Ouran High School Host Club 10 by Bisco Hatori: B+

March 9, 2008 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
Ever since the day he helped her up from a nasty tumble, Black Magic Club member Reiko Kanazuki has been obsessed with Hunny. She is devoting all her knowledge of the dark arts to curse him and steal his soul. Will the sweetest member of the Host Club fall victim to her spells?

Review:
This series is starting to remind me of Hana-Kimi, which isn’t a compliment. While I enjoy some recurring characters, especially Kasanoda, I don’t particularly like it when long-forgotten characters reemerge out of the woodwork, like a coworker of Haruhi’s dad and a fruit-obsessed rival of Kyoya’s did in this volume.

A new character is also introduced. Mei is the rebellious daughter of the aforementioned coworker, and she’s not very interesting in and of herself. She does work well as a catalyst, however. When she decides to romantically pursue Tamaki, it prompts a tiny bit of progress from Tamaki and Haruhi regarding their feelings, which she picks up on. When she relates this to Kaoru, it coaxes out a bit more development. So, I suppose she’s useful in that respect.

One thing I wish is that the entire Host Club didn’t always have to show up to everything. It turns out that Tamaki was trying to help Mei and her father reconcile, and Haruhi decided to help him. It could’ve been so great if these two had just been doing it on their own. But no, the whole gang has to turn up and tip the scales in favor of hilarity.

There’s one completely random thing I do like, though. Towards the end of the volume, Mori is seen a few times with a baby chick in tow. Puzzled, I had to flip through the previous chapter until I finally spotted the panel where, quite unobtrusively in the background, Mori is seen patronizing a baby chick stall at a summer festival the gang attends. I like silly little things like that.

Filed Under: Gender Hijinks, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Ouran High School Host Club 9 by Bisco Hatori: B

March 6, 2008 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
In middle school, Tamaki Suoh must entice the coldhearted twins, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, to join his newly created Host Club. But in order to get them to accept his proposal, he must first best them at their own game.

Review:
I didn’t find much to get excited about in this volume. Tamaki’s cuteness was its saving grace, enlivening an otherwise ho-hum chapter about the twins’ induction into the host club and making tolerable a story about an insufferable princess who visited the school and issued many orders. In the course of this latter story, at least, Tamaki finally caught a glimmer of his feelings for Haruhi, and they shared a sweet moment together.

I probably liked the last Host Club chapter in the volume the best simply for its final few pages. They were incredibly adorable, and it’s for moments like this that I read the series. I just wish there were more of them.

Another of the “Love Egoist” short stories was also included, about a boy with a sunny disposition in love with a subdued girl, and I was enjoying it pretty well while I was expecting a bittersweet ending, but the actual resolution was kind of disappointing.

This series definitely has patchy success in terms of keeping the right balance between episodic stories and character development; it didn’t manage too well this time.

Filed Under: Gender Hijinks, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Maison Ikkoku 3 by Rumiko Takahashi: A

March 2, 2008 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Kyoko’s meddling parents plot to get their daughter to give up her independence and move back home. Yusaku meets his (sort of) girlfriend’s overzealous folks and then ends up on a never-ending visit to his own parents’ house.

Review:
I think Maison Ikkoku must be the manga equivalent of crack. It’s especially addictive when there’s more of a linked story line between the chapters. The stand-alone ones can be cute—there’s a nice one in this volume in which Godai looks after a friend’s cat—but they don’t hit the same kind of important character notes that the mini-arcs do.

Most of the plot in this volume had to do with Kyoko’s parents pressuring her to give up her job managing the apartment and to come home, revert to her maiden name, and ultimately remarry. Surprisingly, only Godai actually seemed to have any insight on what Kyoko’s true feelings are in the matter.

There’s a great scene between them later where they’re hanging out on a playground at night and he tells her he wants her to stay just as she is for several years—no pressure from him, because he’s got to graduate from college and find employment before he’d have anything to offer her. I don’t remember that happening in the anime, though I could be wrong.

