Hino Matsuri 樋野まつり (Works)

One of my current favorite manga-ka is Hino Matsuri. She was originally a bookstore owner who decided to become a manga artist. Two of her titles have been picked up by VIZ Media: MeruPuri and Vampire Knight. She is known for drawing very good-looking bishies (male characters).

MeruPuri – A simple girl named Airi dreams of nothing more than a handsome boyfriend who will be a good husband. Her simple life is changed dramatically when the young prince Aram comes out of a mirror that has been in Airi’s family for generations. As Airi takes care of the prince until someone comes to get him she discovers that Aram has a spell on him that turns him into a teenager whenever he is exposed to darkness. He may look like an adult but Aram is afterall just a child on the inside, even if he is a prince. This is a romantic-comedy of fairytale proportions.

Toraware no Minoue – Kuroshi Megumi was living the good life all thanks to the disappearance of the Kougami family who his family had served for generations. Now that an heir has been discovered Megumi’s family has to go back to serving this heir just like all his ancestors. What Megumi didn’t know was that he was cursed to serve them. Many years ago his ancestor the legendary “Black Cat” stole a scroll from the Kougami family and their ancestor spirit put the curse on the Kuroshi family. As Megumi starts having feelings for her, they must ask themselves is it true or is it the curse.

Vampire Knight - Yuuki’s earliest memory is of a stormy winter’s night when she was attacked by a vampire…then saved by another. Ten years later, she has grown up a guardian of the vampire race, protecting her savior, Kaname, from discovery as he leads a group of reformed vampires at an elite boarding academy. But at her side is a boy called Zero, who burns with hatred for the creatures who destroyed everything that he ever cared for, and is determined never to trust them. Have the vampires truly renounced their murderous ways, or is there a darker truth behind their actions? Is Kaname’s infatuation with Yuuki the beginning of a forbidden romance? Or is it something in her lost memories that draws him to her? Because in this world of secrets, nothing is as it seems, and nobody is who they say they are. And the price of misplaced faith may well be worse than death. ~actually taken from StormInHeaven

WANTED – Armelia was a young orphaned girl who sang for money. She met a youth named Luce and fell in love with him. Unfortunatly Luce is kidnapped by a pirate named Scar. Armelia swore she would save him and years later goes undercover as a boy to find him. But what she believes took place all those years ago may be more fiction than fact.

Impressions:
Well I had written one before but somehow it got erased. Basically i had said… Currently i’m reading Vampire Knight and Toraware no Minoue. The other two I have already finished. Th great thing about Hino Matsuri is she can cover almost any genre in shoujo manga. Two of the manga are historical, one is very dramatic, and the other is just a silly romantic-comedy. Her design is nice and if you follow her books in order you can see an improvement in story as well. Vampire Knight is very well written and full of questions to ask and answers to be discovered. She is certainly a manga-ka to pay attention to.