Papillon Vol. 1
by Miwa Ueda
Del Rey, 192 pages, $10.95.

Papillon is the type of Cinderella, “ugly girl cleans up nice” story that seems to be de rigueur for a lot of shojo manga these days, at least the ones I’ve read (apart from all the “mousy girl stumbles into fantastic other dimension where only she has the power to save the universe” thing I mean). It’s not a genre I can work up a lot of enthusiasm for since it seems to assume that a good makeover and learning to play the arm candy role are all that’s needed for today’s woman to feel fulfilled (the original Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart being my one exception).

Anyway, I digress. On to the manga. Ageha and Hana are twin sisters. As is often the case in these types of stories, they are also polar opposites, with Hana being the popular, pretty one and Ageha being the shy, bookish type. They didn’t spend a lot of time growing up together because, for reasons that are in no way, no how, not ever, no siree contrived, Ageha was forced to live in the country with her grandmother for most of her childhood while Hana stayed with their parents.

Did I mention that Ageha wears glasses?

Anyway, Ageha’s totally hot on a fellow classmate, but resigned to never getting his attention when she meets a hip guidance counselor. I’m sorry, did I say hip guidence counselor? Silly me, I meant creepy fucking pervert because what kind of high school guidence counselor, in training or not, comments on the color of a girl’s underwear, feels her up and attempts to guess her bra size? Oh, I forgot. This is a shojo manga. Carry on.

So Ageha starts trying to be more assertive, which doesn’t sit well with Hana, who likes being the top dog and decides to put a big ole’ boot in her mousy sister’s face by going after her sister’s schoolyard crush. Can Ageha overcome her sister’s machinations and find true love? If I honestly thought the answer was “no” I would recommend this comic in a heartbeat.

There’s not a single page in this manga that felt honest or true to life, even by the genre’s standards. Every character is a buffoonish type, beholden solely to the plot and the author’s whims, forced to behave in idiotic ways that undermine the story’s credibility time and again.

Imagine a comic about two twin sisters. One is a bit shyer and quieter than the other and perhaps a little jealous of her sibling’s popularity. The other loves her sister, but also likes being popular, and resents it when she starts trying to shape her own identity, separate from her. Imagine a comic that attempted to explore that relationship in an honest, emotionally powerful way that reflected the way real families and real siblings dealt with each other. I’d like to read a manga like that, wouldn’t you? Papillon isn’t that manga. Not even close.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Offical Casebook Vol. 1: The Phoenix Wright Files
by various
Del Rey, $14.95.

Man, what a disappointment. As Kevin noted previously, I’m a big fan of the Phoenix Wright video games, the muder mystery/court procedurals that owe a good deal to the PC adventure games of yesteryear (ie. Myst, The Big Express).

Being such a story-driven series, with such colorful characters, a manga adaptation seemed natural, but for some strange reason Capcom and Del Rey decided to put together an anthology instead of a lengthy narrative, getting a bunch of manga-ka I’d never heard of before to produce a number of lackluster short stories that serve as little more than fan service. It’s the type of stuff you’d expect to see in your average doujinshi (minus the x-rated sex of course).

Not every submission here is bad, but there’s a lot of repetitiveness (how many stories about finding cute kittens do we need?) or stories that simply go nowhere, too slight to even be called slight. Plus, those who aren’t as familiar with the games will feel decidedly left out, which is a shame since this seems like a series that could easily attract a general audience with the right approach.

With its whodunit plots, Phoenix Wright seems ideal for a slapstick, Murder She Wrote style treatment, with each volume delving into a seemingly unsolvable case. what a shame they decided to pander to take the easy way out.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Manga, News & Views, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.