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Childhood friends, a prominent family, bodyguards, tentative romance, a strange living situation, a bad social life, job problems, kidnapping, a message sent in a balloon...is this starting to sound like a little bit too much for a manga that's just barely seven chapters long? Well, that's because it is, and that's the main problem with Omamorishimasu, Dokomademo.

Let's start with the story. It's all over the place and can be very confusing at times. There's too much happening, and it never really makes that much sense. It might be an interesting story in a longer manga with more chapters to flesh out the plot and time ... to find out about side characters, but this isn't that manga. Consequently, it feels rushed and not very satisfying. The story kept wanting to be something more, but it's very obvious that it couldn't quite reach the heights it was trying to attain.

The art, however, is wonderful. I've read all of Junko's other work that's been translated in full, so this was no surprise. She has a really clean, nice looking style that’s easily recognizable. Her characters are distinctive and emotive and she has a great grasp on movement. Whenever reading something by her I have to stop at least once to admire something in a chapter, and this manga was no exception. There are times where she gets a little sloppy, but those times are far and few between, and aren’t very noticeable.

The characters suffer as a product of the wishy-washy plot. Because there are so many side characters and plot threads being introduced we barely have time to get to know our main characters. We're told a lot about them, but it's a lot of tell and very little show. In the end, I really don't feel like either of them had anything to them beyond a few basic character traits. They weren't terrible, just underdeveloped and unexplored. Junko has a talent for writing fun, likeable characters despite her mangas being short, so the seeds are there, they just aren't sewn properly in this one.

As for enjoyment, it’s solid, but average. Honestly, I expect more out of a manga by Junko, so I was disappointed, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. There are a few moments that make a read worth it, but in the end it sort of feels like a lot of rising action with no real climax or resolution. Again, this was a manga that really would have benefited from either more time to tell its story or a story more befitting of the length it was prescribed.

Overall, what I'd recommend to anyone looking to read this is to read everything else Junko's done first. As I said, I’ve read most of her other works and I would call myself a fan of hers. This manga got a 5/10 from me, but everything else she’s done I’ve scored with a 7 or above. In general, her other stories are simpler than this one and the main characters are focused on more so that the reader can get to know them and care about them despite the small amount of chapters devoted to each story. This is a rather lackluster sample of her work and, as such, I would not recommend it being the first thing you read by her. However, if you've already read all of, or most of, her other mangas and enjoyed them, then there's really no reason you won't like this one at least a little bit. It still has that Junko spark, it's just not her usual fireworks.

Kotarou Higuchi is a young boy with a lot of troubles. His mother died when he was young, his father is absent a large portion of the time due to work, leaving Kotarou to take care of things around the apartment they live in and, on top of that, he's not the best student and has to study hard just to get average marks - but wait! One day a mysterious girl claiming to be an angel moves in next door and won't leave him alone...

You know, to be honest, Pita Ten has what sounds like an extremely typical plot. In shounen series featuring ... magical girls this is usually the sort of situation you find, with very little variance from there on out. But Pita-ten is an exception. While the story may start out typically, later on in the series it evolves into a much more serious tone that questions the roles people have in our lives, how death affects people, and what the true essence of human nature is. Simple things like character quirks turn out to come from past traumas, and characters that would be nothing but jokes in other stories turn out to have surprising depth.

The art is by Koge Donbo, which, in my opinion, almost instantly means it will be remarkable. The character designs are all very cute, if not original. Still there are almost no points in the series where the art is anything less than wonderful. Even when the characters are drawn more simply for humorous purposes, they succeed in looking cute, if nothing else. Koge Donbo doesn't quite have a perfect or mature art style, but her style fits the story perfectly and only serves to make the series have its own character.

Character is another strong suit of the series that starts off seeming weaker than it actually is. While the characters we are initially faced with may come off as bland and prototypical at first, there is more than meets the eye with them. Even Misha, the heroine of the story, who is quirky and off-beat, has a backstory that explains many of her characteristics and actions throughout the story. The characterization of this series works because it deconstructs popular tropes of the genre all while serving to make the characters far less flat than they seemed to be originally. Furthermore, development is excellent as the characters grow up through the series both physically and symbolically. You really feel that they are learning and moving on towards the future, which is, in a way, the major theme of the story.

On a personal note, Pita Ten was the first manga I really read and bought all of the volumes of. I've sold most of my other manga series over the years, but Pita Ten is still on my bookshelf. Often times I go back and read a few chapters randomly, and a few times I've read the whole series in one sitting. It's the only series I do that with and it's because I enjoy it so much. Pita Ten starts out as a bit of a light-hearted manga with some romance, drama and comedy, but over the course of the series it begins to evolve to show you more and more of what's going on until everything is revealed to be completely different from your initial opinion. The first few volumes don't feel like much besides some laughs and a bit of budding romance, but they are fun to read. Past that things take a turn for the even better as the comedy and romantic elements become a bit less and the supernatural and drama pieces show up more and more, with the story improving because of it.

