Beauty Pop, vol. 1

Beauty Pop volume 1
Kiyoko Arai
Viz (Shojo Beat), 194 pp.
Available here.

I honestly don't have much to say about this title. Maybe because this was an impulse buy, or maybe because I don't really care about looking "pretty" that much.

Kiri is a hair cutter. She works her magic on girls and makes them look "pretty". But she has rivals, the Scissors Project, with the 3 most popular makeover guys in it. They start a rivalry, compete to make girls prettier....blah blah blah...but wait. This isn't stupid, like you may think from reading the back cover. It's actually okay.

There's a few makeovers in this book, mainly middle school girls who want to be "pretty" to be with a boy. But the one that starts the rivalry between the S.P. and Kiri is Yorozyua, a.k.a "Fat-chan". She's so fat and ugly, and demands that the S.P. make her beautiful. She ends up as Kiri's contestant in the competition. The competition ends before the book ends, yet we don't get to see who wins.

Kiri is the exact opposite of what you'd expect to be a shojo heroine. She's unruly, frazzled, and a bit on the lazy side. The members of the S.P. are what you'd expect high-spirited rivals to be- high spirited, competitive, and with a bit of goofiness. Kiri's friend Taro wants to also become a hair cutter, but I couldn't tell if he was just overly flamboyant or if he was gay.

The art is your standard shojo fare, with big eyes, and a moderate amount of screentone balanced out with some white space. I must say that the art is very simple and clean in this manga, and tells the story well.

The actual publication is all right, it's standard Viz quality. It's got somewhat low-quality paper and has one or two translation notes scattered about.

Art: 3
Characters: 3.5
Quality: 3
Story: 3.5

Overall: 3.25 or a C. It's nothing really special but it's not a run-of-the-mill shojo either. I picked it up purely on impulse because Borders Express was having one of those "buy 4 books, get the 5th free" promotions and the shelves were almost bare. I guess it's aimed at younger teens and tweens, but I guess shojo fans of most ages would enjoy this breath of fresh air. Sorta.

DNAngel, vol. 7

DNAngel volume 7 (of 13) ongoing
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, 168 pp.

Things just keep going from bad to worse for Daisuke--he's suddenly taken away by The Second Hand of Time, which Dark failed to steal. The only remaining link to Daisuke lies within another painting that he had unwittingly given to Riku the day before. Dark now has to retrieve the painting...while pretending to be Daisuke!

Another installment in the DNAngel series. Why does it seem the pacing of this series has slowed down? Maybe because Riku seen Daisuke transform into Dark and she still doesn't get it...

Dark failed at stealing the second hand of time. Why? Because Freedert whisked Daisuke away into a painting that he had give Riku a day ago. So somehow, Dark drags Riku into the painting for no reason. She has yet another chance to discover the Daisuke/Dark secret, but I'm pretty sure the manga-ka doesn't want her finding out until the final volume.

Apart from the main story, we're still going through the play Ice and Snow, with the main male character changed to Dark (played by Satoshi) and Freedert (Daisuke) tangeled in a romance. Actually, there's so much implied yaoi between Satoshi and Daisuke the characters even point it out and fawn over it.

The characters don't seem to be progressing-them seem to do exactly the opposite. Riku is becoming dumber and more oblivious, Daisuke is trapped and helpless, and Dark is becoming a pervert. Then we've got Satoshi, who seems like he wants some hot yaoi action.

The art is the same, currently the same quality as last time. The character's ears are drawn really low on their heads in this volume, which was kind of weird.

Tokyopop seems to be making volumes shorter. This one is 168 pages and the last one was somewhere between 172-176? Other than that, this is their normal standard- cut off word bubbles, one or two grammar mistakes, and non-translated sound effects.

Art: 3.5
Characters: 3
Quality: 3
Story: 3.5 (It got interesting, but then it was cut off by the Ice and Snow parts.)

Overall: 3.25 or a C. The story was intersting, but was constantly pushed away because of the Ice and Snow play. The characters aren't progressing either, they're actually becoming more oblivious!

Kodocha, vol. 2

Kodocha volume 2
Miho Obana
Tokyopop, 184 pp.

<- Note Not the American cover.

