3 am Dangerous Zone - Is There Such a Thing As a Conventional Career?

This summer I've had a bit of free time on my hands to do some reading. I figured what better than to read a little-known josei manga about office work romance? 3 am Dangerous Zone by Nemu Youko had interesting cover art that caught my attention, and I was pleasantly surprised with its originality. Keep reading for my review of this intriguing series!

Synopsis

A three volume series, 3 am Dangerous Zone follows Momoko, a recent graduate who's found an entry level position as a pachinko parlor designer. Working late hours with oddballs, she wants to quit her job badly. But once she starts making friends with the staff Momoko decides she's in it for the long haul, and finds fulfillment in her job and love life. It's a slice-of-life josei with some comedy and romance mixed in.

The Good

Eye-Candy Artwork

I really enjoyed the art style of this manga. It's simplistic yet refined, making it pleasurable to leaf through. It feels like a Western comic, but has that Japanese finesse. Each character has a unique design, and the style represents reality in a pleasant yet realistic manner. Definitely one of my favourite hand drawn art styles that I've come across.

Strong Female Lead

I often find myself skipping over josei titles because they depict love crazed females who don't know how to deal with themselves, let alone deal with a man in their life. I'm not trying to belittle josei, as there are standout titles that try to depict females in a more reasonable light. Luckily, we find that here with Momoko. She is a more passive female lead, representing a present-time young woman: independent, looking for stability, lacking drive, and reluctant to trust others. She's not lacking confidence in a cliché way, but rather is driven to find fulfillment in her career. She sacrifices her relationships to find a balance of workplace stability and self fulfillment. I really liked how dynamic she was; her thoughts were sometimes muddled by passivity, and I was just as curious to understand her as she was curious to understand herself. I loved how simple she appeared, yet how complex and inspiring her character became. If you find yourself connecting less and less to most josei/shoujo female leads, then I suggest checking out 3 am Dangerous Zone. Momoko's character is a unique and enthralling person. Anyone looking to find a career can relate to her predicament and find inspiration in her determination.

The Bad

Slow Pacing

This manga tells a concise story, being only 15 chapters long, with about 30 pages per chapter. It doesn't over exaggerate, and is pretty down to Earth with the way it represents reality. It doesn't have overarching cliff hangers, and it doesn't tell anything too heavy handed. It's a simple story about a simple girl; it presents a situation that many young women face when entering the working world. I love it for that, but for those looking for a real page turner, you're not going to find it here. It kept me entertained, but it was definitely a light read. It's an interesting story, but not a particularly compelling one. If you're looking for a nice read for your bus ride I definitely recommend this series, but if you want something to excite you I suggest looking somewhere else.

Underdeveloped Supporting Characters

The focus of this manga is definitely on Momoko and her personal obstacles. It never goes into great detail about the other characters, and for the little that it does, it doesn't tell very thought-provoking back stories. They each have a clear cut purpose, and really shine focus back onto Momoko rather than stealing the spotlight for themselves. It would have been nice to get to know Momoko's coworkers better, or even get to know the deep motivations of her love interests, but with the short run of this series it wouldn't have fit in anyways. It's disappointing that they weren't more dynamic, but I can't say that it took away from the overall experience.

Final Score

3 am Dangerous Zone is a different kind of josei. It represents the reality of working young women well, and offers a new perspective on what women are looking for as they reach adulthood. 3 am Dangerous Zone gets a 7.0 out of 10. While not reaching far beyond its simplistic story, it tells a concise tale of Momoko and her exploits as she balances her love life with her work. I enjoyed that it took a new approach, and offered something that I hadn't previously seen in a josei series. For a short read it's worth looking into, especially if you find yourself at odds with the reality of full time work.

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Cousin Manga Review (Volumes 1 & 2)

Thanks to peachgummie I was able to find a new series called Cousin. It's a josei series that flew under the radar, but deals with difficult topics such as self-esteem, weight issues, and building self-confidence. I think these are all problems women deal with as they mature and grow into adults, sometimes we never fully realize how to deal with these issues. Cousin by Ikuemi Ryou tackles these problems in an approachable and realistic manner. This really drew me in to continue reading until the end of the second volume (the manga had an official release but Jmanga who translated it shutdown, making the last volume hard to track down) but I'll give you my review so you can consider reading and supporting the official release. I will update this review when I get a chance to finish reading it in its entirety.

