Polterguys Vol. 1by Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 8 Bree Redfield has trouble getting along with people. Fed up with her latest dorm roommate and unable to get a new one, she decides to move into a place off-campus — only to discover she now has ghostly roommates instead of live ones (and all-male, at that). When a reaper threatens to take them before they can find closure, Bree steps up, making a deal: if the reaper will give her a chance to help them, and if she fails to give them closure, the reaper can take her, too. Of course, her own death might put a damper on her budding relationship with a guy she met at a coffee shop ....The creator admits to having been influenced by movies like Heart and Souls and harem manga, and it shows, but not in a bad way. There are still significant differences, especially with a female protagonist. The story is sweet and cute, the art rough but appealing, with an "Ameri-manga" flavour. There's none of the skeeviness I tend to find in even the harem manga that I like, no inappropriately sexual moments with the youngest member of the group. In fact, so far, it's more of a Snow White scenario, with the ghosts being protective of Bree and wanting her attention in a non-romantic way, rather than any of them hitting on her. All of the characters are pretty likable so far, even the cranky one, Alex (my fave). Well, okay, the reaper's a jerk, but he's supposed to be, and even he has a strange sort of charm. My one complaint is that one of the story arcs, dealing with the youngest ghost, is treated in a rather whirlwind way, Bree's part rather glossed over, as if we were watching a montage. The problem there is that we're not really very well clued-in on what's going on, as if the authors felt that part was boring and didn't really want to deal with it. But the rest of the volume flows nicely. I especially like a twist at the end — I rather suspected the revelation, but it was well done all the same! And I look forward to learning more about each ghost. If you don't want to wait (or pay), the story is available online as a web-comic, but personally, I feel the nicely bound, slightly oversized (for manga) print volume is reasonably priced at $12.99 (especially given that it's independently published). Written: July 29, 2012
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