Review by C.J. Bunce
A trait of many manga stories is a title that tells you all that you need to know. And this one is just as fun as it sounds. From writer Susano Haro and artist Shino Sakamoto comes the first English translation of the first volume of 3-Minute Bodyguard Yoko-Chan, arriving in bookstores this week (and you can order it now here at Amazon). Get ready for a truly fun and cool cinematic experience, the kind of writing and visual storytelling that is ready-made to become the next action television series.
If you could have your own bodyguard, especially as a kid in school, would you take one? What if you could only have a bodyguard for three minutes? That’s long enough to run to safety, right?
This story all begins with a little rich kid punk named José, young heir to the Sandoval family. He has enough money to stand out and become a target for thieves and even kidnappers. But he’s not rich enough to hire a bodyguard for more than three minutes. Get ready to meet the young mercenary known as Yoko-Chan.
It only takes ten pages before you will be all-in for José’s highly unusual life with Yoko-Chan. Is she simply a martial arts warrior? She is so fast and brilliant–truly a one woman army who might actually eliminate all enemies in those three minutes. But where she possesses All the Skills in badassery, she doesn’t have all the feelings and thoughts of any ordinary girl.
And yes, José truly is a punk. Readers may look forward to him earning the beatings from the local thugs, simply because he is so arrogant. But he also wants to know more about Yoko-Chan, and maybe even grow closer to her–he doesn’t only want to be a client. So what’s a guy to do to get the attention of a pretty girl–even one who could snap him in two? How about buying her a chocolate cake? Or maybe a burrito?
Yoko-Chan is a superhero. She’s so strong she can throw José over her shoulder and jump across a rooftop to get him to safety. Even the form of telling her story has nuance. Susano Hara uses repetition to illustrate the pattern of José’s daily recurring theme–it’s not “Live, Die, Repeat,” but it’s close. Yoko-Chan is a bit like the genie in the bottle–José must take care with what he wants her to do and how he asks for it, or he could end up worse off than before he called for her aid.
She can even eliminate the threat of someone who looks like Sam Elliott with a gun pointed at her. But she apparently has a weakness. Cats. But if José has enough catnip and Churu, he can use them as an advantage for her.
This one is all about cuteness–a cute heroine and some cute cats. It’s also about a kid who needs to learn something about dealing with people, especially with young women. So far he is failing in a big way.
3-Minute Bodyguard Yoko-Chan is fun for readers of all ages. Volume 2 can’t get here quickly enough. Order your copy of Volume 1 now from Elite Comics or here at Amazon. Keep coming back to borg for a review of Volume 2 once it’s available for pre-order.
