Venus in Love #3 by Yuki Nakaji (amazon)

I continue to enjoy this series about the romantic entanglements of four college students. Suzuna confessed her feelings to the popular tennis player Fukami, but it is clear that he has a crush on another girl. Her partner in lovelornness is Fukami’s best friend and her next door neighbor Eichi. Eichi continues to keep his feelings for Fukami hidden, and he and Suzuna spend more time together working at a toy store over Christmas. Eichi and Suzuna begin to grow closer, but when a dangerously handsome male model spots Eichi in a dangerously cute bunny costume, he vows to make him his. Suzana’s friend Hinako continues to pursue her Greek teacher.

Eichi and Suzuna encourage Fukami after he has a tension-filled date. Suzuna thinks that Fukami’s girl must be really special to him since he’s stressing out so much:

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Teru Teru X Shonen: Volume 1 by Shigeru Takao (amazon)

Sometimes when I do my monthly DCBS manga order, I’ll throw in a first volume of a series randomly just to try out something new. Sometimes I luck out and find series that I really enjoy, and other times I end up with a dud. Teru Teru X Shonen is a dud. I thought this series about a girl in high school and her ninja protector might be cute, but it was just not very good.
This manga is a broad comedy, and while I understand that in comedies often the characters do not have a great subtly of characterization, every character here was so unsympathetic that I found the manga ore annoying than entertaining. Shinobu is just the type of girl I would have hated in high school She has long blond hair and an imperious manner that causes most of her classmates to find her incredibly annoying. She’s living under the cloud of a threat on her life, so isn’t it lucky that her childhood friend Saizou has shown up at her school after becoming a ninja? Shinobu’s idea of using Saizou’s ninja powers is to send him after a cat that stole her hair ribbon. Saizou is so besotted that he will do whatever Shinobu asks, while constantly calling her “Princess” and “My Lady.” Although he’s a ninja, he abhors violence; he takes off his glasses when fighting so he can’t see what he’s doing. I found him just as annoying as Shinobu due to his blind devotion to her, I would have hoped that a ninja might find something better to do.
The art for Teru Teru X Shonen is nice, with plenty of capably rendered fighting scenes. I just found the characters so annoying, I have no desire to read any more volumes of this series.

Today I’m looking at a couple books from CMX’s mature line - these manga are a slightly larger size (8 1/2 x 6) than the typical book. They also have a few color pages in the front, which is rare for CMX. I tend to order my manga way in advance from previews, so sometimes when I’m getting a new title I’m just guessing that I might be interested in it. Unfortunately it sounds like Presents is the most interesting of CMX’s new mature imprint, and I didn’t get it!

Variante by Iqura Sugimoto (amazon)

There are a few plot lines that I’m inexplicably attracted to. One is any story about vampire vampire hunters. The other is any story about people with sentient limbs. I’ve been somewhat disappointed with recent vampire hunting manga (Trinity Blood, Vampire Knight) so I was hoping that there’d be some amusing sentient arm action in Variante. It isn’t exactly bad, but I didn’t find it very compelling. I read the first third of the book, put it down, and then forced myself to finish it a few weeks later.
Aiko is a typical high school girl who wakes up in a morgue after her parents were killed. Her arm seems mangled and odd. It turns out that there are giant fleshy monsters called chimeras preying on the populace. A secret police/research organization called Atheos is battling the chimeras and Aiko is their newest lab rat. A sympathetic detective named Sudo tries to look out for Aiko, but she’s having a tough time adjusting to her new reality.
When reading Variante, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I’d read it all before. Although there were a few amusing lines about Aiko’s condition - “Aiko’s arm has a mind of its own!” the most compelling thing about the whole volume was Sudo’s habit of wearing a bandanna around his head along with a suit. And unfortunately creative accessorizing isn’t really enough to sustain my interest in this series. Maybe if Aiko’s arm had more of a sassy personality, I might have liked this book more. If you like horror stories about fleshy monsters and the yucky arms that kill them, you might enjoy this manga more than I did.

Orfina by Kitsune Tennouji (amazon)

This is a pedestrian fantasy story involving dragons and dopplegangers. The female warrior Fana escapes from battle only to wind up in the kingdom of Codia. She happens to be a mirror image of the princess Orfina. Fana settles in to life in the castle, but danger lurks because the evil kingdom Granze is going to attack with the ultimate weapon - dragons.
The best thing about the art in this manga was the detailed backgrounds. The facial expressions of the characters often looked wooden, and something about the flow of action from panel to panel was off - I found myself flipping backwards a few times just to figure out what was going on. There isn’t much authentic character development. The King and Queen seem to have a special regard for Fana, but this isn’t really explored much other than in a few throwaway lines. I don’t think it was really necessary for Fana to fight in her skimpy pajamas, but I’m not the intended audience for this book.

