Animania

Note: As I'm in the process of moving, expect reviews to continue to be fairly sporadic until August, as much of my manga is now packed.

A Love Song for the Miserable is a single volume yaoi title from the seemingly unknown, single named mangaka Yukimura. It was published here in North America by Digital Manga Publishing under their June label back in May. I decided to give it a whirl after reading a favorable review of the title over on AnimeOnDVD.com. Being from DMP, it features the usual large book size, a nice color dust jacket and high quality pages and printing.

Itsuki Asada works for a large department store. When his request to be transferred to his dream department, events planning, is denied, he drowns his sorrows in alcohol and ends up laying in a bush crying. He's found by Iwasaki Sunao, normally just called Nao, who got lost while jogging and thinking. He pulls Asada from the bush and, sobered up, Asada gives him directions. In exchange, Nao tells him to drop his shop. Feeling more and more depressed about his job, Asada finds the paper with the shop's address and decides to visit. This starts a friendship between the two men, as Asada becomes new pastry chef Nao's personal taste tester. Alas, when Nao decides he should go to France to study more, Asada reacts badly, leaving things bitter between them. At this point, the story jumps ahead three years, finding Asada finally in the events department and Nao the pastier at a new shop who is already receiving tons of praise. Asada must inject himself back into Nao's life to try to get the chef to be a participant in a baking event at the store. These two must now deal with the past, and with the feelings that caused them to both react as they did. They must also decide what kind of future they want, and if it should include one another.

I don't know if this is Yukimura's first work or not, but if it is it is certainly a good one. She has an excellent art style, with her men looking like men without the ridiculously sharp pointed chins often seen in these series. Instead, their chins are more normally proportioned, while still being "manly." Her characters are all distinctive looking, with good facial expressions, and her drawings of the desserts were so well detailed I wanted them to come off the page so I could eat them! I like both central characters. Asada is so miserable, I can't help pitying him. He has a lot of issues with his work, and really just wants to be needed. When he finds his own little paradise, losing it really hurts him. Nao also has an interesting personality, hurt by Asada's reaction and a little slow to realize why. As whole, it has a good story, with some nice resolution and just the right amount of interaction with others without getting distracted by them. It was particularly nice to read a yaoi title that didn't fall back on having some former friend/coworker etc decide they suddenly want to have one of the main characters. The only thing causing problems for Asada and Nao are their own personalities and unwillingness to be honest with their feelings. I highly recommend this one for anyone tired of the usual high schoolers, love triangles, and ultra-pointy chins. This is two adult men, just trying to deal feelings they never expected to feel.

Rating: A

Fall in Love Like a Comic is a short, two volume series from Chitose Yagami that takes a look at high school mangaka (manga writer) who writes shojo manga but as never had a boyfriend. It was originally serialized in Japan's Ciao magazine in late 2002. Viz released the series as two volumes, however the second volume is really a separate sequel that was serialized sporadically in in Ciao and another magazine, Chuchu. Still, the two flow together very nicely, so I can see why Viz made the choice to just release as a whole story. I decided to pick it up after reading the first chapter when it was previewed in an issue of Shojo Beat.

The story focuses on Rena Sakura, a high schooler who hides the fact that she is a successful, professional mangaka from most people. Her best friend teases her about writing smutty manga when she's never even been on date, while her editor has mentioned that having actual experience would only make her writing even better. Enter Tomoyo Okita, a gorgeous schoolmate who stumbles on Rena's secret. With her editor's words still ringing in her ears, Rena impulsively asks Tomoyo to date her so she can gain experience. When he accepts though, she soon finds herself wanting to be more than Tomoyo's fake girlfriend, not realizing he wants her to stop seeing him as some perfect shojo manga boyfriend.

Though short, Fall in Love Like a Comic is a short, but fun series. Rena is cute and her surprising vulnerability and insecurities about her looks and whether Tomoyo really finds her attractive are a nice touch. With her success and popularity, one might have expected her to be more arrogant or aggressive. My only minor annoyance is that Yagami drew Rena in such a way that she looks like a elementary or middle schooler. Very small, short, with big huge eyes and a child-like figure. She's the only character given such an appearance, and its jarring at first to see her then sharing rather heated kisses with Tomoyo, who looks like a normal high school boy. Still,

Rating: B+

I've never seen the anime series Karin, but a while back I stumbled on its manga series at my local library. For its English release, Tokyopop renamed the manga to Chibi Vampire to avoid having the series confused with another of their titles, Kamichama Karin. I picked up the first four volumes from my library on a whim and because I was bored and wanted new manga to read. I figured it would be something silly, full of dub gags and fan service, and nothing I'd like that much. I'm glad to say, I was mostly wrong, and have since picked up the all seven volumes of the manga that are currently available. While this review is mostly for volume 1, I do touch on some of the over all story lines that are explored more in volume 2. In Japan, fourteen volumes have been released as of this month. There is also a nine volume light novel series, which I'll be reviewing soon, and an anime adaptation that was being released by Geneon as Karin, but that is now in hiatus due to the company's shut down.

