late Review: Dolis
Dolis: the ideal girl
Dolis starts off like any other romance story: Boy meets girl at his part-time job, falls in love, and gives her his phone number. They start going out, spending as much time as they can with each other... and thats where the similarity ends.
As the story continues, it becomes clearer and clearer that they are each other's worst match. They begin to bring out the worst qualities in each other, the girl Mitsu, becomes increasingly self-loathing and isolated, and the boy Kishi, becomes further and further obsessed with her. So obsessed he stops going to work, stops playing his guitar, stops living. Meanwhile Mitsu herself begins to despise him, but she can't bear to live without him.
by Maki Kusumoto
Tokyopop
Drama/Romance $14.99
The story is told very experimentally with mixed results- each chapter is so short, so varied, that they are more like character and mood pieces than a traditional plot-based story. It puts a twist on things, but it also makes the story sort of frustrating. Neither of the characters- both of which seem to have more negative qualities than positive- come off as sympathetic or likable at all. And the premise of the book, the ideal girl Dolis, is never fully explained- is she a supernatural creature that becomes whatever the beholder desires? Or is she simply just a lost girl without a sense of identity..?
The art is easily the most striking quality about this manga. The front cover, for instance, is a stark contrast between a blankly white image of Mitsu, her eyes closed, on a dark blue background. The use of minimalistic line art and careful use of empty space remind me a lot of Clamp's experimental manga Clover (also from tokyopop, though out of print). Every chapter in Dolis features two colors, which fill up the areas of the page very well. It leaves every page with a clear sense of design, often placing a close up of an expression, a pose, an outstretched hand on top of a field of color, to good effect.
In the end though, it's hard to recommend this to the average manga reader. The most interesting thing Dolis has going for it, is the unique use of a two-tone color palette in every chapter, and the artistic use of space in the panels' layouts. Those who would like to try something new and different might like it, but at the higher price point, its harder to suggest picking this up solely out of curiosity. And naturally, with the story as dark and unhappy as it is, shoujo readers looking for light and romantic reads should look elsewhere.
Bonus comments: Personally, this manga kinda bothered me. On one hand, it's easy to see the skill of the mangaka in so many ways, but somehow the result was not that enjoyable. It's like an Erica Sakurazawa manga in all the depressing realism of relationships without the frank honestly and the softer moments of happiness.
I'd also heard that this title was going to be the third book in the failed Passion Fruit lineup. I'm glad tokyopop is continuing to give more unique titles a try, but I have no idea what they were thinking with a name like "Passion Fruit." I recently read Sweat & Honey and "Galaxy Girl, Panda Boy" and these stories have about as much passion as a grocery list. ^^' They're very good in their own right, but not particularly romantic or about realistic mature relationships like the little blurb on the back claims. Sometimes i wonder if these kinds of things are thought up of people who haven't actually read them. ^^;
More reviews next week!