Alice in the Country of Hearts Omnibus Volume 3

July 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

I enjoyed the first few volumes of this mash-up of Alice in Wonderland. Here are my previous reviews of volume 1, 2, 3, and 4. I was glad that Yen Press picked this series up after Tokyopop imploded, and it seemed to me at the time fairly sensible since I believe many of the other volumes of this series ended up on the New York Times manga bestseller’s list. All along this mash-up of Alice in Wonderland and a Japanese dating game has been more interesting than I would expect from a dating game manga adaptation, but the final volume has some extra creepiness and an open-ended conclusion.

The Country of Hearts is about to have a grand ball, but Alice doesn’t know how to dance and doesn’t have anything to wear. Julius and Ace help her prepare, but she’s unable to avoid the Mad Hatter, Blood Dupre, at the ball. Alice is simultaneously repelled and curious about him, and she gradually learns a little more about the Hatter and how the system of chaotic government works in the Country of Hearts. This series has always been long on atmosphere and short on plot, with various hints that there’s a central mystery behind Alice’s journey away from the real world. This is solved somewhat by hints that suggest that Alice’s journey is really more of an unhealthy psychological defense mechanism, as she can’t deal with a specific event that took place in the real world. There’s also a suggestion about who the White Rabbit’s real world analogue is that makes his obsessive behavior seem even creepier, and I didn’t think that was possible.

Even though Alice in the Country of Hearts isn’t all that eventful, I did enjoy the series as a whole and was happy to read the final volumes. This manga is basically all about cute guys, random moments of homicide, occasional references to psychological issues, and awesome costuming. Even though the plot might not be all that detailed, it is much more interesting than any other manga that I’ve read that is based on a dating game, but perhaps I am just a sucker for random bullets flying in shoujo manga. Yen Press’ new omnibus editions will likely tempt fans to replace the old Tokyopop single volumes. I am too cheap to do this, but I did enjoy the larger size, character galleries, and color pages in this volume. I enjoyed this series enough that I’m planning on picking up the spin-off volumes from Seven Seas too.

Knight Princess of Orlelian and Serilia of Silver by Rin Kouduki from Jmanga.com

July 3, 2012 by 1 Comment

I was interested to see that Ohzora Publishing had been added to Jmanga’s lineup. The short-lived Aurora publishing was the previous outlet for some print editions of Ohzora’s lineup, and I did enjoy the three print volumes of Walkin’ Butterfly that were previously re-released. So the combination of a sale on romance manga and some new single volume shoujo titles from an author I hadn’t read before made me intrigued. Serilia of Silver and Knight Princess of Orlelian suffer from the execution issues you might expect in single volume manga, but they might be good choices for people who enjoy their shoujo fantasy manga when it is short and sweet.

Knight Princess of Orelian by Rin Kouduki

Aira is a female knight from a poor family who is dedicated to protecting the downtrodden. Word of her daring deeds reaches the palace of her kingdom and she’s summoned to act as Prince Rudeylice’s bodyguard. The Prince greets his new knight with a kiss, and Aira quickly slaps him but vows to persevere in her guard duty. As she follows the Prince Rudy along when he visits the townspeople in disguise, she begins to see a new side of his personality when he seems genuinely caring towards his subjects. Rudy’s safety is endangered by the plots of his evil stepmother and Aira’s emotions soon become more complicated when she observes Rudy with his intended fiance.

There isn’t much space for quirky character development in a one-volume manga, but Aira and Rudy’s personalities are generally a little bland and they fall in love with great rapidity, with interior monologues like “I’m so happy in his warm embrace…but my heart…is crying…” Aira’s central conflict is her more masculine duties as a knight and her desire to be treated more like a girl, but her knightly uniform of long tunic, stockings, and boots didn’t strike me as all that unfeminine. There’s a bit of surprise twist with an assassination plot, but the ending of this manga is just what you’d expect. Kouduki’s art is clear and easy to follow, and while the quasi-medieval European fantasy setting is a bit generic, this was still fun to read at the sale price.

Serilia of Silver by Rin Kouduki

This manga from the same author was a bit more enjoyable because there was a bit more distinctive world building going on, but there was one action of the hero that threw me out of the story quite a bit, due to its inherent squickyness. A woman known only as the “Holy Maiden of Silver” is paraded around at public events and abruptly kidnapped. When she wakes up, she’s in the bed of a handsome stranger who announces that he’s Adill, the king of her country. She claims that he’s a pirate and demands to go back to her temple, only to be informed that she can’t go back because he’s stolen her virginity. Adill gives her the name Serilia since she has only been referred to by her title before. The whole “I’ve despoiled you, so now you are mine” plot development hindered me from enjoying the story. Serilia is weirdly philosophical about the prospect of being deflowered by Adill, and while she does make a few escape attempts, she gradually finds herself seeing that her captor is working to make the lives of the people better.

So, squickyness aside, I did find the personalities and world building more interesting in this volume than in Knight Princess. Adill’s actions as king are derailed by the temple, who quickly installs another young woman as a replacement holy maiden. Serilia gradually realizes that she’s been so sheltered she was unaware that her religious sect was keeping the poor even poorer by demanding admission fees from the people who were asking for her prayers. Adill encourages Serilia to learn more about the world outside the temple, and they both choose to dedicate themselves to their country. Serilia begins to develop more agency as she learns more about the conditions in her country. The tension between the religious order and the government was interesting, and made Serilia of Silver a little more involving than a more typical shoujo story. This volume also had a bonus story that showed couples from both volumes meeting that was very cute. I’m a sucker for shared universe stories, so it was nice to get a bit of an epilogue for both of these manga.

