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Reviewed by Shannon Fay Take Sanami Matoh’s flagship title ‘Fake,’ replace the main gay couple with a hetero one, keep the New York setting and the teenage sidekicks, add some psychic powers and you have ‘RA-I,’ a one-volume manga that’s extremely similar to Fake but only half as fun. Instead of starring cops, the main character in RA-I is a private eye (though he occasionally works with the police, so it’s not a huge change) named Al Foster. Al’s life takes a turn for the strange when he’s hired to be a bodyguard for Rai, a 13-year-old with ESP. Al decides to take on the case in order to get closer to Rei, Rai’s hot older sister. Later Rai meets a girl named Rathe who needs his help. Rathe’s father is a criminal who’s trying to go straight but has been blackmailed into robbing a bank. Rai and Al must stop him before he ends up back in jail. I have to admit I’m a huge fan of Fake, so I have high expectations of any Sanami Matoh work. RA-I has many of the same elements that were used in Fake but they fall flat here. For example, Rai and Rathe are practically the same as Carol and Bikky from Fake, only not as interesting. Carol and Bikky were unique in that they were an interracial couple where the girl was three years older than the guy. All that set Rai and Rathe apart is that they have ESP. Speaking of the psychic element, it doesn’t really add much to the story. Usually Matoh is good at depicting action but here the fights are mostly just characters throwing around glowing balls of energy. Matoh’s artwork seems to be a love it or hate it affair. Sometimes her anatomy is weird, but for the most apart I like how she draws characters, though there is a disappointing lack of hot guys in this series. I know she’s capable of creating bishonen (once again, see Fake) but Al and most of the other men in RA-I are more greasy than good-looking. Matoh does a nice job of establishing the setting (though it’s a little weird to see the twin towers prominently throughout the book). She does a nice job of contrasting the grittiness of New York with pretty shojo trappings, like using flowers for panel backgrounds. One thing I did like about RA-I is the tension between the two leads. The reader knows Al and Rei are going to get together but the bickering and fighting until they do is entertaining. The fact that they give in too soon shows a bigger problem with the book; everything is rushed. At one point the story even jumps forward three years for no good reason. If the series had stretched itself out and given the story room to breathe, well, it probably would still be a pale imitation of Fake, but it might have been a little more coherent. RA-I is not going to win Matoh any new fans, and it is a disappointment to anyone who really likes Fake. It is a quick, fun read as long as you don’t have any high expectations. Comment on this review of RA-I v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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