Seiho Boys High School! Volume 2

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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.

(This review contains a major spoiler for this volume.)

Well, that was a bummer. Don’t get me wrong, a beautifully told, well-written bummer. I enjoyed every minute of it. But dang. Thank goodness the volume ends with a wacky romantic farce, even though it pales in comparison to what came before.

Maki’s on the cover of this one, and indeed the bulk of the volume is about him, as we discover the backstory that we mysteriously never got in Volume 1. Clearly the artist had been holding back as it was going to take most of a volume to tell – I wonder if this was the ending she had in mind for a short series? (Most shoujo writers are told to plan ‘short, medium, and long’ endings for any series they create, so that if a series isn’t popular it can easily wrap up, and if it is, there’s resolution on the horizon.)

Things start off with some prospective new guys touring the school. One of them brought his amazingly cute sister, who sets about trying to score free food and otherwise use her looks to hit on guys. She’s drawn immediately to Maki, the stereotypical nice guy, and indeed he seems to be going after her as well, but Rui notes that it’s a facade. Then, of course, the girl makes the mistake of bringing up Maki’s ex-girlfriend. Cue Maki’s rage.

We then get the story of how Maki and Erika, the ex in question, met in middle school. It’s my favorite part of the volume, mostly as we see how fantastic they would be as a couple. Maki is determined to be nice to Erika no matter what, but he’s not perfect – we see his frustration with her actions, and we also see that a lot of his ‘dogged nice guy’ persona is a mask that’s easily slipped on. And Erika is fantastic, being a grumpy loner who will not be dealing with any fools today, thank you. Maki is relentless in getting her to open up, and when she does, we smile.

And then she dies. And I was sort of hoping that it was a fake death, one of those ‘my parents told you I was dead so they could break us up’ things, but no, this is far too gut-wrenching for that. This is the best part of the book, with Maki reading, finally, the book that Erika had given him before she was killed and showing her message to him. The narrative notes that this isn’t a sad story, as it’s a story of love that is returned, but frankly it’s hard to convince yourself of that. And then the artist draws her as a spirit (and later as an angel in the end comic) to show us, yes, really dead. Sigh.

So clearly, if Maki gets together with anyone, it’s not going to be until Volume 8 or so. And it probably won’t be with Miyaji, the girl we meet in the last chapter who seems to combine bad luck and desperation in equal measure. She’s dealing with the aftermath of a situation where she and her friend were both in love with the same guy, but the friend admitted her feelings first, and won. And while Miyaji is happy for them, it makes things very awkward. So… better find a fake boyfriend! After the serious previous chapters, this comes off as even more goofy than it should, and I groaned at the predictable ending, but Miyaji seems like a lot of fun, and it’ll be nice seeing another female in this mostly male cast.

I’d noted in Volume 1’s review how wildly variable the series was, and Volume 2 is much, much better. The series has found its footing (as many shoujo series do once they realize they’re going to BE a series), and Maki’s past was definitely worth the wait. I look forward to the next volume of this.

Stepping on Roses Volume 3

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By Rinko Ueda. Released in Japan as “Hadashi De Bara Wo Fume” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Margaret. Released in North America by Viz.

I have to hand it to Rinko Ueda, she’s done what Miki Aihara and Kanoko Sakurakoji were unable to do: get me addicted to a complete and total soap opera of a book. This SHOULD have been the point at which I dropped this series – I even predicted this when I fist bought it – and yet something about this story compels me to keep reading.

We pick up right where we left off, with Sumi having run away with Nozomu. She pretty much begins to have second thoughts IMMEDIATELY, worrying what Soichiro will think, and she also begins to notice that her special guy is perhaps not the sanest of men. Which is only confirmed when he ties her to a post and puts his best crazy face on. (Ueda-san, btw, really knows how to draw a good crazy face. It’s not over the top in the way Higurashi popularized, but the eyes and smile are just wide enough so that you know this person is disturbed.)

