[Manga] Koe no Katachi - A silent voice

Recently, I've been asked to recommend anime/manga to friends based on the genre they like... while I may not be as good as the manga Sommelier (from Denki-gai no Honya-san), I found tremendous joy in helping people find manga they enjoy!

So, I've decided to introduce some awesome anime/manga that people may have overlooked. The first one would be this: Koe no Katachi.

The plot revolves around two people - Nishimiya, a hearing imparied girl and Ishida, the classmate who bullies her. Ishida, being the typical insensitive elementary school kid - finds various ways to make fun Nishimiya to alleviate his boredom. Until one day, Nishimiya decided to transfer out and Ishida finds himself (ironically) the new target of bullying. Years later, he finally realized what a jerk he was and decided to find her in order to apologize.

(I know what you guys are thinking - doesn't this sound like a typical romance manga with some extra elements thrown in? Well, not really) Later on the in the story, other characters, such as Nishimiya's family members, as well as their former classmates would be introduced. At first, it's easy to hate some characters, but eventually you'll realize why they behave the way they did - everyone had their own struggles.

While the ending feels a bit rushed (there were lots of potential for the story to expand on! :< ) the character development of this manga makes up for it.

This manga was also reviewed and supported by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf; so I suppose the sign language used is pretty accurate! 

It's definitely not a typical manga, in fact I'm not even sure how you would categorize it. (Slice of life, maybe? ) 

Anyway, do check the manga out! ^___^

ICK Pearl Wine [Lens Review]

I've been really intrigued by these lenses from ICK; but as ICK is a pretty new line, it's hard to find reviews for them. I struggled with the decision of buying them for a while, but I finally gave in. Hence, I've decided to do a review for them to help anyone else who's looking at them and still deciding if they should get it.

Here's the official pic from ICK:

 

Although the color says wine; it seems more like a choco or dark brown color. I was looking for something that isn't exactly obvious so it could be worn out normally. As much as I love the colour red, it's really too loud and unnatural for everyday occasions.

I was also deciding between these pair (Pearl Wine) and Premier wine:

Premier wine is quite pretty as well, but I've decided to get Pearl Wine instead as it's less obvious! (Though I might try Premiere wine some day, eventually.)

Here's Pearl Wine taken out of the bottle (left- outer side, right- inner side) :

Not sure if you can see, but for the outer side of the lenses, there's a faint layer of wine colour just inside the black rims.

Pictures when worn:

(Indoors)

(Outdoors)

As you can tell, the colour isn't very obvious - especially when indoors. However, it's quite pretty outdoors, especially when you see the lenses in real life.

Cropped the picture so you could see how it looks close up! It's only when you see in real life, the colour starts to show. It looks like dark brown, but then again there's a tinge of red. A few people have already complimented these lenses!

Personally, I also like how the black rim isn't very obvious- my iris, the wine color and black rim just blend in so smoothly and naturally! ^__^ Frankly it's a little different from the poster picture from ICK.

However, they were somewhat dry - I had to drop eyedrops every 2-3 hours, so do keep a bottle of eyedrops with you should you decide to buy them!

[Disclaimer: Should you decide to purchase online lenses, make sure to buy them from reputable sources and practice hygiene/rinse them regularly!]