English, Please!: The Star of Cottonland
Posted: August 12, 2011 Filed under: English, Please! 1 Comment »Yumiko Oshima – 7 volumes – shoujo – Lala – 1978-1987
So, when I re-designed the site, I took down my Most Wanted Licenses page. It was updated sporadically, and it never felt that good to add something new to it since there was no way to call attention to it. So instead, I split it up and am making the old content part of my new Friday features stuff. Hopefully it’ll be something I can put on a monthly rotation. In terms of license requests, David Welsh already does this every Friday, and he has much better taste than me, so if you want to read about stuff that would actually be a good idea to license, I suggest taking a look at his choices. I suspect stuff I’m going to highlight will have zero chance of being licensed.
Anyway! On to the first choice!
Whenever I see anyone mention Chi’s Sweet Home I get a little sad, because it only reminds me that I can’t read the Star of Cottonland in English. I’m sure they’re nothing alike (I’ve never read Chi’s Sweet Home), but I think that What’s Michael and Chi could use some company in the category of English-language manga about the lives of cats. And who better to join them than the original nekomimi/catgirl? Would you believe that phenomenon started off utterly innocent and adorable?
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 9
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (manga) 2 Comments »Gaku Tsugano / Nagaru Tanigawa – Yen Press – 2011 – 14+ volumes
I’d read the novels, so I thought I’d give the comic a shot to see how the adaptation was. This volume comes from the end of the fourth novel, the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
The adaptation is 100% faithful. Everything that I recall from the novel was in the manga, and other than a couple short bonus stories at the end, the manga didn’t have any extraneous bits of story. Then again, that might just be because the Disappearance story is so plot-heavy to begin with, plus this was the end and featured some very lengthy explanations of time travel and just how the time-hopping characters were solving the problems during the different time periods.
I am glad I read the novel, because this volume would not have been a good place to enter the series otherwise. The time travel explanations, along with the different versions of the characters across different time periods and universes, are not for the faint of heart. But they do make sense if you’ve read the novel, or even the volumes before this one.
I did like seeing the story visualized, even if this was mostly a talky part. I should really watch the anime, which I’ve been meaning to do, but on the other hand, I feel like the anime might play up the fanservice elements, my least favorite part of these stories.
The bonus stories at the end of the volume were interesting. The first takes place right after Kyon wakes up from his coma, and is simply the cheery Christmas party between the SOS Brigade members. The other is an AU story, set in the Meiji era, where Kyon is forced to look for tea for Haruhi. It’s implied that the characters in the present are re-incarnations of the ones from the Meiji era, or that the Meiji story is a dream Kyon or Haruhi is having, but I think it’s mostly just meant to be a silly bonus story. I liked it well enough.
The highlight for me, in this volume, was the choice Kyon had to make between the crazy life where Haruhi had powers and his friends were aliens, espers, and time-travelers, or the normal life he was leading now. I commented on this when I read the novel, but I loved that, for all his complaining, Kyon still had to consciously make a decision on this. He couldn’t just go along for the ride. He had to really want it.
The problem with reading the novels is that reading this volume of manga only made me want to read more of the novels. The manga is all well and good, but reading a portion of the story in one volume of the manga isn’t the same as reading the whole story in the novel. It probably doesn’t help that I loved this particular novel.
I liked the manga adaptation, too, and if you’ve been following the manga, you definitely won’t be disappointed by the climax here. But all the same, I think I prefer the novels because I started with them, and I’m willing to bet that those who started with the manga prefer to see the story played out visually.
This was a review copy provided by Yen Press.
Croquis
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Croquis | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Hinako Takanaga – Blu – 2010 – 1 volume
I’ve enjoyed all three of the longer Hinako Takanaga series that I’ve read lately. I’ve been obsessed with them, in fact. Little Butterfly is a wonderful, wonderful series, and I can’t get enough of The Tyrant Falls in Love. Even her debut work, Challengers, is all kinds of wonderful. So now I’m going back and trying out her various one-shots, of which there are several. This was the one I wanted to try the most, and luckily it wasn’t too expensive. I picked up a random selection of the cheapest ones I could find, so let’s see what kind of mileage I can get out of them.
Croquis was wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. It was one of the best BL one-shots I’ve ever read.
