Genre: Humor/Romance
Range: 8+ (though directed more toward tweens to adults)
Price: 9.95 USD
 
Poor Shizuka. It's hard enough being a typical 8th grader. Dealing with puberty, discovering boys, school work...but Shizuka is not a typical teen. She has Translucent Syndrome, a rare medical condition which causes her to fade out and disappear a few days a month. Over the first couple volumes Shizuka developed a friendship and maybe some deeper feelings for the lovable and geeky Mamoru and with the student body president, the beautiful and bossy Okouchi-san. Rounding out the main characters is Keiko, who is completely translucent and her fiance, Koichi.
 
Besides the Translucent Syndrome itself, there are no other sci-fi aspects to these books. As a youth, Shizuka fades in and out of her translucent state in a monthly cycle. We can expect that eventually Shizuka will be like Keiko, meaning transparent all the time, so the Keiko character gives us a glimpse into Shizuka's possible future.
 
So is the Translucent Syndrome is all that makes Translucent unique? Not at all. In this third volume the Translucent Syndrome comes up not nearly as much as in the first two volumes. Shizuka has a better grip on her condition now. What we are left with is an insightful and very real look into the minds and hearts of these young teens. Unlike many shoujo manga, these kids aren't in love with each other. What makes Translucent so meaningful is Shizuka doesn't understand her feelings for Mamoru, and she cannot read his feelings for her. Just like a real 8th grader.
 
The episodes in this volume include the stress and mishaps of making Keiko a bouquet for her wedding, the retrieval of Okouchi-san's diary which accidentally found it's way into Mamoru's room, and Mamoru joins his sister for a "group blind date" (a very Japanese phenomenon). The summaries of the episodes are not particularly mind-blowing, but it is how our three main characters act and react in what are new and uncomfortable experiences for them that makes Translucent such a success. Junior high school is a distant memory for this reader, but the way the kids talk to each other takes me right back. In one story Okouchi-san makes a thoughtless comment about Translucent Syndrome (that Shizuka didn't even hear) but gets so wrapped up in guilt she almost destroys their friendships. It is this sort of honest and real writing that is a breath of fresh air in a genre loaded with fairies and panty shots.
 
There are two volume of Translucent remaining and both will be published in 2009.
 

9.5