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Many moons ago, I subscribed to Hana to Yume and that’s how I first found out about V.B. Rose (and I suppose Hitsuji no Namida before that). I always liked the look of Banri Hidaka’s art so back then I always thought it was a shame that none of her stuff was available in English.

Fast forward to 2009, when not one, but three of her manga series are available in English. I’ve yet to read the two others, but I figure why not write about V.B. Rose while I’m at it.

The central character of this manga is Ageha, a headstrong girl with a flair for creating beautiful and fashionable things. Because of her skill with making handbags, she’s even had an ’secret fandom’ of people who keep track on her latest items, which are distinguished by the butterfly tag that she includes as her signature.

The big conflict in V.B. Rose comes about when Ageha discovers that her beloved sister is pregnant and has to get married right away to a man whom Ageha utterly dislikes. Ageha has a bit (okay, maybe more than a bit) of a sister complex, so I don’t think any man would have been good enough for her sister. However, since she wants to support her sister’s life decision, Ageha dutifully goes with her to the wedding dress shop, which happens to be named V.B. Rose.

(There’s actually a few interesting twists in the story, but I’ll leave that up to you to find out from the actual manga or from another review blog…)

One thing that I’ll say about this manga is that the pacing feels incredibly rushed for one volume. The storyline about the sister’s wedding and the accompanying drama feel essentially resolved by the end of volume 1. Which makes sense since I really don’t want to be still reading about the sister’s wedding dress by volume 4 or later, but at the same time, it appears that whatever original premise drew the reader in to the story will be replaced by something else. I’m aware that this is a common practice in manga (of whatever type) but wow, that felt quick.

Nonetheless, Banri Hidaka’s art is incredibly appealing. Ageha looks like the typical Hana to Yume heroine, only prettier and more fashionable. I can see her being the creative, crafty fashion-type.

Overall, a cute series but I’m reserving judgment till I read the next volume.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under manga & manhwa, tokyopop. 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.