Summary

This manga is considered a Drama, Romance, Josei, Comedy and Slice-of-Life

The story follows Tsubomi, a recent high school graduate who begins working part-time out of school. She led a normal boring life thus far and feels unsatisfied with herself in many respects. To further this dissatisfaction she has a cousin she is always compared to. Her cousin is an upcoming idol, good-looking and thin. Tsubomi in contrast wears no make-up and is chubby. She does her best to break out of her past habits by making friends with a coworker Shiro, and finding new love. It's a story of overcoming your own demons and working towards being the person you want to be. It may be a typical plot for a josei manga, but what differentiates this title is how Tsubomi learns to stop being a self-pitying woman, and becomes someone who constantly tries to better herself.

Story

The story isn't finished after 2 volumes, it was completed at 3 volumes but the first 2 develop a lot that I can talk about. I have technically read the first 2 chapters of volume 3, but it's not enough to make a judgment on that volume as of yet. In my summary I highlighted the development of Tsubomi's character as that is obviously the big mover of the plot. At first I found her frustrating, but I quickly related to her when she began to think about positively changing herself. I of course went through a similar phase, however I don't think I was as conscious about it when it was happening. But much like Tsubomi what helped me to change were the people I surrounded myself with. I loved that this story felt real, and that it was relatable on many different levels (that I didn't expect). All this being said, I found the plot at times was slow moving, spending too much time on little points that weren't interesting. Certain points that were the cause of conflict were not very compelling, making them unimportant and not interesting to developing the plot. Although these are problems, they're not major issues to the overall effect of the story. The story gets an 8.0 out of 10 because of its ability to tackle issues in a convincing and relatable manner.

Sailor Moon Short Stories Review

I'm finally reviewing these two books! I just recently picked up the second volume, so now my collection of Sailor Moon manga is complete! Now I'm waiting for the artbook which is going to be amazing! But back to these two manga volumes, if you're curious about them keep reading for the review. I'll answer the question about whether they're worth purchasing or not; are they worth the extra $30 that they cost together? Is it necessary for every Sailor Moon enthusiast? Keep reading to find out!

Short Stories Volume One

If you're unaware, each volume contains chapters involving each of the inner senshi where they're each featured in their own little snippet story. The first volume contains seven small chapters, with four featuring Chibi-Usa (one with Hotaru included), one featuring Makoto, one featuring Ami, and one featuring Rei and Minako. I believe Minako never gets her own true short story because of the two large Sailor V volumes which catalogue her own story in better detail. And speaking of Sailor V, that's what these manga read like, especially this first volume. They feel like they're taking a vein from the Sailor V formula, having minor enemies appear and disappear within the span of 30 pages or so. Don't expect much depth, and don't expect any sort of real canon here either. This first volume in particular feels more like filler than genuine development. The stories are flimsy and are only held up by the characters that take part in them. I won't go into too much detail about each chapter because honestly, there isn't much to say about any of them. Nothing particularly interesting happens, no character development is done, it was mostly a waste of my time reading these. The main driver of each plot is the enemy rather than the characters themselves, so the story revolves around their reaction to the enemy rather than any sort of development on their side of the spectrum. I didn't particularly enjoy the Sailor V series, and I didn't particularly enjoy this volume either. It's nice to see Chibi-Usa in the spotlight, but I would've liked to have seen her with her own troupe rather than her being the kid once again.

I'd recommend this volume if you're looking to finish your collection, but not if you're looking for more Sailor Moon entertainment. The stories don't develop any of the characters in particular, save for the story involving Rei and Minako. I felt especially disappointed by Ami's and Makoto's stories that featured them as desperate teenage girls looking to feel bad about themselves. This volume felt like a way to bring in a little more money before the series finished, and I was disappointed at how empty it was. Volume One gets a 4.0 out of 10 from me. I know this is a low score, if you disagree with me I'd love to hear your responses so send me a message or put a comment down below! I'd love to hear your opinions!

