Manga Bookshelf

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Archives for October 2012

Chatting About Canon

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The following discussion contains spoilers.

MICHELLE: As we did for the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast, special guest Karen Peck and I decided to collaborate on a contribution. This month’s MMF theme is vampires, so we opted (actually, this was totally Karen’s brainwave) to talk about Canon, the four-volume Chika Shiomi shoujo series published by CMX. I really didn’t know what to expect, having never read it before, but I think you had, right, Karen?

KAREN: I read it years ago, as I am a total Chika Shiomi fangirl, and figured the MMF would be a great excuse to talk about a lesser-known CMX series. A little background on Chika Shiomi and the series—Canon was her first series after her 1993 debut, running in Mystery Bonita Special. She’s one of those mangaka who’s had her work released by several English-language publishers—Night of the Beasts by Go!Comi, one volume of Queen of Ragtonia by Aurora, and Viz has most recently released Yurara and its sequel series Rasetsu. Her current work is Yukarism, a time-travel tale running in Bessatsu Hama to Yume, which is currently on hiatus.

Canon Himuro, ill with an incurable disease, was the sole survivor of a massacre that left her classmates dead. Months later a reporter runs into her, and she looks healthier than before—and carries a secret. Her classmates were attacked by a vampire, who then turned Canon into one. Horrified and wracked by guilt, she declares revenge on the vampire with silver hair and blue eyes. Holding onto her humanity, Canon refuses to drink blood, and wears a cross necklace given to her by a kindly foreigner, as explained in the second chapter. She is also accompanied by a vampire crow, Fui, who helps keep the story going and provides the humor. Canon is out for vengeance; Fui would just like a snack.

So, Michelle, what did you think of the series? Beyond the ’90s fashion, that is?

MICHELLE: I shall tell you, though we really must get back around to the fashion topic!

I ended up enjoying Canon quite a lot, though moreso in the first two volumes. The story begins episodically, and after a first volume that I’d describe as “not riveting, but entertaining,” the second volume packs a real wallop as Rod (such an intimidating name!)—the silver-haired, blue-eyed vampire—makes his entrance. By this point, Canon has met Sakaki, a smug and violent half-breed who’s also out for revenge against Rod (who murdered his parents), and they’ve formed an alliance. Fairly soon, though, Rod’s servants are telling Canon that their master lives as a hermit and couldn’t possibly be responsible for the attack upon her classmates, and suggesting that the real culprit is Sakaki. Canon resists the truth until Fui overhears a conversation confirming it (and is gravely wounded by Sakaki as a result).

I probably should’ve seen this reveal coming, but I was sort of enjoying the series in an uncomplicated way and wasn’t expecting it to veer into territory this dark. Ultimately, you’ve got Canon unable to forgive Sakaki, Sakaki unable to forgive Rod, and some uncomfortable parallels for Canon to navigate as her own hatred (fueled by the humiliation of having been tricked) threatens to undo her efforts to retain her human heart. It’s good stuff, really!

That said, I thought the entrance of Glenn as a common enemy kind of squandered the momentum a little. I mean, I’m glad that Rod and his awesome servant, Machua, got to become good guys, but Glenn lacks any real depth as a character, and I found his sudden change of heart regarding Canon—he’d previously been adamant about the need to exterminate her—rather baffling.

KAREN: The names crack me up, too. “Rod” just doesn’t sound… menacing. Rod and Glenn sound like they’d be assistant managers at an Office Depot, not powerful vampires.

It is good stuff! One thing I dislike about vampire stories—in manga and in print—is the angsty, boohoo I’m a vampire aspect. Canon does not wallow in that too much, the action is swirling around her and she’s a part of it all—she’s not a passive character. I think the shortness of this series helped as well; she had to stick to the unexpectedly twisty story–everyone has a motive, and they’re bound by vampire laws and revenge. Except Glenn. I agree with you, Michelle, that his change of heart is baffling–he’s the person that exists to move the story in one direction yet doesn’t seem to be upset that his purpose in the story is nullified by that direction. It’s a bit sloppy, but given how well she plotted out everything else, I’ll give Shiomi-sensei a pass since this is her first work.

