February 2012 – Page 2

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Volume 3

I’m always struck by how fast the pacing of the story is in Sailor Moon. The first part of this volume deals with the “my soulmate is evil” storyline as Tuxedo Mask has been possessed by the Dark Kingdom. They’re after the power of the Legendary Silver Crystal, and Sailor Moon has to call upon her friends and her own reserves of power in order to fight the evil Queen Metalia. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask disappear and the Sailor Senshi promptly track them to the Arctic Ocean. Because that’s where evil lurks! Sailor Moon is filled with memories of the past life she and Tuxedo Mask shared as Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. Sailor Moon has come a long way from the babyish little girl in the first volume. Even though she’s occasionally frightened, for the most part she tackles her new battles without hesitation. The Sailor Senshi give up their power in an ultimate attempt to save Sailor Moon. Tuxedo Mask is healed from his demonic possession, and gives her the support she needs to battle her strongest enemy so far.

There’s a dramatic reunion between Usagi and Mamoru after the battle, when they embrace possessing all the knowledge of their past lives and romance together. Their combined powers bring back all of the Sailor Senshi. After a cosmic struggle involving trips to the Arctic and to the moon, the next storyline focues on a more mundane setting. Sailor Mars finds herself caught up in fortuntelling for a school festival, where there seems to be some suspicious activity involving the paranormal and UFOs. Usagi’s life becomes more complicated when a little girl drops out of the sky, landing on Mamoru and interrupting a tender moment. The little girl says her name is Usagi and she has a similar hairstyle to our heroine. Chibi-Usa soon works her way into the affections of everybody except for Usagi, aided by some fancy hypnosis. Usagi reacts with suspicion and anger, while Mamoru thinks they should wait to see what the lost little girl has to reveal. Seeing the new menace introduced through Sailor Mars’ point of view is a nice contrast with the usual Sailor Moon-centric narration. While the new threat seems earthbound so far, I feel confident that things will grow more cosmic in the next volume. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon continues to be a fun action-filled magical girl series, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story is going to go next now that all the major characters are introduced.

Hana Kimi 3 in 1 Edition

Hana Kimi 3 in 1 Edition by Hisaya Nakajo

I read Hana Kimi when it was coming out originally, and it is one of those series that I reread every couple of years. It is the reason why I remain such a sucker for cross dressing reverse harem scenarios, and I find it to be a great silly shoujo series. I was happy to see that Viz is releasing the earlier volumes in the 3 in 1 omnibus edition. Hana Kimi first started coming out several years ago, so hopefully this new edition will create some new readers for the series. This is similar to the other 3 in 1 editions from Viz, the first three books packaged together on fairly thin paper with no new extras.

One of the keys to enjoying Hana Kimi is being able to suspend a ton of disbelief for the first few chapters, because the heroine’s scenario in this manga relies on a staggering amount of coincidences that are possible only in manga land. Mizuki Ashiya has been living in the United States, where she became infatuated with a super-star track and field athlete named Sano Izumi. Sano’s high jumps are sublime, and Mizuki is inspired to take up track and field herself. Not content to only improve her athletic ability, she decides to move back to Japan, disguise herself as a boy, and enroll in Sano’s high school. Osaka High School happens to have dorms and she’s assigned as Sano’s roommate! Despite being a cross-dressing stalker, Mizuki is peppy and cute, with the type of reckless personality you might expect from someone who just casually moves to Japan as a boy because she digs someone’s high jump. When Mizuki gets to school she finds out that Sano has given up jumping due to a tragic past with accompanying psychological issues, and he finds her boisterous attempts at friendship rather annoying.

As you might expect from a manga set at a boy’s boarding school, there’s a large supporting cast. There’s the fabulously gay school doctor Umeda, soccer star Nakatsu whose feelings for Mizuki lead him to start questioning his sexuality, womanizing RA Nanba, and dorm mascot Yujiro. Sano and Umeda find out Mizuki’s secret very quickly, but Sano continues to pretend that she’s a guy. His attitude towards her gradually changes from annoyance to curiosity to fiercely protective. The three volumes cover Mizuki dealing with fitting in at school, the possible resurrection of Sano’s high jumping career, the sudden appearance of Mizuki’s older brother, and the consequences when Mizuki isn’t as watchful of her safety as she should be. The stoic hero with a tragic past is a pretty common type in shoujo manga, but I have to say that Sano is one of my favorite examples of this character. Nakajo does a great job showing the way he snaps to attention whenever anything that happens that might menace Mizuki.

Hana Kimi isn’t deep by any means, but it is one of my favorite comedic romance shoujo manga. Sano and Mizuki end up developing a close friendship partly because they aren’t at first relating to each other as a boy and a girl. I’m happy to see this series get more attention with this rerelease.

Review copy provided by the publisher