I finished reading the Ichigo 100% manga series! Gosh, I’ve been reading it since first year college. It took me a long time to finish it actually, mainly because our pc’s not internet connected (oh, by the way, I read it online, not the actual printed material) and so I have to spend lots of money just reading it in my favorite internet café. I read it on Read Manga but I found out that you can actually download it for free so I preferred the latter. What I did was, while I was doing academic stuffs researching in the net or updating my blog, I was also downloading it. Saves a lot of trouble, time and money. Hehehe. I could finish my required stuffs and I could read the manga at home.

I really like the story, maybe it so funny, Manaka ending up in a strawberry labyrinth of love. *laughs.

This is a summary of the manga series. Not really accurate, I’m just trying to recall some important events. And if you haven’t read the manga just yet and plan to read it, DON’T READ BEYOND THIS BECAUSE IT MIGHT SPOIL YOU. But if you want the other way around, read at your own risk. 

Manaka Junpei, third year junior highschool student, bumped into a mysterious girl with strawberry panties. He didn’t know who the girl was, the only thing that’s left of her identity was an old math notebook. Unexpectedly, it belonged to Toujo Aya, a rather unnoticeable, classmate of Manaka, a girl with a braided hair and glasses, who enjoyed writing stories in her notebook. Manaka read her unfinished novel, and was moved by it. He wanted to become a movie director and told Toujo that he would make her novel alive on the movie screen.

On the other hand, Manaka’s friends, Ookusa and Koyami concluded that the girl with the strawberry panties might have been Nishino Tsukasa, the hottest and the prettiest girl in their school. Toujo suggested that he should confess to her, and Manaka did, by doing pull-ups in front of Tsukasa. Surprisingly, Nishino Tsukasa agreed to be her boyfriend. Junpei was very happy, besides, he saw that Nishino Tsukasa was wearing strawberry panties one time.

But it turned out the original strawberry panty girl was Toujo Aya, whom Junpei was sharing his dreams to become a film director. When Tsukasa was dating Junpei, Toujo changed her hairstyle and removed her glasses, making her beautiful and surprisingly, it even reminded Junpei more that she was the real strawberry panty girl. Nishino Tsukasa felt that Junpei was somehow into Toujo, so on the highschool entrance examinations she chose to study Oumi Academy while both Toujo and Junpei, driven by their movie dreams went to Izumizaka High. With Kitaoji Satsuki, Misuzu and Hiroshi Sotomura, and Rikiya Komiyama, they formed the Film Studies Club. Satsuki confessed her feelings for Junpei, and Junpei in turned became confused for the three of them, ending up in awkward situations and then breaking up with Tsukasa.

Later on, Hashimoto Chinami joined the club and Junpei was even more surrounded by beautiful girls that he really liked.

Another character Minamoto Yui, Junpei’s childhood friend, moved into Junpei’s household as she was attending Oumi Academy, the same school where Tsukasa was attending. Yui has this habit of ending up almost naked while sleeping and Junpei has to overcome this strange condition while living with her.

A certain guy named Amachi also blend in the crowd, and fell in love with Toujo Aya. They were both members of the Literature Club.

When Junpei was in second year highschool he worked part-time at the movie theater. Without knowing it, Tsukasa was also working part-time at a cake-shop nearby.

On their highschool field trip, Junpei’s class in Izumizaka High went to Kyoto and Nara, while Tsukasa’s class went to the same place. There, Tsukasa witnessed Junpei and Toujo on the brink of kissing each other. Later on, Junpei escaped from the hotel they were staying and went to Tsukasa to apologize to her and they were both reconciled.

On Valentine’s Day of the same year, he received chocolates from all the girls, and was surprised to find out that Tsukasa planned on studying abroad.

In preparation for college entrance exams, Junpei attended the same cram school as Aya, and met the beautiful Mukai Kozue, who has an intense fear of guys but whose head always filled with perverted thoughts. However, due to Junpei’s efforts, Mukai started to open up with him. Meanwhile, Amachi is trying to capture Toujo’s heart and this irritated Junpei. To further on, there were rumors that Tsukasa is getting married soon to the pastry chef Higure. But it was just only rumors, Tsukasa confirmed.

