Manga Review: Only the Ring Finger Knows

[Floating_Sakura]

Title: Only the Ring Finger Knows
Authors: Satoru Kannagi (story) and Hotaru Odagiri (art)
Published: DMP, 2004, USD 12.95
Genre: shounen ai
Reviewed by: anitra

"Only the Ring Finger Knows" is about an angsty teen romance between Wataru, a more-or-less ordinary high school student, and Kazuki, a seemingly perfect, good-at-everything, attractive upperclassman. The catalytic moment that sets the plot in motion is an accidental meeting between the two, in which they realize they have identical rings. Their relationship has a rocky beginning, with rudeness and short tempers on both sides, but somehow romantic feelings begin to brew anyway.

The volume is in DMP's usual large format, perfect-bound, with unremarkable paper and a colorful, glossy dust jacket. The English adaptation is good except for the use of awkward substitutes for honorifics (e.g. "Sir" Kazuki, "Junior" Fujii, which are not very natural expressions in English) and the habit of imitating the American-superhero-comic idiom of emphasizing too many words, particularly words that are not only not emphasized in ordinary speech, but are not terribly emphatic in context, either.

The artwork is typical of Odagiri and stereotypically shoujo, with big-eyed, pointy-chinned faces (a little too pointy and squashed for my taste,) long necks, slender figures, flexible panelling (used to good effect,) and atmospheric flowers. Backgrounds are sparse, and the persistent focus on close-ups gives it a bit of a myopic feel. The art is decent overall, but the story requires a considerable amount of ambivalence in Kazuki's facial expressions, and I did not feel the artwork was able to carry that kind of subtlety.

The basic plot, "unremarkable boy snags good-at-everything, all-the-girls-love-him school idol, seemingly the only one who realizes that he is not only less than perfect but human," is an often-treated subject, and this is far from an original take. As much as the rings provide a subject for the plot to revolve around, the key focus is angst-ridden inner monologue and emotionally-charged dialogue. The characters, though not wholly one-dimensional, display an opacity (or perhaps merely extreme simplicity) of motivation that makes it difficult to relate to them, even on a second reading.

All this is not to say, however, that it is inexpertly executed -- quite the contrary. It is for good reason that Kannagi's novels have sold so well; Odagiri is no rookie, either. The story's pacing is perfectly timed, with emotional tension increasing at an expertly controlled rate, maintained at a high level with a measured infusion of subplot elements, and ultimately released in a drawn-out sigh of a climax, with a denouement of perfectly proportioned fan-service appended. That I cannot abide the sacrifice of character to the perfection of this kind of plot is a personal preference.

To someone who enjoys angsty teenage romance (and doesn't mind that it is between boys), this book has the potential to be an enjoyable story. With only a couple of kisses to its credit, it is light on the sex, so yaoi fans may find it unsatisfying.

Reviewed by: anitra
Proofed by: Rainfrog
Edited by: Firedog