Baby Birth

    (Tokyopop, 2003)
™ and © Tokyopop
Reads right to left; Graphic novel; B&W

Once again, here’s a manga whose title doesn’t seem to relate to anything at all, especially the central concept, which seems to be a collision between the movie The Cutting Edge and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

She’s a figure skater, he’s an arrogant composer, and (with a really annoying cherub named Rhythm—under the assumption wings equals bird, Tomita has its speech punctuated with cheeps and chirps) they fight supernatural evil.

Naturally, they hate each other on sight, and given the level of abuse being hurled about, no doubt they’ll be snogging around Vol. 7. It’s predictable stuff, except when the hero uses a cell phone to cast a demon–dispensing spell. And it’s beautifully illustrated. While the backgrounds remain mostly vacant, when it comes to the characters, it’s nicely detailed, and Mikimoto shows a real flair for depicting different–looking demons who carry an air of genuine menace. Still, Baby Birth makes you wonder what kind of manga TokyoPop is rejecting.

— S.A. Bennett
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