Around that time Tsukasa invited Junpei to go with her in a three-day trip. Junpei encouraged her to pursue her dream when she was on the verge of giving it up and this made Tsukasa loved Junpei ever more.

Lots of things happened when they were filming the last movie for that year, like Junpei being trapped in a women’s bath and Satsuki advancing on him. The main hero was Junpei, and the heroine was Toujo. In the memorable scene when the heroine confessed her love for the hero, Toujo did an ad lib to Junpei and it sounded so real.

The annual school festival was coming near. At that time Tsukasa invited Junpei to go on a date. There, Tsukasa confessed her feelings to Junpei, doing pull-ups like what Junpei did before. Junpei loved Tsukasa so they ended up together. Then Junpei found out that Toujo was dating somebody and this confused Junpei even more. Junpei noticed that Toujo was avoiding him, maybe because of her new boyfriend-rumor, but on Toujo’s part, she was only avoiding Manaka because she was not wearing bra that time (long story, actually) and she was still ashamed because she left her bra at the piles of movie equipments in the film club room.

Getting his emotions mixed up and confused of these events, Junpei became sad while he was walking Tsukasa home. Tsukasa consoled her, and Junpei confessed his love for her.

Going out again with Tsukasa, this bothered Junpei on how to tell everyone especially Satsuki. But he was able to eventually, and she was devastated (so to speak). He found it hard to tell Toujo, and postponed the idea for the meantime. The film club members were editing the movie that night, and Junpei stayed behind to finish the whole work. Tsukasa went there to bring snacks for hungry Junpei. When Junpei was out for something, she saw the part of the movie where the heroine Toujo confessed her love for the hero Junpei. They went home that night, and Tsukasa told Junpei that she loved him. Junpei answered the same.

The next day, Misuzu planned to rerun the whole movie at the school theater before the festival would start for the scriptwriter Toujo and the director Junpei. They were alone at the theater watching the movie they made and starred. Then out of the blue, Toujo asked Junpei if he was going out with someone at the festival. Junpei said yes, and he said that he was going out with Tsukasa. At that moment, the scene where the heroine Toujo confessing her love to the hero Junpei was rolling on the film screen. By the end of the movie, Toujo cried, and told Junpei that it’s because the movie was great (an excuse, hmmm), and then she ran away.

At the annual school festival, Junpei and Tsukasa planned to go on The Love Sanctuary. They bumped into Toujo and the guy that was rumored to be her boyfriend. But Junpei found out that the guy was Toujo’s older brother, and he was deeply relieved. Tsukasa noticed this, and told Junpei that she won’t watch the movie and then she left. Junpei went back to the film studies room, alone, hoping someone would ease the pain in his heart. He really wanted to see Toujo.

Meanwhile, Toujo was told by her brother to forget about Junpei, and she was sad that it was finally over because it was already their last year at high school. She wanted to see Junpei, and she left.

And the two met, though there was a huge glass wall separating them. And Toujo confessed her love for Junpei, and Junpei apologized to her. Toujo apologized too for blurting out her feelings, and ran away. Junpei was left alone again, (I think he was on the verge of tears), recalling that the first girl he fell in love with was actually Toujo, but it hurt him to recall Tsukasa’s painful expression. So he went to Tsukasa’s house and confessed that it was her that he truly loved, and he made sure that she knew it.

And everyone moved on.

The underclassman Misuzu continued to pursue the dreams of making movies of the film studies club. Mukai is now able to open up herself to guys. The rest were constantly thinking of the prospect university life, and were studying very hard. Toujo received an award for her published novel and was readily accepted in a prestigious university. A movie director told Junpei that his movie was nicely done and very passionate and this inspired Junpei even more. Tsukasa is planning to leave for France next spring to pursue her own dream.

And at the airport, Junpei bid Tsukasa goodbye. They decided to break up there mutually because of the separation due to the pursuit of their own dreams, and they promised that when they would see each other again, they would be together.

And graduation came.

A year after that, they decided to have a reunion.

Satsuki is now working in their family establishment. Chinami is a famous bikini model under Hiroshi Sotomura productions. Misuzu is now a beautiful young woman who attended a university and she got herself a boyfriend. Toujo is a famous author. Everyone was surprised upon the arrival of Junpei, who had grown up a lot. He worked as a day laborer to earn money to travel places and film them. He had already received a movie award.

