Under the Glass Moon

    (Tokyopop, 2003)
™ and © Tokyopop

One problem with reading a lot of manga is you become so familiar with its conventions that it becomes increasingly difficult to find something really different.

Under the Glass Moon is sort of a modern Pride and Prejudice meets Lolita meets GloomCookie, full of ever-so-chic Goths who are into dressing up, acting out, and themselves, in that order.

There are a couple of creepy plot points, as when how mother Madame Batolli and daughter Nell both are after Luka, whose brother Luel has been in love with Nell since she was 12 (ewww), but it’s also sharp, funny, and refreshingly self-aware — so much so it accurately acknowledges that its heroes are a pair of “androgynous pretty boys.”

And a lot can be forgiven thanks to the beautiful, highly detailed art, coming from someone who clearly has an eye for fashion. But, as for what the title, unless the creators were big fans of Prince’s film Under a Cherry Moon, I have no idea what it means.

— S.A. Bennett
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