Aug 12, 2020
I ran across an OVA based on one of the shorts contained in this manga compendium, so I thought I might as well start with the manga, as it's not overly long. This was my first time reading Rumiko Takahashi, I certainly have heard of her more famous works but I've never thought to pick them up. This is a very silly collection of manga shorts, but also a few from the horror genre also. Question is do you enjoy romantic comedies and slapstick humor. Personally I can take it or leave it so my enjoyment of this manga was lukewarm. Certainly Takahashi knows how
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to use her characters, and these shorts are well made for what they are, but if you're not big on a romantic couple struggling to get past themselves and confess their true feelings, this will feel a bit repetitive and overly silly. Some aspects are recurring, and I'm led to believe serve as major elements in her later works that brought her fame: a comically strong heroine prone to outbursts of anger, her often inept and crude romantic partner who is also often prone to anger, mildly lewd appearances (spontaneous bikinis), and really silly plots involving aliens, time travel to historic Japan, folklore elements, and various school clubs that are so fondly represented in Japanese media. On just how silly these stories are: a space opera where both protagonist and antagonist are such comically strong women who make a habit of destroying their own space ships; a married couple who rejoice at the thought of having someone who so perfectly fights with them as they are in constant need of such an emotional outlet; a high school that is at war as the jocks and the nerds fight over possession of the stamp of the student council. The silliest is a series of shorts where secret agents fight against a secret organisation of manic litterers; it completely revolves around garbage and actually features the characters breaking the fourth wall. On the more troublesome side of thing, less often but still repeatedly the subjects of incest and a fondness for ones romantic partner as they appear in a prepubescent age due to time travel are brought up. I really didn't appreciate such light reading to feature such themes, but I guess there's just something inherently traditionalist and authoritarian about Japanese culture that predicates them to find satisfaction in the idea of incest for it's role in maintaining social order through aristocratic hierarchy. But I meander! It is but a silly little romantic comedy, you can take it or leave it; personally I could have done worse things with my time, but again it wasn't a very memorable experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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