Mangaka: Higuri You

Content:

Mood: Angst, Humour

Bishounen-Alert: Sei, Toki, Kishou, Malloy.

Know as/for: The story which the hermaphrodite can change into a female instantly by sniffing roses, and change back when another guy with the angel gene kisses him. Sounds ridiculous, I know.

Most drool-worthy pairing: TokixKishou (Doesn't happen, though)

Smut: So-so.

Sample quotes: �What the hell happened to my body?� (I have breasts) � Sei.

Scanlation site: Storm in Heaven

Sei is a super-bishounen (more like an uke), and he's attending a sort of concert held by the band N'est ces pas (I'm not sure what is it with all the foreign names. But the Japanese are quirky, so I'm not going to ask. He meets the band and things starts going wacko. In reality, Sei is actually the male embodiment of the White Maria, a beautiful, legendary girl/goddess/priestess/oracle who can predict the future. She's supposed to be some kind of saviour. Now, how does Sei turn into White Maria? EASY! Just throw a bunch of roses at him and make sure he sniffs them! There is also White Maria's evil twin (well, archenemy, whatever) - Black/Dark Maria! What a surprise! And the band's members are all Sei's/White Maria's guardians! I can't wait!

For a Higuri You-sensei work, this is extremely forgettable. I doubt I can remember the names of the characters if I hadn't reread the manga. I don't even remember what the plot is about. Let me reread it. Ah, but I don't feel like it. And, that's the main problem with Alleluja. Once you've read it, you don't really want to read it again.

Mainly, the plot is very Zeus-like. Zeus is another manga by Higuri You-sensei. The plots are surprisingly similar in many ways, especially with the 'lead character is a hermaphrodite' part. And also, the main characteristic between Zeus' lead character and Alleluja's lead character is that they are both very self-righteous, wimpy, weak uke-types. How embarassingly typical for the uke image.

Most of the characters have been ripped, or replicated, one way or another, from Higuri You-sensei's previous work. There's the dark hair semexfair hair uke dynamic, not to mention Sei looks like Tsubasa from Cutlass and Kira from Zeus. Toki looks like Noir from Gorgeous Carat Galaxy, blah blah blah, you know what I'm trying to say. Everybody from Alleluja, looks like somebody from Higuri You-sensei's earlier works.

The art is still very good, after all, this is Higuri You-sensei we are talking about. The covers are super beautiful. Just look at the colours! The art! The boys! There's something about the way sensei drew the mouths for all characters - they all look very very VERY smug. I mean, there are nice bishounen boys scattered all over the book, but this manga lacks that special something. But other than that, Alleluja is just not THAT special. Gomen, Higuri You-sensei, this just doesn't cut it for me.

This might make a good read for those who aren't as anal-retentive as I am. Or maybe I just really need to finish reading the entire two volumes. *Whines* But I don't feel like it!

Side note: I like Kishou because Kishou doesn't like Sei. Har har.

Rating:

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