12-year old Sana Kurata is used to getting what she wants – even in love. Ever since she hired her manager, a man 10 years her senior who she calls her "gigalo," she thought it was true love. When Rei shows his feelings for a woman his own age, Sana realizes that Rei’s feelings for her are anything but romantic. Sana has romantic problems at school, too, as now former-bully Hayama and mama’s boy Tsuyoshi are vying for her affections.

It's about time Sana was hit with reality. Really, Sana, do you think the 20 something year-old manager actually liked you? Really? Well you've got something coming.

Sana's manager Rei ends up meeting Asako Kurimi, his "old flame" at an interview, and Sana ends up following them and sees that they she still has intrest in him. Sana acts immaturely as usual, mad that her "gigolo" (pimp in the anime) has betrayed her. After a talking to (and admitting
that she didn't ever know what gigolo meant) she gets over her break-up with Rei. Well, at least she didn't moan about it for days.

Akito kisses Sana. She freaks out as usual.

There's also a bit of emotional drama where Akito's father has an ulcer and coughs up blood while eating sushi and the whole incident is misunderstood as death. But it turns out Akito's dad is okay! Sana then films some commercials, which isn't as filler in the manga as it was in the anime. And then we find out about how Sana took Rei in off the streets. Also, at the end of the book, we're left with a cliffhanger about what happened to Tsuyoshi since he wasn't in school.

The characters are growing little-by-little. Sana matured a bit, and now realizes that a crush doesn't make that person a "pimp" or "gigolo." Akito and Tsuyoshi start a rivalry for Sana's love, and become frenimies. Rei and Asako get back together, much to the disappointment of Sana. Sana's mom is extra-stern in this volume, giving Sana a talk. T3T Sana is scared for life.

The art still looks dated. It's good, the characters are drawn proportionate and expressive, which is a plus.

I'd say this would be a great publication for Tokyopop, if it wasn't for their messy placement of sound effects. All of the sound effects (except the last chapter) are all in English, which is good. Except they got lazy and didn't translate a few in the last chapter. Oh well. They were very sloppy with the placement of sound effects, where they'd blur out the backround big enough for a size 20 font but only put in a sound effect about font size 5. Why Tokyopop, why?

I still feel there's something missing from the book, and I think I've finally pinpointed it. The manga has less comedy than the anime. It's not balanced enough to make it perfect like the anime dealt with balancing drama and comedy. Even though the manga is advertised as a "smash hit comedy", there's clearly more of a focus on drama and romance. Also notice that the two token "funny" characters, Zenjiro and Babbit, are absent. They provided some of the more "funny" parts of Kodocha, such as Zenjiro filming with Sana and Babbit's comments on whatever is going on in the scene.

Art: 3
Characters: 4.5
Story: 3.5
Quality: 2

Total: 3.25 or barley a C. Something just didn't click with this volume, and your mileage may vary. I'd recommend the anime over the manga still. Because for $34.99, you can grab the first season boxset which covers the manga volumes 1-5.

DNAngel, vol. 6

DNAngel volume 6 of 13 (ongoing)
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, about 172 pp.

Daisuke has the hots for Riku but doesn't have the guts to tell her. His whole family follows him into the forests where they watch Daisuke and Riku on their little date. Everyone is tired of waiting for this young man to make his move. Will he finally tell her?

Wow, Daisuke. You blow your chance every time.

This volume starts out with Daisuke and Riku in the forest, where he has a chance to tell her his real feelings...and you can guess what happens. Nothing. The entire Niwa family shows up to spy on Daisuke. WTF? I mean, look, the series could have ended here at a nice 6 volumes, but no, we have to have Daisuke's family show up to make the story drag on for another 7 and counting volumes.

Well, Daisuke attempts to reveal his secret of being Dark to Riku, but guess who's there to halt the story? That's right, Daisuke's family! They drug her (yes, you read that right) so that she can be taken home and think the Dark/Daisuke transformation is a dream. Seriously, the plot needs to get moovin'.

In the middle of the book, we get a bonus story about Risa and Riku when they are little and how they lost a stuffed animal, but it seems out of place sitting in the middle of the book. There really isn't any significance to the story either, and feels like something that should be added to a fanbook instead to please the fans of the series.

