Suki

    (Tokyopop, 2004)
™ and © 2004 okyopop

Meet Hirata, another CLAMPgood girl who’s a post-modern Pollyanna that compulsively plays The Glad Game, remaining obsessively cheerful and enthusiastic over life’s simple pleasures in spite of being abandoned by her father to live alone (clearly living on one’s own is a frequent fantasy for the overcrowded Japanese), except for her teddy bears.

Then Shirou, her substitute teacher who’s more than he seems, moves in next door, and she latches onto him in a desperate way that’s only a little shy of stalking. She’s so hungry for attention and affection she nearly swoons with joy when he offhandedly pats her on the head, and soon she’s cooking him meals. The back cover copy slyly suggests the possibility of forbidden love between them, but, as inappropriate as their relationship is, Suki lives up to its subtitle of a like story, as opposed to a love story. It’s the tale of a girl’s innocent crush on a teacher—a crush that’s surprisingly sweet and sincere, in an odd way.

— S.A. Bennett
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10-Feb-2004
Cover Price: $9.99
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