Seiho Boys’ High School 3
Posted: November 22, 2010 Filed under: Seiho Boys' High School Leave a comment »Kaneyoshi Izumi – Viz – 2010 – 8 volumes
Again, this is way more charming than it has any right to be. It’s also one of the only girls/boys only school stories that hasn’t resorted to romantic triangles, wacky gender misunderstanding hijinx, or undercover boys/girls.
The reason it’s not relying on very many of the plot devices common to its premise is that it’s way more character-driven and slice-of-life than the other stories. The boys don’t really need anything to shake up their lives because… well, the story is about their lives and how normal they are in such a school. It helps that the characters and dialogue are quite funny and well-written, too. It’s not quite like a shoujo manga, and this volume takes things a step further by making fun of the many things I thought it would contain. A girl points out the difference between her disappointing situation (the boys sneak her in to pass her off as a guy in drag in order to win an AC for their dorm, she accepts because one of the competitors is a boy that’s prettier than she is) and what would happen in a gender swap shoujo manga, where all the boys would fall in love with her but act confused since they would think she is a boy. Later, Seiho Boys’ High School punished me, personally, by having an entire chapter dedicated to how much the boys hate it when a fujoshi comes in and… assumes things.
The chapters are once again mostly one-shot stories focusing on different characters, with most of the emphasis on Maki. The school year starts again, so the cast is all second years now. The first chapter is about a play and a girl that may or may not be falling for the charismatic school stud Kamiki, the second chapter is about the friendship between Kamiki and Maki, the third chapter focuses on hilariously rude and insensitive Nogami and the school nurse (a subplot from a previous volume), and the fourth story is about Maki and a girl he met in chapter two, the aforementioned fujoshi.
While the stories are self-contained, they do have threads that bind them together, and the experiences of all the boys and the people they meet come into play along the way. The characters and the school setting build with each chapter in every volume, and the characters are all funny and well-written. It’s more slice-of-life than it is shoujo, and it’s quick to remind you that it doesn’t really have to be anything. I like it a lot for that, and it did teach me a lesson about not automatically judging a story based on genre cliches before I’ve read it. Though I would argue that method is valid 99% of the time.
The sense of humor really is top notch, though. The second story… has a scene at the beginning that made me laugh really hard. While complaining about the meat in the cafeteria, the lunchlady lets on that she knows a spot where the boys might be able to see dolphins. The boys get excited, with adorable smiles on their faces, until she reveals the bizarre meat they’re eating was the last dolphin she spotted in the harbor. The boys look so sad, then ask her what the Americans would think. It was perfect. The lunchlady breaks the news with a little heart, and there’s a cute dolphin speech balloon coming out of the bowl of meat.
Give it a try. I think it has the potential to appeal to a lot of people outside the shoujo fanbase. Hopefully the good word will spread and a lot of people can give it a chance. It’s not stupendous, or groundbreaking, or anything like that, but it is a nice, funny story with wonderful characters. It gets better with every volume, too, in its own slow way, so maybe it’ll really knock my socks off later.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
13th Boy 5
Posted: November 22, 2010 Filed under: 13th Boy Leave a comment »SanEun Lee – Yen Press – 2010 – 6+ volumes
And what better to follow up a volume of hard yaoi than 13th Boy, a sweet love story?
On one hand, I was a little disappointed that the pace of the series slowed here, and that there was less madcap strangeness afoot. On the other hand, this volume addresses some of the relationship and character issues that have been developing, and there are some major changes that happen. Less of what I like, but probably still one of the best volumes of a series that I am very, very fond of.
One of my favorite things in this series is the relationship between Hee-So and Whie-Young. The magic element in this series, while sort of ridiculous in context, lends an air of innocence to the childhood memories of Hee-So, and to her life in general, really. It also makes the prickly Whie-Young’s soft spot even more apparent, both in the past and present. The fact that he was the first boyfriend of boy-crazy Hee-So, all that time ago, is also pretty fatalistic in the same way. Anyway, in this volume, Hee-So finally realizes that it was Whie-Young that did all the magical things for her back in childhood, that he was the one that gave her Beatrice, and that he was also the one that brought Sae-Bom’s Toe-Toe to life. She confronts him about it, and about her feelings and his. It’s a great scene, but lacks a little bit considering my wish for Whie-Young to be the primary love interest. There’s something missing on both sides of the conversation, and it’s unusual because of it. Like it’s game changing, but not really.
