▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		SHO MURASE / MATT ANDERSON
		▪	FORMAT:		WESTERN / BW
		▪	PAGES:		191
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		08/10/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		08/06/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN

As a visual thinker with a strong art sense, it is always a thrill when this reviewer gets a chance to look at a manga that really shakes up one’s preconceptions about design and drawing.  ME2, released by Tokyopop, is one such book.  This work is so stylish I feel like I’ve just been wandering the posh shops of the big city just looking at it.  But unlike a lot of other stories that are so stylish the creators forgot to complement the images with a worthy plot or interesting characters, ME2’s story, while not exactly original, certainly keeps the pages turning and leaves this reviewer with a strong desire to continue with this series when the next volume comes out.

To summarize the plot briefly, our main character, Aki, is an outsider in her world.  Withdrawn and alienated, she is struggling to cope with the death of her older brother some time before this story began.  (Ken Kuno, Aki's much adored sibling, still overshadows Aki from beyond the grave.)  She carries this sadness around her like a millstone, and as the most bullied kid in school, finds herself having mysterious blackouts.  Is it stress from her miserable life catching up with her?  No one knows.  What trouble Aki the most about these episodes, though, is that entire days begin to be unaccounted for as the blackouts increase in severity, and once back to normal, Aki often finds strange items in her closet.  Adding to her bewilderment is the fact that the cutest boy in school, Adrian Philips, suddenly takes an interest in her.  She crosses the school-ground she-devils, known as the Triple A’s and suddenly, after much harassment, they back off.  Why?  Now she finds herself befriended by Marya Ashley one of the popular girls in school that takes Aki under her wing.  If the world has generally turned upside down, Aki is left wondering by the mid point in the story if hers is completely out of control.  Even her plush toy cat, her sole confidant, cannot explain what is happening (which is probably a good thing).

It is worth exploring the background of Sho Murase, the co-writer and illustrator of this book.  Sho was born in Japan, but grew up in Spain and now lives in San Francisco, where she works in animation as a designer, story artist and traditional animator. She is the creator of SEI Death and Legend and is also the illustrator for Nancy Drew graphic novels.  Her style is wonderful to behold.  She uses line, shapes and forms so deftly on the page, rendering Aki in high contrasts with little if any tone work.  Other characters appear as wispy lines on the page, some looking sketchy as befits their supporting roles.  Her frames are boxy, with little craziness in the design or layout of a page as one might find in some manga.  However, she does sometimes get a little carried away with her composition at times, and the combined line and obvious computer work leaves a couple of frames rather jumbled with visual stimuli.  No worries, though.  It means you just have to look a little harder at these great images to figure the more complex ones out.  Her figure design combines Western and Asian elements with a chic fashion sense to create richly stylized characters that would look just as much at home on a runway in a designer show as they would on the pages of this manga.  It’s refreshing, to say the least.  The use of fonts to help convey the mood of the moment actually puts the text to work as a complement to the illustrations.  No more are these just words on the page.  The fonts themselves help tell the story.

The writing is crisp, with little extraneous material in the plot to slow things down.  This is only going to be a two or three volume story, so the plot needs to keep moving.  No complaints here.  ME2 is a quick but rich read, like eating an exotic sweet treat that looks small, but packs a lot of flavor and fills you up.  It will be interesting to see how the writing develops further in future volumes of this intriguing manga.

EXTRA:
ME2 is packed with some goodies.  It has an art and design section at the end, the website address of Sho Murase, and an extended preview of UNDERTOWN, an upcoming release from Tokyopop. 

IN SUMMARY:
ME2 will wow you with its beautiful art and chill you with its mystery.  Sho Murase’s story packs a punch on so many levels you’ll be knocked right out.  If you love your manga tense and your drawings excitingly different, you’ll definitely love ME2.