Sunday, December 16, 2007

Shojo Beat January 2008 Issue

I skipped the manga preview, Be With You, in this edition because it just didn't look very appealing to me. The only story that's really holding on to my attention is Vampire Knight, I suppose because I'm just partial to plot lines about girls and vampires/monsters/whatever. The other stories are loosing their luster. Absolute Boyfriend is dragging even though there was finally some progress in the story. SB even ran a nifty little article about making whoopee in manga. I found it amusing. Honey & Clover is cute, it's not difficult to read but I have trouble caring about the characters. Outside of the romantic interests, which in this chapter didn't get a lot of attention, I don't really care what happens to them. Also, the more I read the story the more I'm disturbed by the fact that this is a girl that looks like a child. It's kind of gross, and I'm having a tough time seeing past it being a form of sexual perversion. I can't suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story. Crimson Hero is also slowly loosing my attention. I generally enjoy shoujo sports stories, so I'm not really sure why I'm starting to feel this way. Probably because endless struggle stories become annoying when the characters NEVER get a break. I'll have to see if the next issue makes me feel the same way. Haruka, ugh, boring and difficult to read, plus I don't like the art style. As far as I'm concerned it's a bad knock-off until proven otherwise. It's hard to know what's going on the way the manga is drawn... the characters look too much alike? I'm not really sure, it might just be me though.

I was little disappointed with this issue.

2 comments:

Hiro said...

I don't think it's on the magazine, but I've been reading this really weird manga called "After School Nightmare"... I know, really lame title, right? The original title is "After School Infirmary" or "After School Nurse's Office" which aren't much better. But the story is strangely compelling. It is, literally, about these nightmare worlds certain students at a school "attend" after regular classes have ended. In this world, you need to find a key to unlock a door. Once you pass through this door you can "graduate". Lots of echoes of Utena here, and if you like angst and weird attractions there are plenty of that!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_School_Nightmare

Stephanie said...

That sounds awesome. Love Utena, I'll have to look into that.