I recently received this in the mail and it's a shoujo manga. I love shoujo manga but the past 4-6 months are filled with action, shounen romance, seinen and battle manga. Lately, I've been craving for more shoujo manga so I think this is the right title to get me in the mood.
I've finished this volume last night and I'm really glad I picked this up. Awesome start of a series so buckle up! Let's dive in into shoujo territory!
Arisa Volume 1: (by Natsumi Ando) It starts out with twins who are separated after their parents' divorce. They promised to write letters to each other and they did that for 3 years. On to the present time, Tsubasa is called the "Demon Princess of Higashi High" for her toughness and coldness. She wants to have girl friends who she can chat with, eat cake with and be "all girly" with them. On the other hand, Arisa, she's the class president, has good grades, has a hot boyfriend and has a lot of friends. The first time Tsubasa and Arisa meet, they stay at Arisa's house and have a slumber party. Since Tsubasa says that she's jealous of Arisa's life, Arisa suggested that Tsubasa become her for one day. The next day, she dresses up as Arisa and goes through the day perfectly. Tsubasa sees a letter addressed to Arisa and she brings it back with her at home where Arisa finds out the contents of the letter and commits suicide. Tsubasa is now investigating what caused her to kill herself and what secrets Arisa and her classmates hold...
THIS IS SHOUJO! (Nope, not sparta.)
That was alot? Wasn't it? Oh, and by the way, the blonde one is Tsubasa and Arisa is the brunette (or redhead if you really want to believe that.) The story goes deeper into Tsubasa's investigation but I'm gonna leave it at the "secrets."
Art: Oh god, this is DEFINITELY SHOUJO! It's cute, dreamy and full of screentones. The eyes are gorgeous too, they're detailed and I love it. In the world of cutesy shoujo manga, this is one of the average ones. By average, I mean the standard that Arina Tanemura (mangaka for The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross, Full Moon o Sagashite, I.O.N, Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura) set: big detailed eyes, thin body, detailed hair, full of screentones, pages filled with free flowing panels and etc. Natsumi Ando nailed this one and I'm definitely interested in more of her works.
The eyes of doom!
Panel Pacing: The panels are more like sections rather than box panels. I wouldn't say efficient paneling but it's definitely worth your money. The expression of movement, is not so effective because the frames are within one or two second intervals. I should say they skip from frame to frame to quickly but for me, it's okay. I'll give it a pass.
Story: The genre of the story is mystery like Zodiac P.I. but more complex. This is gonna be a long story which I personally like rather than an episodic series. I'm interested in these series, but if they include small kids killing *cough*Higurashi*cough* then I'm not gonna be that into it. The story tells you about some of their background without giving any spoilers. It paves the way for a lot of plot twist to happen so we're not really sure what's gonna happen but we know that there is a goal to walk through.
Left is Tsubasa, Right is Arisa. Get it?
Characters: Tsubasa is the tough older sister while Arisa is the sweet little sister. Arisa doesn't tell Tsubasa anything (the eyes we see through are Tsubasa's) and that makes her feel distant. Tsubasa on the other hand is like an open book where you can completely understand her shock to see her sister voluntarily fall from the third floor. As this is volume one where the plot begins, we don't see much development from all the characters (Tsubasa is naturally a defensive sister, hence, her investigating the cause of Arisa's suicide attempt is obvious).
Bottomline: Read it. It's the story where you'll be hooked to see what happens next. The volume also ends in a major cliffhanger so you'll definitely want to check out the second one to satisfy that hunger for more.
This is my first shoujo manga in a while (Well, I should say, the first GIRLY shoujo manga in a while) so I'm really stoked about it. Hope you like this review and put some comments down below. Hate it or Love it, please tell me what you think! Thanks!
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