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Tokyopop

Gakuen Alice 3 by Tachibana Higuchi: B+

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gakuen3From the back cover:
The school cultural festival is approaching, and the special guest is Reo, a former Alice student turned Hollywood superstar! But Reo is involved in some awfully shady dealings, and when his plans suddenly start to involve Natsume, it’s up to Mikan and Sumire to save the day!

Review:
I never thought I’d be giving a B+ to something featuring a school festival and a kidnapping perpetrated by a bishounen idol, but there you go. I guess I’m just a sucker for the combination of ominous facts about the Academy and warm, fuzzy friendship scenes between its students that this volume offers.

It helps that Higuchi uses these silly scaffoldings to reveal more about Natsume’s situation at the school. Being classified as a “dangerous” ability-type means that he’s prohibited from participating in the festival, and even as Mikan is orchestrating something that the “special” type can do to show the other students that they aren’t rejects, she’s aware of Natsume’s exclusion. Later, after she and snobby classmate Sumire have gotten themselves kidnapped while trying to save him, she overhears the kidnappers talking about Natsume’s tragic background and the real reason the dangerous class exists: to do the Academy’s dirty work.

My favorite chapter, though, is mostly fluffy. Mean Professor Snape Jinno denies Mikan a visit to Hogsmeade Central Town, an area on the Alice Academy grounds full of shops owned by Alice artisans, but manages to wrangle permission and then puts on a street performance to earn enough money to buy some candy. Put like that, it’s lame, but when she gives the leftovers of her candy to Narumi-sensei to give to her grandfather when he sees him, it means that she’s decided to trust him (despite the warnings from other students that no adult is trustworthy) when he says he’s going to contact her grandfather and let him know that Mikan is okay.

As we learn more about the Academy, Narumi-sensei’s urgings for Mikan to make friends, and how these friends will be her strongest allies at the school, take on a new meaning. We get a nice contrast between scenes where Mikan and Sumire finally seem to have become friends and scenes where Natsume is being urged to do his “duty,” suggesting that this band of kids might be called upon at some point to mount a rebellion. Interesting stuff, indeed!

Gakuen Alice 2 by Tachibana Higuchi: B

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gakuen2From the back cover:
Young Mikan is the newest student at the mysterious and prestigious Alice Academy, where the most talented and powerful students in the country are united, but for what purpose…?

Mikan is officially admitted into Alice Academy, but things still aren’t exactly going smoothly. Natsume still bullies her, her class ranking couldn’t be lower, some of the teachers are outright hostile, and she has been forbidden to contact anyone outside of the school! Will she be able to find true friends at the academy?

Review:
Quite a lot happens in this volume and nearly all of it is interesting. Aside from getting more information about the organization of the school—including the importance of star rankings and ability-type classes (which are totally like Hogwarts’ Houses, by the way)—there are more indications that the adults at the Alice Academy are not to be trusted and that for Mikan to come there of her own free will might’ve been a huge mistake, particularly since she’s being watched because of the Alice of Nullification that she possesses.

Mikan is also improving in the likability department. She still has her annoying moments, but she’s at least trying to be more mature. Hotaru helps, too, chastising Mikan when she’s whining about not being able to see her grandfather and reminding her that everyone else there is enduring the same sort of isolation from their families.

My favorite characters are Natsume and Luca at this point, even though the former is almost always behaving violently. I love Luca because he’s conflicted between loyalty to his friend and his attraction to the more upbeat world-view that Mikan offers. Natsume is appealing because he’s been denied any chance at real camaraderie by being labelled “special” and “dangerous” by the school. What’s more, while everyone’s relaxing after a game of dodgeball that Mikan organized, Natsume is tapped by a professor to go out on an “urgent mission,” further denying him any of the simple joys of childhood.

So, yes, it’s getting better and darker, too. Definitely don’t stop with volume one if you’re interested in this series.

