Christy Lijewski

Izsak's encounter with a woman who seems to know him makes Cree jealous, but in the end the incident brings the two of them closer. Unfortunately, Rail is at his breaking point where Izsak is concerned - he's still nursing a secret crush on Cree and can't stand to see her and Izsak together. They fight, and before they're able to talk it out and make up, Cree is kidnapped by Niji and Laurent, the people who've been stalking Izsak.

I didn't think Lijewski would manage it, but she actually did answer most of my questions from the previous volume. However, there wasn't enough space in this one volume to make all of the answers believable. I can't even imagine how badly Niji and Laurent's first few years must have gone, but now I'm supposed to believe that they're a happy couple and Niji just shrugs off Laurent's occasional murderous impulses? Riiight.

The name Lijewski chose for Niji and Laurent's secret organization implied things that I don't think she intended, and I really wish she'd just gone with "Section 12" and left it at that. And unfortunately there was almost no time to discuss any of the details about Izsak's identity. Based on that one scene with Rail in volume 1, I know what Laurent could do - does that mean Izsak should be able to do the same? What about Laurent's ability to change his physical age? And the whole personality change aspect came out of nowhere. There was no hint of it with Laurent at all.

Aspects of the ending were problematic as heck. First there was that little "test" Izsak had to undergo. Why should it matter if he were curious about his old life, considering that Niji and Laurent had no plans to leave it at that and go on their way? Then there was Niji's whole "you're his salvation" speech. I'm sure it was meant to be romantic, but it also meant that Cree and Izsak, two people who'd only known each other for a few months, were basically tied together forever. What if their feelings changed? And the stuff with Char and Rail just made me wince. So Char started living as a woman solely on the off-chance that Rail might one day become as interested in her as she was in him? That's...really sad.

It seems like a lot of short OEL manga series have pacing problems at the beginning and waste a lot of time before trying to cram everything into the end, and this series was no exception. It wrapped things up, sure, but not in a very emotionally satisfying way.

Extras:

- A couple pages of clothing sketches and notes
- The top 9 entries from a fanart content, in black-and-white
- A page of cosplay photos
- A new character ranking
- A note from the author and, I think, her editor

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (meer)

It's been two months since Izsak ran off after Rail confronted him about what he thought was evidence that Izsak had murdered someone. Since then, Rail has learned that, although someone did murder that woman, it wasn't Izsak.

Niji, one of the people who's been following Izsak, convinces Izsak to go back to Cree. Things seem happy for a while, until Izsak is approached by a woman who seems to know him.

There are various flashback scenes and chapters: Rail's POV on the talk his dad had with him when he was a kid, the one that convinced him to start watching over Cree more; the death of Niji's parents, as well as her and Laurent's first meeting (or at least I think that was Laurent); and the day Rail and Char first met, back in high school when Char was bullied by homophobes. Flashback chapters begin about two thirds of the way through the volume, and non-story related bonus content takes up almost a quarter of the volume.

Lijewski's artwork improved a bit since the previous volume, although there were still times when I noticed odd thumb and hand shapes, and then there was that one panel where Izsak's right collarbone went places collarbones are not supposed to go. The Tite Kubo inspiration seemed even stronger this time around, so the one chapter intro spread depicting Rail and Izsak as Soul Reapers wasn't surprising (the previous one: Izsak as a ninja in Naruto).

It felt like there were quite a few wasted pages, though. Not only did the volume end early, but there were also several pages devoted to things that didn't seem to have anything to do with the story, unless volume 3 takes a sharp turn into flowery fantasy territory. Four whole pages devoted to that fairytale Niji told Izsak! I got the feeling that Lijewski just wanted to draw a CLAMP-style angel-and-demon romance for a bit and her editor just let her do it.

If the pacing in the rest of the volume had been a bit tighter, it might not have been such a big deal, but as things stand I'm not sure how volume 3 is going to manage to wrap things up in a satisfying way. There's a lot left to cover or tie up. Niji and Laurent are part of some sort of organization that hasn't been explained at all yet - I couldn't even say why they exist or what their ultimate goal is. If that one character near the end really was Laurent, then Niji and Laurent have enormous amounts of relationship baggage that should probably be addressed - I don't care if they're somehow over it by now, I want to know how they managed it, because it's heavy stuff. And Izsak is nothing but questions. Who's the woman who approached him at the end? Why was he in that facility in the first place, and what happened there? And since we've got that whole love triangle going on (Rail not-so-secretly loves Cree, who's clueless and likes Izsak, who likes her back), that's going to need to be resolved too.

