Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop
Slugline: After Grandma dies, Sakura comes home to find she has an assortment of stereotypical half-brothers.
This is almost exactly the same setup as Crossroad, but in a more typical, sitcom-ish vein. Nobody bothered to tell Sakura that her father had four sons by a previous wife, and so when Grandma dies (yes, her parents are dead too -- it's a deadly job, in Japan) it's a big surprise when they turn up instead of Child Protective Services (does Japan even have a CPS?)
Much is made of the fact that Sakura is not even her father's daughter, though I'm not clear on why that matters when you're building a family from scratch anyways. Sakura doesn't remember the brief time they all lived together when she was a baby, so it's a houseful of strangers and all the awkwardness that comes with.
The flashbacks are sweet without being too syrupy. However, the boys fall neatly into stereotype -- the angry one, the cross-dressing housekeeper, the responsible one, and the shy one -- and Sakura herself is a typical manga girl. So this is a competent, but not exceptional, first volume.
(Note that only in manga would "cross-dressing houskeeper" be a stereotype. Oh, how jaded I've become...)
Me and My Brothers, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.
- Miranda
5 comments:
i love this manga i bought it its so cute and anyone should buy it
Buy this book it's so worth it i can't wait till the next one hits the stores!
I just read the first volume and, while it's nice, it is cliche. I thought it also moved much too fast. My guess for why they make such a big deal out of Sakura's non-sisterhood is so she can eventually end up in a relationship with one of the boys (after a long bout of angst and sibling rivalry for her affections, of course). Typical shoujo, but at least it's cute.
Dominique: I agree with you i just been totally afraid to say it cause its sibling fluff and she looks and acts younger than she is.
But normally shojou has main guy x main girl anyway so it proberly end up that way, it even lays off hints to.
Well.. we will have to wait and see really... this kind of manga ahs noe exception to not have a couple in there but... well... it sorta reminds you off angelci layer and the anime dident have any couples in it... though the again manga did :/ so....
If there is i hope Sakura would have to mature though and/or go through something, normally shojou's are like that and i will say i wont get into any couples really untill it reach's to a point where it starts to show heavy signs though judging by book 3 description it sounds cute.. but there might be other stuff set for the brothers to.. er.. grah... *sigh* yea.... im in a tight spot and plan not to say anything till later on in the manga or so..
Yeah, a three rating basically means the title is competent in both writing and art, but neither does it show any signs of excelling in some way. It also means that the book is not taking any risks, because we did to give credit to titles that experiment even if the attempt doesn't work as well as it should.
This is Ferdinand, so I didn't review the title, but I will see if I can't get Miranda to post more her thoughts about it...
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