Gaba Kawa

Gaba Kawa by Rie Takada, 2006. 192 pages. Published by Viz Media (Shojo Beat). Source: Bought.

Demons like Rara are supposed to cause mischief in the mortal world and draw humans to darkness. They're not supposed to help mortals and they're definitely not supposed to fall in love with them! But that's just what happens when Rara enters high school, where a hot guy named Retsu Aku calls her "Gaba Kawa"!

While demons gain power by causing mischief, the opposite is also true--if Rara uses any of her powers to help mortals, she'll immediately lose that very power. If she loses enough power, she'll disappear! Poor Rara. What's a "Gaba Kawa" demon to do?

First Sentence:

Alright right, Rara.

Story: Gaba Kawa is a stand-alone, which is definitely a good thing for the wallet since manga aren't very cheap considering that they can be read in such a short amount of time.

So Gaba Kawa is the story of Rara of demon who is sent to earth to bring humans to the darkside (see synopsis above) and the trouble that she ends up causing herself as she falls for Retsu who just so happens to be a human who can sense/see spirits.

  What I found must interesting about the the storyline of Gaba Kawa was what would happen to rara everytime she would use one of her powers to save/help a human rather to wreak havoc upon them, and that even though she knew how things would end she still ended up helping Retsu.

Gaba Kawa had a pretty fast pace, which is good since the story only spans one volume. I admit it was definitely nice to read a manga with only one volume for a change since I wouldn't have to wait to get my hands on the next volume to see what would happen next. That in mind, I really enjoyed how this one ended adn felt that Rie Takada did an excellent job of tying up the loose ends and leaving me satisfied with how it ended.

My favorite thing about this manga would have to be the rivalry between Rara and Bibi, both of whom are demons), to find/win the affections of Akusawa a big name in the demon world. I liked this part the most because it turned out to be the absolute funniest part of the whole manga, especially with the way things turned out in that department.

  The one thing I didn't like about Gaba Kawa would have to be the that the dialogue was at times a little to juvenile. Although I was still pretty amused by the whole thing and have gone on to read it numerous times so it obviously didn't bother me all that much.

Character(s):

Rara, I think is one of those characters that you either like or don't. In my case I thought she was at times funny and at other times kinda of dense ditzy and annoying, but a pretty enjoyable character nonetheless.

I especially couldn't help but be amused by her attempts to not fall for a human and just how bad she was at trying to be an evil demon trying to bring corrupt souls and lure them to the dark side.

Artwork:

So the art in Gaba Kawa is good, but not spectacular. While the art was mainly good, there were a few points when the characters faces just seemed, well, a bit off and kinda wonky-like. It was almost like the angle that they were drawn at and the face they were making (be it serious or whatnot) just didn't work done at that angle.

Regardless of the slight offness of some of the panels, I found that it didn't really detract any from my enjoyment of this manga (and I've read it 3 or 4 times since I bought it).

Final Verdict: Gaba Kawa was such a cute read.

Gaba Kawa earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.