Yurara 5
Posted: April 11, 2011 Filed under: Yurara 1 Comment »Chika Shiomi – Viz – 2008 – 5 volumes
Having read almost all of Rasetsu at this point, I knew how this series ends, so there was little in the way of surprises in this volume. And unfortunately, other than Mei, none of the characters really grew on me. I liked it okay in parts, but… it’s just not as good as Rasetsu. Comparing them is unfair to Yurara, because Yurara came first and all good things start somewhere, but… it’s hard to recommend this when the other is out there, doing a better job.
One of my biggest problems with the ending was that it seemed like a revelation to all the characters that Yurara was not cheating on Mei with Yako, but rather that the spirit-Yurara had the crush on Yako. I thought this had been established last volume, but Yurara was very relieved when it hit her, that she didn’t like both boys at once. And then there was a big crisis, and Mei was all depressed and needed saving… blah blah blah.
The crisis actually made me lose a lot of respect for Yurara. It was meant to teach her that she needed her own powers (so that spirit-Yurara didn’t have to take over her body and fall all over Yako anymore), but to underscore this, she panicked and cried a lot, and did a damsel in distress thing that made me really angry. But again, I probably would have liked it a lot better if I didn’t know Rasetsu was out there, fending off a demon lover under her own steam and being awesome about it.
As down as I am about this series… yeah, I probably would have liked it a lot if I hadn’t read Rasetsu first. But again… Rasetsu is all kinds of awesome, and has better characters, haunting stories, and overall plot. The art is better, it’s probably written for a slightly older audience, too… I like Chika Shiomi a lot, and this is an okay, middle-of-the-road series, just not compared to her others. I’m picking up Night of the Beasts next.
Sand Chronicles 10
Posted: April 11, 2011 Filed under: Sand Chronicles 1 Comment »Hinako Ashihara – Viz – 2011 – 10 volumes
I completely forgot I hadn’t read the last volume of this series. The main story ended in volume 8, so this was just more supplementary material, this time looking at the life of Ann and Daigo. Mostly Daigo.
After I started reading it, I remembered why I was reluctant to pick up more. As much as I liked Sand Chronicles, I began to get frustrated with Ann later on. She just couldn’t be happy. It’s not something I can relate to, so I was frustrated when the combination of life dumping on her and her bad decisions, turning away from happiness, began to culminate into something ugly at the climax of the series. I like drama, but this series was a little depressing and unrelenting, with few happy moments to lighten things up. At least for me.
This story… reminded me a lot of what I didn’t like about this admittedly wonderful series. It was about Daigo’s life as a grade school teacher. He draws a lot of inspiration from one of his former teachers, and he goes so far as to bring her back into his life when their paths happen to cross again. Ann is happy for Daigo, since he finds he’s on uncertain ground with a lot of his current students, and this teacher’s advice really helps him. But later, Ann finds out from a gossipy neighbor that the teacher is lying about her personal life, and the source of much of her life’s inspiration. The fact that she is a teacher, and lying, becomes an ugly truth that casts the worth of all her good advice into doubt.
I was pretty appalled by this. The issue is the type of personal detail that… is really nobody’s business. The type of thing that you would ignore out of politeness if you found out the truth. And it has no bearing whatsoever on the advice the teacher’s given Daigo, in the past and present, but it’s a major crisis of faith for both Daigo and Ann. That the smooth sailing of the story is significantly rocked by something like this is, again, one of the problems I have. The characters just… love to look for reasons why they can’t be happy.
Obviously, this short story does have a happy end, and there’s a lot of awesome moments, too, the type of things that make this series worth reading. The series has a big emphasis on making memories and holding onto happiness, both in the past and present (but again, I take issue with the fact that the reasoning seems to be that you do this because you can’t be happy all the time). The story begins with Daigo opening a time capsule he made in grade school along with Fuji and others from the series, and there’s a lot of discussions and flashbacks about what they found in it. There’s also a lot of flashbacks to Daigo’s grade school days as his students do things that remind him of Fuji and himself. He goes to great lengths to do events like mochi pounding, star gazing, and other activities that the students genuinely enjoy, and the students themselves have a lot of small conflicts and inner turmoil that’s resolved by Daigo and other events. There’s lots of cute little moments that do a good job of reflecting regular, every day fleeting glimpses into life, and it’s a wonderful little story because of that. I just wish the drama wasn’t over something so petty and irrelevant.
This series is a definite classic, it’s just one that didn’t sit right with me. It’s the type of thing I’m still happy to recommend though, because it is very good shoujo, and I liked these side stories in the last two volumes a lot. The whole series is full of little moments that resonate true to life, as opposed to the slightly more comedic dramas I prefer. And at ten volumes, it’s not too much of a time or money investment.