After meeting up with them, Junpei went to the park. He was holding up his camera at the foot of the stairs for a long time. Tsukasa has come back. She was up there, waiting for her. He ran towards her, and they started their relationship afresh.

*Sigh! Such a wonderful ending!

The manga series was written by Mizuki Kawashita. Great thanks to Free Manga, Akatsuki, Yamaitsuki, Ass-Troop, Anime Waves, for their efforts to come up with the manga release (I saw it in the copy of the manga I have). I’m so grateful to you guys, especially

to the editors Dagashi, Bryan, ice-kun, Chrippa, Sses, pokute, darthlord, finalpro, hellcat, kawaiibaka, grave, youngmug, ravenheart, tragickingdom, motoko-chan, rinako, mizukage, smoo, shinaku, pridav, tree, azu, alphaultima, caffinated yug, krol,

and the translators resoto, akarichan, oldskool33, gotenks-x, dsy22, freya, déjà vu, kakuri, cccnnn, nahus, aintguest, Antoine, boon, jasonshinji, jlester, jekyl03, telemaster, kann, jujubix, Will, PlzDontHurtMe, the mysterious ghost, OG, kamis, kuroneko,

and for those people who further check the translations nihonjintaylor, ikuzu, maxpower,

to the scanners nanashi, cgotten, HiRO-AU,

to the proofreaders and QCers (Quality checkers) kazh, katydid, astcd2, katy-pyo, origami, charp, amievil, nishio, elkhan, xx_blue, yuurei, waya475, JZ87, ed, ACQ, Yuna, Jaisbane, pnyxtr, the_mighty_highlord, starfisher, roots, davidov, _yeah, smafdi, darkgodloki, relentlessflame, waxmaker, animetrader0306,

to the raw providers nanashi, frozenshade, loserbait, and finally

to da mighty plum, ddr, strikeflo for the real-like page colors.

I am really thankful to you guys, I really love the manga, and you really did a nice job that’s why I want to thank you personally. It must have been hard, doing all this, and sometime the project got rebooted and all. You’re so cool! Made by the fans for the fans like me!

Visit the following sites for an experience of the strawberry labyrinth of love! akatsuki-manga@aniverse.com, http://www.deshou.net/akatsuki, #akatsuki-manga@irc.aniverse.com, http://yanime.com, #anime@irc.mircx.com, http://akatsukimanga.com, #akatsuki-manga@irc.mircx.com, akatsuki-manga@irc.irchighway.net, yanime@irc.irchighway.net, #dragonvoice@irc.mircx.com, http://dragonvoice.no-ip.com, dragonvoice@irchighway.net, http://souhaku.free.fr/dragonvoice/, http://animewaves.net, #animewaves@irc.rizon.net,

Mizuki Kawashita vuelve tras casi cuatro años desde el final de su famosísima Ichigo 100% (desde entonces sólo ha publicado tres o cuatro one-shots) con una nueva historia llena de romances, comedia y mucho fan-service de instituto. Comenzó a publicarse en el número 44 de 2007 de la Weekly Shonen Jump (donde también se publicó Ichigo 100%) el 1 de octubre del año pasado, y cuenta a día de hoy con sólo un tomo recopilatorio, pues el segundo se espera para mayo.

Resumir esta serie es bastante complicado, pero básicamente trata de los enredos amorosos de un grupo de amigos, o más bien, de sus primeros amores (de ahí el título, Hatsukoi->Primer Amor). Así, capítulo tras capítulo nos cuenta las relaciones que se van formando entre unos y otros. Ayumi Arihara está enamorada de uno de su clase, Mamoru Zaitsu, a quien le gusta su vecina Misaki Yamamoto, que de repente siente atracción por el hermano de la primera, Yuuji Arihara... ¡que está perdidamente enamorado de su hermana Ayumi! Y estos son sólo algunos de los personajes que nos vamos a encontrar, cada cuál más peculiar que el anterior.