Chibi Vampire puts a new twist on the vampire in a human world story usually seen in manga series. Its not a dark series, though there are some serious overtones, and primary Karin Maaka is not your typical vampire. Instead of sucking blood, she has to regularly give blood to others or she becomes too full of blood and has a nose-bleed of epic proportions. Her family, all normal vampires, consider her defective and regularly let her know, yet despite how it sounds its pretty obvious her family loves her greatly and are very concerned about her condition and its toll on her body (well, maybe except her brother Ren :P). Karin finds her life becoming even more hectic and strained when a new classmate joins her class, the scowlingly handsome Kenta, who discovers her secret because he is Karin's preferred blood type and sends her excess blood production into overdrive. To stop the affect, Karin figures out that she must somehow make the unhappy Kenta happy, but first she has to figure out why he is unhappy all the time.

Chibi Vampire is a great series so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. Yuna Kagesaki, the writer of the series, has done a wonderful job in creating a varied cast of characters with multiple facets to their personalities. The artwork is well done, and despite the rename, Tokyopop seems to have done a faithful and well done translation within. While the series certainly offers plenty of laughs, and a mild bit of fan service, there are some nice underlying undertones in the growing feelings between Karin and Kenta, the drama of Kenta's home life, and the potential ramifications and the seemingly hidden seriousness of Karin's condition. My only complaint about the series? That I have to wait four months between volumes!

Rating: A+

Of course, any one who regularly reads Animania knows I do love my yaoi. I must admit, I've found myself sometimes getting bored, though, as a lot of stories, particularly one-shots and two-shots, seem to follow a basic formula and use cookie-cutter characters. After reading a good review of it on AnimeOnDVD, I decided to pick up the two-volume Vanilla series written by Riyu Yamakami. The review gave some indications that this one might be a bit of a break from the "same old same old." It was originally released in 1998, which may explain why its a bit different from some of the stuff coming out today, but on to the review.

Vanilla introduces seventeen year old high school student Ichiru Morio who finds him world turned a bit upside down as he comes to realize that he is homosexual through his strangely growing love for his teacher Yoshitaka Saeki. Saeki is like the worse person for a first love in that he is very cold and somewhat cruel. Ichiru accidentally finds himself hiding behind a desk while Saeki has sec with another male student. Saeki sees him, but is unbothered and toys with Saeki after the other student leaves. Ichiru finds himself confused, hurting, and lonely as Saeki blows hot and cold. Even when Ichiru's feelings finally seem to get through, he can't be sure if Saeki truly feels anything back or if Saeki is just indulging in another one of his strange whims.

I really enjoyed this two volume series and it certainly met my hopes for being different. I like that Ichiru doesn't just quickly jump into the "okay, I love a guy, let's get it on" bandwagon that is often seen in these series. He genuinely struggles with his feelings and his growing realization that he's "different" and even then needs someone to help point it out before he finally comes to see he is gay and to accept it. His reactions to Saeki's hot/cold mannerisms may seem over the top, but certainly is in keeping with the way some might feel when they are so hurt and torn and feeling lost. I think Yamakami did a great job of crafting Saeki's complex character and balancing between having him be seem like a total jackass and being an emotionally awkward and thrown for a look by his reactions to Ichiru. The second volume is a little weaker than the first in that it focuses a bit much on Yajima, Saeki's butler, and Kazuki, the student Saeki was having sex with that Ichiru saw. It wasn't too bad, though, and Yajima is a very interesting character, though I'd rather those two have been given their own volume so it could be better developed. DMP's release is beautiful, as always, and Yamakami's art is well-done with distinctive characters, good details, and a great job showing Saeki's often subtle emotions.

Rating: A-

Voices of a Distant Star actually started life as a single episode anime OVA that was created entirely by Makoto Shinkai on his Mac computer, with his wife helping in do the voice dubbing. When it was released to DVD in February 2002, it was redubbed using professional voice actors. I've the OVA once, which ADV released here, and thought it was okay, but I vaguely remember not liking the ending. A novelization was also created in Japan, or so Wikipedia says, but its unlicensed. Mizu Sahara wrote a manga adaptation as well, which Tokyopop released here in 2006. I decided to pick it up and give it a go. Alas, I don't remember the OVA well enough to compare how much it follows it, but I know Sahara extended the story further than the anime went.

In Voices of a Distant Star teenage high school student Mikako is recruited into a research team to explore space and deal with recent contact between the humans and an alien race that there appears to be conflict with. The alien conflict is only touched on as needed, however, as the primary focus is on Mikako and her classmate Noboru, who realize they love each other after she's left and spend years communicating through cell phone text messages. As Mikako goes further out in space, however, it takes longer and longer for the message to arrive and while she's still the same age, Noboru is becoming an adult and wondering if he should move on with his life. The original anime ending occurs roughly in the middle of the manga, and it then moves on to continue the story, providing a clearer ending to the series.

As a whole, from what I remember of the OVA, I like the manga more. It expands more into both Mikako and Noboru's lives, including friends and their more routine lives along with Mikako's work in space. I also like that it finishes up the story in a more conclusive, and to me satisfying, way than the anime did. ADV's release of this single volume title is also quite nice, including a soft pastel cover, and all four double-sided color pages from the original release. I highly recommend this title for a short, but sweet and gentle story of long-distance love and faith.

Rating: A