“The Radius”
Title: Happy Marriage 5
Writer/ Artist: Maki Enjoji
U. S. Distributor: Viz Media
U. S. Release Date: April 1, 2014
Format: Shojo Manga, Joesi
Genre: Romance
Age Rating: M
Overall Personal Rating: B+
Synopsis:
Chiwa is trying to be a good wife, cooking and making boxed lunches but Hokuto usually doesn’t eat it. He still is usually tense and surly.
Once again, Chiwa’s dad is having money trouble. She dutifully wants to help him out and looks for a job. Hokuto is against it . The job she finds has her working with a guy she knew from college, making things awkward.
It is a long weekend and the couple goes away to a resort. When they run into someone Hokuto knows, he fails to introduce Chiwa as his wife. What does this all mean?
Hokuto is summoned to the family home. Something big is up with the family business. Chiwa is still treated poorly by some of the family members. Even so, when she thinks she needs to find a way to help her husband advance, she contacts one of them behind his back.
Commentary:
I am mixed about how I feel about this series. I don’t really pick mature rated titles on my own (this one was sent to us for review). So, I’m not exactly the target audience, although I assume I’m in the targeted demographic. The overall story line of the series is entertaining, a nicely scripted romance. Then, it gets a bit too dramatic, relying on some repetitive elements instead of moving in a linear way. It goes this way; the couple keep secrets, don’t comunincate clearly (or at all) under the guise of benefiting the other person. Their relationship deteriorates, they feel awful inside, filling full of doubts, have a huge argument, one of them takes off , and finally they make-up and clear the bad between them. It is the repetition, just with different situations. So they are stuck in the initial phase of their relationship. It is time for them to start working as a team and move forward. There is a possibility with the changes in the family business, but already Hokuto is trying to keep her out of it, and Chiwa has already gone behind his back.
I have an issue when they are intimate, Hokuto always looks so angry and Chiwa is looking embarrassed or sad. It doesn’t exactly project romance or love. It may have made sense in the last volume, but at this point it is getting annoying near the point of being wrong. It’s time she enjoys herself. Chiwa, as a character, is losing believablility. Chiwa has this air about her that she needs to be taken care of, yet she does some major things to help her father out financially. She wonders why Hokuto has tried to make love in a while , but tries to hold him back or expresses extreme embarrassment when he does. Even if it is realistic, it doesn’t read well as a romance. Now I need to say, “Sort of…”. I think this style of situations may be a fantasy that evokes certain feeling for a reader, and that is what it is intending to do and not be any deeper than that. As a respectable woman, showing interest in sex is shameful, so everything is set up so she is doing only noble things within the most acceptable context and rest is beyond her control.
The best part of the series is the artwork. It expresses the scene very well. There is obvious skill in portraying people. I really appreciate when the characters can be drawn realistically and in proportion. The backgrounds and fashion are done with the same care.
Overall Grade: B+
