Kamisama Kiss 2
Posted: February 8, 2011 Filed under: Kamisama Kiss Leave a comment »Julietta Suzuki – Viz – 2011 – 8+ volumes
All right. This is really awesome. It’s adorable and romantic and dramatic without being too heavy or emotional. I’ve got some of the same problems here as I do in Yurara (the main character has more personality, but for as heavily as the story leans on her plights and perspectives, she’s still not quite clicking for me), but I like all the supernatural themes at play here, I love the crisis towards the middle of the book, I liked the new character, and I think Tomoe is a wonderful wildcard.
The first part of the book is about an idol enrolling in Nanami’s former school. This idol has black feathery wings and is named Tengu-something-something, which was all I needed to know to figure out he was a demon that was likely after Nanami’s kami powers. Tomoe keeps a steady watch over her, despite the fact she disobeys him by going to school in the first place, then taking off the scarf that covers her kami powers. But watching cold Tomoe dote on Nanami is really cute, especially since neither seem particularly fond of one another yet. And I love the way the Tengu is dealt with. He’s kind of a goofy, flashy guy, and while he seems to have it in for Nanami in a more sinister and less overt way than usual, I still liked watching him get dispatched by Tomoe.
No, I’m sorry, the new character’s name is Kurama, as in Kurama Tengu. Close enough.
The second story deals with a real kamisama swooping in to take over Nanami’s shrine, which means stripping her of her kami powers, the ability to see spirits, her job as kami, and her house and purpose in life. She’s left with Tomoe, who was turned into an infant by the kamisama, and the two of them try to figure out what to do from there, how to get the powers back… it could be a fairly standard story where the pair wins the power back by being sneaky, or by a sheer force of wills. Instead, it is strangely sad, and focused more on the fact that Nanami literally has nothing in the world outside Tomoe and his shrine. She does want to get her powers back and help Tomoe, but she has no means to do so, and that’s pretty much the beginning and end of it. How can she fight a god? She just can’t. And I loved the hopelessness in the story. It’s not overly dark or hopeless, but still. It’s not something you often see.
I’m enjoying this quite a bit. I like the stories, and I like their slightly offbeat execution. And while Nanami is still taking some time to settle with me, I do like watching her work her way through the various problems here. I also love watching the budding relationship between Tomoe and Nanami, if only because both are equally cold and devoid of affection. I also liked that Kurama stuck around. He is entertaining, but he also clearly has ulterior motives. I want to see what he’s getting at, and I can’t wait to read more about Nanami’s difficulties in finding her new life and working things out with Tomoe. It’s not overtly amazing, but I can see it’s taking its time to settle in and really tell a good story with good characters. I like what I’ve seen so far.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Blade of the Immortal 13
Posted: February 8, 2011 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 2 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 2004 – 26+ volumes
Wow. I’ve been dying for the story to get back to Rin, and it does here. She gains an unlikely ally. An extraordinarily unlikely ally. And I don’t even know that we can call this person an “ally,” per se, although the two of them seem to have reached an agreement.
It’s just… it’s very strange. Is Blade of the Immortal about Rin’s quest for revenge? Is it about morality? Or maybe what people are forced to do under extreme circumstances? The morality in circumstances, the morality in the actions of defense, or the morality in the action of revenge itself? It doesn’t seem to examine the value of life very often, for as many people who have died, but it weighs heavily on Rin. And for all the slaughter and bloodshed she’s seen, she’s faltered quite a number of times. But she still forges on towards Anotsu.
And what of Anotsu? We’ve seen the man in action many times at this point. He has his sword school, very powerful now, because he felt the old sword schools were mired in tradition and pomposity. To overthrow the existing system, he shed an immense amount of blood. But it’s something he clearly felt strongly about, and what he’s done to get where he is today doesn’t seem to trouble him in the least. He seems… almost decent, as far as these things go. We see him take a wife, and treat her well. He seems like a good guy. I don’t have a good grasp of the politics against him, or what precisely happened to trigger his trouble in this volume (someone high up ordered a hit, basically), but all the same, he’s not put into any positions where morals are questioned. He slaughters those who come after him. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? Self-defense?
