Lucas Blogs About Stupid Love Comedy
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| I'm still trying to work out the exact mechanics of this collision. Fun cover though. |
Okay, time to put Hypothetical Reader back in its box for a moment. That's right, plain old essay format review time. Now, I know that pervious instances of this format were both books that I thought were quite good, but I'll be honest: while I enjoyed reading Stupid Love Comedy, it is, in fact, only okay. Let's talk about why.
So, Stupid Love Comedy is a Shōjo manga by Syusyusyu Sakurai (disclaimer, I haven't read all that much in the Shōjo genre, so it's possible that people who are fans of that genre may enjoy this more than I did) concerning the relationship between Osamu Hasegawa, a manga editor, and Suzu Sakura, a mangaka. See, Hasegawa used to be an editor at San Cruz, a Shōnen magazine, who has been reassigned to Shōjo magazine Daisy to work with one of their promising new talents. Well, her debut was promising. As it turns out, Sakura-sensei (in additon to meaning "teacher," sensei is also an honorific used to address various professionals, including (but not limited to) doctors, lawyers, and, of course, mangaka) is more than a little slovenly and lazy and serially tardy. However, like Hasegawa, she is passionate about manga, and this particular manga largely follows the development of their professional and personal relationship. See, Sakura has an immediate crush on Hasegawa (and several of the other male characters, but Hasegawa is the main one), and he protests too much when people ask if he thinks she's cute. Will these two grown adult professionals be able to overcome their various personal and professional neuroses to either admit their obvious feelings for each other and/or sublimate those feelings into a healthy and not-at-all co-dependent working relationship? (SPOILERS AHEAD: It's a comedy so obviously they're going to dance around their feelings for each other until a third character forces them to admit that they like each other, but in a twist instead of having a Happily Ever After they'll just use their knowledge of each other's feelings as leverage to manipulate the terms of their working relationship)
Anyway, let's talk about what I liked in Stupid Love Comedy. Sakurai is a talented artist. She incorporates a lot of elements of standard Shōjo manga style (exaggerated eyes, bishie sparkle, stylish and lithe pretty boy characters) and incorporates them into page layouts that are both splashy and full of visual interest while still being easy to follow (this translation preserves the original right-to-left orientation of Japanese language manga, so if you can't get past that (and I know you're lying about that because the human brain is god-damned amazing) then maybe read something else). She also excels at character designs with all of the characters being immediately recognizable even when appearing in different clothing or hairstyles, so good on that. Oh, and, lest I forget, her layouts also work well for the visual nature of the manga's humor, showing Sakura's melodramatic reactions to Hasegawa's criticism of her work and work habits and including brief style parodies of other types of manga (either in Sakura's needlessly elaborate pitches for new series or in showing off other manga the long-sleeved designer Nanami has worked on).
Stupid Love Comedy is also fascinating for its elucidation of the working relationship between a mangaka and editor, including all of the work that goes into physically producing a manga magazine. In addition, to managing his relationship with a creator who thinks that buying him a cake will make up for being a full 24 hours late to a meeting, Hasegawa also needs to advocate for larger print runs when Sakura's manga is published as a paperback, and even stump around local bookshops to encourage them to recommend her work. However, this is sometimes also to the work's detriment.
All right, so let's talk about one of the problems in this manga: in spite of the fact that it's all about two passionate creative professionals working hard to produce art we never learn anything about the object of their mutual labors. That's right, we don't even find out the title of the manga Sakura is working on. You do see a picture of the cover, presumably depicting the protagonists, but that's pretty much it. And I get that this is by design (and possibly even a good idea (more on that later)) after all, the story isn't really about the manga itself, it's about all the work that goes into writing, editing, printing, etc, a successful (or even an unsuccessful) manga. That's cool, but I do think that a complete lack of information about this thing that both characters are supposedly so passionate about makes it a little bit harder to care about their ability to build a stable professional relationship. Heck, it's even a chance for some wry commentary on the nature of Hasegawa and Sakura's relationship, either being reflected or inverted in the manga they're working on (though that might be a bit on the nose).
This is often a problem in art focused on the production of art itself, you either don't get to see the work that the artist is pouring all their effort into or you do see it and it's nothing special (Shakespeare in Love got around this problem by making the protagonist the proverbial yardstick for quality writing). So, I can see why Sakurai did not include any of the actual manga her characters were making (except for a few comic snippets of Sakura's over-the-top rejected story ideas). Nevertheless, it's a little difficult to care about whether Sakura makes it as a mangaka without at least knowing what the manga she's writing is about.
The other issue I have is with the romantic plot between Hasegawa and Sakura. It's not just that most of their relationship consists of Hasegawa hounding Sakura about deadlines and layouts etc. That's his job, he needs to push her to write and draw a commercially viable installment every month. It's that while Sakurai does an excellent job of establishing what Sakura sees in Hasegawa (he's handsome really passionate about manga, and invested in her development as an artist) there's less of a sense of the reverse (it's clear that he thinks she puts out good work (after finally meeting her deadlines) but the manga doesn't really delve so far into his personal feelings for her). It could just be that I'm missing some of the subtext, but I think this might have worked better if it had just been about (MORE SPOILERS) Sakura accepting a solely professional relationship with Hasegawa).
