manga: I Hate You More Than Anyone Vol 3-4
Feb. 6th, 2009 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreThe romance continues to largely take a backseat to everything else in Kazuha’s life. As one of my big complaints about a lot of the shoujo I’ve read over the years is how a shoujo heroine’s life seems to be 90% her romantic relationship, I find this to be a good thing.
Incidentally, am I the only person to read this manga and misread “Honjo Toru” as “Honda Tohru”? It’s especially disconcerting given how different the two characters are. (One is a snarky 20-something chainsmoker who lives to torment people, and the other is the shoujo-est heroine to ever shoujo without making me want to hurt things.)
I like that the bulk of these volumes was about Kazuha deciding that she wants to be a hairdresser, and starting down that path, but I’m not sure what I think about how she seems to have decided on that at the same time as she was starting to accept her feelings for Sugimoto. Sugimoto is growing on me-I think largely because he’s figured out that maybe he should back off some- but I find it slightly odd how he seems to be taking on more of a mentor role. I’m glad, though, that Kazuha is getting her professional introduction through Honjo, not Sugimoto.
I will, incidentally, never be convinced that this mangaka is not a shoujo-ai fan. Ignoring the yuri fangirls and the fact that Renko and Kazuha act lead a shoujo hero and heroine half the time, we now have Sugimoto saying that he sees Renko as his rival for Kazuha’s feelings, and Kazuha’s coworker not wanting her get close to her because Kazuha reminds her of the coworker she used to take care of. Who lives in a pit of shame because she thinks she let the coworker down.
Surprisingly, I think I like the Honjo/Renko pairing the mangaka seems to be headed towards, even though it technically has the same problems as Sugimoto/Kazuha, and is pretty much the most standard of shoujo pairings out there. (Bad boy drawn to girl who likes his nicer best friend but whose feelings aren’t returned.) But then, there is the predatory feel the Sugimoto/Kazuha had early on, and they’re relatively equal.
Incidentally, am I the only person to read this manga and misread “Honjo Toru” as “Honda Tohru”? It’s especially disconcerting given how different the two characters are. (One is a snarky 20-something chainsmoker who lives to torment people, and the other is the shoujo-est heroine to ever shoujo without making me want to hurt things.)
I like that the bulk of these volumes was about Kazuha deciding that she wants to be a hairdresser, and starting down that path, but I’m not sure what I think about how she seems to have decided on that at the same time as she was starting to accept her feelings for Sugimoto. Sugimoto is growing on me-I think largely because he’s figured out that maybe he should back off some- but I find it slightly odd how he seems to be taking on more of a mentor role. I’m glad, though, that Kazuha is getting her professional introduction through Honjo, not Sugimoto.
I will, incidentally, never be convinced that this mangaka is not a shoujo-ai fan. Ignoring the yuri fangirls and the fact that Renko and Kazuha act lead a shoujo hero and heroine half the time, we now have Sugimoto saying that he sees Renko as his rival for Kazuha’s feelings, and Kazuha’s coworker not wanting her get close to her because Kazuha reminds her of the coworker she used to take care of. Who lives in a pit of shame because she thinks she let the coworker down.
Surprisingly, I think I like the Honjo/Renko pairing the mangaka seems to be headed towards, even though it technically has the same problems as Sugimoto/Kazuha, and is pretty much the most standard of shoujo pairings out there. (Bad boy drawn to girl who likes his nicer best friend but whose feelings aren’t returned.) But then, there is the predatory feel the Sugimoto/Kazuha had early on, and they’re relatively equal.