By Maki Murakami (TOKYOPOP)
ISBN: 978-1-4278-0240-8
Enthusiastic, if over-written, sequel to the twelve volume manga series Gravitation which follows the trials and tribulations of popular boy-band (that’s a pun most of you won’t get until later) Bad Luck through the torrid love affair between Shuichi Shindo and Eiri Yuki. This is a ShÅnen-ai serial so if you’re not comfortable with pretty lads in love this is not for you, and if you’re looking for the sexually explicit stuff, you’ll be disappointed too as that’s Yaoi fiction. This is a twisty-turny teen romance tale (the lead characters are contextually in their thirties but are drawn much younger).
At the end of Gravitation Shuichi and Yuki had seemingly resolved their tempestuous relationship and settled down -as much as Rock Stars ever do – but with this volume a trip to America brings an amazing and long-term complication into their lives, opening old wounds. Also, in a world full of beautiful hungry people temptation is never far away…
To Western eyes (mine included) this is an uneasy blending of over-the-top slapstick, Rock ‘n’ Roll clichés, cheap soap-opera, and touching, desperate romance, but the series has narrative integrity and many devoted fans. It helps a lot that it is so beautifully illustrated. If you like this sort of thing, to misapply Abraham Lincoln’s legendary adage, this is the sort of thing you’ll like, but trust me on this, without the dozen Gravitation books as a starter, this sequel series will be fairly impenetrable.
This book is printed in the ‘read-from-back-to-front’ manga format.
© 2006 Maki Murakami, GENTOSHA COMICS. English text © 2007 TOKYOPOP Inc. All Rights Reserved.