Pastel 10
July 20, 2008
I just have nothing to say in defense of this series. It makes me feel bad for badmouthing it since it’s got the sort of lighthearted cutesy stories I gravitate towards, and the characters are sometimes genuine, but then in the middle of something serious, there’ll be a moment where Yuu “has” to take off her shirt, then gets mad at Mugi for seeing her without a shirt on. It just… it just can’t give up the ghost on that stuff, and it really ruins things for me. The fanservice just isn’t seamless enough for me. I’m sorry.
Plus it has some problems with its stories, too. A good example is when Mugi is forced to work at the restaurant by himself with just Yuu for help. We know this is big for him. We know he would rather be spending time alone with Yuu. But these things are reinforced about 500 times throughout the course of the chapter. Or maybe it wasn’t repeated all that much. I don’t know.
I praised the series some time ago for starting over with less characters, except they’ve all since gravitated back. I can’t stand Yuu’s sister, any chapter with her will have about 200% more fanservicey jokes, which seems impossible, but there it is. I was done a favor, because it seems like there’s a possibility she won’t be around for awhile. I certainly hope she stays away.
And in case you weren’t getting enough boob jokes, a new character comes in and scratches that itch for you. Of course Yuu is constantly pestering Mugi about staring, and there’s… there’s cosplay… just… it was just too much for me.
Aside from my beef with the fanservice, Yuu’s character is also a little off. We never learn what she’s thinking, and she’s sort of kept at a distance as sort of a mystery, but she still comes across as shallow and somewhat childish a lot of the time. At ten volumes in, I was hoping for a little more from the character.
Well, what could I have expected, I guess.
July 20, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I don’t think I could make it past 2-3 pages of this without hurling it far, far away. Boobs that accompany a plot and aren’t its whole focus—like Hevn in GetBackers—I can deal with, but this just sounds ridiculous.
July 21, 2008 at 11:46 am
[...] Cube at Kuriousity. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reads vol. 4 of One Thousand and One Nights, vol. 10 of Pastel, vol. 5 of Bastard, vol. 20 of Fruits Basket, and vol. 21 of Astro Boy. Kazu Kibuishi not only liked [...]
July 22, 2008 at 4:04 am
It really is. I’ve got a serious compulsion to finish any series I start, but I think this is one instance where I’m going to have to drop it. I think I’ve got two more volumes on preorder, and I’m going to stop after that.
July 23, 2008 at 3:37 am
I have a similar compulsion. That’s why I still haven’t ditched the 10 vols of Cheeky Angel that I have, despite knowing it’s awful. :)