Manga Review - 'Carole & Tuesday, Vol. 1' by Morito Yamataka (Artist), Shinichirō Watanabe (Original Creator), BONES (Original Creator)

One of the best manga I have read in a long time. I do believe this is my first five star read of 2021, as well. It only took until March.

'Carole & Tuesday' is a hip and cool manga based on the anime of the same name by Shinichirō Watanabe, the director of 'Cowboy Bebop' and 'Samurai Champloo'. It is a science fiction story set on Mars, and it's about music and pop and rock stars. And lesbians. And it is notably diverse.

I have not seen the anime series yet, but after reading the first manga volume, I definitely can't wait to binge it. 'Carole & Tuesday' is so well drawn and paced - everything flows at a quick but steady and exciting momentum.

I adored the two leading ladies - Carole the Black street smart orphan struggling between jobs, and Tuesday the white runaway socialite - almost from the first page they are each introduced. Right from the get-go you get a sense of what their individual lives are like, and what their passions are - and that's before they even meet each other. Once they are together, by a mere chance encounter on the street, their passions fuse and they become unstoppable. Their chemistry is palpable. Their shared dream of making music - writing song lyrics from the heart, without AIs writing the "perfect" songs, singing, and playing the keyboard, piano and guitar - for all of Mars and even the entire galaxy to hear, is set to turn into a reality.

These two put-upon, disadvantaged girls from different worlds, who were practically homeless and/or poverty stricken before, may be destined to change the music scene. No, the music industry. Because they have soul. They have life.

Because they have each other.

How's that for female empowerment?

The reader feels all of this and more without the manga coming across as pretentious or heavy-handed. It just works. Carole and Tuesday's talents and thirst for recognition are infectious. Be prepared to get hyped up and inspired by them.

It is very funny, too. 'Carole & Tuesday' is a breezy, fun and progressive sci-fi anime/manga project, containing diverse representation, no problem, and LBGTQ elements. Musicians and music fans are sure to love it, too.

Minor criticisms that I perceive are: the volume seems to lose focus on Carole and Tuesday themselves little by little once it proceeds towards the end, even though they are the mains, and are the most interesting characters (not that the side characters aren't interesting - they are - but still, this is the girls' story being told here!); and since this is a manga/comic and therefore solely a visual medium, it can be problematic for a story that's all about music and music playing - you just have to take the author's word for it that the sounds are good or bad. On that note, not a lot of song lyrics are shown to the reader in any of the panels; they are either short couplets, just scribbles, or are not presented, period. It makes the melodies ambiguous, ergo hard to judge and form an opinion on, I guess. No doubt this issue is nonexistent in the anime.

All the same, I had no trouble believing in the manga and its passion and energy.

'Carole & Tuesday, Vol. 1' is awesome. I don't know what else to tell you to entice you to read it, without spoiling anything. Do I recommend it? Oh, very much yes.

(Carole also has a robot owl that doubles as her alarm clock. I thought I'd add that tidbit in here somewhere.)

Final Score: 4.5/5

EDIT: About time I updated. I've seen the anime, and it is great, and relevant, despite the absence of a(n explicit, at least) sapphic relationship between Carole and Tuesday themselves. You can't tell me it wouldn't be even better if they were a romantic couple. It makes sense and is suitable.