A Bride’s Story 1
Posted: June 30, 2011 Filed under: Bride's Story 5 Comments »Kaoru Mori – Yen Press – 2011 – 3+ volumes
Alas, I passed on Emma when it was being published by CMX. I’ve heard much of Kaoru Mori from fans of Emma, and all that praise can sometimes be difficult to live up to. But I was shocked by Bride’s Story.
It is beautiful. If nothing else, I was completely blown away by the art. It’s a period story, set in the nineteenth century, about a family living in a small village in Central Asia (I picture the Himalayas, but there is probably a reason it’s left ambiguous). There are a lot of detailed landscapes, and Mori takes full advantage of the setting by having the characters travel, hunt dramatically, go on leisurely rides, et cetera. That alone would be worth comment, but it’s the clothing that really impresses me. The women in particular all wear layered clothing made of many different pieces, and all of it has intricate patterns. Mori draws these costumes in every panel. I cannot get over just how stunning this is. That alone is worth the price of admission for me.
But let me back up a bit. The characters wouldn’t be wearing those clothes if this wasn’t a story set in central Asia. It’s an unusual setting, and focusing on one of the very rural tribes and the way they live makes for very interesting subject matter. It’s not every day you run across a story like this, and I can’t think of a single other Japanese, American, or European comic that looks at this culture. Mori mentions she was interested in the topic of the silk road when she was younger, and that’s how she came to do so much research. Thank goodness for that.
So you’ve got a highly unusual setting and subject matter, drawn with amazing skill. What about the story itself? It is among the “slice of life” genre. So far, we are treated to small stories in the day-to-day life of Amir, the bride, and Karluk, her husband. The pair lives with Karluk’s family, which includes his grandparents, his parents, his older sister and her husband, and her sister’s four children. It’s a lively household, especially with the four children running around, and all the characters are touched on to some extent. The youngest child takes his time studying a woodcarver, and we learn about the decoration on the houses and how they are made (another opportunity for Mori’s art to shine). Karluk and Amir go out to visit Karluk’s uncle, a member of a nomadic tribe that is believed to be nearby. Amir gets the opportunity to show off her bowhunting skill, and the children beg her to teach them the same. We learn the joys of pomegranates, rabbit stew, sleeping in a yurt, and redecorating a room with elaborate wall hangings.
The subject matter was interesting enough that I tore through this book. I literally could not get enough. It was incredibly interesting stuff. Towards the end of the book, there is a peek at some drama that looks about to unfold, but as far as I’m concerned, it could continue to be about the day-to-day life of Karluk and his family for the next dozen volumes and I’d probably be spellbound.
The age difference between Karluk and Amir (he’s 12, she’s 20) seems to be causing problems for some people, but I feel it’s simply a part of the culture in this story. It’s not creepy or dwelled upon heavily, it is merely a fact of life, and Mori treats the topic with respect. Karluk and Amir are clearly affectionate towards one another, but they clearly aren’t involved in a romantic relationship. And that their marriage is merely part of their culture is explained several times. In fact, Amir is apparently too old to be a new bride, and a lot of people look down on her for it. As for Karluk’s young age, apparently the youngest son inherits the family traditions, and that’s why he was married early.
The only thing that bothered me is that we are not privy to what Amir is thinking. We aren’t offered insight into the character’s thoughts, so everything we know is based off how they interact with others. Amir is very active and outgoing, and doesn’t let the fact people are baffled by her strange customs (she’s from a different tribe) bother her. And yet… she often looks puzzled or expectant. She seems to dote on Karluk like an older sister, too. These are both things that I would love to know her thoughts on, and since she is so far removed from what I know, I find it difficult to get into her head.
But getting to know her will come with time. I will savor every volume of this, and I’m dying to read more. Beautiful art, beautiful story, and highly unusual subject matter and setting. Could I ask for any more?
This was a review copy provided by Yen Press.
