tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36352118071145700232024-03-18T20:58:42.842-05:00The Manga Test DriveMegan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.comBlogger906125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-39877835038979558442024-03-14T12:00:00.005-05:002024-03-14T12:00:00.142-05:00Review: HANAUKYO MAID TEAM<p> The peak of maid manga came at the beginning of the millennium, when literally any doofus could make a ecchi manga, throw some maids in it, and call it a day.</p><p><b>HANAUKYO MAID TEAM (<i>Hanaukyo Maid-tai</i>), </b><i>by Morishige. First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2003.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hQFehNq-fgjy1W6-i05b6J37sGD1j1v5hC2YFL9gxhjoP4b9dcSkI6c5up3IZM4VWLOtRyjcWUUlp9bK7A7Iia5WDqi5D1lrV08uqpamcq4tGbp2DFdZRiFIpO4LIkwkBBE2AXn-Sg4iKR5zUiPmIq_BF-sbdhiYN370mAH9dbddQ2LZkxn3JRi7RS0u/s281/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="179" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hQFehNq-fgjy1W6-i05b6J37sGD1j1v5hC2YFL9gxhjoP4b9dcSkI6c5up3IZM4VWLOtRyjcWUUlp9bK7A7Iia5WDqi5D1lrV08uqpamcq4tGbp2DFdZRiFIpO4LIkwkBBE2AXn-Sg4iKR5zUiPmIq_BF-sbdhiYN370mAH9dbddQ2LZkxn3JRi7RS0u/s1600/download.jpg" width="179" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Tarou didn't know what to expect when his dying mother bid him to go to his grandfather. He didn't expect his grandfather to be fabulously wealthy with a giant mansion full of horny maids to cater to his every need. He <i>definitely </i>didn't expect said grandfather to leave everything to Tarou. Now he has to learn how to navigate his life with an army of maids who create a lot of chaos in their attempts to manage every detail of his life.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p><i>Hanaukyo Maid Team</i> is a prime example of the sort of maid manga that were rampant in the early 2000s: deep as a puddle, borrowing heavily from <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2015/03/review-love-hina.html" target="_blank">Love Hina</a></i> and its ilk, and padding things out with nonsense and fanservice in a mildly obnoxious and largely empty package. What really gets me is that the mangaka didn't do it alone, as "Morishige" was in fact a <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-07-03/manga-creator-morishige-passes-away/.161397" target="_blank">pseudonym for a husband-and-wife duo</a>. </p><p>Tarou is pure Potato-kun: blandly nice, completely overwhelmed by anything remotely sexual, and little but a passive plaything for others to abuse. The only notable thing about him is his blatant crush on the head maid Mariel. That makes perfect sense, as they are a perfect match in blandness and niceness. They are surrounded either by one-note stock characters (like the Horny Best Friend or Haughty Rich Girl Rival) or one-note gimmick maids who are there primarily for annoying, breathless comedy. Even at the time, there's nothing here that you couldn't find in half a dozen other manga, and nothing that hadn't been done better by others. </p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Morishige's art is as dull as Tarou himself. Visually it's caught in the weird transitional period between the angular, hard-edged character designs of the late 1990s and the rounder, squishier ones that were just coming into vogue in anime and manga. You can see this happening with the characters, whose relatively realistic proportions are in conflict with their over-simplified faces and the thick lines Morishige draws them in. There are also points where they clearly forgot (or didn't bother) to draw in details, be in on backgrounds or things like the shoes characters wear.</p><p>The early chapters feature a lot of panty shots and boobs, but either by choice or by editorial dictate the focus shifts more towards wacky comedy. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this, but it's clear that Morishige's talents lied more with the fanservice than with drawing comedy. They don't have a zany bone in their body, and it comes through on the page. Maybe things improved in later years, when the the mangaka's wife took over as the creative lead on their later ones.</p><p><b>PRESENTATION:</b></p><p>This is a later release from Studio Ironcat (which by this point had rebranded to IC Entertainment due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ironcat#History" target="_blank">ridiculously convoluted circumstances</a>), and it's hard to believe that something this amateurish was released by a professional company in 2003. There's the fact that they leave the original Japanese text on both the cover and spine, forcing them to awkwardly cram the English titles and credits around them. There's also the fact that the pages themselves are poorly printed and weirdly undersized, to the point that the outside edge of each page is awkwardly cut off. The translation is clunky, with an over-reliance on footnotes and a <i>lot </i>of typos. It reminds me of nothing so much as some of Tokyopop's <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2016/11/review-mobile-suit-gundam-wing.html" target="_blank">earliest releases</a>, although this is mercifully unflipped. </p><p>Taken altogether, it speaks of a release that was rushed out the door with the barest minimum of effort by a publisher that wasn't keeping up with its peers.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVHXCQpKHoDptmkEHVKOFPnOwoTlgoSZPYAuYPDH43vyYLc-TIauhn3WvJ2EoAYO9UOR1wGs-71StAipITGXMZwCSylrAU7I-x7ZDLWcNVEK7fsm1tJC6NGPsnPK12h2XCmao6ebkuKs9Y67_ZXOS3IU2MZ_g3pR-48uLjBr3Tw4XJEJjOkqCCutDxw1B/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVHXCQpKHoDptmkEHVKOFPnOwoTlgoSZPYAuYPDH43vyYLc-TIauhn3WvJ2EoAYO9UOR1wGs-71StAipITGXMZwCSylrAU7I-x7ZDLWcNVEK7fsm1tJC6NGPsnPK12h2XCmao6ebkuKs9Y67_ZXOS3IU2MZ_g3pR-48uLjBr3Tw4XJEJjOkqCCutDxw1B/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Hanaukyo Maid Team</i> is a mess that no amount of maids could tidy. Its unoriginal story, boring cast, tedious attempts at comedy, and poor presentation swiftly relegated this manga to the dust bin of history and there's no reason to dig it back out.<p></p><p><i>This manga was published by Studio Ironcat/IC Entertainment. This series is complete in Japan with 14 volume available. 3 volumes were released and are currently out of print.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-91852906729260279772024-03-08T14:42:00.003-06:002024-03-08T14:42:27.277-06:00Review: MY MAID, MISS KISHI<p>With spring on the horizon, it's time for some spring cleaning. That makes it the perfect time of year to look at a few of the many maid manga out there, such as this recent digital offering from Kodansha.</p><p><b>MY MAID, MISS KISHI (<i>Maid no Kishi-san</i>), </b><i>by Kano Kashiwagi. First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2022.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzMO3x5WiaU7ucGpo5InlcEHC3doKmZnVMCa2v4WEuZIbY93sIQ4L0dPxEZjCDFFA_UYZdsjp9Kj4A78E7o6iWQuElg84fsU34lIdeI2MCMxceGBbmONeFHWjOmNVXBFCKvRBOvkuiOoliu8S9qfBlYMDJGscdSV-SsWREK51SgFn26vH5KODz18wmTTe/s600/A25995-2310239730.1660350687.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="418" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzMO3x5WiaU7ucGpo5InlcEHC3doKmZnVMCa2v4WEuZIbY93sIQ4L0dPxEZjCDFFA_UYZdsjp9Kj4A78E7o6iWQuElg84fsU34lIdeI2MCMxceGBbmONeFHWjOmNVXBFCKvRBOvkuiOoliu8S9qfBlYMDJGscdSV-SsWREK51SgFn26vH5KODz18wmTTe/s320/A25995-2310239730.1660350687.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Kiichiro Hayase is the heir to a corporate conglomerate. He's young, handsome, wealthy beyond measure, polite...and hopelessly klutzy. That's why he relies upon his personal maid, Miss Kishi, to manage the little details of his everyday life. Miss Kishi is as capable and reliable as he could ever hope for, but he begins to wonder why he's never seen her smile. Thus, Kiichiro takes it upon himself to show his gratitude by finding a way to please Miss Kishi. How do you find a gift for a maid who wants for nothing, isn't impressed by fabulous displays of wealth, and never seems to change her expression?</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p><i>My Maid, Miss Kishi</i> is one of those manga that's built entirely around one single joke. The details may change from chapter to chapter, but the premise of the joke remains the same. That's perfectly fine if the joke is a good one, but this series struggles to muster even a sensible chuckle out of it premise.</p><p>I wonder if the problem is that our leads are too sedate for the comedy. Obviously this is part of the point with Miss Kishi, that her professional demeanor and lack of facial expressions makes her a hard person to read. This shouldn't be a problem with Hayase though, considering he's the one pulling out the stops and enduring pratfall after pratfall just to figure out what she may or may not like. He's weirdly calm through it all, which undercuts the desperation (and thus the humor) in his need to communicate his feelings to her. Thus, most of the jokes rely on him either escalating his displays of gratitude to ludicrous degrees or being so blase about all his various falls, trips, and rips. I do at least appreciate that he isn't trying to buy her love. He's genuinely grateful for her hard work and simply wants to communicate that to her. It's clear that getting these two together is the ultimate end goal of this story, but Kashiwagi clearly wants that relationship to come from a place of mutual understanding versus him steamrolling his way into her heart with his wealth.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>The artwork of <i>My Maid, Miss Kishi</i> is also quite understated - mundane, even. A surprising amount of effort (or at least tracing) is put into the backgrounds, even if it's mostly a parade of various mansion rooms, hallways, and offices. The character designs themselves are equally down-to-earth. While the faces are still recognizably anime in their styling, their bodies, poses, and clothes are as realistic as reasonably possible. It's up to the reader to determine if this approach helps the comedy through tonal contrast or hinders it by not playing to the inherent silliness.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnYGxW1_RTFjCoVO4XICLa3punxVqBeiZeQtW1lvjP5Ytgcr0JVr2SqqzXmCR8Beu-RHBWNUWCVSi5Uh6nfM_oYStNVS3PsoiKcJT-YKT5H-stQGldJ8FkIsYLqPfQxPDrK0w9xL92LUL6N7Ico7RxLwXINDZqaBtLY7Sl05hyYiuMWs0oIra5HxZaypA/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnYGxW1_RTFjCoVO4XICLa3punxVqBeiZeQtW1lvjP5Ytgcr0JVr2SqqzXmCR8Beu-RHBWNUWCVSi5Uh6nfM_oYStNVS3PsoiKcJT-YKT5H-stQGldJ8FkIsYLqPfQxPDrK0w9xL92LUL6N7Ico7RxLwXINDZqaBtLY7Sl05hyYiuMWs0oIra5HxZaypA/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></div>If you want a low-key romantic comedy, <i>My Maid, Miss Kishi</i> is a perfectly valid option. Like the title character, it doesn't do much to stand out but it's competent at what it does. It might not be for everyone, but those down for its particular strain of humor will likely love it as much as Hayase loves Miss Kishi.<p></p><p><i>This series is published by Kodansha Comics. This series is complete in Japan with 6 volumes available. All 6 have been published digitally and are currently in print.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-83172366980369953672024-02-23T11:02:00.004-06:002024-02-23T11:03:21.941-06:00Review: MABURAHOWell, for once I'm reviewing a harem manga where I understand precisely what the girls see in the lead.<div><br /></div><div>It's a terrible reason, but I can comprehend it.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>MABURAHO, </b><i>based on the light novel series by Toshihiko Tsukiji and character designs by Eiji Komatsu, with art by Miki Miyashita. First published in 2003 and first published in North America in 2005.</i></div><div><i><br /><br /></i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_3s0zgF63mgANWDB2fGQ_u0d-sP-mNGMnnbFHwymx8jXTp6x52nB_u7VuhhMxZ1U64xqFiS0ilAyK6KCg6-YUQnBOTBIbJGXbNAL5kSlYOQcld8RrPZxGMTFKxdBy4X4IY9d30Z01Df6uHRAdu3jd7N1Fg495GrYH70E7jvUvT-nmlk-wuWAz8sqJSbu/s488/mabu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd_3s0zgF63mgANWDB2fGQ_u0d-sP-mNGMnnbFHwymx8jXTp6x52nB_u7VuhhMxZ1U64xqFiS0ilAyK6KCg6-YUQnBOTBIbJGXbNAL5kSlYOQcld8RrPZxGMTFKxdBy4X4IY9d30Z01Df6uHRAdu3jd7N1Fg495GrYH70E7jvUvT-nmlk-wuWAz8sqJSbu/s320/mabu.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><b>PLOT:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>In a world where magic is real and where the number of spells one can cast determines everything from your social status to your lifespan, Kazuki Shikimori is an anomaly. He only has the ability to cast seven after using one as a child to make it snow in the summer for a mystery girl. He also comes from a long line of powerful witches and wizards, meaning that any child he could potentially father would have immense power. That's why three girls from some of the oldest and most prestigious magic families have their eyes set on Kazuki. It's a three-way battle between the clingy and temperamental Yuna, the stoic Rin, and the bombshell Kuriko for the rights to Kazuki and his killer DNA, and all of them are determined to win by any means possible.</div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span> <b>STORY:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Forgive me for borrowing a joke from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcu7BI4fptI" target="_blank">Mother's Basement</a>, but it's not everyday where the answer to "<i>why do the girls in this harem like this total loser?</i>" is literally "<i>eugenics</i>", but that is in fact the sole motivation for everything that happens in <i>Maburaho</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's certainly not because of Kazuki's sparkling personality. Not only is he a total Potato-kun, but he's a whiny Potato-kun. On the rare occasion he's allowed to speak, half of it is spent whining about his lack of magic and the other half is spouting bland affirmations to the main trio of girls. He's such a dullard that he has to outright borrow the "mystery childhood crush" plot from <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2015/03/review-love-hina.html" target="_blank">Love Hina</a></i> just to give him <i>something </i>to do other than be dragged about like a chew toy. The most exciting thing to happen to him in this book is geting amnesia in the first chapter, and that's only so the mangaka has an cheap excuse to explain the premise to the audience.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kazuki might be the focus of this harem, but he is not the protagonist of this tale. That role is instead shared by Yuna, Rin, and Kuriko. Their personalities are one-note, but it is their endless in-fighting and schemes that drive this pitiful excuse of a story forward. There's a cruel sort of humor in the fact that for all their declarations of love, all that any of them truly want is his precious "DNA." It's kind of funny how much this story dances around the fact that all these girls want from Kazuki is his jizz, right down to the fact that the translation has to refer to as "DNA" versus something more explicit like "seed." You have to wonder why they even bother with all this nonsense when they could all achieve their goal with some paper cups, a nudie mag, and a spare hour. It would certainly be a better use of time than reading this manga.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>ART:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>While Eiji Komatsu's character designs from the original light novels would have been pretty middling at the time and utterly dated by today's standards, they've got nothing on the hideousness of Miki Miyashita's take on them. They are oddly proportioned with overly long legs and way too much hair. There's an unpleasant angularity to them, as if Miyashita has never drawn a human being before. They also struggle with clothing, as any outfit that isn't form-packed to the girls folds and moves like the characters are wearing paper sacks. Even the fanservice looks off, which is quite a feat when this artist seems to be primarily known for eromanga. </div><div><br /></div><div>The thing that truly kills the art here are the eyes. The faces themselves aren't great, as they suffer from all the usual moeblob issues of the era: eyes that are proportionally too big and widely spaced, noses that are little more than dots, and tiny, flappy mouths. It's just that Miyashita makes it worse by not drawing pupils in those eyes. They can manage some approximation on the color cover art, but page after page is full of characters with dull, flat, lifeless eyes. You can't get away from it because Miyashita relies mostly on close-ups to avoid drawing (or even suggesting) backgrounds whenever possible. It's absolutely hideous.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>RATING:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMoP240zn5wH_0oWO5hvHb6xyZ_bejGbE8OM1_g87gMLF8QaCjqmksZddddDcCMbeFdOM7Zdzy_ZZHpHFJgU8KxL9YC2BituseGV2NySvaKiYcA_KySUwWPioVnWsNs1ZReektWAGHbJaQDQz2Je614IDHitos-JiRSAhDGhblECSwVGQiBOjo2ly4K6RT/s596/testdrive_red.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMoP240zn5wH_0oWO5hvHb6xyZ_bejGbE8OM1_g87gMLF8QaCjqmksZddddDcCMbeFdOM7Zdzy_ZZHpHFJgU8KxL9YC2BituseGV2NySvaKiYcA_KySUwWPioVnWsNs1ZReektWAGHbJaQDQz2Je614IDHitos-JiRSAhDGhblECSwVGQiBOjo2ly4K6RT/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></div>Maburaho</i> is almost magically devoid of charm, story, or beauty. It's just an endless spiral of petty squabbling over a useless sadsack whose only good feature is his family tree, enacted by gangly, dead-eyed dolls in a void. It's proof as to why it's not a good idea to base your manga licensing decisions entirely on your anime licensing ones.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>This manga was published by ADV Manga. This series is complete in Japan with 2 volumes available. Both volumes were released and are currently out of print.</i></div>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-57619830002871517362024-02-16T13:14:00.003-06:002024-02-16T13:14:27.410-06:00Review: FOUR-EYED PRINCE <p>I don't know if it's reassuring or not that Kodansha has always been peddling shojo manga about taming Asshole-kuns to Americans, even when they were Del Ray Manga.</p><p><b>FOUR-EYED PRINCE (<i>Megane Oji</i>), </b><i>by Wataru Mizukami. First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2009.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqPMZ4Lpv67bjQRgVNEf2OQF0WVL_ucrCmZCtBkb17E9X2lruXxTJig5YrkUvzUf_ewA6x1_eb448_ZhyphenhyphenAj_uzjxjj5XRzYmF0YuoSGWA32pxIM_1xgimyhOeJuMRKUq6pcmdSqHGTRczKhg0iz8AxOiuvxLJyktJUEv7Asla269I0zT3TJhb4lpL7mPY/s1000/51WWgBod0NL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="664" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqPMZ4Lpv67bjQRgVNEf2OQF0WVL_ucrCmZCtBkb17E9X2lruXxTJig5YrkUvzUf_ewA6x1_eb448_ZhyphenhyphenAj_uzjxjj5XRzYmF0YuoSGWA32pxIM_1xgimyhOeJuMRKUq6pcmdSqHGTRczKhg0iz8AxOiuvxLJyktJUEv7Asla269I0zT3TJhb4lpL7mPY/s320/51WWgBod0NL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Sachiko thought it was bad enough when her confession to the stoic class prince Akihiro was rejected. Then she had to move in with her long-absent mother after her grandmother had to go to a nursing home, and during that time her mother married Akihiro's father. Now her crush is her step-brother and the two of them have to find a way to live together harmoniously. That's no small challenge considering that Sachiko's crush is still going strong in spite of Akihiro's regular attempts to needle her, embarass her, and deny any connection to her as much as humanly possible.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>I have to remind myself every time I cover a shojo manga like this is that it's meant to be nothing more than a fantasy and a diversion, but even I have a hard time anyone could find <i>Four-Eyed Prince</i> diverting. This isn't some <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2018/02/review-hot-gimmick.html" target="_blank">Hot Gimmick</a></i>-level trainwreck where you can't look away, this is just the story of an asshole teen boy and the step-sister who loves him anyway for reasons I cannot comprehend.