Alichino, Volume 3

I have to agree with the other reviewers...I loved the art but felt the story was merely a vehicle for it. I wanted it to go somewhere but like a unworthy suitor I just hung around the beautiful creature. That is until vol. 3 which is amazing. Boom the plot kicks in. Now it all makes sense to me. Don't get me wrong you should read all the books. This lady tells her story in her own way and its worth the wait when she does.

I gave Alichino a bad review for the first book-I stand by that review, because it was an honest appraisal. Beautiful, barely any plot. Kind of boring...but I bought the second book anyways, because I can't stand leaving a series unfinished and figured I could use the art as a reference anyways. (Gorgeous...just gorgeous.) I'm not going to comment much on the second book-it was a lot like the first, constant mulling over what the Kusabi and Alchino were, what they meant to people... it sounded more like some kind of social debate than a manga. Interestingly, though, something actually happens, and Tsurugi and Ryoko have to set out and finally start thier adventure. That is the prelude to Alichino 3. And number three is... really good. Essentially, the story is about Ryoko and Myobi's past-it's dark, and adds an extra, complex dimension to at least 3 of the characters. I was very impressed- the mind-blowing gorgeousness finally seemed well-placed, having a story that could keep up. Plus it matched the situation very well, with undertones of obsessive desire.The dialogue needed to be a little less riddled with circuituous detail (like always), but this time the rambling poeticness sometimes hit a bull's eye with emotional impact. The artwork still can get carried away with being crazy beautiful. It makes it too difficult to feel the tension of fight scenes. Action mangas use speed lines and obscuration of limbs to relay speed and intensity, but because every panel looks like it should be a chapter cover, Shurei never sacrifices detail for movement effects. It's not so big you'd be annoyed by it, especially since anyone who picks up this book is probably going to be more intersted in the art than technicals. All in all- I can't help but feel a bit sad that the first 2 books were so bland story-wise compared to this one. What's more, this book is not the end- the next one will be. (Ignore all the people saying not to bother because the series is discontinued- Shurei herself said that though her first publisher bankrupted, leading to a hiatus, she's going to release the fourth book as a complete volume. Tokyopop has agreed to import it to the States, and the wait probably won't be that bad. After all, it took years for her to do the first 3 books as it was.) Assuming that the quality of 3 will carry on to 4,that would make about 50% of the manga a bore, the other half fascinating. What's one to do? Well, if you're a person fond of fashion and beauties, like me...you might as well buy the first two and consider them artbooks. They all have awesome posters. Then you can get the rest and be happy that there's much, much more to the pretty pictures.