Tena on s-string review: volume 2
And so we return to the musical world of Tena on s-string for volume two. This time around I not gonna just go through the movements but also analyze the plot developments and any themes I notice.
So last volume we ended on Arun's entrance to the story and this time we pick right back up with her arriving at the tuner HQ. Arun Sforz is an interesting character and by the end of this volume is easily my favorite. At first she just seams to be that rival character that is better at everything than our lead and is a lot more strict as well. However after a few movements we can tell that while she is better than Tena she is actually worse of for being so focused and distant from others. Her strict scheduling nature leads to her being almost incapacitated by the smallest problem.
As I was saying Arun returns to HQ with a whole pushcart full of notes that she turns in to administration for the contest. She quickly comes across her older brother who is higher up in the tuner order but we don't know exactly what his role is yet. Forteo is nothing like his sister, in fact he is the total opposite. Where she is strict and organized he is playful and carefree. Here Arun calls Forteo on the contest making no sense as it would cause more conflict between the tuners than actually getting the notes back in a timely manner but he shrugs it off and says that by conflict the average skill of the tuners would go up therefore being better in the long run.
It soon comes out that Forteo is headed to Japan and Arun decides to tag along but enough of that and back to our heroes. With the girls taking over his bedroom and living room Kyousuke is relegated to the entry way and is slightly annoyed by that. I didn't mention last time but removing Kyousuke's viral note will kill him hence why Tena, Sopra and Mezzo don't just take it and get the hell out of dodge. Now we also find out that if the tuner order found out he would be caged like an animal for life.
You may have noticed that this movement is very exposition heavy but it's not quite done yet. Next we are told about the girls mentor that they all trained under who might be able help them out but can only be contacted by good old fashioned snail mail. I have this odd feeling that this might come back in a later movement but that's just me.
The seventh movement is some really good character building for Kyousuke and Arun. We also get the first real hints of the Tena/Kyousuke relationship (although if you know your romantic comedies it's rather blatant from the start) in the form of Tena acting fairly tsundere towards Kyousuke after Mezzo teased her about it last movement.
In the first part Kyousuke tells Tena about his musical mentor after she comes across some old scores. She was apparently a nobody in the world of music who would compose just to bring music to the world, a trait she aparently passed on to her student. When Kyousuke plays one of the songs for Tena she likens it to the compined soul scores of the blue sky, the breeze and fresh blooming flowers. This immediately make my think there's more to Kyousuke's back story than it first appears, but then there always is isn't there?
For the last few pages we catch up with the Sforz siblings at a restaurant where Forteo urges Arun to immerse herself in the local culture and we see a glimpse of how much her life is ruled by her day planer. She also seams to have Gallifreyan tech in her bag since it fits a bookcase worth of books and a whole range of supplements but I don't think it's going to be used the way it could in the series since we don't see it again this volume.
The last four movements in this volume form the second real story arc. It opens on breakfast at the Hibiki household with Sopra and Mezzo showing off their new invention, and only major contribution to this volume unfortunately, a ring that makes Kyousuke's viral note undetectable. This scene is a hilarious parody of the shopping channel style adverts and easily the funniest non-Arun moment in the manga.
A short clothes shopping trip later and our two leads head back to Adagio. The only really notable bit of this sequence is to establish how rich Tena is especially compared to Kyousuke thanks to her tuner job. While at Adagio Tena and the shop owner (again a character I can't find the name of anywhere) clarify some stuff we already knew about Kyousuke but are interrupted when he comes across a composition book he wants but cant afford. Tena offers to buy it for him but Kyousuke tells her not to as he is suspicious of her sudden good will. This fight leads to Tena storming out and kicking off the plot of this arc.
The movement ends with the shop owner giving Kyousuke a pair of Kabuki tickets saying she thought he could take Tena but obviously can't now. As he leaves Kyousuke is approached by Arun asking for help in English. Well it's never confirmed what language the triangle brackets are but I think it's English.
