Bloom Reviews

Welcome back to another installment on this blog taking a look at some new releases coming up this month. March is a month of continuing series with new volumes of some of my favorite series coming out. Most seem to be clustered around the middle of the month, which doesn’t exactly help my wallet, but oh well. In total, there’s six new volumes coming out for some of my top series that I follow, making this month something to really look forward to manga-wise. There is one new volume I’ve added to the list that I hope to check out, but I’d be interested to know what you all are looking forward to this month as well.

Snow White with the Red Hair Volume 6 (March 3)

Snow White with the Red Hair has to be one of my favorite series of all time. I love the characters and the world, and the relationship pictured in the story is so fulfilling and supportive. I was so happy when I heard that the series was finally getting an English release and I could step away from guiltily following it on scanlation sites. So far, I have all the volumes and will continue to buy each one as it comes out to add to my collection. This particular volume continues the story that was told in the anime, delving into the party in Tanbarun where Shirayuki gets kidnapped, beginning a mad dash to save her and bring her back to Wisteria. The story is still fairly close to what happens in the manga and right now I feel like I’m just waiting for the English volumes to catch up to where the anime ended so I can continue to enjoy the series

Something’s Wrong with Us Volume 1 (March 17)

Something’s Wrong with Us caught my eye as I was putting together the list for this post. The concept seems intriguing and I’ve recently been on the look-out for stories about romances between older couples, moving away from high-school romances. The back-cover description reads: “Following in her mother’s footsteps, Nao became a traditional Japanese sweets maker, and at 21, she’s about to take the industry by storm. With unparalleled artistry and a bright attitude, she gets an offer to work at a world-class confectionery company. But when she meets the young, handsome owner, she recognizes his cold stare…It’s none other than Tsubaki, her childhood friend and first crush-the same boy who stood over his father’s bloodied body 15 years ago, and framed Nao’s mother for the murder. As the only witness of that fateful night, Nao is eager to chase down the truth and confirm her suspicions. Since Tsubaki has no clue who she is, she seizes her chance to get close to him, but instead of finding any answers, she begins falling deeper for Tsubaki’s allure…”

It’s interesting that this story is trying to combine a kind of murder mystery and romance. I’m hesitant to think that the relationship between the main couple will be a rewarding one since it seems like the series is trying to play up the allure for bad boys. I’m hoping it won’t devolve into an abusive scenario but I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. 

Witch Hat Atelier Volume 5 (March 17)

Witch Hat Atelier is one of those truly unique series that has really captured my attention and imagination. The art is fantastic and only supports the story of magic, mysticism, and mystery pervading this series. So far there have been a lot of questions introduced over the course of the last four volumes and I’m really interested to see how the story progresses and what else will become revealed about the mysterious brimmed caps and the magical workings of the world being created. 

Volume five will continue the dangerous adventure the students have to face trying to get through a magical trial gone wrong, using their wits and abilities to try and escape with their lives. The last volume introduced a fairly high-stakes event and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they figure their way out of the situation. I think what the series is really good at is creating situations that put the character’s abilities to the test in new ways, stretching the magical system to its limits. This, in my opinion, is one of the hallmarks of great storytelling. 

The Girl from the Other Side Volume 8 (March 17)

The Girl from the Other Side is another of my favorite series. Nagabe’s art style is amazing and really creates this dark, fairy tale world of people haunted by death, decay, and curses. But I think it also holds a bit of hope for the future, something that everyone is trying to fight for and claim for themselves. The series has progressed to the point where I think we’ll begin to see some more major revelations about the characters and the curse afflicting the people of this world. I’m really interested to see how everything works out. I think in the end, I’ll always be rooting for the main characters to find some semblance of peace where they can live nicely in a little cottage together without the fear of soldiers or giant decaying crow monsters coming to see them. 

Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns (March 17)

This new volume of Tokyo Tarareba Girls was an absolute surprise to me. I did not see this coming, and only stumbled across it in making this list. In my understanding, this is a collection of bonus chapters from the series. I’m not sure if they are pulled from within the story or continue it after the final volume, but I’m really interested to see. Maybe one of the main characters will finally get married before the Olympics begin, or maybe they won’t. Either way I’m sure it will be filled with the same level of humor and craziness that the rest of the series is known for. It’ll be nice to revisit these characters and their relationship issues. I had a lot of fun with the series overall, and while I do think it ended on a fairly high note, I wouldn’t mind seeing a little bit more of how their lives progressed from there. 

Blank Canvas Volume 4 (March 31)

Blank Canvas is one of those manga series that has become pretty inspirational to me, as someone who used to do a lot of art and dream of making comics of my own. Seeing Akiko Higashimura struggle through to her dream of becoming a manga artist makes me want to work harder on my own art. Not to mention that Higashimura is a great story-teller so her memoir is a really amusing and moving read. I really do get excited every time a new volume comes out and really just want more people to give it a read if they can. So I hope you all will pick up a volume yourselves as well. 

~~Thanks for Reading!~~

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