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Absolute Boyfriend: v. 2 - Yuu Watase
by shroud
In this sequel, 16 year old Riiko Izawa finds herself still short of the cash she needs to pay for Night, the android boyfriend she accidentally ordered over the internet while thinking she was playing a game. The deal she has worked out whereby she takes him to school so that the manufacturer can collect data in order to improve their ... services isn't making her enough, and to complicate matters Night himself is rather naive when it comes to understanding just what the hormonal teens at the high school are really on about. For Riiko, this impacts her in more ways than one. Even her best friend has the hots for Riiko's new boyfriend, and along with other classmates form a fan club for him. Unfortunately things get out of hand and Riiko finds herself on the receiving end of some physical expressions of jealousy.
This sets up the love triangle that underpins the plot for the rest of the series, as neighbor Soshi comes to her aid. One thing leads to another and Riika discovers that Soshi is in love with her. He decides to do his best to help Riiko find her way, and Riiko is thrilled to be able to earn money working at the same place Soshi works part time at. Everything is not all roses, however, as Night all to quickly realises his failings and inability to have helped Riiko out and to have prevented or stop the attack. Coming to understand that if he is to be a real boyfriend, he has to step up, he himself finds a job, with unforseen consequences. Will Night and Riiko live happily ever after and pay off her debt, or is Soshi going to ride away into sunset with the girl?
Yuu Watase's gift for writing gentle coming of age type romances is well showcased here. The art is superb while the plot thickens and the characters gain even more depth. Riiko's own shyness and her innate sense of inadequacy propel the plot forward. Far from merely wringing her hands and having the male leads vie over her and rescue the distressed damsel, we get a far more satisfactory damsel who while she is indeed distressed, squares her jaw, lifts her chin, rolls her proverbial sleeves up, and just gets on with it. Recognising that a large part of coming of age is not just the getting of a boyfriend, but the continued development of self and the taking of personal responsibility, Watase gives us a cast that do just that and all without moralising or being overt about it.
It doesn't hurt that the characters are readily identifiable either. We all have known a Riiko, a girl who believes herself average and not worth a second glance compared to more "glamourous" girls in her peer group, the boy next door Soshi who hesitates to put himself forward, but when he does, goes that extra mile, and then there is Night. He may be an android, but he is the poster boy for the sweet and naive guy who is sweet, gorgeous and oblivious to it all. He is also the unobtainable dream: he worships his girlfriend, cooks for her, cleans for her... All together it makes for a lovely ensemble cast for a romantic fantasy, which of course, this is.
At around 200 pages, it's not too long a book for dipping into and with all the eyecandy depicted within the pages, is perfect for a bit of a light reading snack. The series does feature some mild nudity and sexual references, so it's not for younger teens or the very shy. It also is only available as a paperback edition, so be advised that you will have to buy a physical copy and not just purchase and download in your preferred e-reader platform. The RRP on the cover is currently £6.99 but there are so many copies out there that you can pick it from Amazon for as little as 1 p plus postage, so it's not going to exactly break the bank to collect this six volume series. It's well worth the shelf space.
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Absolute Boyfriend: v. 2 - Yuu Watase
by ROMEHEREWECOME
Shojo Beat
A sister Manga publisher of viz and Shonen Jump, aimed at the older teen and female demographic, please read my review on Absolute Boyfriend volume one to find out more information.
Yuu Watase
Yuu Watase is a popular Japanese and female manga artist who was born and raised in Osaka. Her ... hobbies include listening to heavy metal music and reading. Her debut manga was called Pyjama de Ojama which translates as An Intrusion in Pyjamas. Lately though she has been into health and personal welling.
Plot
Riiko Izawa is a 16 year old high school student who has become fed up from being rejected by every guy she asks out. Through some form of madness however she becomes involved with Gaku Namikiram( a mysterious cute looking) sales men for the Kronos Heaven sex shop line. In return for rescuing his mobile phone he offers Riiko the chance to order a life like male order boyfriend android to fulfil her lack of boyfriend woes.
Unable to pay off the entire fee for her new boyfriend (Night)whom Riiko has become quite attached to she must take him to school to train him emotionally to collect data to improve the service for other customers in the future.
Night being perfect in every way a boyfriend could be still lacks common sense and knowledge of how the real world works as well as the complicated feelings of teenagers.
Soshi (in the picture) also 16 and Riikos childhood male friend and neighbour for years becomes suspicious and jealous of Night and thinks he has missed his chance to convey his love to her which he has kept a secret for several years.
Chapters
Act7: School Trip-Typical to the manga and anime industry a school trip is a pretty customary method in Japanese stories for things to go array, and they do. Some of the girls at Riiko's school form a fan club for Night and try to steal him away from her.
Act8: Friends-Riika's supposed best friend Mika turns on her and sets the fan club on her which results in Riika being physically assaulted. Being naïve and lacking general knowledge about the real world falls a bit flat in this chapter as Soshi comes to her rescue tis time and Night gets left out in the cold.
Act9: Thank You-Riika's supposed best friend Mika gets her comeuppance as the fan club catches on to her scheme.
Act10: The Girl You Love- To earn more money, Riiko ends up getting a job as a waitress in the same restaurant Soshi works in. Being pretty hopeless Soshi has to help make amends for her errors the entire evening. Night becomes alienated further from Riiko as Soshi gets to spend more time with her and starts to admit his true feelings, something which Night can't yet comprehend.
