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Week Six

This week I read Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. I chose to read this because my friends are fans of it.

This manga is definitely targeted towards girls. The set up is that the main character, a girl named Chiyo, wants to confess her love to Nozaki, a rather oblivious and dense boy who is also a mangaka of a somewhat popular shoujo manga as well. The manga is rather hilarious in that Nozaki just does not understand Chiyo's feelings, but Chiyo doesn't give up.

Along the way, we meet other characters who also have their own romantic problems. It's meant to be a comedic, 4koma-esque manga. A lot of the ideals are subtle, but still there. Much of it is not giving up, not misunderstanding or having clear communication. Take life by the handles!

Another manga I want to mention that is both shoujo and romance is O Maidens in Your Savage Season. I've actually been reading this for a while, slowly, although new scanlations just got released (yesterday at the time of this posting). I think this manga is much deeper than GSNK, it deals with young girls going through their first loves and romances. This is definitely directed towards women because it deals directly with embarrassing situations that girls would experience. The ideals are very very explicit and bold, and every romance is different. Some are weird and border on illegal (the teacher and the girl), but it is dealt with in a very mature way.

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