Hotel Africa Vol 1

[meganbmoore]

I wish to lodge a complaint. Ok, not a complaint, but the back cover blurb said that our narrator was Elvis. I…I thought they meant Elvis Elvis. Even though they, you know, didn’t really claim that. I just assumed. Somebody comment and say they thought the same.

Anyway!

July, Elvis, and Ed are three former film students who met in school and are now struggling to make it in the film industry. There seems to be one of those OT3-ish-not-quite-triangles going on between them, with Ed in love with Elvis, Elvis in love with July, and July being pretty closemouthed on the subject. (All this is set up in the first chapter.) Our main character, Elvis, is the son of a small town girl from Utah named Adelaide who met her first love, a black Elvis impersonator, when she ran away to Vegas one summer. However, he died in an accident a year later, and she went back home with their son. Several years later, she suggested to her mother that they turn their house into a hotel, since it was so big.

Their first guest is a mysterious young man named Geo, who declares himself to be in love with Adelaide, and becomes a permanent resident of the hotel. After Geo, more guests come pouring in, each a little different from the last, but none staying long.

The series, so far, is effectively two slice-of-life stories, split between the modern story of July, Elvis and Ed’s friendship and troubles (and, in this volume, how they met) and the world at Hotel Africa as viewed through Elvis’s four-year-old eyes. Little Elvis, incidentally, is devoted to redefining the word “precocious,” and is cute enough to squish. While I find the modern story interesting and definitely want to see what happens there (this volume focuses mostly on July’s issues with her famous screenwriter mother, and how the three became friends) I find myself much more interested in Hotel Africa itself, and it’s residents and visitors. While I sincerely hope the series ends with something along the lines of Elvis going home for the holidays to a happily married Geo and Adelaide, I have a feeling that the manhwa will go in the angst and loss direction instead. 

Also, while Tokyopop gives this a higher price than most of their manga ($12.99)  it's in a larger size, has 14 color pages, and is around 250 pages.  I thought it was a Dark Horse book when I saw it at the store, until I spotted the logo.  (It also seems like it'd fit in more with Dark Horse of Del Rey's lineups, but whatever.)
 

Comments

oo. do keep me posted

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

I'm reading the manhwa creator's other work, Fever, and am enjoying it muchly.

Re: oo. do keep me posted

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Tell me about Fever. It seems Tokyoop has licensed several of her books, but I can't find a lot about them.

Re: oo. do keep me posted

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

Fever is a bit of an Alice in Wonderland/Outsiders story - the first volume is of course all set up of the world. There's two separate stories/relationships going on at the same time, and at the end of volume one, they intersect. It concerns a girl named Hyung In who is a bit of a black sheep by choice - she's seen the hypocrisy of society and decides she doesn't want to take part of it (whether it's the hypocrisy of her family or the bullying girls at school) she simply detaches from the mainstream - she's not exactly passive, but she doesn't participate. All of this changes when a girl she knows - someone more than an acquaintance, but not really a friend, commits suicide. Hyung decides to quit school and on the way, she meets a strange boy on the bus..... *cue the sound of destiny* who tells her to meet him at a place called Fever.

The second part concerns the relationship between two boys Ji-Jun and Ah-In, who are best friends. Ji-Jun won't stop falling in love with every girl he sees. Ah-In exasperatedly fixes him up after every fight he gets into.

And they all meet at Fever.

Yeah, it's terribly vague, but I didn't want to spoil you for anything big (though it's mostly character introduction and world building.) I hope the second volume comes out soon.

I just got volume 9 of Her Majesty's Dog and .... I'm seriously contemplating buying the Japanese raw of 11 just to see how it all goes down.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Off-topic: I found a copy of Frostflower and Thorn at the used bookstore the other day and just finished re-reading it. Ya wanna swap for your second copy of Frostflower and Windbourne? :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Most certainly! (especially since the bookstore here doesn't have it...)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yay! telophase14 at gmail dot com for address-swapping. If you're like me and have lost my address immediately after using it. XD (I don't think I ever got yours.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have random stacks of stuff from A-Kon sitting around, including your address/directions, but the address I have no longer applies...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hah! That's true. I completely forgot. XD

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

I've been wibbling about whether or not to buy this (it's not in my library system). Can I take this as a recommendation, despite the cruel and misleading Elvis deception?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes, once you get past the fact that you go in totally expecting THE WRONG ELVIS(if you're me...) it's quite good. I don't know if it'll be a favorite, but I very much want to know what happens.

Also, Geo, Adelaide, and Elvir are very very pretty. And there's something about the Geo/Adelaide setup(maybe because it's an adult remember the world through the eyes of a 4 year old?) that sucked me in.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I keep seeing that in the store and thinking it sounds so weird. Your description makes it sound even weirder.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

And yet, it actually isn't remotely weird. Just not the kind of thing that usually gets licensed.