go after a guy that doesn't want her around. However there is something in this fact that sheds light on the manga- because Hiro wants her around...he just can't have her. Why? Go out and buy the book and find out

I like where this is going though. I look forward to reading the rest of it.

Edit
OMG finished it! It got even more interesting at the end. And it's proved to be incredibly creative- especially Hiro- not you're average boy. While he may start out seemingly...like other shoujo boys, he really blooms at the end and shows off his colors. It's certainly not like the others. I think the art and the ideas mixed together gives a different view on manga ((a more cozy feeling for me.))

Check it out. If you can't find it, then you'll have to order it.

on the Fruits Basket front...

Fruits Basket is my all time favorite manga. So this review could possibly be biased.

Either way, this volume is just as fun as all the others and just as tear jerking, not just because of sad moments but because of how beautifully the artist put things together and developed the characters.

Remember the bullheads we just talked about? Well, this manga series has at least one of those. However the way she made him grow, how much time she gave him and the events that helped him become the Kyo Sohma we see in volume 20 is what makes him unlike all of the other bullheads out there.

I had a thought a while back though...have you noticed that in that manga everybody is a mary-sue? ((fanfiction term.)) It doesn't really matter to me that much. And I think what sets these characters apart from mary-sues is that the characters act like normal human beings ((aside from being cursed)) and they certainly aren't like by everyone and they all have flaws.

Mary-sues are generally perfect beings with horrid pasts, powers, loved by everyone, usually good looking and such. And while the Furuba characters have sad pasts, they don't carry all the mary-sue traits. Not only that, but Ms. Takaya has set things out so well that we watch them grow into better people and stuff like that, we hardly really notice this- which truly makes Fruits Basket an amazing story.

I hope I didn't just beat the crap out of anything other than the keyboard.

If you haven't checked out either of these tales, then I recommend that you do.

TTYL