We’re back! A month has passed and another volume of Sho(u)jo Beat has hit the shelves. Once again I returned to buy it, having two favorites in this title that I am beginning to read in an almost “religious” way (with a review of Nana coming soon in Graphic Novel format), and once again I return to review the latest volume out on shelves now. Sho(u)jo Beat V. 2, Issue #1.
Hey, look! This volume came out with a free mini 2006 calendar! Great! Now I have a calendar for my workspace (Di Gi Charat 2006 Calendar) and one for my desk (this Shoujo Beat one)!
And hey, more distraction! The new issue sports a Crimson Hero cover! Cool… sorry, got distracted. First off let’s go into the stuff that I’m… hmm… not so hot on. We start off with Crimson Hero but since I’m into that I’ll hold that until the end…

Kamikaze Girls
Once again there is more on Kamikaze Girls, including a sample of the novel. I guess I’ll have to buy the manga in the coming weeks and give you a review of it, OK? OK.

Baby & Me
After overcoming the trouble of the boy named “Gon” and his apparent “gripe” with hero Takuya it looks like the Enoki family are headed to a shrine on New Year’s Day (1992 - The Year of the Monkey). They are just trying to ring in the new year, but it seems they are barely out of the house and already “misfortune” has come visiting the Enoki family (and “Gon” wasn’t even sending “Letters of Misfortune” or anything)!
While eating his mochi Minoru sneezes and spits it out, then he falls on top of it and gets it stuck in his hair which requires a butcher job which makes him look like… I don’t know, a buddist monk or somebody without hair. That, of course, does not sit well with him… poor kid.
It can only get worst when they run into Gon’s family and find out that they have a little girl about Minoru’s age who has become -- “attached” -- to him in a disturbing “attraction“ way… eww! Back, you scary girl who looks like “Gon” and the father… which is scary because she’s a girl… back! Back! Otherwise it’s a cute little story and nice (complete with a flashback which shows the seldom seen mother)… hmm… maybe I’ll start to give the title a chance.

Absolute Boyfriend
However when it comes to a title that I won’t give a chance to, it’s Absolute Boyfriend.
In this chapter someone Riiko thought was her best friend (Mika) turns out to be a backstabber as she secretly forms a “Night Fan Club”, complete with “army“ of fanatical followers to keep rivals away from Night. Why? It’s not as much as she has the hots for him… which is probably not far off since his hot looks seems to have brainwashed 99% of the girls in the school… but mostly because she has the desire to steal other girl’s boyfriends (and then discard them)…. Yeah, where have we heard THAT one before! Throw him away, Riiko, throw him away and don’t ask for a receipt for the “favor”.

Of course that isn’t happening (it would be too much to ask for if she wised up… that and the series would be over if she wised up), and it can only get worst as Riiko’s class goes on a class trip which gives Mika a chance to make a critical move at Night, only to have her move deftly reflected by him. That sets the stage which leads to nothing but bad news as the friendship between Riiko and Mika quickly heads towards the tall spiky cliff of bad endings as she does a Republican politician by throwing away the bracelet Riiko gave her faster than Republicans tossed away the gift of money given to them by Jack Abramoft. Only Riiko isn’t facing any jailtime or has to testify against anyone about her illegal bracelet contributions.
Next is Nana! Yah… but hold on, we have more titles to flip through.

Kaze Hikaru
After making it through the whole brothel things it looks like the person who drove her to be who she is, in a Batman like killing of her loved ones, has fallen conveniently into her lap… figuratively speaking.
As the story ends she confronts him, and now it looks like she is about to have the chance to deal out cold sharp vengeance at the end of her sword… unless of course somebody should interfere before she does so. So, will she do the deed? Will someone interfere and stop her? Will she stop herself? Find out… next review (Shoujo Beat V. 2, Issue #2)!

Godchild
I didn’t read this… whatever’s happening is something I’ll probably have to review for Halloween.
Full of horror and disturbing visuals, filled with nothing I want to read. Moving on.
Ok, now what I CAME for… whee!

Crimson Hero
First off this issue rocks because it sports an interview with Crimson Hero creator Mitsuba Takanashi! Yeah! Now this month’s taste…

Nobara is having a bad day it seems. Not just because she’s a dorm mother for the Crimson Field’s boy’s volleyball team, but because she was so close to achieving her dream -- oh, yeah, she got spiked in the face by the boys she rules over as Dorm Mother during that game… they probably got it when they got back to the dorm! Heh… yeah, right. Anyway it looks like she is so close yet so far to her dream because she needs six girls to kickstart the “club”, and start practicing for league play, only to be cut short by half!
She has three girls, but not enough for the team… and that, if you haven’t guessed already, steams her DNA! So she gets into a grumbling match with one of the boys of the boys volleyball team, but they make up later. Truth be told they are really behind her on her quest to make her team a reality (shown later) but for now it looks like she’s struggling upstream on a difficult task… until a breathless blushing girl drops herself into her lap provocatively and sighs softly, breathing the words “Ooh, I found you.” (heart)…

No, this isn’t Sex Friend, nothing’s going to happen… almost.
It looks like this blushing girl with the “I sometimes body double and like to wear funny suits for motion capture research on female characters in porn animes” look turns out to be a solidly interested volleyball girl… just that she has all the wrong ways to express her desire to hit the court and smash some points over the net. Anyway after that major smathering of girl on girl fan service (which it was) one more girl joins up meaning that only one more girl is needed for Nobara’s dream team to be born… and wouldn’t you know it, the one girl that can complete the team is a bitter fallen star of the girl volleyball circuit who has a fatalistic love/hate relationship with the sport that once held her on a pedestal and declared her a “star setter”.