Continuing on, we find out Daisuke's been chosen to be the lead in a school play. That's normally a good thing, right? Well not in this case. He's been chosen for the female lead. Because, you know, the girls are too busy to play in the play. And guess who the male lead is? Satoshi, Daiskue's rival. And did I mention this is a romance play?

Goodness, the series is really pulling out the shojo tropes.

Finally getting to the action part with Dark's thief antics, he's off to steal the 2nd Hand of Time. We're told a cute little fairytale, but that's only a diversion. Dark ends up meeting the girl in it who inhibits the treasure! We're left at the end of the book seeing her floating there.

Surprisingly, there is not much character development in this volume. Daisuke's attempt at any sort of romantic development is ruined by his annoying family's appearance. Riku hasn't changed at all, and she's still unsure of her feelings for Daisuke. Make up your mind, woman. You either like him or you don't. It's that easy.

The art is an improvement over the past two volumes. It's very good in some places, mainly the bonus chapter smack-dab in the middle of the book. But if you flip-through, you'll see lots of super-deformed, chibi, or stick-face shots.

The quality is the same as the other volumes.

Art: 4 because of improvement.
Characters: 2.5 Because of lack of development and growth.
Story: 3 Goodness, Daisuke's family needs to get a life.
Quality: 3.5

Total: 3.25, or a C-. The plot needs to star going somewhere and the characters need more depth.

Originally posted here.

DNAngel, vol. 4-5

DNAngel volumes 4 & 5 of 13 (ongoing)
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, about 174 pp. each

Vol. 4 While continuing his relentless pursuit to get the scoop on Dark, Takeshi becomes distracted by a mysterious young woman in a museum. He falls instantly head over heels for her, and recruits Daisuke to help find out whom she is. But the path to love takes them far from home...

Vol. 5 After barely escaping the fight with Krad, Daisuke find himself with no one to turn to. He has a new enemy out to kill him and Dark is nowhere to be found. When Daisuke receives a clue about Dark’s whereabouts, he goes on a search-and-rescue mission for the phantom thief. Meanwhile, Riku and Risa manage to get each other lost, sending their classmates into a manic panic! Found on Amazon.

Not much goes on over the course of these two volumes. I'd say out of the 5 volumes of DNAngel I've read, these would be the weakest, story-wise and art-wise.

Volume 4
Volume 4 starts off with an encounter of Takeshi (Daisuke's annoying, journalist friend) and Menou, the embodiment of one of the treasures Dark/Daisuke is planning to steal. After that, the whole class, including Riku and Risa (Daisuke/Dark's love interests) go on a trip to an island.

Not much goes on story-wise as aforementioned, other than some dealings with Menou and getting the treasure that Dark was stealing. Takeshi's interest in Menou seemed just like a plot device to get Dark to wait another chapter to steal her "treasure".

The art went downhill in this volume. Remember that great art in volume 3? Well it isn't here. The characters seem disjointed once again, with off proportions and weirdly-arranged facial features. Sugisaki-sensei's art varies from volume to volume, so it could go up or down in quality at any time.

The characters aren't developing very much. We see some emotion from Takeshi, which is good because he's not being annoying for about a chapter. Daisuke seems like he's becoming more helpless, because he has to rely on Dark more. The only one who grew a bit is Satoshi, because we're going to find out his alter ego soon, which is foreshadowed a bit.


Volume 5
The whole class is still on vacation. At least in this volume, we meet Krad, Satoshi's alter ego. Think of him like you'd think of Daisuke's alter ego Dark, just more controlling. Krad pulls out another half of a treasure that Dark was missing, and traps him inside it, leaving Daisuke helpless. Daisuke uses one of his treasures and an eternal girl named Toto appears, who's going to help him retrieve Dark's memories, which are conveniently condensed into feathers.

Yes, if that bolded sentence up there reminds you of an anime/manga series called Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, you're darn correct. I'm not sure if it's a homage to that series or what, but Daisuke now has to find Dark's memories, or else Dark will be trapped in the mirror world forever. Thankfully, this filler arc only lasts about less than half of the book, so it isn't too time consuming. After that, Daisuke comes out of the mirror world and rescues Risa and Riku, who have been trapped on a small island and in a forest.

