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Petshop of Horrors.
Mar. 10th, 2005 03:43 pmSo I finished reading Petshop of Horrors.
[If you don't know already, you probably don't care, but Petshop of Horrors is a 10 volume manga series by Akino Matsuri about a pet shop with everything from ordinary housepets to mystical animals, all of whom tend to appear in human form to the people who buy them. The pets tend to have a large effect on their owner's lives; as the title would indicate, a lot of times not in a good way. I'd say its genres are mystery, horror, and fantasy, and it gets more shoujo as the series progresses.]
I really, really liked the series. The early volumes were a bit more gruesome than is my taste, but the cynicism and themes on human nature were interesting. It really becomes a lot less horrific as the series progresses, though. There's more empathy in the stories, and they tend to have less tragic endings. And the art is gorgeous. I've become a big fan of Akino-sensei in general now -- since Night Exile is scanlating all her works that we can -- but one of the bonuses with PSH is when she illustrates the animals in human form. The costumes are beautiful and always so appropriate in subtle ways.
I was really sad when I found out the series had ended -- I guess it ended a while ago, but I'd never been able to find the Japanese manga, so this is actually the only Japanese series for which I read the English versions. [Which aren't that bad. I'm not so obsessed with the series that I want to know exactly what the characters are saying, like I insist for most of CLAMP's series. I'm sure if I read the originals I would be annoyed at the translation liberties they took, but I'm learning to be more flexible in terms of adaptations and not so much straight translations. Although there was that really wonky part when they translated mohawk (as in the hairstyle) as "Mohican". Talk about missing the point.] But yeah, so apparently there is a "Shin Petshop of Horrors" series now. [Must go look for it at Kinokuniya when I go home for break.] Night Exile released the first chapter, and it seems like it's in the same vein as the stories from the middle of the original series, when things were in their "groove" that I really liked.
( More incoherent ramblings, with spoilers. )
Since I'm talking about Akino-sensei anyway, I read what is apparently one of her really old works, Reikan Shouhou Kabushiki-gaisha (what a mouthful), which is something like an agency that deals with spirits. Anyway, I just wanted to say that the art is so completely different from PSH and Elixir. The protagonist looks like Mamoru from Sailor Moon, especially his hair. And all the character designs are just very standard shoujo. And yet I can still sense her style in the series, maybe just through the story. It's kinda neat.
[If you don't know already, you probably don't care, but Petshop of Horrors is a 10 volume manga series by Akino Matsuri about a pet shop with everything from ordinary housepets to mystical animals, all of whom tend to appear in human form to the people who buy them. The pets tend to have a large effect on their owner's lives; as the title would indicate, a lot of times not in a good way. I'd say its genres are mystery, horror, and fantasy, and it gets more shoujo as the series progresses.]
I really, really liked the series. The early volumes were a bit more gruesome than is my taste, but the cynicism and themes on human nature were interesting. It really becomes a lot less horrific as the series progresses, though. There's more empathy in the stories, and they tend to have less tragic endings. And the art is gorgeous. I've become a big fan of Akino-sensei in general now -- since Night Exile is scanlating all her works that we can -- but one of the bonuses with PSH is when she illustrates the animals in human form. The costumes are beautiful and always so appropriate in subtle ways.
I was really sad when I found out the series had ended -- I guess it ended a while ago, but I'd never been able to find the Japanese manga, so this is actually the only Japanese series for which I read the English versions. [Which aren't that bad. I'm not so obsessed with the series that I want to know exactly what the characters are saying, like I insist for most of CLAMP's series. I'm sure if I read the originals I would be annoyed at the translation liberties they took, but I'm learning to be more flexible in terms of adaptations and not so much straight translations. Although there was that really wonky part when they translated mohawk (as in the hairstyle) as "Mohican". Talk about missing the point.] But yeah, so apparently there is a "Shin Petshop of Horrors" series now. [Must go look for it at Kinokuniya when I go home for break.] Night Exile released the first chapter, and it seems like it's in the same vein as the stories from the middle of the original series, when things were in their "groove" that I really liked.
( More incoherent ramblings, with spoilers. )
Since I'm talking about Akino-sensei anyway, I read what is apparently one of her really old works, Reikan Shouhou Kabushiki-gaisha (what a mouthful), which is something like an agency that deals with spirits. Anyway, I just wanted to say that the art is so completely different from PSH and Elixir. The protagonist looks like Mamoru from Sailor Moon, especially his hair. And all the character designs are just very standard shoujo. And yet I can still sense her style in the series, maybe just through the story. It's kinda neat.
