A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine at work showed me this sight. I didn't pay mind to it at first. I've been referred to a lot sites by friends and a lot of them aren't worth my time or just frivolous. If I singed up on every site that was referred to me, I'd have a nightmare remembering all the usernames and passwords for all of them

As I dug deeper into this site, I found that it was actually useful. The site URL is www.myanimelist.net. For the past week and a half, I've been entering every single anime I've seed and manga I've read since I was a kid. Damn, it's a lot! I couldn't believe it myself. But all in all, if you're patient and have time on your hands, sign up and add your anime and manga. You'll be surprised as I was. If you can't keep track of what you've watch, this site will definitely will help. Look me up when you're on, under "starocean."

It's been a while since a good story caught my interest and rare that I write my thoughts about such things. I put off reading Pastel for a couple years, but I got around to reading 17 volumes (and ongoing) yesterday and the day before. The story revolves around the chance encounter of Mugi Tadano and Yuu Takisaki.

After the breakup of Mugi and his girlfriend Hinako, he decides to forget her by taking on a summer job. This best friend, Kazuki, gets him a job at his aunt's inn at a beach to cheer him up. While at work, he meets this beautiful girl that he instantly falls for by accidently seeing her change into her swimsuit. The next day, Kazuki wanted Mugi to go with him on a double date with a girl he met the day before. They were going to hook up Mugi with the girl's friend.

The friend turned out to be the girl he met the day before, Yuu. As they go around, their date was interrupted by Kazuki's young cousin who tagged along with Mugi and Yuu. But they had fun that day and even set off fireworks that night. Late that night, Kazuki plays a joke on Mugi as he accidently walks in the women's side of the bath to clean and sees Yuu there. She gets ticked off as Mugi tires to explain. While contemplating the days events, Yuu realized the he loves Yuu.

The following morning, Mugi tries to find Yuu to apologize about what happened. He finds out that she already left. But unlike his relationship with Hinako, Mugi is determined to be with her. So he starts to run to the ferry to try to catch her, but it's too late. The ferry left. But after that, he's even more determined to find her, but he never got her address or number. So he goes home.

On the way home, he meets up with the various residents of his town and hears that his dad is home. Mugi's dad isn't home most of the time because he travels around the world due to his photography job. So Mugi learns how to do all the domestic chores to survive by himself at home while his dad is away. Being ticked off that his dad hasn't given him any living expenses, he runs home to see his dad. While looking around the house, he accidently walks into a girl in the shower. Another of many other misunderstandings to come.

Mugi learns from his father that Yuu and her sister Tsukasa are going to live with them. The reason for this is that the sisters' father died and Mugi's father made a promise to take care of them. This comes as a huge surprise to Mugi—to find that the girl he fell in love with and desperately searched for comes to live with him. As it turns out later on, they have to keep it a secret. Mugi came to the conclusion that he cannot confess his love for Yuu right away. And at school, they are relatives living together.

Throughout the next consecutive volumes, Mugi goes through trials, tribulations and angst concerning his love with Yuu, how to confess to her and other other character helping in his endeavor. We also learn of various other girls fall for Mugi, such a childhood friend Minami, Kiku from school, Hana who he worked part time for and the return of his ex-girlfreind Hinako. Mugi also deals with the sister's going away to live with now divorced mother and the return of Yuu a year later. We also learn that Kazuki had always been in love with Minami and how they finally got together. And at one time, dealing with the fact that he could have a new step-mother, Mako-san.

In the latest of the volumes and after two years of living together, Mugi eventaully confesses his love to Yuu and finally become a couple. And with this new found relationship, it also has to be kept a secret. Only their closest friends know of their true relationship. They also can't reveal their relationship at school where they believe they're related, which irritates them both. So the story continues…

The reason why I was so intrigued by this manga is that I could see myself in the main character Mugi. When I was his age, we were not too dissimilar personality-wise. There was also the way he treated his ex-girlfrend and other girls around him. A few nights ago, a group of us went out to dinner. One of the guys in our group was talking to his girlfriend on the cell. The way he talked to her just hit a deep nerve in me. Is this how the younger crowd talks to their significant other…verbal abuse? Is he one of few who do? Or am I just too old skool? Either or, that's why I was hooked on this manga. Mugi knew how to treat the females in his life. Sure he's indecisive, but who isn't when you were his age and the some of you who are still indecisive?

Even though the manga centers around Mugi trying to confess his love to Yuu, there are good side stories that help in the development of the other characters in Pastel. We learn more of Mugi and Hinako's past. There's Sayuri who was an older girl, Mugi neighbor, became his surrogate mother and taught him how to do house chores. At one time, Mugi and Yuu missed a train home and met up with a food shop owner, Tetsu who gives Mugi a cooking job. And there's Aoi, the carefree artist who is in a one-sided relationship with Tetsu. Pastel by Toshihiko Kobayashi is a good read for people who like these kinds of stories. There's a good balance of drama, romance, ecchi and angst for my taste in this manga. I spent almost 14 hours reading 17 volumes while talking my time and neglecting my daily chores. It's a good break from watching sci-fi, action and moe anime and just relaxing.