Seiho Boys’ High School 7
Posted: June 30, 2011 Filed under: Seiho Boys' High School Leave a comment »Kaneyoshi Izumi – Viz – 2011 – 8 volumes
I love this series. It makes me so happy to read it, and it’s so funny and charming that I can’t help but read the newest volume as soon as it arrives. It’s still a series of mostly unconnected short stories about the students in an all-boys high school, but that’s all it needs to be when the characters are as charming as these.
The first story is, unusually, about a character that isn’t in the main group. He’s a freshman, so a year younger than Maki and company. We learn about his self-professed cross to bear: a guy-crazy female friend he went to junior high with. He applied to Seiho, the isolated boys school, as a way to get away from her, but she continues to call him about her boy troubles and comes out to visit in order to hit on the other male students. This drives him crazy, as he has a crush on her and she looks in every direction but his. It’s a sweet and very indirect love story, and the chapter offers no good solution to the problem. The two continue on their troubled way.
One interesting thing about this story is that Maki plays the part of a bully. It almost hurt, seeing him being so cruel, even if it was for a good cause. I have no idea why he had to pick a fight in order to make his point. Uncharacteristic, I suppose, but it was definitely unusual.
Continuing on with stories that feature characters acting off, the next story is about good-looking, popular, dependable Kamiki. He suddenly snaps, and basically acts coldly and rude to just about everyone. He even tells off his girlfriend. We get some backstory about why Kamiki is the way he is, but it’s nothing terribly heavy. Seeing him being so mean is definitely a shock to the system, and it upsets all of the characters a great deal. And again, Maki picks a fight with him and they nearly come to blows. I wasn’t terribly satisfied with the resolution to this story, but I did like that the theme was about how even the perfect guy can have a bad day.
The next story was about a student teacher that all the boys admired for breaking down and raking them over the coals for their poor decision to go to a boys school, informing them that they would emerge tragically ill-prepared to deal with life among women. The boys admire him a great deal for this pep talk (there is a typical panel with the shocked faces of all the main characters thinking “This guy is totally qualified to prepare us for real life!”). Not believing that Maki, Kamiki, and Nogami have girlfriends, he pesters Maki to meet his until the two come to blows. This is resolved wonderfully and very realistically at the end of the story by none other than Erika herself.
The final story is an unusual one, about the friendship between Erika (Maki’s Girlfriend) and Miyaji (Kamiki’s girlfriend). It’s the type of bittersweet story that this series does so well, where Miyaji spends the whole story listing all the things she admires about Erika. In an attempt to make Miyaji feel better, Erika encourages her to repeatedly text Kamiki, and we see the other side of the conversation from earlier that ended with Kamiki blowing up at her. Miyaji then says many hurtful things to the brusque Erika, who refuses to comfort her. It’s al okay in the end, but seeing the friendship between the girls at work, what sweet Miyaji thinks of her wonderful friend and boyfriend, and seeing the other side of what some of the other stories show us is always a lot of fun.
And while these are all good stories, it’s just important to keep in mind that the key to Seiho is that it’s a genuinely funny manga with excellent characters. It knows just what to do to make these guys both funny and touching, and we have very little to work with save for the seemingly boring lives of the students in an isolated boys school. It always makes me laugh, and I love seeing the characters interact in every volume.
Funny, sweet, a little sentimental, and great at capturing the fun things about high school without being overly dramatic or going over-the-top with its jokes. I love it, and I can’t wait to see the next volume. It’s the last, and I’m very curious how a meandering series like this can be brought to a close.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Dengeki Daisy 2
Posted: June 29, 2011 Filed under: Dengeki Daisy 2 Comments »Kyousuke Motomi – Viz – 2010 – 10+ volumes
Suddenly, I got in the mood to read another volume of this series. I loved the first, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to get back to it.
Now I do. I read all four of the released volumes one after another. I love it to pieces, and am thoroughly addicted.
