Chloe starts us off with a look at the final two volumes of Cy-Believers (Go! Comi), Michelle enjoys the drama in volumes four and five of manhwa Hissing (Yen Press) but doesn’t see the funny in Romantic Illusions (DMP), Connie is left feeling a bit lost by volume seven of MPD-Psycho (Dark Horse), and Melinda isn’t won over by Tricky Prince (DMP).
By Shioko Mizuki
Go! Comi, 200 pp.
Rating: 16+
It’s hard to effectively conclude a series as plotless as Cy-Believers, and indeed, the final two installments of this odd little exercise in shojo school romance prove to be as pointless as the first two. Shioko obviously has both a good sense of comic timing and a quirky take on characterizations, but when there’s no heavy lifting to be done on the plot front, her whimsical archetypes become little more than needlessly complex creations set out to pasture for four volumes. Throw in a penchant for using Roman words out of context and you’ve truly got a recipe for the bizarre; Cy-Believers is a perfect example of why weirdness is not always the cure for bad shojo.
Shioko’s art—a kind of dreamy, lighter linework—often seems overly tone heavy, as if she was content to let ambiguous soft glows and illuminated sprays create a dreamy mood in place of, y’know, actual pen work. It’s a bit too far on the sparse side of things and, while it never is outright too bare, does occasionally become noticeably vacant enough to detract from the reading flow. The resulting effect drives home to overall sense of aimlessness and meandering nothing: this series just seems to lack a reason to exist. Like a one-shot extended beyond its lifespan, Cy-Believers never wove a cohesive story, or at least one that could convince the reader that there was foresight involved on the part of the author. Shiko clearly has the talents to create unusual shojo; why she’s content to write four volumes of empty nothings is subsequently a puzzling disappointment.
Volumes three and four of Cy-Believers are available now.
–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson
By Kang EunYoung
Published by Yen Press
Rating: Teen
Da-Eh Lee is an aspiring manhwa artist and takes her work seriously. Her feisty attitude attracts the attention of two highly sought-after boys in school—Sun-Nam, who is kind at heart but tries to act tough, and Ta-Jun, who is listless, taunting, and angsty simultaneously. After many antagonistic encounters, Da-Eh and Sun-Nam begin dating, but just as things seem to be going well, Sun-Nam realizes that the half-brother he’s been searching for (the product of his father’s affair with another woman) is Da-Eh’s little brother, Da-Hwa.
Hissing was a hard series for me to get into at first; I was turned off by the blond and sultry looks bequeathed to practically every male character (including ten-year-old Da-Hwa) and by the disjointed nature of the narrative. Somewhere along the way, though, it really grew on me. Certain things still annoy me—Da-Eh’s reaction to the big revelation of the family connection is pretty nonsensical, for instance—but overall, I enjoy it. Da-Eh and her admirers remind me a bit of Tsukushi Makino and the F4 from Boys Over Flowers, which may be part of the appeal. Hissing can also be amusing, but not so much in these two volumes, which are more serious in tone.
It’s also hard not to sympathize with Da-Hwa. Neglected by his family but solicitously eager to earn their attention, he doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere and always blames himself when things go wrong. Even though he appears less often than the other characters, he really is the heart of the series.
Hissing definitely has its flaws, but they grow less glaring with time. The fact that I disliked volume one but am now eager to read the sixth and final volume is proof of that.
Volumes four and five of Hissing are available now.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
Story by Eiji Otsuka, Art by Sho-U Tajima
Dark Horse, 203 pp.
Rating: Mature (18+)
In this volume, we see the scenario set up at the end of the last volume play out as Shinji Nishizono steps in and interferes with a plane hijacking set up by Miwa, Machi Isono’s sister, who is also deeply involved with the multiple personality experiments. We learn Miwa’s role in some of the events that have played out in past volumes, and Shinji Nishizono also correctly guesses her plans and intentions. Meanwhile, Sasayama and Machi are with one of the secret organizations responsible for the experiments, and we learn about the different Shinji Nishizonos, Kazuhiko Amamiyas, and why the two personalities need each other.