The first story, the titular Croquis, is about Nagi and Kaji. Nagi is a model at an art school, and Kaji is one of the students who draws him every week. Nagi feels like Kaji might be taking more of an interest in him than the other students, but he tells himself that it’s all in his head. Sadly, Nagi has not come to terms with his sexuality, and is actually working a couple jobs in order to save up enough money to get a sex change operation, so that he can be more comfortable about admitting his feelings to guys. This sounded outlandish to me at first (I’ve always thought of gender and sexuality as separate), but it made more sense the more I read the story and realized just how uncomfortable Nagi was with being homosexual. It’s interesting to me that he’s still trying to come to terms with it, yet works in a bar that caters to clients with tastes in transgender women. In theory, he’s surrounded by people just like himself every day, but I guess that still doesn’t mean he’s comfortable with his role in society.
Because this is a BL book, Nagi doesn’t have to worry, because Kaji really is looking at him in that way, and totally smitten. Nagi has a hard time believing this, and persists with wanting to change genders for a bit, but in the end, everything works out. There’s also some interesting discussion in his bar that changes his mind, when some of the girls talk about how they told their boyfriends about their gender status before they started dating, but the boyfriends still act shocked when it comes time to put out, so to speak. This actually has a negative effect on Nagi, since it makes him even more afraid that Kaji will reject him when he realizes that he’ll have to have sex with a man.
For as interesting a character as Nagi is, the trade-off is that not as much time is spent on Kaji. He’s always a little shocked at Nagi’s insecurities, but not much time is spent on reassurance, or really getting to know Kaji at all. He’s an artist, and there are some jokes made about how poor he is and how expensive his supplies are, but other than that, he’s in love with Nagi, and that’s all we know about him. Still, the romance is sweet, and I loved watching Nagi go through all the stages of falling in love. It was a wonderful story.
There’s another two-part story in this volume about two schoolmates, total opposites in every way, and how they were the first love for each of them. Unlike every other BL story, the relationship goes unfulfilled, and what’s most interesting is that we see the good moments between the two in two chapters, one from each of the boys’ point of view. It follows the two into adulthood, too, and looks at their thoughts ten years after high school and the missed chance. The depiction of the lost chances are bittersweet and very touching, and I think I liked it much better this way than I would have if the two had simply fallen in love. While I felt slightly empty after finishing the first chapter, I realized after the second run-through how thoroughly interesting the story was.
The other short story in the volume is a fairly standard love confession between two friends, one of whom is going off to college. It’s notable for having an astronomy theme, and I think the final scene, when they both confess, their knees buckle, and they kiss under the night sky while discussing their wishes on falling stars is a scene that will stay with me for quite some time.
Really. It’s just good. It covers unusual topics, unusual types of stories, and is still jam-packed with the type of emotional porn (and even a little bit of physical, if that’s what you’re into) that I get a kick out of in these books. I don’t know how Takanaga can pull off convincing relationships between likable characters so frequently, and how I love it every time. It’s really amazing, and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.
Slam Dunk 14
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Slam Dunk Leave a comment »Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 31 volumes
It’s Takehiko Inoue catch-up day here, and I am tragically behind in Slam Dunk. It doesn’t really deserve it either, it’s enthusiastically addictive.
The Shohoku and Kainan game is still going on. You know, at this point, I’m pretty sure that the whole series is just going to be this one tournament. That’s pretty amazing. What’s even more amazing is that Inoue can make reading these interminable games so much fun. I really don’t want him to rush through it, because there’s so much utterly awesome stuff going on here. It’s genuinely exciting to read. I mean, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that every free throw, every basket, every fast break, and every foul is super-exciting, but it is. Inoue really knows how to pace and draw the action, and it doesn’t get bogged down with a lot of character drama unrelated to the game. It mimics the experience of watching your friends play high school basketball perfectly.
To that effect, I don’t have much to say about this volume, really. Gori plays through some pain as he goes back out on his injured ankle, and as the spotlight shines on more members of the Kainan team, we learn that they specialize in just about everything you can do on a basketball court. Strategies come into play that can block them, and Coach Anzai plays to Hanamichi’s ego to get him fired up. The teams trade the lead again and again, free throws are missed… you know. Pretty much everything happens that you would expect in a really excellent, close basketball game. And this volume simply does that very well.
