Tag: shoujo

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Manga Reviews

Late Advent Volumes 1 and 2 by Yuriko Matsukawa from emanga

I was excited to see that some shoujo titles are starting to pop up on emanga.com, because it seems as though most of the titles released through the DMG program are yaoi, and a little yaoi generally goes a long way with me. I often enjoy two volume series like Late Advent. Sometimes manga that’s complete in one volume doesn’t really follow through on character and plot development, but two volumes is often enough space to experience a short series without feeling rushed. I think this manga originally came out in Japan in 2000, but I thought it had a bit of an older 90s shoujo fantasy vibe.

Late Advent Volume 1

Reira Bandou is going through her normal everyday life, going to her college classes and learning about eight classic statues that depict Buddhist deities. Reira is exausted because she’s been having strange dreams, and as she’s sitting in class a strange blobby demon starts crawling up her desk. Reira starts having encounters with odd people who claim that they knew her in a past life, and that she’s descended from Ashura, the Buddhist god of War. She meets Kubanda, a feral-looking hipster who introduces himself as her lover in a past life. She also meets the gentle Kinnara, a boy with a visible third eye, a talking myna bird who is Karua, and Shagara, whose human form is that of a cynical professor. As Reira starts to adjust to her changed circumstances and struggles to control her new supernatural powers, she’s aided by the deity Gobujo, who only seems to appear as a voice or spirt but hasn’t yet manifested in human form. With the eight deities gathered together, they have to face down the new invasion of demons that might have been triggered by their presence.

Late Advent Volume 2

Matsukawa’s art is smooth and assured, with her deities shown as garbed in fantasy armor with fangs when they channel their godly powers. The adaptation here seemed smooth. I spotted one obvious error, but overall Late Advent was very readable. I found myself having a bit of difficulty following the sequence and reasoning behind all the demonic battles, and Reira seemed to gain new confidence with her powers between volumes. I was also a bit sleepy when I was reading Late Advent, so
some of my difficulties in following the plot were probably due to fatigue. One of the aspects of the series I enjoyed was the contrast between Reira’s occasional flashbacks or dreams and the current incarnations of the various deities. Elements of the past inform the present, and in some cases the current lives the characters are living provide a way for them to work through the trauma of their past lives. I did enjoy Late Advent overall. The Buddhist deities with super-powers but was a nice change of pace from some of the other fantasy series that I’ve read, and I enjoyed the old-school feeling of the art. This is a good series for shoujo fantasy fans to check out. As a shoujo fan, I want to see a good variety of publishers coming out with new titles, so I’m happy to see new shoujo on the emanga platform and hope that this series is a sign of more shoujo to come from emanga.

Electronic access provided by the publisher.

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Manga Reviews

Shojo Beat Quick Takes – Oresama Teacher #10 and A Devil and Her Love Song #4

Oresama Teacher #10 by Izumi Tsubaki

Oresama Teacher has settled into a bit of a predictable formula, but Tsubaki’s particular brand of ridiculous idiocy never fails to cheer me up. This volume focuses on Yui, the ninja and erstwhile spy on the Public Morals Club for the fiendish school council. He decides that Mafuyu and Hayasaka have to endure his particular brand of ninja training, with hilarious results as his modern substitutes for traditional ninja training apparatus never seem to quite work out. Mafuyu has to struggle to get certification for the Public Morals Club, which involves tangling with Hojo, a student council lackey with a major crush on Yui. It is amusing, because while Mafuyu is incredibly dense when it comes to her own feelings, she quickly figures out the undercurrents between Hojo and Yui while Yui remains absolutely oblivious. Deranged ninja antics are always good for a laugh, and while it was nice to have the focus of this volume on a different character, I’m hoping that the next volume swings back to feature more scenes with Hayasaka and Takaomi. I’d also like to see some more scenes that show Mafuyu’s emotional development as she works through her issues with juvenile delinquency. Also, I feel like there was less face-punching in this volume than I’ve come to expect from Oresama Teacher.

