[review] Vampire Knight & Koukou Debut
Saw Transformers on Sunday, but the heat had sapped my ability to write coherently about it, and then the internets decided to be evil and ate my entry about it (which was probably for the best). In my judgment, it was A+++, BEST TOY COMMERCIAL EVAR. Really, really enjoyable movie. And I guess I have seen the original cartoon, because Optimus Prime's voice sounded familiar to me and so I looked him up on the IMDb. I thought I'd only seen Beast Wars, but he wasn't in that, ergo: I must have seen it.
Another nice thing about this movie is even though the female characters had their makeup guns set to "whore", they still kicked ass.
But how are they going to make a sequel when they killed off Megatron and dumped his body in a trench that's seven miles deep? Isn't he the ultimate bad guy in the series? And there probably will be a sequel, as it did wicked box office on the 4th, and rather nicely overall.
Also, on the "Where the fuck is the third season of Avatar?!?!?!!!" front, there is finally news. And an awesome picture of awesomeness that is so frakin' awesome I'm surprised I managed to quell my squeeing in a public place. (DISCLAIMER: I accept no blame for hopes raised and/or inability to think straight because of the awesome picture of awesomeness. AVATAR! Coming soon~!!!)
Now on to the meat of the entry. More shoujo under the cut. For these reviews, I was too lazy to go out and tachiyomi, so I just downloaded instead. Bad me.
Vampire Knight
ヴァンパイア騎士
by 樋野まつり | Hino Matsuri
6 volumes reviewed, 2 released Stateside; ongoing
Recommended (?) by fluffyfluffybun. I think. She only asked if I'd ever read it.
When you think about it, Yuuki is a lucky, lucky girl. Yes, her family was killed by a crazed vampire when she was five, but she was saved by the brooding hottie Kaname and taken in by the chairman of Cross Academy. Along with another orphan, Zero, she grows up to be a prefect (or guardian) at the high school. The school itself is rather...interesting, as it has two classes: the Day Class and the Night Class. Naturally, the Night Class is made up of vampires (of which Kaname is one), but the Day Class doesn't know this and it's Yuuki and Zero's job to make sure that they don't. This is complicated by the fact that the vampires in this universe are sexy as hell and the objects of many of the Day Class' crushes.
The vampires themselves are select ones who have given up drinking blood from the source so that they can live with humans in peace. Instead, they ingest blood supplement tablets and attempt to rein in their bloodlust. This is not universally popular throughout the Night Class, but the fact that Kaname is a pure-blood vampire (a rank above the vampire nobility, and a rare position that also gives him certain powers and advantages) keeps the dissenters in line. Mostly.
The series initially can't decide between broad humor and gothic horror at first, but then lurches into a bit of a amateurish drama, which gets much better as the story goes on. I had a very hard time getting into this series, and I think it's because Yuuki is not as well fleshed-out as I like my heroines to be. After the (very effective) opening sequence (which only lasts a few pages anyway), Yuuki's personality and character become secondary to the HOT BISHIE GOODNESS. Which suffers a bit from the Tanemura Arima Syndrome, i.e. all the men look alike. (Seriously, besides hair color, what distinguishes Zero from Kaname in this panel? Or this chapter title page? Thank god for Zero's tattoo.)
Character introductions, or lack thereof, was another reason I had to force myself to read Vampire Knight. Characters suddenly appear and then disappear, suddenly get names and personalities, and suddenly become really, really important. Possibly worse than that are the characters who are just there to be there. Story, I could not possibly care any less about Aidou, and I am sick of him getting face time when nothing happens. The main plot line is done fairly well, but overall it just felt really clumsy instead of organic; the first three volumes are especially guilty of this. The story only starts to take off in volume four, IMHO.
The art is merely okay. It's heavily detailed, which I like, but it also seems derivative to me, although I can't quite pinpoint exactly what it reminds me of. It seems to swing from CLAMP circa the middle volumes of X to generic HanaYume style art #3. I'm much more fond of the way she draws females, especially Yuuki, than of the way she draws males. (Having seen some raws that make the art clearer, though, I have to say that I really like Hino's lines -- I just don't like the end results of those lines, if that makes any sense at all.)
That's not to say that I disliked it. One thing I like about this series is that it doesn't shy away from the fact that vampires, and the concept of vampires, really isn't all that sexy. Besides the bishie-qualifying character designs, there really is nothing to recommend most of the vampire characters. Blood runs freely down their chins when they feed (ew), they get turned on by papercuts and skinned knees, and the most vampires' personalities are kind of evil and power-hungry (even the "good" vampires).