The set-up is very simple, that destitute Teru, who has no family to speak of, depends on an e-mail pal named Daisy, recommended by her recently deceased brother. And of course Daisy is the janitor at her high school. And of course she falls in love with the janitor, and has to talk to Daisy about it.
Volume 2 is mostly about Teru and Kurosaki getting used to each other. Since Teru’s apartment was ransacked last volume, she has nobody to turn to except Daisy, and since Kurosaki knows this, well… you know. He’s gotta take her in. This isn’t nearly as creepy, or romantic, as it sounds. Kurosaki seems to enjoy tormenting Teru thoroughly, and tends to send her away when there’s any sort of crack in his bully mask.
It works because the two of them have such a playful friendship going. The way they torment each other is genuinely funny, and although Teru is still kind of a tragic heroine at this point, the terrible fact that she has nobody to rely on save for Kurosaki is downplayed quite a bit. She’s a very bright, cheery girl for how much trouble she causes. And because their face-to-face relationship is so funny and casual, it makes it that much better to see Kurosaki reacting to Teru’s sweet letters to Daisy, and sending his own tender replies.
And Teru does get into a lot of trouble that Kurosaki has to save her from. Her recently deceased brother was a genius software developer, and there’s a subplot in this volume about certain characters close to Teru trying to get ahold of software. Knife fights and car accidents ensue. For being a poor, cheery girl, Teru does attract all sorts of trouble. That’s the one thing I have a little trouble with in this manga. In order to make Kurosaki and Teru’s relationship work, there has to be a lot of dark plot elements that they can pull each other through. Computer hacking stuff is used quite a bit, but it begins to get unbelievable when such dangerous stuff keeps happening to Teru, and all the drama almost seems like it’s spoiling a perfectly good romantic comedy.
But it is necessary, and the fact that it takes the shape of computer hacking is very, very interesting. I do like that about it.
But mostly, it’s all about Teru and Kurosaki. I live for every single moment between those two. There’s another character introduced this volume, named Riko, who knew both Teru’s brother and Kurosaki from the past. She’s also pretty awesome. She’s both hilarious and offers very good advice for Teru.
One thing that I find interesting is that… almost without exception, I hate relationships that involve teachers or big age gaps in series like this. But it doesn’t bother me when it’s Teru and Kurosaki. Perhaps because Kurosaki is such a rough-and-tumble delinquent that seems little better than a student himself, or perhaps because his role as custodian isn’t really one of guidance, like a teacher? But mostly, it’s probably just that the chemistry between them is so good that it doesn’t really matter what their ages are. That’s just one of my quirks, though.
Sorry, this was mostly a collection of general thoughts after reading such a huge chunk of the series. I’ll comment more specifically on the plot next time. But it’s good, and truly addictive. And it only gets better with every volume. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of shoujo manga.
Sensual Phrase 14
Posted: June 29, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase Leave a comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2006 – 18 volumes
I feel like the cheesy moment of zen for this volume has to be awarded to a more traditional, less cheesy line. In this case, presentation is everything. Aine is taking a train to live with her parents, and Sakuya has to stop her. He runs through the train station, getting recognized and mobbed by fans. Frustrated, he calls Aine, asking her where she is. She gets upset and doesn’t tell him, saying that he’s only making the separation harder. Then he runs up from behind her and grabs her. Instead of going to London to fulfill his dreams, he says… “I can’t dream without you” in a full-page, 100% cheesy illustration. Aww, Sensual Phrase. You can be so sweet.
So the big dramatic separation story that started last volume and I suspect might last through to the climax… lasts until halfway through this volume. The resolution, and the reason to put a stop to the separation, were… kind of good, in a shoujo manga way, I guess. The second story arc is about a band that is debuting in a position to come out on top of Lucifer. Funding this band and giving them everything he can is apparently Lucifer’s manager’s revenge on the members of Lucifer for copping out on their world tour. The head of this new band, Daisuke, has just filled Sakuya’s vacant seat at Aine’s school. And, of course, Daisuke wants Aine to write lyrics for him. After listening to E.MU’s music, Sakuya agrees.
