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Title: Absolute Boyfriend
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents will most likely want to preview this series before they let their kids read it. This series has a lot of elements like mild language, some heavy themes discussed, and some frank sexual content. Not for pre-teens. |
"Absolute Boyfriend" is a romantic comedy from Yuu Watase, famous for defining the "pretty boy girls comic" with her hit series "Fushigi Yugi." Ah, but don't expect another epic romantic fantasy with "Absolute Boyfriend," as this comic was created to be a marketing CLAMP-style series, where the whole point of the series is to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You can tell this series is full of marketing gimmicks just by the fact that the cover features not only the secondary male character (instead of the main female protagonist), but also by the fact that the secondary character is naked on the cover. Oh, and the naked man is very pretty. Yep, this is a mass-marketing series. It doesn't help the story when people can pick out the marketing scheme before they even open the book. Eh, but sometimes people will buy the book just because the cover promises what they expect to find in their entertainment. Since I've read the series, let me point out a few basic facts about the story that you most likely already know by looking at the cover. First of all, everyone in this series is attractive but say they are ugly. This is known as the "Dawson's Creek syndrom," where people who look like they are supermodels spend a good deal of time whining about how they will never get a boyfriend/girlfriend, have no social skills, and (most hilariously) think they will never get laid.
There's no reason for these people to think this way, but we accept this method of thinking because the author buys into it, so heck, we might as well too. Then there is a love triangle between the female protagonist, nerdy lifelong male friend with glasses (who also looks pretty), and, the most amazing twist in manga history, has a naive male robot who spends most of his time naked and falls in love with our protagonist. In this case the protagonist is Riiko Izawa, who signs up for a free trial lover robot named Nightly Lover (but for the sake of our sanity, will simply be called Night from this point on). Riiko signs up to have this lover robot delivered to her because she has been rejected multiple times by various men, and feels that she will never have a boyfriend. Again, this is despite the fact that she looks drop dead gorgeous. Anyway, the robot is delivered to her house naked, awaked by a kiss from Riiko, and claims himself to be her boyfriend. Night knows nothing of the real world though, and simple things like attempting to make money and cook food turn into huge disasters that could only happen in a comic book. Now, here's the funny thing about this whole robot subplot you need to realize: Night is not the monkey wrench in the story. No sir. Many people may consider that the robot has to be the thing to throw the protagonists perfectly normal life into turmoil, but I don't think this is true.
After all, the story practically revolves around the robot in the first place. The story is specifically about a girl who orders a robot because she feels she can't get a date, and her life was pretty much wacked in the first place. Therefore, the robot CAN'T be the monkey wrench, because it was planned to be included all along. Even when Night's manufacturer comes into the story and lets Riiko know that she now has to pay for the robot, the robot doesn't feel like a monkey wrench. She likes the robot, the robot is programmed to like her, so everything is as it should be. The monkey wrench actually comes up when Riiko's childhood friend, Soshi, admits to Riiko that he has feelings for her. When Soshi admits to Riiko that he has feelings for her, they just stare at each other for a few panels, and the emotions on their face remind use why stories like this remain popular throughout the various incarnations. From reading a synopsis of the story, you can only imagine what sort of familiar water will be treaded in "Absolute Boyfriend." Yes, familiar water is treaded, and there are more then a few instances where we see a couple of predictable twists coming chapters away, but as long as the characters are likable, and as long as the characters don't act like complete morons, there is something timeless about this set-up.
Like love ballads on the radio, predictability comes with the territory. What matters is if you want to sing along with the lyrics. In the case of "Absolute Boyfriend," we find ourselves interested in the characters enough to continue the journey. Will the story drag itself into the double digit volumes? Most likely, it almost always does. Will there be misunderstandings? Oh yeah, count on it. Will the girl have to chose between one of the men? Is this even a fair question? Yes, "Absolute Boyfriend" is all these things and more. It's predictable, things happen in this series that happen in ALL romance series, and in no way will this series change your life as you know it. But I can always admire a series that can do everything the way I expect it to do and find a way to not bore me. This is a series that will result in a group of girls reading it in a group, swooning over the pretty boys and melodrama, and moving onto the next series and do the same thing. In this sense, "Absolute Boyfriend" may not seem like a winning title because it doesn't challenge the reader to think more, and it does more pandering then anything. However, pandering isn't bad when it's done with taste, and I believe that "Absolute Boyfriend" has enough taste to make it worth checking out. All I ask is that if all these lover toys ship naked, how do people window-shop for one? Just a thought.
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