A vampire causes some tension, and Takamichi realizes her companions aren’t puppies anymore.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Touya Tobina
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaka
Adaptation: Annette Roman
What They Say:
Takamichi’s Jiu Jiu Obedience Training Goals
1. Defend your mistress from a pig. Or a child vampire. Or a… What is that thing, anyway?!
2. Defend your mistress from a ghost. Or a… Sigh… Whatever it is that’s haunting the sea resort she’s trying to vacation in!
3. Celebrate your mistress’s birthday – properly.
4. Snuggle.
Content: (please note that the content portion of reviews may contain spoilers):
Having realized how much she truly loves and needs Night and Snow over the course of the first volume, Takamichi is set on making her relationship with her two wolves better. This leads to a bit of character growth, as Takamichi has to overcome the mistakes she’s made in the past of pushing them away from her and not giving them enough love as puppies. Of course, this also causes some tension and awkwardness since Night and Snow, being older and stronger, want to prove that they can protect their mistress, not just the other way around.
Two new characters are introduced as regulars in this volume, the first being a vampire boy named Meru. His initial appearance as a small child comes as Takamichi wishes for a second chance to be kind, and so she is more trusting of the apparent little boy than Night and Snow are comfortable with. While Meru does wind up getting what he wants — a taste of a maiden’s blood to allow him to become an adult — he eventually returns to the scene. Ostensibly it’s to drink more of Takamichi’s blood so he can maintain his hot teenage form, but it’s obvious to all the characters that the vampire boy has a bit of a crush on our heroine, creating some romantic tension that may start to make her relationship with her dogs a bit uncomfortable.
Also new to the scene is a selkie woman named Lily, who haunts the beach house Takamichi and her classmates try to vacation at. Though she initially proves dangerous, her loneliness causes Takamichi to also take her in. Lily is also made to seem a bit like a rival, as she has her own personal preference for women, but any yuri elements are treated as a joke. These occasional jabs are a little frustrating, but Lily, being stuck at the beach house, doesn’t seem like she’ll be a regular enough character for this to become too much of a problem.
A little bit more is brought up about Takamichi’s dead brother in the end, reminding readers the his death is the big factor behind Takamichi’s harshness. Unable to move on and rid herself of guilt, she felt undeserving of Night and Snow’s loyalty, and now reveals that she feels like she doesn’t even exist without her brother around. Night and Snow predictably pull her out of this mode of thinking, helping her to accept the things she deserves, but it’s a warm moment that makes Takamichi more endearing.
In Summary
While this volume breaks things up with a few partial fights, most of the fantasy action takes place off screen. This is nice for both good and bad reasons. The bad reason is that Tobina’s art in any of the fight scenes is confusing and difficult to follow even in the best of cases; the good reason is that this reinforces the characters as the real focus of the story. Takamichi’s relationships are still messy and the entire cast have enough problems to overcome to make enough entertainment for some time now. That the story will eventually turn into a romance seems inevitable at this point, and the potential incestuous vibe I’m getting from it (Night and Snow did start off calling Takamichi “Mama”) does make the whole thing a tad discomforting. It’s still unclear if a bigger overarching plot will take over — will someone challenge Takamchi as heir? Will a big supernatural villain somehow come into play? — and while something of that sort would help maintain some sort of interest in the series, the characters of Jiu Jiu are currently entertaining enough to keep me reading.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: C+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Viz Media
Release Date: October 2nd, 2012
MSRP: $9.99
