Slightly Biased Manga

For some reason, while I can’t forgive shounen romance for its genre conventions, I still find myself ensnared in some pretty average shoujo fare. I can’t remember why I stopped reading this at volume one, but it may have been a combination of it not really grabbing me and not having enough money at the time to continue. So here we go.

The second volume is still kinda… eh. The premise of the series is that there are four siblings living together who aren’t really related more or less because their mother ran off. Well, their mother comes back in this volume, and sticks around. She’s funny, but I wasn’t sure why she was brought back in. It’s not even really a spoiler, it’s the first thing that happens in the volume.

Predictably, romantic entanglements develop. There isn’t much going on between the main character and her brother, Natsu, though it looks like things may be headed there eventually. There’s actually a weird friendship-kinda thing that develops between the main character and one of the teachers.

The story introduces a pair of teachers who are sort of coupley. I think they’re both supposed to be straight, but at least one is very touchy-feely with the other, and I can see their friendship/relationship possibly serving up some drama down the line. I liked these two teachers a lot. They work pretty well as a bit of comic relief, but they’re also sort of evil and twisted in their own way, too. It’s one of these gentlemen who winds up bonding with the main character. The teacher isn’t even really a teacher, he apparently is a counselor of sorts, and the main character sort of starts taking her problems at home to him throughout the volume.

Natsu’s past also takes up a significant portion of the volume, and we learn about the aunt and uncle he was staying with, along with one of his other stepbrothers and why he wears long sleeves all the time. I can’t quite get a bead on his personality, he’s really standoffish and seems to do things without thought, so I want to see how he develops feelings throughout the course of the story. He can be a little annoying in his perfection at the moment, so I’m sort of leaning towards hating him.

Despite the fact I’m complaining a lot, like I said at the beginning, I was totally hooked when I finished the volume despite all the familiar plot devices. I don’t know if the story will wind up going anyplace good or interesting, but it did promise some spice and a really messed up, ill-advised couple, so I’m ready to take the plunge into the rest of the series.