And where does Manji fit in? He wants to atone for his sins. So he accompanies Rin as a bodyguard on his quest. But Rin has shaken him, so where does that leave Manji? I would think it would simply leave him a lifetime of kicking back as an immortal (with the occasional dodging of the law), but no. He goes after Rin. And stands by her even when she begs him to show mercy to those that probably don’t deserve it.
So this volume. I don’t want to spoil anything. Obviously it put me in a reflective mood, because certain things happen that throw a wrench in the whole works. The very end of the volume makes me think that the story will take an entirely different direction as soon as one of the characters… well, inevitably expires. At least it would seem that way. So it makes you think what the series is really about. Where is it going to go from here?
I need to read the next volume immediately. This is great stuff.
Yurara 2
Posted: February 8, 2011 Filed under: Yurara 1 Comment »Chika Shiomi – Viz – 2007 – 5 volumes
I’m still a little unimpressed with this series, especially compared to the followup series Rasetsu. But much like Rasetsu, the second volume endeared me to it a little more. I’m not as attached to the characters this time around – I don’t think Yurara is as interesting as Rasetsu, nor is Mei as cool as Kuryu – but the second volume did flesh them out a little more, and it was easier for me to get into.
The first chapter is still a little blah, with a rather average story about a ghost that possesses a girl that’s bullying Yurara. But after that, the chapters focus on Mei, and things get a little more interesting. We learn that Mei has a problem in a chapter about a ghost that harasses Yurara, grabbing her and forcing her guardian spirit change and otherwise being a creep. Next, we visit Mei’s house to find that his mother… well. Is different. And he lives in a family full of flirtatious men. As sad as the situation was, it still made me smile. And what we learn in these two chapters carries over into a story about a ghost that Mei knows from the past taking possession of his body.
The stories are getting more serious (Mei getting possessed and having his life threatened is probably about as serious as it’s going to get here), and are doing so by developing the characters. I like that a lot, although somehow, aside from a deepening crush, Yurara seems to be immune to said character development. I think, even with the stories getting more interesting, that that’s the root of my problem. While she’s not actively terrible or hard to sympathize with, it’s hard to figure out why the boys make such a fuss. It’s probably because of her spiritual power (they all three have this in common), and Yurara is kind-hearted, if nothing else, balancing out the strange ruthlessness of Mei. But she’s just a little vanilla. Especially when compared to the spirited Rasetsu.
I feel bad, comparing this constantly to a work that is a later spin-off. Of course the second will be better than the first. But it’s my frame of reference, and with my indifference towards the main character and some of the stories, I have nothing else to dwell on. But as I said, the stories are beginning to get more serious and character-centric, and the second volume was better than the first. I’m hoping the third will be better still, and maybe the fifth will have caught it up with the greatness of Rasetsu.
Have I mentioned I can’t wait to read the last two volumes of Rasetsu? Because I really can’t. These five volumes probably won’t even hold me over until the second-to-last comes out next month.
Spiral 2
Posted: February 5, 2011 Filed under: Spiral 1 Comment »Kyo Shirodaira / Eia Mizuno – Yen Press – 2008 – 15 volumes
Ooh, second volume moves from being more Case Closed-esque (with Ayumu wandering into crime scenes and solving difficult problems like locked room crimes) to being about Ayumu and the “Blade Children” playing mind games with him. Either way, I love the little problems that Ayumu conquers again and again.
The plot deepens, as I was hoping it would. There’s not a whole lot of new information on just what the “Blade Children” are, but two of them begin playing an active role in the plot here, and neither are very nice people. They also are both targeting Ayumu, making him solve life-threatening puzzles while dangling information about his missing brother in front of him.
Ayumu’s “assistant” Hiyono continues to play a part. Normally I dislike characters like her (she’s a bit clingy and comes off as a little empty-headed), but she’s awesome. She continues to be a mysterious source of important information for Ayumu, and while she plays at being empty-headed, she really knows what’s what. She’s an interesting person to keep around, and I also like that, so far, there has been no overt and awkward romance between she and Ayumu. She also brings some much-needed levity to the story. Not too much, but she does brighten things up.
