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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Junai Labyrinth/ Pure Love Labyrinth


This series is serialised in LaLa. I did not read it carefully until recently as its drawing style didn't appeal to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I decided to read through it carefully. I love the story. Funny and it has enough dramatic elements to make me come back for more.

Ogiwara Umi is a typical 16 years old high school girl. Her mum is hungarian and her father is a very busy producer in the TV station. Personally, I would think that having a hungarian mum is not so typical in Japan, right? Anyways, let us continue. However, Umi has a not so typical older brother, Ogiwara Haruto. He is good-looking as well as an up and coming star actor. What is not so common in this otherwise typical shoujou manga is that Umi is in love with her own brother. She drools over him like many of the teenage girls. She keeps sneaking into his room and sleeps on the same bed with him (nothing indecent happened but the mangaka intends for us to know that by the side of Haruto is where Umi feels most comfortable). She daydreams about going on dates with him. Interestingly, Haruto loves Umi too. Haruto, on the otherhand, tries to hide his intense feelings towards Umi. He has been feeling very guilty about these feelings. In one of the chapters, he was staring at the sleeping profile of Umi and feels a sudden tenderness towards her. Without thinking, he bent over and kissed her lips. Their grandma saw him and Haruto was shocked. However, Grandma told Haruto that she wanted to be kissed too! (Yes, this manga's shock elements make the manga rather hilarious). Grandma, went back to bed and quietly asked herself whether he knows. This made me think that Haruto and Umi may not be blood-related. (Dramatic, right?)

Enters Kishima Reira. He is the other bishounen in this manga. He was introduced into the series as the next door neighbour of the Ogiwara household. Reira is also in showbiz. He is also an up and coming star. He is a singer. Needless to say, Reira's character grows to find Umi attractive and that got Haruto jealous.

Reira and Haruto could not get along. They behave like natural enemies when they meet. However, during one performance, both Haruto and Reira were made to sing together. Fans went crazy. That was the first time, Haruto sang in public. Not only was his singing well-received, the fans like to see two of them together. Hehehe... of course this allows for more opportunities for Reira to show his interest towards Umi and getting Haruto all jealous.

Currently, this series is at chapter 14. I will start summarising Chapter 15. Look out for it.