Otomen 2

A question:  if a shoujo manga uses common plot devices hand over fist, but has a voyeuristic side character that hangs around and talks about them being common plot devices and exclaiming over how useful they will be in his own popular shoujo manga, does that mean that the plot devices are being used for good or evil?  Can I really hate a series that uses them while making fun of itself for using them?  I mean… they’re still being used, but… I don’t know.  There’s a weird meta level to this series that I’m still trying to wrap my brain around.

Admittedly, I think the amount of sparkles used in nearly every single panel of every page of this book excuses it from the common plot device trap, because the characters seem to delight in the situations so much.  I mean, I don’t even need a light on in my room when I read this thing with the amount of sparkles and hearts and flowers radiating from it.

Also, I can’t recall the last Christmas chapter I read where the character had such an unhealthy fascination with yule logs.  I’ve never heard that phrase used in a non-joke context, and yet Asuka repeats it like a mantra along with romantic candlelight when he lists elements of the perfect Christmas.  And again, does that make it a joke?  He’s pretty serious about it.

The plots to the chapters themselves are pretty simple.  The first chapter features a boy who looks like a girl that starts following Asuka around to find out how to be more manly.  The second chapter is a Christmas chapter.  The third and fourth chapters are an arranged marriage plotline where Asuka has to think of a way out of marrying a girl that won’t make his mother think he wants to have a sex change.  Well, the third one is really more common in the arranged marriage way more than the potential sex change way.

What I do know is that I love it.  It’s extremely absurd, and while I do wish the plots were a little more original, the amount of sparkling men and the girls who appreciate them either as manly or girly is certainly appreciated.  I was pretty much won over by the end of the volume, and I’m very excited about future volumes.  I do kind of hope an overarching plot develops, or that we get to see more Love Chick and the impact it has on the story.  I liked that whole “story warping back on itself to influence the characters further” element in the first one a lot.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.