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Manga Reviews

Skip Beat Volume 27

Skip Beat Volume 27 by Yoshiki Nakamura

I feel that the latest volume of Skip Beat can usually be summed up as “Skip Beat – still great!” In many shoujo series around the 27th volume we’ve seen some plot recycling, the introduction of a sudden fiance or evil male model, or random fights that break romantic couples apart only to bring them closer yet again. The current Heel siblings arc in Skip Beat is enormously entertaining just because it places Kyoko and Ren in close physical proximity all the time, and seeing how they each deal with their unexpressed feelings for each other while maintaining their steadfast commitment to their roles as freaky goth siblings makes the whole series seem new and fresh.

Every experience Kyoko and Ren undertake is a method acting exercise. The relatively simple act of shopping for clothes becomes a tangled transaction involving sibling manipulation and far too many pairs of pants. When Kyoko gets hit on by some random guys, is Ren’s violent reaction due to his character’s feelings for his sister or his own feelings for Kyoko? Ren seems to be approaching an emotional breaking point, but his attempts to send Kyoko away are futile. While Nakamura might draw her characters with freakishly long limbs even by manga standards, her mastery of facial expressions really helps her add more nuance and layers of meaning into the story of Skip Beat. In the more emotionally intense scenes, the reader sees not only the reaction of the character the protagonists are portraying but also the internal feelings and struggles of the actors behind the characters. Ren shifts from shock to fury almost instantaneously when he thinks that Kyoko is threatened, and his posture and aura shift so completely when he’s in character that it is easy to see how his dedication to his craft brings out the best in Kyoko’s acting as well. I’m looking forward to more emotional torture with the Heel siblings in the next volume!

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Manga Reviews

Dawn of the Arcana Volume 3



Dawn of the Arcana Volume 3 by Rei Toma

I feel like with the third volume things really started to come together nicely in this manga series. The first two volumes were promising, but the third one really has a nice mix of romance, politics, magic, and danger. Nakaba and Caesar start to warm up to each other, but things are even more strained between the red-headed princess and her faithful servant Loki. Things get even worse when Nakaba is instructed to dye her hair before some visiting dignitaries arrive. She chops off her hair instead in a gesture of defiance and Ceasar promptly does the same. The newlyweds now have identical ragamuffin hairstyles. Nakaba is ordered to be confined to her quarters, but she runs into the vising Prince Akhil, the fifth prince of Lithuanel. Akhil recognizes that Nakaba has the power of Arcana and drops some hints about the long-lost tribe that may feature in her origins. He wants her to come back to his country, but Caesar steps in to prevent it. Unfortunately when Caesar steps away later on he’s not able to prevent Nakaba and Loki from being locked up in a dungeon. Nakaba flashes back to Loki’s feelings and experiences when he was all alone trying to protect her when she was an infant and she realizes the depth of his lover for her.

One of the things that intrigued me the most about Dawn of the Arcana when I first picked it up was the situation of a reluctant princess facing down a hostile court. Nakaba had plenty of run-ins in this volume, and the secret passage leading out of her dungeon leads her to discover that her new country has weaponry that will upset the balance of power between nations. Loki immediately sees the weapons as a source of danger for his people, because when humans have better arms and armor, they will no longer need to rely on the strength of the Ajin. Nakaba and Caesar realize that their marriage was a ploy to ensure plenty of time for weapons construction, and Nakaba is determined to do what she can to save the Ajin like Loki. Her power doesn’t seem suited to such a task though, and she doesn’t know what to do.

Nakaba continues to be an engaging heroine, and seeing glimpses of her past with Loki helps the reader understand the deep connection between the two. From being a jerk, Caesar has grown to be a credible match for Nakaba. Part of what makes him more endearing than jerk-like after three volumes is that he doesn’t have the cunning to hide his character flaws. He’s impatient and possessive, but he lights up whenever Nakaba shows him a tiny amount of affection. Even though he isn’t the most well-mannered prince around, it is clear that he actually cares for the bride that he’s so eager to please. The displays of cruelty by the other nobles and the dangerous situations Nakaba finds herself in whenever she leaves her room continue to deliver plenty of dramatic tension. This series keeps getting better.

