Man of Many Faces #2
by CLAMP
TokyoPop, b&w 166pages, $9.99
Rating: Neat-O!
Man of Many Faces is one of the earliest works from the CLAMP studio (later responsible for one of my favorite shoujos, Magic Knight Rayearth). MoMF is a romance of a sort, that begins when the protagonists are absurdly young but continues throughout their lives. The hero, Akira, is a grade-school student by day, and a gentleman burglar--Twenty Faces--by night. Why does he steal? For the thrill? For the money? For the romance? No, he reluctantly steals in order to satisfy the acquisative impulses of his two ditzy mothers (no explanation given, but they were both apparently married to his father). He meets Utako, who is to be the love of his life, while ducking through her window to escape pursuit.
The art is towards the cute, incredibly huge-eyed end of the shoujo spectrum, and is much of a piece with the rest of CLAMP's work; the plots and characterization are a bit primitive compared to later work. The interesting thing about MoMF, though, is the fairly long meditations on love by the various characters, and I'm fascinated by the fact that in Japan they can get away with something like the following in an all ages comic, not because it's racy, it's not, but because it's fairly long and it's serious. This is the opening to MoMF #2, a six page illustrated text piece:
"I always want to be excited to see the one I love." Utako-san was smiling when she told me that. We spend every Friday together. This one is no different. We meet on the balcony. Utako could tell I was confused by the way I cocked my head to one side, like a puppy. It made her smile bigger. "Being in love doesn't give you the license to do whatever you please." Utako-san poured me another cup of tea with milk. I was still confused. "I think love is a very selfish emotion. I mean, to love a person is a selfish act. I also think it's a wonderful thing. But even then, it still doesn't give you the license to do whatever you want. Even if we get to the blissful stage where the love and affection is mutual, we are still two different people. You can't expect the object of your desire to love you in the exact same way you love her. "I think... ...romantic love will blossom when you and I accept each other as strangers. Different people, different hearts. Because we love one another, we don't want to lose that excitement. "I want to remember the thrill that I felt when we first met. You can't take love for granted. If you love someone, you need to discover the boundaries of your relationship in order to make it last." I gave Utako-san my full attention. Ironically, since we are two different people, I'll never be able to completely understand her point--which is part of her point, as well. Nevertheless, the things she said about the excitement of seeing your sweetheart made a lot of sense to me. When I see her beautiful smile, I feel a rush of emotion. It's so great, I worry that my heart will beat so loud that she'll hear it.Now, there's nothing quite like that in the rest of the book, but the audacity of it--at least in terms of American comics--leaves me dizzy. The fact that I think it's actually an interesting take on love is icing on the cake. Man of Many Faces is absolutely not going to be to everyone's taste, and it's certainly not my favorite CLAMP, but I finding it charming and fascinating.