Later, Hee-So drags Won-Jun and Whie-Young to Sae-Bom’s house to celebrate Sae-Bom’s birthday. Typically, Sae-Bom spends the day alone with Toe-Toe since it was the first day they met, but now that Hee-So realizes that Toe-Toe is like her Beatrice but dead, she decides that’s too depressing and tries to liven things up for her. And hook up with Won-Jun on the side, of course.
Beatrice comes along, too, in human form. Beatrice calls himself Edward, though, because Beatrice is an unlikely name for a boy. I love that the story addresses this bizarre anomaly.
The sad story of Toe-Toe is recounted later on, too. For a magical, foul-mouthed bunny, he sure does have a compelling past. And present. It also makes you feel bad for Whie-Young. He will literally do anything and everything within his considerable power for Hee-So. And she… doesn’t really look his way.
There’s another great scene at the end of the book, too (I’m sorry, I’m really trying not to spoil things, but there is a lot of wonderful stuff here). Straight out of the girliest girls’ comic you’ve ever read. Joy on both sides. Except there’s something a little off about this conversation, too, though the feeling is there on both sides. To a ridiculous extent.
I love this series, and every volume makes me love it a little more. It’s offbeat and the absolute perfect mix of all the girliest things I can think of, including fatalism, magic, best friends, boyfriends, love triangles, cute childhood flashbacks, talking stuffed animals, and even a strong heroine that’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind in any situation.
Gay’s Anatomy
Posted: November 21, 2010 Filed under: Gay's Anatomy | Tags: BL 4 Comments »You Higashino – Kitty Media – 2009 – 2 volume
I will freely admit that I only bought this because it had a hilarious title. It’s worked out before, in the case of All Nippon Air Line, Maniac Shorts Shot (that one was mostly a cover, and because it was about novelty underwear), and I’m sure at least a couple others. Actually, Kitty Media doesn’t have a great track record as far as things I’ve read from them go. Their titles are far pornier than most BL publishers, which is fine, but I’ve only read a couple others that were either downright awful or hilarious and awful. Gay’s Anatomy was definitely better than the others, but still not great.
It fits in my rules since it involves a pair of doctors who are committed lovers (I prefer stories about older men and with no non-con). As far as the nuts and bolts of BL stories go, I was a little disappointed that the niceties of their relationship weren’t developed or shown a little more, mostly we know they are close because they have a lot of sex. One is super dominant, and one is very submissive and blushes a ridiculous amount for a cardiologist (for the record, Tsuda is a neurosurgeon and the dominant partner, Shiraishi is the cardiologist and the submissive, but their names are not important). The plot is that the dominant partner, who is also a neurosurgeon, is summoned home to his big rich family to get married and take over the family corporation. The submissive one, afraid that his happiness is fleeting, encourages the other to his family, thinking he will be happier there. The dominant one leaves. The agent the rich family sent to pick up their son swoops in and tries to pick up the cardiologist. Misunderstandings abound in so many ways, but everything has a way of working out in these stories, doesn’t it?
The plot was pretty superficial, and one of those frustrating affairs where everything would be solved if even one full conversation passed between the characters. One would think that two people that had been lovers for years would be able to talk easier, but I guess not. The dominant one comes off as too manly to share his feelings, to be fair, and the submissive is a big frustrating wimp about absolutely everything, so I guess that’s how they wound up not talking.
Still, I’ll admit that it was a little better than I imagined it would be. Just the fact it features the older, established couple and has no non-con in the main story scores it a lot of points in my book. Plus, the character designs are early 90s-ish, meaning the men look super-manly, which I also enjoy. It’s true that there’s not a lot of BL in English that feature this many sex scenes (though, without romance, even the consensual stuff loses a lot of appeal for me unless it’s funny). Plus, it’s got the title that made me want to pick it up. I really can’t complain too much about what I got.
The last… quarter of the book is a short story unrelated to the main couple, but about a relationship between a physical therapist and the agent that tries to pick up the cardiologist in the first story. The title page and the main character’s profession made me think there’d be some sort of wheelchair sex scene, which was not the case. The agent is a huge creep, though, and hits on and does somehow force the physical therapist into bed at some point. But you know how these stories work out, too.
