Your and My Secret 3
January 28, 2009
I really, truly love every volume of Ai Morinaga’s manga. I know I sometimes say bad things about My Heavenly Hockey Club not having a plot, and these things are true, but they don’t override the Ai Morinaga awesome value. Every volume of Ai Morinaga is full of disturbing things that I will never be able to unsee as long as I live. I don’t know how she does it. I don’t want to know how she does it. But it is a very special skill, one that every single other mangaka lacks. I truly want to be disgusted in that special Ai Morinaga way every time I read a volume of manga. It’s rare that I get the privilege, and I’m so lucky that four of her series have made it into English. Here’s hoping for Yamada Taro Monogatari sometime in the future.
The thing that made me laugh hardest in this volume was when Senbongi figured out what happened to Akira and Momoi… and didn’t care. He had zero reaction to the whole body swap thing, and had no problem doing it with his childhood friend in a girl’s body. Akira really is the only one who sees a problem. This whole situation is highlighted later when the art students misunderstand the tension between Akira-who-is-really-Momoi and Senbongi (Momoi wants to keep Senbongi from defiling her body) and draw yaoi manga about the two. Once again, only Akira cares about these disturbing developments.
The more disturbing content in this series revolves around the grandfather. The grandfather is truly upsetting in most things that he does. In one instance, he is driven to finish his machine when he is promised that Shiina will clean his ears like a proper young lady if he finishes, which prompts the grandfather to have a plethora of sparkly fantasies of Shiina being a good granddaughter to him.
Shiina delivers.
The best thing of all about this series is that it does have plot development, unlike My Heavenly Hockey Club. Sure, we get stalls like the whole Romeo and Juliet story in this volume, but good things usually come of this. Things like manga slashing the characters. So there you go.
January 28, 2009 at 6:09 am
This is another fun series. I’m still on the fence regarding “My Heavenly Hockey Club” – it seems a bit like Ouran High to me. So I’m not on board with it as yet.
“Here’s hoping for Yamada Taro Monogatari sometime in the future”
I totally agree. It’s licensed in French, so there’s hope.
January 28, 2009 at 10:12 pm
My Heavenly Hockey Club is eerily like Ouran. Hockey Club is much funnier, but Ouran has plot development, so I like it better between the two. They seem to have the same plot elements occurring at roughly the same time, like the two women planned it that way. They have nearly an identical cast, started around the same time, and introduced a kogal named Mei at exactly the same time, too. It’s weird.
January 29, 2009 at 6:22 am
hmm…this really wasn’t what I was hoping for, and unfortunately bought a volume thinking it was. I was reading another one by her the title of which I cannot recall but the cover has a duck…? ;p
January 31, 2009 at 12:38 am
“The thing that made me laugh hardest in this volume was when Senbongi figured out what happened to Akira and Momoi… and didn’t care.”
TRUE. Those scenes? Seriously? They absolutely killed me. I was reading it in front of my friend and she had no idea why I was laughing hysterically.
January 31, 2009 at 6:05 am
MO: Duck Prince is probably the one you’re thinking of. It’s also very, very funny, but unfortunately incomplete in English. Just out of curiousity, what was it about this that you didn’t like? Not to say that it’s flawless or anything, I was just wondering.
January 31, 2009 at 7:36 am
Yeah, I haven’t completed it yet, but also may not.
I think it’s cos I didn’t really like that the BL (ok, can I call it that since he’s a boy but in a girl’s body?). And not really into fanservice. Didn’t realise it had until I bought it, brought it home and THEN noticed the grading at the back (slight fanservice). I forget the rest of why I didn’t like it as I haven’t touched it since I bought it. ;p
January 31, 2009 at 7:51 pm
MO: Fair enough. I guess I didn’t really think about it being BL since the gender situation is already so messed up (he was a boy, but had the personality of a girl, and now is a girl and will probably stay that way, on and on). I can see how that would put you off if it’s not something you’re into.
January 31, 2009 at 7:55 pm
madameotaku: It’s such a simple thing, too. When I was writing the review, I realized it didn’t sound that funny, but in context it was the best thing ever. There was one page with Senbongi’s reaction on it that I kept flipping to because it was just too good.