Manga Review | Pastel
After getting my new phone (Lumia 925) I’ve been trying out quite a few windows phone 8.1 apps for review purposes and because I need replacements for all the apps I used on android. So far I’ve been through just a few and out of those few I’ve found the gem that is Manga Blaze. Manga blaze is a manga app that allows the user to download, and read manga from many different manga websites like mangahere, and manga panda. After I installed it proceeded to test it before I got committed, so I only subbed to a few manga series at the time, one of those series was “Pastel”. Pastel is a romantic slice of life manga series about a boy and a girl that met in a miraculous (and you know by that I mean totally ecchi 😛 ) situation and continue to meet each other in those exact same ways though out the beginning of the story. The story is nothing new for those of us that read a lot of slice of life manga so if you’re like me then don’t expect anything new. Though that is not a bad thing as those types of manga tend to be quite interesting as they are already. The twists and turns of this type of manga are not always the easiest to call, but after you see them you get that “ahhh I’ve seen this before” kind feeling.
So about the story?
The story begins with our protagonist; a boy named Mugi (yeah I know It sounds like the kid from the jungle book right?). Mugi’s story starts prior to his breakup with his previous girlfriend due to her moving to Tokyo. He thought it would be hard for them to maintain a long distance relationship and so they broke up, what a BAKA! Right? After his break up his best bud Kazuki who somehow reminds me of a flirtatious Harima (school rumble) takes Mugi to work with him at his aunts inn to get his mind off the break up and to act as his wing man should that be required. At this beach house Mugi accidentally stumbles upon a beautiful girl that’s staying at the inn as she was changing into her swim suite, this is Yuu who is his main romantic interest throughout the plot.
It’s the right kind of ecchi
Mugi immediately falls in love with her and even gets to go on a partial date with her thanks indirectly to Kazuki, but also thanks to Kazuki and his own lies he walks in on her naked in the bath and gets his arse kicked. The day after that ill-fated situation he decides to apologize to her only to realize that she had already packed and left. The poor guy is then set on a quest by none other than Kazuki to find her. She had previously mentioned to him that she had recently moved to a nearby place and so his search should be easier. He would just need to go home drop off his stuff and then come up with a game plan to finding her. To his surprise when he arrived at home there was someone in his bathroom who he assumed was his good for nothing dad, however it turned out to be not his dad, but actually Yuu. After their fated reunion it was then explained to Mugi by his dad that both Yuu and her younger sister (Tsukasa) would be living with them, because their father who was his dad’s best friend had passed away and requested that his best friend take care of his daughters after his death. Ok so the girls move in and the story progresses from there.
I’ve chosen not to spoil anymore of the plot for you, but trust me when I say it’s one of the best slice of life manga I’ve read so far. It’s got the right kind of ecchi with a progressive well paced story. manga like these are the reason that I read more manga than I watch anime these days. They offer such wonderful plots that I can absorb at my own pace on the ride to Port of Spain and back each day. How can one to whom romance is nothing but fiction not love that. It does have its moments that baffle me, but I’ll assume that that’s only because of bad translations and not the story itself. Mugi as a character is as his age suggest (16) still immature, although at times he can do some things that are ahead of his age. The Yuu on the other hand seems to be a scatter brain when it relates to their currently none existent romance. She never seems to catch on that he likes her, but gets all flustered when any other girl shows interest in him. She also never seems to fight for him. Only serving to be a side character in his romantic life and not even putting in the effort to express her interest. Alas I am only 50 chapters in as of this article and so a lot of that is subject to change, maybe in the next chapter, who knows. for now i’m just enjoying the ride. It’s a great read and I suggest it to anyone that likes romantic, funny stories. 😉
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If you’d like to hear more about my thoughts on this series as I continue to read it, then I suggest you listen to the Buttonsmashers podcast.
