Gaba Kawa
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is a Japanese manga by
Rie Takada (born August 10) is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1990 in the 17th issue of the manga anthology magazine ''Sho-Comi'' with the series '' SP girl''. She still writes primarily for ''Sho-Comi'', with her serialized works also published ...
, originally serialized in Japan from July to November 2007 by
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...
in ''
Shōjo Comic , formerly published under its full name until December 2007, is a ''shōjo'' manga magazine published semimonthly in Japan by Shogakukan since 1968. The manga featured in ''Sho-Comi'' are later compiled and published in book form (''tankōbon' ...
'' and collected in a single bound volume. It tells the story of a demon girl named Rara who comes to the human world to cause mischief, only to find herself falling in love with a human boy. To help him, she uses her demon powers, but doing so causes her to immediately lose them. It has been licensed for an
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
release in North America by
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
. It first premiered in Viz's monthly manga anthology ''
Shojo Beat ''Shojo Beat'' is a manga magazine formerly published in North America by Viz Media. Launched in June 2005 as a sister magazine for '' Shonen Jump'', it featured serialized chapters from six manga series, as well as articles on Japanese cult ...
'' in the April 2008 issue. The single volume was released on 2 December 2008, after it completed its run in the magazine.


Plot

Young demons Rara Yamabuki and Bibi Kurosawa come to the human world in order to do evil deeds and become full-fledged demons. Rivals in love, they search for the legendary demon, Hiroshi Akusawa, in order to win his heart though they do not even know what he looks like. While Rara is standing on the roof, classmate Retsu Aku mistakenly believes she's going to kill herself and grabs her, "flying" down with her to safety. With that, and hearing him called "Aku," Rara believes him to be Akusawa, but later learns he is just a normal human and that Akusawa is not nearly as desirable in person. When she uses her power of flight to aid Retsu, which causes her to lose the power forever, Rara realizes she has fallen in love with him. As the series progresses, Rara learns that Retsu has had the power to see ghosts since last summer. One ghost begins stalking Retsu to take over his body. Rara tries to protect Retsu, using her power of invisibility, but in doing so accidentally kisses him. After Retsu learns about the ghost, he is able to identify the ghost and remind him of his past, allowing the ghost to move on to the afterlife. Rara, however, has lost so many of her powers helping Retsu that her mother and other demons warn her that if she does not kill Retsu, she will soon disappear "into the darkness." Rara is unable to do it after Retsu confesses his own love for her. They skip school to spend the day together, and Rara decides she will enjoy whatever time she has left with him. Bibi, unwilling to let her "rival" disappear, traps Rara, then disguised as Rara tries to kill Retsu herself. Retsu sees through her and Rara is able to catch up to them in time to warn him that Bibi wants to kill him. Before leaving them alone again, Bibi explains to Retsu about their being demons and that Rara is going to disappear because of her love for him. Retsu tells Rara to kill him so she can live, but she refuses. She kisses him, using the last of her powers to take away his ability to see ghosts, then disappears. Instead of going into darkness, she begins going to the light. Retsu promises to find her wherever she ends up, and tells her not to forget him. Later, Retsu is shown having forgotten what happened, though left with a feeling he is missing someone. Bibi uses her own powers to walk by him disguised as Rara and whispers "don't forget me" unlocking his memories. In a hospital, a girl named Sara wakes up from a six-month-long coma, having been stabbed in a street fight with a guy. Beside her is Retsu, who tells her that he is her boyfriend. A delinquent, she threatens to kill him, but he hugs her and says she cannot, and that he knows the real her.


Title meaning

The manga's title ''Gaba Kawa'' is a combination of the Japanese words ''ganbaru'', meaning to persist, and ''kawaii'', meaning cute. It refers to someone who is so persistent, it is cute.


Reception

''Gaba Kawa'' has been praised for Takada's clear art, flair for comedy, and likeable characters. Takada was criticized for her confusing action scenes and the story's abrupt ending.


References


External links


Official Shogakukan website

Official Viz Media website
* {{Sho-Comi 2007 manga Adventure anime and manga Comedy anime and manga Romance anime and manga Shōjo manga Viz Media manga