Metamo Kiss Vol. #01

By Matthew Alexander     March 19, 2007
Release Date: March 13, 2007



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Sora Omote
Translated by:Alexis Kirsch
Adapted by:Luis Reyes

What They Say
Kohamaru family can switch bodies with the person they're destined to be with. For example, his parents can switch bodies with each other, and oddly enough, his aunt can switch with a cat! It looks like Kohamaru's met his own match when he literally runs into Nanao, the girl of his dreams, and they switch bodies - but then Kohamaru discovers that she's in love with someone else! And as if that weren't enough, the someone else turns out to be Kohamaru's twin brother, Konatsu, who has the power to reverse their transformation... with his own kiss.

The Review
Boy kisses cute girl, family curse causes them to switch bodies. Boy likes girl, but girl likes boy's brother, who doesn't care about the girl. Yeah, it's all rather involved, but funny with cute characters.

Packaging:
The front cover is the same as the original Japanese release, and as par for the course for Tokyopop, the background is changed and a new spine border is added. I really like the front cover with its depiction of the very cute Nanao, but then again I'm a sucker for curly-haired redheads. Nanao is joined on the front cover by the other main character of this title, Kohamaru who is attempting to kiss Nanao. The back cover has a SD depiction of Kohamaru bathing Nanao and a story synopsis. The print quality is good with the exception of a couple pages that appear a little faded. My only real complaint about this title is the poor text alignment in the dialogue boxes. This problem is sporadic and scattered throughout the entire book. The only extras are a letter from the author and a synopsis of volume two.

Artwork:
I just want to say there aren't enough curly-haired girls in anime and manga. With that said, Omote's character designs are very cute and I enjoyed the wide variety of eye depictions. Facial expressions are well drawn. Nanao's facial expressions really run the gamut, which works quite well since she is a little hyperactive and rather obsessive. The artist also does a decent job of matching the facial expressions of Nanao and Kohamaru personalities when they switch bodies. No matter which body Kohamaru is in, his particularly mellow expressions follow his personality from body to body. Backgrounds are quite sparse. My only real complaints are the too young appearing mother of Kohamaru and the artists poorly rendered action scenes. Yes, I know this is a romantic comedy and not an action title, but there is a poorly drawn scene with people tripping and falling down stairs and I just couldn't figure out how everything went down.

Text/SFX:
The text reads well and it was free of any slang terms. I didn't find any grammatical errors and honorifics are present. Tokyopop is still sticking to their guns and not translating SFX.

Contents: (Oh yes, there may be spoilers)
Kohamaru has spent most of his life living in the country with his grandmother. With her recent passing, Kohamaru travels to the city to live with his family. Along the way, he stumbles into and accidentally kisses the very cute Nanao at the train station. No harm done. That is until Kohamaru sees his body running right at him! Somehow they switched bodies and Nanao seems much more upset over the whole situation than Kohamaru. That's because she has a first date in thirty minutes with Konatsu, the most popular boy in school.

Kohamaru is a mellow guy and he thinks Nanao is cute, so he agrees to pretend to be Nanao and meet with Konatsu. Kohamaru quickly learns Konatsu is a total jerk playboy. Nanao is angry and broken hearted when Konatsu blows her body off with Kohamaru's personality inside. With no ideas of how to switch bodies, Kohamaru is trying to make Nanao feel better, when a nearby dog and cat scuffle forces their faces to smash together again. Bam! Kohamaru and Nanao switch back to their true bodies. But instead of being grateful, Nanao kicks Kohamaru's ass for stealing her first kiss.

Kohamaru eventually finds his family home and discovers that his family has the ability to switch bodies with the person they are destined to be with forever. To add to the shock of everything, Kohamaru also learns Konatsu is his fraternal twin brother. From here on out Kohamaru and Nanao switch bodies from time to time until they stay switched past sunset. Unfortunately, this causes them to be stuck in the wrong body forever. To make matters worse, Konatsu knew this and avoided telling Kohamaru about this rule. What a jerk.

This forces Nanao, in Kohamaru's body, to stay with Kohamaru's family. During this time, we learn Konatsu appears to be a jerk because he is the only one in the family that can't switch bodies. I guess he's lashing out at Kohamaru in jealousy. Konatsu continues to blow Nanao off, until he sees Kohamaru seems to like her. Then, Konatsu suddenly starts being nicer to Nanao, but is this because he likes her or he wants to stick it to Kohamaru? Will Nanao ever see through Konatsu and return Kohamaru's affection? Will Kohamaru and Nanao be stuck in each other's body forever?

Comments
Metamo Kiss is another gender bending story, but different from some of the other recent titles sharing this theme. In Metamo Kiss, a boy and girl switch bodies instead of a boy changing into a girl. Yes, this follows the rather funny situation where the girl, Nanao, in the boy's body has to pee for the first time. This book is mildly entertaining as long as you give allowances for all the usual freak accidents that result in people kissing. However, the real strengths in this story are with the strong characters. Nanao is hyperactive and obsessive, Konatsu is a nonchalant playboy with both vindictive and kind streaks, and Kohamaru seems to be a good guy who is quick to challenge Konatsu in order to protect Nanao.

Nanao and Kohamaru both have a pleasant memory of watching fireworks with each other. Only Nanao thinks the boy was Konatsu and Kohamaru doesn't realize the girl was Nanao. If Nanao finds out the boy was really Kohamaru, will she finally quit with her obsession over Konatsu? I'm also curious to find out what Konatsu is really up to.

Metamo Kiss isn't stellar by any means, but I enjoyed it and look forward to picking up the next volume, especially since this is a short series.