Forum - View topicREVIEW: Absolute Boyfriend GN 1
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Haru to Ashura
 Posts: 617 Location: Termina |
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I think that this review was a little harsh..maybe becayse to much was expected from the title, or because the person reviewing it isn't exactly anywhere close to the target audience. I like Watase's work, but let's confess; her work has never, ever been very emotionally compelling or deep. Fushigi Yugi was a lot of melodrama in ancient pseudo-China, Ayashi was angry angstry melodrama, Imadoki is highschool melodrama, and Alice 19th is angsty highschool melodrama with fantasy elements. As Jadress said, Absolute Boyfriend is exactly what the title imples, "shameless girl-porn." Yu Watase's stories are always meant to be easy-breasy afternoon reads full of melodrama and little giggles. I think some of you are simply just taking her work too seriously. And with the title "Absolute Boyfriend", what did you expect?
All of Watase's art looks the same, and through you can see obvious improvements, I agree that she should occasionally shake it up. However, I can really understand at why she, and many other shoujo artists, haven't - and that's because CLAMP did. Though people still appreciate Clamp's newer work, it's common knowledge that Tsubasa, Angelic Layer, or xxxHolic don't hold a candle to Clover, Magic Knight Rayearth, and the amazing later volumes of X and RG Veda. As far as I know, fans don't hide the fact that they miss the old style. Other artists probably don't want their fans to get upset, so they're too afraid to change - so it's understandable why they wouldn't.
Agreed, and there's a lot of Tasuki clones running around too. The only defense I can offer regarding Tamahome is the fact that he's so darn generic looking. Tall, but not too tall. Dark eyes, dark hair, short hair. ...Wow, wait. I think I just described 1/5th of Japan's population. 
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Now your just pulling things out of your ass for the sake of argument (either than or your taste in manga is odd to say the least; seriously, AB over PK?). Her development is one of the most natural I've seen in shojo manga, and she has a hell of alot more depth than Riiko. So she chose modeling over school. Does that make her an idiot? Maybe, but the whole point of the manga was finding your own path in life and not choosing what's society dictates is your path. It's a theme that has been done to death, but Yawaza's writing once again makes it above average. Back to the subject, I will admit that Absolute Boyfriend is better than most of the shonen fantasies that it emulates, but I'm not terribly interested in softcore porn aimed at girls, so I wouldn't call it my thing in the first place. |
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Miaka chan
Posts: 11 Location: UK |
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First I just want to say I love Yuu Watase's work for VERY shallow reasons! I don't think Night looks anything like Tamahome, the artwork is too different from Fushigi Yuugi and Ceres, although he does look like every guy she's drawn since FY, but that is the point and the appeal of her works
I absolutely loved the fact that it is a role reversal from the norm and I can't say I even once thought of Chobits, infact the story that it reminded me of was Hand Maid May. I also felt from the first moment I read AB (I've been following it in Shojo Beat since last August), that it was about time there was a story about a normal girl who gets the chance of a gorgeous and faultless boyfriend, who's do anything and everything for her. I mean there are enough titles for guys like this, so why is it so wrong for this kind of story to be written for females. The thing that AB does best is it lets you lose yourself in a totally unrealistic story and leaves you dreaming of what you'd do if you got the chance for a Night doll of your own 
(And I can assure you, when he isn't needed my Night would be switched off and shoved in the cupboard ).
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midori kou
Posts: 469 |
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Night doesn't look too much like Tamahome. Different strokes and hair design is spikier than smooth... Personally Soushi looks more like our famed hero from FY. The interesting thing with Watase is that she can somehow redesign her characters to fit into a different universe and I kinda like that. They're like her personal actors. Besides, why people are picky whether a new character looks like an old character is beyond me. We get that A LOT from many mangaka like Ai Yazawa, Arina Tanemura, Akira Toriyama, Naoko Takeuchi, and CLAMP as well. You gotta remember that most artists refer to magazines, idols, etc. for their character designs. Of course they might end up looking the same. =/
As for the story, it's expected from Yuu Watase. That's what makes it her work. Sure it may seem "childish", but her target audience in Japan is teenagers. You don't get happy-go-lucky, easy-going manga quite often and that's what she supplies. The way that the story goes is linear and simple for a reason as well. Watase is very literal and trys to avoid tangents that don't serve well to the story. There's nothing complicated about these characters. She WANTS you to know they are this or they are that. Volume one of Absolute Boyfriend isn't the best part of the story. However, later on, it does get better IMO. |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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The only Yuu Watase manga (that I've read, which is all the U.S. released stuff) I would characterize as 'happy-go-lucky, easy-going' are Imadoki! and Absolute Boyfriend. Fushigi Yuugi may be somewhat easygoing in the earlier portion, but it certainly isn't in the later portions. Ceres: Celestial Legend/Ayashi no Ceres and Alice 19th are both very dark and anything but happy-go-lucky. |
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minakichan
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Oho, but you know what's even worse, Zac? That this actually doesn't happen--spoiler[ by the end of the series, Riiko STILL feels that Night is her "#1 boyfriend" EVEN after he's kicked the bucket. So while I suppose we could say that Watase is "defying cliches" (yeah, right), she's practically SUPPORTING the idea that girls should believe in their stupid, unrealistic fantasies. Well, victory to the fangirls.] |
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Firegirl789
Posts: 2 Location: CA |
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I LIKE Watase's artwork a lot...but the characters are really generic looking....but thats okay! I read one installment of Ab. Boyfriend and i really enjoyed it! It seems like a fun, relaxing manga from all the intense bloodthirsty gore I've been readin lately....spoiler from FY 9 spoiler[(they never should have killed Nuriko, i agree!!!)]