As for the Canon/Sakaki relationship, at first I didn’t get it. After some consideration, though, it does fit in with what Canon was trying to get through to Sakaki and Rod–to stop the cycle of vengeance, that everyone can move on. Yes, Sakaki created Canon and messed with her memories to create a weapon to get at Rod in an exquisitely personal way, but her own words apply just as much to herself. She could kill him for her own vendetta, or she could remember that little boy who was left bleeding next to the corpses of his parents and understand what drove him. There’s a theme of forgiveness and breaking cycles here that I think is (mostly) well-done.

So, back to the fashion. Canon’s ankle boots have actually come back around to being fashionable again, but I fear that Rod’s overcoat on top of a turtleneck overcoat look will never be repeated. I suppose hermit vampires who feel bad about killing their best friends are just naturally chilly?

MICHELLE: I hadn’t actually seen that about Rod’s garb until you pointed it out, but once I did, I couldn’t stop noticing it. I think I thought the black one was a cloak at first, but upon closer inspection, it clearly has sleeves.

You’re absolutely spot-on about Canon remembering the terrible things that had happened to Sakaki that caused him to inflict terrible things upon her. And though it might feel like a betrayal of her classmates, she can’t stop loving him. This reminded me a lot of Shuri and Sarasa in Basara, actually, where she is able to forgive him for the atrocities committed as the Red King, even though other villagers will never be able to. And, of course, any time something can be compared to Basara is a good sign!

Speaking of comparisons to other works, the side story in volume four about the other half-breed who briefly takes care of orphaned Sakaki reminded me a lot of Shion’s backstory in Please Save My Earth, as another example of a boy in such tremendous need who tragically loses yet another person who could’ve shown him love. And Sakaki’s physical appearance reminds me some of Tokyo Babylon‘s Seishirou, especially round about the shoulder region.

Actually, Sakaki’s got some fashion challenges of his own to surmount. In this picture, his coat’s billowing so much it looks like a frickin’ hoop skirt!

KAREN: I know–why does he need two coats? I think it’s a little hypocritical of a vampire to wear turtlenecks anyway.

Now you’re reminding me that I need to finish reading Basara! But it’s a good comparison, and one that reflects favorably on Chika Shiomi–I think a lot of people can write a love story, but it’s harder to write one where it makes sense and is right for the characters. Hand-waving with a “that’s how love is!” is lazy, and she doesn’t take the easy way out. The ending offers a further complication, but again, it goes with the feeling that the characters really need to want this instead of just engaging in relationship fanservice.

The art—especially for Sakaki—really had a CLAMP-circa-X vibe going on, but this was 1994. I also enjoyed Machua’s style, even if it wasn’t as flamboyant and flowing.

MICHELLE: I liked her, too, though at first I thought she might be a dude!

The art really is frequently lovely in that early-’90s kind of way. Below I’ve included an image of one of my favorite two-page spreads, where you’ve got all sorts of overlapping panels, huge flowers, leads superimposed over a background of space… My cynical side wonders if Shiomi had a checklist of specific items to include, but the overall effect is still one I enjoy. And, of course, I can’t help thinking that MJ, with her well-documented love for old-school shoujo art, would just love this to pieces. (Click image to enlarge.)

KAREN: This is some lovely ’90s art, and it holds up pretty well—Canon herself (sans ankleboots) could just as easily be a design in a modern Chika Shiomi work. I also enjoyed her eye for action–I was a little unsure about how the vampires were always leaping about, but I assume it’s a case of Our Vampires Are Different. The pages you picked show how nice a page with flashbacks and conversations can be–it’s not just good storytelling, it also sets an emotional mood that really sells the scene for me.

I’m glad there was a Vampire MMF to make me get this series off the shelf and re-read it. It’s one of those quiet CMX series that came and went with little fanfare, but shows how well-curated their shoujo line was–I’m sure they could have found a more sensationalistic vampire manga with prettier, broodier boys, but this is one with an overall strong story and a tough heroine. It may not be a classic on the lines of contemporary works like X, but it’s cheap on the used market and, in my opinion, a good short series.

MICHELLE: I definitely agree! Thank you for suggesting it!

And now, an announcement: because Karen and I had such a good time reading Canon, it really fanned the flames of “Damn, we miss CMX.” And so, to help offset our still-lingering pain, we’ve decided to embark upon a monthly feature called The CMX Project, where we will revisit both the lauded and the lesser-known works from the CMX catalog. Look for the first column—featuring Land of the Blindfolded—in January 2013!

School Rumble, Vol. 1

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By Jin Kobayashi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America originally by Del Rey, now released digitally by JManga.

Way back ages ago, I reviewed Del Rey’s omnibus release of Vols. 14 through 16, and noted it left off on a nasty cliffhanger. And there it sits, as Del Rey became Kodansha and Kodansha decided its sales were not sufficient to release more. But now JManga is picking up some of Del Rey’s old abandoned series, and have put all the prior Del Rey volumes up on their site, with more apparently to come. With that in mind, I decided to go back and review Volume 1, and see just how different things were back at the start.

Well, for one, that huge cast is not quite so huge. School Rumble starts off as being very much a two-hander, with the point of view switching back and forth. Our heroine, Tenma Tsukamoto, has a hopeless crush on stoic weirdo Karasuma, but is unfortunately hopeless at romance… and studies… and athletics… and pretty much life. Well, except for cosplaying. She is, however, a happy girl with lots of spirit. Contrasting this is our hero, Kenji Harima, a former biker who is trying to turn over a new leaf, mostly as he’s fallen head over heels for Tenma. Harima is strong and good at athletics, but otherwise is in the same boat as Tenma – he’s not all that bright, and his attempts to woo her are laughable. Add wacky situations and stir.

The comedy is all important here, as it would be through most of the early days of this series. The chapters have a lowered page count compared to most Shonen Magazine series (about 9-12, as opposed to 16-18), a sure sign that the editors consider it one of the funny manga rather than a romantic harem manga. There isn’t even a harem yet, really. Just a love triangle. Harima loves Tenma, Tenma loves Karasuma, and Karasuma… we have no idea what he thinks. This is also an unusual series in that it ran simultaneously in two magazines. The main Tenma and Harima plot ran weekly in Shonen Magazine, while the chapters at the end dealing with ‘side characters’ (the ones with a flat note as opposed to a sharp) ran in the monthly Magazine Special. In this volume they’re focused on Yakumo, Tenma’s younger yet more mature sister.

Ah yes, Yakumo. As I said earlier, there’s a large cast coming, and we see glimmers of it here. Tenma, for all that she is lovable and hyperactive, is pretty much exactly what she seems. Yakumo has a lot more to give us. She’s also a great cook, and pretty, and athletic – her perfection is noted by the boys at her school. When otaku who should know better talk about ‘waifu’ type characters, nine times out of ten they mean someone like Yakumo. Her one fault is her seeming obliviousness to guys. And I say ‘seeming’ because we know something about Yakumo that they don’t – she can read minds of anyone who likes her! (School Rumble has occasional fantasy content – Tenma is telekinetic once – but except for Yakumo, it’s always for the sake of a gag.) And given the typical minds of teenage boys, this has likely served to make her even more shy and retiring than she already is.

As for the other main characters, we do meet Eri, Mikoto, Akira, and (briefly) Hanai, but for the most part they look like they’re just going to be generic best-friend type classmates. Eri is stuck-up, Mikoto is tomboyish, Akira is deadpan. They haven’t been brought into the story, mostly as the story i still just about Tenma and Harima. But as their attempts to confess their love explode outwards, others will be drawn into the web. Especially Eri.

For a first volume, this is big, dumb goofy fun. Both leads are histrionic and over the top, and there’s lots of silly here, with an understanding that no one is going to be confessing their love anytime soon. What’s more, Tenma is still the focus of almost every chapter. As the series goes on, and as the popularity polls start to come out, this will begin to change…

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan, Vol. 2

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By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In an earlier post regarding this book’s imminent debut, it was noted that the series is essentially a fanfic AU written by someone who wants to get Kyon and Yuki together, just like you see with the infinite Harry/Hermione or Zuko/Katara fanfics on FFNet. And there’s honestly no denying it; that is exactly what this is. It’s light and fluffy fun, but it is essentially Haruhi with all the spiky bits filed off it. Everyone’s more agreeable, everyone’s more adaptable, and everyone’s simply happier. Including Yuki Sue… um, Yuki Nagato.

