MORE STARLIGHT TO YOUR HEART (Motto Kokoro ni Hoshi no Kagayaki o), by Hiro Matsuba. First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2005.
PLOT:
Akane is a young noblewoman living a privileged life in Heian-era Japan, but that life means nothing without her beloved childhood friend Aoga. Forbidden by her father from seeing him, she goes so far as to disguise herself as a servant within the imperial palace to get close to him. Her plans are constantly threatened by her ineptitude as a servant and palace intrigue, but she's determined to make her feelings for Aoga known, no matter what.
STORY:
There are certain qualities that have come to define shojo heroines since its early days: kindness, eagerness, patience, gentleness, innocence, and an all-around loving nature. Good shojo mangaka have been fiddling with these qualities for decades, tweaking them to suit their needs while adding their own unique elements to create a unique character. If that balance is thrown off for any reason, it can throw the entire story off-balance. It ends up distracting the reader from the story when they are mean to be drawn, and it's the biggest problem with More Starlight to Your Heart.
Akane feels like a stereotype of a shojo heroine, one who's had every quality turned up to 11. Her every emotion is a big emotion, her klutziness becomes a running gag endlessly hammered into the reader's mind, and her innocence frequently crosses the line into outright naivite. Even her attachment to Aogi feels less like the first pangs of love and more like the single-minded attachment a toddler has their favorite adult. In other words, Akane comes off less like a young girl and more like a small child, too helpless and simple-minded to function. She also feels far too modern for this historical setting. Her actions make no sense as a girl raised within nobility of the era. Her ignorance about the rules and rigmarole of the court don't feel like active rebellion, but merely childish obliviousness that only serves to make her stick out all the more.
Perhaps if she had a stronger cast of characters around her, Akane's childishness would not feel so overwhelming. Alas, Aoga is all but a gentle nonentity, and the rest of the servants and figures around them serve only as plot devices to either get between them or reinforce the inevitable romance between our leads. It feels like such a waste to take a setting like this and use it as nothing more than a platform for boring shojo platitudes and a heroine too dumb and naive to live.
ART:
The artwork is much more endearing, thankfully. It's un-threateningly cute and does justice to the ornate palace and elaborate robes of the court ladies and servants. That being said, it's not totally accurate to the period, considering that our heroine has bangs, all the ladies seem to have their eyebrows, and nobody's blackening their teeth. The paneling is fairly elegant, even if Matsuba could stand to lay off the screentones a little.
RATING:
More Starlight to Your Heart could have stood for a lot less sugar and a lot more substance, particularly where Akane was concerned. Her immaturity undermines what otherwise would have been an otherwise okay story.
This series was published by ADV Manga. This series is complete in Japan with 8 volumes available. 2 volumes were published and are currently out of print.
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