Movement nine opens with Arun losing her kabuki ticket and map and then approaching Kyousuke to ask for directions in English. When this fails she mutters something in French that Kyousuke can understand and they are able to communicate and find out they are both going the same place. But even with that problem solved there's still the problem of Arun's ticket as the same day booth is sold out. Here is where Arun really starts to shine as she makes every thing serious business; tickets sold out? "Have I been forsaken by the god of musiiiic?" this way she comes off a more of comic relief than a rival character which is refreshing.
The problem is immediately solved since Kyousuke has that spare ticket and they go in to watch. The tickets Kyousuke has are box seats and buy some food for the performance which has the duel purpose of showing Arun is just as if not more rich than Tena but also the most epic attempt at learn how to use chopsticks ever. I told you everything is serious business for her. Here is also where the love triangle first starts to develop between Arun/Kyousuke/Tena. The two make a meeting time the next day so Arun can repay Kyousuke for the ticket.
Checking back in on Tena we see her trying to buy a lot of cakes and sweets before being stopped by the owner of Adagio who gives her the book Kyousuke wanted free of charge and tells her she might have also been in the wrong. After she is left alone Tena is confronted by a strange man that she seams to know but then the movement ends on that frustrating cliffhanger.
Next we see a flash back to Forteo telling Arun that one day she would find someone to calm her rhythm a bit. This obvious foreshadowing out of the way we can move on to Arun panicking at being late and having to leave without eating or even brushing her hair to make it on time. After passing on tickets to a philharmonics performance Kyousuke helps show her around once more and on the way tells her she could have been late, he would have waited. When Arun wont listen he whips out his mp3 and players her one of his compositions 'strength draining march' and tells her she needs to just take things easy and not worry so much.
After dropping Arun off at the theater Kyousuke goes to relax in the park and get some work done but runs into Tena and the man who was chasing her (this time I'm sure he is never actually named) and it is then revealed he has followed her all over the world to ask her to marry him. He basically wants her as he was so used to getting any girl he wants but Tena was the first to turn him down and when he finds out about our heroes' living situation he challenges Kyousuke to the death.
the final movement of the volumes has the rules of Kyousuke and Stalker Von Lolicon's contest established: the first to get some limited dango from across town back to Tena wins her. Not much to say here but it shows off the difference between the two, both have the same running speed, Stalker Von Lolicon because he trains to look good and Kyousuke because he needs to beet the housewives on sales days. Kyousuke can also beet a train on bike as he had to get to class but also save on train fair. Basically Kyousuke's super power is being poor. After a cute scene where Kyousuke says he will make Tena some dango himself if she comes home Stalker Von Lolicon admidts defeat and leaves for now.
But wait there's more! Forteo and the owner of Adagio are watching kabuki and chating like old friends and make a few cryptic mentions of a grand play and the upcoming finale. Conversation takes a serious turn when Forteo accuses the owner of setting free a load of viral note saying he has proof. Her response is to whip out her tuner baton and hold it to his neck, OK from this point on she will be known as Awesome McBadass for that one even if it is the proof Forteo wanted before leaving. And so the book ends with an internal monologue be McBadass as she reveals she knew Tena which brings new light to her expression when they 'first' met in volume 1.
In terms of plot development this volumes is still in the setting up fazes but the stinger implies volume 3 will have a lot more actually happen.
I'm starting to notice that three major life style choices are being shown off a lot in this manga and I predict the theme will be about which is better, weather or not we get an answer is irreverent. the three are as follows: living to prove yourself to the world (Tena) Living to reach your goal (Kyousuke) and living just for that special someone (Mezzo but we don't know that just yet). Characters don't all fit one heading and certain ones sift around from one to the other, at the moment it seams like 'that special some one' is winning as Tena, Kyousuke and Arun all seam to be slipping in that direction and Stalker Von Lolicon is a dark version in that he doesn't actually take Tena's opinion into account.
Again this is worth a look. The art has streamlined and is even better, the plot is starting to appear and more characters are showing up. All in all it's worth the top spot on my manga list.
