A Royal Proposition by Marion Lennox and Harumo Sanazaki: C-

May 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

Before he died, the king of a vaguely European country called Castaliae drafted a will to reign in his son’s profligate tendencies. This will calls for the next would-be king to marry a woman of faultless virtue before he can ascend to the throne. Alas, that son is now dead too, and the new heir, Alastair, must also abide by the bizarre terms set forth by his predecessor.

Enter Penny-Rose, the perfectly angelic damsel who agrees to a one-year marriage contract with cynical Alastair and wins him over with her emotional availability and courage, as demonstrated by working as a stonemason to provide for her siblings’ education and darting into traffic to save an injured puppy. (Please believe that I do not normally snicker at injured puppies, but I could not help it this time.)

I try not to expect too much from these Harlequin manga, but this one is particularly lackluster. Both main characters are bland and their uninteresting romance is propelled by some amusingly melodramatic circumstances. I suspect most of the problems can be attributed to the original source material, but there’s nothing about the art or manga adaptation to compel one to overlook such flaws.

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

Filed Under: Josei, Manga, Romance Tagged With:

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You 4 by Karuho Shiina: A-

May 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When Sawako Kuronuma was ostracised by her class due to her gloomy disposition and resemblance to a character from a horror movie, she never would have guessed that there are so many nuances to interactions with other people. Because of her inexperience in this area, she hasn’t learned to be distrustful, and so accepts as genuine the friendly advances of Kurumi, a girl who wants Kazehaya-kun for herself.

Kurumi does everything within her power to convince Sawako, who is growing increasingly curious about the depth of her feeling for Kazehaya, that what she feels for him isn’t anything special, and that she ought to try chatting up some other guys for the sake of comparison (then arranges for Kazehaya to witness this, of course). Things backfire for Kurumi, though, as Sawako manages to interpret this advice in the best possible light and ends up confirming and accepting that what she feels for Kazehaya is genuine love.

This is a huge step for Sawako, and her happiness at this achievement in self-discovery is contagious. In fact, the depiction of her thought process as she works this out is simply terrific throughout, as is that of Kazehaya as he realizes that, no matter what he may personally feel, Sawako is still not ready to begin dating anyone. The skill with which nonverbal and internal storytelling convey these revelations to the reader elevates Kimi ni Todoke beyond other sweet love stories and into the realm of great manga.

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

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Flower in a Storm 1 by Shigeyoshi Takagi: B

May 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

After being rejected by her first love because of her superhuman strength, Riko is trying to live as unremarkable a life as possible. She believes that the only way she’s going to fall in love is to be “normal,” but this point of view is challenged by the dramatic arrival (with gun and menacing retinue) of rich boy Ran Tachibana, who barges into her classroom one day and proposes marriage.

Unlike her first love, when Ran caught a glimpse of Riko’s abilities he was smitten and his unstoppable pursuit leads him to transfer to her school. Ran’s got quite a few enemies, so his proximity involves Riko in all sorts of dangerous situations involving assassins and treacherous friends, but his acceptance of her as she is gradually endears her to him despite all the chaos he introduces into her life.

In no way did I expect to enjoy Flower in a Storm as much as I did. In fact, I remember reading the back cover description aloud to someone and the two of us groaning. In reality, though, it’s actually a lot of fun, even though some of the situations the leads find themselves in are fairly ridiculous. Ran might be outrageous, but the fact that he appreciates Ran for her competence and independence goes a long way toward making his presumptive actions more tolerable. Also, this isn’t one of those series where the domineering guy must come to the aid of the helpless heroine; instead, they do their fair share of rescuing each other.

After Ran and Riko’s tale comes to a nice stopping point, there’s a bonus story called “Need for Artificial Respiration.” It’s about a girl, Toko, with a bad reputation at school due to frequently being spotted kissing different guys. After having his first kiss stolen by Toko while napping in a classroom, Kiyoharu becomes interested in figuring out why she does what she does. The answer is rather surprising, but the story is quite good and definitely more interesting than many bonus stories tend to be.