Gakuen Alice 1 by Tachibana Higuchi: B-

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gakuen1From the back cover:
Young Mikan runs away to Tokyo following her best friend, Hotaru, who has been enrolled in an exclusive, secretive private school for geniuses. But it turns out that Alice Acdemy is a lot more than meets the eye. Whether it’s Hotaru’s gift for inventing gadgets, the cranky Natsume’s firecasting ability, or Professor Narumi’s control of human pheromones, everyone at the school has some sort of special talent. But what ability, if any, does Mikan possess? Mikan is going to have to rely on her courage and spunk if she’s going to stay in school, or even stay alive!

Review:
I watched a little bit of the Gakuen Alice anime several years ago, so was familiar with the general premise as well as the events that take place in this volume. I’m not sure why I didn’t go farther with the anime, but I think I might’ve had difficulty with some hurdles that also present themselves in the manga: unlikable characters and too many gags.

Our main character, Mikan, is spazzy and selfish. I might’ve liked her more to start with if Higuchi had resisted the temptation to draw many outlandish reaction gags as Mikan learns more about the Alice Academy and its peculiar occupants. In the second half of the book, while traversing a dangerous patch of woods on campus, Hotaru finally tells Mikan that she needs to stop behaving so childishly. Probably I was supposed to sympathize with the heroine there, but really all I could think was, “Thank you, Hotaru!” Thankfully, Mikan does get more tolerable around that point, as well.

Hotaru has some problems with likability at first, too. We are told that she agreed to go to Alice Academy in exchange for money that she then used to keep the school where she met Mikan financially afloat. She also was cold to Mikan on her last day in an attempt to cause Mikan to forget about her rather than nurture sad memories. That’s well and good, but the problem is that we are told these things and not shown them. It’s not until the second half of the volume that Hotaru actually exhibits some real warmth towards Mikan, even deigning to smile a little when Mikan’s Alice is finally revealed. So far, though, she does seem friendlier in the manga version.

Something that I didn’t pick up on very much in the anime is the hint of something more sinister going on at the school. Natsume is being caused agony by something, though whether it’s the dangerous nature of his powers or something else is not yet revealed, and both he and his friend Luca seem to sport mysterious scars. This is definitely the most intriguing aspect of the story right now.

Gakuen Alice is published in English by TOKYOPOP and seven volumes have been released so far. The series is still ongoing in Japan and eighteen collected volumes have been released as of March 2009.

Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica by Emily Salzfass et al.: C+

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The beginning of Battlestar Galactica’s third season found the majority of what’s left of humanity living on New Caprica, a planet that had seemed like their salvation until the Cylons arrived and the occupation began. Some people joined resistance groups while others collaborated with the enemy to protect themselves and their families. Eventually, they were rescued, though no one lived happily ever after. With the exception of one story taking place during the occupation, the focus of Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica is the effect the experiences of New Caprica have upon the survivors even after the planet is left behind.

“Teacher’s Pet,” story by Emily Salzfass and art by Chrissy Delk, takes place during the occupation. Former president Laura Roslin is working as a teacher and many of her lessons serve as a celebration of the history and culture of the now-destroyed colonies. The Cylons get wind of her curriculum and aren’t at all happy, but Roslin refuses to back down, even as she confronts the possibility that one of her students may be the informant.

Though the climactic moments are a little muddled, “Teacher’s Pet” is the best in the volume. Its tone is appropriately grim and there are moments where character voices seem spot on. One line from Roslin, “I’m a big girl; I can handle risk,” perfectly evokes her calm yet steely resolve. The art is not as successful as the writing, however. Characters are usually recognizable even though they don’t look like much like the actors that portray them (the Eights bear no resemblance to Grace Park, for example) but there was one random schlubby guy that I kept seeing in the resistance meetings that I couldn’t identify. I kept wondering who he was until he finally made an expression I recognized. Who was this mystery man? Chief Tyrol. Hardly a minor character.

“Shelf Life,” story by Richard Hatch (the actor who plays the story’s protagonist) and art by Christopher Schons, is set immediately after the colonists have been rescued from New Caprica. Vice President Tom Zarek is temporarily in control of the government and seeks to exact punishment on collaborators by creating small cells of trusted individuals who will try and execute them. These events do play out in the television series, but here we see more of Zarek’s perspective as well as how his decisions impact his oldest friend.

