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Only By Chance

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Original text by Betty Neels
Art by Chieko Hara
Harlequin K.K./SOFTBANK Creative Corp., 126 pp.
Rating: YA (16+)

Henrietta Cowper is a low-level assistant to an insufferable physician at a London hospital. Adam Ross-Pit is a well-respected surgeon at the same facility. When Henrietta falls ill in the middle of her shift, Adam forces her into an extended hospital stay, ultimately resulting in the loss of her apartment and her job. Feeling responsible, he steps in to take care of her cats and ends up finding her housing and a new job as well—as a tour guide in a large manor near his country home. Though Henrietta and Adam are each drawn to one another, their social stations place them worlds apart. Is it possible for two gentle souls like these to overcome societal barriers?

Very little happens over the course of this manga, but that’s actually what makes it work so well. While more ambitious stories fall to pieces under the constraints of manga adaptation, this simple, quiet romance slips perfectly into place with no obvious cuts or awkward shifts in tone. There’s no real drama here—no true villains or any genuine conflict. The romance is inevitable but lazily pleasant, like sunlight on a Sunday morning or a cat stretching out after a long nap. Do these comparisons sound ridiculous? They’re not. If you’re now picturing a lazy cat stretching in the sun, you’re actually right on track.

Betty Neels’ protagonists are sweet in an vintage sort of way, reminiscent of the quieter characters of Louisa May Alcott or L.M. Montgomery, perfectly matched by Chieko Hara’s old-fashioned shojo character designs. The art is a real highlight of this volume overall, especially in terms of pacing and emotionally rich imagery. Though the lettering is as sloppy as all the books in this series, its stodgy font choice actually feels rather appropriate.

Though Only By Chance delivers neither high drama nor epic romance, this gentle little love story is truly a breath of fresh, spring air.

Only By Chance is available now at eManga.com. Review access provided by the publisher

Honor’s Promise

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Original text by Sharon Sala
Art by Esu Chihara
Harlequin K.K./SOFTBANK Creative Corp., 125 pp.
Rating: YA (16+)

Though still mourning the recent loss of her mother, Honor O’Brien strives to keep her mother’s memory alive by caring for the restaurant she started after the death of her husband. When a young man from Colorado sweeps into town and sweeps Honor off her feet, she’s surprised to find herself experiencing real happiness alongside such fresh grief. She’s even more surprised to discover that the man she’s fallen for so quickly is actually in town to deliver a rather appalling truth about her own origins. Can Honor truly find love with the man whose job it is to tear down everything she’s ever known?

This manga starts out strong, easily establishing a believable whirlwind romance between Honor and her out-of-town suitor, Trace, as well as a solid foundation for Honor herself, including her close relationship with her mother and their restaurant’s built-in “family.” If Honor’s surroundings don’t exactly feel like Texas, they do feel like home and all the things (wonderful and hurtful) that go with it. Less well-developed are the story’s antagonists—long-lost relatives threatened by Honor’s arrival into their lives—which keeps the volume’s dramatic climax from truly packing a punch. The greatest sacrifice made in the name of single-volume romance, however, is the lack of time allotted to Honor’s grief after Trace’s revelation, which robs her of an opportunity to achieve real depth.

Though DMP’s adaptation suffers from stunningly sloppy lettering—pages and pages of square blocks of text artlessly pasted over rounded speech balloons—the visual storytelling is quite effective. Honor, in particular, is expressively drawn, which plays a large role in her believability, especially in the beginning.

Though the manga’s middle chapters are too rushed to support the story as well as they might in prose, Honor’s Promise is a sweet, dramatic, genuinely poignant romance.

Honor’s Promise is available at eManga.com. Review access provided by the publisher.

Otomen 5 by Aya Kanno: B

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Otomen is the story of Asuka Masamune, a manly-seeming boy who harbors a secret love for “girly” pursuits like cooking and sewing. In this volume, his tomboyish girlfriend, Ryo, is picked to represent the second-year students in the school’s Ideal Woman competition, and draws on things she’s learned from Asuka in order to meet the challenge.

The third chapter focuses on Juta, who is secretly a shojo mangaka, and his attempt to protect the dreams of his fans who would be crushed to learn their favorite series is penned by an indolent playboy. The fourth sees the return of the Beauty Samurai, an awesome sentai duo (Asuka and fellow otomen and makeup expert, Tonomine) that beats up bad guys and gives makeovers!

As in previous installments, this volume offers episodic comedy with a decidedly silly bent. All of the stories within share the common theme of identity, too, whether it’s Ryo deciding that she really ought to know how to cook and sew (Asuka assures her she’s fine the way she is), Juta struggling to maintain his anonymity, or Asuka and Tonomine finding a covert outlet for their skills while living in fear of disappointing a parent. Kanno’s light touch ensures the feel remains light and fun, but it’s nice that there are deeper things one can read into it if one chooses.

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

Otomen 3-4 by Aya Kanno: B

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These two volumes, although mostly comprised of one-shot chapters with silly plots (Kanno writes that she’s trying to hit all the major shoujo clichés), still manage to introduce two new characters and elevate the status of Ryo and Asuka’s relationship to “officially dating,” though that doesn’t result in any changes in the way they interact.

Volume three begins with Asuka agreeing to help Ryo out at a daycare center. He fully intends to lead the kids “in a manly manner,” but they soon tire of meditation and calligraphy. Eventually, he wins them over with fancy snacks and earns the love of a motherless boy who wants Asuka to fill that role.

An amusement park date’s next on the agenda (complete with dynamite-toting crazy), followed by a chapter about Juta’s family. The final chapter of the volume introduces Tonomine, Asuka’s kendo rival, who instantly becomes my favorite character. He, too, was forced to squelch his love for a traditionally feminine pursuit—he’s a genius beautician—and Asuka helps draw him out with a display of his own sewing prowess.

In volume four, Asuka helps Ryo’s dad understand girls just in time for his daughter’s birthday, then discovers a secret garden at school that’s been lovingly tended by a hulking fellow named Kurokawa. After Asuka reassures Kurokawa that loving flowers is not wrong, he proceeds to be subtle comic relief for the rest of the volume, surreptitiously sneaking up on beautiful people and “adorning” them with flowers.

When summer vacation rolls around, Asuka’s dreams of a beach date with Ryo (which awesomely involve riding dolphins) are stymied when he’s drafted to help with the business of a classmate’s uncle (a shoujo cliché I’ve seen a couple of times). This turns into a multi-episode tale of snack shack rivalry, complete with swimming challenges and displays of Asuka’s, Tonomine’s, and Kurokawa’s hidden talents. And, yes, there is a dolphin.

As you can see, the plots are nearly always extremely silly, bordering on ridiculous. The fact that this is obviously intentional makes it much more amusing than it would be in a series where the creator was genuinely trying to get away with stuff like this. I enjoy the cast a lot, and even though it’s clear that the plot is not going anywhere any time soon, Otomen is still a fun read. I liken it to Ouran High School Host Club in this regard, actually. I’m generally not one for episodic stories, but there’s a charm in both of these series that keeps me coming back.

Review copy for volume three provided by the publisher.

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 2

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By Yuki Midorikawa
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

In this volume, Natsume is coerced into attending a school-sponsored “haunted challenge,” only to discover that one of his classmates (who suspects his abilities) wants his help to communicate with a yokai . Next, he falls prey to a curse that he can’t break without supernatural assistance. Later, he meets another human with his abilities and also becomes possessed by a yokai with a final, desperate wish.

Though this volume focuses less on Natsume’s quest to return all the names in the “Book of Friends,” that’s actually not a bad thing at all. Each of the chapters in this installment of the series is more touching than the last, which is saying a lot considering that the first chapter begins with Natsume pouring water on a dehydrated yokai collapsed in the middle of the road.

Unlike his grandmother, Reiko, Natsume is slowly developing bonds with his fellow humans, but he’s also forging relationships with yokai that are much more genuine than Reiko ever bothered with. While she ruled over yokai with the power of the Book, Natsume reaches out to them with genuine affection, struggling to understand how the yokai‘s wants and priorities might differ from his own. This deceptively simple lesson in learning to value things outside one’s own experience is subtly and effectively presented, with the same gentleness that has characterized the series thus far. The series’ humor is a highlight in this volume as well, providing much-needed contrast to its forthright sentimentality.

