Alright, a little something I had wanted to do every so often is have a little spotlight on some smaller and less well known manga that I have read upon (and damn have I read a lot… ) Most do not know but there are a good number of manga only titles out there that are just pure gold but get little attention at all so I’m going to try to remedy that, even if it is just a bit… The first one is on the series, ‘Pretty face’ by Yasuhiro Kano (whose other work includes Mx0).
Pretty Face tells the story of martial artist Randoh Masashi, who after waking up after being a coma for a year because of an accident, finds that his face had been reconstructed perfectly to match a photo he had with him. The photo being that of his secret crush, Kurimi Rina, unfortunately. Realising his family has moved on and are unreachable, he then accidentally runs into the real Kurimi Rina herself, who mistakes him for her long lost twin sister. Playing the part of Kurimi Yuna and fitting in with Rina and her family, Randoh sets out to try to keep Rina happy while at the same time try to find the real Yuna for Rina’s sake, all while trying to keep the fact that he is actually a guy secret.
The manga itself is excellent, being mostly comedic with some action aspects. Humour in this is quite visual in nature, and a good use of irony (as us the readers are the only ones besides Randoh to know he is a guy) as well. There are a few bits of fighty action but they are sparse and not very serious. The main meat of the story is the romance and the comedy though. There is a fair amount of fan service and some quasi-yuri-incestuous tones the whole way through. The artwork is very clean and very good looking, and the story moves quite well with small story segments with a couple longer ones, however I felt the end was rather rushed but this could be due to its cancellation.
Now, for those of you who don’t think it will be quite your thing for the slight gender bending elements, well I had my doubts as well when I had first read a summary about it but I gave it a try and was absolutely delighted that I had, owing to it being so hilariously funny and really, the elements are closer to cross dressing than anything… although you sometimes forget he’s a guy sometimes and that’s where the quasi-yuri comes in. The story centres mainly around the theme of relationships across the whole spectrum, from friendship to love and even family.
It is a very good read at a sizeable 6 volumes long, all of which were scanlated by Akatsuki-Manga. Here’s the first chapter to sample as well.
Download Pretty Face Chapter 01
For those who tried this and thought it was a good series, you may also be interested in Yasuhiro Kano’s most recent work, Mx0 of which the first chapter of is also here ready for you to sample…
References
WikiPedia
Anime News Network
Manga Updates
Pretty face is one of the funniest stuff I’ve read and I’ve read a fair bit (possess 1200++ manga) . Pity it was prematurely ended. But I saw that Kano has a new ongoing series,wonder how that is working out. Haven’t seen it.
Yeah, Mx0, his new series is quite good in my opinion, and the hilarity of the comedy sort is still Pretty Face level but there seems to be a large disinterest on it from the english speaking community. The few groups working together on it have now fizzled down and scanlations have stopped completely unfortunately… which is just a crying shame…
Also, first chapter of Mx0 is right up there availible for download as well XD
I have yet to read this most reasent seares but I did read Preatty Face 4 times. It will be coming to the US soon, and it also seems that Yasuhiro Kano didnt want to stop the searies becouse he wrote a contenuation chapter that was never included in the books but found its self on the internet somehow. I would love it if he could contenue his work and finish it properly.
lalala ^^
I don’t speak english, but Mx0 is very cool ^^
mother fuckers
Ihaven’t read pretty face, but MxO is a fun manga. Its all about this buy who gets into magic school and quickly becomes a primary target because he’s perceived to be the strongest magic-user. The only catch……he’s the only one in the school who can’t use magic, but has to maintain his facade or be expelled (and lose the girl of his dreams). The plot is somehwat linear, and ocassionally slowpaced but the author does an excellent job building the magic setting and rules up. It reminded me pleasantly of Harry Potter in its creativity, with so many original effects and abilities. Its not the deepest manga ever, but the attention to detail especially in the fights, make it a worthwhile read.
I love the Series, i think that he should make them again, im trying to see if there is a way to find his email and tell him that
Nice!
what’s with the lame reply..