Shojo Beat

Publisher
Viz
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2005

Shojo Beat V. 2, Issue 4

By David Rasmussen
20th May 06

Each and every month I take a look at the newest of the Shojo Beat series for you to check out.
Volume 2, Issue #4 is out now so let’s take a look at it, eh?
First the not so beloved (by myself) titles of the read, and then my two recommendations.

Absolute Boyfriend
It has only been a short time since Riiko and the rest of her class has returned from the class trip, which turned into a nightmare as Riiko was assaulted by the “members” of the Night Fan Club (Night, he who was ordered on “pay later” from a company making human robot toy things and is represented by a cos-playing weirdo in a funny outfit) and ended up losing her “best friend” after she ended up saving her from the wrath of the Night Fan Club. Yeah. Did that sound original? No? Didn’t think so.
Well if you think the title climbs to a new level of cliché when we open this new chapter? Well then you are so right. Because Riiko has discovered that she is nearing flat broke and must find a way to make money, which, yes, is yet another cliché in the endless cliché parade.
It can only get worst when her friend helps her find a job, only to find out the boy she has interest in (Soshi), and that Night thing who lives with her, are there (the former working there and the latter stalking her there). Yeah, it’s characters like her that make you glad you live your life ordinary. Oh, yeah.

Baby & Me
After experiencing the torrid love triangle as two girls focused their sights on the affections of little Minoru, behold the latest trials of Takuya and Minoru!
One day Takuya saw a mysterious rabbit hiding in a small wooded area of a park he was passing by. For some reason he made the connection between the rabbit and his little bro Minoru… scary… which prompts him to bring the two together. But when they arrive they find that the rabbit is hanging out with a man who is taking care of the rabbit. Once upon a time he had the rabbit in his apartment, but due to… well… due to the reasons behind why games like NintenDogs were created, he had to remove the rabbit from his place.

The next day the duo run into a large bunny human handing out balloons, only to realize that it’s the same guy they saw taking care of the rabbit the day before! Apparently he both cares for a rabbit AND dresses as a rabbit for work… how weird.

But the weirdness gives way to troubles. It seems he has the hots for this woman that he knew since he was 9, but due to the fact she is friends with snobs they don’t seem destined to be together.
Can the bunny man overcome her friend’s biases towards him, and convince her of his love that he has felt so strongly? Will they move in together with the rabbit and become a family of three somewhere? Will they have a happily ever after ending? Will they? Will they? Ahh… she breaks his heart, he runs out into traffic with her following but saves her from being run over only to be run over, and dies. Oh, then his rabbit dies from heartbreak, or starvation, or both heartbreak and starvation… yeah, thanks Marimo Ragawa, thanks for the “happy” ending.

Godchild
People go around acting all gothic and weird, somebody creeps somebody (mostly the readers) out, and somebody drops dead. Next month somebody drops a dead body into an old ladies’ yard, what fun!!

Kaze Hikaru
After the events of last issue, what with Sei catching up to one of the guy’s responsible for the death of her brother and father, I guess you can’t blame her for being all stressed out.
She caught up to him, but got caught (and got somebody killed) before the tides were turned and most of her captors (except him) were killed off and he was left at her mercy. She spared him, only to watch as the ungrateful spit guts himself in seppeku because he’s a loser. That kind of bends Sei out of whack and she loses faith in her chosen path.

Well as we start now it looks like she’s uncertain what to do next, but that won’t stay status quo for long as she’ll run into one of her group who’ll talk sense into her, have a change of heart, then go back and channel a Kratos sized pissy fit against rampaging violent sumo wrestlers… which has to be seen and not explained, before she finally gets back with her fellow Mibu-Roshi. But now that she’s with her group again, now what? Guess we’ll find out next time.

And now…
Crimson Hero
It seems problems with financial stability is the theme of these past few issues.
First Nana Komatsu, then two in a row with both Riiko (Absolute Boyfriend) and now Nobara of Crimson Hero. In the lives of all school sports clubs, club memberships must be collected, and thus as we have barely witnessed the “rebirth” of the girls’ volleyball team we must witness the not so happy event of the first collecting of the girls’ volleyball teams’ club dues. And if you think their small neophyte status is going to be a major problem for them you better believe it!

Because the girls’ volleyball team is just reborn they have lots of expenses to pay per member for a newly reborn group. What with the school barely paying anything (it’s money being channeled into it’s powerhouse clubs), and the cost of uniforms, water (water?) and other expenses… they are looking down the barrel of a $100 (US) tag for each member to pay up! That, yes, is so not good.

And wouldn’t you know it, the one who will have the most problem making this up is the one who wanted the club reborn most of all (Nobara), which will not be aided by family intervention seeing how her mother (who seemingly will never get over the events of Crimson Hero V. 1) is not interested in helping her.
Nobara, in short, ends up over a barrel for awhile after paying her dues but somehow maybe she’ll be able to get back on her feet as the game day approaches for the team’s first practice match… that is until gameday because somebody (Nobara’s mom) has gone and gotten Nobara’s little sister into a pickle by setting her up on an Omiai date (which is supposed to lead to arraigned marriage, ala what Nyamo was thinking about in Azumanga Daioh Episode 19 (DVD V. 4)) with the rowdy (if it’s a rape charge odds are his name is signed to it) son of a politician which is going to lead to nothing but trouble as Nobara risks not appearing for her team’s first practice match in order to save her sister from the rich nasty pretty boy.

Nana
We’ve been going on for a few issues about Shoji straying from Nana K, and falling in love with the wee little woman known as Sachiko, not the virtual maneating long legged female lovetrap Sachiko but the meek lovably sweet down to Earth girl Sachiko. But as the last issue ran towards close it looked like Shoji, Shoji the indecisive and waffler, would finally grow a spine and do right by Nana K.
Then he offs and beds Sachiko and it’s the morning after as we catch up with the loser.

Yeah, are you irritated yet? You should be.
How a seemingly blonde stack of waffles like Shoji got hooked up to Nana K is one thing, how he THEN went on and got the hook up to a sweet thing like Sachiko is something else entirely! But since we’re looking at the unlovable loser here to make the situation worst from his indecisiveness we can expect a major meltdown in the coming issues once things finally breakdown in communications.

Nana K, of course, is once again experiencing her own ills. Her new job is a pain of “Gopher” duties. You know the kind of job, menial work and many many tasks of fetch quests (like a bad RPG or adventure game on the PC). That, though, is nothing compared to what Shoji is hiding from her, though she can already tell that something is wrong with their relationship… though she hasn’t figured out the what yet.
But as Nana K steps into the shared apartment one night she is attacked by the bright glowing aura of Nana O, whose smile seems capable of lighting the darkness to the point that she shouldn’t need to carry a flashlight at night during her happy moments. It seems BLAST is good to BLAST OFF as they have their first performance at the Shimokita Live House. It’s not the Tokyo Dome but it is a good start, so why is it the above thing with Shoji/Sachiko seems like a dark cloud ready to rain on Nana K’s enthusiasm for Nana O’s success? Probably because it is, especially since next issue is going to have Nana K attempt to surprise Shoji at work only to be surprised in turn… gee, wonder what kind of “surprise” that could be.
Find out next time.

Otherwise we’re on our way out. No segment on creating your own manga this time out, sadly, so that’s that. Let’s wap this up and close out once again with the breakdown.

Shojo Beat Breakdown the 2-4
What’s Hot?
It’s coming to the point I can just list the titles I liked, and didn’t like. Likable reads are Nana, Crimson Hero and … that’s it.

What’s Not?
Godchild and… uh… Absolute Boyfriend.

Moments to Remember?
Nana & Crimson Hero.

What to Ignore?
I wish we didn’t run out of those cute little manga creation guide things that ran for several volumes but are now seemingly over. Though I think they’re planning to gather these up for a book… I hope so.
Otherwise nothing to ignore here… other than the fact that the title always comes too late for me to enter the contests in the books, sigh.

Overall?
Somehow I think you’ll find something here you’ll like.
I like Nana and Crimson Hero, but that’s just my favorites. You might find Kaze Hikaru, or Baby & Me (last time was good), Godchild or Absolute Boyfriend worth reading. Check it out, see what you like, and stick to it (like I am). Nuff said.

-- David Rasmussen 20th May 06