Now, this isn’t saying that this manga is horrible. I like it a lot. It’s simply saying that this manga is not particularly gripping or filled with tension. In essence, it’s not really a spinoff of the Haruhi series itself as it is a spinoff of the SD-manga spinoff Haruhi-chan. Various ideas from that series (Ryoko as an onee-sama type, though a comedic one; Nagato’s gaming habits; Haruhi going after Santa) are used in this AU, mostly to show off the author’s own preferences. But whereas in Haruhi-chan everything ends up being a setup for a punchline, here everything is a setup for an adorable heartwarming moment. Even the dramatic moments.

This volume sees the introduction of Haruhi herself (as well as Koizumi, who is essentially a non-entity in this series). She’s not totally unrecognizable. She’s still trying to befriend aliens, time-travelers and espers, and will scream this out to anyone who asks. She’s still bulldozing through people to get her own way, and quickly takes up residence at the literature club even if she goes to a different school. and she’s not above using Kyon as her personal punching bag when a punching bag is needed. But she’s more mature than the Haruhi of the original series, and it’s striking that, even though we see her starting to fall for Kyon here, she’s not going to get all that jealous about it. Haruhi doesn’t have the power to change the world with a bad mood here, and it seems to have made her a better person.

As for Yuki and Kyon, they continue to grow closer, much to Ryoko’s encouragement and chagrin. Valentine’s Day is in this volume, and of course there is chocolate to be made. This leads to what’s probably the best sequence of the book, where we’re led to believe that we will see a cliched misunderstanding lead to heartbreak. It’s not entirely out of the question – this manga isn’t all that original. But this Yuki is more of a ditz than a doormat, and the misunderstanding turns out to have been… well, a misunderstanding. And Haruhi, who’s no dummy and can clearly see that Yuki is head over heels for Kyon, challenges her to step up and go after him. In a genre where high school girls are so often cruel and heartless, it’s fantastic to see love rivals be open and honest.

The flaws I mentioned in Volume 1 are still here. The art simply isn’t all that great, though it’s getting better. And Kyon needs more snark desperately. But of course no one is particularly reading this book for Kyon, but for the moe cuteness. And in that respect, few things deliver on that promise like Nagato Yuki-chan. That said, I’m not sure the series can coast on cute fluffiness forever. I hope that the author comes up with a more serious arc by, say, Volume 4. (Foreshadowing: your key to quality literature.)

(Also, is it wrong of me to ship Haruhi/Ryoko? Cause I totally am.)

Saturday Spotlight: “There is this fish.”

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As we here on the east coast prepare for the arrival of Sandy, my mind turns to visions of water, water, and more water. And being an obsessive fan of 80s shoujo manga, thoughts of water lead to Moon Child.

Today’s Saturday Spotlight archive post comes from March of this year, when Michelle Smith and I sat down to discuss mermaids, aliens, giant fish, Broadway dancers, Chernobyl, environmentalism, Vaslav Nijinsky, and the epic weirdness awesomeness of Reiko Shimizu’s Moon Child.

Come reminisce with us, and if you’re on the east coast, get some batteries in those flashlights!

JManga The Week Of 11/1

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SEAN: Welcome to a new feature here at Manga Bookshelf, which for want of a better title will be called JManga The Week Of. As you might guess, it is similar to my Manga the Week of posts, in that we break down what’s coming out next week from JManga (and possibly other e-publishers if I can find an easy way to get their release dates) and discuss what we’re looking forward to, what we’re curious about, what what we don’t really see the appeal of at all.

Since this is an inaugural post, I will start with THIS week’s JManga titles, then move on to next week. So it’s a double dose!

First off, we’re getting more “rescues” from the former folks at Del Rey, consisting of the titles they didn’t bring with them to Kodansha. School Rumble has 8 more volumes, which brings it up to date with what Del Rey had put out. This would mean Vols. 17-22, as well as the one-off sequel School Rumble Z, would be original JManga translations/productions. School Rumble is a comedic harem title from Weekly Shonen Magazine, and was quite popular among the blogosphere when it was coming out. And by popular I mean folks read the scans avidly. Cough. When the manga ended, as most harem manga do, with an ending that did not please everyone, the fandom died faster than Ali MacGraw. I do hope that enough time has passed that said fans return to the fold to support the remainder of the series.

