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MANGA MOMENT | LOVE LETTERS 1 & 2 BY GEORGE ASAKURA


LOVE LETTERS 


** Female manga artist George Asakura uses this format to present short-story style romances, depicting couples who 
come together under unique / unusual circumstances.


Love Letters #1

Stories 1-5


#1 "Love Letters in the Library" -- Ririko Takase is a Liza Minelli-looking librarian who finds a love letter from a secret admirer left for her at the library's return desk. 



#2 "To One Who Doesn't Know Me" -- Bad boy Mosumura Yasushi writes a letter to classmate Katase Rino confessing is admiration / attraction for her. But the letter is actually found by another girl, Ayako, who is moved by his sentiments.

#3 "Flowers Blooming in the Snow" -- Lonely girl Miyashita Chiyuki, struggling with depression, finds friendship through letters exchanged with Kumashiro. 



#4 "Love Letter Panic" -- Tomboy Hayakawa gets a letter from a secret admirer telling her she's cute, which inspires her to embrace her girly-girl side and start "living for love". 

#5 "The Mailman's Love" -- Sawako is a blind cellist who receives a letter from her boyfriend. She asks the mailman to read the letter to her. When he sees it's a breakup letter, he doesn't want to hurt the woman he's secretly attracted to, so he makes up what the letter says, reciting a love note the likes of which Sawako has never heard before, telling her all the things he wants to confess to her.




I enjoy Asakura's art style and the fun, unique storylines here. There are cute moments within these romances but overall I noticed a sad undertone, and the stories for the most part seem to have a sharp, abrupt end.

Red Background clipart - Envelope, Paper, Mail, transparent clip art

Love Letters #2

Stories 5-10 + bonus short story (not letter related) "Summer Foam"


*This volume is a direct continuation of Love Letters 1, in that the stories start at #6, since Volume 1's stories stopped at #5, but the characters are all different so it can be read as a standalone as well. 

#6 "Midnight Fax Letters" -- Araki sends Wada a letter through a fax machine. This is followed up by late-night exchanges of games and jokey sketches between the two, humor that disguises a secret growing romance. 





#7 "Ko-chan's Email" -- Natsume, the mayor's daughter, emails friend Ko (Minamida Koichiro, who she hasn't heard from in quite awhile, not since he said he was headed to America to pursue a music career.



#8 "Lovers on Planet Icarus" -- After the death of his brother Koichi, Kenji finds his brother's digital camera and a note asking Kenji to deliver a video message to Koichi's secret lover, Yuin. Her version of their relationship actually ends up being pretty disturbing. 



#9 "Secret Exchange Notebook" -- NoBuo Tsutsui catches the eye of Tachibana Kaede. They exchange messages in a notebook passed back and forth.

#10 "Metal Moon" --- Kaneko's requests for a date with Meike keep getting shot down. To his surprise, he receives a confessional letter of attraction from friend ZeZe. 





** Bonus story: "Summer Foam" --- no exchange of letters involved here, but still a light romance about Tsurukawa, a swim team star, and Katagiri, the girl who joins swim club for the opportunity to be near him.




Reading this second volume, I was left with pretty much the same feelings as what I had with the first --- still very much enjoy the artwork style, and the interesting relationship setups, but ultimately most of these stories fall a little on the flat and somewhat depressing side of things. I think I did like this collection just a little bit better than Volume 1. 





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