Red String Volume 1

Red String #1

by Gina Biggs

When first-year high school student Miharu Ogawa gets a call from her parents, telling her to come straight home from school, she prepares herself for the worst. After all, the last time her quirky restaurateur parents told her to come straight home she ended up as a contestant on a kiddy game show! But nothing she could ever have imagined could have prepared her for their "great " Miharu is getting married! How's a spirited and independent teenager who has never even kissed a boy supposed to deal with suddenly having a fiance she's never even met? And how will her feelings change when she finds out that there are other boys out there vying for her affection, and other girls ready and willing to take away the man she's not even sure she's ready for? With her family, friends (and enemies!) to cope with, will Miharu even have the time to find out if the handsome, devoted Kazuo Fujiwara is really the man she is meant to be with, the man connected to her by the red string of destiny?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Graphic Novels, Comics, Young Adult, Webcomic, LGBT

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2007

About the author

Gina Biggs has been creating comics for over twenty years and recently resides in Portland, OR. She is the creator of the sci-fi romance series, Love Not Found . Other notable works include Red String (Dark Horse Comics, Strawberry Comics), and Erstwhile Fairytales.

Reviews

[Preet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

This is the first manga I've read and I like the concept. I am a little confused at how the story arcs changed at times. It seemed like the flow from one to the other wasn't smooth and so I was confused at moments. I do think I will be giving other manga a try though.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving benefit of the doubt purely arbitrarily, though this feels painfully identical to EVERY romance I've read about arranged marriages.

...which is probably one, and The Joy Luck Club doesn't count.

Point is, I could sort of predict every plot point in a Name That Tune fashion—start a prompt, and I can guess the rest: Miharu finds out she's betrothed to the son of her parents' friends, so she runs out in a huff and IMMEDIATELY meets her betrothed, then they fall madly in love with each other. Even the whole "steal your boy/girlfriend" stuff, because that's classic rom-com material (and, also, the real-life "popular kid" playbook).

Probably the one thing I didn't predict was the SECOND arranged marriage, since, "Oh, she reacted so badly to the FIRST one, a different one will work better!" Ugh.

Now, I was allowed to choose my own dates, so I'm personally biased against arranged marriages, but I'm not going to say that they never work. On the contrary, playing matchmaker *once you know the key players involved* and can adequately match their likes, temperaments, and so on, arranging at least a date wouldn't be out of line, as long as they can still say no. Maybe they're shy and would never have made an effort on their own! But how it's treated here is bad, regardless of the end result. It's like telling a child about their adoption: better to do it sooner, than spring it on them when they're almost fully adult.

The art is mainly where I deduct my points. It feels very "I want to draw a Japanese manga but I'm not Japanese" in the too-familiar way I've seen in a lot of web comics that I quickly abandoned. I gave this one a chance primarily because it's book 1, but it's also published physically, vs. I can't be bothered to follow comics online except a select few I've curated over years.

On the whole, three stars, but I'm feeling generous since this is still more work than I've ever managed to finish myself. Recommended for rom-com fans who don't mind a rough style (which I assume is better these days but haven't checked).

[KelceyTheLibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember finding these (volumes 1-3) on my one of my final day sales combing trips at AX. It looked cute and the premise sounded funny so I picked them up. It was exactly that. A cute premise with some humor mixed in. I appreciated the realism of the situations the characters found themselves in (although Karen started to feel like Sae from Peach Girl - there comes a point where you just need to give it up!) Anyhow, these definitely read quickly and the romantic travails will appeal to most shoujo fans. I like that she touches on the myth of the red string and actually examines the concept of happiness and love in arranged marriage (I wasn't expecting that.)

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable Manga. A breezy read but has hints of bigger issues. Perfect for a teen transitioning from middle school to high school as the issues brought up are pertinent to them and likely to come up among them and their friends. The unique plot point is the arranged marriage. Makes for interesting extras. Enjoyed and have the next two books I plan to read.

[ATry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was weird... but good... I dunno...

[Catie Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in high school online and loved it, and I found the physical editions in a local comic store and just had to pick it up. This series is so charming and adorable!

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first manga I read, and I for being my 1st was good

[Rick Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red String is Gina Biggs' shojo webcomic that explores the theme of destiny in love. Set in Japan, the story centers on high school student Miharu Ogawa, who is suddenly informed by her parents that they have arranged a marriage for her.

Her first instinct is to rebel against the decision, but things get more complicated when a chance meeting with the boy she is to be engaged to leads to a real attraction.

