Sensual Phrase 14

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.