Shoujo Hoshi wa Utau by Takaya Natsuki

[AstroNerdBoy]

Title: Hoshi wa Utau
Authored by Takaya Natsuki
Serialized by Hana to Yume
Pubished by : Hakusensa
Genre: Romance, Drama, School Life
Release: On-going series (5 vols ~)
Edited Mangas: Ongoing (see further below)

Summary
Sakuya Shiina is the president of a star-gazing club at her high school. On her eighteenth birthday, she receives a pink dress from Chihiro, a handsome and mysterious boy around her age who suddenly appears at her birthday party. She initially believes that Chihiro is a friend of Kanade, her guardian, but she later learns that Kanade had invited him to the party thinking that he was her boyfriend. Kanade then becomes offended for being deceived, but Sakuya becomes even more intrigued by Chihiro. She finally gets her chance to meet Chihiro again, and during a discussion about the stars (in which Sakuya says that the star Alphard (the brightest star in the constellation Hydra) is her favorite), Chihiro suddenly exclaims that he hates Sakuya and disappears once again. Sakuya becomes even more troubled when, a few days later, Chihiro suddenly enrolls at her school and becomes a classmate. As the story goes on, Sakuya's feelings towards Chihiro grows, and while Chihiro starts warming up to her, it is hinted that her love for him will be unrequited.

Edited Manga groups
- Divine Sanctuary & Endless Youth & Co

Downloads :
- Mangatraders

RTS

By The Mangaka of Fruits Basket
-----------------------------------------------------


Longshot here, but for those who know, does volume 2 of Houshi wa Utau end with chapter 10 or chapter 11? I know volume 1 only had five chapters (mild spoilers in that link). I haven't ordered volume 2 yet, so I was just curious.

Thanks in advance! ^_^

 

[Nami]

Re: Houshi wa Utau

Wow...someone reads Hoshi wa Utau too!!

I was actually thinking of whether to buy the 1st volume since i've only started reading the later chapters in a magazine. From your review, it's even better than Furaba? By the way, why do you want to know whether it ends at Chapter 10 or 11?

 

[AstroNerdBoy]

Re: Houshi wa Utau

To finish a review for volume 2. I was hoping to go ahead and do it but I just don't know how many chapters are in it. Still, I'll have volume 2 in a few days which will then answer my question.

 

[AstroNerdBoy]

Re: Hoshi wa Utau

Since I keep getting so many hits from this thread for my volume 1 review, I'll go ahead and advertise my review of volume 2. I need to look to see if volume 3 is for sale yet in Japan or not.

 

[sillyblob]

Re: Hoshi wa Utau

is Hoshi wa Utau really that good? I loved fruits basket to little pieces so I started reading Hoshi, but I thought the beginning was a bit stupid...and I'm still mourning for the end of furuba (even though its been so long now) and finally do I really want to read a story about unrequited love?
so should I pick it up again or what?

 

[AstroNerdBoy]

Re: Hoshi wa Utau

Part of the problem with what exists out there for Hoshi is that some of the translations/adaptations are rough. That makes for a more difficult reading experience.

I've only read the first two volumes (I'll read three sometime soon) and my problems with this manga are (1) the character designs make characters look like they came from Furuba and (2) it is a bit too angst-filled.

 

[Nami]

After reading some chapters here and there, I'm still quite *lost* as to where we are heading next? The development is kind of slow and I've yet to figure out what kind of drama are we looking at?

Spoiler

It seems that Sakuya has a sad childhood

but other than that, it isn't much angst at all.

Compared to Fruits Basket, this lack the 'mystery' factor which makes me all worked up trying to guess what 'animal' are they.

In a small town in the countryside, close to the sea, a young high-school girl lived alone with her brother...

Did i miss something? I just read this description in one of the websites. Is Sakuya living with her brother? I thought Kanade is a total stranger or guardian who's looking after her.

p.s. AstroNerdboy, hijacking your 1st post to put more info.

