Slightly Biased Manga

Oh, I’m totally addicted now.  I was really wishing for another volume after this one.  I can’t say that’s a rare thing, but I wanted it REALLY BADLY, which is a rare thing.

I’m still really puzzled by the timeline of this series.  I know it’s ten volumes long, but here in the third volume Takemoto is now a senior.  On one hand, I still really like the art school setting.  On the other hand, I have literally never seen a series that keeps going once the characters finish school, either high school or college, so I would definitely be looking forward to that.

We’ve already had hints that friends can live together while working and not in school, since Hanamoto explained that he lived with Rika and her husband right up until the two got married.  It would be a real shame if Morita, Mayama, and Takemoto had to move their separate ways, because it seems like living with Morita and Takemoto keeps Mayama in the loop, and similarly, without the tie of school, would Hagu and Yamada keep hanging out with the three boys?  Probably, since they’re friends, but I’m realy curious to find out what all happens.  I am kind of bummed that Lohmeyer will never come back, though.  He was a great character.  A hint was dropped that the gang may never have a Christmas party together again, too, so I’m curious to see where that goes.

In the love front, Yamada and Mayama are stil pretty much stalled, but there was a lot going on between Morita, Hagu, and Takemoto.  Morita and Hagu, especially.  Hagu finally starts having romantic feelings, but doesn’t seem to know how to deal with them, and instead pretty much rejects them.  Morita does a number of uncharacteristically affectionate things, including a scene at the end of the volume which was really very romatic and adorable.  Nothing concrete happens yet, but Takemoto begins to wonder where he stands with Hagu and whether he should do something about Morita.  Takemoto and Morita are also really good friends to one another throughout all this, which is also admirable since they’re not bitter, petty rivals divided by a common love.  That’s yet one more good thing to add to the list of positives for this series.

I grew to love Morita through the course of this volume.  He’s sort of a bumbling goofball that interrupts nearly everything, but buried under that is the fact that he really loves all his friends.  It comes out more and more in this volume, like when he insists on having a Christmas party even though everyone says they’ll be busy, when he does a few kindnesses for Hagu, when he helps out Yamada in regards to Mayama a couple times… and when he’s just a friend to Takemoto.  It’s hard to pull off a foolish-but-deep character convincingly, but Morita is it.  I think he’s pretty much my favorite after this volume.  Plus, he looks so funny on the cover with a flower crown that I can’t help falling in love a little.

Aside from all the pitch-perfect emotion and interaction among characters (drama without drama, almost), there’s still a lot of comedy packed in.  I think my favorite scenes involved the shower that Mayama had built outside the apartment building that he suggests Morita use in the middle of winter.  This entire scene is great, actually, since Mayama wakes up with Morita and Takemoto both in his bed, and then starts complaining since Morita is wearing his clothes and hasn’t showered in a long time.  Morita complains that not only is the shower outdoors and it’s February, it’s also shoddily designed (Morita is an architect) and doesn’t conceal the user from spectators.  This was one of the best exchanges between these two characters yet, since Morita makes several valid remarks against the usually flawless Mayama.  Later, the shower figures largely in a bet.  There’s also a really nice chapter where Hagu helps Yamada sell Christmas cakes at her street/market’s sale, and the two of them along with Takemoto have to figure out a way to lure customers away from the new supermarket and into the businesses on Yamada’s street.  There were funny moments here, but mostly this was yet another slice of life/light emotional touch chapter.  Actually, the funniest image in the volume, hands down, was when the gang tried to imagine Hanamoto’s former sensei winning a Mongolian wrestling match.  I’m not sure why that struck me in particular, but it was pretty funny.

But yeah, I’m all about Morita now.  The end of the volume doesn’t make things look good for him, but the way time passes in this series, this probably won’t be a problem for long.

EDIT: I’m beyond shocked to learn that Chica Umino’s new series runs in “Young Animal.”  That means it’s right there on the pages next to Berserk, Detroit Metal City, and Futari Ecchi.  WHAT.