By Aya Kanno. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Viz.

After my rant about the last volume of Otomen, I have to say I found this volume far more intriguing than I expected. While the overall shape of the plot is the same, there were more than a few surprises here to keep things going. Including the fact that the ‘rid the school of otomen’ plot is ongoing, and doesn’t wrap up here, but ends with another pseudo-cliffhanger.

I had mentioned that I was expecting Kasuga to be revealed as a secret otomen in this volume, and that’s sort of partially true – however, the attention paid to Juta and his secret manga in this volume came as a shock to me, as I’d been expecting the attacks to mostly be on Asuka. This actually works very well, giving Juta some well-deserved tension and hitting heavily on the guilt he feels on relying on Asuka and Ryo to provide his plots. His sister even point blank tells him that he can’t keep this up forever.

The backstory between Kasuga and Asuka, on the other hand, allows Kanno to pull out the ‘this isn’t meant to be serious’ card, as the flashback to their childhood relationship is probably the funniest thing in the volume. Naturally, Asuka’s naturally feminine qualities are at the heart of the problem. This also allows the author to satisfy the no doubt huge BL-loving audience that is reading this series. As does the eventual solution to Juta’s problems, which allows for another great bit of cross-dressing, and continues to emphasize the motto of “preserving the dreams of young girls”.

The final chapter has Kasuga bringing in a new set of ringers to change the situation at school, this time using a bunch of ‘rebel teachers’ who are there to make the men manly and the girls cutesy. Their introduction actually reminds me more of a shonen manga, in that they seem like the usual quick mid-range bosses you’d expect the hero to defeat and/or befriend on the way to the final battle. We deal with the first of these here, Otawa Moematsu. She’s an ultra-femmey teacher who almost drowns the classroom in sugar, and has all the girls learning how to bake sweets and make cute fuzzy animals.

Of course, she meets her immovable object here in Ryo, whose cute teddy bear looks like a water flea that’s been beaten to death, and whose cooking tends towards ‘simple’. (Ironically, we saw Ryo make a decent bento earlier in the volume – but she was cooking for Asuka then, so was far more motivated.) Not to mention her bedroom devoted to martial arts. Otawa finally gives up, and knows that Ryo will never get her man (she saw Ryo’s picture of Asuka and Juta in her room, and I suspect figured they were gay). Then, much to her horror, she discovers that not only are Asuka and Ryo a real couple, but are “the best couple on campus”. As expected, much as Asuka disguises his otomen habits by manly activities, Otawa is far less cutesy than she likes to appear. Vengeance will be hers.

So, another interesting volume of Otomen. I still have my issues with it, but Kanno certainly knows how to keep people interested and move her plot in interesting directions. Hopefully we’ll see Asuka start to strike back against the evil mid-range villains in Volume 10!

By Aya Kanno. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Viz.

I’m not certain who first came up with the expression, but I first heard it back on rec.arts.drwho in the 90s, from novel author Jonathan Blum. He noted, “There’s a difference between suspension of disbelief and hanging disbelief by the neck until dead dead dead.” I was reminded of it again while reading Otomen Volume 8, which I think has to be read as a gleeful savage parody of shoujo conventions. Mostly because if you don’t, you’ll want to hurl it across the room.

In this volume, we meet Ryo’s grandfather, who she has moved to Hokkaido to care for. (More on that later.) He is a large, Fu-Manchu-mustached BULL of a man. Grumpy and mistrusting of both his granddaughter and Asuka. However, this is a plot twist, as it later turn out… (wait for it…) that he’s secretly an OTOMEN! Oh My God! He sews cute plushies! And makes ornaments and picture frames! How adorable! In the next chapter, however, trouble comes. Asuka’s mother has decided that these feminine men need to be rubbed out, and she’s brought in a ringer to help achieve her plan – Masamune Kasuga, Asuka’s cousin, who is going around looking to expel any man who does girly things.

Now, we don’t get a hint of this in this volume, but I think any self-respecting reader will know that in Volume 9, Kasuga will be revealed to be a secret Otomen. I haven’t read ahead and have no inside information – but DUH. I imagine Kanno-san, every time she writes in another male in this series, just laughing her ass off imagining how far she can take this. Well… quite far, as we’ve seen, but I am starting to get a little aggravated by the whole thing. I read Otomen for reasons other than the giant parody of shoujo conventions, and the reader in me who likes genuine plot and characterization is getting weary of the fakeness that this series possesses.

