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First Impressions: Red Riding Hood and the BSW & Otome Mania!

July 26, 2017

Two new series from Seven Seas that fall into the shoujo/josei category – Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (long title!) and Otome Mania! Here are some first impressions gleaned from reading the initial volumes.

Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (RRHBSW)- Hachijou Arata

Story: This series is episodic in nature and often has 4 koma interjections. The gist is that Red Riding Hood runs into the Wolf-kun, and her sadistic side gets turned on by watching Wolf cry. So she’s constantly trying to capture Wolf and put him into situations that make the tears flow. Side characters in this volume include a set of quadruplet hunters that can’t tell one another apart or shoot the broad side of a barn, a pair of bird-human bishies, Crow and Hawk, and Red Riding Hood’s childhood frenemy – kansai dialect (cuz of the translated accent) Bunny-san.

Impressions: Thinking this was more along the lines of a typical romantic comedy, the story is not quite what I expected. If you like sadistic humor then I’m sure you’ll love this. It’s not my preference, however. The situational comedy just struck me flat and not funny. I mostly sympathized with the Wolf character and disliked Hood and Hawk, who are the more aggressive characters in this series. I thought Arata was inserting some BL by having Crow love Hawk, but instead it becomes more of a satire of the genre. Which I -again- found not funny. The only thing somewhat humorous in RRHBSW were the quadruplet hunters – the stupidity of the characters earn a chuckle or two – but the concept of idiots for laughs is nothing new. I will give Arata-san credit, though, for taking characters and situations that are usually more likely to be seinen tropes, and putting them in a josei manga aimed at the female audience.

The art most definitely fits the genre, with all the male characters being attractive or cute. There are character archetypes that are easily recognized in RRHBSW, and some fan service moments as well. The paneling is a bit wonky to me because of the 4 koma inserts. The chapter would flow for a few pages only for it to become a 4 koma panel, then a free form page, another 4 koma, and then back to free flow paneling and an abrupt end of chapter. It’s a different style I’m not used to, and it made the story lines quite choppy. It was hard to tell if the characters were going to continue on the same idea or move on to another tangent.

I’ll admit, one volume of this was enough to decide this series isn’t for me. It’s a josei and I was excited about that. However, I tend to prefer my josei to be less comedic and definitely less sadistic. I’m sure there are others who would disagree with me, and find this series brilliant and funny. But it left me scratching my head, wondering what gender of person proposed this title for licensing at Seven Seas.

Heart of Manga Rating: ♥♥♥

Otome Mania! – Tsukegase Yurino

Story: Main protagonist Hanami Yuzumi is a long time otome game fan. She loves them so much that she’s gotten a job in the otome game industry. She’s the newbie at Studio Trick * Star, and is learning the ropes of producing otome games. This first volume takes readers through Hanami’s experience of creating an otome mobile game, from proposal to finished product.

Impressions: I want to point out that this is not a manga adaptation of an existing otome game. This is an original story. Based on the art and subject matter, I had some very preconceived notions of what this title would be like. It’s otome gaming, right? I figured main protagonist would be hooking up with the reverse harem staff in the story. Actually reading it though, left a totally different impression. I found it to be highly educational about the gaming industry, with awesome eye candy characters. I learned A TON about how an otome game is made. Proposal sheets, specification sheets, voice directing, programming limitations, writing scenes, drawing characters, budgeting, marketing – you name it. The mangaka covers so many different aspects of the process that you can’t help but learn about it. And since it’s presented in a story format, where Hanami is having to learn these things as well, it makes learning it entertaining. Hanami is such a fan-girl, I think that most readers will easily identify with her, too. The manga does a great job of imitating an otome game, where Hanami spends time with different staff in the studio and you learn more about them. Each guy’s chapter ends with a cute romantic gesture.

I found the most entertaining aspect of Otome Mania! to be the art. If this had been given a different style, it might have been just “meh” or “boring”. Tsukogase Yurino’s art brings that attractive bishie eye candy right to the forefront, and it’s so drool worthy! The concept is clever overall. A lot of things in the manga are presented in otome game style – with names and titles. The characters are drawn so nicely detailed you could color them up and insert them in a game. Our main protagonist Hanami is cute. Then there are so many different archetypes of guys in the story, there’s bound to be one you find attractive. What am I saying?! – they are ALL attractive. The story flows well from page to page. Yurino uses a variety of paneling for the story and even some two-page spreads.

I will be picking up the other volume in this series since I found this so entertaining. If you like otome gaming, then it is a must buy. If you don’t know anything about otome gaming, but like attractive bishies – it’s a must buy! Haha. It’s a two volume series that is highly enjoyable. I think Seven Seas got this one right, and I hope it does well for them.

Heart of Manga Rating: ♥♥♥♥

2 Comments

Interesting! I like otome games but I generally don’t get a ton of manga from seven seas, but your review has made me curious for sure.

Anna Jul 26, 2017
- That’s good to hear. I think it’s a manga worth checking out.
  
  Laura Jul 29, 2017