For hardcore Natsuki Takaya fans only.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Natsuki Takaya
Translation: Beni Axia Conrad
Adaptation: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
What They Say
Tamaki Otoya is the last in a line of ancient summoners tasked to battle against evil forces that threaten mankind. Burdened by his duty as a summoner, Tamaki has always found strength from his childhood friend Asahi, with whom he has a deep, emotional bond. But one day, Asahi goes missing and reemerges as the descendent of the very group that Tamaki is destined to destroy! Bound by responsibility but torn by love, what will become of this pair of star-crossed lovers?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Tamaki was born into a role that he didn’t ask for, inheriting the power to exorcise the evil jashin spirits that can possess sorrowful humans and turn them into demons known as jaki. He’s just not all that good at it yet. When his and his girlfriend Asahi’s childhood friend Mitsuru transfers into their high school, strange things begin happening to their schoolmates. Tamaki is forced to confront Mitsuru and the jashin that has possessed her, but he can’t do it alone, and must rely on Asahi for help. The conclusion to this story is as predictable and lifeless as the set-up, and its progression is riddled with far too many twists and turns for the fifty pages. The plot of the series provides the perfect excuse to have lots of bittersweet stories, but there’s no emotion to be found in this one.
Despite the general apathy that I had for the first story, the second offers a meatier, more emotional set-up that focuses on a boy who committed suicide and was revived by the power of a jashin afterward. Exorcising the jashin, which is slowly taking control of his actions, means that he will die again. Tamaki’s emotional response to this conundrum isn’t all that compelling, but Takaya displays some hints of her ability to tug at the readers’ heartstrings with the struggles that the possessed boy undergoes. Unfortunately, she also displays a lack of confidence in her own abilities when she forces the threat of a dramatic consequence for Tamaki into the storyline. It’s either tacked-on foreshadowing or a tacked-on attempt to draw Asahi into the story, but all in all… It’s just tacked-on.
The final third of the volume takes the basic premise and expands it, revealing more information about the origins and cause of the various jaki that keep on appearing. A minor storyline about a scorned woman who has become a jaki is interwoven with the larger reveals, but neither works very well, and they don’t relate to each other in any significant or effective way. Instead, we get an abbreviated form of the jaki/jashin story that Takaya has yet to master even in a full chapter, punctuated by heavy-handed revelations that come from the mouth of what appears to be the “end boss” himself. Clearly, there isn’t any creativity going on to rescue the exposition from its clunky delivery.
Those who are expecting Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket-styled art in this volume are going to walk away disappointed. Although there are hints of it in the long-limbed characters and occasionally sharp eyes, the art in Phantom Dream is significantly more amateurish–but thereís not much else to expect from an author’s first serialized title. Granted, the art does improve subtly throughout the volume–watch for sharper eyes and tighter character designs–but it’s still not that great at the end. Another aspect of it, although not necessarily a bad one, is that the art is undeniably “early 90s shoujo,” with big hair and broad shoulders. Panel layouts are cramped and repetitive, and the few times that Takaya attempts to use larger panels for dramatic scenes, there really isn’t a lot of kick to them. Screentones are (almost always) used in place of backgrounds, so the series, intentionally or otherwise, has a dark feel that is quite appropriate.
In Summary:
It’s easy to see why Tokyopop licensed Phantom Dream, given the popularity of Fruits Basket, but, unfortunately, it’s much harder to recommend. Hardcore Natsuki Takaya fans may be willing to overlook the multiple shortcomings in story development and art quality, because there are some moments that foreshadow Takaya’s later work, and some of the characters are clear prototypes of some Fruits Basket favorites–Asahi, for example, is a far less endearing Tohru, and Tamaki an odd, ineffectual blend of Yuki and Kyo. However, if you want something that is actually enjoyable, rather than a volume that merely allows you to see the development of the manga-ka, you’d be well advised to stay away.
Content Grade: C
Art Grade: C
Packaging Grade: B-
Text/Translation Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: TOKYOPOP
Release Date: December 30th, 2008
MSRP: $9.99