About the only thing I don’t like is Godai’s relationship with Kozue. She’s just so deluded and clingy, and Godai clearly feels guilty for prolonging things with her. I suppose she’s fulfilling her purpose of inspiring jealousy in Kyoko, and at least her relationship with Godai is chaste so far, but I find her kind of annoying all the same.

Filed Under: Manga, Seinen Tagged With: ,

Maison Ikkoku 2 by Rumiko Takahashi: A

March 1, 2008 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Kyoko and Godai start dating—other people. She goes out with her handsome tennis instructor, Shun Mitaka, while he reluctantly dates Kozue, a former coworker. The two finally arrange to go on a date together, but a mix-up leads them to end up at different restaurants!

Review:
I’m not really a big fan of comic misunderstandings in general, and I seldom find Mitaka’s dog fear to be amusing, but Maison Ikkoku is so seriously charming that I can’t help but like it.

As in volume one, a lot of time is covered in this volume—from summer until Christmas, with the anniversary of Kyoko’s arrival as manager celebrated along the way. There are a lot of good stories, but I think my favorite is probably the one where Kyoko attends the art festival at Godai’s school and ends up participating in a puppet show and causing him to flub his lines, to the delight of the audience (comprised of kids).

Speaking of kids, I adore the way Takahashi draws and writes Kentaro. I seem to like him more now than when I watched the anime—maybe it’s because he always looks so small in relation to everything around him. In any case, I’m really enjoying this series, and find that it deserves all the praise it has received.

Filed Under: Manga, Seinen Tagged With: ,

Boys Over Flowers 4 by Yoko Kamio: A-

February 28, 2008 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Shizuka makes a shocking announcement at her birthday party, which could create some very intriguing possibilities for Tsukushi. Could Tsukushi possibly have Rui for herself? Tsukasa, clouded by the sound of flying planes, asks Tsukushi out on a date that goes very, very wrong.

Review:
With Rui out of the way, as he followed Shizuka off to France, most of the focus in this volume was on Tsukushi and Tsukasa’s developing relationship. Though they were still not completely friendly, it was interesting that they were at least able to have some civil and semi-thoughtful conversations. I really enjoyed the chapters about their date gone wrong.

Word got out about the date, which led to an about-face in the attitudes of Tsukushi’s classmates, who assumed she was now Tsukasa’s girlfriend and began doting upon her accordingly. Though she knew their attentions were phony, she couldn’t help enjoying them to some degree. Unfortunately, this led to my least favorite part of the book, when Tsukushi apparently spent the evening with a foreigner she met in the nightclub some of her new “friends” insisted she accompany them to.

Having seen the anime, I know what truly happened, but I still found it kind of annoying. But I guess it wouldn’t be shoujo soap opera without an epic misunderstanding of this sort.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,

NANA 2 by Ai Yazawa: A

February 26, 2008 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Moving to Tokyo, Nana Komatsu is hoping to reinvent herself as someone whose fortunes rise and fall independent of the vagaries of romance. Arriving in the city at the same time, Nana Osaki has plans to score big in the world of rock’n’roll. Even though they come from different backgrounds, these two young women quickly become best friends. What follows is a thundering blast of sex, music, fashion, gossip, and all-night parties.

Anxious to get into a Tokyo groove, both women are on the prowl for a funky and cheap place to live. But inexpensive apartments in Japan’s capital city are hard to find. Thank goodness each Nana has a clique of cool friends willing to help out. Too bad these friends are a little wiggy!

Review:
Again with the sex, music, fashion, gossip, and all-night parties! At least the first three were decently represented this time.

This series is so interesting—sometimes it feels like nothing has really happened because it flows along without dwelling for ages on a topic, but when you look back you see much has occurred. The girls find and decide to share an apartment, Nana K. gets a job at a cool vintage shop, Nana O. demonstrates some unexpected skills, Nana K. reflects that something is still missing from her life, Nana O. stages an impromptu concert on the kitchen table…

My one big complaint is the number of times the series breaks the fourth wall. It happens a lot, mostly in little side comments, but once in an important scene where Nana K. is trying to explain to Shoji why it’s so important that she live on her own. I find that sort of thing disruptive rather than amusing, and I hope it gets phased out soon. The translation’s also slang heavy (“For reals?”).

