I''s, Volume 13: Living Alone

I"s #13

by Masakazu Katsura

After graduating high school, Ichitaka and Iori begin a new stage of life. Iori's career gets increasingly busy when she lands a role on a television drama. Meanwhile, Ichitaka takes a big step of his own--moving out of his parents' house and into his own apartment. With the luxury of freedom comes a new surprise--next door to him lives the pretty young Aso. Now while Iori struggles with the pressures of training, performing and success, Ichitaka must struggle with a new temptation. Will Iori and Ichitaka grow further apart, as they both fear, or will love keep them together?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Comics, Shonen, Graphic Novels, Comedy, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2000

About the author

Masakazu Katsura (桂正和) is a Japanese manga artist.

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for complete series



A Note on Katsura Masakazu
Masakazu's works are oddly diverse and formulaic at the same time. He likes to dab in romantic comedies while also producing works about superheroes that are heavily inspired by US comics. I've only ever delved into his romantic comedies and they usually follow a very particular pattern: average guy pines for a pretty long-haired brunette until a short-haired tomboy makes her entrance. It turns into a love triangle that is soon extended to a third girl who is also a long-haired brunette. At least one of the long-haired brunettes is bound to cut their hair in an attempt to mimic the tomboy. Even though Katsura sticks to this formula, the plot outside of the love story is often refreshing and complex. And while the basic premise of his love stories is the same, you can never be sure about the outcome.



Ichitaka's behaviour and feelings never seem to line up. He has a crush on his classmate Iori yet always acts distant toward her. When both of them are assigned to prepare a school event, Iori decides to nickname their duo team I's - a reflection of their initials. Encouraged by this, Ichitaka wants to try and express his feelings for her. While things between them appear to improve, former childhood friend Itsuki returns from overseas for a promise between her and Ichitaka: to marry when they are older.

The covers of I''s might be a little misleading at first glance - Katsura's art is beautiful, though the cover art and illustrations within the book don't quite match. For the covers, Katsura uses his more realistic style whereas the actual manga does use a more traditional manga style. For me personally, I prefer it that way. His more realistic drawings are beautiful, but I do prefer reading something that looks more like manga. Either way, both styles are beautiful and I'm tempted to say that I''s has the best art of all the works I've read of Katsura's.

As a story, however, I''s is a good example of why I prefer series - especially romance ones - not to be too long. Don't get me wrong, this is generally a well-paced and enjoyable manga, but it also spans over a couple of years and I think after the characters graduate high school, it becomes a little less interesting.

Ichitaka is a surprisingly likeable character - surprisingly because he is less kind than Katsura's usual lead male characters, yet likeable because he is well-rounded and realistic. He is a friendly guy at his core but he can act selfishly, be childish or even downright mean. He has a decent amount of confidence but isn't overbearing, his less friendly sides usually surface in an attempt to hide some of his insecurities. He does also self-reflect, though, and tries to make up for his wrongs. But what I really learned to like about him is that he won't take unreasonable blame, even coming from someone he likes such as Iori. There are times when she accuses him of things he hasn't done and he expresses his anger at the wrongness of the accusation. He even acts out in a childish but legitimate response - Iori scoffs at boys' interest in girls yet Ichitaka rightfully calls her out that there's nothing wrong with that.

I really like Iori - she does have her moments where I feel annoyed with her, but it's good for a character to have flaws. There are times I find her contradictory behaviour annoying and I found myself wishing she would be more clear about what she does and doesn't want, but I suppose that is also her covering up her insecurities. In general, though, she is such a cute character, both design and personality-wise. I like that she has a dream job in mind - an acting career - and it's a theme that runs in the background throughout the series.

Next to Iori, I struggled a bit with the other love interests Itsuki, Izumi and Aiko. While this may seem like quite a lot of love interests, one must keep in mind that this story covers a couple of years and these characters don't really overlap. Itsuki is likeable as an individual character and I've often been under the impression that the majority of my friends who have read this series have a preference for her over Iori. I definitely like her, but I find the chemistry between her and Ichitaka wrong - they appear more like siblings to me. Izumi, a girl Ichitaka meets during a holiday, is in a similar vein. I actually really like her as a character but her extreme attempts to get Ichitaka's favour can be tiring at times. But somehow, whenever I feel annoyed with her, she says or does something that reminds me why I like her. Aiko is very similar to Iori and I like her for the same reasons. Unfortunately for her, she is introduced very late into the story leaving me with a feeling of her either not having had enough storytime or her simply being surplus.

In fact, the last couple of volumes felt a little surplus to me in general. After the characters graduate from high school, the story takes a sudden much stronger interest in the whole acting business and leans into becoming a showbiz manga. Although I like that Iori has a dream of becoming an actress, I've never been particularly fond of showbiz as a theme in manga and in this case it mostly felt like a tool to create extra drama. It is not entirely poorly done and there are a couple of nice scenes, but I didn't feel like it was leading to anything other than dragging out the plot.

In addition to the main characters, there is a really nice supporting cast. Yasumasa is a great friend and makes sure there's some extra comedy thrown into the story. I like that there are several other classmates introduced that come and go throughout the series - it gives a well-rounded feeling of the school life rather than the plot purely focusing on Ichitaka's love life. I also enjoy how very different all these supporting characters were from each other.

As a whole, I really like I''s, as frustrating as some of the miscommunications between the characters may be. It could have been a tad shorter, but it's a very engaging romance manga and I just want to stress again that the art is beautiful and reason enough to give this manga a chance.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was the most fun one in a while, though it also shows a lot of character growth and mature decision making from both Iori and especially Ichitaka. Aso is a fun character, a little trope-y-er than some, but Katsura is really able to capture a purity in her. She's scatterbrained in a way that actively hinders her, rather than just leads to her literally falling all over Ichitaka. I also love Nami's throwaway-in-practice-but-actually-poignant line to the effect of "You're so mature trying to actually get out and start your life, the rest of us are just using college to stall".

[Eressea · Rating 3 out of 5]

一貴揪竟會不會上大學呢?