Whee! Volume three! The tale of Honda Tohru and the cursed Soma family
continues. In this one, we meet another victim of the curse, Soma
Hatsaharu-- the cow. He's got a very scary split personality.
I'm still in the part of the plot which is covered by the animé, but the bits in this
volume which were left out of the animé are very interesting indeed,
and lend the story an additional degree of depth. Such as:
When Yuki has the asthma attack during gym class, and has to be
brought home, it turns out that his perpetual rival Kyo was actually
concerned about him! He doesn't show it at the time (apart from a lack
of his usual invective), but he's extremely disturbed by his concern
for some time afterwards. It seems he is terrified by the idea of not
being Yuki's enemy. That poor guy is really messed up...
We get a glimpse at Shigure's darker side, in a scene where
Hatori criticises him for manipulating Tohru, among others. Shigure is a
grand manipulator, and master planner, and it's been clear from the
first book that he's up to something. Moreover, this bit seems to indicate
that he's willing to be quite ruthless in order to get what he wants.
I don't know; in spite of his claims of Machiavellian ruthlessness,
actions speak louder than words, and I still think that Shigure is,
fundamentally, a good guy.
The Valentine's Day bit proceeds differently than it does in the
animé Kagura (Kyo's would-be psycho girlfriend) is a lot more
tolerable in the manga version. (She's still annoying, though.)
This manga continues to be excellent; I only wish it was published in
English, so I could push it on all my friends.
This page Copyright P. Korda, 2003. kor2@pobox.com