</p><p>I'm inclined to go easy on Sachiko. Much about this situation is forced upon her, and she has to make the best of it if she wants to have a place to live and something like a family. For the most part she doesn't let Akihiro's attitude get to her, let his comments slide off her like water on a duck's back. In true shojo heroine fashion, she manages to wear him down somewhat not just through persistence but through her vocal admiration of all of his good qualities. She's still all hot for him even after he publicly acknowledges her as his step-sister, though, and that never stops being weird.</p><p>Akihiro himself is a real piece of work. Most people wouldn't go so far as to construct personas to use at both school and their (dubiously legal) bar job just to keep the "sluts" (his word, not mine) at bay. Of course, all this nastiness is just a front for his abandonment issues, as it doesn't take long for him to reveal that his dad left to dodge his Yazuka debts and that he wants to be able to be independent and not rely on anyone for support of any sort. From there he settles into the more typical hot-and-cold routine you expect from these sort of shojo love interests, but there's always a cruel, calculated edge to it that feels bad.</p><p>Things escalate quickly, ranging from 'cutest sibling' contests to a hot springs trip where they end up trading partners with a normal teen couple. Mostly it's all just an excuse for two things:</p><p>1. For Akihito to continue to berate and tease Sachiko, including using other girls to make her jealous (because she's not shy about her continued intentions towards him).</p><p>2. For other dudes to make aggressive moves on Sachiko so Akihito can save her.</p><p>It's clearly intended to be trashy good fun, but between Akihito's bitter undertones and Sachiko's dedication to banging her step-brother spoil any fun that can be mustered from the story. That's not even getting into the side-story "Mean Boy," where a studious young girl ends up working as a part-time maid for the imperious rich boy at her school. As the title would suggest, he acts like a total dick to her until she blackmails him with the knowledge of his neglectful businessman father. He counters with a full-on makeover and the two proceed to flirt and snipe in equal measure on quasi-dates until they kiss in sincerity. This one is even more explicitly an escapist fantasy, but I just don't understand why that fantasy has to come hand in hand with the most insufferable teen boys.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>I was kind of surprised to learn that this manga ran in <u>Nakayoshi</u>, as the thin hair, spindly bodies, and proportionately enormous saucer eyes on everyone here looks closer to what Arina Tanemura and her many contemporaries were doing at more child-oriented shojo magazines like <u>Ribon</u> or <u>Ciao</u>. It's a curious artistic choice to make at a time when this character design style was falling out of fashion and one that makes it look more childish than the content might suggest. To Mizukami's credit, this is about as excessive as their art gets. Their paneling is fairly straightforward and they don't bog down their pages with an excess of screentones and pattern outside of Sachiko's imagination.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eylklfYSk1BgNtXzKsHwiUiHrxuXPB2FTCSdvWPPvUaMk_bgPq65-Hy2NVcXQpnBzkBEKTfPUY6BMEOkLGRsQXK2So_EAqIxHRGOZchtxdjxLskEZuRnFHgEbEJ57GHT3OAKz3GcIpME6WPAuiSE__4xQkzp0gJCKku5Oe2kZ4hBKtGVm6Mhi1iFfH5S/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eylklfYSk1BgNtXzKsHwiUiHrxuXPB2FTCSdvWPPvUaMk_bgPq65-Hy2NVcXQpnBzkBEKTfPUY6BMEOkLGRsQXK2So_EAqIxHRGOZchtxdjxLskEZuRnFHgEbEJ57GHT3OAKz3GcIpME6WPAuiSE__4xQkzp0gJCKku5Oe2kZ4hBKtGVm6Mhi1iFfH5S/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Four-Eyed Prince</i> is just a bespectacled dud, leaning heavily on the taboo nature of its central couple and its leading man's attitude problems to carry it through. It's not terribly romantic nor is it terribly fun. It's just terrible.<p></p><p><i>This series was published by Del Ray Manga. This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available. 3 volumes were released and are currently out of print.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-19672426270673345472024-02-09T18:47:00.001-06:002024-02-09T18:47:30.252-06:00Review: YOU LIKE ME, NOT MY DAUGHTER?!<p> It's time for another round of Bad Romance Month, where I look at some of the weirdest romances in manga. We're starting off with an age-gap story, albeit one with a MILF-y twist.</p><p><b>YOU LIKE ME, NOT MY DAUGHTER?! (<i>Musume Janakute, Mama ga Suki Nano?!</i>), </b><i>based on the light novels by Kota Nozomi and character designs by Giuniu, with art by Tesshin Azuma. First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2022.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5V3GVwvpxzHJmjPxKnsdmMfwuHUDUMpaEP272BqKuxy007VFwfAjK3vWK220zMXeQzHnRrfzUJRnwHJncleRcr9QlESo5M-Za-zOGEECTU-vCNJBrTuuc9vthuMELPWTziyna8cpxMGkmeXxG9e5BQHRLgnRNFsh3P-5AXOk1JiSx2PgAbkWd_LRxNpl/s1200/9781638586722_manga-you-like-me-not-my-daughter-volume-1-primary.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="842" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5V3GVwvpxzHJmjPxKnsdmMfwuHUDUMpaEP272BqKuxy007VFwfAjK3vWK220zMXeQzHnRrfzUJRnwHJncleRcr9QlESo5M-Za-zOGEECTU-vCNJBrTuuc9vthuMELPWTziyna8cpxMGkmeXxG9e5BQHRLgnRNFsh3P-5AXOk1JiSx2PgAbkWd_LRxNpl/s320/9781638586722_manga-you-like-me-not-my-daughter-volume-1-primary.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>For the last 10 years, Ayako Katsuragi has been happy serving as adoptive mother to her orphaned niece Miu. The only thing that makes her happier is seeing how well Miu gets along with their college-aged neighbor Takumi, who is always hanging around. She presumes that someday the two of them will get married...at least, until Takumi confesses that he's always loved Ayako and wants to marry her. Takumi is completely serious, but Ayako's unsure if she's ready for romance at all at this point (much less dating a much younger man).</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p><i>You Like Me, Not My Daughter?!</i> wants to have it cheesecake and eat it too. It wants the reader to take the romantic drama going on between Ayako and Takumi seriously, yet it cannot stop fetishizing Ayako at every moment while pressuring her into a relationship that frankly neither of them are truly ready for. </p><p>Ayako reminds me a lot of the mom from <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2019/12/holiday-review-do-you-love-your-mom-and.html" target="_blank">Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?</a></i>, in that she's less like an actual 30-something single mom and more of a MILF-y fantasy, a bubbly ingenue who still loves magical girl anime and is oblivious to her own desires until a man awakens them in her. It all feels very insincere, something that's not helped by the supporting cast telling her over and over how OMG YOU'RE WASTING YOUR YOUTH, GET YOURSELF A MAN NOW, YOU'LL NEVER EVER FIND ONE IF YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE 40, JUST FUCK THAT COLLEGE BOY NOW! Even her own daughter is pushing her in that direction, stating how she thinks Takumi (who is only five years older than herself) would be "a cool dad." I felt kind of frustrated on behalf of Ayako, who shouldn't feel pressured to be in a relationship if she doesn't need it, much less with someone she literally bathed with as a child (don't ask, long story).</p><p>Then there's Takumi, who is held up as this paragon of constancy and devotion but frankly doesn't know the first thing about romance. By his own admission he's never had an actual relationship because he's invested everything into this crush he's been nurturing since he was a literal child. He thinks he's ready for marriage and parenthood despite barely any life experience or education. He might be just old enough that the age gap between him and Ayuko isn't illegal or even all that morally questionable, but with vast differences in their life perspectives and priorities between them it might as well be a 100 years difference between them.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>I strongly suspect that Tesshim Azuma came from eromanga. Their take on Giuniu's character designs is perfectly fine (even if Giuniu's versions are a little more angular and adult-looking) but Azuma insists on making his version horny at all times. The only real indicators of Ayuko's age are her massive tits and ass, and Azuma never misses an opportunity to shove them into frame. Some instances are more egregious than others (like the chapter where she tries to cosplay as a magical girl or the flashback to the time she bathed with a 10-year-old Takumi), but it's a constant distraction from everything else going on around the tits. Like hentai tits, there's no sense of weight or dimension to them, so they just flop and squish all over. It's a shame because they are a perfectly competent mangaka based on everything else going on in this book. They just keep stumbling over this one thing constantly.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZonSPKltdySDsSI_osAceNPmdvpsqm4-xBuZhZzT_OqUk4HeOhNlGG9LKZEPPGPsaV3U2CyNGP17JsjG_Gs3qEnQ9kmP_R3-TmEh26glBHeWaUO0SnNjKaGMXVSP41AgMp5wlPv1-KXav460qaxfuBM-H2MLvv-Fg11QMu51-ifgyFfDyy5hp-67inz6Q/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZonSPKltdySDsSI_osAceNPmdvpsqm4-xBuZhZzT_OqUk4HeOhNlGG9LKZEPPGPsaV3U2CyNGP17JsjG_Gs3qEnQ9kmP_R3-TmEh26glBHeWaUO0SnNjKaGMXVSP41AgMp5wlPv1-KXav460qaxfuBM-H2MLvv-Fg11QMu51-ifgyFfDyy5hp-67inz6Q/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>You Like Me, Not My Daughter?!</i> will be likable only to those who like big tits and don't mind if the method of delivery isn't up to par. This manga is propped up entirely by its fetishes, as the romance at the heart of it falls apart if you think about it for more than a few minutes. You might as well just read some actual MILF porn.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Seven Seas. This series is ongoing in Japan with 6 volumes available. 3 volumes have been released and are currently in print.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-20284917396746817242024-01-31T10:05:00.004-06:002024-01-31T13:29:33.180-06:00Review: PRINCESS AI<p> I know some might fuss over including this title here, considering its reputation and the fact that it was so closely tied to Tokyopop's controversial OEL initiative. This one did run in a shojo magazine (even if its sequel and spinoffs are pure OEL), so it count for my purposes. Plus, this year marks its 20th anniversary so now's as good a time to look back on it as any.</p><p><b>PRINCESS AI (<i>Purinsesu Ai Monogatari</i>), </b><i>written by DJ Milky and Courtney Love, with character designs by Ai Yazawa and art by Misaho Kujiradou. First published in 2004 and first published in North America in 2004.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpTUAASa77OXpF_muIbZFpYcOHQWYrxNVBODHLrWEizt96uzo8viesJXMMII7yn_bxKnZdJphhMWQ79CDHE-jxM5FCvC4v7UpzAs9_MqwjRS7ivbwebjH6obrK1kXTm94vyURrlHd4gcYOzlCp1Tj_imLuCbf8Tn2mL7kVDG3cXLgFqy9F4VoY-K_TWOU/s1000/61XTfYRCUYL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="672" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpTUAASa77OXpF_muIbZFpYcOHQWYrxNVBODHLrWEizt96uzo8viesJXMMII7yn_bxKnZdJphhMWQ79CDHE-jxM5FCvC4v7UpzAs9_MqwjRS7ivbwebjH6obrK1kXTm94vyURrlHd4gcYOzlCp1Tj_imLuCbf8Tn2mL7kVDG3cXLgFqy9F4VoY-K_TWOU/s320/61XTfYRCUYL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>A beautiful young woman from another world wakes up confused and alone in a Tokyo alleyway. She can't remember anything clearly save for her name: Ai. Fortunately for her, Ai meets up with Kent, a sensitive college student who takes her in. She's also fortunate enough to possess the singing voice of an angel, and she soon becomes a sensation at the strip club where she works. Alas, there are dark forces coming for Ai, be they greedy record executives or demons from Ai's original world who want her dead.</p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <b>STORY:</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I imagine those of you who read this blog on the regular would expect me to hate <i>Princess Ai</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>After all, it's the creation of Tokyopop creator/former CEO/professional douchebag Stu Levy, under his ridiculous pseudonym "DJ Milky." From the start he conceived it as his own little homegrown multimedia franchise, one he would shill for the better part of a decade. He borrowed a few broad ideas from fading rock star Courtney Love (who saw this manga as a way to peddle a solo album and extend her career for a little longer). Much ado was made in its initial promotion over the involvement of <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2017/05/merry-month-of-manga-review-nana.html" target="_blank">Nana</a></i>/<i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-paradise-kiss.html" target="_blank">Paradise Kiss</a></i> creator Ai Yazawa, neglecting to mention that the entirety of her contribution was designing the title character and that a different, lesser-known mangaka was the real artist behind it. It is a project that beginning to end was steeped in corporate cynicism.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even putting all that backstory aside, <i>Princess Ai</i> is a pretty flawed work. A lot of those flaws are little and annoying ones. Take for example Hikaru, the openly gay roommate of Ai's love interest Kent. Hikaru's entire purpose is to be clingy comic sissy who hates Ai on sight for being competition for his precious Kent and every panel he's in is just <i>painful</i>. He's also apparently a drag queen on the side, because why else would have a closet full of gothloli ensembles just the right size for Ai to rip up and wear? Then there's her "songs," which consist of some of the most dreadful poetry you will ever read. I don't entirely know how Stu Levy managed to channel the cringiness of a teenage mall goth who nearly flunked English into his "lyrics" despite being a grown-ass, middle-aged, college-educated man but like life itself he found a way. </div><div><br /></div><div>Other issues are much bigger, built into its very structure. The reader never gets a clear idea of what kind of character Ai is supposed to be. Is she an innocent, alone and unsure in a strange new world? Is she a hard-rocking rebel who doesn't take guff from anyone? Is she an inspirational figure of positivity and girl power? She shifts personality on a dime to whatever the story needs her to be and it's very unnatural. It's also not hard to shake that the whole thing is assembled from whatever buzzwords Stu thought would appeal to manga-reading teen girls in the mid 2000s. It's got romance! Goth-loli fashion! J-rock! <strike><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5lz2CYNR4" target="_blank">GIRUGUMESH!</a></strike></div><div><br /></div><div>Despite all this, I can see why this would have resonated with teen girls of the time. They could see something of themselves in Ai and her quest to find her identity and place in the world. They would view her star-is-born music career as an inspirational fantasy. Yes, it's true that both of these plots are well-worn to the point of cliche, but for them it would still be fresh. For all the criticisms I have about the work and its creation I still found it compulsively readable, so I guess somebody did something right.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>ART:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Most of that credit for 'doing something right' should go not to the writer(s) but to Misaho Kujiradou herself. While her art is not as ornate as Yazawa's original sketches, it's not without its charms. While her characters are quite lanky, their loose-limb poses and evocative faces gives the cast (and Ai in particular) an appealing liveliness. It's also drawn quite delicately, with little in the way of backgrounds or screentones to weigh it down. Kujiradou notes herself how much she enjoyed drawing Ai's gothloli fashions, and you can tell by the way she puts so much effort into drawing them. The only visual element that doesn't work can be blamed on James Dashiell's lettering. The beings from Ai's original world have all their dialogue written in a spiky gothic font that is both hard to parse and incredibly dated.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>RATING:</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIiMrYdslSDWocvgJlZMrLOIHby2SzKeddPdtFMUdPp4pax7h9uvivTccchsdJr7_80ZSGTKJ1dLNvFomGHWY8Wdvwbev435ED1h76YhMdUZL1G4UvWq-tRnS8HB1W2nOTU0f0Z2iZcd4vBvYeGi5SfRZVnO_qXF07_elvPQx-6Gx8FB6Fir0eFNLLj-Ln/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIiMrYdslSDWocvgJlZMrLOIHby2SzKeddPdtFMUdPp4pax7h9uvivTccchsdJr7_80ZSGTKJ1dLNvFomGHWY8Wdvwbev435ED1h76YhMdUZL1G4UvWq-tRnS8HB1W2nOTU0f0Z2iZcd4vBvYeGi5SfRZVnO_qXF07_elvPQx-6Gx8FB6Fir0eFNLLj-Ln/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></div>I cannot pretend that <i>Princess Ai </i>is any sort of forgotten masterpiece, but neither is it a complete disaster. It's a pulpy shojo series that's mostly carried by its art, and anyone who can put aside its cynical history and can get in touch with their inner teen girl may be able to appreciate it for what it is.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>This manga was published by Tokyopop. This series is complete in Japan with 3 volumes available. All 3 were released in single volumes and a single omnibus; both are currently out of print.</i></div><div><br /></div>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-18234384086498555482024-01-26T09:23:00.001-06:002024-01-26T09:23:07.017-06:00Review: GORGEOUS CARAT<p> It's time to dig once more into my collection of BL manga and find a series that looked spectacular at first glance but lost some of its sheen as I read it.</p><p><b>GORGEOUS CARAT (<i>Gojasu Karatto</i>), </b><i>by You Higuri. First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2006.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVu-FfGBaJSGj4fRT8NPyYZZVmooLBvhjvS-8Ha3QQ09BZpxLH6fEDeoNua1A0uawsoSeVZXFihqJ7jsszDJumogyZwuwQgDqaBlc5i0rng1IdzCoJucRyNLpSirUlL31m7gkBSsIP1ozkWtm3HWfYQmtEYDd_OlNnfhUA6nW3PMdUHSZPrSX8OWdVVtI/s500/1258327.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="337" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVu-FfGBaJSGj4fRT8NPyYZZVmooLBvhjvS-8Ha3QQ09BZpxLH6fEDeoNua1A0uawsoSeVZXFihqJ7jsszDJumogyZwuwQgDqaBlc5i0rng1IdzCoJucRyNLpSirUlL31m7gkBSsIP1ozkWtm3HWfYQmtEYDd_OlNnfhUA6nW3PMdUHSZPrSX8OWdVVtI/s320/1258327.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>In <i><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">belle Ă©poque</span></span><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i>Paris, the rumor mill is abuzz about the sad fate of the Rocheforts. Once they were a wealthy aristocratic family, but now they have been reduced to selling off their family treasures one by one to survive. The Rocheforts' heir Florian wants to sell the family's most precious jewel, a giant diamond known as the Flame of Mughal, but his mother refuses out of sheer pride. Fate soon forces their hand by way a distant relative named Ray Balzac Courland, who is better known as the mysterious jewel thief Noir.</p><p>Ray offers the Rocheforts a choice: sell him the Flame of Mughal or sell him Florian to do with as he pleases. Florian agrees to the latter, and soon finds himself swept up in Ray's many schemes. He and Ray may have started as captive and captor, but more and more the two must work together to solve other crimes around them and live for another day.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>In many ways, <i>Gorgeous Carat</i> feels like the BL equivalent of an old-fashioned romance novel. You've got the <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">naĂŻve</span></span> but determined lead with looks and virtue to spare, a dark and brooding anti-hero, a period setting to give it some historical flair, a supporting cast that's composed not so much of characters as they are plot devices or sounding boards for the leads, and loads upon loads of melodrama. The only thing missing is the sex, and that can be viewed as something of a mixed blessing.