Shaolin Sisters

(Tokyopop, 2003)
™ and © Tokyopop
printed in Japanese format

Proof positive that all girls’ manga aren’t hearts and flower romances is Shaolin Sisters, an old-fashioned you-killed-my-master kung fu saga. After the death of the aforementioned master, killed by minions of the evil White Queen, Julin is sent on a quest to reunite with her previously unknown sisters, because only together can they defeat the White Queen.

While there is martial arts action, feelings are clearly more important to the creators than fighting, and what battles there are staged to be dignified and lyrical instead of visceral and kinetic. Admittedly, things are a tad predictable and slow, as Julin acquires Unknown Sister #1 without so much as a hiccup, but then she meets big sister Bai Wang, the pirate queen (who seems to have somehow acquired a pair of Lycra bicycle shorts in ancient China). Incredibly attractive and double-tough, she reasonably enough neither wants nor needs a new pair of sibs, and the first volume ends with Julin and Bai Wang on the verge of a knockdown scrimmage, making the reader hope the second volume will focus a bit more on the action.

— S.A. Bennett

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