manga reading
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 04:45 p.m.

I've been catching up with reading for the last few weeks...really the only excuse I can give for the neglect of, just about everything else ^-^;; This post is going be broken into 2 sections so it looks like I did more than I did. Yes. O__o;

Finally completed Penguin Brothers, thanks to #grandline (Manga-Downloads). It's hard not to wish for a more fulfilling ending. The editorial (for unknown reasons) obviously wanted to wrap the story up much faster than Ayumi Shiina could make it (in her freetalk, she said she was in tears trying to fight for more pages). The characters were very likable - I rarely say that for shoujo heroines, but Hina was a very strong and outgoing girl, moreso I think, than Tsukino from Hana Yori Dango, to which Penguin Brothers bore a very close resemblance. You could argue that Nishizaki had a personality similar to Doumyouji, and Isshiki was like Rui. I think it was more believable for a character like Hina to bring about the changes to the school, and it would have been very interesting to see more developments in the plot (Ayumi Shiina referred to one of the black girls as a planned villain, and more development for the vice students president...but they were all scrapped). The ending was inevitably too abrupt: I can believe the reconciliation of Nishizaki with Isshiki (since Nishizaki's always a more open character) but I find Isshiki's decision to become independent a bit...too sudden - but I guess if things were stretched out a bit more, ie. if we witnessed Isshiki's improvement as Hina begins to regain her memories, then it would all make sense.

But what struck me most in the last lengthy chapter was the similarity of Isshiki to one of my characters, Sigmund ^-^; Admittedly, I did base Sigmund on a character from manga - referencing from Akito (Kodocha), but he had emerged more like Isshiki. They are both cold, impeccable characters, who excel in everything...including hacking, but what caught my eye in the last chapter was Isshiki's background: like Sigmund, he was ostensibly the son of a wealthy father, but in reality was an abused child of adultery.

That said, I was a bit confuzzled by the treatment Isshiki received from his mother: why would the mother hate her child too? If the mother had a child from an affair, wouldn't she be feeling more guilty than hateful towards her own son, and she would redirect the resentment towards the bastard child from her husband's side, Nishizaki? Hmm...maybe I got the mothers confused? Anyway, I really like Shiina as a mangaka. A few of the Ribon mangakas are breaking out of the traditional romantic manga heroine that is stupid, stupid and Miaka-like, which means stupid. People like Ayumi Shiina, Azuki Ryo, Miho Obana and Arina Tanemura (all Ribon) are all writing stronger, more believable heroines, who actually deserve the praise they get from the other characters v__v Unlike Miaka. I have a major grudge against Miaka.

After that, because I was over-compulsive, I went to Kinokuniya with Serena and bought the first volume of Diabolo (it's being scanlated by Lavender Tinted...although I haven't read the scanlations) and the last volume of Andante. Diabolo looked...interesting. The art is quite nice, although a bit generic. It's about two boys, Rai (who reminds me of Hakkai from Saiyuki) and Ren (who reminds me of Hisoka from Yami...but possibly - hopefully - less angsty), who lost their cousin when younger, and struck a deal with the demons in order to find her. The deal dictated that at the age of seventeen their bodies will begin morphing towards that of a demon's, and so during this transitional period, Rai and Ren received superhuman powers. However, recognising the malicious nature of the demons, and regretting the deal, the two of them scour the cities both for their lost cousin and for others susceptible to the manipulations of the demons. They promise each other that should one begin losing their human heart, the other will kill him so that they could die in human form. Yes...it's all very angsty and all and it's nothing impressive so far, given the hundreds of angsty, demon-related stuff out there.

The ending to Andante was rather wistful. I think even though Natsu and Melvina did eventually end up together, despite that it was an incestuous relationship, there was something very sweet about it. I don't think it would have worked out any other way, and you do end up thinking that Natsu will one day return to the music world, better and more mature than he was. There's also something very wistful about their retreat, the enigmatic fame they enjoy, Mei's wish to reach them through music, and the very role of music being the only bond that could repair their tattered relationship. I did have a problem of Miho Obana's rather...strange impression of Australia. She's somehow convinced that Japan is markedly warmer than Australia...

Recently also began reading Black Cat. The art's nice XD (Okay, I'm a glutton for nice art =P) It looks interesting so far, and will certainly be able to stretch to 20 volumes. If you like the tone of Rurouni Kenshin (shounen, not perverted, with a central plot and quite a bit of action, sad past, assassins...) you might like this, although the futuristic setting and the plot are very much different. While Train Heartnet is the main character, I also like how there isn't a subversive stance on women...female characters aren't as marginalised or given such degrading roles as often happens in shounen. I'm not a big reader of shounen, but I really enjoy this one. I always lean towards any non-perverted, non-over-gruesome shounen anyway ^^

Other manga's I've read recently include Zettai Kareshi and Fushigi Yuugi Genbu, both by Yuu Watase. No, don't cringe yet. Zettai Kareshi looks very promising; I think Yuu Watase is moving away from her Miaka/Aya + Tamahome/Touya days into better main characters. Riiko (Zettai) and Alice (Alice 19th) are both quite likeable characters, comparatively to Yuu Watase standards of course. I wouldn't choose them over other shoujo heroines like Hina or Sana XD Most of Watase's main characters end up with a Tamahome lookalike, so I don't have very high hopes for Night getting together with Riiko, although he's one kickass main character, if he is that. Watase always have - to be fair, I'll say "had" - very, very likeable side characters, and I'm hoping she learns to put that into her main characters too. As for FY Genbu, so far only one chapter has come out, so I can't comment much, but really, the girl doesn't look much different from Miaka! But you can't have a Tamahome lookalike this time, RIGHT?????

I also bought Fruits Basket volume 12 (eesh, I'm such a compulsive buyer .__.) Furuba has been getting darker and darker, and well, I think the mangaka is doing a little Clamp stringing-along thing that is getting rather frustrating. What with the "once out of school Kyou will...." and "all the zodiacs are destined...." and "the curse is....." and "the way to break the curse is..." and "Tooru you are...." followed by an enigmatic smile and "Don't worry". ARGH!!!

I can't believe I actually wrote all that .__.