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Reviewed by Miriam Gibson Kobato, the story of a simple girl and her satanic, stuffed-dog companion, is the latest work by the powerhouse manga group, CLAMP. “There is a place I want to go”, Kobato states at the beginning of the volume. Her goal is to have her wish granted and travel this mysterious location. As the story progresses we find out this is a three-step process. 1) Through a series of ‘real world’ trials, earn a special bottle, 2) Fill that bottle with wounded hearts, 3) Go to “this place.” Kobato has no idea how to heal anyone’s heart in the first place and in a world populated by cynical, distrustful people, this goal becomes unimaginably daunting. Kobato is your typical cute-but-naive-girl-with-a-big-heart, so of course the character I love the most is her stuffed-animal sidekick, Ioryogi. Ioryogi serves as Kobato’s guide and taskmaster, but instead of being a pleasant, helpful friend, Ioryogi is angry, gruff, and breathes fire. The contrast in personalities keeps the story interesting. Fighting with supernatural creatures, recklessly spewing flames, and looking out for Kobato’s general welfare (usually by shooting columns of fire at her), it is made clear that Ioryogi has a past he is keeping from his charge. I wish there was more about him in this volume, and hopefully CLAMP will pack the others chock-full of Ioryogi-san. The story starts out a little slow, with 9 chapters devoted to Kobato exploring the world around her, ripe with mishaps, misunderstandings, and innate clumsiness. It is clear Kobato herself comes from somewhere else as all her knowledge of earth is gleaned off what she sees in magazines or on TV. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments in Kobato’s mad scramble to understand this world and its inhabitants. Apparently, she is so inexperienced at cooking hot-pot little faces-from-hell call out in anguish from the boiling mess. To help with the cultural humor, Yen Press provides some of the best translation notes I’ve seen in a while. The last chapter in the volume is where the story really takes off. While most of volume 1 could be self-contained stories, the last few chapters start to establish a more intricate plot and characters. Kobato volunteers to help out a kindergarten that has fallen on hard times. Here, she meets her love interest, Kiyokazu Fujimoto, who is in no way swayed by her cheerful demeanor. Kobato resolves to do her best to win him over. I am always excited when a new CLAMP series comes out. These ladies never fail when it comes to original storylines and unexpected plot twists. For Kobato, the drawing style is light and airy, a reflection of the title character’s personality, and fits the content to a T. Like its last two predecessors, xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Kobato seems to take place in the CLAMP multi-verse. Characters from previous works such as Chobbits, xxxHolic and Angelic Layer also reside in this story, helping the naive Kobato along the path to attaining her ultimate goal. This volume is obviously a story set-up for the next volume and with that in mind it is worth a read. The promise of more about Ioryogi is what really has me keen on this series and waiting with anticipation for the second volume. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Yen Press. You can read more of see more of Miriam's work at her site. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line!
Charles Webb
Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com
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22 June 2010 21 June 2010
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