Flower in a Storm: Volume 2

by Shigeyoshi Takagi, 190 pages

Ran and Riko's love faces external complications from rival suitors, an evil executive, renewed assassination attempts, and Ran's taxing work schedule, as well as internal roadblocks in the form of waffling emotions and second thoughts. Will the high school pair ever make it to the altar (alive)?

The first volume of this shojo manga title may have been fluffy entertainment, but at least it was entertaining. Sadly, I don't know that I can say the same for this second (and final) volume, which is choppy and inconsistent in both story and characterization as it tries, unsuccessfully, to be weirdly serious while still dishing out the comedy. When side characters from the first volume resurface, you get the feeling it's only because they conveniently already exist and therefore save the author the trouble of creating new ones. And the few new characters that are introduced are just poorly executed stereotypes played straight. I think the author forgot that she was making fun of the genre's more tired clichés and started committing them in earnest. :(

If you're like me and can't pass up the promise of spiffy art, read the sufficiently self-contained first one and stop there, as the concluding sequel doesn't make the grade. To be fair, this is the author's first published graphic novel series, so maybe the next one will be an improvement. She's got potential, but she's not there yet.

Flower in a Storm: Volume 1

by Shigeyoshi Takagi, 192 pages

After being rejected as a "freak" by a boy she liked, all Riko Kunimi wants is to blend in as a normal high school girl. But when powerful corporate heir Ran Tachibana decides he's fallen in love with her at first sight, her life is anything but ordinary. Ran thinks "normal" is overrated and declares that he loves her just the way she is--strong, awkward, and pretty freakishly athletic.

This series is mindless, sappy fun as it mocks the clichés and excesses of more serious, self-involved, over-the-top shojo melodrama. Ran gets about in fast cars and helicopters and always with a contingent of sunglasses-wearing, black-suited, armed guards due to the continuous attempts on his life made by his numerous business rivals. His supplies of influence and money appear to be bottomless, as is his devotion to bewildered Riko. For her part, Riko belies her protestations of normalcy by doing things like jumping unharmed from a third-story window and taking out her own kidnapper with a high kick (while handcuffed, with a gun to her head, on the back of a speeding motorcycle). If Ran is happily himself and happy to accept and appreciate her as she really is, can she learn to do the same?

Officially, Riko's the "flower" and Ran's the "storm", but they could easily swap roles and still make it work. This is stupid and funny and kinda sweet. And I'm already on hold for number 2. :P

This volume also contains one of the author's earlier works, a much more serious short story, "The Need for Artificial Respiration".