Rumiko Takahashi is one of my favorite manga artists. She has been since I was so young that I thought I was getting away with something by reading her stuff (I wasn’t). She built up 30+ years of goodwill with me by the time I got to One-Pound Gospel.
This was, I think, the last of her series that I had not read. And now I understand why it wasn’t easy to find. It’s not that good. And I can’t overlook the sexual harassment the way I normally can in her work because her work is normally charming and funny.
The story is about a nun named Angela who is inexplicably attracted to a boxer named Hatanaka.
I flunked out of confirmation, so I’m not one to say what a nun can or can’t do. But I’m pretty sure they’re not allowed to hear confessions or have boyfriends. Sister Angela does at least one of those things.
Hatanaka spends most of the story being hungry so he can stay in his boxing weight class. And he’s a young athlete so he’d be hungry even if he was allowed to eat. He’s also hungry for Sister Angela because she’s hot and nice.
When he’s not doing boxing stuff (starving), he’s trying to date Sister Angela because he doesn’t seem to know what a nun is, and Takahashi seems to know only a little more than he does.
This series didn’t have the charm, humor, humanity, antics, or uneasy horror that she normally does so well. But it was readable and had a few fun moments.
I still love Rumiko Takahashi. She’d need to do a lot worse than this to affect all the good she’s added to my life.
