Hello everyone, my name is Rai, and I am going to be a new manga reviewer on this site! You may know me from my blog Rai’s Anime Blog, my Twitter account @pinkraichu, or my freelancer writing work, where I ramble about yuri, anime girls, and Japanese music.
If you aren’t familiar with me, here’s my backstory:
Like many people my age (I’m currently 27), I got into anime thanks to Toonami in the late 90s and early 2000s. Some of my favorite shows from that time are Tenchi Muyo, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sailor Moon. I was also hopelessly obsessed with Pokemon as a child – and still am! My interest in anime/manga fluctuated through middle school and high school, but it came back full force after I graduated college because I finally found my niche.
Although I will pretty much read or watch anything (excluding series that are very ecchi or vulgar), my favorite genres are yuri and cute girls doing cute things. In 2013, I read the Girl Friends manga and fell in love with it. I made it my quest to read and watch series with female LGBTQ characters. As a queer female myself, I enjoyed seeing various girls’ experiences, especially in Japan, where the culture — especially regarding LGBT — is so different.
My search for yuri led to cute girl series like Kiniro Mosaic, Is the Order a Rabbit?, and so on. These series are light on story but heavy on dialogue and cute girls (my weakness!). Don’t get me wrong; I love a good story, but, for me, these series provide a sheer sense of escapism. I love getting lost in the characters’ everyday lives. Cute girl series led to idol anime, but that’s a story for another day — unless you want to read a gigantic rant about Love Live.
On this site, I am going to writing about manga, so I should probably mention some of my favorite manga series. In terms of yuri, pretty much anything by Milk Morinaga is golden. But my favorite manga of all time is actually Black Butler. What starts out as a silly story with average art turns into a strong, compelling, multi-faceted tale about a boy who has dug his own grave. And not to mention, Yana Toboso’s art improves drastically and becomes nothing less than beautiful.
Hmm, some of my other favorite manga include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Tokyo Mew Mew, Bloom Into You, and loads more. My favorite light novel series is Sword Art Online, and my favorite anime is Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions. And while anime is awesome, there is nothing quite like holding a book in your hand. Manga is a form of art and storytelling — my two favorite things in the world — so how can I not love it? I have volumes upon volumes of unread manga sitting in my room, waiting to be read. I hope to read them all and share my opinions of them on this site, so everyone can discover more yuri good manga.
With my busy schedule, I will probably be able to post about twice a month, but I hope to see everyone around. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!