Quick link! I have a review in today’s Manga Minis at Manga Recon for NETCOMICS’ Main Street in Elysium. It was hard for me to write a balanced review of this because I found it so distasteful. I think I did not succeed.
What I really want to talk about, though, is CLAMP’s Legal Drug. I know this is old hat for most of you, but I finally read it last night, and some thoughts popped to mind.
My first thought was that it was obviously a kind of trial run for the ideas that eventually became xxxHolic. A teenager with supernatural abilities is taken in by attractive shop owner who can see the future, and must earn his keep by embarking on strange (often dangerous) missions along with a tall, dark, handsome, irritating (to him) partner who saves him all the time? The premise was refined for xxxHolic, and beautifully so, but there is a charm to this earlier work that makes it worthwhile on its own.
The story opens with teenager Kazahaya having collapsed in the snowy streets, from which he is rescued by Rikuo, who puts him up in his room above the drugstore where he works. Kazahaya ends up working at the Green Drugstore as well, also taking on extra jobs from the shop’s owner, Kakei, which he must do in order to make enough money to live. The jobs for Kakei are usually dangerous, and almost always require Kazahaya’s special skill–the ability to pick up memories from anything he touches. Of course, Kazahaya is not the only character with supernatural skills. Rikuo, with whom Kazahaya is generally sent on jobs, has the ability to break things with his mind, such as locks or small objects, and Kakei has the power to see into the future. At the end of the manga’s three existing volumes, it is only Kakei’s partner, Saiga, whose abilities are still unknown, though it is hinted that he is very good at finding things, including missing persons.
As Kazahaya and Rikuo give off a definite Watanuki/Doumeki vibe, so do Kakei and Saiga evoke visions of Tsubasa‘s Fai and Kurogane, though in this case, what many readers see as subtext in the relationship between the later incarnations of these character types is clearly text in Legal Drug. It’s refreshing, really, to see an obviously loving gay couple portrayed so openly in a non-BL manga. Though the series, especially in the third volume, begins to suffer a bit from “Everyone is Gay” syndrome (something most often seen in slash fanfiction), Kakei and Saiga’s relationship continues to shine like warm lamplight on a cold winter’s night.
Sadly, with the series unfinished (perhaps indefinitely), there is an incredible amount of mystery left unsolved in this story. All that is known about our two main protagonists, is that they are both haunted by loss, though whether those they have lost (Kazahaya’s sister, and woman named Tsukiko whose relationship with Rikuo is unknown) may potentially be recovered is unclear. In both cases, the information available is very intriguing, and it’s a bit painful to realize there may never be further answers. Thankfully, the third volume contains a final chapter that goes back to the beginning of the story, revealing that the shop was created to protect Kazahaya from the start (again, such similarity to xxxHolic), which makes the three volumes feel a little more like a cohesive whole than they would otherwise.
The art, as always, is fantastic, though more plain than something like xxxHolic. The clarity of CLAMP’s panels, with their generous white space and striking use of black, is one of the reasons I love reading their manga so much. As someone still relatively new to comics, I generally feel that less is more, and CLAMP’s style, even at its most ornate, is really perfect for my tastes.
I end this entry at a bit of a loss. My greatest strength as a reviewer, I think, is my ability to analyze human relationships and how they work in a story, but there is so much left unsaid in this manga, I’m not sure how to tackle that. All the relationships in Legal Drug are obviously complex and fraught with meaning yet to be revealed, and I feel foolish attempting to guess at what any of that might be. And as much as I feel that many of Legal Drug‘s best elements have been presented with more maturity and skill in xxxHolic, Legal Drug has enough of its own quirks and particular beauty for me to wish to see things fully played out in this story. I know that Nekoi, in particular, wishes to continue this story, but I’m enough of a realist to recognize that may never happen. I guess we can only hope.
jansong@livejournal.com says
February 2, 2009 at 1:20 pmMain Street sounds just awful with no saving grace! Yuck. It won awards? On what basis?
Melinda Beasi says
February 2, 2009 at 2:48 pmIt may just be one. The write-up at NETCOMICS says: “This series was awarded the Grand Prize at the 21st Japanese Cartoonists Association Awards.”
Ed Sizemore says
February 3, 2009 at 7:26 amMelinda,
It’s a good review of a bad book. I thought you were a little generous with the C-. I wonder if it’s meant to be dark humor and just doesn’t work as well in translation outside of the home culture. I wonder how the Japanese might react to Charles Addams.
