[FIRST IMPRESSION] Tamen de Gushi 她们的故事 Chapters 1-10

Plot:

Tamen de Gushi is an ongoing manhua by Tan Jiu, first published in 2014. With currently over 100 chapters, it tells the story of Sun Jing, a hopeless lesbian infatuated with a girl she saw at the train station. Sun Jing and her group of friends are the troublemakers of her school, playing pranks and getting sent out of class. But all that bravado melts away when confronted with beautiful women, and when Sun Jing approaches Qiu Tong at the station to get her number, she freezes and runs away. Determined to at least talk to her, she waits at the same spot, hoping that they’d meet again.

[FIRST IMPRESSION] Bakuon!! ばくおん

Plot:

Sakura Hane is a young high school student, soon to be 16. Ditzy and naïve to a fault, she isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the box. But as she rides her bike on the first day of school, she witnesses Amano Onsa on her motorcycle – which are legal for over 16s to drive. Onsa sees her potential, and tries to recruit her to join the motorbike club, but there’s one problem- Sakura’s bike is just a regular bicycle and she doesn’t have her license yet.

Kiniro Mosiac [Kinmoza!] きんいろモザイク「きんモザ」

I first stumbled upon Kiniro Mosaic, or Kinmoza! for short, on a YouTube video just over two weeks ago. It was a recommended video which compiled a collection of English spoken in Japanese dubs, and naturally as an English speaker I was curious (procrastinating revision was also a key factor). To my absolute surprise, there were British people! As a Brit myself, it gets a bit tiring seeing most Westerners being represented by America so to find a series where British people existed outside of a historical setting – I’m looking at you Kuroshitsuji – was very welcome. I pretty much binge watched all 24 episodes over the space of four days, finding myself drawn in instantly.

Two cultures collide as we follow the escapades of Shinobu Oomiya, a Japanese high school student obsessed with anything foreign, but mostly blonde hair! A few years before, she had gone on a homestay in England and befriended a blonde girl named Alice Cartelet. To Shinobu’s surprise, Alice turns up at her school as an exchange student. She’s closely followed by Karen Kujo, a biracial girl with both English and Japanese heritage… and blonde hair. Shino’s long suffering friends, Yoko and Aya, have to handle her obsession and all five of them navigate high school together. It’s a case of weeaboo vs. teaboo as West meets East, complete with culture shocks, homesickness, and language barriers.