It was a pleasure to work on this charming Kuroda book with editor Eric Searleman. I think we won an award from MangaCast on this one, too.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #829670 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This is a fun, unusual manga in the vein of television shows like Veronica Mars. Nico Hayashi is a 14-year-old girl who masquerades as a dating service/phone sex operator just for the anthropological fun of it. She winds up getting embroiled in a scheme working for a kindly, aging gangster to find a kidnapped boy. After her initial success, the gangster keeps her on as an investigator on cases ranging from mysterious telephone pranks to strange soccer shenanigans. Along the way, Nico picks up an older, nerdy man—dubbed Robo for his love of robot action figures—and he becomes both a somewhat grouchy sidekick and comic foil. The 13 excellent short stories stand alone but also contain ongoing themes and subplots. Kuroda writes funny, convincing dialogue to complement his suspenseful, mystery-of-the-week yarns. Working in a naturalist style, with broad brush strokes and evocative backgrounds and layouts, Kuroda is clearly influenced by such American indie cartoonists as Paul Pope and Gilbert Hernandez. Nico is an engaging protagonist, making this a rare comic that offers as much to older teens as to adults. (July)
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Customer Reviews

The wonderful world of Iou Kuroda
Sexy Voice and Robo is a grand celebration of the possibilities of Japanese graphic fiction. Released to virtually no fanfare during a time when titles like Fruits Basket and Fullmetal Alchemist were breaking sales records, Sexy Voice is a breath of fresh air to say the least.

The initial premise is hardly original: Nico, a crafty teenager with ambitions of changing the lives of people around her, is taken under the wing of an aging yakuza to solve mysteries with her bumbling henchman Robo. Under this deceivingly simple guise Iou Kuroda has crafted one an unforgettable portrait of modern Japan. Each of the thirteen stories is a masterful exploration of modern day Japan, with characters ranging from a disillusioned businessman to a manipulative lover to an amnesiac assassin. The world in which the characters inhabit comes off completely natural, yet has a sort of modern mysticism to it due in large part to Kuroda's wonderfully organic art.

Just as important as the world of Sexy Voice and Robo are the central characters. Nico is a fascinating protagonist, equal parts sly and heroic. Her relationship with Robo is also a high point, with its playful twist on the standard manga romance. It's almost impossible not to root for Nico as she attempts to touch the lives of the people around her. Her development throughout the story reads like a natural maturation of a girl her age.
To put it bluntly, Sexy Voice is unlike anything you've ever read and while it may not be selling anywhere near the top of the charts, it's probobly the best manga of 2005. FAns of more conventional series may want to steer clear, but anyone interested in brilliant, award-winning (the Media Arts Award)needs to look no further. Do yourself a favor and let Iou Kuroda take you on a ride into his imagination.

One of the freshest mangas I've read in quite a while
Lately, I've been despairing of reading anything good, and after reading glowing reviews for manga that I later purchased and then set aside, I was growing increasingly frustrated.

At some point, I kept on seeig this pop up in my recommendations, and on Listmania!, so I decided to give it a go. It helped that the hook was original, and the writer is just skilled enough to pull it off too :). Apparently, our heroine is just a little bit based off a friend of his (unnamed) that claimed to pretend to be a dating service at the age of 14.

The other characters are a hopeless otaku by the name of Robo, and a mysterious old man that hires hre. She solves cases, but the plot thickens near the middle, and her actions start to have consequences.

It's a good read, pick it up sometimes. If you're like me, it might take you a couple tries to look past the art, but it's well worth it. Also, his art improves later in the book.

Beware, though, it ends with a cliffhanfer ... and he doesn't appear to have written the second volume in the series yet. (Or, possibly, it just hasn't made it overseas.)

Overrated
I picked this up after reading numerous glowing reviews, praising everything from the art to the character interactions.

Unfortunately, the brushwork stinks. It's far too sloppy to hold any merit, especially at the size of this comic. Unlike artists that take advantage of the brush or sketchy style such as Paul Pope (100%, Heavy Liquid), Tsutomu Nihei (Blame!), Hiroaki Samura (Blade of the Immortal), or Becky Cloonan (East Coast Rising, Demo, American Virgin), Kuroda's art is much too loose to adequately add any advantage to the detail added. It just appears to be a mishmash of fat lines, and many of the characters fall flat, without any striking details to set them apart.
The writing isn't much better--I found myself baffled by many of the happenings. The premise is fairly unique, but the main heroine Nico doesn't match the hilarity that is the Robo character. I'm not sure if it is the translation or what, but alot of the exchanges that are probably meant to be humorous didn't elicit any sort of reaction from me.

If you want some of the 'indie' work that's been going around Japan or influenced by Japan, check out any of Junko Mizuno's work (which plot-wise is just bizarre but artwise refreshing), Sho-u Tajima (MPD Psycho), Atsushi Kaneko (art is better than the story, at least), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim) or any of the aforementioned artists.