Though the series’ structure is still rigidly episodic, Natsume’s character development is satisfying enough to easily keep up the story’s momentum. Natsume’s Book of Friends remains one of this year’s best shojo surprises!

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

ZE 4 by Yuki Shimizu: C+

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It’s maintenance time for the kami who serve the kotodama users of the Mitou family, which provides an opportunity to introduce some members of the extended family.

Volume three dealt primarily with the couple of Genma and Himi, an arc that carries over into the first few chapters of this volume. Himi, who had once been the kami of Genma’s father, protects his new master from an attack and “dies” as a result of his injuries. Genma is frantic to have him resurrected, but has trouble adjusting to the new Himi, who has the appearance of the original but none of his memories. I’d have more sympathy for Genma if he hadn’t been such a creep to Himi in the previous volume, but at least this is better than what follows.

After Himi’s maintenance is complete we meet a pair of extremely obnoxious twins and the kami they share. This whole episode—intended to be comedy, one assumes—is jarring because it doesn’t mesh at all with what’s just come before.

I seriously think the twins appear only because Shimizu wanted to draw a threesome, which is an example of ZE’s main problem. I’ve lost count of the characters who’ve appeared in this series so far, and it seems like mangaka Yuki Shimizu is focusing on variety rather than fleshing out any of the characters who’ve been present from the start. The guy who goes crazy for ice cream is still just the guy who goes crazy for ice cream, and nobody else seems poised to grow, either.

There were hints in earlier volumes of a larger story, and maybe those threads will be picked up again in the future, but I’m certainly not holding my breath.

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

Ristorante Paradiso

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Oh, Natsume Ono, I just can’t quit you! I was not wild about not simple, but try as I might, I couldn’t dismiss you as just another overrated indie artist. I couldn’t shake the memory of how I felt when I read the first few chapters of House of Five Leaves — that incredible sensation of discovering a new voice with something fresh to say, of having my love for manga validated all over again. So I picked up Ristorante Paradiso with high hopes. I’m happy to report I felt butterflies and excitement, just like the first time, and am firmly back on Team Ono.

Not that you didn’t test my patience — those first twenty pages were a slog, filled with the kind of amateurish moments that I might expect in a freshman effort. We learn that Casetta dell’Orso is popular because a character says it is; that the waiters are handsome because a character comments on how good-looking they are; that the loyal female clientele comes for the help not the food, again, because a character states it as a fact. In short, you have a bad case of telling instead of showing, of not trusting your artwork to demonstrate the restaurant’s popularity or the studliness of the wait staff. I nearly demanded the check.

Then something wonderful happened: the characters began to interact with each other, and in their impassioned conversations, we began to appreciate who they were, what drew them into the restaurant’s orbit, and why they seem stuck in certain unhappy, unfulfilling roles. Olga, the heroine’s mother, provides an instructive example. In the first few pages of the book, we witness a tense exchange between Olga and Nicoletta, the daughter she abandoned. Nicoletta, now twenty-one, has shown up on her mother’s doorstep demanding to be acknowledged, something Olga refuses to do out of fear that her current husband will leave her. It seems like you were stacking the deck against Olga, Ms. Ono, as Olga initially comes off as a dreadful Mommie Dearest who’s so committed to protecting her own interests that she initiates an elaborate charade to conceal Nicoletta’s identity. But then you slowly reveal how other people see Olga, as a vibrant, intelligent, giving woman who radiates warmth and charm. You help us understand that Olga is both a lousy, selfish mother and a loving wife to her second husband, two roles she struggles to reconcile. That we finish the book feeling sympathy for daughter and mother is testament to your storytelling skills and your obvious affection for your characters.

