Year: 2012

Categories
Manga Reviews

Roman Holiday from Jmanga.com

Roman Holiday by Yoko Hanabusa

I did a quick double take when I spotted this title on Jmanga. I thought, surely this isn’t a manga adaptation of the Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck movie from the 1950s? But then I read the plot summary and it was! Roman Holiday is deservedly known as a classic movie, so I figured a manga adaptation would either be worth reading just for the possibility of a terrific train wreck, or it might actually be fun to see an interpretation of the movie in manga form. Fortunately due to a very faithful adaptation and some nice art from Hanabusa (who also adapted the Harlequin title To Woo A Wife) this ended up being quite enjoyable to read, but not as great as watching Roman Holiday all over again.

The plot of Roman Holiday (which if you haven’t seen, you should) centers around a wayward princess named Ann (Audrey Hepburn) who escapes the drudgery of her princessy duties for a day when she meets a newspaper reporter named Joe (Gregory Peck). Joe immediately sees the potential for a scoop in idea of escorting an escaped princess around Rome during her one day of freedom, so he gets his photographer friend to document the day as they run around Rome and do all the things that tourists do. Along the way they fall in love, but Princess Ann has to return to her duties and Joe is left to decide if he’s going to sell her story or keep the memory of the day as a precious secret. Let’s take a minute to bask in an image from the movie:

Wasn’t that refreshing?

As a fan of the movie, I was happy to see that the manga captured all of my favorite moments. There’s the near-diplomatic incident when Ann loses her shoe during a state function, the drudgery of Ann’s schedule, and the simple delight that she takes in things like wearing pajamas, wandering around a market, and getting her hair cut. Hanabusa’s art does a great job capturing both the settings and the costumes in the original movie, so the reader does feel like they’ve been briefly transported to Italy. Joe gradually becomes more and more reluctant to write his story as he sees Ann’s delight in her brief holiday, and there’s a definite wistful tone to the story as it shows a love affair that could never happen. While there is no way that a manga can really capture the charisma of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, I enjoyed being able to revisit the story of Roman Holiday in a different way. I’m not sure how much crossover there is between classic movie fans and manga fans, but if you happen to be both you will likely enjoy this manga.

Access to electronic copy provided by the publisher.

Categories
Manga Reviews

Harlequin Manga from Jmanga.com: Cowboys, Babies, and Shotgun Vows and The Billionarie Boss’s Forbidden Mistress

Cowboys, Babies, and Shotgun Vows by Shirley Rodgers and Yoshiko Hanatsu

Cowboys, Babies, and Shotgun Vows is the best type of Harlequin manga, where the great adaptation manages to make a typical Harlequin story into something really enjoyable. Ryder (hahaha) McCall is fairly full of himself, as he thinks he is “Texas’ No. 1 bachelor.” However his womanizing ways are put to the test when he meets Ashley in a bar. He defends her honor from some creeps and she throws up on him. They end up having a one night stand, and when Ryder wakes up in the morning Ashley is gone. He returns home to work on his family’s ranch, absentminded because he can’t stop thinking of his mystery woman. He learns that Ashley is the daughter of an oil baron who ran away from her wedding, and tracks her down where she’s working in a diner as a waitress to preserve her anonymity. When he realizes that Ashley is pregnant, he decides that he’s going to keep her close until he can win her affections and offers her an accounting job back on his family’s ranch.

Hanatsu’s art has a fluid, simple style that really suits this manga well. There are plenty of Harlequin stories that feature lunkheaded heroes, but there’s a warmth and humor to Hanatsu’s illustrations that make Ryder’s abrupt protestations of love amusing and oddly endearing. Hanatsu captures funny family moments as shown when Ryder’s little sister dramatically prays for his success in love clasping her hands under her chin while evoking the specter of girlfriends past and concluding “Please let my stupid brother be happy.” Ryder asks Ashley out on a second date by denying that he is weird and saying “I love you, will you go out with me?” Ryder’s enthusiasm for the possibility of a ready-made family with Ashley, and her understandable reluctance to commit to a man she barely knows forms the bulk of the story, but everything turns out as the reader would expect. This volume ranked up there as one of my most enjoyable Harlequin reads due to the simplicity and expressiveness of the art, and I’d pick up further Harlequin manga adaptations by Yoshiko Hanatsu without a second thought.

