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Reviewed by Craig Johnson This book is one of a pair of linked anthologies. Blue Is For Boys is nominally aimed at males, Pink Is For Girls aimed at...well, you can guess the rest. The idea is that each presents the same nine stories, but from a different gender angle, typified by the categories given for each book: Blue is a comedy/action combo; Pink has a Drama/Romance focus. Creatively no distinction exists between the books - mostly female creators work on both books, some even work on both. The intro to Blue is a rather strait-laced manga-discovery type of thing. As there are two books, let's have two simultaneously posted reviews, each one covering the stories from the book's own point of view. 1. Alive In Triumph concerns a pair of high school girls, one a little too tough for her own good, who have a little rough & tumble with some guys in the playground. Not bad, but no hidden depths - a couple of scenes from Pink play out in the background, but there's no other connection. Pink edges it for a 1-0 lead. 2. Two Halves: Blue Seas features the biggest fan of the manga series, Two Halves, going overboard in trying to obtain a rare licensed pendant. Some very nice touches (his pirate crew recruitment, plus his rejects, for example) don't quite make up for an uncomfortable, childish male fantasy storyline. Pink takes it to 2-0. 3. Quest for Chenezzar is a pseudo-medieval tale, Lord Carmichael searching for the rightful heir to the throne. Awful computer art, it’s so murky and stilted – terribly overblown dialogue – sudden ending - there’s really not much to recommend this tale at all. Pink moves to 3-0. 4. Unmade Melody is more of a “Pink” tale, a thoughtful piece about male rivalry, with fine art throughout. Blue pulls it back to 3-1. 5. Angel’s Game: Steel Destrier looks like some sort of video game wish-fulfillment thing, some guy attempt a hostage rescue, but the art is quite muddled and confused and the ending is a little unclear. Pink strides to 4-1. 6. Steaming might be the best tale in this book from both story and art point of view – it’s very much another “Pink” tale, but has a nice male perspective – a guy in a coffee shop sees a girl and imagines what their future could be like if they’d only connect over a cup of coffee. The Pink tale is equally as good, so they split the point. 7. Rotten is rather an apt description of this story, as well as being Rotten thematically, it's not great in execution either, to be honest. The ending is unsatisfying, motivations are unclear and the art - whilst having some nice shading effects - is a bit too scratchy for my liking. Pink to 5-1. 8. Super Brother concerns a guy wondering why a local girl always carries around a guitar with just one string, and he tries to find out and ends up in a Pokemon-style showdown. Sadly this is the least interesting story here, nothing about it held my interest at all - but as Pink is the same, they split the point. 9. Transmutation has an ugly duckling girl wishing she was a butterfly, only to experience a literal transformation. It would've helped if she'd actually been ugly, or shown why she felt she was ugly inside, because having cute art negates the point somewhat for the protagonist. The key one word difference between that summary and the Pink version is what gives Pink the win. It finishes 6-1 to Pink. Overall, not a hugely successful anthology…in comparison to the Pink version, at least (this one possibly suffers from only presenting an incomplete story in a number of cases, with the concluding episode running in Pink). The best tales are those that are the most “Pink”ish, and although I can applaud experimentation with art in several stories, they remain laudable, but failed, attempts in my opinion. A few excellent stories raise the level of the book above the herd – it’s a shame it just suffers in comparison to Pink. Comment on this review of Blue Is For Boys on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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