Reading

Topical Tuesday: Characters I Want As Friends

Howdy gang! Everyone doing well? Today, I really want to do a bookish meme… but it’s not a recent one! I missed out on a particular Top Ten Tuesday the past two weeks that I really wanted to take part in. And so, today’s topic is that meme two weeks late: Characters I Wanna Be Friends With. This list is in no particular order, mind you- it’s just in the order I thought of them.

Ana Gram – Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle

I absolutely adore Ana. He’s a great example of ‘looks can be deceiving’. While he often acts as a lackadaisical artist, he’s actually quite bright and is extremely observant and understanding of the human mind. Honestly, though, I just like how innocently he portrays himself- and how dark he can get if things go a bad direction. His punny name also helps.

Nyanko-sensei – Natsume Yuujinchou

Who wouldn’t want to be friends with a greatly powerful yokai stuck in the body of a weird sort of cat? Especially a totally tsundere one? Probably a lot of people, actually… But I think Nyanko-sensei is a great ally, and I’d probably love to pieces having him as a friend. He holds nothing back- but he can be really sweet sometimes too!

Takashi – Natsume Yuujinchou

Natsume Takashi, the titular character, is another guy I’d like to be friends with. He’s a gentle spirit who likes to help others, and he somehow manages to keep up with both the human and spirit worlds. Though he starts out virtually hating yokai, his ability to bring the two worlds together is fascinating as a skill. Again, though, I also just like how he’s a gentle person.

Mayuko – High Rise Invasion

Mayuko Nise is one tough cookie, and one I’d love to have on my side in a fight. She’s a bit too like me in that she has trouble trusting people- but, to be fair, she’s currently stuck in a world where you either die by jumping off a roof or die by being killed by the means of a mysterious race known as angels. Despite the highly volatile situation, she was able to change and trust someone, and that’s just so strong…
It makes me want to learn from her, all in all.

Hades-sensei – Hokenshitsu no Shinigami

Whenever I hear the word ‘Hades’, I never really think of someone I’d like to be friends with. However, Hades-sensei isn’t nearly as scary as his looks may make him seem. Sure, he’s not exactly a normal person- but it’d take a person who’s not so normal to cure people infected by disease demons! I really like how, despite the way he’s seen or treated, Hades-sensei always does his best to help others, even if it often has an awkward and unusual result.

Karuta Roromiya – Inu x Boku SS

Though her yokai form scares me senseless, Karuta in her human form and in her heart is a person I’d love to be friends with. She’s all for sharing food with people she cares for. She’s soft-spoken, but not afraid to speak bluntly when she deems it necessary. I feel like we’d get along in our similarities, and especially our love of snacks.

Hotate – Yamamoto Zenjirou to Moushimasu

Hotate may be a young girl (okay, a lot of the characters are well younger than me, but Hotate’s in grade school for crying out loud!), but she’s a hard worker always trying to help people with her special ability. While she’s dealt with quite a bit of adversity in her life due to it, Hotate doesn’t often blame this power of hers. Instead, she grows to use it to aid others, and even to make a few friends! I’d love to be one of them!

Mayoi – Acchi Kocchi

Mayoi is a very, uh… Unique type of person. She’s a genius in her own right, but she’s also a prankster. You’d think I wouldn’t want to be friendly with someone who can do such things with a straight face, but she’s just trying to get everyone to enjoy themselves in some ways. I like how she always helps start the fun that leads to chaos. I feel like if we were friends, I’d get out more often. xD

Uru – Shiawase Kissa Sanchome

I loved a lot of the characters in Shiawase Kissa Sanchome, but no one beats the heroine, at least to me. Uru is a strong-willed girl with brute strength of unbelievable ability. She likes to meddle into other people’s affairs, but she usually only does it because she means well and wants to help. I feel like we’d get along, because while she can be a bit rowdy, she knows how to slow down for people that can’t keep up. She’s a sweet girl, and she deserves all the happiness in the world- and all the friends, too!

