Karakuri Odette 1
Posted: August 17, 2011 Filed under: Karakuri Odette Leave a comment »Julietta Suzuki – Tokyopop – 2009 – 6 volumes
I liked Kamisama Kiss by Julietta Suzuki enough to rush out and get her other work available in English, Karakuri Odette, before the volumes became difficult to get. I felt immediately guilty, because I’m trying to cut back on the number of new series I buy. But I really, really liked Kamisama Kiss, in a very understated way, and I was hoping more of the magic would be represented here.
It was. I was very surprised by this after I learned that Karakuri Odette is Julietta Suzuki’s first series. It doesn’t seem like it.
The story is about Odette, a robot built by Professor Yoshizawa. Each chapter is more-or-less a self-contained story about Odette interacting with classmates at her school and finding out what it is to be human. It reminded me a lot of the themes in Astro Boy, actually, and had me lamenting the fact that all such series owe a debt to Astro Boy, even something as completely unlike it as this. But where Astro Boy tends to sermonize its lesson, Odette merely observes. She’s largely without emotions, and learns things by picking up habits from other students. She’s too strong, so she asks the professor to make her the same as a regular girl. She wants to know why her friend cries. She compares herself to the cheery, popular android girl that shows up later in the volume and wants the professor to make her just like her.
Mostly, Odette’s observations are all on human qualities that we take for granted. And Odette isn’t like a normal girl. She’s a very subdued observer, but by the end of the volume she’s accumulated many friends. One of my favorite stories is at the end of the volume, which illustrates what makes Odette more human than another robot.
There’s a snide comment made at the beginning about how Odette wants to be a “real girl,” but in that, this story’s a lot more like Pinocchio than Astro Boy (though Pinocchio was obviously an inspiration for the latter). Astro Boy examined what it would be like to have a robot working in society, and how people react to it. Odette is more about what a robot would think of society.
And it is subtle. There’s subtle friendships, subtle romance, just about everything is done with a soft touch. I love that about it. It’s the same type of storytelling that I admire in Kamisama Kiss. Which is why I’m surprised this was Suzuki’s first volume. The writing is quite mature.
I’m glad I picked it all up in one go. I’m going to have a lot of fun reading this.
Nozomi
Posted: August 17, 2011 Filed under: Nozomi Leave a comment »Nao Yazawa – Plex International Design – 2003 – 1 volume
When I say “volume,” I mean “issue.” There’s only one issue of Nozomi, but it’s a cute one-shot shoujo story. In full color. In case you always wanted to know what a shoujo manga would look like in full color, here you go. It’s very colorful. This was made right when comic color was transitioning to digital though, so the coloring technique is a little rough.
It’s a cute, if predictable, story. A girl named Nozomi has a huge crush, and wishes on a shooting star for her crush to like her back. But the shooting star turns out to be a demon. When either an angel or demon loses a battle in heaven, the loser is sent to earth to grant a wish. So the demon hangs out with Nozomi, trying to figure her out and help her in small ways to win over the boy she likes. Part of the deal is that, for some reason, she gets some demonic transformation powers herself. The boy has a crush on another girl, though, and Nozomi has to come to terms with that, as well as the fact that the demon will leave once her wish is granted.
Reading Moon and Blood made me want to dig up more of Nao Yazawa’s English back catalog. Luckily, this was easy and cheap to come by (thank you, Mile High Comics!). I believe it was created especially for the American market, and you can read on Yazawa’s site where she talks about how difficult it was to do a full-color comic.
Her stories and are are fairly simple and a little rough around the edges, but I can’t help but have a soft spot for them. They’re the kind of story I would’ve loved when I was younger. I also like that it seems Yazawa primarily draws doujinshi, which means her work is free of major publishers and editorial restraint. It doesn’t show, really, but it’s clear that she loves what she draws.
