Sensual Phrase 5
Posted: May 1, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase Leave a comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2004 – 18 volumes
I took a little break from this series, but I’m going to try and polish it off before the end of the month. I’ve got several long shoujo series waiting to be read, and I’m sure they are all better than this one.
But will I enjoy them more? Sensual Phrase is an absolute riot, and I love every page. It… it isn’t good, but it is extraordinarily entertaining if you’re into this type of thing.
It’s just so unabashedly cheesy. It’s not trying to be anything but the absolute sweetest fanservice. The two main plot points in this volume were Aine getting hypnotized into thinking she was the sister of Sakuya’s romantic rival, and then Sakuya getting hit by a car and on the cusp of death. Through thick and thin, Sakuya and Aine stay by each other, and I think that’s why it’s successful. There’s not a whole lot of doubt or drama between the two, which is where a lot of other shoujo manga get the fuel for plot twists like these. It is almost literally going through the motions with these storylines (there’s no overarching plot aside from the fact Sakuya and Aine are dating, and of course they aren’t going to split up), but there’s something about the faithfulness of the couple that makes it utterly compelling for a genre fan like me.
Then there’s the eye-popping smut that’s scattered throughout the volume. I think Sakuya and Aine have sex three times here, maybe four. There’s also a scene where pop idol Sakuya, in the middle of a concert, turns off the lights, then grabs amnesia-addled Aine from the crowd, brings her back to the stage, turns the lights back on, then re-enacts a steamy music video where he feels up a naked Aine. Live on stage. In front of thousands of screaming teens.
It’s a Harlequin romance for naughty teenagers.
There’s also the author talks, where Mayu Shinjo discusses J-Pop idols, songs, and concerts at length and talks about the fan consensus based on letters she receives from readers.
This whole series is a perfect storm of absolutely everything an average female teenager would love, and it doesn’t try to be anything else. It simply there to put butts in seats, so to speak.