Actually, yeah, I liked the doctor themes in this book, too, I found that to be an intriguing change of pace. Though the story was bad, overall it’s a pretty fun BL book There is a second prequel volume that hasn’t been published yet, hopefully a coming restructuring of Kitty Media will mean it will get squeezed out at some point. If you’re interested in this artist’s other work (which I am), there’s the similarly punny Sense and Sexuality and an upcoming title from 801 called Deeply Loving a Maniac.
Knights of the Zodiac 21
Posted: November 21, 2010 Filed under: Knights of the Zodiac Leave a comment »Masami Kurumada – Viz – 2007 – 28 volumes
Oh, Saint Seiya. Remember how last volume I said I couldn’t think of anything that would top the Celestial Faerie Star battle against Mu? Well, I forgot all about Virgo Shaka. The only way to make the Virgo Knight cool would be to make him as cosmically (no pun intended) awesome as Shaka is. His fight against the Bronze Knights was probably one of the most memorable from the Palace of Athena storyline, but his fight against the Hades/Gold Knights here brought tears of joy to my eyes.
First off, he has a rosary with 108 beads. Each bead represents one of the Hades Knights. He just kinda… waves his hand or something, and a bunch of them die. For every dead Hades Knight, a bead turns black. So he holds that in his hand during the fight to reinforce just how thoroughly he is winning.
Also, nobody seems to really be wounding Shaka. They just… don’t even touch him, which is unusual in this series since people are always punching other people. Shaka’s moves are energy-based and rooted in Buddhism, so every time he yells an attack, he gets a very ornate background. Also, he kills everyone when that happens.
So it comes down to Shaka and three Gold Knights who have turned traitor. Despite the fact that nobody lays a hand on Shaka, there are many pages dedicated to the fact that Shaka is prepared to die by facing the three Gold Knights, there is some symbolism when he takes them behind his temple to do battle under a grove of Sala trees, et cetera. Very theatrical. Shaka uses his ultimate attack, which traps the traitor Gold Knights in a dimension and robs them of their five senses, one by one. The only thing that can shatter Shaka’s spell is… The Athena Exclamation.
The Athena Exclamation is a move that must be performed by three Gold Knights. It is forbidden because it is so powerful, it’s like unleashing all the power of the Big Bang on one spot.
The Big Bang. Yeah. The Athena Exclamation is performed three times (sorta) in this volume.
There’s not much else that happens in this volume. At the beginning, there’s a brief fight between Leo Aiora and the Earthly Low-Lying Star Worm Knight of Hades. As creepy as he is… he’s just no match for the Athena Exclamation. Or even Shaka’s Heavenly Dancing Dharma.
Basically, what I’m saying is that this series still has some of the most over-the-top and entertaining fight scenes I’ve run across in a shounen manga (which is pretty amazing given the fact that they don’t even need the benefit of plot to occur), and also that Shaka may be one of the best characters ever.
Of course, the way things have been going, I’m sure that the next volume will somehow top this one. I have no idea how this series does it, but it does.
Genkaku Picasso 1
Posted: November 12, 2010 Filed under: Genkaku Picasso 2 Comments »Usamaru Furuya – Viz – 2010 – 3 volumes
I am a huge, raving fan of Usamaru Furuya. The fact that, prior to this, the only work of his we’ve seen in English is part of Palepoli and Short Cuts, a Young Sunday gag strip about kogals, is utterly criminal. Genkaku Picasso fills the gap quite nicely, and I’m also excited to see Lychee Hikari Club from Vertical sometime in the future. I would be excited about 51 Ways to Save Her from CMX too, but I think I shouldn’t get my hopes up about that one.
Anyway, Genkaku Picasso. The premise is really great. A misanthropic high school kid named Hikari loves drawing and not much else. Much to his chagrin, a classmate named Chiaki hangs around him and insists on pestering him all the time. Tragically, they are hit by a falling helicopter and both are killed. But because Chiaki prayed hard enough for Hikari, he wound up being allowed to live, provided he helps people. And Chiaki can pester him anew by flying around as a tiny angel that only Hikari can see.
Hikari hates people, though, including Chiaki and everyone in his class. He only wants to draw. So how is it that someone so cranky and introverted can really help people? Well, he is sometimes compelled to draw an image of “what their heart looks like,” something Chiaki asked of Hikari right before they died. The images are drawn in a different, “non-manga” style, and are always surreal, things like a baby sitting next to a rabbit, or a giant man looming over a wall of money. Hikari has to dive into them and set things right in the bizarre heart landscape, thus helping the person pass their crisis in the real world.
