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A review by shanyreader
Mangaman by Barry Lyga, Colleen Doran
3.0
When I saw the plot of this book--I thought that *I* would be the one with surprise lines coming out of my head. I was waiting for this for months, and when I was told--there it was in the flesh/binding, I was EXCITED! I couldn't wait to get home and start to read it...and read it I did. I finished it in half an hour and I was...dissapointed. I mean, I don't know what I expected...but it sure wasn't this. For one, I wasn't...loving the artwork. It was beautiful at times (usually when there was a tender...or racey...scene between Ryoko and Marissa) but this just isn't MY style. The manga panels also...didn't LOOK like manga to me. I love manga, but wow...this was so not typical manga drawings. The artwork--sometimes it worked...sometimes it didn't.
The story...well, what story? There's like...the main one was between Marissa and her ex-boyfriend (total jerk, not an ounce of love in him and I don't know why everyone supported him). I don't even know what was going on in Ryoko's story--the girl he liked turned into a guy, he was a bishoujo who fought these monsters that live in the borders of comic book panels? Say wha...?! I was just...confused. This shouldn't have been as short as it was. It was also trying to get philosophical on us too--but I didn't see that transition as well. I've read books where the characters become "sentient" and realize that they're actually in a book, but wow...it needed to be paced out a little better. The characters seemed...a little too shallow for me, they were more concepts of people rather than actual characters. I did think that the whole thing with Ryoko's imaginings, the emotion lines, etc. actually becoming "real" was very clever. But overall...I mean, Ryoko and Marissa were cute...but that ending...what was up with that? She turned into a manga character...she was way prettier before...I don't see how the book can honestly just end with her turning that way. Ah no...this wasn't ground-breaking enough. Read it for fun--anyone who likes manga, some quick romance, and a fast, easy plot. It just barely reached three stars, but it did indeed earn three stars from me :)
The story...well, what story? There's like...the main one was between Marissa and her ex-boyfriend (total jerk, not an ounce of love in him and I don't know why everyone supported him). I don't even know what was going on in Ryoko's story--the girl he liked turned into a guy, he was a bishoujo who fought these monsters that live in the borders of comic book panels? Say wha...?! I was just...confused. This shouldn't have been as short as it was. It was also trying to get philosophical on us too--but I didn't see that transition as well. I've read books where the characters become "sentient" and realize that they're actually in a book, but wow...it needed to be paced out a little better. The characters seemed...a little too shallow for me, they were more concepts of people rather than actual characters. I did think that the whole thing with Ryoko's imaginings, the emotion lines, etc. actually becoming "real" was very clever. But overall...I mean, Ryoko and Marissa were cute...but that ending...what was up with that? She turned into a manga character...she was way prettier before...I don't see how the book can honestly just end with her turning that way. Ah no...this wasn't ground-breaking enough. Read it for fun--anyone who likes manga, some quick romance, and a fast, easy plot. It just barely reached three stars, but it did indeed earn three stars from me :)