Kowloon Generic Romance Vol 1 - 5
This is for volumes 1 - 5 of Kowloon Generic romance. I’ll review the latter volumes when I get them, as per usual.
I picked this book up mostly for 2 reasons, it looked like it was complete in a short number of volumes, much like “After the Rain” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3…), and it was a bit of a delight and surprise that it was by the same authoress!
This time, instead of dealing with the mundane world, she deals with a Kowloon that is no longer there, and the story of 2 Japanese citizens who happen to live and work in the famed Kowloon walled city (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon…) not to be confused with the actual Kowloon City. In fact, the way she describes Kowloon is in a way that I hardly ever hear locals describe it, since mostly Kowloon by itself refers to Kowloon city, and folks barely mention the Walled City other than in terms of fear and expulsion.
Still, its an intriguing place to start a manga series, and the basis of the story is once again on the characters, this time the focus on a more mature heroine and the other protagonist, the target of her affection. The pace of this manga series is much slower than her other series, and I’m not sure if its because it takes that long for her to develop her plot lines or if there’s some realization that she might need to milk a series to sustain a living. I hope its not the latter as i feel that she’s got excellent ideas and unique viewpoints.
In any case, the story is about two Japanese living in whats basically a recreation of the Kowloon walled city from the 1980s. They work as real estate agents and do showing, repairs, and helping their clients find housing. Only the best parts of the actual city is shown, and there appears to be no crime or unsanitary issues for the folks who lives there.
Its also not really obvious at first, due to the decor and outfits being shown on the characters as being from the 1980s, but this is also a science fiction series. You find out in later volumes that this is definitely in the future, and that the Kowloon the characters are actually in has been long gone. Its not 100% clear why they characters are there, but there are theories of cloning and some form of mass hallucination going on.
I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the series thus far, there’s a lot going on, and depending on how everything resolves, this could be a great series, or could be a series that runs out of steam. Its nowhere as tight as After the Rain, but its good to see authoresses stretch out their legs!
Recommended if you highly enjoyed After the Rain. The art style is beautiful and the story is intriguing, but be prepared for a slow burn.