Gorgeous☆Irene

*Note: This is ONLY covering the TWO chapters that are ACTUALLY about Gorgeous Irene. Super Brief Thoughts on the separate 3 chapters: 'Poker Under Arms' + 'Say Hello to Virginia' were intriguing but ultimately forgettable, while 'Cool Shock B.T.' was actually fun. ALL stories in this volume definitely have Araki's brain behind it, and the influences on JoJo can be seen here.* Gorgeous Irene was......an interesting experience. Not a GREAT one, but it certainly stands out on more than the merit of inducing some slight cringe because of how amateurish this feels. [Story - 4] This uber-short series follows the adventures of Irene, a timid cloudcuckoolander whocan become a well-endowed and cunning alter-ego (appropriately titled Gorgeous Irene) by applying certain types of make-up. She works as an assassin, but yet still seeks friendship wherever she goes. Outside of that little summary right there, there.....is not much. The first story is just her going after a really tough woman b/c intro chapter, whereas the second story suddenly thrusts her in NYC following around proto-Jonathan Joestar. They weren't sluggish to read through (pacing is really solid honestly), but it just didn't catch my eye. [Art - 5] The art is definitely evoking a lot of Jojo feelings here compared to Araki's preceding works. The characters are much more statue-esque (leggy, tendency to strike poses, beautiful faces). The backgrounds/settings are pretty well-rendered, with tons of shadows and details used to flesh out every single detail. This, in turn, helps the action read much more smoothly than if it was done in the style of 'Poker Under Arms', for example. A thing to note - God, that woman from the first chapter + some background dude in the second one definitely influenced how Stroheim would turn out, and no one talks about that. Shocking, really. [Character - 3] Surprisingly, this was the part of the manga that was most lacking! While Araki himself has expressed that he's embarrassed about how he wrote women in this piece, it must be said that ALL the characters here were lacking regardless of gender. Irene is rather flat as a character - I get that these were just pilot chapters, but like......there's nothing that really appeals to me outside of the whole 'make-up' thing. Even the suddenly tragic backstory revealed in the second story (her dad's a killer) didn't change that. She's just an Action Girl in the most basic way possible. There's really no one else that's memorable because of their unique qualities - the tough woman is tough for shits-and-giggles, proto-Jonathan is basically a Mad Max wannabe, the random butler Irene has is cranky, etc. etc. [Enjoyment/Overall - 4] It was still fun to read, nonetheless, since it's always interesting to see an auteur's earliest works. It definitely reeks of an amateur vibe, but there are a couple of nuggets of style that will eventually make Araki famous worldwide. I would only recommend it to fellow Araki fans if they want to see what he was like before he hit it big.

The title is a bit misleading, as there is more “other works” than Gorgeous☆Irene in this collection. These are sort of the bottom of the barrel for those seeking any Araki work. Gorgeous☆Irene itself isn’t bad. This series was filling Araki's mind right after Baoh, and had he been able to develop it further, maybe we all would be fans of Gorgeous☆Irene instead of JJBA. The art is actually more fleshed out than in Part 1; it doesn’t look like a mere copy of something else. The battles and Irene's powers are interesting too, hinting at a potential for a cool stand-like power system. However, everything thatactually happens is just weird, both in essence and execution. It isn't very appealing, really. It serves as a prototype of something that could have been and should be enjoyed as such. The BT chapter has more direction than the actual BT series, even though the art appears even more lacking. Again, as a prototype of a series, it is quite intriguing. Say Hi to Virginia is intended to be some futuristic blend of suspense and mystery, but it comes off as quite generic and uninteresting. It bears little resemblance to any of Araki's other works; it kinda just exists. Poker Under Arms is Araki's first manga, so it might make this volume worth it for that fact alone. It’s a Western one-shot that is fairly good. While it won’t revolutionize how you view media, it is his first work, and the dedication is evident. Overall, this collection is exclusive to the most hardcore of Hirohiko Araki’s fans. There is almost no enjoyment to be found here otherwise.