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Reviewed by Michael Aronson They say that any dream can be made true in exchange for something dear to you. The Yume Kira Dream Shoppe flies through the dusk sky as Rin the shopkeeper listens for wishes that travel on the wind. With the help of his assistant Alpha, Rin uses the magical wares of the Dream Shoppe to make desires a reality . . . but at a price.” Part Sandman, part Black Jack, all shojo. Yume Kira Dream Shoppe is a single volume of four various stories of wishes granted for a price . . . but not really. Fate and karma are cast aside for happy endings and dreams come true. While the premise is solid enough, the stories don’t quite live up to it. Rin owns a shop that specializes in magical items and trades them to individuals for things near and dear, such as granting a girl access to hidden memories in exchange for token of her past and relinquishing the memories after she revisits them. But Rin isn’t a man of her word (no, that wasn’t a typo) and alters the conditions of the deals so that the clients can live happily ever after with the changes. The endings are thus uplifting, but then the stories themselves lose their purpose. In some cases, such as the stuffed animal Alpha who wishes to be animated, a lesson is learned over the course of the story. Alpha helps his/her owner Noa gather the courage to speak to her crush Yuki, and thus replaces his/her role as Noa’s closest companion with Yuki. Other times, a tree who admires the piano playing of a gifted young man is turned into a woman in order to meet him, and is then allowed to remain as a woman forever since she’d helped him. The morals become kind of arbitrary when everyone gets what they want anyway. The art is standard shojo fare, different quirky haircuts adorning the same innocent faces, although Alpha is rather cute. YKDS is a purely take-it-or-leave-it affair, delivering in a single volume no more and no less than what’s advertised. Those adverse to the cruel random nature of reality may find inspiration in the stories’ optimism, but there’s little else worth taking away. 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 |
1 September 2010
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