Short Takes: Crown of Love, Itazura na Kiss, and Natsume’s Book of Friends

This month’s third and final “second takes” column focuses on three manga that have garnered good reviews here and elsewhere: Yun Kouga’s Crown of Love (VIZ), a romantic drama about teen idols; Kaoru Tada’s Itazura na Kiss (DMP), a comedy documenting a ditzy girl’s quest to bag the class genius; and Natsume’s Book of Friends (VIZ), an episodic drama about a teen with the power to control demons. Which of the three had strong second volumes, and which ones turned out to be duds? Read on for the scoop.

CROWN OF LOVE, VOL. 2

BY YUN KOUGA • VIZ • 192 pp. • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+)

The premise: Handsome teen Hisayoshi signs away his life to become an idol after meeting the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately for him, Rima, the object of his affection, views him as a threat to her already-established career as a singer and actress and won’t give him the time of day. Eager to be near Rima regardless of how she receives him, Hisayoshi agrees to tutor her for a high school entrance exam. The catch? Rima is petulant and not very bright, making Hisayoshi’s task an uphill climb.

What I said about volume one: “Yun Kouga spins a surprisingly good yarn, filled with complex characters and emotionally resonant scenes that rise well above the usual idol-fantasy fare… Kouga employs a simple, direct style that’s reminiscent of Keiko Nishi’s; stripped clean of the fussy costumes and distracting screentone patterns that are a hallmark of the idol genre, Kouga’s artwork focuses primarily on the characters’ faces, allowing us a glimpse into their turbulent inner lives. It’s this kind of attention to emotional detail that makes Crown of Love so engaging, even when the plot capitulates to genre convention.”

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Ristorante Paradiso

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.

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Short Takes: Black Butler and Crown of Love

This week’s column examines two recent releases: Yana Taboso’s cosplay-friendly, fan-favorite Black Butler (Yen Press), currently the bestselling manga in the US, and Yun Kouga’s pop soap opera Crown of Love (VIZ). Though I can’t say either were high on my “most anticipated of 2010″ list, I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how entertaining both were — two examples of genre fiction done right.

BLACK BUTLER, VOL. 1

BY YANA TABOSO • YEN PRESS • 192 pp. • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+)

Behind every great man is a great butler, the kind of servant who not only presses suits and polishes silver, but provides etiquette lessons and dance instruction, selects just the right tea to accompany a delicate breakfast of poached salmon, and handles rude guests and intruders with equal panache. Sebastian Michaelis, butler to the Phantomhive clan, is just such a man. In addition to running the household’s day-to-day affairs, he also serves as the de facto parent and advisor of twelve-year-old Ciel Phantomhive, the family “patriarch” and owner of an enormous manufacturing business specializing in — what else? — candy and toys. When Ciel is kidnapped by a mafioso in a pinstripe suit, Sebastian’s skills are put to the ultimate test: can he rescue his master before dinner and still get a decent meal on the table?

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Short Takes: Honey and Clover and Mixed Vegetables

Warning: these reviews may be too shojolicious for some readers. If you prefer car chases and explosions over character development, or get impatient when characters discuss their feelings (beyond “Hey, I’m hungry,” or “Jeez, that robot is bigger than I thought!”), you might not find this column to your liking. If, on the other hand, you love sparkling screentones, dewy-eyed heroines, and Drama with a capital “D,” then this installment of Short Takes will make your heart sing, as I examine volume eight of Honey and Clover and volume six of Mixed Vegetables.

HONEY AND CLOVER, VOL. 8

BY CHICA UMINO • VIZ • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+) • 196 pp.

If you’ve spent any time around an art school or conservatory, you’ve met students like the Honey and Clover gang, a chatty bunch who are eager to share and compare influences, discuss their romantic lives in intimate detail, and wax poetic about their latest enthusiasms. In Honey and Clover, that chattiness reflects the characters’ deep-rooted need to define who they are and how they fit in with their peers. As characters discover common ground, however, they often find conversation inadequate to the task of bridging the remaining distance between them, a theme that Chica Umino explores throughout volume eight.

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Short Takes: Butterflies, Flowers and Natsume’s Book of Friends

Though I read my fair share of shojo, it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed some good, juicy titles here at The Manga Critic. So this week, I’m pulling out the stops: I already reviewed Itazura Na Kiss (DMP) on Sunday; today, I review two brand-new additions to the Shojo Beat imprint: Butterflies, Flowers, a rom-com about a young woman who goes to work for her former servant (in a word: awkward), and Natsume’s Book of Friends, a supernatural series about a teen who sees demons.

BUTTERFLIES, FLOWERS, VOL. 1

BY YUKI YOSHIHARA • VIZ • 192 pp. • RATING: MATURE

First-time job seekers, here’s a tip from a salty old pro: if someone asks about your virginity during  an interview, run, don’t walk, out the door. (Unless, of course, you’re interviewing for a position in what’s quaintly referred to as “the adult entertainment industry,” in which case that kind of experience might be an important qualification.) Choko Kuze, the cute but klutzy heroine of Butterflies, Flowers, has enough sense to bristle at the question posed by her prospective employer, but lacks the financial wherewithal to refuse the job. Lest it seem that Butterflies, Flowers will address a topic as heady as sexism in the workplace, manga-ka Yuki Yoshihara reveals the real reason for Domoto’s prurient interest in his new hire: Choko and Domoto used to play together as children.

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Short Takes: Haunted House, Mermaid Saga, and School Zone

Boo! This week, I’m taking the highly imaginative step of writing about spooky manga. The twist? All three titles are penned by trailblazing female artists. First up is Mitsukazu Mihara’s Haunted House (Tokyopop), a comedy about a normal teen whose parents have clearly embraced Addams Family Values. Next on the agenda is Rumiko Takahashi’s Mermaid Saga (VIZ), an older series that mixes horror and folklore to good effect. (You can read the first chapter for free at the Shonen Sunday website.) And last but not least is Kanako Inuki’s School Zone (Dark Horse), a three-volume series about a school built atop a cemetery — always a bad idea, kids, even when the land is being offered at bargain-basement prices.

HAUNTED HOUSE

BY MITSUKAZU MIHARA • TOKYOPOP • 192 pp. • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+)

Remember that brief but excruciating period in your adolescence in which everything your parents said, did, or wore proved horribly embarrassing? Sabato Obiga, the hero of Haunted House, is living through that very stage. The crucial difference between his experience and yours, however, is that his family is genuinely odd: they look and act like something out of a Charles Addams cartoon, from their dramatic attire — Mom dresses like Morticia Addams, Dad like an undertaker — to their penchant for ghoulish pranks. Though Sabato desperately wants to date, his family members do their best to sabotage each new relationship by staging ridiculous scenes in front of his girlfriend du jour. In the first chapter, for example, Mom blithely picks up the family cat and announces that she’ll be “cooking something special on account of our guest,” while in a later chapter, his parents don hockey masks for a visit to the video store where he works. (Note to fellow animal saps: no cats were harmed in the making of this comic.)

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