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Reviewed by Penny Kenny A copy of this volume was provided by the publisher for review. Miku has dyed her hair, changed her make-up, and basically done everything she can to capture the attention of Kyohei, the boy she's been crushing on since middle school. Unfortunately, he's clueless about her feelings. What's a girl to do? Miku is one of those heroines who hits first and thinks later. Her encounters with Kyohei generally involve violence of some sort, as her frustration with his inability to comprehend her - admittedly incoherent - declarations of affection leads her to react physically. Her emotions are all over the place. She jumps to conclusions; her feelings are easily hurt; and she can be as clueless as Kyohei on occasion. She's so caught up in her own feelings and imaginings that she misses what's going on around her. In other words, she's a typical teen-ager and creator Nana Haruta does an excellent job of depicting her as such. As Cactus's Secret is Miku's story, the reader only sees Kyohei through her eyes. Despite his apparent cluelessness, he seems to have a pretty good sense of self. It will be interesting to see how his character develops as he spends more time with Miku. There's not a very large cast at this point, so Miku pretty much carries the story. For the most part, she's up to the task. Her constant see-sawing between wanting to be with Kyohei and wanting to move on keep the story moving forward. Haruta doesn't break any new ground in the shojo manga field with Cactus's Secret, but she does make some interesting story choices. For instance, after introducing a character who could easily have become Miku's rival for Kyohei's affections, Haruta quickly dispenses with her after using her to give a bit of insight into the boy's personality. This quick release of dramatic tension is fairly common with this volume. What external conflicts there are, are taken care of quickly, leading to the suspicion that Haruta wasn't quite sure where she wanted to take the story at first. The volume ends with the introduction of a new character, which should shake things up a bit. The art is attractive; the pages, reader-friendly. The story flows smoothly from right to left. What happens next in each scene is obvious. Readers don't have to struggle to piece together where they should be looking. Haruta uses lots of large panel close-ups that focus on the characters' faces and especially their eyes. There are also plenty of sparkle, star, heart and flowery effects to indicate character mood. I especially enjoy the checkerboard with strawberries in the one panel. The switch to deformed or comic style is used sparingly, which makes it more dramatic when it does happen. Cactus's Secret, Vol. 1 is a fairly typical shojo comedy-romance, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. Miku is a character tweens and young teens can relate to and the ending will have them looking forward to the next volume. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
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