Limited Lovers by Keiko Yamada

Boy it's been busy for me the past three weeks, I tell you what! Thanksgiving is creeping closer, and I can't wait for the left-over turkey sandwiches, which I find much more essential than the large meal that proceeds it. I also caught myself a cold, though its only a mild one, thank goodness, still I feel a little loopy. I really hope this review is still legible once I get better.



Limited Lovers by Keiko Yamada

Art and story (c) Keiko Yamada

Genre: Shojo
Length: 3 Volumes – Chapters



           The art of this manga has a unique look, but it felt a little amateur or careless at times.

Yup, that's just a normal looking hand right there in that circle.

It actually reminds me a lot of the manga Blue Ramun, with pointed eyes and flowy hair, even the eye shapes are similar. They share that same unfocused look that Blue Ramun had, with the bubble at the bottom of the eye but Limited Lovers pulls it off more than the other, with a circular hatching that looks pretty realistic (in a manga type of way). They have obvious noses from most angles, and that lent a lot of character to the faces, as did the hair that had realistic movement and shape. There was a typical mouth shape that appears a ton, though, with the open mouth turned down and clenched teeth showing. At first I liked that look, it was expressive and showed good emotion, but then it was repeated quite a bit so the magic wore off, but the mouths had large pouty lips other wise and sometimes they opened a little too wide. The clothes are pretty generic, I don't think I even registered them, they are typically of the baggy sort, which made the body shapes look even more chunkier than they already were. The backgrounds were solid, better than most, I think, though it wasn't with out it's stretches of blank backgrounds. It was an interesting looking manga overall, with out too many things against it... as far as the art goes, anyway.
           Karin is a rich girl who has never tasted anything but sweetness, but when an accident causes her to lose the use of her legs, this spoiled girl suddenly finds all her problems multiplying before her eyes. Her physical therapy hurts, all the people she thought were her friends only care about her money, and she just can't believe she'll never walk again. The one thing she likes is her doctor, so when she has to leave and live alone once more, Karin cooks up a plan to keep him in her life.
           I'm just going to start with the core of this review: I did not like this manga. Not even a little. What will follow now is my list of grievances with Limited Lovers. First off, billed as a romance with a strong heroine who must learn to overcome her handicap and live with her wheel chair just isn't very true. It seems like the mangaka just glossed over the girl being awkward with the chair and most problems that crop up because of her disability get solved pretty quickly. I had the same problem with the other manga I've read with a person with a disability, Kingyo Sou, I realize shojo are supposed to be about the romance and the drama but a more realistic view of things draws the interest much more. Getting a look at what it is like for a disabled person should be a draw instead of something that has no bearing on the story except when the lead needs to go up stairs. It didn't help that I found Karin a completely unlikable character to start, as you are supposed to to some extent, but then I didn't warm to her as I was expected to as the story continued. Her progress and character enriching felt forced and abrupt rather than earned, she should have stayed bitter longer or she should have shown some compassion at the beginning to tie it through to her later self. Then there was the man she was in love with, Teppei, he was the fluctuating type too, his personality changing so that each chapter could just have needless drama. And for being the love interest causing all the heartaches, he sure was missing a lot. Besides, from the beginning, Karin forces the man to be with her, and is all around a hateful person, I don't see why, as the reader, I should believe she could change so completely. Both characters were rather flat in the personality, too, which did not endear me to them at all. The story arcs as well fell flat, usually involving generic plot points such as 'man pushes lead away' 'high school lead is in school play' and 'lead learns to do her best and succeeds.' It really tried to put me to sleep. Even the wacky side characters did nothing for the story, nor can I understand why they were so wacky in the first place. One is a cross-dressing effeminate guy who I did not find even the slightest bit funny or original in any way. At one point the story even skipped ahead by a whole year, or at least I think it did, my translation was a little weird and, even when it wasn't, the dialog was clunky and often unnecessary. How it was stretched to three volumes is a mystery to me and the ending is abrupt as well. There's got to be a better manga out there about a girl in a wheelchair than this, I can find no redeeming factor than makes me want to even recommend it at all and that's pretty rare for me. Too harsh? Maybe, but Karin's devious nature and Teppei's hateful personality really turned me off from the get go and I just never connected.




1/5 Flat humor and flat characters.

*Dramatic Exit*