Picture Me Perfect

春を抱いていた

just found out this really great yaoi manga on mangafox.com. Haru Wo Daiteita or 春を抱いていた. its really nice!

DOLLS by Yumiko Kawahara

Different from the other series featured here of a similar name, this series is about these plant dolls sold by a collector. they are called plant dolls because they need sugar cookies and warm milk to survive and maintain its lustrous hair and glowing skin. if you feed it anything else other than the two items, the doll will grow.

this is a shonen series, meaning it is meant for older teen girls (so expect lotsa sappy stories and lovey dovey sob tales between the dolls and their owners.

this series teaches me that sometimes change is not necessarily good. but when change does happen, you have to make it work for you and not lket it run rampant! but this series is kinda hard to get in singapore...

artwork a 6/10 (its graphics are kinda 1980s-1990s. rather old style manga)

cover design a 8 out of 10. the doll pictures in front look really cute, innocent and irresistable!

and a 8/10 for the story plot.

Woo Hoo!!

Please note; more gay stuff coming this way... this time, these are artworks by Shiuko Kano. to those homophobics out there, don't worry these are very, very mild... like tea with too much milk (hate that stuff! might as well drink a glass of warm milk!)

The Count of Monte Cristo (Comte De Monte Cristo)

really good anime that i will recommend to you!!! its about, surprise surprise, the Count Of Monte Cristo. i'm sure you'll know the basic story. if not, here's the severely summarised synopsis;

2 good buddies, the Count and another guy (forgot his name lah!) and a beautiful girl. the Count had to leave them because of the war and he never came back. thinking he was dead, the guy married the girl. unknown to him, the Count is still alive, but was so pissed at the bugger that Revenge consumed his human heart and turned him evil.

the Count then met Albert, the guy's son, on the moon* and befriended him. (*note: this story is set in the distant future and humans have colonised the moon and called the colony Luna and its city centre, Janina)Unknowing who the count is, Albert befriended him (how naive! didn't his mother teach him not to talk to strangers???)

After getting a firm foot on the social circle of Albert and his family, the count started to exact his revenge.

should so watch the anime lah, one for the story (very sad and teary!) and another for the opening theme, We Were Lovers by JJ Burnel. really, really touching! We were Lovers is featured here too!



artwork a 6 out of 10 (its mainly CG, looks like very little "heart" is put into drawing it. but a 6 anyway for its vivid colours and textures)

background design a 7/10 (as above, very vivid skies and buildings, looks way better than the characters itself!)

and a resounding 10/10 for the plot!

DOLL by Mitsukazu Mihara

read another manga series!!! this time its DOLL by Mitsukazu Mihara... i bought the book because the cover is so drop dead gorgeous! her characters all feature the ghotic lolita / lolita / schoolboy look.

its about these human like robots that were designed and sold to the public and these mechas are called dolls. some use them as a personal companions, some as maids and some for sexual gratification. in other words, these dolls can do whatever a human can, only better and more efficient.

the great thing about this manga is that these dolls, no matter how cold, plastic and heartless as they were, managed to touch the lives of their human owners and changed them for the better. there are a few nice fuzzy moments in this manga too.

artwork, i'd give a 8.5 out of a 10

cover design a 10 out of a 10 (for convincing me to buy this manga, which featured FEMALE dolls on the cover!!)

and a resounding 10/10 for the excellent plot!

note to whoever who wishes to buy this series, there is a total of 6 books in the series and i managed to secure only 3 books from Kinokuniya. these, as with FAKE, are printed by TOKYOPOP, an american company. so it takes kinda looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggg for them to come to Singapore.

oh, and even though the pictures above looked suggestive, there is very minimal sexual scenes in them.

FAKE by Sanami Matoh

i've just completed the whole series of FAKE. its a manga done by Sanami Matoh. really, really nice and touching stuff... my eyes were moist for nearly 2/3 the entire time that was devoted to reading the manga.

really recommend it to you, if you are into cops and action. contains yaoi in the last book (book 7) while the rest of the books contain only mild shonen-ai stuff.

artwork, i'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.

cover design a 8 out of 10.

and story plot a 10 out of 10!