While the other characters are little more than background noise, I like all of Hikari’s quirks. The fact he hates everything, and there’s not really any characters that “bring out the good in him,” is unusual in a series like this. He tends to get scared and pass out a lot, and most of the time, the “problems of the heart” resolve themselves with minimal help from Hikari. I also like how indelicate he is around people. Hikari has to ask questions to gain insight about the heart drawings he makes, and his questions completely ignore social protocol. “Have you had an abortion recently?” “Are you into S&M?” “Are you in debt?” Later in the volume, other characters start hanging out with him, but Hikari tends to ignore them, and they have little impact on his life. He hates people so much that he wouldn’t help anybody, even given his new gift, if it weren’t for the fact his body rots when he goes too long without helping.
The art in this series is really unique, too. It would have to be. The drawings of the heart are always in pencil, and when Hikari and Chiaki enter them, the comic reverts to a pencil-sketched surreal landscape with the two blundering around and encountering things like walls made of money, grabby-hand trees, or gigantic goth girls perched on mirror mazes. The conceptual flourishes in these drawings are much appreciated, and while the symbolism isn’t that deep, it’s still very nice to see. There are great flourishes in the regular drawings, too. Furuya’s clouds and landscapes are detailed and slightly unusual, I like how his characters lose their pupils when they’re shocked (in a really obvious, non-70s way), and there are a lot of other unique touches here and there.
Unfortunately, his proportions freak me out a little. The characters have such tiny hands and big heads.
Also, the structure of the series… the chapters are mostly one-shots. There are some elements that carry over, like the people around Hikari (when he helps them, they tend to make an effort to be his friend), but each chapter is a new story about a new character. The problems these characters have are pretty tired or just plain weird. The first crisis involves a boy who wants to kill someone in order to get his father’s attention, since the latter refuses to pay for an expensive college. The second chapter features a girl who is cranky all the time because she doesn’t eat any vegetables (huh?!). Another is about a girl who identifies so much with a singer that she wants to kill herself in a kind of tribute to the lyrics. Always, these stories have a neat resolution and a happy end. None of the characters are interesting or developed, Hikari isn’t really a hero, and because the stories are focused on these side characters, there’s not a whole lot of opportunity for Hikari to develop character-wise, either. The first chapter hinted at a possible romance between Chiaki and Hikari, but there’s no evidence of that later on.
Though the weakness in storytelling is somewhat crippling, the strengths outweigh that enough to make this a genuinely interesting read. The great premise, the interesting art, and the surreal landscapes of the heart are all very engrossing. The fact that a terrible shounen series is the skeleton they sit on is unfortunate, but it’s so bizarre that it transcends its shounen genre. It’s probably a good thing that it’s only a few volumes long, since that’s about as far as these good ideas can take it.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Future Diary 6
Posted: November 12, 2010 Filed under: Future Diary Leave a comment »Sakae Esuno – Tokyopop – 2010 – 11+ volumes
I like leaving this series for a long time, then coming back. It’s always a slap in the face just how intense and creepy it really is.
I remember very distinctly that the last volume had a happy ending for Yukiteru and Yuno. But knowing Yuno, I knew that wasn’t going anyplace pleasant. Chaining Yukiteru up on the top floor of an abandoned hotel with a couple of skulls and wandering around killing people in her underwear sounds about right. I’m well aware just how psychotic she is, but it always amazes me when she crosses yet another line. It also helps that she is extraordinarily useful to Yukiteru and others in this “contest,” and that she is 100% devoted to Yukiteru no matter what, which makes her seem slightly less crazy. The way she phrases it, it always sounds pretty sweet and innocent. But, you know… captive love is never true.
Yukiteru making an enemy out of Yuno is not a good idea, since she knows where he is and what he’s doing at all times thanks to the power of her diary. He can’t run, and he can’t hide. The way she innocently sticks her head in a couple times here, plus the fact everyone, including Yukiteru, is scared stiff, is just amazing. What a wonderful character. This is definitely one of the most genuinely scary manga I’ve read, and she’s a big part of the reason why.