A single issue, and an old one, isn’t going to be something most readers are going to seek out at this point, but it is unusual. Rescue it from the backissue bin if you happen across it one day. As for seeking it out… hm. I don’t think it will interest very many shoujo fans, but it might be good for young readers, if you happen to have a little shoujo fan on your hands.
Maoh: Juvenile Remix 4
Posted: August 17, 2011 Filed under: Maoh: Juvenile Remix Leave a comment »Kotaro Isaka / Megumi Osuga – Viz – 2011 – 10 volumes
This… this is pretty effective psychological horror. I’m a little bit surprised by how good it’s gotten over the past couple volumes. The special powers part of it seems so silly in comparison to the rest, but it’s actually handled pretty well. After all, without something to fight back with, how would Ando ever convince himself to stand up to Inukai?
There’s a really powerful scene at the beginning of this volume where Inukai decides to accept Ando as his rival, and Inukai shows off just how much influence he really has. This devolves into an action scene, complete with assassin, but the scariest part of the series are these scenes that show just how effective a charismatic leader and mob mentality really are.
The mob mentality carries over into a later story, where the son of the developer Inukai is against transfers to Ando’s school. The boy is at the wrong end of a lot of bullying, and when Ando tries to stand up to him, he sees only a school full of Inukai’s disciples. Again, in the context of the series, this is quite terrifying. It’s difficult to explain without reading, but seeing Ando come upon a group full of impassive, evil faces again and again, and he begs and pleads and yells at them, tries to get them to see the evil in their actions… and then none of them see things any different from what Inukai tells them… it’s pretty scary stuff.
There’s some exposition at the end of the volume, the assassin from a few volumes ago enters the story… some resolve comes for Ando, but nothing good has started happening yet. I’m extremely interested to see how this will start working itself out. I’m a few volumes behind right now, so I plan to rectify that very soon.
Butterflies, Flowers 8
Posted: August 16, 2011 Filed under: Butterflies Flowers Leave a comment »Yuki Yoshihara – Viz – 2011 – 8 volumes
Yay, final volume! This has been up there with Tramps Like Us as one of my absolute favorites of the josei I’ve read. Both are great, and Tramps Like Us is better, but Butterflies, Flowers is definitely funnier.
One of its best qualities is highlighted in the first story of this volume. One of the chapters is about an arranged marriage between Choko and a wealthy family her father is indebted to. The dramatic tension isn’t very high, since this is the last volume and I knew this wasn’t going to go anywhere. But for some reason, Masayuki goes along with this, and even attends as her butler at the meeting between Choko and her future spouse. There’s all sorts of sadness and drama, not only because of the marriage, but because Masayuki is forcing Choko to say all the right things to make her a perfect bride.
But the reason I love this series is that Masayuki also knows the exact right time to say something shockingly inappropriate. Like, not only funny, but a real mood-smasher, too. Which is okay, because Butterflies, Flowers is best at its character-based humor, and Masayuki’s horrible innuendo is the reason I read.
But seriously. The first chapter of this volume. I couldn’t believe that came out of his mouth. Bravo.
As expected, marriage is discussed several times in the chapters here. There’s some feeling affirmation, some other stuff… but what’s interesting is that, while both of them want to get married, the hang-up at the very end is that Masayuki can’t give up calling Choko “Milady.” He can’t call her by her first name, and she doesn’t want to be addressed like a mistress in marriage.
The real proposal was sudden, but Masayuki does something hilarious and inappropriate to make up for it. Not inappropriate in the sexual innuendo sense, but in the social sense. It’s definitely the most memorable marriage proposal I’ve ever seen. And Choko pursues him relentlessly because of it. Choko gets to use a lot of underhanded tricks. Including her parents. It was genuinely funny, and I laughed hard through the last chapter or two. Romance manga that are both genuinely romantic and genuinely funny at the same time are a rare treat.
The last chapter is all sorts of funny and sad, and I wouldn’t have traded that last scene between them for the world. It was obvious how it was going to end, so it doesn’t get many points for creativity story-wise. But I love and adore Masayuki and Choko, and seeing them together was great all the way to the end.
This series gets a high recommendation from me. Even if you don’t normally read romance manga, this one might be worth picking up anyway. My roommate usually hates them, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy this one after I forced it on him. It really is both that funny and that touching. And outrageously full of innuendo. Seriously. Masayuki, you try so hard.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Tenjo Tenge 2 (omnibus ed.)
Posted: August 16, 2011 Filed under: Tenjho Tenge 2 Comments »Oh! great – Viz – 2011 – 22 volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols. 3-4
In this omnibus, all the important players are introduced, and you begin to see just what it is that makes this series special.
This covers a massive brawl that began at the end of volume two and runs all the way through volume three. The Student Council moves in on the Juken Club in a bowling alley to crush them before they can pose a threat. They are only marginally successful, and even then, it’s only because the president, Mitsuomi, is unstoppable. The fourth volume deals with the fallout from this fight, the attitudes of the freshmen Bob and Soichiro, and begins to tell the history of the Juken Club. That’s going to be going on for… a good long time to come. Buckle up.
And there’s a lot of fighting. And yes, a lot of clothes explode off bodies, both men and women. And yes, they’re only fighting for “a greater cause,” or perhaps “to better themselves” or “for what they believe in.” And it’s all kinds of hokey. But the thing I like best about this series, and the thing that I think makes it better than most fighting manga, are the character relationships. It picks up this volume, but it gets much better as it goes along. Oh! great spends a lot of time developing his characters, and they are all important to each other in some way or other. There’s a really understated love triangle going on through these volumes. I’m not entirely sure how he downplays it the way he does, because there are all sorts of terrible jokes about how Masataka is in love with Aya, and Aya makes no secret of her love for Soichiro. But Aya seems sure that Maya is falling for Soichiro, too. And Soichiro makes it known in the most heroic way possible that he is completely in love with Maya. The big, bad Mitsuomi is also in love with Maya. And maybe Maya is in love with Soichiro. Or maybe she still has feelings for Mitsuomi. Or maybe she can’t get out from behind her older brother.
All of this is part of the story. It’s not really romantic. But it is important, and I love that a lot of the cause and effect in this series is based on what you will or will not do for someone (regardless of the reason), and how striving to be the best often comes from admiration and emulation, rather than the need to protect. In a particularly memorable scene, rather than rushing in and protecting Maya as she was getting beat up, Shin and Mitsuomi stand by and let her take the beating, though they both want badly to intervene. It’s her fight, and it would be a blow to her pride to protect her. Soichiro seems to want to get strong because of Maya, because he admires her a great deal.
There will be more to talk about later, so I’ll leave it at that for now.
And in case I don’t talk about this enough, I love Oh! great’s artwork. His faces are a little childish for my taste, but it kind of works in this series, where everyone is striving for maturity. The clothing for all the characters is well-chosen (except Mitsuomi, who wears godawful outfits), the fights and action scenes are always very dynamic, and all the characters have unique and very interesting designs. He also puts a lot of detail into just about everything, including the backgrounds. And I love all the color illustrations that get included in these omnibuses. It’s obvious he was once a porn artist, since he lavishes so much attention on certain parts of the female anatomy, and seems to sneak panty shots into every page, but that’s also part of its charm.
The uncensored edition is kind of shocking compared to the CMX edition. The CMX editions of volumes 3-4 were missing some of the color illustrations (especially the cover of volume 3, a color poster-style illustration of a topless Aya with her back to the camera, and an illustration of Maya wearing a fairly inflammatory shirt). Some of the chapter illustrations were altered, and… uh, Emi isn’t wearing a shirt in the first chapter. There’s plenty of other stuff. I was comparing the translations this time through as well, and both have their own flavor, I like different things about them. I like the more fatalistic tone of the CMX translation, but the slightly more innuendo-laden speech patterns in the Viz editions make more sense in the context of the series. Especially Bunshichi. He’s great.
