It's been a while since a good story caught my interest and rare that I write my thoughts about such things. I put off reading Pastel for a couple years, but I got around to reading 17 volumes (and ongoing) yesterday and the day before. The story revolves around the chance encounter of Mugi Tadano and Yuu Takisaki.

After the breakup of Mugi and his girlfriend Hinako, he decides to forget her by taking on a summer job. This best friend, Kazuki, gets him a job at his aunt's inn at a beach to cheer him up. While at work, he meets this beautiful girl that he instantly falls for by accidently seeing her change into her swimsuit. The next day, Kazuki wanted Mugi to go with him on a double date with a girl he met the day before. They were going to hook up Mugi with the girl's friend.

The friend turned out to be the girl he met the day before, Yuu. As they go around, their date was interrupted by Kazuki's young cousin who tagged along with Mugi and Yuu. But they had fun that day and even set off fireworks that night. Late that night, Kazuki plays a joke on Mugi as he accidently walks in the women's side of the bath to clean and sees Yuu there. She gets ticked off as Mugi tires to explain. While contemplating the days events, Yuu realized the he loves Yuu.

The following morning, Mugi tries to find Yuu to apologize about what happened. He finds out that she already left. But unlike his relationship with Hinako, Mugi is determined to be with her. So he starts to run to the ferry to try to catch her, but it's too late. The ferry left. But after that, he's even more determined to find her, but he never got her address or number. So he goes home.

On the way home, he meets up with the various residents of his town and hears that his dad is home. Mugi's dad isn't home most of the time because he travels around the world due to his photography job. So Mugi learns how to do all the domestic chores to survive by himself at home while his dad is away. Being ticked off that his dad hasn't given him any living expenses, he runs home to see his dad. While looking around the house, he accidently walks into a girl in the shower. Another of many other misunderstandings to come.

Mugi learns from his father that Yuu and her sister Tsukasa are going to live with them. The reason for this is that the sisters' father died and Mugi's father made a promise to take care of them. This comes as a huge surprise to Mugi—to find that the girl he fell in love with and desperately searched for comes to live with him. As it turns out later on, they have to keep it a secret. Mugi came to the conclusion that he cannot confess his love for Yuu right away. And at school, they are relatives living together.

Throughout the next consecutive volumes, Mugi goes through trials, tribulations and angst concerning his love with Yuu, how to confess to her and other other character helping in his endeavor. We also learn of various other girls fall for Mugi, such a childhood friend Minami, Kiku from school, Hana who he worked part time for and the return of his ex-girlfreind Hinako. Mugi also deals with the sister's going away to live with now divorced mother and the return of Yuu a year later. We also learn that Kazuki had always been in love with Minami and how they finally got together. And at one time, dealing with the fact that he could have a new step-mother, Mako-san.

In the latest of the volumes and after two years of living together, Mugi eventaully confesses his love to Yuu and finally become a couple. And with this new found relationship, it also has to be kept a secret. Only their closest friends know of their true relationship. They also can't reveal their relationship at school where they believe they're related, which irritates them both. So the story continues…

The reason why I was so intrigued by this manga is that I could see myself in the main character Mugi. When I was his age, we were not too dissimilar personality-wise. There was also the way he treated his ex-girlfrend and other girls around him. A few nights ago, a group of us went out to dinner. One of the guys in our group was talking to his girlfriend on the cell. The way he talked to her just hit a deep nerve in me. Is this how the younger crowd talks to their significant other…verbal abuse? Is he one of few who do? Or am I just too old skool? Either or, that's why I was hooked on this manga. Mugi knew how to treat the females in his life. Sure he's indecisive, but who isn't when you were his age and the some of you who are still indecisive?

Even though the manga centers around Mugi trying to confess his love to Yuu, there are good side stories that help in the development of the other characters in Pastel. We learn more of Mugi and Hinako's past. There's Sayuri who was an older girl, Mugi neighbor, became his surrogate mother and taught him how to do house chores. At one time, Mugi and Yuu missed a train home and met up with a food shop owner, Tetsu who gives Mugi a cooking job. And there's Aoi, the carefree artist who is in a one-sided relationship with Tetsu. Pastel by Toshihiko Kobayashi is a good read for people who like these kinds of stories. There's a good balance of drama, romance, ecchi and angst for my taste in this manga. I spent almost 14 hours reading 17 volumes while talking my time and neglecting my daily chores. It's a good break from watching sci-fi, action and moe anime and just relaxing.

Last week, I was chatting to my friend Victor. He informed me that Palladium had published “Robotech: Shadow Chronicles®, The Role Playing Game.” Well, while we were chatting I went online to the Palladium Books website to order the RPG. I was excited to even know that the RPG was out or even that Palladium was publishing it. I soon realized that when I was at the Robotech® panel at Anime on Display (AOD), I did remember Jonny Yune talking about the RPG. He even presented some new drawings which I went over at the end of the panel. Anyway, I ordered it on the spot, as should any Robotech® fan.

