Moon Boy 6 by Lee YoungYou: C+

March 8, 2009 by 3 Comments

From the back cover:
The Black Rabbit disappears again, this time leaving behind the Fox Tribe’s only means of tracking him! Worried that the tribal elders will discover the truth, student council members Sa-Eun and Jin-Soo split up in a frantic search for their ward… only to find themselves facing off against the most improbable of enemies! After this battle, will the student council ever be the same?

Review:
Wow, things actually happened in this volume. Unfortunately, they weren’t the most coherent of things, but progress is progress, I suppose.

The most major event is that Yu-Da stops acting like he’s still under the foxes’ spell and allies himself with… some people. I cannot tell whether they’re foxes or rabbits or what, but their leader is the same guy (now possessing a schoolgirl’s body) who made it possible for Yu-Da to regain his own consciousness at age fifteen. They’ve liberated a bunch of low-level, animal-like foxes and have some kind of agenda. That’s about as specific as I can be about it, since it’s all very muddled.

Belatedly, some backstory is superimposed upon a couple of the foxes on the student council, but it’s rather too little too late. It would’ve been nice if either of these two had had much personality before one ends up betraying the other, or if we’d had some notion of the real depth of their history together before that happened.

Moon Boy really has a making-it-up-as-I-go-along kind of feel to it. True, we’ve seen a couple of members of this new gang for a little while now, and heard about the leader, too, but it just doesn’t feel… final. This volume is a lot more serious than those before it, which I appreciate, but I’d like it more if I could feel confident that we’re approaching a planned-out ending, and not just veering randomly down another ambling path.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:

Moon Boy 5 by Lee YoungYou: C

March 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Having survived the battle with the Soon-La renegades, Myung-Ee can’t remember anything about the fight! In her quest to know what really happened, she finds herself crossing paths with Sa-Eun more than once. Though he stays silent about the battle, he lets slip a shocking secret about himself to his rabbit adversary! Meanwhile, Yu-Da has returned safely with the help of two mysterious friends… who appear to be intent on wreaking havoc on both the Rabbit and Fox tribes! Is the Black Rabbit slipping away from Myung-Ee for good?

Review:
The plot of this series really is meandering now. Here we are in volume five, and nothing has really happened. Yes, Myung-Ee’s skills are developing. But otherwise Yu-Da’s exactly where he was (in the Fox tribe’s clutches) and nothing has progressed at all.

We do get clarification that Yu-Da really is faking the sunny personality he has around the foxes, since the spell on him wore off when he turned fifteen. This isn’t really inconsistent with what’s come before, but I don’t even care, since at least it makes Yu-Da’s present situation clear at last. One does wonder, however, if Yu-Da is himself and has all these powers, why doesn’t he, like, escape?

It seems like there’s less of the unfunny comedy in this volume, but maybe that’s because the last few chapters actually weren’t that bad and I’ve managed to forget some of the stupid crap that happened early on. One thing that bugs me is that one of the newly-arrived rabbit reinforcements is really about eleven years old but is taking a growing potion in order to attend high school with Myung-Ee and the others. And yet he’s drawn in a “sexy” way in some of the splash pages. It’s disconcerting.

Some other random things bugged me, too. At one point, Myung-Ee resolves that she’s not being true to herself if she doesn’t tell Yu-Da’s one secret advantage (that the foxes’ spell on him wore off) to one of the foxes. Why the hell?! Thankfully, she doesn’t do it (yet). Also, there are some really annoying fan girls of Yu-Da and his fox buddy, with whom Myung-Ee has clashed several times. But yet she can send a text message to this fan club president, meaning she’s actually asked for this girl’s cell phone number? Perhaps I’m thinking too much about some stupid gag, but it irks me.

Some new characters are introduced and some new facts are revealed about existing characters, but I really just do not care. Probably you won’t either, so I’ll spare you the details.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:

Moon Boy 4 by Lee YoungYou: C-

March 6, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Myung-Ee succeeds in enraging the student council—especially Sa-Eun—by confronting them about Yu-Da. But when the Black Rabbit is kidnapped during the school festival, she finds herself transported to a strange place… with none other than Sa-Eun! As an attack from an unexpected assailant forces the two enemies into a corner, will they be able to put their differences aside and fight for their lives together?!

Review:
Ugh. School festival. If I never read another school festival chapter ever again, it’ll be too soon. This one is especially stupid, since it’s a transparent attempt to get the two male leads in drag.

There are more problems than just that, however.
1. The character Mok-Hee is utterly useless. He’s ostensibly an accomplished spy but does nothing except ogle women. I gather this is supposed to be funny, but it’s just really, really stupid.

