Love Romance from Minoru Toyoda

Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2003 8:06 am

Hi,

It seems that this has become an official MS project after all, so I thought we need a thread for it here. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments about Hoshino's and Negishi's uncommon common relationship. ^^

Here's what Chris has written about it (which pretty sums up the main reasons why I like this manga):

Quote:

Most romance stories (not just manga) fall into two basic categories:

1) The story is entirely about the "chase", as it were -- as soon as
the characters get together, it's the end of the story and we're
supposed to imagine that they live happily ever after. This is the
way most romance-themed manga seem to work, where most of the plot is
in the difficulty of the pair getting together.

2) The second type of story relies on a lot of melodrama, soap-opera
type love triangles, betrayals, cheating, etc. to keep things
interesting. The constant threat of breakup hangs over the pair even
if the story is ultimately about their successful get-together.

Rabu Roma (Love Romance) is neither of these stories. One day, a student
named Hoshino comes up to another student named Negishi and announces that
he likes her and wants to go out with her. The story follows their
developing relationship without resorting to cheesy melodrama, harems,
or any of the usual manga plot devices. The stories are about fairly
mundane events -- first date, first kiss, first fight, etc., but the
mangaka is very skillful at making these seem interesting (or perhaps
the mudane automatically seems interesting because it's different from
what we usually expect out of this kind of story).

The main theme of the manga seems to be the idea that "honesty is the
best policy" -- Hoshino first asks out Negishi because he was
convinced that everything would be fine if he would just tell the
truth. Her initial reaction is "no", but he responds that he likes
how her response is so clear. All throughout the series the same idea
seems to come up -- just communicate your feelings and everything
works out OK. This also goes against the usual romance manga plot
device of nobody telling anyone else how they really feel until it
comes out in some embarassing or melodramatic manner.

The art is a little odd and may take some getting used to, but overall
I think it works well -- the art is a bit quirky, like the story.

Highly recommended.

Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2003 2:35 pm

Sounds good, i was waiting for something like that!

Fan Boy Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 1

it sez on mangajouhou that chap 1a was added yesterday, 'cept i dun see it anywhere on the site 'cept here... weird... ::goes off wondering::

Roadie Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 61 Location: Belgium

hmmm i'm not convinced yet about the plot but i like the humor in it (the part with the condom where he says he'll think about his friend lol... ^^; )

but i guess the relationship will be more dynamic than in your regular Katsura or akamatsu manga Razz

shi'neko > it's available in the IRC channel Cool

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2003 10:13 pm

Personally: I love it. I don't know why. Well, maybe because it IS so different, it's nice. Personally, I hate most romance titles (the only one I really got through that I've ever remotely liked was I"s) but this one seems... cute. ^^;

Great pick, guys. Very Happy

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2003 11:39 pm

Oh, and just to clarify since there seems to be some confusion (not necessarily in this thread) -- Love Roma is *not* a shoujo manga, in fact it's not even a girls' manga. It runs in Afternoon (the same magazine as Blade of the Immortal, Ah! My Goddess, Cannon God Exaxxion, etc.) which is a magazine aimed at high-school (or older) males.

-Chris

Fan Boy Joined: 20 Aug 2003 Posts: 43 Location: MA

Negishi reminds me of Manda Rin from Bis, or at least the drawings of her on their Cd covers...

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:58 pm

The drawings on the Bis CD covers remind me of fan-art drawn by junior high girls…

But anyway, Love Roma is one of those manga that I find to be incredibly annoying, but still can’t help reading. And I guess that’s a good thing.

Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:10 am

Ch 00b (Track 0) is out. Get it from BT:
http://www.mircx.com/bt/Love.Roma.Vol-01.Ch-00b(Minoru.Toyoda)[MS].zip.torrent

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 8:12 am

I like it
I really don't know why
The Drawing Looks Bad (I thick I like it for it funny)

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2003 5:36 pm

MilkCrownJump wrote:

I like it
I really don't know why
The Drawing Looks Bad (I thick I like it for it funny)

Hehe, I actually think that the art is quite refreshing. Sure, it doesn't look like your "typical" manga but that doesn't distract me from the story at all. Toyoda's drawing has that cute flair which can make you addicted after you get used to it.

BTW, here's the torrent for track 01 (aka ch 01):
http://www.mircx.com/bt/Love.Roma.Vol-01.Ch-01(Minoru.Toyoda)[MS].zip.torrent

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2003 12:22 am

I really really luv the manga, I could give a bunch of reasons why, the cute situations, the characters, the humour, the simplicity, yet I think I just love the overall feeling it gives me.

Street Musician Joined: 13 Oct 2002 Posts: 419

Yea, I think it's the simplicity.

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:17 am

This last chapter was really good (chapter 3) I really enjoyed the way Love Roma approached a love triangle (a ultra-cliche situation used in just about every shoujo manga, and plenty of shonen ones as well) it was really refreshing!

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2003 7:31 pm

Just so everyone knows, after Track 4 (and a couple of pages of bonus stuff), that will be the end of Love Roma volume 1. Since volume 1 is the only one out right now, LR will be on hiatus for a while. Volume 2 will most likely come out sometime around March or April, and we do plan to pick up the project again when it comes out.

-Chris