Cherry Juice

by Haruka Fukushima | Graphic Novels |
ISBN: 1427802866 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Moonplanet of Middelburg, Zeeland Netherlands on 1/28/2023
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Moonplanet from Middelburg, Zeeland Netherlands on Saturday, January 28, 2023
(I took care to give no obvious spoilers about the story)

Title: Cherry Juice 1 (on Librarything, Goodreads)
Original title: チェリージュース1
Author: Haruka Fukushima (フクシマ ハルカ)
Translator: Kristy Harmon
Illustrator: Haruka Fukushima
Language: English, original Japanese
Series: Cherry Juice 1/4
Format of publication: paperback, right-to-left
Number of pages: No page numbers, slightly thicker than 1 cm.
Publisher: Tokyopop
Year published: original Japanese 2004, my edition 2007 (first English edition)
ISBN number: 9781427802866
Topics: love between step-siblings
Reason for reading: I found it in a Little Free Library.
Recommended: Not especially, but it's okay.
Target age group: 13+
Buy / Borrow / Bypass: Borrow.

Short summary:
Otome and Minami are step-siblings in their last year of Junior High School. Otome is in love with Amane, a boy at school, and Amane also likes her. Minami also likes Otome, and the other way around, but Otome still sees Minami as her brother. Minami doesn't really know what to do with his feelings, so at school he pretends to like other girls, while still keeping track of what Otome is doing.

Back cover text:
After five awkward years, stepsiblings Minami and Otome are finally getting along as true siblings might - even to the point of offering each other romantic advice. But when Amane, Minami's best friend, confesses his love for Otome, suddenly the siblings' peaceful relationship takes an unpredictable turn that leaves them wondering. Who are they really in love with?

First page:
Text blocks with text told by Otome, around a picture of Minami leaning against a fence, with open shirt.
"An Aries, born on April 15th, blood type A.
Popular with the girls and a member of the cooking club.
I wonder if he has a crush on anyone?
This is Minami Hasaki. He's 15 years old and my younger brother."

Review:
Story:
Otome likes Amane and he likes her, so if Minami wasn't there, it would be solved quickly.

The other characters don't play a large role - the focus is really on Otome, Minami and Amane. The story is only about who likes who, without a lot of other things on the side. Otome's confusion is shown quite well, as is Minami's. The other characters, especially Amane, seem to understand the siblings' troubles quite well, but Amane still tries to get Otome in a relationship with him instead of with Minami.

It ends in a cliffhanger, but I think Otome and Minami will have a romantic relationship in the end (though at this point, it can still go another way). Otome's friends are quite supportive of her getting into a relationship with Minami, though.

Writing style:
The font in the story itself is easy to read, but the author comments (in side bar comics) are often in a really small font. As there's a lot of white space around the text, it could have been bigger without any problems! This actually reminds me of other Tokyopop manga publications - do they publish their manga in larger format first en then just resize it for the pocket publications?

Art:
The drawing style reminds me of Arina Tanemura's art style, though slightly less pretty: big eyes, pointy chins, lots of lines in the characters' hair.

The drawings consist mostly of line art. For colouring, the author mostly uses greytones (not very dark) and patterns.

Cover:
Otome is leaning on a round red ball with the title of the series in it. In the background there's a larger drawing of Minami with a cherry in his mouth.

Conclusion:
Nice manga to read inbetween other books, but nothing really special.
Not sure what the title "Cherry Juice" means in relation to the story, though.

Rereadability:
Not really, though I would read the other books in this series if I come across them.

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