When I was little, I didn't understand why ferris wheels existed. They were just sluggish and went up high. I got bored with it after only one ride. The roller coaster and the loop slider... I only paid attention to the thrilling rides. But... I kind of understand now. Ferris wheels are for slowly cutting across the sky with the person you like and maybe saying things like, "Isn't this a little scary?"
― Honey and Clover

Hello everyone, welcome to the second release of Mangahelpers Featured Manga News Post. Valentine's Day is arriving in less than a week; does anyone here have a V-Day dating plan or are you preparing to confess to a special someone? Well, we hope that none of you will give the "I don't care" response and will be courageous enough to let that special someone that you like or someone that likes you, into your heart, to go out on special days, to explore the feelings of love together, if you have never experienced that before, yeah?! =]

The titles that we chose to feature this week are various kinds of love stories (some focus on love more than others). We greatly hope that you will find enjoyment in them; and that they will, more or less, give you some valuable, gentle feelings.

-Yabe

GE - Good Ending follows a boy named Utsumi and his interaction with Kurokawa Yuki. Having have loved the senpai of the tennis club for years, Utsumi can do nothing but watch from afar! However, when he meets Kurokawa, all that changes and she forces him to enlist in the tennis club to get Utsumi closer to his love. However, is there some feelings brewing between Kurokawa and Utsumi?! If there is, what will happen to the senpai? Read Good Ending and find out!

M3J's Reccomendation:
Good Ending has it all! Drama, comedy, romance, and sport! We join Utsumi on his quest to get the person he loved for a long time, Shou senpai, the senpai of the tennis club! However, upon being caught by Kurokawa, he's taken for a ride! Utsumi joins the tennis club, and thanks to Kurokawa's guidance, he slowly changes into a better person who's more assertive!

However, working with Kurokawa for a while has changed Utsumi's feelings! Not only is their relationship with each other interesting, but how they interact with each other and how Utsumi tries to confess to Kurokawa is what makes this manga interesting!


Eba Yuzuki, a girl from Tokyo, and Haruto Kirishima are this manga's two protagonists. Eba moves to a rural home town in Hiroshima prefecture to attend high school. She lives together with a guy named Kirishima Haruto whose father is an apprentice of Eba's father. Haruto doesn't like to let Eba stay at his house and always rejects her because of the complications she might cause. Haruto wants to avoid any misunderstanding that he is a couple with Eba because he is in love with another girl, Kanzaki Nanami. But... what will happen in this story when you find out that Eba is in love with Haruto?

Koen's Recommendation:
A manga which primarily focuses on romance and school life of students in a high school. The character development is facilitated due to dramatic/romantic circumstances that are quite realistic.

What I really like about this manga, is the story's setting. The rural countryside gives a sincere vibe when reading this manga. The pace is good, the story is captivating and character design is quite beautiful. But not all manga are perfect and if I wouldn't say something negative then I would lie through my teeth. There are some clichés and because those are similar, you sometimes feel like you're into a spiral of repetitiveness but that doesn't matter to the poetic feeling in connection with the harem problems.

Nevertheless, if you are into romance and problems coming along with it due to a harem then you should definitely give this manga a chance.


Nonomiya Yuuta, a Skii Jumper aiming for Olympic Gold, bursts onto stage with his exceptional skills. However, his biggest problem is that he is not really a "HE"...

This Yuuta is actually Nonomiya Yuuta's twin sister, Nonomiya Nono... And with Women's Skii Jump not being an Olympic catagory, hiding her true identity is the only way for her to achieve the dreams of her father and brother.

Roflkopt3r's Recommendation:
A manga about ski jumping. Are you as sceptical as I was? Don't worry about it: Lynn Okamoto managed to stage it perfectly. Speed, heights, fear and thrill of the sports are displayed in a sometimes breathtaking way, and the introduction of the reader into this highly technical sports is perfectly comprehensibly embedded into the storytelling.

And above all, ski jumping just remains a slice of the story. The main stage belongs to the protagonist Nonomiya and her interesting daily life as a girl disguised as a boy. Awkward as well as hilarious situations interchange which actual thrill and drama, all affecting the reader even more due to Nonomiya being such a congenial character struggling for her dreams.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been infatuated with the “other side”; the world of splendor. Yes, I wanted to become one of those glittering stars. And so, my dream has come true. But now… All I want is to be beloved by someone.”

When she was young, Yukino Miyashita wanted, more than anything else to become an idol. After accomplishing her dream, however, the idol group she was part of failed to sell, and she returned to school, facing alienation from her peers. Now, at age 18, Yukino is living alone in Tokyo, half-heartedly trying to start a new life as a talent manager, while not quite able to put her idol days behind her. She meets Setsuko, a songwriter who also once belonged to a failed idol group. The romance sparked by her encounter with Setsuko causes Yukino to reevaluate her own life.