The love triangle is done very well, and is one of the rare love triangles I can remember where I like all three people involved. As mentioned before, the main plot which involves this love triangle is executed very well , although I have to admit that the plot twist at the end of the first volume annoyed me (spoiler: Four years. FOUR YEARS?! Right. Right, 'cause that's how long it takes to change into a vampire.). But everything that happened after that in regards to Kaname, Yuuki, and Zero was interesting and definitely my favorite parts of the series.
Vampire Knight on the whole is uneven and at times frustrating, but can occasionally be enjoyable and gets much better in the fourth volume.
Buy It: Because you all are much more financially solvent better people than me, you might be interested in purchasing Vampire Knight (especially since I gave it such a ringing endorsement). VIZ is publishing the English-language version as part of their Shojo Beat imprint and you can probably find this in any bookstore that carries manga. Or you can take advantage of Right Stuf's VIZ sale and order it through them for 33% off. Just be sure to enter the coupon code before you finalize your order.
Koukou Debut
高校デビュー | High School Debut
by 河原和音 | Kawahara Kazune
7 volumes reviewed, not yet released Stateside; ongoing
Actually, I can't tachiyomi this yet, as the first volume doesn't come out until next year...which is good, because that means I can scrape together my pennies and save up to buy it. It's so good that I'm going to spoil my opinion in advance: I like it. I like it a lot. Every time I read Koukou Debut, I am thoroughly entertained and can't help but laugh.
Haruna has two loves in her life: softball and shoujo manga. After three glorious years of working her ass off for the softball team, she's now entered high school and is determined to focus on her other love. Specifically, getting her own shoujo manga love story. She's studying the fashion magazines hard, reading dating manuals, hanging out in places where girls are likely to get picked up, trying to land a guy...and nothing is working. So when she finds a handsome guy that knows what guys like in girls, she approaches him and immediately scares him off. But then, like a coincidence only seen in shoujo manga, Haruna finds out that they attend the same school! Wanting to get tips from him, she begs Yoh, the ice-cold girl analyst, to coach her. Yoh refuses, but his sister Asami takes an interest in the hopelessly earnest Haruna and invites her over to their house. Of course, Asami basically finds Haruna's search hysterical, and sends her out to a spot where only total losers don't get picked up in an outfit that doesn't flatter her at all. Maybe it's pity, maybe it's the fact that Haruna didn't cry when he offered his advice on said outfit, but Yoh then decides that he'll coach Haruna -- on one condition: she absolutely, positively CANNOT fall in love with him.
Haruna's totally in awe of Yoh, so she enthusiastically accepts and ends up hanging out with some of the most attractive people in her high school: Yoh, Asami, and Yoh's two friends, Fumi and Asaoka. Yoh at first comes off as extremely cold towards everyone and everything, but in fact he's just so attractive that guys hate him and girls fight over him. Once Haruna learns the angsty truth, she goes out of her way to support him. She believes that Yoh isn't a two-dimensional person, but can't help wondering why she believes that.
Yoh then sets out to update Haruna's wardrobe with stuff that actually suits her, and then find her a boyfriend. Even in the basics, she manages to infuriate him. She has abysmal taste in clothes and she doesn't have a type (and has never thought about it either). Like Yoh says, she tries way too hard and it shows in her expressions; Haruna actually believes that he can read her mind because he always seems to know what she is thinking. Haruna also does incredibly stupid and naive things, some more dangerous than others. And even when she does find a nice, normal guy that she likes, she's so freaked out that Yoh follows the couple on their first date and texts her things to say.
There's definitely drama in the series, but it's also a very funny comedy. Haruna's cluelessness and Yoh's irritation with her cluelessness are running jokes, as is Haruna's obsession with shoujo manga. She even tries to get Yoh to read shoujo manga in an effort to get him to understand her dream. (Which leads to awesome panels like this and this.)
As you might have guessed, because of Haruna's obsession with shoujo manga, there is a fair bit of fun played with some of the clichés of the genre. There aren't, surprisingly, any meta or overt references to other famous shoujo manga (e.g. how Goong poked some fun at the poor girl standing up to the rich bully cliché that is most famously depicted in Hana Yori Dango). You can tell that as much as Haruna loves the genre, Kawahara does as well, so any fun that is poked is rather gentle but still amusing.
The art for Koukou Debut is nowhere near as elaborate as Vampire Knight and is kind of washed-out looking, but it always gets the point across and is never off-model. Haruna in particular wouldn't work without the level of detail that Kawahara puts into making sure that we know by Haruna's expressions how intense she can be. The other characters are easy to tell apart, not just because of their hairstyles but also because the characters actually look different from each other. Novel idea.