Some of the dialogue is a little cheesy (“When will we humans ever grow up?”) but the story isn’t bad. I appreciate that some small details from the show are included, such as Chief Tyrol’s tendency to be the last to cast his vote during the trials. Like “Teacher’s Pet,” however, the artist fails to capture many of the actors’ likenesses. For some time I thought they’d got the members of Galactica’s cell (The Circle) wrong because I couldn’t tell two female characters apart. Too, every scene has the same sort of dingy grey look to it, even those taking place on Colonial One (the President’s ship), which has a cleaner and brighter interior than a battlestar.

I found “Visitation,” story by Mike Wellman and art by Anthony Wu, to be the weakest of the three stories. While on New Caprica, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace was held captive by a Cylon and made to believe that her ovaries had been used to create a daughter. She becomes attached to the girl only to run into her actual mother after the evacuation from the planet. Now she encounters the girl again, living in unsavory conditions, and absconds with her.

My objection to the story isn’t that the events are implausible—the show certainly went to the “Starbuck is mentally unstable, does something crazy, and treats those who care about her like crap” well often enough—but because it’s simply a retread of the kind of thing we’ve seen before on the show quite a few times already. “Visitation” also had the strangest art of the lot. I understand an artist wanting to pursue their individual style and all that, but when I’m staring in puzzlement at an unidentifiable, weird-looking, block-headed dude who is then addressed as Helo, played by the undeniably hunky Tahmoh Penikett, then there is a problem.

The bottom line: If you’re a BSG fan who’s missing the show already, you could do worse. I found it kind of nice to revisit these characters at an arguably simpler time.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Suppli 2-3 by Mari Okazaki: A-

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Minami Fujii works in the planning department of an advertising agency. At twenty-eight, she’s still trying to make a name for herself and is known for pulling all-nighters and juggling multiple projects. Mostly, this can be attributed to genuine dedication, though Minami also uses work as a distraction from her turbulent romantic life.

After her boyfriend of seven years breaks up with her and promptly gets married, Minami begins to notice the people around her and makes friends with some of her coworkers. Two of the men are interested in her and, after briefly being tempted by the impulsive Ishida, she ends up choosing Ogi-san, who is still hung up on his ex. After agonizing periods during which she’s convinced that he isn’t interested in her (even though they’ve slept together), they begin officially dating, though things are not as perfect as either would’ve wished. Minami still feels strangely lonely in Ogi-san’s company and the presence of his ex (with whom Minami must work on a project) makes it difficult to be sure of his feelings.

Meanwhile, the rejected Ishida is pursued by another coworker whose plight parallels Minami’s own. Add to this a saucy freelancer, the married producer with whom she’s having an affair, and his lascivious cameraman with an appreciation for Minami’s posterior, and you get quite a tangled web of workplace relationships, infidelity, unhappiness, and insecurity.

This might seem too convoluted to follow, but it’s not really a problem. The focus is primarily on Minami, but does shift at times to the other women characters and their situations. I appreciated seeing what they thought and said about the protagonist, too, particularly the difference between what they were thinking inwardly and what they were actually saying to her face. Another female character of note is the forty-something Hirano, who presents Minami with an example of a woman who has devoted her life to her work and yet has nothing to show for it. Just before being unceremoniously transferred, Hirano gives Minami all the credit for a daring decision, attempting to give a leg up to the girl in whom she sees so much of herself. It’s a truly wonderful moment.

Alas, not all of the workplace action is so terrific. Minami’s many projects are virtually indistinguishable, and the scenes involving them include vague dialogue like, “Let’s feature the product here.” It’d be easier to care about what was going on if more details of a particular project were known, or if one actually succeeded in getting to the commercial production phase. Most of them get derailed by rewrite requests, and it’s frustrating to never see any of Minami’s harried efforts come to fruition. Also, in this office it’s apparently acceptable to skip out on meetings for projects to which you’ve been assigned. Must be nice!

As Katherine pointed out in her review of volume one, the art can be symbolism heavy at times. Women out to snare their men are shown carrying hunting traps, for example, and when Minami is sleeping with Ogi-san, there’s often water nearby, threatening to cover and drown her, much like the welter of feelings she’s experiencing.

