Aria: The Masterpiece, Vol 1 by Kozue Amano

‘On the planet Aqua, a world once known as Mars, Akari Mizunashi has just made her home in the town of Neo-Venezia, a futuristic imitation of the ancient city of Venice. In pursuit of her dream to become an Undine — a gondolier who leads high-end tours around the city — Akari joins as a trainee with the Aria Company, one of the three most prestigious water-guide companies in Neo-Venezia. There, she explores the beauty of the city and the world along with other trainees from Aria and rival companies, working hard for her dreams and making new friends along the way. Experience the world of Aqua like never before with Kozue Amano’s gorgeously detailed illustrations and full-color spreads in this deluxe edition featuring the full prequel series, Aqua!’

Amano’s Aria: The Masterpiece, Vol 1 features gorgeous artwork and adorable characters. President Aria, head of the company where Akari has come to train as an Undine, is a Mars cat. These kitties are just as intelligent as humans, and kinda reminded me of the hyper intelligent animals in Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series, except that the Mars cats cannot talk, telepathically or no. I loved the flying islands/ cityships! The story didn’t quite catch me though. It became something to read in when I was bored, or tired. There wasn’t too much meat to it for my liking.

***Many thanks to Netgalley & Diamond Books/ TokyoPop for providing an ecopy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Servant & Lord by Lorinell Yu

Servant & Lord by Lornell Yu is a clean yaoi manga that focuses on age and class gaps. Young Christan finds a friend in the dapper young composer his father hires to teach Christian music. With Daniel, he gets the affection lacking in his parental relationships. A family tragedy puts Daniel in severe debt. The music lessons end. Daniel finds it reminds him of the past too much. Christian’s father takes the young man on as an overseer of his estate, working to repay the debt. Christian’s feelings for Daniel begin to change, and he becomes increasingly jealous. 

I have to say, the age difference made me rather uncomfortable. I know once they are adults, it’s not so bad, but through most of the story, Christian is a young boy or teen. And so clingy and jealous in a bad way. I felt for Daniel, having to deal with this. I really did. The art was lovely, but I just didn’t grok the story on many levels, and didn’t care at all about Christian. Also, the cover didn’t match the story. I went in expecting one thing and got something different. 

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors/ Tokyopop for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.