That’s exactly why it’s worth reading. Though I hope next time I’ll have a little more to talk about. It… should be the last volume for this game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ran into volume 16.
13th Boy 7
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: 13th Boy Leave a comment »SangEun Lee – Yen Press – 2011 – 12+ volumes
Every volume of this series just keeps getting better and better. I was most interested in the off-balance love triangle that’s been setting itself up the last couple volumes, and that’s not addressed here. That the story is pursuing a super-unlikely path for these relationships is interesting to me, but after this volume, I don’t think that’s the most interesting.
No. The talking cactus, the character that shouldn’t make any sense but is still super-important, takes center stage in this volume, and I couldn’t be happier. Beatrice has been playing more and more of an active role lately, especially since he disapproves strongly of Won-Jun. Suddenly, in this volume, Beatrice turns human and can’t figure out how to turn back. Strangely, both he and Hee-So take it in stride, but there are… complications when your best friend, formerly a cactus, turns into a good-looking boy that you have to hide in your bedroom.
Actually, my favorite part of this volume was the way that Hee-So really did take this in stride. She bent over backwards to keep Beatrice company, get him food, and think of ways to turn him back into a cactus. Nothing gets her to leave his side, not her favorite food for free, and not even Won-Jun. That boy-crazy Hee-So, who wants nothing more than to be Won-Jun’s everything, breaks a promise to him because she thinks Beatrice is hurt, it says more than the characters ever could about how much Beatrice means to her.
I think the best part is that Hee-So doesn’t realize herself just how important Beatrice is. He is what he is, and he’s been a part of her life for over eight years. His circumstances don’t change that, and any situation that means that Beatrice can’t be close is unacceptable.
The second half of the volume throws another complication into their relationship, and seeing the cheerful Hee-So, who will do anything and everything to get what she wants regardless of what anyone else thinks, reduced to tears and hopelessness over the situation, was most heartbreaking. I can’t believe such a silly comic could be so effective at making be feel bad for its super-selfish main character, but here you go. That’s just how great 13th Boy really is.
As I’m sure I’ve said before, I’m a huge fan of all of these super-girly Korean series that Yen Press publishes. You’re So Cool, Pig Bride, and 13th Boy are probably my favorites, and of those three, 13th Boy is probably the best. I still can’t believe it so seamlessly combines magic and contemporary romance, and that Hee-So is so likable. The next volume just arrived, and I’m really looking forward to it.
Moon & Blood 1
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Moon & Blood 1 Comment »Nao Yazawa – Digital Manga Publishing – 2011 – 1+ volume
I read Wedding Peach years ago, and enjoyed it for what it was. With my only other experience in the magical girl genre at the time being Sailor Moon, a series where cute girls transformed into wedding dresses then cute outfits to fight evil, Wedding Peach was just about what I wanted to read when I was a teen. Actually… I probably wasn’t very much a teen when I finished it. Still. It was enjoyable, and it’s probably one of the better magical girl series I’ve read, but I still haven’t read very many of those (and I usually dislike them, to be fair).
And I haven’t thought about Nao Yazawa since, honestly. So I was shocked to see DMP license two of her newer works, Mizuki and Moon & Blood. Both are being issued in chapbook-style installments of 80 pages each. I believe Mizuki is digital-only for the time being, but Moon & Blood is available in print as well as on eManga. I think Mizuki is complete at two installments, and it looks like it’s about $5 total for the whole 80-page story, which is a fair price. I’m still a crotchety old lady that doesn’t like to read digital comics, so I bought the print edition of Moon & Blood.
The problem with this 70-page format is that I feel like I can’t pass judgement on what I see just yet. I’m reading less than half of a graphic novel. The plot is okay, and I like the supernatural themes, but I can’t get into the characters just yet. But is it fair to say that, when I’ve only had 70 pages to evaluate them? Not really. I kinda like the smaller format book, and I think it’s more kid-friendly (though I’d say this is more a junior high-age story than elementary school). I also like the idea of reading it as a serialization. At $3, the digital version of this is more convenient to read and just the right price for this number of pages. The print edition is more expensive, but that’s the price I pay for being a luddite.
