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ST. DRAGON GIRL VOL. 1 (ADVANCE REVIEW) |
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Reviews
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Monday, 01 December 2008 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | VIZ MEDIA | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | NATSUMI MATSUMOTO | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 200 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | T | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 12/02/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 12/01/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | RACHEL BENTHAM |
Momoka is a hard core martial artist girl who grew up with Chinese spiritualist Ryuga. He exorcises demons. She’s also staunchly in love with the dope. When his cousin is kidnapped by a powerful dragon king, he summons the clan’s dragon spirit to possess him. Instead it possesses Momoka! Now tied together by fate, they fight together to save his cousin from becoming the bride of a dragon and to thwart all manner of evils both spirit and otherwise. But what about her unrequited love for him? Neither of them have the powers to stop the magic that’s happening between their hearts! This is a fabulously fun new shojo adventure. It’s also unusual in that it establishes that the two main characters are in love with each other right away. They still fight like cats and dogs, but the romance already blooms in the very first manga! When they’re not fighting with each other, they have to deal with an evil art teacher using his powers to manipulate the girls at school all to stop Momoka from winning a kenpo tournament. Then there’s Valentine chocolates, a lot more frightful than you think, a couple of trouble making demon cats that take a liking to Momoka, and a family member of Ryuga's, Kouryu, that spells nothing but trouble for the bickering yet-to-be couple! That Kouryu poses one of the biggest threats. He’s no dragon mater, he’s snake! He weasels his way into their lives and quickly uses every dirty trick to get Momoka by his side and then tries to trick her into his bed! He has no problems kidnapping her to make the girl with the dragon spirit inside her his and his alone. Ryuga will have something mighty big to say about that! There are all sorts of excitement in the lives Ryuga and Momoka. There are also plenty of laughs. I love that her great weakness is her love of pandas! The manga has a fun shojo style where you can get laughs, like with the many pandas, and then fabulous fantasy adventure with the dragon spirits and rainbows and so much more. The series even has a bit of fun with the settings. The story and the way Ryuga dresses seems more like a fantasy series. But at school the building looks like a modern day school and the uniforms are current and she has a cell phone, so it has a fun mix and match with the different cultural tones and period of the story.
IN SUMMARY:
Mystical Chinese spirit powers meet romance in this charmer of a manga series! |