Time Stranger Kyoko 2
Posted: December 21, 2008 Filed under: Time Stranger Kyoko Leave a comment »I was actually surprised by how much I liked this volume compared to the last one. After not caring for the style of humor or the extremely obvious episodic nature and somewhat generic thrust of the plot (girl collects allies to save the princess, some allies are her best friends), I figured I’d just fight my way through the last two volumes and grit my teeth against… well, the stuff I didn’t like.
I’m not sure if I was just in a better mood this time or the stories were just better, but I wound up enjoying this volume. Kyoko is still pretty much just after the strangers, and the first one in this volume is one of her best friends. The story surrounding her was actually fairly good, if a bit generic, and involved a lesson on love and putting your trust in the wrong people.
Most of the volume was about two other strangers, the leaders of the Fish and Snake tribes, and their feuds and problems with the demon tribes. This plot was actually fairly involved and had some pretty good twists and turns along the way. Witzig, who struck me as kind of useless, finally shows off what it is that he does, and he’s actually involved with things quite a bit here. Once things are straightened out in the villiages and in the personal lives of the tribes, we get a pretty decent and significant twist concerning Kyoko toward the end of the volume. I was pretty sure nothing was going to come of it, but it was fun all the same, and helped flesh out the cute little romance between her and Sakatachi a little more.
I mean, it still has pretty much all the problems I mentioned last time (sometimes the action skips around in confusing ways, its sense of humor is still not quite right, and it’s still fairly generic as far as plot and characters go), but things are becoming developed enough that I’ve been drawn into the story, which is good enough for me. It’s probably even better for girls younger than me, which is really all that counts. I don’t anticipate it ending very smoothly, but I’m sure it will still be fun in the third volume.
