Gentlemen’s Alliance † 11
Posted: July 6, 2010 Filed under: Gentlemen's Alliance † 2 Comments »Arina Tanemura – Viz – 2010 – 11 volumes
It’s good to know that Viz will be releasing the new volumes by Arina Tanemura. Sakura Hime Kaden and Mistress Fortune were both announced over the weekend. If I’m remembering right, one is a one-shot and the other is her new series, but I can’t remember which is which. I’ll probably be picking up both, since Tanemura is quite fluffy and addictive. The announcement made me realize I hadn’t written up the finale for The Gentlemen’s Alliance yet, so here we are.
The thing about the endings to Tanemura series… yeah, they’re not good. Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne is still my absolute favorite, and the only one I forgave for its convenient happy ending. At the worst, we have Full Moon, which threw all story logic out the window to keep the characters around and happy past the ending of the series. This series… well, it was all about convenient happy endings too, and while it doesn’t make for good storytelling, it’s hard to fault a series like this, which has been sugary sweet all the way through.
The reconciliation between the Togu siblings is taken care of immediately, and lasts all of about three pages. Similarly, in one chapter, Haine busts into the mansion to talk to the Togu elder, then does his challenge and gets her hands on the happy ending in about one chapter. Everyone is okay with this, and… again, even though it’s rushed and extremely unlikely, this is at its heart a happy series, and I think I’ve had about enough drama from it.
I nearly threw the book across the room when Haine said that she was marrying both Togu siblings, which really would have been the Full Moon route, meaning she didn’t have to choose between the boys. That doesn’t happen, thankfully, but bizarrely, neither Haine nor the other characters dwell on this melodrama-filled question. The decision is made for her, and the rest of the book contains the wedding and other wacky character hijinx that were completely in the spirit of things.
Haine is a great main character, and although it doesn’t really break any new ground, there’s something completely addictive and fun about this series. It’s a good mix of drama, humor, and romance, and although the characters sometimes wallow a little too much in self-pity and everyone has their own set of scarring problems, the story manages to handle this well enough to keep you coming back volume after volume. I wouldn’t say it was one of the best of its type, but with its beautiful artwork and perfect formula, there’s enough here to keep any shoujo reader looking for a little fluff satisfied and happy, I think.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
I’m really glad you liked The Gentlemen’s Alliance+ ! I really like this series by her (it’s just so girly, you can’t not like it at least a little).
But I have to warn you, Mistress Fortune is the worst thing Arina Tanemura ever wrote. In fact, it’s one of the worst shoujo manga I have ever read (though maybe i just thought that because I read it immediately after GA). But I am curious to see if there are any nice oneshots in the volume.
Sakura Hime Kaden is appropriately girly, but it tries way too hard (but I only read the first two volumes). It combines lots of Tanemura’s earlier ideas in ways that clash horribly. But since it is a series it could always recover.
I love Arina Tanemura but her newest stuff just doesn’t do it for me. Thought I’d warn you.
Ooh, Mistress Fortune is worse than Time Stranger Kyoko? I’ll probably still read it, but… that’s not going to be a pleasant task. Thanks for the head’s up.
I do like her one-shot stories a lot, though I usually forget to talk about them. I probably complain some when it happens, but she’s one of the few authors that doesn’t bother me as much when the short stories are included in volumes of a longer series.