I like Takagi-sensei’s art a lot, especially Ran’s character design. Riko resembles the title character from Alice in the Country of Hearts, but Ran—with his tied-back hair and impressive collection of stylish specs—has a look all his own that I actually find kind of sexy. Also, there’s just something about Takagi’s angular profiles that reminds me at times of Tomoko Yamashita, creator of Dining Bar Akira.

Ultimately, Flower in a Storm was a very pleasant surprise. Probably a story like this would fizzle out over a long serialization, but the fact that it concludes in its second volume (due in August) reassures me that its end will be as unexpectedly entertaining as its beginning.

Flower in a Storm is published in English by VIZ. Volume one is available now and the second and final volume will be out in August.

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

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You 3 by Karuho Shiina: A

May 16, 2010 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Sadako finally becomes friends with her classmates, instead of scaring them off. Even Kurumi, the cutest girl in school, wants to be her friend. But will this new friendship make Sadako realize that her feelings for Kazehaya might be more than just friendly?

Review:
I was bowled over by the surfeit of cute in this volume of Kimi ni Todoke. Let us count the ways!

1. Sawako has begun doing things after school with Yano and Yoshida, and is absolutely thrilled. Her parents are also adorably excited for her.

2. Sawako is beginning to realize that Kazehaya is a boy, and that she likes him in a way that is different from how she likes her other new friends. This results in her being somewhat flustered in his presence, which leads to him being flustered right back. Seriously, when these two are together, they just glow, and the art and pacing really make these moments special.

3. Yano and Yoshida are extremely awesome, and nudge Sawako into doing things like calling Kazehaya on the phone or dropping the -kun when she addresses him. Her reactions are cute, but Kazehaya’s are especially telling. Yano and Yoshida are kind of evil in how much they tease him, but their machinations result in a story that shows these characters’ feelings for each other rather than simply telling us about them.

4. Sawako’s friends have to inform her that she has earned the right to call them by their first names, because she’d never presume to do so otherwise. In fact, there’s a lot of emphasis on honorifics in this volume, making it a great candidate to prove why it’s necessary to retain them in translations.

I continue to love that friendship is so important to Sawako. Though she’s finally beginning to realize her romantic feelings for Kazehaya, her friends play a big part in that, encouraging her to reach out to him a little more and putting the two of them in situations where they can interact. Yano and Yoshida are at least tied with Hanajima and Uotani from Fruits Basket in the category of Best Best Friends.

A rival for Kazehaya’s affections—Kurumi, a girl he knew in junior high—also appears in this volume. I like that she’s not as over-the-top villainous as some rivals have been, but is still somewhat scheming. Happily, Sawako balks at Kurumi’s request to help her get together with Kazehaya; it’s evident that Kurumi thought Sawako was so self-effacing she’d just bend over backwards to accommodate her new friend’s request. It’s clear, too, that Kurumi knows exactly how Kazehaya feels about Sawako, thanks to some more excellent nonverbal storytelling.

In the end, this volume solidly establishes Kimi ni Todoke as one of my current shoujo favorites. I liked the first two volumes a lot, but now that Sawako and Kazehaya are hesitantly moving closer to a relationship, it has escalated to a new level of greatness.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Neko Ramen 1 by Kenji Sonishi: A-

May 15, 2010 by 1 Comment

Book description:
Taisho was a former kitten model who ran away from home and had a hard life on the streets until the day he was saved by a kind ramen shop owner who later served as his mentor. Now Taisho takes pride in his noodles… and is easily angered when customers are dissatisfied! So step aside, Soup Nazi—there’s a new cat in town!

Review:
I readily admit that I haven’t read much 4-koma (like a comic strip, only vertical) manga and what I have read hasn’t thrilled me. I do like cats, though, so on that basis alone I had to at least flip through Neko Ramen, a new 4-koma series from TOKYOPOP. After some cute moments caught my eye, I knew I had to go back and read the whole thing properly. I’m glad I did, because it’s genuinely funny and I would’ve completely missed out otherwise!