MJ: I’ve always been sort of curious about this title—I even bought the first volume at one point, but never read it—so JManga’s acquisition here is definitely of interest to me. That said, there are Del Rey titles I miss much, much more (*cough* Nodame *cough*) so I’m not quite jumping up and down yet.

MICHELLE: I feel exactly the same way, MJ. I’m not generally interested in shounen harem manga, but there’s just something about this one that I find kind of appealing. Still, I’m more in a state of holding my breath for other things—aside from Nodame, I’m hoping that JManga will finish Papillon and Ghost Hunt!

SEAN: Re: School Rumble. It’s an interesting title as I suspect that it changed considerably from what the author had planned. It’s very much a gag manga at the start, with few harem elements. Then the author had its male lead, Harima, interacting with two polar opposites, the tsundere princess-type Eri and the meek young housewife-type Yakumo, and popularity soared. (Note that Tenma, the actual female lead, has never been as popular – in fact, Western fans tend not to like her much, mostly due to her childish characteristics.) Combine that with a truly huge cast, and you get a strange kudzu-like manga with multiple genres (though it never quite backs away from its gag manga roots, except towards the end).

Re: Nodame Cantabile, I have a theory about that. There are a few Del Rey hiatus series still not on JManga, such as Alive: The Final Evolution and Moyashimon. But Nodame is the most prestigious of those, and that may be the problem. It’s one of Japan’s biggest sellers. It’s huge in other countries. It has anime and live-action adaptations. And I love JManga and what they’re doing, but Kodansha giving them all these titles is very much a “we have no more interest in getting these out in print, so here.” I can see Kodansha thinking to themselves, “we need to hold onto Nodame in hopes that we *can* get it back into print, as it’s a flagship josei title.”

Pastel, another harem manga from Shonen Magazine (though after Vol. 6 it moved to the monthly Magazine Special), has also caught up with Del Rey releases, as Vols. 9-14 are out. Pastel is *still running* in Japan, with Volume 33 due out in November. Given it is, at heart, an ecchi harem manga bout a weak male lead, the various busty girls who fall for him, and their series of misunderstandings, the mind reels. I didn’t get very far into Pastel, but I know it has fans who enjoyed its slice-of-life, sometimes sweet story, so hope they enjoy seeing it go on. And on.

Speaking of license rescues, we have a new old series from Mag Garden’s Comic Blade. The first volume of Elemental Gelade came out from Tokyopop in 2006; they put out 12 of the 18 volumes before it was dropped. Digital Manga Guild re-licensed the series earlier this year; I’m not sure if this is their translation. In any case, it’s a fantasy series with pirates and living weapons, and also spawned its own anime.

MJ: While I’m always happy about manga becoming as accessible to people as possible, am I the only one who finds duplicate releases like this a little confusing?

SEAN: Ninja Papa hits Volume 3 of its seven volumes. As I’ve noted before, no one will ever accuse this of being great literature. But if you’re a middle-aged flabby balding guy and you want to imagine yourself doing mad ninja tricks, gorily killing bad guys in sprays of blood, then returning home to make love to your gorgeous hot wife… well, then you might want a subscription to Futabasha’s Manga Action in general. But this is *particularly* for you.

MICHELLE: … I can totally see this plot being yoinked for an American movie.

KATE: I’d like to see a josei take on this same basic fantasy: middle-aged woman performs mad ninja tricks, dispatches bad guys, then comes home to her impossibly hot husband. I’d definitely read that manga.

SEAN: Clair Voyance is a new manga from Ohta Shuppan’s online magazine Pocopoco. It’s actually by a Singaporean artist, FSc, aka Foo Swee Chin. She has done some alternative comics for Neko Press and Slave Labor Graphics. It seems to be about Monster Helpers rather than Monster Hunters, and I’m intrigued to see where it’s headed.

MJ: Thanks to Kate’s recommendation, I’m definitely planning to pick this up!

MICHELLE: Yeah, that one looks neat!

SEAN: And there’s Vol. 4 (of 7 and still going) of My Sadistic Boyfriend, which runs in Futabasha’s little known shoujo magazine Comic Mahou no Island. From what I’ve gathered, this fits squarely in the Black Bird/Hot Gimmick/B.O.D.Y. mode of “I love this guy who treats me horribly and I let him as I am weak and he is sexy.” I admit it is not my genre, but Viz apparently sells them like hotcakes (well, mildly warmcakes), so the audience is there. Has anyone compared this one with the classics like Hot Gimmick? How does it stack up?