Para empezar, tenemos un grupo de amigas volviendo del instituto con total normalidad, hablando del primer amor y lo que les gustaría enamorarse. Son Ayumi Arihara, rubia, pequeña, mona e inocente, Kei Enomoto, delegada de clase, responsable, seria, en realidad parece mayor de lo que es, Koyoi Bessho, típica jovencita risueña que se pasa el día soñando despierta, Rika Dobashi, la más seria, algo distante, y Sakura Nao, la que no llama la atención, normal en todos los aspectos. De repente aparece por detrás un tío enorme y con cara de mala leche, y las empieza a seguir. Ellas, lógicamente, se asustan, pero él se acerca y simplemente le da una carta a Ayumi. Se dan cuenta de quién es: Misao Zaitsu, un estudiante de secundaria con fama de matón y macarra. Abren la carta... y resulta ser una carta de amor. Ella no sabe qué hacer, pues no tiene el más mínimo interés en ese individuo. De momento no le dirá nada. Pero ya en el instituto, por varios detalles que ocurren, se da cuenta de que siente cierta atracción por un compañero de clase, Mamoru Zaitsu... ¡el hermano del gorila que le dio la carta de amor! Situación complicada la suya.

Por su parte, Mamoru está enamorado de su vecina y amiga desde la infancia, Misaki Yamamoto. Es su mejor amiga, y tienen una gran confianza, pero no tiene ningún interés en las relaciones amorosas en este momento, por lo que Mamoru, al menos de momento, no tiene ninguna oportunidad. Sin embargo, un día en el instituto, Yuuji Arihara (hermano de Ayumi) se le acerca y sin motivo alguno se ofrece para llevar los libros que está cargando, le da la piruleta que tenía en la boca, y luego simplemente se va. Esto, absurdo a más no poder, le hace pensar y replantearse un poco su forma de ver las cosas, que hay gente interesante por ahí, y empieza a ver a ese Arihara de otra manera...

Eso que hizo Yuuji no tenía ningún sentido, pero si un motivo (o algo así). Estaba hablando con su amigo Yoshihiko Bessho acerca de la confesión que le había hecho su hermana el día anterior. Resulta que está enamorada de Zaitsu. Su mundo se vino abajo, por dos razones. Primero: Yuuji está profunda y perdidamente enamorado de su hermana pequeña. Tiene una obsesión muy seria (y por ello su amigo Bessho suele burlarse de él). Y segundo: ¿Zaitsu? ¿Ese gorila gigante? ¿El matón del instituto? ¡¡Cómo puede ser!! Empieza a montarse la película, y dice que no tiene ningún tacto con las chicas. Yamamoto pasaba por allí y así aprovechó para enseñarle a Bessho cómo era la falta de tacto de Zaitsu con su hermana. Por supuesto, no sabe que en la clase de su hermana está el otro Zaitsu, hermano del gigantón, que es un chico bastante más normal.

Yoshihiko Bessho, el amigo de Yuuji Arihara, por si no lo habíais notado (seguro que no) es hermano de Koyoi Bessho, amiga de Ayumi, del primer grupo que presenté. Estos dos hermanos, por distintas causas, han acabado viviendo sólos, pues sus padres trabajan fuera de la ciudad. Y ella, ¡oh sorpresa!, está locamente enamorada... de su hermano. Así que su convivencia acaba siendo caótica y bastante peculiar.

Ya un poco fuera de esta cadena se encuentra Rika Dobashi. Resulta ser la más madura y seria del grupo de Ayumi. Es una gran deportista, tiene varios récords y es muy disciplinada, pero por eso mismo a veces parece algo borde y lejana. Su rival eterno en las competiciones es Terai, de su misma curso, que en las competiciones masculinas arrasa. Sin embargo, lo que la gente no sabe es que en realidad tienen una relación bastante diferente. Terai es un gran deportista también, pero tiene el problema de que es muy tímido. De a poco se ha ido acercando a Dobashi, hasta que finalmente tienen una relación muy cercana, dentro de lo que cabe, pues ella siempre se muesta distante, pero parece que es porque no sabe expresarse de otra manera. Sin embargo, se nota que aprecia mucho a Terai, siempre le da ánimos, y acaban prácticamente saliendo juntos. O eso parece.

