So Cute It Hurts!!, Vol. 1

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By Go Ikeyamada. Released in Japan as “Kobayashi ga Kawai Sugite Tsurai!!” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shoujo Comic (“Sho-Comi”). Released in North America by Viz.

In general, I’m a sucker for over-the-top comedic shenanigans in a shoujo manga, but it can be very difficult to actually achieve this. The author has to be ridiculous while still keeping the reader interested, and suspend disbelief without hanging it by the neck. It can also be very easy to slide into drama, particularly if you run in a magazine like Sho-Comi. When done right, though, it can be pure fun. I think the first volume of So Cute It Hurts!! shows a lot of promise, and while not perfect, has enough fun that I will be reading more.

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The author was previously best knows for Suki Desu Suzuki-kun!!, an 18-volume series that I thought might be licensed by Viz but never was. (Not that you’d know that by the back of this book – all the extras are included, including the cast of SDSK talking to us about the new title.) This new one is 11 volumes and counting, and for once actually feels like it was planned out to be a long series rather than a short one that catches on and gains plot points afterwards. Our heroes are identical twins, one male and one female. Mitsuru is good at athletic things, a bit of a playboy, and a bit of a delinquent. Megumu is a history otaku who plays Edo-period datesims. Together, they do not fight crime at all – in fact, they don’t really interact as much as you’d expect. But when Mitsuru’s grades are in danger, he asks his lookalike sister to swap with him for the week and take the tests for him.

To her credit, she refuses. Of course, he then proceeds to switch anyway, as he’s that sort. Mitsuru spent the first volume annoying me, to be honest, and I had to occasionally remind myself that his character development is part of the point. He does despise bullying, of course, like all manga heroes, and when he comes across a deaf girl who is being harassed by the queen of the school, he not only falls head over heels but starts to study sign language. As for Megumu, she’s in at the deep end at the boys’ school, not even trying to act like her brother and accidentally winning fights by tripping and headbutting the opponent’s crotch. She does meet a sexy aloof guy, though. With an eyepatch.

If all of this sounds melodramatic, you are absolutely correct. Naturally, the deaf girl seems to be in love with the eyepatch guy. Naturally, the Queen of the School ends up falling for Mitsuru (in another disguise), and absolutely everyone is completely amazed at the feelings in their heart! The humor is broad but fun. I like that the twins never even bother to try to imitate each other beyond the outfit swap, and how it works anyway. I like Mitsuru’s cocky ‘I can’t believe I’m this cute’ persona, which provides the title for us but also tells me he’s being set up for a fall. I like how Megumu may be a shy girl falling in love, but she’s still happy to rabbit on about Masamune for minutes on end in front of her crush.

this first volume doesn’t knock it out of the park. It’s fun but slight, and I hope it will continue to develop its characters as it goes along. If you’re a Shojo Beat fan, this should please you.

Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. 21

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By Karuho Shiina. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (“Betsuma”). Released in North America by Viz.

I’ve been reviewing this title in the ‘Bookshelf Briefs’ section for a long time. There’s been a lot going on since my last review, but one thing that amused me is that I was discussing Kento never shutting up, saying the wrong thing, and generally being extroverted all over the pages of what’s trying to be a quiet, peaceful manga. And hey, guess what’s still happening! After a brief period where I was beginning to like him and hoping he and Yano would work out, he’s back to being my least favorite. Meanwhile, another old villain makes a reappearance, and as she has in the past, spurs Sawako to try to apply herself and chase her dreams.

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Given how Kurumi was originally introduced to act as a contrast to Sawako’s purity and general niceness, it’s highly amusing to see that they both want to pursue similar careers – though only Kurumi really gets this, and she is properly annoyed by it. In fact, Kurumi spends most of the volume on a low boil, possibly as all the main characters have hooked up with each other and she’s watching them all be happy. But Sawako has bigger concerns – she’s finally found happiness with Kazehaya, and while she doesn’t want to leave the town, she does envision going to a college that would temporarily separate them. While Kazehaya knows this and decides to try to pull his grades up so that he can go to college as well, he makes it clear to Sawako that this is her choice and she should feel confident in it. As always, they’re both really sweet.