Taisho grew up in the shadow of his super cute father, a famous cat model. After an unsuccessful attempt to follow in his footsteps, Taisho left that life behind and sought his way in the world, trying his paw at a variety of occupations (including, awesomely, driving instructor) before being taken in by the proprietor of a ramen shop and taught the trade. Once Taisho has achieved mastery, the owner leaves him in charge, and it’s there we meet him as the tale begins. He’s an ambitious cat, always trying out new menu items and entertaining ideas of expansion, but really only has one regular customer, a salaryman named Tanaka who thinks the food is awful but keeps coming back to make sure Taisho’s doing alright.

I think Neko Ramen is the first 4-koma to actually make me laugh because it relies primarily on the nature of cats for its punchlines, and that’s the sort of universal humor that requires no cultural notes to explain the joke. There are many amusing bits about Taisho’s difficulties with sticky rice, why his restroom isn’t fit for human clientele, and how his part-time employees spend most of their time snoozing on the counter. Taisho also doesn’t seem to realize that he is a cat and that cats don’t generally run ramen shops. The fact that he’s a curiosity never occurs to him.

Nearly every strip takes place in the ramen shop, though there are a few “short comic specials” that fill in elements of Taisho’s backstory. The best of these—“The Secret of Neko Noodles,” which tells the story of how Taisho came up with a special recipe to nurse an injured cat back to health—is not only positively adorable, but also explains just why Taisho’s noodles taste a bit weird. I seriously read this story about three times then made a fellow cat lover at work read it, too. She said this was the first time she’s ever wanted to read any manga I’ve told her about.

I think I smiled the entire time I was reading Neko Ramen. And though this review copy is ultimately destined for the hands of another Manga Recon reviewer, I plan to buy my own copy when it comes out. That’s how much I liked it.

Neko Ramen is published in English by TOKYOPOP, with the first volume due for release on June 1, 2010. The series is still ongoing in Japan, where four volumes are available so far.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With:

Kingyo Used Books 1 by Seimu Yoshizaki: B

May 14, 2010 by 5 Comments

Book description:
Every bookstore has a thousand stories to tell. An art student finds inspiration. An archer hits a bull’s-eye. A homemaker rediscovers romance. A teenager discovers his true self in the pages of a manga magazine. All this and more at Kingyo Used Books, a place that helps people find their dreams.

We have the manga you’re looking for.

Review:
No matter what ails you, there’s a manga that’ll make it better just waiting to be discovered at Kingyo Used Books. Each chapter in this episodic first volume adheres to this general premise, whether it features a struggling archer regaining his focus thanks to a gag manga, an art student finding inspiration in the story of a famous painter, or a half-Japanese kid growing up in America finding qualities to emulate in a boy detective. My favorite chapter in this line is about a housewife who rediscovers a stash of her old shoujo manga in her parents’ house, which ultimately leads her to recall why she fell in love with her husband.

After a few chapters, the format does begin to vary somewhat. At first, the staff of the bookstore are mainly present in the background as we spend more time with the customers, but gradually we get to know Natsuki, granddaughter of the owner and acting manager, and Shiba, manga enthusiast and procurement expert, somewhat better. Other recurring characters include a couple of sendori (book scouts) and Natsuki’s grandfather, who has amassed a drool-inducing amount of stock for his store. The last chapter in the volume isn’t about Kingyo at all, but about the sendori helping to save the rare inventory of a manga lending library from damage in a storm.

The low point of the volume is the introductory chapter devoted to the arrival of Natsuki’s cousin, Billy. Essentially, this shy half-Japanese kid living in America is having trouble making friends until he reads the manga Billy Puck, which stars a courageous boy detective and teaches him about bravery and justice, et cetera. This would be fine, except his obsession persists into adulthood, and he arrives in Japan dressing and acting exactly like his favorite character. The other characters react as if he is merely kooky, and maybe somewhat to be admired for his commitment, but all I could think was, “This guy is mentally ill!” Besides, I found it implausible that someone so obsessed as to hand-knit a sweater for Billy Puck’s creator would not also know that said creator died decades ago.

