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The Mangasplainers dig into a “Missed Connection” from a prior episode, as Deb hosts a rollicking discussion of My Love Story!! By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko! This shoujo manga turns a lot of the conventions of the genre on its head, but will that mean the crew enjoys it more… or LESS? A very fun episode of the podcast awaits!
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IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 My Love Story!! vol. 1 by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko
49:23 THE BREAK
50:00 We pick new books! A fun isekai story, a kooky grown-up romcom and the manga that almost everyone recommended we put in front of Chip… and now we will!
01:02:07 SHOUT-OUTS!
My Love Story!! vol. 1
By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko
Translated by: JN Productions
Editor: Amy Yu
Lettering: Mark McMurray
Design: Fawn Lau
Published by Shojo Beat / VIZ Media Available in print / digital.
FREE PREVIEW: https://www.viz.com/read/manga/my-love-story-volume-1/product/3458
Audio editing by David Brothers. Show notes by Christopher Woodrow-Butcher and Deb Aoki
BEFORE WE GET STARTED
Hi it’s Christopher! This is a pretty fun episode! It stops being STRICTLY family-friendly just before we go to the break with a particularly spicy story, but it’s still a good time. Hope you enjoy!
ABOUT KAZUNE KAWAHARA
Born March 11, 1972 in Hokkaido, Japan, Kazune Kawahara is best known as the creator of the romcom shoujo manga High School Debut, originally released beginning in 2003 and published in English in 13 volumes by VIZ Media. That title was a huge hit, getting a live-action film, light novels, and even some merch if I remember correctly.
[DEB:] High School Debut is one of my favorite shojo manga series. It’s about a gal who is super sporty in middle school (she’s a softball player) who decides that she wants a ‘glow-up’ / makeover when she enters high school. She meets a classmate who’s good-looking, but kind of not into the idea of dating anyone. He agrees to coach her to be the kind of girl guys want to date, but on one condition: that she not fall in love with him. And haha, we all know how THAT will go, amirite? But like My Love Story!!, High School Debut shows how Kawahara is so good at turning shojo manga tropes slightly sidewards and creating characters and relationships that are quirky and endearing at the same time. If you love My Love Story!! do pick this up as well.
VIZ’s English edition of High School Debut came out in 2008 and wrapped up in 2010.
But then a curious thing happened, two more volumes of High School Debut came out! Volume 14 released in Japan in 2011, and volume 15 released in Japan in 2013! These volumes were never separately released by VIZ, probably because the original license was only for the first 13, and probably because releasing a random volume 14 or 15 would be a financially interesting decision. But fear not, fans! VIZ would let those original editions go out of print, and reprint the series in five 3-in-1 editions, and the fifth volume contains the previously unpublished volumes 14 and 15! So all’s well that ends well.
While Kawahara-sensei has had many, many series in Japanese, it took four years for her next English-language release, the 13-volume series Ore Monogatari, or in English, My Love Story!!, which is today’s read! This time, Kawahara partnered with artist Aruko to tell the story, and it did really well in Japan too! This one got a 24-episode TV anime series, as well as a live action movie.
It’s available to watch on Crunchyroll. You can also watch it on Hulu, or download-to-own on Amazon Prime.
I think the anime looks pretty good, and it has solid reviews! The live-action on the other hand…
Like… I dunno. It loses some of the charm.
Anyway, since My Love Story!! wrapped up in 2017 with volume 13, Kawahara hasn’t had any new English-language releases… But good news! I was just doing a search on Amazon, and it looks like Kawahara will get a new release at the end of this year! Seven Seas will release The Secret of Friendship, a one-volume shojo series written by Kawahara and illustrated by Aiji Yamakawa (nothing else in English). I don’t know if it’s officially announced but it’s up on Amazon, so, uh, hopefully Seven Seas isn’t too pissed at me today.
ABOUT ARUKO
Born July 26th in Ishikawa Prefecture, Aruko (pen-name! no picture online!) made her debut with the short-story “Ame no Chi Hare” in 1999, and created a number of short works until her first serialized hit, Yasuko and Kenji in 2005, about Kenji, a former delinquent who becomes a shojo manga creator to help support his family, including his younger sister Yasuko.
Her entire career is full of short stories and one-off volumes, and she seems like an interesting creator!
Aruko’s big breakthrough came as she illustrated Ore Monogatari!! a.k.a. today’s title My Love Story!! Running 13 volumes from 2011-2016, as we mentioned above the story did very well in Japan. After taking a few years off to release short stories and maybe rest a little, Aruko leapt into her next story, partnering with author Wateru Hinekure on My Love Mix-Up!, which we read earlier on this podcast!
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