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Japanese title
ママレード・ボーイ
Manga-ka/Author
吉住渉 Wataru Yoshizumi
Genre
comedy, romance, shoujo
Volumes: 8
Distributor: Tokyopop
Classification: 12
Originally serialised in
りぼん
Ribon
Rating
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First year high school girl Miki Koishikawa is in rather a strange situation.
While on a romantic holiday, her parents met another couple, the Matsuura. Upon
returning home, they decided to divorce and switch partners! While Miki is
reeling from this shock announcement, they then tell her that the two families
will live together in the same house. Which not only means that she will have
two sets of parents, but that she will also have to live with her annoying yet
good-looking new step-brother, Yuu.
A idea that doesn't sit well with Miki, as she is violently opposed to the
whole idea. Yuu however seems completely happy with the arrangement, and when he
enrols at Miki's school, there's nowhere Miki can hide from her wacky family.
Miki's friends Meiko and Ginta have mixed reactions to the sudden appearance of
Yuu in Miki's life. Meiko, wanting Miki to find love, watches with some interest
while dealing with problems of her own. Ginta, however, is deeply jealous of Yuu
for reasons of his own... and not solely because of Yuu's talents on the tennis
court. What secrets are Miki's friends hiding, and will Miki's life ever become
normal again?
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Marmalade Boy
is a classic of the shoujo genre, and while in appearance like just another
girl's manga, it is a highly entertaining series. While the core storyline quite
obviously revolves around Miki's awkward love triangle with Ginta and Yuu, the
overall story is much more complicated and unpredictable.
Each of the characters has their own feelings and problems which sometimes relate
to Miki and sometimes don't. Quite often it can get extremely dramatic as one of
these mini-storylines become prominent, but humour is mixed in in both the artwork
and the dialogue to balance this out superbly.
This is a wonderful series for teenagers, as it deals with the characters' situations
both unapologetically and realistically. Thus the characters themselves (especially
Miki) very quickly become very endearing (or otherwise!) and easy to relate to.
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Manga
Marmalade Boy
was translated into English and released in the West over ten years ago, making
this series a classic in both senses of the word. However its popularity never
really declined, and although it's not one of the 'top ten' bestseller series
(and thus easiest to find), you will always be able to find it in a larger
bookshop or manga specialist.
Anime
Interestingly enough,
Marmalade Boy is one of an elite set of series which have been graced
with not only a TV anime series, but also a movie and a live-action drama series
(which was produced in China). The anime series, however, was dubbed and
released in the West in 2004-2005, running a colossal 76 episodes in length. The
DVDs were also released by Tokyopop.
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