Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Vol. 2

Kaiju Girl Caramelise #2

by Spica Aoki

All Kuroe Akaishi wants is to live a low-profile life without inconveniencing the residents of Tokyo...That's why she's been maintaining a loner life, after all. But with class heartthrob Arata Minami in the mix, her uncontrollable emotions threaten to wreak havoc on the city once more! What's a lovestruck monster gotta do for a normal love life?!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Fantasy, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Science Fiction

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2019

Reviews

[Amanja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 2 picks up right where volume 1 left off. We have our young heroine who turns into a giant monster whenever her emotions get out of control.

Her emotions are very focused right now on an attractive popular boy at her school who she cannot believe even talks to her. He asks her out on a real date to go to a Disney Land type amusement park, for legal purposes this is not actually Disney Land and that's not actually Mickey Mouse.

She's so nervous that she maps out the park and finds places she can easily run away to if her monsterism starts to show. She has contingency plans for every possible occurrence but forgets that she should probably try and enjoy herself as well.

Due to her nervousness she acts strange and aloof around the boy and he starts to feel like he's not wanted. The poor guy is trying so hard to impress her and she's just trying to not scare him to death.

When she realizes she may have just ruined her shot by being nervous she goes half monster right in front of him. Luckily, everyone thinks it's cosplay and she's able to relax a little bit and have a great time with him.

This series continues to be a cute metaphor about puberty and early love. It's still relatable and still incredibly adorable. I really like this awkward girl and her attempts to balance human interaction with being afraid of her own true self.

I'm curious to see where the next volume takes it since the second was quite similar to the first. I hope it does gain some more depth.

I am hoping to see some more development with her weird friend who worships the monster that she becomes but doesn't know it's her. The love story is cute but that story is way weirder and way more interesting to me.

There are more relationships in this book that just the basic love story but I know that many readers will just be in it for the hopefully happy ending. It is nice to find a romantic interest who will accept you with all of your flaws, no matter how great.

Overall, I recommend this series for a nice quick read when you want something light. It's perfect for when you have an hour at the end of a long day and just want to get lost in a cute love story with a little bonus destruction.

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[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

A near-confession!
(of love, and monstrosity)

[Klaudia (Czytelniczka z Księżyca) · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 tom był uroczy, ale drugi... Mogliście mi powiedzieć, że tu się będę musiała powstrzymywać się w nocy od dostania ataku śmiechu przez jej wujka 😂😂😂

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you thought dating was hard now, imagine how difficult it would be if you sprouted a tail anytime the boy you like gets just a little too close or you turn into a 100-meter tall monster when you want to say, "I love you." Spica Aoki continues to have fun with their extreme metaphor for adolescence and body image as the main character makes advances in her potential relationship while appearances by her kaiju alter ego start to draw the attention of outside forces.

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the spoof on Disneyland, but I really don’t like ditzy male love interests like Minami-kun. But I guess if Kuro likes him...

[lily (powpowpup) · Rating 5 out of 5]

(read in french)

manatsu is such a weirdo but i love how her character had craziness and humor to the manga. she is so supportive to kuroe in her weird way and i love her ahaha. so much happened in this second volume, i am really glad. i am never bored and i can't help but rooth for every characters! i am curious how kuroe is gonna be able to control her kaiju as the more and more she transform the more and more danger she puts herself to be either captured or worst! minami is the clueless, kind boy we all know and love and in this tome it's times two! 😂 it wouldn't be the same if he wasn't like he is honestly 😂

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first volume, but still a great metaphor for adolescence.

[Kiwi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okej, jednak trochę się zakochałam w tej mandze

[poet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Destiny-bounding really does have a lot of rules doesn't it

[David Boughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are few manga that I've found as immediately enjoyable as Kaiju Girl Caramelise. There's something about taking an oddball premise and grounding it in real life problems that never fails to draw my attention. So we come to volume 2, which continues the story of a teenage kaiju trying to find love.
As a little refresher; Kaiju Girl Caramelise follows Kuroe, a teenage girl who transforms into a monstrous reptilian creature when she experiences intense anxiety. Unfortunately, nothing stirs anxiety quite like young love, and Kuroe's got it bad.
Volume 2 successfully build on what came before by moving things to their next logical step. Kuroe is ready to give a relationship a shot, but her monstrous condition requires some pretty big workaround. She still remains by far the most compelling character, (as it should be) as she desperately tries to open herself up, but remains guarded. The manga's themes of self-worth continue to shine through here, and Kuroe's unique plight works as a brilliant, if exaggerated metaphor.
Now, there's two sides to every love story, and the opposite end of the coin here is her crush, Minami. The manga wisely avoids making him a total air head here. As the duo spend time together, he can plainly see that the girl he has feelings for is very reluctant to be around him. It's still not as deep as it could get, but it adds some nice drama. Other characters put in appearances, but I can't decide if we should get more of them, or if they're better used sparingly. Regardless, they make good use of the panels they get, adding some extra laughs, and deepening the mystery surrounding Kuroe's kaiju form. Special mention goes to Manatsu, whose kaiju fetish continues to provide seemingly endless hilarity.
The art quality remains consistent, complementing each scene perfectly, whether it be lighthearted or more serious. Even the super-deformed style seems to mesh perfectly with the zany world the mangaka has constructed here. As with volume one, there's also a few Easter eggs thrown in for kaiju fanatics. I find it impressive that I can enjoy this story both as a giant-monster fan, and a lover of romance.
Volume 2 of Kaiju Girl Caramelise compliments its predecessor in all the right ways. If you're not reading this yet, you should be.

[Rereader · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this volume, I think I've discovered my biggest problem with Spica Aoki as a creator. I fucking LOVE her artwork/art style, but her stories are not that great. Not necessarily bad enough that you want to stop reading, but I can promise you that once I'm done this series, I'm unhauling it because I will NEVER reread it for the story.

The problem with this series is that it is centered around love and not only can I detect NO chemistry between Kuro and Minami, Minami is just SO FUCKING BORING. He's the stereotypical sugary sweet nice guy who only does nice things, even when he's being proactive. And let me tell you, if there's one trope more boring than the Gary Stu, it's the Overly Nice Guy. It's hard for me to root for these two, and by extension their relationship, when one half is unfathomably boring and generic. I still love Kuro, but even she falls victim to the most dreaded trope of all (probably)-the Changes for a Guy trope. Honestly, I'm not too upset about this because I totally saw it coming, but I feel the need to mention it.

I don't have it in me to be mad considering I saw all of this coming a mile away, but it is disappointing because I love the artwork/ art style SO DAMN MUCH, but I am not invested in the story or the relationship at all. I'm probably going to keep reading, assuming it's going to be a short series, but I'm not keeping it afterwards. This isn't the worst series and I still think it's worth picking up purely for the artwork, but I can't recommend it for the romance. There's way better out there for that.

[Katja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hee, this series continues being sweet and funny with some more serious scenes thrown in, which nicely balance out the comedy. Kuroe tries to balance the want of hanging out with Minami and keeping her kaiju side secret and that's of course doomed to fail. Fortunately for her, Minami isn't catching on too quickly...

Kuroe acts pretty thoughtlessly on her and Minami's date to Disney--, ahem, excuse me, Destinyland, but she knows it herself too and that's something I recognize... She does her best to correct things though and that's great. And it's nice Minami is willing to try to understand her.

There's also a new character, a friend (??) of Kuroe's mom and sort of uncle for Kuroe. He's clearly much more than he seems right now, I'm curious what's his deal.

Oh, and it was awesome to find out Kuroe loves metal music!! Yeah!

And as I said in the first volume's review too: the art is amazingggg! The girls are so so cute (So. Many. Sparkly. Eyes!) and other characters really nice too and Kuroe's kaiju form looks badass too. I love Aoki's style. ♥

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel did have a bit more of the elements in manga that make you side eye, but it was still fun! The Disney World date was very cute and I really loved the intensity of the full transformation scene! Looking forward to seeing how this newly named relationship goes!

[Niina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuroella on salaisuus: hän voi muuttua kaijuksi. Hän ei aivan täysin hallitse muutostaan ja etenkin hänen ihastuksensa läheisyys tuottaa vaikeuksia. Disney-teemapuistoa jäljittelevässä paikassa on vaikeaa pitää sopiva etäisyys ja Kuroe on jo vähällä paljastua, useammalla kuin vain yhdellä tavalla.

[SugarKitty]

I just- AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! ITS TO MUCH! TO TO MUCH!! I love these BOOKS! he asked her to DATE HIM?! and she said YES?! AND IT'S JUST- AHHHHHH!!!!! I absolutely LOVE this series!!! It can't get better than this!!!

[Dubzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continues to baffle me. It's not bad, but it's not terribly good either.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

More kaiju girl cuteness!

[Anix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Troche infantylna ale jest ok

[Kayleigh Wiebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong second book in the series. Kuroe is so endearing as she tries so hard to connect with others. Such a sweet, funny, pure series.

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still loving this premise. I'm really enjoying the character development and the art. :) surprisingly lovely.

[Irene ➰ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

Boh mi ci ritrovo tantissimo in lei e sto semplicemente amando tutto 😭

[Yui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es ist einfach so süß!!

[Hisgirl85 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 lovely monster stars

[ReadingFrog · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[78sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Band 1 hat mir sehr gefallen und daher habe ich nun auch den zweiten Band gelesen.
Es geht hier um Kuroe, die wenn sie verliebt ist, sich in ein Monster ala Gozilla verwandelt. Erst nur Teile ihres Körpers, wie ihre Hand oder Dornen auf ihrem Rücken, aber dann verwandelt sie sich komplett in ein riesiges Monster. Das alles erfährt man schon im ersten Band.
Kuroe ist in ihren Mitschüler Arata verliebt und auch er hat großes Interesse an ihr. Er versucht Kurie näher zu kommen, ohne sie einzuengen oder sie irgendwie unter Druck zu setzen. Er weiß nicht warum Kuroe oft so abweisend reagiert. Sie will einfach nur vermeiden, dass sie sich verwandelt. In diesem Band passiert es natürlich wieder und ich muss sagen, so naiv wie Arata ist, kann eigentlich niemand sein. Sie verwandelt sich praktisch vor seinen Augen und er tut es als Cosplay ab. Das war das einzige was mich arg an dem Manga gestört hat.
Der Zeichenstil finde ich grandios. Vor allem wie Humor damit herübergebracht wird. Ich könnte mich vor Lachen wegschmeißen, wie Kuroe gezeichnet wird. Wenn sie sich erschreckt oder wenn sie wieder mal verwirrt ist oder etwas fehlinterpretiert dann wird das so witzig gezeichnet. Ich gucke mir da manche Zeichnungen mehrfach an. Dies ist allgemein ein Manga, den ich mir auch noch öfter anschauen würde.
Auch die Nebencharaktere sind interessant. Kuroes Mutter ist ziemlich exzentrisch, aber liebt ihre Tochter und will sie mit allen Mitteln beschützen. In diesem Band kommt ein neuer Charakter dazu. Wer es ist, möchte ich aus Spoilergründen nicht verraten. Auf jeden Fall bringt er richtig frischen Wind rein und ich bin mir noch nicht so sicher, ob sein Auftauchen für Kuroe gefährlich ist oder nicht.
Ich werde die Reihe definitiv weiterlesen.

Story 4,0/5
Zeichenstil 5,0/5
Charaktere 4,6/5
Wohlfühlfaktor 4,0/5
Gesamt 4,6/5

[Jude · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as volume 1 😭 It was still fine and cute, but while reading I wasn't into it and even noticed how repetitive it got. Also found issues with some of the characters.

To go more into detail (slightly spoilerish?):
I like Minami, how pure and genuinely nice he is. But I didn't read him as being overly dumb. I feel like in this volume he became a total airhead because it served the plot. I don't like that. I know it's a story about a girl that turns into a kaiju, but Minami (and other characters too, really) not noticing certain stuff that happens right in his face was what made me go "huh?".
I also didn't like the new character Koutarou. At first I thought he might be her dad, but then he turns out to be her mom's friend that I guess is close to Kuroe. I thought some of his interactions with Kuroe were uncomfortably flirty. He knows her body transformation problem but he doesn't know that she can go full kaiju and the mom doesn't want to trust him with the info. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, but he could be a threat. I don't know what to make of him.
And Manatsu is a lot. I can only handle her in small doses lol

All of that sounds kinda bad but I did get a kick out of the Disney amusement park ripoff lol I also still like Kuroe a lot and all the sparkles.

[vaelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't get the guy is he just pretending he doesn't know orrr.... because there's no way he's that clueless and otherwise why would you interpret the Kaiju's actions this way? 💀

They're really cute but it's kinda repetitive because of how much she can't bear being near him so he's basically there but not because the story focuses so much on her freak outs in some parts. So yeah I don't really get why he likes her as more than a friend rn and the same for her, like you never had real friends before why don't you start with that?
I wish they were acting as friends for at least the whole first volume and then just started realizing their feelings in this one and then she can start acting weird because she understood what made her change into a Kaiju this whole time, it would've gave more development for their relationship as people and this volume wouldn't have felt like they made no progress except when the story forced it on them.