</p><p>Higuri is clearly a history nut. Not only did she make a shojo manga about the life and times of <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2017/05/merry-month-of-manga-review-cantarella.html" target="_blank">Cesare Borgia,</a> but she also made another BL manga about <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-ludwig-ii.html" target="_blank">King Ludwig II </a>of Bavaria. While she certainly took dramatic license with both of those works, they incorporate more genuine historic detail than you would expect. That's why I'm so surprised at how little she does with the setting. There's very little sense of the exact time and place in <i>Gorgeous Carat</i>, and you could easily swap out other major European cities and time periods without changing much beyond some names and costumes. It's not like late 19th century France is lacking in glamour or real-world scandal to draw from!</p><p>The cast is also shockingly lackluster. Ray and Florian kind of fit into the seme/uke mold that was The Style At the Time, but it's a rather vague fit. The contrast is more striking at first, where Florian's steadfast virtue and heightened emotions serve as the polar opposite of Ray's aloof lechery and scheming. As the volume progresses, their personalities mellow out to the point that they kind of blend together. It doesn't help that Florian gets over being <i>LITERALLY PURCHASED LIKE A SLAVE </i>and <i>BEING TORTURED BY RAY IN THE BASEMENT WITH WHIPS AND CHAINS</i> shockingly fast, to the point where he's vocally defending Ray from a private investigator and deflecting his investigation. This is not the basis for a healthy relationship of any sort, but Higuri would have you believe otherwise.</p><p>Even putting that aside, there's just no chemistry between Ray and Florian. There's more tension between Ray and his Indian servant/accomplice Laila (who is nursing a schoolgirl crush on him) than there is between Ray and Florian. Aside from commenting regularly on Florian's impossible purple eyes, Ray never makes a move. Meanwhile, Florian is far too bland and innocent to ponder what his relationship to his partner/owner/roommate might be. This lack of emotion between them makes Florian's second-half change of heart all the more baffling. Even if Higuri wanted to establish more of a slow-burn dynamic, there has to be a spark in the first place!</p><p>I'd forgive that more if the story onto itself was more exciting, but somehow it fails even as a pulp adventure/mystery narrative. Both of the larger stories feature easy-to-spot 'twists' with treacherous relatives who might as well be twirling mustaches and cackling at their own wickedness. Roy and Florian don't work very well as partners, as Florian is the only one to take initiative while Roy pouts, flounces, and acts like a big tsundere. I just cannot imagine how You Higuri took such a sparkling setting and lurid premise and completely mess it up.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Mercifully, Higuri does not slack off on her art. She always had a fine grasp on character design, so she's able to draw plenty of handsome, expressive dudes that strike that perfect balance between real-world anatomy and shojo stylization. She doesn't do quite so well with the older characters, because she insists on just drawing those characters in a more masculine bent instead of drawing proper wrinkles. The costumes and backgrounds are also drawn well and are mostly in-line with the era in which they are meant to be set, although they're lacking in period-specific detail. She tries her best to make up for the lack of drama in the writing with lots of dramatic close-ups and metaphorical panels that could have come straight out of a 1970s shojo manga. I don't know if it's entirely successful, but I applaud the effort.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDRtU2BH7KdTUga2gQCuMmZDTW_c8Ab1fcCZImAzNUuPgOjCik4Z4bsZCUMap4gBlg5Qgf3fulUH5lbCtyP7nM8PhLaH8ORn0EBc0hKKj2fmdIAx34VRqhA_X8eQmUFe2ULVDID6NH6zD1k4Vts8_ngML_m-TKV6yp8UEQ-mi-Qbv9wrkBTL09wjxwM_E/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDRtU2BH7KdTUga2gQCuMmZDTW_c8Ab1fcCZImAzNUuPgOjCik4Z4bsZCUMap4gBlg5Qgf3fulUH5lbCtyP7nM8PhLaH8ORn0EBc0hKKj2fmdIAx34VRqhA_X8eQmUFe2ULVDID6NH6zD1k4Vts8_ngML_m-TKV6yp8UEQ-mi-Qbv9wrkBTL09wjxwM_E/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Gorgeous Carat</i> isn't as precious as its name would imply. The story and characters are weak, it barely makes use of its historical setting, and the romantic elements are barely developed. It's not terrible, but You Higuri has definitely made better manga than this.<p></p><p><i>This manga was published by Tokyopop under their Blu imprint. This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available. All 4 were released and are currently out of print.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-38530295464449436332024-01-05T12:00:00.001-06:002024-01-05T12:00:00.152-06:00Review: ARATA THE LEGEND<p> A new year means it's time for another round of Dealer's Choice, where the only theme unifying the reviews is their refusal to fit into most of my usual themes and my desire to talk about them anyway. We're starting off with yet another Yuu Watase title, but this one is a little different from the rest.</p><p><b>ARATA THE LEGEND (<i>Arata Kanagatari</i>), </b><i>by Yuu Watase. First published in 2008 and first published in North America in 2010.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjb0JUqN0uwri07SlaA404-szxP3E7eRZwcwTmASzBCRq8Np9d0j8hnkenEYlTOtRqkpI32C7FnX3Qt4PeAt7Z4UBYRe5n2tECPOfvmXnWWWP2Mk5zJK1DGnJp-PpqVsQb4Upb9mhGElUWNAZE_3EBZD8m0awsPaxzt00JM9ZUDXx-iCUnaNm9DnflWzdO/s1000/81xiC9LlT7L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="649" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjb0JUqN0uwri07SlaA404-szxP3E7eRZwcwTmASzBCRq8Np9d0j8hnkenEYlTOtRqkpI32C7FnX3Qt4PeAt7Z4UBYRe5n2tECPOfvmXnWWWP2Mk5zJK1DGnJp-PpqVsQb4Upb9mhGElUWNAZE_3EBZD8m0awsPaxzt00JM9ZUDXx-iCUnaNm9DnflWzdO/s320/81xiC9LlT7L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Arata Hinohara is a miserable teen who is bullied and shunned by his classmates. Arata Hime is a restless young man forced to conceal his true gender in order to take over his family's traditional role as a magical protector of the land. Things go badly for this Arata right away, as the princess he's tasked with protecting is brutally murdered by one of her twelve generals. Arata is framed for the crime and tries to flee, only to stumble through a tear in time and space so he can switch places with Hinohara. While Arata Hime adjusts to modern Japan, Hinohara is stuck in a strange world as a fugitive for a crime he did not commit with only a serving girl to guide him and a mystical weapon said to possess the power of a god. It seems that the only way Hinohara can get home is to survive long enough to clear his counterpart's name and save the kingdom.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Oh man, Watase's really stretching themself here. This time they made a manga about a BOY transported to another world!</p><p>All joking aside, while Watase might be drawing inspiration from a very familiar well of inspiration there are a lot of differences to be found here beyond the fact that it's a shonen manga instead of a shojo.</p><p>They do their best to established the Aratas as characters and their respective dilemmas before the switch, although most of those pages are dedicated to Arata Hima. Arata is your standard shonen hero: loud, careless, klutzy in the sort of way that can lead to a bit of fanservice, and oblivious to the servant girl/Childhood Best Friend(tm) Kotona who adores him. Hinohara has a lot more going on internally, although it's unclear at this point why he's being bullied. He's a good-looking dude and a talented athlete, but because one dude decided to make it his life's work to harass him Hinohara has a lot of pent-up anger and a keen sense of justice. It's a lucky thing for him that he hid in the alleyway with the dimensional portal instead of just a dumpster!</p><p>After the switch, the situation is reversed. Arata basically disappears from the story save for the odd moment of fish-out-of-water comedy, while Hinohara takes over as the lead (even if everyone in this new world perceives him to look like their Arata). This allows him to put his hero complex and slow-burning rage to good use, and conveniently he's the only person who can properly wield Arata's magical MacGuffin weapon. I do hope that Watase gets around to developing the supporting cast in later volumes, as thus far they're pretty one-note. It's really bad with the villainous Kannagi in particular, who is pretty much just a caricature of evil.</p><p>Perhaps the most surprising thing is how well Yu Watase takes to shonen. You'd expect them to struggle a little after making shojo manga for over two decades, but from what I can see here they've taken to it like a duck to water. That being said, <i>Arata the Legend</i> is only a serviceable shonen fantasy. There's a lot more energy and anger present here than in Watase's <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2015/07/review-fushigi-yugi-genbu-kaiden.html" target="_blank">various</a> <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/07/review-fushigi-yugi-byakko-senki.html" target="_blank">takes</a> on <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2013/02/review-fushigi-yugi.html" target="_blank">Fushigi Yugi</a></i>, but it's going to take some time for them to flesh out the rest of this cast and bring the story to a point where it can achieve its full potential.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>The artstyle here is very much in line with Watase's other works from the 2000s such as <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2020/05/merry-month-of-shojo-alice-19th.html" target="_blank">Alice 19th</a></i>. The cast share some surface similarities with previous characters from previous works, they do put more effort than usual into the details of the costumes, weaponry, and backgrounds of the alternate world. In comparison, the "real" world is more lightly sketched. Their panels tend to be small, but the pages are composed in a quite orderly fashion.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFp2ytcijsVVvLdJVzSw820JT0C1ZVeq6a-tG_1hkItrzhUbIwnJySGOSTADrcS2xsMcM-f2oPwwPZWwEKOPy2TUrK0e5bMgoHG6f2rInWao6AoYkkUNyoAjzPoyPpQGICuJPHXKtqE_NVddOCGxtfypspPtKcywTJRjSGVpe_Ldm29drAZ0GwDQgP9vR-/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFp2ytcijsVVvLdJVzSw820JT0C1ZVeq6a-tG_1hkItrzhUbIwnJySGOSTADrcS2xsMcM-f2oPwwPZWwEKOPy2TUrK0e5bMgoHG6f2rInWao6AoYkkUNyoAjzPoyPpQGICuJPHXKtqE_NVddOCGxtfypspPtKcywTJRjSGVpe_Ldm29drAZ0GwDQgP9vR-/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></div>As much as I might rib <i>Arata the Legend</i> for riffing on some familiar ideas, it's off to a decent start here. Yu Watase's art continues to improve with each new series they make and the two leads contrast quite well. If they can put some work into building up the story and the rest of the cast, it could turn into something great.<p></p><p><i>This manga was published by Viz. This series is complete in Japan with 24 volumes available. All 24 were released and are currently in print.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-67330149634827139652023-12-31T13:03:00.000-06:002023-12-31T13:03:27.740-06:00Holiday Review Giveaway Winner & 2023 In the Rear View Mirror<p> First of all, it's time to announce this year's winner: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/thatannaneko.bsky.social" target="_blank">Anna</a>! Who used this year to finally get into a popular, long-running yuri series:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.2px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Yuri is my Job!" .... at first was eyerolling at Hime so hard thought was gonna sprain something.... but suddenly am like 8 volumes in and very invested in these idiots & their utter idiocy at being So Very Gay.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i>Congratulations! We'll be reaching out to you shortly so that you can receive your $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate to spend on more good books (be they yuri or otherwise) while supporting your favorite indie bookstore.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">2023 was a year of challenge and change. A lot of these changes were a year in the making, after a certain idiot techbro bought out Twitter and turned it into the ongoing landfill fire that it is now. A small blog like this one lives and dies on people discovering it via social media, and once people started to flee Twitter in earnest in light of its numerous changes, ridiculous paid tiers, and descent into outright bigotry, our views started to tank as well. Once BlueSky proved itself to be a relatively stable and viable option for myself and the site, the choice was obvious. I'm not going to say I was happy to lose over a decade's worth of work and followers by deleting the Manga Test Drive Twitter account, but I don't regret it and bit by bit I'm rebuilding that following (and then some) on <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social" target="_blank">BlueSky</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, this was all happening on top of the usual challenges, namely distraction and burnout. I think I did a little better than last year as far at filling out each month's worth of reviews, but I was definitely far from perfect. It's also an ongoing struggle to maintain the site's Patreon. My own sometimes spotty output, Patreon's own odd choices, and the overall lousy economy certainly don't help things, but it's been a struggle in recent years to convince people to support something as unglamorous as manga blogging. It simply doesn't have the flash of a Youtube video, a podcast, or a Twitch stream, and when you combine that with the site's decreasing visibility it becomes an even bigger challenge to gain and retain Patrons.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="327" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LYt4TfSnOF8" width="481" youtube-src-id="LYt4TfSnOF8"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p>That doesn't mean 2023 was all bad, though. I managed to finally put on my Story of Animerama panel for a wider audience, thanks to JP and Anime Lockdown. While I was not picked as a panelist for this year's Otakon, I was able to share my experience with some loved ones for the first time. I did manage to write some new essays and make some more podcast appearances (most of them being Gundam-related). Some of <a href="https://podbay.fm/p/giant-robot-fm/e/1696177962" target="_blank">them</a> are <a href="https://www.animefeminist.com/chatty-af-179-mobile-suit-gundam-the-witch-from-mercury-part-1-retrospective/" target="_blank">already</a> <a href="https://www.animefeminist.com/chatty-af-190-mobile-suit-gundam-the-witch-from-mercury-part-2-retrospective/" target="_blank">up</a>, while others will be going up in the next couple of months. I've always got a few projects tucked away in my metaphorical back pocket, be they new essays, new panels, or getting back to some long-overdue Disaster Reports. In the meantime, all I can do is thank everyone who continues to follow the site and share the reviews, along with our generous Patrons. Hopefully 2024 will be a good year for you, for me, and The Manga Test Drive as we enter year 12.</p><p></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-68316476513964142812023-12-25T12:00:00.171-06:002023-12-25T12:00:00.129-06:00Holiday Review #25: NEIGHBORHOOD STORY<p> We started this year's reviews with a long-awaited license, so it's only fitting to end it with one as well. As much as I might complain about how much Viz neglects their non-WSJ titles or the titles they pick up for the Shojo Beat imprint, they did release this classic from <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2017/05/merry-month-of-manga-review-nana.html" target="_blank"><i>Nana</i> </a>and <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-paradise-kiss.html" target="_blank">Paradise Kiss</a></i> creator Ai Yazawa just in time for the holidays.</p><p><b>NEIGHBORHOOD STORY (<i>Gokinjo Monogatari</i>), </b><i>by Ai Yazawa. First published in 1995 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJN4Rr6J3GuC5Si-Q0ZxgPq57C0kpaUAdq5otR-YFNA_XWgq5hRuqa4tMDqMJbEkJAiFq0TYYaEiAO_UNOsdHbZXTm2duR3zlY-vkcgyrSpJo0risteqcKXA8CLQ0SuWH0Ah8kGM5F2wZVJuA51fe3vbZtdtjpNJPJac4olUoQWmeYHvxvDqlUl0j6lii9/s2000/neighborhood-story-vol-1-9781974740895_hr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJN4Rr6J3GuC5Si-Q0ZxgPq57C0kpaUAdq5otR-YFNA_XWgq5hRuqa4tMDqMJbEkJAiFq0TYYaEiAO_UNOsdHbZXTm2duR3zlY-vkcgyrSpJo0risteqcKXA8CLQ0SuWH0Ah8kGM5F2wZVJuA51fe3vbZtdtjpNJPJac4olUoQWmeYHvxvDqlUl0j6lii9/s320/neighborhood-story-vol-1-9781974740895_hr.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br /><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Mikako and Tsutomu have known each other forever. They grew up together, go to the same art college, and even walk to class together. Tsutomu's resemblance to a popular singer has rendered him unexpectedly popular with the ladies, much to Mikako's annoyance and Tsutomu's bafflement. Neither of them are quite ready to admit they might have feelings for one another, but their friends will certainly try their best to bring them together. Mikako's going to need all the help she can get to complete with her glamorous classmate Mariko.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>It's truly a testament to Ai Yazawa's writing that <i>Neighborhood Story</i> feels more relevant and realistic than most shojo romances despite being nearly 30 years old. It helps that the plot thread at its core - the reluctant romance between two childhood friends - is a common and familiar one, but that could have easily been a pitfall. After all, that kind of story was just as common in the 1990s as it is now and it could have come off as tedious and cliche. </p><p>What makes this particular manga shine is that the cast has so much personality. It's not just your usual anime and manga personality types either - they feel like the sort of people you knew (or could have known) in college. I absoluely adore Mikako. She's brash, proud, a total spitfire despite her diminutive size. I also see what her (and others) see in Tsutomu, mostly in his easy-going charm and bouts of thoughtfulness. What gets me is how much even minor supporting cast members stand out, be it Mikako's mangaka mom, the landlord at the their apartment, or Mikako's punk-rock friend Risa. </p><p>Furthermore, there's a complexity to them that you seldom see in these sorts of stories. Mikako may be darling, but her pride and tendency to jump to conclusions causes her more trouble with Tsutomu than anything else. Tsutomu's easy-going nature makes him charming, but it also makes it easy for other girls to turn his head and for him to try and please them. Even those who make bad impressions get this treatment. Mariko comes off at first as shallow and flighty, but she turns out to be a nice and fairly intuitive girl who has been conditioned by previous bad relationships towards shallow behavior. Tsutomu's friend Yusuke seems like a womanizing jackass at first glance, but he gets to demonstrate some empathy and understanding with both Mikako and Mariko. The relationships between everyone go through various ups and down - friends one chapter, tension the next - but it's all held together by the larger social web they are part of and the community around this fashion college. It truly is a neighborhood story.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Much of what makes Ai Yazawa's art so distinct is present here: the focus on (then) current fashion, the sharp, lush pouting lips and sharp, dark eyes rendered in crisp, rich blacks, and her own unique, long-limbed take on super-deformed art in more comic moments. There's definitely a more rubbery quality to these character than you would see in her later works. Most of this can be attributed to Mikako, who herself is a very high-energy character. This is even reinforced in Michelle Pang's lettering of her sound effects and shouts. There's a lot going on in every panel - if it's not a lot of motion or a sensitive close-up, there are LOTS of asides from the cast. Yazawa manages this chaos through good paneling and page layout, varying up shapes and borders as she pleases and not overcrowding her pages. The end result is femme, fun, yet elegant.