Skyblue Shore Volume 2

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By Nanpei Yamada. Released in Japan as “Sorairo Kaigan” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Tokyopop.

As I was reading this volume of Skyblue Shore, it began to dawn on my that its heroine was a rare breed, especially in Hakusensha shoujo: she’s a nice person who can make friends with anyone but doesn’t seen either flighty or dense. Tomo seems to live very much in the real world, and as such doesn’t require more down to earth friends (her best friend Anri seems to fulfill the flakey stereotype here). She’s still a teenager, of course, so we aren’t talking mature beyond her years, but it is nice to see.

The fact that she is so outgoing also balances nicely against Tento, who can be very frustrating. It is nice to see a sullen male shoujo lead who isn’t mooning over the heroine right from the start – in fact, romance is sort of only one mild subplot in this, with Tomo still being very hung up on the older brother Riku, and indeed getting into a love triangle. The relationship she was with Tento is that of a good friend and mentor, and it’s a delight to see, especially when it focuses on the beachcombing and making of accessories. Tento worries about Tomo, who is the outgoing heart-on-her-sleeve sort that makes people worry. Unfortunately, Tento is still quite repressed and brooding, and still has issues with his past (the flashback we see here goes a long way to explaining why).

So we have Tomo, who’s extremely nice. We have Tento, who’s sort of moody but not precisely rude to anyone. We have Riku, Tento’s brother, who’s a barrel of laughs even though it’s implied part of that might be a facade. Isn’t there anyone who can break up the monotony of a group of good people growing up and learning about life on the seashore? Oh, hi Michiru! She is a total breath of fresh air in this series, as she’s so angry, rude, and generally appalling. Of course, this means little to Tomo, who has made it her goal to get Michiru to open up and become friends with her. But it’s clearly a long-term goal. In a series filled with peaceful coming-of-age characters, Michiru is a sour apple that makes the whole thing more flavorful. I want more of her, and hope that she opens up while still being blunt and rude.

As this volume wraps up, we get the sense that it may focus more of the making of beach artifacts and sales thereof – the flamboyant guy who managed to piss off everyone in his one appearance seems to speak of that, as he has the right air of ‘rival artist’ to him. And I hope to see more of Tomo and Tento getting closer, though the series has not yet quite placed its foot in the romance pool yet. This is still a coming of age drama (with funny bits), and quite an interesting read. If you can get used to the mouths.

Eensy Weensy Monster Volume 2

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By Masami Tsuda. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

It’s always rather refreshing to see these short, 1-2 volume series, as many of the frustrations you see in shoujo are not present simply as the series is so small. No agonizing about love confessions for volumes at a time, no 3rd party rivals, no hideous misunderstandings… just two people realizing that “Oh, that’s what this feeling is, it’s love”.

Hazuki is the one to realize this, as he reads a famous poem that also describes the way he’s currently feeling about Nanoha. Naturally, he starts blushing and stuttering, and basically becoming a wreck around Nanoha. But when called on it by her “monster”, he pretty much comes right out and says he loves her. And from that point on, he ends up trying to be understanding and sweet, not pressing her on the issue and waiting for her to deal with her own feelings.

At first Nanoha is just as freaked out as he was, but when he says he doesn’t mind keeping their relationship as it had been for now, she is fairly relieved. Sadly for him, this means she goes back to acting normally, which not only means not responding to his overture of love, but also that she is unthinkingly adorable and cute, sending him into a frenzy. He calls this her ‘little devil’, which makes an amusing counterpart to her own anthropomorphic ‘monster’, though it doesn’t have an adorable SD-figure of it.

Speaking of the monster, things really begin to turn bad once Nanoha starts thinking about why Hazuki has fallen in love with her, and realizes that she’s a plain, ordinary girl. (Being surrounded by her two pretty and poised friends hasn’t helped much, though they both do their best to not have it be an issue.) After much hemming and hawing, she asks him what he ses in her, and he praises her forthright, honest nature, her ability to tell people exactly what she thinks of them… which HORRIFIES her, as she’s always equated that part of herself with the ‘monster’, and now thinks that Hazuki doesn’t love her, but it! (The shot of Nanoha realizing this is easily the funniest part of the book, by the way.)