The story is still cute tho but the fact that the conflict is only created by the Kaiju part makes it lackluster in other areas and once that conflict is out of the way there won't be any other conflict in the story except maybe the thing set up with her uncle/moms ex?!?!? I still don't get which one of these he is and if she just calls him uncle because he's the equivalent or because it's for real. I'm completely lost there for now.

[Terra Epsilon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Przy pierwszym tomie mówiłam, że choć urocze, to nie jest najwyższa półka i nijak zżyłam się z bohaterami.
Oh boy, jak ja chciałabym zawsze się tak mylić!

Drugi tom - choć nie miałam od niego wymagań i nie spieszyło mi się czytać - spodobał mi się zdecydowanie bardziej. I wciąż to wszystko dzięki relacji Kuroe i Minamiego, która jest autentycznie urocza w swojej niewinności, ale też trochę skomplikowana. Bo pierwsza miłość to może i kwiatuszki i motylki, jednak przede wszystkim to dopiero uczenie się, co to w ogóle miłość i jak sobie z nią radzić.

I w tym Kuroe i Minami są świetni! Oboje starają się jak mogą, ale popełniają też błędy, nie potrafią się porozumieć, czasem się irytują na siebie nawzajem, bo ,,przecież się staram!" Wszystko rozbija się o to, aby ze sobą szczerze porozmawiać, tylko że to też wymaga od groma odwagi.
A żeby nie było za prosto, to dorzućmy jeszcze przyszywanego wujka, który po wujkowemu robi Kuroe wstyd przed jej sympatią... i oczywiście będzie miał na oku Minamiego! Bo przecież chłopcy to szczwane bestie, tylko czyhające na niewinne dziewczyny!

Jeszcze za jeden plus uznaję fakt samego zamieniania się bohaterki w potwora. Na początku miałam to za dość oryginalną metaforę dojrzewania... jednak okazuje się, że stoi za tym coś więcej!

[Alessandro Parisi]

Akaishi e Minami vanno insieme al parco divertimenti Destiny Land. A seguirli c'è anche la madre di Akaishi, vestita da mascotte per non farsi riconoscere.
Minami propone tante attività da fare all'interno del parco, ma Akaishi rifiuta di farle quasi tutte, perché teme di potersi trasformare a causa di alcuni momenti di imbarazzo che potrebbero crearsi. Minami si rabbuia un po' durante l'appuntamento.
Akaishi allora decide di accettare gli inviti, raddrizzando così la giornata.
Si trasforma parzialmente in kaiju, ma Minami pensa che Akaishi stia semplicemente facendo un cosplay.

Un amico di vecchia data della madre di Akaishi, Kotaro, porta Akaishi a un concerto metal.
L'uomo sa che Akaishi potrebbe trasformarsi, quindi la tutela.
Minami fa una scenata di gelosia per Kotaro e Akaishi si trasforma nel kaiju Harugon.

Minami inizia a parlare con Harugon, con l'aiuto di Manatsu, poiché si rende conto che il kaiju è attratto da lui.

Akaishi alla fine torna in sé e finalmente dichiara i suoi sentimenti. Da quando c'è Minami nella sua vita, Akaishi prova un forte senso di felicità che non ha mai provato prima. I due cosi decidono di iniziare a uscire insieme.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, I don’t like this near as much as the first volume. The Disney ripoff date takes way too long (it’s the entire volume for pity’s sake) and even if Kuroe is still a great character it feels like they really file her edges off too much (minus one perfect section towards the end).

That cosplay explanation lands like a salmon on a tarmac and the only reason I forgive it even slightly is because of the subtle payoff in Minami’s room afterwards with the merchandise.

Minami himself is pretty dull, as is the way of many shojo boys, but I won’t call him out particularly on it because he does get to have some range. Still, the whole thing is a let-down and the new character is also... yeah.

Shojo manga drinking game: you can safely down one in this volume for the ‘written document planning the perfect day that then saves the day when the day goes wrong and the document is dropped and then read by the person it’s about’. At least Kuroe’s artistic ability has been established so it makes sense she’s doodling that much.