Cherry Juice, Vol. 1

By Haruka Fukushima
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: 13+

Cherry Juice opens with a suggestive splash page of a teenage boy with his shirt hanging open, eating what could be either a sucker or pocky. The dialog boxes informs us, “This is Minami Hasaki. He’s 15 years old and he’s my younger brother.” We also learn that Minami is “popular with the girls” and “a member of the cooking club.”

Minami and his step-sister Otome (she’s very aptly named, “Otome” meaning “Older Sister”) are three days apart in age. They’ve lived together since they were eleven years old. Things have gotten rough recently, since the Hasakis’ grandmother has moved in temporarily, forcing Minami and Otome to share a room. Rest assured, dear reader, the curtain the step-siblings hang to divide the room does not prevent sexy semi-nude hijinks!

With the exception of Marmalade Boy the step-sibling love story sub-genre is my 2nd least-favorite type of shojo. (My first least-favorite is stories about children rearing infants, but very little of that fluff is available in English - for example, Baby & Me). Fortunately Cherry Juice succeeds in being a fun and fresh step-sibling story, unlike The Devil Does Exist. Otome’s otaku-like friend Naru-chan points out in the first few pages that it’s “about time” Otome got together with her brother - and although I disagree with Naru-chan, I appreciate the self-referential humor. It is an acknowledgment that this kind of fantasy would only happen in a manga.

The siblings are swiftly caught up in a love triangle when Minami’s best friend Amane starts dating Otome. Even without the step-sibling love, there is plenty of dramatic material when your best friend starts dating your sister. Nevertheless, the story flies along at a light-hearted pace.

The art of Cherry Juice is accomplished and cute. Although Haruka Fukushima’s scene transitions are often completely incoherent, the random inlays of English text makes it more fun. At one point some of the background art is clearly an Associated Press article. Here’s a direct quote:

Washington, (AP) U.S. construction… spending hit by setbacks since five months…

My suspension of disbelief was periodically interrupted as I wondered if the artist was breaking copyright laws. Perhaps it falls under a rule about collage? Wasn’t I supposed to be thinking about Otome getting it on with her brother?

At it’s best, Cherry Juice is a fast fun read. At it’s worst, it’s pre-teen softcore porn about scantily clad 15-year-olds. Granny’s love advice towards the end of the book is surprisingly insightful: “The important things can’t be seen with the eyes.” Granny might be the best character in the book.

Some of Fukushima’s other titles are also available in English although I have not read Instant Teen - Just Add Nuts or Kedamono Damono.

Cherry Juice Volume 1 is currently available.

Venus in Love, Vol. 1

By Yuki Nakaji
CMX, 224 pp.
Rating: Teen

Venus in Love sorely lacks any references to Venus, at least in volume one - much like the total lack of Socrates in the Socrates in Love manga. Venus in Love is an extremely pedestrian tale about a sweet young girl moving away for college.

Our protagonist Suzuna is a Japanese Literature major who is largely uncharacterized in this volume. What are her hopes and dreams? What interests and hobbies does she have outside of a crush on Fukami? What are her favorite classic Japanese authors? The series is twelve volumes long, so there may be plenty of time to find out if the reader hangs around long enough. Personally I found the 220+ pages of this volume to be a bit of an endurance test.

Suzuna hangs out on campus with English literature major Hinako. The girls decide to join the tennis club to get closer to Fukami, where they discover at least 40 other girls have done the same thing. Suzuna has only played tennis on Playstation, so the odds of Venus turning into a sports manga are unfortunately slim.

Meanwhile, Suzuna puts up with a constant stream of teasing from her next door dorm-neighbor Eichi. Eichi is Fukami’s best friend, and Suzuna is willing to put up with his teasing to get closer to Fukami.

The plot unfolds in a predictable way - Eichi and Suzuna grown closer and it seems like they should just date each other, but 50 pages from the end we get the big reveal that Eichi is also in love with Fukami. If Eichi is gay it doesn’t seem to bother Suzuna. She’s sweet enough to simply consider him the competition. It’s a good thing neither of the characters struggle with Eichi’s sexual orientation, because that might be too interesting for this series.

Venus in Love is so laughably far off my own college experience that I really struggled with it. I may have started college yearning for love like Suzuna, but I found a fast and furious dating scene. Venus crawls along at a pace much slower than actual college life.

The art is pretty boring, too. The character designs are not particularly memorable. The backgrounds are light and uncomplicated. Screentones are used realistically. It’s just not very interesting.

The translation of Venus is a little weird at times. One of the characters asks, “What am I, chopped liver?” I think that phrase went out of style in 1985, but the manga appears to be set in the 1990s. Suzuna says of Eichi, “He really gets my goat,” which is something my mom would say, and not something a 19-year old college freshmen would say. One of the boys calls another “Buckaroo”. If the slang seems dated to me, and I’m almost 30, it’s going to sound weird to the younger teenage readers.

Venus in Love is only remarkable for it’s boy-boy-girl love triangle. It’s target audience is teenage girls who have never been to college who will not be as disappointed in this story as I am.

Yuki Nakaji’s Zig·Zag is scheduled to be released by Tokyopop on November 13th. I can’t help but wonder if Zig·Zag and Venus in Love were licensed competitively. Perhaps Zig·Zag is a big hit and CMX is hoping to cash in on fans recognizing the author (or visa versa).

Venus in Love volume one will be available on November 14th. Volume two will be available February 13th, 2008.

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