Nakahara Aya - Love Com, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)
Wed, Oct. 22nd, 2008 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterKoizumi Risa is the tallest girl in the class, and Otani Atsushi is the shortest guy. Everyone pairs them up because the contrast is so funny, and the two have now decided to do something about it. They'll quash all "All Hanshin Kyojin" taunts by helping each other find dates. The problem is, the more they try to date other people, the more well suited they seem for each other!
Like so much of shoujo, you know exactly where this is going the second the characters are introduced. But Nakahara does it well, and she had me smiling through much of the volume because of how much I liked Koizumi and Otani. Not only do I like them, but I even think they work together as a couple, which sadly isn't always the case in shoujo. Even their squabbling comes off as good natured. I love the way they always answer questions at the same time with the same words and the way they geek out over a musician they both like. Mostly I just like how the two of them are endlessly enthusiastic and seem to have absolutely no ill will in their bodies.
Koizumi doesn't completely break the mold for shoujo heroines (she reminds me a lot of Haruna from High School Debut), but I like that she's not small and cute and girly, and that she stays up too late at night gaming and stressing about whatever big boss she couldn't kill. Granted, the manga version of "not girly" is still very girly by my standards, but she's still refreshing and fun to read about. I also love that Otani is not at all grumpy or angst or silent; he's cheerful and peppy and happy and smiles a ton. They are just so cute together! They grin all the time when they're not squabbling!
I also lilked what happened with the "find each other dates" plot, which could have dragged on for far too long. Instead, it's fairly neatly resolved, and in a way that may not be fully realistic (I wish I had been that mature in high school!) but makes me love all the characters more. And even the secondary couple in the volume is briefly but nicely characterized in a way that makes them feel like people, not tropes.
Fun and fluffy and happy-making, and I am sad my library only has volume 1.
Like so much of shoujo, you know exactly where this is going the second the characters are introduced. But Nakahara does it well, and she had me smiling through much of the volume because of how much I liked Koizumi and Otani. Not only do I like them, but I even think they work together as a couple, which sadly isn't always the case in shoujo. Even their squabbling comes off as good natured. I love the way they always answer questions at the same time with the same words and the way they geek out over a musician they both like. Mostly I just like how the two of them are endlessly enthusiastic and seem to have absolutely no ill will in their bodies.
Koizumi doesn't completely break the mold for shoujo heroines (she reminds me a lot of Haruna from High School Debut), but I like that she's not small and cute and girly, and that she stays up too late at night gaming and stressing about whatever big boss she couldn't kill. Granted, the manga version of "not girly" is still very girly by my standards, but she's still refreshing and fun to read about. I also love that Otani is not at all grumpy or angst or silent; he's cheerful and peppy and happy and smiles a ton. They are just so cute together! They grin all the time when they're not squabbling!
I also lilked what happened with the "find each other dates" plot, which could have dragged on for far too long. Instead, it's fairly neatly resolved, and in a way that may not be fully realistic (I wish I had been that mature in high school!) but makes me love all the characters more. And even the secondary couple in the volume is briefly but nicely characterized in a way that makes them feel like people, not tropes.
Fun and fluffy and happy-making, and I am sad my library only has volume 1.
(no subject)
Thu, Oct. 23rd, 2008 06:26 pm (UTC)There is femmeslash manga, but most of the ones I've found are more adult, and I should try to find more happy fluffy femmeslash shoujo.
(no subject)
Thu, Oct. 23rd, 2008 06:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Oct. 23rd, 2008 11:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sat, Oct. 25th, 2008 03:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sat, Oct. 25th, 2008 05:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Oct. 28th, 2008 12:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Oct. 23rd, 2008 11:32 pm (UTC)Gentlemen's Alliance/Shinshi Doumei Cross is het shoujo but it is my secret shoujo crack, featuring SPOILERY STORYKINKS of mine, a femmeslashy relationship that is given serious narrative and emotional weight even though its resolution dissatisfied me, and a canon gay happy-ever-after in the supporting cast. Who'd've thought?
And Maka-Maka is totally porny and totally my darling. I ship those young women something fierce.