Cherry Juice Volume 1

Step-siblings in love is a tried and true shojo manga plot twist, but in the case of Cherry Juice, the erotic tension of this semi-forbidden relationship is played for laughs and titillation.

The charming, contemporary shojo-style art is reminiscent of Arina Tanemura's style, but it lacks Tanemura's knack for engaging characters with interesting personalities and problems. In the end, Cherry Juice Volume 1 offers only fanservice fluff, a guilty pleasure with zero emotional calories.

Cutie co-eds Minami and Otome are in love… they just don't know it yet. The problem? They're step-siblings who have lived with each other as brother and sister since their parents married five years ago. So while they've always been close, puberty changes everything. Otone finds that her feelings for Minami are evolving into romantic longing.

Step-siblings in love is a classic shojo manga plot twist, usually played for dramatic tension as brother and sister must confront the semi-forbidden/borderline incestuous nature of their feelings and deal with potential disapproval from their family and friends. Other manga series, such as Marmalade Boy and Hot Gimmick have used this plot device very effectively. Cherry Juice on the other hand is playing the step-sibling romance storyline strictly for laughs and titillation.

As Minami and Otone stumble over each other's often barely-clothed bodies, there's little doubt in the readers mind that they'll inevitably hook up. With no significant barriers keeping the young lovers apart, Volume 1 of Cherry Juice offers no compelling reason to keep reading other than just to see Fukushima-sensei's next lovingly illustrated scene of scantily-clad cuties.

The art is charming and nicely done, but as I read it over, I noticed that many of the facial expressions, character designs were very similar to Arina Tanemura's (Full Moon o Sagashite, Gentlemen's Alliance Cross) art style. And frankly, Tanemura-sensei does it way better.

From the art to the plot and characters, Cherry Juice is nothing more than a mishmash of reheated leftovers that were better concocted by other creators. This plateful of fanservice fluff serves up nothing more than a few tantalizing pin-ups strung together by the thinnest of plots – a guilty pleasure for fans who find that to be a sufficient substitute for compelling storyline.