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manga: Venus Capriccio Vol 1-5 (complete)
Nov. 28th, 2013 11:25 pmVenus 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.
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.