Just the other day I received the package via UPS. Upon first glancing on the manga-sized role playing game book, it was unlike its predecessors. This was the first book since the original Robotech® RPG that used the real logo. Each of next RPGs used generic logos.

While flipping through the pages and reading a lot of the material inside, I realized that the book design was like the original books. Being a graphic designer, one might think that after some twenty years later, Palladium would have put a little more effort into the design of the RPG. The RPG uses the Times Roman typeface exclusively. Even though they used the typeface how it traditionally is used, basic graphic design standards should have been implemented. A contrasting typeface like even Helvetica could have been used to give some more visual appeal. Sure it was like that in the Invid section, but it could’ve been used more throughout the book. Additional simple graphic design elements such as dingbats or key-lined boxes to separate dice roll information could have also been used.

Another bad design in the book is the use of raster images (black and white images with shading). The image styles should have been kept constant. Throughout the book, line drawings are used. The raster images should have been redrawn as line drawings to give the book continuity. On the other hand, if redrawing the art is impossible, the book should have been printed at a much higher line screen. Based on the quality of the raster art, I assume that the book was printed in 72 line screen. At that resolution, the images appear dark. With the book also being manga-sized, the images also lost a lot of detail because of the size reduction. The book should have been printed at either 133, 150 or even 300 line screen. At these resolutions, the raster art would have retained a lot of the art and give it a smoother, almost photo, look. Through a print cost point of view, it would’ve cost almost the same if the book was printed at the higher line screen.

Other than the technical and graphic design aspects, the material stayed true to the original Robotech® RPG that came out 20 years ago and the Sentinels RPG four years later. A lot of the material was from the Invid Invasion RPG, as well as material from the Sentinels RPG. Other than the original material, a mountain of new material from the Shadow Chronicles was introduced.

In the opening of the Shadow Chronicles timeline, the major enemy is the Invid. The stage is set for the Battle at Reflex Point (at the end of the New Generation). The book opens with the background information of the Invid. New types in Invid mecha are also included: Soldier, Commander and the Overlord. The Invid Overlord is the most advanced combat mecha in the Invid arsenal. It’s the only Invid that’s transformable (three modes just like the Veritechs) and most formidable opponent.

The Haydonites are the new alien race in the Shadow Chronicles. According to the timeline, the Haydonites helped the Expeditionary Force develop new technology to help combat the Invid. But in the end, they betrayed the Expeditionary Force and are bent of destroying all humanity. The only two Haydonite mecha presented in this book are the Wraith and the Infiltrator.

The next section deals with the history United Earth Expeditioary Force as well as a timeline of main events leading up to the Shadow Chronicles storyline.

A new optional character creation method is introduced. If a player cannot make up his mind on what type of character he wants to be, just roll the percentile dice. This new method makes the decision of making character quicker. There’s also a lot more Occupational Character Classes (OCCs) that are added to the long list of OCCs in the Robotech® RPG. And since the RPG deals heavily with being a part of the military, a plethora of new Military Occupational Skills (MOSs) are also included. Also are new mecha such as the Bioroid Interceptor, the Condor and the “Silverback.” All the standard mecha are also in book such as the Alphas and the Betas. The one thing I was “erked” about back in the original Sentinels RPG is the look of the Shadow Fighter. For such an awesome fighter with all it’s additional abilities, the design is just plan gay! It’s synonymous to designing the Stealth fighter to make look like the F-4 Phantom. Remember those! The standard issue Alpha FIghter looks a lot better. Seriously! Also, the picture to indicate the Shadow Fighter is the picture of the Vindicator (Veritech/Alpha hybrid) that appeared the Sentinels RPG. At least show the right gay-looking picture of the Shadow Fighter. Kevin Long...what happened!?

The rest of the book deals with the game mechanics, the guts of the game. By reading a lot of passages of this section, it’s basically the same as in the Sentinels RPG. There are some new skills to reflect the setting as well as today’s world. At the end of the book are a list of main characters and their backgrounds that play major roles in the Shadow Chronicles.

As a final note, the layout of the book is somewhat confusing...to someone new to pen and paper RPGs. The book starts out with the Invid, the Haydonites, UEF, OCCs, Veritech Fighters, game mechanics, adventures and the main characters list. The way I would have laid it out would be the background of the Expeditionary Force (background, characters and mecha). The player would most likely be playing as a member of the UEF, so why not put all that information in the beginning? Next would be the Invid (background and mecha) and the Haydonites. After you know yourself, know your enemy. With all the background aside, the game mechanics will be next. It’s only logical to have the OCCs right after the initial character creation. And the Skills List and descriptions after that. The book does it backwards. And finally, the book should end with sample role-playing, non-player characters and adventure scenarios. All in all, aside from the lack of design effort put into the book as compared to other RPGs in the market today, the material contained within the pages are priceless. It’s a “must buy” for any Robotech® fan, whether or not you’re a gamer. Not so much as the artwork, but for the material. I hope they address these short comings in the version of the RPG. I can’t wait until I get my hands on the hard bound version of the Robotech® Shadow Chronicles RPG when it’s released soon. I pre-ordered.