The Billionaire Boss’s Forbidden Mistress by Miranda Lee and Megumi Toda

This is one case where a somewhat tired plot can’t really be saved by the art. Leah’s father is a powerful stockbroker, but she works as a receptionist for a small cosmetics company. Leah is damaged psychologically by the aftereffects of a car accident that left her with a large scar on her leg and a divorce from a husband who wanted a physically perfect wife. Jason is a corporate raider who recently acquired Leah’s company and he is unscrupulous enough to randomly hit on receptionists, but moral enough not to want to hurt Leah when he learns more about her past. The art on The Billionaire Boss’s Forbidden Mistress is fine for a Harlequin adaptation, but there’s a bit of stiffness here and there with the character’s poses. There are however plenty of starry eyes and flowing hair, which I feel is fairly essential in Harlequin manga. Overall, this was fairly middle of the road for Harlequin manga. The main thing that was missing for me was any element of humor in the story or visual adaptation. If a volume like this is mostly non-stop angst and random misunderstandings that keep the couple apart until the last page, there just isn’t enough dramatic tension to keep me engaged in the story. This volume also probably suffered a bit from being read right after Cowboys, Babies, and Shotgun Vows, because that manga was so much more fun for me to read.

Categories
Manga Reviews

Alice in the Country of Hearts Omnibus Volume 3

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.

Categories
Manga Reviews

Romance manga from Ohzora: Queen’s Stairs and Love Spice

So most of the romance manga I tend to read tends to be Harlequin adaptations, which I love in all their loopiness because I am unfailingly amused by romance books with titles like “The Billionaire Cowboy’s Captive Virgin Secretary’s Secret Baby.” But with the recent wave of Ohzora titles being released on Jmanga, I was curious to check out some stand alone romance volumes from that publisher that are very similar to most Harlequin manga even if they aren’t quite as insane.

Love Spice by Mayu Takayama

Schatzi works as a sous-chef at her father’s restaurant in New York City. She has a random encounter with a tall, dark, and handsome florist named Tom. Tom turns out to also be an acquaintance of her father’s and he often stops by the restaurant to comment on the dishes. Schatzi’s father values Tom’s discriminating comments on his food. Schatzi’s deadbeat boyfriend breaks up with her, but then things start looking up in the romance department when she accidentally spills a drink on a handsome businessman named Hanley. Schatzi’s best friends are a couple of harpies who seem to value men only for their money, so they push Schatzi to date Hanley. Wherever Schatzi seems to go, Tom seems to be there! He is truely a man with a million jobs and talents, as beside flower deliveries he also seems to work as a bartender and helicopter pilot, only taking time off to visit the gym that Schatzi also belongs to. Tom is a slightly sardonic and silently judgmental presence in Schatzi’s life. She keeps thinking of him when she’s out on dates with Hanley, it being rather difficult to ignore one’s helicopter pilot. When Schatzi’s father gets ill, Tom’s friendship with her father and his encouragement to do what makes her the most happy end up triggering a change in Schatzi’s life.

I tend to like romance manga with slightly retro art, and Takayama’s illustrations are pleasing. There’s a bit of a downturn to her character’s eyes that can make them look slightly melancholy, and Schatzi’s friends are portrayed with more cartoony facial expressions that suit their rapacious personalities. The character designs reminded me a tiny bit of From Eroica With Love, but that might just be due to Tom’s dark hair and his aviator sunglasses. Overall, this title was amusing, although I probably would have enjoyed it more if there were a few more scenes demonstrating Tom’s seemingly random jobs. The restaurant setting was a change from what you tend to get in most romance titles, although a little more detail about the food would have made the setting seem more authentic. Overall, Love Spice is a good title to pick up the next time Jmanga runs a romance sale.

Queen’s Stairs by Yuriko Matsukawa

Elizabeth has a fateful encounter with a rude horseman at her riding club, but she soon forgets him when she learns that she might have to endure an arranged marriage now that she’s graduated from college. Clearly her only option is to disguise herself as her best friend and take a temporary job in a tiny European country called Santa-Vannes that appears to only be hiring attractive women between the ages of 20 and 25. When Elizabeth shows up at her new workplace, she learns that she’s staying at the castle, and the prince of Santa-Vannes just happens to be an unmarried bachelor. The Crown Prince is considerate and friendly, but Elizabeth keeps hearing rumors of a mysterious general who is the power behind the throne and Santa-Vannes’ economic revival. She meets her arrogant horseman again in the garden of the palace. He comments on her reading habits and introduces himself as Tao Bianki. Elizabeth realizes that her job is a set up, and she isn’t really there to help the tourism office with promotion and translation. But she’s still interested in finding out more about the country and the mysterious Tao, who keeps appearing at random moments and giving her the third degree. Elizabeth finds out that Tao is the mysterious general who has helped revive the country, and he doesn’t seem to be happy about her friendship with the prince. The art for Queen’s Stairs was lush and detailed, with plenty of limpid eyes and flowing hair to go around for all the characters.

Overall, while these romance comics from Ohzora don’t have the extremes of plot and character that I enjoy in Harlequin Manga, the art as a whole was much better executed than some of the romance manga I’ve read in the past, which tends to sometimes suffer from rushed adaptation jobs. While the stories weren’t particularly original, they were perfectly fine examples of the genre, and I plan to check out some more Ohzora romance manga as it is released on Jmanga.com.

Categories
Manga Reviews

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

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.