Sora Log by Mitsuki Kako

Sora Log by Mitsuki Kako

            
Genre: Shojo (I’d say 13 and up)

            My first impression of this manga was: I've read something by this mangaka before...

This, of course was true, Mitsuki’s art is unique and hard to confuse. There is a float-y look to the characters’ hair and a sketchy quality to the eyes that make them very expressive, the side views have a large lipped look, though sometimes the girl’s eyes in this view are distractingly huge, as in, they take up 2/3rds of the face, but its still cute so its more of a ‘if you stare too long’ distraction. I highly enjoyed the art, though the backgrounds are not exciting, the clothes don’t look dated or out of place, it helps that they are most often in their school uniforms though, but it isn’t only a ‘floating heads’ manga, either you get plenty of body language, which is a big part of the story. Another part of the story is star gazing and you get some amazing night sky shots.

 Once I looked the mangaka up I found I have previously read the manga titled Kiss/Hug by Mitsuki Kako, too, and after a brief skim I remembered I had enjoyed it as well. Both series have been, according to MangaFox.com, licensed. Though it seems everything I look up on there has been licensed, but there are no official English volumes of either out yet as far as I can tell. I really hope that this will be put out, because I would put in on my list of wants. It wouldn’t be at the top but I’d very much enjoy reading it again.

From the first shot of the protagonist taking a picture of the blue sky on her cell phone, you can immediately tell what kind of girl Hikaru is, an ‘air head’ but the more accurate description would be a ‘sky fanatic.’ Hikaru loves the sky, especially at night, the scenery is enough to make her cry sometimes. Hikaru is a little clumsy as well as easy going, evidenced right away when she drops said cell phone right after taking the picture. It is retrieved by the mysterious bleached haired boy who is as tall as her over protective brother “Bear” Yui. Everyone but her knows about the boy, due to nasty rumors, and tells her to stay away, but after several fateful meetings Hikaru sees the gentle boy Asou really is, a boy who cries at the beautiful star filled sky just like she does! Is it fate that brings them together? Or are they merely star-crossed?

This manga was very cute right off the bat, with Asou trying to get Hikaru to leave him alone but not really trying because he clearly doesn’t want to be mean. He mostly puts on a grumpy face, but that is no deterrent to our cute gal. Also, he jingles, literally, a sound Hikaru seems to think sounds like the stars themselves and if that’s not super adorable I don’t know what is. The story is only four volumes long, so it’s a good afternoon read, though it isn’t particularly a quickly paced manga, if you’ve read other school days romance type of manga its quicker than some and it has sufficient drama to keep you going. Plus the fluff factor is heart swelling-ly wonderful. 

4.5/5 Highly Recommended for a reader in look of a solid fluffy school romance.