Your artwork, like your grasp of character, is stronger and more assured in Ristorante Paradiso than it was in not simple. As we watch the waiters moving through Casetta dell’Orso, for example, it’s easy to see why the female clientele swoons: the male characters have strong, distinctive faces that leave a lasting impression. They’re not conventionally handsome, but those faces have a wonderful, lived-in look that’s inviting and alluring — think of Alan Rickman, William Powell, or Marcello Mastroianni, not the smoothly perfect bishonen we’re so accustomed to seeing in manga. When Olga explains her attraction to Lorenzo, her husband, the artwork supports what she says: he’s drawn not as a fantasy object, but as a rugged, bearlike man whose virility is obvious even though his body and face are beginning to soften in middle age.

Put simply, Ms. Ono, you won my heart back. I found Ristorante Paradiso an engaging story filled with complicated, true-to-life characters who I enjoyed getting to know. It was a welcome departure from the emotional torture-porn of not simple, and a promise of good things to come: Gente and House of Five Leaves.

Nabari No Ou, Vol. 3

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Nabari No Ou, Vol. 3
By Yuhki Kamatani
Published by Yen Press
Rated: Older Teen


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After making his deal with Miharu, young Yoite returns to the Grey Wolves with philosophical matters on his mind. Meanwhile, the Togakushi Village ninja (who maintain a front as an employment agency) approach the Banten to offer their forbidden art scroll in exchange for the assassination of a prominent scientist. Though the Banten are inclined to refuse, the Togakushi leader’s talent for mind-reading forces them to accept the job.

Volume two may have begun slowly, but this one does not follow suit. Tension is high with everyone’s secrets on the line, including several that remain a mystery even to readers. The most damning, of course, is Kumohira’s, the revelation of which would likely set Miharu against the Banten forever. Not that that Miharu is clearly with the Banten in the first place. Though he’s expressed the desire to protect his friends, in this volume he also teases Kumohira with the hint that he may decide to use the Secret Art rather than banish it–a possibility Kumohira seems to take seriously for the first time.

This volume’s major event–the assassination plot–is its least interesting element, overwhelmed by the growing collection of small psychological dramas surrounding it. Almost nobody is telling the real truth to anyone else, a reality made crystal clear by the fact that Miharu and Yoite, who are ultimately working for opposite sides, are behaving more honestly with each other than any of the story’s official allies.

This is not to suggest that the scenes involving the assassination are lacking. It is, in fact, during these scenes that some of the most intriguing action occurs, including Koichi’s ninjitsu presentation at a student physics event. With this increasingly layered approach, volume three is easily the most mature of the series so far, though it comes at a cost. As the story becomes more complex, it also loses some of its focus. For the moment, this is a good thing. Right now, the scattered feel of the series reflects the scattered loyalties of its characters, which is actually pretty powerful. It takes very little, however, for a deliberate lack of focus to morph into a Great Big Mess, something Kamatani will hopefully avoid. Additionally, the series’ humor–originally one of its strongest points–is noticeably reduced in this volume.

One small production note: Yen appears to have made a switch in paper for this volume, moving to a slightly thinner, less bright stock. Though I only noticed the change once I had volumes two and three sitting side-by-side, more vigilant print geeks than I are bound to catch on faster.

Minute paper issues aside, Nabari No Ou continues to intrigue, with a deliciously suspenseful ending sure to keep fans on edge as we await the next volume.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

ZE 3 by Yuki Shimizu: C+

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From the back cover:
When a kotodama-sama dies, his or her kami-sama—a healer made of living paper—typically chooses to die as well, returning to a blank state as “hakushi.” But when Himi’s master passes away, a deep sense of obligation forces him to choose another path. Instead, Himi becomes kami-sama for his master’s estranged son, Genma.

Genma is everything Himi’s former kotodama-sama was not—rough, arrogant, brutish—and furthermore, Genma enjoys using Himi for his own selfish pleasure. Is this more torment than Himi can endure? Or will he come to realize that different people show their true feelings in different ways?

Yuki Shimizu delves deeper into the Mitou family in this latest volume of her hit series!

Review:
ZE‘s focus on the members of a family full of magic users and their same-sex attendants allows mangaka Yuki Shimizu to change gears and feature other couples as she sees fit. While the opening volumes were more about the residents of a particular house, volume three branches out to the extended family with the tale of Himi, a kami, and Genma, the new master he receives after his old one dies. I can see the appeal of such a setup, as it allows Shimizu to present a variety of relationship types, but must admit that Himi and Genma’s tale does not thrill me.

