Welcome to the first On the Shojo Beat column of 2010! This time we revisit three series and check out a new one. Melinda’s up first with a look at the ninth volume of Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, Michelle reviews the eighth and final volume of Monkey High! as well as the debut of supernatural series Natsume’s Book of Friends, and Jennifer wraps things up with her take on volume five of St. Dragon Girl.

Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, Vol. 9

By Yuu Watase
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: T+ (Older Teen)

Having been cruelly rejected by Uruki and the other celestial warriors, Takiko returns to her home world, prepared to rediscover an ordinary life. As though similarly prepared to rediscover her, “ordinary life” promptly greets her with a proposal of marriage from the young doctor who tended to her dying mother. Determined to put her love for Uruki firmly in the past, Takiko accepts the proposal. Meanwhile, Takiko’s father attempts to destroy “The Universe of the Four Gods,” to ensure that his daughter will never meet the fate of the Priestess of Genbu. Can true love be conquered by will alone?

With Takiko facing heartache in any world she chooses, this volume is easily the most poignant of the series so far. Her suitors, too, elicit great sympathy—each doomed to love a woman they must ultimately lose, whether to fate, distance, or lack of mutual feeling. The drama is intense but not over-the-top, and somehow the fact that Takiko must cause as much pain for others as fate causes her keeps her from becoming too tragic to be believed.

Rest assured, Takiko’s heart won’t deny itself forever, and though it will likely be a long wait before the next volume (still unpublished in Japan) reaches these shores, volume nine manages enough forward motion to keep most fans satisfied, at least in the short-term. Unabashedly romantic but never sickly-sweet, Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden continues to please.

Volume nine of Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden is available now.

–Reviewed by Melinda Beasi

Monkey High!, Vol. 8

By Shouko Akira
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Beginning with volume seven, the age rating of Monkey High! was changed from Teen to Older Teen to reflect the leads’ growing interest in consummating their relationship. They finally achieve their goal in the first chapter of this final volume, but thereafter are kept busy with studying for exams and preparing for their final school festival.

An irksome last-minute rival pops up in the form of Gotoda, Haruna’s father’s secretary and his choice for her fiancé. Because her father, recuperating from an illness, and Gotoda are working from home constantly, Haruna accepts Macharu’s offer to stay with him for a while. Gotoda’s a scheming sort, though, and Haruna unfortunately allows herself to be swayed by his assertion that one day she’ll be a burden to Macharu. Happily, by the end of the volume she has found the confidence to believe that if such a time ever comes, they’ll work through it together.

The things that’ve been kind of annoying about Monkey High! all along are still annoying at the end: the reliance on shojo clichés and the occasionally intrusive antics of the supporting cast. Against the zany backdrop of a maid and butler café, for example, Haruna and her father have an important conversation. It’s a big moment, but is hampered by the shenanigans going on around it.

Still, despite its faults, the conclusion of this series made me sniffly and, really, isn’t that the best possible outcome for a Shojo Beat title?

Volume eight of Monkey High! is available now.

–Reviewed by Michelle Smith

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 1

By Yuki Midorikawa
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

Takashi Natsume has been able to see yokai ever since he was little, an oddity that resulted in the boy being shuffled from one relative to the next after the death of his parents. Lately, though, the yokai are getting more insistent, mistaking Natsume for his grandmother, Reiko, and pestering him relentlessly. After an encounter with a yokai residing in a ceramic cat, Natsume learns that his grandmother bound many yokai to her by capturing their names in a Book of Friends—which he has inherited—and vows to return their names to them. The cat, hereafter referred to as Nyanko-sensei, agrees to help with the stipulation that should Natsume get eaten by an angry and powerful yokai, possession of the book will fall to him, enabling him to rule over his brethren.

The first volume consists of four stand-alone chapters in which Natsume returns some names, gets to know a diminishing dew god and his one remaining worshiper, fields a request from some yokai to get rid of a meddlesome human, and helps the spirit of a swallow catch a glimpse of a man who was kind to her and cured her of bitter feelings towards humanity. The tales are each entertaining, though it’s the last, referred to in the Afterward as “The Swallow Underwater,” that is my favorite. It’s both moving and lovely and admirably showcases the true potential of this series.

On the surface, Natsume’s Book of Friends may appear to be simply an episodic series of stories about yokai, but it works on several additional levels as well. Because of his experiences in the past, Natsume has been regarded as strange and never made any close friendships. And yet, we see through the course of this first volume that he’s partly to blame for this. He gets so wrapped up in his supernatural endeavors that he fails to see the friendly overtures some of his classmates are making towards him. It’s only when he gets the chance to meet another person who can see spirits that he takes any initiative to get to know a human and, after that point, spends a bit of time with his other classmates, as well.

His feelings towards yokai evolve throughout the book, too. As he interacts with them, he begins to recognize that many are lonely, just like he is. Gradually, his feelings towards them change from dislike to “I don’t mind lending a hand” to, finally, risking danger to himself in order to give the swallow spirit the best possible gift he could. His outlook on a childhood interaction with a yokai also undergoes a metamorphosis; what he once saw as a betrayal he can now view as an act of kindness. Natsume isn’t a very expressive character, but he is extremely kind. Though his trusting nature might come to cost him later—even Nyanko-sensei is occasionally tempted to eat him—his ability to have faith in and sympathize with yokai makes him extremely sympathetic in return.

Midorikawa’s sketchy art matches the tone of the story well. It reminds me a little bit of Chica Umino, actually, though much calmer. Natsume and his classmates have pretty average character designs, but a lot of creativity shows in the designs for the yokai, from the tiny, Noh-masked dew god to the powerful spirit forced to dwell inside a tubby ceramic cat to all sorts of one-eyed, animal-faced creatures in between.

In the end, Natsume’s Book of Friends is a very unique title among the Shojo Beat line. I’m extremely eager to see where the story will go from here.

Volume one Natsume’s Book of Friends is available now.

–Reviewed by Michelle Smith

St. Dragon Girl, Vol. 5

By Natsumi Matsumoto
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

Though I know it’s common, and I understand why it’s done, I always feel let down when a manga series has a few one-shot episodic stories after concluding a story arc. For St. Dragon Girl, that’s volume five. It’s not that any of these stories are bad—though there is digging into the cliché bag to find some love rival hijinks in a couple of the stories—just that I liked the longer nature of the Yutengenyo arc.

The first of the stories in the volume concerns Raika and her thunder dragon, Raimon. Raika’s having a difficult time finding people to go places with her now that her closest friends seem to have all found boyfriends, and Raimon is trying his best to help. Wearing the guise of a young boy, he follows her around and “helps.” He’s only looking out for her best interests, but the combination of their electric temperaments… well. It gets zappy. Other stories include the school’s sports festival and young onmyouji Akira sending mischievous wind spirits after Momoka so she can get cloer to Ryuga, a panda-filled cutesplosion involving the ghostly Panda King, an angel who takes away memories, a ski trip that includes the requisite onsen scene, and a flashback chapter that shows Momoka, Ryuga, and Shunran in first grade, looking for ghosts in their elementary school.

St. Dragon Girl continues to be about as cute as a kitten discovering grasshoppers for the first time. This isn’t the best volume of the series, but it’s still absolutely adorable and worth reading if cute adventure shojo is your thing.

Volume five of St. Dragon Girl is available now.

–Reviewed by Jennifer Dunbar

Review copies provided by the publisher.