Pastel (manga)


Pastel is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Toshihiko Kobayashi. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine, then moved to Magazine Special in 2003. From chapter 50 and onwards, it is in monthly magazine format. It was published in the United States by Del Rey Manga. The story follows a similar plot to Kobayashi's earlier work Parallel.

Plot

16-year-old Mugi Tadano tries to shake off his latest heartbreak by working at his friend's aunt's beach-side inn. One day he spies on a beautiful girl, Yuu Tsukisaki, changing clothes in an alley behind the inn. Instead of getting angry, Yuu charges him the price of a soda for watching her. The next day Mugi is set up on a blind date with Yuu, and they have a great time — until Mugi walks in in the middle of her bath. Yuu decides to leave on the next ferry out, leaving Mugi heartbroken again. However, when he returns home, he is surprised to find that Yuu and her younger sister Tsukasa are going to be his housemates, as their parents were mutual friends.
The series follows Mugi's adventures with his new roommates. In the first few days, Tsukasa leaves the two of them alone. Mugi's classmate and childhood friend Manami shows interest in Mugi but later supports their relationship. Yuu attracts several boys and even visits her home town over in Tokyo, making Mugi so jealous that he follows her, and ends up meeting his ex. Other girls visit their household, including Mugi's big sister-like childhood friend Sayuri who has become a model, and classmate Kiku Murakami, who tries unsuccessfully to smear Yuu's reputation.
Mugi discovers he has a talent for cooking, and meets Tetsu Shiba, an owner of a small restaurant, and Aoi Sonobe, a young woman who likes Tetsu. Yuu and Tsukasa's mother visits and wants to take her back. Tsukasa senses that Mugi likes Yuu, so she tries to set him up as much as she can. Sayuri gets engaged. Kazumi tells Mugi that he likes Manami and wants to date her. A busty young woman, Mako Minamino, joins the household as Mugi's father's love interest. After numerous missed opportunities, Mugi finally confesses to Yuu that he likes her and they become a couple.
Later stories involve more girls and relationships, including schoolmate Urara Haruno who has a reputation for dressing sexy, her sister Moe who enjoys reading romance novels, Tooko who is a Japanese idol in love with Mugi, and Tsukasa's friend Pepper from America who joins the household. While Mugi and Yuu still try to figure out how to advance their relationship they see their friends hooking up: Sayuri gets married, Tetsu and Aoi agree to sign a marriage certificate, and even Mako and Mugi's father sign one.

Characters

In the bonus comic "The Pastel Meeting", Kobayashi sketched a meeting with his editor where they ended up talking about the appeal of Japanese actresses/models Aoi Miyazaki, Yū Aoi, and Leah Dizon, who became the inspirations for the stories in Pastel.

Main characters

Supporting characters

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Minor characters

;Yuu and Tsukasa’s mother
;Yuu and Tsukasa's father
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Manga volumes

Volumes 1-14

Volumes 15-

Reception

In , Jason Thompson gave the series out of 4 stars. He wrote: "Pastel is less a story than a supplement to the swimsuit photos that often run in shonen manga magazines. The hero is passive and wimpy, and the girl is an inscrutable abstraction, occasionally sad or peeved, but mostly fawning over Mugi despite the fact that he's accidentally seen her naked umpteen times." He also writes that the "art is slick, with curvy bodies and detailed, photorealistic backgrounds."

Works cited