Kagetora Book 1

Common manga conventions are blended almost into redundancy in this tale. Kagetora is a talented ninja given the task of teaching cute and klutzy schoolgirl, Yuki. She's the heir to a family skilled in martial arts, but can't manage to get anything right. Kagetora falls in love with her, creating a conflict between his duty and his heart, and goes to her school as a transfer student to protect her. While training, he keeps getting distracted by how soft she is and by views of her cleavage. Kagetora has a monkey that rides around on his shoulder and reminds the reader of both Jiminy Cricket (with his reminders of what not to do) and the panda from Ranma 1/2 (both use signs that comment on the action in a supposedly witty fashion). By the second chapter, the girls (who get bustier as the book goes along) are already naked in the common outdoor bath; chapter three is bikinis at the beach and saving her from drowning. Everything in this book has appeared somewhere else before, meaning that this approach is likely to be quite popular due to its familiarity to the reader. (Apr.)