Review: PRINCESS AI

 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.

PRINCESS AI (Purinsesu Ai Monogatari), 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.

PLOT:

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.

Review: GORGEOUS CARAT

 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.

GORGEOUS CARAT (Gojasu Karatto), by You Higuri.  First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2006.

PLOT:

In belle époque 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.

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.

Review: ARATA THE LEGEND

 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.

ARATA THE LEGEND (Arata Kanagatari), by Yuu Watase.  First published in 2008 and first published in North America in 2010.

PLOT:

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.