The young masculine Asuka Masamune has a secret that he wants no one to know. He will do anything to keep anyone from finding out his true colors. All was fine until a certain someone came along and broke his façade. Ryo Miyakozuka broke through the walls that Asuka had built up over the years, and finally allowed his feminist side to shine through. This book, Otomen, is noteworthy because it has captured the essence of a classical love story while putting a spin on it. Aya Kanno (the author of Otomen) puts a twist into the plot of the story by warping the characters personalities and personal preferences. Asuka Masamune is seen and perceived by others as a macho guy that loves blood and gory things, but there is a side to him that they never knew. As a child he already had shown signs. In the story it shows him as a child surrounded by girly things with ruffles and sparkles. He is knitting a blanket and his face is soft and his lips are turned up into a small smile. “Things that girls like. The fluffy, the sparkling. The cute, the sweet. Cooking. Sewing. Love stories.”(pg.1) In the beginning the author has already made clear the unique personality and character that Asuka has. He is very womanlike, and takes pleasure in the things that were meant for girls. This really changes things up because even though he likes all these girly things, he still is attracted to girls. Asuka takes one look at Ryo and knows that she is the one. This is what is like any other love story, but the author wanted it to be original and decided that there needed to be some more juice put into this. Aya did this by addind the fact that no one knows that he has this side to him. Only his mother knows. Asuka will stop at nothing to hide this shameful behavior that he has. The only problem is, that when he sees Ryo his inner being gets so excited up that he gets carried away with all the girly things that anyone could possibly think of. This creates an internal conflict that regular love stories doesn’t have, making this a very unique and exciting graphic novel to read. Another thing the author added in was that she made Ryo a very manly girl. Ryo was taking home economics, and one of the assignments was “to use these scraps to create whatever I want…but I’m clumsy.”(pg. 18) And in the visual there is a grotesque image of fabric that is poorly sown together, and the sides of the cloth is tattered and there are pieces that are coming off and that are ripped. Clearly it was something that she could not do, even if she tried really hard. The fact that she was no good at any womanly things really added to the drama that was already there. It made the readers view them as the perfect couple for each other because Ryo is a girl that acts like a man, and on the contrary Asuka is a man that acts like a girl. This makes the reader root for the couple and makes them want to see what the future of their odd relationship brings them. The fact that the author did this to the characters of the story is very intelligent, because it is using the guidelines of a love story, but at the same time thinking outside the box and using the characters make the reader want to flip the pages and continue reading. Then enters the character called Juta Tachibana. He plays as a ladies man in the book, but he is also a famous shojo manga writer. He needs to use Asuka as inspiration for his manga called Love Chick. He acts like he is also pursuing Ryo, therefore creating a love triangle and intensifying the book. Juto says to Asuka “Maybe I should make her mine.” (pg. 13) Just to get him going at to make a move on her. It makes this manga have more depth to it, and he is comic relief throughout the story. Otoman is a story that takes you on a journey into a world where people desire different things. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves to read a clove story, because it represents love by adding a little spice to it. This book is thoroughly enjoyable and allows everyone to see how truelove should be like. High school student, Asuka, is a man's man except that he has a secret: he actually really likes girly things like sewing, cooking, and *gasp* shoujo manga. While exploring traditional gender roles is nothing new in manga, I wasn't sure where Otomen fit in. It seemed to be trying too hard to be taken seriously, there being a lot of parody elements reminiscent of other parody manga such as Ouran High School Host Club. Yet, there are times in this series where the parody drops away and we really do explore what it means to be a man or a woman in society, what is socially acceptable, what is expected.I've read through the first 12 volumes of this series, and around volume 5, I found myself becoming more invested in the story than from the start, which was a little slow for me. While I do enjoy Asuka, and Ryo is a perfect foil for him, Juta's the character that steals the show for me. *Love* him!
What do You think about Otomen, Bd. 1 (2010)?
An adorable story about being yourself. This book had me laughing all the way through!
—Daina
Interesting plot and characters. Fun to see the roles reversed for once.
—Amber
#Program BUBUPertama kali dibeli dan dibaca pada tahun 2008
—thaloo4
Une série qui s'annonce très drôle et très mignonne.
—hugheschanel
It makes me giggle when Juta calls the hero Asuka-chan.
—amh5587
