Girls Bravo Vol.#01

By: Eduardo M. Chavez
Review Date: Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Release Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2005



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Mario Kaneda
Translated by:Asuka Yoshizu
Adapted by:

What They Say
Boy meets girl. Boy breaks out in hives. Boy stumbles onto alien planet full of girls...

Meet Yukinari Sasaki, an average high school boy who has extreme girl-phobia- and an allegic reaction when girls touch him. One day, he befriends an alien named Miharu, who comes from a planet that houses only women. Remarkably, Yukinari is able to touch Miharu without breaking into a sweat. Accompanied by Miharu, he returns to his own world, but shortly thereafter, other girls follow them to his world... and his life turns into one big mess.

The Review
Packaging:
Overall mixed results from TOKYOPOP here with GIRLS Bravo. I was a little disappointed with the cover design. Possibly the strongest point for this title so far is Mario Kaneda's art. His cover art for Kadokawa Shoten is stunning. However, instead of using the original cover featuring a lovely detailed portrait of alien Miharu,

TP instead tried to go for the nosebleed factor. Their cover has a beach scene with a few characters that have yet to have been introduced. Sure, it is colorful and etchi, but it has nothing to do with what takes place in this volume. The opposite cover features some SD art with the three main characters eating lunch (from left: Miharu, Kirie and Yukinari).

TP does do a solid job with the logo. They practically maintained the original design and font. And its placement (above the art) is actually better than Kadokawa's. But then again, TP decided to plug this title's anime connection by having the following on the front cover in yellow: "The MANGA that inspired the HIT ANIME!" Leave that for the back cover!

Inside the inconsistency continues. As I did not purchase the original, I am not sure if there were color plates available, but there is none in this volume. Instead, the headers are BW and they look good. Honestly, what makes them look so good is how the rest of the print is so dark. Kaneda's inking is thick, however the print makes the screen tone look messy and distracting. No real extras in this volume, though TP did leave in the 20+-page side story "the Tale of Momotaro".

Artwork:
For as much hype that this title got for its beauties, I really was not impressed by Mario Kaneda's art. While the designs themselves are relatively cute - standard long slender designs with narrow waists, wide hips and full bosoms. It was his costume and hair designs that really turned me off. I honestly feel the most overrated tool in manga art is screen tone. The best artists use this infrequently. Generally, using this when they cannot shade something properly with ink or when the pattern is complex. Kaneda uses screen tone for depth, for texturing, for shading and for manpu and it really distracts from what are nice generally clean looking drawings. I do not need to see a different shade if a face is turned at an angle (the tone moves the eye away from the image as a whole to the shaded part). I know Miharu's hips are supposed to be luscious and that her camel toe is off-limits so pick one naughty thing to shade and go with it. This is even more frustrating when you look at his color work and see how well he can shade, without screen tone!


The backgrounds are generally non-existent. While you know when the characters are in the shower or in an onsen, you rarely get to see how any of it is designed. Kaneda instead focuses his efforts on lots of manpu and visual gags. You get to see characters clothing burst open or fall off, just as much as you see punches and characters falling into bosoms/crotches, but you will not see architecture. The lay out is actually not too bad. There is a lot variety in panel and character placement (out of panel). The manpu use helps here, but it really speeds up what is already a pretty shallow manga.

SFX/Text:
Typical of TOKYOPOP, SFX were not translated. This series does not have a lot of them, but the ones that are there are mainly used for comedic effect. After a few years of doing this, I still question why TOKYOPOP still does this.

As I have not read this in Japanese, I cannot say how accurate the translation is. Nevertheless, I have to say TOKYOPOP has done a good job. The personalities are really extreme in this story with strong emotions. TOKYOPOP has those feelings come through well (almost too well). They do not use honorifics, but at least they do not use a lot of slang.

Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Basically, Girls Bravo is a bishojo manga working its way up to a harem manga. Actually, it really starts off as a harem manga, possibly because the concept would tickle the fancy of readers, but it moves away from that rather quickly. It covers the turmoiled life of a young man with a strange phobia of women, and the women that love him. We have seen guys with girl trouble before, which is as common a theme in romance-comedies as there exists. However, what Yukinari has in this series is supposed to be much more serious. His entire body reacts to women. He breaks out into hives, he passes out and his body seriously reacts upon the mere contact with them.