And then we get yet another story where Sakuya is clearly using Aine as some sort of tool for revenge without telling her anything. I’m… not clear on why this is a reoccurring theme. It’s kind of hilarious whenever it happens though, because Sakuya makes no secret of the fact that he’s got something in mind, and it’s funny to me that he can only do a big reveal after the person in question has been thoroughly humiliated. It’s interesting at this point in the story that Aine trusts Sakuya enough to know that, when he starts being a cold jerk and shutting Aine off, it’s not her fault. I guess if she can trust him enough to let him date another girl long enough to jerk her around and humiliate her, this is nothing.
There’s this thing with Lucifer’s manager that is a bit interesting. It was revealed several volumes ago that Sakuya believed the man was only pretending to be gay, and the story has been dropping hints that the manager is in love with Aine. Well, it also mixes the hints with a healthy dose of threatened rape on occasion, but you know. This is interesting because Sensual Phrase is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, and it’s not really in its nature to let something like that go on for so long. Half a volume is about as much time as it needs to set up and follow through on a bit of drama, so the fact that this is an ongoing theme is passing strange. Makes me wonder if it will go someplace serious. Then again, I keep thinking that it may take stories in serious directions and never does, so it’s hard to say.
One more comment: the rival band in this story, E.MU? That’s from the Kaikan Phrase anime, then got turned into a real band, I guess. But it’s yet another real band that’s come full circle back into the comic. I still can’t believe that happens.
The Betrayal Knows My Name 1
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: Betrayal Knows My Name Leave a comment »Hotaru Odagiri – Yen Press – 2011 – 9+ volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols 1-2
Mmm. This series has one of the best titles. Makes you want to read it, right?
I’ll admit that I picked up this book knowing that I would more-or-less like it. It’s got pretty art, something to do with demons, and has a lot in common with X. It’s hard for me not to like a series like that. I loved this volume, in fact. Reading through it, though, part of me wondered if there was a huge bias on my part. There were some problems I spotted, but they just didn’t bother me. The fast pace and interesting characters seemed to negate the bad points. But I’ll talk my way through it here, and try to be as diplomatic as possible.
But seriously. I loved this book. It pains me to see that it’s only coming out twice a year. Thank goodness it’s an omnibus.
The story starts with an orphan boy named Yuki trying to make friends with a gloomy, rude boy in his class. Now, I read the omnibus edition of Little Butterfly at the same time I was reading this, and the openings to these stories are so similar it’s a little scary. They both even star chipper guys named Yuki. Other than the orphan thing, the premise is identical. Betrayal is, of course, not a romance though, and it takes a much different path.
Turns out Yuki is part of a family with… special powers. These family members are fighting an ancient war with a race of demons, and their powers are so special that they cannot be lost to death. They are reincarnated with their powers so that they can fight anew. The powers are usually channeled through some sort of weapon, but can also be things like, say, setting people on fire with your voice or whatever. Yuki can’t fight, but he has the power to heal wounds from demons and offer a boost to people with power. After some messiness with the gloomy boy in his class and a demon, Yuki is no longer an orphan, and moves in with his new family and learns more about demons and the powers these family members possess.
Also, Yuki seems to be in a contract with some sort of smoking hot and insanely powerful demon betrayer that only has eyes for Yuki and is extremely over-protective of him. Because this series ran in Asuka magazine, their relationship is not romantic. But it’s there, for anyone who wants to see it.
I love it. I love that Yuki isn’t powerful on his own, and I love that he is paired with a demon because I love demons unconditionally. I like the way this whole demon war thing is being set up, and I think it’s interesting that the characters seem to retain memories of their past lives. Yuki hasn’t recovered his yet. I also like that the reincarnated warriors fight in pairs, and that all of them seem to be interesting people, with their own strengths and weaknesses. There’s a few too many characters being introduced at once, but that the fighters are limited to three pairs and a leader so far is reasonable. I’m also very much looking forward to whatever secret role Yuki really fulfills in this family, and I am dying to know the demon Luca’s backstory.