2. The story is beginning to show internal inconsistencies. In an earlier volume, it was mentioned that Yu-Da’s transformation from happy-go-lucky (the personality imprinted upon him by the fox tribe elders) and his true self takes a long time. Now he can seemingly switch back and forth with ease, and there’s some throwaway line about how the spell on him lifted when he turned seventeen. Also, all we had ever heard about Yu-Da’s precious liver was that it would be at its most effective (in its immortality-granting powers) when he reaches adulthood. Suddenly, a new reason for the wait is introduced: now his liver is supposedly “deathly poisonous” until fully developed.

3. Towards the end there’s a fight scene and I have absolutely no idea what is going on.

This is the first volume published by Yen Press and they’ve done a good job replicating Ice Kunion’s packaging. Too bad the cover image is so garish. I can’t even begin to describe it; we’d need James Lileks for the job.

The only slightly good scene is when Myung-Ee confronts the foxes about what they’re doing to Yu-Da, since he is supposedly their friend. Any merits are completely obliterated by the sudden, laughably bad crying jag her words elicit from one of the foxes, however.

I had hoped this series would get better as it went along, but now it seems it’s on the opposite path.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:

Moon Boy 3 by Lee YoungYou: C+

March 3, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
For the first time, Myung-Ee falls into a real fight against the Fox Tribe. She is determined to do whatever she can to protect Yu-Da from all the hungry foxes, but instead she encounters the “Black” Yu-Da! How can this be? Is Yu-Da’s memory back, or was he just faking?!

Review:
The phrase “hungry foxes” conjures to mind the Festrunk brothers from SNL’s early days, who were always on the prowl to meet some “swinging American foxes.”

What a mixed bag this volume is. While I used to kind of like Ya-ho, the pet cat of Ho-Rang (the young-looking kendo captain/elite rabbit warrior) who can turn into a girl with poor language skills, she really got on my nerves in this volume. Absolutely none of the attempts at comedy succeeded in amusing me. This includes Mok-hee, a pervy fellow who up ’til now has been imprisoned in a mystical cigarette or something, but now gets set free to work his surveillance mojo and report on Myung-Ee, since she basically announced to the fox-filled Student Council that she’s one of their prey in the previous volume. All of his antics are excruciatingly boring.

Also seemingly worse is the art. There’s one action scene where I cannot tell at all what’s going on. There’s a streak of movement and a “SHUKK!” sound effect followed by spectator reactions, so obviously something happened, but I couldn’t tell what. Also, somewhere towards the end of the last volume, Myung-Ee seems to’ve grown one of those stupid moe plumes atop her head.

And yet, out of this jumble emerges a couple of chapters that are actually pretty good. Mok-hee summons a bunch of lower-level foxes to attack Myung-Ee just at the same moment that Yu-Da has gone to inquire about the Kendo Club’s festival plans. Myung-Ee witnesses Yu-Da go into “black” mode and essentially cause all of his opponents’ chests to explode. When Yu-Da later tries to erase her memory, he’s unsuccessful.

In the next chapter, after the aforementioned confusing combat scene, there’s a rather nifty bit where a wounded guy is thinking about how much he loves Myung-Ee but won’t tell her until he’s more of a man, and meanwhile the crying Myung-Ee is thinking how horrible she is for being more concerned about Yu-Da than the guy who got hurt on her behalf.

It’s these scattered moments of almost goodness that keep this series from being intolerably dull.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:

Moon Boy 2 by Lee YoungYou: C+

March 1, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Myung-Ee decides to rescue Yu-Da from the fox tribe! She begins by journeying to Junghyun mountain to join the Soon-La army. But first she must pass a test of pain and endurance. Meanwhile, more secrets are revealed about the “kind and gentle” Yu-Dai…

Review:
This volume is pretty boring overall, but had just enough stuff going on that I have some interest in continuing. Partly, I have this wish that all the stupid “comedy” bits will be dispensed with at some point as the story grows more serious, but that’s probably futile.

Anyways, more is explained about the Soon-La army, then Myung-Ee heads to the training academy. As an “earth rabbit,” more like a human that other rabbits, her long ears do not sprout when she gets there, but she still manages to be super awesome and conjure a sword in a matter of minutes where other students have taken a year to do the same. That part is standard fantasy fare, so it’s okay, but the instructor is a crossdresser, so that had to be milked for all that it was worth and then some.

The other big plot revolves around the mystery fox girl (Seo-Wha) from the last volume, who has an obsessive love for one of the foxes guarding Yu-Da. She’s a pain in the ass to everyone the entire volume, yet the only worthwhile thing she actually does is cause Yu-Da to show that there’s some other, powerful, personality sharing his body that Yu-Da is probably not aware of.

