I discovered a new manga the other day, My Lovely Ghost Kana by Yutaka Tanaka, the same guy that did the bittersweet Ai-Ren series (another one I highly recommend checking out). Kana’s got some nudity and sexual situations in it, so if you think that’s an aberration you can nicely steer clear of it. You can also steer clear of it if you’re looking for outright hentai.
I don’t really know how to describe it in words to do it justice. It’s sweet, direct and simple. Nothing complicated. A girl that is a ghost, and a guy that’s very much alive, are living together in a rundown house. They fall in love, and has an uncomplicated relationship (as far as you can have an uncomplicated relationship with a ghost…) where they explore things together and push each other to discover new aspects to themselves and life.
Normally I’d say “… uh, dude, she’s a dead girl, wtf are you doing?” in my head, which is what I thought when I read the description, but seeing who the author was made me check it out anyways. See, the author’s a genious – or atleast borderline genious – as he’s able to make any situation and moment emotional or eerily beautiful, unless they’re highly amusing. As with Ai-Ren the story has a slightly bittersweet tone to it. You read on and you keep cheering for this innocent and beautiful couple that seem so impossibly happy.
I’ve read to chapter 11, that’s all that is scanlated so far, and I’m really impressed. The beginning contained carrot-amounts of sexual situations (to lure in the unsuspecting reader I guess), but the happy go lucky tone of the series was prevalent even there, and it seems the happy stuff just keeps pouring in. It’s nice to read a manga that puts a smile on my face like this, it hasn’t happened since Yokohama Kodaisha Kikou. It’s cute, it’s simple, it’s endearing and loveable.
I know, I know, it’s only 11 chapters so far, but if you want to read a manga that makes you feel a bit better, this is the one.
It’s being scanlated by Solaris-H.