Pretty Face, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Yasuhiro Kano (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pretty Face | Publication Date: August 7, 2007

He wanted to be her boyfriend...

He'll settle for being her twin sister!

When his school bus crashes, teenage karate star Rando is sent into a coma. A year later he wakes up to find that his disfigured face has been reconstructed in the image of his secret crush, Rina! Not knowing what Rando originally looked like, the mad plastic surgeon Dr. Manabe used a photo in Rando's pocket as the model for his reconstructive surgery. Abandoned by his friends and parents, the all-new Rando is mistaken for his would-be girlfriend's long-lost twin sister and adopted into her family. Can he put aside his feelings and be a good "big sister" to Rina...when he's still a teenage boy from the waist down?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Here's a tightly written, cute little shojo manga with promising dramatic undertones. Rando, the high school bully, awakens from an accident-induced coma with the face of Rina, the girl he loves—the plastic surgeon assumed the photo in Rando's pocket was of Rando. Rina's family assumes Rando is Rina's long-lost twin, Yuma. Still besotted, Rando takes up life with his new family as his beloved's best friend and sister. Rando bumbles through the required school physical and uses flirting to attempt to control the karate club, while sweet, shy Rina slowly teaches the former bully to be a good person. Dr. Manabe, Rando's licentious plastic surgeon (say the word, and I'll give you a sex change!), is a total hoot. The art is standard manga, a little cluttered, but it creates strong characters. The story plays for coy laughs and social complexity—Rando must learn to sit with his legs crossed in his school uniform—rather than sex and angst. The result is a story that treads the line between funny and outré: when Dr. Manabe superglues fake breasts on Rando, the effect is hilarious and winsome without ever being cheap. A scene where a slimy teacher attempts to force Yuma/Rando into a sex act definitely makes this for older teens. (Aug.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 1 edition (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421513684
• ISBN-13: 978-1421513683
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #934,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh take on an old story, August 12, 2007

By 

J. Whaley "Anime / Manga / Computer Geek" (Fond Du Lac, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pretty Face, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Well, it's not exactly a novel idea in manga / anime to have a guy 'become' a girl - Ranma 1/2, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, etc. among the notable ones along that theme. But Pretty Face does a surprisingly good job at taking that same beginning and giving the story a whole different perspective.

As a lead character, Rando has surprising depth. In our first introduction to him, he comes across as an egotistical, shallow bully with no real friends. In fact, even though his fellow Karate Club members cheer for him at competitions, they are really only civil to him at all out of fear of getting beaten up by him. Oblivious to all of this, he goes on with his life thinking that he has the respect and admiration of his classmates, when it really is just fear and intimidation.

After his accident, and circumstances causing him to become 'Yuna', he gets an outsider's look at his former life - and really doesn't like what he sees. Pretty much the whole first volume is the struggle of him fighting his instincts and trying to do the right thing this time around.

But before it sounds like this is some great highbrow philosophical epic, let me say that they are definitely playing it for laughs. The plastic surgeon, Dr. Manabe, is a great recurring character, as he persists in his pervy efforts to persuade Rando to let him 'finish the job' and do a full-blown sex change. And the artwork is superb - the facial expressions are over the top throughout - especially in the chapter involving 'Yuna' suddenly gaining massively enhanced breasts overnight...

From what I have seen in this volume, there's a lot to look forward to in the upcoming releases. (In fact, I now have Vol. 2 on pre-order...)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, Entertaining!, April 28, 2008

By 

Joey (Bexley, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Face, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

This has got to be the funniest manga I own at the moment, unless Pretty Face volume two is funnier. Rando was just a regular male. Well, not really. He was the strongest guy in the Karate club and he beat people up. He also had a crush on Rina. Well, when he awakes from a bus crash, a doctor mistakes him for her and does plastic surgery to look like her. Now Rina thinks Rando is her twin sister who's been away for about a year or two.

This is funny stuff. The characters are perverted and hilarious, and there is much suspense going on. In fact, the end leaves you hanging for a sequel which is the second volume. Rando gets into sticky situations that almost get him caught of being a male and considered the biggest pervert in Japan. Wow.

Very funny manga. I recommend it to Older Teens.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE IT!, December 28, 2007

By 

Kimberlee Catena (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Face, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I found myself in B&N a few weeks back browsing a large shelf of manga. I have not been keeping up with my series lately and just wanted somthing fesh to get me back in the mood to read. I saw this lovely little cover upon the shelf and almost set it back before catching a glance at the summery on the back cover. Interested immidiately I bought it and read it all the way home.

This manga is wonderful in everyway! I think it is one of the most original plots I have read in years. It is hilariously funny and entertaining. The art is just perfect! Yasuhiro Kano is an amazing talent! I will buy every book in this series with haste!

I am in love! ^_^