| | |  | NEW ARRIVALS | Home » » Beast Master, Vol. 1 (Beast Master (Viz Media)) | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Reads R to L (Japanese Style). Taming a Beast was never this dangerous! Leo Aoi looks like a crazy animal with wild eyes--and no one at his new high school will go near him! He does seem to have a special connection with animals though, which intrigues overzealous animal-lover Yuiko Kubozuka. In reality, Leo isn't as frightening as he appears, but Yuiko finds out that he goes berserk whenever he sees blood! Will Yuiko be able to get through to Leo during these violent fits? Or will Leo's ferocious side eventually devour her? Leo Aoi looks like a crazy animal with wild eyes—and no one at his new high school will go near him! He does seem to have a special connection with animals though, which intrigues overzealous animal-lover Yuiko Kubozuka. In reality, Leo isn't as frightening as he appears, but Yuiko finds out that he goes berserk whenever he sees blood! Will Yuiko be able to get through to Leo during these violent fits? Or will Leo's ferocious side eventually devour her? | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781421532011
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Kyousuke Motomi | | Paperback:
| 192 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| November 03, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421532018 | | Package Length:
| 7.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.0 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.15 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 3 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Left Me Wanting MoreFeb 05, 2010
I thought this was going to be just another tough guy thing were the cute girl is the only one who understand him, but I was pleasantly surprised. While it does have those usual undertones I thought it was very cute and the mystery of the beast guy is interesting. The art is well-drawn and the art is what attracted me to this in the first place. It is its strongest asset.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A pleasantly optimistic read that belies the lurid superficialitiesDec 18, 2009
Seventeen-year-old Yuiko Kubozuka loves animals. Unfortunately, they definitely don't love her back. (She is always trying too hard, apparently, and scares them away.) Then one day--an appropriately stormy one where the rain is falling in sheets and bolts of lightning are lighting up the heavens--she meets him, a boy who is practically a wild animal himself. The boy, as it turns out, is actually a transfer student at Yuiko's school who had been living abroad for many years, and his name is Leo Aoi.
The student body is terrified of the scruffy, much-scarred, and wild-eyed Leo. Yuiko soon learns, however, that Leo is actually more kitten than lion, and the two develop a fast friendship. It's all going swimmingly until Leo manages to get on the wrong side of the wrong crowd. When they try to beat him into submission, he goes berserk, ready to kill everyone in sight with his bare hands. And he would have, too...had Yuiko not intervened to stop his rampage. Apparently only she is capable of stopping him once he sees fresh blood. Will Yuiko be able to keep Leo tame, or will this beast ultimately be the one to take his master's life?
Despite the lurid illustration of a chained and bloodied Leo embracing a sorrowful looking Yuiko from behind, the first volume of Kyousuke Motomi's Beast Master is, like Leo himself, more mellow than monstrous. And, as the title correctly implies, it is more about the "Beast Master" Yuiko herself than it is about Leo. This, like the best sorts of shoujo manga, is about a girl who grows into adulthood. For Yuiko specifically, this means learning how to relate to others in a compassionate way that fulfills their needs and desires, and not just her own, and she gradually comes to realize that smothering someone with affection is not the same as love.
Of course, Leo is an appealing character after his own fashion as well. A dead ringer of L from Death Note, he is a character design type that has won legions of fans around the world, and Motomi almost certainly drew him with his antecedents in mind. Actually, character design is one of this title's strongest assets. Although the quality of the artwork and layouts on its own terms is of the expected standard for mainstream shoujo manga and no more, the mangaka uses just the right combination of supporting character archetypes, from bald gangster to geeky father, to keep up the momentum of the story.
This volume of Beast Master also includes a standalone bonus story titled, "Fly." Unrelated to the main plot, it depicts a young woman who wants to become a pilot even though her parents want her to become a doctor, and with the encouragement of her boyfriend, she decides to follow her dreams. If this manga has a theme, it is that people cannot realize their individual potential alone, and the person to help them along the way is already right beside them. All in all, a pleasantly optimistic read that belies the lurid superficialities. Recommended.
-- Casey Brienza
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Beauty Within the Beast (3.5 Stars)Dec 06, 2009
Yuiko has a problem: she loves animals, but she smothers them so much that they hate her. She's kind of like Elmira from "Tiny Toon Adventures", only not insane. One day, a strange boy named Leo rescues Yuiko's cat from a tree. He looks scary, but he seems to get along with animals really well. It turns out that he's a new transfer student at her school. All the other students are afraid of Leo, but Yuiko is interested in him. She finds out that Leo was raised in the wild in a foreign land, which explains his appearance and sensitivity to nature. As they become friends, Yuiko discovers what a sweet guy Leo really is. Until someone makes him angry, that is...
I thought Leo was a great hero. He looks scary when he first shows up, but he ends up being really cute. He's a very light-hearted character. He doesn't understand about social boundaries, and he's openly affectionate to those he likes. It frustrates him that he can't make friends, but he's really happy to have Yuiko and considers her very important to him. Yuiko was fine, but she didn't have as strong a personality. She's pretty much an average-high-school-girl kind of heroine. I did admire the fact that she reaches out to Leo, though, when everyone else shuns him. Some of the minor characters are interesting, too, especially "Boss".
I would've given this manga a higher rating if it hadn't been for the plot. It's episodic, and the episodes don't seem to really lead anywhere. Most of them revolve around showing off Leo's kind and cute nature. He has to rescue Yuiko at least three times during the first volume. I guess it makes it a little more interesting that Leo goes wild with rage when angered, although the nice-guy-with-a-violent-side is kind of cliche. It doesn't help that only Yuiko can reach him when he gets in that state. There's plenty of cliched mushiness like that.
I suggest taking a look at this manga and deciding for yourself whether it's worth reading. Leo's charm may be enough for some. I've just read too many similar shojo to be interested in this.
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