</p><p><b>PRESENTATION:</b></p><p>Viz gave this series the red carpet treatment, from its frilly French flaps, hot pink cover, and color insert pages. It's not just a few color pages at the front either - there's a full color illustration gallery in the back of various piece done for the series's original release. The only thing that's lacking is the title itself. It's not the localization, as that's literal as can be. It's that the title itself is printed weirdly small upon the front cover, making it feel more spartan than it should be.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1r2-kBl83QydJu4v4TKfGU8p-jyLWxgkGZtoajmtKxjCSwqkr_EvDjxv4p8kzYZ7yL24aywS-fHURqsdogV9GkaDjoXwVzRv2fEO95p-6stAkyxbekXPMBRsu0uJU-2fd7i10MBQaVsxdsBe4cPodr7fCvNiahKLCoblBS8wFCUjXlfERY5iHzV8FC6R/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1r2-kBl83QydJu4v4TKfGU8p-jyLWxgkGZtoajmtKxjCSwqkr_EvDjxv4p8kzYZ7yL24aywS-fHURqsdogV9GkaDjoXwVzRv2fEO95p-6stAkyxbekXPMBRsu0uJU-2fd7i10MBQaVsxdsBe4cPodr7fCvNiahKLCoblBS8wFCUjXlfERY5iHzV8FC6R/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Neighborhood Story</i> stands proudly alongside Yazawa's better known works as a classic of shojo manga. It may be more lighthearted than those other works, but that doesn't mean it doesn't pack any less of a punch. Anyone who calls themselves a shojo fan needs to pick this one up.<p></p><p>Plus, if enough people buy this maybe we can bully Viz into investing into <i>more </i>older shojo licenses!</p><p><i>This manga is published by Viz. This series is complete in Japan with 7 volumes available. 1 2-in-1 omnibus has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Today's the final day for our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends at midnight tonight!</i></p><p><br /></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-58383130939287085812023-12-24T12:00:00.000-06:002023-12-24T12:00:00.129-06:00Holiday Reviews #24: WITCH HAT ATELIER KITCHEN<p> It's the time of year where many of us are busy in the kitchen with holiday meals and goodies galore, so there couldn't be a better time to talk about this particular spinoff.</p><p><b>WITCH HAT ATELIER KITCHEN (<i>Tongari Boshi no Kitchin</i>), </b><i>by Hiromi Sato, based on the manga by Kamome Shirohama. First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBE0tRv_Dn0pMseEYJqph8iQj9mm4oE1NswV4Id8KHywjcE9dja4DiSsU3kMgw0Rxqa5f9pTpRN6uT5napTsHWYyOGL48r_Qqg0xJgjG_8ovovpgzB0_e3lHVOfXVGgk_rJAAjz0sndSlI9K_6n4-Oe7nV-jB_Eupp19U7dOiq4UXWC9ka-aiLfJAXfovS/s1000/9191dHCQaWL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="702" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBE0tRv_Dn0pMseEYJqph8iQj9mm4oE1NswV4Id8KHywjcE9dja4DiSsU3kMgw0Rxqa5f9pTpRN6uT5napTsHWYyOGL48r_Qqg0xJgjG_8ovovpgzB0_e3lHVOfXVGgk_rJAAjz0sndSlI9K_6n4-Oe7nV-jB_Eupp19U7dOiq4UXWC9ka-aiLfJAXfovS/s320/9191dHCQaWL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>When Qifrey isn't busy teaching his students and Olruggio isn't busy tinkering with his devices, the two of them need to eat. They use the magical ingredients they have on hand to make simple dishes to enjoy together as well with Coco and the rest of the girls.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Like that time I covered the <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2021/11/review-todays-menu-for-emiya-family.html" target="_blank"><i>Fate/Stay Night</i> cooking spinoff</a>, <i>Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen</i> is a series made for established fans of <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2019/12/holiday-review-witch-hat-atelier.html" target="_blank">Witch Hat Atelier</a></i>. That's not to say that it's totally impenetrable for newcomers, as there's more than enough context to get a basic grasp on who these characters are and their basic relationship to one another. It's just that it presumes that the reader is already familiar with the main manga's story at large and the finer details about these characters.</p><p>Sato takes the slice-of-life moments that were already present within the original series and basically expands on them to create little framing stories in which to insert the recipes. Structurally it feels very similar to <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2014/12/review-what-did-you-eat-yesterday.html" target="_blank">What Did You Eat Yesterday?</a></i>, complete with step-by-step documentation of the preparation, followed by the characters going to raptures about the food, and wrapping up whatever drama might have been left in the framing story. It's a fusion that works shockingly well, and as you might imagine this sort of combination is 100% My Jam.</p><p>The focus on Qifrey and Olruggio here will likely intrigue the small but fervent contingent of fans who ship them. While this series isn't explicitly homoerotic, there's definitely a vibe between them that I can only describe as 'casual gay dads." Many a chapter is about one of them making food for the other because they are exhausted from work or distracted with other tasks. I was surprised to see that Coco and the other girls of the Atelier are featured almost as heavily as their guardians, with them occasionally helping at meals or demonstrating the challenge for cooking regular meals for four young girls with particular tastes and preferences. </p><p>I also appreciate the variety of recipes that are featured. I'm used to a lot of these cooking series focusing entirely on the usual Japanese home cooking classics and calling it a day. While we do see the magical equivalents of things like croquettes and caramel pudding, there are also some more exotic or adult selections such as yogurt soup, sangria, or little apple tarts styled like roses. The recipes themselves are not overly complex but do presume that the reader has at least some experience in the kitchen. </p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Based on what little info I could find on Hiromi Sato, she's a fairly new mangaka with only one series to her name previous to this and no evidence that she had worked previously with Kamome Shirohama as an assistant. That makes it all the more remarkable that she was able to copy Shirohama's delicate, elaborate art style so convincingly. The big difference is in the paneling, as Sato doesn't try to copy any of Shirohama's playful framing tricks. Everything looks lovely here, be it the characters, the backgrounds, or the food.</p><p><b>PRESENTATION:</b></p><p>Like any good cooking manga, there are proper recipes after each chapter. They do carry over the conceit of including the fictional, magical ingredients, although there's a guide at the end with suggestions for their real-world substitutes.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_6rqdxZHUawJJuw7vPY6l6HhmR_QBoFr4coWiHDtI3YX3QjY_O0c32xK-x6iwJt6MyVx1x49T8BqsJSTt_sWDzHgu30M00l1q5-QT_YkTtN_zw41lr3WwS3nKK5bdPsWA6hPtqjavSWJokpXHZceYOmSqmaHthIBDIg62WG4BanLpjMOB3u8eNtlQRuE/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif_6rqdxZHUawJJuw7vPY6l6HhmR_QBoFr4coWiHDtI3YX3QjY_O0c32xK-x6iwJt6MyVx1x49T8BqsJSTt_sWDzHgu30M00l1q5-QT_YkTtN_zw41lr3WwS3nKK5bdPsWA6hPtqjavSWJokpXHZceYOmSqmaHthIBDIg62WG4BanLpjMOB3u8eNtlQRuE/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen</i> is no substitute for the original, but it's a delightful little spinoff that works just as well as a slice-of-life manga as it does as a cookbook, and you really couldn't ask for more from a cooking manga.<p></p><p><i>This series is published by Kodansha. This series is ongoing in Japan with 5 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>There's just 1 day left in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p><p><br /></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-63227715318740868812023-12-23T12:00:00.009-06:002023-12-23T12:00:00.148-06:00Holiday Review #23: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK - BELTORCHIKA'S CHILDREN<p> There's no way that I wasn't going to talk about this, the latest Gundam manga to hit our shores (especially since it had been delayed for so long, between Covid-related printing issues and clearing all the various necessary rights).</p><p><b>MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK - BELTORCHIKA'S CHILDREN (<i>Kido Senshi Gundamu: Gyakushu no Char - Berutochika Chirudoren</i>), </b><i>based on the original story by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate and mobile suit designs by Yutaka Izubuchi, with art by Uroaki Sabisi and Takayuki Yanase. First published in 2014 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtJPcg0RIq7Wk8EYc6B1L29cN9TcyscmY4pebvmtg4ANrpcoZhyoSC2N6aRXtXeO9UmJr5AObTY9X-UVuq-PvIMnm1O7u-6F-EK6d0DDzdf2eJKLeaYyxwTH7lI9n6IJ2csaeM3J8OFdBGpM2jA7avL33fPFJm1vjupgTRAFbkzmlXbqa5OL3NYRac2bt/s1000/91YlfDDrOzL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="708" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtJPcg0RIq7Wk8EYc6B1L29cN9TcyscmY4pebvmtg4ANrpcoZhyoSC2N6aRXtXeO9UmJr5AObTY9X-UVuq-PvIMnm1O7u-6F-EK6d0DDzdf2eJKLeaYyxwTH7lI9n6IJ2csaeM3J8OFdBGpM2jA7avL33fPFJm1vjupgTRAFbkzmlXbqa5OL3NYRac2bt/s320/91YlfDDrOzL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>In the year UC 0093, Char Aznable has reappeared as the leader of Neo Zeon. He has an army of mobile suits at his command, and his target is not just the Earth Federation but the Earth itself. The only force that can stand up to him is that on the Londo Bell, commanded by former White Base captain Bright Noa. No one on the ship is more determined to stop Char than Amuro Ray, the Gundam pilot who has both fought against and aside Char in the past. As the battle grows, it will encompass not just Char, Amuro, and those who fight alongside them, but younger children such as runaway rich girl Quess Paraya and Bright's son Hathaway.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Alright, get comfy because as per usual with Universal Century Gundam stories, there's a bunch of backstory I need to cover here for those not in (or not deep) if any of this is to make sense.</p><p>As covered in this episode of <a href="https://gundampodcast.com/episode/3f9114b2/inescapable-moebius-loop" target="_blank">Mobile Suit Breakdown</a> (which I highly recommend, as both a recap of this story's convoluted history and as a good Gundam podcast in general), Yoshiyuki Tomino wrote and serialized two different versions of the story that would become the 1988 film <i>Char's Counterattack</i>. Those were <i>Beltorchika's Children</i> and <i>High Streamer</i>. While the broad strokes of all three works are roughly the same, the details can vary widely as Tomino added, dropped, or refined certain ideas during production on the film. If you've seen <i>Char's Counterattack</i> previously, most of this story is going to be familiar to you but it won't be the exact same experience.</p><p>First we have to address the biggest difference, the one that's right there in the title: Beltorchika Irma, professional pilot, former AEUG operative and Amuro's first proper girlfriend. In canon she disappears between the end of <i>Zeta Gundam</i> and a brief appearance in <i>Gundam Unicorn</i>, but here she's present as both Amuro's partner and personal engineer. We don't see a lot of her in this volume, but it's clear that she's a happier and more emotionally stable young woman than the clingy, mercurial girl we saw in the later half of <i>Zeta Gundam </i>and that her presence has had something of a stabilizing effect on Amuro as well. She's not the only character change present, as there are one or two new characters along with some renamed old ones. For example, Neo Zeon pilot Gyunei Guss is now Grave Guss, while Char's second-in-command Nanai Miguel is now Mesta Mesua.</p><p>There's an even more significant change to this story, though, and it has to do with the pacing. <i>Char's Counterattack</i> throws the viewer in media res into the first notable battle because Tomino presumed anyone watching it had already read at least one version of this story beforehand. Meanwhile, this adaptation dares to give its readers context for the conflict between the Federation and Neo Zeon. We get more scenes with the supporting cast, giving us a better understanding of them and their relationships to Char or Amuro. They even manage (mostly) to get around Tomino's tendencies to write weirdly wordy and awkwardly expositional dialogue. It makes the story as a whole feel more fleshed-out, which in turn gives all these battles and technobabble some actual meaning.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>This isn't part of the same continuity as <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2016/11/review-mobile-suit-gundam-origin.html" target="_blank">Gundam: The Origin</a></i>, but the influence that series had on this manga's art (and no doubt many other series running in <u>Gundam Ace</u>) is obvious. While Sabisi's art isn't quite as elegant as Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's, he does do a good job at updating and polishing Hiroyuki Kitazune's dated and somewhat flat character designs. His most original contribution is giving Bright Noa a full, Commander Riker-style beard and I'm still not sure how I feel about that. He manages the more character-centric scenes quite well, but he stumbles somewhat when it comes to the mecha battles. The paneling tends to be cramped and chaotic, making it hard to follow the flow of battle. He definitely nails the destruction of Lhasa, as the asteroid impact blasts away everything until almost the entire page is stark white.</p><p>This may be the only manga I've reviewed where there's one artist to draw the characters and another to draw the mecha. In fairness, they got a good man for the job, as <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=38526" target="_blank">Takayuki Yanase</a> is a notable mechanical designer with plenty of Gundam experience, whose credits include <i>Gundam 00</i>, <i>Gundam Build Divers</i>, and <i>The Witch From Mercury</i>. <i>Beltorchika's Children</i> is notable within the fandom for its own unique variants of the mobile suits from Char's Counterattack. I'm pretty indifferent to Izubuchi's original designs, and the ones featured here are a mixed bag. For every legitmate upgrade (such as swapping Gyunei/Grave's Jagd Doga for the Psycho Doga), there is a downgrade (like trading out Char's overrated Sazabi, for the hideous, gaudy, and boxy Nightingale). Outside of the cover and a single scene, we don't even see Amuro's Hi-Nu Gundam, another fan favorite. I will say that Yanase does his job well - all the suits are crisply rendered and on-model, as are the various ships.</p><p><b>PRESENTATION:</b></p><p>Aside from the slick, French-flapped cover, there's a lot of effort made her to get readers who might not be familiar with this story on board as quickly as possible. There are single-page breakdowns of both sides of the conflict between some of the chapters, with brief blurbs about some of the characters involved. There are model sheets of the various suits featured. There's a map of the locations of the various colonies and their position relative to the Earth and Moon - a very handy thing, as the various Sides are often mentioned but seldom explained in-universe. There's even an essay from an anime writer/light novels to explain the importance of the original novel, even if I feel that his notions about it are a little more pretentious than the work entirely deserves.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3uew4_NcDA1px8wd6CERtcnpZXY6njBOL1ieQI5WThQLnWs-8jtN9yMlduANDZvKRnMcFskP-AnD5GFjeC9zEpk9S9MDZ4W2qbWs50Jk0zo5lJZxeb6DV03TMMInEmnKRV2p6ymiwXFQFGFFUUot3k17AomGCeZWo5jtfY-_nD4IIOtPN_9V_Xpv637aT/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3uew4_NcDA1px8wd6CERtcnpZXY6njBOL1ieQI5WThQLnWs-8jtN9yMlduANDZvKRnMcFskP-AnD5GFjeC9zEpk9S9MDZ4W2qbWs50Jk0zo5lJZxeb6DV03TMMInEmnKRV2p6ymiwXFQFGFFUUot3k17AomGCeZWo5jtfY-_nD4IIOtPN_9V_Xpv637aT/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></div>I don't know if I made it entirely obvious, but I'm not a huge fan of <i>Char's Counterattack</i>. Despite that, I can appreciate how this adaptation of <i>Beltorchika's Children</i> is doing its best to modernize and streamline the material and present it handsomely. I'm not 100% sure if someone fresh to the franchise might get it, but those who love Universal Century-era stories will likely find a lot to love here.<p></p><p>...I still don't know if I'll ever get used to that beard.</p><p><i>This manga is published by Denpa Books. This series is complete in Japan with 7 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only 2 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p><p><br /></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-34758849045940334412023-12-22T12:00:00.009-06:002023-12-22T12:00:00.128-06:00Holiday Review #22: MY LOVESICK LIFE AS A '90S OTAKU<p> And now books set within my lifetime could technically be considered "historical."</p><p>If you'll excuse me, I just have to go sit in the corner and shrivel into a withered crone.</p><p><b>MY LOVESICK LIFE AS A '90S OTAKU (<i>Inishie Otaku no Koiwazurai</i>), </b><i>by Nico Nicholson. First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtt9XHcQveeRWW-lHYHkwRxcaqTFWztYBfZ5kJ9KpOizzw7bU9Oh1Yee5uvMRRwNnlkx_w82CvB6dFDa86Wm7-y-dKmwJNkEMZZq3VG0135u4SldwXwgKykqwMiSNO6n_Y_FoIUi62X8eNAbCUFWXlP6TymoJ1bewUSCG99PUiPUnu4vPqhHQOgdsBNRF/s450/9781646518814.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtt9XHcQveeRWW-lHYHkwRxcaqTFWztYBfZ5kJ9KpOizzw7bU9Oh1Yee5uvMRRwNnlkx_w82CvB6dFDa86Wm7-y-dKmwJNkEMZZq3VG0135u4SldwXwgKykqwMiSNO6n_Y_FoIUi62X8eNAbCUFWXlP6TymoJ1bewUSCG99PUiPUnu4vPqhHQOgdsBNRF/s320/9781646518814.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Megumi Sato cannot believe how readily otaku culture has integrated into the everyday life of her teen daughter Sakura and those like her. Back when she was Sakura's age, she was transferring to a new school and <i>desperate</i> to hide the fact that she was a manga-reading, anime-watching fujoshi. Then she met the class president Masamune, whose tough looks, skills at basketball, and resemblance to Megumi's favorite character from <i>Slam Dunk</i> won her heart almost instantly...until she learned that he hated otaku. Everyday became a struggle for her, trying to figure out how to make her feelings known while hiding her true dorky self from him and her classmates.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Presuming that you do not have a similar moment of despair after reading that premise and being forced to grapple with the fact that you are getting old, My Lovesick Life works as both a goofy shojo romance and a study in how much changes and how much stays the same when it comes to being an otaku.</p><p>Bless her heart, teen Megumi is an absolute dork. Like a lot of anime-loving teens the world over, she retreats into this world of fantasy as an escape from her humdrum life and everyday insecurities, to the point that she has a bad habit of viewing the world entirely through the lens of her favorite fictions. This leaves her wholly out of her depth when it comes to dealing with the realities of first love, with only shojo manga to guide her way. Combine that with your typical teenage moodiness and you get a girl who is mentally pinballing between ecstasy, despair, and nerve-wracking anxiety.</p><p>The push and pull between her desire to fit in and her fervent love of anime and manga only gets stronger as the volume goes on. At one end is Masamune, who is a pretty upstanding kid even if he's kind of tough-looking and blunt. You can see why Megumi (and others) are swooning over him, and why it hurts so much to hear him casually dismiss otaku. At the other end is Michiko, an out and proud otaku who recognizes Megumi as one of her own and urges her to abandon any notion of real-world romance. In between is the dark horse "Yui," Megumi's otaku penpal who is in truth a sweet young boy who also suffers from having to hide his otaku tendencies from others. Of course, the reader (and present-day Megumi, who occasionally interjects from the sidelines) knows that this doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing matter, but it's that constant push and pull that drives both the comedy and the drama. There's also the framing story. The present-day Megumi is a forty-something woman who's been divorced for a decade. No matter how her teenage years went, this is not just the usual story of a girl meeting her first love in school and living happily ever after.