Tag Archives: skip beat

[manga/quasi-review] Kuragehime and believing in the power of shoujo again.

Posted on by
1

Earlier this year, I updated my Facebook status, melodramatically declaring, “I give up. I give up! Anyone want to rec me some seinen to read?” Most people thought that I had given up on school–not true, I would never give up on school! But the truth was, I had given up on finding good shoujo. Perfect Girl Evolution was not updating regularly anymore, Skip Beat! was turning into a hentai.

 

What is good shoujo? Strictly speaking for the entire genre, the chief romantic tension must be between a female and a male. For my standards, the romantic leads cannot be yakuza, prostitutes, or have anything to do with host clubs. Not being in school or underage is an enormous plus as well. I must not see a bajillion ecchi poses with underwear showing and breasts looking shiny; eroticism must be kept to a bare minimum–erotic titillation only lasts for a few moments and usually adds nothing to the story. Additionally, the storyline must be endearing, even funny, but deep in meaning as well. The lead characters do not have to be knights in shining armor or princesses with ancient curses, fighting over kingdoms and succession to the family business. Simply, I must be able to feel something for the characters.

2

one of the scenes in the opening to Kuragehime’s anime. This references Sex and The City.

So it is with Kuragehime. The female lead is a 18-year-old girl named Tsukimi Kurashita, who is a jellyfish otaku (‘otaku‘ is a term used to refer to people with obsessive interests. For example, I could be called a SHINee otaku). She has bushy hair which she plaits into two pigtail braids, and wears 80s inspired oversize glasses. Her outfit of choice are gray sweats. Moreover, the supporting female characters around Tsukimi are all otaku–otaku of trains, Records of Three Kingdoms, traditional Japanese dress, old men. Together, as self-described ‘nuns’ or ‘Amars’ living a life ‘without a need for men’, they live in Amamizukan, a building that is smack-dab in the middle of redevelopment plans for Tokyo. Throughout the story, Tsukimi and her friends seek to find a way to save Amamizukan from redevelopment.

Enter the two male leads, the two sons of the Koibuchi household: Kuranosuke and Shuu. Shuu and Kuranosuke are only half brothers; Kuranosuke being the child of a mistress. Kuranosuke is younger, of college age, and above all, is interested in fashion. It also helps that Kuranosuke is ridiculously pretty, because of course, in Japan, when a male is ridiculously pretty, what can he do but cross-dress? Because of his cross-dressing, Kuranosuke is able to befriend the Amars, though only Tsukimi knows that Kuranosuke is, in fact, a male, and not a female. Shuu is the straight-cut older son in his 30s, and heir to the political dynasty of the Koibuchis. Shuu is also a virgin, ensuing for much hilarity as he starts to fall for Tsukimi.

In this maelstrom of complicated histories and relationships, a message remarkably wholesome and simple bubbles up through the surface of Kuragehime: an acceptance of self. An acceptance of the fashionable, the unfashionable, the jellyfish otaku, the old men otaku, everyone. An acceptance of the self and the willingness to work towards something with unflinching diligence and a belief in your friends. All this coupled with a sense of humor, unspoiled by erotic fan service (I’m looking at you, Yana). Though Tsukimi and the Amars get put through some makeovers, none of them ever comes to care about their appearance in that way. None of them become the vain princesses, enamored of their new appearances. They are as much the same old people they are, while learning to embrace others, different as they may be.

Kuragehime is a load of corn, but it is the kind of corny that makes you truly smile inside. In other words, a truly good shoujo.

–

Want to read a lighter shoujo? Try Horimiya. Have other good shoujo in mind you’d like to recommend? Let us know in the comments or formspring!

[manga/musings] Skip Beat is frustrating. So is Kuroshitsuji. So is The Wallflower. Why?

Posted on by
2

I am no stranger to bad choices. Yet here I was, at almost two in the morning, reading the latest chapter of Skip Beat. I hope no one in my dorm heard the scream of anguish I let out upon reading the cliffhanger ending.

Upon reflection later this morning, I realized some things about the three currently-updating manga that I devotedly follow: Kuroshitsuji, Skip Beat, and The Wallflower (I like to call it Perfect Girl Evolution).

  1. These manga are very popular. 
  2. Their plots are not moving along at all.
    Kuroshitsuji: what happened to the fantastic backstory of Ciel we had in the zombie arc? Did it all just disappear? Why is the story so much more lighthearted? Is not the story of Ciel the story of very perverse despair? Yet, we seem to be stuck in a lighthearted seinen with a complimentary demon sidekick.
    Skip Beat: Tsuruga is finally getting out of control! After, like, maybe, um, 30 chapters (and add 30 separate cliffhangers!).
    Perfect Girl Evolution: Kyohei and Sunako neither like or dislike each other. Sunako is not any closer to a lady than she was 40 chapters ago, nor are the boys or her aunts any closer to accepting Sunako for who she is (not a lady).
  3. All authors seem to devolving into cliche.
    Kuroshitsuji: Mangaka Yana Toboso finally jumped on the Hogwarts train.
    Skip Beat: Totally milking the whole brother-sister-forbidden-eroticism relationship. After reading the last chapter, I felt really wronged.
    Perfect Girl Evolution: Mangaka is breaking out in chibi like she is breaking out in hives or something. Though chibi is great for comedic effect, it sometimes just feels too slapstick. Plus, two chapters of fantasy-roleplay? I have the feeling that the mangaka is just sweating for ideas how to make Kyohei-Sunako interesting again. (Hint, it involves development of a romantic relationship! Or at least, a seriously funny incident that could be construed as romance).

