books
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Vol. 1
Majiko!, Goro Taniguchi, Ichirou Ohkouchi
First manga I ever read. It was early evening, I was in 8th or 9th grade, and I was browsing the back aisles of Bookstar(now closed)in my city. I was always interested in manga/anime(didn't know the names of what it was called at the time) but I thought they were mostly provocative due to me scanning over a kissing scene in one of classmate's manga in elementary school-Egad! and not being allowed to watch Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.After discovering AMVs(first was Death Note) on Youtube one night and sneaking and watching Inuyasha one 4 am morning, I again became captivated by the art and storyline much like when I was younger and addicted to Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Yugioh, Digimon, Kirby, Sonic, and eventually Dragon Ball Z; there was something about those shows that seemed to always capture my attention and bring this intense feeling of pure elation. I even believe Tuxedo Mask was my first ever crush. Well, I bought the manga, hopped in the car, and my dad drove my sister and I next door to Starbucks where we got a hot chocolate. I was super excited about finally owning this thing that had intrigued me all my life. I dived right in and quickly realized you had to read it the opposite way; once I got a handle on the direction I was hooked.I loved Lelouch and the art and everything. I found the plot to be interesting but seemed a bit slow in getting to the action, which I didn't want to admit to myself since I had gotten my hopes up incredibly high.I finished the manga and was excited to get the second and work my way into this new world of Japanese comics. This manga and several anime and amvs led me through some of the best and absolute worst times of my life. They both defined and became a part of who I was as a person; I grew interested in Japanese culture and wanted to study aboard there or at least visit, wanted to dye my hair blue, craved coffee in tin cans, wanted to go to conventions, discovered techno/electronica music, wanted bangs(which I eventually got), wanted to try Pocky, wanted to live in this fictitious world where adventure and excitement was happening around every corner whether you were with friends or not. It became an addiction that both entertained and haunted me which only got worse when I finally grew a "girly" bone in my body and started liking Shoujo manga/anime.Such dark times my middle school and early high school days were...Would never ever want to go backIt all eventually evened out in the end and I am no longer that obsessed girl I was back in the day(at least not with anime/manga haha). Don't get me wrong. I still adore anime and manga and every so often I'll pick up a volume at the bookstore and read it, but I've toned down A LOT. Also I left out a lot of details of what that obsession was like. This is a book review after all. Still...I know for a fact that even currently watching too much anime and/or reading too much manga would probably make me relapse. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Vol 1: 3.5 stars out of 5