Kiss Yori mo Hayaku (Faster Than a Kiss) raws for Ch 57

The Chinese raws for the last chapter (Chapter 57) are out! Here’s the link to view them: Chapter 57. I can’t read Chinese but it’s nice to see the pictures. 🙂 Some quick comments below (spoilers included):

• There are several kisses, yes! It seems like Kazuma is making up for all the time he had to wait, lol. (I can’t remember if it was 2 or 3 years?)
• Fumino is very pretty in her wedding dress. She looks a few years older when she’s calm and serene. After the wedding, she’s back to her aggravated, embarrassed self.
• Teppei is adorable as always, but he still looks so small… he’s six, right? I thought he would look a little older.
• The expression that Shoma has when he receives the picture of Fumino on his phone… awww. I haven’t read that far in the manga yet (reading on my own, not the scanlations), but it appears that Shoma has lingering feelings for Fumino.
• The close-up of their entwined hands with the wedding rings… ohhhhh… maybe they’ve taken it further than kissing?

Thanks, Tanaka-sensei for a wonderful manga series! Otsukaresama deshita! I’m looking forward to her next one. 🙂

Random manga stuff

Here are a couple of newer manga series that I started reading recently:

• Hirunaka no Ryuusei: It’s currently serialized in Margaret and volume 3 was just released on June 22. It is being scanlated with Chapter 4 as the most recent release. I discovered this manga after checking out the Margaret website for something else. The art is pretty cute… the cover art doesn’t look as nice, imho, so don’t let that deter you. It’s the standard country girl moves to Tokyo story, but the girl isn’t a complete bumbling idiot and seems to be able to stand up for herself. There’s also young, good-looking teacher (possible love interest), a cute guy who’s afraid of girls, and a conniving female classmate.

 

• Shinobi Yoru Koi wa Kusemono: It’s currently serialized in Comic B’s-Log Kyun and volume 3 was released in December 2011. There was one chapter scanlated last year. I discovered this manga after purchasing the May issue (mainly to check out the Hakuouki serialization 🙂 ). The art for Shinobi Yoru Koi wa Kusemono is cute and the story is fun. It’s about a girl (ninja) whose job is to guard her childhood (male) friend. There are two rival families, Toujo and Toyoda, and her friend is part of the Toujo family. Disguised a guy, she starts attending an all male high school and meets the heir to the rival Toyoda family.

 

Faster than a Kiss (Kiss Yori mo Hayaku) is finished! The last chapter was published in the August issue of LaLa, which came out on June 24. I’ve been looking to see if initial scans have been posted but haven’t found any yet. Well, I did find a couple of links, but they didn’t work for me. 😦 I’ve seen comments about a wedding and a kiss… hopefully more than one kiss though! Come on, we’ve waited 11 volumes, so there should be many kisses, lol.

I’ve put L-DK (my personal re-reading of it) on hold for now… I’m still helping with the translations and I’m interested in seeing how everything is going to play out, but I just don’t feel like re-reading the whole series on my own at this time. I haven’t gotten very far anyway. I’m on volume 2. Probably when the series is complete (with a happy ending for Aoi and Shuusei), I will go back and read the whole series again.

More random stuff and Aoharaido – Ch 17 spoiler

I found out more info about the new bk1 – honto combined site… the new online store will ship outside of Japan, but only to customers who previously ordered from bk1. Apparently they are not accepting new international customers. Wow, that’s a bit surprising. I hope that will change in the future and they will open it up to new customers, and not the other way where they eventually stop shipping overseas completely. Will keep a lookout for any updates.

Kiss Yori mo Hayaku is ending in the August issue of LaLa, out on June 24. Tanaka-sensei tweeted about it the other day.

Received the Japanese raws for Aoharaido – Chapter 17… squee! lol. And yes, the gender of Kou’s friend is ambiguous… Kou refers to that person as his classmate (doukyuusei) and that person (soitsu and aitsu). Soitsu and aitsu are very informal terms and Kou did say that he and that person got pretty close after spending time at the hospital together (the person’s father was in the hospital during the same time as Kou’s mother). Hopefully we find out soon if Kou’s friend is a girl or boy… Sakisaka-sensei doesn’t normally keep us in suspense for too long. If the friend is a girl, then I can see the manga going on for awhile… Strobe Edge was 10 volumes and Aoharaido volume 4 just came out in April. Maybe Kou and Futaba will finally go together to that festival as a couple on their third attempt… that will be at least another 10-11 months of angst, lol. On a side note, I’m starting to like Touma-kun more… he’s so aware of his feelings for Futaba, unlike Kou who’s unsure and not very honest.