Knights of the Zodiac 26
Posted: April 11, 2011 Filed under: Knights of the Zodiac 1 Comment »Masami Kurumada – Viz – 2008 – 28 volumes
Aww. These kept getting better and better, and I was a little sad to see things level off here. Actually, come to think of it, when I say “level off,” I just mean that the fighting was way less insane. There are still some mind-boggling plot points on display here.
My enthusiasm was diminished somewhat by a rather stereotypical scene of Hades being… purged, for lack of a better and non-spoiler word. If there’s one thing this series is not, it’s stereotypical. The characters are constantly doing things that defy logic, so seeing them sit through what is mostly a long pep talk, spouting the usual lines for this situation, wasn’t that cool.
What was cool was the fact that the characters then face… the Wall of Lamentation. The Wall of Lamentation is a wall that can only be passed by the gods, and of course Sienna/Athena and Hades go behind this wall after the initial purging. So how can Seiya and the other bronze knights follow? Virgo Shaka uses his powers to try to get through, and I’d like to think he’s almost a god, but he doesn’t make a dent. And if the cosmic powers of Virgo Shaka can’t make a dent, Seiya’s Meteor Punch doesn’t do much good a little later, either.
So how can we get past the Wall of Lamentation?
It will take all the Gold Knights. There is a power that triggers only when all 12 are together. I don’t even know how they figure out they need this power, but they do.
“But half of them are dead!” you say.
That never stopped anybody in Saint Seiya.
And it was spectacular.
Kimi ni Todoke 8
Posted: April 3, 2011 Filed under: Kimi ni Todoke 4 Comments »Karuho Shiina – Viz – 2011 – 13+ volumes
You know, reading this got me thinking. I was praising Dragon Girl for having a strong heroine who wasn’t afraid to be herself, but also wasn’t the stereotypical butt-kicker or aggressive girl in charge. And it’s true that many shoujo series feature timid heroines that are too afraid to speak up to their crush or stand up to people who bully them. This volume is all about how Sawako is growing increasingly more flustered around Kazehaya and doesn’t know what to say to him or how to approach him. But what makes Sawako such a great heroine, someone who’s easy to root for, where so many others are completely forgettable and mostly annoying with their weak will?
I think it’s that Shiina does such a good job of showing us just how introverted Sawako really is. Sawako has a limited circle of friends, and is a real homebody. She’s just learning how to deal with people. It would be truly devastating if she were to get her heart cruelly broken, though I’m not sure it would be so disastrous if Kazehaya politely turned her down and continued to be her friend. And it’s a lot of fun to see Sawako’s friends guide her through the process of building a relationship with Kazehaya, supporting her all the while. It’s a very positive, supportive environment, and even the moments of drama are wonderfully handled and turn into time well spent.
This volume is all about fine-tuning the relationship between Sawako and Kazehaya. Both are growing unsure about how to respond to one another, and it becomes clear that Kazehaya feels the same way about Sawako as she does about him. But Kazehaya is scared of pushing Sawako into a relationship, afraid she would go out to him as a sort of friendship obligation and never really tell him if she didn’t really love him. The concerns on both sides are well-considered and unusually touching and valid, and watching the supporting cast trying to push both characters together is also a lot of fun.
A new character named Kento Miura (which cracks me up every time he appears since I can only think of Kentaro Miura, the artist of Berserk… a connection that is probably near-impossible to make if you were reading this series in Japanese) appears in this volume when the characters switch classes for their junior year, and he sends red flags up in my mind. Outwardly very kind and outgoing, he goes to great lengths to draw Sawako out of her shell and make her smile and act comfortably around others. But he’s also rather bossy in his outgoing nature, and Ayane and Chizuru both put up their guard against him. He also easily spots that Kazehaya favors her, and has a couple talks with him that throw Kazehaya’s relationship with Sawako into doubt. And yet it doesn’t seem like Kento wants to date Sawako, or is even trying to lead her on in that respect. It just looks like he’s trying to be a friend and look out for her best interests.
Again, this is one of my absolute favorite shoujo series running at the moment, and I adore every new volume to pieces. While the situations aren’t that unusual for a shoujo manga, it has a wonderful cast of characters that make it very unique. This volume makes it seem like the situation between Sawako and Kazehaya may be settled quite soon, and it leaves off with a wicked cliffhanger that will make the wait to volume 9 a very long one.
This volume was provided by Viz.
