Sleeps In Sunbeams's manga / #adventure(10)

Just leave your rational brain at the door and enjoy these crazy stories

An oddball story full of unexpected chaos and fun. Really cute and fun

A sweet story. Philomena is reincarnated into the body of a child on a magic filled fantasy world. Her childhood best friend is the black haired magic user Eddie, a wary boy who had been abused by his family for bearing the dark colouring of a magic user. Whilst pouring over magical tomes and grimoires together they form the beginning of a lifelong bond that grows from friendship to love. However, loving the most powerful magic user in their nation has its drawbacks, especially when your stubborn love is determined to protect you. I appreciated the strong ties between Philly and Eddie. Their love for each other was always an obvious priority between the two opposites.

An epic romantic adventure graphic novel that was totally addictive. Japanese high school student Noriko transmigrated to a fantasy world where the first person she meets is Izark, a serious and powerful young man who seemed ready to let her follow his lead. In a world of monsters and a mysterious prophecy, Noriko and Izark travel together and fall in love while the legend of The Awakening and The Sky Demon looms. No more spoilers, just read this wonderful story where the FMC is an ordinary girl who is neither a clinging damsel in distress nor an overpowered Mary Sue. She musters her courage to help where she can and is incredibly loyal and supportive of Izark. That warrior in turn treasures her and it’s so sweet how close the two are. This is an older story written around 1990’s - 2000’s, so the art style is (naturally) older, but it is still cute (especially the MCs) and it’s balanced by the plot which was rich and colourful.

Oda Nobunaga is the Demon Daimyo of the Sixth Heaven, the destroyer of Shinto and Buddhism and fated to die at the Temple of Honno-ji. Only in this story, this warlord of the Sengoku period finds a new destiny in the hands of transmigrated Mizusaki Mai, a young woman in her 20s from 500 years in the future who lands in the past and saves Nobunaga from the fires of Honno-Ji. I love this era and was happy to see Nobunaga become the Great Unifier of Japan and get to chase his own HEA with someone who loved him wholeheartedly rather than missing on seeing his vision come to fruition. This story was sweet thanks to the influence of the FL who wasnt a pushover and played to her strengths in this war torn era. Nobunaga’s gradual conquest of Mai was adorable and overall I really loved their romance.

This was a rather epic adventure story with many characters to follow. The FL Ley, was a strong willed girl flung into a world of turmoil and war. She was the unknowing child of a prophecy that would have her at the centre of battle and pivotal for the outcome. Masquerading as a man, Ley gathered allies and made enemies along her travels. Among them was Lucian, a king ready to fight for his embattled lands. He was the main romantic lead, a man she dreamt about before meeting and one who loved her and vowed to make her his queen. Unlike many of the comments I have read here about the ending, I thought it was good. The majority of time was spent winning the war and the battle was appropriately intense and drawn out. Her time back in the real world was short, but there was no need to spend time there; she had changed and grown and basically just had to say goodbye and let go the angst of her past. Then she would return and all the things promised by Lucien would be in her future. Plus, all those good friends made along the way. A story with lots of action, character growth and friendships but lighter on the romance (there were priorities of war after all), this was a good read if you love reading about a genuinely strong and independent FL who spends most of the story being perceived as a man.

Trigger Warning: Rape As a long time lover of RPG games, I appreciate the effort to create a story in a RPG world. In this one though, we join the elf wizard Phil, and human hero warrior Takamasa, at the end of their main quest. They are now continuing to travel the world together in search of elves and for reasons that made no sense Phil would occasionally force himself on Takamasa and then wipe his memories. Sure, Phil believed that Takamasa loved the princess, but I don’t believe that the rapes were given any rationale. Firstly, because Phil showed no deep attachment to Takamasa beyond the friendship of a child who has grown up in his company (at least not during the beginning when the rapes happened). Secondly, elves didn’t even mate in the human way but through a mind connection. It just didn’t make sense! Obviously, by the end of the story there was more of a feeling of them being a couple, but it was through Takamas’s efforts, not Phil’s. Apart from that glaring story flaw, I liked the 2 travelling and adventuring together as a couple and the art was really quite pretty. I would probably read it again simply for the fantasy adventure feeling of the story, I just wish that if rape was going to be used for plot development that the one initiating it was shown to be going through some mental or emotional conflict but driven by overwhelming emotions or at least be a race that had sex.. o(>.<)o

This was a great version of Alice in Wonderland but it leaves a lot of questions because key events preceding going down the rabbit hole are omitted and there is little explanation within the story about characters and their importance. Still, it gave an awesome setting and still felt bewildering and chaotic in that true Lewis Carroll style. There is sadness knowing Alice is escaping the tragic loss of her family, especially her most loved sister to illness. It’s also sad to know Blood’s backstory and what happened to his sister. In some ways he has the most in common with Alice and I was happy that he ended up with her. He was the most real of the characters and personally I liked him.

An interesting idea for a story but it was heavily let down by the ending. Dorothy was meant to grow as a witch but she stayed greedy and bossy all the way through. There were moments of something softer to her personality and she did make friends but it really wasn’t achieved by being friendly. There were also hints of Dorothy being abandoned when young which explained why she was so materialistic but it was really just flashes that were never explored and therefore it was harder to find her a sympathetic character. The tag on this is romance but there was nothing really romantic. Hints about something forming between Dorothy and Toto, but no kisses (except for power exchange where one did last a bit longer) and no words of love exchanged. That’s not romance. If you read this for a story where a witch gathers servants who become willing followers and matures into her powers but stays with an immature personality then this will suit you. Just don’t expect much from the ending. It left pretty much every plot line open.

Kanzaki Misuzu is whisked into a different world of magic and knights where she becomes the Black Healer, Daughter of Gaia (the God of the world) and sets about to find her way home. I enjoyed her journey, she was a brave adventuress who sought to use the talents she had to make her own way. The romance was sweet, though probably something I wanted more of and I liked the choices Reene made. My only issue was the ending seemed just a touch fast (the flow was a little off, perhaps from the new translator) and I wanted to see her life more in the demon world (the whole story was really spent in the human realm after all). A recommended read.