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Title: Doubt!!
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents who are concerned about whether or not they should let there kids read this series should know there there is some sexual situations, crude humor, and language throughout the entire series. Fans of drama and romance aren't likely to find this series interesting after the first book. |
If there is one thing that "Doubt!!" proves, its that sometimes first impressions can be VERY deceiving! Sometimes this can be a good thing, and sometimes this can be a bad thing. So I guess the question is which is it for "Doubt?" Well, lets find out. The story of "Doubt!!" revolves around Ai Maekawa, who is a high school girl who considers herself to be very ugly, and predicts that she will still be a virgin by the age of thirty. We get to view some of her high school life, which is horrible as she has no friends, she is constantly teased, and the guy who she has a crush on has just given up his virginity to a girl that Ai hates with all her heart. After an incident that causes Ai to have "the worst day of her life," Ai vows that even if she has to sell her soul to the devil, she WILL be a popular girl next year! Sure enough, come the following year Ai transfers to a new school and is a completely different person on the outside appearance. Because Ai now has the body and face of a model, one of the most popular boys in school starts to notice her (which makes Ai turn cartwheels on the inside).
Unfortunately for Ai, now that she DOES have the attention of one of the most attractive boys in school, she is a target for bullying with some of the more stuck up girls who hate having her steal their "property!" This leads Ai to wonder whether or not being popular is all its cracked up to be. If all of this sounds like interesting reading material, then you'd be right in assuming that, as it IS very interesting reading material! "Doubt!!" starts out with interesting characters, an interesting (if somewhat unoriginal premise), and several very dramatic moments. I particularly smiled when Ai made a speech about how pretty girls aren't born, but are manufactured with hard work, dedication, and the best make-up money can buy. This speech is actually the high point in the series, as speeches like this usually have a tendicy to sound scripted and cheesy, and the author writes it so that it sounds natural and true. The way you can tell the author has at least heard speeches like this before (if not giving a similar sounding one at least once in her life) is the way it ends. Without giving it away, it ends with a stuck-up smirk, which is just the way I would expect a teenager to finish off a speech if she wanted to make a point to another stuck-up person. Other conversations about beauty and bullying also ring true to home, and while the writing isn't in the league of something like, say, "Kare Kano," it does come off as authentic and real.
The problem comes in the fact that once all this is set up, the series changes. Not only in tone and substance, but in the fact that after the first book the series becomes about something else entirely. Ai, now officially being labeled a "popular girl," goes out on dates, hangs with friends, and has an on again/off again relationship with the local pretty boy idiot. The series stops becoming about this girls feelings of status and emotions, and instead focuses on her dating one stupid boy after another. Once book three hits, Ai is just as much a stuck-up drama queen as the people she hates, and we find that we just don't like her very much anymore. I almost got the forth book, but now I'm burnt out on "Doubt," and I don't have a feeling it will get better anytime soon. On the contrary, the recent books suggest that the series will just get worse, and I have too many series to buy to take the chance that I'd be wasting more of my money. The artwork in "Doubt!!" is more ironic then anything. At the beginning of the series when there are a bunch of outcasts, Ai and a couple of her friends are original characters, and the artwork is quite detailed, but once Ai turns into a beautiful girl, the artwork becomes pretty standard. Not only that, but the artwork starts to look more simplistic as the series continues to become more boring.
I get the feeling that maybe the author was getting pretty bored with the series early on, as the amount of effort that appears to go into the series slowly but surely drops. Something tells me "Doubt!!" would have been far more successful as a mini-series instead of a full blown serial. At the moment interest in shoujo is declining, with only "Kare Kano" and "Fruits Basket" holding onto the interest of manga readers these days. And (forgive the pun) I highly doubt "Doubt!!" will change that either. I hate series that are boring, and I REALLY hate series that start out interesting only to become boring! It makes me feel betrayed, and I want to fail the series right on the spot for leading me on, but I can't do that with "Doubt!!" I can't do that because that first book is still a good quality book, and I just love that darn speech to death. So my ultimate recommendation is that if you absolutely must check out "Doubt!!," then buy the first book and stop there. Of course, if you don't plan to finish the series, then why even bother to enjoy the quality of the first book? Funny, maybe good first impressions is the main reason mediocre series become financially successful. With that in mind, maybe its best if I don't recommend "Doubt!!" at all. What do you think?
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -