Review: Idol Dreams 1

So, I am now continuing the madness of my attempts at reviews. First up on the slab is Idol Dreams, our now yearly release series of filler manga, since it’s one of those series that progress from “this is okay” to “oh dear god, I need more”, which I really love in this series.

Idol Dreams follows the story of 31 year old Chikage Deguchi, who has gone from most popular girl in school to reclusive, withdrawn and gloomy lass who wish she was more adventurous. After trying to remove herself, she is saved by Tokita who offers her a medicine that gives her a chance to relive being 15. She grabs this and while enjoying being 15 again, ends up modeling, pursuing a life of being an Idol.

I’m going to start off with an old rant, who cares if she’s a virgin, it’s not a bad thing nor really contributing to the series as a whole. It’s nothing to bring up often nor be ashamed about. Now that this is out of my system, let’s go back to rambling about the series named Idol Dreams.

I don’t mind Deguchi but at times I have conflicted feelings since I can relate to her a bit. I do at times feel like other characters are a bit hard on her due to not being what they want from a woman, then again, probably need that as a motivator to instigate change within her again. She is awkward at the change of things at first but seems to really embrace it to the point she tries so hard at modelling and performing.

Tokita is a really sweet character who was a really reserved gloomy young man in his youth. It’s cute how he still holds a candle for Deguchi after all these years, despite having a girlfriend. I hope cheating doesn’t become a theme since it’s something I don’t enjoy in any sense.

Then we have Hibiki, the 15 year old child prodigy who is quite the tsundere who seems to have a grudge at being seen as a prodigy, since everyone praises him highly for all the hard work he puts into everything. He use to annoy me until I realise that deep down he is a passionate and determined young man who expects the best from himself and others around him.

The main theme of the story is about reliving your youth.
It is surely nothing I aspire for since I didn’t overly enjoy my life at that age but wouldn’t mind being more confident in myself unlike I was back then. Which is what I feel like may occur within this series.

I do enjoy seeing how Akari (15 year old Chikage) trying to perform despite never doing it before since she seemed to have once lacked the confidence. I really love seeing that aspect. I enjoy idol series like this, Skip Beat and Ossan Idol!, I really cannot wait to read more.

So if you want to check it out, go visit Book Depository for copies.

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Review: Her Royal Highness seems to be Angry

Welcome everynyan to the newest review on the most terribly boring and written blog in the blogosphere.

We have a brand new series on the slab today~!
Today, we present a new Tokyopop title named Her Royal Highness seems to be Angry, an ongoing 3 volume Isekai with a Shonen demographic and a female lead.

The gist of the story is simple, we have a lovely princess from another time, going 1,000 years into the future, almost like Final Fantasy X, where the world has changed, the places she knew is gone. Once she was beloved by all, looking at happiness with the man she loves and only ends up in another place, in a new body, where everyone either fears or despises her.

Now if we go into detail, we start off in remote village, starting to thrive and meet Letty, a Princess beloved by all, working hard with the people and falling in love with Nao, a character I believe originally was Isekai into that place as well.

I felt like I was crawling at the beginning but once it hit the dark underbelly, I felt like it moved quickly to get the reader into the meat of the story. This part basically helps the reader understand the world as it once was before being booted into the future where it is very different to what she once knew.

So, by time we hit the next chapter, it went from this soft, sweet story and into a dark battle, where death is abundant and it was delightful, the art became heavier, it gave me vibes of Prince Freya, which I felt like it had similar themes and intenisty that makes me want to keep going back and reading more of it. Sadly, both series come with a waiting period between each installation to the series.

I did like the fact that, how Letty moves to the new place is not a common method of Isekai but it reminds me of another series where they took their own life but I don’t recall the title. I did really find it delightful, not gonna lie about that.
I also hope that the whole “once loved, now hated but a little change and suddenly loved like before” takes a slow to medium burn since other series have those quick transitions where I feel like the change is not that impact on me as the reader. I feel like this series may take it’s time and I look forward to it, hoping it happens like that.

I am most excited to seeing what did Drossell did before Letty came into her body and Letty is left wondering “what in the hell did you do!?” like the readers, that’s one of the most entertaining aspects, closely followed by seeing possible friendships, the truth about everything that is happening. It’s dark and I am living for this.
There is so many questions with so few answers and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Even though I shouldn’t jump so quickly, like I tend to do but this series is worth checking out, especially if you enjoy Isekai with female leads and a deep story line and gorgeous art. It is nice, soft and gives me such a Shojo feel despite it being a Shonen but it does have deep, dark Shonen moments which is a beautiful balance.
I cannot wait to see many of the intense light and deep darkness within it’s pages. I am so glad that Tokyo Pop picked it up. I do enjoy some of their works, all are worth looking into.

Feel free to check it out at places like Book Depository, since it’s where I got my copy and it was here within a week, which is a great bonus and balance for the price we sometimes look at for the product.

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