Moon Boy is a quick read, but I’d like it better if the story itself were more streamlined. None of the characters are well-developed, yet more are still being added. Plus, the art is not my cup of tea. Still, it sometimes surprises me, as with one very nice panel of Myung-Ee and Seo-Wha as black silhouettes against the lights of a city at night. Overall, I don’t hate this series, but neither would I particularly recommend it.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:

Moon Boy 1 by Lee YoungYou: C+

March 1, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Apart from the fact that her eyes turn red when the moon rises, Myung-Ee is your average, albeit boy crazy, 5th grader. After picking a fight with her classmate Yu-Da Lee, she discovers a startling secret: the two of them are “earth rabbits” being hunted by the “fox tribe” of the moon!

Five years pass and Myung-Ee transfers to a new school in search of pretty boys. There, she unexpectedly reunited with Yu-Da. The problem is, he mysteriously doesn’t remember a thing about her or their shared past at all!

Review:
The back cover blurb actually says, “Apart from the fact the color of her eyes turn red when moon rises…” This does not bode well.

Actually, though, I thought I would dislike this, but I don’t. It has problems, but it’s better than I expected. Aside from its grammatical errors, the back cover blurb covers the initial story pretty well. Myung-Ee is an “earth rabbit,” as was her childhood classmate Yu-Da before he vanished and everybody but Myung-Ee forgot he ever existed. After she runs into him at her new school, various people impart the rest of the story to her: Yu-Da is actually a “black rabbit,” whose liver (oh yes, the foxes eat the rabbits’ livers) can grant immortality. His memory has been wiped and he’s guarded by a Student Council full of fox tribe folks who are just waiting for him to achieve adulthood.

Meanwhile, the Kendo Club is helmed by some guy who claims to be a warrior in an army that wants to protect Yu-Da. He’s in 12th grade, but he looks about nine, collects Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and is prone to weeping. Wacky, eh? Anyway, they need one more member or their club will be shut down by the Student Council. Guess who volunteers? Oh, and Myung-Ee gets bullied by some girls, too. And her new friend is really a cat.

And there’s where Moon Boy loses me some. The basic plot is out there, but it makes enough internal sense that it doesn’t annoy me. But the art is problematic—people who’re supposedly short not looking short, astoundingly improbable hairstyles, jarringly unattractive “comedic” moments—and the cast, while manageable at first, bloats rather rapidly in the last couple of chapters. All of a sudden there’s some fox queen on the moon and some random chick making cryptic remarks in the shadows. I kind of don’t want to have to think this much and remember this many plot threads for the likes of Moon Boy.

Lastly, I end with a quote. I have a certain fondness for noting combinations of words that’ve probably never been written or spoken before, and Moon Boy comes up with a doozy. Enjoy!

Never mind all that earth rabbit stuff right now. I have to get my panties!

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:

Fairy Tail 5 by Hiro Mashima: B

February 19, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Gray’s old training companion Reitei Lyon is trying to revive a calamity demon, but doing so will make their former master’s sacrifice meaningless! What’s the secret of Gray’s past, and why does he keep taking off his clothing? Gray is revealed (metaphorically speaking) in this pivotal volume!

Review:
You know, there are things one sees in Fairy Tail that one is simply not going to see in any other manga. I’m talking about stuff like a gigantic flying rat carrying a bucket of poisonous jelly and a cow-man squaring off against a malicious tree. Sometimes, things are so cracktastic that one just has to admire them.

I actually liked this volume more than the last one, perhaps because I’ve moved past the foolishness of their embarking upon a quest that could get them expelled from the guild and become invested instead in their successful completion of the task at hand. The variety of magical abilities continues to be one of the most enjoyable parts for me, and I’m particularly glad to see Lucy’s skills increase in this volume. She’s by no means a match for Natsu or Gray magically, but both of them would have their butts handed to them by Erza, so there isn’t any annoying gender inequality going on.

Well, not in the realm of combat, anyway. There’s certainly a lot of fanservice in this volume, mostly on the chapter splash pages. In one of them, Lucy is wearing a sleeveless t-shirt that is held up by ginormous boobs and a prayer. The most egregious example, however, is an image of Erza wielding a sword while dressed in a négligée. Lucy’s garb is at least in character. Erza’s definitely is not.