Overall, Pita Ten is the perfect antidote to your mediocre boy meets magical girl plot woes. The series takes this situation and runs with it, dragging you along to unexpected heights. With a cast you will learn to love, art that captures the spirit of the plot, and a story that's far more than it seems at the beginning, Pita Ten is a hidden gem in a genre that's often overlooked. Don't overlook this one, give it a chance, and find out the secrets of the angel who moved in next door.

When it comes to yaoi, there's honestly not many series that can come close to Yatteranneeze.

The story may seem cliche to many people. In fact, I know I've seen the same basic idea in a few shoujo mangas. Hiroya is a good kid on the student council who consistantly gets good grades and never does anything you would even consider calling rebellious. Misaki is smart enough when he applies himself, but he never does as he's too busy being the opposite of Hiroya, as rebellious as is possible for him to be. And naturally they're the main characters and the couple focused on in ... Yatteranneeze. Hiroya decides he needs a change and he wants none other than Misaki to teach him how to be a cool kid rather than an upstanding student. If that were all there was to the story it would maybe get a 6 from me, but there's much more to it than that. Yatteranneeze is one of the few yaoi series I've seen actually focus on a lot of issues facing gays and people in general, including homophobia, AIDS, rape and more. Overall the story was a great blend of comedy from Hiroya (who is, at times, overwhelmingly innocent), drama and romance, all excecuted in a way that makes you want to keep reading.

I'm a bit biased on the art. I love mid-90s manga artwork and Yatteranneeze is a prime example of this. The character designs are all relatively simple, which fits the series as it's only portraying relatively normal students in Japan. Overall I really liked the artwork of the series though it wasn't anything revolutionary it went along very well with the series and was always consistant and at times was very beautiful.

I have to say if there is a bit of a downfall to the series it's character. However I'm still giving it an 8 for very good. Character development was actually superb, by the end of the series you can see how all this time has affected the main characters and even some side characters. However I never really loved any of the characters. Misaki is the only exception, the rest of them were nice enough and didn't make me want to stop reading, but I wasn't overjoyed with them in any way.

Often times I find series more enjoyable than anything else, which is how I felt reading Yatteranneeze. Every chapter ended in such a way that I wanted to read the next one. The romance is believable and the drama is somewhat over-the-top at times but it makes it even better. Overall I found that I wanted Hiroya and Misaki to stay together, whenever something threatened their relationship I would actually become sad because I wanted them to be together. I rarely care about couples that much in any series, which just shows how much I enjoyed this one.

So overall I give Yatteranneeze a nine. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a good love story, as long as they're open-minded to yaoi, because I think that even someone who isn't a fan of yaoi could read Yatteranneeze and see past the fact that it's two boys to the point that it's as simple as a great love story.

To watch Princess Princess you have to keep in mind, it's a bit weird.

First off, the story. If we're really being honest here, it's kind of something out of a fangirl's mind. A prestigious all-boys school where a 'lucky few' are picked to dress up as princesses. Yes, you did hear that right, boys dressing up as princesses is the basic idea of this anime. And is there any more story than that? Not really. There's a bit of character development, one actual relationship involving one of the main characters and a teeny bit of shounen-ai to make the fangirls, who are undoubtedly watching, happy. ... So the story gets a 6 from me, it's not terrible but it kind of makes you go '...really?' to accepting the fact that, not only would this happen, but that anyone would agree to it (thought the perks the princesses get are nice).

Don't be fooled by the anime's picture. The art is decent enough, but it's nothing special. I do have to give props to whoever designed the princesses outfits, at times they were really cute. Character design was alright, but it's all something you could find in any other anime, nothing is particularly unique. It's simply good and nothing more.

As for sound, I'm a big fan of Romi Paku who does Yuujirou's voice and the other voice actors are good enough. The music was so-so. Usually I love or hate OPs and EDs, Princess Princess didn't give me much feeling either way. Sometimes I half-listened to them, other times I skipped them. I don't actively seek the songs out to listen to them, but they weren't bad, just not anything that stuck with me.

The main characters are nothing special, but it's unlikely that you'll dislike them. They all have their own quirks and backgrounds which, for a series of only 12 episodes, were explored adequately enough to leave you hoping for, but not needing, more. So, the characters were handled well, but there honestly wasn't much to work with. They were pretty much average.

But when it comes to enjoyment? Well, that's a 10. Despite all its flaws and drawbacks Princess Princess is a fun watch. If you're looking for a blatantly yaoi/shonen-ai series, that's not what it is. And if you're looking for something mind-blowing and new, this isn't it. But if you're looking for something that's short, sweet, and simple, then you're in the right place.