After several really action-packed volumes, the series lost me again when it administered a large dose of plot this time around. The explanations offered in this volume do give the reader a very basic understanding of everything that’s going on in the series for the first time, but then more questions arise, mainly concerning one or two new characters that mysteriously appear. It also does a good job of answering some questions that have been hanging around for a long time. For instance, the second Kazuhiko Amamiya was introduced awhile ago, but we didn’t really find out what the deal was with him until this volume.
There’s actually some pretty epic action too, though it’s nowhere near as graphic or intense as the series has offered before. The hijacking gets pretty gory right at the end, and the plane itself is set to crash in a very specific location. Mostly the action acts as something for the characters to do as everything is explained. I always feel like I’m about two steps behind when the series offers this much insight into its plot, but I have to admire it for its insane intricacy. It’s definitely the type of series that requires re-reads of past volumes in order to fully grasp everything that goes on.
Volume seven of MPD-Psycho is available now.
–Reviewed by Connie C.
By Reiichi Hiiro
Digital Manga Publishing, 176 pp.
Rating: Mature (18+)
When Yu Igarashi was a child, his mother told him no one would ever love him. In response to this traumatic event, Yu’s mind created two additional personalities who would love him instead. Now an adult, Yu works part-time in a florist’s shop while one personality, Kaname, is a high-powered attorney and the other, Ryo, is a nocturnal playboy. All of the personalities can talk to each other and the fact that Kaname and Ryo occupy the left side of Yu’s brain means that they can use his right hand to ravish him whenever they like, even when he’s the one in charge of his body. When Yu begins to fall in love with Sugo, a flower shop patron and psychiatrist interested in Yu’s case, his other personalities object and refuse to approve of the relationship.
Romantic Illusions is described by the author as “a very light multiple personality comedy,” which is a fairly apt description, aside from the comedy part. I personally didn’t find it funny, but can’t deny that it’s full of wacky complications, especially when each of Yu’s personalities finds a lover of his own. The only time I laughed was when Sugo declared his love for Yu by saying, “I love you. Will you be my boyfriend?” I don’t think I was supposed to be amused by that, but he sounded so like an 8th grade girl that I couldn’t help it. There’s also one bit in one of the chapters that might be disturbing to some, as we’re introduced to a character with multiple personalities that originated as a result of childhood sexual abuse.
While Romantic Illusions may gain some points for having a unique premise, overall the best that can be said about it is that it’s mildly diverting.
Romantic Illusions is available now.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
By Yukari Hashida
Digital Manga Publishing, 200 pp.
Rating: M (18+)
Eugene Ratcliff is a smart, introverted university student, diligently working to maintain his scholarship status. After falling victim to a prank in which he is dolled-up as a girl, he unexpectedly catches the eye of a much sought-after fellow student–the dashing and impulsive Prince Willis. Unfortunately for Eugene, the discovery of his true gender only excites deeper interest from the prince, pulling him into an endless game of cat and mouse from which he is powerless to extricate himself. Willis pursues Eugene relentlessly, following him home for summer vacation, rescuing him from a lecherous professor, even arranging to have his dorm room burglarized. Yet despite the near-constant humiliation Willis’ attentions cause for him, Eugene eventually begins to return his feelings.
Tricky Prince strives to poke fun at the traditional seme/uke dynamic, but it isn’t nearly smart enough to pull it off. Instead, the story becomes just another example of what it attempts to mock. Though it does manage a few genuine laughs (thanks mainly to Eugene’s hostile wit), most of its other humor falls flat as well, mired in cliché it isn’t clever enough to transcend.
Unfortunately, the story’s tender moments are no stronger. Since neither of the two main characters are developed fully enough to truly be interesting, it is difficult to invest in their relationship with each other, a matter made worse by Hashida’s emotionally empty artwork. Though generally attractive, most of the story’s characters remain uniformly expressionless regardless of what’s going on, and Eugene’s apparently intentional resemblance to boy wizard Harry Potter is actually mildly disturbing.
Though Tricky Prince clearly aims to be a sly, sexy, hilarious romp, it unfortunately falls short on all counts, providing neither substance nor fun.
Tricky Prince is available now.
–Reviewed by Melinda Beasi
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