Sayaka wakes up one morning to find tall, handsome Kai speaking with her father. Due to sudden family circumstances, Kai lives with them now, and he’s also now attending the same school and in the same class as Sayaka. This is so incredibly 90s that it makes me squeal with delight.
Kai is stoic and doesn’t get along with anyone, but Sayaka doesn’t let that stop her from chatting up a storm. She tries to get to know Kai, but he keeps pushing her away. Kai doesn’t quite understand what Sayaka sees in him, especially when she clearly has an over-protective and completely obvious boyfriend in the adoring Takeshi.
Kai isn’t a normal boy though, and if the first few pages, the pushing away, and the sleeping all the time thing didn’t tip you off, it becomes obvious by the end of the book. He may or may not be some sort of vampire, and his companion, a real-life vampire, is preying on the rest of Sayaka’s family.
The story is a little fast-moving, and the scenes cut a little too abruptly for my taste, but other than the still-to-be-developed characters, I’m liking the little bit I’ve seen so far. It’s okay at the moment, but I’m definitely planning on picking up the second installment. This is apparently Yazawa’s current series, which appears first on emanga and… is apparently being released in doujinshi format in Japan?
I think one of the most interesting things about Nao Yazawa is how friendly she is to her English-language audience. She has a huge website, with lots of descriptions of her work, set up at http://www.geocities.jp/yazawanet/index_e.htm. And all of it is in English! I just spent about a half hour going through it, and I was most interested in her comments about her doujinshi work, and a longer series that apparently ran in an anthology magazine in Germany. She seems hopeful that DMP will license it, and at this point, I kinda hope so, too.
Tegami Bachi 4
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Tegami Bachi Leave a comment »Hiroyuki Asada – Viz – 2011 – 12+ volumes
As smitten as I still am with the art and the setting, something about the themes and characters are beginning to wear on me. Each of the stories in this volume simply come down to Lag insisting that “letters carry the sender’s heart!” hard enough to overcome whatever terrible thing is currently happening. That Lag isn’t really interested in anything else right now, and that the overarching plot is moving very slowly, isn’t helping much.
And yet, there’s still a lot of fun to be had here. I loved the second story, which introduced the Letter Bee doctor Thunderland Jr. He’s an eccentric that is rumored to love nothing more than dissecting corpses, and is frequently seen trolling for deceased animals around the city. He identifies what kind of creatures Niche and Steak are right away, then steals them in order to “dissect” them. A fight ensues, of course, and the doctor is misunderstood, he’s a really great guy, there’s a reason he likes doing the dissections, blah blah blah. There’s the happy angle, but the fact he doesn’t really care that people call him the corpse doctor, and does genuinely love dissecting things to find out why they died, is fairly interesting. He’s also a pretty funny guy, and this story desperately needs someone other than Niche that isn’t totally serious about being a Letter Bee. Niche starts conversations about panties too frequently.
The story before this one is a one-shot about the crisis of faith Lag has about delivering a letter full of – gasp! – lies. Can a letter full of lies still be full of heart? Will he wind up telling this guy’s poor old mother that he’s been lying to her through letters? This was the first story in the volume, and the weakest. I think starting with this one after not touching the series for so long made my outlook on the rest of the volume bad, because there really is a lot to like in this series. Lag Seeing is just wearing on me a little.
Meeting Dr. Thunderland Jr. gives Lag a new lead to the whereabouts of Gauche, so he sets off to a town that’s been off the route for years to deliver a letter to “the man who could not become spirit.” The town is full of anti-government revolutionaries that are convinced that Letter Bees bring the monsters that attack the towns. The situation doesn’t improve when Lag shows himself, and then a monster attacks.
Don’t worry though, the villagers eventually figure out that the monsters are attracted to the heart in the letters, and things are looking good at the end of the volume.
And yes, I complain a lot, but this series really does have nifty, dark artwork and a fully developed setting like no other. The light-based systems in place in Amberground for hierarchy and wealth are quite interesting, and it’s clear that Asada puts a lot of thought into geography, since every delivery is accompanied by a map. There are also copious endnotes about all the unique objects and destinations in the series. And in this volume, we begin to see that Letter Bees use spirit amber in different ways, not just in a gun like Lag, and not only for hurting creatures, either.
It’s really good stuff, to be sure, but I do hope the plot and Lag begin to develop a little more in the upcoming volumes.