También está por ahí Kei Enomoto, la chica guapa de la clase, que es también la delegada. A pesar de su edad, parece bastante mayor y suelen confundirla. Poco antes del festival del instituto, tiene el deber de hacer los trajes que llevarán las animadoras de su clase. Y para ayudarle se ofrece Kusuda, el pervertido (y amigo de Mamoru y demás), que no quiere perderse los trajes ajustados de las animadoras. En principio parece un vago que no hace nada, y casi todo el trabajo tiene que hacerlo ella. Pero llegado el momento, ella acabó exhausta y se quedó dormida quedando mucho trabajo que hacer y sin tiempo. Sin decir nada, Kusuda apareció y trabajó duro para conseguir terminar todo a tiempo. Este detalle, y el hecho de haberlo hecho sin llamar la atención, sólo porque era su deber, hizo que Enomoto finalmente acabe sintiéndose atraída por Kusuda.

Por su lado, la hermana de Kei, Yuu Enomoto, es una chica de lo más peculiar. Es muy guapa, y muy popular en su clase. Pero como algo tenía que tener, resulta ser la tia más friki que puede existir. Uemura es un compañero de su clase que se dedica a dibujar mangas. Yuu un día se fija en sus dibujos, y le parecen muy buenos, por lo que empiezan a hablar y descubrir que tienen muchas cosas en común. Ella le anima a seguir dibujando, incluso a participar en concursos profesionales, y van de compras por Akihabara y se lo pasan muy bien. Uemura entonces se da cuenta de que ella es la chica perfecta para él. Aunque lo tiene difícil, porque es muy popular y siempre está rodeada de gente. Y además tiene competencia, pues todos los frikis la tienen como una musa, pues es la única que realmente conoce el mundillo y está metida en él.

También está Sogabe, un personaje increíblemente egocéntrico y sin embargo completamente estándar, que no tiene absolutamente nada de especial. Salvo su ego, por supuesto. Está convencido de que toda la humanidad es un desperdicio porque no saben apreciar su perfección. Siempre está acompañado de Kusuda, que intenta dar algo de sensatez a las cosas que hace, por lo general sin éxito. Un día choca accidentalmente con Nao Chikura (amiga de Enomoto y demás), y cuando le estaba por echar la bronca, ella humildemente se disculpa y le ayuda a recoger y demás. Esto le llega, por lo que ahora su obsesión será conquistarla, aunque utilice métodos un tanto extraños. "Pasa de ella" en clase (es decir, se da la vuelta casualmente cuando ella le mira), se hace el interesante leyendo cosas raras que no entiende ni él, cosas así, que según dice "forman parte de su plan".

Para acabar (de momento) está Meguru Watase, la delegada de la clase de Yamamoto y Arihara. Es una chica muy guapa y responsable, pero que tiene un serio complejo: tiene los pechos muy grandes y le da vergüenza. Por eso suele llevar sujetadores más pequeños, o vestir de forma que no se note. Hasta que aparece en su instituto Gengorou Takei, un ex compañero del club de natación de su anterior instituto, quien le suplica que se una al club porque necesitan miembros con urgencia para evitar que lo cierren. Ella lo haría, si no fuera porque no quiere que la vean en bañador bajo ninguna circunstancia. Takei insiste, y mucho, además de hacer campaña por todo el instituto para que la gente se apunte al club. Pone tanto empeño que Meguru finalmente accede y se apunta. Además, el detalle de que Takei pusiera tanto empeño y esfuerzo en conseguir su meta hace que sienta una atracción por él. Sin embargo, él parece no tener más de ocho años y realmente no se entera de nada en absoluto.

El dibujo recordará indiscutiblemente a Ichigo 100%. De hecho casi todas las chicas tendrían su correspondiente versión en aquella serie. Similar a lo que pasa entre Mahou Sensei Negima y Love Hina. Casualmente todas las tías están buenas, y los tíos son normalillos tirando a feos, lo típico, mucho fan-service, muchos sujetadores y bragas, pero bueno, es lo que se espera de una serie como ésta finalmente. En resumen, el apartado artístico cumple sin sobresalir, es casi como una extensión de Ichigo 100%.

