I bought Volume 2 of Shinshi Doumei Cross (The Gentlemen Alliance) from Kinokuniya, one of my favorite bookstores, in Little Tokyo, a place where I usually like to shop if I have a little money on me. See, here's how I plan my trip there: I rack up at least 11 bucks, take the Blue Line to the Red Line to Civic Center, and then bike down to Little Tokyo. I saw this sign that showed that both volumes are available, and it shows a swinging picture of Haine Otomiya, a former yankee (delinquent) who became girlfriend of Shizumasa Touguu, a guy she knew as a child. Her story is quite sad. Her first family had to sell her because she was becoming a financial burden to their business. Now the family she is with is trying to make ends meet. Because of this, she went into an emotional tailspin, and became a yankee, before reuniting with Shizumasa (of which Haine adds a -sama to his name).
I heard some reviews about SDC (or Shinkuro for short) being a ripoff of a CLAMP storyline, and that there isn't a good rap regarding the story. This was the first story that Arina Tanemura wrote that had no magical powers whatsoever, purely a teenage real-life drama. (I wouldn't sell my children if I had at least one. No way.)
This being said, I think SDC is an interesting change of pace from the regular Arina tales, that involve magical powers of some sort. One must begin to wonder if the staying power of Shinkuro will hold. By the way, Arina is concocting plans for a new mahou-shoujo manga drama later on. Can't wait to see how that develops.
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