Chocolate Christmas - Naoko Takeuchi (1987)
One of my prized possessions, a copy of Naoko Takeuchi(yes, the creator of Sailor Moon)’s first published manga - Chocolate Christmas. I scanned my own copy to show you! First published in December 1987 and January 1988, it embodies everything I adore about 80s shoujo manga. The fashions are so nostalgic. And you can see the precursors to Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship forming in the characters of Ryon and Keiki! He’s even always making fun of her quirky hairstyle by tugging on her hair bobbles.
I’ve been reading this every December for the past 5 years to get in the festive spirit, although this year is the first year I’ve been able to read it entirely without help from the English translation (posted online here if you’re curious!) I’m proud of how much my Japanese has improved this year - although, I have most of this manga memorized so I guess my reading skills don’t count for much, haha! I plan to work much harder to become fully fluent in 2010.
Happy Christmas Eve everybody~