Let’s look at another example. In this volume, we finally get what I’ve been begging for for ages. Ryo, as I noted above, moves to Hokkaido (briefly – she’s back by the end of the book), and Asuka, knowing Ryo well, decides to give her a big send-off by taking her training in the mountains. This leads up to him noting that there’s no need to make lots of fun memories thinking they’ll never meet again, as he will love her no matter what. And then, Ryo actually says she loves him as well. What’s more, it seems to stick – when they’re walking around Hokkaido, they’re mistaken for a married couple, something Ryo denies, but she does note that they are dating.

I should be more happy about this than I am. The main problem, of course, is that Ryo is as opaque as ever. Even in the most aggravating of shoujo series, where the girl misunderstands her aloof guy constantly, we get the occasional bone thrown to us, showing him secretly staring at her with a kind face, or a brief look at his own thoughts on the matter. Ryo’s thoughts are a mystery to us, and her returning Asuka’s feelings of love is therefore less heartwarming than it should be. Why did she stay silent for so long about her own feelings? Why is she so content to simply let things stay in a holding pattern for so long? There’s any number of answers we can guess at, but the lack of any answers makes Ryo feel a bit flat compared to the rest of the guys.

I am still enjoying reading Otomen. It’s got a fun, biting sense of humor, loves picking at shoujo conventions, and the art is cute and appealing. But every volume makes me wish it were being written less as a parody and more as a genuine story. It has enormous potential, but, like Ryo, seems content to simply be what it is an not move any further. Which is somewhat sad.

By Aya Kanno. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Viz.

Another volume of Otomen, where Aya Kanno… writes about whatever the hell she wants, really, and if it happens to advance the main plot or develop the characters, so much the better. This means, as with many previous volumes, that the quality is highly variable; however, the good bits are really good.

Sadly, the first chapter in the book is not one of the good bits. I sometimes wonder if the theme that Viz notes on the back cover – ‘having girly hobbies doesn’t make you less manly!’ – is actually meant to be the theme of this manga, or if Kanno is just gleefully subverting it for her own amusement. This chapter in particular is a good example, as showing how, in a world where men are manly and women are girly that it’s OK to like cutesy stuff – is less appropriate when every other guy in the world is the same way! Seriously, we’ve met Asuka, and we now have the gardening otomen, the makeup artist otomen, and with this chapter, the singing otomen. Disbelief is starting to get tired of hanging around up there.

Luckily, this is the low ebb, and the other three stories are more interesting. My favorite was the second, involving the kendo club going off to train at a camp rumored to be haunted by a vengeful female ghost. Asuka, naturally, is terrified of ghosts. Juta, sensing a manga cliche he can abuse, suggests Ryo come along to serve as manager. What I liked best about this is that it finally admitted that no, it wasn’t a case of Ryo ‘forgetting’ that Asuka had confessed to her, or the series itself retconning it. She just hasn’t responded with an answer. Asuka’s talk with the ghost about how difficult this is is very touching, and it’s made even better by his return and seeing Ryo curled up asleep with her exorcist vacuum. Some people just feel more comfortable with deeds rather than words.

Speaking of Juta, he gets a focus chapter in here, noting his playboy sensibilities and how he seems to avoid commitment. He’s blaming the manga career, but his sisters all seem to know that’s not it. What I found most interesting here is that Juta, crippled with writer’s block due to thinking about his old love, is able to use that and turn it into a story about ‘Asuka’s’ best friend from Love Chick (aka genderflipped Juta) and her own old love. I wonder if that will slowly lead to him being able to get his manga away from just writing about Asuka’s love life and create his own situations. Unlikely (that’s where the humor of his character comes from), but it’s a good thought.

And finally, we come back to the fact that Ryo is unable to tell Asuka that she loves him back. This is very distressing for him, as he actually asks her point blank as they’re on a date and she evades the question. She notes she wanted to come on her amusement park date with the rest of the gang. Naturally, Asuka is getting those ‘just a friend’ vibes from this (and to be honest, it does read like that, as Ryo is THE hardest character to read in this series). Things then go pear-shaped when Juta, who seems to be able to think only in shoujo manga cliches, starts a rumor that Asuka is transferring schools. Hijinx naturally ensue, but Juta gets what he thinks he wanted when Ryo admits that she’s glad the rumor isn’t true. She still looks depresed, though, and in the end we find out why.

Well, we almost find out why. Damn cliffhangers, Kanno. You barely include Ryo for all of Volume 6, and when you finally do you tug at our heartstrings. You’d better not write her out (hey, it is a worry here – I’m sure if she made the manga all male it would be just as popular). Definitely looking forward to Volume 8.