Aya Kanno (菅野文; Kanno Aya) is a Japanese shōjo manga artist.
Former assistant of mangaka Masashi Asaki of Psychometrer Eiji fame, she made her debut in the January 2001 issue of Hakusensha's magazine "Hana to Yume" with Soul Rescue. Her works include Otomen.
I'm still enjoying Otomen. It's so fluffy and silly, but I can't help myself. I think it's because I like Asuka so much. When Ryo is actually allowed to do something, she can be pretty interesting, but the manga is so much more about Asuka that she's really on the outskirts.
Updated Review 4/28/24: I love Asuka, Juta, and Ryo so much but goodness there were so many outlandish moments in this volume! Unsure of how to rate it honestly because I LOVED the chapters centering around Juta as well as the opening chapter, but sometimes it feels too over the top.
Original Review 12/21/22: "There's no such thing as a perfect human being. Everyone has something buried within his heart that he can't give up completely."
Totally confess that some of the moments in this volume were pretty outlandish, but loved it nonetheless! Asuka continues to come more and more out of his shell (so to speak) and especially loved how the opening chapter gave him hope for the future in being a father. It was a fun chapter in general and absolutely loved it, but I do think it was also a foreshadowing that makes me excited that maybe we can see that by the end of the series. <3
Juta is HILARIOUS! I love him as a character so much and admire his antics to get our couple to be a couple while also consistently being a "third wheel" without technically being a third wheel. That totally sounds complicated and is and isn't because I think if he wasn't secretly a shojo mangaka, things would be A LOT different. LOL! The chapter that was focused on him was fun and really enjoyed it!
I was surprised by the latest character we meet! He was different than I expected and curious to see how he will have a role as the series continues!
🌸SYNOPSIS We continue the story as the love struck Asuka still wanting to confess to Ryo about how he really feels. It all starts off with Ryo asking Asuka for help at her friends’ nursery where both Asuka and a young boy realises that it’s okay to be a male with a feminine streak if love springs there. Then we enter the main synopsis of Asuka and Ryo are finally having their theme park date where Asuka plans to tell Ryo how he feels. Hopefully all the rides don’t scare Asuka from landing himself the girl of his dreams! The manga continues as well learn about Juta and his home life, followed by the Beauty Samurais!? What else will happen, what will happen next? Find out in Otomen Volume 3
🌸OPINION I like finding out more about the characters backgrounds, such as Juta and I can’t wait to learn more about him and other characters, such as Hajime. It’s one of the core reasons I keep reading this series as addictively as I have been. I enjoyed seeing how Asuka is being more true to himself, even if it’s among friends and how he tries to form a loving relationship with Ryo.
🌸PRO Character progress is amazing Less cliff-hanger endings and more end of chapters which still makes you want to read more.
🌸CON None that I could think of that I haven’t said before, like needing the next volume to find out more.
🌸FINAL SAY “You were protecting your secret with your life” like the story says, this is about the keeping of secrets, mainly about ones true self. Juta, Hajime, Asuka, they all hide themselves in a society that tends to shun people like them, which is sad but as the story progresses, they seem to be slowly opened up themselves and that makes me so happy to know. I can’t wait to read more, it’s still good and I cannot wait to read more.
We get to see the MC do more Kendo stuff, and against his "sworn" enemy, who then helps him with the makeover show in the park needs someone to help dress and do the makeup of the girl picked for the makeover. We find out that the sworn enemy is very into makeup, will this help them be more friendly, no. Some guy thinks it's a great plan to kill himself with a bomb at the fair, but luckily the girl can swap out the bomb with her lunch, guess it looks the same, idk. There is a fire at the house of the dude who is using this to write a book, and his manuscript is in the room with the fire. He has to think if he wants to save it and risk the MC seeing what it's about, or just let it burn. I loved that the one girl was only into the scary rides at the park.
Enter a rival and a new Otoman. Of course there would have to be more than one because the title IS otoMEN not otoMAN. hehe
We actually are picking up a few new characters in these next volumes One kid to follow Asuka around so that he has to keep his secret, and one rival with a secret of his own. The cast is filling up nicely and the new characters add some nice depth into the story.
The romance of Asuka and Ryo still is in a weird holding pattern. Do they now know how to date? Sheesh...
I love how this celebrates the feminine as wonderful, difficult skills and as a valid perspective.
Cooking and sewing are great skills! It shouldn’t be devalued and considered only women’s work. Everyone should cook and sew as a skill!
Also cute things. What’s wrong with enjoying sweet foods and having things look neat and pretty—why is it a crime to take pride in appearance and presentation?
So this is the third book of the series Otomen by Aya Kanno. I enjoyed reading it more than the other ones, mainly because of the characters in this story. There are spoilers in this review so please at least have read the first book before reading this or if you aren't planning on reading the series.