Look out for volume three review sometime soon.
So last volume we ended on Arun's entrance to the story and this time we pick right back up with her arriving at the tuner HQ. Arun Sforz is an interesting character and by the end of this volume is easily my favorite. At first she just seams to be that rival character that is better at everything than our lead and is a lot more strict as well. However after a few movements we can tell that while she is better than Tena she is actually worse of for being so focused and distant from others. Her strict scheduling nature leads to her being almost incapacitated by the smallest problem.
As I was saying Arun returns to HQ with a whole pushcart full of notes that she turns in to administration for the contest. She quickly comes across her older brother who is higher up in the tuner order but we don't know exactly what his role is yet. Forteo is nothing like his sister, in fact he is the total opposite. Where she is strict and organized he is playful and carefree. Here Arun calls Forteo on the contest making no sense as it would cause more conflict between the tuners than actually getting the notes back in a timely manner but he shrugs it off and says that by conflict the average skill of the tuners would go up therefore being better in the long run.
It soon comes out that Forteo is headed to Japan and Arun decides to tag along but enough of that and back to our heroes. With the girls taking over his bedroom and living room Kyousuke is relegated to the entry way and is slightly annoyed by that. I didn't mention last time but removing Kyousuke's viral note will kill him hence why Tena, Sopra and Mezzo don't just take it and get the hell out of dodge. Now we also find out that if the tuner order found out he would be caged like an animal for life.
You may have noticed that this movement is very exposition heavy but it's not quite done yet. Next we are told about the girls mentor that they all trained under who might be able help them out but can only be contacted by good old fashioned snail mail. I have this odd feeling that this might come back in a later movement but that's just me.
The seventh movement is some really good character building for Kyousuke and Arun. We also get the first real hints of the Tena/Kyousuke relationship (although if you know your romantic comedies it's rather blatant from the start) in the form of Tena acting fairly tsundere towards Kyousuke after Mezzo teased her about it last movement.
In the first part Kyousuke tells Tena about his musical mentor after she comes across some old scores. She was apparently a nobody in the world of music who would compose just to bring music to the world, a trait she aparently passed on to her student. When Kyousuke plays one of the songs for Tena she likens it to the compined soul scores of the blue sky, the breeze and fresh blooming flowers. This immediately make my think there's more to Kyousuke's back story than it first appears, but then there always is isn't there?
For the last few pages we catch up with the Sforz siblings at a restaurant where Forteo urges Arun to immerse herself in the local culture and we see a glimpse of how much her life is ruled by her day planer. She also seams to have Gallifreyan tech in her bag since it fits a bookcase worth of books and a whole range of supplements but I don't think it's going to be used the way it could in the series since we don't see it again this volume.
The last four movements in this volume form the second real story arc. It opens on breakfast at the Hibiki household with Sopra and Mezzo showing off their new invention, and only major contribution to this volume unfortunately, a ring that makes Kyousuke's viral note undetectable. This scene is a hilarious parody of the shopping channel style adverts and easily the funniest non-Arun moment in the manga.
A short clothes shopping trip later and our two leads head back to Adagio. The only really notable bit of this sequence is to establish how rich Tena is especially compared to Kyousuke thanks to her tuner job. While at Adagio Tena and the shop owner (again a character I can't find the name of anywhere) clarify some stuff we already knew about Kyousuke but are interrupted when he comes across a composition book he wants but cant afford. Tena offers to buy it for him but Kyousuke tells her not to as he is suspicious of her sudden good will. This fight leads to Tena storming out and kicking off the plot of this arc.
The movement ends with the shop owner giving Kyousuke a pair of Kabuki tickets saying she thought he could take Tena but obviously can't now. As he leaves Kyousuke is approached by Arun asking for help in English. Well it's never confirmed what language the triangle brackets are but I think it's English.