We also learn more about Gray’s backstory, and I’m impressed with how deftly the flashbacks are woven in with the fighting in the present moment. It manages to be seamless but yet not confusing. I think partly this was achieved through pacing, as a little bit of information would be revealed at a time and when it seemed like the right time to switch back to the present, it would. The backstory itself isn’t much to get excited over, but the mechanics of it are really well done.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,

The Palette of 12 Secret Colors 4 by Nari Kusakawa: B+

February 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This is the story of Cello, an aspiring Palette or “color magician,” who has had to repeat her first year of training school because her abilities are a bit different than those of her fellow students. The Palette of 12 Secret Colors is a very episodic series, and this volume is no exception. On the agenda are a separation from her avian partner that prompts Cello to strive to be her best, a rampaging drunken ostrich, and a swimming competition.

I’m not a fan of episodic tales in general, but Kusakawa manages to incorporate modest development for her lead characters and their relationship even while hijinks are ensuing. Over the course of the previous volumes, Dr. Guell (the school doctor) has helped Cello out on numerous occasions and now secretly harbors romantic feelings for her. The episodic nature of the story contrives to put the two of them together, occasionally in ridiculous situations, but also provides the opportunity for many warm and fuzzy moments. The final scene between them in volume four is anything but ridiculous or fuzzy, however, and may be just what Cello needs to finally begin to see the stoic doctor in a new light.

That said, this story is certainly progressing at a leisurely pace for one with only two volumes left. I can’t help but wish for a more dramatic storyline or more tangible evidence of Cello’s progressing skills. Aww-inspiring it may be, but it’s currently too mellow to generate anything akin to awe.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,

The Palette of 12 Secret Colors 3 by Nari Kusakawa: B

February 15, 2009 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Cello meets Fenne, a fellow Palette-in-training who’s been having problems with his abilities ever since his bird-partner died. Despite his sarcastic attitude, Cello is determined to both help him find a suitable new bird and to become his friend. Then Olga—Dr. Guell’s jealous bird—decides that Cello is taking up way too much of Dr. Guell’s time. So now she’s determined to make sure that Cello quickly completes her Palette training.

Review:
Just as I was wishing to know more about Cello’s progress, she makes a remark in one chapter about how she has cleared “about half” of the first twelve colors. That’s a step in the right direction, I suppose.

Unfortunately, none of the stories in this volume really do much for me, though none is bad or anything. A new character, Fenne, is introduced and ropes Cello into helping him adapt one of the migratory birds that visit the island to be his new partner. At first he mocks her for having to repeat her first year, but comes to like her, which bothers Dr. Guell, who is coming to realize that Cello occupies his thoughts rather a lot.

The story with Olga serving as Cello’s tutor misses the mark for amusing and instead ventures into the territory of “too silly for me.” The same can be said for the chapter in which Cello’s father pursues an outrageously ridiculous plan of making up with his wife, with whom he’s had a fight. About the only one I really like is the one about Cello’s birthday, and how Dr. Guell sweetly buys her a present. Not only that, he’s clearly paid enough attention to her to know exactly what kind of present she would like best.

The relationship between Dr. Guell and Cello is the most interesting thing about the series at the moment, but I do rather wish for a more serialized story line. This is the halfway point of the series and though it’s very pleasant and guaranteed to foster some warm fuzzies, it feels like something more should be happening by now.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,

The Palette of 12 Secret Colors 2 by Nari Kusakawa: B+

February 15, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
It’s Christmas time on the island of Opal, and a visiting young Prince introduces holiday traditions to its residents. What could be more festive than the powers of the color wizards unleashed upon the season? But Dr. Guell is jealous of the relationship between the Prince and Cello and adds a sour note to the happy celebration. Then, find out more about Cello’s family and learn how she first bonded with Yoyo, her very special bird.

Review:
The episodic adventures continue in this volume, including a story about a visiting prince with a predictable secret, the tale of how Cello first met Yoyo, and a chapter about Cello’s family and her dad’s attempts to get some kind of facial expression out of terminally cool Dr. Gruell. Each of the episodes has something amusing about it, or some particular insight on character, but some are also a bit dull; I’m already kind of tired of seeing the triplet little girls turn up again and again.

The second story is my favorite, and not just because of Yoyo’s cuteness, though I suppose that is a factor. Mostly, though, I like it for the continuity. In an offhand remark in volume one, Cello mentions that she used to like climbing trees until she fell from one, and now she’s afraid of heights. This chapter includes that incident. It’s a minor thing, but I’m happy to see the seeds for it planted in advance.

While the current story structure is not short on charm, I still keep wanting this to be like a shounen manga somehow, with Cello acquiring mastery of new colors and her progression in skill clearly mapped. So far, she has improved enough to do well on a mid-term exam, but that’s sort of nebulous; the idea of knowing exactly how many of the twelve colors she can control and how many she has left has definite appeal.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,
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