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Written by Elizabeth Schweitzer Thursday, 05 June 2008 17:00

Four very hot (and very broke) guyshave struck the deal of a lifetime with their landlady: turn her reclusive niece, Sunako, into a "lady," and they can live rent free. There's only one problem; Sunako's going to fight to the death to keep her creepy Goth lifestyle!

 

 

178 pgs. b&w; $10.95 ea.

(W / A: Tomoko Hayakawa)

 

Sunako Nakahara is not your typical 15 year-old-girl. She has a famous jet-setting aunt, is a fantastic cook, and lives in a mansion with four of the most handsome boys in her high school: Kyohei, Takenaga, Yuki, and Ranmaru. She also wears sweats, hates make-up, loves slasher flicks, and her best friend is a skeleton named Josephine. And while Sunako would like nothing more than to be left alone in her dark and cob-webbed room of terror, her glamorous aunt is determined to get her to change her gloomy ways. Auntie Nakahara makes a devil's bargain with the cash-strapped boys who rent her mansion: turn Sunako into a "real lady" and they can live there rent free. Used to swaying any girl with a wink and snap of their fingers, the boys quickly learn that Sunako is a force to be reckoned with! Tantrums, bickering, bouts of mild insanity-will they ever get Sunako to put on a dress? Or are these pretty-boys headed for the street?

On the surface, The Wallflower seems to have a typical shoujo recipe: take at least four hot guys, add awkward adolescent girl with some extreme money situation (poor or rich), mix thoroughly with random (and often embarrassing) situations, add a dash of attraction to at least one of the guys for that extra kick and-Voilá! Teen romance magic. It's a familiar taste for many manga readers, and while always a reliable standby, writers who rely solely on such a tired plot structure can wind up with a book which lacks the originality to make it an enjoyable read. The Wallflower, delightfully, is not like this. Writer Hayakawa may have the basic shoujo structure, but she liberally infuses her comics with quirky storylines and a main female character I truly enjoy-something shocking in itself given the plethora of forgettable and even despised female leads in many manga. I was given volumes 13 and 14 to review, but I liked what I read so much that I went out and bought the first two volumes as well.

Sunako's character is enjoyable, if somewhat twisted since she seems to embody duality. For example, Sunako is a very strong character, who isn't easily pushed around, but can be very susceptible to other's comments about herself. She tends to be a vehement loner at home, but enjoys her friends at school. She doesn't seem to care about interacting much with the boys, but enjoys cooking for them. She hates her aunt's attempts to glamorize her, but loves her very dearly and wants to spend time with her. And, although Sunako is not as twittery as her classmates over her roomies and can bring their "conversion attempts" crashing down with a monosyllabic utterance, she still gets gushing nosebleeds (manga symbology for being super turned on) every time they turn on the charm. The end result is a series of very funny mini-stories in each volume, which exposes the characters to the reader so subtly it's almost a shock to realize that, although a little odd, Sunako is actually pretty normal, and very nice.

Just as I was impressed with Hayakawa's storytelling, so too did I enjoy her artwork in The Wallflower. I admit I was initially turned off by the covers, because her art style is so different from what I usually encounter in manga artists. Hayakawa's character's eyes are very large, but more unusual, they are fringed with very long eyelashes and are completely drawn in. It's a sort of über-realism, offset by the long and lanky bodies on most everyone. Her clothing is meticulous and innovative (especially glam Auntie's shiny duds. Sparkly!), and the overall panel layout is well done. The best part for me though, is how Hayakawa draws Sunako the majority of the time. The boys and other characters are usually very detailed, but Sunako is more often than not a super-deformed chibi figure. It took me forever to figure out that she was actually a lanky teen, and I can only guess it's a representation of how Sunako sees herself; plain, unobtrusive, and utilitarian. The shock then, comes whenever Hayakawa actually illustrates the whole Sunako, who is actually very pretty. Some of the best scenes, then, are the boys dragging a blood-drained chibi figure (those darn nosebleeds), or Hayakawa's other over-simplified figures shrieking in unison.

Tomoko Hayakawa's Wallflower is a great manga, and certainly the first gothic/horror/romantic-comedy manga I've read, but it's well worth your time. The characters are fun, the art is lovely and quirky, and the story is neither a dragging epic arc nor too-brief one shots. The main female character is likeable and multi-dimensional even if the boys are rather stereotypical, and their interaction and constant struggles with each other do not fall flat. I would definitely recommend this series. Frankly, there's not much to say beyond that. | Elizabeth Schweitzer