This would be a problem for anyone living in a world where slightly more than half the population is women, but wouldn't it be funny if he lived in a world made up of 90% women? Yeah, that would really be bad right?! Well what if after a horrible day at school a strange bathroom accident ended up sending him to a far away planet where those were the demographics! Imagine the situation he would be in then. All of those women and nowhere to run!

However, that is not exactly the case for Yukinari. Somehow, he found someone there that he is not "allergic" to. This girl, Miharu, is not only kind to him but she is actually also good looking. Maybe it is because she is actually even shorter and smaller built than he is (he is a runt; too small to be picked on by guys but girls pick up the slack). She is not very intelligent or wise, so she is not influenced by society's norms. In essence, she is really just a living doll and she likes Yukinari!

Sounds like Yukinari might have finally found himself a cure to his unique problem. Upon returning home (with Miharu's help), he really hoped Miharu's help would end up helping him with his troubles at school and home. No such luck! She might be the only woman in the universe that does not send Yukinari to the infirmary (physically or medically). That means no hanging out with lifelong neighbors/friends or secret admirers for this young man, even if they are beautiful and insistent on spending their youth with the little freak of nature.

Comments
Ahhh! What is wrong with a little originality? Do not know about you, but I think some creativity might have worked well with this little title.

Starting from the lead character, Kaneda works on stereotypes and makes them annoying. Sasaki Yukinari is a runt. He is a weakling without courage or self-esteem. The more I think about him, I feel he is afraid of people in general, than just women. If he could at least have a friend, he would not be so spineless. Unfortunately, Kaneda made him as pathetic as possible to make him all that more attractive to... the mindless, carefree lead female in this series, Miharu. She is a beautiful alien who does not discriminate. However, she is like that because she does not see people as individuals really. Everything is edible in her mind and if not then whatever is left is a provider of food. Yukinari falls into that second category, making him a wonderful person! She could careless about anything else, but then again she is not even aware. She does not listen to him and his problems or concerns. She is not even conscious about the feelings of those in her family. She is the perfect girl for pathetic guys looking for someone to take advantage of. Moreover, even pathetic Yukinari is given his chances! (Unbelievable considering his fears but that goes into the next issue.) Then there is the other girl. You know, the girl that somehow actually likes Yukinari. She is stunning in her own right, but not at all exotic like Miharu. She has short black hair (reminds me of Shinobu from UY) and has a punch that rivals Tyson (also like Shinobu). She tries so hard but you know she is going to go nowhere with him. All of this is just so convenient and so old; I do not understand how this could pass nowadays because it does nothing for me anymore.

What really rubs me the wrong way is that the mangaka is never consistent with the main theme of this story. Sometimes Yukinari is afraid of all women (outside of Miharu) and then there are times when he is surrounded by women or in contact with them without much trouble. Maybe he is doing this to create a sense that the ailment is only in Yukinari's mind, but I feel he only seems to use this when he can have Yukinari abused. If Yukinari's schoolteacher needs to beat up on him, Yukinari is then afraid of her. If his neighbor and close friend, Kirie is acting nice to him, he breaks out and does something dumb before getting launched into orbit (in stereotypical fashion). So eventually, the abuse comes from all over. The person in love with Yukinari consistently beats on him for no good reason. Then there is the rival character that accidentally beats up on him, unaware that he is afraid of her. Even the harems of women on the alien world, tend to use and abuse men, despite their pleas for male company! If you love them, beat him up! However, if you are mindless, hungry and cute then just be nice and look pretty!

It is a strange little "fantasy" world Kaneda has created here, but if anything, at least his setting is different. I think I saw two males in this volume so far. It almost sounds like the world Miharu is from. Maybe if Kaneda could try to exploit that, like he abuses males in this volume. A wild yuri manga would at least liven this title up. So far all it does is pull from old conventions and makes them frustrating (even Yukinari's male rival, a white uniform wearing rich playboy... ala Mendou Shuutaro... is much more cruel and not quite as charming as the original). I'd rather read some of the titles Kaneda is parodying, for those artists were at least capable of making old constructs somewhat unique and always entertaining.