Creator: Maki Murakami
Publisher: TokyoPop
Age Rating: Teen
Genres: Romance, Comedy
RRP: $9.99
Gravitation v1
Reviewed by Dan Polley

To Shuichi Shindou, music is everything. That’s why he spends all his free time playing as much as he can. It’s why he spends all his hard-earned money getting the best equipment his paltry pay can afford. And that’s where “Gravitation” by Maki Murakami starts out.

Shuichi and his best friend, Hiroshi Nakano, are Bad Luck — it’s the name of the band they’ve formed and hope to make it big. But Shuichi’s musical endeavors have led him to drop off from his studies and school, which doesn’t make the best of impressions on his teachers.

But Shuichi’s fate seems to change after a chance encounter in a park at night. He drops his lyrics to one of his songs and a stranger, a man, happens upon them and picks them up. Reading them, the man seems unimpressed. “You write like you’re at a third-grade reading level. Is this drivel really your idea of a love song? Are you nuts? If I were you, I’d consider learning a reliable trade,” he imparts on Shuichi, before leaving without Shuichi’s lyrics.

Shuichi can’t shake the encounter in the days after and feels himself attacked as a musician. His friend and his sister try to help him feel relieved and back with his normal unwavering confidence. And Shuichi’s luck changes when he finds out he and Hiro are opening up for another band — and there will be record label representatives there.

The dynamic between Shuichi and the man he encounters in the park is what drives this first volume of the series. The plot is a bit clichéd in how Shuichi and the man continue to encounter one another, but other than that, it’s pretty steady and manages to continually push forward.

The art is reminiscent of “Banana Fish” in the character profiles and their wispy hair. Murakami manages to do well in breaking up the monotony of the paneled pages with fuller splash pages that provide a glimpse of Shuichi’s character.

The volume is all about the love of Shuichi and his chance encounter. And the situations that Shuichi finds himself in lead to great character development. But the art isn’t as great as the plot, which slows the development of the volume down just a tad. It’s an enjoyable read and worth picking up.

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6 October 2009
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