I can’t get over the crazy traps the Blade Children are setting up for Ayumu, though. That was the biggest draw for me. A room full of bees that unleash based on the results of a card game? A bomb under his seat that’s set up to give narrative with a talking turtle? This is some crazy stuff, and watching Ayumu work his way through the solutions has been pretty fun so far. Honestly, the Blade Children stuff isn’t striking me as terribly interesting so far, but if they continue to make elaborate plays at Ayumu’s life, I will be satisfied.
It’s not yet knock-your-socks-off amazing, but this is only volume two, and I think it might get there eventually. I have one more volume here, but it looks like I’ll probably soon be picking up the rest.
Bakuman 1
Posted: February 4, 2011 Filed under: Bakuman 2 Comments »Tsugumi Ohba / Takeshi Obata – Viz – 2010 – 10+ volumes
So I actually read the second volume of this first, and fell in love with it immediately. I could tell that the first volume would have a lot of material I wasn’t going to be interested in (the Jump editorial processes were what I liked best, and that all starts in volume two), and now that I’ve read it, I’m glad I started with the second.
The only thing I didn’t like about the second volume was the relationship between Mashiro and Azuki. They can’t go out until they’ve both succeeded in highly unlikely professional positions? Mashiro wants to be hugely popular before he turns 18 because after that there’s no point if Azuki can’t do a voice in his anime? Before their respective dreams are fulfilled, the two won’t even talk? Yeah… that’s a little hard for me to swallow. All that has rather elaborate groundwork in this volume that’s even harder to swallow. I get that both characters are shy, but that shy? Really? Also, their relationship happens to parallel another one that they find out about later? Sorry, that’s just too much. It made me lose a lot of respect for Mashiro, because while he is great at everything else, this aspect of his character is so primary and ridiculous that it’s difficult to overlook.
And that’s more or less what this volume is about, setting the relationship between Mashiro and Azuki up as motivation for future volumes. There is a lot about manga, too, but it’s mostly motivational groundwork for what comes later, and I’m more interested in process. I did like all the information about Mashiro’s uncle, who is interesting in that his career was neither a failure nor hugely successful. Every time his name appears, something good comes of it. He’s a great character to have around, which is important now that I like Mashiro so much less.
The best thing about this volume is the working relationship between Mashiro and Takagi. Takagi is a fun, eccentric, and very driven character, and the kick in the pants he gives Mashiro almost made me want to draw manga. His reasoning is very logical and L-like (the Death Note references fly fast and heavy early on), only way less creepy than L. He’s also great at nudging Mashiro and saying just the right thing, and conversely, Mashiro is good at smoothing out his rough edges and saying things that get Takagi thinking. The fact that they get along so well and are such a successful team is wonderful, and even if the manga process stuff wasn’t there, the teamwork between them would be worth reading about.
Also, now I understand why people think this series is sexist. I am the absolute last person that should ever enter any discussion on sexism due to the fact gender roles honestly don’t occur to me, so when I notice something, you have a problem. And, quite frankly, the only thing I am likely to notice is something obvious like “Men have dreams that women will never be able to understand.” That is so blatant as to be hilarious. I want that panel blown up on my wall, especially since it is completely serious and a turning point in the volume. Also, because I was looking for it, I realized that Takagi’s explanation of why Azuki was likable borders on “She’s smart because she knows her place as a woman.”
I didn’t like this first volume, and would have hesitated to pick up the second if I hadn’t read it first. The relationship Mashiro is pursuing is over-explained and silly, and not at all the most interesting part of the story, yet takes the center stage here. I worry that it will come back later to bite me. I’d rather just read about Takagi and Mashiro making manga, and the second volume seems to indicate the story favors that, but now I really need to read the third volume to find out if it’s more about manga or the relationship. Or maybe it takes a turn for some Death Note-style weird. I’d be on board for that, too.
Your & My Secret 6
Posted: February 4, 2011 Filed under: Your and My Secret 5 Comments »Ai Morinaga – Tokyopop – 2010 – 7+ volumes
I’m still a volume behind on this series, which is a tragedy considering how much I like Ai Morinaga. I was a little worried that this series wasn’t going anywhere, but new characters in this volume make me think we might begin to see some very slight forward momentum. And while we’re waiting, it’s still full of funny stuff. This one wasn’t one of the better volumes, but Ai Morinaga always makes me laugh out loud at least a few times per volume.