Soichiro is bound to come to the rescue, of course, and he does. One other thing that I noticed might help my reading of this manga is that it was in Margaret rather than Betsuma, and so its page count is not as high per chapter (there’s 6 in this book, as opposed to the usual shoujo chapter count of 4 from the Betsu titles). This actually helps to keep things pacey – everything at the start moves at a breakneck speed, and even when things calm down in the 2nd half there are no pauses or lulls. It’s as if the artist knows the moment things slow down, people might start thinking about how ridiculous this all is.

Soichiro in this book has pretty much completed his switch from complete jerk to a mere male tsundere. His frustration with Sumi for just being sweet and loving and so gosh-darned-sexy is amusing, but not half as amusing as when he finds out that Sumi, due to her brother’s hideous past gambling, is a shogi master! Not only is this terrific characterization for Sumi, showing how much of her so-called ‘dumb’ is a result of her environment and lack of resources, but hey, smart girls are that much sexier. Look at his face when she clobbers the shogi expert at the end. It’s a wonder he waited till they were in the hall before he kissed her.

I was asking on Twitter for suggestions as to why I like this story, and someone mentioned the art. It really is well-done, showing that Ueda-san is not just another newbie artist. The guys are handsome, the girls are pretty, the action scenes don’t look hideously unrealistic… the art attracts you to the story, as opposed to simply being the vehicle by which it is told. Speaking of the art, I laughed seeing one of the sidebars where Ueda shows us a rough draft of a cover page, featuring Sumi completely naked (with hair covering appropriately, of course) bound by rose vines (I note the sketch is ridiculously sexy, despite the bondage theme). She notes she suspected Margaret’s editors would balk. Ya think? You want Sho-Comi, honey, it’s next door.

So yes, that might be the reason why I find Stepping on Roses to be addicting rather than off-putting. The art, the pacing, the heroine’s characterization… all of them are just that much better than the other examples of this form that I’ve read. Put it together, and it’s the difference between a manga that’s just good, and one that’s very good.

Dengeki Daisy Volume 2

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By Kyousuke Motomi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Comic (“Betsucomi”). Released in North America by Viz.

Well, the 2nd volume of Dengeki Daisy pretty much gave me exactly what I asked for. There’s not QUITE as much humor as in the first volume, and the more serious plotline is coming to the foreground, but this is certainly no We Were There, and the sweet, goofy relationship between Teru and Tasuku is still something we really want to see happen… but know isn’t going to anytime soon.

Even better, Teru is smartening up, and is not quite the same naive girl we saw going to a love hotel to ‘rescue’ her classmate in Vol. 1. Halfway through the book, we get the standard ‘come alone and don’t tell anyone’ plot, with admonitions from both Tasuku and Riko to NOT do that, and call them before she goes anywhere. Cut to her showing up, alone, to talk to her blackmailer. Not again, we groan. But no, this time she actually went and called them both before she went! It’s especially interesting as Teru sees it as her going down a dark path, and being less trusting. Whereas I think Tasuku and the others would call it growing up.

Tasuku’s desire for Teru (and it’s pretty well shown to be a strong desire, without ever becoming explicit) is another reason to pick this up. He’s already naturally conflicted by being older than Teru, who’s still in school; as well as by his past with her brother, and we also have his dual identity as Daisy, and trying to avoid having her discover that. Really, he has enough psychological issues for several volumes, which is good, as Dengeki Daisy is 8 volumes and still running in Japan. But at least he and Teru know of their own feelings for each other in their own minds, even if they’re light-years away from saying it. This is a refreshing change from clueless obliviousness or hardcore denial.

I do wonder if it will get more explicit later. Dengeki Daisy is a Shogakukan title, which already gives it a 75% chance of more sex than a similar title would for Shueisha. :D

The plot thickens in this 2nd volume, and we get intriguing pieces of the backstory, including finding that Teru’s late brother may not be as sweet and wonderful as we’d expected. Riko is also a nice addition to the cast, giving Teru a mentor figure to discuss things with, while being another link to Tasuku’s past (and getting carte blanche to kick him in the head, something Teru can’t quite manage yet). There’s a lot going on in this title besides the cute romance. I’m very pleased Viz has picked it up; one of their better new acquisitions.