This was a review copy provided by Viz,
Case Closed 37
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Case Closed 2 Comments »Gosho Aoyama – Viz – 2011 – 72+ volumes
To make up for the recent number of stories featuring Harley and the Detective Boys, Aoyama rewards my patience with a story all about Richard Moore. Detective Moore really is my favorite.
But first, we resolve the bomber case from last time. It goes down just about the way you expect. It’s obvious where the bomb is planted, so no surprises there, and the clue on the bomb Conan was deactivating was also obvious, but linking the English word to the Japanese place name (a place name I had forgotten, no less) escaped me. And Sato and Takagi get to do their thing as well. Sato took things a little further than I was expecting, which is nice, but otherwise the police angle was just about what you’d expect.
Second is the Detective Moore case. He gets invited to host a mystery drama, starring an old school friend of his. While he’s on set, a cast member is murdered (which seems to happen wherever he goes now), and Detective Moore has to solve the case. And when I say Detective Moore, I mean that Conan is out of his sleepy-time darts and Detective Moore has to solve the case. He’s not stupid, and I’m glad he gets to do stories like this from time to time. The case itself wasn’t that interesting, but I didn’t care too much since I was otherwise blinded by joy at Moore getting a serious role.
I love that, even during a story where he gets to be more than a rowdy background character, his interaction with Conan stays the same. He just slaps him around for digging around crime scenes and considers him a general nuisance. It makes you wonder what his opinions of the strange boy staying at his house are, or if he bothers to think about him at all. His insight into the parental mindframe in this story also makes you wonder what he’d think if he knew that Conan was really Jimmy, and harbored a huge crush on his daughter.
Anyway, he goes back to comic relief in the next story, when he’s hired to find a missing software programmer. He finds him, all right, and the man is – SURPRISE! – dead in his hotel room. Sleeping Moore solves the case once again. I love that, in the world of Detective Conan, crimes of passion are still elaborately set up to erase all evidence contrary to the idea that the death was accidental.
What’s most interesting about that case is that the man is possibly linked to the Black Organization. Actually, that’s not interesting at all, because I dislike the Black Organization plots. Which is a shame, because that’s the actual plot of the series. All the same, it doesn’t come up that often, so I at least read a little closer when we get stories like this.
This computer programmer was linked to the Black Organization somehow, and Conan rushes through the case in order to get a look at the man’s diary to see if there are any clues about the members and their activities. In the next case, the diary yields many clues, and Conan and Agasa find out that there might be most of a program for the Black Organization available in the programmer’s vacation home. Along the way, there’s all sorts of reports of a jewel heist going on, so that happens too, and the volume ends on a cliffhanger where it’s obvious Conan somehow has the upper hand.
But I still love it. I love every page. Again, probably not for everyone, since the stories are mostly one-shots and fairly repetitive, but I can’t get enough of these silly mystery plot devices and the silly characters. What can I say? I’m a fan for life.
Vagabond 9 (VizBig ed.)
Posted: August 9, 2011 Filed under: Vagabond Leave a comment »Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 33+ volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols 25-27
In the first of the three volumes, Musashi takes on Denshichiro for the second time. The duel is a sad thing, since Denshichiro knows he can’t win, Musashi knows Denshichiro can’t win, and neither one wants to fight. But, you know. Honor and all. The end of this fight is quite crushing, even when you know it’s coming.
Interestingly, the story takes a break from fighting at that point and has Musashi meet up with old friends. Matahachi’s mom is at the duel, and Otsu is spotted in the crowd as well. Later, Musashi meets up with Matahachi, and the two go drinking. This is a bizarre scene, since it leaves several opportunities for Musashi to make jokes, and he just doesn’t do that. It’s wrong, on some level. But highly enjoyable all the same. One of the issues discussed between the two is that Matahachi has built an image of Musashi in his mind that has little to no bearing on what Musashi is like now. It’s based solely on public opinion and Matahachi’s own perceptions of it. Harsh words are spoken. I loved that the incident between the two is implied rather than shown.
And there’s the Yoshioka school. Both their masters have been cut down by Musashi. Honor demands vengeance. But if Seijuro and Denshichiro couldn’t cut Musashi down, nobody can. They challenge Musashi, and he overhears plans about all 70 members of the school ambushing him and cutting him down on the appointed day. There’s no honor, but the school’s reputation will be saved when they claim one of their members demanded vengeance and succeeded.
