I Reads You Review: PORTRAIT OF M&N, VOL. 2

Creators: Tachibana Higuchi with Jamie S. Rich (English adaptation) and Satsuki Yamashita (translation)
Publishing Information: TOKYOPOP, B&W, paperback, 192 pages, $10.99 (US), $13.99 CAN
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4278-1725-9 (ISBN-13)

Romance/Comedy; Rated “T” for “Teen Age 13+”

Portrait of M&N is a shojo manga focusing on two high school students with embarrassing, even debilitating secrets that cannot be shared with people outside their homes. First, 15-year-old Mitsuru Abe is an extreme masochist who delights in receiving brutal beatings. Mitsuru meets fellow student, 15-year-old Natsuhiko Amakusa, an extreme narcissist who is mesmerized by his reflection.

They keep each other’s secrets. Then, another student, 17-year-old Eiichi Hijiri, inserts himself into their relationship, claiming to be in love with Abe. Is he really, and does Natsuhiko even care if another guy is in love with Abe?

It’s meet the parents in Portrait of M&N, Vol. 2. Mitsuru meets Natsuhiko’s parents, but she is deathly afraid that they will learn her secret life as a masochist. However, the Amakusa clan has its own secrets, including Natsuhiko’s mother. Natsuhiko makes things worse by inviting the inquisitive Hijiri.

Next, the school’s Ball Games Tournament reveals the jealousies that the other female students have against Mitsuru because they believe she stands between them and Natsuhiko. And they plan to give her hell for it. After he is hurt in an accident, Hijiri plays on Mitsuru’s guilt and turns her into his nursemaid, which is probably making Natsuhiko jealous. So why won’t he admit it?

I didn’t enjoy this second volume of Portrait of M&N as much as I did the first. In Vol. 1, the art by creator Tachibana Higuchi (Gakuen Alice) reminded me of the work of famed New Yorker cartoonist, Charles Addams. This time around, Higuchi’s work lacks the macabre flourishes, and the wicked sense of humor is now more slapstick. The stories are more like traditional high school shojo (comics for teen girls) romance, and the secrets that made the leads seem weird now seem more like debilitations than dirty secrets. I enjoyed reading this volume of Portrait of M&N, but now it is quaint rather than edgy and comic.

B-

Eensy Weensy Monster and the Little Devil

I read Eensy Weensy Monster Volume 2

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

I Reads You Review: EENSY WEENSY MONSTER, VOL. 1

Creator: Masami Tsuda with Clint Bickham (English adaptation) and Noi Sasaki (translation)

Publishing Information: TOKYOPOP, B&W, paperback, 208 pages, $10.99 (US), $13.99 CAN

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4278-1651-1

Comedy/Romance; Rated “T” for “Older Teen 13+”

High school student Nanoha Satsuki is a plain Jane. She happily lives in the shadow of her two pals, blonde bombshell Nobara Ryuzaki and brilliant student Renge Mido. The one thing that irritates Nanoha is the new student, a guy named Hazuki Tokiwa. Known as “Prince,” Hazuki has a snobbish, arrogant demeanor that infuriates Nanoha. The little monster that lives in all of us lives in Nanoha, and it wants her to attack Hazuki.

In Eensy Weensy Monster, Vol. 1, Nanoha unleashes a mini-tirade at Hazuki, and it makes him a changed man. Now, the Prince just wants to be pals with Nanoha. Maybe Nanoha’s tantrum also made her a changed young woman, but Prince’s many admirers don’t like change and plan on doing something about it.

Eensy Weensy Monster is strange, not in its concept. After all, this is the umpteenth shojo manga about boy and girl high school students who despise each other before falling in and out and in and out of love. What is strange is how interior this story is. So much of the narrative and dialogue happens behind Nanoha and Hazuki’s expressive eyes. Creator Masami Tsuda presents a surprising reading experience in which the reader is constantly sharing the leads’ innermost thoughts. Quite frankly, it is a delight to see how close Nanoha and Hazuki are to each other, yet also how far apart they are.

I would say that this intimate look at the leads, however, comes at the expense of a supporting cast with a lot of potential. Hopefully, we get more of them, but in the meantime, shojo fans should try this beautifully drawn comic drama of the minds.

