Kasumi Volume 1

When Kasumi enters the exclusive Seiran Academy, she's just the latest poor-but-spunky shojo manga heroine who teaches the rich kids a lesson or two. But Kasumi is not just a rehash of Boys Over Flowers, mostly because Kasumi has a special gift: She can turn invisible.

With its mix of fantasy, action and familiar shojo manga plot lines, Kasumi is a teen-friendly story that paradoxically tries very hard to be Japanese enough to be accepted by American manga fans. It doesn't always get it right, but certainly gets close enough to deliver a promising first volume that will hopefully develop into something more.

Kasumi is the new girl at the very exclusive Seiran Academy, and her rich classmates haven't exactly rolled out the welcome wagon. When she gets on the wrong side of Reina, the Queen Bee of the class, Kasumi is subjected to some bullying from the class pack of mean girls.

But Kasumi is far from defenseless. She doesn't quite understand how or why, but Kasumi can turn invisible when she holds her breath. With her new powers, Kasumi is able to turn the tables on Reina and her gang of gal pals, and catch the attention of Ryuuki, the school's hottest guy. She also discovers that she's not the only 'gifted' student at Seiran.

With its Japanese characters, imaginary Japanese setting and its liberal sprinkling of Japanese words throughout the book, Kasumi looks and feels like a Japanese shojo manga story -- and it kinda is, except it kinda isn't. Kasumi was created for the American manga market by the combined effort of an Asian-American author who loves Japanese manga, and a Japanese shonen manga artist tasked with drawing his first shojo story. It's a well-intentioned effort, but the Japanese-ness of the story can feel a little forced and slightly awkward.

Sugimoto's artwork is polished and simple, and lets Lim's story shine through without too many distractions. As shojo manga goes, it's sometimes a bit spare, but for the most part, it gets the job done. My only complaint is that Sugimoto sometimes omits, or edits down the characters' noses to little points, which can take a little getting used to.

Nevertheless, Kasumi is a fun teen-friendly fantasy that gives American readers some of the 'greatest hits' of shojo plotlines with a touch of magical adventure that makes this much more than your average school girl romance. It also ends on an intriguing cliff-hanger that makes me think that the real action is yet to come.