Butterflies, Flowers Volume 5

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By Yuki Yoshihara. Released in Japan as “Chou Yo Hana Yo” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Petit Comic. Released in North America by Viz.

I was rather surprised to find that this was a far more serious volume of the series. Oh sure, there were a few mentions of barge poles and some wackiness involving Choko’s brother, but the slapstick violence was almost zero. After Masayuki resolving to try to stop being over the top and less sexually harrassing, it looks like the manga may be trying to do the same thing. (The one exception is a completely ludicrous parody of infomercials in the first chapter, which worked great as it was so out of the blue.)

But we also see a fire tragically destroy Choko’s family home and business. After seeing her family lose their fortune and trying to get by as best they can, seeing even that taken away from them is a real kick in the teeth. It also serves to remind us of the sole reason why Masayuki is an up and coming corporate shark, as he immediately offers (with much anger that they didn’t ask for help) money to help them rebuild, pointing out that this is pretty much what he has been working towards all this time.

We then get two problems, both of which dovetail nicely with each other. First, to his embarrassment, Masayuki is suffering from a bout of impotence. While he doesn’t let that stop him from helping Choko to achieve her own pleasure (in a nice scene that once again reminds you why this manga is rated M), it is clearly frustrating to him. Meanwhile, Choko discovers this and worries that the reason for it is that he sees her more as his princess rather than as an attractive sexual woman.

Unfortunately, her solution doesn’t quite work. It SOUNDS good – she wants Masayuki to treat her as an equal, and says they should just be normal ordinary lovers, with none of the master and servant dynamic that has defined them so far – but the trouble is that people are, to a degree, defined by their pasts, and her suggestion seems to indicate that she finds their back history meaningless. If they don’t have the master/servant dynamic, then they cease to be Choko and Masayuki. And really, as Makie notes, ‘ordinary lover’ is not something one should strive for. Especially not with someone as extraordinary as Masayuki.

As readers no doubt will be relieved to hear, Masayuki manages to get over his impotence and have his “second sex” with Choko by the end of the volume. Moreover, he forcefully declares that he will continue to call Choko Milady. One can argue about how healthy this is, but at least it’s not denying the past and present they have with each other. Plus, of course, it allows them to keep the humor. And as we still have 3 volumes to go after this, I’m hoping for a lot more wackiness in future volumes.

Oh yes, and Makie’s face as Choko suggests Suou would be a good lover for her is adorable. :D

Gente Volume 2

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By Natsume Ono. Released in Japan by Ohta Shuppan, serialized in the magazine Manga Erotics F. Released in North America by Viz.

Gente is still pretty much a classic example of a Signature title: something with a very narrow audience that Viz nevertheless hopes will do well based on the name recognition of the author. As such, if you’re in that narrow span, you’ll likely enjoy it. If you didn’t like Ristorante Paradiso, you may want to steer clear, as it’s more of the same.

Luckily, I am one of that narrow audience, so I was very pleased with the 2nd volume of Gente. We get some insight into our cast of middle-aged waiters, especially Claudio, the head waiter, and Teo, who rises here to become the main chef. The Claudio chapter was especially appreciated as I had a bit of difficulty connecting with him in Ristorante Paradiso. We get a flashback here to him as an awkward young man, one who is “easy to tease” according to one patron, and still very clumsy. His youth and good looks also get him female attention that he really doesn’t want. It dovetailed nicely with Furio, who, like Vito in the volume before, is one of those men who seems to have it all together early in life.

The meat of the volume goes to the chef, Teo, and his tempestuous relationship with the one woman in the group, Vanna, the head chef. Since Gente is a prequel, we knew that Vanna, like Marzio from the first volume, would be leaving somehow, as she wasn’t around by the time that Nicoletta arrived in Ristorante Paradiso. Teo is particularly uncommunicative, and seems to lack a certain amount of motivation, so these are also the slowest chapters of the book, and can be a little frustrating. That said, Vanna seems to know how to handle him, and I quite liked the mirroring of Teo’s father’s response in flashback and Vanna’s in the main story.