On the other hand, I absolutely love how Yazawa uses slightly-blurred images of real buildings, sidewalks, or shops as backdrops for her characters. This might not be a new idea, but it still looks really cool.

I’m definitely starting to get into this series now. I was a little worried after the first volume, since it had a boring patch, but my fears have been allayed.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

NANA 1 by Ai Yazawa: A-

February 26, 2008 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
Nana Komatsu is a young woman who’s endured an unending string of boyfriend problems. Moving to Tokyo, she’s hoping to take control of her life and put all those messy misadventures behind her. She’s looking for love and she’s hoping to find it in the big city.

Nana Osaki, on the other hand, is cool, confident, and focused. She swaggers into town and proceeds to kick down the doors to Tokyo’s underground punk scene. She’s got a dream and won’t give up until she becomes Japan’s No. 1 rock’n’roll superstar.

This is the story of two 20-year-old women who share the same name. Even though they come from completely different backgrounds, they somehow meet and become best friends. The world of NANA is a world exploding with sex, music, fashion, gossip, and all-night parties.

Review:
The last line of that blurb is so unappealing. It’s also wrong. There was a smattering of sex, some music, a little bit of fashion, no gossip that I was able to discern, and the only thing close to an all-night party was a quartet of friends talking and drinking beer. Ooh, wild and crazy!

This volume serves as a prologue to the main serialization of NANA, which begins in volume two. There’s a long chapter for each of the Nanas, covering the last two years or so of their lives. I’m pretty sure I’m not in the minority when I say that, while directionless Nana Komatsu is okay, I much prefer the driven Nana Osaki. Nana K. could be excised from the series entirely and I’d still keep reading it, but the same isn’t true of Nana O.

There are some good things about Nana K.’s story. Her eventual boyfriend, Shoji, is much more like a regular guy than the typical shoujo love interest. He admits he’s capable of sleeping with a girl he doesn’t love, is hesitant to confess his feelings, and has an unromantic approach to consummating the relationship. Perhaps my main problem with this chapter is that I saw the beginning of the NANA anime, and revisiting it again is a tad boring.

Nana O.’s story is really great, though. The chapter tells the story of how her boyfriend, Ren, decides to join another band in Tokyo with a chance of making it big. Those around her assume she’ll be going with him, but she says that, if she did, she’d just sit around the house, making miso soup and watching Ren become successful in a group with a better girl vocalist (than she is). She has too much pride for that, so allows him to go on alone and stays where she is to improve her skills. I gotta love a character who’s serious enough about her goals that she’ll not let love distract her.

Each chapter ends with a Nana on the verge of coming to Tokyo. I’m really looking forward to seeing Nana O. meet up with Ren again someday. I haven’t any particular anticipation regarding the other Nana, though.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Fruits Basket 18 by Natsuki Takaya: A

February 25, 2008 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
As rumors swirl about Machi trying to kill her little brother, Kakeru figures that the only person who can get the truth out of her is Yuki. But when the two of them visit her, they learn a shocking secret. Later, Motoko wants to tell Yuki her feelings before she graduates and leaves the school—and him—forever. But will their parting be such sweet sorrow?

Review:
If Shigure was the stand-out character in volume 17, this time it was Hatsuharu.

The first few chapters were good—we got more background on Machi and the chapter featuring Motoko was actually far better than I’d anticipated. It dealt with the bittersweet feelings of graduation in a general sort of way, and I really liked it. I also discovered, courtesy of a flashback to the previous occasion when Motoko spoke of her feelings to Yuki, that while I used to think I preferred Takaya’s old drawing style to the current designs, that’s no longer the case. The old style looked really weird to me.

