Beauty Is the Beast


Beauty is the Beast is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tomo Matsumoto. It was serialized in Hakusensha's manga magazine LaLa from 2002 to 2004, with its chapters collected into five volumes. Beauty is the Beast is licensed in English by Viz Media's Shojo Beat imprint.

Characters

;Eimi Yamashita
;Misao Kurakawa
;Suzu Katsuragi
;Takami Wanibuchi
;Satoshi Shimonuki
;Inui

Publication

Beauty is the Beast premiered in the July 2002 issue of Hakusensha's manga magazine LaLa on May 24, 2002. Its final chapter was published in the magazine's February 2005 issue on December 24, 2004. The series was collected into five volumes published by Hakusensha's Hana to Yume Comics imprint. It is licensed in English by Viz Media's Shojo Beat imprint.

Volumes list

Japanese

  1. released on January 6, 2003
  2. released on August 4, 2003
  3. released on March 5, 2004
  4. released on November 5, 2004
  5. released on March 5, 2005

    English

  6. released on November 6, 2005
  7. released on February 6, 2006
  8. released on May 2, 2006
  9. released on August 1, 2006
  10. released on November 7, 2006

    Reception

Paul Dale Roberts from Manga Life said Beauty is the Beast is "a story that women and girls should enjoy", but he found himself "getting sleepy in some parts of the story". Julie Rosato from Mania Entertainment commented that the artwork "is pretty typical for shoujo works, with nothing particularly outstanding about it." Rosato compared the series with Here is Greenwood, but "while it shares with Greenwood plenty of quirky characters and a quiet, nearly sneaky wit, it so far lacks the same charm." She also can't "quite tell if the focus of this story is supposed to be on the various adventures of the wacky dorm-mates or if it will be on the painfully clumsy love developing between Eimi and Wanibuchi."
Writing for IGN, Jessica Chobot noted that "although focused primarily on the relationship between Eimi and Wanibuchi, Beauty is the Beast is a collection of off-kilter love stories, bringing to light all the adventures amongst the students at Seikei Academy in a lighthearted and charming manner." Chobot praised the artwork, "although the lack of solid blacks and overuse of similar toned grays cause the illustrations to look floaty and not solid. However, emotions are well-conveyed through the use of line work." In 2005, Beauty is the Beast was listed by IGN as the tenth best manga released in English.