Throughout the volume, many different classic manga are mentioned, and ample footnotes are provided regarding creators, length, and publisher, should one be compelled to track them down. Also, several pages at the end of the book furnish additional detail on the few series that feature more prominently in the narrative. If there ever was a manga to make a person feel like renewing their commitment to learn Japanese, this is it!

In the end, Kingyo Used Books is pleasant and educational, capable of inspiring book lust and a yearning for many titles that will most likely never make it to our shores. Unfortunately, it seldom exceeds the bounds of pleasantry, outside of a few nice moments in the stories of the housewife and the lending library, so there is little here to move or excite the reader. I can see myself continuing to read the series because I care about the manga to which it can introduce me, but not because I particularly care about the characters.

Kingyo Used Books is published in English by VIZ, and is also serialized online at their SigIKKI site. One volume has been released so far, though the still-ongoing series is currently up to ten volumes in Japan.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Seinen Tagged With: ,

Black Blizzard by Yoshihiro Tatsumi: B+

May 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Before Yoshihiro Tatsumi penned such seminal works as A Drifting Life, he published this noir thriller about murder, star-crossed love, and a pair of convicts on the lam.

I reviewed Black Blizzard for Comics Should Be Good, and that review can be found here.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Suspense Tagged With:

Beast Master 2 by Kyousuke Motomi: A-

May 12, 2010 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Leo Aoi looks like a crazy animal with wild eyes, and he goes berserk whenever he feels threatened or sees blood. That doesn’t stop animal lover Yuiko Kubozuka from befriending him, however. In fact, Yuiko is the only person Leo will listen to when he has one of his violent fits…

Leo’s 18th birthday is around the corner, but celebrating seems impossible as someone is after Leo’s life! Can Leo overcome the dangers of his past? Or will this beast-like boy be separated from his beloved “master”… forever?

Review:
I suppose there’s not anything terribly original about these final three chapters of Beast Master. In the first, we get a little more information on Leo’s backstory, including the revelation that he’s worth billions and began living in the wild in the first place to avoid his murderous relations. In the second, Leo’s dad reenters the picture and, after another attempt on his son’s life puts him in the hospital, suggests a move overseas. Finally, Yuiko develops insecurities about how Leo feels about her upon seeing how popular he’s become with other girls.

What makes this series so special, then, is how truly sweet it is. Not some cloying and irritating approximation of sweetness, either, but something truly genuine and moving. After Yuiko witnesses Leo being hit by a car, it makes sense that she’d support his father’s plan to relocate him someplace safer, and the scene where she attempts to maintain a brave face as she bids him good-bye, only to break down as he drives off is perfectly painful. Although we, as readers, can expect him to return, Yuiko’s sadness is nicely portrayed, as she realizes that simply knowing he’s safer will not make her miss him any less.

The final chapter’s a nice spin on the “I don’t know how he feels about me” idea, too. It works here because Leo is so child-like, Yuiko has to wonder whether he even realizes that there are different levels of liking someone. He can “like” a girl classmate who loans him some CDs, but does he feel anything more than this for Yuiko? Well, of course he does, and his eventual shy confession is so adorable it made me sniffly.

Rounding out the volume is “Cactus Summer Surprise,” a short story about a body-swapping cactus. Yes, you read that right. In a nutshell, Akira is a cactus fan who once gave her prized plant to her middle-school crush, Kaito, who told her that he threw it away. They’ve been enemies ever since—though, of course, it’s obvious they really fancy each other—and through the machinations of a middle-aged female spirit who transitions from the cactus in which she resides into possessing Kaito’s body, they manage to patch things up. Again, like Beast Master, this story ends with a particularly adorable scene of a guy trying to get his feelings across.

When I finished this volume, my first thought was, “That was good! I’d like to read something longer by Kyousuke Motomi.” And my second thought was, “Oh yeah! Dengeki Daisy is coming in two months!” Thank you, VIZ!