I thought I’d take some time to sit down and make a list of which manga series I’m actively following:

Viz

Nana - Consistently awesome.
Boys Over Flowers - One of the nice things about following a long-running series is being able to see the art evolve. The later volumes of this series are so much better than the first few volumes.
Hana Kimi - My favorite girl disguising herself as a boy with wacky hijinks + romance ensuing series.
Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden - I’m a sucker for Yuu Watase, and in many ways I’m enjoying this prequel series to Fushigi Yugi more than the original. It is a more mature work, with better characterization and a more complicated plot.
Skip Beat - I can see why the main character might be annoying to some people, but I like Kyoko’s relentless desire for revenge combined with her gradual awareness of her love for acting.
Fullmetal Alchemist -Sometimes I tend to let my volumes of Fullmetal Alchemist pile up, and then I’ll read them in one big chunk and wonder why I’m waiting to read each volume. One of the most intelligent action series out.

Tokyopop

Queen’s Knight - I like fantasy series, this one is pretty decent. From the author of INVU.
Suppli - I’m so happy there’s a new josei series to read.
Fruits Basket - Naturally.

GoComi

Cantarella - Borgia + Manga is a potent combination.
Her Majesty’s Dog - Consistently good series about a girl and her spirit animal companion.

Del Rey
xxxHolic - Gorgeous CLAMP art.
ES (Eternal Sabbath) - Great blend of suspense and sci-fi.

ADV

Yotsuba&!

CMX

Canon - Vampires!
Penguin Revolution - This series about a girl manager and her aspiring actor client/roommate is a little more consistent than the author’s other work Land of the Blindfolded.
Emma - Maids and thwarted love.
Venus In Love - I really liked the first volume of this series set in college.

Any other new manga coming out that I should be trying? Or are there any older titles I need to check out?

Venus in Love by Yuki Nakaji (amazon)

Venus in Love has all the trappings of a typical shoujo story, but the combination of characters and good humor ensure that I’ll be following this new series from CMX. Suzuna is a new college student who is excited to live on her own for the first time. She speculates that she’ll find love with the new neighbors in her apartment building, and visits them with her little brother and some tasty dumplings. Unfortunately to one side of her new place lives a frightening otaku who announces that she looks just like “Miracle Mako Chan”. The answer to her knock on the next door is a loud voice yelling “No newspaper subscriptions!” It ends up being a cute boy named Eichi who promptly gives her the name “Poodle” due to her hairstyle. Eichi and Suzuna end up bonding over take out meals from the convenience store.
Suzuna’s best friend at school is Hinako, a popular and vivacious girl who used to go to high school with Eichi. Eichi refused to go out with Hinako when they were in high school, claiming that he wasn’t interested in girls. Eichi’s closest friend is Fukami, a handsome and talented tennis player. The foursome strengthen their friendship when the girls join Fukami’s tennis club. Suzuna quickly develops a crush on Fukami, but she’s surprised when she discovers that Eichi likes him too. She calmly accepts him as her rival in love, vowing not to lose to him. She tells him that he’s free to love anyone he wants.
The four friends survive drinking games, a trip to the country, a club fund raiser, setting up their schedules, and mercenary practices involving class notes. Suzuna and Eichi develop a teasing relationship, bantering back and forth about their mutual crush on Fukami. The art has a bit of a vintage look to it (the first volume came out in Japan in the late 90s), but it does capture the enthusiasm of the characters as they throw themselves into college life. I hope the later volumes of this manga follow-up on the promise of the first.

Apothecarius Argentum by Tomomi Yamashita (amazon.com)

Apothecarius Argentum deals with the relationship between a princess and her former poison tester. Primula is the type of princess who prefers sword fighting to etiquette lessons. As a boy, Argent tasted every morsel of food before Primula was allowed to eat. He’s a basilisk, someone exposed to many poisons at a young age which causes him to build up a tolerance to toxic substances. As a side effect, his touch can kill. Basilisks are often used as assassins as well as food tasters.

Years later Argent has become an apothecary and returns to the kingdom of Beazol. He’s summoned to the castle when Primula becomes sick, and she recognizes him as her childhood companion. They start to connect again as friends, but someone seems to be trying to poison the princess. Argent resumes his role as a protector, but his poisonous touch and the difference in their stations might prevent their friendship from developing.

This three volume series would be a good fit for most YA manga collections - it wouldn’t take up too much shelf space, and it has a bunch of read alike potential for fans of fantasy stories with untraditional princesses.
Dr. Scott is doing a medical annotation of the series, so you can learn all about the poisons mentioned in the manga.