We are introduced to a couple more diary owners at this point. 8th’s diary is a little unfair, but this is neutralized by 8th herself, who is far from unfair or terrifying. She’s… a bit of a caricature. I can’t wait until she takes an active part in the story. We also get to see 7th at the very end of the volume, but I’m not sure what 7th’s power is yet.
The first half of the book concerns Yukiteru’s friends getting worried about him and attempting a rescue from Yuno. The second half involves said friends trying to protect themselves from 8th’s agents, who are after the whole lot. Another big part of the plot here is that “trainee diary” owners enter the picture. They have diary powers too, but aren’t really part of the contest and pose a real threat from both sides. Unfortunately, neither 7th nor 8th creates the truly terrifying situations of some of the other diary owners, so most of the terror in this volume comes from Yuno. Since she’s mopped the floor with even the ugliest of the old diary owners, she’s plenty enough to keep things interesting.
Not being a frequent user or lover of the cellphone, I think it’s interesting that all the “diaries” in this story are cellphone-based, and that cellphones are so ubiquitous that this isn’t even worth mentioning. The downside to technology, that cellphones break easy, is one of the achilles’ heels of the users, but other than that, it seems they are invincible in their power to predict the future via their specialized diary. But another technological blind spot, that cellphones need to get reception to work, is covered in this volume as well. Unfortunately, not much is made of it, and apparently it’s not a problem for everybody. Still, it’s interesting that it came up.
I’ve got two more volumes of this, and I’m pretty excited to see how the story unfolds. Though, I suspect, at this late stage of the game, diary owners won’t be dropping like flies anymore in order to lengthen the series.
Also, I’m willing to bet that the series will come down to Yukiteru killing Yuno in order to win the contest. They will be the last two standing and she will be crazy. It will be like a mercy killing for Yukiteru.
Le Chevalier d’Eon 8
Posted: November 7, 2010 Filed under: Le Chevalier d'Eon Leave a comment »Tou Ubukata / Kiriko Yumeji – Del Rey – 2010 – 8 volumes
You know, I couldn’t be happier that Del Rey finished this. They aren’t publishing a lot lately, and it’s easy to just leave this one since we’ve only been getting a volume a year for the last year or two due to being caught up with Japan. It’s also an adaptation of an anime, which leaves it the low man on the pole. But I always liked it, despite it being incomprehensible at points, so I was happy to see the end.
I’ll be honest and say one of the main reasons I like this series is purely the art. Yumeji is great at drawing the Chevalier Sphinx’s costumes. The one on the front cover would be amazing if it looked like her breasts were attached to her body, and maybe smaller. But all the costumes look like that in every panel. I’m sure it’s an insane amount of work, and I really appreciate it. Every one of the characters is dressed like that, too.
The plot… I don’t understand what’s going on much of the time. Somehow, it suddenly clicked and made sense in this volume. I thought there was something being lost in translation between Latin, French, Japanese, and English (and sometimes Greek too, maybe?), but the battles literally consist of the characters moving letters around from what people say in order to fight back with another word that should defeat them, based on who they are. They seem to mostly be anagrams and one word that can make another word or words if the letters are re-arranged. These references are so obscure and plot-specific that nobody is likely to puzzle it out for themselves before the characters do. It made sense when Lia was fighting some of the last enemies here, too.
Basically, I am ashamed that it took me eight volumes to figure out she was rhyming enemies to death. I understood there were word plays, but I thought they somehow summoned other powers, that the hierarchy of poetry was involved, other things came into play… apparently not. Solving certain puzzles certain ways makes you ascend the rank of poet, and… gives you power to fight others? That seems to be all it is. If so, this is probably a lot easier to read than I thought. I was thinking too hard.
The battles were suitably epic this time around, and I cracked up when I saw who the poet ultimately was that she came to the cathedral to fight. Actually, there are two of them. One is more sinister than the other. I thought she really had shoved her sword through the last one’s head in the end, though, which was terrifying and intense.
The actual ending of the series? Not as impressive. It is horribly open-ended, with the goals of the characters un-accomplished and everyone setting out to Prussia to stop the poets on the last page. This is merely the end of the “France Chapter.” Except I don’t think there’s a “Prussia Chapter” to the anime, and I know for sure that the manga doesn’t continue after this. I hate open-ended work like this. Maybe he hoped to come back to it some day, but… I doubt that will ever happen.
Not that I’m going to lose any sleep about not knowing the resolution to Le Chevalier d’Eon. It was mostly just a long string of semi-confusing battles. Mostly, I’m going to miss Kiriko Umeji’s artwork. I hope she gets another series that lets her show off her skills like this one did.
Actually, I take back what I said about the anime earlier. It sounds like the anime is nothing like the manga. I just read one of the later episode summaries and it blew my mind. I don’t even know how things would have gotten to that situation. They go to Russia in… the fourth episode? Wow, it’s a lot different. I kind of want to see it now.
Black Butler 3
Posted: November 6, 2010 Filed under: Black Butler 1 Comment »Yana Toboso – Yen Press – 2010 – 9+ volumes
I’ve had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this series since the first volume. I love the art, I love the Victorian setting, and I love demons. I am not fond of its love for dumb gags, and I hate the other three servants, who serve no purpose aside from serving up predictable, un-funny jokes. They’re almost completely gone at this point, though they make a brief re-appearance in the last chapter of this volume, when Ciel’s stickler aunt comes to visit and of course those three make a mess of everything Sebastian’s done to meet her approval. Otherwise, that chapter was a nice, lighthearted break from the darker story this time around. I got a kick out of Ciel’s aunt, and luckily his fiancee kept her mouth shut for the most part (she was annoying when she was introduced, too). I loved the contest between the two of them, and I loved the dynamic between the aunt, Sebastian, and Ciel. She was great. She can come back to visit anytime she likes.
The story was a continuation of the Jack the Ripper story from last time, but this time we see all the emotional fallout. Saying too much about this will spoil it, but I would have been upset had there not been generous flashbacks that delved into Ciel’s family history and an awesome fight between Sebastian and a Grim Reaper, followed up by an even better Grim Reaper that steps in at the very end. He was the perfectly cool, level-headed executive type that let his disdain for Sebastian be known without actually changing his facial expression or saying more than about a sentence. The kind of stuck-up snob that this kind of series would have a lot of fun with. Plus, he caught a chainsaw between his index and middle finger from behind his back. AWESOME.
Oh man, I could not deal with the overwrought emotional garbage here, though. Ciel couldn’t shoot the killer, the killer couldn’t shoot Ciel, some lengthy reaffirmations between Ciel and Sebastian, and later, Sebastian calling Ciel out on the emotional garbage, which turns into even more emotional garbage. The action, the setting, and the premise are the best things about this series. Plus, Ciel and Sebastian are great characters with a great dynamic. I understand the dynamic between them, so there’s no need to go over and over the master/servant relationship if nothing new is going to be revealed. I love their personalities, but I did not love all the baggage that came out around Ciel this volume. To be fair, it wasn’t even Ciel’s garbage, and he didn’t even get really angsty about it, but it was still about him, and it didn’t really add anything interesting to his personality, nor any insight into how he became who he is. Bah.
Wow. I actually meant to compliment this volume for being better than the other two I read, but I don’t know how it turned into a complain-fest. I did think this was better for the action, and also because we get to see more of Ciel and Sebastian’s personalities, plus three more genuinely interesting and quirky characters (really, two, since we met the first grim reaper last volume). Again, there’s a lot of great stuff here, and it seems like the stuff I don’t like is falling away little by little with each volume. The annoying servants are almost gone, and to be fair, I didn’t hate all the talking this volume like I hated them. I’m well and truly interested now, and at this rate, even if it doesn’t get any better, I could see it holding my interest for at least two or three more volumes.
Kimi ni Todoke 6
Posted: November 3, 2010 Filed under: Kimi ni Todoke Leave a comment »Karuho Shiina – Viz – 2010 – 12+ volumes
Holy crap, the Chizu story made me cry. Like, three different times. It was so incredibly bittersweet. I was expecting more of a… I don’t know, a story where Ryu gets his heart broken and it’s some important life lesson for Sawako, who learns that sometimes two people don’t share the same feelings. Chizu and Ryu’s brother have a great dynamic, but I was not expecting the announcement that came. At all. Nor Ryu’s motives behind keeping his brother’s return from Chizu. There were just so many nice elements. Sawako and Yano’s complete loss as to what to do, the way Chizu wrestles with herself, the dynamic between Ryu and Chizu through the whole story, the nice walk with Ryu’s brother and the way he makes things right, and the final conversation with Ryu at the end. All of it was sensitive, touching, and just amazing in general. It nailed everything about those kinds of situations, the anger, the awkwardness, the love, the crushing, the longing, and spun it into something that made it look like a happy part of life rather than the end of the world. It took up most of the volume. I love that even the side characters get this kind of attention lavished on them, and that I like Chizu every bit as much as I like Sawako. What an amazing series.
I still like it’s positive mood. It’s still relatively upbeat, despite the themes in this volume, and I love that the most depressing thing that has happened so far is, at worst, bittersweet. The goodness in the heart of Kimi ni Todoke completely wins the day. I adore things like We Were There, and there’s a lot of emotional turmoil there, but I genuinely enjoy every page of this, it’s a guilt-free enjoyment.
The last story is about a conflict Sawako has about being invited to a Christmas party with her friends, whereas before she always spends it with her parents. I identified with this so much it broke my heart. Choosing your parents or your friends… I don’t know how much of a problem that actually is for most people, but man. That was always hard for me. I couldn’t bear to let my parents down when I still lived at home. I still can’t. Plus, the story had the extra gift-giving element. Sawako is such a sweet girl.
This is such a positive, happy series. It’s like the good twin to We Were There’s dark and somewhat depressing depiction of high school life. Now that we’re caught up on that, I’m happy I can read this to fill the void. I identify with this one a lot more, and it makes me happy to read it, so every volume pushes it a little farther up my list of favorites.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Goong 7
Posted: November 3, 2010 Filed under: Goong 3 Comments »Park SoHee – Yen Press – 2009 – 22+ volumes
I took a break from this series for a little bit, but I have to pick it up again, because I do love its ridiculous melodrama to pieces.
I really like that feelings are developing on both sides of the Shin/Chae-Kyung relationship, and that both of them are too shy to admit it. Chae-Kyung has good reason, since she’s been on the receiving end of a fair amount of emotional abuse, but it’s the moments with Shin, where he’s trying to figure out how to properly express the way he feels for Chae-Kyung. Usually he fails, and winds up being a huge jerk, but there’s some sentimental moments mixed in there, along with those awkward and intense shoujo moments that always keep me coming back to series like this. Unusually for a girls’ comic (at least the ones I read), both characters openly admit in their heads to the sex appeal of the other, and often think about having sex. That doesn’t happen for a variety of reasons, but it’s interesting that the dynamic is there.
But the annoying thing about Goong is that it’s one of those series where, if Chae-Kyung and Shin just sat down and had an honest conversation about anything, anything at all, pick one thing, there would be no series and they would probably be in love with one another. I want to slap them both, and make them sit down and listen to one another. Literally, this manga is a series of misunderstandings that either the victim doesn’t feel like explaining (because they are insulted that assumptions were made), or the victim isn’t given a chance to explain. It is FRUSTRATING.
Plus, there’s the continued romantic pressure on both sides of the couple. Chae-Kyung has to deal with Yul, who is manipulative and dangerous. He’s better to Chae-Kyung than Shin, but I always worry about ulterior motives. He also clearly hates Shin and wants to be the crown prince, and it’s hard to trust his “pure” feelings for Chae-Kyung. You get the impression he only wants Chae-Kyung because she “belongs” to Shin.
Hyo-Rin is different. You do have to feel bad for her, since public opinion is against her and she is famously hated. And she may genuinely love Shin. Their relationship is hard to pin down. It’s difficult to feel sympathy for her, too, since she knows she could avoid public scrutiny and drama by simply staying away from Shin. There’s no reason in the world that she can’t just stand up to it if she doesn’t care and really wants to be friends with Shin, and that seems to be what she’s doing. She’s not written very sympathetically, however, since we are constantly shown students that gossip behind her back and her constant sneaking around Chae-Kyung.
More misunderstandings in this volume, including one where Shin finally slugs Yul. That could go either way, they both deserve it, but Shin is the crown prince, after all. There’s also more drama with Yul and Hyo-Rin (of course), in two separate incidents that are misinterpreted on both sides. There’s some fanservice-y crossdressing, and a cute scene where Chae-Kyung publicly admits to at least some affinity for Shin. And… of course, the house-burning is blamed on Shin. There is rather damning evidence that will be ridiculously explained away. Of course he didn’t do it, and I’m a little sad I’m going to have to sit through this piece of drama, but I’m sure it will result in lots of angst and hand-wringing. And if I don’t want that in Goong, why am I even reading? I love the stuff.
