Comics / Manga

Nosatsu Junkie: Volume 1

By Leroy Douresseaux
December 15, 2006 - 16:22

Naka Kaburagi is a young aspiring model with the perfect body for that career.  The 14-year old, however, has one devastating problem.  Whenever she gets nervous during photo shoots, her face tenses up into a terrifying visage that recalls the mug shots of the worst criminals.

In steps Umi Kajwara, a 14-year old girl with the kind of cute and charming smile that has made her a hot model.  There's just one big problem for her also.  Umi is actually a boy, and when Naka accidentally discovers this secret, Umi takes Naka into his confidence and under his wing to help her dead-in-the-water modeling career.  Friendship turns to rivalry when the duo enters a modeling competition.  It doesn't help that Umi is also facing off with his rival, star photographer, Ikue Tsutsumi.

Nosatsu Junkie is pure shojo, but it's more slapstick comedy than romantic comedy.  The leads, Naka and Umi, bicker like classic TV couples (think "Moonlighting") in which there is romantic tension and some consummation.  In fact, the two are actually the comic relief in their own series, as the rest of the cast seems stable and smart, in particularly the clever and sly Tsutsumi.

The art is pretty, and creator Ryoko Fukuyama loves to draw clothes and good-looking hairstyles.  Fukuyama also does a mean, mean face for Naka.  Nosatsu Junkie is likely the kind of fun, silly Manga that young female readers can share, if for no other reason than it seems like Manga created to run in a teen magazine.

Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the images.

 

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12