A-

Skyblue Shore at the Flea Market

I read Skyblue Shore (Sorairo Kaigan) Volume 2

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

I Reads You Review: SKYBLUE SHORE, VOL. 1

Creator: Nanpei Yamada with Hope Donovan (English adaptation) and Kristy Harmon (translation)

Publishing Information: TOKYOPOP, B&W, paperback, 208 pages, $10.99 (US), $13.99 CAN

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4278-2005-1

Romance/Comedy; Rated “OT” for “Older Teen 16+”

When she was a small child, Tomo Sakurai was a frequent visitor to the beach. One day she made a friend of a young beachcomber who gave her an agate stone. Now a sweet high school girl, Tomo encounters an attractive young stranger whose keychain has the same stone she got from her lost childhood friend.

In Skyblue Shore, Vol. 1, Tomo is about to be the victim of a public transit molester when she is rescued by Riku Tanaka, a tall, dark-haired stranger who protects and befriends her. Tomo learns that Riku is the janitor at the school she attends, Akiya Tateishi High School, and he wears a keychain with a stone that is familiar to Tomo. Later, Tomo meets Tento Tanaka, Riku’s younger brother. The reclusive blond collects agate stones and other things he finds on the beach. Could they have met in the past?

TOKYOPOP describes Skyblue Shore as a romance and comedy, and while this shojo manga (comics for teen girls) has high school romance and teen comedy hijinks, Skyblue Shore is really a character drama. Skyblue Shore reminds me of Miki Aihara’s Honey Hunt, which is a shojo manga with gorgeous art and an emphasis on melodrama and intrigue.

Skyblue Shore creator Nanpei Yamada tells this story through pretty art and attractive characters with soft, child-like faces. Behind the prettiness, Nanpei weaves a complex story of dysfunctional families, in which divorce and parent-child discord add a pungent note to the heightened sweetness typical of shojo romantic comedy. However, I believe that because there is so much sweet shojo being published that shojo series, which mean to stand out, need something different, whether it is a tone or a hook to give it separation from the pack.

Yamada gives Skyblue Shore a different tone. The characters are familiar, but their complicated lives make the carefree teen life a luxury they cannot always afford. That is why this is the kind of shojo manga I want to keep reading.

I Reads You Review: PORTRAIT OF M&N, VOL. 1

Creators: Tachibana Higuchi with Jamie S. Rich (English adaptation) and Satsuki Yamashita (translation)
Publishing Information: TOKYOPOP, B&W, paperback, 206 pages, $10.99 (US), $13.99 CAN
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4278-1724-2 (ISBN-13)

Portrait of M&N is a new series focusing on two high school students with embarrassing, even debilitating secrets that cannot be shared with people outside their homes.

Fifteen-years-old Mitsuru Abe is attending a boarding school because at her last school, the students discovered that she is an extreme masochist who delights in receiving brutal beatings. Fate brings her into contact with fellow student, 15-year-old Natsuhiko Amakusa, and he turns out to be a narcissist who gazes at himself in a room full of mirrors. They help each other out and keep each other’s secrets. Then, another student, Hijiri inserts himself into their relationship, claiming to be in love with Abe. Is he really, and does Amakusa even care if another guy in love with Abe?

The moment I saw the cover for Portrait of M&N, Vol. 1, it made me want to read the book. On the credit page, Chelsea Windlinger is credited as “graphic designer.” If Chelsea did design the cover, I need to praise her; it is Eisner Award worthy.

As for the manga itself: if this first volume of Portrait of M&N is a good indicator (and I think it is), this will be a good series. Creator Tachibana Higuchi (Gakuen Alice) isn’t making fun of the leads’ personality disorders, but she’s mines humor in how Abe and Amakusa engage the rest of the world in spite of their afflictions. I’d say that Higuchi is being cruel to her fictional creations, except both Abe and Amakusa are so resilient. Higuchi has a way of placing her characters and their weird interior worlds in the context of the outside world that reminds me of the work of famed New Yorker cartoonist, Charles Addams. Portrait of M&N is macabre and has a wicked sense of humor in the vein of Addams’ classic cartoons. This is reason enough to embrace Portrait of M&N.

This is a wonderful read, and like a dark jewel with the power of enchantment, it won’t let you look away.

A

Buy Portrait of M and N Volume 1 (Portrait of M & N)