Takuan randomly shows up, and he and Musashi discuss the fact that Musashi can’t engage in this fight. Musashi sleeps on it, and then takes the mountain road out of Kyoto.
I was slightly disappointed by this. I mean, Musashi was right. It’s insane to take on 70 swordsman. Why would he knowingly walk into a fight like that.
Then again, they don’t write manga about guys that don’t walk into a fight like that. Musashi turns around and engages. I’m not sure why I was fooled by this for a second. Maybe because these characters are actually rational, to some extent, and their decisions usually bear a resemblance to real logic. But at the same time, it’s very much like Musashi to take on 70 swordsman. He acknowledges he likely won’t walk away from the fight, which I would have believed at the time, but I know that there are more volumes after this, so it was less exciting.
This fight is given all the attention it deserves. Taking on 70 swordsman is no laughing matter, and what would be blown off as a simple feat of strength in any other series is an ordeal here. It lasts for two volumes, and it’s a terrible thing. The Yoshioka men are scared, Musashi acknowledges time and again that he can’t stop to think or he will be killed. Blood is spilled all over the field. The scared men die terrible deaths. Everyone dies a terrible death. I’d like to go back and count the engagements actually documented on the pages here, to find out if it really does show him cutting down 70 men individually. It sounds unlikely, but again, this lasts for two volumes. Almost every page has Musashi cutting a man down. I think it’s likely that it shows all 70 of the battles. And that is astounding. It shows just how much thought went into this fight.
The aftermath is just as terrible as the battle itself. The field is full of crows and blood and dismembered corpses. Dying men beg for mercy. Many pray. Musashi has to find the sword that was sharpened especially for him, and must pick among his opponents for it.
It’s a terrible thing. And astounding. I really can’t believe what I just read. And that Vagabond can still be so stunning, even after all the story I’ve already read. By rights, two volumes full of nothing but fighting guys should be boring. It’s not here, though. It’s heart-wrenching. Truly terrible.
What an incredible series. I lack the words to truly describe it. It deserves any and all the praise it gets, and I hope it is read as a classic for years to come.
Ugly Ducking’s Love Revolution 4
Posted: August 7, 2011 Filed under: Ugly Duckling's Love Revolution Leave a comment »Yuuki Fujinari – Yen Press – 2011 – 4 volumes
I was curious about this series. On one hand, the premise sounds so positive. An overweight high school girl decides to go on a diet and change her image, with her friends supporting her. But I heard a lot of awful things about it, like that it wasn’t really about Hitomi changing her image and focused more on an extended, less interesting cast and was mostly vanilla.
But I really liked what I saw here. Hitomi’s diet is definitely front and center here, and I loved the big, positive cast that surrounded her. Granted, I didn’t really get to know anything about them, really before the end of the volume (aside from grouchy teacher, gentle female friend that likes flower arranging, boy with a crush, overprotective brother, plus about five faceless others), but the stories were still nice and positive. They did cover some well-trodden ground, too, with things like the cast getting together for a flea market sale, taking a trip to a lodge while their apartment building was being worked on, and a story about selecting a birthday gift. But the positive, upbeat mode carries the mundane content quite far, and everyone seems to be really supportive of Hitomi’s diet and exercise regime, while at the same time admiring her strong personality and her will to stick with it.
In the end, it is mostly a slice-of-life story about a girl trying to lose weight, along with her friends. The weight loss isn’t front and center, but it’s a theme that ties all the stories together, and I like that it’s such an unusual one. Hitomi’s progress is measurable throughout the volume, and I liked that too.
I liked it a little less that she’s drawn as a caricature when she’s overweight (that downplays the positive message about everyone liking her for her personality), but I was prepared for that.
Did I like it enough to go back and get the other three volumes? Not really, but it is a nice, light read, and I enjoyed it for what it was. I probably would read the rest if I had a friend that recommended them, or if I happened across them in a store somewhere. Plus, I think it’s probably a good, if slightly bland, read for teens. Especially with all the positive messages. Did I mention the positive mood? It really does the book wonders, I promise.
This was a review copy provided by Yen Press.
