Harlequin Pink: Idol Dreams

Either I'm getting sentimental in my old age or this manga just wasn't as bad as I expected.
I mean, I saw the word 'Harlequin' and my brain immediately said "Well, that's gonna be crap." But I requested a copy of Idol Dreams on Paperbackswap anyway. I figured I'd read it, hate it, and move on. My expectations were so low they were pretty much on the floor.

So maybe that's why I say this wasn't so bad. I mean, I liked it. Sure, some of the romance scenes were drawn out and the constant "OMG I LOVE HIM BUT I CAN'T TELL HIM OMG" was repetitious at times, but this doesn't read like a romance novel. It reads like a pretty standard shoujo manga. Maybe that's what surprises me so much...if I didn't know that the publisher, I'd just assume that these were a 'normal' Tokyopop or Viz printing...and for some reason this irks me a little bit. How can I like something printed by Harlequin?? Am I turning into a frumpy middle-aged woman at the tender age of 25?

Whatever. So I liked it. It was cute. The art was surprisingly nice; how did they make these things, anyway? Did they get 'real' Japanese artists to do the pages, or were these printed in Japan first, or what? The art is "old-fashioned" for manga - I'd say similar to comics printed in the early to mid-1990s. It's printed in pink ink, which is a little surprising if you aren't used to it. But in Japan, the comics are printed in weekly/monthly phonebook-sized magazines, and the color of the ink alternates between stories. Pink, blue and black are all used regularly.

Oh. I feel I should mention - Harlequin = romance novels, right? But no smut in these pages. If you're looking for sex, you won't find it here. Idol Dreams is a sweet, chaste little love story. ( )