The remainder of the volume seems to be building up to the point where the restaurant was when Nicoletta arrived – as indeed she does right at the end, giving the volume a cliffhanger that leads immediately into Ristorante Paradiso. We get some discussion of Olga, who, as with prior volumes, is shown to be a woman who seems to have it all. It is hinted that the author is not unaware of her failings as a mother – her friend notes that resolving things with her daughter is the one thing Olga still needs to do – but it’s lampshaded that sometimes people’s lives don’t slot into handy moral lessons. And sometimes the best story to tell is one that’s in shadows – after seeing Vito and his future wife meet in the first volume of Gente, his proposal here takes all of three pages.

Someting about this series’ relaxed, romanza feeling just works for me. Even if it’s a bunch of people sitting around talking, and the plotlines can occasionally be frustratingly obtuse, I still feel that it’s very rewarding. The third volume is out in Spring, and it would appear, judging from the ending we get here, that the third will be a sequel to Ristorante Paradiso, coming after the prequel of the first two volumes. Can’t wait.

Bamboo Blade Volume 7

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By Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Young Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press.

I had been very excited about the introduction of Tamaki’s new rival that was promised in Volume 6, and sure enough we do meet her here. Unfortunately, that’s really all that happens, as the rest of the book is taken up by lots of introspection, very little kendo, and far, far too much Kojiro.

It starts off pretty well, though. The girls (and Dan-kun) go on a shopping trip, with Tama boggling at everything around her as we get reminded that, new friends or no, she’s still mostly a shut-in when it comes to socialization. Unfortunately, at one point a sign comes loose from above, and is about to hit Dan-kun! Along with some hot ramen! And a thief running through the mall! Never let it be said that Bamboo Blade isn’t afraid to lampshade its ludicrous situations. Before any of our heroes can do anything, though, all three dangers are erased by the wooden bokken of a passing mystery girl.

The girl is very reminiscent of Tama – deliberately so. They both have ‘placid’ as their default expression, they’re both kendo masters, and most important,y they both are huge sentai otaku. But of course, Ura is meant to be a dark mirror to Tama, like many shonen/seinen rivals are. She’s abandoned her kendo (to her father’s distress), and is a fan of a different variation of the series than Tama is. (The explanation of the Battle Hero sentai series (all 20 of them), and how Blade Braver and Black Duran (Ura’s obsession) place in it is one of the best jokes of the volume, mocking sentai’s need for constant reinvention and merchandising.) Sadly, all we see of her plotline is a bit of her father whining about her decision to abandon kendo, and of Kirino finding out who she is.

The rest of the book rests on the shoulders of Kojiro, who is still trying to regain the fighting spirit he feels he lost after high school. He has a long talk with Ishibashi, his sempai, who challenges him to another duel with a 2nd set of girls he’s coaching. But for the most part, we get almost 70 pages of Kojiro, which is all fine and dandy, but if I’m reading a series about kendo girls I want to focus on the girls and the kendo. I appreciate the coach’s dilemma, but we just don’t really care as much.

There are two good side-stories in here, one focusing on Miya-Miya, who is having to deal with her old kohai and feeling angry and frustrated. Kojiro’s suggestion that she work out her rage via kendo is cliched, but it does manage to show us an important point – slowly, almost unconsciously, Miya-Miya *is* improving. It no longer seems beyond the bounds of reason that she could win against someone at her basic skill level. The other, shorter chapter deals with Tamaki’s mother, who I believe we finally see in full-face here after several volumes of being hidden. She looks like Tamaki with long hair, but her gung-ho personality certainly didn’t carry over into her daughter. Still very sweet.

I ended up writing more than I thought I would about the things I enjoyed (I didn’t even mention Tamaki’s facial expression on page 96, which is worth the price of the book by itself), but I still felt that this volume was moving far too slowly and awkwardly in its attempt to transition to its next set of battles. Here’s hoping Vol. 8 will bring us more of the girls, and far more kendo.