« Kiwadoi kake (Narita Ken x Miyata Kôki, Miki Shin'ichirô, Kamiya Hiroshi) | Main | Takahashi Kazuki: Yu-Gi-Oh! vol. 01 »
Ikeno Koi: Tokimeki Midnight vol. 1
Ikeno Koi's Tokimeki Tonight was one the first manga I ever read and also one of my first and biggest fannish obsessions. (That is, along with Patalliro. Because dude, Patalliro.) Tokimeki Midnight can be considered an alternative universe fanfiction of Tokimeki Tonight written by the original author. The premise is that of the two princes of Makai, what if Aron had been sent to the human world instead of Shun? Who would Ranze have fallen in love with then -- Aron?
In this alternative universe, our heroine Ranze is a human high school student and Aron is her class mate. Aron is in love with Ranze, and the two have recently begun to go out, but Ranze isn't entirely sure if she's in love with Aron or not. One day, Aron brags to the class about how he has recently attained super powers, and shows them how he can bend spoons (how retro, that). Inspired by this, the class decides to go to the ruins of an old haunted hospital. Unexpectedly, something does appear for Ranze and Aron, and this something mumbles something about killing Aron. They get home safe, but the next day, who transfers to Ranze and Aron's class but -- Shun! But Ranze notices that he is always staring at Aron coldly, and he also mentions that Ranze shouldn't fall for Aron because "it won't be any use". Who is Shun and what is he up to?!
That last part of the summary is entirely redundant if you know the original series, because then you'll know who Shun is and what he's in the human world to do. Just the curse of self-parodying, I guess. That doesn't mean this series doesn't have its own good points, though. Along the way we find out that Shun is still an angsty cool boy with an oedipus complex, and that Makai is still in deep trouble that I'm sure Ranze and Shun will save it from in the future volumes.
Obvious for anyone familiar with the original series, Ranze falls in love with Shun in this version, too. I mean, anything else would have defied her entire character and the theme and purpose of the series Tokimeki Tonight. But it's refreshing to see them call each other "Shun-kun" and "Ranze" (although I do miss "Makabe-kun" and "Etô" ...), and Shun is less stuck-up here so we get a few more kisses and hugs than in the original (although I do miss those few romantic scenes in the original that were just so spot-on and still some of my favorite shojo manga scenes ever ... okay, I'll shut up about the original now).
Aron is as cute and funny as ever, which I love, and Kamiya-san is a bit softer in this version and it's really neat to see her and Ranze be friends from the get-go. In future volumes I'm looking forward to seeing Aron's darker side, because that boy can be scarily obsessive when he puts his mind to it. I can't wait to see the whole brother complex thing unfold! Mwaha!
Lastly let me note that I didn't expect to like this series at all. My love for Tokimeki Tonight is huge, so I thought I'd find this series to be blasphemous. But it's just so nice to see these characters again, including the minor ones like Sand (here, "Swan"), Kaede-chan, and Ranze's family. Oh, that reminds me! Ikeno-sensei, in the following volumes pleeeeease let Moori (Ranze's dad) have cool scenes? Please? He's like my favorite male character in this series ever. Lub.
Category: Shojo/ladies | Posted by Alicia at December 12, 2004 01:55 AM