Special Spring One-Shot: "Bye Bye Rain" by Shiki Awafuji

This one-shot is from Hana to Yume magazine so the original image quality is crap.  We did the best we could with what we had, but still I apologize that the images are not as crisp as I like them to be (although those of you with iPad 2s and 3s and iPhone 4s's will not see the horror -- those devices make anything look great!).  Anyhow, view the PDF at ~65% zoom to get the best image quality.

As I wrote earlier, we at Omari's Sister don't particularly like to do projects or work with big age gaps. However, I felt the story and the artwork were too lovely to pass up.  I'd like to thank Jade for her lovely translation and Kayori for he wonderful redraws.  Great job team!

Oh!  A translator's note: A "sun shower" is a sudden rain storm on a sunny day -- raining while the sun is still out.

Shiki Awafuji is new to us and new to Hakusensha.  Due to the loveliness of her language I will be going back to check-out her other 3 works.  She was recently published in the latest issue of The Hana to Yume magazine.


And onto this springtime confection of a one-shot!

Link to "Bye Bye Rain": (PDF)

Next up! AnS Chp 33 will be our next release.  The original magazine image quality is the worst I've ever seen from Lala, so the chapter will look like sh** even with my best efforts T_T. I'm not looking forward to it. I imagine I'll make everything look very watercolor-like to hide the lack of image data.  Haha!  Well...as usual, I'll make the best out of it.

Dual Release: Akagami no Shirayukihime Chp 31 and the February 2012 Omake

First, a shameless plug for Akidzuki Sorata!  There will be a dual release of "Akagami no Shirayukihime" volume 7 and the "Vahlia Bridegroom" one-shot compilation on March 5th.  Copies have been pre-ordered for those who have already sent requests to piggyback on my late February order.  Also, the extra copies I ordered have been reserved.  However, it's not too late!  If you want your own copies of AnS Volume 7, "Vahlia's Bridegroom", and "Ao Rhapsodia" (the Akane Ogure one-shot compilation), I can piggy back your order onto my first order for the month of March (you will receive the books mid to late March instead of early march).  Also, if any of you want the OHSHC Perfect Guide, I can orders those too for you.  The books are $8.50 each and OHSHC Perfect Guide is $21.  Those prices include shipping from Japan.  There is separate shipping from my house to your on top of that.  Please see the Piggy Back ordering information page for more information about domestic shipping.

And now onto the chapters!

Obi looks very nice on this title page.  I would like to see a clean version of this drawing. Moving on, this is the "onsen" chapter.  It always amazes how manga and anime, regardless of the over arching nature of the work, manages to either throw in an onsen, umi (beach), or swimming pool chapter/episode.  Honestly, I never expected to see such a chapter in AnS. Back to Obi...this chapter continues Obi's character development.  He is quite the "merry trickster" and his pot stirring rivals my own husband's (shh!  Don't tell him I said that.  Hee!).  Fortunately, it's all in good fun and extremely funny to read.


A new character enters the scene and she has something to do with Obi's past. Who could she be and is the "sauciness" just an act?  There all some evil Kiki x Mitsuhide teasing...too cruel...way too cruel...

There's also a lot of talk about "change" in this chapter.  I found it rather strange since Zen and Shirayuki have already kissed at least a couple of times.  I would think that they would be beyond the point of timidly linking fingers.  I'm a bit confused because in my mind as soon as two friends kiss and confessed to one another, the relationship has moved beyond "friendship".  Seriously, they should go find a back shed, a barn, or some darkened dungeon to go secretly make-out in.  Linking fingers for 10 seconds is lame and a cop-out!  Obi and the rest seriously need to catch those two red-handed so we can cut the shy bull crap...meh...


Onto the links!  Futile as it may be, I beg you not to upload these to any of the online manga readers and aggregators.  The files are here!  There's no need to allow some sketchy company to make money off of work they didn't do.

Update 2/26/2012:  Fixed some minor typos
Link to Akagami no Shirayukihime Chp 31: (PDF)
Link to the Akagami no Shirayukihime February 2012 Omake: (PDF)

Next up!  Magnolia Chp 19 is currently being worked on along with the latest one-shot from Nari Kusakawa.  Lala 4 should arrive tomorrow with lastest one-shot from Kaoru Ichinose.  Any of those three could be our next release!

