Manga Review: A Wise Man Sleeps, Volume 2, by Mick Takeuchi

Rating (Out of 5): ~2.5

Publisher: Go! Comi

Publish Date: 2008

Volumes: 2

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. (Marketplace--Out of Print)

Volume 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

More supernatural crime-solving puts Miharu to the test as she goes up against evil spirits, vengeful wives, and modern art mysteries As if that wasn't enough, there's another criminal-catching duo on the scene

Something Specific:

Quote:

• "'If you don’t have what it takes to accept those faults…then you don’t deserve to have her.’”

 

Review:

This volume was a bit of a disappointment, seeing as how it’s the last of the series, but doesn’t really resolve anything.

Granted, apparently the series took a year long hiatus in Japan (I think for publisher/licensing reasons), but still.

All this volume consisted of were more one-shot to two-shot stories. None of them are particularly memorable, although they are somewhat entertaining while reading.

I was honestly just not very impressed with this volume. The art’s fine. The characters are at least somewhat interesting, although I would have liked to have gotten to know them more. The humor was a bit weak, and didn’t really help me enjoy the book. And then it just kind of ends on a normal one-shot story, so I’m assuming that the series was canceled, which makes sense after the hiatus. 

I’m still hoping to pick up Her Majesty’s Dog, as I remember really liking it, and have the impression that it’s a lot better than this one was.

Manga Review: A Wise Man Sleeps. Volume 1, by Mick Takeuchi

Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5

Publisher: Go! Comi

Publish Date: 2008

Volumes: 2

Spoilers?: Some.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. (Out of Print)

Goodreads Synopsis:

Miharu hasn't been having a good year. Her mother died, leaving her only a single ring to remember her by, and her father went bankrupt - leaving her with all his debts Though she'd intended to sell the ring to pay off her debts, Miharu finds herself unable to part with it... literally

Review:

I’ve had this series on my eye for a while, but hadn’t really planned to get it soon, when I saw it at my ‘local’ bookstore. I’ve read some of Her Majesty’s Dog, also by Takeuchi, and hope to get my hands on that series at some point, but it’s rather hard to find. So, this one.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, going into it. I figured it would be good, entertaining, and that’s pretty much what I got, although it was also a little slow at grabbing my attention.

Miharu, our heroine, is stuck with her father’s debt when he runs off. The yakuza are after her to get it back, and she’s trying to get by and avoid them. It doesn’t work very well. And then some strange guy, Akechi, an alchemist, comes up, claiming that this ring her mother left her is worth a lot, and he’d like to have it. She tries using this to her advantage, but that doesn’t turn out very well. In the end, her debt goes away, and she starts working for Akechi, who owns a jewelry store and is searching for jewels that have, kind of, souls to them, and that dead people’s souls attach to, whether for harm or good. And Miharu swallows her ring, and it kind of fuses with her, giving her the ability to sense the special jewels and see the spirits and stuff, something that Akechi can already do.

This leads to several one-shot chapters where Miharu tries helping, or hurting, people who have special jewels. These cases range from a little girl who lost her mother, to a psycho man who killed his family. One good thing about these one-shot chapters, in particular, is that there is some actual character development, character exploration, in them, which was nice.

Miharu seems like a pretty average heroine. She’s impulsive, barges in to help people whether she should or not, but is kind, I guess. I like Akechi—he’s kind of clumsy and awkward, but I like him. He has a double personality from his ring, one that Miharu likes, who’s very suave and powerful. There’s also a talking doll that Akechi has, a woman named Beatrice, who’s actual form, or creature, I was not expecting, but I like what I’ve seen of her. She's kind of blunt and rude.

There’s only one other volume in this series, which I have already, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the series ends, where it goes from here.