Love Roma Review
February 7th, 2008 by Bad Jew
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Reviewed by: Bad Jew Title rating: PG-16 would be safest, since it does have a touch o’ the sex. - 5 volumes of manga, released in English by Del Ray (2003-2005 original; 2005-2007 English), complete |
I think that we here at Sleep is for the Weak can place ourselves clearly on the ‘no’ side of the whole “rape, yes or no” debate. And despite the fact that some members of our coterie love brother-hugs, most of the writers here are also anti-incest (Ed note: Was that a shot at me?). It’s too bad that we seem to disagree with a large chunk of Japanese media on these issues. Manga seems to love sexual assault and misogyny (of course, it’s not like American comics are that enlightened), and let’s not forget that strange obsession with the incest. We’re talking about the media machine that gave us Eagle, the 5-volume manga about American politics that somehow managed to work some hot brother-on-half-sister action into the mix. And American fandom has been complicit in the whole thing: someone is translating this and someone is buying it, and then far too many American fangirls are writing fanfics about the brothers in Full Metal Alchemist raping each other. It’s all a vicious cycle.
As a quick search through our archives will show, I’ve been reading shoujo for a long time. The vast majority of it has been more formulaic than the quadratic equation, and it loves making it edgy through the addition of the previously-mentioned rape, misogyny, and/or incest. But last year I found a manga love story (one that’s technically a “seinen,” but I’ll get into that later) that finally breaks the conventions shoujo loves to wallow in. Love Roma is for those of you who enjoy reading about a boy who’s in a healthy, non-rapey relationship with a girl who’s decidedly not his sister. Yes, there’s a genre corner for us crazies, too.
I originally picked up Love Roma because the art reminded me of Scott Pilgrim – which is simply THE funniest new comic out there. (Buy it now. I’m not asking, I’m telling.) That art style is the first unique thing about Love Roma you’ll notice: no huge dish-plate eyes, no chibi transmogrification. Just clean lines and modern, almost “western” drawing styles. I like it a lot. It’s a breath of fresh air in a medium that doesn’t really encourage art style change.
The second thing that immediately sets Love Roma apart from the competition is right in front of your eyes. Volume 1, page 1, panel 1. Hoshino, a high school student, asks out Negishi, a girl in his grade. Let’s be honest: this never happens in shoujo. The girl is always supposed to hate the boy in the beginning, while the boy hides his infatuation for the girl. Also, the boy is a transfer student and the girl is the president of her class. He’ll advance and she’ll retreat and she’ll advance and he’ll retreat, and 19 volumes later, there might be a peck of a kiss exchanged. Love Roma skips all these annoying hijinks and starts off the plot with two high school kids going out. Amazing. Revolutionary. Also, they are surprisingly age-appropriate. Another bonus for us tired of being skeeved out by teacher-student romances.
Now, here is where the rest of the Sleep is for the Weak crew and I are going to get into a bit of an argument. I think Love Roma should be considered a work of shoujo, because the only focus of the manga is on relationships, and that’s shoujo’s cup of tea. However, the main narrative focus of the manga is on the male character, not on the female, and the original audience for Love Roma was college-aged boys, because it ran in a seinen magazine. But I think plot and storyline are more important for determining genre than audience, and things that were made for one audience in Japan (example: Oh My Goddess was for boys) have been marketed in the West for another audience (Oh My Goddess was for girl otaku). Not everyone likes that idea, but I do. Anyway, I think we’re going to do a big article on genre labeling for this site in the future, so let’s just say that Love Roma has a big crossover audience potential and leave it at that.
That said, Love Roma’s plot is pretty close to standard shoujo: two high school kids are dating. The first volume deals with them getting to know each other, going on those few awkward first few dates, the first fight, that sort of thing. Later volumes focus on some side characters, including one who, I swear, is the Japanese version of our erstwhile contributor, Adamus Prime.
The obvious problem is that without the standard pre-dating romantic tension between the two main characters, the stories in Love Roma may seem to repeat a lot. Hoshino, who lacks what I’ll call an internal filter – the ability to think something and not say it – will get in trouble because he speaks his mind too frequently. He’ll say something stupid, i.e “I really enjoy watching porn because we decided not to have sex until later in our relationship” or “I want to meet your family.” Negishi will react in a predictable way, hitting him and yelling at him. Then, after a few pages, she’ll realize that (1) Hoshino is a huge idiot and (2) he loves her and (3) Hoshino just had a giant stuffed giraffe sent to her while in class, so she’ll forgive him and all will be well AND THEY WILL ROCK OUT!
Like I said before, this would get annoying after a while except for the decent amount of side plots. Hoshino’s friend Tsukahara (who, according to the comic, is 100% cool) and Negishi’s friend Youko end up going out because they spent so much time plotting to romantically help out their friends. Tsukahara’s plots involve giving Hoshino condoms, while Youko’s are a bit more…thought-out.
One of the most disturbing/interesting things about this manga is its approach to sex. These kids are high school aged and in a Japanese comic, so you knew the subject was bound to come up. Here’s the thing. There is a frank and honest discussion about the pros and cons of sex, and after a few volumes, the leads decide to give it a try. I think the comic is pretty accurate about the awkward fumbling. Now, I’ve read a lot of manga, and even more fiction in general, and I haven’t seen a more honest portrayal of young adults expressing love physically. It’s weird to read, but it’s a definite plus for the manga. And, on a lighter note, Hoshino totally wants to be an astronaut. Isn’t that badass?!
This is a completed, manga-only series about nothing that explodes and no boys who make out. Thus, there is practically no Internet fandom. Manga-blogger-who’s-better-than-you Chris Butcher had some good things to say, though, as he listed Love Roma as a Best Book of 2005 (scroll down a bit). Johanna from Comics Worth Reading liked the comic, too. And since I don’t want to search the net anymore for other reviews, let’s just link to Scott Pilgrim again.
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Overview: Anyways, this manga gets 4 stars out of 5. Its art is a breath of fresh air and it approaches the love story/shoujo/relationship/whatever genre from a unique point of departure. However, the plots do get repetitive after a while, and let’s be honest, I don’t need to be reminded of my own awkward make-out session-related fumbling. (Ed note: Ew!).  |
NotHayama: Double ew.
I’m not a techie, but some weird message pops up when i move between your posts, says something about 404 security rewrite something or other, weird.
[...] Love Roma: Love Roma is a high-school romance that skips the more annoying conventions of manga romances: There is no blackmail or love-hate relationship, the girl doesn't crash into the boy, the boy doesn't rescue the girl from a gang rape. It's just a cute, sometimes awkward love story about a boy and a girl building a relationship despite their foibles. The art is closer to Scott Pilgrim than standard shoujo manga, and in fact this story ran in a men's magazine, but the appeal is universal. (5 volumes, reviewed by Bad Jew at Sleep Is For the Weak) [...]