The art is an improvement over volume 4, but didn't reach the quality of volume 3. It was only published eight months after volume 4, so the art didn't improve a lot. The characters look better, with better proportions and realistically-arranged faces.

Not much character growth here. Daiskue is still dependent on Dark to save him in the worst of times, and they both seem unsure about their feelings towards their love interests. Satoshi, who once seemed independent and intelligent, seems more helpless and shota-like when he's trying to get out of Krad's transformation. Riku and Risa seem hopeless, waiting for their knight in shining armor to come rescue them from wherever they are.

Tokyopop's release was about the same as the first three volumes. Regular quality paper, untranslated sound effects, and small bonus material.

Overall

Art: 3 (Has gone down)
Characters: 3 (Down too because of lack-of-growth)
Quality: 3.5
Story: 3 (Filler)

Overall, both volumes get a 3, or an C, bordering on the edge of C-. The story doesn't seem to be going anywhere, there's not much character growth, and the art quality is down.

I'm still going to continue this series because I've got volumes 6 and 7 waiting for me inside my Ottoman, so prepare yourselves. Hopefully there will be less filler.

DNAngel, vol. 2

DNAngel volume 2
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, 178 pp.

The annual midwinter hike is no walk in the park for the students of Azumano Middle School. Daisuke has been dreading the trek all year, but at least he gets to show off his rugged charms for his beloved Risa. But when Daisuke and Riku find themselves lost and alone on the frigid mountainside, it’s Dark to the rescue. Can the Phantom Thief save the day without blowing Daisuke’s cover?

This is quite a pleasant volume of DNAngel, minus the short story in the back. It seems Daisuke's attention is shifting from Risa to Riku, and Dark's from Riku to Risa, which makes for some interesting situations. Daisuke ends up having to transform into Dark on the school trip to save Riku, but no one catches him. Later in the book, Daisuke goes on a date with Risa, only to be stalked by just about everyone in the class. But she seems to want to see Dark more.

For the more phantom thief part of the story, we see Dark is going to steal a precious painting. He makes a bet with Satoshi that if he successfully steals the painting, that Satoshi will leave Daisuke alone. Fortunately, Dark wins, but will Satoshi follow through with the deal? I highly doubt it.

We've also got another bonus story, this one taking up nearly 50 pages called The Demon Returns. Kinnara's fighting partner, Sakura, died fighting an oni. Kin ends up finding her granddaughter, Kazusa. She ends up fighting another demon, and Kin enters her friend Shinji's body to protect her. In the end, Kin stays on Earth. This story wasn't nearly as enjoyable as N is for Nishiki in the last volume. This one just seemed throwaway.

Not much character growth happens in this volume. I'd say that Risa and Riku grew the most, with their love interests slowly shifting. Riku also got some bonding time with Daisuke, which was nice, but it would have been better if she was conscious for most of it. Satoshi still seems snob-ish, and Daisuke's mother tells Daisuke to "never relax around that kid." Duh, that's quite obious when he's pinning you against a tree.

The art seems somewhat better with this volume. Other than The Demon Returns, which seems disjointed and messy. DNAngel seemed to flow better for some reason. I couldn't tell you when these were published in Japan, but I know the manga-ka has a knack for putting series on hold to work on others. So I guess she gained experience.

The quality of this volume was okay, I didn't notice any grammatical mistakes. Also, Tokyopop put in a nice translator's note explaining why Daisuke is uncomfortable when someone calls him "Daisuki", because daisuki means that you like that person. Without that, many non-Japanophiles might have been scratching their head. A few speech bubbles were cut off by the binding and one of the bubbles were empty, but that's what I've grown to expect from Tokyopop.

Art: 3.5 (If it wasn't for The Demon Returns...)
Characters: 3
Story: 3.5 (just for this volume. More could have been done.)
Quality: 3

Overall, this gets an 3.25, falling closer to average. But this is still great for a shojo series, and I'd recommend it (at least up to volume 3). Next time you go to Borders, instead of buying that next volume of Absolute Boyfriend which you'll most likely regret, why don't you pick up DNAngel instead?

And just a tidbit, volume 3 does not have any short stories in the back. Yes!