There are certain moments between them that are quite nice. The revelation that Genma, the son of Himi’s original master, felt a combination of desire for and envy of Himi since his adolescence provides depth for a character who otherwise comes across as sadistic, and the cliffhanger on the final pages is both well paced and very well drawn. The majority of the time, though, their relationship consists of Genma demanding that his every sexual need be met and refusing to heed Himi’s protests. At least one scene could be construed as rape. This isn’t necessarily portrayed as being a romantic thing—Himi’s reactions are sometimes quite awful—but I get the feeling we’re supposed to feel like Genma has redeemed himself by the end, after a coworker vouches for his kindliness and he begins to actually confirm that Himi consents to what’s going on.

It’s really quite disturbing and I feel kind of bad that I’m not giving the volume a lower score as a result, but I continue to enjoy Shimizu’s intriguing world building and her expressive art. Volume four is more of Himi and Genma’s story, and I hope I’ll like it better now that they seem to have established a little more equality in their relationship. We shall see.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

DMP rescues Finder

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Twitter is a-buzz this evening with licensing news from the folks at Digital Manga, who have announced the rescue of Finder, a popular series previously held by the now-defunct Central Park Media. Here’s the official press release:

Gardena, CA (3/11/10)– Digital Manga Publishing and Libre Shuppan are proud to announce the licensing of the Finder Series by Ayano Yamane! The Finder series has been one of the most heavily requested series from our readers, and has been considered by fans of the yaoi genre to be the quintessential yaoi title. From one of Japan’s top-selling yaoi mangaka, Ayano Yamane, DMP is proud to release the Finder series beginning with volume one in the summer of 2010 under the June’ imprint. For more information, news updates, and to keep on top of all things Finder, visit the Finder website at www.finderseries.com!

From our friends at Libre Shuppan:

We are pleased to announce that Kazuma Kodaka’s KIZUNA-絆- and Ayano Yamane’s Finder Series, both of which were previously licensed by Central Park Media, are now acquired by Digital Manga Publishing (DMP). For these series, all volumes will be newly translated and will be published under DMP’s June imprint. Finder Series is set to be released in Summer of 2010 and Kizuna is scheduled for September of 2010.

For further inquiries regarding this matter, feel free to contact us at rights@libre-pub.co.jp or Digital Manga Inc, at contact@emanga.com We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading our books and for your continued support.

———-

FINDER VOL. 1: TARGET IN THE VIEWFINDER, Rated M+ (for ages 18+), MSRP: $13.95, Available: SUMMER 2010, SIZE: B6, June’ Imprint

While out on assignment trying to document the illegal activities of the Japanese underworld, photographer Takaba crosses paths with the dark and mysterious leader Asami. Asami takes Takaba captive, in an attempt to subjugate and possess him. But when the son of the Chinese mafia enters demanding evidence that Takaba may have, will Takaba be able to survive being caught in the crosshairs of a deadly underworld feud?

Stepping on Roses, Vol. 1

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Stepping on Roses, Vol. 1
By Rinko Ueda
Published by Viz Media
Rated T+ (Older Teen)


Buy This Book

Sumi Kitamura is in a bind. Her older brother (a happy-go-lucky male escort with a gambling problem) has a habit of bringing home orphaned children for her to take care of. Unfortunately, what he rarely brings home is money. With the landlady looming and loan sharks at her door, Sumi decides to sell herself in order to keep her family alive and together. The buyer is Soichiro Ashida, a wealthy, jaded young man who must marry immediately in order to inherit his grandfather’s business empire. Soichiro promises Sumi all the money she needs in exchange for her hand in (loveless) marriage. Desperate, Sumi agrees, but is she really prepared to give up everything she loves for a the life of a lonely society wife?

When it comes to frothy romance manga, there are allowances most readers are always prepared to make. Realism? Unnecessary. Depth? Optional. Cliché? Bring it on! In return, these readers ask for just one thing: Romance–heart-stopping, unrestrained, no holds barred romance. Unfortunately, though Stepping on Roses takes full advantage of its readers’ generosity, it fails to deliver on its end of the bargain.

