4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kind of makes me go hmmmm, March 12, 2009
This review is from: The Magic Touch, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
I actually read the preview of Magic Touch in Shojo Beat first and wasn't overly impressed with it. There are a couple of pop culture references that (not being Japanese) I just didn't get. They don't translate all that well. But I saw the manga when I was at the store and I thought I'd give it another try.
First off it's a relatively quick read with decent art. There's nothing especially awkward about the drawing. Chiaki (the main character) is cute but Yosuke is a little odd looking to me. Then I realized that the book actually has a second story about Chiaki's older brother Takeshi. It took me a page to figure it out though because (aside from the length of their hair) Takeshi and Yosuke look exactly the same.
Storywise Magic Touch is just so-so. Sometimes I couldn't follow what was going on. There were a couple of leaps that just didn't make sense or I couldn't tell who was talking. Chiaki is cute especially when she gets excited about massage (her main interest). Yosuke was kind of interesting but two dimensional. The best part of the book was actually the side story "Teach Me Prince" about Chiaki's older brother Takeshi, the "prince of massage". He's cute and spastic in his attempts to learn to court girls properly. After that side story we return to Chiaki and Yosuke and at that point in the book the story started to get my interest a little more. Of course by then it was over with a decent cliffhanger ending.
I can't say for sure if I'm interested enough to buy The Magic Touch volume 2 when it comes out. There are a number of holes in the plot. I don't know if it's due to poor writing or poor translating but some things just didn't make sense. Either way, it was an enjoyable read. Not the best but there were some parts that were really cute and unique. I especially enjoyed when the Tsubo (pressure points) started talking to Chiaki and of course the side story with Takeshi. So not a total loss.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Predictable, yet cute manga, April 12, 2009
This review is from: The Magic Touch, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
In The Magic Touch Volume one, Izumi Tsubaki delivers a brand new shojo manga based around the art of massage and the odd circumstances that bring an unlikely teen couple together.
Chiaki is a fairly normal teenager -except that she lives in the shadow of her much more attractive sister, Saya, and isn't too good at math or sports...or much of anything else except massage. Even though Chiaki is known for being quiet and isn't particularly popular, she's the star of the school Massage Research Society Club. Students line up at the end of school every day just to get a massage from Chiaki. One day, she falls in love with a gorgeous back -the back of Yosuke, the most attractive guy in the entire school.
Without a second thought Chiaki asks if she can massage his back and he agrees, but under one condition -she has to make him fall in love with her. The situation isn't as easy as it seems when Yosuke learns that his younger brother was once snubbed by a girl who is also named Chiaki.
By far the best part of this manga was the short story "Teach Me Prince," about Chiaki's brother, the so-called "prince of massage," even though it appeared in the middle of the volume instead of at the end where it wouldn't have interrupted the story. It's a little strange to me that the side story featured a character who had not yet been introduced in the main story, which led to a considerable amount of confusion about how the story related to the overall plot arc of the manga. Despite this, the story itself was absolutely adorable and features some amazingly cute moments that made it highly emotional and memorable.
Aside from this, the plot itself is decent. Even though it's highly predictable, it has some cute little moments that really hit home with me and took me back to my high school days. It also had very effective, believable comedy that made me laugh aloud while I was reading. Even though it didn't have amazing character development or story, The Magic Touch has a really adorable story that's fun and entertaining.
The artwork, however, is one of the weakest parts of the book. It's not bad, but when the panel changes to a far away shot of the characters, some of the proportions get a little off and don't quite look right. Thankfully, this doesn't happen often and seems to get better as the story progresses.
The translation isn't bad, but there are definitely some problems with cultural references that don't quite work here. I'm not sure if this is a problem with the translation itself or the way that the original manga was written, but the Japanese cultural references didn't seem like they were well explained or well integrated into the story. I know that the editors try to compensate for this by adding in asterisks with explanations, but this really detracts from the story.
The Magic Touch, at its core, is a typical shojo story about high school and relationships but with the added quirk of massage, which gives this story a little something unique. The story is also genuinely cute and funny, which isn't always the case in many shojo mangas, giving The Magic Touch a healthy dose of freshness for manga readers.
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