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 What Ysabet's Reading: June 23, 2009
Written by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
My list of manga to review has gotten pretty long again, so rather than eke out full-length reviews over the next several weeks I'll write up another round of short reviews to give you a more immediate look at what I've been reading lately. This time around I'm looking at several recent and upcoming shoujo titles from VIZ: vol. 6 of Monkey High! (Shouko Akira), vol. 13 of Love*Com (Aya Nakahara), vol. 4 of Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time (Tohko Mizuno), vol. 7 of Wild Ones (Kiyo Fujiwara), vol. 2 of The Magic Touch (Izumi Tsubaki), vol. 13 of Inubaka: Crazy For Dogs (Yukiya Sakuragi), and vol. 3 of St. Dragon Girl (Natsumi Matsumoto).
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Monkey High! vol. 6 (Shouko Akira), available now
Translated and adapted by Mai Ihara.
I think Monkey High! is underrated, at least in that I rarely see it being discussed. It's not one of my very favorites, but it's both funny and endearing, and I think more people should check it out. Volume 6 starts off with what I think is one of its weaker subplots, in the form of Atsu's apparent feelings for Haruna and the way he won't let her ignore his feelings, but from there the book moves into more charming territory as Macharu visits Haruna's home for the first time. I really enjoy the dynamic between the two leads: their relationship makes sense to them and the readers (if not to their classmates), and they're developing it at their own pace with a few understandable missteps along the way. Haruna in particular is really growing as a result of their relationship; she has a lot of issues to deal with, and while so far the series hasn't really dragged them out, she's becoming more aware that she can't just keep ignoring them without repercussions.
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Love*Com vol. 13 (Aya Nakahara), available in July 2009
Translated by JN Productions and adapted by Shaenon K. Garrity.
Oh, Love*Com. It's not always easy to find something new to say about this one, but it's a good read all the same. I read this volume back to back with Monkey High!, and am a little amused that these two consecutive high school romance volumes both opened with their weakest respective chapters. Love*Com 13 starts with one of the few subplots centered around the supporting cast that hasn't done much for me, since I usually really like the minor characters. I'm afraid I'm just not that invested in Chiharu and Suzuki's romance. But from there the volume moves into family drama for Risa, and Ôtani is inevitably dragged in: first, because Risa's little brother is going to be attending their school and is very unhappy about it, and second, because not everyone in her family turns out to like Ôtani as much as Risa does. Overall, not the series' strongest volume, but I had fun with it.
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Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time vol. 4 (Tohko Mizuno), available now
Translated by Stanley Floyd, HC Language Solutions. (No adaptation credit given.)
Haruka continues to be noticeably better than I originally gave it credit for when I first encountered it (at volume 2). This volume centers more around the Eight Guardians than around Akane, which seems to give the story more space to move. Akane's attempts at locating the two remaining Guardians are derailed by the appearance of a cursed harp. There's a bit of a Sleeping Beauty trope playing out here, and the curse itself is presented in an interesting way. This still isn't one of my favorite series, but it's a pleasant read.
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Wild Ones vol. 7 (Kiyo Fujiwara), available now
Translated and adapted by Mai Ihara.
I haven't read vol. 6 of Wild Ones, so I'm missing a bit of context with this volume, but nothing significant seems to have changed between the leads: Sachie, the heiress to a yakuza family, is still largely oblivious to the reality of her feelings for Rakuto, her bodyguard; he, meanwhile, is more self-aware...but apparently not by all that much. Despite that bit of ongoing frustration, I found parts of the book entertaining: I enjoy it when the yakuza--who come across as nothing so much as a group of bumbling but well-meaning uncles--try to pretend that they're part of a Perfectly Normal Household, as they do when Rakuto's teacher visits the home to find out what aspect of his living conditions are preventing him from declaring an intention to go to university.
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The Magic Touch vol. 2 (Izumi Tsubaki), available now
Translated by Nori Minami and adapted by Lorelei Laird.
The second volume of The Magic Touch continues in much the same vein as the first, as Chiaki and Yosuke get used to being a couple. This includes some ordinary things, such as each of them needing to deal with jealousy, and some less-ordinary things, like Yosuke not letting Chiaki give him massages (!) at a particular time of year. Much of the volume is spent on a Massage Club training trip, but the story's appeal lies in its random quirks, like Yosuke's tendency to turn into a complete flirt when he's half asleep. The low point continues to be Chiaki's identical twin, Sayaka, who I'd completely forgotten about until she suddenly appeared late in the book to randomly made Chiaki's life hell and annoy me in the process. But other than that, The Magic Touch is still a quick but fun read.
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Inubaka: Crazy For Dogs vol. 13 (Yukiya Sakuragi), available in July 2009
Translated by Maya Robinson and adapted by Ian Reid, both from HC Language Solutions.
This is a much more serious volume than the two I'd read previously. Most of it is devoted to a supporting character, Kanako, dealing with the unexpected and sudden loss of her beloved dog. Inubaka handles the subject respectfully and with sensitivity; occasionally some of the dialogue or Sugiri's efforts to help Kanako deal with her grief seem a bit over the top, but it never quite crosses the line. The series takes the relationship between dogs and their owners very seriously, and I appreciate that it handles the sad aspects of that bond as seriously as the joyful ones. Other than that, I continued to find the occasional pantyshots very random, since this doesn't strike me as a fanservice-oriented title, but they're not graphic or lingered over.
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St. Dragon Girl vol. 3 (Natsumi Matsumoto), available now
Translated by Andria Cheng and adapted by Heidi Vivolo.
My impression of St. Dragon Girl is largely unchanged from my thoughts on the first two volumes: it's fun and cute, but much more episodic than I really like. Volume 3 has two big advantages that vol. 1-2 didn't, though, in that the supporting cast is beginning to be better fleshed-out and more interesting, and Momoka and Ryuga's constant dance of not admitting their feelings to/for each other is less emphasized. They don't seem to be in danger of actually getting things out in the open any time soon, which is still frustrating, but it's still an improvement. They get to deal with a variety of supernatural beings in this volume, ranging from an amnesiac ghost to an elemental fire spirit, and the dragon spirits that are so important to Ryuga's family also get a bigger part to play than usual.
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