The storylines may be a little far-fetched and set in way-out fantasy Japanese worlds where aliens and zombies are part of everyday life, but the detailed artwork, unexpectedly childlike-yet-witty dialogue, and just its own unique style, being so completely different from the traditional “American,” comic books, make it refreshing and entertaining. So entertaining, in a couple cases, that I almost fell of my bed laughing hysterically. And not because it really is hysterically funny, but because of many subtle details and silly “little things.” For example, in Mia Ikumi`s Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode, one of the main characters, a 12-year-old girl, Berry, enrolls herself into a private school, only knowing the school has really cute uniforms. Ikumi adds many little adorable illustrations--with arrows--blatantly pointing out all the comedic details in her own drawings.

One thing that irks me, however, is knowing that these manga series, are not necessarily geared towards children, but usually to young adults and up. Of all the ones that I read, the characters are usually girls, in their pre-teens or teens, all of them not of consensual age, yet dressed in immoderately revealing and sexy clothing--if any clothing at all (well that was just in one story, but I had to throw that in there). And if the character isn`t an extremely young cutesie dominatrix kick-butt kind of girl, then she`s really submissive, catering to every whim of her master [What? Japanese manga is sexist? No way!-Sarcasm Editor]. Also, another similarity between all these stories, is that these very beautiful, independent kids (who all seem to live on their own) are all either battling extraterrestrials or some sort of ancient evil, with a very pure and innocent underlying love story. Still, each story is still able to maintain its own identity--in most cases, the problem at hand turns out to be easily solved (or defeated), usually by extremely simple measures.

Most of the heroes, besides being total eye-candy, are very likeable, fleshed-out with personalities--very “Average Joe” human, innocent yet wise. Which probably explains why manga has continued to be popular, especially in Asian culture. At least for myself, these characters are easy to identify with, whether you`re a pre-teen girl, or an overgrown kid stuck in an adult body (you know who you are). Fantasy and the world of imagination, is something that will always arouse interest or pleasure, because we all need a place to escape from our hectic daily lives. Who wouldn`t want to be a beautiful hero, saving our beautiful world? I know I would.