We get to see the return of Momoi’s parents, who know immediately that Momoi is not herself when she greets them politely. They are even more shocked to find that the person inhabiting her body is a boy, since he seemed so much more feminine than Momoi. They, of course, insist on the switch back. Honestly, this would seem to spell out the end of the series, but after certain events that take place this volume, and considering where all the relationships are, I think dealing with the aftermath will be interesting, too.
On the other hand, there are some wordless panels where Momoi’s father is enjoying Akira’s feminine attentions, so it’s possible that Momoi’s father may break the machine himself when it’s fixed again. Hmm. Not cool.
Let’s see, what else… there’s still a lot of funny character interaction. It’s toned way down this volume since Momoi’s parents coming is a major plot point, and we get movement in the Senbongi/Akira relationship that takes a lot of story time, so there’s less of the one-shot gags. But there’s still great panels of Senbongi and Momoi clasping hands with a promise of borrowed porn, or Momoi pointing out her father looks like Spock because he was clearly drawn to look like him for no reason. But I don’t mind taking a break from non-stop gags in order to move the story forward. As I said the new plot points don’t move the story forward a whole lot, but for a series that has been mostly one-shot gag stories and minute character/relationship development since volume one, having the elements in place to move the story forward is pretty serious business.
Also, even if no story had actually taken place here, this volume would be worth reading for the short “what if” story in the back about Akira swapping bodies with grandpa instead of Momoi. That story… it was wrong on so many levels. It had me absolutely howling. It’s a different set of jokes than the normal gender swap stuff, too. Pure gold.
20th Century Boys 13
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: 20th Century Boys 1 Comment »Naoki Urasawa – Viz – 2011 – 24 volumes
Wow. I wondered about the aftermath of… well, the Friend/Shogun business last volume. Naoki Urasawa really knocks my socks off with his skills at facial expressions and pacing. When a news announcer is speaking of the Friend at the beginning of the volume, there’s a series of panels where he silently moves through a few different facial expressions that are not only wonderful (a lot of artists have trouble nailing facial expressions this subtle), they convey better than words just how shocking the news really is.
Aside from the Earth-shattering and spoileriffic news, and the wonder of just how deep the Friend’s plans go, there were a handful of little things I really enjoyed. I loved seeing Maruo unite with the main Kenji faction (which has everyone accounted for at this point save for Kenji himself, right?), and I also really liked the background story about his boss, the celebrity Haru Namio. I knew there was a story behind him, and it was a pretty classy (if slightly cheesy) one.
I also liked seeing Kyoko’s slow transition from empty-headed schoolgirl to a player with a vested interest in what goes down in the Friend organization. Seeing her fear about what’s happening on the news broadcast contrasted with her group of school friends and their relatively petty concerns was interested, and I loved that her friend was the link that took us into the new direction for the series.
And yeah, the series does shift gears here. Radically. There are hints that it was coming, but given the… extreme actions taken at the end of last volume, something big had to happen in order for the characters to move on and tackle another challenge.
It… uh, reminded me a lot of The Stand. Different countries and all, but the little peek at what was happening in the US definitely helped me make the connection.
Yeah. As always, this is great stuff. Every volume really throws you for a loop, but these last two have really turned things in a different direction. I think there will be plenty of death and devastation in the volumes to come, and I’m very interested in seeing how the Kenji faction will manage to take on the Friends as “terrorists” in the face of a globally-loved political group.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Kizuna 1
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: Kizuna | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Kazuma Kodaka – June – 2010 – 11 volumes
This is an omnibus containing vols 1-2 of the original series
I am a sucker for any BL “classic,” and with it being good enough for another company to pick it up and re-release it in English, I had to give this a try. It reminded me a lot of Zetsuai/Bronze, by Minami Ozaki. Boy did it ever remind me of Zetsuai/Bronze. There was the murky family background for one of the characters that culminated in a car accident for the partner. The car accident alone did it for me, but Kizuna will need about three or four more of those to catch up to Bronze. There’s also a really strange, slightly confusing, but still enjoyable timeline that struck me as similar to the early volumes of Bronze as well. One of the partners was gifted at a sport, enough to garner national attention, though here it was kendo and Bronze was soccer. And both have a melancholy air to them, a well-established couple (or a lack of a triangle, if you prefer), and both the couples are older.
