Girl Friends v.1: an English Review First of all, as evidenced by the lack of any furigana and any content that could or would be misconstrued as adult, I think this book is being mis-marketed as josei when it should be shoujo. If for no better reason than because there's no nudity and damnit, it's annoying that i can read everything but the kanji. Now that that is out of the way, I liked this volume. Unlike other mangaka I can think of , Morinaga Milk has a keen sense of characterization. Mariko ungoes a transformation throughout the story, and this volume in particular highlights that quite nicely. Sadly... Akko's character is barely sketched out in this book (it's until when the audience gets a chapter or two from her perspective that we start to rationalize who she is).
In addition, the art is quite nice and would have been fabulous if they had printed in B4 size and left the colored pages colorized. As it is, they desaturated them, and if I thought that was annoying when seen in Tokyopop or Viz, it's doubly so as seen in a real tankoubon. But still, there are some panels that are attractive enough to be passable.
The story is... probably its biggest drawback. In addition to the almost outlandish use of product advertising (I know for a fact there are a plethora of Real Simple-wannabe mags in Japan where they'd be more appropriate), and the truly sad way in which Mari is incapable of thinking for herself, the pacing is also quite trying. It seems that for every step forward the protagonist makes toward independence and emotional maturity, there are between 2 and 4 steps back in self-esteem. Also, as it's introduced in this book, the audience is incapable of understanding what Akko sees in Mari, besides being a My-Size Barbie. I do like Sugi and Tamami and I think they bring a much needed comic relief to the story, but of course they don't get their own stories.
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