SHADOW STAR: Shadows of the Past

In an earlier volume of this manga, high schooler Shiina Tomai was saved from drowning by an unexplained star-shaped alien creature. Hoshimaru, as Shiina names him, can fly and harbors secret powers, and he becomes Shiina's companion. Shiina is in the process of discovering that Hoshimaru isn't the only alien presence on the planet, and that some of these beings don't necessarily mean well. This mid-series volume is unfortunately low on both exposition and action, but it does introduce a new creature. Shiina's father, a fighter jet trainer, encounters an angelic being during an airborne exercise with his students. The angel's beatific face and long, graceful wings belie the deadly weapons she reveals. After a midair struggle, the angel causes a fatal crash. Shiina's mother, a physics professor who's estranged from Shiina's father, unexpectedly visits him in the hospital to gather information about the angel. The plot unfolds at a leisurely pace, allowing time to explore relationships between Shiina and her cold, critical mother and her warm, loving father, as well as time to give peripheral characters more depth. The girl's relationships form the book's emotional center and will satisfy readers who are as interested in well-drawn characters as they are in fantasy and action. The rhythm, open design and feminine drawing style are more typical of romance works than of action or horror manga. However, such details as the stark contrast between beauty and violence during the angel interlude and the dialogue's anxiety insinuate a creepy edge that promises a complex and exciting adventure to come. (July)