After a talk with her friends, who reveal that they have their own ‘monsters’ inside them as well, Nanoha eventually works things out with Hazuki, and they end up as a couple. And then… well, then the story ends, as the main issue has been resolved, and this isn’t an epic. This does make the final chapter a bit of an anticlimax, as it reads as just a chapter of the two of them being really happy together. Still, they’re cute, and it does have a few funny bits where they note Nanoha is hitting a growth spurt.

Tsuda designed the series from the start to be 12 chapters long, one for each month of the year, and have it come out in 12 straight issues of LaLa magazine. As such, it’s compact as I’ve noted, but that’s also its strength as well. (Less of a strength is the ‘month’ thing… I never really got a sense that a year was passing, or each chapter was 1 month later. It felt more like it happened over a few weeks.) In the end, it’s a cute, fun romance that does what Tsuda does best: highlight the thought processes of a boy and a girl, and how they may be very different things but end up working towards the same goal. And really, the couple is just so cute together.

Seiho Boys High School! Volume 5

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By Kaneyoshi Izumi. Released in Japan as “Men’s Kou” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Comic (“Betsucomi”). Released in North America by Viz.

I would like to note before I begin this review that for artists who want the covers of their manga volumes to feature a close-up of their cast as the volumes go on, please try to at least have the cast involved in that particular volume. Genda is on this cover, but probably should have been on the cover of 4, as he doesn’t do anything here. But then, you can’t have Maki and Kamiki on all the covers…

We’ve passed the halfway mark in this series, so some plots are going to have to start wrapping up. And it’s not going to be Maki’s, as that is no doubt being saved for the very end. Really, this is another volume where Maki gets put through the wringer. There’s a rumor of a ghost in the building, and Maki becomes convinced that it’s Erika returned from the afterlife. In reality, it turns out to be some shut-in guy with long hair… or is it? Turns out it would appear it *is* Erika, who comes to Maki in a dream to wish him goodbye. All this does is remind him how little he’s gotten over her death, unfortunately. Then he goes on a date with his new girlfriend (also Erika) which goes badly once more due to his inability to open up. There’s a happy ending to the chapter, sort of, but he still hasn’t told Erika about *other* Erika, and I get the feeling we’re headed for a wreck here. I’m not certain this is going to be a happy ending.

Like Maki, Kamiki also has trouble expressing himself, but he’s far more stoic about it, so doesn’t quite get the flak that Maki does. You’ll recall that Miyaji asked him at the end of Volume 4 if he would go out with her for real. Well, turns out he asked to think about it… and has suddenly become very hard to get a hold of. Since Kamiki is not exactly an open book, Miyaji has to constantly guess what he’s thinking, and being naturally a worried, paranoid person she assumes the worst. This culminates in her arrival at the school festival, where despite her best efforts not only does Kamiki keep running off, but the one time he’s around she’s being comforted by Hanai, who’s been helping her out, and he catches the two of them in an embrace! However, this is definitely the more light-hearted of the two relationships in this volume, and things all work out well in the end. (There’s also a great end gag, which helps to undercut the schmaltz nicely.)

There is one pure funny chapter, involving token gay classmate Hanai deciding to become a photographer, and getting bribed by Miyaji and her classmates into taking candid photos of all the boys, but for the most part a lot of this volume falls more into the melodrama category. I’d noted earlier how I wasn’t quite certain how to peg this series, and that still holds true; it keeps dropping wacky into its serious, and serious into its wacky. For the most part, it manages to balance it quite well, though you can see some problems – apparently Nogami and the nurse don’t have enough plot to fill more chapters, as she’s absent and he gets about four lines. But I think people are reading this title to see the cute, try-harder girl get the hot guy, or to watch the cute guy attempt to move on with his very similar girl. Certainly I hope to see that developed more in Volume 6. Definitely recommended overall.