Oh My Goddess! Volume 36

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By Kosuke Fujishima. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Dark Horse.

This is the first volume of OMG in a while where the book takes up one entire story, though they are helped by the volumes here (and in Japan) being about 50 pages shorter than earlier volumes. This one is just 6 chapters long.

The plot itself carries over from the last chapter of 35, featuring a drunken Megumi showing up at the temple wondering why guys keep dumping her. Naturally, we find it’s because she’s far too awesome for them. Any casual OMG fan could have told you that, Megs. In any case, she’s wasted and heartbroken, and both Urd and Skuld decide to SOLVE ALL HER PROBLEMS by erasing/modifying her memories. And of course, everything goes wrong, and now everyone there has lost ALL their memories.

The main thrust of this volume, of course, is seeing how even with their memories eradicated, Keiichi and Belldandy are still head over heels in love with each other. They seem to realize it right away as well, even if they’re initially too shy to say anything. Meanwhile, Megumi can see it as well (she’s really one of the smartest in the entire cast, despite not knowing about the whole ‘goddess’ thing), despite Keiichi being stuck in a sentai suit, Keiichi’s collection of porn, and the annoying cat demon thing trying to convince everyone that he and Belldandy are engaged while Keiichi and Megumi are married.

First of all, I’ve ranted about it before and I’ll rant about it again. Why does Keiichi need porn? He has Belldandy! Yes, I realize that Urd and Skuld are there to be annoying and stop any nookie, and yes, it’s true that Keiichi is a reader surrogate and therefore cannot have sex with any of them lest he ruin the innocent purity that Japanese otaku prize (so they can dream of taking it themselves). But dammit, it’s been 36 volumes, Keiichi is clearly in his mid-20s by now, and he and Bell have been ‘together’ for about 5-6 years now. They pledge their love to each other AGAIN here. It’s getting ridiculous. I don’t care if you have to move to Evening and cross over with Kosaku Shima, it’s time to get more intimate.

Secondly, there’s a vague tinge of incest through the entire volume. It starts with Keiichi realizing his little sister has grown up (he wasn’t even aware she was dating), which the predictable shot of him ogling her breasts (and then feeling guilty). Then Velsper tries his ‘you’re both married to each other’ thing, which luckily Megumi sees through fairly quickly. Finally we have the epilogue, where Megumi’s seen with another guy and letting him know that he just can’t hold a candle to her brother. (Interestingly, this line is far more suggestive than the scanlation that was out ages ago, which notes that she’s looking more for what K1 has with Bell, rather than looking for a guy like K1. I have to assume that Dark Horse’s is more accurate, but don’t have the Japanese to find out.) It does remind me that Keiichi and Megumi are a brother/sister pair who get along surprisingly well in the manga canon. Though hopefully not that well.

In any case, this is a nice sensible, meat-and-potatoes volume of Oh My Goddess. It’s not devoted to mecha fetishes as much as prior volumes, but makes up for it with some nice heartwarming scenes with our favorite couple, and lots of Megumi. Recommended to those who would be reading it anyway.

Pink Innocent Volume 2

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By Kotori Momoyuki. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Del Rey.

Loyal readers may recall my twisted love of the first volume of this series, which featured a heroine so gloriously over-the-top annoying that I felt it might almost be parody. Volume 1 of the manga stunned me in its sheer brazen appallingness in regards to its heroine, and I hoped that the pace could keep up.

Sadly, it was not to be. Yes, Kokona is still very annoying, and many computers are still broken in her desperate quest to be loved, but now that she and Renji are a couple, the story turns to far more ordinary devices. The first chapter sees her trying to help her friend Aery with her own love life. I’d wished in Vol. 1 to see more of Aery’s plot, but unfortunately, it’s the standard shoujo “I wanted you to be jealous, why weren’t you?” plot, so no surprises there.

After this, Kokona gets obsessed with first kisses, and like most shoujo heroines, turns to incredibly bad advice from love magazines. This goes about as well as you can expect, especially as Renji is clearly pictured as a painfully shy repressed guy, who is unlikely to dole out first kisses for just anything. The “Kokona is sick” ending also felt very forced.

The last two chapters were the best, both in terms of Konoka being ludicrously over the top and in terms of being the most genuinely interesting. For one, they remind you of how rich she is, something that had been played down in the earlier part of the book. She invites Renji to a hanami party that turns out to take place on a cruise ship owned by her parents, who are the usual lovey-dovey couple who adore their daughter but have little time to devote to her. We also get the traditional rival, who would be interesting if we remotely believed him as a threat, which we don’t. On the other hand, Kokona and Renji’s fight was pretty well done, with Kokona noting she loves Renji even when she’s angry with him, and Renji wondering if she thinks “I love you” can solve any problem.

This ends with the best part of the book, as it was also the most inane. Kokona decides to announce that she’s going to study abroad and stay with her parents, in an effort to get Renji to say something. He’s certainly affected by it, but not in enough time to do anything – Kokona’s parents SPLIT THE BOAT IN TWO and take her off with them while the rest of the boat (with Renji) goes back to port. Kokona, realizing that she needs to get back to Renji, makes a 50-foot dive off the boat onto a small speedboat, drives after Renji, then crashes into a rock and has to be saved. If only the rest of the manga were like this.

(Also, I note that Kokona’s father is drawn so femininely, with a ludicrous fake mustache, that I have to wonder if they’re a lesbian couple keeping up the charade for an adopted Kokona).

Pink Innocent Volume 2 definitely improved on Volume 1, and Kokona goes from being the worst heroine ever to merely annoying. Sadly, that gets rid of the one reason to read the series. With this, Pink Innocent becomes merely average shoujo – and as such, there are better series to give your time to.

Manga the week of 10/6

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First week of the month, and that means mostly Viz. Their debut this month is Grand Guignol Orchestra, a high-gothic fantasy from the pen of Kaori Yuki, author of Godchild and the Count Cain series.

We also get a new One Piece, for the first time in what seems like forever but is only 3 months, as Luffy goes further into Impel Down. Other Jump titles include Eyeshield 21 (still battling for the Christmas Bowl), Strawberry 100% (still proving that ecchi shonen romances don’t sell well here), Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo (I’d looooooooooove to see the sales figures for this one – did Viz prepare their print run of one for me?), and some ninja thing or something.

For Viz’s shoujo line, I’m looking forward to Dengeki Daizy and Seiho Boy’s High School, whose first volumes I liked. I’m intrigued but wary of Stepping on Roses, which is gloriously over the top trash. I plan to smile wryly at Natsume’s Book of Friends, which is not as fantastic as I’d expected from the hype, but is a nice relaxing change of pace among all the shojo romance. And I’m still avoiding Black Bird.

On the non-Viz front, Dark Horse finishes their Chobits omnibus. I recall that when the last volume came out, I was somewhat irritated with the ending. Now I get to re-read it and remember why. Del Rey releases a couple of ‘hey, these sell poorly’ omnibuses, as well as the new Fairy Tail, which does not sell poorly. Digital Manga Publishing is re-releasing the popular yaoi title Kizuna in a deluze edition. And, with Seven Seas releasing a new Dance in the Vampire Bund, and Vertical putting out volume 1 of the horror manga 7 Billion Needles, we have *two* titles from Media Factory’s Comic Flapper in the same week – possibly a record. Now if only Dark Horse would release Translucent Volume 4 (also a Flapper title)…