Manga Review: Shinshoku Kiss, Volumes 1 & 2, by Kazuko Higashiyama

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: TokyoPop

Volumes: 2

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the co-creator of tactics!Be careful what you wish for! Kotoko Kashiwagi is an aspiring doll maker who dreams of one day making dolls as life-like and beautiful as her idol's, the popular yet mysterious doll maker "Fool." She'd also like nothing better than to meet him, but when she does, the circumstances are nothing like she imagined! First off, he's kidnapped her. Second, he's kissed her hand, and third, he's informed her she's going to become his servant

Kazuko Higashiyama's dazzling tale of a doll maker who just might get what he wishes for comes to stunning conclusion!When Yuta wants Kotoko to use her encroacher to make a doll of a certain street artist, Kotoko ends up falling for one of Yuta's creepy comrades, Fuyu. Fuyu also has an encroacher, however, and tells Kotoko that he'd like to show her STAR. On the way, Kotoko realizes two things: Takuto is a living doll, and she has memories of STAR from her childhood.

Review:

I've been thinking about who to review books that I've already read (as I'm new to reviewing but have read a lot), including two-shot series like this one. I don't want to do them volume by volume, as I've already read them and would have to re-read the series in order to write about them well. I've thought about not reviewing them at all, but I want to. And so I've decided to review them together, if they're about two volumes like this one. (So, you know, tell me what you think of me doing it this way, whether you like it or not.)

So anyway, it's about a girl, Kotoko, who wants to make dolls but isn't very good at it. She enters a contest and doesn't win, but is ends up meeting a famous doll maker, the creator of 'Fool', and is forced into an odd situation of working for him. He teaches her more about dolls and how to get better at making them, and she meets several other people in the industry.

In the second novel, we find out more about 'Fool''s doll 'Star', which has made men go mad, and some other (kind of creepy) things related to 'Fool'. Like about his helper, Takuto. (Although, really, 'Fool' is a bit creepy all on his own.) And I like Takuto and Kotoko together, but the ending for them, and the series altogether, was a little weird. It's not bad, not really, but I'm still a little unsure what to think about it; what I think about it.

I didn't mind Kotoko. She wasn't dumb, but not as smart as some, and maybe a little too curious in things that she shouldn't be in. The art is really pretty. And the story was interesting (while maybe a little weird), and it moved along pretty well. We got a good idea of who each character was, even with such a short amount, as well.
This was a good, short, series (even if it was also odd and I'm unsure of the ending). I haven't read any of Higashiyama's other series, including Tactics, and probably won't, unless there's one that I'm unaware of that has been completely published over here. (If there has, go ahead and tell me.)