</p><p>Is this series a shameless serving of 'memberberries for old-school otaku? Absolutely! It names drops a bunch of the biggest hits of 1995 without shame or copyright-avoiding concealment, as well as other trends like photo booths or otaku customizing stationary with drawings and homemade stickers of their favorites. Yet it clearly comes from a place of love, from someone who was there at the time, knew and loved this stuff, and grew up to embrace and forgive their younger, cringier self.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Nicholson's art is loose and rubbery, the sort of thing that's made for comedy. I do like how she slips some 90s character design elements into the characters, such as Megumi's little genki fang and the subtly hatched blushes. I really like how loose she gets with the faces - Megumi makes some absolutely wild takes, and it stands out all the more when she's contrasted against the relatively stone-faced Masamune. Nicholson takes more care than you would expect with the details. It's not just about all the period-specific references, but even the backgrounds have a decent amount of detail and she absolutely nails the amateurish chuuni qualities of Megumi's OC sketches. I suspect that particular detail will hit hardest with anyone who was a weeb as a teen.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKHjXOMjbcIj4_-yttAaLaEloAhkB6J1TwxCk4ZR1zbgqAM3M3oQino0HocT_-ujxWJ5NlPEtbA7MyZEnmXKNhCq5WXs9MZ2VebMfzexdHZcQ2XrIoRvnfZf2TGYwlZkukFn4TXvSqbApNkoaJqXj9XQ6sEWdCh3h5HRcUWvzWN5VvjEHj2tqmmAteC7cK/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKHjXOMjbcIj4_-yttAaLaEloAhkB6J1TwxCk4ZR1zbgqAM3M3oQino0HocT_-ujxWJ5NlPEtbA7MyZEnmXKNhCq5WXs9MZ2VebMfzexdHZcQ2XrIoRvnfZf2TGYwlZkukFn4TXvSqbApNkoaJqXj9XQ6sEWdCh3h5HRcUWvzWN5VvjEHj2tqmmAteC7cK/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>My Lovesick Life As a 90s Otaku</i> works as both a goofy teen romance but also as a fun snapshot of 90s otaku culture through a teen girl lens. Those that are old enough to remember will be able to commiserate, but even those too young to have experienced this stuff first hand will still be able to get a lot of enjoyment out of this series.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Kodansha Comics. This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only 3 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p><p><br /></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-37004789219443478102023-12-21T12:00:00.006-06:002023-12-21T12:00:00.249-06:00Holiday Review #21 INNOCENT<p> Y'all know I love historical manga a lot, and I've always had a fascination with the French Revolution and the time period around it, so this manga in particular was practically made for me.</p><p><b>INNOCENT (<i>Inosan</i>), </b><i>by Shin'ichi Sakamoto. First published in 2013 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3czDHhIDyXB5zthWY5zRRaxNFsvREkIJkVyaOr6sVxO0Cht0r9F2bF-e3BSUB-JprDQ0ZeasGfD6AmSqdmkilh71jL2LbnA3UJXStjAxEKkRaQCd0aGtlrEjmXYk096x_TQP847Lnh0uybzaEt_Cp4OGHKSl9zs88u02Qa2pGUeyZY5UD1KFreBuj07u4/s1000/81Y4qG7XLOL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3czDHhIDyXB5zthWY5zRRaxNFsvREkIJkVyaOr6sVxO0Cht0r9F2bF-e3BSUB-JprDQ0ZeasGfD6AmSqdmkilh71jL2LbnA3UJXStjAxEKkRaQCd0aGtlrEjmXYk096x_TQP847Lnh0uybzaEt_Cp4OGHKSl9zs88u02Qa2pGUeyZY5UD1KFreBuj07u4/s320/81Y4qG7XLOL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Charles-Henri Saison is the heir not just to his noble family but to their terrible role in the French royal court: executioner. They are outcasts among both the nobility and the peasantry, and Charles wants no part of their grim legacy. Charles struggles in vain against both the literal and spiritual torture he is subject to, but in the end he submits. On that day he vows to become the last executioner of the family, taking the first steps towards becoming the man behind the guillotine in the bloody revolution to come.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>I hardly know where to begin with <i>Innocent</i>. On the surface it's a fictionalized take on a very real figure in French history, but it's more than a mere biography. It's a wild exploration of sex and death, pain and pleasure, and of the turbulent times leading up to the French Revolution. There's a part of me who wants to treat this as a companion piece to <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2020/12/holiday-review-rose-of-versailles.html" target="_blank">The Rose of Versailles</a></i>. While the details of the two couldn't be more different outside of the time period they are set, both are driven by the struggle their young protagonists endure against their duty, their morals, and the hypocrisy and decadence of the <i>ancient regime</i>.</p><p>At times, it feels like the whole world is conspiring against Charles. His family has foisted this distasteful role of executioner on him out of obligation, to the point of employing torture upon him to force him into obedience. No matter how well or poorly he performs his gruesome task, he and his family are judged by everyone. To the nobility he is nothing more than a pawn to use for their own personal grudges or decadent spectacles. To the peasantry he is a dread specter, another symbol of the monarchy that ignores their needs and oppresses their freedoms. When he tries to rebel, he is tortured by his own family into obedience. When he tries to bend the rules his way, others bend them back. It really doesn't help that his first victim is his first crush, a count's beautiful (and secret Protestant) son. It's little wonder that he spends most of the first half of this omnibus in metal anguish.</p><p>So what changes in the second half? A few things. The first is a shake-up of the family dynamic, as Charles takes on more and more of his father's duties after he has a stroke. This begins to give him the confidence to stand up for himself against his other, other scheming relatives, and the domineering, sadistic grandmother who rules them all. The second is that he ends up becoming radicalized by an encounter with a starving pauper who ends up stabbing the king. It's not just the first time that Charles is exposed to the suffering that the poor of France are enduring, but the man's determination in the face of unspeakable torture inspires Charles like nothing else. Finally, he discovers one of the most potent personal motivations possible: spite. When he learns how little his family truly thinks of him, he becomes determined to be the last in his line to bring an end to their cursed lineage. This, more than anything, is what gives Charles the inner strength to endure his many trials and tribulations. That's a good thing because this story has barely begun. This omnibus ends only in the 1750s, and there are decades of drama, suffering, and other notable historical figures to meet before Charles begins his reign at the guillotine.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Shin'ichi Sakamoto's art is truly something else. There's a great episode of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Lql8KDKBzvQ" target="_blank"><i>Manben</i></a> that gets into his technique (which is entirely digital, but reliant on a lot of photo/physical reference and layers upon layers of work) and the results are truly unique. There's a tangibility to his characters, as if you could reach through the page and feel the plumpness of their lips, the silkiness of their hair, and the softness of their skin. There's a gaunt, haunted quality to everyone in this book, regardless of age or social status. It's certainly true of Charles, whose lithe androgyny only further emphasizes his delicacy and alienation from the world. There's also a great emphasis on eyes and gaze, with Sakamoto laying out his panels as to invoke the quick edit of a </p><p>Sakamoto makes the most of his digital tools to cram this world full of detail and texture, from the finest brocades to the horrors of festering, bloody wounds. I wasn't joking about the juxtaposition of sex and death, because you can easily have a bloody execution or gruesome fiery torture followed (or even interrupted) with a bunch of nudity and banging. The only thing he shies away from is drawing dicks, which are nothing more than ghostly shapes. He also makes the most of dramatic lighting, something most obvious in the dark, oppressive rooms of the Sanson estate. Then there are the moments where Charles's reveries explode onto the page in surrealist visions where time and space itself are mutable. Make no mistake, <i>Innocent</i> is absolutely stunning...just maybe don't read it in public.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JPLighXHi8xIO8CXCIZIi0-GKmdPLj6RHLBvEfLdoYAew2ClsJ9LvKMsKO2y79yBw6b6dVvbZj1fiZPHXt-NvOLJKOeBHWmF7ZvdCoa_xr6pCx7Yn6-TGEKi2oVnvBaDQJ9qgCi0l1AAq_5Hsg4VqOyayVSW7_uzj4sOIy5_WZstOAcEgnAujACSCEnC/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1JPLighXHi8xIO8CXCIZIi0-GKmdPLj6RHLBvEfLdoYAew2ClsJ9LvKMsKO2y79yBw6b6dVvbZj1fiZPHXt-NvOLJKOeBHWmF7ZvdCoa_xr6pCx7Yn6-TGEKi2oVnvBaDQJ9qgCi0l1AAq_5Hsg4VqOyayVSW7_uzj4sOIy5_WZstOAcEgnAujACSCEnC/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></div>I'm going to be thinking about <i>Innocent</i> for quite some time. Sakamoto takes this minor real-world figure and turns their story into a psychosexual tapestry, weaving fact and fiction together into a bold tapestry of death and revolution. It's easily one of the best manga I've read this whole year and I cannot recommend it hard enough.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Dark Horse Comics. This series is complete in Japan with 9 volumes available. 3 volumes have been released in a single omnibus and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only 4 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-33654507504169627572023-12-20T00:11:00.005-06:002023-12-21T10:01:25.292-06:00Holiday Review #20: MY DEAR DETECTIVE - MITSUKO'S CASE FILESWhen it comes to historical manga from 2023, my personal favorite came from the relatively new digital manga service <a href="https://www.azuki.co/" target="_blank">Azuki</a>. In recent years they've started licensing manga and even distributing them to other digital storefronts, allowing me to finally partake of this lovely series.<div><br /></div><div><b>MY DEAR DETECTIVE: MITSUKO'S CASE FILES (<i>Kimi wa Nazotoki no Ma Cherie</i>), </b><i>by Nozomi Ito. First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8LeS2JJ-gE5mwOzjxmAG0SwKLqFb6FQynnolzNT_1WQmSsoXGs58Zszr4GAwM5wIYKo_99ZY9ZzyjpS4AKSaZPnib6c6T7nIBbZsTuqktac2jVYwdbEviFXIUhdoLmWOxHVm9SOXRz7MfshW5IXWYp0EMeGW-xmRrU8q9DOCDnrJOsvY7zpZyyXKh85o/s500/51iUTaT8pTL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8LeS2JJ-gE5mwOzjxmAG0SwKLqFb6FQynnolzNT_1WQmSsoXGs58Zszr4GAwM5wIYKo_99ZY9ZzyjpS4AKSaZPnib6c6T7nIBbZsTuqktac2jVYwdbEviFXIUhdoLmWOxHVm9SOXRz7MfshW5IXWYp0EMeGW-xmRrU8q9DOCDnrJOsvY7zpZyyXKh85o/s320/51iUTaT8pTL.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><b>PLOT:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Mitsuko Hoshino wants to become a great detective, but it's hard for her when she has a quick temper, a lack of connections, and the everyday sexism she endures from her clients and the other detectives at her agency. Then she meets Saku Yoshida, a wealthy young boy who moonlights as a waiter, who ends up helping her out with a case involving a missing designer shoe. From that point onward, the two find themselves getting caught up in cases of secret identities, forgery, and missing persons.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><b>STORY:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I'm generally not one for mystery manga, but I loved <i>My Dear Detective</i> right from the get-go. In a weird way, it reminded me of <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2022/05/review-apothecary-diaries.html" target="_blank">The Apothecary Diaries</a></i>, in that both series fuse character-driven drama with interesting mysteries and frame it through the lens of an intelligent, unconventional heroine.</div><div><br /></div><div>In this case it's the titular Mitsuko, who is brash, stubborn, fiercely independent, a little bit of a mess, and an utter delight. It's hard not to sympathize with her when she regularly has to deal with men talking down to her, be it her coworkers, prospective clients, or flashbacks of her own policeman father. Indeed, the way the men of 1930s Tokyo tend to judge and dismiss the women around them tends to be a common theme, coming up not just in Mitsuko's backstory but also as background noise in her cases. That's likely why most of her clientele are women, something that Natsumi Ito never really calls attention to but that I certainly noticed. She's taking up the people and the cases that the men around her don't consider important.</div><div><br /></div><div>That being, Mitsuko is far from perfect. She's still an amateur who isn't that great at disguise, struggles with suppressing her stronger emotions, and sometimes jumps to the wrong conclusion. That's why Saku works so well as a partner and foil for Mitsuko. He's much more of a people person, one who is just as adept at getting people to voluntarily give up information as he is at managing Mitsuko's temper. His high-brow connections also come in handy more than once, allowing him to identify luxury goods or call up art appraisers like it's no big deal. There are hints that his placid personality might be a mask for some deeper drama, but at this point the emphasis is more on establishing him and Mitsuko as detectives.</div><div><br /></div><div>With a pair like this, there is inevitably a question as to whether it will become a romance at some point. Thus far it feels like it could go either way. It's clear that Saku clearly admires Mitsuko, but she has no interest in romance. Hell, by the end of the volume she's only just getting comfortable with the idea of having a work partner. I don't it's strictly necessary to keep <i>My Dear Detective</i> interesting, as the rest of the story can captivate readers on its own terms.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>ART:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Ito's character designs are cute if a little simple, although that simplicity allows her to get a really great range of expressions out of Mitsuko and Saku. It's a little thing but it goes a long way towards enhancing some of the comedy in the series. Where it truly shines, though, is in its attention to the historical details of early Showa-era Tokyo. Mitsuko has fully embraced the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_girl" target="_blank">moga</a> look, with her stylish bobbed hair and Western fashion. I cannot lie, I would eagerly wear most of Mitsuko's outfits. Everyone else around is also suitably dressed, with most people wearing Western-style suits and dresses and only the most traditionalist or stodgy still wearing kimonos. Ito does tend to forego backgrounds, but when she does bother she puts in the same level of effort and accuracy (especially since the story is so specific about this being set in and around the then-trendy Ginza shopping district.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>ART:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30m0MY4nSryor6eLiZcXWfLOrpgQxpr1_haw04wR4vjJCJqpjkXFY4lueYpG4AheoSeWIcoUawOHCl5QaJHLZF9NvgczYj8YYnH50yEriyI_eRB9jQXOweLrf7wMVKG03XEKoc_3iPYFCb_uvPyUVBsryrsIhU48hgcUA9jtw002VEM7afSa42ozZmH7S/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30m0MY4nSryor6eLiZcXWfLOrpgQxpr1_haw04wR4vjJCJqpjkXFY4lueYpG4AheoSeWIcoUawOHCl5QaJHLZF9NvgczYj8YYnH50yEriyI_eRB9jQXOweLrf7wMVKG03XEKoc_3iPYFCb_uvPyUVBsryrsIhU48hgcUA9jtw002VEM7afSa42ozZmH7S/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></div>Even if you don't subscribe to Azuki or pay much attention to digital-only manga, do not sleep on <i>My Dear Detective: Mitsuko's Case Files</i>. Its charming leads, attention to historical detail, and engaging mysteries make this a breezy delight to read. If Azuki ever branches out into publishing physical books, I sincerely hope that this is one of their first picks because it would absolutely be worth a double-dip.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>This manga is published digitally by Azuki. This series is ongoing in Japan with 5 volumes available. 3 volumes have been released and are currently in print at most major digital manga storefronts; it is also serialized weekly via Azuki.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Only 5 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></div>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-3732695412069215532023-12-19T12:00:00.013-06:002023-12-19T12:00:00.130-06:00Holiday Review #19: THE KNIGHT BLOOMS BEHIND CASTLE WALLS<p> I love historical manga, and this year gave me quite a few of them to talk about, including this underrated little gem.</p><p><b>THE KNIGHT BLOOMS BEHIND CASTLE WALLS (<i>Kishi-tan wa Joheki no Naka ni Hanahiraku</i>), </b><i>by Masanari Yuduka. First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9xjhz5d-brnvxmFHoJmSn7_4A9re-kP4ALoQkSB17cfSoP6MLwr6MG_3hSmYBMCQq88RpHFzIr1Wg7kJmwD1jHYzUn15IY76A5IyYuNrBsVtJ2jOxXQ1VPGP9wj71ynTZoxEqNiM2ScTg-TYLVBzURLnXMAE3lSvC8PIB05OPja9mY7SyWGT2XkQ5dw6/s445/61uq0TBjQ5L._SY445_SX342_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="312" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9xjhz5d-brnvxmFHoJmSn7_4A9re-kP4ALoQkSB17cfSoP6MLwr6MG_3hSmYBMCQq88RpHFzIr1Wg7kJmwD1jHYzUn15IY76A5IyYuNrBsVtJ2jOxXQ1VPGP9wj71ynTZoxEqNiM2ScTg-TYLVBzURLnXMAE3lSvC8PIB05OPja9mY7SyWGT2XkQ5dw6/s320/61uq0TBjQ5L._SY445_SX342_.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Rosa wants nothing more than to become a great knight. Currently she's just a squire at Castle Claustra, serving the young and handsome Sir Cervus. She's eager to start training with weapons, but before she can do that she has to learn how to tend the horses, serve the knights and the lord's family, and assist the many various servants and artisans around the castle, all while keeping her true gender under wraps.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>You can tell that Masanari Yuduka really loves medieval history. That love shines through on every page of <i>The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls</i>, where he uses it to craft an engaging all-ages story.</p><p>Rosa herself is all childish earnestness, eager to help, to learn, and to grow up. Her body can't always keep up (to the point that it's a running joke among the occupants of the castle about how often she trips out of excitement), but she takes her bumps in stride. The rest of the cast isn't quite as well-sketched, but that's mostly because Rosa's tasks have her crossing paths with so many other people working within the castle. She does manage to end up on friendly terms with both of the lord's children, and she looks up to Sir Cervus and his fellow knights like older brothers.</p><p>For the most part, Yuduka does not take liberties with the actual history. If anything, I'm sincerely impressed how many concepts and bits of trivia he's able to deftly weave into the story without stopping things dead for a lecture. There's just one exception, and it's a big one: Rosa is a girl. In the real world, girls were not allowed to become knights in medieval Europe and no one around Rosa seems to question her gender. Rosa's still young enough to pass readily as a boy, but that is slowly but surely changing as she struggles to hide her developing body from others and with feelings for Sir Cervus that are verging upon a crush. </p><p>Yuduka's clearly saving the full explanation for future volumes, so the most the reader can do in this volume is glean what they can from passing comments. It's clear that very few people aside from Rosa know the truth, and there's hints that some sort of family tragedy drove her here from her home. It clearly doesn't get her down, although there are times with the lord's daughter Viola that you can see Rosa yearn for a lifestyle she chose to forsake. It's just one dramatic thread in the wider tapestry of this manga, and I for one am curious to see just how it will all come together.