Nozaki – Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Nozaki, like me, is a writer. He can be pretty oblivious at times, like I can, but he tries his hardest to learn from his mistakes. To Nozaki, everything is inspiration. As fellow writers, I think we’d get along really easily, especially through talking shop and bouncing ideas back and forth!

I know this post has gotten pretty long, and I apologize, guys. I just couldn’t help myself- this topic was really fun for me, after all! Still, I’m also just so glad to be back- I’ve been so excited for this, it’s a shame it had to wait until now.

Before you go… Have you read any of the series I noted in this post? What did you like/dislike about the characters I chose? I’d love to hear some characters you want as your besties too! So stick around and at least leave me a note about it. I love your comments! You help me grow, too!

Topical Tuesday: Characters I Can Relate To

Hihi, everyone! Today, I decided to do another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Now, I don’t do a lot of book blogging- or any, really- but I really like some of the topics covered in Top Ten Tuesday, and today’s topic was a freebie as long as it focuses on book characters. I struggled a lot to think of a theme, so a good friend helped me out. So… Today’s theme:

Top Ten Characters (meaning off the top of my head) That I Relate to the Most.

Note that none of this is ‘in order’. It’s just the order I thought of them, mostly based on my manga history on Anime-Planet. Which I haven’t used for ages and really should. That’s not here or there. Let’s get down to it, shall we?

Reason from Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier

Unlike the other nine books, the first character that came to mind when I think of the ones I relate to is from a novel I read in high school or so and never stopped loving: Magic or Madness. I love the book because it gives a modern spin to what magic is, which is something we all have inside ourselves. I mostly feel Reason and I connect because she uses numbers to help her relax. When she’s feeling anxiety driven for any reason, she recites Fibonacci’s sequence. I used to always just count from one to however high I had to in Japanese to relax or deal with time I couldn’t handle. As such, Reason and I related in how we dealt with stress- and I even gained a new way to mix things up a little!

Sasame from Nukoduke by Yugi Iro

Sasame comes from one of my top ten manga that I’ve read. I don’t relate to her in many ways- well, besides the fact we’re both girls- but there’s one thing we do have in common that’s a serious issue… We’re both natural flirts, and are generally to dense to notice it. Sasame has a habit of being assumed a boy because she equally ‘flirts’ with the girls as she does the men. But really, she doesn’t intend to flirt at all. First off, she’s a kitten. A humanoid kitten, but a kitten. Second, she’s just trying to be friendly. It’s just hard to know where that line is!

Hijiri from Yandere Kanojo by Shinobi

In Yandere Kanojo, every character is taken to the extreme in personality. For Hijiri, the thing that’s treated as a joke is that she’s ‘plain’ and ‘normal’. Now, I know for a fact I’m not ‘normal’, but I do often get told I can be plain and boring sometimes. She’s a fairly relaxed sort of character who worries and tries her best to give advice to her friends even if she lacks any background in the topic whatsoever. And that is something I totally get behind myself. It usually backfires though in my case.

Satou from Happy Sugar Life by Tomiyaki Kagisora

Okay, comparing myself to Satou is really freaking scary. If you don’t know why… Go look it up. You’ll understand after a chapter or two why this is not something I want to do normally. That said, Satou’s drive that leads her is partially possessiveness- and I know I have that trait. I get jealous and clingy, and I’m just generally on the obsessed side when it comes to people I care for and the one I love. So, as much as Satou scares the crap out of me, I also kinda get her. Kinda.

Shio from Happy Sugar Life by Tomiyaki Kagisora

Shio isn’t as scary as Satou, aside from her being a little kid that’s totally fine being in love with her kidnapper and whatnot. I mostly relate to Shio in her simplistic happiness. Shio’s always working hard to welcome Satou home after a day of school and work. Shio doesn’t get a choice not to go out unlike me, but that small matter… When I see her waiting for Satou to open the door, I see myself in it. And when she tries so hard she falls asleep waiting? I’ve done that too. It’s just so sweet and relatable!

