The Tally:
Returning from Japan and then carting the stuff to San Francisco is not very fun. ^^;; Anyways, here are some things I picked up.
KareKano 11
Oh I need 12, and then I can be happy. Kazuma/Tsubasa arc is takes about 2 volumes. @_@
Ottori Sousa 1-10
I am a fan of Yua Kotegawa's work (which isn't much I admit) but then again I'm finding myself drawn more to plot and characters instead of art. (Steph refers to Nervous Venus and most of Haruko Iida's works). Ottori Sousa is one of those mangas, Young Jump Comics published the series (which won 2nd prize in a Shueishida contest) and ran 10 volumes long. (I found it at Nakano Mandarake 1-7, 10 there was a nice hole in the YJC section ^^;;;) The story is about a Detective named Akiba who crosses paths with a High School Idol named Mizuho. He was assigned to protect her. But he's also a young dectective and a bit unorthodox. For the first two volumes Mizuho ends up getting involved in Akiba's other cases but eventually it progresses into a friendship (and eventually a relationship ^^). Like Anne Freaks, Kotegawa's works are on the violent side, but not overly bloody gruesome, but enough to make the scene effective.
Dream Saga Takamagahara 3-5
Finally! After 2 years I finally know the end to this story. T_T
Shounen Shuuhasu Ousama no Kihu 1-4
This is a cute manga about a bunch of guys who play shogi. To be honest I've come to the understanding that anything that runs in Wings or Ciel is pretty much flimsy plots with lots of cute guys. Shonen Shuuhasu doesn't have pretty art going for it, but it does have a very interesting plot and even better incredible backstory on its main characters and its supporting characters even. Irie is a young shogi player with lots of potential but I think he's looking for a new teacher and crosses paths with Kitamura-sensei. What's even more ironic is the fact that 2 rows down at the Mandarake in Shibuya I found the DJ for this series. ^^ Poor Irie he gets slashed with everybody, but mostly with Kitamura-sensei (a shogi player of higher rank). Personally I'm hoping something happens between Kitamura and Irie.
And yes finally I have all of Chie Wasdea's published works. *^^*
Title/Mangaka/Publsisher/ISBN/notes
KareKano 11/Masami Tsuda/Hana to Yume/4-592-12075-2
Ottori Sousa 1/Yua Kotegawa/Young Jump Comics (YJC)/4-08-875482-4
Syonen Shuhasu Ousama no Kihu/Sakuma Tomoyo/Kadokawa Shoten/4-04-852893-9/
spine label: Asuka Comics CLX ISBN is off of un-numbered vol 1