I”s 5

So come volume five and I finally get around to liking this manga! Hooray for delayed good! Unfortunately I decided to drop actively buying the series, so I won’t get any more until the next Right Stuf Viz studio sale. Sad? Happy? You decide.

I always pictured Ichitaka as an Itsuki man myself, and now that the plot is finally, FINALLY moving in that direction, I’m glad there’s some good complications arising… ones that aren’t just based on Ichitaka being shy over and over and FUCKING OVER again. Things really got cooking here as far as relationships go, and for the first time, I really found myself wondering how things would work out. It’s unfortunate that Ichitaka got around to this a bit too late, but more fun for me, I guess.

Plus, fanservice. Fanservice as always.

I”s 4

Man, I’d rather be reading Video Girl Ai. At least the plot wasn’t as boring this time around, and there was plenty of fanservice (including some motherfucking camel toes, thank you very much Masakazu Katsura).

I liked that this volume wasn’t as clear-cut as it seemed, both for who the partners were going to be and the new waif-y boy who was introduced. I rather liked that girly boy, he was a good character and threw a rather unexpected plot twist my way, which is something this series cries out for. It is, as expected, deepening the relationships between Ichitaka/Iori and Ichitaka/Itsuki, and I don’t know if I like the twist… I would just rather he be paired with Itsuki, because I’m a fan of video girls.

The plot device at the end was fucking stupid though, as was the whole hot spring episode. Series always lose big points with me when they pull that dead horse out for another beating.

But fanservice. Yes. I’m also told there’s another I joining the ranks sometime soon, so I’m hoping that livens the plot a little more.

I”s 3

This one was so boring for the first half that I actually went out and bought the first two volumes of Video Girl Ai so I could remember how good Katsura is.

In all fairness, the second half recovered somewhat. While Itsuki is completely an Ai-clone no matter how you look at her, I still like Ai well enough that when she’s being very sweet, I can forgive her. And though I HATED the subplot with the nudity at the end, for some reason I found myself growing fond of the relationship between Iori and Ichitaka. I don’t know. I’m not really liking any of the characters at this point other than the Ai-clone and Moemi Iori. PLEASE get better. Please.

I”s 2

I’m glad Itsuki’s here now, because she’s mildly more exciting… though she’s still Video Girl Ai. Maybe Video Girl Ai the series had just as much teen angst as this one… but I maintain that I”s is just like it save for the fact it’s less interesting and the art isn’t as good. This series is really disappointing me so far, which is sad.

At least Itsuki’s a sculptor, which is sort of cool. I just wish she also went to Ichitaka’s school, or that Iori didn’t act weird about Ichitaka and Itsuki, or something interesting would happen. Something. The series is fourteen volumes long… something’s bound to happen, I suppose.

I”s 1

I love Mazakazu Katsura dearly. I love his style, and I love his stories. Unfortunately, the take a bit to get going and to get good. Also unfortunate is the fact that his two major series have very similar beginnings, so much so that it makes me really wish I had collected Video Girl Ai first, then gone back for I”s.

Ichitaka is like Naota in a lot of ways. He’s over-the-top shy, he has a massive crush on a cute girl in his class, he’s noble, and he leans on his best friend for support. This series is a lot more comical than Video Girl Ai, thankfully. Katsura delivers with a panty shot every few pages, some nude images, and plenty of girls undressing… which I’m all about. Plus I like how the situation with Iori kept getting worse and worse in spades, then wound up at the end of the volume as it did ^_^

I love Iori. It might be because she’s cute, it might be because she’s so distant, it might be because she’s so adorably naive, but whatever it is, I LOVE Iori.

I was kind of disappointed in Katsura’s art in this volume… I was kind of hoping that it would have evolved and improved since Video Girl Ai, but a lot of the backgrounds were just left blank, and there was a lot of white space and not as much detail as in Video Girl Ai. He still has a really amazing style, and I love the cover art, but it’s just not impressive as Video Girl Ai. The first time I bought Animerica Extra, it was closeup shots of Moemi and the amount of detail shown in an angsty social situation blown up so huge on the comic page that made me subscribe.

Overall the series is not that exciting just yet, but it is good for panty shots and fan service, and it has its moments. Hopefully it’ll pick up in later volumes, because I’ll be very sad if I bought this over Video Girl Ai and should’ve done it the other way.