While it’s nice to start a blog near the beginning of a new season, it kind of brings a lull as you wait for all the old series to finish before you can really start blogging the new shows. As for me, I don’t really want to start in the middle of a series (atleast not right now) so instead I’ve decided to advertise for a manga!
Gacha gacha is a manga by Tamakoshi Hiroyuki, currently still running in monthly magazine specials. It has also been liscensed in North America by Del Rey. While it doesn’t seem to be very noticed manga, it actually is quite good; a diamond in the rough or so to speak. The manga is divided into two sections, each with it’s own story, characters and plot. The only thing that seems to link the two stories is the use of the gacha gacha machine, which really plays no role at all once the second story starts full force. No biggy really, I mean I’m pretty sure most people reading this manga aren’t in it for the machine anyways.
Just as a note, all the pictures are from the second independent arc of gacha gacha, and not the first. Personally I really only skimmed the first arc myself, and it really didn’t catch my interest very much at all. The plot was your generic boy and girl childhood friends, with some multiple personalities thrown in. But never fear! Once you get into the second arc, named Secret, that’s where all the fun begins.
Our hero, Hatsushiba Akira, is an ordinary high school student with a crush on a hot classmate named Sakuraba Yurika. In true Love Hina fashion, the guy turns out to be pretty much mediocre in everything he does, looks bad, and a pervert to boot. But hey, who’s really looking at him?
Being the socially inept person he is, he has difficulties interacting with the girl at school. However, due to a fortuitous event while gaming on the gacha gacha machine, it screws up his body so that everytime he sneezes, he switches between his original form(left), and that of a girl (right). Yes, it does kinda feel twisted (but with high potential for ecchiness) right now, with the gender bender that sounds quite a bit like ranma ½. However, you don’t see the main character in ranma abusing the gender switch to get more intimate with the girl of your dreams and find out all about her from another perspective.
Or better yet, go where no male has ever ventured before.
The adventure then continues from there on as Akira uses his new trick to get closer with Yurika, with quite a few original and very humorous events occurring along the way that could only happen when you are a guy who could purposely switch to a girl. Currently on volume 15 at the moment, Gacha Gacha shows slow but steady progression between Akira and Yurika, with lots of character progression and development, even of side characters. If you’ve liked Pastel, Ichigo 100%, Love Hina and the likes, I’m pretty sure this is also up your alley way (not to mention it’s not as angsty or drama-ish as either Pastel or Ichigo 100%). Definitely a must if you are into romance comedies with a side of fanservice.
Entries (RSS)