I do love the Shin flashback we’re about to see. Shin’s a fun and very tragic character. This is my third read-through, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to catch more of what happened to him, because I’m not remembering his role very well. Also, I think next volume will introduce the other two members of the Juken Club, and we’ll also get to see more Bunshichi. All of these things are very important. Keep reading.
I really do hope more people are giving the series a try with these omnibuses. It’s worth it, and as of this volume, you’ll begin to see what makes this great.
Haruhi Suzumiya 05: The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya
Posted: August 16, 2011 Filed under: Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Leave a comment »Nagaru Tanigawa – Yen Press – 2011 – 11+ volumes
this is a novel
Three short stories in this volume, and all of them are more interesting than the ones in The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya.
The first is Endless Eight. Haruhi has a perfect end-of-summer with the brigade members. It’s idyllic enough that not even Kyon complains much. It’s so perfect, in fact, that Haruhi wishes it would last forever. And then it does. The SOS Brigade repeats the last two weeks of summer about 15,000 times, with their memory reset every time, before deja vu hits hard enough to trigger a suspicion that Yuki confirms.
Next is The Day of Sagittarius, when the Computer Club challenges the SOS Brigade to a computer game they’ve designed. The bet: if the SOS Brigade wins, the Computer Club is considered subjugated. If the Computer Club wins, Haruhi has to give them their computer back. The game is ridiculously tipped in the Computer Club’s favor (both because the SOS Brigade isn’t good at it and because it’s rigged), but there are ways around that, of course.
The last story is the promised “the SOS Brigade is stuck in a remote, snowed-in cabin” story, when Asahina’s friend invites them to her family’s ski cabin, and during a freak blizzard, the SOS Brigade wanders into a different cabin and can’t get out.
I liked the stories in this volume quite a bit. Most of them are very character-centric, with Yuki getting rare development in the second story. The first is all about trying to figure out what Haruhi would consider a complete summer, and all the stuff normal high school kids do that makes summer memorable. The third story is strange, since none of the characters really use their powers, and it’s an unknown outside entity that’s controlling everything. Also, this story finally, FINALLY has another hint that there may be a forthcoming romance between Kyon and Haruhi, when Haruhi questions Kyon about why he’s been paying so much attention to Yuki.
A few things I noticed while I was reading this:
One is that Kyon’s narration is often stuff he says aloud. Sometimes it has quotation marks around it, so I assumed when it didn’t, it was just sarcastic commentary. It took two books in a row’s worth of people replying to what I thought was his inner monologue for me to figure out that he was actually saying this stuff. Except, I’m almost positive that sometimes he keeps it to himself. Like his thoughts about Asahina. Or when he makes sarcastic comments about Haruhi’s powers. So how can I know what he’s saying out loud and what he isn’t? Do I just assume all of it is out loud, except when it doesn’t make sense that he’d reveal something?
This also made me realize that Kyon is just as rude as Haruhi, and it made me like him a lot more. His constant stream of pessimism really got on my nerves in the second novel, but after reading more, it’s easier to accept that it is who he is. Now that I know that his pessimism is being aired to the world at all times, he’s pretty funny. I also like that people seem to ignore what he says 80% of the time.
The other, unrelated thing I realized was that… maybe Kyon is the one with the powers? After reading two volumes of short stories, small plots where the other SOS Brigade members have to approach Kyon in a variety of situations, it started making less and less sense that Haruhi was the one that had to stay entertained, since it was clearly Kyon that was having all the supernatural fun. He’s the one that knows all Haruhi’s wishes are real, and gets to have adventures because of it, while Haruhi is being entertained through relatively conventional means. And maybe they just tell Kyon that Haruhi has the powers since they know, deep down, that Kyon likes Haruhi and would want to keep her happy. Kyon admits that he hates being bored, and perhaps the powers stuff only happened recently because Kyon wasn’t creative enough to imagine situations to use it in, and Haruhi is, so he simply follows Haruhi’s suggestions. Or something.
