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silverthunder) wrote2009-10-14 10:52 am
silverthunder) wrote2009-10-14 10:52 am
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Marmalade Boy
Yesterday I finished reading Marmalade Boy, which I started the day before yesterday. It seems like lately that's what I've been doing when Cody's on night shift: reading manga. Last week I read Watashi no Messiah-sama, which was... odd. I read it on a recommendation, but I don't necessarily recommend it myself. This week it was Marmalade Boy.
Given that this is Wataru Yoshizumi's most famous work, it's a little funny that this is the second title of hers that I have read. I didn't know they were by the same author until I started reading this one, and then all the similarities stood out right away. Mostly because of her art style (see my current icon for an example), but also because of the storyline, how the romances progress, how the friendships work, etc.
The first manga of hers that I read was Ultra Maniac, which I actually liked better. It was written after Marmalade Boy, so you can see her trying to be more modern in that one but the style remains the same. However, I liked the fact that even though Ultra Maniac went off on a romantic tangent, it never lost sight of the fact that it was originally about the friendship between Ayu and Nina. There's no denying that it's a shoujo romance, but the friendship between the two girls is really neat.
Marmalade Boy is a romance, through and through. Not that this is a bad thing - I like romance, shoujo or shounen, as long as it's done well. And this manga manages to do a fair job of it. It's not doing anything new or exciting, but that's partly because this is an older series and the stuff it was doing may have been more original back at the time when it first came out. I'm not necessarily talking about individual plot devices here: just the formula. Love triangle or other complication > Romance > Minor Hurdles/Filler/Focus on other characters > Major Hurdle > True Love Forever. It's not necessarily a bad formula, but each time it's used, it becomes more difficult to make it interesting. This manga did a decent job of it. I'd probably put it on about the same level as Full Moon O Sagashite in terms of my enjoyment. It was good, but nothing special or exciting.
I didn't find either Miki or Yuu to be particularly interesting (which could be a trend of the author's because I found the Ayu/Kaji romance in Ultra Maniac to be a bit boring as well). Really, neither one stood out as a character and their romance was hard to care about. Again, this could be because I've read this all before in newer manga, which isn't really fair since this one came first. But I think it goes beyond that. It's not because I read the others first; it's because certain others did it *better*.
Let me use Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne as an example. 'Marin's character at the start is a generally cheerful and friendly person who gets really pissed off at the asshole-ish behavior of Chiaki, a boy who moves into the same building as her. At the same time, she becomes frustarted because everyone else only sees his good side and thinks he's fabulous. Meanwhile, a budding attraction between the two of them builds up, which makes the guy in love with Marin and the girl in love with Chiaki really jealous.' I left out a lot of plot stuff and individual characteristics, but with this bare-bones description, you could insert Miki and Yuu's names and it would describe them just as well. Thing is, despite the fact that the manga does have a number of flaws, KKJ's characters are way more interesting, and I care way more about their romance. It's the same basic formula at the very core, but it packs more of a punch somehow in KKJ.
I can't say I completely didn't care, though, or I wouldn't have even finished. Marmalade Boy's story may be predictable and some of its characters may be a bit bland, but it did have beautiful art, some goofy humor, and a lot of sweet moments that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm also a fan of having everyone I care about paired off in the end, so while some may think this is silly and consider it a flaw in MB, for me it's a plus.
I found the Ginta/Arimi pairing in particular to be kind of cute, especially as it shows two people moving on from their first loves (which they had each originally declared would be their one true love forever and ever). Really, this sort of thing happens all the time and isn't sacreligious, despite the fact that a lot of romance writers have done their best to discredit this horrible rumor. Unfortunately, this message is undermined by the other two pairings. It's all very dramatic and romantic to have a character declare that even if they can't be with someone, they will continue to love that person and never move on or find love elsewhere, but seriously? Not productive. I guess it makes sense for someone trying to make a good story and I can forgive it more in MB's scenarios than I can in Shuffle (grow up and get a life, girls) or Twilight (unhealthy co-dependant relationships are a BAD thing. Not romantic).
