Otomen, Vol. 14

Otomen #14

by Aya Kanno

Asuka and Ryo join their friend Kitora on an adventure abroad to find the legendary delamezla flower! Meanwhile, things get complicated when Asuka encourages his cousin Kasuga to confess his feelings to his crush—especially when Asuka becomes involved in more ways than one...!

Genres: Manga, Shojo, Romance, Graphic Novels, Humor, Comics, Contemporary

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2012

About the author

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.

Reviews

[melhara · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** #44 of my 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge - A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics ***
(I wonder if this challenge will come up again next year, now that the Olympics have been postponed to 2021?)

This review is part of a personal challenge to: 1) read more French books; 2) improve my French; 3) read all the French manga novels from my mom's manga collection. Seeing as I read this book in French, the actual review will be in French (duh).

BUT FIRST!

I'd like to share a story (in English) about what happened while I was reading this book. I read this book on my birthday. I just got home from work, and as per my daily routine, I settled down in the living room with a book. When I came across the page below, it reminded me of my boyfriend (because he likes to bake) so I showed it to him. He laughed and went on his merry way, only to come back a second later carrying a cake he made and basically re-enacting the manga scene!



It was such a wonderful surprise and coincidence (he was going to surprise me during dinner, but this was perfect). Here's a picture of the cake he made:

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Cette critique fait partie d'un défi personnel: d’améliorer mon français!

Malgré le fait qu'Ariake soit sur la couverture de ce volume, il ne se trouve pas dans les deux histoires principales de ce livre.

La première histoire est en fait à propos de Kitora, et la deuxième histoire est concentré sur le cousin d'Asuka, Kasuga. Dans la première histoire, Kitora gagne un voyage pour visiter un pays fictif et voir leurs fleurs fantastiques. Dans la deuxième histoire, Kasuga demande à Asuka de l'aider à déclarer son amour à Jewel Sachihana. Les deux histoires sont assez ridicules mais j'ai adoré ce livre à cause d'une étrange coïncidence qui s'est produite…

J'ai lu ce livre le jour de mon anniversaire. Je me suis rentrer chez moi et, comme d'habitude, je me suis installé dans le salon avec un livre. Lorsque je suis tombé sur la page au dessus, cela m'a rappelé mon petit ami (parce qu'il aime cuisiner). Alors je lui ai montré ce page ci. Il a ri, et puis, il est revenu une seconde plus tard avec un gâteau qu'il avait fait! Il a essentiellement reconstitué la scène du manga!

C'était une merveilleuse surprise et coïncidence (il allait me faire la surprise pendant le dîner, mais ceci était parfait).
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Note moyenne de la série: 4.1/5
Critiques pour le reste de la série:
Tome 1 | Tome 2 | Tome 3 | Tome 4 | Tome 5 | Tome 6 | Tome 7 | Tome 8 | Tome 9 | Tome 10 | Tome 11 | Tome 12 | Tome 13 | Tome 14 | Tome 15 | Tome 16 | Tome 17 | Tome 18

[Mizu · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌸SYNOPSIS
Kitora has won a trip to see a Legendary flower, Asuka, Ryo and Kuriko are joining him on the trip. Once there, it’s seems like things aren’t what they seem.
Meanwhile, Kasuga has fallen in love, so being a good cousin, Asuka urges him to confess before he leaves. The thing is, it involves Asuka more than he first assumes. How will this end? Will Kasuga ever confess his feelings? Or will it all crash and burn, leaving Kasuga unable to love again!

🌸OPINION
I am honestly out of words to say about this tale, it’s kind of the same thing over and over with different characters and different outcomes. I like how they have folklore in it and saving a place where it once used to be beautiful but otherwise it’s not much of a progress volume. This will also be one of the shortest reviews.
I do admit that I enjoy the crossdressing that happens in this series, but I do admit that the last chapter of this volume is giving away what may happen with Hajime and possibly Asuka. I kind of hope that Asuka and Kasuga can improve their friendship to what it was before.

🌸PRO
Progress in story and relationships
I kind of like the whole spirit story and how they lead people to fix the land

🌸CON
Kind of filler based more than anything

🌸FINAL SAY
“You gave me the courage to fall in love again”
This made me so happy, even thought the initial reason to why the guy shunned love was due to his own inability to gain information, such as his cousins gender. Though, it is great that even though he was rejected, he still feels strong enough to keep going and I hope all the characters find love and happiness.

[Rowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otomen can be a bit over top, but it doesn't ridicule gender (identity). In fact it's very openminded and respectful. This issue is no different.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars
I wasn't a huge fan of the first main story of this volume. Kitora really is obsessed with flowers. And they really are more important than people to him. It just left me sad even it if wasnt meant that way. There was potential for growth for his character and it failed. I was so eager to see it too, since his character still was a bit of a mystery in terms of personality.
Then we get back to where the last volume left off. Goals for the future. While some are sure of theirs, Asuka seems stuck on just being Ryo's "bride" (AKA house husband). I feel he needs a bit more than to just center everything around her. Be a pastry chef, be a knitter of cute things for kids charity....anything! Nope. Just Ryo.
Tonomine's crisis felt the most real. He wanted to fight for what he wanted but plans seem set against him. And lastly is poor Kasuke who makes his return. He is obsessed with Jewel, not realizing whom 'she' really is and Juta once again enlists Asuka to help him. I really feel bad for his character, but a small inner evils side also chuckled at his rotten luck in love.
Lots of character crisis' in this one!

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today's post is on Otomen volume 14 by Aya Kanno. It is the fourteenth in her Otomen series. It is 192 pages long and is publishes by Shojo Beat. As this is the fourteenth volume in this series, you need to have read the first thirteen volumes to understand the story. The cover is pink with Yamato in the center looking like a cute girl that he is not. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, humor, and love stories. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of the main character with moments of the other characters added in for plot development. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book Asuka and Ryo join their friend Kitora on an adventure abroad to find the legendary delamezla flower! Meanwhile, things get complicated when Asuka encourages his cousin Kasuga to confess his feelings to his crush—especially when Asuka becomes involved in more ways than one...!

Review- Asuka and Ryo get to go on a trip together. But things get complicated when Kitora is rejected by a flower spirit that he wants to see. Juta's sister saves the day but still hates flowers. Asuka's cousin is leaving the plot for the time being and Asuka wants to help him confess to his crush before he goes. But Kasuga's crush is Jewel Sanhihana or rather Asuka pretending to be Jewel Sanhihana. Kasuga explains to Asuka that he believed Asuka was a girl when they were children and that when Kasuga discovered that Asuka was a boy, Kasuga doubted himself. They work their differences and Kasuga goes into the sunset happy. Only Four more volumes left.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money. 

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a weak volume. For some reason, most of the volume is taken up by an oddly out of place supernatural storyline. It's the first time, in fourteen volumes, that anything supernatural has shown up, so it doesn't really fit. It's starting to look like Aya Kanno has a small repertoire of faces that she can draw well, because she's reusing more and more of them. Here, she reuses Juta's face on a new character who isn't related to him at all. Yes, she has the characters remark on the resemblance, but it's still a very strange choice. Also, Asuka could be at least a little bit more proactive. You can imagine how shocked I was when Asuka realized, for the first time, after several volumes, that his father is living as a man, not a woman as his mother had said he would be. I noticed this right away, and I can't believe it took Asuka this long, or that he's taking so long to mention it. That would be a far, far more interesting story than what we get here.

[Denise みか Hutchins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've not yet been disappointed by a volume of Otomen and this one did not break that trend! I laughed heartily, I had fluffy romantic feelings, I admired the wonderful art style, I just plain enjoyed this volume. The only downside: remembering that the series is slated to end this year. I can't get enough Otomen, it makes me sad that it will soon end! I'll devour the next volumes once they're released here in the US, just as I did this one.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mix of fantasy in this volume, so it's quite refreshingly new. I love that Kitora has a love interest but it's the type that would not go anywhere, or rather, the type that is open ended. Anyway, the next story is... Okay. I loved Tonomine's side on things but not Kasuga's. I actually just feel really bad for Kasuga... *sigh*

[Michael (Mai) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again it was cute. There wasn't much development with Ryo and Asuka but a little with Kitagora that was worth it. Lots of side stuff but overall worth the read.

[Rici · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Mal ging unsere Story zuerst stark um Kitora-kun, dem Jungen der Blumen liebt. Die Story war etwas seltsam, aber wenigstens ist er Charakterlich etwas gewachsen. Weiterhin wird Cousen Kasuga auch mit seinen Gefühlen klar, was unseren Hauptcharakter dazu bringt, mehr über die Zukunft nachzudenken.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This manga is split between a story about Kitora and how he searches for a legendary flower,and Kasuga,who wants to confess his feelings to the manga artist that writes Asuka’s favourite manga series.

