Let's end this month with an unjustly overlooked shojo series from the dying days of Tokyopop.
THE SECRET NOTES OF LADY KANAKO (Warau Kanoko-sama), by Airiku Tsujita. First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2010.
PLOT:
Kanako lives for drama. Her personal desire to track and observe all the secret relationships, passive-aggressive rivalries, and general misbehavior of her classmates verges upon an obsession. In the name of objectivity, Kanako keeps her distance from her classmates. Unfortunately, she finds herself caught up in her own drama, and her hatred of bullies overweighs her need for objective distance. That's when Kanako uses her notes to dish out a bit of justice.
STORY:
Did you ever want a shojo version of Harriet the Spy? Did you ever want to see the mean girls and exploitative teachers that populate so many shojo manga get their comeuppance? Then The Secret Notes of Lady Kanako might just be the manga for you!
Kanako is no innocent ingenue but instead a prickly, snarky little thing with no concern for what others may think of her. It's almost a shame that her motivation is so mundane (at least for this kind of manga). A childhood friend of hers turned out to be a gossipy backstabber, so Kanoko rejected the concept of 'friendship' and instead devoted herself to chronicling the social failings of others for a sense of ego-boosting superiority. It also seems to help her adjust to the fact that she seemingly switches schools every chapter for reasons that are never explained. Still, this attitude would get obnoxious over time, so of course Kanako is inevitably drawn into some of the very drama she's journaling.
It starts out simply enough when Kanako becomes part of a love triangle thanks to a friendly yet oblivious girl. The other two people end up becoming her first friends in years, and as such are the only other consistent cast members in the volume. It's a shame that the most frequently featured of the two is Tsubaki, the sort of casually mean, prickly dark-haired guy that's become the standard in Shojo Manga Love Interests. As the story progresses, Kanako is forced to face off against tricker, more actively malicious figures. They range from a two-faced beauty to a class nerd who blackmails Kanoko to an exploitative teacher. Watching the back-and-forth between them and Kanoko are some of the most entertaining and tense parts of the story. Equally amusing is watching Kanoko get her revenge as her methods get increasingly devious and creative.
The best part is that the conclusions are rarely neat and tidy. Kanoko is not an omnipotent shojo superheroine, and just because she's shown someone the error of their ways doesn't mean they always take it to heart. Some might find that frustrating, but I found that this helped the story to keep its metaphorical feet on the ground. After all, some douchebags never change no matter how much public shame is heaped upon them. Overall, The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko serves as a fun and spicy antidote to your typical shojo drama, a wish fulfillment fantasy with a bit of heart to boot.
ART:
Lady Kanoko's art is fairly typical of modern shojo artwork. It's cute (if not a bit generic) with plenty of pointy-chinned dudes, soft dark eyes, and hatched blushing. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell this was Tsujita's first serialized work and her inexperience shows. Her pages are very cluttered, downright haphazard, as she's prone to including way too many busy screentones or thought-bubble-style imaginings. She's still working out the best way to frame her work, and it looks like she had to learn this the hard way. It's not enough to bring down this manga, but it tends to obfuscate its best qualities under a lot of visual noise.
RATING:
This series was published by Tokyopop. This series is complete with 3 volumes available. 2 volumes were published and are currently out of print.
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