You’re Under Arrest 1
Posted: April 3, 2011 Filed under: You're Under Arrest Leave a comment »Kosuke Fujishima – Dark Horse – 1997 – 7 volumes
only two volumes were published in English
I work at a used bookstore, and when I see old stuff come in, I just have to grab it sometimes. I knew full well I wouldn’t enjoy this, but it is old, and it’s by Kosuke Fujishima, who went on to write Oh My Goddess, which I do enjoy. I guess I just had to know.
Dark Horse does me a favor by putting a summary on the back that tells me everything I need to know: “They’re part Cagney and Lacey, part Thelma and Louise, part Barbie and Skipper! They’re BABES with BADGES!” Oh boy.
Dark Horse also didn’t start at the beginning of this series, apparently because Fujishima’s art comes a long way in the first five volumes (I like his art a lot, and he does use a lot of detail and some good/bizarre fashion choices in this series, but this definitely doesn’t look nearly as good as Oh My Goddess). As a result, the wacky madcap hijinx start right up, and we’re not given the buffer of any sort of introductions or the like. Granted, there’s not much to know (there are two female characters, one is outgoing and one is shy, both are policewomen, and both look the same save for the bizarre girl-mullet on one), but we aren’t even really told the girls’ names. There is one panel on the second page where they call each other by name, but that’s all we get save for when they happen to call out to each other.
Anyway, Natsumi is the outgoing girl and Miyuki is the shy one. A chapter about trick-or-treat had me doubting whether or not this took place in Japan (it went out of its way to explain what trick-or-treat was), but I think it does. Otherwise, it’s half car porn and half unfunny over-the-top police comedy. The car porn was something I expected, since Fujishima clearly enjoys going into a lot of detail about motorcycles and stuff in the early volumes of Oh My Goddess, but here it’s even more excruciating. Miyuki and Natsumi discuss engines and whatnot at length in the middle of what should be an action scene, and there is a chapter or two of racing that are like the early race chapters of Oh My Goddess (heavy on technique, light on plot), except without the endearing characters.
Parts that are not car porn usually deal with panty theft across the city, a boyfriend for Miyuki, a co-worker getting re-acquainted with an old classmate, and things like that. Bizarrely, Natsumi and Miyuki seem to work on an all-female police force, and other than the supervisors, there are very few glimpses of male coworkers save for Miyuki’s beau. Most of the jokes play on different character types rather than on character personality, and aren’t funny, so not a whole lot of character development happens. Other than Miyuki’s beau’s father appearing in two consecutive chapters, there’s also no overarching plot to speak of.
The lettering is nice, though. I did appreciate that.
But otherwise, this… isn’t that great. It’s definitely a product of the 80s and early 90s, and if you’re a fan of the buddy cop genre and like a little mindless fun, it might be worth checking out. But really, if it hadn’t been written by Kosuke Fujishima, I think this series would be entirely forgotten.
Actually, I take that back. This has had a mind-blowing number of anime adaptations. Like, three OAVs, a movie, three different anime series (one that ran for over 50 episodes), and a live-action drama series. It’s more-or-less been continually animated since the 80s. This is the type of formula that plays better on TV than on the page, but even so… geez.
Gorgeous Carat 1
Posted: April 2, 2011 Filed under: Gorgeous Carat | Tags: BL 2 Comments »You Higuri – Blu – 2006 – 4 volumes
Oooh… it’s depressing to think this series came out 5 years ago. I am so old.
Anyway. I mentioned You Higuri is an artist I like to pick up whenever I can, since she really knocked my socks off with Ludwig II. Unfortunately, most of her work is a little disappointing. It’s always got lots of fun stuff in it, and I love her European settings… but they are never quite as interesting as I hope. Not bad, just not nearly as engrossing as, say, a series about Cesare Borgia being possessed by a demon should be.
There are a lot of You Higuri series I have yet to pick up that came out before I read Ludwig II, most of them BL titles like this one. Gorgeous Carat and Gakuen Heaven seem to be her biggest claims to fame. Fans may be happy to hear that a new Gakuen Heaven series started a month or so ago in Princess Gold, so there’s more where that came from.
So far, I’ll admit, I really like this one. Again, I like the way Higuri uses European settings, I love her art, and so far, this series focuses on only two characters, one of whom is a mysterious jewel thief. There’s a lot of things going for it there. I also appreciated the fact that, while Florian, the busted aristocrat, was sold off and tortured, at least he wasn’t raped. In fact, there was no sex in this volume, which is unheard of for a BLU manga.
