Title: Strobe Edge 8

Author/Artist: Io Sakisaka

U.S. Distributor: Viz Media

Release Date: January 7, 2014

Format and Length: Shojo Manga,  184 pages

Genre: High School Romance

Industry Age Rating: T

Overall Personal Rating:B+

Similar Series:  kimi ni todoke, Say “I Love You”, A Devil and her Love Song

Synopsis:

Ninako is a high school girl, a bit small but very cute and somewhat socially naive. She has fallen for Ren, a popular and good-looking guy at school. He’s noticed her too, but when they first met, he was dating someone else. Ninako was content to be his friend and just be close to him. Now that he is single, he knows he likes Ninako but he has not gotten her to see that. She thinks he is being a good friend and keeps her feelings hidden the best she can. In her mind, there is always a good reason. This time, she has found out that Ren and Ando used to be close friends and it was a girl who had come between them. Since Ando has made it very clear he wants Ninako to be his girlfriend, she thinks that it would be best not to pursue Ren for the sake of his friendship with Ando. The big problem is she is no longer content to just be near him. The answer to her is to stop loving him. As she struggles, her friends begin to worry about what is going on.

A school festival is coming up. Ninako and Ando end up being leaders in the cheer group for their class. She is very distracted by her thoughts of Ren and what to do. Ando is openly working on getting Ninako to love him while Ren is approaching things in a quieter way. Except, he tells Ando exactly what he wants. Neither is willing to back down and they agree to both compete for Ninako’s heart.

Commentary:

With Ninako’s overthinking and abundance of faulty logic, she isn’t getting past being Ren’s friend. This keeps the plot from moving much as things circle around from one obstacle  to another. But, it keeps the series going so it’s not over too soon which is good, because it is a fun series to read. This, to me, is the series’ strength. It’s a lighter read with out anything particularly amazing, but it is sweet, hopeful and entertaining.

Ninako and Ren are exceptionally cute, one of the advantages of art verses real people. The artwork of this series is really good. It is well drawn, with clarity, great use of light, dark and tones. The faces and bodies easily convey emotions and thoughts without chibi or characteristic exaggerations-well, outside of the anime eye style. There are simple backgrounds which focus the attention on the people which works well since this is a character/relationship driven story. I see the skill put into the human forms, even down to the hands. The details of Ren’s hands when his face or chin rested on them was awesome. Having taken many figure drawing classes, I really appreciated the lines and shapes specific to the hands and the skill necessary in matters of fore shortening perspective.

The characters have all reached the point where they know their real feelings and have admitted the truth to themselves, now they need to find the courage to try to make the connections or move on. Ninako is just so new to all of this and probably has read too many perfect and noble romances. They should look to Ando for communication skills. With only two more volumes in the series, I really think Ninako and Ren will find a way to connect but just how will be the interesting part. I look forward to seeing the series to the end.

Extras: Author’s notes including one that explains the meaning behind the title.

Overall Grade: B+