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Short Takes: The Big Adventures of Majoko, The Magic Touch and The Manzai Comics

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With the Fourth of July right around the corner, I decided to keep things light and sparkly here at The Manga Critic by reviewing three humorous shojo titles: The Big Adventures of Majoko (UDON Entertainment), an all-ages title about an inept witch; The Magic Touch (VIZ), a comedy about a group of high school students who aspire to be professional masseuses; and The Manzai Comics (Aurora Publishing), a dramedy about a shy young man who becomes half of an Abbott-and-Costello comedy team.

THE BIG ADVENTURES OF MAJOKO, VOL. 1

BY MACHIKO FUJI AND TOMOMI MIZUNA • UDON ENTERTAINMENT • 200 pp. • RATING: KIDS (7+)

Like Fairy Idol Kanon and Ninja Baseball Kyuma!, The Big Adventures of Majoko uses magic and humor to teach kids the importance of telling the truth, doing their best, and treating each other respectfully. The story focuses on Nana, an ordinary eight-year-old, and Majoko, a young witch who’s still learning the ropes when it comes to flying and casting spells. Thanks to a magic diary, Nana can summon Majoko whenever she wishes. The two embark on a variety of missions, from assisting a mermaid to finding a lost necklace, relying on pluck and smarts when Majoko’s magic fails — a frequent occurence. While a few of the stories are didactic, most employ a light touch, keeping the pious sentiments to a minimum and focusing instead on adventure, as the girls battle one-eyed monsters, pursue a rainbow thief, and journey to the bottom of the sea.

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Sarasah, Volume 1

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Sarasah, Vol. 1
By Ryu Rang
Published by Yen Press

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High school student Ji-Hae has an obsessive, long-time crush on her classmate Seung-Hyu. She pursues him relentlessly–so much so that she’s pushed him to the point of utter disgust. When her elaborate birthday scheme (involving an enormous banner, a hall full of floating feathers, and a note reading, “You are mine. You can’t get away.”) finally pushes him to the brink, he accidentally pushes her down the school stairwell to her probable death. Ji-Hae finds herself waking in a new world, where she is told that it is not yet her time to die and that she must return to the living world. Horrified by the prospect of returning to a life of humiliation and unrequited love, Ji-Hae begs to be able to just stay dead, but instead is granted the opportunity to return to a former life–the original source of her discord with Seung-Hyu–to rewrite her soul’s own history in hopes of earning a second chance at love.

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Boys Over Flowers 24 by Yoko Kamio: B

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boysoverflowers24From the back cover:
Tsukushi has been unconscious for two days and wakes up in Tsukasa’s cousin’s home! This terrifying man saved her life and now he’s courting her! What is the secret behind this mysterious cousin who so closely resembles Tsukasa, and what could be the reason for his intense hatred of Tsukasa? Why does Tsukasa not know anything about him?

Review:
I find I’m kind of running out of things to say about this series. Each volume is usually a combination of good scenes between Tsukushi and Tsukasa and silly plot happenings that often border on ludicrous. Volume 24 manages to be pretty decent without much direct interaction between the two leads, at least.

Tsukushi is pursued by a guy who claims to be Tsukasa’s cousin, though he pretty quickly reveals himself (to the reader) to be more than he’s letting on. Tsukushi’s rich friends are suspicious and take it upon themselves to investigate, and though this involves a bunch of mistaken notions about detecting, it’s all still kind of sweet.

The best part of the story at this point is kind of underplayed. Tsukasa has already asked Tsukushi if she’s never once regarded him as just a guy, and seeing a rival version of himself without all the rich boy baggage is bothering him. In an attempt to prove how normal he is, for example, he decides that he is going to travel by train. The experience is almost entirely played for comedy, but there is one moment with Akira where Tsukasa asks, “Akira, I’m not very different from these other guys on the train, am I?” Alas, he doesn’t get the answer he wants.

Once the truth about the cousin is revealed, Tsukushi gets good and fired up and demands to see Kaede. While she’s feeling rebellious, I’d like to see her finally confess her love to Tsukasa, but I have a feeling that’s still several volumes away, at least. Sigh.

Click 5 by Youngran Lee: B-

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Book description:
While Jinhoo doesn’t believe Heewon’s declaration that Joonha is actually a girl, his girlfriend, Hyejin, manages to catch a glimpse of Joonha in his school uniform. Will she share that information with Jinhoo, and risk him leaving her for his former best friend?

Review:
The status quo is upheld in this volume. Not much really happens aside from Hyejin becoming convinced that Joonha is a girl, but because of her own insecurities—we see in a side story about her that she has always felt Jinhoo valued Joonha more than he did her—her first thought is that Jinhoo is going to leave her. I can’t really like Hyejin much, or any of the characters for that matter, but I do have a little bit of sympathy for her, at least.

A diagram of the relationships in this series would be pretty amusing. Here’s how they stand at this point: Joonha is attracted to his/her best friend Jinhoo (who is going out with Hyejin, who hates Joonha), a new friend Taehyun, and a former love interest Heewon (who is now going out with Taehyun’s lackey, Jihan). With whom will Joonha end up?! Seeing as how I can’t stand Heewon at all, I’m really hoping it isn’t her. The pull towards Jinhoo is strong, but I think I actually prefer the idea of Joonha teaming up with Taehyun and getting away from the angst of the past.

In terms of redeeming qualities, Click doesn’t really have a lot aside from its sheer addictive potential. The premise is silly, the story’s kind of stagnating, and I don’t really like anybody, but I still want to know how it all ends.

KimiKiss, Vol. 1

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By Taro Shinonome & Enterbrain, Inc.
Tokyopop, 224 pp.
Rating: 16+

Kouchi and Mao have been friends since childhood, but now that they are in high school, Kouchi is depressed that he hasn’t managed to attract a girlfriend. Mao offers to help him become a “real stud” by teaching him how to be attractive to girls, beginning with lessons in kissing. The lessons start to get a bit steamy, especially after Mao is invited to sleep over with Kouchi’s little sister, resulting in a late-night tryst in Kouchi’s bed. On a later trip to the local pool, Mao really turns up the heat, but when she notices Kouchi talking to another girl, she realizes that her time with him may be over. Fortunately, Kouchi realizes that the girl he really likes is, in fact, Mao, something he finds the courage to tell her just in time.

Based on a PS2 dating sim, it comes as no surprise that the story’s plot is unoriginal and generally predictable. Unfortunately, KimiKiss is even more disappointing than might be expected. The humor is embarrassing (“Heh, heh, your balls are huge!,” Mao says, referring to Kouchi’s riceballs as they picnic by the pool), the art is dull, and even the plentiful fanservice—the series’ one potential draw—is nothing that hasn’t already been thoroughly explored by a thousand 1980s teen films. Following its cardboard characters through pages of generic dialogue and lifeless plot is honestly excruciating, and even the hero’s sweet sincerity is unable to save the day. Overall, KimiKiss is a series best missed.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

The History of the West Wing

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westwingThough its name evokes images of the White House — and maybe even the unctuous Josiah Bartlett — The History of the West Wing is, in fact, an adaptation of a twelfth-century play by the Moliere of China, Wang Shifu.

The story follows Chen Yuqing, a handsome young man who wanders aimlessly from town to town. While staying at a monastery, he hears rumors of a beautiful young girl living in the building’s west wing. Yuqing steals into the temple garden to catch a glimpse of her and is immediately smitten, sending Pianpian an impassioned letter asking her to meet him. The two begin a brief but clandestine courtship, then petition Pianpian’s mother for permission to marry — a request that Madame Ye initially refuses, as Pianpian has been promised to the scion of a prominent family. When bandits kidnap Pianpian, however, Madame Ye appeals to the townsfolk for Pianpian’s safe return, offering her daughter’s hand in marriage as a reward. Yuqing succeeds, only to have Madame Ye qualify her assent by making an additional demand of him: he must earn the highest score on the imperial civil service exam. (For a little historical context, Madame Ye’s demand is a bit like an overzealous parent making a score of 1600 on the SATs a pre-requisite for taking her daughter to the prom.)

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Monday links

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A few quick links for today! First off, I have a review in today’s Manga Minis, for the first volume of Tokyopop’s KimiKiss. This was a fairly depressing read and the best I can think of to say about it is that it is too bland to be offensive. It breaks my heart that this is the kind of manga Tokyopop is putting money into nowadays, while more deserving works languish in cancellation limbo. I realize that sales are (and must be) the driving force behind it all, but really, this? I read the story synopsis of the game it is based on, and it sounded more interesting than the manga. That’s pretty sad.