I do like a lot of the workplace art, though, particularly how Minami’s scattered thoughts are portrayed. Often, panels of her in work mode are mixed with what is distracting her, like the messy state of her book-strewn desk or memories of an intimate moment with Ogi-san, and sometimes she walks about conducting business while thought bubbles going “jumble jumble” accompany her around. When Minami gets especially frazzled, the art reminds me of Chica Umino’s (Honey and Clover), with scribbly eyes and flailing limbs.

The third volume concludes with Minami and Ogi-san sharing an impromptu casual meal, during which she confides in him her work-related fatigue and finally allows herself to lean on him for support. Not realizing at the time, as the retrospective narration points out, that it was a mistake.

And that’s it! That’s where we will forever languish unless TOKYOPOP resumes publication of this series. Please join us at Manga Recon as we cry, “Save Suppli!”

Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Kare Kano 10 by Masami Tsuda: B-

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From the back cover:
When Maho confesses her true feelings for Takashi, he admits that he’s not the man she thinks he is. With the arrival of winter comes an end-of-semester school trip to Kyoto, where a little love and tenderness just might fill everyone with good memories, glad tidings, and the sweetest of dreams.

Review:
This volume was comprised of three sections that stand alone from the main plotline.

Maho’s Love Story-
The first two chapters were a flashback to when Maho, then a 9th grader, fell in love with a 27-year-old dentist and eventually persuaded him to begin (chastely) dating her. I liked Takashi and his initial reluctance, and at least their relationship isn’t intimate, but it’s freaky to envision them even smooching.

The School Trip-
Yawn. There was more unfunny comedy in this one, featuring a lot of the gang acting obnoxious in public. About the only thing of significance that happened was Yukino and Arima finally deciding to call each other by their first names. They also indulged in a blush fit when their hands accidentally touched, which is so odd for a couple who has had sex. Apparently there has been no follow-up whatsoever.

Act Zero-
I’m a little confused by this, because I don’t know whether it’s supposed to be what actually happened or what Yukino imagines happened. Anyway, this is another flashback, this time to when Yukino and her eventual friends took the entrance exams for their high school. And this brings up a point…

Yukino’s sister Kano laments that she’ll probably never go to the same school as her sister again because she’s not smart enough to get into Hokuei. So how on earth did Tsubasa get in?! This is a girl who leaps out of upstairs windows and eats pine cones! I don’t get it.

These stories were okay, but they weren’t great. They’ve also inspired me to take a bit of a break from this series.

Kare Kano 9 by Masami Tsuda: B

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From the back cover:
The culture festival begins with a bang—Kazuma’s band Yin & Yang rocks the house, and the curtain finally opens on Aya’s play! But not everybody’s mind is on songs and spotlights. Poor Tonami hopelessly pines away over the elusive Tsubaki, who is the kind of woman who loves to be free—even if it means being alone.

Review:
I’m so glad we got to see the entirety of the play! It takes up most of the volume, but winds up having several themes that resonate with Arima and his current crisis, like a lead who’s trying to cover up his imperfections and tells another character, “If you knew the real me, I’m sure even you would hate me.”

The experience of accomplishing something with her friends energizes Yukino and she resolves to start trying other various things and states that she’s no longer going to obsess about being first in the class. Arima sees this as her leaving behind for good the little world that only they two shared. As her voiceover recalls that she truly regrets not hearing his call for help, creepy Arima reappears for the final panel.

Unfortunately, Tsuda-sensei now says that before we get to the meat of the “Arima arc,” we’re going to be treated to some stories featuring the other characters first. Whee.

Kare Kano 8 by Masami Tsuda: B

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From the back cover:
As preparations for the culture festival continue, Soichiro realizes that there are actually two sides to his personality, one that is gentle and giving, and one which is frighteningly violent and possessive. It is a development that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Yukino, and she worries that it will damage their relationship. Meanwhile, Tonami and Tsubaki finally realize that they have fallen in love with each other.

Review:
The back cover blurb has been edited to remove made-up words; it actually says “frightingly.” I also didn’t notice Yukino worrying that Soichiro’s personality issues are going to damage their relationship. All she says is, “Sometimes, I feel like you’re a completely different person. I wonder why.”

