Wednesday, October 22, 2008

thoughts: PxP (manga)

Creator: Yoshizumi Wataru
Genre: romance, shoujo, school life, mystery
Volumes/Chapters: 1 Volume (3 chapters);
also includes the oneshot story Baby It's You



And so it goes, this is the second Yoshizumi Wataru manga I'll be posting about. As I'd mentioned before, I've become a fan, I've read a few of her works and there are two others that I want to read although they are quite unavailable to me.

PxP is a short, but interesting and exciting story about a thief by the name of "P" who steals trivial things for the price of 300,000 yen. Nothing that "P" steals is ever expensive and only ever valuable to the person who wants it. "P" is so named because of the calling card left behind in place of everything that has been stolen.

Because of "P" the student council is bringing up the issue of stopping the infamous thief. Included in this student council are the President Tomotoshi Daiki and the Vice President Himeno Ruri. The suspected student who could be "P", the president claims, has to be none other than Suki Yuuma, a special student within the school who not only has his own lab, but is introverted and very strange. Also his nickname is "Professor" so the thief's name "P" corresponds with the first letter of "Professor."

What we learn early on in the manga, however, is that President Tomotoshi is only half correct.

"P" turns out to be the "P" from "Princess" which is English for "Hime" or Himeno Ruri's nickname. So while the student council is trying to investigate the matter of "P", Himeno Ruri is secretly creating more havoc behind their backs. Suki Yuuma, of course, is her most precious partner in crime as he uses his brains and networking to help Ruri with her "work."

This manga was quite interesting as it was fast paced with a small helping of light mystery added onto the side. Three significant items are asked to be stolen by "P" throughout the three chapters and it is interesting to have three significant back stories to each item.

The first was a teddy bear from the infirmary, the second a Junk Jungle concert ticket stub, and the last was *gasp* a Norman Rockwell Museum pen that only Suki Yuuma owns.

The non-mystery portions of the story were very lovely to follow as well. While Ruri and Yuuma work together, Ruri openly expresses her love for him, but Yuuma seems rather reluctant to admit his own feelings to her. The reasoning for this is readily revealed after she finally confronts him about his ex-girlfriend from back in his middle school years.

PxP is a fun story to follow and I really wouldn't mind if Yoshizumi-sensei continued on with more interesting plot devices for our infamous "P" to partake in. I also wouldn't mind seeing how the relationshpi between Ruri and Yuuma turn out and whether they continue to go about this line of "work." But alas, when I really think about it, PxP was really made to be a short three chapter story anyway and I like it the way it is.

That aside, I also point out that as far as bishounen are concerned, Suki Yuuma has been added onto my list of Very Good Looking Glasses Characters-- My Beloved Megane-bishie Guys. As is typical of Yoshizumi-sensei's characters, he is quite good looking. Slap on a pair of glasses and he is absolutely irresistable.

I'm moe for him. This could be bad.

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