While at Anime North, I picked up several cheap copies of Japanese manga magazines in Japan, including 3 of my favorite title, Hana to Yume. I always enjoy looking at these, showing what series were running alongside each other, and seeing the balance you get in a twice-a-month magazine as opposed to a tankobon. This issue came out on August 5th.

The cover art is for Tokyo Crazy Paradise, showing Tsukasa and Ryuji in beachwear. Fans of Skip Beat! will note that Ryuji’s looks are not too far from Sho’s. There’s also a giveaway of Yuki and Kyo cat and mouse keychains for Fruits Basket, though these were obviously not with my $3 used copy.

By the way, Fruits Basket wasn’t in this edition. Hana to Yume tends to rotate its series so that the artists can have breaks about once every 4 issues or so. In addition, Takaya-san was on medical leave, and took an entire year off at this period. Banri Hidaka was also on break, as I Hate You More Than Anyone! had ended in the previous issue. Satisfaction Guaranteed, which Tokyopop was releasing over here, is also on break.

So what is in here? Well…

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e gets 2 color pages here, with Chapter 92 of the long-running series also known as Hana-Kimi, and released here by Viz. This chapter was collected as the first of Volume 17. This chapter deals with Sano’s inability to deal with his younger brother Shin, and his feelings of calm when he’s around Mizuki. That calm vanishes when his father shows up at the end of the chapter.

We then get chapter 2 of Teru Teru x Shonen, which had debuted the previous issue. This is obviously from Volume 1 of the series, available (for the moment) from CMX. The class gets introduced to Saizou, the world’s least secret ninja, and we see more of everyone’s favorite spoiled princess Shinobu. We also see the first sign of her intense code of honor.

(The interstitial ads, btw, are just littered with Fruits Basket. Takaya may be taking a year off, but the readers were not going to be allowed to forget her.)

Next, we get Chapter 90 of Tea Prince, probably the biggest series in this issue to never get a license. I suspect the main reason for this is that it’s 25 volumes long. The author did just get her first English license here, though, as Sky Blue Shore is on Amazon as a Tokyopop release. The series is sort of a combination of the supernatural and tea.

Never Give Up! Chapter 50 gets a color page. Like Hana-Kimi, this is about a girl disguising herself as a boy. Unlike Hana-Kimi, this didn’t sell very well in North America, and it’s in the Tokyopop void at the moment. This chapter will be in Volume 9 should they start putting it out again.

Next we have Chapter 56 of Shanimuni GO!, a sports manga by the author of Baby & Me. This ran for 32 volumes, and is notable for having almost no romance, instead emphasizing friendships and athletics (mostly tennis). The pacing is also quite relaxed, and those who like fast-moving developments will be frustrated. Its chances of being licensed are very, very small. Nevertheless, it has many fans, and I know several people here who loved Baby & Me.

We then have Chapter 5 of God Child, which had no trouble whatsoever getting licensed by Viz. This is actually a sequel, and the author has several volumes dealing with her supernatural detective hero Count Cain. Filled with gore, this is exactly the sort of series that Hana to Yume does NOT run nowadays, as it’s backed away from its darker titles.

Following this is a 3-page manga, Ame Nochi Hare. This is, from what little I can make out, about police officers and a penguin-thing. It’s a typical gag comic, the sort still seen in HtY these days to break up the longer titles. The author moved to Shueisha last year, and is now drawing cute gag comics for Cookie magazine.

Chapter 52 of W Juliet is next, another series put out over here by Viz. In case you’re keeping track, this is the 3rd series so far where we have boys pretending to be girls or girls pretending to be boys. Obviously the manga’s drama story appeals to me personally as well (as I have my B.A. in drama).

And oh look, here’s Tokyo Crazy Paradise, Chapter 103, which makes *four* genderbending series in this issue. This series is getting near to the end (it also gets a color page in addition to the cover it got), and I note that Tsukasa’s ‘I’m going to kick all your asses’ face is remarkably similar to dark Kyoko from Skip Beat!. She gets in some great kick moves here, and Ryuji also gets to look cool.

After this we get a TCP personality quiz, and horoscopes. Then it’s time for Chapter 65 of Descendants of Darkness, another series in the “They don’t put these in Hana to Yume anymore” category. This chapter has not been collected in a volume yet, though Japan is making noises about doing so soon. The author wants to redraw everything, though, so it may be a bit. I imagine if it does come out, Viz will release it as they have been in the past.

The 3rd and last chapter of a short series called Soap is next. The author specialized in a lot of short, 1-volume series from the mid 90s to mid-00s. This was one of her last. It’s your typical romance.

We then get Chapter 16 of Portrait of M & N, which Tokyopop is currently releasing here. This chapter will be in Volume 4. It gets a nice color page. (It’s so weird seeing Tachibana at the back of the book, something her current series, Gakuen Alice, does not have to worry about.)

Another 4-page gag comic, Hello from the End of the Universe. This seems to feature characters dressed as animal mascots.

Chapter 14 of Short Sunzen! is next, from Volume 3 of the manga. This is another one that is in Tokyopop hiatusland, but I quite liked it. Fans of Special A may get behind this series, which features a strong yet clueless girl and the boy who’s trying to get it through to her that he has feelings for her. I love aggressively dense (romance-wise, not intelligence-wise) heroines, though I have been told I’m in a minority.

Finally we have Boku Wa Ne, a short series from the author of Wild Ones, which Viz has been releasing. I note that Wild Ones also seemed, when it was running in the magazine, to have the final story position. Perhaps the author requested it? In any case, this series has a mild BL component to it, but can easily be read as just friendship to anyone who wants to ignore that. It’s about a family and their new (male) housekeeper.

It’s rather startling how many of these series have been licensed. The only exceptions are either ‘too long’ series such as Tea Prince and Shanimuni, or series that may be too dark/violent for Shojo Beat (Tokyo Crazy Paradise). It really was a golden age.