Zig Zag, Vol. 1

On the one hand, somebody should probably find a way to get Nakaji off the caffeine, or sugary cereals, or whatever it is that has locked her creative brain in a permanent sort of frenetic high-spin cycle. On the other, that would likely drain away the main thing this manic series has going for it. Set at the Seifu Private Academy, the story pairs two mismatched 15-year-old roommates and watches the sparks. Sonoh Kirihara is the uninterested heir to the family ikebana (flower arranging) business; he's aristocratic, moody, morose and generally fascinating to those around him (he's also a twin, just to keep things complicated). His roommate, Takaaki Asakura, is a pretty femme-looking kid (he's mistaken for a girl on his first day) with a flower fixation and an unrequited crush on a girl named Marika. Nakaji's energetic art is typical of the genre, with the addition of much use of chibi (cartoony versions of the characters used to show extreme emotions) and the persistent motif of flowers. The story is full of the usual misunderstandings and explosions of embarrassment, all revolving around Nakaji's twin obsessions: flowers and feminine boys. There's a yaoi vibe given the subject matter, but nothing overwhelming. (Nov.)