I’m No Angel by Ai Yazawa

Ai Yazawa, trans. from the Japanese by Andria McKnight. Viz, $24.99 trade paper (432p) ISBN 978-1-9747-5785-5

This light school dramedy from Yazawa, first serialized in Japanese manga magazines in the early 1990s, offers up a confection sprinkled with hints of the umami pleasures of her manga series such as Paradise Kiss and Nana. Upbeat teen Midori, “the angel of Class A,” is elected to her high school’s student council and decides to prove she’s more than just a nice girl stereotype. She quickly falls for council president Akira, who rides a motorcycle and sports a rockabilly pompadour, but their promising romance is complicated by his lingering feelings for the school’s beautiful art teacher. Yazawa fans expecting her signature ultra-chic art and edgy drama may be surprised by how conventional this early outing is—it’s replete with old-school manga cliches like school festivals, accidental panty shots, and even a tough guy caring for a kitten in the rain. The art has a matching throwback vibe, though midway through this first omnibus volume, it moves beyond just the sparkly-eyed characters and begins to develop the dramatic and playful touches that came to define Yazawa’s visual style. Newcomers would do well to start with Yazawa’s later work, but this is bubbly fun for fans of low-stakes romance and classic shojo manga vibes. (June)

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