Gals!

 Title: Gals!
 Creator(s): Mihona Fuji
 Publisher(s): Shueisha Inc., CMX Manga
 Year: 1998
 Genre(s): Shoujo, comedy, romance
 Length: 10 volumes
 Reviewed by: Yukari on November 09, 2007

Synopsis

Ran Kotobuki self proclaims herself as the "Queen of Shibuya" and will do anything to protect her city. Although she is raised in family of police officers, she has no desire to become a cop herself. She would rather spend her time having fun and hanging out with her two best friends, Miyu and Aya. Together they embark on an adventure that teaches them the lessons of friendship, loyalty, and having fun!

Review

Decked out in flashy leopard-print mini-skirts and tall platform boots, kogals are notorious for their flamboyant image and their need to be different from everyone else in Japan. Behind the artificial tans and cakes of garishly colored makeup is the intention to mock conformity and the search for one's own identity. Individualism is looked down upon by Japan's highly homogeneous society. Kogals are one of the many subcultures in Japanese youth that exist to challenge conformity.

In Gals!, Fuji dives into the crazy world of gals and introduces the reader to their glamorous lifestyles that involves fashion, boys, and having fun. The chapters are filled with silly and exaggerated episodes with Ran causing scenes in Shibuya. Gals! works well as a comedy, but Mihona Fuji also throws in some "serious" moments. I found these scenes awkward because they are presented in a highly unrealistic manner. Fuji attempts to dig deeper into her characters but fails as she only managed to brush the surface. As a result, when the characters felt sad, I could not share the same feelings of sorrow. In fact, I enjoyed the bonus pages much more than the actual storyline (the "bloodbath series" and Fuji's brother's drawings). Through the bonus pages, I noticed that Ran's personality resembles Fuji's quite a bit. The author evidently has a very good relationship with her mother and they get along more like sisters than mother-daughter. Perhaps one of the reasons for the flat stories might be that the author never went through the situations she writes about and thus has trouble in expressing them genuinely.

I also could not fully enjoy the series because I disagree with Ran's morals. She does have her good points; she's energetic, popular, optimistic, and always ready to have some fun! Her sunny disposition is why boys supposedly fall at her feet left and right. While it is nice to have fun and live in the present, I think Ran takes it too far when she avoids thinking about her future. You should be able to focus on the present and keep the future in mind, too. After all, time will eventually pass and soon you'll be living in that future. It's painful to read about Ran going about Shibuya, wasting her money on frivolous things and refusing to bear any responsibilities. This series' message to the readers is that school is a waste of time and that dancing para-para is more important than going to college. Her friends seem to face reality a little better, but as I have mentioned earlier, they don't have much depth either.

I was lured to this series before it was even licensed in America by it's bright colors and exceptionally detailed artwork: from the character's fancy clothes and accessories to the tall buildings and fast food restaurants in Shibuya. The details were one thing I liked about Gals! until I reached volume nine. At that point, I found the details too distracting, making the text difficult to read. Unlike most other authors, the illustrating the background seems to be one of Fuji's top priorities. To create Gals!, Fuji spent a lot of time researching the locations in order to bring them to life in her manga. Shibuya is a fast moving place that is constantly changing. I give Fuji props for accurately portraying the environment that real kogals live in.

I started reading this series expecting a lot, but the deeper I read into it, the more disappointed I felt. I would have been able to bear the series a little more if I agreed that living the gals lifestyle is the best way to go. Unfortunately, I don't share this view, but this will depend on the reader.

Overall Rating: 2/5