When amateur writer Christie settles in the artist alley of her first ever anime convention, she sees it only as an opportunity to promote the manga she had started with her artist boyfriend. But when she unexpectedly falls for a mysterious cosplayer, things become very complicated. Because what do you do when you fall in love with someone who is going to be miles away from you in just a couple of days?
The first thing you need to know about this super cute trilogy of a manga series is that each book takes place one year after the previous at the same anime convention.
Christie is the main character as we see things from her perspective. Sometimes the scene focuses on another character, but it’s primarily Christie.
In the first volume we meet Christie as she attends this very popular anime convention for the first time with her boyfriend, who has been to a con or two before. Christie and her boyfriend, Derek, have a table at the artists’ section of the con for their indie manga. (Derek draws and Christie writes.) But Derek’s a huge flirt and doesn’t act like a good boyfriend should and during the weekend of this con, Christie meets someone who she instantly connects with, Matt. But Christie and Matt live on different sides of the country and Christie has a boyfriend.
What’s a girl to do?
Like I stated before, this series is super cute. I loved Svetlana’s depictions of Christie and all the people she meets at the con. I especially loved Matt. (Hubba-hubba) If I met a guy like Matt in real life, I’d start thinking about attending college near him (if not at his college). Short of pulling a Felicity, I would at least get his email so we could “stay in touch”. Seriously, Matt is uber-cute and adorable. I heart him.
The storyline is an interesting one since we have to be quickly filled in on everything that has happened in the past year, but I think Svetlana does a great job in getting readers up to speed without just summing it up. I am sad that this ended at three volumes since I would have loved to continue seeing Matt, but I can understand why it did. And it was nice to see a realistic storyline in that the characters didn’t immediately fall in love and forsake everything for each other. They were awkward and nervous and didn’t always say the right things, just like everyone does at one time. (Or all the time, in my case.)
I feel I should warn you about the second volume. If you fall for Matt as hard as I did, you won’t like it. I don’t want to say why, but every time I think about it, I start glaring and frowning. But the third volume redeems the series, so don’t be put off by the second. It ends well! I promise.
So, if you’re looking for a cute getaway and love anime/manga enough to know what cosplay is, this is right up your alley and you should get to reading!
Even if you don’t know a thing about anime or manga, I think you’d still enjoy this series. It’s a great starter for people who are interested in the genre, but aren’t too sure about what to read first. Plus you don’t have to read R to L, like traditional manga. This is an original English-language manga and reads L to R.