Guión: 6/10, no pasará a la historia por su originalidad, pero sí es entretenida y consigue enganchar mucho por el hecho de ser muchas historias mezcladas unas con otras. Mientras esperas a saber qué ha sido de unos, te presenta otra historia nueva a la que acabas enganchándote y así crea un círculo. Una cadena en la que sin darte cuenta vuelves a ver a los personajes de antes, por lo que no pierdes el hilo.
Dibujo: 7/10, a pesar de lo que dije antes, el dibujo es bueno, lo único que pasa es que no supone una evolución, es simplemente igual de bueno que el de Ichigo 100%, y este estilo en comparación con los demás shonens que hay ahora es sinceramente muy bueno.
Personajes: 8/10, esto lo doy por muy bueno, no por lo originales que son (realmente son todos estereotipos) sino por la cantidad que ha metido. Hay cerca de veinte protagonistas, cada uno con una personalidad bien definida y con una historia clara desde un principio. El diseño de cada uno me gusta porque es difícil confundir unos con otros, son bastante independientes.
Ambientación: 8/10, nada del otro mundo, un par de institutos y los barrios de Tokyo de siempre, tampoco hace falta más, cumple bien en este aspecto.
Conclusión: 7/10. Una historia entretenida para pasar el rato, personajes típicos pero historias que enganchan, y una red de relaciones muy bien llevada aunque increíblemente enrevesada. Si te gustó Love Hina e Ichigo 100%, esta te gustará.

I finished reading the Ichigo 100% manga series! Gosh, I’ve been reading it since first year college. It took me a long time to finish it actually, mainly because our pc’s not internet connected (oh, by the way, I read it online, not the actual printed material) and so I have to spend lots of money just reading it in my favorite internet café. I read it on http://readmanga.com but I found out that you can actually download it for free so I preferred the latter. What I did was, while I was doing academic stuffs researching in the net or updating my blog, I was also downloading it. Saves a lot of trouble, time and money. Hehehe. I could finish my required stuffs and I could read the manga at home.

I really like the story, maybe it so funny, Manaka ending up in a strawberry labyrinth of love. *laughs.

This is a summary of the manga series. Not really accurate, I’m just trying to recall some important events. And if you haven’t read the manga just yet and plan to read it, DON’T READ BEYOND THIS BECAUSE IT MIGHT SPOIL YOU. But if you want the other way around, read at your own risk.

Manaka Junpei, third year junior highschool student, bumped into a mysterious girl with strawberry panties. He didn’t know who the girl was, the only thing that’s left of her identity was an old math notebook. Unexpectedly, it belonged to Toujo Aya, a rather unnoticeable, classmate of Manaka, a girl with a braided hair and glasses, who enjoyed writing stories in her notebook. Manaka read her unfinished novel, and was moved by it. He wanted to become a movie director and told Toujo that he would make her novel alive on the movie screen.

On the other hand, Manaka’s friends, Ookusa and Koyami concluded that the girl with the strawberry panties might have been Nishino Tsukasa, the hottest and the prettiest girl in their school. Toujo suggested that he should confess to her, and Manaka did, by doing pull-ups in front of Tsukasa. Surprisingly, Nishino Tsukasa agreed to be her boyfriend. Junpei was very happy, besides, he saw that Nishino Tsukasa was wearing strawberry panties one time.

But it turned out the original strawberry panty girl was Toujo Aya, whom Junpei was sharing his dreams to become a film director. When Tsukasa was dating Junpei, Toujo changed her hairstyle and removed her glasses, making her beautiful and surprisingly, it even reminded Junpei more that she was the real strawberry panty girl. Nishino Tsukasa felt that Junpei was somehow into Toujo, so on the highschool entrance examinations she chose to study Oumi Academy while both Toujo and Junpei, driven by their movie dreams went to Izumizaka High. With Kitaoji Satsuki, Misuzu and Hiroshi Sotomura, and Rikiya Komiyama, they formed the Film Studies Club. Satsuki confessed her feelings for Junpei, and Junpei in turned became confused for the three of them, ending up in awkward situations and then breaking up with Tsukasa.

Later on, Hashimoto Chinami joined the club and Junpei was even more surrounded by beautiful girls that he really liked.

Another character Minamoto Yui, Junpei’s childhood friend, moved into Junpei’s household as she was attending Oumi Academy, the same school where Tsukasa was attending. Yui has this habit of ending up almost naked while sleeping and Junpei has to overcome this strange condition while living with her.

A certain guy named Amachi also blend in the crowd, and fell in love with Toujo Aya. They were both members of the Literature Club.

