Meru Puri (amazon
I think I’m rapidly reaching a saturation point with all the shojo manga that I’ve been reading. After rediscovering manga and anime around 3 years ago, I’ve been a fairly uncritical consumer. I was just happy to have some fun manga to read. For the most part, that’s still true but some of the cliches and storytelling conventions are beginning to get on my nerves. I’m starting to need something more than for something to just be manga - the artist better have a knockout style (Ai Yazawa) or a fabulously twisted storyline (Hot Gimmick), or blend action elements with characters I like (Fullmetal Alchemist). I should be more discriminating about what I’m going to pick up and read. I’m getting tired of too much manga that is just “ok”, although it is just a time investment of 20 minutes or so, and I do like attempting to find new titles that I’ll like. I didn’t have much success with one of the new titles from the shojo beat line, MeruPuri.
The art is certainly pretty and competent, but doesn’t seem very distinctive to me. The plot line is fairly typical shojo fantasy fare. Airi is a high school freshman who basically lives on her own in a house with her grandparents because her parents work overseas. Everyday she rushes to school because she has bought into a school legend that if she’s never late, that will somehow translate into her being able to find a better boyfriend. She keeps a special compact-sized mirror as a good luck charm, it has been in her family for years. One day an adorable little curly-haired moppet pops out of her mirror. His name is Aram, and he’s escaping his older brother’s spells. Airi takes Aram home and feeds him a rice omlet while introducing him to the wonders of kiddie anime programs. When they wake up the next morning, it is clear that Aram wasn’t able to escape the ill effects of the spell, because he wakes up as a teenager.
Airi has to deal with the now disturbingly attractive teen with the mind of a 5 year old, random acts of magic gone wrong, troubles at school, and even more strange people popping out from the portal in her mirror. Merupuri is a cute book, but there isn’t anything about it that distinguished itself from all the other shojo with fantasy storylines that I’ve been reading recently.
Some anime & manga links:
Out of all the Del Rey manga previews, I think Sugar Sugar Rune looks adorable. I hope the witches are more tolerable characters than Shigeta from Anno’s other series Happy Maniac.
Memento has a bunch of the fall anime trailers
Pata retires Irresponsible Pictures
4:39 pm on September 23rd, 2005 1
Sorry to hear you weren’t too enthused by Meru Peri. I still like it.
5:43 pm on September 23rd, 2005 2
Ah, I liked it, I just didn’t like it very enthusiastically, if that makes sense
3:39 pm on January 12th, 2006 3
I love MeruPuri
11:29 am on January 13th, 2006 4
Merupuri is an amazing story in my eyes. I love the srt and the story line is good to me. I think Aram is a very kind and mature person(even though he is still a young child at heart). I alo beleive that Merupuri is not just any Shojo fantasy manga, but a captivating story of humour, love, and an uncanny situation that turns a superstitions girl into a love struck teenager…..and i thought her name was Airi?v
9:09 pm on January 14th, 2006 5
Merupuri is the cutest manga ever! (At least to me ^_^) I’m totally in luv with it. I have all the volumes ^ ^. And its not “Ai”, its “Airi” like that one girl said. So yea, I don’t know what kind of manga you like but this is my kinda style of manga.
4:22 pm on January 24th, 2006 6
I think MeruPuri has to be one of the best manga’s I’ve ever read… the art was amazing and the storyline was well thought out and fit together perfectly. I have a manga collection of over 350 books and MeruPuri has to be one of my favriotes, I have read it over and over. MeruPuri is a five star A+ manga and I recommend it to everyone.
10:54 pm on February 12th, 2006 7
We must keep in mind that MeruPuri is a fairy tale, so of course certain aspects are outrageous. Yet the characters are very well developed, and the art is fantastic. The romance component of the story is simply amazing. Plus, it tells a captivating, complicated story in just FOUR volumes! Compare that to other ones filled with fluff. All in all, I love this series (although I’m waiting for vol. 4 to come out in April. I don’t want to cheat myself by reading the scanlations…but can I last that long?!). It’s one of the best I have ever read.
7:56 am on February 14th, 2006 8
Meru Puri : romance, romance et romance !…
Airi, jeune étudiante trés fleur bleue et en mal d’amour, fait tomber son
miroir sur le chemin de l’école et voit un petit garçon étrange en
sortir,Alam…Celui-ci l’attend jusqu’à la fin de ses cours et la suit jusque
chez elle.Aprés avoir…
1:37 pm on February 25th, 2006 9
yea i love merupuri! aram i hobe u make it with airi!
7:43 am on March 15th, 2006 10
omg! i heart merupuri! it is so cute and cool!
