there it is, plain as daylight.

This is a going to be a pretty strange little entry, I think, consisting mainly of bunnies and boys’ love. First of all, my husband took new photos of our bunny, Kino, the other day, and I wanted to share because, well, bunny. You can see them here on flickr. My favorite is this one.

I was going to ask for people’s opinions as manga fans on NY Comic Con, because I thought I might go, but then I realized that it is on the same weekend as UPTAs this year, which I am committed to attend for work. Very sad!

So, okay, boys’ love manga. I know I always say I’m not really a fan, and then I end up talking about it anyway. It just so happens that in the past week or so, I’ve ended up reading one of the nicest BL volumes I’ve personally read, and one of the worst. I won’t talk about the worst right now, because I’ll eventually be writing a review of it for Manga Recon. The other, though, I will discuss a little.

The book is Hinako Takanaga’s You Will Fall in Love, which I first became aware of thanks to Johanna Draper Carlson’s very thoughtful review at the beginning of the month. Her review is really right on, and there isn’t much I can add to that, except to say that what it really made me wish for was more of itself. I don’t mean more stories like it (though that would be fine too), but rather I wish it could have played itself out over a longer period, so that the characters and their relationships could have been more fully developed.

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I’ve been a bit stressed and over-taxed lately, and I keep sitting down to try to write something vaguely intelligent about manga for this blog, but as I’ve been pretty wrapped up in Nana lately, everything seems to come out as, “Ode to Nobu.” Heh. This is why I don’t write reviews. I can write passionately about certain aspects of a manga, but I fail at well-rounded, critical writing.

In lieu of brilliant reviews or scintillating commentary, I instead offer up a photo of my husband’s (early) birthday present. It will slay you all with its cuteness and make you forget what this entry sorely lacks.

Her name is Kino.

This also does not amount to “scintillating commentary,” but I guess I will talk a moment about Tsubasa chapter 201 and xxxHolic chapter 167 since they are receiving a sound thrashing in most corners of the internet I frequent, and I’m a bit perplexed about that.

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