A Devil and Her Love Song #4 by Miyoshi Tomori

Ordinarily I would start to get a little frustrated with a series where characters spend a large chunk of time discussing their feelings and interactions, but in A Devil and Her Love Song Maria’s forthright pronouncements and abrasive personality put her into some interesting situations. I might not feel as much of an emotional connection to this story as compared to some of my other favorite shoujo manga, but I do enjoy seeing how Maria’s presence seems to force the people around her to change and grow. In this volume, we are still dealing with the Machiavellian shenanigans around a school concert that the media is about to film. Maria’s evil teacher is planning on using her alleged “reformation” as a way of bringing favorable publicity to the school, and Hana is going along with the plan so she can show herself as a saintly angel of forgiveness. The only problem is that Maria is totally aware of the plan and decides to participate willingly just due to her desire to sing with her classmates. Maria encourages her previous bully Ayu to express her true feelings, with the result that the entire set-up gets derailed when Ayu can’t stand the blatant hypocrisy and lies around her. Maria faces even more obstacles, but she ends up putting “a lovely spin” on the whole situation, managing to salvage the concert. It’ll be interesting to see the fallout resulting from this volume, since various classmates have had emotional breakthroughs and learned more about themselves. I’m predicting that Maria will never be popular, but I’m guessing that her circle of friends will grow a bit and she’s going to treasure the loyalty of the people who actually appreciate her forthright yet slightly odd personality. Overall, this was yet another strong volume for this series.

Review copies provided by the publisher.

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Manga Reviews

Dawn of the Arcana Volume 5 by Rei Toma

Every volume of Dawn of the Arcana usually has a few quirky moments that keep me hooked on the series. In volume 5 we see the continuation of the trip that Nakaba and her group of friends embarked on in order to warn the Ajin of the upcoming attack from Prince Caesar’s unscrupulous relatives. Before the Ajin that we’ve seen have looked mostly human with some slight animal characteristics, but the ones who live in the Ajin village are much more like beasts walking upright. The feline Leo and Gadi great the humans with suspicion, but the group of adventurers gets taken to the cute and fluffy village leader to deliver their warning. Seeing the different forms of the Ajin was intriguing, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of their culture revealed in future volumes. The other aspect of this volume that I was amused by was that so far Nakaba has been dealing with having an Arcana, or magical power, all on her own, but suddenly we see more people with Arcana popping out of the woodwork. Lemiria reveals that she has a power that might explain why her older brother Bellinus has managed to survive so well in a hostile court environment. Although Nakaba and her companions came to warn the Ajin about the destructive power of new weapons of war, the suspicious Leo thinks he can defend the village all on his own with the Arcana of Fire.

The other thing I enjoy about Dawn of the Arcana is that it is so character-driven. With so many people having magical powers, it would be easy to fall into the trap of featuring a bunch of magic-centered action, without much character development. Nakaba’s journey to meet the Ajin causes her and Loki to reaffirm their friendship. Caesar’s support furthers his relationship with Nakaba as well. Knowing that Lemiria has a magical power as well makes her almost the perfect girlfriend for Nakaba, someone who hasn’t had many friends in her life before. Much of the volume focuses on Nakaba’s attempt to save the Ajin, and when she is thrown into the company of Caesar’s older brother Cain, at first she sees an opportunity to bond with him because they’ve both been judged harshly for their appearance in the past. Nakaba’s growing powers of observation combined with Lemiria’s advice cause her to navigate the situation with greater insight. I just wish that the artwork had slightly more detailed backgrounds that would contribute more to giving the world the characters navigate through more depth. Five volumes in, and there are still too many panels of characters talking to each other with just white or minimal backgrounds, and fewer illustrations that really serve to show how the Ajin village is all that different from the other places that Nakaba has visited. Overall, this volume was another solid entry for this fun fantasy series and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next as Nakaba becomes a more self-assured princess.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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Manga Reviews

