Manga Tuesdays; Bokura ga ita

Manga: Bokura ga ita; We Were There

Written by: Yuki Obata

Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy

Volumes: 16

Chapters: 70 (there are some missing online though)

Anime: Yes and it's pretty damn good :), I believe there is even a film or a drama

own/ library/ borrowed/ read online (they aren't all translated yet and not in my language available) 

read online via the sites: www.manga.animea.net and www.mangareader.com

completed/ ongoing

publisher: Shogakukan

First thoughts:

O my gosh! It ended! I can't believe it's completed! This is like the third manga I have ever read (first Nana, second Akuma de Sourou) and the second manga I've followed till it was finished. Actually I am a bit sad about it. I mean it really was a great manga. Anyway, let's start the review ;)

Summary:The start of high school life. To the girls, that also meant the start of their love lives. For brand new first year student, Takahashi Nanami (Nana for short), it was no different... She happens to end up in the same class as the incredibly popular Yano Motoharu, who rumors say that two thirds of all the girls are guaranteed to fall in love with. But will that hold true for Nana, who says that if she had to choose between like or dislike, she'd say she dislikes him!?Source: www.mangareader.net

Review:

Well this is a real Shoujo manga, without a doubt, but I thought it was a lot more original than the usual shoujo's with the theme: 'normal girl falls in love with a great incredibly popular guy with a dark past'. The problem of Yano was a lot more realistic (allthough still not very likely I guess) and for a change it had nothing to do with is parents or family (which isn't filthy rich), well at least not until later in the manga, plus he doesn't have a father, but that's not his big problem. I know this still isn't very original either, but his ex-girlfriend died in a car crash. And guess what, her name was Nana, just like nanami the female lead. 

Nanami is a very cute girl and very normal. Then she falls in love with the popular Yano, and eventually they go out with each other. The only problem is that Yano still has feelings for his dead girlfriend and because of how they split (he saw her together with her ex-boyfriend before she died) he can't trust easily. 

After this, there's a kind of a season 2, Yano moves away with his mother and after a year breaks contact with Nanami. Years after this, they are both grown up and Nanami is still thinking about Yano, though she has started a relation with his best friend, who always loved her since high school (okay, I realised that that sounds really horrible, but she also likes him a lot, it was just that she likes Yano more, and now it sounds like Bella's problem in twilight with Jacob and Edward -___- well I guess you could compare it to that, but now Edward is already gone for ten year and Jacob isn't a wolve and is very mature... that doesn't make sense). After that she must make an important decison, will she continue to wait for Yano or will she marry his best friend Takeuchi.

I definitely cried a lot, I laughed a lot, I completely fell for Yano and I became best friends with Nanami. The manga is really normal life (ish) unlike the most mangas with the same theme. Of course it is over the top (I mean it's manga what did you expect) but the way they get along with each other, how they spend their time and how school life is, seems pretty real. I guess it is a bit like the manga Lovely Complex (which also has a great anime) but than a lot more serious. 

The art was really cute and original, which I loved :

Rating:

5 stars!! 

Some things about manga for non-manga readers :P :

Manga is a Japanese cartoon or comic. There are lots of them in all kind of different genres (really from porn to manga for little girls). Of most mangas there is a new chapter released every month, so that's why some are ongoing (it also can be that the translation group is a bit slow. DON'T EVER GET ANGRY BECAUSE OF THAT THOUGH! Manga's are translated by volunteers, and not very much people speak both English and Japanese well enough to translate them. If your bothered by it, join such a group! They are always looking for new members! Also editors and cleaners are needed!).

If you are too lazy to read, of most mangas there is an anime to watch ;)

If you consider reading manga pay attention! Manga is written from right to left!

some terms:

Shoujo= Manga for mostly teenage girls (it can be very childish, it can be really mature)

Shounen= Manga for mostly teenage boys (example: Naruto )

Josei= Manga for older women (the manga site says: late teenage and adult audiences, this is usually because the characters in the manga are not in high school anymore, this doesn't mean it's not fun to read if you are younger)

Seinen= Manga for older men (also for late teenage and adult audiences, also usually fun to read if you're younger)

School life= is sometimes quite interesting because the japanese school life seems very different than what I am used to

Shoujoai= girls love

Shounenai= boys love

Yuri = let's just say: the more advanced version of girls love

Yaoi= the more advanced version of boys love