This week, subtitles rule! Michelle starts us off with reviews of Boys Over Flowers: Jewelry Box (VIZ) and CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk (TOKYOPOP); Ken takes a look at Domo: The Manga (TOKYOPOP); Phil’s up next with a review of the second volume of Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc, the fourth volume overall for that series from Yen Press; Connie checks in with her take on the 33rd volume of Oh My Goddess! (Dark Horse); and Melinda wraps things up with a review of volume three of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking (Del Rey).

Boys Over Flowers: Jewelry Box

By Yoko Kamio
VIZ, 176 pp.
Rating: Teen

After Boys Over Flowers ended its serialization in 2003, Yoko Kamio published two follow-up stories—one about the wedding of Shizuka and another told from Rui’s perspective—that take place a year after the events of volume 36. These stories were released (along with some supplemental material) in 2008 as volume 37 of the series and immediately topped the shojo charts. VIZ has opted to give this volume the subtitle Jewelry Box instead.

The first story, in which Tsukushi and Tsukasa briefly reunite in France while attending Shizuka’s wedding, is a bit of a disappointment, since their first time seeing each other in a year is full of crazy derelicts trying to stab Tsukushi and Tsukasa calling her an idiot. The second story, though, is quite good, focusing on Rui and maintaining that lovely, melancholic air that he possesses. Rui is wondering whether he’ll ever fall in love again, and though he concedes that things with Tsukushi are over, there are still faint traces of his feelings remaining that spur him to do things for her that he’d do for no one else. Tsukushi and Tsukasa also meet up again in this story and, though fans are still denied an undeniably conclusive happy ending, there’s at least a strong suggestion of one.

The supplemental material is comprised of a series chronology, character growth analysis, quiz, and interview with Kamio. The chronology in particular is extremely helpful and furnished most of the facts in my first paragraph.

Fans of Boys Over Flowers shouldn’t expect anything earth-shattering in this release, but it’s worth the read and can serve as a handy resource, to boot.

Boys Over Flowers: Jewelry Box will be available on October 13, 2009.

–Reviewed by Michelle Smith

CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk

By Sekou Hamilton and Steven Cummings
TOKYOPOP, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

As part of the Las Vegas Police Department’s Outreach Program for high school students, five teenagers earn the right to serve as interns to the CSI unit. Among them is Kiyomi Hudson, who is intrigued by the murder of a classmate, Gretchen Yates. While she and her fellow interns—a creepy guy, a nerdy guy, a jock, and a rather jerky normal guy—perform their normal internly duties of watching demonstrations of forensic techniques and solving sample cases, Kiyomi also spurs them into investigating Gretchen’s death which leads to a (theoretically) dramatic conclusion.

I don’t watch CSI or any of its spinoffs, so some of the presumed appeal of this story is lost on me. Apparently, it features some characters from the show serving in an advisory capacity to the interns, but the only one I recognize is Gil Grissom. Taken only on its own merits, CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk isn’t bad, but it certainly could’ve been better.

The main problem is the disjointed nature of the storytelling, which cuts quickly between a facilities tour, a sample case, and the investigation into Gretchen’s murder. The characters are pretty stereotypical, too, and I found the identity of the culprit completely easy to guess, though not the exact nature of his or her motivation. Some of the dialogue is awkward and I had to laugh at the line “We’re on the scene of last night’s grizzly murder.” Oh no! Poor bear!

Still, now that the concept and group has been introduced, I might actually be interested in seeing the team work another case. Hopefully, if there is to be a next time, the result will be more polished.

CSI: Intern at Your Own Risk is available now.

–Reviewed by Michelle Smith

Domo: The Manga

Written by Clint Blackman, Art by Various
Tokyopop, 96 pp.
Rating: All Ages

The cute, brown, blockish, NHK mascot makes his sequential art debut in this collection of short comedic strips!

The book consists of six unconnected short stories involving Domo and his friends as they engage in various hijinks. Well, Domo’s usually the one involved in the hijinks and his friends are often dragged along, willing or otherwise. The tales all tend to be cute and adorable and are suitable for readers of all age levels. My personal favorite was “The Ultimate Beetle,” where Domo captures a horned beetle and puts it through an intense training regimen, getting it ready for its big debut. Of course, there’s a cute little twist that I won’t ruin here, but it did get a nice chuckle out of me. The artwork varies in style in each tale, but it’s generally consistent as the artists stick to a vague house style and each story comes in full color. It’s a nice-looking book with a cartoony bent to it, but then again it’s Domo so you’d hardly expect photo-realistic artwork or anything.

After the stories, there’s a small section highlighting the winners and runners-up of the Domo fan art contest that was run a while back, along with various ads for the other items and sites that are part of the Domo push that’s taking place at the moment. Domo: The Manga was a fun little read that’s sure to appeal the young’uns. By young’uns I mean the under-twelve crowd, though there are some bits in there that folk of any age might enjoy.

