Watase Yuu - Alice 19th, vol. 01-07 (Eng. trans.) (no spoilers)

[oyceter]

Alice finds out that words have a great deal of power when her resentfulness banishes her sister Mayura into the Mara. She ends up studying to be a Lotis Master with her crush object, Kyo. Unfortunately, part of the problem is that Kyo is Mayura's crush object as well. More plot summary here.

While I like the emphasis on words and their power, I'm still annoyed by the love triangle of DOOM, by the random obstacles Watase keeps putting up between Kyo and Alice, and completely random instances of nakedness. I mean, usually only the first annoys me that much, but I've been reading so much Watase Yuu lately that it's getting very obvious what her kinks are. And sadly, mine don't quite match up, particularly when one of the giant climactic moments is a near rape followed by a compromising position followed by infamy at school.

I liked meeting the other Lotis masters from different countries, but in the end, I think the story just didn't grab me. I didn't care enough about Alice and her quest to save Mayura, and the romance between Alice and Kyo mainly annoyed me. I think it's because of the love triangle of DOOM.

Also, I wish that the people of color, all too rare in manga, actually got tragic backstories and whatnot like the cute Scandinavian guy did.

Comments

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

And this is why I haven't read the last couple of volumes. Even though parts of the set-up make me so happy and I dig sibling-rescue stories. *sigh*

[oyceter]

Hee, yes. Let's just say that Watase needs very little excuse to have her characters rip their clothes off.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I wish that the people of color, all too rare in manga, actually got tragic backstories and whatnot like the cute Scandinavian guy did.

Well, in my manga...

In retrospect, Alice 19 is fun but the climax is disappointing. However, it was a great introduction to shoujo for me.

[oyceter]

Mmmmmm yes. They should publish it!

I think I would have liked Alice 19th waaaaay better if I hadn't read about four other Watase Yuu manga in rapid succession.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of my fondness for Alice 19th stems from it being the first of Watase's manga I read. She does tend to repeat herself. She *is* good when I'm in the mood for a certain kind of popcorn.

[oyceter]

Mmmm yeah, that makes sense. It's weird, because it was the first Watase manga I read, but because I spread it out for so long, by the time I got to the end, I was getting in a non-Watase mood.

But I seem to keep going back... Absolute Boyfriend 2! When are you coming out?

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

This is one of the titles I've been reading via the library, and it's really not doing much for me. (I've read vol. 1-4.) :/ From my limited experience with Watase Yuu, I think her work just . . . I can't say rubs me the wrong way, because I haven't read/seen enough, and because the feeling isn't that strong. But something just feels off. *puzzled*

[oyceter]

It's ahhh... well, Watase Yuu has some things that she very clearly likes and is not afraid to put them in every single one of her series. Obviously, this would be a good thing if I liked love triangles or gratuitous nudity (ok, usually I do like gratuitous nudity), but since I don't...