B.O.D.Y. 1

I’ve read a few series lately which can only be described as… well… “OMG I NEED A BOYFRIEND!”-type series.  The girls in the main roles seem to be interested in little else.  This series falls into that category, as does Gaba Kawa, which I’m going to write about next, and Venus in Love, which I read recently, also qualifies.  I would expect not to like something that doesn’t even try to have another plot element going for it.  I mean, I know that’s the plot of every shoujo series ever, but I like to have at least a little disguise so that I can pretend that’s not all there is.  Surprisingly, I’ve liked all three of the above-mentioned series.  I would never have read them had you told me about the main characters beforehand, but running across them in their element seems to do wonders for my appreciation of them.

Anyway.  Enough about my finicky taste.  This volume starts off with the main character, Ryoko, oogling a quiet boy that everyone else sees as standoffish.  Turns out the main character likes him because she can project all sorts of ideals on him since he’s quiet and nobody knows anything about his personality.  Before too long, she finds out about the real Ryu, and not only is he not the quiet boy she had been dreaming of, he actually works at a Host Club and is kind of a player.  Exactly the type of boy she does NOT like, so at this point it switches to a “OMG I DO NOT NEED A BOYFRIEND”-type series.  But even though she decides to give up, Ryu decides to try for her, and much of the volume is spent with the two of them see-sawing back and forth in a love-hate relationship, Ryu trying to win over Ryoko and she not sure whether or not he’s being sincere.

Aside from what you might expect (some flirting and embarassing moments, a good chunk of which take place in and around an all-school marathon of some sort), the later part of the volume switches to another boy who actually IS Ryoko’s ideal guy.  He basically fits all of Ryoko’s perfect guy ideals, and of course Ryu tries to intervene before things get too far/too weird between them.  There are a couple places a plot like this can go, but this takes a sharp right turn and does none of them, and I liked the curveball.  I don’t want to say too much else other than that, but I was actually kind of impressed with this part of the story.

Aside from the above, everything else about the series is meeting the status quo so far.  It’s pretty fun and energetic enough to elevate it to a better-than-average standing after the first volume.  Ryoko struck me initially as sort of shallow, as most characters who are guy-crazy do, but she hasn’t fallen flat or gotten annoying yet, and that’s something.  I’m pretty optimistic about the second volume, and I’m hoping this… series? relationship?…develops further.  No real overarching plot has emerged quite yet, but I’m looking forward to when it does.