Movement nine opens with Arun losing her kabuki ticket and map and then approaching Kyousuke to ask for directions in English. When this fails she mutters something in French that Kyousuke can understand and they are able to communicate and find out they are both going the same place. But even with that problem solved there's still the problem of Arun's ticket as the same day booth is sold out. Here is where Arun really starts to shine as she makes every thing serious business; tickets sold out? "Have I been forsaken by the god of musiiiic?" this way she comes off a more of comic relief than a rival character which is refreshing.
The problem is immediately solved since Kyousuke has that spare ticket and they go in to watch. The tickets Kyousuke has are box seats and buy some food for the performance which has the duel purpose of showing Arun is just as if not more rich than Tena but also the most epic attempt at learn how to use chopsticks ever. I told you everything is serious business for her. Here is also where the love triangle first starts to develop between Arun/Kyousuke/Tena. The two make a meeting time the next day so Arun can repay Kyousuke for the ticket.
Checking back in on Tena we see her trying to buy a lot of cakes and sweets before being stopped by the owner of Adagio who gives her the book Kyousuke wanted free of charge and tells her she might have also been in the wrong. After she is left alone Tena is confronted by a strange man that she seams to know but then the movement ends on that frustrating cliffhanger.
Next we see a flash back to Forteo telling Arun that one day she would find someone to calm her rhythm a bit. This obvious foreshadowing out of the way we can move on to Arun panicking at being late and having to leave without eating or even brushing her hair to make it on time. After passing on tickets to a philharmonics performance Kyousuke helps show her around once more and on the way tells her she could have been late, he would have waited. When Arun wont listen he whips out his mp3 and players her one of his compositions 'strength draining march' and tells her she needs to just take things easy and not worry so much.
After dropping Arun off at the theater Kyousuke goes to relax in the park and get some work done but runs into Tena and the man who was chasing her (this time I'm sure he is never actually named) and it is then revealed he has followed her all over the world to ask her to marry him. He basically wants her as he was so used to getting any girl he wants but Tena was the first to turn him down and when he finds out about our heroes' living situation he challenges Kyousuke to the death.
the final movement of the volumes has the rules of Kyousuke and Stalker Von Lolicon's contest established: the first to get some limited dango from across town back to Tena wins her. Not much to say here but it shows off the difference between the two, both have the same running speed, Stalker Von Lolicon because he trains to look good and Kyousuke because he needs to beet the housewives on sales days. Kyousuke can also beet a train on bike as he had to get to class but also save on train fair. Basically Kyousuke's super power is being poor. After a cute scene where Kyousuke says he will make Tena some dango himself if she comes home Stalker Von Lolicon admidts defeat and leaves for now.
But wait there's more! Forteo and the owner of Adagio are watching kabuki and chating like old friends and make a few cryptic mentions of a grand play and the upcoming finale. Conversation takes a serious turn when Forteo accuses the owner of setting free a load of viral note saying he has proof. Her response is to whip out her tuner baton and hold it to his neck, OK from this point on she will be known as Awesome McBadass for that one even if it is the proof Forteo wanted before leaving. And so the book ends with an internal monologue be McBadass as she reveals she knew Tena which brings new light to her expression when they 'first' met in volume 1.
In terms of plot development this volumes is still in the setting up fazes but the stinger implies volume 3 will have a lot more actually happen.
I'm starting to notice that three major life style choices are being shown off a lot in this manga and I predict the theme will be about which is better, weather or not we get an answer is irreverent. the three are as follows: living to prove yourself to the world (Tena) Living to reach your goal (Kyousuke) and living just for that special someone (Mezzo but we don't know that just yet). Characters don't all fit one heading and certain ones sift around from one to the other, at the moment it seams like 'that special some one' is winning as Tena, Kyousuke and Arun all seam to be slipping in that direction and Stalker Von Lolicon is a dark version in that he doesn't actually take Tena's opinion into account.
Again this is worth a look. The art has streamlined and is even better, the plot is starting to appear and more characters are showing up. All in all it's worth the top spot on my manga list.
Look out for volume three review sometime soon.