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Miss Me?
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It seems like the manga from Tomoko Taniguchi just
has no end. One on hand, I guess I have to have respect for that. She's
doing what she likes, she's getting paid for it, having it translated in
other countries, and more than likely doesn't have to deal with the
daily grind of the usual 9 to 5 (or 1:30 to 10) that most of us do. Miss
Me is yet another in her growing list of romance manga that have been
making their way stateside, much to the delight of her many fans I'm
sure.
Again, Tomoko takes the romantic approach in this story; something
that it seems is her niche in the world of manga. Miss Me tells the
story of Emyu, a young girl who is inexperienced in love. Emyu however
has a huge crush on one of her classmates, Shinkichi, but it seems
that he has no interest in her at all. Her friends  however
keep pushing her to not give up and go for it, but even that seems
to have no effect, and even when she tells him her true feelings,
she gets a response that's alone the lines of "let's be friends."
But, is that really it, or does he secretly like her much more than
what he let's on.
I'm not going to be shy about the fact that I really don't care for
romance manga in the least, and again, that's the case here. I know that
it has its audience, but I'm not really a member of it. With this manga,
there are some things that I can sort of relate to, but then again,
there are many things that I just find to be a bother or an annoyance.
What can I relate to here? Well, it's certainly not going out shopping,
and it has nothing to do with going on a romantic bike ride on the back
of a guy's bike. What I'm referring to is the "let's be friends" line,
and I think that every one of us has experienced that at some point or
another, male and female alike. Men have used it for women that they
really aren't attracted to in the least (come on guys, you know that you
have) and that might be the same for women as well, but I have no idea.
It's a rare time when I can find something in Tomoko's manga that I
really do sit and think, "Hey, I remember that happening," especially
since they are all written from a female perspective. Although,
according to a talk I had with my wife, it's very typical of any teenage
girl.
But, there are things that really do get on my nerves. Again, I really
do not like Tomoko's writing style in the least. It's far too simplistic
for my tastes. Now, I'm not looking for something along the lines of
someone like Shakespeare or even HP Lovecraft, but I find her writing to
be very rudimentary for the most part, which again is the reason why I
have always said that her material definitely is geared for a much
younger audience.
Originally, this manga was written back in 1991, and while the artwork
might not reveal that fact, there are certain key elements that definitely
will. There are plenty of references, both in the manga as well as
the liner notes, to the glam metal acts that were just as big as their
hair at the time. Bon Jovi, Europe, Stryper, and the like are all
mentioned at one point. Yes, those bands were "big in Japan"
as well, for whatever reason. I think part of the bad taste left in
my mouth here is that when it comes to metal and long hair, I'm thinking
more of acts like Cannibal Corpse or any of the other grind core acts
that come to mind. Fortunately though,  the
glam rock scene has been dead for years, unless of course there's
some resurgence in popularity and it becomes the "trendy"
thing to listen to.
Usually, I can at least get some viewing pleasure from Tomoko's artwork,
but that's not the case at all here. The character designs seems a bit
flat and uninspired for the most part, although part of that may be due
to the fact that this is one of her earlier works. Much of the manga
feels a bit clustered, and it makes reading it a bit exasperating at
times.
I've taken her past manga with a grain of salt and have at least tried
to find a general target audience that they would appeal to, but sadly,
I can't really hand out a recommendation on this one. The story is very
trite and tired, the art isn't anything special, and more than anything
else, the whole story ends up becoming far too predictable and almost
tiring to read. Even if you are into the whole romance thing, unless you
are a huge fan of Ms. Taniguchi, I'd say you'd be better off skipping
this one and picking up one of her other manga's.
Miss Me?
Not much.
-mike-
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Genre:
Romance
Written
By::
Tomoko
Taniguchi
Art By::
Tomoko
Taniguchi
Pages:
184
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