 

[AstroNerdBoy]

My understanding is that Kanade is her guardian but I haven't seen anything to indicate he's Sakuya's brother. She doesn't refer to him by any brother honorific. I did think he might be a relative of some sort (cousins). I don't think there's been anything that says what their relationship is. I suppose someone figured "brother" because many other male-female living alone situations could imply at least the possibility of something else happening (if you know what I mean).

Anyway, in Furuba, I guess the mystery of who was what animal never really hit me, though I was curious to see them all. For me, the draw-in factor for Fruits Basket was Tohru's situation, which while sad, her attitude was positive and cheerful. Add to that the humorous fights between Yuki and Kyo, Shirugure's general fun nature, and other fun and humorous elements (Uo-chan and Hana-chan), I liked it a lot. That's why I can tolerate the manga now, despite the fact that everything is mostly all serious.

I'm not getting much "fun" in Hoshi wa Utau.

That reminds me...I need to read volume 3.

 

[baboysai]

Re: [Shojo] Hoshi wa Utau by Takaya Natsuki

I've caught up with this manga, the latest I've read is chapter 37.

First, my thoughts on the manga: My first impression was that they were lifted off Fruits Basket. This is actually my first time reading another work by Takaya Natsuki other than Furuba so that might explain why I feel it. Or that maybe, that's just the way she works, you know? Or that's just the themes she wants to work with: Broken families, bullying, etc.

Development-wise, I think it's waaay faster than Furuba. I was even quite shocked to read about their pasts so early on in the story. So I think this time, she'll really concentrate on how the characters develop over time as they forget their pasts. Therefore, for this manga, it's not like we're reading the whole length of it to find out the mystery soon. The mystery is revealed, so we'll have to sit back and watch them grow instead.

In a way, the driving force to continue reading this manga is to find out what happens in the future, as opposed to Furuba where we want to find out what happened in the past. Oh, and I'd like to continue reading for the sake of PURE WAFF. >.>


so what do you guys think of the development so far?

---

ah, another thing.

I get quite confused when reading the manga. Although I do get the general picture, I get lost in the details. Like, the paneling, and the text bubbles. Or probably it's just... lost in translation. I'm not saying the translation was a bad job but see, Takaya Natsuki often works in a very poetic manner. It's very beautiful, except it's just so frustrating to lose the poetry because its all so vague.

 

[AstroNerdBoy]

Re: [Shojo] Hoshi wa Utau by Takaya Natsuki

I've caught up with this manga, the latest I've read is chapter 37.

First, my thoughts on the manga: My first impression was that they were lifted off Fruits Basket. This is actually my first time reading another work by Takaya Natsuki other than Furuba so that might explain why I feel it. Or that maybe, that's just the way she works, you know? Or that's just the themes she wants to work with: Broken families, bullying, etc.

I think that's the themes she enjoys. I say this because in Tsubasa: Those With Wings, both the hero and the heroine are orphans of sorts (one a traditional orphan and one a non-traditional orphan, but not so uncommon in Japan) and the heroine had to deal with bullying.

In Phantom Dream, there are broken families.

so what do you guys think of the development so far?

I've only read the first two volumes of the manga. I wasn't exactly gripped like I had been with Fruits Basket or Tsubasa. I plan to read more sometime, especially if it gets licensed.

 

[soniyajack]

Re: [Shojo] Hoshi wa Utau by Takaya Natsuki

This story kinda just starts and I felt like I should already know what is going on. But, regardless I'll keep reading this. I really enjoy seeing her artwork used again. Some of the characters look terribly close to furuba characters.

 

[baboysai]

Re: [Shojo] Hoshi wa Utau by Takaya Natsuki

It is kind of hard to follow it because of the frustration i get, like I said before, about the poetry that gets lost in translation somehow. Or maybe she's trying a new style, jumping from flashback to flashback all of a sudden, cutting a lot of scenes to show previous scenes, then coming back again, all within a chapter...

maybe if this were animated it would look really pretty, especially with all the new animation styles these days.