 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DOKI DOKI / DMP | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | EIKI EIKI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE/ B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 180 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 16+ | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 07/08/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 07/20/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Asahi’s dream of being a conductor has taken on many a strange turn since he joined the motley crew at MK Station. There’s the rich and bisexual free-spirited Hokuto who is always quick to attempt to seduce Asahi at any opportunity. He has to fight off cross-dressing Hikari, the girl who likes to pose as a boy and has taking a liking to the cute Asahi. There’s the constantly glowering Kaiji, the reformed delinquent, and of course Asahi’s pet prairie dug Pure. Broke and feeling it, Asahi tries to stretch his last few yen only to fall into the hands of his co-workers when they learn of his dilemma. To try to call a cease fire on the fighting over whom Asahi will stay with until payday, Kaiji commands Hokuto to change apartments with Asahi until then. It proves too much for the clueless rich boy and Hokuto quickly and quite accidentally wrecks Asahi’s place. Now Asahi is not only penniless, he’s homeless too! Asahi ends up having to bunk at the station in the Station Master’s room. He’s never met the man but between a haunting and an encounter with a ghost, he’s up all night and feeling a fright. When he at last meets the actual living conductor, he’s in for a shock. Hayate takes getting used to even for the MK crew. He’s quite the colorful character by any stretch of the imagination. It doesn’t take long for Hokuto to put his foot in his mouth when it comes to Hayate and next thing you know, they are now in a challenge to a duel. The field of battle is to get all the station stamps within a strict time limit before the other guy. May the best man win! One of the highlights of this volume was the background on Kaiji and Hikari. Readers get to see how these two opposites first met. It seems Kaiji was knocked out by Hikari in more ways than one. What was a rivalry born out of male pride turned into something more for Kaiji. Now it’s a different kind of rivalry with Hikari as he fights to best her in order to win her affections. The road to love has never been quite so eccentric or funny as it is with these two. Later, things go bump in the night and it’s Pure. His aggressive behavior is of concern to Asahi and soon he has the MK crew helping him look for a wife for his beloved prairie dog. But it’s a feat more easily imagined than actualized as the staff go to hilarious extremes to get a good night’s sleep. The actual problem of what is bothering Pure is only found out at the end, to many laughs for the readers if not the MK staff. The second volume also has many bonuses. There are four-panel comic theater, extra bonus pages of story, and the second installment to the Train Train x Princess Princess crossover. This time the hungry and penniless Asahi tries to enter a cross-dressing competition in order to win the cash prize and is aided by two ‘princesses’ Tohko and Yuuko.
IN SUMMARY:
There are more laughs, madcap adventures and romantic mayhem for Train Train fans to enjoy! |
