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Posts Tagged Shoujo

Review: Otomen (Vol. 10)

By Shannon Fay on Sunday, May 15, 2011

Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “A potion at school causes all the guys to act manly and all the girls to act feminine! Suddenly, Asuka loses interest in all the girly hobbies he loves, and Ryo is working at a bakery?! Can anything break the spell they’re under and turn them back to normal?”

Otomen isn’t a series known for its restraint. The series has never shied away from off-the-wall characters and contrived situations, but for the most part they all stayed believable (if more than a little extreme). While the series has always existed in a world of cartoonish hyper reality, it never relied on anything supernatural to move the plot forward. So when a major plot point in the book revolved around a potion (seriously, a potion?) I was just about ready to give up on this series. But something surprising happened as I kept reading. Kanno take this bizarre situation and uses it to really get at the heart of the series, going deeper into its themes than it ever has before.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Short-Tempered Melancholic and Other Stories

By Lissa Pattillo on Friday, November 26, 2010

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Arina Tanemura
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2008

Synopsis: “Kajiko Yamano is a female ninja whose job is to protect her family’s legendary weapon. But when a boy she has a crush on tells her she should be more ladylike, she vows to give up all ninja deeds. Yuri sends her pen pal Ryo a picture of herself – but it’s really of her best friend Karin, who is prettier than she is. Now Ryo wants to meet her, so she has no coice but to send Karin instead! Minori falls in love with Takato, a boy who shared his umbrella with her one rainy afternoon. Now she ‘forgets’ her umbrella every time it rains in hopes of becoming closer to him. Mana secretly likes her friend’s boyfriend, but Nakamura, a younger boy, is determined to win Mana’s heart.”

Arina Tanemura’s series are a hit and miss bunch. Full Moon o Sagashite is one of my favourite magical shoujo stories, while Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne bored me to no end. Unfortunately Short-Tempered Melancholic, a collection of short stories, falls towards the second end, an easily forgettable batch of tales with characters as shallow and underdeveloped as the stories are short. To the artist’s defense, this is an assortment of her earliest work but regardless it stands to reason after finishing this that some past works are best left in the shadows of their predecessors.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Arina Tanemura, Manga, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

ANN Review: Otomen (Vol. 06)

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, June 15, 2010

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Continuing with some more Viz Media shoujo-goodness, I reviewed Otomen (Vol. 06) for AnimeNewsNetwork over the weekend.

Otomen continues to be a really fun series. It is getting a little repetitive though and the number of Otomen (men who indulge in stereotypically girlish hobbies) is getting to be a little larger than one would expect in a series that’s still trying to thrive off it being quirky. At least all said-Otomen are really entertaining characters. While there was still lots to laugh at (in the good way) in this sixth volume, it was a little disappointing not having the lead female, Ryo, make much of an appearance. Her tomboyish personality, and dense overall sense of awareness, always makes her an enjoyable addition to the story, especially when it triggers all of Asuka’s adorable romantic ‘advances’. Hopefully all that extra good stuff will return in volume seven!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Viz Media

Review: Otomen (Vol. 06)

By Shannon Fay on Saturday, May 15, 2010

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Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2010

Synopsis: “Having Girly Hobbies Doesn’t Make You Less Manly! Asuka’s protégé Yamato has fallen in love with a girl and needs help winning her over. He pleads with Asuka to go on a practice date with him–and play the role of the girl! Practice makes perfect, but will that be the case for Yamato?”

I like it when a series has a consistent theme. I don’t like it when they run those themes into the ground. At its core, Otomen’s message is a good one: don’t let gender stereotypes get you down. But some of the characters just seem a little extreme, weakening the manga’s moral with their outlandishness. For example, it’s easy to believe that a guy like Asuka could exist in real life: a seemingly manly man who actually adores cute things. But it’s harder to believe that there’s a guy like Kitora who loves flowers to an obsessive level. Unfortunately this volume spends much of its time with those out-there side characters rather than with the more down-to-earth (but also more interesting) leads.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Otomen (Vol. 05)

By Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, February 9, 2010

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: February 2010

Synopsis: “Ryo is chosen to participate in a contest where flower arrangement and tea ceremony skills are tested – but she sucks at those things! To top things off, the previous champion wants Asuka for herself! Does Ryo have a fighting chance?”

The way the characters act in Otomen is always good for a laugh, in the good well intended way mind you. They all feel like they intentionally overact at times, as if they know they’re being watched and are acting just that slightest bit over the top to entertain. Their personalities are just exaggerated enough to be distinct and memorable while not enough to suffocate their ability to grow.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Otomen (Vol. 03)

By Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2009

Synopsis: “Asuka takes Ryo to an amusement park where he plans to confess his feelings to her. Too bad all the rides Ryo wants to go on frighten Asuka! Can he overcome his fear for the sake of love?”

Asuka and Ryo continue their budding romance, a seemingly one-way affair that while now having feelings in the open still remains informally unpronounced. Asuka wants nothing more than to muster his courage to ask Ryo out while Juta continues to egg them on for fear that the inspiration for his secret-career as a manga artist will run dry.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Otomen (Vol. 01)

By Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, March 12, 2009

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Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “Asuka Masamune is a guy who loves girly things – sewing, knitting, making cute stuffed animals and reading shojo comics. But in a world where boys are expected to act manly, Asuka must hide his beloved hobbies and play the part of a masculine jock instead. Ryo Miyakozuka, on the other handm is a girl who can’t sew or bake a cake to save her life. Asuka finds himself drawn to Ryo, but she likes only the manliest of men! Can Asuka ever show his true self to anyone, much less to the girl he’s falling for?”

Otomen is a book that I had to pick up after reading so many good things about it. It feels like forever since I’ve sat down for a true, honest-to-goodness shoujo manga and I was really starting to miss it. Until reading it, all I knew was that it was about a manly man who was actually a girly man, and it comes with high recommendations. With some favourable memories of Aya Kanno’s Blank Slate, and an uncertainty of how this more comedic sounding plot would be handled, I jumped into Otomen curious and finished this first volume in love.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Otomen, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media