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.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
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I thought the art should've gotten higher than a C, but I see what you mean by needing new character designs. My first impression of the manga wasn't too great, and since I don't read a lot of shoujo, I wasn't sure if the designs were boring or if it was just me. I don't think I like those types of plots, and AB seemed to pale even more against Nana, which I grew to really like after a few chapters. For me, there just didn't seem to be a lot going on in the plot. I just can't connect with the characters, and why does Soshi even care for such a silly girl? I just didn't get it.
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hiimrisa
Posts: 14 |
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I guess this wasn't the best manga ever. I think the only reason I read it was because of Soushi's character. Inthe beginning, I didn't like reading it because the main character seemed shallow. She turned up being a kind person. Someone said earlier that most Shoujo main chracters are like that. It's true. It just shows how shallow this world is sometimes. It has to be exagerrated anyways.
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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Plus, characters sometimes need room to grow and mature. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15367 |
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I don't really see how Riiko is shallow, compared to, say, Nana K. I mean she doesn't sleep or flirt around, she wants a boyfriend who's balanced in terms of his qualities, and she doesn't take advantage of her friends to get what she wants. (Which is more than can be said for other characters in the story.) Immature? Maybe. Naive? Likely. But not shallow.
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aluria
 Posts: 367 Location: New Westminster, B.C., Canada |
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I acutally like the series. Sure it isn't as good as Ayashi no Ceres or Fushigi Yugi but it has its merits. I do I agree though that Yu Watase needs to create more original looking characters although its great that so many are hot guys. The series is definitely not A worthy but I think C+ B would be the right rating. There is acutally as short series by Yu Watase that I think is quite good and should get licensed: Epotoransu! Mai.
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kirtai
 Posts: 10 |
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Geez, how many of you people are actually girls? Just like I don't assume my opinion is valid on say Dragonball Z, or Samurai Champloo, I don't think male satisfation was intended by the author of Absolute Boyfriend. For the record, I'm 25, which is still young enough to *squee* occasionally. Boys don't *squee*, btw. That makes a difference. In my 8 or so years of manga consumption, I've pretty much decided to seperate my shoujo into two categories. One is the melodramatics, like Angel Sanctuary or Mars, and the other is the *squee* manga. Choice two is like a happy shot. I read a volume if I need to be injected with some happiness. Absolute Boyfriend goes into this category, and while it is a little early to judge, it seems to fit in just fine.
Now, I realize that some manga transcend this line (Nana isn't one of them, it's strictly typeA), such as Fruits Basket, and that some manga are able to appeal to males and females, Kenshin for example. But sometimes it is best if the material is honed for a specific audience. I adore that it is the female version of Chobits. I complained the entire time I was reading that thing that I wanted to see it from the other angle. I think Riko has the potential to be complex (who would have called Miaka complex on reading the first volume?). I think the message has the potential to be one of realism - real guys are better than perfect ones, which is a lesson a lot of teenage girls need to learn. So, my request is to ANN - please let the target audience do reviews, because it really does matter. And no, I wouldn't have bought it anyways because I am a rapid YW fan. I usually accuse her of most of the criticism leveled at her in the review. But not this time. This one may be a little different. P.S. Brad Pitt looks the same in every damn movie he's in, but I still like watching! |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Are you kidding or are you trapped in some kind of sexist vaccum where only the assumed target gender is allowed to critique certain manga? Because that assertion is ridiculous. I assure you I (and many other men like me) are just as capable of critiquing shojo manga as any woman. I've been reading manga for a long, long, long time now and I've read all manner of titles, including all of the shojo titles you've listed there and many more. I'm aware that Absolute Boyfriend is intended to be simple lightweight fare, but on that level it fails. What you're suggesting is because AB is "squee" manga (I'm not sure if you could have come up with a more obnoxious way to describe it but I'd rather you not try) that only girls should be allowed to write a review of it because "only they'll understand it". Believe you me, I know exactly what the appeal of this manga is supposed to be. Anyone who's been reading manga long enough can see through it like saran wrap. It's the same as understanding what the appeal of Maxim magazine is to college-aged men. You don't have to actually BE a college-aged male to understand exactly what's happening with Maxim. I am perfectly capable of recognizing something as pandering fluff for squealing teenage girls. I'm also capable of recognizing when said pandering fluff is good or bad. I don't need female reproductive parts to do that, thank you very much. Think about it this way: when your local newspaper's movie critic reviews chick flicks and kids' movies, despite not being a child or a woman, do you write him letters when he pans one of these films, asking him "from now on let a woman or a child review these films"? I'm going to go ahead and guess that no, you don't do this. |
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.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
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