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 3 by CLAMP

This volume starts the second major story arc for Cardcaptor Sakura, and since I had only collected a few of the early Tokyopop volumes it was all new material for me. Since in structure Sakura’s main mission was ended when she collected all the Clow cards, I was curious to see how CLAMP was going to move on to the next phase of the series. For as light and fluffy a series as Cardcaptor Sakura is, there are some hints of darkness and suffering that make it a bit more sophisticated than one would think of a manga geared towards the younger set. Syaoran is struggling with the feelings he now realizes he has for Sakura, and things are complicated further with the sudden arrival of a new transfer student, Eriol Hiiragizawa. Sakura immediately thinks that Eriol looks familiar. With his glasses, polite nature, and gentle smile, the boy reminds her of her father. But it turns out that Eriol is actually Sakura’s mysterious antagonist who seems to be Clow Reed reborn in younger form. Most of this manga concerns Sakura’s investigations of the strange phenomena that occur after Eriol’s arrival. While she has the cards and can use them, now her own innate magic is changing their forms. Unfortunately Sakura’s lack of magic is starting to cause problems for her guardians. Yue in his human disguise of Yukito grows progressively more and more fatigued, and as Toya attempts to have a serious talk with him over and over he gets interrupted by one of Eriol’s interfering familiars.

Fans of the earlier volumes of this series will find plenty to enjoy here. Sakura is gradually becoming more self-reliant, although she still treasures the help of her friends. There’s a little bit of resolution to the tension between her father and great-grandfather, and seeing Syaoran struggling with first love inspires both comic relief and sympathy. I really enjoy CLAMP’s art in this series. It is just ornate and girly enough to satisfy my inner 12-year-old, without being overly decorated or difficult to follow. CLAMP is good at developing ambiguous villains, and since Eriol’s plans and motivations aren’t entirely clear there is plenty of dramatic tension as the events unfold. As always, the battle scenes are balanced with the school life and hijinks of Sakura’s friends. Cardcaptor Sakura is such a feel-good manga. I always put it down feeling a little better after immersing myself in plenty of flowers, friends, and sparkles. Dark Horse’s manga omnibus volumes are always the best in terms of production quality and extras, and there are plenty of color illustrations here to appeal to any CLAMP fan.

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Manga Reviews

Jiu Jiu Volume 1 by Touya Tobina

Jiu Jiu Volume 1 by Touya Tobina

I’m always curious when a new title is added to the Shojo Beat imprint, since Shojo Beat titles make up a majority of my reading list. I’m also happy to see that in Jiu Jiu we have a title with a quirky heroine, a general trend I am happy to see reflected in many of the recently translated manga series. Jiu Jiu looks like a promising shoujo twist on the monster hunting manga genre.

Takamichi is born into a family of Dark Hunters. When her twin brother is killed, she’s the sole heir. For companionship, she’s given a pair of Jiu Jiu – familiars who can switch form from wolf to human. In human form, Snow and Night are handsome teenage boys, but they’re really only three years old. Takamichi’s life becomes even more complicated when Snow and Night decide that they are going to start attending school with their mistress. As a heroine, Takamichi is harsh and guilt-ridden. She’s haunted by her brother’s death and often deals harshly with Snow and Night because she doesn’t want to get close to anybody. Takamichi also has a strong sense of duty, fulfuling her duties as a monster hunter while not wanting her Jiu Jiu to come along with her because she doesn’t want them to get hurt. This is the source of the main tension in the book, because Snow and Night want to be with their mistress at all times. Their names reflect their appearance and personalities, with Snow being pale with a bright and playful personality, while Night has a darker complexion and is more reserved and intuitive.

Visually, Jiu Jiu is dense with sometimes little transitions between scenes. It required more of my concentration to read than usual, and might have benefited from being a tad more sparse. The art style made me wonder if Tobina was somehow a Frankenstein mangaka created from mashing together Arina Tanemura and Hakase Mizuki. It was an interesting contrast reading Kaze Hikaru right after Jiu Jiu, because the two manga couldn’t be more different in terms of the art. One of the things I always appreciate in manga is an artist with an individualistic style, and Tobina’s thin line and the stylized spindly limbs of her characters emphasizes the animalistic nature of the Jiu Jiu. She switches back and forth between kawaii howling wolf pups and the demons that Takamichi faces. The first volume of Tobina’s other manga, Clean Freak Fully-Equipped had a similar focus on a protagonist with psychological issues. The combination of haunted heroine, stylized art, and a potentially interesting twist on monster hunting manga has me looking forward to the next volume.

Review copy provided by the publisher.