*UPDATED 15/3/11* Ao Haru Ride by SAKISAKA Io

IMPORTANT NOTE: Yuzuyuiro's summaries do not require a password anymore! Only the raws. Yay ;) ;)
UPDATE: HI GUYS! CHAPTER 2 & 3 ARE AVAILABLE FOR READING AT YUZUYUIRO WORDPRESS. JUST LOOK THROUGH HER BLOG AND FIND *japanesekanji* PAGE 2, for chapter 2 or PAGE 3, for chapter 3. Basically once you find a title that says PAGE 2, it means that it is chapter 2 or ao haru ride. Chapter 3 will have a title called PAGE 3. Hope Im not confusing anyone :S ALSO, the raws need a password, but I'm okay with that, as long as the summary is still there. xD

Taken from Anonymous in Baka-Updates:
"Yoshioka Futaba has a few reasons why she wants to "reset" her image & life as a new high school student. Because she's cute, she was ostracized by her female friends in junior high, and because of a misunderstanding, she couldn't get her feeling across to the one boy she has ever liked, Tanaka-kun. Now in high school, she is determined to be as unladylike as possible so that her friends won't be jealous of her. While living her life this way contentedly, she meets Tanaka-kun again, but he now goes under the name of Mabuchi Kou. He tells her that he felt the same way as she did when they were younger, but now things can never be the same again. Will Futaba be able to continue her love that never even started from three years ago?"

I recently started reading Sakisaka Io, the author of Strobe Edge's new series. I have to say, I was impressed with the first chapter. The heroine wasn't a typical shoujo girl that wants to fall in love. She's not perfect either(HECK, no one is). She is a girl with issues of being ostracized in the past, because people talk to her because they think she looks pretty and that she's one of the topics they can talk to guys about and take notice of them. But fake rumors and crap began about the cliche "that-bitch-stole-my-crush-crap", so that was how she became ostracized in middle school, shortly after Tanaka-kun moved(she didn't know he was gonna move). Also, before he left, he misunderstood her when she told his friend that she hates guys(which was obviously to keep them away and to keep her from being ignored by friends).

Highschool, a fresh start, she decided that she wants to have many friends, therefore she makes herself as unladylike as possible. She eats more and has a messy bag etc, so that people would never ignore her again. She also decides to ignore what her so-called "friends" say about her behind her back, which was "If Futaba wasn't unladylike, I'd stop hanging out with her" cause they don't wanna be compared or have their guys stolen and UGH. My school isn't even like that. If you're pretty, you have more friends and people to back you up, not backstab you. Dx.

Anyways, she spots this guy and follows him because he looks like Tanaka-kun. She stopped when she found out his name was Mabuchi Kou. However, he smiled at her so she began following(pedo stalking) him again. He sat down on the spot where they were playing hide and seek when they were in middle school. That's how she found out that he is indeed Tanaka-kun. However, he refuses to have her call him by that name anymore. He tells her that Mabuchi Kou is now his name, and many things have changed. They both confess that they used to like each other, but Kou remarks that things are different now and the feelings are no longer there. He also keeps saying that he's changed, and that he imagined that she'd be a more grown-up, mature woman(but I reckon she's better the way she is now, like she's not a pokerface and all). He also remarked how her friends are only using her and walks away. Yeah, he was pretty cold to her, but I didn't expect him to see through the fact that she was being somehow.. used?

So, about Kou, apparently his parents divorced. That's how the name change happened. Like I said, he was pretty cold. But hey, there's still his past that hasn't been revealed yet. Speaking of his past, I forgot to mention that there's a sensei(teacher) in the school that is introduced in the series. His last name is Tanaka, and he looks like Kou. They're most likely related. I can't tell if he's the father or the brother, heck, some fathers are drawn a bit younger in some mangas. I'm going for the fact that he's the father.. But why would Kou be there if he was the father? Ahh whatever, I'll just look forward to the next chapters. >.<

Other characters that were introduced in chapter one were these two girls, basically loners(because no girl talks to them and they're always alone) that Futaba empathises. I COMPLETELY forgot their names. LOL. Anyways, the first one was a girl that Futaba's "friends"(bitches) were backstabbing. They kept saying how annoying she was because she grabbed all the guys' attention while walking. Mainly because, she's cute. I think she might be a potential future best friend plus future love rival of Futaba. She's actually the girl on the picture on the right. The other girl was this chick with long, black hair. She told the girls to move out of the way because they were blocking this friggin doorway. Meh, I can't blame her for being mean, since I HATE PEOPLE BLOCKING MY WAY. UGH, IT JUST BUGS THE CRAP OUTTA ME. ==" Once again, the girls remark how she was mean.. So yeah, Futaba just looks at them and thinks, "I want to become their friend, because I know how they feel, but then I would become ostracized again. O.O" I can't blame her, though. Girls have to have one trauma or two, not to mention imperfections. But, she at least approached the first girl when she saw her alone and I think she talked to her, and gave her something. I completely forgot. I think it was bread or some bun.

Anyways, I will read because I am curious to see how they will fall in love. AGAIN. I love second times. Haha. I also look forward to how Kou will open up his heart or let her back in to his world. I also look forward to future character development and how she would possibly try to become friends with the other two. ^^ I think that she will lose her current friends and seek the other two. Or Kou protects her and crap, or maybe just treat her like sh*t again. o.O I am definitely awaiting the next chapter, and supporting the future scanlation groups that will work on this. EDIT: CHIBI MANGA HAS PICKED IT UP AND HAS SCANLATED CHAPTER 0! ;) PLEASE SUPPORT THEM AND DOWNLOAD FROM THEIR SITE. Yeee mang, I know that my.. "post" has been somewhat hard to understand coz I basically just write what comes to my mind first and it's never in order. LOL. It might be a bit confusing since I don't bother to edit.. :S

Chapter 0: Chibi manga has it on their site. :) SUPPORT THEM BY THANKING EM BEFORE DOWNLOADING. KAY?

CHAPTER 1: *EDITED* THE LINK TO THE SUMMARY DOESN'T NEED A PASSWORD ANYMORE!!! YAAAAAY! =)

YOU CAN READ THE FULL SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1 AT:
http://yuzuyuiro.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/%e3%82%a2%e3%82%aa%e3%83%8f%e3%83%a9%e3%82%a4%e3%83%89-chapter-1/ (COPY AND PASTE URL)

HI GUYS! CHAPTER 2 & 3 ARE AVAILABLE FOR READING AT YUZUYUIRO WORDPRESS. JUST LOOK THROUGH HER BLOG AND FIND *japanesekanji* PAGE 2, for chapter 2 or PAGE 3, for chapter 3. Basically once you find a title that says PAGE 2, it means that it is chapter 2 or ao haru ride. Chapter 3 will have a title called PAGE 3. Hope Im not confusing anyone :S ALSO, the raws need a password, but I'm okay with that, as long as the summary is still there. xD


FUTURE AO HARU RIDE CHAPTERS: Yuzuyuiro negotiated to give the job over to Fujioshi(Or, something along the lines of that. LOL). But, Yuzuyuiro will still comment on the chapters she gets a hold of so please visit her blog if you're interested! *EDITED* I'm not too sure, but I think Fujioshi is asking if anyone wants to take ao haru ride's future chapters.. HOWEVER, there's a higher chance that Fujioshi will continue it.

FOR NEWS OF AO HARU RIDE OR WHO'S GONNA TRANSLATE IT, GO TO: http://www.fujioshi.blogspot.com/