Manga Monday: Meteor Prince
One of Comics-and-More's most popular features is back! On the first Monday of every month, look for a new manga to be reviewed on Manga Monday!
Meteor Prince (Volume 1)
Meca Tanaka
Hako Natsuno is a magnet for accidents. Literally, bad things are always happening to her - things are falling on her, she's tripping on anything and everything, etc. Her classmates call her the "Queen of Bad Luck," and mostly avoid her, although she has managed to surround herself with a couple of good friends. Her luck changes one day (well, maybe) when a hot alien guy drops out of the sky and declares that he has come to Earth to mate with Hako.
Hako may have bad luck, but she's not the only one. Any reader with the misfortune of picking up this title has run smack-dab into some as well, because Meteor Prince is about as middle-of-the-road as you can get. Aside from her bad luck and some generic qualities, there is no character to Hako, leaving only a couple of goofy sidekicks and an alien to prop this book up. Luckily Io, from the planet Yupita, has potential. He's very child-like in his fascination with Earth and his complete obliviousness to customs, and is easily the funniest part of this romantic comedy. His constant loud declarations to mate with Hako, and unintentionally comedic actions, cement him as the star of this book, and perhaps the only bright spot to this series. The art is decent, but is hindered considerably by the lack of storytelling prowess of Meca Tanaka. For example, the opening scene is probably constructed worse than anything I've read in comics, period. We are introduced to Io immediately, in the middle of school, where he has landed, naked and ready to declare his intention to mate with Hako. Then, Tanaka insists on backtracking to Hako just before the incident, which gives absolutely no additional information except that we get to see her walk toward the lab where Io appears, only to have Io reintroduced again. The impact of that opening scene suffers significantly. It's redundant and left me baffled as to Tanaka's decision to play it out in such a bizarre way. Thankfully, this series is only a short two volumes in length, and will just as quickly be forgotten by anyone with the misfortune of picking it up.
Meteor Prince (Volume 1)
Meca Tanaka
Hako may have bad luck, but she's not the only one. Any reader with the misfortune of picking up this title has run smack-dab into some as well, because Meteor Prince is about as middle-of-the-road as you can get. Aside from her bad luck and some generic qualities, there is no character to Hako, leaving only a couple of goofy sidekicks and an alien to prop this book up. Luckily Io, from the planet Yupita, has potential. He's very child-like in his fascination with Earth and his complete obliviousness to customs, and is easily the funniest part of this romantic comedy. His constant loud declarations to mate with Hako, and unintentionally comedic actions, cement him as the star of this book, and perhaps the only bright spot to this series. The art is decent, but is hindered considerably by the lack of storytelling prowess of Meca Tanaka. For example, the opening scene is probably constructed worse than anything I've read in comics, period. We are introduced to Io immediately, in the middle of school, where he has landed, naked and ready to declare his intention to mate with Hako. Then, Tanaka insists on backtracking to Hako just before the incident, which gives absolutely no additional information except that we get to see her walk toward the lab where Io appears, only to have Io reintroduced again. The impact of that opening scene suffers significantly. It's redundant and left me baffled as to Tanaka's decision to play it out in such a bizarre way. Thankfully, this series is only a short two volumes in length, and will just as quickly be forgotten by anyone with the misfortune of picking it up.
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