Though Sumi and Soichiro are positioned perfectly for their roles as the plucky commoner and guarded aristocrat who unexpectedly find love while trapped in a marriage of convenience, neither is interesting enough for them to develop any real chemistry. Soichiro is cold and controlling like so many of his ilk, but without any real sense of mystery with which to attract readers, let alone Sumi. Meanwhile, Sumi is bland, dense, and surprisingly shallow–more distraught over having lost out on a chance with Soichiro’s charming best friend than she is about the family she left behind (or even the calculated erosion of her individuality). Gags involving Sumi’s lack of social refinement repeatedly fall flat. And without any context provided for the story’s Meiji Era setting, it’s hard to know what conclusion to draw when her ignorance of western manners and customs is characterized as near-barbarianism.

Rinko Ueda’s artwork, a highlight of her series Tail of the Moon, feels tired and lifeless here. The work is nicely detailed and generally attractive (especially its period settings and dress), but offers little character or passion, much like the story itself. Even opportunities to engage readers in the unique dynamics of the period, visually or otherwise, are passed by with little enthusiasm.

Though it’s tempting to hope that subsequent volumes may offer something more to grab onto, even dedicated fans of romance manga may find their optimism hanging by a string. With all its trappings carefully in place, Stepping on Roses simply lacks heart.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Shirley

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At first glance, Shirley looks like a practice run for Emma, a collection of pleasant, straightforward maid stories featuring prototype versions of William, Eleanor, and Emma. A closer examination, however, reveals that Shirley is, in fact, a series of detailed character sketches exploring the relationships between three maids and their respective employers. And while some of these sketches aren’t entirely successful — Kaoru Mori cheerfully describes one as “an extremely cheap story about a boy and an animal” — the five chapters focusing on thirteen-year-old Shirley Madison and her independent, headstrong employer are as good as any passage in Emma.

That employer is twenty-eight-year-old Bennett Cranley, a smart, resourceful beauty. Though Bennett comes from a proper Victorian family, she deflects talk of marriage, instead taking pleasure in single-handedly running her own tavern. Of course, finding time to clean house and cook meals is a challenge when you spend most of the day on the job, so Bennett does what many of us working gals wish we could do: she advertises for a maid. The sole applicant is Shirley Madison, a neat, quiet girl who has no family and no home, but does have experience dusting, sewing, and baking “tipsy cake” — the deciding factor for Bennett, who hires Shirley on the spot.

What follows are five vignettes depicting Shirley and Bennett’s day-to-day life. The best of these, “Little Marie,” begins with Bennett purchasing a porcelain doll for Shirley. At first, Bennett frets that the doll was “too childish” a gift, as Shirley’s muted reaction registers as indifference. Later that evening, however, Bennett stumbles across Shirley hard at work on a dress for her new doll. In Shirley’s violent embarrassment at being discovered, we see hints that she’s been ill-treated throughout her working life, denied the opportunity to indulge in childish pleasures, while in Bennett’s calm response, we see the gentle, motherly woman beneath her bold public persona; she refrains from criticizing Shirley, instead praising the girl for her “fashion sense” and sewing skills. The final panels of “Little Marie” are an effective coda to their exchange, showing us the degree to which Shirley idolizes her employer; a faint smile passes across the girl’s lips as she gazes at the doll, rehearsing Bennett’s words in her mind.

Not all of the stories collected in this volume are as effective as “Little Marie.” The two stand-alone chapters, “Me and Nellie One Afternoon” and “Mary Banks,” both feel unfinished, a point underscored by Mori’s own refreshingly candid postscript. She notes that a suitor introduced in the beginning of “Me and Nellie” vanishes just a few pages into the story, never to be seen again (“my brain couldn’t handle two plotlines at once,” she explains), while one of the main characters in “Mary Banks” was inspired by… The A-Team. No, really: Mori claims that Sir Burton, an ornery trickster who booby-traps his house, was modeled on “Sean Connery mixed with a little of the A-Team’s Hannibal. It’s very clear where I got the pranks from.” Clio is a peculiar muse indeed!

