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Title: The Wallflower
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents will want to preview this series before letting kids read this. This series is not extreme with bad language or violence, but the situations these boys find themselves in with this girl are usually far too mature for kids to read. Fans of romantic comedies aren't bound to like this series much, as many of the situations aren't funny in bizarre sorts of ways, they are just bizarre. Drama fans should take a pass on this series -- you can't take the story or characters seriously in any way. |
Del Rey has done a great job releasing all of their books with the best translations around, great extras, and choosing some of the best manga series to release. However, they have finally released their first turkey with "The Wallflower," an unfunny and downright bizarre "romantic comedy" that revolves around four pretty boys and a Goth girl. Actually, maybe comedy is too strong a word, as this series falls into the category known as "too creepy to read." The book is about four single boys who have just been made an extraordinary offer: if these four boys can turn an ugly girl into a beautiful goddess, then they can live in a mansion fit for a king for free. You heard me: FREE!! Well, this is a great deal for the boys, and it can't be too hard to make a girl look beautiful, so they happily accept the woman's offer and move into the house. However, once they meet the girl they are supposed to turn into a goddess, they realize just how much work they've got ahead of them. Meet Sunako Nakahara, shy girl extraordinaire and an annoying freak of nature. Several years ago, a man Sunako loved called her ugly, and ever since that day she has hidden herself away from the rest of the world... face and all.
Somewhere between that time and the present I suspect Sunako lost her sanity as well as her confidence. I say this because when we get our first glimpse of Sunako, she has long messy hair, she gets angry on a dime without much notice, she goes crazy when she looks at one of the four boys (saying they emit a bright glow that she must hide from), her habits when she watches her horror films suggest that she's insane, and she gets nose bleeds a good 35% of the time... oh, and she'll freak out and say that she swears she'll "melt" but never gets around to explaining what "melting" is supposed to do. The boys view their new "assignment" as completely unstable; however, for free rent they're ready to tackle this new challenge head-on. But who will crumble first, Sunako or the boys? I guess I should point out the obvious right now: the story in this series is complete nonsense. This is not a problem, though. Regardless what people may think, just because you have a story that is silly and trite doesn't automatically mean you have a turkey on your hands. Series like "SGT. Frog," "Ultimate Muscle," and the oh-so-bizarre "xxxHOLiC" all prove that you can have stories that make little to no sense yet still provide you with some good entertainment. However, if you're going to have an outrageous story, you need to match that outrageous story with equally outrageous characters and situations.
In this regard, "The Wallflower" does a pretty decent job with surrounding this bizarre story with just as many (if not more) bizarre situations and characters. The problem comes with the fact that nothing quite comes together as well as it should. I know that Sunako's nose bleeds and constant worries about bright light and melting aren't supposed to be taken seriously but are supposed to make you laugh, but I just didn't find these situations that funny. In fact, not only did I not find these jokes funny the first time, but when they showed up again several times throughout the book, I just kept scratching my head wondering if I was missing something. What also drags the story down is the fact that none of these characters are likable in the slightest sense. The four boys lack any unique personality, they all keep trying to push Sunako to becoming something she's not (although, to some credit, Sunako is a pain in the butt to talk to, so...), and I suppose the fact that the four boys are extremely popular in school but live with the one girl in the world who doesn't like them is supposed to be funny (it's not, this form of irony has been used so many times that I no longer find it funny).
What's even worse is not the fact that these characters are uninteresting, but what’s also a turn off is the fact that these people get into situations that are neither funny or reasonable. As if you couldn't figure it out, Sunako starts to take a liking to one of the boys. However, because Sunako doesn't want to get close to someone who makes her happy, her next best thing is try and kill him. You heard me: she tries to frickin’ KILL him! Several murder attempts later, the boy figures out what Sunako's trying to do, but rather than call the cops (which, even in a series like this, is not an unreasonable request) he just forgives her and lets her continue trying to kill him. Brilliant decision, Sherlock. What's even more frustrating is that there are several attempts to give some credibility to the events you're watching, and giving any of these situations even an ounce of credit is missing the point. Okay, so maybe I have no right to say that, but how CAN I take a situation seriously when the main character just finished banging her head against the wall, screaming about how "the Four Gods of Light" are ruining her life (or something screwy like that)?!
Of course, if I act like this is a complete disaster, I would be doing the author a huge disservice. The art, while unspectacular, gets the job done well. Sunako, for all her flaws, is an extremely interesting character to watch, and if it weren't for the fact that she was a spoiled brat, I could get used to her. And the premise of the story at least sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. However, the execution is so underwhelming that the whole thing just never once seems to come together to the point where the story is actually working in anybody’s favor. What's also frustrating is that Del Rey's quality control department seriously failed on this book. None of the color pages are included, the preview for the next book is in Japanese, and the extras just really aren't there this time. Hopefully, this is a fluke and the extras will be better in future books. Even if the extras were up to Del Rey's normal standards, I couldn't really recommend this series. It's not outright terrible, but it's so below-average that you're better off checking out another series altogether.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -