The Bottom Line
Three super-powered girls and one ordinary guy team up to protect their town. Sounds like a classic teen superhero team story set-up, but Yozakura Quartet turns the usual American and shonen manga formula on its ear by giving us heroines who are refreshingly smart, sincere and capable without pumping them up with silicone or steroids.
Yozakura Quartet Volume 1 drops a lot of tantalizing hints of plot twists to come, but you'll have to sift through some disjointed, confusing storytelling first, and try to have faith that Volume 2 will kick things into gear more clearly.
Pros
- Teen girls are portrayed as strong, kind and confident heroes who don’t need guys to 'save' them
- Crisp, appealing artwork that captures action and drama effectively
- First volume hints at several tantalizing, yet-to-be-revealed plot twists
- Features teen heroes who look like teens, not steroid- and silicone-pumped action figures
- A charming mix of humor and action that will appeal to both male and female readers
Cons
- A bit slow-moving and a little hard to follow, plot-wise
- An unconventional superhero story that introduces a lot of characters haphazardly
- Wildly unrealistic about the danger of guns, or at least the poor aim of their enemies
Description
- Original Title: Yozakura Shijuusou (Japan)
- Author & Artist: Suzuhito Yasuda
- Publishers:
- Del Rey Manga (US)
- Kodansha (Japan)
- ISBN: 978-0345501493
- Cover Price: $10.95 US / $12.50 CANADA
- Age Rating:
OT – Older Teens, Age 16+
for guns, violence
More about content ratings. - Manga Genres:
- Shonen (Boys') Manga
- Action / Adventure
- Paranormal / Supernatural
- Superheroes / Superpowers
- US Publication Date: February 2008
Japan Publication Date: 2006 - Book Description: 224 pages, black and white illustrations
Guide Review - Yozakura Quartet Volume 1
Three super-powered teen girls and one ordinary guy team up to protect their town. If this were an American comic book, or even your average shonen manga, the girls would be busty and flirty. The guy would be either a wuss or a steroid-pumped jock. Leave it to Yozakura Quartet to turn this formula on its ear and give us a group of smart, well-adjusted teens who somehow act heroic without wearing a stitch of spandex.
Hime, "the Mayor," is super-strong, super-fast, and she can swat away bullets like mosquitos. Ao can read minds. Kotoha can conjure up anything, just as long as she uses the right words. And Akina? He doesn't have powers, other than his common-sense smarts and guts.
Yozakura Quartet Volume 1 introduces us to the foursome and drops a few tantalizing hints at their back-stories. Is Hime from a family of demons, and why do they call her "Mayor?" Who's the menacing cat-eared guy hidden in the shadows and how's he related to Ao? What was that flying blob that came out of a villain's forehead? All interesting questions, but you'll find no answers to them in this volume.
The art has a fun mix of humor and action, but its main flaw is how the story is presented. A lot of characters are introduced haphazardly and the story jumps from scene to scene in a disjointed sequence of events. I had to read and re-read this volume several times to catch everything that was thrown at me, and I'm still a bit confused.
But I have to give Yozakura Quartet points for putting its own twist on the super-powered teens theme, and for setting up some promising plot twists that may blossom into something really interesting in later volumes. There's no guarantee that it'll be worth the wait -- but I'm willing to stick around and check out Volume 2 to see if it does.
