Today
in super small manga reviews, a human-turned-kami watches her
supernatural entourage grow by leaps and bounds while a young woman
struggles with her feelings for a guy who is beyond her reach (or is
he?).
Spoiler
alert: post contains
spoilers for Kamisama Kiss volumes 2 through 5 and Strobe Edge
volumes 6 and 7.
Kamisama
Kiss (Julietta Suzuki): Nanami
Momozono is alone and homeless after her dad skips town to evade his
gambling debts and the debt collectors kick her out of her apartment.
So when a man she's just saved from a dog offers her his home, she
jumps at the opportunity. But it turns out that his place is a
shrine, and Nanami has unwittingly taken over his job as a local
deity!
Where
has this supernatural shojo series been all my life? Oh, right, in
Japan. After marathoning through all of these volumes over
the span of so many hours, I absolutely 100% adore it. I especially adore
Nanami, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite shojo heroines in
recent years. Meanwhile, we have Tomoe, her perfect foil, who soon
becomes the object of her sudden and new affections.
What
is great about these four volumes of Kamisama Kiss is that we see
Nanami learn more about the world of yokai and ayakashi while getting
back into the fold of her human life. She goes back to school and
earnestly works hard at her studies while also trying to lift the
status of her shrine and new home out of 'spooky haunted house'
territory with a big summer festival, complete with special
performance by the shrine tochigami AKA her. And Nanami handles it
all pretty well!
We
also see the variety of characters that are attracted to Nanami's
big, outgoing personality. There's Mizuki, the shinshi of a rotting
shrine that becomes Nanami's second shinshi (much to the irritation
of Tomoe), popular idol/tengu in disguise Kurama, and Sukuna, the
one-eyed ruler of the sea who has a vendetta against Tomoe. And yet,
with her bravery and her stubbornness, Nanami wins them all over.
Right
now, Kamisama Kiss is two things: an unlikely love story between a
human girl and her non-human second in command as they run a shrine
together, and the story of a young woman exploring the world of
ayakashi and becoming a worthy kami for those who visit her shrine.
Needless to say, this is a manga worth catching up with.
PS
- Tomoe's Ennui Blog is adorable and I love it. Poor Tomoe!
Strobe
Edge (Io Sakisaka): What is
love, anyway? Ninako Kinoshita’s friends tell her it’s one thing,
but Ninako wonders what this mysterious feeling really is. When she
meets Ren Ichinose, the handsome, enigmatic guy that all the girls
worship, her life takes an unexpected turn. With just a few words and
a smile, he changes her world...
In
recent volumes of Strobe Edge, we've seen the awkward
teen romance between Ninako and Ren rise and fall, and for a while it
seemed unlikely that the two of them would ever become close. Well,
sorry, but Ren still hasn't told Ninako how he feels - and in these
volumes, Ninako is suppressing her feelings as well, although their
daily interactions heavily betray how interested they are in each
other. Augh! Just kiss already!
The
problem is, for Ren, he has just broken up with his long-term
girlfriend, and is still feeling the weight of that relationship.
Ninako, who has the patience of a saint, is giving him distance
because she doesn't want to force anything upon him, especially right
after he's left
Mayuka. Naturally, none of Ninako's friends care and tell her to move
in before any other girls realize Ren is single and move in for the
kill. Except that Ren isn't interested in any girls at the moment,
and for a while, it seems that the uneasy equilibrium of friendship
between Ren and Ninako can still be maintained.
I
have to say, Ren and Ninako's relationship is getting frustrating. At
this point, they are staying away from each other for purely
superficial reasons. If Ren could fully realize his feelings for
Ninako, there would be no need for all the hiding and pretending that
they don't care for each other. Then again, it wouldn't be much of a
shojo manga!
Meanwhile,
we've got some additional drama when a figure from Sayuri's past
bubbles up to the surface. Her ex-boyfriend Yu is regrettably a
little boring but it doesn't help that he's only arrived in this past
volume. His best moments come during the side chapter that shows his
and Sayuri's past relationship. But it brings some great moments
between Sayuri and Daiki, including a cavity-inducing lovely scene in
the hallways that makes them the center of attention for their amused
classmates.
I
feel like I gotta give Ando points for persistence, but he should
really find a way to move on from Ninako. Ninako isn't going to fall
in love with Ando. I hope this series lets Ando get over Ninako
without dying, because this shojo lacks a body count that similar
titles (sup, Sand Chronicles, NANA, et cetera) would have already.
So, please don't kill Ando, Io-sama! Have mercy on his lovesick
heart!
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