Kekkaishi

I just finished an epic manga marathon that lasted about a week and a half and spanned 345 chapters.

I love Kekkaishi. It has this wonderful drama, intrigue, character development, and traditional Japanese culture that makes it absolutely foreign and familiar at the same time. To tell the truth, I actually started reading Kekkaishi years ago after the anime came out. I let me nerd out with a vengeance and marathoned the show, downloaded all I could from the internet, and discovered that the story wasn't over! There were hundreds of chapters of manga just waiting for me to devour. Alas, the manga wasn't finished in Japan and I was forced to wait years to get the complete story.

Now the manga is officially complete, it even has a complete guide for those who want all the statistics and characters in an organized form, I have been able to gloriously marathon the manga and completely forsake my other work.

Mirai Nikki'

Now I'm sure that many of you have heard of Mirai Nikki, or 未来日記, as one of the brand new anime that is out this fall season. One day while I was loitering, I mean browsing, tsutaya I saw a whole wall proudly displaying all 12 volumes and it got my interest.

Usually I'm not much of a seinen, or young men, manga type. Call me a women, but most of the plots and action sequences are just way to bloody for me. Seeing things are you suppose to be inside of you outside of you is, in my opinion, one of the most disgusting things even. Hence why I never aspired to be a doctor and going to medical school.

I will admit that I almost stopped reading after the 3rd chapter, but I decided that I would read it if it killed me; which of course it didn't. By the mid point I was glad that I kinda forced myself to sit and read it. Esuno-sensei builds an intriguing plot and layers his characters and their developments well through the story. Of course there are points that have been done before and, to me, there was a little over kill in certain places, but all together it fits and builds a story that makes the reader think a little instead of brainlessly reading.

One of the obvious plot points Esuno used was extremes. There are extremes all over this manga, from the plot, to the characters, and to the scenes. Below is a small essay that I wrote about the levels of extremes that are presented in Mirai Nikki, and Mirai Nikki only.

Working Blog

Well hello all and welcome to my new blog, The Manga Diaries.

Let me start by introducing myself. I am an American graduate student who is currently living and studying in Japan. My thesis deals with hikikomori and how they are portrayed in Japanese pop culture, specifically in manga and anime. And before you ask, yes I was, and still am to some extent, one of those kids that watched Sailor Moon in middle school and never got out of how amazing I thought it was.

Since my thesis has to deal with manga and anime, I wanted to have a forum where I could post working ideas and thoughts about the things I read and watch. It helps me get my creative juices flowing and helps me work on my writing. I am an avid reader and I enjoy posting the theories that I make or my impressions on things around me.

If you have found this blog by accident or if I happened to tell you that I had made it, thanks for coming! Please feel free to leave me comments, but be respectful about them. Constructive criticism is always welcome when it comes to my writing and if you feel that I have looked at something wrong, message me and I will look into it. What is the point of academia if I cannot handle others who think differently than myself?