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Yuduka's attention to historical detail doesn't stop with the story. The costumes and backgrounds are certainly testament to that. Yet there's a light and energetic quality to the art that pervades the whole manga. Some of that may be due to Yuduka's light linework and lack of heavy shading. Some of it might be due to their skill at capturing and framing action, be it a simple practice strike or a formal joust. This is best captured in an interlude where Rosa helps a local healer woman harvest herbs, only for much of the supporting cast to end up joining in comical ways. There is no dialogue in this chapter, only bits of omniscient narration explaining relevant trivia.</p><p>Indeed, Yuduka inserts little trivia panels all throughout the book. Most of this stuff would be common knowledge to any adult who's read beyond the basics as far as medieval history goes, but kids who are into history will likely pick up on all sorts of things. They are scattered throughout the pages in a playful way that reminded me a little of Kamome Shirohama. Admittedly, Yuduka's inserts are nowhere near as decorative or metatextual as hers, but it gives the whole manga its own unique flavor. I also like the way he often has Rosa literally running and moving out of her panel frames, which also brings a lot of visual energy to the series. It's simply irrepressible, much like Rosa herself.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5uxKaFdUY7idnA0Bk2WJIwOiy3Dy5ZXv7L8QB_Rvh5aew6FIhOLAg6c70XLUl3yQGNKI_ILy0zOLiv7vQLpeqcQJe_PmMF9DFOSh0NO3PEi2SikwIip4VEuzNiceVd6tLcQPCh7ZLaUXjwVi097SH0suEMUvppEQ4SMq5Ng0adwE48CoP9Zxp9CCSSBY/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn5uxKaFdUY7idnA0Bk2WJIwOiy3Dy5ZXv7L8QB_Rvh5aew6FIhOLAg6c70XLUl3yQGNKI_ILy0zOLiv7vQLpeqcQJe_PmMF9DFOSh0NO3PEi2SikwIip4VEuzNiceVd6tLcQPCh7ZLaUXjwVi097SH0suEMUvppEQ4SMq5Ng0adwE48CoP9Zxp9CCSSBY/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls</i> is a charming little historical drama that will delight adults and younger readers alike. Its light-hearted tone and love for the era makes it an appealing prospect for libraries, school, and other historical manga fans like myself.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Seven Seas. This series is complete in Japan with 3 volumes available. All 3 have been released and are currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only 6 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-35873113041990137572023-12-18T12:00:00.026-06:002023-12-18T12:00:00.127-06:00Holiday Review #18: NINA THE STARRY BRIDE<p> Ok, I need to talk about a manga that <i>isn't </i>twisted, clumsy, or just plain bad. For once, Kodansha is here to help me out with a shojo series that just made the jump from digital to print this year.</p><p><b>NINA THE STARRY BRIDE (<i>Hoshifuri Okuko no Nina</i>), </b><i>by Rikachi. First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2021.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmvprG-UL6iEiKNi3zGeA5rQAd9_cyWpVLIAWdcv3qLbCATUnmt3oq_HRAyRz2o_Dp0pdxh_8BHnoNDpem1-_Ygi97-wK6rGT6FC64bKesYkGt9wM6mDKB3DqxFBQf0wRjjZLpP0HuvhLVgJoZYkjip8Bq680obRYWzX3DCcWNHIen_vAoYk9uwgkT0xAZ/s1000/81RQ+ZbV5rL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="666" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmvprG-UL6iEiKNi3zGeA5rQAd9_cyWpVLIAWdcv3qLbCATUnmt3oq_HRAyRz2o_Dp0pdxh_8BHnoNDpem1-_Ygi97-wK6rGT6FC64bKesYkGt9wM6mDKB3DqxFBQf0wRjjZLpP0HuvhLVgJoZYkjip8Bq680obRYWzX3DCcWNHIen_vAoYk9uwgkT0xAZ/s320/81RQ+ZbV5rL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Nina was just a common thief, an orphan trying to get buy in the fringes of Fortna's capital city Dayah. She's sold off as a slave to the royal family, who need a replacement for their fallen princess Alisha. Nina physically looks the part, but she'll need months of intensive training with Alisha's haughty half-brother Azure to pass well enough to take over Alisha's duties as Astral Priestess and to take her place in an arranged marriage with a neighboring prince. In the meantime she's going to have to deal with royal intrigue, a bratty crown prince, and her own increasingly conflicted feelings about Azure.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p><i>Nina the Starry Bride</i> is a shojo adventure series, a sub-genre I've always loved but is quite rare to find on the shelves these days. It's not doing anything particularly revolutionary with its story, but it combines a lot of familiar ideas with intelligence and panache.</p><p>Nina is the sort of spunky heroine who acts first and thinks later. That's not to say that she has no interiority or that she's reckless to the point of foolishness. Indeed, her rebellious streak is tempered by the grief that has followed her throughout her life: the loss of her parents, her friends, and now both her freedom and her identity. There are times when the memories become too much for her, but those hard times have given her an inner strength and her years on the street have given her a strong survival instinct. It's an interesting mix of qualities that makes Nina a compelling heroine in her own right, as well as the skills to survive in the tense atmosphere inside the royal castle.</p><p>She's also got a strong supporting cast behind her. Azure may be strict and self-serious, but he never crosses the line into cruelty. Furthermore, as the story unfolds we learn alongside Nina that there is a kinder side to him as well as just how clever and observant he has to be to survive the various intrigues around him. The key to seeing that warmer side is his younger half-brother Muhulum, whose brattiness comes partly from age and partly as a front for his loneliness. Luckily, Nina readily falls into the role of big sister with him, willing to play and explore but also provide gentle guidance.</p><p>The plot at this point is only just starting to get geared up. Most of these early chapters are more about establishing the pecking order within the palace as well as the dangers. It's only towards the end that the reader is reminded alongside Nina that she's technically got an arranged marriage to worry about (although it's pretty clear who the real love interest is gonna be, and his name starts with "A" and ends with "zure"). Still, it's always moving forward, building up the world around Nina, and drawing the reader in. I'm certainly hooked.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Rikichi's art style is simple but pleasing. They favor a plainer look for their characters' faces, with wide flat eyes and rather unadorned features. Yet their costumes are exotic and elaborate, with elements drawn from historical fashions from the Middle East and Central Asia. Mind you, they are not striving for accuracy and fine detail here - this isn't <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-brides-story.html" target="_blank">A Bride's Story</a></i> or anything like that. Still, it's doing most of the heavy lifting as far as establishing the setting. The backgrounds are OK, but the architecture is somewhat spartan. Even the palace rooms tend to be dressed only with some draperies, rugs, and decorative screens. That same simplicity extends to the paneling and page composition, which tends to be sparing with the sparkles and other fanciful flourishes and more favorable to the moments of action and exploration.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg5kWYzACaXoto999xw6HgZA6KRyAhmLgGga-AY_H0PlIu8czrVlAuG-3xA2ismrCSDWIxeEHRRJWBY0g9SivHCI4oRztpdWXH2RVu0InqaJg09g-CibnTfAaY8d11dmpZiIidPkt0q0QD6aS0v7C8IeXROavG1Ho5nmxeyTsLgxJK6DzottDQ5ShZkg0Y/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg5kWYzACaXoto999xw6HgZA6KRyAhmLgGga-AY_H0PlIu8czrVlAuG-3xA2ismrCSDWIxeEHRRJWBY0g9SivHCI4oRztpdWXH2RVu0InqaJg09g-CibnTfAaY8d11dmpZiIidPkt0q0QD6aS0v7C8IeXROavG1Ho5nmxeyTsLgxJK6DzottDQ5ShZkg0Y/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Nina the Starry Bride</i> is a fun shojo adventure in the vein of <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2016/12/review-yona-of-dawn.html" target="_blank">Yona of the Dawn</a></i>. It's not the prettiest looking manga out there, but its writing and Nina's tomboyish charms more than make up for it and I think it's got the potential to grow into a really great series.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Kodansha Comics. This series is ongoing in Japan with 12 volumes available. 10 volumes have been released digitally and 1 volume has been physically released; all are currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only one week remains in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-26074965812789903112023-12-17T12:00:00.004-06:002023-12-17T12:00:00.127-06:00Holiday Review #17: MY SECRET AFFECTION<p> Of course, I can't talk about bad romance manga from 2023 without talking about the one that became a meme onto itself when it was licensed.</p><p><b>MY SECRET AFFECTION (<i>Kiminokotoga Sukideienai</i>), </b><i>by Fumi Mikami. First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4fqx89fAsQucmlmbIg1g2C9rxsGvUDdtLukSyb69WL3gFYsy2o7TI2gADbPE_f4VxJFN2J8137f84gTvy5RyZlGcD9_p-z9t_CW8SsJPcNczH68NWv8z94OnS8tINZNFL7q-07EEFGTBEOAEXZ_zuEnZldLX-wY4JPWGcffrhtAHv2mrnbSPitC_ZgXL/s268/download.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="188" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4fqx89fAsQucmlmbIg1g2C9rxsGvUDdtLukSyb69WL3gFYsy2o7TI2gADbPE_f4VxJFN2J8137f84gTvy5RyZlGcD9_p-z9t_CW8SsJPcNczH68NWv8z94OnS8tINZNFL7q-07EEFGTBEOAEXZ_zuEnZldLX-wY4JPWGcffrhtAHv2mrnbSPitC_ZgXL/s1600/download.jpg" width="188" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>30 years ago, a strange meteor fell to earth. On that day, seemingly everyone became gay. Kazusa is not, though. She's desperately in love with her childhood best friend Ayumu, and he's already under enough scrutiny for being the descendant of the last heterosexual man on Earth. Kazusa tries to keep her distance, but the two keep getting thrown together. What will happen, though, when one of their classmates finally figures out her secret?</p><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>There were people who were legitimately offended when <i>My Secret Affection</i> was licensed. I can't entirely blame them, considering it's operating with a premise where straight people are an oppressed social group in defiance of all reality. There have been other fictional works that have tried to employ similar ideas that went down <i>very badly</i> with the public, and in some cases it did turn out that the author had homophobic beliefs.</p><p>For what it's worth, I don't think Fumi Mikami was trying to be purposefully bigoted. I don't think they believe that heterosexuals are somehow oppressed. I do think they used this idea to try and dress up what was otherwise a very boring, weepy shojo romance plot in a rather thoughtless manner.</p><p>She's basically taken your typical "closeted queer teen struggles with romance" plot and swapped it out with a straight girl. You've got the intense inner monologues as Kazusa wrestles with her feelings, her poor attempts to mask said feelings anytime she's around Ayumu, and the constant, creeping fear that someone will out her and that...something will happen. One of the big problems with this story is that it's unclear what the stakes are to Kazusa's dilemma. What happens in this world if someone is outed as straight? Would they face any sort of punishment? Would they be hospitalized or otherwise detained in some misguided attempt to "fix" them? Would they become social pariahs? As far as I can tell, the most Kazusa has to fear would be mild judgement from her peers. That's not even getting into the fact that Mikami never stopped to ask how magic homosexual meteors would affect the bisexuals, trans folks, and asexuals of this world, but that's a common problem with these sorts of stories.</p><p>Even putting aside the clumsy parallels, Kazusa and Ayumu just aren't a particularly interesting pair. Kazusa spends the book in a perpetual fret, often on the verge of tears from her frustration and fear. Part of me wonders if she wasn't suffering from a perpetual concussion, considering how many times she falls down, hits her head, or suffers from a fever in this book. It's hard to see what she sees in Ayumu. He's blandly pleasant and handsome, and his only move is to physically whisk Kazusa away whenever she's about to cry, faint, or stumble into something. I swear you could make a drinking game out of it, it's that frequent. Their conversations are full of nothing but vague platitudes about love and friendship interspersed with memories of their youth, so my only conclusion as to why Kazusa loves him is that she imprinted on him as a child, as a baby duck imprints upon their mother. Take away the magic meteor that makes people gay and you'd have nothing but the same old schoolroom romance you could get from dozens of other books.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Fumi Mikami is a fine artist, although there's a subtle, simpering quality to her characters that I find mildly off-putting. Like Ayumu, the art is pleasantly pretty but unchallenging. She also tends to abuse a very particular starry screentone whenever things are (supposedly) getting romantic between our leads. I guess that's only fair, considering otherwise there's nothing to fill the panels with except for the same old boring classroom interiors and lots of close-ups for Kazusa.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6S7uQHaMUee_5WftyDnu05ijtZjdHewE3usxi1dNwa3ArBCuzGyWxEOw9AIRSYV5Lgqx5KL35iTiSKI3RHq9ydCJK2xYa5G0lwnl4uXTUTDP0AIlHI5iaJ6jEA9bC5_j9ge56z2kiq73kansWDkuGCsWBXLUrjKyfnthNWvhWbkkQ1IX47aYCdr1H4Wwr/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6S7uQHaMUee_5WftyDnu05ijtZjdHewE3usxi1dNwa3ArBCuzGyWxEOw9AIRSYV5Lgqx5KL35iTiSKI3RHq9ydCJK2xYa5G0lwnl4uXTUTDP0AIlHI5iaJ6jEA9bC5_j9ge56z2kiq73kansWDkuGCsWBXLUrjKyfnthNWvhWbkkQ1IX47aYCdr1H4Wwr/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></div>In its clumsy attempt to put a new spin on a well-worn story, <i>My Secret Affection </i>only serves to raise a lot of questions it's not equipped to answer nor particularly interested in answering. Neither the characters nor the art are good enough to rise above the questionable premise. The whole thing feels very amateur. With so many better queer romance manga to choose from, why would you settle for a shojo manga masquerading as one?<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Seven Seas. This series is complete in Japan with 2 volumes. Both volumes have been released and are currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only 8 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-42835659862229986292023-12-16T12:00:00.003-06:002023-12-16T12:00:00.124-06:00Holiday Review #16: THE SHIUNJI FAMILY CHILDREN<p>As if that last review wasn't enough to make you question if The Straights Are Alright, here comes <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2020/12/holiday-review-rent-girlfriend.html" target="_blank">Rent-A-Girlfriend</a></i> creator Reiji Miyajima to dredge up something else that should have stayed in the 2010s. </p><p><b>THE SHIUNJI FAMILY CHILDREN (<i>Shiunji-ke no Kodomo-tachi</i>), </b><i>by Reiji Miyajima with art support by Reiji Yukino. First published in 2022 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg18cR123vcsDp1zc2qd_GpxUsOPls_wAxsMmNL1b9BAnENGpWf6M-SvyjvOVvDnEih63CEG8-woizKxUz8WlOzjyPen7h4BsmlLowtg69hVRylMuOsWybZmK9SWr9ZKnlmg0l_Ybj3uABDi-Nv7XaUqKtg8zXAdRn_XYgVNpey7OEOq069Q-xAL8snMe-/s600/71hORUSnyjL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg18cR123vcsDp1zc2qd_GpxUsOPls_wAxsMmNL1b9BAnENGpWf6M-SvyjvOVvDnEih63CEG8-woizKxUz8WlOzjyPen7h4BsmlLowtg69hVRylMuOsWybZmK9SWr9ZKnlmg0l_Ybj3uABDi-Nv7XaUqKtg8zXAdRn_XYgVNpey7OEOq069Q-xAL8snMe-/s320/71hORUSnyjL._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><i><br /><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>The Shiunjis are a fabulously wealthy family blessed with seven children. Their eldest, Arata, doesn't feel particularly blessed, though. He's constantly bullied by his sisters (and younger brother) over his inability to get a girlfriend, and he fears that he's just fated to never get a girlfriend. Then their father drops a bombshell: all of them are adopted. This revelation leaves Arata and all of his sisters reconsidering their relationships to one another, as one by one they start to fall for him.</p><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>I knew I was in trouble when I saw this very pretentious statement above the back cover blurb:</p><i><blockquote>The love between brother and sister.<br /><br />The love between man and woman.<br /><br />That which is most forbidden is most unyielding.</blockquote></i><blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p> That alone told me what <i>The Shiunji Family Children</i> had to offer. It wasn't just going to be another imouto ecchi series in the vein of <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2012/12/review-oreimo.html" target="_blank">Oreimo</a></i> or <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2018/02/review-i-dont-like-you-at-all-big.html" target="_blank">I Don't Like You At All Big Brother</a></i>, it's going to be <i>pretentious</i> about it. </p><p>You can tell that Miyajima thinks he's being so clever by actively having the character call out how much the Shiunji sisters and Arata's situation are like something out of a harem sex comedy, only to go ahead and do the harem sex comedy stuff anyway. This is a trick people have been trying to pull off since <i>Haruhi Suzumiya</i> tried to do with moe, and it never works. There's also a weirdly retro quality to the harem set-up here, one that evokes the heyday of <i><a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2015/03/review-love-hina.html" target="_blank">Love Hina</a></i>. Sure, the details are different, but you still have a nebbishy loser living with a bunch of anime girl stereotypes who one by one throw themselves at him for no reason beyond proximity and misplaced affection. Apparently over a decade and a half of being raised as siblings is something you can turn off like a switch the moment you learn you're not related to a boy!</p><p>Even by the low standards of harem manga, these characters are incredibly basic. When Arata isn't panicking over the concept of merely talking to his crush (or his sisters hitting on him), he's grousing about everyone thinks having all these hot sisters is so awesome but it's not. He tries to put up a noble if feeble defense against their intentions, reiterating his obligations as their big brother, but this is little more than a fig leaf on his (and the reader's behalf). In true harem fashion, this is merely the basic act of kindness that serves to only further fan the flames of their love in his sisters' hearts. </p><p>Meanwhile, said sisters have personalities you can sum up with Smurf-level nicknames: Flirty Sis, Bitchy Sis, Sporty Sis, Brainy Sis, and Shy Sis. Yes, there's technically a younger brother as well, but he's both a biological twin with the resident tsundere <i>and </i>already has a girlfriend at the start of the series so he is neither competition nor a romantic option. Like a lot of hacks, Miyajima makes up for their lack of personality by having random strangers declare just how beautiful and awesome they are on the regular, and it only gets more insincere the more he does it. In fairness, if he weren't a hack, he'd probably come up with an original premise (or put his current one out of its stagnant misery) instead of recycling an old formula and adding an expired dash of incest for flavor.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>First of all, I have to note that curious "art support" credit. I've never seen anything like it. Clearly Miyajima contributed as an artist, since the character designs and focus on fashion are clearly in his style. Yet this Reiji Yukino must have contributed enough creatively to be considered more than just a mere assistant, enough that Miyajima couldn't take full credit for it.