Club 9

She's cute, fun, irrepressible, and kind of a klutz. Haruo Hattori is now leaving her home in the country for college in the big city. So now she lives in Tokyo, living in a haunted dorm, looking forward to four years of college, trying to stay true to her boyfriend. But she hates ghosts and moves in to live with a friend. But she hates to mooch off others. In other words she wants money to help pay for the apartment and so she decides to work in a hostess club. Club 9, where the men like their girls in short skirts, like their cigarettes lit right away, and don't seem to mind panty shots. Only problem is that out of the five volumes only three have been published in English. So you better learn Japanese. A fish out of water comedy with cute character designs, funny plot twists and lots of weird phrases. Like Lordy, they're drunker'n pigs in the cider mash! I love it and already ordered the next two volumes. At least the ones I could find.

I read various comics and graphic novels, and occasionally like to try something under the radar. This book hasn't garnered much attention it seems, but it's really funny in its own charming way. There's something odd, yet amusing, about a "southern" Asian woman with a thick country drawl trying to fit in with the big-city crowd. For example, the first thing she says in the entire book is, "Heba! Y'all kin call me Haruo!" There are no giant robots, demons from hell, or graphic sword fights, yet it's crazy as hell because the characters themselves are so bizarre. Both the artwork and writing make it easy to follow along and enjoy this quirky adventure of our main character, Haruo. Simply put, the book is strange, yet adorable. It's fun to read, and easy to share with with your girlfriend, even if she's not into anime or graphic-novels. Dark Horse Comics has released two volumes so far, and the third was supposed to be out by now, but Dark Horse has a sketchy record of releasing things on time, so that's the only downside to reading this series. Otherwise, I recommend reading this if you just want an amusing story to read, especially if you have a thing for pretty brunettes.