Things got even better in the second half of the volume. After learning from Hiro some of the things Rin had suffered due to her relationship with him, and hearing from Yuki that no one had seen Rin in a while, Haru went to confront Akito about what had happened to her. A riveting and thoroughly awesome confrontation ensued. If there were any character who would dare to get physical with Akito in their rage, it would be Haru.

It turned out that Rin, having seen Tohru upset by Kureno’s words, had followed him to the main house, been manipulated by Akito’s nutty mom into attempting to steal one of Akito’s possessions, and been caught in the act. She’d been kept in the isolated room designated for the one possessed by the spirit of the cat and only discovered when Kureno spotted food being delivered there.

This, of course, brought to everyone’s mind what’s due to happen to Kyo once he graduates (see, the chapter with Motoko really did have some thematic bearing on the series). Tohru is worried he seems to have accepted his fate and the volume ended with her silently pleading with him not to go.

So, lots of plot progress, lots of sadness, lots of greatness. I’ve enjoyed reading these volumes close together. Volume 19 is due in several weeks, but after that, it will be a torturously long wait.

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

Fruits Basket 17 by Natsuki Takaya: A+

February 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Akito has more than skeletons hiding in the closet—the curse, dear reader, is not the only reason Kureno won’t leave Akito. And who can make Arisa understand Kureno’s devotion to Akito? Graduation is approaching, so everyone needs answers!

Review:
This volume was awesome from start to finish. I followed this series as it was being released in Japanese, so I knew what was coming, but I still got goosebumps during the scene where Kureno told Tohru the real reason he won’t leave Akito’s side. It wasn’t only the big reveal itself that was so great, but also the skillful manipulation of tension and atmosphere leading up to it.

Speaking of manipulation, most of my favorite scenes involved Shigure—a conversation with Hatori, a phone call with Kureno, and an encounter with Akito. The phone call was especially good, with snippets of it being doled out across several chapters. In his appearances, Shigure was manipulative, honest, teasing, hateful, and, in one particular panel, downright creepy. What an amazing character.

I also liked that most of the other subplots were touched on in this volume. There were some very cute Kyou/Tohru and Yuki/Machi scenes, and things like Momiji and his sister and Shigure’s editor’s relationship with Ritsu even got a mention. There wasn’t a single chapter that merited anything less than a perfect score, in my opinion.

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

Skip Beat! 4 by Yoshiki Nakamura: A

February 24, 2008 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Kyoko helps the LME president’s granddaughter heal from a childhood tragedy, and in return she should have earned a free ride through the LME training school. But the other students throw a fit, and now she still has to pay. In order to support the high cost of the program, Kyoko gets a job as a seat filler on a TV show. But when one of the characters gets sick, Kyoko has to fill in—in a chicken suit! To make matters worse, Sho is the guest star! Will Kyoko destroy her only chance of revenge?

Review:
This was a truly excellent volume. The resolution to the cliffhanger from the previous volume was good, but the best part was definitely the variety show and its aftermath. I’m generally not one for silly gags, but putting Kyoko in a chicken suit for her first chance at confrontation with Sho was genius. In that guise, she was able to switch some questions from the audience and generally contrive to humiliate Sho, culminating in a fabulously absurd badminton match.

Kyoko was frustrated both by her lack of success in getting revenge on Sho and also by getting fired for going berserk in his presence and losing sight of the job she was supposed to be doing. This was further support for her realization in the last volume that she truly does want to do a good job, so I enjoyed seeing this thought continue to grow within her. She also realized just how far she has to climb to truly be able to challenge him.

There were also some really good scenes between Kyoko and Ren. In one, it was hinted that they’ve actually met before when Kyoko was quite young. Later, she saw an unexpected side of him and actually made some headway toward figuring him out. Too bad the bonding moment happened while she was still in the chicken suit, which she wore from page 92 on.

This volume felt like a near-perfect balance of comedy and character development to me. I find I’m really looking forward to Kyoko’s climb up the celebrity ladder. I just hope she doesn’t mellow so much on the journey that the big confrontation with Sho never actually happens.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,
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