MJ: “From what I’ve gathered, this fits squarely in the Black Bird/Hot Gimmick/B.O.D.Y. mode of ‘I love this guy who treats me horribly and I let him as I am weak and he is sexy.'” In a word, “Ugh.”

MICHELLE: I admit that I have judged this one purely on its title and did no further investigation regarding it. Also, I snickered at mildly warmcakes. :)

KATE: Wait… Hot Gimmick is a classic?

SEAN: Next up, JManga just announced 5 titles for release next Thursday.

Neko Ramen is another Mag Garden Comic Blade license rescue from Tokyopop, and is a cute 4-koma series about, well, a cat who owns a ramen shop. Funnier than it sounds, this was a surprisingly fun series when it first came out, and I’m pleased to see it here.

Peacemaker Kurogane is also a Comic Blade title, and this one has a long and tortured publication history. ADV manga (remember them?) put out Vols. 1-3 a long while back, then went under. Tokyopop revived the series and released Vol. 4, then they moved on. Now JManga has reissued the first 2, with presumably plans for more. I hope it catches on this time. It’s a Shinsengumi book, supposedly chronicling the life of Tetsunosuke Ichimura during the Meiji period and his attempts to get revenge.

MJ: Here’s a title I’ve always wanted to read! I’m pretty excited about this one, actually. I was a fan of the first volume of Momo Tama (from the same artist), though I never managed to pick up subsequent volumes, and I’ve been curious about this series ever since.

MICHELLE: Peacemaker doesn’t engender much of a response from me, but I am very pleased to see Neko Ramen arrive! I found the series to be a pleasant surprise, and though some volumes weren’t quite as giggle-inducing as others, it’s definitely among the series I mourned when TOKYOPOP went under. It fits in well with JManga’s quirky foodie manga, too!

KATE: I’m also glad to see Neko Ramen series get a second chance with readers. In the abstract, Neko Ramen sounds like a one-joke manga — hey, waiter, there’s a cat hair in my soup! — but the strips manage to wring fresh humor out of Taisho’s misguided promotions, menu items, and interactions with long-suffering customers. I don’t know if JManga will preserve the original Tokyopop translation, but I hope they do; the Tokyopop re-write has the same snappy quality as an Abbott and Costello routine.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a new classic literature adaptation from Variety Art Works. This publisher specializes in adapting famous works of literature (both Japanese and worldwide, though the latter is what JManga has mostly focused on) in single volume manga format. This new title adapts Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which, um, is really more of a lecture than a story, but hey. It’ll be quite interesting to see how this gets presented.

KATE: I’ve read a few of these “Illustrated Classics” — including the adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human — and thought the artwork was pretty bad. Their great redeeming virtue is that they hew closely to the original texts, so I suppose they have some value as Cliff Notes.

SEAN: So, what are you picking up this week?

Conventions: AM2 opens panel registration

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For those who haven’t yet reached convention saturation for 2013, AM2, Anaheim’s three-day celebration of anime, manga, and J-pop, is now accepting applications for panels and workshops at next year’s con, scheduled for August 21-23 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

From today’s press release: “Ever wanted to host a panel on your favorite anime/manga or have a discussion with like-minded people on your favorite j-rock/j-pop band/idol? Ever wanted to be part of a workshop on designing your very own unique and one-of-a-kind maid or cosplay outfit? You can now!”

Originally formed as a counter-convention to LA’s massive Anime Expo in response to the cancellation of a popular J-pop guest, AM2 has continued as a full-fledged con since 2011. Though first known for free admission to both its Artist Alley and main exhibit hall, the con eventually began instituting a small general admission fee for attendees, as well as premium “Passport” badges offering VIP seating to concerts and special events.

This year’s pricing structure offers general admission for $5.00 a day ($10.00 for all three), and Passport access ranging from $20.00 to $55.00, depending on duration and date of purchase. Note: all panel and workshop hosts must be Passport holders.

Pitch your panel or workshop idea at AM2’s website.