As Miharu questions the nature of destiny and her own ability to choose her path in life, her new romance is complicated by a boyfriend-stealing cousin, school rivals, and even the arrival of a second arranged fiance.

The plot is complex but never to the point of being confusing, and the book features a really strong supporting cast with their own subplots going on. Biggs' art is lovely, and this American-made shojo contains a believable rendition of life in Japan and plenty of good details in between the story's more dramatic turns.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been following this webcomic for several years now, and the forum for it is in the process of doing a reread. So I'm in the process of rereading and revisiting the original material.

In the early RS, you can see the deep influences of shoujo manga - the art style, the contrived plot, the shojo motifs of roses and sparkles and glittering eyes. The art evolves as the story goes on, and the story progressively becomes less shoujo-manga but still very much directed at those hopeless romantics.

The first volume does a good job of setting up the story, and introducing us to the characters. The first volume isn't very plot-heavy, per se, but you get to know the characters and their interactions with one another, which is important and worthwhile.

Overall, Red String is a good story although recently on the webcomic there has been a decline in both storytelling and art style, so time will tell whether I'd recommend this story overall or not.

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the whole series, but this is the beginning that started it all. This is a great and sweet webcomic that explores the idea of fate when it comes to love. It is set in Japan and has many manga influences (without being a manga itself). I liked it because it wasn’t overly serious, but does (in the context of the full series) address some serious topics at least superficially. I will admit this first collection had some moments I believe it started slow, but it quickly improves over the full series. Highly recommend for a slightly more casual and uplifting read.

Check out where it all got started: http://www.redstring.strawberrycomics...

Who should read it? Comic fans looking for a love themed series.

See all my reviews and more at www.ReadingToDistraction.com or @Read2Distract

[Phaedra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the story it in this, it's a little sweet and you can see the manga that influenced it in it. The only thing that bothers me a little is that it tries to ape the Japanese books that the author likes a little too much. The plot is pretty standard but it's engaging and it seems like it could develop into something more than just standard shoujo fodder. The art is good, it does suffer a little from trying to be too manga-ish, I'd rather see her own style than one that looks like a Sailor Moon rip-off. A few of the poses are awkward, but overall it's nicely done.

[Megan M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but nothing special. I actually found Ogawa to be pretty boring, but the various minor characters in the manga are funny and make the story worthwhile. Sometimes the dialogue comes off a little silly if you read it out loud or try to imagine a human actually saying some of these things, but it's in the tradition of shojo manga and you sort of just have to accept that that will sometimes happen.

[Scottsdale Public Library]

The first in a series of print collections of the popular online webcomic, Red String, by Gina Biggs. Miharu , a rebellious teenage girl, meets the boy of her dreams shortly after discovering her parents have already arranged her marriage to the son of an old family friend. Should she obey her heart or her family? A great high-school series about love, friendship, change, and acceptance that is positively addictive!

-Lindsey D.-

[Jessalyn King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this randomly and I got hooked. It was sweet, but real. I ended up just reading right through the series. The only problem is that I had trouble telling characters apart from their faces... If it were for their hair cuts, there were no clues (and they changed those often enough that I had to rely on the words. Which were thankfully well-enough written that their voices were pretty distinct).

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is a combination western cartoony eastern manga-ish and maybe a little disney-fied, and with a a theme like arranged marriages, it makes a strange mix. But it works. Good character development, not to heavy handed in emotional scenes, and not too technically sophisticated. It is rather sweet, not quite 'fruits basket' level, but close enough to make it worth taking a look at.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This really can't be considered manga. The art style is all over the place. It's a little manga-ish, but has a lot of western influence. Half of the time the characters don't even look like themselves. Red String is poorly written and the jumps in time are not smoothe. Lastly, the romance and the plot are unoriginal and sloppy. Would not recommend.

[Lissibith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was really contrived, and the dialogue seemed a little unnatural at times, but overall it was a cute, interesting story that avoided most of the worse cliches in this genre. Definitely think I'll be giving the second volume a chance

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um romance que se desenvolve como algo bastante real.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute love story manga. So far it's a little predictable, but I've heard it gets more interesting as it goes along.

[Amy]

Red String Volume 1 by Gina Biggs (2007)

[Vonze · Rating 3 out of 5]

I plan to continue this series, the plot is an interesting idea, I liked the main characters, but some of the dialogue in this first volume was a little spotty at times.

[Tiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art is brand new, so it's not top notch but it's a good start. And the storyline so far is well written.

[scarlettraces · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't cope with the flat dialogue