Hinadori Girl Vol. #2
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Hinadori Girl © 2004 Mari Matsuzawa / Media Works Inc. All rights reserved.
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December 18, 2007
by: James Jursudakul
Less Sally and more Akira make for a less enjoyable time than the first volume.
Hinadori Girl © 2004 Mari Matsuzawa / Media Works Inc. All rights reserved.
Manga Description: Akira continues to fight with Sally 001 over her brother Yoshiki in this second installment of Hinadori Girl. Sally 001 is an android that runs a special program called “HINADORI,” a program that acknowledges the first person it sees as its owner. But they’re about to meet a new rival when a beautiful classmate comes to visit Yoshiki. Does this have something to do with Yoshiki wanting to move out and live alone by himself?
Manga Review
Content: (This section may contain spoilers.)
After Sally and Akira unknowingly evaded Tsukiko-sensei’s trap at the end of the the first volume of Hinadori Girl, Volume 2 begins with the introduction of a new character: Sasayama, an exquisitely attractive friend and classmate of Yoshiki’s. Sasayama’s as skilled and as much as a technophile as Yoshiki is but unlike Yoshiki, possesses a straight-forward attitude that comes off as rude – especially towards Akira, who develops quite a dislike for Sasayama during their first encounter, not to mention Akira is quite uncomfortable being called a “brother lover“ by someone who she has barely met. The first two chapters focus on Sasayama, establishing this new character’s personality, and it also shows how much Akira detests the new character, although her attitude towards Sasayama does manage to soften up a bit later on. For these first two chapters, even though a new character is introduced, they are not as enjoyable and entertaining as the chapters in the first volume. Sasayama isn’t the most appealing character, so focusing the chapters on Akira and Sasayama makes for only some few enjoyable moments, but there is quite an unexpected twist to Sasayama that adds quite a bit of comedic value to the character. The biggest reason why I didn’t find these two chapters to be as enjoyable, though, is because there is a lack of a focus on Sally. Hinadori Girl Volume 1 was so interesting and enjoyable because of Sally’s interactions with the people around her and the various cute acts she does due to her naiveté, and even though Akira is an interesting and likable character herself, her attitude towards Sasayama is predictable, for the most part.
The third and eight chapters, return the focus of the story back to Sally as she learns about new things, in these cases taking pictures and fluffing things, respectively, and they are enjoyable, cute, and hilarious. For example, in the chapter where Sally is obsessed with fluffing things, Tsukiko-sensei makes another attempt in kidnapping Sally, but all Sally wants to do is constantly fluff her breasts. The rest of the manga, save for the final chapter, however, are mostly focused on Akira, with three of the chapters that deal with her concerns towards her brother. As with the case of the first two chapters, Akira can’t really carry the chapters as well without Sally, so the chapters are interesting enough to read through, but they’re not nearly as enjoyable as when Sally is featured. And so because of that, this volume of Hinadori Girl isn’t as fun as the first. Akira’s obsession with her brother pretty much stays at a standstill all-throughout – not really going anywhere; moreover, there’s not as many cutesy scenes with Sally. Tsukiko-sensei and her subordinate do make a few appearances and provide some nice comedic leavening though; plus, there is a cliff-hanger ending that has me looking forward to the next volume too.
Hinadori Girl © 2004 Mari Matsuzawa / Media Works Inc. All rights reserved.
The cast of Hinadori Girl: Sally 001 (upperleft panel), Yoshiki (uppermost character in the top-middle panel, Akira (middle-left panel), and Sasayama (middle-right panel).
Art: The characters in Hinadori Girl are drawn fairly well, and with some nice bits of details to the characters; however, a bit too often, in this volume, there is a lack inking to both characters and background objects – the characters are mostly just line drawn, and the inking is presented rather sparsely in each page when compared to the first volume, which also featured them but not as apparently so as with this volume; however, part of the reason it has become more noticeable may be because of the whiter (and presumably) better paper used with the printing. This is most noticeable with Akira’s hair when compared side-by-side with the previous volume. But even more so, there seems to also a slight drop in details presented in the characters when compared to the previous volume, too. This is more easily seen when comparing Akira’s hair in this volume with the previous: there are more individual hair strands depicted in Volume 1. A varied grey scale is also lightly employed, although the pages still don’t come off as impressive. As for the backgrounds, they are fairly plain and also quite forgettable. For comedic purposes, the characters are oftentimes depicted with some exaggerations to their expressions, and it does work well in providing some nice chuckles. The author also does a good job of depicting cuteness with his characters, especially Sally, who really comes off as adorable at all times.
Translation: (Hinadori Girl Vol. #2 contains/retains the use of: Japanese honorifics w/o any explanation pages included, and it also retains the original Japanese sound-effects w/ small English-translations of the effects placed nearby.)
As with Hinadori Girl Volume 1, DrMaster Publications Inc. has done a solid job with the translation, with only some very few errors present. But also as with the first volume, Hinadori Girl Volume 2 does not have the increase in the production values, which features better quality material for the cover and paper material, and also some color page inserts, as with their late 2006 releases, such as Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo. The few errors in the volume are as follows: On the back cover there should be a comma after “HINADORI” and “who” should be eliminated from the third sentence; on page 19 the “gikun” crashing sound effect is untranslated in the bottom-left corner of the third panel; on page 127 Sasuke’s sentence comes off as awkward in the final panel; and on page 147 the “chiu” slurping sound effect is untranslated in the sixth panel.
Extras include: a four-page bonus manga set during St. Valentines’ Day, a one page cultural note from the editor explaining the differences between American and Japanese St. Valentines’ Day, and a three-page bonus manga featuring the author – Mari Matsuzawa. Additionally, there are also three character profile pages which feature two-panel bonus strips of the character and various character sketches placed in-between chapters throughout the manga. The extras make for a nice treat, especially the bonus manga and character profiles, and they contribute nicely to the overall value of the manga.
The Bottom Line: This volume of Hinadori Girl is not as enjoyable as the first. There is a lessened focus on Sally, which is unfortunate because it was her various interactions with the cast and objects that made the first volume of Hinadori Girl so enjoyable; additionally, there is also a drop in detail present in the artwork here relative to the first volume. With all that said, there are some rather enjoyable moments present here throughout the manga, and the ending of this volume does leave me wanting to know what happens next.
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Content |
The lessened focus on Sally, which made the first volume so enjoyable, makes this volume not as good as the first. |
7.0 |
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Art |
Compared to the first volume there's a drop in details presented in the characters and also less inking present. |
6.8 |
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Translation |
There are some nice extras and a solid translation with only a few minor oversights. |
8.3 |
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Verdict
This will provide for some nice light-hearted laughter, but it's not as good as the first volume.
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7.0
[not an average]
+ The scenes featuring Sally.
+ The nice bits of light-hearted comedy.
+ Some nice extras.
- A lessened focus on Sally.
- Drop in details presented in the art.
- The very few oversights in the translation.
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