A Devil and Her Love Song

This review is a little more SPOILERIFIC than most of them I write.  Be warned.

Title:  A Devil and Her Love Song
Japanese Title:  Akuma to Love Song
Mangaka:  Miyoshi Toumori
Length:  13 (Complete)
English Translation?  Yes.  4 volumes so far by Viz Media.
Demo/Genre:  Shoujo/Slice-of-Life/Romance

How did I hear about it?  I noticed it on Viz's new releases and thought I would give it a try.

After being expelled from an elite school and transferring to a new school, Maria Kawai's blunt nature immediately makes enemies of her new classmates.  However, her beautiful singing voice and love for the hymn "Amazing Grace" catch the eyes of friends Yusuke Kanda and Shin Meguro.  But is their friendship enough to convince her classmates that she isn't the devil they assume her to be?

Whenever Viz Media licenses a new series, I test it out.  This series already had a handicap since it's a high school romance.  Given its predictable nature, it's not exactly my favorite genre.  Nevertheless, I looked it up online and read the first chapter.  It seemed interesting enough, so I began to collect the volumes as they were released here in NA.  Volume 4 was just released here on August 7th, and after reading it, I decided that I was really quite fond of the series, so I headed online to read the rest of it.  What I could at least.  Though the series is actually complete, the scanlations are a bit behind.  I'm all caught up now, and I'm ready to review the series.

I suppose I'll start with Maria.  So many shoujo titles out there (especially high school romances) are plagued with weak heroines.  I've read (and enjoyed, more or less) High School Debut and Imadoki, and both of those suffered from a bland, cookie-cutter heroine.  Kaichou wa Maid-sama, on the other hand, is one of my most adored series, despite its setting.  I chalk that up to the fact that it has such a unique and strong female lead.  That's exactly what swayed me here.  Maria is certainly no Misaki, but she stands head and shoulders above the majority of her brethren.  Her serious and frank nature is refreshing.  I love that she's not the least bit dumb, and she's quick to realize it when she falls in love with Shin (for the record, I absolutely hate heroines who bumble about wondering why the hell their heart speeds up when they're near a certain guy).  She says exactly what's on her mind, and as the series progresses, she learns to be a little gentler to respect others' feelings.  It's nice to see a heroine who learns as she goes along.  Also, I'd like to add that I loved her design.  Sometimes when she was wrapped up in her winter coat, I could almost believe that she was some glamorous actress who stepped out of 1950s or 60s Hollywood.  She had an "old" beauty to her, and I loved that.

Her love interests were also pretty well done.  Yusuke, at first, came across as a bright and bubbly idiot who was too nice for his own good, but then his serious side starts to shine though, and I took a liking to him.  Shin, however, stole my heart.  If you've read my other reviews, then you know I love a good tsundere character.  He's not the perfect embodiment like say, Ren Tsuruga (of Skip Beat) or something, but he's pretty solid.  Naturally, I was thrilled when Maria chose him.  And then the ball dropped...

Enter Anna, Maria's "friend" from her previous school.  Just when I was thinking that ADaHLS would dance around the usual high school romance tropes, Toumori-sensei drops a big one right into the middle of her series.  Anna is a crappy and petty villainess.  Nothing is more frustrating than seeing the couple you're rooting for being pulled apart by one selfishly jealous brat.  Maria accidentally presses "Send" and thus texts her confession to Shin's phone, which Anna happens to have at the time.  What does she do?  Replies in the negative, then hurls his phone in the river.  Yeah.  Really mature, asshole.  I mean, look at Misaki and Usui (Maid-Sama).  Nothing anybody did was gonna come between them.  What about Rei and Kira (Mars)?  Nothing doin'.  And Mars even had a great villain who was truly sick and twisted, and still, nothing was gonna stop them.  After that frustrating scene, I loved Maria all the more, since she decided that wasn't good enough, and she wanted to hear Shin's answer face to face.  Of course, things can't be that simple though.  Noooo, Maria has something really effed up that happened when she was small, and she repressed the memory.  Anna is all too happy to tell Shin about this and explain to him about how being held by someone could possibly make all those painful memories come back.  Won't she be better off alone and not remembering?  This is when I could really kick Shin right squah in the nuts.  Really?  You're gonna listen to that bs?  Yeah, you find out its true, but what does Yusuke say?  "I don't need to know the details.  If she remembers, then I'll stay smiling by her side."  What does Kurusu say?  "If she remembers, I'll be her shoulder to cry on."  And still Shin won't budge and give in to his feelings.  Look man, learn from your friends.  If she remembers, she remembers.  Just be there for her.

Aside from the frustrating romance, Anna was still shit.  She kept trying to blame Maria for how she (Anna) was acting.  "I hate myself because of you!"  "You corrupted me!"  Yeah, okay, so no one is responsible for you except for you, bitch.  Also, I really didn't feel that Maria was doing anything wrong.  Anna lost her voice, and while everyone else ostracized her because of that, Maria stayed by her side and tried to help her express herself.  What thanks did that get her?  "You put things more beautifully than I ever could, and it made me feel ugly."  Anna pissed me off, yo.