It’s even better that way, because Kyon is so bitter about everything. It would be awesome if he actually was the cause, and they had to lie to him because he would simply stop using his powers, get bored, and destroy the earth or whatever if he thought he was giving himself too much of a headache.
I’m sure the reason for Haruhi having the powers was explained better in the first novel, and I’ve simply forgotten. But everything that I’ve read seems to work from the perspective of Kyon having the powers too, and really, these short stories make a lot more sense that way. Haruhi almost never uses her powers through volumes three and five (only Endless Eight and the Cricket story are related to Haruhi’s powers), and yet Kyon is still running all over the damn place.
Yuki also seems to respond to Kyon’s (I assume) internal musings that a slider should just appear already. I can’t remember if Haruhi mentioned a slider back in the first novel, but Kyon’s the one that keeps bringing them up. If they appear, it’s his fault.
One thing that bothers me a bit is that these are still clearly young adult books. The time traveling and nonlinear storyline are simultaneously too simple and too complex for the way it is written. Like, Kyon still takes a long time to describe things, yet characters will sometimes have philosophical discussions that have some bearing on the plot. This is probably the only young adult novel I’ve read with a plot that hinges on the formulas and equations of Euler (the final story in this volume comes down to mathematical theory). To be fair, Kyon often just begs out of this stuff, and I’m on his side most of the time, but it’s still odd that, for as simple as the writing is, it sometimes gets a bit too existential. Well, I think that may be its main theme, but it’s a difficult thing for a young adult book to verbalize.
But I like it. I like it a lot. I can’t wait for the next book, though I am disappointed that it will be more short stories instead of another novel. Even worse, one of them is the plot to the movie I hated so much in the second novel. But still. I’m quite fond of the characters at this point, and while Haruhi is using her power less and less, they still seem to be getting caught in increasingly interesting situations. Plus, as confusing as it is, I’m also quite interesting in the nonlinear storytelling. It’s good stuff, but I’ve gushed and analyzed enough already. Just read them. Start from the beginning.
Empty Heart
Posted: August 16, 2011 Filed under: Empty Heart | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Masara Minase – DramaQueen – 2006 – 1 volume
I’ve wanted this book for years. Since early 2007, when I picked up Lies & Kisses by Minase and loved it. It was Gerard & Jacques, by Fumi Yoshinaga, that got me thinking that BL might not all be awful (my early forays into the genre were horrifying), but it was Lies & Kisses that made me a fan. Empty Heart has always been exorbitantly expensive secondhand, and DramaQueen never got around to a reprint, but after four years of waiting for a used copy to show up at a reasonable price, I finally snagged one.
Alas, no book can live up to almost five years of expectations. I was disappointed, but that’s probably because I was waiting to have my socks knocked off. It’s an okay one-shot, but nothing special.
It breaks one of my rules (creepy teacher/student relationships are a big no-no for me), but like Lies & Kisses, it does so in a more tasteful way. Takumi is a very popular student at his all-boys high school, and he turns down confession after confession because he has feelings for someone: Jun, his older brother’s best friend. Takumi has loved Jun for years, but unfortunately, Jun has an unrequited crush on Takumi’s older brother, Ryuuta. Jun just became a teacher at Takumi’s high school, and Takumi takes advantage of the opportunity and his close resemblance to his brother to get close to Jun and exploit Jun’s feelings for his brother. But that only winds up hurting Takumi.
And blah blah blah. You know how these scenarios work out in these romance manga. Bonus points to Minase here since Ryuuta isn’t gay, nor does Jun confess. I don’t mind the teacher/student relationship here since Takumi is a pretty mature character, and also the two had a pre-existing relationship before Jun became a teacher. I’m not sure why my conscience is eased by these terrible reasons, but it is.