</p><p>Regardless of how much either one of them is responsible for the art, it's clearly a step down from the spirited, stylish charm of <i>Rent-A-Girlfriend</i>. That was one of the few things I liked about that series, but that inspiration has clearly long been spent. The character designs here are more basic and derivative, although at points you can see Miyajima's eye for fashion come through. While most harem protagonists are merely average-looking, Arata is downright ugly with his permanent bedhead, beady eyes, and tendency to scowl and pout. It's hard to imagine any girl looking at that face and falling in love, much less sisters who have had to look at it daily for years.</p><p>There's not even much verve to the fanservice moments, which are normally the biggest showcase in a harem manga. It's as if the artists themselves just wanted to get them over and done with, so there's not much effort to play up any of the tawdry elements. They definitely don't play up the glamour of the family's lifestyle, as most of this book is set inside rather blase rooms and the outdoor backgrounds are clearly hastily filtered photo references. It's just a very half-assed looking manga from an artist (maybe two) who can clearly do better.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPAVKbhRS9IuuKZAeRB5mHIz0eE92V-2OrqbhHlE44P1bIsmYoKoFgV51KrzYIoemZx1j1hm233YNC_PHVvA-ublNE3jy3_INoV4ZFtzap9HapR-7twVswAf2TpHIAYpLSF-Ai3JdrdvrEn8IQDugt14Ia9-Z1Ob1KFBc9FoDkAWIdLxySeSyIrKs6TRbs/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPAVKbhRS9IuuKZAeRB5mHIz0eE92V-2OrqbhHlE44P1bIsmYoKoFgV51KrzYIoemZx1j1hm233YNC_PHVvA-ublNE3jy3_INoV4ZFtzap9HapR-7twVswAf2TpHIAYpLSF-Ai3JdrdvrEn8IQDugt14Ia9-Z1Ob1KFBc9FoDkAWIdLxySeSyIrKs6TRbs/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>The Shiunji Family Children</i> is a manga that feels like an obligation on the part of its creators. There's no creative spark here, just two of the worst trends in manga from the last 20 years smashed together in the most half-assed manner possible. It's clearly banking on Miyajima's name and its sis-con premise to bring in readers, but hopefully most will be wise enough (or burnt out enough from <i>Rent-a-Girlfriend</i>) to stay away.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Yen Press. This series is ongoing in Japan with 2 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Only 9 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day</i></p><p></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-41859987989472024982023-12-15T12:00:00.235-06:002023-12-15T12:00:00.125-06:00Holiday Review #15: WOLF GIRL AND BLACK PRINCE<p> I cannot believe that Viz, with all that WSJ money at their disposal and so many shojo titles under their umbrella to choose from, decided to spend their resources on digging up this twelve-year-old turd of a title.</p><p><b>WOLF GIRL AND BLACK PRINCE (<i>Okami Shojo to Kuro Ojo</i>), </b><i>by Ayuko Hatta. First published in 2011 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VgXLZ-iB-O3u3jw6EJLpsSOMeLgGYyqjsy8Ip6Py1e1kalY-DMc0dZf_uARrjK75UMRGIwFUhD4ka6-hELgDkhkcg3xQfDB2zOFh7RZveiULcBGHaFi54wm0SPtlvoVE9hlCROwwOWm-7fqFEJf_oy-PCDmgYnHx9f3Wu8kygLIkeOj2Ssq6-C49sjf1/s1000/71wCzzeviGL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VgXLZ-iB-O3u3jw6EJLpsSOMeLgGYyqjsy8Ip6Py1e1kalY-DMc0dZf_uARrjK75UMRGIwFUhD4ka6-hELgDkhkcg3xQfDB2zOFh7RZveiULcBGHaFi54wm0SPtlvoVE9hlCROwwOWm-7fqFEJf_oy-PCDmgYnHx9f3Wu8kygLIkeOj2Ssq6-C49sjf1/s320/71wCzzeviGL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Erika wanted to be cool and make lots of friends in high school. Instead of seeking out like-minded people and being herself, though, she chose to hang out with trendy girls and lie about having a boyfriend so she had something to talk about with them. She ends up taking a picture of a random handsome boy on the street as part of her charade. This boy turns out to be Kyoya Sata, who is idolized by the other girls in her grade. He's willing to help Erika keep up her pretense...at a cost. He'll play the role of her boyfriend, but in return she must serve as his dog, always at his beck and call.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>I've made it clear in the past that I very much do not like shojo manga about innocent girls redeeming their resident Asshole-kuns with the power of love. I'm told that fans of these sorts of story get off on the danger of it all as a sort of vicarious thrill, but I cannot share in that sentiment. The only thing this makes me feel is frustrated. The only difference between <i>Wolf Girl and Black Prince</i> and the others I've talked about before is that I'm almost as frustrated with the heroine as I am with her wretched love interest.</p><p>Erika is an idiot. That may be harsh, but it's the truth. As much as I can appreciate that she's not a wibbly, tender little jellyfish girl like so many of her peers, Erika is the sort of teen girl who willingly walks (or talks, in her case) into danger and when caught doubles down on her mistakes instead of admitting the truth or letting others help her. It's not like she doesn't have <i>any </i>friends - it's just that the one she does have isn't cool enough to suit her social ambitions. Even after she makes her deal with Kyoya, she's given a way out. She crosses paths with Kimura, a kinder, more gallant classmate who by any reasonable measure would make for a better boyfriend. Yet when he outright asks her out, she turns him down because she's determined to stick with the terrible lie of her own creation because she inevitably starts catching feelings for Kyoya. I know that as a grown woman I should go easy on her because she's a teenager and teenagers can be irrational and stubborn, but even my teenaged self would have been exasperated with a character like her.</p><p>As frustrated as I feel about Erika, I want to stress that I don't think she deserves any of the treatment she gets here. She may be an idiot, but nobody deserves to have to deal with Kyoya.</p><p>Kyoya makes a terrible impression right from the start, although after a couple of chapters he tones down the "<i>be my dog</i>" talk and settles into the standard hot-and-cold asshole we typically see in these kinds of stories. He'll protect Erika from mean girls or other guys one minute, only to turn around and call her stupid immediately afterwards, acting like he's over the very concept of love. In true shojo manga fashion, Hatta tries to make excuses for his shittiness. In this case, it's a combination of mommy abandonment issues and the isolation that comes with being the class idol. Not only have I seen variations on this same tragic backstory dozens of times, it does not excuse Kyoya being a cynical dick who pushes people away in the slighest and it shouldn't be up to Erika to be both his girlfriend and his therapist.</p><p>It's not like you could just ignore the toxic dynamic between our leads because after the premise is established, the story just goes through the motions. You've got a trip to the beach, a sick day for Kyoya, some older scary dudes threatening Erika, and that's just in this first volume. This story hasn't an original thought in its metaphorical head beyond the fake couple at its core, and that idea is so noxious that it only serves to drag the whole manga down. To borrow a phrase from AITA, this is a relationship where Everyone Sucks Here.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>I guess I have to give Ayuko Hatta some credit as an artist. Her designs are nothing special stylistically, but she puts some care into the fashions and hairstyles. This is most obvious on Kyoya there on the cover, as his hair looks properly tousled instead of the awkward haystack that other shojo dudes tend to sport. She's good at selling both the subtle looks and the wilder takes through her characters' faces. I just wish that her pages were not so cluttered, as they drown out what few good qualities this manga possesses.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByQGFL5q6GIlYViITwIfwFOL840B7bOPy-5l56zGhxNlhwJVRfx8u2-rqwugSsQXNYtHQPh8Z17FHKiHgycj8KvMBDYSe-FSFEy-SBxHZE1qjgsMvDENl7HYviTTQ4zft7Zh_-fks1xs8qjbm0Du5_peS32fNEaNiMdSqPF1elT1PagUM6VI2s8NnCvib/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByQGFL5q6GIlYViITwIfwFOL840B7bOPy-5l56zGhxNlhwJVRfx8u2-rqwugSsQXNYtHQPh8Z17FHKiHgycj8KvMBDYSe-FSFEy-SBxHZE1qjgsMvDENl7HYviTTQ4zft7Zh_-fks1xs8qjbm0Du5_peS32fNEaNiMdSqPF1elT1PagUM6VI2s8NnCvib/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></div>I do not understand why Viz licensed <i>Wolf Girl and Black Prince</i>. It's not terrible to look at, but the main couple are so irritating and their dynamic so poisonous that it makes every turn of the page feel like a trial. It's not like it's the new hotness and it can't get the usual anime adaptation boost because its anime adaptation came and went nearly a decade ago. This series is nothing but a waste of money and time for publisher and reader alike.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Viz under their Shojo Beat imprint. This series is complete in Japan with 16 volumes available. 4 volumes have been released and are currently in print.</i></p><p><i>There are just 10 days left in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-1016374432500560452023-12-14T12:00:00.011-06:002023-12-14T13:55:42.497-06:00Holiday Review #14: MAIDEN OF THE NEEDLE<p>There's all sort of female-led fantasy stories to choose from these days, isekai or otherwise. Sadly they can't all be good, though. </p><p><b>MAIDEN OF THE NEEDLE (<i>Hariko no Otome</i>), </b><i>based on the light novels by Zeroki and character designs by Miho Takeoka, with art by Yuni Yukimura. First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsXBTlt5xQHzJYTsDxv-ia06IWgqfe4tLOExTFni6UjfgyfqzUxjclImSErQS-cSKkDw7B1PhoWgQU2kiGx8zBkwrJJIaRs8TTwi5qenwzSOIyqyqZkZvKpH2f12MVHhiB2HQvR1RxyXUoRNmGVXRux5VsGtTU-rlZs7HK0jt3vU5PMTfAvGHUqctZaX2/s500/51aPPB+7NFL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsXBTlt5xQHzJYTsDxv-ia06IWgqfe4tLOExTFni6UjfgyfqzUxjclImSErQS-cSKkDw7B1PhoWgQU2kiGx8zBkwrJJIaRs8TTwi5qenwzSOIyqyqZkZvKpH2f12MVHhiB2HQvR1RxyXUoRNmGVXRux5VsGtTU-rlZs7HK0jt3vU5PMTfAvGHUqctZaX2/s320/51aPPB+7NFL.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>For as long as she could remember, Yui could always see fairies. She used her innate sewing skills to mend their appearance, but that wasn't enough to impress her wicked, imperious family. When she showed no talent for their particular brand of magical weaving, they locked her away, worked and beat her like a slave, and kept her at the edge of starvation. It was only after she was sold to the handsome nobleman Rodin that her true talents could shine. Not only can she see fairies, but she can use their magic to seal powerful magic into her sewing. That will come in handy as her skills attract the attention of both the abdicated king as well as her former birth family.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>There's a new breed of lady-oriented light novel popping up among the villainesses and reincarnated office ladies. These are basically magical Cinderella stories, where demure young ladies with secret powers are plucked away from their abusive families and given all the adventure and romance they would ever desire. <i>Maiden of the Needle</i> is a prime example of this nascent genre...and a prime example of the failures inherent to it.</p><p>First of all, despite the fact that I've never read the source light novel I can tell that this manga is blazing through it at record speed. This means that Yui doesn't so much learn about herself or the world around here so much as it is explained to her by the men around her. This breathless pace leaves Yui feeling adrift in her own story and it really doesn't help that Yui isn't much of a character to begin with. Beyond her magical abilities and her obsessions with sewing, there's nothing to her. She's a blandly pleasant cipher, which only makes the praise heaped upon her by the supporting cast feel all the more false. As you might expect from that description, the supporting cast fares no better. Yui's family are mustache-twirling panto villains. Meanwhile, her savior, his bevy of servants, and Argit the abdicated king are just as kindly and empty as Yui herself.</p><p>While reading this, I had the most dreadful realization: <i>Maiden of the Needle</i> is basically no different from the cheat-skill-wielding, slave-harem-possessing dudes that have been cluttering up most isekai stories for years. Like all those Potato-kuns, Yui exists not to be a character in her own right but to serve as a void all but marked as a reader self-insert. They both seemingly possess useless or negligible magical skills which turn out to be incredibly rare and powerful. At every turn they are rewarded and praised purely for existing. Any trauma Yui might have suffered from years of systematic abuse, malnutrition, and isolation is basically waved away by a few square meals and a two-month long nap. She even gets something of a harem, as she surrounded by handsome men who exist as eye candy for the target audience while they literally explain the plot to her. The whole thing is a frustrating, even intellectually insulting experience and God help us if this is the standard for this Big New Trend in Light Novels.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>From what I can find of the light novel artwork, it's not particularly distinct but has a certain delicacy in the coloring and linework. Yuki Yukimura copies the designs from the light novels just fine but loses that delicacy in the process, leaving just a very average-looking manga. It doesn't seem like Miho Takeoka gave them much to work with, as there's no consistent sense of time or place in the character designs. Yui's family dress like Elizabethian nobles, the people around Yui dress vaguely like Victorians while Yui wears a prairie dress and apron that wouldn't look out of place at a maid cafe. Meanwhile, the backgrounds are nothing but a parade of boring interior rooms with little to no character to speak of.</p><p>Like most light novel-to-manga adaptations, Yukimura's art is competent on just about every level. The only notable thing is how Yui is typically drawn without pupils which only serves to make her look and feel even more colorless than she already is. That competence is a double-edged sword, though. The story is weak enough as-is and without cute art to dress it up its flaws are laid bare for all to see.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8z_jGCGAhwnRSGv3PtrNupzT0p_fqh4d5zCByFuBpmYFaltAHu0APp7k9yGZjXB9PKfQLdi8ddQFhfsHkj88pVKOLYioSQS_lIhzggld1NooVtYxJaz7FRmOjhC_j5YcyWPL_W5T7A8mgKhfs4N_H0By_M3-6Va3MvoxGQvHB5wX99YjE9-zhfiz8jRY/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8z_jGCGAhwnRSGv3PtrNupzT0p_fqh4d5zCByFuBpmYFaltAHu0APp7k9yGZjXB9PKfQLdi8ddQFhfsHkj88pVKOLYioSQS_lIhzggld1NooVtYxJaz7FRmOjhC_j5YcyWPL_W5T7A8mgKhfs4N_H0By_M3-6Va3MvoxGQvHB5wX99YjE9-zhfiz8jRY/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Maiden of the Needle</i> is a cheap, self-indulgent fairy tale that was clearly made to cash in on a light novel trend and nothing more. It's utterly devoid of personality, beauty, drama, or anything else that would make it worth anyone's time to read.<p></p><p><i>This series is licensed by Yen Press. This series is ongoing in Japan with 4 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>There are just 11 days left in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-1495065142526337922023-12-13T12:00:00.003-06:002023-12-13T12:00:00.239-06:00Holiday Review #13: LADY ROSE JUST WANTS TO BE A COMMONER<p>There were more otome-inspired isekai books (with or without explicit villainesses) than ever this year. This is just one of many titles J-Novel Club added to their library this year.</p><p><b>LADY ROSE JUST WANTS TO BE A COMMONER (<i>Lady Rose wa Heimin ni Naratai</i>), </b><i>based on the light novel series by Kooriame and designs by Hidakanami, with art by Yura Kiyose. First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOC2yqvS4umIL1NOHFSoU2gJsh9A2jBZAWluUP5TddgV60vhM7dbwuQFcy3veOQtP5Rplpk4XpCUEmjP7kJhLZ4chDBxDD9V2d7M1QOpC5U7vIlzOHjmp9nb0tK368LIx20UmeFK5PUF7KbkczH7d0Im5Z1AjYszk5Qe2TmrA82lrBBSbA1XJULIqUiYyb/s500/51BzD7Mal-L.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="352" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOC2yqvS4umIL1NOHFSoU2gJsh9A2jBZAWluUP5TddgV60vhM7dbwuQFcy3veOQtP5Rplpk4XpCUEmjP7kJhLZ4chDBxDD9V2d7M1QOpC5U7vIlzOHjmp9nb0tK368LIx20UmeFK5PUF7KbkczH7d0Im5Z1AjYszk5Qe2TmrA82lrBBSbA1XJULIqUiYyb/s320/51BzD7Mal-L.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Like so many stories, this begins with the end of an engagement. Felicia Schwarose couldn't be happier about it, though. She knows this story all too well from her time watching it play out in her favorite otome game, and she knew that going forward with that marriage would only lead to her death. She's perfectly content to abandon her noble life for that of a humble baker, but the other noblemen/love interests have different ideas. They want to clear Felicia's name or claim her as their own, and it's going to take all of Felicia's cunning and knowledge to dodge their advances and continue her carefree life.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Even without the info I noted above, you can tell that this is an older take on the 'reincarnated into an otome game' concept. Most of these sorts of isekai manga toss that sort of info at the beginning, if they bother with it at all. Meanwhile, <i>Lady Rose</i> is constantly conscious of all the usual otome game things like flags and routes and character types. I can't say that this sort of throwback thrills me, as I'm hard-pressed to think of a series that was improved by such self-awareness.</p><p>The bigger problem is that this is a story that is crying out for a little more zaniness. This has the makings of a farce, with Felicia having to deflect her way out of her encounters with her ex-fiance's stalwart older brother, an earnest young lord, her creepy adoptive brother, and the gossipy nouveau riche spymaster, all while trying to keep her profile low in her sleepy new hometown. Yet most of the time she's simply able to calmly talk herself out of these situations, even if her inner monologue may be freaking out. It wants for a bit more slapstick, a few more misunderstandings, a bit of chaos to inject into this otherwise lifeless and repetitive premise. </p><p>The closest we get is Nancy, a clumsy and loud-mouthed nun who befriends Felicia. Even then, her purpose mostly seems to be a tease towards this turning into one of those reincarnated 'saint' stories, which would just make things worse. That's not even getting into this manga trying to make "saintess" a thing which no...just no. We also don't get a complete sense of Felicia as a character. Sure, we can understand why she fled from the pressures of nobility and her least favorite character in the game, but is there something particular that drew her to baking? Or would any job suited her, so long as she could hide away from the world? I'm just saying, if you're going to write a story about diverging from the plot, at least have some fun with it.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Yura Kiyose's take on the characters definitely seems to be less doe-eyed and simpering than the original light novel artist. She doesn't take any great liberties with the designs, but they definitely come off as a little sharper and older in comparison. That's about as creative as Kiyose gets, though. She tries her best, but there's only so much she can do to visually liven up a series that mostly consists of calm conversations with a bunch of fancy otome dudes. Hope you enjoy looking a lot of nondescript rooms and village streets because that's what you mostly get here.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5Q65gz-Rve-o14MA_xE9Y5kUKLhaT4d9pqmADaOV6bNHSyfIOUOuaBJQjWYPnQUnYkRrbprqUHBmcRQ4m4L-wUIoL4qy4E6WMc6twVw4EFEF60fuVD98e0B-PZhGjdCpbq98WvEInPlSH6SKKGXV4RslMuvKPN53HD20iFUrwr2UAeIlO6RDe1sgVP-J/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5Q65gz-Rve-o14MA_xE9Y5kUKLhaT4d9pqmADaOV6bNHSyfIOUOuaBJQjWYPnQUnYkRrbprqUHBmcRQ4m4L-wUIoL4qy4E6WMc6twVw4EFEF60fuVD98e0B-PZhGjdCpbq98WvEInPlSH6SKKGXV4RslMuvKPN53HD20iFUrwr2UAeIlO6RDe1sgVP-J/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Lady Rose</i> might just want to be a commoner, but I wanted this manga to be more than merely OK. Maybe if it traded some of its genre awareness for a sense of humor or a touch of beauty, there might be something here worth noticing. As it is, it's just another reincarnation isekai title to throw on the ever-growing pile.