Act11: The Kiss-Feeling dejected and useless, Night joins an escort club to help Rikko to make money. However one of the girls from the club becomes too friendly with Night resetting him back to a new owner once more meaning that he has no memory of Riiko and she still has to pay pack the full amount even if she is no longer his owner. To make matters worse Soshi admits his full feelings into a full embrace and passionate kiss which Riiko is totally unprepared for confusing and aggravating her stress further.
Act12: Ex-girlfriend-Night no longer remembers Riiko and tells her to get lost at their next meeting, with no friends and with relationships with Soshi up in the air and unclear Riiko has nowhere to turn to. Thus finishes the volume on a clever cliff hanger which encourages you to buy the next volume.
Price
The UK price for this manga is £5.99 per volume being fairly recent however you could probably shave a few pence off of that price if you use amazon.
Extras
-Artist profile and extra manga advertisements.
Overall
A little over lovey dovey, dramatic and predictable but it is still a very interesting read even if it is fairly typical to the Shojo Beat brand. It's really not one for the guys however. It's also not as deep and complex as some of the other manga I prefer to read, but I do like a good love story as I am female after all.
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Absolute Boyfriend: v. 1 - Yuu Watase
by ROMEHEREWECOME
Shojo Beat
"Shojo Beat is a shojo (girls) manga magazine formerly published in North America by Viz Media. Released in June 2005 as a sister magazine to Shonen Jump, it featured serialized chapters from six manga series, as well as articles on Japanese culture, manga, anime, fashion and beauty. After its initial launch, ... Shojo Beat underwent two redesigns, becoming the first English anthology to use the cyan and magenta ink tones common to Japanese manga anthologies. Viz launched related "Shojo Beat" imprints in its manga, Japanese light novel, and anime divisions to coordinate with the magazine's contents."
Yuu Watase
Yuu Watese is a female manga artist born in Japan in 1970 well known for the popular series Fushigi Yugi and Alice 19th; she is one of the most popular girl's manga artists around today.
Plot
After being crushed by yet another rejection Riiko Izawa confides in a weird cosplaying handsome young man who can promise her an absolute boyfriend in return for her recovering his mobile phone. Much to her shock days later a fully naked unconscious young man falls out of a crate delivered to her home with an instruction booklet. It's just lucky her parents are on a long holiday as once this sleeping beauty awakes he has nothing but love making on his mind.
Characters
Riiko Izawa-A 16 year old high school girl who is obsessed with increasing the size of her bust and obtaining a boyfriend. After being rejected by boys her own age in school numerous times she takes a chance on a mail order boyfriend through details obtained from a mysterious young man who she returns a lost phone too. Little does she know that this mail order boyfriend is really a prototype sex toy for bored housewives and can cost almost 1 million dollars which needs to be paid up in instalments otherwise an immediate return may result, unlike chobits this hunk is a pricey find.
Night Tenjo- Age 0. After being activated al he wishes to do is to protect and love Riiko as he has been programmed today but he soon goes above and beyond this duty as he has super human strength and is an awesome cook to boot. He is also tall blond and handsome, what more could you want in a man?
Soshi Asamoto-Age 16 Riiko's childhood friend for years, he is her next door neighbour and also pretty darn handsome, tall, dark hair, glasses and even has a job while able to maintain good grades in school. It is very apparent from the first volume that he has secret feelings about Riiko which she is totally oblivious to.
Ishizeki-Age 16 and living with Soshi , he was the last boy to reject Riiko before she received Night. I have to say although he is handsome he is also an arrogant jerk who strings girls along and talks about them behind their back so Riiko probably had a lucky escape.
Kronos Heaven sales man- A weird, mysterious, seemingly cosplaying, dark and handsome young man responsible for distributing Night and similar items, he disappears as soon as he arrives.
Chapters
Act1: The Lover Shop-Riiko gets rejected for the last time, finds a phone owned by a Kronos sales man and purchases a mail order boyfriend with all the features.
Act2: Three-Day Boyfriend- Riiko has the naked unconscious Night fall on top of her as she opens the package from Kronos. Riiko tries to hide him from the neighbours and get on with daily life when she comes cross Ishizeki whom insults her in front of a group of his friends. Somehow Night feels what Riiko feels even when miles away and punches Ishizeki's lights out and takes Riiko home. It seems Rikko is becoming the object of many a man's attention however as after hearing what has happened Soshi also gives Ishizeki a wallop.
Act3: The purchase-Riiko and Night have a full day together and she realises she will miss him when her free 3 day trial expires. She is half considering keeping him when the Kronos sales man returns to inform her that he will cost 1 million dollars.
Act4: The Milion-Dollar Man- Riiko must pay 300 dollars to the Kronos Company within one week otherwise Night will be taken away. Riiko and Night get involved in a seedy underground cosplay strippers club.
Act5: Dinner- Soshi gets up the courage to invite Riiko round for a dinner date and it makes us think did Rikko order a mail order boyfriend too hastily as her heart starts beating quickly and feelings seem to be mutual.
Act6: Let's Go To School!-Kronos end up taking pity on Rikko and instead of paying for him she must teach Night how to become human and show emotion to improve the range for other customers. This involves Night going to school with her and much jealousy and suspicion by other class members ensuing. So we have to ask where her parents are when all this is happening.
Style
The storyline is a little like Chobits by Clamp except with a little gender reversal and it does have aspects of art and character development like Yuu Watase's previous work though more modern ideas such as internet purchasing and mobile phones.
Extras
The first Volume has an artists profile, manga advertisments and a preview of a full length novel called Kamikaze Girls which isn't bad considering the manga is only £5.99 at retail value.
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