Masakazu Katsura, renowned manga artist of Video Girl Ai and DNA2, seems to have a penchant for writing love stories that tackle romances in a more down-to-earth light. Despite the exotic trappings of magical girls coming out of TVs or time-travelers from the future, Katsura’s characters still have a realistic and familiar quality that makes it easy to identify with their identities and situations. In I”s, Katsura has even managed to remove any fantasy elements in his work and gives us a love story that could have happened to you or someone you know.

The manga artist is not known for being an ecchi artist for nothing and his work in I”s is no exception. However, despite the large amount of gratuitous panty shots and cleavage art, there are chapters that made good use of these elements to explore the physical side of the characters’ love… as well as grounds for some physical comedy. Just a little warning to keep this manga from the hands of young ones…

However, I”s is not without its downsides. For one, the story would seem like it needlessly dragged on. For another, the main characters undergo a lot of angst and drama that… well, it can get irritating at times.

On a personal note, I also dislike the fact that my favorite character, Itsuki, didn’t get as much screen time as I wanted. But I digress…

Overall, I”s is a good and worthwhile read. It’s love story is a simple enough one, even given all the situations the characters get themselves into.

And really, the art: You really have to love the art.

Individual Rating: Art: 8; Story & Plot: 8; Characters: 7

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 at 5:08 pm and is filed under I"s (Iori and Ichitaka), Manga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.