The romance between Jun and Takumi is mostly a sad one, and that was the reason for my disappointment. I tend to like really full-blown, serious romances. But here, Takumi hides his feelings and sleeps with Jun because “he wants to try sleeping with a man.” And at first, Jun takes Takumi’s advice and pretends he’s Ryuuta. Things get better, obviously, but there’s a lot of heartbreaking stuff in here.
One of the reasons I wanted this so badly was because Minase’s artwork is usually amazing. This is clearly an earlier work, or I haven’t seen Lies & Kisses in a long time, because Empty Heart just isn’t as good. One of the things I like best about her is that she has genuinely good-looking men, not just generic stereotypes. As the author of Lonely Egoist says, her drawings are smoking hot. I also find her art to be quite polished, in the little I’ve seen from her. The men are… slightly more generic in this one. Her artwork is also more rough and plain. It’s still better, and less boring, than a lot of other BL artwork out there.
Even though I thought this was disappointing, I would still love to see more by Masara Minase. We’ve only had this, Lies & Kisses, and the illustrations for the Lonely Egoist novel in English. I’m not sure why. Perhaps there’s not a whole lot of demand, or perhaps her work crosses lines somewhere. It also looks like she primarily illustrates BL novels, so maybe that’s another reason. Her publishers seem like they are primarily fair game (Gentosha, Tokuma, Frontier Works… some other small ones) so I’m hoping we’ll see more in the future.
13th Boy 8
Posted: August 14, 2011 Filed under: 13th Boy 1 Comment »SangEun Lee – Yen Press – 2011 – 12+ volumes
Reading three volumes of this in a row was both a good and bad idea. It’s good. Seriously good. I’m a little jealous at myself now, because I don’t think I can save it up for that long again. The bad news is that now I have to wait until November for the next volume. And it’s going to be a long, hard wait with the impending bombshell at the end of this volume. It’s not even a cliffhanger. I know it’s coming. I want to watch that train wreck anyway.
Lots and lots of good stuff in this volume. Hee-So’s depression deepens as summer wears on and Beatrice doesn’t turn back up. Not even Won-Jun can cheer her up, and he, in fact, only makes things worse when she tells him why she’s so sad. He blows off her talking cactus story as a sign he should stay away.
There are a couple criminally well-placed romance plot devices in this volume. The first deals with Sae-Bom, and makes it so that Won-Jun may have to finally come to terms with how he feels for both Sae-Bom and Hee-So and choose one. Another is a rainy day scene that resolves one problem and creates another, but is so terribly mushy and well-played, with both of the couple stories going at once, that I read it two or three times through. I am ridiculously weak for stuff like this, I’m sorry.
Beatrice’s story advances in this volume, too, and things get significantly cheerier through the second half. Which is good, because 13th Boy is at its best when the characters are joking and thoroughly embarrassing themselves in good fun. One of my favorite scenes in the volume is when an outside character gets a first-hand look at Hee-So’s family. It’s such a creepy scene, and it pegs all those side characters so well I couldn’t stop laughing.
I liked that this volume also developed the friendship vs. love themes a little more. Beatrice/Hee-So and Won-Jun/Sae-Bom really do reflect one another, for the most part. Beatrice is in love with, and 100% hopelessly devoted to, Hee-So. Hee-So is hopelessly devoted to Beatrice too, but still seems to put her romantic trust in Won-Jun. Clearly Beatrice means everything to her, so it’s interesting she hasn’t reflected on this. But maybe she really does see Beatrice as more of a brother than a potential romantic interest (although I’m willing to bet that’s going to change, I had forgotten that Won-Jun was boyfriend #12, and Whie-Young boyfriend #1, until this volume kindly reminded me). Won-Jun is still obviously in love with Hee-So, though his most important person is Sae-Bom. Sae-Bom doesn’t seem to really love Won-Jun, nor is he her most important person, but on the other hand, he’s all she has, and she’s a sad character. This volume’s all about making all these characters think and analyze. Who is just a friend? Where does love lie? As cheesy as that is, I completely loved it, and it looks like it will carry over into the next volume.
