Short Review: Kaoru Mori’s ‘Shirley’
Rating: 
Kaoru Mori has a thing for maids. Not like that, you pervs- she likes drawing them and writing about them. Mori’s maids aren’t the naughty kind either; they are English, Victorian, and very proper. Clad in ankle-length black dresses and fluffy white aprons, these ladies are smart, competent, and very real.
Mori’s first manga to be released in the U.S., the well-received Emma, chronicles the forbidden love between a maid and a gentleman. The series captures Victorian England in breathtaking detail, and the story is heart-wrenching and intimate. Mori’s second manga to be released here (though it was actually written before Emma) is Shirley, another Victorian maid-manga that takes a different tack.
The volume’s first three stories focus on the title character, Shirley Madison. Bennett Cranley is a young female pub owner in search of a reliable maid. She returns home from work one night to find a ragged girl sitting on her stoop. Thirteen-year-old Shirley is answering her ad for a maid. She’s young to work, even in Victorian England, and reticent about her past. Bennett hires her out of pity, but to her delight she finds that Shirley is a hard worker and an excellent cook. But she’s still a kid, and in the second story Bennett finds herself buying Shirley a doll. In the third story Bennett’s crochety aunt visits, only to be on the receiving end of Shirley’s wrath when the aunt insults Bennett. A possible love interest for Bennett shows up in this story as well, but regrettably the potential isn’t pursued.
Shirley’s stories are cute and sweet, if predictable; obviously the single, orphaned Bennett will conceive a big-sisterly affection for Shirley, who adores her. Shirley herself is a likeable kid, the precursor to quiet, observant Emma.
The next story focuses on a maid named Nellie. Her employer is a widow, and since the lady of the house isn’t around much, Nellie has been drafted as the little boy’s constant playmate. Nellie doesn’t mind the job, but it keeps her from interacting with adults much. When the boy finds a baby bird that has fallen out of its nest, he learns some hard lessons about death. Even Nellie can’t break his depression. Eventually it is the household’s wily old gardener who finds a way to cure the boy’s sadness and free Nellie to live her own life.
The final story is the most entertaining. Mary Banks is the long-suffering head maid to an eccentric old man who whiles away the days by playing silly (and sometimes dangerous) pranks on his staff. Poor Mary can’t employ a maid for more than a few days; only she and the valet, Eric, are able to put up with the old man’s tricks. But for all that Mary truly cares about him, and when the old man suddenly dies she finds he has left her one final prank, as well as a reward for her loyalty and patience.
Stories about 19th-century maids don’t seem to be a terribly exciting prospect, and in a conventional sense they aren’t. There’s no magic, no ghosts, no sword fighting, no alchemy, robots, or sex. But Mori’s characters are intrepid adventurers in their own way, facing every unpredictable day with courage and humor. These tales are about real life, and are as full of tragedy, comedy, love, and surprises as real life.
Shirley was written before Emma, and it shows- Mori’s character designs are unique, but some of the secondary characters look unfinished, and the stories, while entertaining, lack conflict- and in the tale of Nellie, a potential love interest vanishes abruptly; in the author’s notes at the back Mori admits she simply forgot about him! But Shirley also contains mush of the obsessive historical detail that brings Emma’s London to such vivid life. Her author’s notes go far toward explaining her interest in maids and England, and give Mori her own funny, eager voice. Mori fans will probably enjoy seeing the mangaka develop her skills in this volume, and for those who have never been to her version of Victorian England, Shirley is a good place to start.
Details
Publisher: CMX
Author: Kaoru Mori
Pages:
Format: Manga
MSRP: $9.99
Date of Publication: 7/15/2008
Buy:
http://www.amazon.com/Shirley-VOL-01-Kaoru-Mori/dp/140121777X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217007180&sr=8-1
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