Ok, so I just went on a huge, spoiler-filled rant on this series.  I probably made it sound like I hated it.  Actually, I'm still quite fond of it.  I will continue to collect it as volumes are released, and I'll keep on reading when new chapters are scanlated.  I think this series made me so angry because I liked it.  Toumouri-sensei did a lot of things right, but she did a few things wrong, too.  This series tries to swim against the current, but sometimes it finds itself tugged along by some of the same, predictable plot developments that we've seen in so many other high school romances.

Oh, and one other thing, I loved the presence of music in the series.  I would love more scenes of Maria singing to Shin's accompaniment.

Naruto 598 & Bleach 504 *SPOILERS*

This post contains spoilers.  Lots and lots of spoilers.  You have been warned.  

Naruto Ch. 598

Ok, with a last page like this, if Kishimoto-sensei doesn't finish out this reveal in the next chapter, I'ma fly all the way to Japan to administer a good old-fashioned ass-whoopin'.  For a while now, my number one suspect for Tobi's true identity has been Izuna Uchiha (that's Madara's bro if you have lost track of the names), so all this hinting that he might actually be Obito... Hmm... a girl has to think on this.

Ok, so here's the criteria that I used when coming up with my guess for Izuna.  Oh, and I'm sure that people have been discussing this in forums all over the interwebs, but I cbf to look them up, so sorry if I'm just rehashing things that have been talked about a zillion times.

1.  Tobi must be someone who has had some sort of mention in the story.  I mean, that would be some pretty shitty writing if Tobi loses the mask, and he's all, "Oh hey!  I'm Bob.  Konnichiwa, bitches!"  So, it has to be someone we've heard of.  Otherwise, the reveal has no impact.

2.  Tobi is someone who is presumed dead.  I think the characters in the story would have noticed someone mysteriously disappearing every time Tobi shows up to wreak some havoc.  Also, again we have the impact factor.

3.  Tobi was alive when the real Madara was.  I based this one on the fact that he knew so much about Madara's life.  Maybe that one was a bit of a stretch, but I couldn't really discard it since it pointed to Izuna, which seemed likely enough.  I guess this one isn't an absolute must though.

So anyway, Kishimoto-sensei seems to be pointing the finger at Obito Uchiha now.  Of course, this could be misdirection.  I suppose we'll find out soon enough.  If Tobi is Obito, I think I kinda like that.  It could open some new doors.  It would be an interesting development for Kakashi.  Not to mention that I'm curious as to what could make Obito go all "down with existence."  Hopefully, this next chapter will answer a lot of questions.  Though I wonder...maybe he'll putz around with the next chapter and save the reveal for the big 600.  Ya think?


Bleach Ch. 504

Ah, so finally we see a little bit of Yamamoto's and Sasakibe's pasts.  Well, you know what?  Too effin' late, Kubo-sensei!  Sasakibe is dead, and I can't say that I gave two shits when he died.  This would have been so much more meaningful a couple hundred chapters ago.  Sasakibe was probably the most under-developed character in the whole series.  Hell, I don't even remember his name actually being said in the manga until he friggin' died.  Stupid... Anyway, I guess it was interesting to see this stuff, even if it was horribly late.

I'm so ready for Bleach to get on with it.  I mean, the arc with Ginjou and the Execution was promising.  I thought we were about to find out all about Isshin.  Now, all that has been left in the dust in exchange for... Quincies?  That miraculously survived the purge?  For centuries?  Undetected?  That are worlds above even Captain-level shinigami?  Kind of a stretch, don't you think?  Granted, Kubo-sensei didn't plan this stuff from the start.  I remember hearing somewhere that he wanted the series to end with Aizen's death after the great battle at Karakura Town, but like Akira Toriyama with Dragon Ball, he was pressured into continuing the series.  Which brings me to another point.  He intended for Aizen to die at the end of that battle, not be locked up for 20,000 years.  I think the fact that Kubo-sensei left Aizen alive is significant.  He has to have a hand in all this, doesn't he?

Anyway, I've rambled enough.  Tune in next week for more inane blabber!

Unfinished

I have about three unfinished reviews hanging around my word processor.  One for Imadoki, as I was continuing my alphabetical way through the series that I've already read.  One for Kekkaishi, which I started right after I finished reading it.  Then one for Dawn of the Arcana.

Then there's the little project I started with commenting on the new chapters that were being posted...  Yeah,   what happened with that is that I have too many series!  I can't keep up with all that!  Maybe I'll just limit it to Naruto and Bleach.  Maybe a few of my favorite shoujo as well....Skip Beat, Gakuen Alice, and Kaichou wa Maid-sama.  Yeah...that sounds good.  That's only five.  Let's try that.  We'll see how long that lasts.

I'm off all day this Friday.  Maybe I'll get off my lazy ass and try to finish a few reviews.  No promises though!  Haha.  What a terrible little blogger I am!

In another news, I'm finally reading GTO!  I started collecting it way back in high school when it was first being published in America.  I bought the first six volumes, then I just kinda stopped.  Now, about ten years later, I'm finally reading the whole thing.  I'm near the end now.  It's been so funny!  I think it could potentially knock Yankee-kun to Megane-chan out of the top spot on the "Funniest Manga I've Read" list.