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published digitally by J-Novel Club. This series is complete in Japan with 6 volumes available. 4 volumes have been released and are currently in print at most major digital manga sites.</i></p><p><i>There are only 12 days left in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-82067811268751947452023-12-12T12:00:00.008-06:002023-12-12T12:00:00.237-06:00Holiday Review #12: THE GREAT CLERIC<p> Don't worry - there were plenty of lazy, boring isekai manga released this year as well. The only notable thing about this one is its publisher.</p><p><b>THE GREAT CLERIC (<i>Seija Muso</i>), </b><i>based on the light novels by Broccoli Lion and character designs by sime, with art by Hiiro Akizake. First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggmXS0kr0KWb6lWFaexwL05uRK8QHXW0tQZwKsKZvPWHFQgFrNBQZnWI67Gp_C7OdyXYpL0yGw3N6OMH_QEJlyOczbMpSydAhLF2LowMqluyHmqGMFYnzE45EPlC9o3eOgKewwBW2whTlbGkispn3KgEwoG77Jfi7HpJG89Iy0JEI3FXd4p9SCCTZB5P5q/s500/51+uuloMEoL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="351" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggmXS0kr0KWb6lWFaexwL05uRK8QHXW0tQZwKsKZvPWHFQgFrNBQZnWI67Gp_C7OdyXYpL0yGw3N6OMH_QEJlyOczbMpSydAhLF2LowMqluyHmqGMFYnzE45EPlC9o3eOgKewwBW2whTlbGkispn3KgEwoG77Jfi7HpJG89Iy0JEI3FXd4p9SCCTZB5P5q/s320/51+uuloMEoL.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>One day, a hardworking salaryman was randomly shot. An unknown goddess took pity on him, giving him a second chance as a teenager named Luciel. He wants to make the most of his new life, so Luciel decides to become a healer. This sets on him on a journey full of hard training, grateful patients, and pretty girls, all on his quest to become a great healer.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Sometimes I wonder if light novel authors know how boring their works can be.</p><p>They can't be completely oblivious to it all. Do they even know anymore why they give characters RPG-style character stats, long after 'trapped in a video game' stories ceased to be? Do they really think that the best way to convey the complexity of their worlds and their magic system is to break it down into the most tedious, mechanical rules and steps for pages at a time? Do they possess the slightest ambition to write something remotely creative, or are they merely content to regurgitate the same story over and over until the book publishers and bargain-bin anime studios come calling?</p><p>I was definitely wondering this and much more while reading <i>The Great Cleric</i> because there was nothing in the story itself to hold my attention. Even by the low, low standards of isekai protagonists, Luciel is blander than most. I'm hard-pressed to describe anything about him beyond his enthusiasm for doing menial busywork and paperwork. Lucky for him, he gets to indulge in both by applying for two different magical guilds <i>and </i>does a lot of grinding and looking over his stat menus, both of which are shown in nigh-excruciating detail! But what motivates Luciel? Is is the desire to help others? Did he work with medicine in his previous life? Nope! It's entirely because it's not dangerous and that doing so makes the pretty lady knight he met smile at him (along with every other girl who crosses his path).</p><p>I cannot stress just how devoid this manga is of originality. There are beastmen there to serve as a clumsy metaphor for racism (along with a source for slightly more exotic pretty girls to smile at him). There's an adventurer's guild (because there always is), and according to those who have read further ahead there's eventually slaves too! There's no sense at any point that the author or the mangaka have any interest or goal here beyond ripping off everyone else's ideas to ride a thoroughly exhausted trend.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>sime's original designs are nothing special, but there's at least a painterly quality to their cover art that lends the original light novel versions of <i>The Great Cleric</i> a touch of class. Hiiro Akizake is not capable of replicating that, in no small part because he admits that this is his first professional manga ever. His take on the character designs somehow makes them blander, with stiff elongated faces that barely seem to move. They look like something out of those "How to Draw Manga" books, and you can tell he really struggles with anyone who is older, heavier, more chisled, or just anything beyond the default. It's all very mechanical, which I guess makes it a perfect fit with the story. The only thing he really adds is fanservice, and even then it's done entirely in the form of outfits that are more <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/brainchild129.bsky.social/post/3kfy45flbyt27" target="_blank">weirdly distracting</a> than sexy.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnF-uPvCRLK3xtmNrZuve6PMleOgQRjtW2XC_phlAFs_Rgh8ZSVplEgwBlbU-dP9kY2LoTyfPW2o1nVJiLSrnOQqYsoD9QQILeC-90C5gJxK360XzeIfLu3eB2Ana80SLVmzAqmpIBbNrDGN5uMyFORDbjVpgmUdJKM4GrSITg9UP-o4dtETteeQVJnjO/s596/testdrive_red.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnF-uPvCRLK3xtmNrZuve6PMleOgQRjtW2XC_phlAFs_Rgh8ZSVplEgwBlbU-dP9kY2LoTyfPW2o1nVJiLSrnOQqYsoD9QQILeC-90C5gJxK360XzeIfLu3eB2Ana80SLVmzAqmpIBbNrDGN5uMyFORDbjVpgmUdJKM4GrSITg9UP-o4dtETteeQVJnjO/s320/testdrive_red.gif" width="110" /></a></div>I cannot imagine why anyone would bother with <i>The Great Cleric</i>. Even if you are someone who likes reading isekai stories, it has nothing original, attractive, or personal to offer. It's not offensive, just offensively boring. I also cannot imagine why Kodansha went to the effort of putting this out in print unless it was to tie in with the anime adaptation. If that was the case, then it only served to <a href="https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/preview-guide/2023/summer/the-great-cleric/.199259" target="_blank">double down</a> on the waste.<p></p><p><i>This manga is published by Kodansha. This series is ongoing in Japan with 12 volumes available. 6 volumes have been released and are currently in print.</i></p><p><i>There are only 13 days left in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-34153384043603625222023-12-11T12:00:00.006-06:002023-12-11T12:00:00.130-06:00Holiday Review #11: REBORN AS A VENDING MACHINE, I NOW WANDER THE DUNGEON<p>As the isekai fantasy genre goes on, it gets harder to come up with truly original ideas. To do so, creators have to get increasingly weird and specific with what their protagonist gets reincarnated as, and this is a prime example.</p><p><b>REBORN AS A VENDING MACHINE, I NOW WANDER THE DUNGEON (<i>Jidohanbaiki ni Umarekawatta Ore wa Meikyu o Samayo</i>), </b><i>based on the light novels by Hirukuma and character designs by Hagure Yuuki, with art by Kunieda. First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTssVnEUbhkYh0ywN8rJgHVLBm6HxzRW_4172bQyK9A9dBUFU1eigfQqIXMqi8r4vhuAEbfqAU9Bj7OrH1FU6hSrkXrNGhajIYm68pjk24uTkMEuSQ9FuFFRBBM85je5INfifR7s_zHdQif__0q_wAjUiEXBhVK1f7siXhazJlyovY-zPOWMsWquGL_JYI/s630/9781975365783_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="419" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTssVnEUbhkYh0ywN8rJgHVLBm6HxzRW_4172bQyK9A9dBUFU1eigfQqIXMqi8r4vhuAEbfqAU9Bj7OrH1FU6hSrkXrNGhajIYm68pjk24uTkMEuSQ9FuFFRBBM85je5INfifR7s_zHdQif__0q_wAjUiEXBhVK1f7siXhazJlyovY-zPOWMsWquGL_JYI/s320/9781975365783_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Once he was just another salaryman, albeit one with an <strike>obsession</strike> fascination with vending machines. Then one day he is crushed by one, and when he awakens he discovers that he has become a vending machine. He is found by Lammis, a good-natured and super-strong country girl who takes him back to her village. It's there that his life as an adventurer begins, when he and Lammis are tasked with aiding with a hunt for ferocious frog-men.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Believe it or not, I did not hate <i>Reborn as a Vending Machine</i>. Much of that has to do with Boxxo, the titular, sentient device. It's not that he's a force of personality; aside from his fixation on vending machines, his previous human self wasn't that distinct and even as a machine he is merely blandly nice. Hell, his human self isn't even given a name before he's unceremoniously bumped off in the first few pages. It has more to do with the fact that Boxxo has something that most isekai heroes don't have: limits.</p><p>Your average reincarnated Potato-kun is usually handed some sort of super skill or high stats on a silver platter, and if their story goes on long enough there's often quite a bit of power creep. That sort of thing fits with the sort of naked wish-fulfillment these heroes represent, but it completely undermines any sort of drama in their struggles against foes. Boxxo does not have that. He is a big metal box that cannot move under his own power, cannot speak outside of a few generic programmed phrases, and is dependent on a steady supply of cash for everything: refills, changing or adding products (which itself is based entirely on the things he had bought from vending machines previously), or gaining the most basic defensive magic. Boxxo has to exercise some cleverness to make the most of these limitations in a variety of situations. He's also dependent upon others in a way a lot of isekai protagonists are not. He literally <i>needs </i>Lammis just to get around, and he <i>needs </i>a steady audience of users to survive, and most of them are not cute merchandise-friendly anime girls. That is a genuinely novel concept, far more so than having a literal machine as a hero.</p><p>It's a good thing Boxxo is clever because nothing else present in this volume is not. Boxxo ends up in the same sort of generic, vaguely medieval fantasy world that everyone else does, and inevitably is dragged along on the same sort of guild-based adventuring that other stories do. There's plenty of people around, but none you could properly call characters in their own right save for Lammis. Even then, her golly-gee-whiz country girl personality comes off as a bit flat. That's not even getting into the way this story glorifies Japanese food. I should be used to it by now after reading so many food manga and isekai manga, but it's doubly weird to see fantasy people going into raptures over the joys of bottled corn soup, cup noodles, Pringles-style potato chips, and other convenience foods and drinks. It seems that all the effort the creators have to offer went entirely into Boxxo and nothing else.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>This is one of those rare cases where the manga art exceed the light novel art. Hagure Yuki's work for the original light novels seems to be visually stuck in the 00s with its moeblob faces with weird little genki fangs and heavier reliance on fanservice. In comparison, Kunieda's art style is more modern in its look and isn't the least bit pervy. They also took the time to compose actual backgrounds. There's even a bit of pastoral beauty to the lakeside where Boxxo first appears (although I wouldn't be shocked if it's purely photo-referenced). The panels are a little cluttered, but they bring a decent amount of energy to the art, particularly to the battles. I only wish the paneling was a little more dynamic, as it would give those sequences a bit of visual punch that they desperately need.</p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-rfljZgDZSobAvCXiM-kVl4cxHrevFUMucIXX8_aXztp_kPRKhPNlz8R0RGHa_v7KnWkjt_RsmW0FQRZ66LwObQ5f1imruMgGc1GgMtS9TVzH0DHy8fVbXoBit8bvL1n_nwwtwliLIkHhrpi2_rNG5_E8tvroeLjONxy0zr86A78f5YcqG6PDIyVWqMA/s596/testdrive_yellow.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-rfljZgDZSobAvCXiM-kVl4cxHrevFUMucIXX8_aXztp_kPRKhPNlz8R0RGHa_v7KnWkjt_RsmW0FQRZ66LwObQ5f1imruMgGc1GgMtS9TVzH0DHy8fVbXoBit8bvL1n_nwwtwliLIkHhrpi2_rNG5_E8tvroeLjONxy0zr86A78f5YcqG6PDIyVWqMA/s320/testdrive_yellow.gif" width="110" /></a></i></div><i>Reborn as a Vending Machine</i> is a slightly above-average entry in a very below-average genre. It's not spectacular, but its creators did a little more than just slap a goofy premise on the same old story and I will happily welcome any level of decency I can find in the world of isekai manga.<p></p><p><i>This series is published by Yen Press. This series is ongoing in Japan with 2 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.</i></p><p><i>There are just two weeks left in our Holiday Review Giveaway! Leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3635211807114570023.post-82845614584514518042023-12-10T12:00:00.009-06:002023-12-10T12:00:00.261-06:00Holiday Review #10: LIFE WITH AN ORDINARY GUY WHO REINCARNATED INTO A TOTAL FANTASY KNOCKOUT<p>Once again, one of the best queer romance manga I read this year was also an isekai, although this one is not quite as purposeful as the <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2022/12/holiday-review-15-other-worlds-books.html" target="_blank">last one</a>.</p><p><b>LIFE WITH AN ORDINARY GUY WHO REINCARNATED INTO A TOTAL FANTASY KNOCKOUT (<i>Fantaji Bishojo Juniku Oji-san to</i>), </b><i>written by Yu Tsurusaki with art by Shin Ikezawa. First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2023.</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvmPiYF78IwvA6zzHXI5Hf7hvhLRLQfftbj7DnoddYgcYtTiksL7d-B3usgV50krOZTUBUu2LfO2P6iKgVOXwAQD20taUYctP6wvOVpSSgmAZ9l2UBGrairkhxW0bHfEjOj00zrOtqZZLaCNIq8Tws1k2k02Au33dpTxqrf-5THshKVmOJat-5TSARyYwM/s1000/81rq3RIiKVL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="704" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvmPiYF78IwvA6zzHXI5Hf7hvhLRLQfftbj7DnoddYgcYtTiksL7d-B3usgV50krOZTUBUu2LfO2P6iKgVOXwAQD20taUYctP6wvOVpSSgmAZ9l2UBGrairkhxW0bHfEjOj00zrOtqZZLaCNIq8Tws1k2k02Au33dpTxqrf-5THshKVmOJat-5TSARyYwM/s320/81rq3RIiKVL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><b>PLOT:</b></p><p>Tachibana and Jingji have been friends forever, but Tachibana has always felt insecure about himself when compared to Jingji's good looks and general competency. Meanwhile, Jingji could care less about all the women throwing themselves at him; he just wants to take care of Tachibana and make sure he finds a partner worthy of him. It all comes to a head one drunken night, when Tachibana wishes he could be a beautiful blonde girl that no one could resist and a wandering goddess listens to him. In a blink, the two of them are transported to another world, where Tachibana has been transformed as per his wish and Jingji has been granted super-strength. Now the two are compelled to defeat the requisite demon king, but are the growing romantic feelings between them part of the goddess's curse or simply long hidden feelings coming to the surface?</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><b>STORY:</b></p><p>Well, you can throw <i>Total Fantasy Knockout</i> onto the incredibly small pile of isekai manga approved by The Manga Test Drive. It helps that the actual isekai parts are basically an afterthought.</p><p>That's not to say that a lot of the usual cliches aren't there. There's a dotty, fickle goddess. There's a generic fantasy realm, complete with demon king. There are RPG-style menus of personal stats. There are haughty blonde elves. It's just that Yu Tsuruzaki recognizes how ridiculous this all is. If anything, he's poking gentle fun at the whole genre and the jokes are shockingly good. That's the biggest tell that this is a manga-original story instead of a light-novel adaptation. If it were the latter, it would be taking everything more seriously, spend way too much time on tedious details, and confuse fanservice for humor.</p><p>That being said, Tsuruzaki is not unaware of what the real focus of this series is. He states as much at the end of the first chapter. Hell, it was the pitch he used to sell the series in the first place.</p><p>"<i>This manga tells the tale of a romantic comedy between a middle-aged man and a former middle-aged man."</i></p><p>That's right, this series is in truth a queer rom-com. Sure, it's not 100% clear if Tachibana was unknowingly trans the whole time, but he's clearly taking to his new body and the confidence and attention it grants him like a champ (to say nothing of the fact that his looks can induce a Charmed status effect). Meanwhile, Jingji's mindfulness and protectiveness towards his friend takes on an increasingly chivalrous bent, even as the two of them try to act like nothing's changed between them. As much as these two try to pretend that their growing attraction to one another is purely due to divine interference, it's clear that some of this was <i>always</i> there, going back to their days in high school. It just took a bit of interdimensional travel and a gender flip to shake up the status quo and force them to rethink their relationship. Tsuruzaki gets a lot of good humor out of their denial, particularly when they engage in the flirtation equivalent of chicken. It's possible that this could get dragged out to the point where the joke runs thin, but so far it's good stuff.</p><p><b>ART:</b></p><p>Shin Ikezawa art has something that's frequently missing from isekai manga: character. For the most part this is a two-person showcase, so it's good that he came up with good designs for our leads that complement one another in just how much they contrast. I like how they spice up Tachibana's petite, delicate new looks with a shark-like grin - it gives him a touch of gremlin energy, hinting at an rougher attitude. Meanwhile, Jingji resembles nothing so much as a salaryman version of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_O" target="_blank">Roger Smith</a>, right down to the little hair antenna in the front. It works as a visual shorthand for his compentency, feeling just as out of place in Ye Olde Isekai World as Tachibana does.</p><p>Ikezawa covers all their bases quite adeptly. They absolutely nail the humorous moments, using expression (or lack thereof) to contrast with our lead's increasingly panicked inner monologues. They're also good at using the manga equivalent of a hard cut for a punchline (even if "and then everything was on fire" gets a <i>liiiiittle</i> overused). They handle the occasional bit of action well, and while the setting is purposefully vague in its combination of magic and medieval times they do well by it with the backgrounds. </p><p><b>RATING:</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndC16GrhVoGAOxUsKWqsqmcLwBS3iZtmBYuV47RSLmh_0VOcdbmPMf7RFyBrOlAqgCUynzoH0dbrUBnRKjDq1_JNaNM69WFJjenqxjYDTkJcVMJJZqjgeKA_m7pWF41Vv3Bv4tZlQ2Hzar3YFeqtKKhLxDHfc3-m6lLc9HjPSJ9R72nahntJxHj1Iw-6B/s596/testdrive_green.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="205" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndC16GrhVoGAOxUsKWqsqmcLwBS3iZtmBYuV47RSLmh_0VOcdbmPMf7RFyBrOlAqgCUynzoH0dbrUBnRKjDq1_JNaNM69WFJjenqxjYDTkJcVMJJZqjgeKA_m7pWF41Vv3Bv4tZlQ2Hzar3YFeqtKKhLxDHfc3-m6lLc9HjPSJ9R72nahntJxHj1Iw-6B/s320/testdrive_green.gif" width="110" /></a></div>Believe me, I'm as shocked as you. I have to be honest, though, because <i>Total Fantasy Knockout </i>is legitimately good fun. It works as a rom-com and a send-up of isekai stories and both the writer and artist bring a level of effort and skill to the material that is exceedingly rare. I can only hope that it keeps it up for the long run.<p></p><p><i>This series is published by Seven Seas. This series is ongoing in Japan with 9 volumes available. 2 volumes have been released and are currently in print.</i></p><p><i>Our Holiday Review Giveaway is underway! Just leave a comment <a href="https://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2023/11/its-holiday-review-time.html" target="_blank">here</a> or on our <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mangatestdrive.bsky.social/post/3kfh4kwos762f" target="_blank">BlueSky</a> about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate! Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.</i></p>Megan Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15807561927961808712noreply@blogger.com0