Beast Master

Title:  Beast Master
Mangaka:  Kyousuke Motomi
Length:  2 Volumes (Completed)
English Translation?  Yes, both volumes have been released by Viz Media.
Demo/Genre:  Shoujo/Romantic Comedy

How did I find out about it?  I'm a huge fan of Motomi's Dengeki Daisy, and I thought I would look into some of her other works, too.

When a new boy with gleaming black eyes transfers to her school, Yuiko's classmates avoid him in fear.  Fortunately, she had already had a brief encounter with him, and she suspected that he wasn't all that scary.  She befriends the boy, Leo, and learns that he was raised by his dad in the wild.  As such, he's not great at socializing even though he's a very nice boy.  There's one catch:  when he's in danger, he goes on a rampage at the sight of blood, even having killed a leopard in the past.  He and Yuiko strike up a somewhat awkward friendship, and as she gets to know him, she learns the secret of his family that saw his father pulling him from the country.

This will be a short review, simply because I don't have a great deal to say about a two-volume manga (some of which was filled with a couple of one-shots by Motomi-sensei).  First off, I'm gonna go ahead and say it:  this series is a little odd.  Leo is very sweet, and Yuiko is plenty quirky.  But a boy who goes a bit mad at the sight of blood?  In the real world, it would never work.  Good thing this isn't the real world, now, isn't it?  It was a very sweet manga.  I love Motomi-sensei's art style and her sense of humor, both of which were up to par here.

All in all, despite its strange premise, the series was cute and sweet.  The characters were fun and entertaining.  The romance was predictable, yet adorable.  It was definitely one of the stronger short series that I've read.  Would I collect it?  Yes, and I already have. :)