There are some flags, though again, I think the strengths completely override them. The powers are… a little ill-defined at this point. We are told what they are, but we don’t really see them in play very much. Luca’s powers aren’t explained, and he fights more than anybody. It’s unclear why the family powers are tied to “weapons” that must be kept in “rings.” Except for Yuki.
Any story about teenagers with powers is a little suspect to me, honestly, and the premise of this series is a little generic. I like this story a lot, but the powers aren’t really a big enough part of the story to really let me defend them. Odagiri’s not really building a consistent world yet, where these powers can live and make sense. Maybe that’ll happen later, but her strengths lie in the characters she writes, so more time dedicated to developing the world is a bit of a double-edged sword if it neglects the characters.
There are a lot of similarities to X. Both series ran in Asuka, and this has very, very pretty art. Maybe I’m drawing unfair comparisons, because there are a whole lot of series like X. But X has two main characters with a relationship that’s… open to interpretation, to some extent. Both feature teenagers with different special powers. Both are fairly dark series. And both feature “barriers” that can leave the urban landscape looking unscarred after a battle. I picked all this out after not having read X in about six years and enjoying Betrayal immensely on its on credit. I hate calling it out on these points, because I don’t really think it’s an X clone. Still, though.
Having said all that, I like it for what it is. It’s a crowd-pleaser, and anyone looking for modern shoujo fantasy will probably eat it up. The characters are easy to like and the story moves fast enough that it’s easy to forgive its flaws and look forward to what happens next. Plus, though I made Luca the demon sound generic, he’s by far the most entertaining part of the story, and I am dying to see him in action some more. The release schedule is pretty excruciating, but considering the fact that it’s been running in Japan since 2005 and only has 9 volumes, the slow schedule here is probably for the best.
This was a review copy provided by Yen Press.
Gunslinger Girl 2 (omnibus ed.)
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: Gunslinger Girl 2 Comments »Yu Aida – Seven Seas Entertainment – 2011 – 12+ volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols 4-6
Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this series. The 3-in-1 format is also much appreciated. For me, who hasn’t read the series, it’s simply a good deal, but omnibus editions for the first six volumes serve the more practical purpose of rushing the content that’s already been published in English out to new readers, getting to the point where ADV left off in the translation more quickly so that older fans don’t have to wait through those first six books again.
What I enjoy most are still the shorter stories that serve to show the lives of the girls. There was definitely less of that in these three volumes, and there was a heavy emphasis on the politics at play for the bad guys that the girls are going up against. As much as I appreciate this (Aida does a wonderful job at establishing the setting and a convincing political situation), I found myself bored with just how much of it there was this time around. Volume 5 has almost nothing about the girls at all, instead focusing on the terrorists and what drives them to do what they do. This is somewhat balanced out by a fantastic confrontation between Triela and Pinocchio, one of the only action scenes in this omnibus and the most involved one the series has yet offered. The stories about the lives of the terrorists were quite good, and they were made much more interesting with some subtle parallels between their early lives and the lives of the handlers. But even so, it was strange to see so much story time that had so little to do with the girls themselves.
Aside from Triela’s fight, the highlight of the book for me was volume 6, when a new generation of cyborg girls is introduced. We meet the new handler, a very unusual gentleman named Ricci, and we meet the new cyborg girl both before and after she becomes a cyborg. Not only is she older than the other girls (she is a teenager, and made to look even a bit older than that), Ricci is not a military man, and uses deception and covert methods to approach his targets. His approach is so completely different from the other handlers that it’s hard to believe that the agency would condone such behavior. It makes for an interesting change of pace, especially after the story had been so light on the lives of the girls. I’m very curious to see more of those two in action.