8:28 pm on April 16th, 2006 11
i love meru puri i can’t have enougth of it, I’m obsessed with it not many words can’t describe how good merupuri is …………..though, does anyone know if meru puri will come in anime?
7:33 am on April 24th, 2006 12
I loved reading MeruPuri it was awesome! I have all four books!
5:23 pm on May 3rd, 2006 13
I love love love LOVE MeruPeri. It kicked arse, and I have read them all. I still read them and I still think they are the best. Srry to see you didn’t enjoy them as much as me. Good days!
^_^
10:23 am on May 10th, 2006 14
I love it too!!! Here in Spain we are still waiting for number 4 and I can’t wait no more!!! I need to know how it will finish (although I know it will be an happy end! I’m sure.).
8:29 pm on May 11th, 2006 15
In my opinion, this is probably the best Shojo manga i’ve read, it’s cute in a strange twisted way, strangly attractive men, with the twisted plot of Snow White almost, except the men aren’t dwarves and there isn’t seven. So i think that it’s ok, but if you want a good manga read Legal Drug
10:43 am on May 15th, 2006 16
I think Merupuri deserves more than just 3 out of 5. Maybe a 4.5 out of five because it does sometimes lack in excitement.
12:32 am on May 25th, 2006 17
merupuri is good. I really love it, even know I would like to watch it instead of reading it. But I guess it doesn’t quite matter. I wanna see book #4
11:43 pm on May 26th, 2006 18
i jest got the first vol. and i loved it!!! but i cant find the 2nd vol…..i need a location of the 2nd book. i realy love merupuri.
3:19 pm on May 27th, 2006 19
love meruperi but i need the 2nd vol!!!
1:57 am on May 28th, 2006 20
You can find the meruperi series at barnes and noble. they are like $9 apiece.
2:08 am on May 28th, 2006 21
Good summary, It don’t seem to be taht interesting… so she is in love with a hot guy taht is really a 5 year old? Child Molestor?
2:15 am on May 28th, 2006 22
I thought that it was very interesting and the book in no way made it seem that airi was a child molester. you should read the book to find out what they are talking about. It is a beautifully written and illustrated, i highly recommended it.
5:34 pm on June 2nd, 2006 23
OMG!!! I just simply LOVE merupuri!!! I wish that the author,(Hino, Matsuri) would write some sequels to the story, I’m like begging for more!! Plus, there should be a website with short stories or something like that, and if there is a website like that, somebody tell me, PLEEZ!!
5:41 pm on June 2nd, 2006 24
Is there gonna be a merupuri anime series? I reeely hope so, it should either tell the story in the 4 volumes,( which I would rather it continue on to like, volume gajillion something), or new short stories like a regular series. Plus, I want to know what happens to Aram and Airi and everyone else after their marriage. And again, I just loooove merupuri!
4:12 pm on June 9th, 2006 25
Merupuri is sooooooo hot. Make the anime. Support 100 % full!
10:46 pm on June 17th, 2006 26
While merupuri doesn`t have a wonderfully twisted plot like hot gimmick (love it btw), I thought merupri was quite interesting. Lately I haven`t been finding many manga`s that could keep my attention throught the whole book, but I read it today and it certainly has caught my attention. I agree its not that out of the ordinary but it keeps me interested at the least. I actually found Merupuri`s art more how should i say pretty? than hot gimmick.
7:37 am on June 20th, 2006 27
I really like merupuri its cute and adorable!
12:55 am on July 5th, 2006 28
I liked it, though I’m not too crazy about it yet, I thought it was funny and light, with a good story plot and an amazing art style. You must remember that its Shojou, and not many of those have outrageously good story plots. Take Sailor Moon, one of the best Shojou’s of all time. The plot was still bogus. It was amazing though. And MeruPuri for me provides a merry escape from my Death Note crusade…. (is reading Death Note for when the Movie comes out….)
12:31 am on July 12th, 2006 29
i think that Airi is not in love with little Aram but big Aram. Cause in the first book she even says that he was a kid who appeared to look like a grown up by magic and thats the only reason she likes him. And i think she likes Arams big self and his character. It’s ok to admire somebody’s character even though there littler then you! But i highly suggest Merupuri it’s romantic and funny! love it! can’t wait to read the fourth and third volume!
11:10 pm on July 12th, 2006 30
supposebly they are only 3 years apart?
(from the 4th book) which doesnt really make much sense.. which makes airi 10 in highschool? well.. other than that..
Its a GREAT manga! one of my Fav’s! its amusing, and cute, I highly recommend it.
