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Just a Girl Book 1
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The onslaught of girls manga, or shoujo, continues with yet another
release from Tomoko Taniguchi, the same manga-ka behind Aquarium and
Miss Me, just to name a few. Let me be straight with something here,
I am by no means a fan of shoujo in the least, at least not when
it's geared towards being romantic in nature. Of course, there are
other brands of shoujo, such as Cardcaptor Sakura and such, that I
can handle reading. I really do want to give CPM credit with these
releases from Taniguchi-san though since this really is an untapped
market, and CPM is more or less the forerunners with these types of
releases.
Just a Girl is more of the same romantically geared storytelling that
Tomoko is known for. However, instead of being a collection of short
stories, such as the  case
was with Aquarium, this is a full-length story, and book one on top
of that. Just a Girl isn't a take on the No Doubt song however, and
instead looks at the lives of a group of high school students. Initially,
the first character that we are introduced to is Erica Fujita. She
has recently been accepted into a very prestigious high school, and
this will be her first time living alone as her parents have moved
away, feeling that she will be fine now that she will be attending
her school of choice.
At first, life is a little difficult for Erica. Her neighbor, Rena
Kamachi, might be the pretty girl, but she's very cold, even cruel
to Erica, especially since she's brought along her collection of
stuffed animals. However, the two soon become friends. Also
attending the school is Minoru, Erica's long time next-door
neighbor, and although he is very popular with the ladies, it seems
that he's got his eye on Rena. Erica however is starting to realize
that maybe she might have feelings for him as well, but friendship
in this manga is much more important than love.
Although romance does play a slight part in this story, it does
become more or less the equivalent of a slice of life story. Beyond
our three main characters, there also is a French foreign exchange
student, Sophie, who gets along very well with her two new Japanese
friends. There's also Rocky, a college student who seems to have his
eye on Erica. Really though, it all comes down to being a story
about friendship, with the focus really being more on girls of
course. Apparently, Just a Girl is supposed to be a sort of
adaptation of Ms. Taniguchi's high school years, at least that's
what she says in the occasional liner notes.
Part of my problem in reading this is that I just really don't care
much for Tomoko's style of writing. It's very rudimentary and often
times simplistic. The  stuffed
animal aspect is nearly nauseating at times, and while I understand
that it's part of Erica's persona, it's really hard to get in tune
with the character, at least if you're coming at this one from a male
perspective. I have to wonder if girls in high school actually think
like this, or if that's just Ms. Taniguchi's approach.
I again will give Tomoko credit where credit is due, while she might
lack in her story telling, she does a fantastic job when it comes to
her artwork. Although some of it does tend to go for a more
simplistic look, that's usually very befitting of the scenes at
hand, and often is used for flashbacks. The main bulk however is
very eye catching and not overly detailed, making the manga fairly
easy to read and look at without dealing with too many distractions.
Like her other works, I may not be able to recommend her manga for a
male audience, but for younger females, it's going to be perfect.
Most young or teen girls that would like to get into comics really
only have US titles like Betty and Veronica that they can feel
comfortable reading, and it's not too often that I see one on the
bus reading US titles like Spawn or The Fantastic Four, although I
do occasionally see Inuyasha in one's possession. And, for parents
that might be a little worried that manga contains some
objectionable material, there's no need to fear. Just a Girl is as
harmless as the stuffed animals that appear throughout the book.
-mike-
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Genre:
Romance
Written By::
Tomoko
Taniguchi
Art By::
Tomoko
Taniguchi
Pages:
184
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