Why are these mangakas doing this to their readers? Why do they have such phenomenal and funny and smart beginnings but as their manga become so much more popular, the quality of their manga noticeably drops?

Personal theory– they know idiots like me will stay up until two in the morning to read what happens anyway. Kuroshitsuji is the prettiest manga I’ve ever read, Skip Beat ends with cliffhangers all the time, Perfect Girl Evolution is just so hilarious. Though the quality has degraded, they still retain some of their characteristics that I came to love these manga. Simply put, the mangaka have no incentive to keep the pace of storytelling up, because they know rabid fans like me are at their beck and call no matter what.

from Kuroshitsuji. So I just about died when I saw how adorable Ciel’s Napoleon outfit was. Died.

Yet, this comes at a cost– because of the diluted quality of these manga, I am much less likely to buy the physical volume. The last time I went to NYC, I spent the greater part of the day running around trying to locate places where I could buy manga, and I hemmed and I hawed a ridiculous amount but eventually decided against going crazy and buying all of the manga in reach because they are not worth it; if I forgot about those volumes tomorrow, I would have not lost much of anything.

I guess I cannot blame the mangaka totally– for anyone, it is nice to bask in your success and lay back a bit but at the same time you are alienating and frustrating fans, and in the extreme scenario, these fans will leave you– like I have left the physical volumes for websites hosting scanlations.

For mangaka, there is a large controversy surround online scanlations, because none of the money that the websites make from hosting these scanlations actually go to the mangaka. Yet, I would argue that having unauthorized scanlations is a great thing, especially for not-as-successful mangaka. Most manga fans overseas do not have regular access to a manga bookstore, so it is inevitable much of these fans’ exposure comes from the internet. Therefore, for an overseas audience who may or may not be able to read Japanese, it is more beneficial to have pirated scanlations on the internet than not. We are introduced to the mangaka and subsequently introduced to the idea of possibly acquiring a physical volume of the manga we enjoyed. The only problem is, how do you get these manga fans to make the jump and to buy the physical volumes?

Make impossibly good manga, so impossibly good that it is impossible to resist buying the physical volumes. It is just that easy. It is just that hard.

[manga/rant] I root for Sho in Skip Beat..

Posted on by
24

Sho on the left; Tsuruga on the right

Skip Beat! is a brilliant manga. I hate it, yet I read every release anyway, even though I know I will be plunged into an abyss of hating the mangaka for leaving things as a cliffhanger, again. In this way, Skip Beat! is a dastardly brilliant endeavor.

The main problem I have with Skip Beat! is Tsuruga Ren. It is quite obvious that Kyoko, the main female character, will end up with him– the battered, conflicted, tall and dark handsome man. How could she not? He is the character that garners the most sympathy, and Kyoko is starting to show signs of falling in love with him, though she tries to deny these feelings. Plus, the mangaka has drawn Sho shorter than Ren, which indicates Sho’s relative inferiority.

Yet, despite this, I still root for Shotaro Fuwa, and to a lesser extent, Reino.

Why?

bejeesus, Tsuruga! Stop leading Kyoko on!

Tsuruga is a coward. At least Sho knows what he wants, i.e., to occupy Kyoko’s thoughts. He may not be able to translate this into feelings of love because Sho is, after all, a jerk, but he has clear intentions. Tsuruga loves Kyoko, but he always gets all ‘manly’ and ‘self-denying’ and cannot piece together a coherent way to approach Kyoko. What an idiot. Plus, he manages to create all of these perverse situations and still does not make any moves. It is like a person who is playing hard-to-get, after awhile, the game gets boring, and the chaser will stop. After so many questionable situations and nothing happening, my frustration against Tsuruga is building up. This is another reason why the anime is better than the manga; the pacing is much faster, so Kyoko’s relationship with Tsuruga develops at a normal pace rather than a snail’s.

I also find Kyoko and Tsuruga’s childhood relationship to be completely irritating and such an exploitation of cliche. Of course they must have this especial connection all throughout their lives, of course, and of course, Kyoko is completely unaware that Tsuruga is, in fact, her childhood-fairy-friend “Corn.” Like zomg. When this crap explodes, it is really going to detonate a bajillion nuclear bombs. But when will it explode? When?

This reminds me of Mei-chan no shitsuji, where I have the same emotions about the male lead character– so self-denying, so gentlemanly, so clearly in love, and yet he does nothing (plus he’s like a bajillion years older than the female). So I root for the underdog, his younger brother.

I suppose this is a reflection of my personality; I have no patience for those who keep lying even though they have realized something quite important. At this point, after 170+ chapters, I highly suspect the mangaka just wants to keep rolling in the money, just like the mangaka of Perfect Girl Evolution.

I’m curious, who do you root for in Skip Beat!?