Kimi Ni Todoke Volume 3

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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.

After the drama of Volume 2, we take a bit of a breather here, as these chapters serve to help cement Sawako’s new friendships and set up the Kurumi arc to come.

I had a discussion on Twitter the other day with Joy Kim regarding shoujo manga and female friendships. I was reminded of it by reading Portrait of M & N, which in Volume 1 featured our heroine as an outcast who is disliked by the other girls for attracting the attention of the hotties who are interested in her. This happens all the time in shoujo, an unfortunate consequence of the authors wanting to draw a lot of hot guys.

Thank God for titles like this, then. While this is still a romance manga, and I would argue that Sawako’s feelings for Kazehaya are the most important plot point, if you removed the romance entirely this manga would still exist. The manga is about Sawako coming out of her shell and learning to interact and be herself, which isn’t something that can be taught by just her man giving a winning smile on Page 35 of every chapter.

The first chapter is almost a microcosm of the manga itself. Sawako gets invited out by Yoshida and Yano for ramen, a carryover from Volume 2. (Her parent’s reaction to this is hysterical.) The ramen turns out to be at Ryu’s place, as his dad owns a ramen shop. Then Kazehaya gets invited over, and even Pin shows up, uninvited, to cause trouble. Throughout this we see Sawako marveling at the easy interaction everyone has with each other, and her gratitude that she’s now a part of it. It’s touching, and yet her intensity also makes it amusingly over the top.

(We also see that Sawako is not the only one in the manga who gets to be completely oblivious to love. Ryu gets the best line of the entire volume when Yoshida asks him what kind of girl he likes.

Ryu: (staring at her) … the kind that’s naive and oblivious, I guess.

Naturally, Yoshida’s response to this is complete bafflement.)

This is not to say that there is no romance in this volume. Sawako and Kazehaya are adorable, and you root for them and feel frustration at their poor communication skills. I liked it when he begins to teach her soccer, and she even noticeably improves under his tutelage (I was expecting her, as a non-tomboy, to be bad at sports in the cliched way.)

And of course we get Kurumi introduced properly here. She’s signposted as a major villain, and Yano (the sharpest of the entire group) sees through her right away. But Sawako has no ability to see through anything, and so is merely deliriously happy that she’s found another friend. Kurumi herself seems to be the ‘sweet on the outside, manipulative on the inside’ sort, and I expect the next volume will have her making Sawako’s life miserable. Especially because of the cliffhanger ending, where it becomes clear that Kurumi’s plans did not take Sawako’s honesty into account.

The mangaka for this series, Karuho Shiina, has been drawing for Shueisha for about 15 years, but she had only one other recurring series, Crazy For You, before starting this one. Clearly she has been honing her craft, as Kimi Ni Todoke is immensely popular in Japan, with an anime currently airing on television (it’s become quite rare for shoujo to get an anime). It’s well deserved. With likeable leads, a great supporting cast, and a heroine who’s becoming a stronger person every day, this is simply one of the best manga that Viz is releasing at the moment.

Portrait of M & N Volume 1

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By Tachibana Higuchi. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

We’ve all seen the ‘from the author of’ phenomenon before. Tokyopop has already gone this route, in fact, by licensing all the Natsuki Takaya they are able to in order to try to strike lightning twice with the success of Fruits Basket. Unfortunately, frequently what you find is that the artist, like any other, was honing their craft, and there’s a reason that the later series was licensed first – it’s better.

Portrait of M & N is from the author of Gakuen Alice, which was Higuchi’s breakout hit, one that’s still running in Japan. This one ran for 7 volumes, which is about average for a ‘mild’ hit in this magazine. There was a two-month gap after Volume 1, and the author admits in the notes to this volume that it was designed as a 5-chapter story, then she was asked to expand on it.

Our two heroes are fortunate that their names match their traumas. Mitsuru, due to a crappy family history, is a masochist who loves pain and beatings. Natsuhiko, due to bad family upbringing of a different kind, is a narcissist who ogles himself in any handy mirror.

