The Rule

PASS: protagonist is a girl who’s presumably in her late teens — when the story opens she’s recently graduated from high school. Supporting characters include two female coworkers of similar age, female customers of the pet shop (including a twenty-something piano teacher who lives upstairs and a famous model/actress), the mothers of the heroine and her employer, and countless minor, non-recurring characters. The female employees of “Woofles” end up living together in an apartment upstairs from the petshop. There are numerous scenes where it’s just the girls talking to each other — at work, at their apartments, on summertime trips to the swimming pool, etc. — and while boyfriends and teasing about crushes do come up at times, they spend much more time talking about work, money, and of course anything and everything related to dogs, dogs, dogs.

Non-rule notes:
- the series runs in a seinen magazine, so while the plotting and characterization all has a very shojo feel, there’s quite a bit of fanservice in the costuming, particularly for the protagonist.

- there’s very little romance for a series focusing on single characters in their teens and early twenties. The heroine has a bit of a crush on her boss, and is visibly intrigued by if not quite actively crushing on some of the more bishie-tastic male characters; one of her male coworkers has a crush on the pretty piano teacher who lives upstairs, and his bandmate has a crush on the heroine. Other than a bit of teasing from friends, though, none of these crushes have really seen much in the way of direct expression. Only a handful of romantic relationships have been shown — the long-established marriage of the heroine’s parents, brief flashbacks to a former live-in relationship of the pet shop’s male manager, and scenes from a new employee’s dysfunctional relationship with a sponging, emotionally manipulative bad boyfriend.

- sexual content, other than the frequent fanservice pinup pages and panty shots, is rather surprisingly subdued. Early on, the heroine gets into a car with a couple of sleazy male strangers; their conversation hints that their intentions are less than completely honorable, but she’s just so hopelessly innocent and naive that they end up dumping her at a rest stop. Two of the female characters, when they’re strapped for money, end up taking second jobs at a hostess bar — and while the bosses and some of the customers seem sleazy, there’s never any groping or conversations going much further than light flirtation.

- I found it particularly striking that the series has some middle-aged characters, mothers of adult children, who are NOT shown as frumpy, drab, sexless mom-types; they’re drawn with trim figures and fashionable clothing and hairstyles, with only hints of softness in the jawlines and tiny lines around the eyes to distinguish them from the younger women.

[Reply]

PASS: the character designs for both the humans and dog are very well done. if you love dogs you will love this series. the fan service pinup are very annoying since pretty much all the rest of the fanservice is done by the first volume. the drawing does not deserve any awards but it is very strong. the story is funny when it wants to be, and can also be moving. the characters are fairly strong. the plot doesn’t go anywhere fast but keeps hinting that it will do something in future volumes. the story takes off after the second volume. the 5 and 8th volumes are externally strong and enjoyable. this manga might send some people to cuteness shock after looking at some of the puppy, and leaves the reader feeling happy after reading some the manga this feeling increase as the number volumes increase. for an enjoyable down to earth manga that’s about everyday life (and not just about love) try inubaka.

[Reply]