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Manga Reviews

Oresama Teacher Volume 7

Oresama Teacher Volume 7 by Izumi Tsubaki

This was another entertaining volume of Oresama Teacher. I was happy that in the first chapter we finally got some solid information about Takakomi’s mysterious past and the reasons why he changed from a delinquent to a teacher. It turns out that his grandfather used to be connected with the school, there was some nefarious paperwork from the current principal that involves a land-grab scheme, and Takaomi’s solution was to bet that he would be able to turn around the school in three years in order to return control of the school to his family. This seems like an improbable and misguided plan, but when Mafuyu hears Takaomi’s story she starts to tear up and decides that she’s going to help her former mentor in beat downs and bullying.

Mafuyu and Hayasaka are studying for the first time in an attempt to bring up the school’s test average, aided by spy/highschool ninja Shinobu. Mafuyu isn’t very strong on brainpower, but she does have an odd ability to memorize, which results in several funny scenes where random facts start to spill out of her because her brain has overfilled its capacity. Takaomi uses his dark powers of intimidation to force other slacking students to study. Everybody survives exams, and it is time to head home for the summer. Mafuyu has trouble fitting in with her old gang again, but she ends up spending time with them and learning more about the feelings of the juvenile delinquent comrades she left behind. Oresama Teacher is an excessively silly series but it switches up plot developments that move the story forward a little bit, with more character focused bits. Even when Oresama Teacher might rely on a very standard plot element like going to a summer festival, there’s always a little twist that makes it interesting and ridiculous as Mafuyu attends her summer festival with a crossdressing rival gang leader. Oresama Teacher always goes to the top of my reading stack when I’m looking for a fun distraction.

Review copy provided by the publisher

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Manga Reviews Reread Reviews

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

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Manga Reviews

Skip Beat Volume 26

Skip Beat! Volume 26 by Yoshiki Nakamura

I’ve been in a bit of a post holiday blogging malaise, what with going on vacation, getting sick, coming back from vacation, still being sick, and just dealing with work. But there isn’t any better way to snap yourself out of a manga blogging funk than to pick up a fresh volume of Skip Beat! The plot arc introduced in this volume looks like it will be really fun, and this volume would be a good jumping on point for anyone who has read a few volumes of the series but hasn’t kept up with recent developments.

One of the ways Nakamura excels as a manga artist is that she’s great at drawing someone in the grip of absolute rage. We get treated to several panels of anger in the early section of the drama, where Kyoko and her fellow LoveMe Section members are dealing with the emotional fallout from their Valentine’s Days. The president of LME Lory asks how everybody’s day went and a dark cloud descends over Kyoko and Moko. Kyoko yells “It was a nightmareish evil day that threatened my peace and quiet!” Moko fiercely proclaims “It was a day that polluted society…a day that made idiots even more stupid!” Lory is disappointed in everybody’s progress and hands out new assignments with the word describing Kyoko’s as “Dangerous.”

Kyoko is told that she has to pick up a new actor named Cain Heel who apparently resembles a member of the yakuza. When she sees a man dressed in dark clothes, radiating such a hostile aura that all the other people in his vicinity are stepping away and staring at him, she walks up and says “Mr Tsuruga?” The man stands up without saying anything, Kyoko falls to the ground and he stalks off, stepping over her. Kyoko is mystified because she thought that the man was Ren based on his proportions. As she’s walking down the street trying to process her experience, a long dark arm snakes out from an alley and pats her on the head. It is Ren after all, and he’s portraying a new actor in order to further his career. Lory announces that Kyoko is going to be Cain Heel’s lucky charm, his treasured sister Setsuka. Kyoko gets a gothy-makover and the Heel siblings are ready to launch Cain’s new career. This means that Kyoko and Ren are going to be forced to be in close quarters, with plenty of agonizing moments and crazy fashion to look forward to. What more could any fan of Skip Beat! want?

Lory speculates that forcing his two actors together will result in great things, and he takes particular note of the fact that Kyoko must have been observing Ren very closely in order to penetrate his disguise. Kyoko gets to work thinking through the character of Setsuka, hoping that her acting will get Ren’s approval. In the meantime Ren is being tortured by the mini-skirts Kyoko has to wear as Setsuka. Skip Beat! is always entertaining, but I’m really excited to see what Ren and Kyoko will get up to as the Heel siblings.

Review copy provided by the publisher.