Sumire 17 Sai!!, by NAGAYOSHI Takeru

Sumire 17 Sai!!, by NAGAYOSHI Takeru

Sumire is a 17 year old high school girl who wants nothing more than to make friends with her new classmates. She’s so disappointed that they all seem to hate her, calling her a pervert, a dirty old man, creepy, weirdo… alas, what is a poor life-sized puppet to do in this cruel world.

Related Series: Sumire 16-sai!! (Alternate Side-story Sequel)

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Romance, Shoujo

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga S

Sumire 16 Sai!!, by NAGAYOSHI Takeru

Sumire 16 Sai!!, by NAGAYOSHI Takeru

While bicycling to school her first day as a high school student, Renge Ohyama meets a weird girl who on closer inspection appears to be a life-sized doll–and this is not an advanced robotic creation or even a magical doll. Rather, a scary looking middle aged man controls her movements, puppet-like, and speaks for her via ventriloquism. Unfortunately, this perverted-seeming old man and his doll happen to attend her new school. Even worse, is in the same class and sits right behind her. And it seems the doll wants to be friends?!

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, Romance, Shoujo

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga S

HOTEL, by Boichi

HOTEL (complete), by Boichi

Compilation of short stories by Boichi:

• Hotel

It is the year 2272 A.D. A computer continues to live on in order to complete a mission in a world where all life, including Mankind, has gone extinct. This is a record of those 27 million years of its heroic struggle.

• Present

Hanako suffers from a terrible disease. After awakening from a deep slumber, Hanako has only three days to live. During those three days, her husband, Takao, must endure a heart-breaking experience, knowing that the person Hanako really loves isn’t him.

• Subete wa Maguro no Tame da (It Was All for the Tuna)

Tuna have become extinct and Jun Shiozaki will do everything possible and imaginable to bring them back.

• Stephanos

Set in modern-day Japan, our main character Noriko finds out that she is pregnant with her lover Matsumura’s baby. He, however, is an important doctor with a family and everything already. Noriko wants to have the baby, but Matsumura says that it’s actually a rapidly growing cancer and that they have to remove it immediately. It might also be neither of these things…

• Diadem

A “Diadem” is a word for ‘crown’ that has its root in Greek. “Stephanos”, which appeared in “Mandala” 01, was also a ‘crown’. It seems that we could consider this the second work in a continuing series of shorts that should perhaps be called a “Crown series”.

Genre(s): Drama, Sci-fi, Seinen, Tragedy

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga H

Wolfsmund (Ookami no Kuchi), by KUJI Mitsuhisa

Wolfsmund (Ookami no Kuchi), by KUJI Mitsuhisa

Wolfsmund is a dark historical manga set in the early 14th century of Europe (Switzerland). The story revolves around the eponymous fortress in the St. Gotthard Pass which is ruled by a sadistic tyrant. Basically, each chapter deals with characters who for some reason have to cross the pass and who end up getting interrogated by the mentioned tyrant.

What sets this manga apart is the fact that there’s rarely a happy ending for our protagonists. The author pulls no punches to show us just how brutal and inhuman the Middle Ages really were.

Genre(s): Action, Drama, Historical, Seinen, Tragedy

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga W

QP The Soul of Violence, by TAKAHASHI Hiroshi

QP: The Soul of Violence, by TAKAHASHI Hiroshi

After a four-year absence, Ishida Kotori (QP) returns to the city where even his face instills fear amongst the locals. Trying desperately to move away from his once violent past and live an honest life, former classmate and now high profile gang member, Azuma Ryou, has other plans for QP’s future…

QP: Soul of Violence is written by Takahashi Hiroshi and set within the same universe as his other works, Crows and Worst.

Related Series: QP Gaiden (Side Story)

Genre: Action, Shounen, Seinen

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga Q

Octave, by AKIYAMA Haru

Octave, by AKIYAMA Haru

“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 loved by someone.”

Yukino, a former idol, leaves school to go work as a manager at her former agency in Tokyo. By chance at a laundromat, she meets Setsuko, also a former idol now a music composer. The two connect and form an intimate relationship.

Genre: Drama, Shoujo Ai, Yuri

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga O

Change 123 (Change Hifumi), by SAKAGUCHI Iku / IWASAWA Shiuri

Change 123 (Change Hifumi), by SAKAGUCHI Iku / IWASAWA Shiuri

Meet Motoko, a girl with a very strange problem. In order to cope with her three adoptive fathers’ incredibly intensive training methods, she developed three multiple personalities plus her own, each with a different martial specialty. But what happens if none of them can beat her opponent on their own? And what further nugget of wisdom will be imparted by the great Kamen Raider?

Genre(s): Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Harem, Martial Arts, Psychological, Romance, School Life, Shounen

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga C

Tokyo ESP, by SEGAWA Hajime

Tokyo ESP, by SEGAWA Hajime

Urushiba Rinka was a fairly normal high school girl, though she was a bit poor and her only family was her father. Then one day, she saw a penguin and some glowing fish swimming through the sky. Rinka might have thought it was a hallucination if there hadn’t been another witness with her, a boy from her school with a strangely scratched-up face.

Contact with a fish caused her to pass out, and when she awoke, she had developed the power to move through inanimate objects… such as the floor of her apartment! Later, a call from her father showed her that she was not the only one the flying fish bestowed with hard-to-control superpowers! What exactly is going on here? And does Rinka’s classmate know more about this situation than he’s letting on?

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Shounen, Supernatural

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga T

Tsuki no Shippo (Tail of the Moon), by UEDA Rinko

Tsuki no Shippo (Tail of the Moon), by UEDA Rinko

Sometimes it seems like Usagi is hopeless. Sure, she’s good with healing herbs, but she’s the granddaughter of the leader of a prestigious ninja village and she’s such a klutz that she’s never made it out of the kiddie class. Finally frustrated with Usagi’s lack of progress, her grandfather sends her to marry a local lord and have lots of ninja babies. But the lord has no interest in her or her child bearing potential! After years of goofing around, Usagi is finally determined to reach her goals – she’s going to become a ninja and capture her true love’s heart!

Also known as: Promise of the Moon

Related Series: Tsuki no Toiki (Alternate Story)

Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Reverse Harem, Romance, Shoujo

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga T

100 Ways of An Exorcist, by Kusunoki Kei

100 Ways of An Exorcist, by Kusunoki Kei

Soon after transferring to a new school, Mayu Kodabutsu receives a love letter from a cute girl named Yuuko Hai… Expecting the envy of his classmates, Mayu is surprised to receive condolences instead. You see, Yuuko Hai is no ordinary 5th grader… She’s an exorcist. And Mayu is destined to experience her 100 terrifying ways.

Alternate title: (Yuuko-chan 100 Renpatsu)

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Passing-Fancy.com – Manga 0