Monday, September 17, 2007

Manga A Day: Pretty Maniacs Series Review

Pretty Maniacs is the sequel series to the three book series Maniac Road. It stands pretty well on it's own, but there are a few jokes you'll miss if you don't read both. They're both in the spirit of other Otaku themed books like Genshiken and Comic Party. The first series focused on the Kinushima sisters and Takezou the otaku who helps restore their Akibara store to it's former glory. In this sequel, Takezou has left to build up the US location of the Cauliflower store (an obvious parody of the famous Broccoli.) His younger sister Shinano has gotten into a local high school and seeks to find fellow "maniacs" like herself.

The first series was written like a primer on Otaku life. It had chapters on models, doll-making, games... and explaining the fans of each. This series has a less defined focus, and has a slightly more plot based focus. I say slightly because the plot seems to be "Let's make a manga club." That goal is accomplished in the first book.

The second book has the Shinano's all girl school combining with a boy's school. This means that the manga clubs from both must now combine. That's resolved pretty quickly and the other chapters are more or less filler. (How can a three volume series have one that's mostly filler?) The storylines are typical of a high school manga, with a school fair storyline, and a love letter storyline. The love letter storyline is my favorite, it has the most interesting "hook" at the end. The last two chapters get back into the otaku vibe with a focus on reality vs. fantasy (i.e. Voice actors don't look like their characters) and otaku pros vs amateurs. Also, misunderstandings with friends.

I think it's funny that "Otaku" stories are becoming common enough that they have their own cliches. Taking on Comiket (or whatever they call it in that universe), the American otaku, graduating club members, cross-dressing. Volume three hits all of them to varying degrees. I do like this series, but compared to Maniac Road it feels very watered down. I think it's because that the author was much more familiar with the subject matter of the first books. I think it's easy to write about being an otaku loving otaku things when you are one. 

This series really shines the most when it is focusing on those little aspects of geek life that ring true to fans. One of my favorite things about the first book is when Shinano finally finds a fellow "maniac," they find their tastes are totally different. Shinano likes the original Gundam, Yura likes G-Gundam. Shinano plays the newest games, Yura likes the classics. Shinano likes the original Kamen Rider, Yura likes to pair the riders together in yaoi couples. I think most fans (of anything) have had that experience. You run into someone who knows what Anime/manga is, get excited, and then find out they're a One Piece fan and you're Naruto fan, or you like Snow Fairy Sugar and they like Bible Black. Sometimes it's just not enough to both like anime.

I also liked when the fans were arguing which "P Hyoro" character is the best. One of the characters turns to another and asks if they shouldn't try to break it up. He says that one of the pleasures of being a fan is arguing about the characters with fellow fans. Since most fandoms I know do spend lots and lots of time in character arguments this rang very true. It's for these little bits that I would recommend the series, though I think the first series, Maniac Road, delivers this kind of feeling much better.

Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)