Hana from Hana to Akuma by Hisamu Oto

Another little girl falling in love with… Well, he’s not really her kidnapper since she was left at his doorstep. What I see myself in with Hana is a love of flowers (and sometimes flower language), but most of all, the fact that she loves Vivi as he is- demon and all. See, my boyfriend likes to say he’s a demon. So, by default, I totally see myself in Hana as she gets older. She’s also a hard worker when it comes to keeping Vivi happy, and I do try my best to cheer people up- though I’m not nearly as good at it as her! She’s sweet and simple, and I like to think I can encompass that too.

Kinjirou from Mayo Chiki by Hajime Asano

Yep, I even relate to guys sometimes everyone! In Kinjirou’s case, it’s mostly because of the fact that he has severe gynophobia, and I grew up with sometimes extremely challenging androphobia. Our phobias are opposites, but we both have/had a severe case. Also he’s the type who’s bad with pressure, which I admittedly am myself.

Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Haruhi is a really well known manga and anime, but no one is more well known than the heroine. Haruhi is from a poor family, a single parent one at that- specifically, it’s just her and her dad in a fairly small apartment. Kinda like me! Also, she likes learning a lot. But the main thing that she and I relate on? Well, due to personal needs, we’re both fairly frugal. We’re both even frugal when it comes to others treating us- she tries so hard to not let all her rich club members do things for her let alone buy expensive things for her, but it still happens. And I tend to do the same.

Gingko from Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara

If you haven’t seen or read Mushishi, I highly recommend you go do that now. To truly understand Gingko is highly implausible, but there’s a simple thing about him that I feel I relate to well: We’re both the types to push people away. He does it regularly, consciously. And while I’m trying to learn not to do that… Well, it’s hard. Also, he can see things most people can’t, which correlates well with my final young lady.

Hotate from Yamamoto Zenjirou to Moushimasu by Youko Maki

While Hotate is a young child, she’s also got a unique ability that I once felt I had: the ability to see ghosts. In my case it turned out to be psychosis, but there’s something similar either way. Not only are we both people who see things others cannot, we’re both in single parent households with our fathers that promote our need to help them. Yes, you read that right: I thought the psychosis was spirits, and I always tried hard to help them. Hotate is always trying to help people, ghost or not, so that everyone can live happier lives. I wish I could help as many people as she can!

As you can see, there’s a fairly wide variety of characters that one can relate to. You can tell gender, species and age aren’t the only things that make characters- or other people for that matter- relatable! It’s the way they treat their relationships, their quirks, their strengths and flaws. I for one see myself in a tiny piece of each and every one of them.

What characters do you feel you connect highly with in books you like? I’d love to hear your view! If you haven’t read some of these before, I highly recommend giving them a shot. Most of them are sweet overall- and a new book is always nice, right? ^^

Topical Tuesday: Top Ten Manga

Hihi! How’s it going guys? Today, I’m shaking things up a bit by doing a book meme for blogs: Top Ten Tuesday. If you’ve been following my Alien Irony Redux Blog, you’ll know I’ve started doing these every so often to spread my wings a bit. Topical Tuesday is still just that: a topic. And this is my topic for today.

So, what is Top Ten Tuesday as a book meme? Well, it’s a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week, we’re meant to share our top ten favorite books of our favorite genre. I know manga have genres, but it’s so hard to choose one genre in it I love… So I’m going to share a variety, telling you things about each one, and hoping maybe you’ll love them too! (Please note, there’s no real hierarchy here. I just wrote it in the way I thought fit best!)

Alive The Final Evolution

This manga, which deals with the concepts of life and death quite uniquely, has to be my favorite manga hands down. I’ve read it at least six times now- and every time, I’ve been enthralled by the characters and the powers they grow to possess. This manga is not for those with weak hearts. There’s a lot of suicide, murder and gore. Honestly, I don’t know how I managed to read it so often. With major twists and turns and an unbelievable fate for the world, this manga is definitely number one in my eyes. Happy Sugar Life

Happy Sugar Life

Don’t let the title fool you- this manga is a psychological horror that cuts deep and displays the danger of pure obsession. The heroine will do anything to keep a young child she adores by her side- kidnapping, murder, literally anything. She wants to maintain her ‘happy sugar life’ with her beloved, even if there were many wrongs going on about it. This story took a lot of confusing turns to me, but they lead me to feel far more inspired and intrigued than I thought they would. The tension, the strong emotional ties- it’s all so… Moving. I almost wanted to cheer on the crazy heroine!