Vintagemistakes' Recommendation:
Octave is a drama/love story that revolves around two women. It does contain some mild nudity and adult situations. So if this sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, then Octave isn't for you.

Now with that out of the way, I have to admit that I'm not really into the whole drama/romance genre so it takes a lot to peak my interest and maintain it. However, the the thing that did peak my interest about Octave was, and NO - get your mind out of the gutter it wasn't the girl on girl action... but the simplistic art style and high quality of dialogue. There is a real sense of life coming from the characters, their emotions, and their experiences. It's not always perfect though. There are times when the drama can get a tad bit much. However, this is usually balanced out rather nicely in the end as there is a real evenness to each characters strengths and weaknesses.

All in all, Octave is a very sweet story about two young adults and their journey to find their place in the world and in love. It's a quick, easy to read series that is not overly serious, but in no way a comedy.


Kurosaki Mafuyu was a juvenile delinquent and head of her gang before her subsequent arrest got her expelled from high school. Now that she’s transferred to a new high school, she’s determined to become an “ultra-shiny, super feminine high school student.” But with a new friend like Hayasaka-kun and a homeroom teacher like Saeki Takaomi (who may be more than he seems), will Mafuyu really be able to live a girly-girl high school life!?

c_k's Recommendation:
Nowadays, I usually don't like to read the typical shoujo manga with their inane plots, but this manga is very different from the typical shoujo fare and it seems more in line with a comedy shounen, which is the type of manga I'm more inclined to read. If you're leery of checking out shoujos because you don't want to read a manga filled with pretty boys, sparkles, helpless damsels, and love triangles then worry not, this manga doesn't have helpless people and there's only a hint of romance in the manga with a small smattering of sparkles thrown in. This manga is mainly comedy/slice of life/school life.

You'll chuckle as you watch the idiotic tendencies of the main character, Mafuyu, as she unsuccessfully tries to be normal, let alone girly since she can't even make instant noodles, while she's surrounded by weird and crazy characters and you'll forget that you're actually reading a shoujo. The characters and her antics are what make this great - from the S & M loving underling, dense but fight-loving delusional classmate, to the abusive teacher, they all make me laugh as I read the various situations they get into. However, through it all, everyone eventually follows in Mafuyu's footsteps and learns to like or love her. I highly recommend reading this if you want to try out a shoujo manga without it being too girly. This manga has some fighting in it, since it IS about a former delinquent, but note that the fighting isn't the same as what is shown in shounen fighting manga and there are no power ups.



In Japan of 1923, a seventeen year-old girl named Takiko Okuda is living with her ill mother after recently moving to a small town. Her father - being a busy novelist and has never been home - comes home one day, much to Takiko's chagrin. He apparently has been working on something called "The Universe of the Four Gods" and even after returning home, is obsessed with the book. Her mother soon dies and Takiko becomes angry at her father for ignoring the two of them. These feelings, paired with her feelings of loneliness and uselessness at being rejected both in love and by her father, lead her to attempt to tear the book apart. However, it instead whisks her away to the country of Hokkan (the northernmost of the four countries in "The Universe of the Four gods" book which is guarded by the beast god Genbu) where all of her adventures begin.

Yabe's Recommendation:
I highly recommend this series to those who want to see a deep development in romance plot in action Shounen style of story. Fushigi Yuugi’s world is wholly and detailed built using the names of the Twenty-Eight Mansions of Chinese astronomy as references. The stories, in general, are about a girl who gets transported through a mysterious book into another world, become the priestess of one of the four ancient beast deities and destined to unite the deity’s Seven Celestial Warriors in order to summon him, who would later on grant her three powerful wishes. One would be a wish that would lead the girl back to her home world, however; that obviously couldn’t be uttered through when the girl happens to fall deeply in love with a man in the book.

Even though Genbu Kaiden is the beginning of all Fushigi Yuugi tales by the manga's chronology, it is Yuu Watase's second and latest work on Fushigi Yuugi series (the first one is the story about Suzaku and Seiryuu’s priestesses). Not often I would find an impression in side stories and sequels of good series, but I think that the Fushigi Yuugi's mangaka definitely makes it on this one. Genbu Kaiden truly is a refined and wonderful work of literature.


Have a suggestion for series to be featured in our future release? Please let us know through these threads:

* Shounen & Sonyeon series suggestion
* Seinen & Seongin series suggestion
* Shoujo/Josei/BL & Sunjeong series suggestion