The Wallflower vol 1
 | | |
(quoted from the back of The Wallflower volume 1)
Makeover of the Century
It's a gorgeous, spacious, mansion, and four handsome fifteen-year-old friends are allowed to live in it free! There's only one condition-that within three years the guys must transform the owner's wallflower neice into a lady befitting the palace they all live. How hard can it be?
Enter Sunako Nakahara, the agoraphobic, horror movie-loving, pockmark-faced, frizzy-haired, fashion-illiterate, recluse who tends to break into explosive nosebleeds whenever she sees anyone attractive. This project is going to take more than our four heroes ever expected: it needs a miracle!
|
The Wallflower volume 1 contains:
Honorifics Explained
Chapter 1: A Ray of Light in the Darkness
Chapter 2: Behind the Iron Curtain
Chapter 3: The Bright Bright World
Chapter 4: The Good Old Dark Days of Youth
Chapter 5: Go Into the Light
About the Creator
Translation Notes
Preview of Volume 2
Storyline:
For the first volume, The Wallflower seems to cover a lot of ground. The author did a great job coming up with an original story idea and it pays off. Not only does the story set up for future volumes, but it also does an excellent job giving the characters great opportunities to show off their unique characteristics.
Artwork:
The drawings and style of The Wallflower took some getting used to. It wasn't bad, but it was definetly a lot different than typical shoujo mangas. The character's drawings bothered me a lot, but after a while the artwork just seemed to click and all the troubles seemed to suddenly just disappear. I never mixed up the characters, nor did i ever get bored with the art style. The Wallflower definetly contains original artwork and most of the time it complements the hillarious stroyline.
Characters:
The two main characters of the Wallflower are very well developed. Not only do most of the characters have a great deal of depth, but they are also a fresh take on the shoujo genre. Sunako Nakahara is a brilliant character because of her attitude about the world. Whenever she said lines like "those creatures of the lights," "I'll end this with a bang," and so on I couldn't stop laughing. Sunako isn't the onyl great character either. Each of the boys who became her roomate also have great personalities and are excellent additions to the series.
Summary (Warning: May Contain Spoilers):
Sunako Nakahara used to be the typical junior high girl but that all quickly changed when her crush told her she was ugly. Because of that one word she went into the darkness and decided to just give up on looking pretty and worrying about her weight. She figured that if she was always going to be ugly, why try to defy God. That is, until her four new "male" roomates move in.
In the first chapter four fifteen year old boys (Kyohei Takano, Yukinojo Toyama, Takenaga Oda, and Ranmaru Morii) move into Sunako's mansion because her aunt wanted her to be more lady like. Not only are these four guys, they also happen to be the best looking young men in town. When they first get into the house they think they will have an easy job. They quickly learn who the mysterious young girl is and they think she is a ghost. Basically the rest of chapter 1 is about the four guys getting aquainted with their bizarre roomate.
In chapter 2, Sunako goes to her first day of school and is enjoying the peace and quiet around the school (while all her classmates think that she's a ghost). The whole school decides to find out what is going to with the new girl and decide that they should make an event out of cutting off her long bangs. Eventually, Kyohei Takano comes to her rescue when a bunch of girls gang up on her. Sunako realizes that with her bangs she is sticking out, so she cuts them off and kicks the crap out of the girls who were harassing her. Then, she freaks out, screaming why did she cut her bangs and then the whole school finds out about the four guys and Sunako living together.
In chapter 3, the boys toilet at the mansion breaks down and they tell Sunako that they are going to have to use her bathroom until it gets fixed. They think that she is paying attention but she was more worried about her missing bangs to really notice. Anyway, that night she walks in on Kyohei while he is taking a shower (naked) and she freaks out. She runs away and he chased after her streeking through the halls. The next day he catches a cold and the other three guys make her skip school to take care of him. During the day he makes her run all types of useless chores and she is starting to fall for him. At the end of the day she feels like he has taken her darkness away so she grabs a pair of scizzors and almost kills him, luckily the three other guys manage to stop her.
In chapter 4, the four boys are talking about some local agency trying to recruit them to sit down and get paid hundreds of thousands yen a night. They all know there is something going on down there so they all refuse, but eventually the company starts going after Kyohei. After Sunako attempts to kill him again he goes out to eat and gets captured by the company. Sunako and the team get dolled up to break into the company (Sunako refused at first but she was persuaded because of her desire to kill Kyohei with her own hands). They break into the corporation and they find out that Kyohei is being bidded on for a night out with a lady (he's completely tied up and muzzled, of course). Sunako takes off her dress and underneath is a police uniform. She pulls out a chainsaw too and starts tearing down the place. The three boys rescue him and they stop Sunako before she blows the place up. At the end of the chapter Kyohei thanks and kisses Sunako.
In the last chapter the guys find out that Sunako's aunt is coming home after hearing about what a beautiful lady her niece had become. The guys are freaking out and persuade Sunako to be a lady by offering her 8 rare horror movie films. After some struggling she gives in and after a few fights with Kyohei she eventually stuns the world with her true beauty. Everyone is amazed with how far she came and just when the boys thought they were through the clear a perverted old man comes up and pinches one of the young girls. Sunako immediately kicks the shit out of the guy and the guys' lie was discovered. Their aunt gave them 1/2 off the mortgage instead of kicking them out, and the chapter ends with Sunako watching her horror films all creepy like.
Extras:
Del Rey is simply amazing. The extra dollar that you pay for their books goes along way. The extras include: explainations of the japanese translations, a japanese preview of volume 2, and you also get all the basic extras like author comments and stuff.
Content Warnings:
-Language: Yes
-Violence: Yes
-Nudity: Partially
-Sexual Situations: No
Overall:
Overall, The Wallflower volumes 1 is an excellent story. The characters are deep and funny, the artwork is impressive, and the extras are almost perfect. If the rest of the volumes are this good then this could definetly become my favorite manga series.
+ great characters, an original story, strong message (you need to find it yourself, though)
- the artwork is a bit different but this quickly changes from a bad to a good thing.
Score: 9.5/10
