Aishiteruze Baby: Volume 2

this was a great story! and according to the back of the book, is the story 'the anklet' from the arabian nights. i thought it was very well told. i didn't really like the pictures though. they kind of look like figures posing instead of characters in the story, and there are noticable outlines around the people so as to make you think they're cut outs, or are not a part of the scenery they're presented in. the over posy-ness and the not fitting into the background kind of reminds me of cheesy picture books i read from the 80's. now these pictures aren't as bad as those, but the way they are presented are reminiscent of that... style. for this reason i didn't give it a 5, but i still like the book and think it's worth reading as the storytelling was well done.

This manga series and the anime that followed did a very good job of pulling you in. It follows a womanizing high school student named Kippei who was forced into taking care of his cute little baby cousin Yuzuyu as Yuzuyu's mother, (Aunt Miyako) left Yuzu to her sister (Kippei's mother). One day after school, Kippei is suddenly tasked by the family breadwinner his sister Reiko to take care of little Yuzu. He doesn't shy from his duties, and Yuzu quickly becomes attached to Kippei. Through will, trial and error, he gives up a lot to make sure Yuzu's living in a loving home. Kippei makes mistakes but not overtly huge and when he notices it he usually scrambles to cheer her up. Yuzu, while in pre-school/kindergarten, learns her own life-lessons, and you see how cruel or compassionate kids can be all over again as if you were right beside her and you find yourself rooting for cast at various moments. As the viewer, you get pulled into the drama seeing Yuzu and her aunt's family (mainly Kippei on a daily basis) take care of her. It's heartwarming and amazingly captures the spirit of raising a child, and witnessing their growing curiousity. As my title stated, yes, it does give you the sting of single parenthood. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of humor, as Kippei tends to be the butt of the jokes, from his womanizing (more like passed around by the girls) and school skipping reputation. Or reputation that he already is a single parent. Then there's Kokoro, a girl who starts off as someone who wants nothing to do with Kippei, but as someone who lives alone and having had her mother die at around Yuzu's age, she begins to gradually respect Kippei after seeing him give his all for Yuzu. I'm so tired of seeing pointlessly cute/cool-looking/unrequited love/harem/ultra-violent for shock factor in manga and anime that it was refreshing to finally read a down to earth manga about family, especially one as good as this. This manga is well worth it, just because of little Yuzu is a bundle of cuteness. Sorry, can't help myself, did I mention Yuzu's cute? This hit me personally as I had to babysit my cousin a couple times as her parents weren't married, and it just gave me flashbacks, though I can't completely compare as Kippei was the daily guardian. Oh, and you can use this to introduce to people like your mom, or *gasp* girl to get her to try out manga (it is a Shoujo manga afterall).

Aishiteruze Baby was a manga I never expected to like, love, or even read. But I was bored one day at the local bookstore, picked this book up and started reading. I was amazed on how sucked in I was to this story. It's about Keppei who is a highschool playboy who has just been volunteered randomly to take care of his five-year-old cousin Yuzuyu (who's mother disappeard and left yuzu alone). Strangely enough Keppei and Yuzuyu become great friends! It's a cute and touching story than spands seven volumes (but the first three are the only ones out yet). This story is worth every penny and you'll fall in love with it!

Aishiteruze Baby is a very lovely and cute manga, which I started reading the first time it came to America. It is a story of the high school boy Kippei Katakura and his 5-years-old cousin, Yuzuyu. Yuzuyu is so cute and beautiful. I kinda wish that Kippei will fall in love with her eventually but she is way too young to be his lover. Sometimes I feel that his feelings for her go beyond fatherly or brotherly love but it seems that nothing will happen in the end. I am watching the anime now. I don't think it has been licensed in the U.S. yet, though. The anime is so good with some additions that we didn't see in the manga. I don't like Kokoro and I hope that Kippei will end up with Yuzuyu instead. Give it a shot and you won't regret it.

Aishiteruze Baby which basically means "I Love You Baby" in Japanese it an incredibly cute manga series. 17-year old playboy Kippei Katakura is put in charge of taking care of his 5 year old cousin Yuzuyu after her mother has disappeared. Now Kippei must learn the difficulties of raising a child instead of tending to his girlfriends. This volume depicts the changes in Kippei's life as well as Yuzuyu's. Yoki Maki is a genius for depciting the reasoning of a 5 year old. Yuzuyu thinks her mother left b/c she must hate her for not finsihing all of her bento (lunch). Yuzuyu thinks that by drawing pictures for Kippei, he will always praise her and never leave her. She tries to take crayons from a store after something happens to her old ones. She thinks that those crayons are what will help her so nobody else would hate her. Yoko Maki defiantly knows the mind of a 5 year old child. Though this series may be mostly about Kippei taking care of Yuzuyu, it is a story of love. A story about the fatherly love Kippei shows to Yuzuyu although he's just her cousin. And a story about the love a family can have. Plus there's also a high school romance (can't have a shoujo manga without it...lol.) The story may seem childish but it is rated T for Teen. I've read the whole manga through scanlations and there are some mature parts in later volumes. However I think a 13 year old would be able to handle these just fine. The story though is incredibly touching. Some parts will make you laugh, some cry. This series, scheduled to be released every other month is well worth it. So go ahead, give volume 1 a try and enter the world of Kippei and Yuzuyu.