by Maki Murakami
There is a charm and sweetness to this manga that you don't find in mainstream American comics. This is a very mainstream manga; it is one of the top selling mangas in Japan, and now has an OAV and DVD versions available now in a Sunset Video near you. Virtually all the notable characters are eccentric. The protagonist, Shuichi is a messy-haired high school senior obsessed with techno music. With bad grades, limited social skills, and a crappy night job, you can't help but cheer for this ambitious abet often bumbling kid. Yuki Eiri, or "Eiri Yuki" if you prefer the traditional name ordering, is a different character in virtually every way. He is a paragon of cool. A successful romance writer in his early twenties, he is annoyingly posh and good looking. He meets Shuichi when he happens across lyrics of the budding musician scribbled on some notebook paper. Eiri advises Shuichi to learn a reliable trade since he is writing at a third grade level. The fun is that these two, who should have little connecting them beyond disdain and resentment, can't seem to stay apart. That is the "gravitation" in Gravitation. Warning: lots of plot twists, and if you're at all homophobic save yourself the stress and don't even touch this manga. All the same, this isn't gay literature; it's clearly written with a young hetro female readership in mind. The art is good (though a little inconsistent) but the writing is excellent. The writer has commentary on her own work in the volume which is a nice touch. As always with Tokyopop Japanese translations publications, the book keeps the right to left reading layout rather than flipping the art. |