Love Roma
Japanese manga series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Love Roma (Japanese: ラブロマ, Hepburn: Rabu Roma) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Minoru Toyoda. It was serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine from April 2002 to October 2005, and published in five tankōbon volumes.
- Kodansha (former)
- Shogakukan
| Love Roma | |
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Yumiko Negishi (left) and Hajime Hoshino (right) | |
| ラブロマ (Rabu Roma) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Romantic comedy[1] |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Minoru Toyoda |
| Published by |
|
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Afternoon KC |
| Magazine | Monthly Afternoon |
| Original run | April 25, 2002 – October 25, 2005 |
| Volumes | 5 |
Plot
In the middle of class, Hoshino asks Negishi to go out with him. Negishi refuses, so they settle on walking home together, to the amusement of the class. The next day, Negishi asks Hoshino to go out with her.
Characters
- Hajime Hoshino (星野 一, Hoshino Hajime)
- An honest guy who always says what he thinks. He has loved Negishi since the first moment he saw her, but he did not have the courage to act upon according to his feelings; from that moment on, he decided he would always be honest.
- Yumiko Negishi (根岸 由美子, Negishi Yumiko)
- The girl Hoshino loves; she has more common sense than he does, and thus she often slaps or punches him out of embarrassment. She gets embarrassed when their relationship is put on display to the high school public. Negishi is a horrible cook who can barely make any edible food.
- Yoko Meguro (目黒 陽子, Meguro Yoko)
- Negishi's best friend. She often thinks of absurd plans for Hoshino. Despite this, she supports their relationship.
- Toshio Tsukahara (塚原 敏男, Tsukahara Toshio)
- Hoshino's best friend. Unlike Hoshino, he tends to be rational in his decision-making. Although he generally sees through Yoko's pranks he stays silent, preferring to be the onlooker.
- Wada (和田)
- A member of the Occult Research Club. Often referred to as "Wada-san" (和田さん).
- Yoshitsune Mizumoto (水元 義経, Mizumoto Yoshitsune)
- A member of Tsukahara's band and Hoshino's classmate.
Publication
Written and illustrated by Minoru Toyoda, the series originated as a one-shot published in the June 2002 issue of Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon,[a] where it won the grand prize of the Afternoon Four Seasons Award Spring 2002.[3] A sequel to the one-shot was published seven months after in the January 2003 issue,[b] and was later turned into a full series which began serialization in Monthly Afternoon on March 25, 2003.[3][5][6] The series completed serialization on October 25, 2005.[7][8] Its individual chapters were collected into five tankōbon volumes.[5] In 2012, Shogakukan began re-releasing the volumes.[5]
In February 2005, Del Rey Manga announced that they licensed the series for English publication, with five volumes published between August 30, 2005 and February 27, 2007.[9][10][11]
Volumes
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 18, 2003[12] | 978-4-06-314330-0 | August 30, 2005[13][10] | 978-0-34-548262-4 |
| 2 | April 23, 2004[14] | 978-4-06-314346-1 | January 31, 2006[13][15] | 978-0-34-548263-1 |
| 3 | September 22, 2004[16] | 978-4-06-314354-6 | June 27, 2006[13][17] | 978-0-34-548264-8 |
| 4 | April 22, 2005[18] | 978-4-06-314375-1 | October 31, 2006[13][19] | 978-0-34-548265-5 |
| 5 | December 22, 2005[8] | 978-4-06-314397-3 | February 27, 2007[13][11] | 978-0-34-549251-7 |
Reception
Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network described it as a "warm, honest adolescent love story", while also stating that it can be repetitive at times.[20] A reviewer for Publishers Weekly expressed similar opinions on the story as Kimlinger. They also compared the illustrations to those of John Porcellino and Jeffrey Brown.[21] In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson wrote that the artwork, which he felt was similar to indie comics, complemented the story well.[22]
See also
- Draw This, Then Die!, another manga series by the same author
- Kongōji-san wa Mendōkusai, another manga series by the same author