While these definitely weren’t my favorite titles available on Jmanga.com, they were fine to read at the sale price. I enjoyed these single volumes enough that I am curious to see what Rin Kouduki would do with a multi volume series, with more room for nuanced character development and more complex plotting.

Ouran High School Host Club #18

June 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

Ouran High School Host Club Volume 18 by Bisco Hatori

I was happy to read the final volume of Ouran High School Host Club, a series that manages the tricky feat of simultaneously making fun of shoujo reverse harem scenarios while embracing the whole reverse harem concept in its story of a girl named Haruhi who is forced to cross-dress as a boy to attend an elite school with its own over the top host club. I read the first fiver or so volumes of this series but it didn’t make it into my regular reading rotation. It was still fun to see how the story wrapped up for Haruhi and her host club companions.

After 18 volumes, Haruhi finally admits to Tamaki that she loves him, and they go out on their very first date. What follows is the typical Ouran High School Host Club type of story that manages to be both sweet and ridiculously demented. Tamaki’s typical overreactions to the possibility of a date with Haruhi cause the other host club members to stalk the new couple, ready to swoop in at any opportunity to save their feckless leader from embarrassment. When Tamaki decides to take advice from his Grandmother on what to wear he shows up for the date in ceremonial robes. He is is whisked away and changed in seconds, as they brought along a spare set of clothes. Tamaki’s idea of date preparation is to show up with a bunch of magic tricks in case Haruhi gets bored, and she’s almost fatally embarrassed a couple times. For all of Tamaki’s theatricality, he basically has a good heart as seen when the date concludes by a visit to the grave of Haruhi’s late mother, where he promises to support Haruhi in achieving all of her dreams. It wouldn’t be a volume of Ouran High School Host club without some elaborate events, and in this volume the reader gets a Greek-themed host party as well as a masquerade ball. Tamaki is (of course) Apollo, and the twins enact the story of Castor and Pollux to demonstrate their “brotherly” love.

The ending of the series is satisfying but a bit open-ended, but that never bothers me much in a comedy manga. There is a fun bonus story after the concluding chapter about the Host Club set in Spain that features Kyoya maneuvering through a complicated plot involving his family while Haruhi eagerly experiences Tapas and the rest of the club is overcome by Spanish architecture. Another bonus for readers is getting a quick glimpse of Haruhi and Tamaki in a more established relationship at the very end of the manga. I enjoyed seeing how this manga concluded, even if I didn’t collect every volume.

Review copy provided by the publisher

Skip Beat! Volume 28

June 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Skip Beat! Volume 28 by Yoshiki Nakumura

I always enjoy a new volume of Skip Beat! but I’m enjoying the most recent story arc even more than usual because there’s more emotional payoff with Kyoko and Ren being forced into more contact with each other as they prepare for their reality-tv like roles as the gothed-out Cain siblings. They still have to wrap up their current projects though, and things get dicey when Ren has a near miss with a potential accident when he is rehearsing some stunt driving. The experience puts him in a bit of a fugue state, where he relives a dramatic accident in his past before he became “Ren Tsuruga.” Kyoko is filming nearby and rushes to Ren’s set and she is the only person that he responds to after the accident. Later on, Ren indulges in an odd psychological ritual where he cooks a horrible omurice and eats it as an act of endurance. Kyoko comes along to help him out and witnesses Ren putting himself together again, despite the unfortunate specter of Death that hovers nearby as they consume their dinner.

Kyoko and Ren were really both destined to be actors because with their pasts, traumatic in different ways, inhabiting a role becomes a refuge. I think in this next story arc we’ll see how much of “Ren Tsuruga” is a role and how much is actually Ren. Kyoko’s on the verge of a change too. Everyone that she meets seems struck by the sense that she’s matured, and as she spends more time with Ren when he’s at his most vulnerable it seems like she might finally be on the verge of acknowledging her feelings. Overall, this was a very satisfying volume of Skip Beat!

Review copy provided by the publisher

Kimi Ni Todoke Volume 14

June 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

Kimi Ni Todoke Volume 14 by Karuho Shiina

It was a nice contrast reading Kimi Ni Todoke right after the latest volume of Dengeki Daisy, because while Dengeki Daisy makes a point of occasionally sarcastically commenting on shoujo cliches, Kimi Ni Todoke delves so deeply into some of the standard shoujo plot elements that it actually makes things like the dreaded school trip volume seem fresh again. Sawako and Kazehaya are going to Okinawa with all their classmates, and they are still in the early stages of feeling out their new relationship. Sawako is just overwhelmed with the idea that she’s actually accepted as part of a group, and she’s able to do simple things like take group pictures with her friends. Since her social life before was basically nonexistent, every new experience no matter how small is something to be cherished. Because Sawako cherishes the memories she’s making so much, simple panels with illustrations of her observations of her friends or Kazehaya visiting an aquarium become suffused with importance. This volume really captures the process of making memories.

The complications of young love abound, as Sawako and Kazehaya come perilously close to a first kiss, while her friends Ayane and Chizu have their own relationships to negotiate. Ayane is dating someone that she really doesn’t care for, and Chizu might finally be realizing that there might be more than just friendship between her and Ryo. While the plot developments in Kimi Ni Todoke might be a bit on the slow-moving side, the expressive art and depth shown in the character development for the series ensure that this manga is always entertaining even as it doesn’t go for cheap and easy plot tricks to propel the story forward. Instead we have a volume of summer vacation memories, capped off with the realization that things are about to change in the fall.

Review copy provided by the publisher

« Previous Page
Next Page »