Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo Vol 3

[meganbmoore]

This volume seemed to be a lot more about Kabuki-cho than about D and his shop. Actually, this series as a whole has a bit of that going, the earlier volumes just not as much so. Not a complaint as I like stories like that, but I wonder if that has to do with the series being set in Tokyo, instead of an unspecified U.S. series like the first was.

There also seemed to be less of Woo Fei here than other volumes, but we did get an interesting look into his darker side in the second chapter.

But where did the Leon cameo and story about D’s father that we had in the first two volumes go? I anticipate those! They’re my favorite part!

And was Femto in the first series, but I’ve forgotten him, or from another of Matsuri Akino’s series? I wasn’t clear on that bit. And did I also forget that the animals changed shape? I always thought that they were always in their humanoid forms, but looked like animals to most people, not that they changed shape. But then, it’s been a while since I read the original series, and it’s one of several that went missing when I moved, so I don’t have it to go back and check.
 

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It seemed to be one or the other, but I think it was never actually said. I actually remember someone commenting on that in a review of the series not long ago, but can't remenber who or where. (Though again: Have not read in a while! Missing copies! Woes! Actually, thinking about the other series that are missing, I wonder if I subconscious boxed every "kinda-halfway-not-really-but-we-count-it" shounen-ai series I'd read until the 3 years ago together, because that's most of what went missing. Actually, I kinda need that box for yuletide beta...IT ONLY WENT BETWEEN THE PARENTS' AND MY APARTMENT!! HOW COULD IT GO MISSING!!! Err...have gone way off topic...)

I kinda like not!Leon, he just...doesn't really go well with D. I think the mangaka was making sure she didn't replace Leon with Leon 2.0, but was so focused on that that she forgot he needed to be a good foil for D.

[octopedingenue]

Get cerusee over here; she is Petshop Girl, she will know! But I am certain it was definitely set in California for...reasons I can curiously not articulate. Possibly the sunshine and immigrant population and Leon's Hawaiian shirts!

You are right, not!Leon is not a good foil for D. The Tokyo series feels weird to me because it's a continuation (a la Saiyuki / Reload?) only not, because PSOH Original-Flavor had a definite character-climax-y change thing going by the end for both Leon (the stubbornly meddlesome No-Nonsense Cop!) and D (the morally ambiguous Mysterious Shopkeeper!). Where do you go from there? Preferably not to Square One...? So starting things over in Tokyo with D as the Mysterious Shopkeeper again only works if you wipe out the squishy human feeeeelings that had snuck up on him by the end of Original Flavor, which, no; or if you contrast his inhumanity against someone even more amoral, which...may be the intention with not!Leon? Only he doesn't have a moral high ground to defend or compromise, like Leon of Squishy Human Law and D of Nature Red In Tooth & Claw, and he's not interested in D or the supernatural D represents except as it impacts not!Leon's business. He is a person Leon would hate instantly and there's not enough personality click to see why D would feel any different.

The situation reminds me a lot of the X-Files reboot, when No-Nonsense Cop Doggett replaced Mysterious True Believer Mulder as the lead and skeptic Scully was the new True Believer. It didn't really work, in part because of sloppy writing, in part because every time there was a non-Monster O' The Week ep it was like they were shouting "HEY, GUESS WHO ISN'T HERE? LEON/MULDER! CHECK OUT THAT HIM-SIZED HOLE!" But it did work for me to the extent that I actually liked Doggett, who was reasonable and moral and respectful of Scully even while making You Are Crazy faces at her. You could see why Mulder&Scully and Scully&Doggett could work well together despite Mulder and Doggett hating each other like cats on fire.

Meanwhile not!Leon twangs my every nerve, and there are only so many Animals O' The Week* I can take, individually interesting as they may or may not be. I didn't read 10+ volumes of, effectively, an anthology series because I was frantic to know whether D would get up to his wacky animal tricks again and even survive them. (he would. and did.)


*strangely this does not bother me at all in Mushishi, perhaps because human connection is a big factor of the series, and Ginko is an especially warm and fuzzy Mysterious Shopkeeper.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm sure cerusee will be along eventually!

There's a gentler tone to the series than the first-IIRC, in early volumes, D was largely giving out pets to punish people, not the pets are mostly going to people who need help and comfort-so I think D is still changed, but I agree about it starting back at square one. Though I wonder if it will be a case of D humanizing not!Leon, given the quarantine chapter?

And speaking of animals, I want more of the ones we already know!

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it was L.A., having recently binged on both series -- and even checking the first volume of PSOH:Tokyo, the little introductory letter talks about the new tenant's previous business being in the Chinatown in Los Angeles.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

The original series was set in LA.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

And this is why I'm unreliable.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Enh. You just haven't pored over source material for ficcing purposes, that's all. ;-)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There's also the MISSING FOR THREE YEARS part. Otherwise, I would have reread it before starting the new series.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

That has less of an impact than you might think. I loaned vols 1-5 to a friend 4 years ago and haven't seen them since.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

But it did work for me to the extent that I actually liked Doggett, who was reasonable and moral and respectful of Scully even while making You Are Crazy faces at her. You could see why Mulder&Scully and Scully&Doggett could work well together despite Mulder and Doggett hating each other like cats on fire.

Yes! And this is why I have been skeptical of trying Tokyo, because I was so happy with Original Flavor Petshop and I don't want that beautiful dream to end, especially in favor of something that's going to frustrate and/or disappoint me.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

I *adore* Petshop of Horrors, and all things Akino, and although I do not in the slightest regret the existence of the thus-far-sub-par Tokyo, or my reading it, I think the choice to not read it, and leave the beautiful dream of the original series ending intact, is not unwise.

Hopefully, if Tokyo ever reaches that level of awesome, someone will remember to alert you. :D

I totally called the devil and he totally came, but he ditched right away

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

I am pretty sure the first series was set in LA, but I do not remember why I am so sure. It's been a while.

PSOH: Tokyo doesn't tickle my funny bone nearly as effectively as the original, but I love D like I love salt, and dig Akino's stringy art and lanky character designs so much that I'm perfectly content to hang around indefinitely, waiting for her to eventually get around to more Leon-related plot stuff.

I do have a bit of a soft spot for tales o' the [insert weird scenario] format to begin with, though, so even when my beloved D is back to being more of a framing device than a story in his own right, I get something out of the books, even though, like most people, what really made PSOH leap out at me was D and Leon's evolving relationship. I find Woofei mildly entertaining on the strength of how much D annoys him--D needling people is a major part of his charm--there was one nifty scene, probably back in volume one of Tokyo, in which D needled Woofei in ways that indicated Woofei had some kind of parent-related Secret or Trauma, which might make him more interesting. I wish Akino would follow up on that already.