Extras:

- Character profiles for Niji and Laurent
- Notes and sketches from Lijewski on the clothing worn by Cree, Izsak, Izsak, and Char throughout the volume
- The results of a character popularity poll
- Lijewski's image songs and voice actor preferences for Cree, Izsak, Rail, and Char
- A page of black-and-white cosplay photos
- 5 pages of an interview with the members of Faust (Cree's band)
- A whopping 12 pages of black-and-white artwork created by guest artists
- A note from the author

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (meer)

[New review after rereading in 2021. Rating downgraded from 4 stars to 3.]

I originally reviewed this back in 2010, but my style was a lot different back then, and my feelings about this volume are less gushy than they originally were. I decided it'd be worth writing a new review.

Cree is looking for a replacement bass player for her band when she stumbles across Izsak, a homeless guy, doing an amazing job playing one of her mother's songs. She convinces him to come home with her and be part of her band in exchange for a place to stay. She also convinces her fellow bandmates to accept him - some, like Rail, take a little more convincing. However, Izsak has more going on than Cree initially realizes. He has no memory of his life prior to five years ago, he has some kind of mysterious illness, and Rail thinks he might even be a murderer.

The first half of this volume was pretty rough. Lijewski leaned a little too hard on the "Cree and Char are energetic, fun, and quirky" stuff. I'm intrigued by the mystery of Izsak's past, though, and I'm looking forward to finally reading the rest of this series after so many years. I might not enjoy it as much now as I did when I first tried it, but I think it'll at least be a decent read.

Although Lijewski's character designs are indeed attractive, her art had some issues I don't think I noticed when I first read this. I still suspect that Lijewski was very influenced by Tite Kubo's artwork. You can see it in the way she drew a lot of the characters' faces. However, her layouts could have used some work in places, to make certain scenes more effective, and there were times when her anatomy was a little off - the panel with Izsak standing in front of a mirror was a good example of that, and I noticed one panel in which Cree appeared to have a pinky where her right thumb should have been. There were a few action shots that could have been done a lot better too.

But I did like the scene with Laurent and Rail, and, like I said, I'm looking forward to finding out more about Izsak's past, his supposed "illness," and the reason why he's being followed.

Extras:

A short message from the author, and character profiles for Cree, Rail, Izsak, and Char. And speaking of Char, a thing I had forgotten: she appears to be trans (and is misgendered and deadnamed by her brother, FYI).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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[Original review from 2010 included below. The rating I used with this review was 4 stars.]

Ohmigod, ohmigod, I have to buy more volumes of this! Well, actually, I have the first two volumes, and it turns out there are only three total, so I guess I only need to get one more. While I'm happy I won't need to make a huge monetary investment to own all of this, I'm already sad that this series is so short. Because, ohmigod, it's good.

Ok, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you should drop everything and go out and buy this - just because I love this series so far doesn't mean you're going to. I can't even say that this is a very original series, because this is another one of those where it's pathetically easy for me to come up with read-alikes. However, this series has so many things I tend to like in a series that it just brings me all kinds of joy.

First, there's the pretty guys. Izsak is not only gorgeous, he's nice. The mystery surrounding him origins and even what he is (I'm guessing vampire, but can it really be that simple?) makes him even better. Rail is also gorgeous, although his other appealing characteristics are different. He's got the scowling delinquent look down pat (think Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach), and yet he's got a cute, sweet secret thing for Cree (how cute and sweet you think it is all depends upon how you tend to feel about "sibling-by-marriage" romance stories - I'm usually not that wild about them, which is why I'm rooting more for Izsak than Rail). Also, according to his bio at the end of the volume, he's pretty smart. As a reader, both guys seem fairly yummy to me. Izsak doesn't have all the "but we're siblings!" baggage, while Rail is probably better for Cree in terms of long-term health and piece-of-mind. I'm still rooting for Izsak, though.

Second, there's the artwork. It took me longer than it should have to place what I think is Lijewski's biggest artistic influence, but I'm guessing it's Tite Kubo, the artist and author of Bleach. I can see that influence most clearly in Rail. It's something about his eyes. And his scowl. Anyway, I love both Tite Kubo and Lijewski's artwork. Lijewski (as she was when she created this volume) could stand to improve her full-body anatomy skills, but hoo boy does she draw abs nicely.

Ahem.

Ok, moving past the whole drooling fangirl stuff. Third, I really like the overall mix of romance, mystery, and supernatural. I can't wait to learn more about Izsak and see where things go with him and Cree. Who are the two mysterious stalkers, and what do they want with Izsak? Who killed Ashley?

While I may have a few complaints about this volume, those complaints are very minor in comparison with all the things I loved about it. I can't wait to read volume 2, and it looks like I'll be adding volume 3 to the list of things I'll be spending my Amazon.com gift certificate on.

Extras:

Bio pages for Cree, Rail, Izsak, and Char that include age, date of birth, height, birthplace, hair color, eye color, style mode (not sure what this means, but then I'm style-less), major (for those characters who are in college), and a bulleted list of extra tidbits. Also, a few paragraphs from Lijewski.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (meer)