Like the storylines, the artwork in Shirley and Emma appears similar, right down to the character designs; in her glasses and tidy bun, Nellie is the spitting image of the bespectacled Emma. Comparing the two works side by side, however, it quickly becomes obvious just how much denser Emma‘s artwork is. Emma‘s layouts are richly detailed, conveying the Victorian passion for things — for overstuffed drawing rooms, heavily patterned drapes, and richly embroidered gowns — while Shirley‘s spare layouts draw more attention to the characters’ interior states than to the material trappings of their daily lives.

Mori certainly draws her share of parlors, libraries, and kitchens in Shirley, though she often jettisons the background details after establishing the setting, preferring instead to focus on her characters’ faces, hands, and posture. In one of the most effective sequences in the volume, for example, Shirley waits for her mistress to return from a night on the town. Though Mori depicts Shirley perching on a chair and peering out a window, most of the images focus tightly on Shirley’s face: first as she anticipates Bennett’s arrival, then as she joyfully greets her, and then as she shrinks away, uncertain of how to read Bennett’s stern demeanor. The two barely exchange a sentence, yet in Shirley’s crestfallen expression and slumped shoulders, we again see Bennett as Shirley does, as a powerful, glamorous figure whose approval she craves.

CMX obviously licensed Shirley with an eye towards pleasing Emma fans, yet Shirley also works on its own terms; if anything, folks reluctant to commit to a ten-volume series, or who roll their eyes at the prospect of a manga-fied Forsythe Saga, may find this lovely, understated collection more to their liking than the melodramatic saga of William and Emma’s forbidden romance. Highly recommended.

This essay is part of the Moveable Manga Feast, a virtual book club that examines a different manga each month. This month’s MMF is being hosted by Matt Blind of Rocket Bomber; click here to view the full list of contributions.

Phantom Dream 5 by Natsuki Takaya: B

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In this, the final volume of Phantom Dream, the millennium-long battle between the Gekka and Otoya families comes to a close. Before this can happen, we learn all about the villain’s painful background and what really happened 1000 years ago. Unfortunately, the authorial sidebars spoil one major plot twist (it would’ve been nice if there had been a spoiler warning), but luckily fail to ruin the best revelation of all, one which was actually set up three volumes ago. Overall, the conclusion is a satisfying one and I surprised myself by sniffling a few times.

That said, a few things did bother me. As a child, Hira (the villain) was forced to endure many years of imprisonment because of his powers and demonic appearance (that’s him on the cover). At various points, the length of his incarceration is stated as ten years, fifteen years, and nearly ten years. I’m not sure whether this is the fault of the original material or the translation, but it’s a distracting inconsistency. Also, the motivations of an antagonist are unclear; I found it hard to reconcile their past actions with their present ones.

Phantom Dream certainly improved as it progressed; while it was initially hard to see how the same hand could have produced this and the lovely Fruits Basket, by the end the connection is clear. While I didn’t like Takaya’s other early series, Tsubasa: Those with Wings, enough to hang onto it after I’d finished, this one is a keeper.

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

Phantom Dream 4 by Natsuki Takaya: B-

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From the back cover:
Eiji’s life hangs in the balance as factions once again shift and realign. Asahi struggles with her new powers and guilt over what happened in the past, while Tamaki strives to control the continuing outbreak of chaos in the present. And a mysterious new figure emerges to join the battle, but is he an ally or an enemy?!

Fruits Basket creator Natsuki Takaya delivers a story of love, loss and the redemptive power of forgiveness in this heartbreaking story of star-crossed lovers bound by a responsibility that may destroy them.

Review:
Say what you will about shounen manga, the fact remains that they know how to stage a battle. Even conflicts with minor foes tend to last a couple of chapters, allowing one to fully appreciate the scope of the event. Contrast this with Natsuki Takaya’s treatment of the showdown between our hero, Tamaki Otoya, and King Hira, the villain with a grudge against humanity for murdering his true love a thousand years ago. Here’s how the fight goes down:

1. Someone holds a glowing finger aloft.
2. King Hira falls down.
3. The end.

Despite the fact that this is entirely underwhelming, the series still could and should have ended here, as we get some nice scenes of Hira-induced chaos and decent resolution regarding Asahi’s motives for defecting to the other side. While not technically dead, Hira is left with only two attendants, one of whom is more devoted to her fellow servant than to the king himself.