When Junpei was in second year highschool he worked part-time at the movie theater. Without knowing it, Tsukasa was also working part-time at a cake-shop nearby.

On their highschool field trip, Junpei’s class in Izumizaka High went to Kyoto and Nara, while Tsukasa’s class went to the same place. There, Tsukasa witnessed Junpei and Toujo on the brink of kissing each other. Later on, Junpei escaped from the hotel they were staying and went to Tsukasa to apologize to her and they were both reconciled.

On Valentine’s Day of the same year, he received chocolates from all the girls, and was surprised to find out that Tsukasa planned on studying abroad.

In preparation for college entrance exams, Junpei attended the same cram school as Aya, and met the beautiful Mukai Kozue, who has an intense fear of guys but whose head always filled with perverted thoughts. However, due to Junpei’s efforts, Mukai started to open up with him. Meanwhile, Amachi is trying to capture Toujo’s heart and this irritated Junpei. To further on, there were rumors that Tsukasa is getting married soon to the pastry chef Higure. But it was just only rumors, Tsukasa confirmed.

Around that time Tsukasa invited Junpei to go with her in a three-day trip. Junpei encouraged her to pursue her dream when she was on the verge of giving it up and this made Tsukasa loved Junpei ever more.

Lots of things happened when they were filming the last movie for that year, like Junpei being trapped in a women’s bath and Satsuki advancing on him. The main hero was Junpei, and the heroine was Toujo. In the memorable scene when the heroine confessed her love for the hero, Toujo did an ad lib to Junpei and it sounded so real.

The annual school festival was coming near. At that time Tsukasa invited Junpei to go on a date. There, Tsukasa confessed her feelings to Junpei, doing pull-ups like what Junpei did before. Junpei loved Tsukasa so they ended up together. Then Junpei found out that Toujo was dating somebody and this confused Junpei even more. Junpei noticed that Toujo was avoiding him, maybe because of her new boyfriend-rumor, but on Toujo’s part, she was only avoiding Manaka because she was not wearing bra that time (long story, actually) and she was still ashamed because she left her bra at the piles of movie equipments in the film club room.

Getting his emotions mixed up and confused of these events, Junpei became sad while he was walking Tsukasa home. Tsukasa consoled her, and Junpei confessed his love for her.

Going out again with Tsukasa, this bothered Junpei on how to tell everyone especially Satsuki. But he was able to eventually, and she was devastated (so to speak). He found it hard to tell Toujo, and postponed the idea for the meantime. The film club members were editing the movie that night, and Junpei stayed behind to finish the whole work. Tsukasa went there to bring snacks for hungry Junpei. When Junpei was out for something, she saw the part of the movie where the heroine Toujo confessed her love for the hero Junpei. They went home that night, and Tsukasa told Junpei that she loved him. Junpei answered the same.

The next day, Misuzu planned to rerun the whole movie at the school theater before the festival would start for the scriptwriter Toujo and the director Junpei. They were alone at the theater watching the movie they made and starred. Then out of the blue, Toujo asked Junpei if he was going out with someone at the festival. Junpei said yes, and he said that he was going out with Tsukasa. At that moment, the scene where the heroine Toujo confessing her love to the hero Junpei was rolling on the film screen. By the end of the movie, Toujo cried, and told Junpei that it’s because the movie was great (an excuse, hmmm), and then she ran away.

At the annual school festival, Junpei and Tsukasa planned to go on The Love Sanctuary. They bumped into Toujo and the guy that was rumored to be her boyfriend. But Junpei found out that the guy was Toujo’s older brother, and he was deeply relieved. Tsukasa noticed this, and told Junpei that she won’t watch the movie and then she left. Junpei went back to the film studies room, alone, hoping someone would ease the pain in his heart. He really wanted to see Toujo.

Meanwhile, Toujo was told by her brother to forget about Junpei, and she was sad that it was finally over because it was already their last year at high school. She wanted to see Junpei, and she left.

And the two met, though there was a huge glass wall separating them. And Toujo confessed her love for Junpei, and Junpei apologized to her. Toujo apologized too for blurting out her feelings, and ran away. Junpei was left alone again, (I think he was on the verge of tears), recalling that the first girl he fell in love with was actually Toujo, but it hurt him to recall Tsukasa’s painful expression. So he went to Tsukasa’s house and confessed that it was her that he truly loved, and he made sure that she knew it.

