Star Children

I like looking for new manga to read, but I never thought I'd end up reading one about a space academy. Star Children follows the story of Yuuto, a boy aspiring to be an astronaut with Sirius--a division that practices deep space exploration. The manga starts off with young Yuuto expressing his passion for space exploration. His father works at a space station and the person he's always looked up to is a Sirius astronaut. He wants to become an astronaut, but he's afraid his parents would disapprove of his decision. The first chapter is mostly of Yuuto contemplating whether he should study to become as astronaut or not and the end of the chapter was... you'll have to read it.

The story in the first few chapters felt slow, but it becomes more interesting and reads faster closer to chapter 5 when more main characters are introduced. I've never read a manga about a space academy (or at least I can't recall ever reading one), so I don't know what to expect. I like the surprises that the manga brought so far, and I'm looking forward to read and see what challenges lie ahead for the main characters. What I like most about Star Children are the the characters: they each have an interesting personality and their emotions and expressions are played well.

Recommended audience: All ages <--yeah, you read that right

Author and Artist: Kida Masashi
Release year: 2011
Scanlators: Pinoymanga Scans

I haven't mentioned or linked the scanlators who translated the manga into English so far. I'll start doing that now.

Eden no Ori

If you've ever read Lord of the Flies by William Golding, you may enjoy reading Eden no Ori. Also known as Cage of Eden, the manga has a storyline and characters roles similar to Lord of the Flies. The differences between the two are that the manga, being a manga, provides fanservice with its many high school female and male characters and sets the danger to the island to an all time high with deadly prehistoric lifeforms.

What I like most about Eden no Ori are the many mysteries that come with the island. Why are there prehistoric lifeforms? Did the characters travel back in time? If so, how and why did it happen? If they didn't travel back in time, was the island always there? Is it natural or was it man-made? Which characters will survive on the island and what role will they play later in the story?

I have plenty more questions regarding to the manga but they will have to wait until the scanlators or Kodansha USA finish with it.

Recommended audience: Teens

Author and Artist: Yamada Yoshinobu
Release year: 2008
Volumes: 13+ ongoing
Licensed by Kodansha USA

Oresama Teacher

I like reading shojo manga, but it gets a bit boring when you read enough to know what will happen next. But! It's refreshing when a shojo manga like Oresama Teacher appears.

Meet Kurosaki Mafuyu-- she's an ex-delinquent entering a new school and hopes to make a lot of female friends, but she can't seem to stay out of fights and help the most scary teacher Saeki Takaomi at her school who happens to be her next door neighbor and her... childhood friend? (Their past is a little odd but sweet.) She ends up befriending mostly male delinquents like she did in her past and at some point was convinced by her teacher to uphold justice at the school by disguising herself as a male student and a rabbit.

The characters in Oresama Teacher seem to focus more on friendship than love, but it's interesting to read how Mafuyu gets closer to the other characters.

Recommended audience: All ages

Author and Artist: Izumi Tsubaki
Release year: 2008
Licensed by Viz Media

_{Thank you panda scans for releasing the latest chapters every so often!}