Mushi to Medama to Teddy Bear

Mushi to Medama to Teddy Bear starts off with a sweet but illegal couple being cute- that is, until there’s a surprise attack on the young teenager by another girl. Appearing to be murdered with her eyes gouged out, only to be alive with more blood loss than she should be able to bare. This manga brings a whole new idea to the story of Adam and Eve… and it’s simply amazing, if I’m being honest.

King’s Game: Origin

King’s Game is a well known horror manga… But if you want a really good death game of sorts, King’s Game: Origin, the prequel, is where it’s at to me. Someone called the king leaves a note, and if you don’t obey… Well, bye bye. You’re gonna die in whatever way the note says, whether you like it or not! This prequel really gives you some interesting twists, and shows how stress can lead to insanity and impulsive actions that are dangerous to yourself and around you. It’s just… Amazing. Literally bloody amazing.Dolls Code

Dolls Code

This manga, another psychological horror, focuses on juvenile criminals that have committed some form of a crime. In this detention, however, they have one of their body parts taken from them when they enter the school- for the hero, that happens to be his memories. Supposedly, the part relates to the crime they’ve performed- but that’s not all. The parts were used to create a humanoid doll! With a doll in their midst, the teens must partake in puzzles and games that will test their wits, sanity and more- all to escape from this prison school alive.High Rise Invasion

High Rise Invasion

High Rise Invasion is up there with Alive for me. This piece of speculative fiction follows a young teenager who finds herself waking up in a strange world where only tall buildings exist and the only way you’re allowed to go to the ground is by jumping to your death. Add the people wearing masks that will try to scare you into jumping or kill you if you refuse to try, and you’ve got the weirdest idea of a way to create a new god that might ever exist. The characters are strong, there’s more mystery than I can explain in a short blurb, and it really makes you wonder what you’d do in that sort of situation. Would you have the strength to fight the masks?

The Bride Was A Boy

Finally, the list is taking an uplifting turn! No more horror in here! The Bride Was A Boy, which started out as a comic blog at first, is a true story of how the author, Chii, came out as transgender and began to live her life as the woman she was meant to be. She covers everything from coming out, dating, and even getting her sex changed to marry her beloved husband. It’s educational and adorable! I can’t push it enough!

Tabi no Michizure

Okay, I might have lied a little bit. To some, this might very well be a horrifying concept: a girl gets off a train and finds herself in a town that repeats the same day, every day… and the roads eat people lacking the right marking to pass through. I really love this one so far- the mystery of why only things used by Tabi disappear during the reset is an interesting add on. It also makes me wonder… How would I react being one of the few that realizes the groundhog day effect?

Nukoduke

If you like cuteness and constant fluff, Nukoduke is the manga for you. It follows a lackadaisical young man who one day finds a pair of nukos- tiny cats with partially human bodies and the ability to speak. He unthinkingly brings them home, and so starts their lives together. The characters are all kind of focused on one major personality aspect, but it’s full of interesting growth in the connections between nuko and people, and it is just constantly sweet as pie. Expect insanity, sweet moments and good times!

Yandere Kanojo

Do you like slapstick comedy? Do you like couples that seem unexpected based on cliques? If you’re a fan of such things, you might like Yandere Kanojo, a gag manga on all accounts. The manga follows a gang leader and her boyfriend, an average guy who, to others, has no real redeeming qualities. The manga slowly but surely expands its cast to have a wide variety of kooky characters- a masochistic little sister, a teacher afraid of groups and people that looks scary when he’s teaching class, and so much more. The relationships grow well, and there’s a lot of fun to be had. Give it a go- even in short bursts, I promise you’ll find a reason to smile laugh!

And that’s all for me today. What manga would be on your top ten? Which of these do you love or hate? Tell me all about your manga tastes in the comments- I might just find new ones to love!