Sachi Miyabe

Mame is a young countryside girl that decided to come live in the city after finishing school. As she doesn’t know how to do anything, she decided to become a Top Model. But she finds herself frozen because of stress and anxiety during each audition, leaving her with no chance of success. Also, Mame has zero Fashion sense and speaks with a country drawl, which doesn’t help either. She finds herself advised by a new manager, as she is trying everything to achieve her goal.

The art is really pretty. There are several colored pages at the beginning of the book. I loved all the details of the illustrations. This first volume introduces us to the characters and the various difficulties that the heroine has to overcome to become a Model. It is a light story with many comical elements. Mame is a sweet girl, extremely naive. She is obsessed with food, especially fried one. With her, we discover the behind-the-scenes of modeling, and the numerous constraints that are expected to do the job.

I chose this manga, attracted by the cover but having no idea what to expect. Mame Coordinate is a fun and fast read. I overall quite enjoyed it and will continue to read the adventures of the young Mame if I have the occasion.… (meer)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I will be the first to admit, that what really drew me into reading "Mame Coordinate" was the cover art. Bright and colorful, but also has the softness of watercolor to it! The character herself was cute and indicated that the art style inside would be just as gorgeous. The art style is very pretty but sadly doesn't hold a candle to the cover. That was no biggie, having very high-quality art on the cover is fairly normal. I can tell the author themselves has an interest in fashion, it shows clearly when certain outfits are drawn. The story, however, I found to be lacking. The main character is Mame, a country bumpkin who feels insanely out of place in the big city. She herself states that the only reason she joined the modeling agency was that she was scouted by someone and that it was the only way for her to get out of her little hick town. Mame has no real goals or reason to become a model, she's only doing it because she doesn't know what else to do. She also doesn't care one whit about fashion or becoming an excellent model. While temporarily working at a take-out restaurant, she wonders if maybe she should be doing this instead of modeling. She honestly looked far happier working in a restaurant in a customer-facing role than she ever does while modeling! Her character felt flat, and I found myself more annoyed at her, than wanting to root for her. She is given to the newbie modeling manager, Kisaragi, and is told if she fails her next modeling audition, she's out. Unbeknownst to her, if she doesn't succeed in landing a modeling gig, Kisaragi will also be fired from the agency. Kisaragi, the manager, I had an instant dislike of only a few pages into meeting her. (Who the hell gropes someone in the middle of a restaurant! I know she was trying to figure out Mame's measurements, but did she really has to grab her like that?! IN PUBLIC?!) She obviously doesn't like Mame and is only trying to have her succeed so she herself doesn't get fired. Kisaragi's internal dialogue reveals that she thinks that Mame is a clueless bumpkin and she is constantly shocked by how ditzy Mame can be. Also within the scenes of Kisaragi training her, it's very obvious there will be some sort of twist in a later volume where Mame finds out Kisaragi tried to become a model and failed, and became a model manager instead. The dynamic between Mame and Kisaragi is strained, it came off as tense, and that made it not really fun to read. The only interesting thing was the cliffhanger with a potential rival, Noel. Though Mame beating Noel makes no logical sense what's so ever, I can see it becoming the dramatic point of conflict. Since I am curious about what is going to happen with Noel, I will be seeking out the second volume when it comes out.… (meer)