Title: Guardian Angle Getten Volume(s): 11 Creator(s): Sakurano Minene Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Gutsoon MSRP: $9.95 Genre(s): Romance/Comedy Rated: Teen (13+)

With every original comic that is created there are at least ten comics that are unoriginal at best. “Guardian Angle Getten” is one of those ten stories. The story is about a lonely 14-year-old boy named Shichiri Tasuke. Why is Tasuke so lonely? Well, both his dad and his sister decided to travel the world and leave him alone. I guess this is the author's way of telling us to suspend all belief, but quite frankly I can't be asked to suspend belief when you also temp my common sense too, but I digress. Anyway his dad and sister are away traveling the world, we have no idea where his mom is, and he lives alone. Then one day he gets a package from his dad that includes a 4000-year-old Chinese relic known as the Shitenrin. However before we even get to page ten a beautiful girl pops out of the Shitenrin and says that her name is Shao Lin, that she is the “Guardian Angle Getten,” and that she will protect him from all danger.

Well as with any mystical guardian that pops out of an ancient artifact that somehow manages to fall into the hands of a young boy, Shao lives up to her word. She protects him from danger within the TV, a salesman, and making sure nothing can happen to him while he's in the bathtub. Yes, it's this sort of naiveness that forces Tasuke to tell Shao that there is no danger, and no reason to be protected. Shao is about to leave Tasuke forever, but Shao realizes that Tasuke is a very lonely person, and requests to stay with him to “protect him from the loneliness within his heart.” Of course Tasuke says yes as he would love company, but what do you do about someone who knows nothing about the modern world, and is naive about many things? Quite simply, you roll your eyes in disbelief.

This is a very typical “boy meets girl from another time/dimension” story. As such it is filled with love rivals from both sex's, a bunch of embarrassing moments from said dimension girl from being naive, and a cute sidekick to boot (In this case the sidekick is a overly cute miniature getten angle called Rishu). Yes, everything you expect from a standard story like this is here. But it's not the story itself that makes a comic good, it's the WAY the story is told! And in this respect the comic does...absolutely nothing new what-so-ever. Whenever a new character shows up you can read them like a book, you know exactly what they are going to contribute in the long run, and when that said character does exactly like you thought they would you will be totally unsurprised.

Yet despite the fact that this is a completely unoriginal story by all accounts, it is still a very CHARMING story! The characters, predicable as they are, are in fact very likeable and fun. The comedy still manages to bring in a few laughs, and there are still scenes in which will bring a tear or two to your eye. “Guardian Angle Getten” will not surprise you in the least, yet you will be charmed by it's good nature and fun characters. As long as you don't go looking for something too deep you may walk away with a smile on your face.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -