G.C's Japanese-language Shoujo Manga Page
[ Links: | Next Page ]

Shoujo Manga Page #1

On this page I will review more Japanese manga, in particular Shoujo manga.
Note that the quality of the images, reproduced here for bona fide review purposes, has been affected by the scanning and compression processes, so if you want to see how the originals look, you'll have to buy the books!

Reviewed:
REVIEWS
ECCENTRICS by Sakumi Yoshino (Bouquet Comics),180pp,Y550, 15x21cm.
This is a shoujo-manga intended, presumably, for women or older girls and has a charming story about a schoolgirl who runs away from home, buys a picture "E" for Y30,000 (about $300 or £200), falls off a train platform, bangs her head, and is rescued by a scruffy stranger. After a psychiatric investigation she is returned home to her over=protective mother but still hopes to see her new boyfriend. Some of the professionals Senju meets do seem, well, eccentric... Synopsis of vol.1.
The art is most attractive and the text, for those who can follow it, has some insights on the Kyoto art scene. (GC).

Eccentrics #1,p.43 Dialogue (from top left)
Senju: Er..
Guy: How are you?
Senju: Um..
Guy: Is your head swimming?
Senju: Um..
Guy: Let's go! It's today, isn't it?

KISS by Maki Kusumoto (Margaret Comics), vol.1,125pp, Y410, 15x21 cm.
REVIEW
 KISS. This series has not as far as I know been translated. There are rumours of an anime version. It's a shojo-style story about two girls who follow punk rock bands and the art is rather 'gothic' in style, and it seems to be a gentle comedy. Worth a look if you like the art or can follow the text. (GC).

Kiss #1, p.8 Dialogue, from top left
Guy 1: Hey, who's that over there?
Guy 2: Um, is it Kameno-chan's nature
to poke his nose in?
Guy 1: Well
Guy: They are probably people who heard
about Kanon. (ha ha idiots eh?)
(bottom)
Girl: But just a minute, we're persistent.
(Well, this ....Kanon. (illeg.)
(Kanon?
Guy 1:Hm,so that's it. (Tr. by GC.)

MARMALADE BOY by YOSHIZUMI Wataru (Ribon Mascot Comics,174pp, Y390,12x17cm)
REVIEW
 The animated version is becoming quite well known in fandom. In the manga original, the principal characters look exactly the same as on the TV and the anime story seems to have followed the manga. The opening episodes (of the anime) have a cracking good script, in which schoolgirl Miki discovers to her dismay that her parents intend to divorce, and swap partners with another couple, and that both couples plan to live scandalously together in one household. The other couple have a son, Yuu, the same age as Miki, and the story of the manga and anime concerns their home life, their efforts to conceal it from school, and various love triangles.
There are several older characters whose actions give a welcome change of tone, and the major strands of the plot concern the changing balance of relationship between Miki, Yuu, and her other admirer Ginta, and the effects of an illicit teacher/pupil romance between a handsome young teacher and Miki's best friend Meiko.
The artwork is OK but the story's the thing.
Scripts & synopses available from Compuserve Comics Forum library, venice, etc.

Marmalade Boy #2,p.136 Dialogue (from top left)
Meiko:
Is it alright to link our arms together?
Teacher:
Really I'd like to link arms but
we should wait two years until
your graduation.
Meiko: Yes

(Tr.by GC)

Bishoujo Senshi SAILOR MOON by TAKEUCHI Naoko, (Kodansha Comics,190pp, Y390, 12x17cm
REVIEW
 I'm not a particular fan of this (as anime) but how nice to have a volume of the original shoujo manga. The artwork, obviously shoujo, is nothing special, but it didn't stop the ditzy heroine finding her way to the hearts of millions of Japanese girls and women. I used to attend a Japanese language evening class, and one of my classmates was a woman with long blonde hair who had lived in Japan for a year with her family. Though she is not an anime or manga fan at all, during a festival the local housewives talked her into dressing up as Usagi/Sailor Moon.
This first volume introduces Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and the Tuxedo Mask character.

Sailor Moon #1,Act 3,p.92 Text translation (from top left)
Luna(thinking): A girl with strange powers? She is certainly beautiful and has the manners of a princess. Perhaps she is the Princess?!

Rae: Cherry Hill Street is a place where five different streets come together. So it has five sides. But legend says that there is a sixth side and the Six O'clock "Bus of Death" is said to have disappeared into this sixth street. You know what this is called? It is called the call of the spirits.
Tr. borrowed from WWW page, see link for Anime & Manga Translations on Internet for more.

YUME NO ISHIBUMI by KIHARA Toshie (Big Comics, 190pp, Y480, 12x17cm)
REVIEW
 I bought a copy of Toshie Kihara's Yume no Ishibume (Dream's Stone Monument) because the line art looked good, only to discover when I got it home that there was some breathtaking half-tone art at the chapter intervals (see pic). This manga seems to be a shoujo (girls') samurai period drama, and all the costumes and settings, through informally drawn, are lifted directly from the world seen in traditional graphic art. It's not too surprising therefore that the featured illustration, despite its modern posing, is strongly reminiscent of lavishly costumed Edo period prints.

Yume no Ishibumi #1,p.58-59 Note
The text is a
chapter heading.
It is hard to translate
out of context

{G.Cowie}