That’s not to say that it’s a bad thing. They’re both firmly rooted in the early 90s, and I fell instantly in love with Zetsuai when I read it a year or two ago. Zetsuai is ridiculously, hilariously dark, and Kizuna has a little bit of an advantage in that it’s marginally more realistic and lacks the creepy stalker factor.
I like the main couple in Kizuna a lot. Kei and Ranmaru make an excellent and very believably romantic couple. This book is a little strange, because I think the first volume was some sort of trial run for the series and the second is when it began its serialization. The same story is told twice here, but the second time through we get a lot more detail and more melodrama. Basically, Kei is the son of a yakuza lord, and due to some struggles with his family and his younger brother Kai, a hit-and-run that was targeted at him winds up gravely injuring Ranmaru, who has to give up his promising career in kendo. In the first version, Ranmaru seems mostly fine (it’s a bit of a mystery why he gave up kendo), and the emphasis is on a reconciliation between brothers Kei and Kai. In the second version, Ranmaru is injured very badly, and we see a lot of his rehabilitation and the struggle both Kei and Kai have with giving up a lover (in Kei’s case) and a role model (for Kai, who looked up to Ranmaru in kendo).
There are also some very nice, very sweet background chapters about Kei and Ranmaru. One story covers their meeting in the first year of junior high, when they were both young. Another chapter covers a reunion between the two in the first year of high school, when they finally start to date. In the first version of the story, Kei and Ranmaru are young men in college, but in the second version, they are seniors in high school. As I mentioned earlier, they’re a great couple. The drama doesn’t come from either of them or any doubts in their relationship, but rather from Kai and Kei’s family and the situations that arise as a result of the yakuza connections. In fact, it’s Kei and Ranmaru and their love for each other that tend to get both of them through the rough times.
The only problems I had with it were the narrative. Like I said, it repeats a significant chunk of story, and I had a hard time understanding it was re-telling the same thing. Also, the story is a little bad about leaving out important details. It might be intended as foreshadowing, but it just feels a little choppy, and I didn’t understand that it was going back to tell those details later. It never verges off the path into incomprehensibility, though, and the stories that are told are quite entertaining as well as romantic.
I also liked the art a bit. The men are pretty manly while staying delicate-looking, and I love the way Kodaka draws eyes. The character designs are a little 90s-looking, but that’s a good thing for me. I love those styles, though I am a little sad they lack the massive shoulders one could find in a series like Bronze or RG Veda. I did have some problems telling Kai and Ranmaru apart early on, but it gets easier as the book goes on.
So far, I’d highly recommend it to BL fans, or even shoujo fans that like a dark story. There’s quite a bit of sex in it, so be advised, but it’s about more than just the sex, and Ranmaru and Kei make for a great couple with a lot of non-relationship drama to deal with. The narrative is a little scrambled here, but the second half of the book is great, and a lot of the problems seem to be gone by the end of the omnibus. I’m a little afraid that if it continues to be dramatic, it might resort to shaking the foundations of the relationship, but maybe I’m worrying for nothing. I did love what I read here. It’s rare to find a BL book with such a good story and good characters, and I loved what I read here. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second volume.
Black Bird 7
Posted: February 1, 2011 Filed under: Black Bird 2 Comments »Kanoko Sakurakoji – Viz – 2011 – 12+ volumes
Yes, I am still ridiculously addicted to this series. What can I say? It’s got mythology, lots of romance, and lots of angst and darkness. And none of the characters are actively irritating. These are all things I enjoy in my shoujo. The main character is some sort of demon, too, which is almost a guarantee I’ll like it.
Is it good? Well, at this point, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the plot isn’t… well, isn’t really heading in a steadily forward direction, and it’s rehashing a lot of old ground. What seems like a serious issue turns out to be a feint with no consequences, something that just stirs the characters up. Normally I would hate this, but Misao and Kyo get along so well that I love watching them needle each other light-heartedly like that, no matter how serious things seem. The question comes back around to the two of them not being able to have sex, despite wanting it badly. Then, surprise surprise, having sex may actually save Kyo from a terrible fate when a demon slayer shows up to live with Misao and wants to purge the world of Kyo and every other demon.