(I am so tempted to add “Together, they fight crime!”, but sadly the book is not that interesting.)

The premise isn’t bad for a shoujo manga, really, but it’s the sort of thing that needs to be handled very carefully. The author makes, in my opinion, a very bad choice at the start by having Mitsuru be a shy wallflower-type. If you’re portraying a girl who gets off on pain, she had better be a loud sporty tomboy type or the readers are going to have trouble finding the humor. Indeed, Higuchi admits that the heroine was originally a strong, tough girl. But since her masochism clearly devastates her, it just makes you feel horrible. Bad news in a comedy.

Actually, for a comedy this is entirely too serious. Natsuhiko is pretty dull, even when he is being a narcissist. There are some funny moments (the rival’s reaction to dogs, Mitsuru trying to disguise herself), but for the most part this is played very earnestly, with Mitsuru and Natsuhiko desperately trying to not stand out and erase their personalities. Come on! You’re writing a series about a masochist and a narcissist! Have some freaking fun!

Even the one-shot at the end falls into a similar trap. (This is a common occurrence in Hakusensha works, by the way. Most manga artists have their first or second successful series collected with earlier one-shots they did that they feel are worthy of a book but weren’t long enough). The story itself is rather predictable, but I did like the heroine, who seems very down to earth. Unfortunately, the cage metaphor keeps reminding you of the violence and threats that led to her relationship with Sagisawa. Even though it ends up with her taking control, it feels wrong because of that metaphor of entrapment.

I’ll get another volume of M & N, because I find myself wondering if once the artist was told to expand the series, she started to paint everything with broader strokes. But as it is, this is a serious romance that’s crippled by its wacky premise.

Rin-Ne Volume 2

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By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

This volume of Takahashi’s latest work has a lot of fun stuff going on within its pages. A ghost wants to be reunited with his Edo-period love, a swimming ghost can’t quite remember why she’s unable to pass on, and Rin-Ne’s rival Masato shows up, and is a shallow jerk. (No really, he even defines himself as such.)

As in previous Takahashi works, she’s good at giving her characters inherent flaws. The swimmer, for instance, comes across (in death and in life) as a vapid princess, and the pair of lovers that Masato is messing with seem incredibly quick to assume the worst about each other. The only two people that seem remotely sensible are our heroes.

That’s one of Rin-Ne’s flaws so far. I think maybe Takahashi got tired of hearing fans yelling about her angry violent heroines and unthinking jerk heroes, as Sakura is rather sweet and doesn’t leap to conclusions, and Rin-Ne (aside from his money fixation) is a pretty nice guy. There’s even little to no sexual tension between them so far. I expect that to change. It does mean, however, that she went a bit too far in the *other* direction. Rin-Ne and Sakura are bland.

To be honest, the same might be said for this volume as a whole. There’s nothing actually wrong with it. It’s laid out nicely, the story arcs are just long enough, the translation is fine. But you won’t remember any of it 24 hours after you read it.

I’ve been reading Rumiko Takahashi manga for almost 15 years now, between Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, and her various shorts. You can tell I enjoy her work, as I continue to read it. But she’s fast-food manga. You don’t get any extra pizzazz. Maybe once or twice a series you get something utterly riveting (like the Herb arc in Ranma, or UY’s finale). But mostly, I don’t expect anything from Rumiko Takahashi other than the cliched Rumiko Takahashi manga.

I don’t go into a Takahashi manga asking if she’ll knock my socks off. I ask for some funny action with a dash of fantasy and some romance that drags on and never gets anywhere. I expect I’ll get that with Rin-Ne. It’s still a series worth picking up, as it reads fast and is enjoyable. But it’s not inspirational. The main problem is that, art style aside, there’s nothing here that she couldn’t have drawn in 2000. Or 1990, for that matter.