And again, in case you missed my review of the first volume, one of the things I appreciate most about this series is how it takes a potentially creepy and unlikely premise (that little cyborg girls are trained as assassins and escorted around by older male “handlers”) and makes it truly interesting. It’s not a comedy. It’s not creepy in the ways that it ought to be. It’s genuinely unsettling what’s being done to the girls, and the story is good at contrasting their lives as everyday girls and their anxieties at pleasing their “brothers” (who are genuinely father figures in their lives and nothing more) and their “conditioning” as assassins. It’s a disturbing contrast, to be sure, and the story pulls no punches. And again, it does a really good job of splitting the time between vignettes of the girls doing little girl things as best they can and the political situations that form the basis of the missions that the girls are sent out on, mostly dealing with a specific group of Italian terrorists.
While my attention started drifting towards the middle of the omnibus, the focus on the new girl and the process of training the cyborg at the end of the volume really caught my attention again. And though I was less interested in the politics, I can’t say that they weren’t well-written. This is a wonderful series, and not one that I would have tried had I not been offered a review copy. I’m so glad I picked it up though, and I urge anyone who might be scared off by the premise to read a plot summary to see if might appeal to you anyway. I promise that anything potentially off-putting is truly negated, and on top of that, it’s extremely well-written and does a wonderful kind of justice to its bizarre premise.
This was a review copy provided by Seven Seas.
Little Butterfly (omnibus ed.)
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: Little Butterfly | Tags: BL 2 Comments »Hinako Takanaga – June – 2010 – 1 volume
this is an omnibus containing vols 1-3
Despite the fact that Hinako Takanaga has a lot of work published in English, I’ve only sampled two of her other series: Challengers and The Tyrant Falls in Love, neither of which I was very fond of. A 3-in-1 omnibus series seemed like a good opportunity to give her another try, though. Plus, Challengers and Tyrant are related series, so I thought a fresh start might be a good idea, too.
I LOVED it. Little Butterfly is one of those rare BL series that’s all about the romance, and it’s series like this that keep me coming back to the genre (well, romantic stories and hilarious porn by the likes of You Higashino, but that’s a different story). I’ve probably read about a thousand volumes of manga that cover the story of first love, but very few really peg it as sweetly as this. The vague beginnings that move into friendship, and the slow move to deeper feelings. Here, it’s complicated by Atsushi’s dark family life, and Yuki and Atsushi both have to deal with that, but they do it together. There are one or two sex scenes, but they aren’t rushed, and they make sense in the context of the story.
It has a lot of the same types of plot devices you see in other BL stories. Yuki is the bright, cheery one that approaches gloomy Atsushi in class and, during a school trip, the two get to know each other and become frieds. The mismatched pair is common, as is Atsushi’s utterly tragic family situation (his mother is mentally unbalanced, and his father is cold and uncaring). Yuki is confused about his feelings until Atsushi makes the first move. There’s some drama about whether or not to attend the same college, a potential change in family situation and living arrangement from Atsushi, a long storyline where Yuki has to pass college entrance exams, and lots of danger at home from Atsushi courtesy of a mother who randomly lashes out and a father who beats him.
But somehow, Takanaga takes all these tired devices and makes them work. This is largely because she nails the chemistry between Atsushi and Yuki. Unlike most series, where the grumpy, outsider member of the couple stays that way to comedic effect, Atsushi opens up to Yuki and stops being a jerk after the first chapter. Similarly, Yuki isn’t overly bubbly and joke-y at inappropriate times simply because his character is cast that way. Atsushi opens up to Yuki, and Yuki offers him genuine comfort when he’s going through his rough times. And the comfort scenes never turn inappropriately romantic, either. All of this does a good job of humanizing both Atsushi and Yuki, and makes the romance between them that much more believable.
If this series has a flaw, it’s that so much of it is about Atsushi’s tragic home life. It’s textbook sad stuff, and Atsushi has no friends, family, or comfort outside of Yuki. This part is rather two-dimensional, which is a shame given how skillfully written the rest of the series is. And the situation gets worse and less believable as the story goes on, unfortunately. But it’s not so bad as to wreck the excellent characters, and I like that they have something to do other than be in love with each other and entrance exams.