Random stuff

Just a few random news items:

• Aoharaido – Chapter 17 translation: The Chinese raws have been translated and you can read the translation here. Not sure how the Chinese raws are out before the Japanese ones, but I don’t mind! Kou’s disappearance over the summer break is explained somewhat but it’s still up in the air if the friend involved is male or female. Touma makes an appearance again.

• The e-manga version of Fruits Basket is now available on ebookjapan! I hope they continue to add more manga from Hana to Yume comics.

• Kiss Yori mo Hayaku (vol 11) will be released on June 5. Yay! I’m currently on volume 7… love this manga. I think the manga is ending soon after all… not in this month’s LaLa but I think there are three more months left. I will post again later when I get additional information.

Hana to Yume manga on ebookjapan

I just saw on the ebookjapan site that they now have several Hana to Yume titles, yay! I’m glad that they’re releasing more e-manga. Here are some of the series that have been added:

• Kiss Yori mo Hayaku
• Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
• Ouran Koukou Host Club
• Kaichou wa Maid-sama
• Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou

List of Teacher-Student Manga

Here’s a list of manga I read/am currently reading so far:
• Sensei to Watashi (Minase Ai)
• Otona no Jikan (Yamada Komomo)
• Kiss Yori mo Hayaku (Tanaka Meka)
• 2-kaime no Hajimete Koi (Kumagai Kyoko)
• 7 Jikanme no Rhapsody (Tanaka Meka)
• Sekai wa Bokura no Tame ni (Enjouji Maki)
• Chocolate Cosmos (Haruta Nana)
• Dakara Koi to Yobanaide (Fujiwara Yoshiko)
• Daisuki Datte yo, Sensei (Shiraishi Yuki)
• Tora to Ookami (Kamio Youko)
• Veins (Shimotsuki Kayoko)
• Hatsukoi wa Chuudoku no You de (Yamada Komomo)
• Sai x Ai (Mitsuki Kako)
• Sensei ni, Ageru (Yamada Daisy)
• Venus wa Kataomoi (Yoshihara Yuki)
• Hirunaka no Ryuusei (Yamamori Mika)

Teacher-student romance

Teacher-student relationships are a common theme in manga. I admit that I enjoy reading manga that has teacher-student romance, even though it’s kind of creepy and possibly illegal in real life, not to mention highly unrealistic… at least based on my high school life. We had no young, good-looking teachers in my school, lol. Most of the manga that I’ve encountered so far involve a high school girl (usually 16 -18 year old) and a young teacher or student teacher (23 – 25 years old)… the age gap in these cases doesn’t bother me… in manga, of course, but in real life, I would find it a little creepy. Yes, it’s hypocritical, lol. Most of the time, the teacher holds off on physical intimacy, except for kissing, until the student graduates from high school, which makes for a lot of sexual tension/longing in the story, keeping it interesting… pretty unrealistic in real life though, which is why I like these kinds of stories in manga.

Kiss Yori mo Hayaku

Now that Kiss Yori mo Hayaku is ending, I decided to read the whole series from the beginning. 🙂 I’m on volume 5 right now. Now that I’ve started reading it again, I realize that I missed some of the earlier chapters and remember how much I really like this manga. I had forgotten how funny it was. I think it may take over third place on my top 5 favorite manga list, moving Aoharaido to fourth.

On a side note, Tanaka-sensei tweeted that there is a special side story starring Shoma-kun in the May edition of LaLa DX.

Kiss Yori mo Hayaku is ending (not)

I saw Tanaka-sensei’s tweet that the last chapter of Kiss Yori mo Hayaku will be released in the May issue of LaLa. I stopped getting LaLa last year, so I don’t know what’s happening currently, but I’m sure it’s going to be a happy ending! Can’t wait to read it and also see what Tanaka-sensei is going to do next! This series was the first one I bought in ages. Thank you, Tanaka-sensei, for reviving my interest (ahem, obsession) with manga! 🙂

Updated: I checked the LaLa website and this manga is not ending in the May issue… since it continues on in the June issue, lol. Not sure what Tanaka-san tweeted then. I tried to go back and find this tweet but couldn’t, oh well.

Updated (June 25): As I mentioned on a later post, this manga has ended with the last chapter published in the August issue of LaLa, out yesterday. I can’t wait to see the ending!