So as a quick overview: Asuka is a cool, stoic guy who is hiding something. He, in fact is an Otomen! This means that he is a very girl guy, who loves knitting and sewing and baking and cooking! However he keeps this all a secret from those around him, for he is afraid of his mother finding out- or anyone in general. He only has two friends who know, Juta and Ryo. Juta is the annoying but fun and crazy one who is secretly a shojo-manga writer himself under the pen name Jewel Sachihana, who's newest OTP and stars of his manga 'Love-Chick' are Ryo and Asuka. Asuka, a big fan, still hasn't gotten the connection, even though the main characters have the same names. Ryo is a very tomboyish girl, who can't make toast or sew or knit whatsoever. However she is Asuka's crush but he is far to frightened to ask her out!
In this book there are four short stories about Asuka and his acquaintances, I loved reading about them all!
There were also some new characters introduced in this book. I really liked meeting them, Yamato Ariake and Hajime Tonomine are the newest characters in the story. I am pretty sure Yamato had a small appearance in the last book, but I cannot be so sure.
Overall, for first time readers of manga I would suggest this series because I am no manga expert, this is the second manga series I have started and I really, really like it!
I still can't figure out why Asuka is so head over heels for Ryo. Obviously there's supposed to be something there, because a whole nation is swooning over the manga based on their "romance", but I just don't see the connection. I think you could replace Ryo with almost any other girl and the story would stay the same. They don't know much about each other; Ryo doesn't seem to be too interested in learning more and Asuka is too reserved or shy or whatever to even ask her out without a lot of prodding. This isn't exactly a fairy tale romance. (Even Kanno sensei said the Christmas chapter was boring!) The real focus seems to be the relationship between Juta and Asuka. Which leaves me wondering what the fallout will be when (if) Asuka finds out Juta is using him as shojo inspiration.
Some more secrets have come out and revealing their true colours! Not much progress on the romantic front which is good. I can see all the TV series' actors as I read which is also fun,
In the first two volumes of Otomen, we learned about Asuka, who seems like a stereotypical man's man. But Asuka has a secret: he's an Otomen. He loves "girly" things like cooking, sewing and reading romances, but he hides that from the world because his father left his mother to live authentically as a woman and his mother resents anything that isn't stereotypical masculinity.
As he is struggling to find out his true self, he meets Ryo and falls for her, only Ryo is the opposite of a girly girl! She knows martial arts and can't bake to save her life because she's been raised by a single father. The third member of their group is Juta, a secret manga author who is using Ryo and Asuka as his basis for his hugely popular series, though they're unaware of this.
In Volume 3, the gang goes on loads of fun adventures including Asuka volunteering to help Ryo at a daycare center, an amusement park date in which Asuka stops a man from potential suicide and the secret backstory of Juta and his family. We also get some new characters joining the fold in Tonomine, Asuka's main martial art rival and....another otomen?! Scandalous!
Otomen is like a delicious angel food cake. It doesn't have a whole lot of deep substance but man is it enjoyable as you're experiencing it. I love this series. It's fun, it's cute, it's silly and ridiculous and it reminds me a bit of Ouran High School Hosts Club, which is a favorite of mine. Everything about Otomen is lighthearted and fluffy I will never stop reading it. It's a perfect palette cleanser after reading something dark too. Blog / Twitter
You know, I’ve always assumed Juta’s hair to be red, but now that I think of it, it’s always been a loud shade of blue, hasn’t it..? How strange. There’s really lots of pale and pastel shades of blue in this comic— that’s its signature color palette beside pink, huh? Speaking of Juta, I really enjoyed him this volume. We even get a whole chapter dedicated to him (with the promise of more to come, from Aya Kanno herself). He’s really developing more as a character and a person and even though Asuka misunderstood what it was Juta was hiding, he still got the correct message. It feels as though everyone significant in this manga either has something to prove or is hiding something. Ryo, however, unfortunately gets overshadowed by many of the others, as she’s so masculine for a girl that she doesn’t quite fit in among the cast besides being Asuka’s love interest. I like her, however. So, I really hope that we get to see more of her beyond a love interest. That being said, however, we did get a couple fun chapters with her. While we might not have gotten to know her on a deeper level like the others, we got to know more about her life. I just wish she received more depth. And the last chapter in this volume reveals a new cast member! He fits into the category I mentioned before; someone who is either hiding something or has something to prove… rather, he would fit the mold for both. But I like him. And vaguely remember him from 10+ years ago. Next volume, let’s gooo!
This is such a fantastic comfort and cozy story! We finally see some progression on the romance, maybe. Buy! The thing I was most excited to see was the development of Asuka's friendships!!! He's not as alone as he thought. I'm so excited and hopeful that he might be able to come out of his shell more.
Plot progression is on the slow side, but I can almost forgive it because the author inserts a number of meta-jokes about the romance developing painfully slowly. I liked that we got a chapter where we got to know Juta better.
I think the first and last chapters were good but didn't like how fast Asuka and Ryo's relationship progressed. Would've liked to learn more about Ryo before we got to this point. We'll see where it goes I guess.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Still reading this series. Is Otomen a deep philosophical beautiful work of art? Heck no. It’s fluff. Pure and simple. You want a break from dark stuff? You like manga? Read this.
Juta is still slaying, but I’m getting bored of Ryo and Asuka. Feels like this is a repeat of the last two manga’s “will they, won’t they?” Sort of ordeal. Staying for Juta fr.