By the way, it’s okay to trash a book. Sometimes you have to tell readers that a book is a waste of their time and money steer clear. I don’t know the policy at Manga Recon, so they may prefer that you not be so blunt in your reviews. Thankfully, you have your personal blog to express more explicit opinions.
Melinda Beasi says
February 3, 2009 at 7:33 amHeh, actually I’m definitely one of the more generous reviewers at Manga Recon. I probably grade higher than most. So they definitely are on board with bluntness. It’s me who feels like I somehow need to try to be more balanced in my reviews when I’m writing over there. I keep trying to find the perfect balance between my personal tastes and “objective” reviewing (I use quotes because I’m sure that’s essentially impossible), do you know what I mean? I think, well, someone else might really love the humor in this manga, and just because it’s not my cup of tea, is it really responsible to say it’s bad? On the other hand, over here it’s all about me, so I figure I can say what I like and what I hate and that’s appropriate. I don’t know. Mostly I just really thought that comic was in bad taste. But that’s something so subjective, I felt like I shouldn’t base the whole review on that. I went for the C- because as a comic strip, it *works*. I just hate it. Heh.
Have I over-explained myself enough there? Heh. Can you tell I’m just a teensy bit insecure about my reviewing still? :D
jun says
February 3, 2009 at 3:09 pmI think it’s perfectly fine to say it’s bad just because you personally think it’s bad. :) That’s what a review is, and people disagree with reviewers all the time.
Melinda Beasi says
February 3, 2009 at 3:11 pmI think I kind of *did* say it was bad, really, I think, if not in so many words. Hee. Well. I probably could have given it a lower grade. :)
jun says
February 3, 2009 at 3:11 pmI think you felt hindered by the generosity of our NETCOMICS contact. :)
Melinda Beasi says
February 3, 2009 at 3:13 pmAh yes, that’s probably so. I did feel *really* bad that I hated the first thing I read over there.
Melinda Beasi says
February 3, 2009 at 7:33 amOh, and what I really meant to say was: Thank you. :)
Ed Sizemore says
February 3, 2009 at 7:39 amYou’re welcome. You have nothing to be insecure about. Still digging the CD.
Melinda Beasi says
February 3, 2009 at 7:41 am:) :) Thank you again.
Oliver says
February 4, 2009 at 4:42 pmCertainly, it’s natch to compare Legal Drug to Tsubasa and xxxHolic as they are the most famous Clampers going on right now, but I would honestly like to forget about those for a minute since I personally was more attracted to Legal Drug’s quieter look and feel. I wouldn’t say Legal Drug is mini-xxxHolic, but more like an alternative universe to it. It would be interesting if xxxHolic ran alongside Legal Drug, but Mokona has to draw something, too :)
Well thought out review as always, but I didn’t quite agree with the trial-run bit about it being a the precursor to xxxHolic. I consider it and xxxHolic to be different stories set in different (or perhaps the same) universes. You’re right about the mystery aspect since it seems like little was revealed, but what is there is still nice to read. Its story flows well from one scene to the next which I found is different from the flow in Tsubasa RC, but maybe that’s due to the different English adaptations.
Melinda Beasi says
February 4, 2009 at 6:28 pmHi Oliver, nice to see you! Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean to imply that CLAMP intentionally wrote Legal Drug as a trial-run for xxxHolic. I just think that many of the ideas they played with when writing Legal Drug were further refined in xxxHolic. It’s a natural progression that one might see in almost anyone’s work.
Mightymaeve says
August 5, 2009 at 3:21 pmOH, I really enjoyed your review. When I read manga, I’m always doing that same thing as you mentioned you do: ‘analyze human relationships and how they work in a story.’
I also enjoyed ‘Legal Drug’ many moons ago, and am currently about 2/3 done xxxHolic anime. Right away, I could see the parallels.
Clamp is clamp!
I agree with you that the ‘relationships are complex and fraught with meaning yet to be revealed.’ This series is one I would truly like to read to completion. I heard originally it was a planned 7 volumes, like ‘Tokyo Babylon’s’ length.
Thanks for the substance review.
Melinda Beasi says
August 5, 2009 at 9:57 pmWhat a lovely comment to get after all this time! Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed this! I hope you like the rest of the xxxHolic anime. I recommend the manga very highly!