Anyhoo, this volume is kind of disjointed because there are so many balls in the air. Tonami is really growing on me as a character; he’s far more interesting in the manga than he was in the anime. In fact, he’s a more developed character than his love interest Tsubaki, and she’s been around longer. The scene in which they admit their feelings for each other would’ve had more of an impact if I could’ve understood how she came to be in love with him, for it’s really not clear.

Arima continues to angst, but there’s a great chapter near the end where a hurricane forces him to stay the night with the Miyazawa family. Feeling Yukino’s presence all around, he sleeps well and without nightmares, even though a storm rages outside. Some things he thinks do have me wondering whether he’s supposed to actually be going crazy or not. It seems possible.

The rest of the volume is occupied by culture festival plans and a boring bonus story whose only redeeming feature is that it doesn’t pair up the two characters I expected it to. In the main story, there are also a few painfully unfunny “comedy” scenes featuring boob-grabbing and Tsubasa inanely jumping out of an upper-story window to glomp on her stepbrother below.

Lastly, I am really peeved at all the untranslated text I’m seeing. TOKYOPOP generally does not translate sound effects, which sucks but is expected, but they’re also not bothering with actual sentences which I then feel compelled to try to look up and make sense of. I’m so glad I managed to learn the kana, or else I’d really be annoyed.

Kare Kano 7 by Masami Tsuda: B

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From the back cover:
The second semester has begun and everyone’s busy with tests, practices, and activities. It’s time to prepare for the culture festival and Yukino has been asked to perform in a futuristic sci-fi play. There’s instant drama when Tonami, a transfer student and old friend of Soichiro, comes back on the scene after three years. Tempers flare and competitive natures run wild.

Review:
This volume is comprised mostly of planning for the play that Yukino and friends are going to be performing at the cultural festival. While not the most riveting fare, this stuff is pretty interesting, because it shows Yukino being great at organization and getting various administrative tasks accomplished. I’m dismayed by how infantalized Tsubasa is in these segments, though.

Initially, there isn’t much fallout from what happened at the end of the previous volume, except one question from Arima to make sure that he didn’t hurt Yukino in any way. Most of the rest of the time, he hangs around looking dejected while she chats with other guy friends of hers. One of these guys is new character Tonami, who has a grudge against one of Yukino’s friends. I’m meh about this story—Yukino’s friend (Tsubaki) is largely unsympathetic now and completely so in the flashbacks—but Tonami is kind of amusing, particularly when he wonders what Arima (his idol back in junior high) is doing going out with such a strange girl. And, okay, the smooch in the tree was sweet.

Right at the end, things get cooler, with Hideaki warning Tonami to keep his distance from Yukino, because Arima is possessive and has a temper. This leads into another visit from Arima’s nightmare self and a genuinely creepy final scene where he encounters Tonami in a darkened corridor and gives him a super evil look. And Yukino has absolutely no idea that all of this darkness is lurking within him.

And yeah, okay, the story could totally get taken over by Arima’s angst, but I still like seeing him be all freaky. It’s certainly the most interesting thing going on in the series currently.

Kare Kano 6 by Masami Tsuda: B

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From the back cover:
It’s not long before Soichiro’s back from a very successful tournament, much to Yukino’s delight. Now they can spend some time with each other before school starts again. Yukino notices that Soichiro’s matured a lot, which stirs up new feelings in her and makes her fall in love with him even more. Soichiro’s feelings for Yukino deepen as well, and he has some difficulties dealing with that and some family issues.

Review:
This volume was strangely unaffecting. Although I loved Yukino’s struggles to confess her feelings to Arima in the first couple of volumes of the series, her problems here with telling him that her feelings have grown and her eventual confession scene just weren’t all that interesting. Arima’s obnoxious family also made an appearance, but their horrible treatment of him came across as unrealistic rather than upsetting.

This was also the volume where Arima and Yukino do the deed. I knew they would, having seen the anime, but it was still so out of the blue story-wise. In one chapter, Yukino was freaking out ‘cos he touched her boob, and just a few days later, they were consummating their relationship. For teen couples, isn’t there usually an interval of gradually intensifying fooling around between these two occurrences?

