I was eight years old in 1982, the perfect age to go nuts for Battle of the Planets. Of course, I had absolutely no idea about its history as a Japanese anime, but even then I could tell that here was a cartoon unlike its brethren. It had a darker tone than anything else I’d seen and I have a vague memory of being floored by someone actually dying, though now I have no idea what episode that was. (I must admit that I also adored Sandy Frank’s gratuitous addition of robot narrator 7-Zark-7 and his dog, 1-Rover-1.)

The memory of this unique show stayed with me throughout my adolescence, and I very rarely found classmates who remembered it. Fast forward to 1996, when I was attending grad school and finally had regular internet access. It was then that I found out about the show’s true origins as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Via online communities, I found out about fansubs and fanfic for the first time. Before then, it had never occurred to me that the team’s leader and second-in-command might feel that way about each other.

I sporadically attended an anime club at university (where I was entranced by the Please Save My Earth OAV. Besides being awesome, it had gay people in it! Gay people!), but it wasn’t until I made friends with a coworker around 2001 that I seriously got addicted. I think the first thing she showed me was Fushigi Yuugi. Initially, I was bugged by all the super deformity (my beloved Gatchaman never did that!) but after the Nuriko plot twist (which I totally did not see coming), I was hooked. The same friend also loaned me my first manga, a bilingual edition of the first volume of Cardcaptor Sakura.

More anime and manga followed. In 2002, TOKYOPOP offered some primo classic shojo, so two of the first series I read were Kodocha and Marmalade Boy, still favorites to this day. At first, I was pretty exclusively a shojo reader, but eventually branched out and now enjoy manga from all demographics. According to my LibraryThing catalog, I have around 1500 volumes of manga and manhwa. I very seldom watch anime anymore; manga is superior in my estimation.

My path to becoming a reviewer is less clear. I don’t even know why or when I began searching out and reading review sites, but after a little while I began to think, “I could do that.” I had a blog, but the posts consisted mainly of things like wacky dreams I’d had or rants about ignorance I’d encountered. I decided to remake it into a review site and in April 2006, Soliloquy in Blue was born. It isn’t exclusively a manga review site, since I review everything I read, but I do read a ton of manga. I’m up to nearly 500 posts now, and still going strong!

At some point, Manga Blog began including links to my reviews, and I assume that was how Katherine Dacey heard of me. In July 2008, I received an invitation that thrilled me to pieces, and here I am!

There are many, many series that I read and like, and still more that I collect and hoard. Here are some of my favorites. I’ve decided to group them by demographic because I’m anal like that.

SHOJO:
(tie) Basara and NANA. These series are so different, but equally amazing. Basara has a strong female protagonist, Sarasa, born as half of a set of twins. At their birth, a village wise man proclaimed that, “Here is the child of destiny.” Everyone assumed it was the male child, including Sarasa, and when he was killed, she took his place and led the people in revolt against a tyrannical king, never realizing that she was the child of destiny all along. Seriously, just typing that sentence gives me goosebumps. NANA involves two young women basically just going through life, and all of its hardships and heartaches. The characters are wonderful and reading the series is a little like wonderful torture, since I hate to see them in pain, but at the same time, it’s so very well done.

Honorable mentions in this category go to Boys Over Flowers and Fruits Basket, both of which I dearly love for completely different reasons.

SHONEN:
Hikaru no Go. I have no idea how this story manages to make a board game so fascinating. I love how Hikaru grows not only in skill but also in maturity and physical appearance throughout the series. The series has tense battles but also warmth and humor. My only gripe is that even though it’s no longer running in Shonen Jump, it doesn’t appear to be coming out any faster.

JOSEI:
I’m sorry to report that I have not read much josei, but Honey and Clover would probably win the category even if that weren’t the case. I love stories that induce a feeling of bittersweet nostalgia, and a cast of quirky characters and unique art style help make this one of my favorite things I’m reading currently.

SEINEN:
I’m going to have to poach one of Chloe’s picks and go with xxxHOLiC. The art style is gorgeous and while the more episodic nature of the early volumes was fun, the building suspense and mystery of later volumes is even better, particularly when secrets are finally revealed. Recent volumes have dwelt a little too much on goings on in sister series Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, but I’m confident it’ll all make sense in the end.

Honorable mention in this category goes to Maison Ikkoku. It’s warm, funny, charming, and touching. To quote one of my reviews, “I’ve said before that Maison Ikkoku is like manga crack, but I think it’s more like manga meatloaf. Filling, satisfying comfort food with one essential recipe that can be tweaked many different ways. A perennial favorite.”

I love writing about books and manga and love being part of the Manga Recon team. I will definitely be here for the long haul.