By Yuuki Fujimoto. Released in Japan as “Kirameki☆Gingachou Shoutengai” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

As we get into the 2nd volume of Stellar Six, the title has just transitioned from the 6-times-per-year short-series magazine The Hana to Yume to the 24-times-a-year long haul Hana to Yume. As a result, you can, as with many Volume 2s, feel the gears grinding a bit as the author starts to plan things out for a longer run. A lot of Volume 2 is hitting the plot points Vol. 1 hit for the larger readership that HtY has: friendship is forever, and Mike and Kuro are going to be a couple once the denseness ends.

The manga is very big about stressing the impermanence of all things, and Mike’s struggles to rage against this are almost getting a bit much. I appreciate the nostalgia factor that the author is using, and indeed we root for Mike to be able to reunite her gang of 6 in 20 years when they’ll all still be BEST BUDS, but you can also see that this is causing her to wear blinders a bit. She’s the perky innocent young girl (now 15 years old instead of the 13 of Volume 1), but it almost seems to bit TOO much. I’m sure this will end with Mike getting her wish, but I hope that some of the pains of becoming an adult hit her here as well.

As for Mike and Kuro, the relationship between them provides much of the humor in the volume. It is obvious to everyone except Mike that Kuro is in love with her. Mike clearly is in love with him as well, but has no idea what that kind of love means, and when she tries to think about it too hard she just sort of freezes up. Meanwhile, Kuro is better at knowing his own feelings, but still hasn’t quite gotten what Mike’s ‘electric shocks to her chest’ are, so he’s still thinking that the love is all on his end. It’s the stuff shoujo manga is made of, and can get frustrating if dragged on too long. Luckily, this is only 10 volumes long, so they should be OK. There’s also a healthy jolt of lampshading from the four friends, especially Iba-chan and Q, who make the best ‘you are angering us with your dumb’ expressions.

As for the other four, they’re still pretty underdeveloped. The author notes in her end of the volume chatter that she hopes to give them more of a focus in the upcoming volumes, which will be good. They’re nice and all, but I want to know more about them than their basic obvious personality. So far, Mamoru is my favorite, with a sense of humor that appeals to be greatly. “I am Uromam.”

There is a short story at the end of this, one of the author’s debut pieces (she says it’s her first, but she sold two others before this one, which will be seen in the final volume of Stellar Six). It lacks the flair and polish of the main work, as is typical with these fill out the 2nd volume with one-shots chapters. There is a bit of a science-fiction edge to it, but you get the sense that this was just added to make the work have something to say beyond the standard ‘I am moving away, and we will never see each other again, but we will always be bestest friends 4-evah’. It doesn’t help that the last chapter of Stellar Six we get here deals with leaving your old friends also, and is far smoother.

So, not quite as fun as Volume 1, but still a great deal of fun. I expect we’ll be seeing some long-term stuff playing out now that the author is working with a mid-sized series rather than a series of one-shots, and look forward to seeing more of the other 4 of the Stellar Six, even though I know that the stars will continue to be Mike and Kuro and their sweet, clueless love.

By Yuuki Fujimoto. Released in Japan as “Kirameki☆Gingachou Shoutengai” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

It has to be said, it’s a rare manga that can win you over by simply making you feel good. No stunning originality, no impetuous romance (well, not much), nothing you haven’t seen in a bunch of other Hakusensha titles… just a good cheer and brightness that threatens to overwhelm you at times, drowning you in a big smile. At MangaNext, Ed Chavez was noting that you shouldn’t read Ayako if you’re already depressed. I will add that if you do, you can cheer yourself up by reading this.

The basic premise follows the lives of six teenage sons and daughters of merchants as they live their life in the middle of a shopping district and marketplace in Gingacho, a fictional Osaka township. And when I say six protagonists, I mean two, really, but I am hopeful that the other four will get a lot more focus as the volumes go on – this is 10 volumes total. The stars of this volume are Mike (pronounced Japanese style) and Kuro, the standard Hakusensha perky clueless girl and aloof guy. Mike has a smile to die for – you could hurt your face trying to imitate it – and everything always seems to be the MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER in her life. In other words, a perfect shoujo teen.

The chapters in this particular volume ran in Hana to Yume’s sister magazine The Hana to Yume, which comes out 6 times per year, before it moved to the main magazine for Volume 2. This is why the chapters are so long, and also why we get reintroduced to everyone once we start a new chapter. I don’t mind this too much if it’s not overdone – Natsume’s Book of Friends was recently doing it as of Volume 4, which seems excessive – and it helps me recall the names of the other 4 kids in the Stellar Six, who get less of a look-in here. We have the playboy, the meek girl, the team mom, and the deadpan flake. I suspect they’ll pair up by the end as well, though may be wrong here.

Although Chapter 2 does get into Mike and Kuro’s relationship, and how it might develop, the series is firmly about friendship so far, with Mike desperate to hold on to those magical childhood years when the world is your oyster. It’s also nice to see a manga centered around a shopping district – there is a school chapter, but you sense that the focus of the action will be the various stores, which are all family-owned and no doubt will continue to be when the next generation comes along. No one in this book is stunningly rich – a bar getting trashed makes it very likely the bar will have to shut down, and a quest for 100 popsicle sticks is something that could take years to achieve.

The Stellar Six of Gingacho is not going to win any originality awards, but by now readers of this blog know that doesn’t really bother me. It’s a feel good manga about the lives of six kids, emphasizing friendship over romantic angst. And though it’s rated T for teen, you could easily give it to a youngster and not have to worry about anything. The art is a bit messy, but hey – Hakusensha title. Overall, I’m quite pleased that Tokyopop is giving this series a chance, and hope that readers do as well.