Which isn't to say that I don't recommend reading Stupid Love Comedy, it's fun, it's funny, and the art is delightful. I just wish that it had been in service of a more satisfying story.
Oh, and since there wasn't anywhere in the main body of the review where this fits: You may have noticed some similarities between the names of Syusyusyu Sakurai (the mangaka who drew this manga) and Suzu Sakura (the mangaka who is this manga's protagonist). According to notes from her editors that open every chapter, Sakurai gave her protagonist several of her own bad habits. I don't know how autobiographical this is otherwise.
Stupid Love Comedy (originally published as ラブコメのバカ - Lovecome no Baka) by Syusyusyu Sakurai, trans. Christine Dashiell, Yen Press trade paperback edition, 512 pages, pairs well with strawberry-flavored Kit-Kats and CC Lemon
Links:
So, the obligatory: here's Syusyusyu Sakurai's twitter, if you're into that kinda thing (it is, unsurprisingly, in Japanese).
Anyway, let's talk about what I liked in Stupid Love Comedy. Sakurai is a talented artist. She incorporates a lot of elements of standard Shōjo manga style (exaggerated eyes, bishie sparkle, stylish and lithe pretty boy characters) and incorporates them into page layouts that are both splashy and full of visual interest while still being easy to follow (this translation preserves the original right-to-left orientation of Japanese language manga, so if you can't get past that (and I know you're lying about that because the human brain is god-damned amazing) then maybe read something else). She also excels at character designs with all of the characters being immediately recognizable even when appearing in different clothing or hairstyles, so good on that. Oh, and, lest I forget, her layouts also work well for the visual nature of the manga's humor, showing Sakura's melodramatic reactions to Hasegawa's criticism of her work and work habits and including brief style parodies of other types of manga (either in Sakura's needlessly elaborate pitches for new series or in showing off other manga the long-sleeved designer Nanami has worked on).
Stupid Love Comedy is also fascinating for its elucidation of the working relationship between a mangaka and editor, including all of the work that goes into physically producing a manga magazine. In addition, to managing his relationship with a creator who thinks that buying him a cake will make up for being a full 24 hours late to a meeting, Hasegawa also needs to advocate for larger print runs when Sakura's manga is published as a paperback, and even stump around local bookshops to encourage them to recommend her work. However, this is sometimes also to the work's detriment.
All right, so let's talk about one of the problems in this manga: in spite of the fact that it's all about two passionate creative professionals working hard to produce art we never learn anything about the object of their mutual labors. That's right, we don't even find out the title of the manga Sakura is working on. You do see a picture of the cover, presumably depicting the protagonists, but that's pretty much it. And I get that this is by design (and possibly even a good idea (more on that later)) after all, the story isn't really about the manga itself, it's about all the work that goes into writing, editing, printing, etc, a successful (or even an unsuccessful) manga. That's cool, but I do think that a complete lack of information about this thing that both characters are supposedly so passionate about makes it a little bit harder to care about their ability to build a stable professional relationship. Heck, it's even a chance for some wry commentary on the nature of Hasegawa and Sakura's relationship, either being reflected or inverted in the manga they're working on (though that might be a bit on the nose).
This is often a problem in art focused on the production of art itself, you either don't get to see the work that the artist is pouring all their effort into or you do see it and it's nothing special (Shakespeare in Love got around this problem by making the protagonist the proverbial yardstick for quality writing). So, I can see why Sakurai did not include any of the actual manga her characters were making (except for a few comic snippets of Sakura's over-the-top rejected story ideas). Nevertheless, it's a little difficult to care about whether Sakura makes it as a mangaka without at least knowing what the manga she's writing is about.
The other issue I have is with the romantic plot between Hasegawa and Sakura. It's not just that most of their relationship consists of Hasegawa hounding Sakura about deadlines and layouts etc. That's his job, he needs to push her to write and draw a commercially viable installment every month. It's that while Sakurai does an excellent job of establishing what Sakura sees in Hasegawa (he's handsome really passionate about manga, and invested in her development as an artist) there's less of a sense of the reverse (it's clear that he thinks she puts out good work (after finally meeting her deadlines) but the manga doesn't really delve so far into his personal feelings for her). It could just be that I'm missing some of the subtext, but I think this might have worked better if it had just been about (MORE SPOILERS) Sakura accepting a solely professional relationship with Hasegawa).
Which isn't to say that I don't recommend reading Stupid Love Comedy, it's fun, it's funny, and the art is delightful. I just wish that it had been in service of a more satisfying story.
Oh, and since there wasn't anywhere in the main body of the review where this fits: You may have noticed some similarities between the names of Syusyusyu Sakurai (the mangaka who drew this manga) and Suzu Sakura (the mangaka who is this manga's protagonist). According to notes from her editors that open every chapter, Sakurai gave her protagonist several of her own bad habits. I don't know how autobiographical this is otherwise.
Stupid Love Comedy (originally published as ラブコメのバカ - Lovecome no Baka) by Syusyusyu Sakurai, trans. Christine Dashiell, Yen Press trade paperback edition, 512 pages, pairs well with strawberry-flavored Kit-Kats and CC Lemon
Links:
So, the obligatory: here's Syusyusyu Sakurai's twitter, if you're into that kinda thing (it is, unsurprisingly, in Japanese).
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