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manga: Castle of Dreams (complete)
Apr. 28th, 2009 01:59 amThis manga is two short story collections-Castle of Dreams and The Room Where an Angel Lives-by Masami Tsuda (Kare Kano). Castle of Dreams is three fantasy stories connected by a sorcerer who grants people one wish, and The Room Where the Angel Lives is mostly straightforward high school romances, excepting the title story. The title story is set in England in the early 19th century and is about young boy (I’m guessing 11-13-ish) who is raising a six-year-old girl he found on the streets three years older. His intent to marry her was cute and innocent until we found out that no, really, he’s in love with the six-year-old, and she reciprocates. Including a kiss. Shall we agree not to speak of it again?
Tsuda’s fantasy art and designs in Castle of Dreams were lovely, and the world was interesting (I especially liked the island priestess who was descended from a mermaid. Tradition demanded that the priestesses marry their brothers to keep the blood strong and honor the mermaid and the human she loved, but she and her brother really weren’t big on that idea.*) and I liked how none of the endings were quite conventional. I think I would have really liked this as a longer work, but it never quite has a chance to take off.
All the stories in the two collections, though, were a bit too into their seriousness and drama for me, and not long enough to let me get caught up in it. One of Kare Kano’s strengths is how it inserts the zany humor to keep the drama from getting to be too much. The only exception to “too much drama, not enough lightness” is Awkward Relationship about a spazzy bookworm who doesn’t know how to act around her childhood friend now that they’re in high school and he’s popular. Naturally, it was my favorite.
*Though, another story has a pair of half brothers who are so ridiculously slashy (though I’m starting to get the feeling that the mangaka may be a bit odd when it comes to slash) that I spent at least half the story utterly convinced that one would eventually be revealed to be a girl (optional) and that they didn’t have the same father after all. All else aside, these two stories reassured me that despite Angel Sanctuary and Cantarella real and/or implied fictional incest is still very very much not my thing, despite Asia’s love for it.
Tsuda’s fantasy art and designs in Castle of Dreams were lovely, and the world was interesting (I especially liked the island priestess who was descended from a mermaid. Tradition demanded that the priestesses marry their brothers to keep the blood strong and honor the mermaid and the human she loved, but she and her brother really weren’t big on that idea.*) and I liked how none of the endings were quite conventional. I think I would have really liked this as a longer work, but it never quite has a chance to take off.
All the stories in the two collections, though, were a bit too into their seriousness and drama for me, and not long enough to let me get caught up in it. One of Kare Kano’s strengths is how it inserts the zany humor to keep the drama from getting to be too much. The only exception to “too much drama, not enough lightness” is Awkward Relationship about a spazzy bookworm who doesn’t know how to act around her childhood friend now that they’re in high school and he’s popular. Naturally, it was my favorite.
*Though, another story has a pair of half brothers who are so ridiculously slashy (though I’m starting to get the feeling that the mangaka may be a bit odd when it comes to slash) that I spent at least half the story utterly convinced that one would eventually be revealed to be a girl (optional) and that they didn’t have the same father after all. All else aside, these two stories reassured me that despite Angel Sanctuary and Cantarella real and/or implied fictional incest is still very very much not my thing, despite Asia’s love for it.
