Manga Conga Line
Dear Readers,
I have started a manga with a too-stupid-to-live heroine. :sigh: It's derivative, and no doubt to be full of martyrous behavior. But it's got something, apparently, because I haven't stopped...
***
The other kawaii-type manga on my shelf right now is Captive Hearts...
with the obligatory bondage-imagery.
This is by the Vampire Knight mangaka, but predates it. It's not as strong in world-building, maybe, but it's also less of a soap. So, that puts it much higher on my list...
Like D.N.Angel, the trope of youngster-bound-by-family-curse is set up to both interfere with and increase the pitch of the romance. In this case, the hero's been raised almost like the young-master of the house, but he does remember a time when his family served instead. When the young heir girl of the family is returned to her country after being long missing--well, we don't get much time to share in his pity-party, because his must-serve gene is tripped hard-core. His low exposure to the phenomenon means he's got no guard against it, and his "slave to the princess" routine scares even his butlering father.
It's the kind of cute premise that can almost only exist in a comic where we don't have to look too carefully at the semantics...
It is also only a handful of volumes long, all of which are to be got at my library. There is that.
***
And for something completely different:
House of Five Leaves is a samurai manga with a gravitas and somber art style that made me check it out just to reward the library for getting it and the publishers for publishing it.
And it's quite thoughtful, and well-drawn, with a main character who's a bit unreadable but in a good-samurai-conflicted sort of a way.
It's an artistic manga, and so a little slow for my usual taste (you can see the other kind of manga I'm working on)
but It promises very well to continue to be intriguing. I'm guessing this will be the kind of thing I'll order from the library when I want some brain-work that's not hectic.
I have started a manga with a too-stupid-to-live heroine. :sigh: It's derivative, and no doubt to be full of martyrous behavior. But it's got something, apparently, because I haven't stopped...
***
The other kawaii-type manga on my shelf right now is Captive Hearts...
with the obligatory bondage-imagery.
This is by the Vampire Knight mangaka, but predates it. It's not as strong in world-building, maybe, but it's also less of a soap. So, that puts it much higher on my list...
Like D.N.Angel, the trope of youngster-bound-by-family-curse is set up to both interfere with and increase the pitch of the romance. In this case, the hero's been raised almost like the young-master of the house, but he does remember a time when his family served instead. When the young heir girl of the family is returned to her country after being long missing--well, we don't get much time to share in his pity-party, because his must-serve gene is tripped hard-core. His low exposure to the phenomenon means he's got no guard against it, and his "slave to the princess" routine scares even his butlering father.
It's the kind of cute premise that can almost only exist in a comic where we don't have to look too carefully at the semantics...
It is also only a handful of volumes long, all of which are to be got at my library. There is that.
***
And for something completely different:
House of Five Leaves is a samurai manga with a gravitas and somber art style that made me check it out just to reward the library for getting it and the publishers for publishing it.
And it's quite thoughtful, and well-drawn, with a main character who's a bit unreadable but in a good-samurai-conflicted sort of a way.
It's an artistic manga, and so a little slow for my usual taste (you can see the other kind of manga I'm working on)
but It promises very well to continue to be intriguing. I'm guessing this will be the kind of thing I'll order from the library when I want some brain-work that's not hectic.