The aftermath of this event totally reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and what happened after Angel and Buffy slept together. After Yukino had gone home, Arima had a nightmare in which a cruel version of himself showed him an instance of early childhood abuse he suffered. When Arima wondered why he was remembering this, the nightmare him said, “Because you dared to think you could be happy… I’m a part of you. I’m half of who you are on the outside. I’m the shadow under your feet.”

Dun dun dunnnnn.

Kare Kano 5 by Masami Tsuda: B+

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From the back cover:
School’s out! But since Soichiro is going to be away competing in a kendo tournament all summer, he and Yukino are forced to spend their vacation apart. Will their romance be able to survive the separation? Yukino decides to spend her free time hanging out with her gal pals, but soon her friend Tsubasa announces she’s leaving home. Tsubasa’s upset about her father’s plans to get remarried, and freaks out even more when she meets her new brother-to-be. Yukino tries to be there for her friend while still nurturing her relationship with Soichiro from across the miles.

Review:
I liked this volume a bit more than the last one, even though Arima was hardly in it.

The first couple of chapters dealt primarily with Yukino’s new friends and really felt like an entirely different series as a result. Most aren’t completely likeable, but I suppose that makes them good matches for Yukino. Tsubasa’s story about her dad bored me at first, but I was surprised to find that I actually really liked Kazuma, her stepbrother, and enjoyed the chapter where they get to know one another a good deal.

There was also a lot of focus on Yukino’s family, which was cool. We really see her family a lot more than families are seen in the other manga I read. From learning about Tsubasa and Hideaki’s situations at home, she also began to realize that perhaps she hadn’t really understood what kind of a strain Arima’s family situation has put on him. At least the tribulations of the supporting characters actually had some kind of impact on the main couple.

Kare Kano 4 by Masami Tsuda: B+

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From the back cover:
A pretty little girl named Tsubasa, an old friend of Soichiro’s from junior high, comes back to school. When she sees her beloved Soichiro with Yukino, Tsubasa gets extremely jealous and goes on the warpath to try to get Soichiro for herself. Meanwhile Maho, another girl who’s jealous of Yukino, gets all the girls in class to gang up against Yukino and give her the silent treatment. Yukino decides she has to face these problems on her own, without relying on Soichiro…

Review:
I had mixed feelings about this volume. Tsubasa’s jealousy-inspired antics were pretty annoying, and I got rather tired of the time devoted to the anonymous female students as they worked out (through somewhat incomprehensible logic) that one girl had manipulated them into snubbing Yukino due to her own personal vendetta.

That said, there were more nice, quiet moments between the main couple and I was also happy to see Yukino straightforwardly face the consequences of her deception and also start to make some friends. Tsuda totally used Meg Cabot’s trick of giving each prospective friend some kind of hobby or interest, though. It was pretty silly when three girls in turn introduced themselves and their hobby in the same sentence.

This volume also included a short story written early in Tsuda’s career, about a planet of rabbit people and the human political prisoner who crash lands on their planet and then saves their village from a forest fire. No, really. It wasn’t awful, but neither was it particularly good.

Kare Kano 3 by Masami Tsuda: B+

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From the back cover:
Things are going well for Yukino and Soichiro. They have accepted each other for who they are, and have truly become boyfriend and girlfriend. But they’ve been concentrating more on each other than on their schoolwork, and it shows. When the two best students in school suddenly let their grades drop, it draws the attention and concern of one of the teachers. He wants Yukino and Soichiro to break up so they can concentrate on their grades again. And he even calls a dreaded parent-teacher conference to tell their parents his concerns. Will Yukino and Soichiro split up for good?

Review:
This is as far as I got through the manga my first try, but I can’t remember whether that was due to an ebb in the story’s awesomeness or if the rest of the volumes weren’t out yet and I just got so far behind I figured I’d just wait ’til the whole series had been released.

In any case, there’s a real slice-of-life vibe to this volume that is both good and bad. Yukino and Arima share some quiet moments that are quite nice and while I like that they had to face the academic repercussions of spending so much time together, three long chapters on the topic is a bit much. Yukino is also starting to feel the consequences of the other girls in her class realizing she’d been duping them with her perfection act.