3:41 pm on July 17th, 2006 31
OMG i’m in love with Merupuri! It’s so cute and funny, Aram and Airi really do make the cutest couple! I highly recommend the book to anybody people who are intrested and aren’t cause this manga will get you into anime! i love the drawings, they are so good, the best i have seen. Make this into a Anime Series, if you do can you please air it on Cartoon Network, for all tose english fans Please, you have my support 100% please make it a anime series! Have it air in 2008!
2:14 am on July 22nd, 2006 32
MeruPuri is simply the best. The art is great, adn the plot is even better. I’ve only read three, and I’m searching for the fourth. It’s killing me not knowing. I hear there’s only four. Is there? Do you know. x.x I can’t find out anywhere.
9:05 pm on August 1st, 2006 33
Hi Guys…
I started to read Meru Puri…and now, I read each edition twice a day.
I loooooove the characters…mainly, Aram and Airi…And the history is very good!!!
I’ve just read until vol.3, because here in Brazil
the fourth edition hasn’t arrived yet!
I’m curious, and while the vol.4 doesn’t arrive here…I am looking for images of Meru Puri.
If you have parts of vol.4, please, Can you send me by e-mail??? Please!!!
Thanks^^
(Oh, and don’t repair on my errors of grammar!)
5:51 am on October 3rd, 2006 34
lol, ok I agree it’s a totally cliche manga book with a common and not very elaborated story…but, OMG, I had a LOT of fun reading it. It was quit surprising to me, because I’m in a ‘critique’ phase like you (funny how the only two mangas which I had been excited about before reading MeruPuri were the same you said: Nana and Hot Gimmick), but oh my god. Meru Puri is so cute. I guess those lame ’sexy’ little scenes still have an effect on me. And hot well-drawn in love boys do too.
I guess it’s a great manga for superficial fun. =)An I love Aran to death.
8:54 pm on December 5th, 2006 35
I absolutely fell in love with it. MeruPuri has now taken the place of my number 1 fav. manga. (I’m also proud that I got a lot of other people hooked on it) It was kind of depressing knowing that the series was ending so soon but I loved it all nonetheless.
5:14 pm on December 20th, 2006 36
I think Merupuri is one of the most adorable anime stories ever. I know most people don’t go for the whole romance thing, but how could anybody pass up a cute opportunity like this? I’m sorry you didn’t like it much. I love it. It’s sad that they wont be coming out with any more of them. Hopefully they will change their minds. Anyways, I just wanted to comment. Sorry if I bothered you or anything. See ya later.
11:02 am on March 10th, 2007 37
[...] Kaname, while Zero wants to eradicate all vampires, even the ones who seem like pacifists. As with Meru Puri, the previous series by this author, the art is incredibly pretty but the plot and characters [...]
5:26 pm on March 20th, 2007 38
My girl friend and I read it together and we fell in love with it instintly.
8:41 pm on May 5th, 2007 39
omg i love this manga ! Even though im still young I wish to buy all 4 volumes at once! all i read was the preview of it but it hooked me right away! ANyways if you are a manga lover i recomend this cute exciting funny book to you ^^
4:40 am on May 6th, 2007 40
I love the drawing, its really great and the story is really wonderful. It’s originally made, a one of a kind…
11:22 am on May 8th, 2007 41
i also love meru puri if you have read meru puri and loved it then you should read vampire knight it’s the best and so cool nya! i love kaname nya! he is so cool ! anyways it is a great book just like meru puri execpt this time it has vampires and other interesting stuff nya!
12:49 am on August 5th, 2007 42
My sis has been bugging me to read manga & I refused.But I read MeruPuri b/c the drawings looked interesting.And I AM HOOKED!I absolutely loved the storyline.I like fantasy & romance books, but I have read so many books that I was having a hard time finding anything good.I loved that MeruPuri wasn’t graphic because sexual tension is so much more interesting. If you ever get bored with manga…try Mercedes Lackey’s Last Herald Mage series. I’m in love with Vanyel!
9:34 am on October 23rd, 2007 43
Regarding any confusion with Airi and Aram’s age difference in the ten year jump: When Airi says that she is 20, she also coughs. When she coughs, she is probably saying five. I was afraid someone might get confused by it, so…
7:09 pm on November 4th, 2007 44
I’m curious, however, does anyone know where I can buy this (aka. if they’re manufacturing still), cause I read the series online, and really want to buy it, but I do not know if it has been translated into English, yet, or if it’s already been made and is no longer being manufactured.
11:04 pm on November 4th, 2007 45
All 4 volumes have been translated by Viz