Manga’s bitchiest friends form “The Clique”
12 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Anime/Manga, Reviews Tags: Amerimanga, electronic manga, iPad app, manga, Manga Life, manga review, The Clique, Yen Press, Yen Press app
I recently checked out an iPad from the journalism library to test out and review the new Yen Press app. I’m working on the review for MangaLife.com and am still waiting on the developers to get back to my interview questions, so I thought I’d take this week to review the title I read on the app: The Clique v1.
I was originally intrigued after read Penny Kenny’s review on ML, and after scrolling through the unfortunately small download choices, I decided I might as well give volume 1 a shot. The manga is an adaptation of Lisi Harrison’s popular Young Adult novel that follows new girl Claire in her quest to fit in with Massie and her fab four posse. After a financial downturn, Claire’s dad moves the family from Florida to LA to move in with his old best friend, Massie’s father. The rich Block family welcomes the Lyons with wide arms… well, everyone but Massie. After sizing up Claire’s “dated” wardrobe and personality, Massie decides to sabotage her chance of making friends at their wealthy prep school and make her life a living hell.
Fastforward through scenes of Claire getting red paint smeared on her white pants by Massie’s group, Claire getting revenge, fashion discussions, secret betrayals, etc. etc. And only one cute guy, I mean like, what? Are you serious? OMG. I never went through high school being in that type of crowd, so reading about it makes me ill.
I’m also not a big fan of Amerimanga, especially “Gossip Girl,” totally-too-cool-to-be-true storylines that literally gag me with a spoon. Well, metaphorically. The Clique had moments that made me chuckle, but for the most part, I was groaning at the cheesy dialogue and situations. Claire really should be a sympathetic character, but the LA lifestyle gets to her head quick enough and she’s almost as bad as Massie. I’m guessing the novel is very much for young adults, because the immaturity was almost too much to bear.
Sorry Clique, I like my manga original and Japanese. That’s the way it should be! However, I wouldn’t oppose to seeing a manga version of the Hunger Games, but that’s a whole new story!
Liz’s rating: ★★
