|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||
|
|
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 Pink is a well thought-out piece, essentially arguing against the books’ existence – i.e. that there should be no gender distinction made in manga. 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. Give Me My Romeo. Cassie loves Tristan, but he has a secret she doesn’t yet know…slightly confusing on first read as the characters (male & female) look rather too similar, but rewards rereading. A couple of scenes from Blue play out in the background, but there's no other connection. Pink edges it, for a 1-0 lead. 2. Two Halves: Pink Skies continues the story from Blue in a much more amusing and successful tale. Pink takes it to 2-0. 3. Return to Chenezzar is the follow-up to the Blue tale, with gorgeous art to boot. A slightly rushed ending doesn’t spoil it overly much, it’s a great little tale. Pink moves to 3-0. 4. Unheard Harmony is yet another follow-up to the Blue version, this time featuring the return of one of the rivals but with a female protagonist. Slightly saccharine, the art is more of an acquired taste than it’s immediately-accessible Blue equivalent. Blue pulls it back to 3-1. 5. Angel’s Game: Other Wings presents the hostage side of the story, running simultaneously with the Blue version, and works so much better than that tale: however, as a pairing they work better than solo tales, and this facet shows the real potential of a pair of anthologies like this. Pink strides to 4-1. 6. Brewing is a fine version of the “Blue” tale, with a female perspective this time - a girl in a coffee shop sees a guy and imagines what their future could be like if they’d only connect over a cup of coffee. The art is as experimental as this book gets, and falls flat in a couple of places, but overall it’s on a par with the Blue tale, so they split the point. 7. Hushed Notes is essentially the same tale presented in Blue, but it starts earlier chronologically, finishes a little later, has cleaner and clearer art and frankly works far better and a sting in the tale short. Events alluded to in the Blue story are clear here - Pink up to 5-1. 8. Magical Girl 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, this is just from the girl's perspective, so fills in a little more background detail. Sadly this is the least interesting story here, nothing about it held my interest at all - so they split the point. 9. Metamorphosis has an ugly duckling girl wishing she was a butterfly, only to experience a metaphorical 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, a hugely successful anthology – it stomps all over the Blue version, and can be held up with the best manga anthologies and not look out of place. Maybe the art is more traditional than experimental, but it works, it tells the tales, it doesn’t distract from the reading experience, and it helps the package look like a cohesive whole. Highly recommended. Comment on this review of Pink Is For Girls on the Manga Life Forums. |
29 September 2009
|
||||
 |
| home | reviews | news | features | about us | advertise | privacy policy | contact us |
