| | |  | SHOJO BEAT | Home » » » Otomen, Vol. 9 | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Reads R to L (Japanese Style) T audience. Asuka Masamune is a guy who loves girly things--sewing, knitting, making cute stuffed animals and reading shojo comics. But in a world where boys are expected to act manly, Asuka must hide his beloved hobbies and play the part of a masculine jock instead. Can Asuka ever show his true self to anyone, much less to Ryo Miyakozuka, the girl that he's falling for? An anti-otomen campaign takes over the school! Asuka's cousin and campaign enforcer Kasuga Masamune starts hunting down boys who have even an ounce of girly traits in them--and his first target is...?! | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Aya Kanno | | Paperback:
| 200 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| February 01, 2011 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421536900 | | Product Length:
| 7.5 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.05 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.66 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.37 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 4.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 2 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 2 customer reviews )
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
A rather charming series with some flawsFeb 23, 2011
By E. Leia Mehlman
"Bibliophile"
This series is all about stereotypes of what is male and what is female in terms of behaviors and interests. In Japanese society, there are definite ideas about what constitutes masculine and feminine interest and roles, even in today's world.
The characters are charming, and Asuka's blushing romance with his lady-love Ryo, who is very much a tomboy, is sweet. However, this series has been running since 2006, and like most manga, is drawn and stretched into many volumes before the plot ties itself up.
That means that some plot-lines are not explored, or the continuity of them is dropped, sometimes never to be picked up. It also means that some plot devices are re-used over and over, and that the major conflict is the exposure of Asuka and company's feminine interests and the resulting social censure. This doesn't make as much sense to Westerners, who would wonder why it's such a problem to like manga, flowers, makeup and sewing if you're a guy. (As there are many famous male makeup artists, fashion designers, and comic book artists) And be bad at cooking, cleaning and enjoy athletics if you're a girl.
Still, it's an enjoyable read, and I'll probably continue with this until the end. Kanno-san's drawings are well-done, and sometimes very funny.
This series is as light and fluffy as one of Asuka's souffles, and about as sweet. Enjoy it as dessert, if not a main course.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Some good and some badFeb 02, 2011
By Delamaine
"Formerly Belacane"
Sometimes Kanno starts a plotline in the second half of a volume - such as Asuka going to the book signing by Jewel Sachihana at the end of volume 8 - which presents a cliffhanger-type book ending - and in the next volume this plot is either forgotten or dismissed cheaply in a few pages. (The previous one I remember was the 'security guard' (who looked vaguely like the silhouette of a musketeer) showing up to prevent the rockabilly boys from exposing Asuka's Hanamasa disguise. This security guard was never referred to after that.) But back to this. At the end of volume 8, Asuka's at the book signing, and he wants Jewel to autograph something to cheer up his, Asuka's, friend Juta. Jewel signs the paper. Asuka thinks, "This looks like Juta's handwriting." Jewel then jumps up and runs away, crying, "Asuka-chan!" (which is what Juta calls him). Asuka thinks, "Asuka-chan?" And that's the end of that particular plot line in volume 8. So I was almost certain that something was going to be done about this in the opener of volume 9, but no. They are all back at school in the middle of the harsh reforms.
We learn why Kasuga is so anti-Asuka (and yeah, it's a doozy). There is a showdown of sorts between Kasuga and Juta - Kasuga believes that Juta is Jewel Sachihana and is determined to not only expose him to the world, but to expel him from Ginyuri High (because drawing manga is a sign of otomen-ness). Lastly, one of the goofy new teachers they had introduced finally gets some page time. She's a bit of an idiot, but of course Yamato falls for her...
Anyway, there were some good laugh moments in the book. Overall I liked it a lot, except for the non-conclusion about Asuka at the book signing. The little bonus "Otomanga" at the end were very funny. Am I the only person who thinks Mira Jonouchi is going to turn out to be Asuka's dad?
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