manga: Venus Capriccio Vol 1-5 (complete)

[meganbmoore]

Venus Capriccio is a manga that starts out extremely promisingly, nosedives into awful, then recovers enough to be...well, "acceptable," I suppose.

The first volume is great and subverts a lot of shoujo tropes and has interesting genderbender elements without being heavyhanded about either. The heroine, Tamaki, has four older brothers and is a tomboy, but unlike many tomboys she doesn't dislike or particularly object to "girly" or conventionally feminine things, it's just that, despite her mother's efforts, she strongly imprinted on her older brothers when it comes to behavior. Her best friend, Akira, is two years younger than her and as he's delicate and proper and sweet, Tamaki has always viewed him as something of a younger sister. They met through sharing piano lessons, and Akira is considered to be something of a prodigy. Other characters tend to tell Tamaki and Akira how boys and girls are supposed to act, but they don't tell each other that, or view each others behavior as unusual, and when a romantic rival who likes Akira shows up, she and Tamaki end up befriending each other.

Then we get to volume two, in which Akira spends most of the volume trying to remind Tamaki that she's actually a girl and things are different and dangerous for girls, and they need men around to protect them and tell them what to do. Unfortunately, the mangaka appears to agree with him. This largely goes away after volume two and the series improves, but not back to where it was in the first volume. Instead, the last three volumes largely focus on Akira's angsty past and his father and reassuring him that being small and delicate doesn't mean he isn't still a real man.

There are far worse shoujo series out there, but there are also far better. The frustrating thing about this one is that it COULD have been great, and started out that way, but quickly descended into mediocrity, never coming close to living up to its early promise.

Comments

[oyceter]

SIGH. Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction to the series. Also, still annoyed that Akira is genius pianist who exudes talent while Tamaki ends up saying her piano skills are not as good and she is more a dilettante.

[meganbmoore]

That was an annoying on the shoujo trope of the girl who studies and focuses forever and ever to get the top scores at school, only to always be #2, and the person who beats her is her love interest who doesn't put a fraction as much effort into it.

SUCH POTENTIAL. SUCH A LET DOWN.

But the potential makes me willing to at least check out other series by the mangaka, just in case.

[oyceter]

I hate that trope so much! (YES KARE KANO I AM STILL MAD AT YOU.)

[lacewood]

I really liked Hana to Kishi by the same mangaka (it had swordfights and cross-dressing and pivotal female friendships and a hero who was super supportive of the two main girls' ambitions) but what little I read of Venus Capriccio didn't really grab me and now I feel extra disappointed that nothing else by the mangaka seems to be as great...

(But I do recommend Hana to Kishi, if you're interested.)

[meganbmoore]

Yeah, that's the other series of hers that I was thinking about reading.

[coffeeandink]

I felt exactly the same way.

I should catch up on Hana no Kishi.

[meganbmoore]

It's funny, I remembered people liking it, then went and found all the writeups and comments I could and everyone pretty much said the same thing about liking it at first and then having all the same problems.

I do look forward to Hana no Kishi, though.