Candy Bunny Reader

  It's been a while since I used my dolls for a book picture! I knew Bunny Blanche and Madeline Hatter from Every After High would be perfect for this. Alice in Kyoto Forest by Mai Mochizuki and Haruki Niwa is about Alice Shirakawa, a 15 year old orphan who loves books and lives with her aunt and uncle. However, her uncle wants nothing to do with her, and so Alice decides she should move out and find a job to support herself. She finds an advertisement to be an apprentice to a geisha (called a maiko) in Kyoto, where she was originally from. But when she moves back to Kyoto, it isn't the Kyoto she remembered! It looks historical... and magical. Alice tries to figure out the mystery of this new world she was whisked away to, her true purpose there, and reunite with her childhood friend, Ren.  So far I love this story! It's very obviously inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Overall, it also reminded me of some Studio Ghibli movies, most notably Spirited Away, Howl's Moving C...

  ...the movie was better. I gave the book version of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 3 stars . Honestly one of the main reasons I even read the book was just to compare it to the movie. I can say now this is a rare case where the movie is way better than the book.  But here are some things I actually did like about the book: Sophie's sisters play a bigger role in the story We actually get some context as to why Sophie ran away from the hat shop without telling anyone (her stepmother was exploiting her as a worker) We get to see Michael/Markl's backstory on how he came to live with Howl. (Michael is his name in the book, his name is Markl in the movie) We get to see Howl's family, and they live in Wales Now here's everything I didn't like which is why I gave it a low rating: I could not stand Sophie and Howl's relationship in this book, it was sooo toxic!  Howl is such a bossy manchild and Sophie is really grumpy and cynical.  They also real...

  An author who recently became a favorite of mine! Well, by recently I mean by last year. The first book I read from her was her most popular one, The Girl who Drank the Moon . It was sooo magical, sweet, and cool! Although I do remember some parts of it being a little confusing.  I then read The Ogress and the Orphans , and I loved it too. Then I read The Witch's Boy, and it became my favorite book from her! Well, so far.  The rest of her books are on my TBR. I hope I can get around to reading one of these soon.  Why do I like Kelly Barnhill's books so much? Because they are the definition of whimsical, enchanting, emotional, and heartfelt. They basically feel very Studio Ghibli-like. If you like Studio Ghibli like myself, you'll like her books! Or maybe you already do. I'd like to see at least one of her books get an adaptation, preferably from Studio Ghibli. 

  It's been a while since I talked about anime I liked! Here are 4 more.  Parts 1-3 can be viewed here: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 1. One Piece This is pretty obvious if you know me in real life. 😜 I don't need to explain what it is about since it's one of the best selling manga series of all time. Pretty much everyone knows what it's about. 2. Skip Beat! A young woman named Kyoko follows her childhood friend Shu to the big city where he's become a star! Unfortunately, she finds out he was using her the whole time to boost his own career. Feeling hurt, she decides to get revenge on him by competing in show business as an actress. Along the way, Kyoko meets new friends, including one mysterious guy named Ren. She learns to start doing things for herself instead of trying to please others. I've only watched the anime for this so far! I plan on reading the rest of the story through the manga sometime.  3. Magic Knight Rayearth In 1994 Tokyo, at the Tokyo Tower to be...

  Well, did you know this movie is based off a book by Eiko Kadono ? Or have you ever read the book after watching the movie version? The book follows the similar premise of a 13 year old witch named Kiki who comes from a long line of witches. She also leaves on a full moon night with her talking black cat Jiji to a city by the sea, stays with a baker named Osono and her husband, and also runs a delivery service.  Other similarities include Kiki meeting an aviation-loving boy named Tombo, becoming friends with an artist lady who lives in the woods, making a delivery for an elderly woman, and becoming popular in her community.  The similarities end there. There are many things the book has that were not in the movie, or were changed for the movie.  For one, book Kiki has waaay more deliveries. There is one delivery at least every chapter after she arrives in the city. Some smaller ones are not even explained in great detail. In the movie, I think she only had 3 or 4 ...

An underrated manga by THE Hayao Miyazaki . It's only one volume long! It was actually published back in the 1980s but it didn't get an English translation until now (well, 2022). Shuna's Journey follows Shuna, who is the prince of a small valley in the mountains which is experiencing a famine. One day Shuna meets a traveler who has some small golden seeds that are unable to be planted, but the traveler tells Shuna that he can find a giant field where golden grain grows to feed his people. The field is in the far west where the moon resides.  On his journey he runs into some slave traders, and rescues two girls from them. One is named Thea and the other girl is her sister. They are supposedly fallen princesses. Shuna tells Thea his plan, and she is happy for him and tells him if he succeeds, she should meet him in a village in the north.  But Shuna then hears from another traveler that the place Shuna needs to get to so he can find the all the golden grain is hard to rea...

I found out about this book because there is a CGI Studio Ghibli series of the same name directed by Goro Miyazaki (Hayao Miyazaki's son). I might or might not watch it sometime. The book is also by Astrid Lindgren, who is most well known for writing the Pippi Longstocking series. I could never get into the Pippi series (shocker, I know!), but this stand alone novel worked for me! Ronia the Robber's Daughter is about, well, Ronia, who is the daughter of Matt. Matt is the leader of a band of thieves who live somewhere in a big forest. Matt has a rivalry against Borka, who is the leader of another gang of thieves in the same forest. One day while hanging out outside, Ronia meets Borka's son Birk, who is around her age. They argue a lot at first, but then they soon become friends behind their fathers' backs. Eventually their fathers' find out and the two gangs get into a fight over it. It ends up with Ronia and Birk running away to live in a cave together. They enjoy ...