Do I think that those two are ever going to do the deed? No, this is a pretty tame series, despite some seriously steamy overtones. And when I say “tame,” I mean… it does get pretty… spicy at times. In this one, Misao buys Kyo chocolate frosting for Valentine’s Day, then coats him in it and licks it off. It’s one of the most erotic actions I’ve ever seen performed in a shoujo manga. It’s even got Sensual Phrase beat at the moment. But Kyo and Misao don’t have sex, and actively put it off again and again. I do like that they are aware of the sexual side of their feelings and are discussing it, but in this context, the magical barrier makes for a terrible excuse not to indulge.
The mythology elements aren’t really going anywhere, but I still like them. The dragon business didn’t go at all like I thought, and we might get to see or hear about other demons now that the demon slayer has entered the story, but something tells me that we’re just going to get a lot more Misao and Kyo.
Which is fine, honestly. I like both of them, and I like reading about their relationship. It may have started to circle back on itself, but the angst and drama, combined with their genuine affection for one another, is balanced pretty well here, and with all the steamy non-sex business, I think a lot of teen girls will probably eat this up. I know I do, and likely will continue to do so as long as things don’t get too over-the-top dramatic or ridiculous.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Ratman 1
Posted: February 1, 2011 Filed under: Ratman 2 Comments »Inui Sekihiko – Tokyopop – 2010 – 7+ volumes
I think the record will show that I love sentai series. Heroes Are Extinct, Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders, Dokkoida, and Imperfect Hero are more or less the only ones that have been published in English, and I’m probably the only person that read Imperfect Hero. There’s something about the way a sentai series absolutely has to goof off and use bizarre, self-referential humor to point out the ridiculousness of the situations that appeals to me immensely. I think the humor doesn’t translate well, which is why we don’t see more in English, but their utter weirdness comes across nicely, and I tend to love them regardless of whether or not they wind up being good. I did not realize Ratman fell into this genre, or I would have been waiting at the head of the line to pick it up. I’m late to the party on this, and I’m sorry for that.
Strictly speaking, on a geek level, neither this nor Dokkoida are sentai, but are more single costumed hero-based, where sentai work as a team. I think the difference is that sometimes you can make a serious single hero series, like Kikkaider, whereas sentai are just too silly. It’s all the same to me, and if the main character realizes that dressing in a suit to whomp other guys in suits doesn’t make any sense, it’s done its job as a proper sentai manga.
Anyway. Shuto is a serious hero otaku. In his world, heroes are real, and they dress in costumes not only to do heroic things, but to do the Booster Gold-type endorsement deal stuff, too. He wants to be one when he grows up. Badly. But he’s a runt, and not a terribly heroic person. Luckily, he’s given a suit and the power… you know where this is going. He gets turned into a hero and gets to fight an enemy. Except not quite as he had planned. And yet, things might be a lot different than he thinks they are, too.
Vague enough for you? I don’t really want to spoil any of the surprises, because I was very entertained with the various twists this volume had in store. It treads a well-worn path with both a sense of humor and with enough divergence to make things interesting. There’s a pretty standard cast of characters, including the heroic spunky girl that Shuto looks up to, mysterious girl that Shuto winds up becoming friends with, maniacal older sister, some strange elderly types, et cetera. Actually, some of those aren’t all that standard, but none of them are more than introduced here, so they are little more than faces at this point. The chapters are more than one-shots, and it’s clear that the plot is going somewhere fairly soon. I’m surprised to see that it’s seven volumes and continuing, because while the idea of Shuto becoming a hero and the theories that appear to be behind his motivation are good ones, I can’t see any as ideas that would bear up for any length of time.
The sense of humor is bizarre and appropriate to such a series. It’s a little more serious than these usually are, but has plenty of jokes to suit my taste. Ratman is accompanied by silent skeleton minions that are anything but subtle that are simply called “Jackies.” I have no idea why. I loved the reasons behind choosing Shuto as Ratman, I love watching Shuto geek out over the heroes, I love the strange organization Ratman works for, and I love the way that the fights are completely serious and somewhat grotesque, in that Ratman tends to fight with his… uh, teeth.
It’s good stuff, funny, and I’m happy I picked it up. Sentai series like this are rare as hen’s teeth in English, and I’m willing to support them through any means. Especially when the first volumes are as appealing as this one was.
