For this installment of On the Shojo Beat, Chloe, Michelle and I team up to review two new arrivals—Mixed Vegetables, a romcom about an aspiring sushi chef, and Wanted, a high-seas adventure from the creator of Vampire Knight—and the latest volumes of two ongoing series—Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, a magical girl manga based on a popular video game, and Wild Ones, a comedy about a yakuza princess.

Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, Vol. 2

By Tohko Mizuno
Viz, 178 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

In the first volume of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, we’re introduced to Akane, an average jane who, through the magic of time travel, becomes a powerful priestess in Heinan-era Japan. She discovers that a team of eight guardians—all handsome, some smitten with her—have been appointed to protect her from the nefarious Demon Clan. What, exactly, the clan wants with Akane isn’t clear, nor are the full extent of her abilities, and volume two does nothing to answer these unresolved questions. Instead, Tohko Mizuno offers us four vignettes about various guardians: Yorihisa, a taciturn warrior; Tachibana, a ladies’ man; Takamichi, a civil servant; and Inori, a social outcast. Though the character designs in all four chapters are elegant, the actual stories are poorly executed, relying heavily on voiceovers to explain the disjointed action sequences. Akane’s presence feels like an afterthought; in at least two of the stories, she appears only in the final pages in need of rescue from a demon.

Volume two clocks in a mere 140 pages, so Viz has included a generous helping of bonus material as well as “Love X,” a short story involving aliens, romance, and a haunted music classroom. Though the story isn’t particularly coherent, “Love X” has a loopy, improvised feel that makes it seem fresh in contrast to Haruka’s all-too-familiar magical girl premise.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Mixed Vegetables, Vol. 1

By Ayumi Komura
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen (13 +)

Hanayu has a secret: although her parents run a pastry shop, she’d rather be filleting fish than rolling dough. Fearing that her parents won’t support her ambition to become a sushi chef, Hanayu decides the only way to counter their objections is to marry into a family with a fish business. Enter Hayato, a handsome teen with the opposite problem: he aspires to be a pastry chef, though his family expects him to take up a sashimi knife. The two attend the same culinary arts program at Oikawa High School, providing Hanayu ample opportunity to work her feminine wiles on Hayato.

I confess that marriage-oriented shojo series are generally among my least favorite; nine times out of ten, the heroine is a nitwit whose ambition to marry overpowers her common sense, not to mention her sense of self. Mixed Vegetables initially seems to fit this mold. Hanayu is so focused on her plan that she doesn’t even consider her feelings for Hayato. Once she reels him in, however (sorry… that joke just wrote itself), the story takes a more interesting turn, as Hanayu feels pangs of remorse for using Hayato to further her career goals. She must then decide whether to honor her conscience and break up with him, or pursue her dream at the cost of her personal integrity.

What I liked best about Mixed Vegetables was the shop talk. Hanayu and Hayato engage in a foodie’s fantasy courtship, trading recipes, discussing the merits of various knives, and picking wild ingredients for an assignment. To supplement the discussion of cucumber jam and carp sushi, editor Pancha Diaz has compiled an excellent appendix that defines food-related terms and explains how various dishes are prepared.

What I didn’t like about Mixed Vegetables was the dynamic between Hanayu and Hayato, which frequently reminded me of the relationship between Hikari and Kei, the lead couple in S.A. Though he’s a more appealing, less cocky character than Kei, Hayato is clearly top dog in the Oikawa culinary arts program, and he never lets Hanayu forget her second fiddle status. Gah! Just once, I’d like to see a shojo series in which the female lead was smarter, more capable, and more self-assured than her male love interest, and was utterly unapologetic about it. Maybe that’s a little too much to ask for—especially in a series in which the heroine views marriage as a legitimate strategy for achieving her goals—but a girl can hope, can’t she?

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Wanted

By Matsuri Hino
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

In the late seventeenth century, orphaned Armeria sings with a traveling musical troupe. Luce, the nephew of the wealthy governor at whose estate she is performing, is the first aristocrat to treat her kindly, and when he is subsequently captured by pirates, the young girl resolves to find and rescue him. Eight years later, Armeria has finally found the ship of the pirate responsible and, disguising herself as a boy, ventures aboard to find out what has become of her first love.

If you’re reminded of the plot of The Princess Bride, then you should be, because there are some similarities. Wanted is a far less coherent and satisfying story, however. It’s more like a series of vignettes—the one with the navy, the one with the map to a rare musical score—than anything else, and cuts off with disappointing abruptness.

It definitely has some good points: secrets that would normally be used to prolong angst are revealed early on, there are some genuinely fun moments, and the deckhands are pretty entertaining. On the negative side, Skulls is fond of nearly ravishing Armeria and tells her she’s useless far too often for my liking. The fact that she often proves him right by constantly requiring rescue just makes things worse.

As a final note, the bonus story at the end should be avoided at all costs; it manages to be confusing and dull simultaneously, which is not a winning combination.

–Reviewed by Michelle Smith

Wild Ones, Vol. 4

By Kiyo Fujiwara
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: T + (Older Teens)

It’s difficult to put Wild Ones’ fourth installment into words. “Vanilla” doesn’t quite capture its boring edge, while “derivative” implies it has a plot even worth noting. Yes, the fourth installment of Kiyo Fujiwara’s mobster romcom is a special thing indeed—an exercise in monotony so unoriginal that it’s difficult to find any legitimate reason to pick the title up. This isn’t to say it’s bad; rather, it’s average. Benign. Uninteresting. Everygirl Sachie is one of the most forgettable heroines in years; her bodyguard slash emotionally frigid love interest Rakuto isn’t much better. The volume is concerned mostly with putting the two through the usual motions of romantic rival, the-night-alone-together-incident and a few bland school scenes. Nothing terribly offensive, but so shockingly mediocre in all aspects that the series may be notable if only as an example of a shojo trope-fest.

The art is similarly unremarkable, with the usual polygons and sparkly shades of gray telegraphing “girl’s comic,” lest you’d forgotten. The boys are pretty, the girls are amiable, and the backgrounds passable; in short, nothing to rouse the reader from the stupor they will inevitably fall into while reading. It’s hard to call it comedy, as it’s not funny; it’s hard to call it romance, as it’s not stirring. In short, it simply exists, and should thus be considered for purchase based only for the fact that it costs less than sleeping pills.

– Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson