January Manga of the Month (MOTM)

 

Wanko/Inugamihime ni Kuchizuke by Miyata Kouji

Genre: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Romance, Seinen, Supernatural

Status: Complete, 24 Chapters scanlated

 Just a heads up, although it's considered ecchi, it's nothing crazy like those panty flashing in the regular shounen but instead this tag is mainly because of the sensual kisses that our main couple share. I gotta say, I totally dig it and I absolutely loved it because it was sweet and sensual but cute at the same time. Nothing OTT. As someone had commented before, it is steamy without being lewd and that's the best way to describe the romantic scenes.

Anyway, the story revolves around Kazura (girl above) who essentially changes places with the dog spirit that resides within her whenever she kisses her boss (guy above) in order to exorcise evil spirits and demons creating havoc in this world. Since it takes more of a comedic take, there's nothing too serious about the capturing of demons (besides the ending) but they are all quite emotional.

It's always fun to see how the main couple interact especially when the dog spirit takes over and then she wakes up and realises that she's licking her boss' face lmao. The side characters are also very enjoyable since although their personalities are cliche, they are fun and helpful to advancing our couple's expression of love to each other. The pacing of the story and the conflicts that led up to the ultimate one they needed to solve was done really well. It's a very short manga but a very enjoyable one nevertheless.

Since it involves exorcism, there is some good action here and there and I love how well the mangaka balances the action, romance and comedy because a little dose of everything each chapter made it interesting and lovely at the same time. I thought Kazura embarrassed by what Bentengou (the dog spirit) does every time with her body to be so funny most of the time hahaha.

It's saddening that Miyata Kouji had passed away in 2015 but I really enjoyed this series and I'm very glad to have been able to read it.

January Anime of the Month (AOTM)

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Genre: Action, Military, Adventure, Drama, Magic, Fantasy, Shounen

Episodes: 64 (Finished airing)

Well, well, this is a hard one to not know, though I have to be honest that I have never watched this until last year haha. I did watch most of the 2003 version though as a kid though so that was what made me like Fullmetal Alchemist in the first place. So, even though it may not have followed the manga faithfully to the end (since they caught up to the manga and made up the rest), I still enjoyed the 2003 version very much.

Fullmetal Alchemist follows the Elric brothers Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric who are searching for the Philosopher's stone to recover their original bodies. Due to an irreversible decision (forbidden act of alchemy) they made as children, Edward's leg and Al's whole body was sacrificed in the name of equivalent exchange for what they tried to use alchemy to create. In order to at least get Al's soul back, Ed lost his arm and transmuted Al's soul to a piece of armour. As they search for it, they discover that the war between Amestrians and Ishvalans, the Philosopher's stone and the military are connected intricately making things very difficult to handle.

There's a nice bit of comedy here and there but doesn't detract from the story which makes it very nice. The Ishvalan war was probably the event that engaged me most because of the scar it left in all the characters that participated and didn't participate. It was a huge event that drives a lot of the story and quite possibly the motivation of our adult characters as well. The homunculus weren't the most amusing but I did enjoy that despite all the things they did, they all had very simple wishes that spiralled into this destruction.

To be honest, although FMA is ranked #3 in MyAnimeList, content-wise I have to admit that it wasn't the most interesting, but that is my preference simply because I personally wasn't very engaged in the whole Philosopher's stone plot itself. However, I did very much enjoy the characters, the fight scenes and the emotions that were shown. It's hard to pick favourite characters since they were all developed very well and portrayed very relatably. If I had to choose though, Mustang and Scar would be the most meaningful characters in that Scar's revenge and story was cliche but done very well and Mustang was someone you can't help but not love since you can see how much he cares for his subordinates. He's a wonderful leader.

Shao May (the tiny panda) was soo adorable though. Oh, and May Chang and Ling Yao are my favourite side characters (because they're cool, funny, cute and I like their growth and conviction towards protecting their respective clans) besides Winry. Winry has always been one of my top favourite female main characters in Shounen after all so it's really hard to not like her, especially since she dedicates her life to making and repairing Ed's and others' automail and she always has the hard job of always waiting for the Elric brothers to come back, not knowing if they're safe or not. Ed's proposal to her was the cutest thing everrr! Hahaha!

Anywho, I do recommend this and love it even though it's not the most interesting (for me), I really enjoyed the motivations of our characters and how everything aligned together so well to create the bonds that they had and have. Ending was cliche but enjoyable as well. The emotions of each and every character, even the villains were portrayed very well. It's a simple story executed very well and I guess that's what I loved about it. Van Hohenheim's story was a good one too, especially with Trisha's last words to him. I still feel so sad over Hughes though sigh.

I didn't mention anything about the Elric brothers! Hahaha. Well, they're good characters but they don't stand out for me even though I do like them. Although I did keep thinking about Oosaki Nana in NANA from Ed's voice though haha. They're classic shounen characters with Ed carrying a heavy burden on wanting to restore his brother's physical body no matter what since he was the one who suggested that forbidden act so it was really touching when Ed wanted to ask Al if he hated him for it but wasn't able to because he was scared. It made me tear T_T The emotions run quite real in this story and I probably enjoyed that the most alongside the well executed story.