[nekoburo]

It occurs to me that I have been reading too much when all the plots of shoujo manga start to run together into one ginormous, endless story of insecure, immature, sheltered, untrusting, prudish, virginal teens (sometimes, rarely, early twenties) that are easily influenced and/or bullied by vicious, vengeful ex-girlfriends, or wanna-be girlfriends. Also, lets not forget that she cannot trust the love of her life, jumps to conclusions easily without first getting any explanation, and is extremely violent, as she slaps the guy constantly. Moreover, said main characters cannot state their desires, wants or needs, dreams because of some easily overcome obstacle that seems insurmountable to them, ie. embarrasment, peer-pressure, fear of being labeled, etc. The main love interest must constantly wade through land mines of confused or mixed signals, has to have the ability to read minds, as the girl can NEVER tell him what her truth is, can never trust him, and must, at all times, be the strong knight in shining armor, or prince. Oh, and he must have no sexual appetite, or he's a perv. Then, after much turmoil, interference and other obstacles that lie in the path of their love, she finally says she loves him and trusts him, and the story is over.

This is what this is, frankly, it is getting harder and harder to stomach. As much as I love manga and its equivalents in Korea, China and Taiwan, I am beginning to realize that in many cases, not all of them, that I am more compelled by the artwork. There are quite a few manga on Manga Fox that are the opposite. They are such a compelling read, that I have frozen my computer countless times because I flip through the pages much too fast. This is not one of them. I wonder, with all the similarities in shoujo plots if the editors for the mangakas or the powers that be in the publishing houses, are leading the mangakas to create manga that has been, or is, too mainstream, thus creating an entire genre that has one plot line. This is a killer on creativity.

Anyway, enough rambling. Yamada Komomo's artwork is not as good as others, but she is getting better. Her male characters have always been bishie-licious and are the best of her drawings, but the picture as a whole is still average. But, like I said, I do think her learning curve is high. She is getting better. The plot is the same as your average shoujo manga. If that is what you like, this is for you. If you are looking for something different. Keep looking, you will be bored.

[Nirvana_07]

LOL well said....yeah atypical shoujo mangas can run one to the ground with their mind numbing repetitive soppy rot...only sometimes u find real gems in d guise of shoujo manga...but guessing from ur post dis isnt one of dem...
but funny rant

[redg18]

I'm confused, Nekoburo. You said that this manga is not one of the ones that are mind numbingly insipid, but then you say that it's the typical shojo. I'm kind of in a strange situation cause I just read a manga that fits the description of the first few paragraphs (the girl seriously tried to commit suicide because another boy kissed her by accident; the girl also avoided her boyfriend for a long time after their first kiss b/c she was too nervous). I'm telling you, the last manga I read was horrible in this respect, it was soo boring, the lead was extremely immature and naive, stupidly popular shojo though.

[nekoburo]

To redg18:

Sorry, If there was any confusion. I tried to say that this is typical shoujo, which, to me, IS mind numbingly repetitive. The plot is the same as hundreds of other shoujo. There is nothing in this plot that I found creative, interesting, or compelling. But this is only my opinion. If there are those who like this type of story, read away. If, like me, you are looking for something more, don't bother opening the first page.

However, the mangaka's artwork has improved over time. This is a compliment to the artwork only.