Tokyo Crazy Paradise

If you want a good yakuza (type of Japanese Mafia) manga mixed with romance and action and good plot, read Tokyo Crazy Paradise.

Its set in the near future of Japan, when crime runs rampant and everyone needs to know a little self defense just to get to work and home in one piece.(One Piece, hahaha... ah.)

The story revolves around Tsukasa(girl) and Ryuji(very hot guy), with Tsuakasa acting as Ryuji's bodyguard. He is the third generation leader of the Kuryugumi, the yakuza group. His father was assassinated just previous the start of the story, and Tsukasa and her three brothers were just recently orphaned. Tsukasa has been raised as a boy by her parents, her mothers reason being that it was too dangerous for a girl to live nowadays, and that she needed to be strong and never be beaten by a man. Both her parents were cops, and their deaths were due to inter gang disputes.

Through a series of hilarious occurrences, Tsukasa ends up being the bodyguard for Ryuji. He knows she is a girl before she knows he knows. They grew up being rivals, a cops kid and a yakuza kid, but he saved her from drowning once, and he had to take the chest guard that kept her breasts hidden off to resuscitate her. He kept her secret, and now keeps her at his side due to depts he forced her to incur.

This is a shojo manga, and probably one of the funniest I have ever read. Ever. I still laugh my head off when I read it, and I have read it like three times. I fell off the bed laughing so hard once. I have no witnesses, so you will just to have trust me. Its hilarious.

This manga has really good plot development and a lot of sneaky twists. It definitely keeps you turning, and the character progression is superb. I love that word. Its so fancy.

Tsukasa is a strong heroine, funny and headstrong, who doesn't back down on her beliefs or a fight. She is a strong shield for justice (in her words) and is loyal to a fault. Ryuji is the cold, intelligent leader of one of the strongest yakuza groups in Japan, and has a lot on his plate. The only person he finds he can be himself around is Tsukasa. Only him, his two other bodyguards(who play a key role in the story) and her family know who she really is, but she causes a stir in the yakuza world. Both of them (and those around them) find out new things about themselves, things they like and things they don't. Things change and time passes, realizations and dreams are made.

A good story all around. And keep an eye out for a certain tall dark and handsome cop ;) yum.

ps. I have notice two different spellings of the word shojo/shoujo. I will use both intermittently.

The Breaker

So I have found this AMAZING Korean manga called The Breaker.

It starts with a weak pushover boy named Shin-Woo who finds his new homeroom teacher displaying great power in a fight. Shin-Woo begs Chun-Woo, the teacher, to teach him how to be stronger, so he can protect himself and those he cares about. He finds determination and courage to make himself worthy of being trained by Chun-Woo. What he doesn't know is the dangers of the martial arts world he is about to enter, and that he is going to learn from the most dangerous and the best one there is!

I admit, normally I would be thrown off at first by a weak main character. But there is a lot of character growth in this manga as the boy learns about himself and those around him, and they in turn reveal more about themselves. It starts out a little slow, but after the first couple of chapters I couldn't stop reading it. And its helps that there are some good looking people in it...

For one thing, the other main character, Chun-Woo, is freakin HOT!! ahem.. I also really liked all the sub plot stuff going on. Its very relevant to the main story, pretty much intertwined and very much necessary, and gives background and interesting character development. There is some romance, which I looove. My favorite kind of manga(right now) is the kind with martial arts and a little bit of romance to spice things up.

This is set in modern Tokyo, and uses old school fighting martial arts methods. I really like stories that bring in legitimate, ancient practices that are well researched, developed, and explained, and then puts them in modern times.

The art is VERY well done. I have to say, Korean manga-ka's (Manga artists) do their art very well. You can definitely tell the difference. Korean is more detailed in some ways, more realistic and expressionistic in other ways. It is its own style, and an awesome one. Wish I had the words to fully express its awesomeness. How about you just go read it yourself? Then I wont have to.

There are several other important characters introduced as the story line progresses, and each one is unique and has special talents, gifts, abilities, techniques, styles, and personalities.

As of this post there are 63 chapters up.
*Spoiler-ish*

holy. crap. The last chapter??!!! INTENSE!!! This manga makes my heart race in anticipation every time I (figuratively) turn a page! The story weaves its way into your mind and for every battle or for every intense moment you are right there with them!

I am not good at summaries. I tend to make them really long and boring. So I wont go any farther than I have. Suffice it to say, if you like modern day setting with ancient martial arts techniques and styles, mixed with dangerous, bloody pasts and present, attractive characters, conflicted souls, determination and spirit, a nice portion of subtle romance(with some not so subtle in a couple places;) ) Then please do yourself a favor, kick back the old laptop(or desktop) and read this manga.