Anyway...
Marmalade Boy was not a bad series. It never tried to be more than it was, so it succeeded in being a cute little shoujo romance and a fairly enjoyable read. Not bad at all.
Given that this is Wataru Yoshizumi's most famous work, it's a little funny that this is the second title of hers that I have read. I didn't know they were by the same author until I started reading this one, and then all the similarities stood out right away. Mostly because of her art style (see my current icon for an example), but also because of the storyline, how the romances progress, how the friendships work, etc.
The first manga of hers that I read was Ultra Maniac, which I actually liked better. It was written after Marmalade Boy, so you can see her trying to be more modern in that one but the style remains the same. However, I liked the fact that even though Ultra Maniac went off on a romantic tangent, it never lost sight of the fact that it was originally about the friendship between Ayu and Nina. There's no denying that it's a shoujo romance, but the friendship between the two girls is really neat.
Marmalade Boy is a romance, through and through. Not that this is a bad thing - I like romance, shoujo or shounen, as long as it's done well. And this manga manages to do a fair job of it. It's not doing anything new or exciting, but that's partly because this is an older series and the stuff it was doing may have been more original back at the time when it first came out. I'm not necessarily talking about individual plot devices here: just the formula. Love triangle or other complication > Romance > Minor Hurdles/Filler/Focus on other characters > Major Hurdle > True Love Forever. It's not necessarily a bad formula, but each time it's used, it becomes more difficult to make it interesting. This manga did a decent job of it. I'd probably put it on about the same level as Full Moon O Sagashite in terms of my enjoyment. It was good, but nothing special or exciting.
I didn't find either Miki or Yuu to be particularly interesting (which could be a trend of the author's because I found the Ayu/Kaji romance in Ultra Maniac to be a bit boring as well). Really, neither one stood out as a character and their romance was hard to care about. Again, this could be because I've read this all before in newer manga, which isn't really fair since this one came first. But I think it goes beyond that. It's not because I read the others first; it's because certain others did it *better*.
Let me use Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne as an example. 'Marin's character at the start is a generally cheerful and friendly person who gets really pissed off at the asshole-ish behavior of Chiaki, a boy who moves into the same building as her. At the same time, she becomes frustarted because everyone else only sees his good side and thinks he's fabulous. Meanwhile, a budding attraction between the two of them builds up, which makes the guy in love with Marin and the girl in love with Chiaki really jealous.' I left out a lot of plot stuff and individual characteristics, but with this bare-bones description, you could insert Miki and Yuu's names and it would describe them just as well. Thing is, despite the fact that the manga does have a number of flaws, KKJ's characters are way more interesting, and I care way more about their romance. It's the same basic formula at the very core, but it packs more of a punch somehow in KKJ.
I can't say I completely didn't care, though, or I wouldn't have even finished. Marmalade Boy's story may be predictable and some of its characters may be a bit bland, but it did have beautiful art, some goofy humor, and a lot of sweet moments that made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm also a fan of having everyone I care about paired off in the end, so while some may think this is silly and consider it a flaw in MB, for me it's a plus.
I found the Ginta/Arimi pairing in particular to be kind of cute, especially as it shows two people moving on from their first loves (which they had each originally declared would be their one true love forever and ever). Really, this sort of thing happens all the time and isn't sacreligious, despite the fact that a lot of romance writers have done their best to discredit this horrible rumor. Unfortunately, this message is undermined by the other two pairings. It's all very dramatic and romantic to have a character declare that even if they can't be with someone, they will continue to love that person and never move on or find love elsewhere, but seriously? Not productive. I guess it makes sense for someone trying to make a good story and I can forgive it more in MB's scenarios than I can in Shuffle (grow up and get a life, girls) or Twilight (unhealthy co-dependant relationships are a BAD thing. Not romantic).
Anyway...
Marmalade Boy was not a bad series. It never tried to be more than it was, so it succeeded in being a cute little shoujo romance and a fairly enjoyable read. Not bad at all.
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