I’d previously passed by this series, the newest from Natsumi Ando (Kitchen Princess), since of its lame-duck status, as one of the last releases from the now-departed Del Rey Manga. I just recently chosen up Arisa volume 1 on a whim (to fill out a mail order, if you should know), as well as now I’m pleased i did, since it was a gripping as well as pleasurable read.
At first, it reminded me of Papillon. Both are about twin sisters, reunited after considerable time apart as well as fascinated by the other’s life. However, while Papillon reviews the top with ridiculous, soap operatic clichés, Arisa instead takes a dark turn that captures exactly how disturbing peer pressure can be.
Arisa as well as Tsubasa were separated because of a divorce, as well as each went with one parent. While they kept in touch through letters, Tsubasa has grown into “the Demon Princess” of her junior high, with a solidify that comes out whenever she sees what she perceives as injustice. The difficult men are fascinated by her willingness to fight, however all Tsubasa wants is girly buddies who discover her good instead of fearsome. When she as well as Arisa reunite in person, Arisa — outwardly perfect, class president, great student, popular, with an admirable, cool, athletic sweetheart as well as lots of buddies — proposes that Tsubasa go to Arisa’s institution while pretending to be her.
Tsubasa jumps at the concept of trying on her dream life without wondering about Arisa’s motives. Tsubasa rapidly finds that all is not ideal in Arisa’s world, with a mysterious King leading the class in ostracizing those who don’t play along. Arisa is so distressed that she removes herself from the circumstance with drastic action, leaving Tsubasa identified to discover out Arisa’s tricks as well as exactly how she truly felt by going undercover as her sister.
Of course, Tsubasa’s integrity as well as fearlessness will be essential in finding what frightened Arisa so much. Tsubasa is assisted by Takeru, one of her man friends, as well as Manabe, the outsider in Arisa’s class. As in Ando’s previous series, she’s playing with the characters’ memories — in kitchen area Princess, the lead doesn’t keep in mind which young boy altered her life, while here, Tsubasa doesn’t have Arisa’s memories, as well as she’s trying to find them with mimicking her life.
The art is extremely Ando — starry eyes, gorgeous girls, full pages, emotion shown with streaming hair as well as huge gesture. It’s extremely readable as well as rather packed at times, with great deals to look at (if you can stand to sluggish down as well as wait to discover out what occurs next). There’s an fascinating perk function showing early sketches of the characters, compared to exactly how they look in the series. An extra additional has Ando, in comic strip form, introducing her new dog.
This is a multi-layered work, with younger visitors sharing Tsubasa’s feelings about what life ought to be like as well as enjoying the mystery-solving as well as charming plotlines. Older visitors will acknowledge the underlying cruelty of prominent youngsters as well as sympathize with Tsubasa’s unfortunate recognition that she only understands her sibling from the outside, missing out on understanding her really hopes as well as fears as well as interior motivations. While it’s simple to picture the achievers don’t have any type of issues of their own, they can be rather delicate when things don’t go well for them, as well as Tsubasa’s tougher, much more typical life may have prepared her much better to weather condition the storm. She cares less about what others think; her experiences have provided her much more self-possession as well as self-reliance.
It’s a especially timely moment to be believing about this series, because Arisa volume 2, now published by Kodansha Comics, is due out next week. I can’t wait! This is addictive shojo storytelling you don’t have to feel conflicted or embarrassed about.
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