Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Fall In Love Like A Comic Volume 1

Overall Rating: D
Synopsis: Fall in Love Like a Comic! (should be Like a Manga) is a romantic comedy shōjo manga by Chitose Yagami. The story centers around Rena Sakura, a mangaka and high school student, and Tomoya Okita, a hot high school boy. Rena wants to get a boyfriend in order to write better romances, so she proposes that Tomoya be her boyfriend to help her. This leads to the inevitable "I'm actually in love with you" moment, where Tomoya declares his love for Rena. This leads to shenanigans as their relationship is tested by Rena's success as a mangaka, and Tomoya gets an acting role in a movie adaptation of her work.

You know those series where the male and female lead have a clear attraction, but never seem to get together? That's frustrating, but can be interesting. Fall in Love Like a Comic! is frustrating because the plot is about a mangaka making her work more believable by falling in love herself. If we apply this concept (you have to be in love to write a good romance), then I would have to recommend that Chitose Yagami fall in love. The romance between Rena and Tomoya feels forced and unbelievable.

Where I had been hoping to find a new twist on high school romance (a mangaka trying to find inspiration), all I got was a romance I didn't care about, and some half-decent jokes. The only thing humorous in the book is how many times Rena melts (literally her body is drawn as going all "melty" or “mero mero” when Tomoya holds her. In short, I recommend skipping this one.

2 comments:

emodepressedgirl said...

i dont agree i loved falling in love like a comic it reminded me of my own relationship. i really wanted to go out with this guy tons of girls love and well im not amazing in anyway not a secret anything either im just me. he chose to go out with me. and i still have a hard time believing he likes me and that its not fake or forced. i thought it was very realistic

Nick said...

Cool, I'm glad you like it. It wasn't for me, but I can definitely see how if you identified strongly with Rena it might be a lot more engaging.