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Fire Investigator Nanase 4 by Izo Hashimoto and Tomoshige Ichikawa: B+

May 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Nanase Takamine is a fire investigator, a job at which she not only excels but also approaches with a dogged determination to discover the truth. In this volume, she’s on the case of a fatal fire at the home of an elderly, wealthy man with three suspicious children, and later must determine why an experienced arsonist made a beginner’s mistake.

Nanase is, in a way, haunted by a notorious arsonist called Firebug, who seems to turn up at every crime scene, provides clues that point Nanase in the right direction, and is possibly responsible for the fire that killed her parents seven years ago. Their interactions are the highlight of this series, with Firebug increasingly insisting that Nanase turn to administering vigilante justice, either against arsonists or, more recently, against a detective who seems to know Firebug’s true identity.

Usually, the Firebug scenes overshadow Nanase’s investigations, but the first case in this volume proves more interesting than most, managing to sneak in some character development and surprises with a cast that’s only around for four chapters or so. This improvement, coupled with intriguing glimpses of the detective’s suspicions, means that the fourth volume of Fire Investigator Nanase is its best so far.

Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Manga, Seinen, Suspense Tagged With:

Twin Spica 1 by Kou Yaginuma: A-

May 9, 2010 by 3 Comments

The year is 2024. Fourteen years ago, Japan’s first attempt at a manned space mission ended in disaster, as something went wrong 72 seconds into the flight, causing the craft, “The Lion,” to crash in the middle of a city. The crew, and many civilians, lost their lives. Asumi Kamogawa’s mother was among the wounded, lingering in a coma for five years before finally succumbing to her injuries.

Even so, Asumi grew up with a passionate love of the stars, and spent many hours stargazing with her mysterious friend, a young man—wearing a lion’s-head mask—that no one else seems able to see. As a child, Asumi wasn’t shy about sharing her dream, but lately guilt over leaving her father behind compels her to take the entrance exam to the Tokyo Space School without telling him. When he finds out, Dad proves he’s not so helpless after all, since he’s been working and saving for years in order to be able to make his daughter’s dream come true.

This frees Asumi to continue with the admissions process, the next step of which is a test that requires her to live with two strangers in a room for seven days. This is a fun glimpse at the space school world she’s about to enter, as well as Asumi’s strengths relative to those of her prospective classmates. Physically tiny, she possesses a child-like sense of wonder, which sometimes leads her to ask seemingly stupid questions, but is also able to see patterns in things that others miss. While most of the other candidates fail, Asumi’s team is a success, thanks in no small part to her contributions.

Instead of forging ahead with her promising future, the rest of the volume is composed of short stories—the success of which was ultimately responsible for Twin Spica becoming a series—depicting incidents from Asumi’s childhood and revealing the true identity of her masked friend. The second tale, “Asumi,” in which Asumi dreams she is able to help her mother’s spirit reach its destination, is especially touching. I admit it: I cried. The existence of Mr. Lion, and the supernatural possibilities he introduces into the story, means that this encounter really could have happened, too.

Artistically, Yaginuma’s work is clean and attractive, with lots of white space—as is appropriate for the “closed-off environment adaptability test”—and a variety of panel layouts. The one thing that bugs me is that Asumi looks really, really young throughout. She’s supposed to be smaller than others her age, but she winds up resembling a second or third grader in comparison. I hope this isn’t a hint of moe infiltrating what is otherwise a very fine story.

With this first volume, Twin Spica is just, if you’ll pardon the awful pun, getting off the ground. I definitely look forward to discovering what is to come, and especially appreciate Vertical’s commitment to releasing all sixteen volumes of this series by 2012. I could make another pun here about climbing aboard now, the better to experience the journey, but I’ll spare you.

Twin Spica is published in English by Vertical, Inc. Only the first volume is out so far, but the series is complete in Japan with sixteen volumes. The review copy I received included the following publishing schedule:

Volumes 1 to 4: 2010
Volumes 5 to 10: 2011
Volumes 11 to 16: 2012

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

Filed Under: Manga, Sci-Fi, Seinen Tagged With:
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