The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross by Arina Tanemura

~Book Review #6~

This post is a tribute to what is one of my favorite manga series of all time. And despite what you may think, I have read a TON of manga (mostly shojo), and I have never liked a series so much that did not have any fantasy elements in it. Most of the time, when I read a non-fantasy book, I'll say "it would have been better with magic" or etc. Well, this series is perfect exactly the way it is. (NO spoilers below.)

To start off, The Gentlemen's Alliance Cross is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Arina Tanemura that was collected in 11 tankobon (volumes). Rather than summarize the series myself and ruin something for non-readers, here's some info from Wikipedia: The series revolves around "15 year-old girl named Haine Otomiya, a student at the elite private Imperial Academy, who was sold to foster parents for fifty million yen. She used to be a Yanki (girl gang member), but reformed when she met Shizumasa Togu, who told her to live life how she wanted to. She fell in love with Shizumasa and entered the Imperial Academy to try and win his love. Shizumasa is the Emperor of the school. Being the president of the student council and the only member of the gold class, he is the one who everyone looks up to. Through various circumstances Haine is tricked by Maora, a student council member, into becoming his bodyguard and joining the student council. However, Shizumasa claims not to know her and is unexpectedly cold towards her."

Yeah, so it may sound like a typical shojo manga series, let me assure you that it is far superior to many. The school is (of course) very different from normal high schools- starting from the ranking, the student council, and many other things. But, this manga deals with a lot of mature themes (which is why it is rated at 16+). It doesn't show anything outright violent or sexual (honestly, I think that it should be rated 13+), but a lot of stuff is implied. Like the fact that Haine is a former Yanki (a real thing in Japan) means that she was part of a gang and probably participated in illegal activities. Stuff like that is implied, but definitely not shown, which is why it's rated 16+. Overall though, the series is very light-hearted and comical, and I fear that I may have over-emphasized the mature themes too much. It's a really a nice balance of funny and serious moments, and the writing is spectacular. I never expected some of the plot twists that occurred in later volumes.

The art itself is spectacular. Arina Tanemura may use more screentones in one chapter than other manga artists use in an entire volume! Just search for her art on Google images, and you'll see how truly beautiful her art is. It's like hang-on-your-wall type beautiful, seriously. I think she has several art books out. Anyway, so she's a great writer and artist, so this manga has everything. If you have never read anything by her before, be sure to check this series out! Tip: another series translated into English by her is Full Moon wo Sagashite- which keeps up the quality of the art and writing Gentlemen's Alliance Cross. If you read any further works (like Time Stranger Kyoko or earlier), the art will not be up to par- though it's still very readable. I can't wait till they translate some of her more recent works into English.

5 out of 5 stars. Completely Recommended!!

Photo credit: A Gentlemen's Alliance Cross image by Arina Tanemura.
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