2 screenshot limit

Trying to see how much blogging I can do while I’m still motivated.

Yuzu Yamashita has just experienced several drastic changes in her life — first, her mother passes away, but not before telling her that she has a grandmother of whom she’s never heard of before.  Yuzu, finding herself orphaned and homeless, had to resort to sleeping in the playground before being ‘rescued’ and taken away to her maternal grandmother’s palatial (literally!) home.

And if that wasn’t enough to take in, she’s informed by her grandmother that she’s now the prime heir candidate to the vast fortune and wealth of the family… thereby making bodyguards and guardians, especially in the person of the stern bespectacled Hassaku Kagami, absolutely necessary.

Before I get down to the actual review, I have to say that it must SUCK being a mother in a manga series — you’re always dead before the story gets started! I mean, take Fruits Basket, Wild Ones, heck even in the top shonen series such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach, and Naruto – all the mothers of the primary characters have died off-screen.  I thought Disney was bad…

Anyway, back to Ultimate Venus — a manga that’s taken many of the well-worn cliches but given it a quirky spin. I actually found this series absolutely charming, despite its obvious cliches.  Yuzu is spunky.  Her attitude towards her grandmother and the rest of her new extended family is refreshing when you think that she was that close to sleeping on the streets. She has a bit of a “mother complex,” which she displays quite often with her quips of her “Mother’s Love & Teachings,” which have served as her guide through life — yet you know that the character is down-to-earth and generally normal. Granted, Yuzu gets a bit goofy in her interactions with Hassaku, but I guess every girl is allowed to be wacky when it comes to being around a cute boy.

But yes, Hassaku — the question mark trapped in a conundrum. What’s his deal? Is he in love with Yuzu’s granny? Why is he so devoted to her? What’s his story? (Unfortunately, none of these are answered in v.1, but maybe they will be in future installments) He’s an okay foil to Yuzu, but I think this story would’ve been stronger had he been more goofy (to match Yuzu) instead of being an emo tsundere.  I understand that Japan plans to conquer the world with megane tsundere boys, but really, enough now.

Overall, really had a lot of fun with this first volume. I didn’t care for Tenshi Ja Nai, another series by Shigematsu that’s also available from Go! Comi, so I was pleased that I really liked Ultimate Venus. I hope that the fun keeps up in the next volumes.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 8:30 pm and is filed under go-comi, manga & manhwa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.