Absolutely amazing stuff. This is one of my absolute favorites right now, and is quickly vying for a spot as one of my top girls’ comics of all time. I love it, and anyone who loves comic-style romance stories should probably give it a try.
This was a review copy provided by Yen Press.
Haruhi Suzumiya 03: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
Posted: August 14, 2011 Filed under: Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Leave a comment »Nagaru Tanigawa – Yen Press – 2010 – 11+ volumes
this is a novel
As I’ve said before, I adored the first novel in this series, hated the second, then skipped this volume of short stories in order to read the fourth in the series, another continuous plotline. I loved that one too, so I’ve decided I’m in for the long haul. I went back to give these short stories a try.
I’m glad I waited until after I read The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, because I don’t think I would have been that impressed with these stories if I didn’t know there was more to the series. They are mostly short, cute stories. One is about a baseball game that the SOS Brigade participates in. One is a murder mystery on a deserted island. And one is about the Tanabata festival where Kyon has to travel back in time…
That’s the only reason I regret reading the books out of order. Time travel is an important part of the series, and that Tanabata festival is tied to three stories. At least. Kyon also has no problem referring to events that may happen in the future, or have already happened in the timeline of the story but haven’t appeared in story form yet. For instance, during the island murder mystery, both Haruhi and Kyon talk about a winter trip. In the fifth book, the SOS brigade takes a winter trip. They refer heavily to the summer trip, and Kyon also mentions in passing that he has to tie up his loose time-traveling ends from the end of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. If you think in terms of a school year, the timeline of the series makes sense.
The next part is just me talking myself through it, so I’m going to cut it. ‘Cause it’s boring and convoluted, but I have a serious love of nonlinear storytelling.
Dengeki Daisy 5
Posted: August 14, 2011 Filed under: Dengeki Daisy 1 Comment »Kyousuke Motomi – Viz – 2011 – 10+ volumes
Let’s see… lots of things happen! There was a terrible cliffhanger last volume that resulted in Kurosaki taking a massive blow to the head. Teru feels guilty, and even guiltier when the person who did it blames her for innocent people getting hurt. Because it’s Kurosaki, Teru feels ten times worse, and there are about a million adorable scenes between them at the hospital. Somewhere in here too, there’s a lengthy chapter where Teru has to stay with Kurosaki, and there’s a nice and very awkward/funny gift exchange that’s one of my favorite scenes so far. Anyway. Of course, Kurosaki and company have to figure out just who it is that’s targeting Teru, and Kurosaki is very serious now that they’ve tried to harm her, so he’s willing to use his hacker skills again. Teru is trying her own strategies, including sniffing around school and following up old leads on the former Student Council Advisor, Mr. Arai. Ms. Mori, the suspicious health teacher, also gets caught up in things. But the investigation doesn’t get very far here, and it looks like this plot will resolve itself next time.
Again, it’s not really the plot of the series that interests me, but I suppose the characters have to do something. It’s the amazing chemistry between Teru and Tasuku that makes this so much fun to read. Friendly, funny, affectionate, romantic… a nice mix of just about everything nice. Motomi pegs the main characters absolutely perfect, and it’s an absolute joy to read.
Since the big secret was revealed to Teru a couple volumes ago, the remaining question is how long she can pretend everything is the same. It becomes clear in this volume that it’s not possible, but the dynamic is still interesting (and leads to a lot of hilariously awkward situations). Now, though, there is still some tension surrounding the secret, mostly just about when the air will be cleared. But that would advance things, and this being a shoujo manga, that needs to be put off as long as possible.
Even at its darkest moments, the humor and levity and general niceness surrounding the characters is quite bracing. It’s like Kimi ni Todoke in that it’s impossible to read a volume and not be in a good mood afterwards. It’s definitely high-quality shoujo, and it’s one of my current favorites. It’s a must for anyone who loves shoujo.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
