Manga Discoveries: Orange Chocolate (+ Dear Girls & Number & Working!!)

Once again I have been checking out a lot of new manga. There's no particular theme for this batch but I like all of them. (So yeah, they're recommended if it appeals to your tastes). I'll first feature:

ORANGE CHOCOLATE by YAMADA Nanpei

A romantic comedy with a distinctly Japanese flavor. Next-door neighbors Chiro and Ritsu have been best friends since childhood. Ritsu, the eldest son of a family of traditional nichibu dancers, is thrust into the public eye as his career takes off, and his growing fame begins to test the pair’s friendship. And now the twist: when a wish made at a shrine actually comes true, Chiro and Ritsu find themselves inhabiting each others’ bodies. A further complication arises because Ritsu is not just a dancer, he is a famous onnagata, or female impersonator, popularly known as the “Courtesan Prince.”

Honestly, the story's actually so-so, and the comedy's really lame and overdone. It's pretty boring and the annoying leading girl makes things worse for me. Well, she's not really horrible, but characters who refer to themselves in third person are just fun to punch in the face. Are they narcissists or something? Always mentioning their oh-so-wonderful names in their every freakin' sentence?
But anyhow, despite my complains, I like it~ It was soooo cute and the character interactions are fun to watch~ Seldom do I see a student council president that is a punk dude and does harassments in animanga, bwahehehe~
What else do I adore in this . . . ah, I'm a sucker for childhood friend romances. They're really close, and the girl actually huggles to him . . . they already seem so canon to me. Haha! Also, the leading guy can crossdress and he's really beautiful as a woman! Nice~ And . . . ah! My favorite here is Shizu-chan, the leading guy's brother. Of course he loves his brother and he dotes on the leading girl as well (he treats her as a little sister). He's so crack and abusable (the leading girl and her elder sister butcher him~). LOLz Not to mention he's cute. Older brothers like that will always appeal to me.
Kuroneko003 introduced this to me, and I shall blem her if I get addicted to this in the future! Hahaha! So far I find it very enjoyable and would love to continue working on it. So please wait for its release in a few hours or so and enjoy this wonderful new series with us~ YAY! For those who are getting a little impatient, a teaser's already out so please take a sneak peek ;D

[ OTHER NEW DISCOVERIES ]

Working!!
(for those who love comedy with crazy characters, for those who enjoy seeing a loli and a dude who's a fan of cuteness, for those who get amused with restaurant workers that don't consider "customers as number one")
Dear Girl Stories - Hibiki
(for the seiyuu bias fans [specifically Hiroshi Kamiya and Ono Daisuke lovers], for those fond of bishies helping girls, for those who like fun shoujo)
Number
(for the ones sucker for assasins wanting to kill others and each other, for the BL fanservice lovers because there's sexual harassment like . . .licking O_O, for those who like pretty bishies)

[ DEAR GIRL - STORIES - HIBIKI by SAWA Masaru and IWASAKI Saya ]

A comic based on real life voice actors, Kamiya Hiroshi (voice of Tieria Erde, from Gundam 00; Itoshiki Nozomu, from Zetsubou Sensei) and Ono Daisuke (voice of Koizumi Itsuki, from Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) who host the weekly radio program "DearGirl ~Stories~". In this series, the two are VAs by day, and 'Everything' Detectives by night. Their job is to help girls solve worries and troubles, whether it be a love confession, or the hunt for a cat. This publication is intended as a prelude to the Nintendo DS game by the same title.

A manga based on two of my favorite seiyuus, I just had to check it out~ Honestly, the "cases" here are pretty stupid. If two bishies are gonna be dealing with troubled women, I don't want it to be on shallow problems or emotional crap (aka Miracle Train level) but go with rescuing females being sold as prostitutes or wives being abused by husbands and other serious stuff like that. Those are the really seriously troubled females
However, this is shoujo, and things had to be as light as possible. So considering that demographic, I guess they can't help it. Ah well, even if the cases are pretty stupid, it's VERY CUTE and FUNNY! I freakin' love the sadistic HiroC and creepy OnoD. It's very entertaining that I enjoyed reading it! Haha!
This is something to be read for fun; not something for those who are strict in good stories and stuff. Hehe. Enjoy~

[ NUMBER by TSUBAKI Kawori ]

In an organization of professional killers called Thanatos, there exists an elite assassin. Fighting for the ranking of No. 1, the curtain rises on a battle fought with blood over blood!!

I read this long ago but because releases had been a little late I couldn't remember the story anymore. Ehehe. So I had to reread it because the only thing I recall about it is that the assassins here have some sort of ranking. I also made myself updated until the latest raw.
Yeah, I was in love with the series all over again~ Assassins stuff is really my thing~ Though I'm getting tired of them bragging to each other . . . and there's plenty of shounen-ai undertones too *not really fond of BL*. Maybe it's really BL. Gawd, the main character was so easy for them to sexually harass O_O
But what I'm really after in this series is the Toneriko and Mizuto friendship. They're such close friends they reminded me of Teito and Miakge of 07-Ghost. Loving best friends make me DAAAAAAAAAAAW~ I love all their moments. They're freakin' sweet~ And I think Mizuto is somewhat like an angel, literally and figuratively, and my favorite in the series shall be obvious now *a sucker for angels*

[ WORKING!! by TAKATSU Karino ]

Takahashi gets a job at a family restaurant... nothing remotely funny ensues.

It's one of the upcoming anime next season and the promo pics and videos have appealed to me. When I saw the scanlations, I didn't hesitate in giving it a try.
It turned out to be more hilarious than I expected it to be! And I was so pleased that the females who were my initial hates at first impression when I saw them at the promos turned out to be pretty likable characters.
The manga is in 4 koma though and not all strips are exactly connected. Hopefully the anime will be able to do a decent job on putting them together. My favorites so far are the glasses dude (FukuJun bias fans, he's voiced by him~) and the guy in the kitchen (he's the chef I think, I forgot if he's the one voiced by HiroC or OnoD).
Oh damn . . . why are there so many interesting shows in the upcoming season. . .