"Akagami no Shirayukihime" Chapter 30

First of all, please do not upload this to any of the manga aggregation websites.  There is no need to since it's readily available here and I think you all know I don't like manga aggregation websites.

Secondly, for those who hate the water-color look, I'm sorry.  I didn't have much of a choice but to edit the images this way because the the data was incomplete in the raw.  This is a way to "hide" the poor quality of the raw.  The last page is particular bad.  The data just wasn't there for me to pull the trick off properly, so it looks splotchy :(.  Anyhow, some detail was sacrificed, but you could say it was never there in the first place. I'm probably over thinking this :/.

Next, an announcement from the cover page:  There will be a dual release of "Akagami no Shirayukihime" Volume 7 and a compilation of Akidzuki Sorata's one-shots released on March 5th.  If you wish to purchase any of these books for yourself and need help with the purchase, send me an e-mail.  If I get enough requests, I should be able to get the books for ~$11 each, including postage for buyers in the US and Canada.

Okay, finally on to the chapter!  We continue from where the story ended in chapter 29.  We get more of an understanding of what Zen meant by his last words in chapter 29.  This was particularly hard for the translator to understand, because depending on the context, there are several variations of a possible translation.  Both of us were not able to grasp the correct translation until we read chapter 30.  I'm glad we waited because it could have been translated to "From now on, I want to make it known", which would have led everyone to think that Zen wanted to make their relationship public.  Ugh...it would have been awful to have to change that.  Anyhow, the chapter ends putting us in position for the next arc.  I hope it keeps to Zen and Shirayuki's relationship and doesn't go into "adventure land".  They're wet and they're going to an inn.  Please let that go where it should...please!  Pretty please!!!

And now, the link to the chapter!

Link to "Akagami no Shirayukihime" Chapter 30:  (PDF) Best viewed at 65% zoom.

With this, we are caught up on the series.  There will not be another release for at least a month.  This is a monthly series, which means one chapter per month unless there is a special chapter in another magazine other than Lala.

Next up is "Fushigi no Maria-kun" Chapter 4

Kuro Lala One-Shot: "Girl on a Platter" by Meca Tanaka

This one-shot is in line with "World End Garden" and "Ryuu no Moriuta".  It's shorter than either one-shot, but I feel that this one-shot is better than "Ryuu no Moriuta" because the main female character, Tsubame, is much more likable.  ("World End Garden remains my favorite one-shot.) I sorta wonder how the story would have been different if "Ryuu no Moriuta" has a stoic female character like Tsubame.  In terms of Meca Tanaka works, this one-shot feels very different to me.  It's much more mature and has a little more bite in the underlying message than the other works I've read.  I love it!  I hope to see more works like this from Meca Tanaka in the future.  I also hope she does more one-shots because this one is really good.  Thank you Tanaka-sensei :).

Onto the links!

Update 9/26/2011:  Page 8 reworked.  You may want to re-download it for your private archive.
Links to "Girl on a Platter":  (Zip) (PDF) Updating files

Next up!  We are making a last minute scramble to complete "Rex Fabula" chapter 2 for Bakeneko's Lair, "Akagami no Shirayukihime" chapter 26, and the final "Hana Kimi" After Story featuring Sano and Mizuki.  We've got 4 days...I can guarantee "Rex Fabula" and "Hana Kimi".  AnS will most likely come out after Magnolia in early October.

Orange Chocolate Chapter 17

The Ouran raw delay gave me time to finish "Orange Chocolate" chapter 17. Looking forward, it seems that the whole body-swapping gimmick has been dropped  or forgotten.  We'll have to see where this goes, but it seems after the next two chapters, "Orange Chocolate" degenerates into a typical high school comedy romance complete with a pointless love-triangle and what appears to a sports festival starting in chapter 21 (???)-- UGH-WTH!!!.  This is truly disappointing to me and stinks of the mangaka losing control of the story :(.  Hopefully, this is an indication that things are wrapping up soon before the story completely loses originality and I stop caring.  Anyhow...

Links to Orange Chocolate Chp 17 (Zip) (PDF)　updating...

Okay, this time I promise the final chapter of Ouran is up next followed by "Junketsu + Vampire."