[teacupsandunicorns · Rating 5 out of 5]

He will be a BEAUTIFUL bride and she will be a wonderful handsome groom

[Mirdell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kasian Kasuga dibohongin terus..

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many people don’t like manga because they claim the characters all look alike. At times it does seem as if one manga looks very like another and the general facial and body types get repeated or recycled by the illustrators. Nowhere does that become more apparent than in this latest installment of Otomen.

Duped into taking a subpar trip to an out-of-the-way tourist notspot, the floral-obsessed Kitora drags Ryo, Asuka and Kuriko. Kuriko is a girl Kitora has had a crush on for a long time. But his love of flowers and her allergies to them have made it impossible for them to see eye to eye. She’s exasperated by his mania over them while he’s determined to get her to overcome her antipathy towards florae...no matter what it takes.

The problem starts with the bogus lottery win. The trip confounds everyone by presenting them with Yuta, a man who looks so much like Juta that almost everyone is confused (including the reader). Kuriko also looks a lot like Yamato Ariake, a cute boy who hangs around with Asuka because he aspires to being a true “manly man”, whatever that is. Yamato is presented in one panel and then Kuriko is shown in another (with no indication about the switch). So I was baffled when “Yamato” began apparently getting upset and weepy over Kitora’s fixation over finding a legendary flower and didn’t understand the error until Kuriko’s name was actually used.

I found myself struggling to follow the ludicrous supernatural plot about wandering, invisible girl spirits while trying to ignore two of the main characters’s distracting resemblances to other people who weren’t even in the main story.

In the following story, Asuka finally learns why his cousin Kasuga, the strict leader of the Morals Committee at school, has hated him so much. He is aided in a dilemma by Hajime, an adolescent from a rival school. Hajime’s antagonism towards Asuka has been as confusing as Kasuga’s. So his willingness to help Asuka now must be truly puzzling for Asuka. The truth is, I don’t quite get it either.

Asuka’s easy-going nature can be exasperating. What I wouldn’t give for him to be more aggressive sometimes! Perhaps if he confronted his over-bearing mother, the elusive Juta or the furious Kasuga, he wouldn’t have so many worries or issues in his life. But that would be counter to the character established by Kanno so we the reader must bear with his passivity. Let’s hope he gets jolted out of it soon. Fourteen mangas are too long for someone to take control of their life.

[Judyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

~4/5
[This review is also available on my blog.]


I like this series. I rather enjoy it quite a bit, actually. But it’s kind of slow, tends to have episodic chapters, plus it’s being released rather slowly. Still, it’s very enjoyable. It’s fun, lighthearted, cute.

The first part of this volume featured most of the group going on a snowy vacation, mainly for Kitora (the flower guy). Some special flower is supposedly popular in this one area, but when the group gets there, they find that it’s extinct, or maybe never even existed at all. This storyline has a bit of a supernatural element, but it’s cute. I like Kitora, and did enjoy seeing some more of him, and getting to see him with his love interest.

The second part features several things. There a hint of the future and how several of the characters don’t know what they’re going to do after high school. Tonomine (the make-up guy) is conflicted by his pushy father and his actual wants. Kasuga (Asuka’s cousin or whatever) decides to confess to Jewel Sachihana, so Asuka has to dress up as her again, and before that he helps Kasuga make a cake, which means that we got to see a good amount of Asuka's father (who I like a lot, actually). Asuka is also being pressured by his mother to not be girly.

I don’t really have a whole lot more to say, I don’t think. I like this series; it’s cute and enjoyable. I kind of wish something more heavy in plot would happen, or something more romantic with Asuka and Ryo, or at least to get more of Ryo (I think she might be my favorite character, oddly enough). As I said, this is kind of a slow moving manga, and it’s being very slowly released, but I like it, and I tend to get every volume as they’re released.

[Miss Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

gosh the brilliant thing about 2 am is that things like 'but i don't actually have anything to say???' no longer seem like a deterrent to writing a book review!