And everyone moved on.

The underclassman Misuzu continued to pursue the dreams of making movies of the film studies club. Mukai is now able to open up herself to guys. The rest were constantly thinking of the prospect university life, and were studying very hard. Toujo received an award for her published novel and was readily accepted in a prestigious university. A movie director told Junpei that his movie was nicely done and very passionate and this inspired Junpei even more. Tsukasa is planning to leave for France next spring to pursue her own dream.

And at the airport, Junpei bid Tsukasa goodbye. They decided to break up there mutually because of the separation due to the pursuit of their own dreams, and they promised that when they would see each other again, they would be together.

And graduation came.

After a year after that, they decided to have a reunion.

Satsuki is now working in their family establishment. Chinami is a famous bikini model under Hiroshi Sotomura productions. Misuzu is now a beautiful young woman who attended a university and she got herself a boyfriend. Toujo is a famous author. Everyone was surprised upon the arrival of Junpei, who had grown up a lot. He worked as a day laborer to earn money to travel places and film them. He had already received a movie award.

After meeting up with them, Junpei went to the park. He was holding up his camera at the foot of the stairs for a long time. Tsukasa has come back. She was up there, waiting for her. He ran towards her, and they started their relationship afresh.

*Sigh! Such a wonderful ending!

The manga series was written by Mizuki Kawashita. Great thanks to Free Manga, Akatsuki, Yamaitsuki, Ass-Troop, Anime Waves, for their efforts to come up with the manga release (I saw it in the copy of the manga I have). I’m so grateful to you guys, especially

to the editors Dagashi, Bryan, ice-kun, Chrippa, Sses, pokute, darthlord, finalpro, hellcat, kawaiibaka, grave, youngmug, ravenheart, tragickingdom, motoko-chan, rinako, mizukage, smoo, shinaku, pridav, tree, azu, alphaultima, caffinated yug, krol,

and the translators resoto, akarichan, oldskool33, gotenks-x, dsy22, freya, déjà vu, kakuri, cccnnn, nahus, aintguest, Antoine, boon, jasonshinji, jlester, jekyl03, telemaster, kann, jujubix, Will, PlzDontHurtMe, the mysterious ghost, OG, kamis, kuroneko,

and for those people who further check the translations nihonjintaylor, ikuzu, maxpower,

to the scanners nanashi, cgotten, HiRO-AU,

to the proofreaders and QCers (Quality checkers) kazh, katydid, astcd2, katy-pyo, origami, charp, amievil, nishio, elkhan, xx_blue, yuurei, waya475, JZ87, ed, ACQ, Yuna, Jaisbane, pnyxtr, the_mighty_highlord, starfisher, roots, davidov, _yeah, smafdi, darkgodloki, relentlessflame, waxmaker, animetrader0306,

to the raw providers nanashi, frozenshade, loserbait, and finally

to da mighty plum, ddr, strikeflo for the real-like page colors.

I am really thankful to you guys, I really love the manga, and you really did a nice job that’s why I want to thank you personally. It must have been hard, doing all this, and sometime the project got rebooted and all. You’re so cool! Made for the fans for the fans like me!

Visit the following sites for an experience of the strawberry labyrinth of love! akatsuki-manga@aniverse.com, http://www.deshou.net/akatsuki, #akatsuki-manga@irc.aniverse.com, http://yanime.com, #anime@irc.mircx.com, http://akatsukimanga.com, #akatsuki-manga@irc.mircx.com, akatsuki-manga@irc.irchighway.net, yanime@irc.irchighway.net, #dragonvoice@irc.mircx.com, http://dragonvoice.no-ip.com, dragonvoice@irchighway.net, http://souhaku.free.fr/dragonvoice/, http://animewaves.net, #animewaves@irc.rizon.net.

El nuevo manga de Kawashita llevará por nombre Hatsukoi Limited y se estrenará en la Weekly Shonen Jump número 44, a la venta el 1 de Octubre.

Todo parece indicar que se volverá a tratar de una comedia romántica al más puro estilo de Ichigo 100%, como se ve en la primera imagen del manga que ya circula por la red.

Visto: Mision Tokyo