Caldi’s Manga Beat 02: What’s new in the Manga Pile. October 29, 2007
Posted by caldi-chan in : Comics, Manga Beat , trackback
After a weekend of disapointment, and volunteer work at a local anime clubs dace at the UOW. I bring a new manga for Manga Beat. Today’s Manga is Halloween themed. Fitting since Halloween is just around the corner. Today’s music just so happens to be Complicated by Avril, as it seems everythings just been very complicated, including in this manga.
Today we have Dark Moon Diary. A Manga brought to you by Tokyo Pop, and the combined efforts of writer Che Gilson, and artist Brett Uher.
Story/Plot:
It starts with some wonderful art of 15 year old Priscilla at the funeral of her parents. Which later evolves into a dream/nightmare of her seeing her parents and leaving her behind. Cue a well timed scene switch to her on a plane headed to the European town of Natchwald, so she can live with her “last living” realitives.
Low and behold she learns that her aunt Lillith, Uncle Wolfgar, and their daughter Kitty are in fact Vampires. Which at first seemed very impossible until her aunt reveals that Priscilla’s mother was a vampire too.
Resorting to her Diary she soon begins to write about her adventures and musing over the fact that the whole town of Natchwald seems to thrive with not only Vampires that eat “freak food”, but also plays host to an assorted cast of characters including Zombies, Werewolves, Ghosts, Witches, and the occasional Human/Entree.
Granted, living with her realitives isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The food is not fit for humans, and she has been forced to eat Black Berries -found outside her new school on the school grounds- and drink Goats Milk for lunches.
Luckily she manages to make some friends, and even catches the eye of the vampire Prince Balthazar Sabinov, which makes Kitty pop a veign of jealosey.
So while Priscilla gets used to a school of strange lunches, being called “Berry Girl”, a nice timid Boogie Monster that lives under her bed named Broonie, making new friends, and feeling miserable. Kitty becomes the aparent villan of the comic, with her two friends Diamante, and Lamia.
Which isn’t suprising. Considering that Kitty, along with the rest of the school seems to think Balthazar is the coolest thing since Blood and Moose Heart Icecream. -page 105-
Art:
The art is well done, in the Manga style format that people are used to from Tokyo Pop. It’s a suitable style, to express the various thoughts and feelings of the characters. The first thing I noticed to tell the truth, is the detail that went into the clothing for the characters. Followed by the facial expressions, and the zany and unexpected times where the “food” suddenly came alive freaking Priscilla out.
Genra:
The Genra is the typical Fantsay, given the story and theme. It also reads left to right like any American Comic, even if Tokyo Pop has declared it as a Manga. Which when one thinks about it, Manga imports that have been translated usually read from Right to left.
Then again, a common theme I’ve found, is that any Manga made and published in the dead tree format by Canadians and Americans usually read from Left to Right Regardless. So this doesn’t really bother me at all.
While I did enjoy the book, it wasn’t as amusing to me as “Fall in Love Like a Comic”, however, I did like it. There’s no question about it. It just makes me wonder.
If Priscilla’s mother was a Vampire, and she married a Human Man. What does that make Priscilla? Is she half vampire? Is she adopted? Inquiring minds want to know! Looks like I should look into volume two when it comes out. Will things be revealed? We’ll just have to wait and see.
For those interested, Dark Moon Diary is also viewable online at Tokyo Pop in Chapters. I belive it’s one chapter per volume to give you a sneak peak to see if you’d like to buy it. I’m not sure, my computer is old and doesn’t support their viewer.
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