'i barely remember what happened this volume because that was like 2 days ago and i have the memory span of a goldfish': also not a deterrent!

so here, let me tell you what i vaguely remember of my experience of this volume

it was delightful! but also surprisingly heterosexual? let me explain! there was this one character who i thought was this dude from earlier (the one who sees asuka as a role model for MANLINESS!) and there were all these signs that he was crushing on flower guy and i was increasingly like 'there's no way for me to read this as a platonic? slash in shoujo: more common then you think?! \o/'

but then like a chapter later it turned out the character was juta's sister so i had to like recalibrate everything that happened in my head. probably kanno should do something about that; distinct character designs are helpful when attempting to form non-erroneous shipping conclusions. i mean i'll take it because i don't actually like MANLINESS!mentee all that much but like. it shouldn't be that easy to mix them up!

yay, rambling is bringing more of the volume back to me. i recall friendship scenes between asuka and heteronormativity enforcer cousin! they baked a cake together, it was sweet. :D

the only other thing i remember is asuka daydreaming about being ryo's bride. good luck bb! you would make an excellent househusband, i see you two being very happy together. maybe this manga can end with a wedding! 4 stars

[Amy Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this volume is a bit over the top. Yes, it does some silly stuff at times. But this volume was also very sweet the whole way through. The one I enjoyed best was also the craziest plot-wise, showing Kitora's growth when he tries to see a world-famous flower...and is rejected by it. The guy who looked just like Juta (and obviously had a thing for Juta's sister) was especially strange, but that wasn't stressed, and the emotional aspect of the story was very powerful.

The rest of the volume focuses on Asuka, Tonomine, and Kasuga as they each try to figure out what they can give those they care about. Asuka, unsure why Kasuga hates him so much, is surprised when he enlists his help in meeting Jewel Sachihana. Kasuga struggles with figuring out how to express himself, including what kind of gift to bring to his date. But the one I was most curious about was Tonomine, whose father has decided he must start seriously training to take his place in the world.

Does Tonomine throw away his makeup case so that his father will be happy? Or does he choose the path he loves? It's a surprisingly engaging question.

[Jade Vidal]

In the first half of book 14 of Otomen, Asuka, Kyo, Kitora and Kyo's sister go on paradise island that turns out to be a winter wasteland. Kitora, an otomen who loves flowers, tries to find flowers in the snow. Later, he finds a Flower Spirit who first ¨attacked¨ him (he saw it as an attack), driving him into a depression because she didn't love him back. Later, he finds out she was trying to save him and she saves him again.
In the second half of Otomen, Asuka's cousin needs help confessing to his crush his feelings. It turns out that his crush is a secret manga book artist who is actually Kyo.

I liked this book because the Flower Spirit looked cute and the book in general is cute.
I was disappointed that Asuka's girlfriend didn't show up that much in this book.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun volume delving into stories focused on Kitora, Kasuga, and Tonomine. I really wonder if in later volumes these three will find the means to express their new goals. Such goals as Kitora finding happiness with his friends (as well his appreciation of botany), Kasuga searching for a new love, and Tonomine confronting his dad on his choice of careers. Can't wait to see what happens with all the characters as the story progresses.

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the chapter about the mythical flower, although the character of Yuta was bizarre lol. I'm not sure why he had to look so much like Juta. The second half was kind of confusing, with all the backstory from Asuka's childhood friend sort of jumbled and odd. I felt like I missed something, but maybe the volume I forgot to read was the missing key lol.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story...shows subtext towards male characters but I think that none of these characters will end up in a gay relationship. It's fun to read but Aya Kanno has a random style of writing that makes it confusing to read at times.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just don't know about this series anymore. While I know it's supposed to be stereotypical and cliche, it's can get to be too much for me. There's parody and then there's ridiculousness. My patience for any solid content is starting to wane.

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story about the flower was cute. Although a part if me wonders why it was included. Even so watching the smiles of the people and reaching more of an understanding if Kitora was useful. I feel for Hajime, I hate how his father smothers his obvious talent....

[L. Petunia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story was kind of odd and boring, but it picked up again with the second.

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tsunderella's Castle, ahahahaha.

[nrr]

so amazing story i love it <3

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was really fun to read & I enjoyed getting to know Kitora better as well as seeing part of his past.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitaro, Asuka, Ryo, and Kuriko take a trip to a snowy place in search of a legendary flower. They find the flower all thanks to Kitaro.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good volume in the series so far. The cover is oh so pretty. And of course the art is fantastic. Cute so far.

[Minna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Filler volume, means barely nothing for the continuity. Skip it.