I don’t think I mention this very often, but I always crack a smile in BL books when, during the sex scenes, the characters moan out each other’s last names. I know calling someone by their first name is a lot different in Japan than it is in the US, but the fact you would call your lover by his last name is still very funny to me. I loved that the last word in the series was about Atsushi trying to trick Yuki into calling him by his first name.
It’s a wonderful, wonderful series for anyone who has a bleeding heart like mine. There’s nothing I like better than genuine romantic stories, and I like them best when they’re not cluttered with comedy or too much drama. Little Butterfly fits my tastes exactly, and I’m so glad I gave Hinako Takanaga another try. I’m also pleased that the omnibus edition brought the series to my attention after so long. It’s a real bargain, and definitely worth a read.
Rin-ne 6
Posted: June 21, 2011 Filed under: Rin-ne Leave a comment »Rumiko Takahashi – Viz – 2011 – 6+ volumes
Part of me is still very ambivalent on this series. But this arrived after I had read the latest Inu-Yasha 3-in-1, and I like that series so well that the good vibes rubbed off on this one.
The stories were a little more interesting and character-centric this time around, too, though I still feel like none of them have much chemistry together. The first story came close to pulling everything together though. It was a cute one about Jumonji getting jealous about how close Rinne and Sakura were. A devil showed up and gave him a book to curse Rinne with bad luck, and what followed were a really long series of great Takahashi gags. Rinne finds good food to eat, but is cursed with bad luck before he can eat it. Jumonji keeps throwing the book away, only to have it accidentally land under his hand when he’s thinking bad thoughts about Rinne. We also learn that devils are part of the Rin-ne mythology, and that’s fine by me. I doubt very much they’ll ever be more than a gag character, though.
This story had the flavor of something like Urusei Yatsura, and has probably been my favorite in the series so far. I loved the humor, and the way the characters played off one another was great. I hope that we get a lot more stories just like this one.
The next story was another Rinne ghostbusting story, this time a jealous twin ghost that wanted to see her sister again. Also, she was a sort of sukeban, which was pretty awesome. I’m becoming less and less interested in stories like this, though. As strange as the ghosts sometimes are, these just aren’t the same as some of the better ghost stories I’ve seen from Takahashi over the years. Not quite as funny, and again, the characters lack chemistry, so there’s nothing to fall back on when the story is only okay.
There was a longer and more plot-centric story that took up the last half of the volume. We are introduced to a shinigami debt collector who basically steals Rinne’s soul and kills him. Rinne’s astral body, along with Sakura and Jumonji, go into the afterlife to retrieve his soul. This whole thing is, of course, the fault of Rinne’s father forging Rinne’s name on money-lending slips, and the debt collector’s mother is involved in a con, et cetera. The story was a good one, with lots of little interesting twists and turns, and I loved the way it fleshed out more of the mythology of the series. I also always love seeing Rinne’s deadbeat dad in action. I’m also quite fond of stories where the main character “dies” and somehow it has to be prevented. There wasn’t too much drama here (it was obvious that Rinne wasn’t going to actually die), but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.
The weak characters keep me from really loving this series as I should, but then again, this volume has been the best yet. I don’t mind too much if it doesn’t have an overarching plot, but if the characters continue to grow and develop, I think I could really love it in another volume or so. But again, I love Rumiko Takahashi, and this still has a lot of her trademark charm and humor, so it’s hard for me to resist even if the characters stay just as they are.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Your & My Secret 7
Posted: June 21, 2011 Filed under: Your and My Secret 3 Comments »Ai Morinaga – Tokyopop – 2010 – 7+ volumes
Yet another series left hanging by Tokyopop, but maybe they would have finished it had the last volume existed. I… I think volume 8 might be the final one, but it’s not even out in Japan yet, so it’s hard to say.
