<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: DREAMS DO COME TRUE
Review: Well, here we are at the end of Comic Party. Yes, this is the last volume. Unlike the other dvds, this one contains 4 episodes plus a concluding mini-episode. It's almost sad that we won't get to watch these characters anymore. As the dvd begins, Kazuki still refuses to draw doujinshi and spends most of his time in a dazed stupor looking out the window or into space. Sensing that Kazuki needs something to get him back into the rhythm of things, Mizuki volunteers him to be in charge of planning out the activities of his class for the culture fest. Will it bring him out his depression and will he be able to use the same organizational skills and strategic planning that he uses to draw his comics? In the second episode, everyone seems to be making their plans for what they'll be doing after graduation. Kazuki is not too concerned. His high school feeds into a particular college, giving guaranteed acceptance with graduation. Mizuki, on the other hand, has no idea what to do with herself. She gets more and more stressed when her other friends seem to know exactly what they want to do. After an encounter with a young fan, Kazuki at last realizes what he is destined for. In the third episode, Kazuki decides to make a comic to sell at the fast approaching Comic Party but it's too late to register. Luckily, Taishi foresaw this and went ahead and registered him. The problem is that the paperwork was placed in a comic he sold to a used comic store. If they don't find it, Kazuki won't be able to attend. Meanwhile, Mizuki is feeling alienated by Kazuki's renewed interest in comics. After speaking with Yuu, she might just have a change of heart about Mizuki's interests. In the last episode, all of Kazuki's friends have to pitch in when he finds out that the printer has too much backlog to print his comic. So the gang has to hunt down copiers all over town to make copies and then they have to put it all together before the next day's Comic Party. Kazuki and Mizuki do make some progress in beginning a more profound relationship. Don't expect a cut and dried ending. The last episode ends right before Kazuki enters the Comic Party so we don't find out what happens. I believe that he was a success. That's just me. Unfortunately, this is the last dvd of Comic Party, but really I don't see what else they could do after this volume. The characters aren't really that compelling or deep so I don't see how they could develop much more. Don't get me wrong, they are good comic characters. There are moments of sentimentality in this volume that made me wince a little and there were a couple of cliched moments when Mizuki was going to open her heart to Kazuki and, just at that moment, another character comes rushing in yelling and the moment is lost. The overseriousness of those two characters is balanced by the ever expounding Taishi and the constantly bickering and hilarious Yuu vs. Eimi rivalry with the ever-present "hot spring panda" insult used to its full effect. Also on the dvd is the concluding mini-episode, in which the Comic Party cast encounters a super computer and learns how human life began with doujinshi being the catalyst instead of the monolith in 2001:A Space Odyssey. Unlike the funny interviews with the Japanese voice actors/actresses on the other volumes, the bonuses on this disk are pretty skimpy: Art Gallery
3 Character bios
Translator notes
Original US trailer
Clean Openings/Closings Reversible cover If you liked the anime, I guess you might check out the manga, but don't expect it to be the same as the anime. For example, Mizuki carries around a baseball bat with nails stuck in it to violently hit people in the head and there's fan service and all of the characters are already graduated. The anime was better and more innocent.
<< 1 >>
| 
