Yuki Kaori - Fairy Cube, vol. 02-03 (Eng. trans.)
Let me just say that I have read volume 2 twice, and I still don't know what happened in it. Unsurprisingly, this made reading volume 3 quite an adventure! Most of it went something like this:
"Why are they calling him Raven? Does he have two names?" (twenty pages later) "Ohhh, she kept referring to a new character who was constantly off-screen. Possibly he was introduced in volume two."
"Who's trying to take over the world now? Is that person a guy or a girl? Or both? Whose side is everyone on again? Whose body is Ian in again? Wait, door to what? Why is there a giant concert hall? Did she randomly copy-paste much of the ending to Godchild in here, change the setting, and hope we wouldn't notice? How the heck is that person related to Ian again and have we seen him or her in volume two? Was this all set up in volume 2? Why can't I remember volume 2? Have I been affected by the same maniacal fairy brainsuck that seems to be affecting all the characters? Has volume 2 mysteriously written itself out of my brain no matter how much I read it? And if so, why were all the secret cabals and attempts to take over the world and numerous double crosses placed in volume 2?"
Possibly this is Yuki Kaori's dastardly scheme to make me think there are bloodthirsty fairies out there attempting to wipe my brain. Or possibly it is just Yuki Kaori being somewhat more incoherent than usual (given the general state of coherency in Yuki Kaori, I feel this is saying something).
And yet! Random fairy plots! Completely random pieces of Fae mythology woven into otherwise haphazard worldbuilding! Even more girls who have absolutely no romantic chemistry with the leads and turn out to be woeful and self-sacrificing! ABSOLUTE INSANITY masquerading as plot!
Spoilers, if they are un-nonsensical enough to actually be spoilery
So, I managed to completely forget the presence of the Other One-Eyed Guy and his tragic backstory with the Current One-Eyed Guy, the apparent eye trauma inflicted on Ian's dad, the entire story of Ian's mom, who in the world that kid with the dead father on an IV being possessed by some evil fairy was and how in the world he or she was related to Ian (seriously, I have no idea about the kid's sex! I thought zie was a guy and then they said something about zir being a girl all along and only masquerading as a guy or maybe I have that the other way around, or maybe zie was a guy masquerading as a girl masquerading as a guy???), and etc.
On the other hand, I now remember a giant scheme to take over the world by opening a giant gate to Faerie, complete with giant lurking monsters (always awesome), a random gun that seals something or the other, and Ainsel actually getting to do something. Unfortunately, that doing something is being a passive key while she gets to live forever with the storekeeper, but at least there wasn't a completely random rewrite of the entire plot that put it behind an evil woman? Unless, of course, kid-of-undetermined-sex is aforementioned evil woman plotting. It is hard to tell.
And Tokage! Tokage is Ian's actual twin! But dead! Because one must always have dead fetii in manga! And his name is actually Isaiah! And he gets a little spin-off story in the back!
I laughed hysterically once Tokage/Isaiah crawled out of Ian's body in lizard form, Ian crawled out of the kid's body and back into his own, then Tokage/Isaiah continued to body-crawl, ad infinitum. Body switching confuses me very much.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Ian's aunt too!
In conclusion: WTF just happened? Someone explain?
(Not that utter lack of comprehension is going to keep me from reading Yuki Kaori, because even this made me laugh and flap my hands with glee. It would just be nice to remember exactly why I was laughing and flapping my hands with glee.)
"Why are they calling him Raven? Does he have two names?" (twenty pages later) "Ohhh, she kept referring to a new character who was constantly off-screen. Possibly he was introduced in volume two."
"Who's trying to take over the world now? Is that person a guy or a girl? Or both? Whose side is everyone on again? Whose body is Ian in again? Wait, door to what? Why is there a giant concert hall? Did she randomly copy-paste much of the ending to Godchild in here, change the setting, and hope we wouldn't notice? How the heck is that person related to Ian again and have we seen him or her in volume two? Was this all set up in volume 2? Why can't I remember volume 2? Have I been affected by the same maniacal fairy brainsuck that seems to be affecting all the characters? Has volume 2 mysteriously written itself out of my brain no matter how much I read it? And if so, why were all the secret cabals and attempts to take over the world and numerous double crosses placed in volume 2?"
Possibly this is Yuki Kaori's dastardly scheme to make me think there are bloodthirsty fairies out there attempting to wipe my brain. Or possibly it is just Yuki Kaori being somewhat more incoherent than usual (given the general state of coherency in Yuki Kaori, I feel this is saying something).
And yet! Random fairy plots! Completely random pieces of Fae mythology woven into otherwise haphazard worldbuilding! Even more girls who have absolutely no romantic chemistry with the leads and turn out to be woeful and self-sacrificing! ABSOLUTE INSANITY masquerading as plot!
Spoilers, if they are un-nonsensical enough to actually be spoilery
So, I managed to completely forget the presence of the Other One-Eyed Guy and his tragic backstory with the Current One-Eyed Guy, the apparent eye trauma inflicted on Ian's dad, the entire story of Ian's mom, who in the world that kid with the dead father on an IV being possessed by some evil fairy was and how in the world he or she was related to Ian (seriously, I have no idea about the kid's sex! I thought zie was a guy and then they said something about zir being a girl all along and only masquerading as a guy or maybe I have that the other way around, or maybe zie was a guy masquerading as a girl masquerading as a guy???), and etc.
On the other hand, I now remember a giant scheme to take over the world by opening a giant gate to Faerie, complete with giant lurking monsters (always awesome), a random gun that seals something or the other, and Ainsel actually getting to do something. Unfortunately, that doing something is being a passive key while she gets to live forever with the storekeeper, but at least there wasn't a completely random rewrite of the entire plot that put it behind an evil woman? Unless, of course, kid-of-undetermined-sex is aforementioned evil woman plotting. It is hard to tell.
And Tokage! Tokage is Ian's actual twin! But dead! Because one must always have dead fetii in manga! And his name is actually Isaiah! And he gets a little spin-off story in the back!
I laughed hysterically once Tokage/Isaiah crawled out of Ian's body in lizard form, Ian crawled out of the kid's body and back into his own, then Tokage/Isaiah continued to body-crawl, ad infinitum. Body switching confuses me very much.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Ian's aunt too!
In conclusion: WTF just happened? Someone explain?
(Not that utter lack of comprehension is going to keep me from reading Yuki Kaori, because even this made me laugh and flap my hands with glee. It would just be nice to remember exactly why I was laughing and flapping my hands with glee.)