Koukou Debut is an oasis of wonderful in the vast desert of shoujo manga.
Buy It: It'll be out in January or thereabouts, so you'll have to wait until then. ^^;;
Another nice thing about this movie is even though the female characters had their makeup guns set to "whore", they still kicked ass.
But how are they going to make a sequel when they killed off Megatron and dumped his body in a trench that's seven miles deep? Isn't he the ultimate bad guy in the series? And there probably will be a sequel, as it did wicked box office on the 4th, and rather nicely overall.
Also, on the "Where the fuck is the third season of Avatar?!?!?!!!" front, there is finally news. And an awesome picture of awesomeness that is so frakin' awesome I'm surprised I managed to quell my squeeing in a public place. (DISCLAIMER: I accept no blame for hopes raised and/or inability to think straight because of the awesome picture of awesomeness. AVATAR! Coming soon~!!!)
Now on to the meat of the entry. More shoujo under the cut. For these reviews, I was too lazy to go out and tachiyomi, so I just downloaded instead. Bad me.
Vampire Knight
ヴァンパイア騎士
by 樋野まつり | Hino Matsuri
6 volumes reviewed, 2 released Stateside; ongoing
Recommended (?) by fluffyfluffybun. I think. She only asked if I'd ever read it.
When you think about it, Yuuki is a lucky, lucky girl. Yes, her family was killed by a crazed vampire when she was five, but she was saved by the brooding hottie Kaname and taken in by the chairman of Cross Academy. Along with another orphan, Zero, she grows up to be a prefect (or guardian) at the high school. The school itself is rather...interesting, as it has two classes: the Day Class and the Night Class. Naturally, the Night Class is made up of vampires (of which Kaname is one), but the Day Class doesn't know this and it's Yuuki and Zero's job to make sure that they don't. This is complicated by the fact that the vampires in this universe are sexy as hell and the objects of many of the Day Class' crushes.
The vampires themselves are select ones who have given up drinking blood from the source so that they can live with humans in peace. Instead, they ingest blood supplement tablets and attempt to rein in their bloodlust. This is not universally popular throughout the Night Class, but the fact that Kaname is a pure-blood vampire (a rank above the vampire nobility, and a rare position that also gives him certain powers and advantages) keeps the dissenters in line. Mostly.
The series initially can't decide between broad humor and gothic horror at first, but then lurches into a bit of a amateurish drama, which gets much better as the story goes on. I had a very hard time getting into this series, and I think it's because Yuuki is not as well fleshed-out as I like my heroines to be. After the (very effective) opening sequence (which only lasts a few pages anyway), Yuuki's personality and character become secondary to the HOT BISHIE GOODNESS. Which suffers a bit from the Tanemura Arima Syndrome, i.e. all the men look alike. (Seriously, besides hair color, what distinguishes Zero from Kaname in this panel? Or this chapter title page? Thank god for Zero's tattoo.)
Character introductions, or lack thereof, was another reason I had to force myself to read Vampire Knight. Characters suddenly appear and then disappear, suddenly get names and personalities, and suddenly become really, really important. Possibly worse than that are the characters who are just there to be there. Story, I could not possibly care any less about Aidou, and I am sick of him getting face time when nothing happens. The main plot line is done fairly well, but overall it just felt really clumsy instead of organic; the first three volumes are especially guilty of this. The story only starts to take off in volume four, IMHO.
The art is merely okay. It's heavily detailed, which I like, but it also seems derivative to me, although I can't quite pinpoint exactly what it reminds me of. It seems to swing from CLAMP circa the middle volumes of X to generic HanaYume style art #3. I'm much more fond of the way she draws females, especially Yuuki, than of the way she draws males. (Having seen some raws that make the art clearer, though, I have to say that I really like Hino's lines -- I just don't like the end results of those lines, if that makes any sense at all.)
That's not to say that I disliked it. One thing I like about this series is that it doesn't shy away from the fact that vampires, and the concept of vampires, really isn't all that sexy. Besides the bishie-qualifying character designs, there really is nothing to recommend most of the vampire characters. Blood runs freely down their chins when they feed (ew), they get turned on by papercuts and skinned knees, and the most vampires' personalities are kind of evil and power-hungry (even the "good" vampires).
The love triangle is done very well, and is one of the rare love triangles I can remember where I like all three people involved. As mentioned before, the main plot which involves this love triangle is executed very well , although I have to admit that the plot twist at the end of the first volume annoyed me (spoiler: Four years. FOUR YEARS?! Right. Right, 'cause that's how long it takes to change into a vampire.). But everything that happened after that in regards to Kaname, Yuuki, and Zero was interesting and definitely my favorite parts of the series.
