Pretty Maniacs

(DrMaster, 2005)
™ and © Shinsuke Kurihashi

In a spinoff from the three-volume series Maniac Road, Shinano, the younger sister of the otaku Takezou, shows that she is equally fanatical. Entering high school, Shinano quickly joins the manga club only to find out that she is now the only member. Desperately, she rounds up a kindred spirit in the form of the beautifully long-haired Yura Otowa.

But Shinano’s recruitment efforts run afoul of the student body president, who gives the club a month to prove that it should exist or else be shut down for good. Facing this challenge, Shinano reels in the frustrated illustrator Chihaya, who is searching for artistic freedom. Now, these three stooges proceed to make their own manga, attend the summer comics convention, and cosplay to their hearts’ content.

Creator Shinsuke Kurihashi continues to display a pleasing penciling style and a penchant for drawing bubbly teen girls. And, like his preceding work, he is content to concentrate on manga fans’ absurd and trifling obsessions, which can only be truly appreciated by those similarly afflicted.

— Oliver Chin

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