Yano has never been described as sweet, but she’s usually tried to be the most mature of the bunch, and the most level-headed. Now we’re starting to see that facade crumble, particularly around Pin, who is easily able to see through her facade to the anxious teenager beneath it. And it’s fairly clear that, while Yano is happy with what she currently has with Kento, he’s not really factoring in what she really wants – college in Tokyo, a much farther distance away than the others are talking. It’s also far more difficult, and Pin admits she needs to pull her grades even higher if she wants sure success. (Pin is pure awesome in this volume, by the way, and while teacher/student romances are iffy, I totally get why this is also a ship.)

So while Yano frets, Kento is there… to propose to her, saying he wants to spend the rest of his life waking up next to her. Kento has always been forward and blunt, but my jaw actually dropped at this moment, and I wondered if it was a setup for something more. I got my answer later in the volume, where Pin has a disastrous meeting with him, where Kento admits he’d like to study interior design, but going to the same college as Yano is more important. His face in this scene is a sort of goofy, happy-go-lucky type that makes me want to hit it, as he’s not thinking about Yano here at all. To make things worse, she actually hears this outside the teacher’s office. Kento wants Yano as his girlfriend/wife, but seems to take it as read that she’ll be OK with this. And she isn’t.

A cliffhanger seems to show Kento starting to realize that something is wrong, but we’ll have to wait for a bit to see if it sinks in, or if things continue to go south. In the meantime, this remains must-read shoujo, and if you dislike angst, there’s always Sawako and Kazehaya, whose stressful situations are resolved through honest communication. Funny, that.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Vols. 5-6

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By Satoshi Mizukami. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialized in the magazine Young King Ours. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Well, I can’t say I didn’t warn myself in my last review, where I described everything coming to a halt so that the author could do plot setup. And now that it’s set up, the guns are fired, with lots of cool action scenes, character development, and the introduction of Animus’ sibling Anima, who doesn’t talk much and seems to be able to grant even more superpowers. The series also continues to show off the connection between having cool superpowers and teenage angst and grief, which as fans of old school superhero comics know if the classic way to go about things. I have to say, however, that perhaps the most ridiculous yet tragic thing about my last review is when I was discussing Hanako’s oddness and suggested that she might not survive the series. Wow, in hindsight that is the worst thing ever.

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This is not a series afraid to kill off its main characters, and to be fair I should have realized what was coming. Taro was one of the most ‘normal’ of the cast, and we weren’t sure what his wish was. The one thing we were sure of was that he was totally in love with Hanako and hadn’t told her yet. And, despite what her familiar tells her, he dies in a heroic, amazing way. Yes, he made his wish to resurrect her if she was killed and then tried to stop her getting killed anyway. But that’s love for you, and I thought it was fantastic. I also liked how Taro’s impact was felt on other characters through his food – his other main personality trait besides ‘likes Hanako’. I’m not sure how much I like the observation that his death is Hanako’s punishment for what her wish was, though – I think that’s placing too much of a burden on her.

I’d mentioned above that Anima has started to give powerups to the various Knights, and we see Yuuhi fight to ensure that he gets one… and lose. Yuuhi has always been at the low end of the totem pole when it comes to kicking ass, and I don’t see that changing as I think it’s perhaps the only thing keeping him likeable. We do see his growth here, though, as he encourages Samidare to talk with her estranged mother (who can’t seem to balance work and family well at all) even as he’s still estranged from his own grandfather. I’m still of the opinion that the Earth is not going to be destroyed, and I suspect it will be because he stops being such a nihilist. Leave that to the resident Nihilist Knight… I mean Owl Knight.

In the end, the scene that sticks with me most is the final one of the volume, where Hanako uses her ice powers to take out one of the golems in a fit of suppressed grief and rage, showing the emotions on her face that we haven’t seen since we met her. It extends to the others as well, as the death of Taro’s killer and Hanako’s sobbing allows all the other knights to show their own grief… even Yuuhi. It’s a good sign for the future. I eagerly await the next omnibus.