By Kisun
Published by NETCOMICS
Rating: 16+

Aeri and Nagyung are single, 30-ish roommates who support each other through a mutual lack of romance, though both have different reason for being single. Aeri is boy-crazy and tends to have bad luck in her chases, and Nagyung keeps her standards high and the players and youngsters away. Volume one follows both of them through comically failed relationships.

I couldn’t help but think of Moyoco Anno’s Happy Mania while I read this, which is a pretty high compliment. While I like most of the josei I’ve read, a lot of it is pretty serious-minded and frequently ponders the nature of relationships and love. Happy Mania can be an acquired taste, but differs from the rest in that it was about the chase being more fun than actually having a steady boyfriend, and the series reveled in dragging the characters through all sorts of relationship miseries, then having them beg for more. While this doesn’t leave you with a lot to chew on intellectually, it does make for a pretty fun read.

Aeri and Nagyung even mirror Shigeta and Fuku from Happy Mania. Aeri chases after guys and goes through short relationships on a pretty regular basis, where Nagyung saves herself a lot of trouble by staying aloof and waiting for Mr. Right. Both of them are pretty common character types at their cores, but it’s hard not to get drawn in as their bizarre reactions to each new situation define them more and more. Later, a third friend named Jumsook joins, a worldly gold-digger who knows Nagyung from school. She and Aeri form a love/hate relationship, since Aeri hates her methods for pickups but can’t help but follow advice from her. Though a little over-the-top at times, all three stay pretty easy to relate to, and it’s fun to both root for them and laugh when they fail.

The plot so far is pretty simple. After a couple introductory chapters, we see a failed pickup attempt by Aeri, then both she and Nagyung enter into tentative relationships that go bad. Both end in pretty hilarious and unexpected ways, less from heartbreak than the most mortifying situations imaginable (Nagyung in particular had me absolutely dying). Both storylines look like they will carry over into the next volume, so it’s possible that one or both relationships will be salvaged later.

The art is pretty unique. It’s drawn in the same loose, simple style that you would expect from a Japanese josei manga, with simple linework, big, broad eyes, simple character designs with decent fashion sense, and lack of background details. Unusually, the artwork has been colored, but in a rudimentary, pleasing style. The color makes up for the lack of backgrounds and lends a sort of manic energy to everything.

Overall, it’s more of a comedy than the usual romantic series you would expect from the genre, and I enjoyed the look at the quirks and humor in dating culture rather than the “soulmate” aspects. It’s a little messy and hard to get into at first, but once it got going, I couldn’t stop reading. I also liked that the series was relatively chaste, and that sex wasn’t frequently discussed, nor did it really happen in this volume (though it’s implied once or twice). It’s always fun to read about girls who enjoy getting a boyfriend more than having a boyfriend, and while I’m not sure if the plot will continue in that direction, it still served as a wonderful first impression.

Volume one of Please, Please Me is available online at NETCOMICS.com.

Review copy provided by the publisher.