Secondly, don’t miss my reviews from the weekend! Yuri Monogatari is a fantastic look at lesbian comics from across the globe and a must-read for female comics fans, and Children of the Sea is a gorgeous, thoughtful supernatural mystery story nobody should miss out on.

Looking at this week’s shipping news (thanks, Kate Dacey), I see we have yet another adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time coming our way–this time of the animated film. I must admit I’m fan enough of this story to be interested in more, so I’ll probably be looking to pick that up. It might be interesting to compare it to CMX’s The Girl Who Runs Through Time, which I own but have never reviewed.

Lastly, please read Erica Friedman’s post at Ozaku where she discusses the “Girls Read Comics” project that was developed recently via Twitter as a response to some of the deeply sexist press revolving around Comic Con this year. This is a very exciting project and I’ll be advertising it more here when there is more to advertise, but if you’re interested in participating, especially as an artist, please read Erica’s post and contact project organizer Deb Aoki ASAP!

Papillon 3 by Miwa Ueda: B-

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papillon125Ageha grew up in the shadow of her beautiful twin sister, Hana, but lately, with the help of her school counselor, Ichijiku-sensei, she’s been gaining confidence. As volume three begins, Ichijiku and Ageha have begun dating, but it doesn’t last long, as devious Hana dupes Ichijiku into believing she’s Ageha and behaves obnoxiously on a date, causing him to call off the relationship. He eventually figures things out, but getting dumped (even mistakenly) is fuel for Ageha’s insecurities, and more drama ensues. Hana, meanwhile, continues to impersonate her sister, using that guise to test her boyfriend’s fidelity.

Papillon has some pretty significant problems. In this volume, for example, it’s completely ridiculous that Ichijiku does not recognize Hana for who she is. She dresses differently, addresses him informally, doesn’t respond to the nickname he’s given Ageha, and behaves like a selfish wench. Ageha and Hana’s boyfriend also fall victim to her tricks without hesitation. With everyone being so incredibly easy to manipulate, I find myself actually rooting for Hana!

The main problem, though, is that I just can’t cheer on the budding relationship between Ageha and Ichijiku because he is a school counselor and she is a student. When Hana’s ruse prompts him to suddenly become a stickler for the rules and declare that a relationship between them is impossible, I think he’s actually making the right call.

Despite these complaints, though, Papillon still somehow manages to be an entertaining read. Part of it is the art, which is quite attractive, and part of it is Hana. I simply must see what deceitful plan she’ll come up with next.

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

Yuri Monogatari, Volume 6

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Yuri Monogatari, Vol. 6
Published by ALC Publishing

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Yuri Monogatari, now in its sixth volume, is an anthology of short comics featuring lesbian life and love, special in both its unity of theme and diversity of art. Written and drawn by artists from across the globe, the vast differences in style and storytelling could easily create a fractured feel over the length of the volume, but instead there is the sense that there is simply something for everyone. Though there were certainly stories that appealed to me less than others, no story was easily pigeonholed from the beginning and I found that I ended up really enjoying some stories much more than I would have expected based only on a first glance at the artwork.

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Children of the Sea, Volume 1

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Children of the Sea, Vol. 1
By Daisuke Igarashi
Published by Viz Media

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Though summer has just begun, Ruka’s temper has gotten her kicked off her handball team, leaving her with nothing to do. Taking the train to Tokyo on a whim, she encounters a young boy at the ocean who seems to intuitively understand her thoughts. When the boy turns up later at the aquarium where her father works, she discovers that he was one of two young boys found swimming with a herd of dugongs, by whom they had most likely been raised. Though she tells her mother she is still attending handball practice, Ruka continues to return to the aquarium to see the boy, Umi, and eventually her father gives her the job of entertaining Umi (and his less friendly brother, Sora) as “punishment” for her behavior. As she spends time with the boys, Ruka finds out that they have experienced the same strange sight she did as a young child–a fish that turned into light and disappeared before her eyes–something they call the “ghost of the sea.” Drawn to these boys and to the mysterious world of the sea, Ruka’s long, strange summer truly begins.

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