Vampire Knight on the whole is uneven and at times frustrating, but can occasionally be enjoyable and gets much better in the fourth volume.
Buy It: Because you all are much more financially solvent better people than me, you might be interested in purchasing Vampire Knight (especially since I gave it such a ringing endorsement). VIZ is publishing the English-language version as part of their Shojo Beat imprint and you can probably find this in any bookstore that carries manga. Or you can take advantage of Right Stuf's VIZ sale and order it through them for 33% off. Just be sure to enter the coupon code before you finalize your order.
Koukou Debut
高校デビュー | High School Debut
by 河原和音 | Kawahara Kazune
7 volumes reviewed, not yet released Stateside; ongoing
Actually, I can't tachiyomi this yet, as the first volume doesn't come out until next year...which is good, because that means I can scrape together my pennies and save up to buy it. It's so good that I'm going to spoil my opinion in advance: I like it. I like it a lot. Every time I read Koukou Debut, I am thoroughly entertained and can't help but laugh.
Haruna has two loves in her life: softball and shoujo manga. After three glorious years of working her ass off for the softball team, she's now entered high school and is determined to focus on her other love. Specifically, getting her own shoujo manga love story. She's studying the fashion magazines hard, reading dating manuals, hanging out in places where girls are likely to get picked up, trying to land a guy...and nothing is working. So when she finds a handsome guy that knows what guys like in girls, she approaches him and immediately scares him off. But then, like a coincidence only seen in shoujo manga, Haruna finds out that they attend the same school! Wanting to get tips from him, she begs Yoh, the ice-cold girl analyst, to coach her. Yoh refuses, but his sister Asami takes an interest in the hopelessly earnest Haruna and invites her over to their house. Of course, Asami basically finds Haruna's search hysterical, and sends her out to a spot where only total losers don't get picked up in an outfit that doesn't flatter her at all. Maybe it's pity, maybe it's the fact that Haruna didn't cry when he offered his advice on said outfit, but Yoh then decides that he'll coach Haruna -- on one condition: she absolutely, positively CANNOT fall in love with him.
Haruna's totally in awe of Yoh, so she enthusiastically accepts and ends up hanging out with some of the most attractive people in her high school: Yoh, Asami, and Yoh's two friends, Fumi and Asaoka. Yoh at first comes off as extremely cold towards everyone and everything, but in fact he's just so attractive that guys hate him and girls fight over him. Once Haruna learns the angsty truth, she goes out of her way to support him. She believes that Yoh isn't a two-dimensional person, but can't help wondering why she believes that.
Yoh then sets out to update Haruna's wardrobe with stuff that actually suits her, and then find her a boyfriend. Even in the basics, she manages to infuriate him. She has abysmal taste in clothes and she doesn't have a type (and has never thought about it either). Like Yoh says, she tries way too hard and it shows in her expressions; Haruna actually believes that he can read her mind because he always seems to know what she is thinking. Haruna also does incredibly stupid and naive things, some more dangerous than others. And even when she does find a nice, normal guy that she likes, she's so freaked out that Yoh follows the couple on their first date and texts her things to say.
There's definitely drama in the series, but it's also a very funny comedy. Haruna's cluelessness and Yoh's irritation with her cluelessness are running jokes, as is Haruna's obsession with shoujo manga. She even tries to get Yoh to read shoujo manga in an effort to get him to understand her dream. (Which leads to awesome panels like this and this.)
As you might have guessed, because of Haruna's obsession with shoujo manga, there is a fair bit of fun played with some of the clichés of the genre. There aren't, surprisingly, any meta or overt references to other famous shoujo manga (e.g. how Goong poked some fun at the poor girl standing up to the rich bully cliché that is most famously depicted in Hana Yori Dango). You can tell that as much as Haruna loves the genre, Kawahara does as well, so any fun that is poked is rather gentle but still amusing.
The art for Koukou Debut is nowhere near as elaborate as Vampire Knight and is kind of washed-out looking, but it always gets the point across and is never off-model. Haruna in particular wouldn't work without the level of detail that Kawahara puts into making sure that we know by Haruna's expressions how intense she can be. The other characters are easy to tell apart, not just because of their hairstyles but also because the characters actually look different from each other. Novel idea.
Koukou Debut is an oasis of wonderful in the vast desert of shoujo manga.
Buy It: It'll be out in January or thereabouts, so you'll have to wait until then. ^^;;