Cyber Idol Mink

OhHaiDer :]


Wah
Still hot as hell xx
At least I have my Fuzzy Peach (one of the best candies EVER)
Anyway
Today I bring you..
Cyber Idol Mink~ (oh the nostalgia)


Cyber Idol Mink


Story & Art: Megumi Tachikawa
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: 13+
Synopsis: (mangafox.com) When Mink rushes to buy the latest CD by her favorite pop star, Illiya, she winds up instead with a software disc from the future that allows her to become whomever she wants. When she and her friends decide to program a Cyber Idol version of herself, all Mink's dreams come true. In fact, she is soon discovered as the next 'It Girl' and causes quite the pop culture sensation. However, Mink cannot reveal her true identity to anyone because using software from the future is a serious crime--and being caught could result in her 'deletion.'


Art Review: 5/5


I think that this style is uber cute, Mink is just adorable in every single panel she's in. Tachikawa pulls off the 'loli-cyber-princess' theme so well. The detailing in the manga is clearly shown with the mastery of the lines and grey tones. I find that at points throughout the story, the style is reminiscent of Sakura Cardcaptors.


Story Review: I can honestly say I picked this manga because my mother, not knowing a thing about manga, went and bought me it thinking I would enjoy it, and I just wanted to finish this silly series once and for all. The first page just has narration from Mink, talking about transforming into the person you want to be (aka: a cute celebrity.) What I failed to understand about this manga is that Mink (once again) is terribly cute but everyone calls her ugly. And we can see that she has an obsession with Illya, and she just cutely flails around the room watching him on TV. I do love the mannerisms that Tachikawa has given Mink, with her tendency to repeat the same word in her thoughts when she becomes over excited. Most of the time with excitable, overly cute main characters, it becomes very tedious and annoying and it often leaves one with the overflowing need to sock her in her plate sized eyes, but it finds a balance with the fact that we are spared her high pitched Japanese voice dub, or even worse, the English dub. She walks off to school thinking," If only I could be as cute as Azumi Mizuhara." And I'm thinking, you look exactly like each other, except that she has a different hair style than you. Quit being stupid. It kind of mad me laugh in the scene where they are in the store getting the CD and they see a life size standee of Illya. I once saw a standee of Justin Bieber once in a store, and I thought to myself, what's a midget doing in Shoppers Drug Mart? Two panels later, Motoharu makes his first appearance on his motorcycle. He fails to make himself look cool and knocks himself out, nearly. And that's the gag for the whole series. Every other chapter Motoharu is bleeding from his head or some other. They discover that the CD they got was not in fact Illya's CD but another CD-rom called Wanna-Be. That name is absolutely hilarious, to be honest. Additionally, the CD has the names of the computers it can run on. Apparently in 2099 we have Macintoth and Windaws. So, I'm guessing that the top computers will not only exist in 2099, but they are now being run by rednecks. We go back to Motoharu, who is losing his job because he has no more singers. His dad says to give up so that he can go on a vacation. Motoharu gets mad and calls him an idiot. Like I've said before, oh, a child's love for their parent. So beautiful. They finish off the program and call it Mink, and she suddenly goes through a transformation sequence that should remind you of something else. After that nostalgia moment, we have the first appearance of the rival of Mink, Azumi Mizuhara, the typical self-centred, jealous girl who won't like how popular Mink is about to get. We also meet Om, the little robot that signifies the existence of the Wanna Be software. He actually doesn't know what year it's in. You'd think if it was stuff from 2099 it'd have a watch included or something. Although I'm thinking something. Motoharu and Mahoko are brother and sister. One has black hair and the other is blond. INTERESTING. Mink eventually transforms and makes her ad for the Blueberry Tea ad. The slogan is,"Autumn Colour. We found it." Don't worry, you're not the only person confused here. What I'm also confused about it how they portray her. Half the time, I'm thinking that they are trying to make her look like Navi or something. It is cute how they all promise not to tell about Cyber Idol Mink, but I can tell that Tachikawa will take advantage of that and make someone betray the other. Besides whenever Om mentions the threat of the people from the future, it makes me think of the Matrix. And if the people from the future were actually like the Matrix and not just something like this, then you know they mean business. Mink walks in and sees that the agency president is gone and all they have left is a teddy bear in his spot. Fucking teddy bear. I'm finding this manga more and more amusing when Mink isn't escaping because of the manga law that states," No matter how pitiful a character, if said character is on the "good" side, the character will always overthrow the rival due to the fact that they have a better personality," Mink is just so ditzy that all of Azumi's plans don't work. Thinking of it reminded me of this. I love how throughout this manga, the Wanna Be software makes her have wings, and stars flying everywhere, and no one questions just how that would even work in the 21st century. Kanoka purposely sprays Mahoko with juice and they run off to clean her face as a distraction, and Motoharu mumbles about how forgetting her tissues makes her unable to get a boyfriend. Oh Japan... you and your stuff. I don't like this cellphone that they give her. It's like a cheat code. She can clone herself and search for items like it was an 'Accio' spell or something (yes I'm a nerd, shut up. At least I liked the series for the books and the books only.) Although I shall forgive Mink for being a cheater because she's absolutely adorable. I'm not surprised as Illya is shocked that Mink ran away from him. He's a hot celebrity, so it's no surprise that he's quite self centred. Oof, now I like Mink even more as she calls Azumi a wench. Glad to know that she's not a pushover like every other adorable lead character. Johnny Hotta is a bit of a creep, though. He says creepy things and rides on children rides. He's a mean man. I find it funny how Johnny Hotta and Illya were hiding under water. They were probably hearing this while hiding underwater (by the way, was I the only one who heard this song and shit their pants?) One inquiry about the filming of Mink and Illya's drama, why is the security so shoddy? Johnny Hotta bursts in one of the scenes and ruins the shot, you'd think they'd have tough guys to guard the place. They should hire ninjas for this job. I do have a bit of a problem with the house fire scene. I know it's set in the year 2000 but don't they know how control a fire? Better yet, they had CGI back then. Crappy, but probably a lot safer. The beach is destroyed and the filming is doomed until Om says,"I'll find the beach! I'll find it on the internet!" Of course, you can find everything on the internet. Or maybe not. And now it's starting to get a little bit ridiculous with the amount of times they are using this cellphone as a plot device. Apparently she finds herself inside of a pyramid trying to find a place to transform, and the software somehow revives a dead prince. Not even being fazed by the slightest of Om, being an ancient prince and all, he tries to marry Mink, or Ishana, the girl from the legend.  Of course, this will end in the cheesiest way possible. She some how revives Ishana from the dead and they go live happily ever after. That cellphone can do anything. With all those gadgets you'd think it was Inspector Gadget. A new character appears in chapter 10, Yuka Akane. She is an obvious ditz but somehow a far greater one than Mink herself. She is shown in a montage of her cute obliviousness, although one scene does get a bit creepy sounding. Yuka: Ouch! I cut my finger. Guy 1: I'll do it for you! Guy 2: No, I will! Guy 3: I said I would. Sometimes obsession goes a bit too far. I don't get the 'steamed pork buns' part in chapter 11, only because when Mink says it, the author has drawn a fish with creepy eyes right beside it. While Mink is performing the 'Alice in Wonderland' play and falls off of the suspended prop moon, Illya comes out of nowhere to catch her oh-so-gracefully. Of course, that would not be physically possible, but it's manga. All adorable girls fall slowly for their bishie guy to catch them. And once again, the paparazzi have managed to near kill Motoharu and generally do things that they aren't supposed to. I ask once again, where are these fabled security guards? Someone could walk in their and have a massacre and there wouldn't be anyone to stop them, except perhaps Mink, with her cheat code cellphone. Oh Mink, you're a genius. Catch a cold, get sucked into your computer, attempt to eradicate computer viruses with a cold remedy. You know, for dealing with computer things, you'd call tech support or something. Then again, tech support wasn't always the most helpful thing. Oh, but if only deleting viruses could solve the problem. And here we can see by the creepy guy, sitting at a computer at an undisclosed location, this is the new plot device. Soon Kyo, the super hacker from the future, makes Mahoko and Kanoka and they make a trio called Minkle. Really, now? Man, someone put time bombs in Mink's leis. You'd think it'd be a little heavier if there were bombs in them.. And as soon as Kyo and Mink become the best of friends, the cops show up. And somehow, a lame plot device arises to prevent Mink's deletion by a total cop out,"If she has touched the people's hearts we cannot delete them." As the manga comes to a close, it fast forwards so quickly you could imagine it as a video with chipmunk voices. The description of the island sound and look a lot like the Mother and Child isles   in The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker (I MISS THAT GAME. FUCK.) Although the ending is adorable, it is rather disappointing. Then again, I'm just finicky. It doesn't matter, this manga was absolutely cute, and I enjoyed reading this.


7.5/10