I forget between volumes just how much I love this series. It’s so funny. The jokes do chase themselves around in circles, but with only 1-2 volumes a year, who am I to say it’s too much? They’re still funny jokes, and I’m not sure I can ever get tired of Ai Morinaga drawing the most repulsive things in such a sparkly, girly manner. A good example is the cover. Every cover features a couple from the series, and each of the six covers so far has featured the four main characters paired in different ways. Lacking any more couples to draw, Morinaga’s featured couple on volume 7 is Momoi’s father and grandfather. Dressed as students. The short, rotund grandfather is wearing a schoolgirl uniform. And did I mention that Momoi’s dad is supposed to resemble Spock? They are dancing. It’s horrifying. Does it sell books? Uh… probably the opposite. But it is amazing, all the same.
It really is the gags that carry it, too. The story is winding down here, as the grandfather puts the finishing touches on the switchback machine and Akira has to decide whether switching back is really what he wants. The hangup is that Senbongi wants him to stay in Momoi’s body, presumably because they can’t go out if they are both boys. After reading Strawberry-chan, I know that Morinaga is up for bizarre forays into yaoi, so I’m not sure how that will turn out if Akira switches back into his male body. But for the time being, grandpa’s machine still doesn’t work (in fact, it backfires hilariously on Momoi’s dad), so Momoi, Senbongi, Shiina, and Akira go for one last date to “Mouseland.”
Honestly? My favorite joke in the book is one where Momoi’s dad does a deep bow while asking something of Akira, and the next page shows it in the context of… the machine backfiring. It was very subtle, and it cracked me up pretty hard. There’s also the reliable repulsive jokes, like the one with the drooling toddler featured on one of the illustration pages that open the volume. There’s also good ol’ reliable jokes about guys getting kicked in the crotch.
Stay classy, Your & My Secret. I love you dearly just the way you are. I doubt this series is going to get a third chance at life, especially since licensing anything by Ai Morinaga seems to kill publishers, and that’s a shame, because she has a gift with comedy. Hopefully volume 8 will be the last, and I think I’m just going to buy it in Japanese. I’ve been reading this series for years, and I need to know what happens, even if it does turn out to be some sort of bizarre gag anticlimax.
Sensual Phrase 13
Posted: June 21, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase 1 Comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2006 – 18 volumes
Hmm… hm. The story takes a turn for the rather serious at the end of this volume. I have a hard time believing it’s as bad as it looks, but all the members of Lucifer have to break it off with their loved ones in preparation for a world tour. There’s the expected drama from Aine and Sakuya… and by expected drama, I mean the band’s manager threatens to rape Aine in order to make her feel guilty about cheating on Sakuya to use as blackmail to make her stay in Japan. But stuff like that goes by without comment in Sensual Phrase, so what can I do?
The unusual part is that the story also splits up Yuki and his wife, and the recent couple of Atsuro and his sister. This is an awful lot of serious drama for Sensual Phrase. Either something huge is going down in the story, or the six months of tour time will pass in a few pages’ worth of Aine pining away.
Please note, “something huge” has yet to happen in Sensual Phrase. It’s all Sakuya and Aine, all the time. As I’ve said, most of the volumes consist of two stories, both will always be “major” events, but both will always be resolved simply because Sakuya and Aine love each other. I’m… I’m not too sure that Sensual Phrase is really the place for anything more taxing than that.
What else happens… Oh! There’s a really bizarre story about Aine helping an old “friend” by pretending to be engaged to him, and Sakuya happily goes along with this charade. This story was so bizarre and out-of-character all around (not to mention that it didn’t make sense for Aine to help this creep) I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Its… it’s really something. Watching Sakuya tease Aine through subtly evil methods is superb, though, even if you’re not quite sure what his ulterior motive in this case is.
My moment of bad dialogue zen: When insulted by someone who is supposedly Aine’s ex-boyfriend, Sakuya takes the insults about not getting into college, and counters with “I guess I’ll just have to rely on my skills in the sack.”