Unfortunately, the story will continue for one more volume. It’ll probably be padded out with more of Takaya’s attempts to get us to care about the one-sided loves of the supporting characters, but events just move too swiftly in this series for any of these people to make much of an impression.

In the end, Phantom Dream is a decent story with occasionally compelling moments, but is overall more notable for what it could have been than for what it really is.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Reading Club, Vol. 1

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Reading Club, Vol. 1
By Cho Ju-Hee & Suh Yun-Young
Published by Udon Entertainment
Rated: Older Teen (16+)


Buy This Book

Eun-Sae is thrilled when dreamy bookworm Kyung-Do asks her to volunteer with him to clean up their school library. Unfortunately, a couple of surprises await her as she takes on this new task. Though Kyung-Do is clearly interested in reading everything in the library’s sprawling collection, he shows very little enthusiasm for actually organizing the place. Secondly, the collection includes a book with some sinister supernatural qualities that may have played a part in several tragic deaths, including that of Kyung-Do’s father. Can Eun-Sae save Kyung-Do from meeting the same fate?

Reading Club is billed as “Korea’s first horror comic for girls,” and while I can’t speak to the accuracy of that statement, I can vouch for it being very effectively geared to its target audience. The first volume favors story over romance, but with an intimate feel reminiscent of the plotty romance novels that drew me in most as a teen, like Mary Stewart’s Touch Not the Cat or The Gabriel Hounds. Her stories were always favorites of mine, marrying heart-stopping fear and heart-pounding romance, all experienced through the tight POV of her sophisticated heroines. Though Reading Club does not stick with Eun-Sae’s POV for the entirety of its first volume (nor is Eun-Sae the equivalent of Stewart’s snappy young ladies of leisure) the effect is the same. Plot is the focus of the volume throughout, but it is Eun-Sae’s feelings that drive the story, whether she’s fighting off ancient evil or boldly taking the initiative with her new crush.

One particularly refreshing aspect of the story, especially for young female readers, is the reversal of traditional heroine and hero roles. While Kyung-Do is portrayed as a passive beauty who sparkles only in the presence of good books, Eun-Sae is all action, vowing to protect her delicate boyfriend from coming to a tragic end. This reversal is never played as parody and Eun-Sae in particular is wonderfully nuanced, despite limited “screen time” in this volume. She’s sometimes brave, often lazy, occasionally dishonest, and definitely driven by hormones, just like any teen. Kyong-Do is more of a mystery, both to Eun-Sae and to us, which is exactly as it should be so early on in this kind of story.

Reading Club‘s greatest weakness at this point is its length, or rather its lack thereof. Though the series’ first volume effectively introduces both its cast and major plot points, so little is understood about the book’s sinister powers (let alone the mysterious “Reading Club”) even by the end of the volume, there is a sense of shallowness to the story’s supernatural elements that could be avoided by revealing just a bit more. Presumably deeper insight is yet to come, but it would be nice to have a stronger taste early on to better whet the appetite for future volumes. Though the volume delivers a sufficiently spooky premise along with some genuinely frightening imagery, the connection between the two is not yet solid enough to hold up under scrutiny. Why does one of the book’s victims commit suicide, while another is simply found dead with a creepy severed tongue? The story’s mythology has not yet been explored deeply enough for us to know, keeping real terror safely at arm’s length.

The series’ artwork is sparse yet vivid, helping to set the story’s dark, tense tone right from the start. Its character designs are unremarkable yet nicely distinctive from one another, helping to shape characters immediately within the story’s plotty framework. Unfortunately, the volume’s text is less easy on the eyes, printed in a small, cramped font that is sure to force some readers into squinting from page to page.

As the first of Udon’s manhwa catalogue I’ve had the pleasure to read, this volume fortunately leaves me wanting more. For smart teen romance paired with genuine chills, Reading Club is a promising choice.

Review copy provided by the publisher.