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Reviewed by Park Cooper Okay. I like it. Here we go: Centuries ago, the Emperor ate a dessert which he enjoyed so much he assigned a ninja family to make sure nothing happened to the family of dessert makers. Secretly, so as not to spook their productivity or creativity, mind you. And guarding them secretly draws less attention to them, too. That ninja/dessertmaker relationship... NEVER STOPPED. To this day, Mamoru's family lives next door to his little female friend Yuna, and their dads happen to work at the same place, and their moms happen to work at the same place, and Mamoru and his little friend happen to go to the same school... all so Mamoru's family can, as their family has always done, watch over the folks next door and make sure nothing bad ever happens to them, using their secret ninja skills. It's actually really cute, and fairly funny. I like Mamoru's ninja pit bull... The art is a little lower than your average Viz reader will be used to, but come on, it's an amusing story. Yuna, Mamoru's little safeguarded friend, is clumsy-- we have to save her a lot without her knowing it. And she's also accident-prone in other ways... she witnesses mob guys up to something (although she doesn't realize it), and Mamoru must make sure she stays safe. The mob, to defeat Mamoru, hires various assassins (after they fail themselves)... starting with, of course... a samurai... but she's been trained so severely, she longs for a normal high school life, and so easily gets distracted by her undercover work. Of course, soon enough, we convince her that we're the good guys, and so she becomes a running cast member-- always a little suspicious of her natural enemy the ninja, but overcome by Yuna's natural loveability. I would read another volume of this, if there ever is one. And I believe there is... It's not as deep as Gals! or as funny as Azumanga Daioh or as wonderful as Yotsuba&!... it's less touching than any of those... but nothing is as wonderful as Yotsuba, and who says comedy has to be deep...? ...And there's still plenty of room in the world for things that come in second to Azumanga Daioh. I can sure see how it _could_ get boring from here, but volume 1 amused me all the way through. A-. Comment on this review of Mamoru: The Shadow Protector v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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