Domo: The Manga is available now.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc, Vol. 2

Story by Ryukishi07, art by Yutori Houjyou
Yen Press, 272 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

It seems clearer now that Oyashiro-sama’s curse—the cause of misfortune throughout the Higurashi When They Cry series—deals in emotions. The prior arc ended with main protagonist Keiichi overwhelmed by fear, and now this one concludes on a note of absolute gut-wrenching despair. It’s certainly a tonal shift from the first volume, which was occasionally lighthearted, but it’s still an involving read overall. Meanwhile, longtime readers get a bonus: additional background information regarding Himanizawa Village’s dark secrets.

The previous volume revealed that the village will go to extreme lengths to protect its culture. That’s unfortunate for Keiichi, who enters a forbidden shrine with some friends, only to discover the next day that some of them are dead. Then people around him—including the person he thought of as his closest companion—start asking if he’d seen the victims on that fateful night, and otherwise behave suspiciously. Lots of spooky stuff follows, and Ryukishi07 uses internal dialogue to get readers inside Keiichi’s head as it swirls with fear, guilt, paranoia, and ultimately, panic.

Horror aficionados are likely to appreciate Yutori’s artwork, which gets pretty creepy at times, especially the final, heart-stopping eight or so pages. But there’s also an emotional component that’s just as affecting as the visuals: it involves the character Mion, for whom Cotton Drifting serves as a tragic coming-of-age. She’s the broken heart and soul of the book, someone who, as improbable as it may sound, the reader can relate to. After all, not all of us have been possessed by a demon who caused us to murder people, but we can probably remember wishing someone viewed us as more than just a friend.

Adolescence: it’s the real horror story.

Volume two of Higurashi When They Cry: Cotton Drifting Arc is available now.

–Reviewed by Phil Guie

Oh My Goddess!, Vol. 33

By Kosuke Fujishima
Dark Horse, 136 pp.
Rating: not rated

While still away on Chihiro’s retreat, Keiichi and Chihiro get back to what it was that made them start their motorcycle company in the first place: building the bikes they want to build. With Belldandy’s help, each comes up with an idea for a completely different motorcycle, and in a storyline that goes back to the series’ beginnings, they then have a sort of race to experience each other’s bikes.

After being disappointed by the last volume, I was happy to see this one drift back into familiar territory. Though I had grown pretty tired of the ridiculous races in the past, I was happy to see this one, which wasn’t so much a race as it was Chihiro and Keiichi enjoying the bikes they’d made. It was actually interesting to see the story take out the ever-present competitive element, though interference by Skuld and Urd squeezes its way in. The relationship between Keiichi and Belldandy begins to grow surprisingly close, and there are a lot more scenes of the two of them together and more instances of Keiichi… er, appreciating Bell.

Also much appreciated is the fact that the story was contained entirely in this single volume. I miss the old editions of Oh My Goddess!, where one volume contained a long story arc. This is by no means a long story, and it is actually quite a short volume, but it’s still nice to read it all at a stretch. Once again, the series delivers a comfortable story with characters I’ve been familiar with for years, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Volume 33 of Oh My Goddess! is available now.

–Reviewed by Connie C.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking, Vol. 3

By Koji Kumeta
Del Rey, 176 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)

In this volume, eternally despairing schoolteacher Nozomu Itoshiki and his students address gross-out contests, the power of storytelling, amakudari, school cultural festivals, omikoshi (portable shrines used during festivals), mistakes, class trips, hibernation, and yaminabe, each, of course, with a satirical eye. The yaminabe (dark hot pot), for instance, becomes a “yaminabe of the heart,” made up of all the students’ darkest secrets; the trip Itoshiki’s class takes is only a preview of the trip; and the class’s participation in the school’s cultural festival is crafted to adhere to the Japanese constitution’s guaranteed “minimum standards” of cultural living.

Though this volume perhaps exceeds its predecessors in terms of obscure cultural references and inside jokes, it is a credit both to the mangaka and to English adapter Joyce Aurino that it is able to remain both smart and wonderfully funny, regardless of the difficulty in translation. The chapters regarding amakudari (the Japanese practice of senior bureaucrats retiring to cushy, taxpayer-supported positions) and “mistakes” are prime examples of this, with their long lists of references likely to be lost on western readers. For the most part, however, each chapter contains a pleasant balance of humor both universal and obscure, providing a satisfying reading experience along with a real sense of place.

Koji Kumeta’s artwork continues to be utterly charming, matching the crisp humor of the narrative with its clean lines and minimal use of screen tone. Though this title is not for everyone, fans of the series will find that this volume is guaranteed to please.

Volume three of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking is available now.

–Reviewed by Melinda Beasi