Good luck. With her attitude and dislike she has towards her what would be her new “teammates” (especially the spacey and out there Rena… you know, the girl who nearly jumped Nobara in class and then followed her around going “woof” -- “woof“?) it looks like she’s going to be at odds with Nobara, who she dubs “Crimson Hero” for her standing up for Rena when she slams the poor girl hard. Speaking of which, Rena DOES know she’s in a sports manga and not a XXX porn manga, right? She seems to have her personality traits kind of… askew… but it is cute and well meaning as a good girl even if she does seem to express herself the… kind of off way… from time to time. Sorta.

Nana
In the middle of the night her roommate Nana and new to the story Nobuo rock the night away.
He came with a new song for Nana Osaki to ply her talents on, and a chance for her to live her dream to make a living off her singing by bringing life to a new band here in Tokyo.
Once upon a time she, Nobuo, Yasu (cameo last time) and one more rocked their hometown as Black Stones, aka Blast, and now her dream to revive her music in the big city might come true.
But first… they really have to apologize to the neighbors for waking them up.

After fielding the ton of complaints from the neighbors Nana overhears a “Desperate Housewives” type woman proclaim the apartment she and the other Nana live in is… “cursed”…! “CURSED”!!
So how does a declaration that the apartment is “cursed” lead to Nana taking the great gigantic leap of ill faith off the cliffs of insanity (passing Kratos on the way down) to declare that somebody was MURDERED in that apartment! Exit reason, enter Law & Order : Special Nana Unit… or Cold Nana Case… or CSI : Tokyo Nana… Nana Whisperer… Nana-ium… or something.
Well, after Nana Osaki does the right thing by kicking Nana (the lovable star) out of the bathroom post her declaration that the apartment bleeds with the tears of murdered blood… ok, she doesn’t say that but she’s hyped about murder, that and the type of young men brought home by the one who started the “cursed” thing… anyway Nana talks to Nobuo and talks him into staying in her room so she can sleep with Nana, but of course that doesn’t mean she’s got feelings for Nana Osaki, right?

Next day Nana goes to work, and up goes the custom made cutesy flyer advertising the birth of a brand new band, and who should see it but Nana’s boyfriend! After abit of talking with him, and some soul searching (looks like their “relationship“ is headed the second thing headed towards the Cliff of Insanity), she runs into a hot looking lad looking to rock with the other Nana’s new band, and we go back to the rocking part! As the book ends, however, and the third member of the band is picked, the only thing rocking our heroine Nana’s world is thoughts that… well… let’s see what happens next time now that our Nana (Komatsu) has gotten a second taste of the music world, and a taste of Nana Osaki when she kisses the other Nana.
Ok! It’s time once again for breakdown time!

Shoujo Beat Breakdown the 2nd slash 1st
What’s Hot?
Nana and Crimson Hero. You see how I go on about those titles, don’t you? Rocking. Still consider those the big reads of the title and recommended if you can get ahold of the first two Graphic Novels (the second ones just coming out now or soon).

What’s Not?
I don’t like the rest, though I am beginning to swing shift on maybe Baby & Me… and Kaze Hikaru… maybe. I’m still swinging on those right now.

Moments to Remember?
Let’s see. The interview with Crimson Hero’s creator was good. The focus on Anime and a piece of the women of Miyazaki’s movies was good. A new piece on How to Draw Manga was good too.
Otherwise you know my preferred reads here. Nana and Crimson Hero.

What to Ignore?
Ewww… Godchild.

Overall?
I know, I know, six titles and the only one I’m reading is two out of six (33%), but I am hot on these two.
It’s a little selective, yes, but if you are a fan of Princess Nine you should be coming in on this newest of sports reads, Crimson Hero. And if you love a good solid shoujo with well written scripting, lovely characters who you want to know more about, and a great artistic style then you have to get into Ai Yazawa’s Nana… I’m sure I reviewed something of Ai Yazawa’s before, but I can’t rememeber…
Anyway you take these two and check them out if possible. From me to you I promise they rock, you’ll see, I promise you! As for the rest… that’s for you to discover. Read it all, enjoy it all, embrace it all.
And I’ll see you in a month with a review of Shoujo Beat V. 2, Issue #2. See you then.