Strawberry Shake

Strawberry Shake

By Hayashiya Shizuru

Overall: Gem

Smexy Times: Dry

Art: Be-a-utiful

This is a manga that has been passed around among my friends like an STD. Wait, that's probably a bad example. Let's rephrase. 

This is a manga a friend recommended to me. And it has since been recommended to all of my friends, by one person or another. We have all enjoyed this manga thoroughly. And so it has finally come down to me to try to condense the beauty into a review. 

I actually just finished this manga recently. Yes, I enjoyed it before I had even finished it. There's something about this manga that is very enjoyable. I think part of it has to do with the cute style and plot. Also, remember throughout this review that this was the author of Kiss Doll. 

The story begins with Julia, who is a talent in Japan. Basically, she does modeling, acting, things like that. Saeki, her manager, tells Julia that she'll be having someone shadow her. This person is Ran, who Julia instantly begins to crush on. But this isn't the typical girly-girly shy crush. Julia is absolutely hilarious. Ran does anything cute, and Julia's suddenly got a gushing nose bleed. And of course, cute oblivious Ran doesn't notice for quite a while. 

So the story goes pretty slow for the first half. Basically, it's just Julia crushing on Ran, Ran becoming a better and better talent, and the manga-ka introducing us to a wide variety of characters, including an all female band Z-LAY. They're hilarious by the way. They give secret, special concerts to women only. Men aren't allowed. That sounds like something I could get into. 

So then the second half of the manga comes along, and Ran has the sudden realization that she's been falling for Julia the whole time she's been shadowing Julia. More hilarity ensues when both Julia and Ran are crushing on each other without realizing that the other person harbors the same feelings. 

They don't even realize what they have is the same until Z-LAY sort of sets them up. I think the main Z-LAY member can tell what's going down. So when they FINALLY tell each other about their feelings, things seem hunky-dory. Well, only for a chapter. And then suddenly, boom, last chapter, and we get a time skip. 

Seems our lovely Ran disappeared, but Julia doesn't give up on her. Well, of course, there's a long explanation of why Ran just up and left Julia, but I won't get into that, because you should READ THIS MANGA. 

Can I emphasize that enough? This manga is amazing. I love it. I want to own this. I don't even own any shoujo-ai manga. I know, crazy right? But this I would be willing to own. It's only two volumes too. A lot of chapters, but you don't see me complaining about that. The story is adorable, and there's absolutely no focus on the sexy times, cause, well, they can't even get that far! That gets revealed in a little bonus story which is adorable. It's just fluff mixed with story!

Not only that, but there are so many side characters! If you don't really like the main characters (though I don't know why you wouldn't), you'll find someone to like. The managers, the hair stylist and her little fangirl, the band members. There are so many characters. Pretty much all women too. (I can think of only one male character, and I don't think he had a name.)

And again, I remind you that this awesome art is from the same mangaka who did this ugly crap I reviewed earlier in the year. Gotta love how much people can improve their art.