Kare Kano is still a very good read, but like any relationship, it’s moving past the opening dramatics and settling into something more comfortable. I’m a little concerned because in the anime, it was soon after this point that the focus drifted from the main couple to the supporting cast (who I found far less interesting). I hope the same isn’t true of the manga.

Kare Kano 2 by Masami Tsuda: A

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From the back cover:
You know that couple who was obviously meant for each other, and everybody knew it, except them? That’s Yukino and Soichiro, the two top students in school, who are capable of anything other than a normal relationship. Still, despite all they’ve been through, it seems they could finally be getting together. But now, the school’s token pretty boy, Hideaki, is intent on wedging himself between them, for reasons they can’t begin to imagine.

Review:
One of the things I am enjoying most about Kare Kano is Tsuda’s innovative use of panels to dramatic effect. Take, for instance, the climax of chapter four. In what I would call one of the classic moments of shoujo manga, Yukino (after several failed attempts) finally reveals her feelings to Arima by silently taking his hand in the middle of a student council meeting. No words are spoken, and what follows are two pages of their facial reactions and then one final page, showing the both of them from behind. I can’t really explain why I love the perspective shift at the end so much, but I really do.

Another thing I like is that if a character is alone somewhere, like in a classroom or waiting outside a movie theatre, there will be a large panel of their environment and superimposed upon it will be tiny panels showing what’s going on in the immediate vicinity—some students laughing down the hall, a quiet patio, a couple meeting up for a date. There’s a lot of sky and clouds in her imagery, too, and though I won’t try to decipher its metaphorical meaning, it makes me realize the opening sequence of the anime was very appropriate. I must also mention the fabulous panel of Yukino’s silhouette against a darkening sky as she pined for Arima.

And, of course, I also like the story. I think I didn’t like the character of Hideaki much when I read this the first time, and now I wonder why that was. My second favorite chapter, after chapter 4, is chapter 7, where we see both Arima and Yukino’s differing perceptions of the same or similar events. Yukino worries she’s not good enough for Arima, and Arima worries he’s too boring in comparison with her, but by the end, they’ve each leant the other some optimism, so they end up reacting identically in a separate conversations with Hideaki. It’s neat.

Kare Kano 1 by Masami Tsuda: A+

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From the back cover:
Yukino Miyazawa has it all—perfect grades, looks, the admiration of her peers. She’s the #1 student at her school… at least she was until he showed up. The new boy, Souchirou Arima, one-ups her in every department. And the worst thing about it is that he’s sincere! With her ego in jeopardy, Yukino will do whatever it takes to regain the spotlight, but falling in love was never part of the plan.

Review:
What with watching the first disc of the anime twice, reading this volume way back in 2003, and rereading it now, I have consumed this portion of the Kare Kano storyline four times. I’ve read many other things in the interim, and I have to say this is still one of the best first volumes I’ve ever come across.

It’s so good it could function as a stand-alone. I didn’t like the anime much by its conclusion, though, and I’ve heard some unflattering comments about the manga, too, so I’m interested to see how I’ll like the bits I’ve not yet read. At the very least, I’ll always have volume one!

There are only three chapters collected in this volume, followed by an unrelated (but cute) short story. My favorite was the second. Arima, who had previously confessed romantic feelings to the “perfect” Yukino but who has since discovered that Yukino is a fraud, uses this knowledge to seemingly blackmail her into completing his student council work for him, which keeps her at school until late every evening.

When she finally tires of it and tells him he can go ahead and tell everyone her secret, a fabulous chase scene through the darkened halls and grounds of the school ensues until Arima finally prevails and reveals that he actually just did it to have an excuse to hang around her. Yukino finds that she’s relieved to learn that he actually does still care about her, and her gradual recognition of her feelings for Arima is very well done.

The other two chapters provide additional background on each of the main leads, though Arima is still kind of hard to figure out at this point. That’s probably because Yukino’s goal is shallow and simple—she wants to feel worshipped—while Arima is actually dealing with some darker family issues.

I really hope I don’t end up as displeased with this series as it seems others have done. For now, it’s hard to imagine that being the case.