More schoolboys in drag in Here is Greenwood Volume 5
Written: Mar 18 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The story is back on track in this volume.
Cons: The translation is inconsistent.
The Bottom Line: This is far from my favorite manga of all time, but it is a classic series and a fun read.
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| Jellyn's Full Review: Here is Greenwood, Volume 5 |
The antics of the crazy inhabitants of Greenwood continue in Here is Greenwood Volume 5. Also known as Koko wa Greenwood, this is a shoujo (girls') manga by Yukie Nasu. The English version is published by Viz and this particular volume is translated by Yumiko Yamamoto.
Story so Far
Kazuya Hasukawa is being raised by his older brother, Kazuhiro. He looked up to his older brother and respected him. Until his brother took a job as school nurse at an all-boys' school. And married the woman Kazuya loved. Kazuya found he couldn't live with the two newlyweds, so he decided to live in the school dorm, named Greenwood.
But the school turned out to be almost as disappointing as his brother. It was full of people who had strange habits and stranger interests. Will Kazuya survive living with these people? Or will he turn out like his older brother?
Plots this Volume
There's two basic stories in this volume, broken up into several chapters. The first starts off with a bunch of guys measuring Kazuya and another boy, Tomaru, to see who is shorter. Ultimately this is to determine which one is cuter and more like a girl. For some reason, the two of them decide they need to prove who's manlier by challenging each other to a duel. A ping-pong duel.
The loser of the ping-pong game ends up having to star as the leading lady in a play for the school culture festival. The next chapters are all about the festival. All the different classes and clubs are organizing all sorts of things. Everyone is gung-ho this year because there's a rumor of a substantial prize. People in multiple clubs get run ragged, and the student council is no exception, since they have to approve everyone else's plans and allocate rooms and resources.
Of course this being an all-boys' school, every class or club that's doing a play needs some of its actors to play the female roles. And when Kazuya can't go on, someone has to take his place.
Shinobu, class president, has a crazy jealous sister. She makes an appearance to try to ruin the culture festival, just to give her brother a hard time. Will they discover her plot and thwart it in time? Did Kazuya's sister-in-law actually see him in drag?
The next story is all about the Hasukawa family. There's a rumor going around the school that Kazuhiro, the school nurse older brother, is gay. Well, why else would a good-looking, young guy choose to be a school nurse in an all-boys' school? Plus, there's one student who makes regular appearances in the infirmary.
But this student isn't all he appears to be. He's actually an old friend of Kazuhiro's wife, Sumire. And a rival for her affections. Which makes the family Christmas rather interesting that year, with all four of them sharing it.
Finally we learn how Sumire came into the lives of Kazuya and Kazuhiro. Just how did Kazuya meet her and fall in love with her? More importantly, how did Kazuhiro? Since he's the one who actually married her. We get to see what job Kazuhiro did before he finished school and became a nurse, and how adorable he was taking care of his little brother by himself.
Translation
Consistency!!!! Not. For some reason, this volume randomly started calling people by their surnames first. Now, I actually prefer this, since it's the Japanese way of doing it. However, up until now, all the names (as far as I'm aware) have been surname last. Even in this volume, the surnames aren't consistently first. Apart from the names in the credits and on the back cover, which are surname first, there's also some parts in the text where they got swapped to surname first. They could hardly have been less consistent if they'd tried.
Now, most of the time, I can guess if a Japanese name is a surname or a given name, but it isn't always obvious to me. And I'm sure it's not obvious to the average English speaker. That's why consistency is important.
There's translation and cultural notes in the back again, which I do like.
Artwork
I really don't have much to say on the artwork, but this is a manga, so I should say something. I consider this somewhat typical shoujo artwork. I'm not an art person, so in my amateur and non-technical opinion, I think shoujo is a bit softer and lighter than shounen (boys') manga art. Anyway, most of the characters are pretty enough, but it's not artwork that I enjoy staring at, like I do for most CLAMP artwork, or the art in Fushigi Yuugi for example.
So, it's okay.
My Thoughts
I'm glad the story has gotten back on track. The last volume was full of side stories. Also, finally Kazuya has taken more of a lead role in a manga series that started out about him. He'd been sidelined a lot in earlier volumes.
This is a manga series I'd like to read more of, but I would not rate it in my top five. Possibly not even my top ten. Still, it's worth a read.
Details
This is about 210 pages and the cover price is $9.99. This is the last volume I bought at Borders during a buy 3 Viz manga, get 1 free sale. I will be buying volume 6 and continuing, but it probably won't be in the near future, as I have other books of higher priority to get and to read.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Jellyn
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Location: New Hampshire
Reviews written: 210
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