Sensual Phrase 2

Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2004 – 18 volumes

I just finished this volume a few minutes ago, and the ridiculous situation at the end is so over-the-top and trashy that I can’t stop laughing. The storyline is taking it very seriously, but these terrible people doing terrible things to one another are so far out of left field that I can’t be mad at it the same way I get mad at B.O.D.Y. Sensual Phrase just has no basis in reality whatsoever. And that’s why I can enjoy it.

Sakuya’s half-brother is a powerful major record executive from the US with a chip on his shoulder who wants to steal Aine away. That’s the entire plot of this volume. Aine wavers back and forth, finally allowing herself to be taken by the brother for the good of Lucifer and all the fans. Of course, Sakuya does all sorts of outlandish things to keep her away from his sleazy but powerful brother Ralph, including making out with her on live television. Ralph gets back at him by buying out all the television stations and major concert venues in Japan and shutting out Lucifer… you see where all this is going.

And while that’s happening, things stay hot and heavy between Aine and Sakuya. Ridiculously so. Those two have so many terrible, sappy lines it makes my head spin. At one point, while doing the normal blushing shoujo heroine thing while she was being ambushed, Sakuya lets loose with a “I want you inside me… fuck me…” which is not something a nice shoujo heroine says. But that’s her deal, I suppose. She writes dirty lyrics, and everybody loves her for it.

There were lots of hilarious lines in this volume, but my favorite, and probably one of the best lines in any shoujo manga, comes when Ralph is rejecting some lyrics Aine wrote for him: “These are awful. My dog could’ve written better lyrics than these… and my dog is spayed, Aine.” Diss!

This series… is not good for anybody, but is so horrible and ridiculous that it comes off as a lot of dirty fun. It’s the type of series I would have loved as a teen, but would hate to think about teens reading now that I’m older. I can see the appeal. And again, I think this must’ve been hugely popular while it was coming out. I just took a tour of several used bookstores this weekend, and all of them had some or all of the run of Sensual Phrase among the 50 or so volumes of manga in the usually poor selection. That’s… pretty amazing. I think this must’ve made it into the hands of a lot of teen girls while it was running.