The Phantom Thief Noir, aka Ray, is after the largest diamond in the world, the Flame of Mughal, and Florian Rochefort’s family has possession of it. Florian’s mother, an aristocrat on a downslide and with no hope for more income, still has her aristocratic pride but refuses to part with the diamond. Unfortunately, several parties know she has possession of it, and all of them conspire against the Rocheforts. Ray, in his rich aristocrat role, offers to purchase the diamond for a considerable sum that would put Florian’s mother back into the Paris social spotlight, but she refuses. As a backup, Ray then offers to buy her beautiful son Florian. After some hand-wringing, Florian agrees to go with Ray for the good of his mother. He is promptly tortured for his efforts, and all is for naught when his family’s mansion burns to the ground. Another story in the second half of the volume sees both sheltering Petit Noel, the son of the wealthiest banker in Paris and the keeper of two very rare double star sapphires.
It’s got a promising beginning so far, and both wimpy Florian and testy Noir are fairly easy to like. I appreciate that they haven’t jumped into bed together yet (I assume, being a famous BL title, that it will happen eventually), and I like the two Phantom Thief Noir stories that took place in this volume. There are some bizarre plot twists (particularly at the end of the Flame of Mughal story), and sometimes the stories feel a little messy and fast-paced, but they’re easy to like, and of a much higher quality than most BL stories. I feel pretty confident that things will snap into place within the next volume or so, and the Phantom Thief Noir plots will grow tighter while both Florian and Noir are fleshed out into even more likable characters.
Unfortunately, this is one of those series that went out of print and experienced a price spike (the second volume is hard to come by… yikes!), but it’s one of the most enjoyable Higuri titles I’ve picked up since Ludwig II, and it might be worth the scramble for three and four. There’s also a supplementary volume called Gorgeous Carat Galaxy published by June that is still floating around, although it also looks like its at the end of its publishing life cycle, and might be worth getting sooner rather than later.
Dragon Girl 2
Posted: April 2, 2011 Filed under: Dragon Girl Leave a comment »Toru Fujieda – Del Rey – 2011 – 2 volumes
this is an omnibus containing the last half of volume 3 and volumes 4-5
Man, I liked this series a lot, despite the fact I drug my feet about reading it the past couple days. As I said last time, the ouendan theme is very unique, as is Rinna, the main character. She’s not unsure of herself, or a sad sack, or any sort of doormat. She’s cheery, outgoing without being aggressive, and just an all-around great character to take the spotlight in a series like this. She goes through her doubts and periods of sadness, and the usual themes of friendship and whatnot pull her through, but there she is at the end, cheering everyone on, being exactly who she wants to be. Plus, it’s hard to fault a character who is shown hugging their dad rather than their crush on the front of the book.
Granted, her beau is left as a mystery until the end of the book. She falls in love with a mysterious character named Subaru, who sort of leads her on before dumping her coldly, but he may have a reason to do this. She’s also catching the eye of the school’s resident bitter introvert, and the big-hearted captain of the squad is also in love with her. One thing I like about both this series and Fujieda’s other, Oyayubihime Infinity, is that the love interest isn’t decided until the very end of the book. She does a good job keeping the reader guessing. I was hoping for a little more of an upset this time around, but she mixes things up enough that it’s not completely cut-and-dry.
The story this time was a little more soap-opera-ish than the last volume (which one of the characters points, out, too). Rinna has to deal with her father’s past, some drama surrounding her private life getting mixed up with a rival school, Yaotome’s emotional coming out, a whole lot of family issues… and… yeah, she runs away from home for awhile, too. That’s a shame, because her father and grandma are two of the coolest family members you’ll see in a shoujo manga, but she does have her reasons. Also, there’s the real plot of the series, which is Rinna’s attempt to get the ouendan cheering squad back to the forefront of student activities and re-instated as a school club.
This is three volume’s worth of story, so I can’t go into too much detail without spoiling it, but a series about a cheering squad is pretty much guaranteed to be a lot of fun, and the shoujo manga parts of it ensure romance and drama aplenty for those who want it. But because there was so much general crazy going on, the one thing that had me a little disappointed is that it felt like some parts could have gone into more detail, and that would have drawn me in a little more. I always feel like pointing out when something isn’t the best series I’ve ever read… and yeah, this isn’t. But it is a lot of fun, and it has more going for it than most mid-ground shoujo series.
Also, it’s worth pointing out that the spines of the two omnibus volumes form a picture of Rinna. I always get a kick out of spine images, and they’re used so infrequently (Dragonball, hardcover Buddha volumes, Vagabond VizBig volumes, the narrative running down the spine of Detective Conan). It’s worth pointing out and appreciating them when they do appear.
Cheerleading, a great main character, an upbeat mood, and great shoujo manga elements make this a hard one to pass up, and the two-volume omnibus format makes it even harder. It has its flaws, but it’s unusual enough that many shoujo fans will probably want to check it out.