Short Stories Volume Two

Volume Two offers a different set-up than the first one, having only three chapters, with one long chapter featuring Luna. Finally the little feline gets a story of her own, and she deserves it! There's one chapter that features Rei afterward, as well as one final chapter looking into the future of the senshi, with their children. This time the chapters (save for the last one) read nicer, having more integrity than just pumping out empty stories expecting us to buy it because Sailor Moon is on the cover. The story featuring Luna drags out a little bit, but overall I enjoyed it. The enemy is more menacing, and the love story is really cute (especially because Luna cannot act out on her impulses because she's a cat!). The story featuring Rei is also much more interesting as we get to see into Rei's persona rather than just featuring her feeling bad about herself. Her pride gets in the way of her love life, and it's nice to get in her head for once. The Rei in this manga is much different than the Rei I come to know from the anime growing up, and I prefer this character who is independent and a little bit heartbroken from a difficult childhood. It was finally a backstory that I was looking for, rather than dealing with the same fare I already knew about her. The last chapter is called "Parallel Sailor Moon" and takes a jump into the future where all the inner senshi's children become Sailor Scouts. Honestly, it's really dumb, and their children all have curvy bodies despite being 9 at the oldest (their bodies rival their parents' in terms of physical development so I really didn't understand this choice at all). It doesn't actually provide a look ahead, as all the inner senshi are exactly the same save for the fact that they talk about their "hubbies" briefly. I really just didn't understand the purpose of this chapter at all. What about Chibi-Usa's troupe of senshi that were suggested to exist in the past volumes? Apparently they're never brought up again after that. The chapter doesn't ruin the book, but it definitely ends the series on a bad note, which really wasn't necessary.

Overall the second volume was a much better read than the first, making it a 7.0 out of 10 for me. If you're not sure which volume to pick up first then perhaps you should skip out on the first volume entirely. I wasn't quick to buy the second volume because of the poor quality of the first short story volume, and thankfully I was pleasantly surprised with the change in tone for this one. Luna's story as well as Rei's are both worth reading so I suggest picking this volume up if you want more Sailor Moon goodness!

TL;DR, My Consensus

And that's the review. It's unfortunate that only half of this series was worth it, but I guess if you total it out of chapters, only two out of ten are worthwhile reads. Maybe three if I include the final chapter in the first book which was more entertaining than the other chapters in that volume. So if you're collecting the manga then the books are nice to own, with nice cover art, but if you're looking for a good read skip to the second volume.

What are your guys' thoughts? Am I being unfair to this short story series, or do you agree with me? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Itadakimasu Review

It’s hard to find a good josei manga series. This is largely to due to the fact that there are so many out there that it’s hard to find something worth reading, so I scoured the internet for something that would hold my attention. To my surprise I came across this little series by Yukari Yoshihara. There’s no official English release to my knowledge, I found a fan translation by Condensation who does a great job at noting cultural and language references. It spans 20 chapters across 4 volumes, delving into the details of an unlikely romance of an older women with a younger man. Keep on reading for my review.

Codename:Sailor V Manga Review

Along with the re-release of the Sailor Moon Manga (which has been fully released into 12 volumes, I cover it here if you’re interested) was the re-release of 2 volumes that make up Naoko Takeuchi’s preceding series to Sailor Moon, Codename: Sailor V. For those who need a bit of background to this, Takeuchi began work on Sailor V before Sailor moon. This series was serialized in Kodansha’s magazine Run-Run, but a year after its development she began work on her Sailor Moon series as well. As her second series progressed she slowly faded this storyline and segued it in to feature her Sailor Moon manga, leaving Codename: Sailor V a short series of 16 installments. It features Minako Aino who’s character is unchanged from her character in Sailor Moon, the only difference is her change in costume. However, in this series she is in the forefront, introduced into the series as a peppy and easily excitable young teen. She dreams of being an idol and finding a boyfriend, the typical young teen attitude. You get to learn about her past as a Sailor Guardian before she is introduced later on in the Sailor Moon series, as well as learn about her struggles growing up and accepting responsibility along with finding her first love (this side-story is well worth reading if you’re a huge Sailor Moon fan, it has a big twist to it that fans of the series will not expect!).

If you read the manga you will soon realize how this manga has a very different tone to it when compared to the Sailor Moon franchise. It takes a very lighthearted look at being a teenager magical girl whereas Sailor Moon is filled more with emotional struggle. The only real struggle Sailor Venus has to deal with is her own clumsiness preventing her from making an idol debut; it’s kind of silly, it never delves very deep into her emotions. The manga has a very shoujo feel to it, so those looking for a dynamic deep story will not find it here. The manga feels a lot like the Sailor Moon anime, it’s repetitive with little character development in each chapter. The only mover in the story is Minako herself, her friends and family make no impact or lasting impression. You can argue Minako herself doesn’t leave much of an impression either, but she does show some development by the end of the final volume.