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As of today, Beauty Pop has completely taken a turn for the worst. I honestly hate to say it, because it’s one of the few manga series that I like to keep up with, but there’s just no denying it anymore: Beauty Pop has become the ultimate “Fall In Love with the Main Character” show.
All right, maybe it’s not the ultimate, but it’s getting pretty damn near close.
I think that the thing that I loved the most about Beauty Pop was that I wanted everyone to fall in love with Kiri–but I didn’t want to see it happen. Let me explain: each male character has a unique and distinct personality (one thing that the mangaka actually excels at achieving), and they shine the most in the scenes where they interact with Kiri (the main character). It’s not the most novel of ideas, but it is one that’s semi-difficult to pull off.
Having the main character interact closely with several male characters is definitely a distinct characteristic of a “Mary Sue.” For anyone not familiar with this term, it’s basically the perfect female or make character in a particular storyline. For whatever reason, it’s difficult to create a fully three-dimensional character that’s truly, deeply flawed but is capable of undergoing major character developments without becoming “the perfect specimen.” (The only series that I make that allowance for, is Witch Hunter Robin.) So, when all of these complex characters with completely different personalities all fall for the same person, there’s really no other explanation for it other than, “She’s perfect.” This is definitely not the stuff of good reading material, people!
But, it’s definitely the stuff that fans like me can appreciate. Why? Well, in my case, it’s because it provides the perfect setup for alternate pairings! And you know me and my FanFiction needs: I’m all up for that!
Then, where did Beauty Pop fail? Let’s just say Kiyoko Arai gave me exactly what I wanted–and none of what I needed. Sure, I like the idea of everyone falling in love with Kiri, but I do not, under any circumstances, ever want to see it established in the canon. It’s the sign of weakness in an author, the clear defining point of any Mary Sue, and the vanity of a weak plot. Simply put: give it to me in my dreams–not in my book!
Other things that bothered me were how the pacing of the series just went to crap and how everyone’s dialogue just got more and more annoying as I flipped the pages. Heck, it was annoying from volume four. I don’t know how Kiyoko Arai managed to do this, but you know how some series drags out their battle scenes for several chapters (Bleach drags out some fights for volumes!) or, they just drag out a scene longer than necessary? Kiyoko Arai just simply doesn’t know how to do it. She doesn’t! I didn’t know how one scene could just rush straight into another, or how unattractive an emotional revelation could be… until now. It was just one of those moments where I slapped my head and screamed, “How did you manage to screw this up?!”
And the dialogue! (I’ve always had a problem with Narumi calling Kiri, “Mussy head.” Come on, give me a break! There’s got to be a better translation, please!) But, the lengths that they’ve gone to, just be annoying… Both the translator and Kiyoko Arai have reached new heights. I think I’ve actually found a published example of where the “first name” familiarity taboo was too overused–and here I thought I’d never be tired of it. Well, I’m tired of it, now. Who wouldn’t be, when it’s used, like, nine times in two pages, by twelve different characters? Yes, the math really doesn’t add up. You can stop counting now.
The only redeeming factor is how Seki-kun managed not to fall in love with Kiri. Ok, yes, I admit that I’ve wanted him to have a tiny little crush on Kiri since the beginning of volume three, but I like it a lot better that he didn’t. After all, I already knew that 1) Narumi, 2) Ochiai 3) Minamoto and 4) Billy all had real feelings for Kiri, but I finally tossed in the towel when cute little Kei had a line saying, “I love her [Kiri's] smiles, too!”
Do I still like the series? For the most part, yes. I think I’ll keep reading it, too. But volume nine was the marker that it’s just not going to get any better than this. If you’re going to read it, stop while you’re ahead. There’s a lot of good stuff in this volume (Narumi realizing that he’s in love, Kazuhiko stepping up to the plate, and Kiri showing some aspiration in her work) but the bad far outweighs the good. Sadly, I’m going to start looking for some FanFiction now, because the real stuff just doesn’t cut it. Tear.
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