Leiji Matusmoto knighted; Vampire MMF continues

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Apricotsushi posts the first roundup of the vampire-themed Manga Moveable Feast at ChicPixel.

The folks at DMP interviewed Yaoi-Con guest Uki Ogasawara, the creator of Black Sun.

When the Kindle launches today in Japan, there will be plenty for manga fans to read; the Kindle Store will contain 15,000 manga.

Tim and Kumar discuss Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories in the latest Deconstructing Comics podcast.

Manga is not a purely Japanese phenomenon, said manga critic Fusanosuke Natsume at a lecture a few weeks ago: “Manga and anime are global phenomena that have both provided and received influence as they developed. They cannot be understood by only following their history in Japan.”

Manga-ka Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999, Space Pirate Captain Harlock) has received a knighthood from the French government; Matsumoto is now a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Erica Friedman takes a look at the Japanese children’s manga magazine Ne-Ne.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 50 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of A Bride’s Story (Blogcritics)
David Gromer on vol. 8 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Graphic Novel Reporter)
David Gromer on vol. 12 of Cirque du Freak (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Sam Kusek on Doing Time (Spandexless)
David Gromer on vol. 2 of Durarara!! (Graphic Novel Reporter)
A Day Without Me on Flutter (Gar Gar Stegosaurus)
David Gromer on vol. 6 of Highschool of the Dead (Graphic Novel Reporter)
Steve Bennett on vol. 1 of The Limit (ICv2)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Moon and Blood (Good Comics for Kids)
Erica Friedman on Salomelic (Okazu)
A Day Without Me on vol. 1 of Sand Chronicles (Gar Gar Stegosaurus)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Vampire Hunter D (Experiments in Manga)

Unpublished Cyborg 009 chapter found

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Daniella Orihuela-Gruber gives a quick rundown of the manga she got at Yaoi-Con.

Yen Press editor JuYoun Lee writes a bit about the process of acquiring and publishing Thermae Romae.

Matt Blind calculates the latest batch of manga best-sellers, for the week ending October 21.

News from Japan: A previously unpublished chapter of Cyborg 009 has been found, according to Ishimori Productions; the chapter was completed and colored 42 years ago but for some reason never made it to print. It will be included in the third volume of Fukkan.com’s edition of the series. Fullmetal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa thanked her fans for their support of her series Silver Spoon by drawing them a picture on video.

Reviews: Carlo Santos has some things to say about some recent manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown looks back at the past week in manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 15 of Bakuman (The Comic Book Bin)
Shannon Fay on vol. 4 of The Betrayal Knows My Name (Kuriousity)
Matthew Warner on vols. 46 and vol. 47 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-3 of Blood Alone (Manga Xanadu)
Laura on vol. 1 of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries (Heart of Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 1 and 2 of Loveless (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 12 of Toriko (ANN)

Learning to Read Manga the Cutest Way Possible with Ne~Ne

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In all the discussion of genre in manga, and how there’s “something for everyone” in Japan but that many of those audiences are entirely under-served in the west,” the one segment of the audience that is least served by western manga publishers is…children.

Yes, there are are titles that could appeal to children on the western maket. Gon, Yotsuba, Pokemon Adventures, Chi’s Sweet Home – these have all-ages appeal. (For more kid-friendly manga titles, try the Graphic Novel Reporter’s Core Ten Manga for Kids and check out their full 100 for some interesting suggestions.) But, in a country where Shounen Jump is the only translated manga magazine that’s made any impact on the market for any extended period of time,  you can be sure there’s a lot of kid’s comics being printed in Japan that we’re not seeing.

 

Around our house, a favorite children’s magazine is Ne~Ne. Ne~Ne is an elementary school level reader, illustrated by characters that many Americans would know:  Rilakkuma, Mameshiba, Nyanpire and many other character goods characters, interacting – within their own worlds – in 4-panel comics. These comics are not, as one might suspect, full of morality plays or real-life skills as American children’s media always is, although there are word matching, maze-scaling, picture drawing games in these magazines. No, there’s no such “appropriate for children” educational stuff going on here. For example:

There’s a lot going on here: The cat with the eyepatch is Dokuganryuu Masamunyaa, the cat avatar of the famous one-eyed general, Date Masamune (who was known as Doukuganryuu – the one-eyed dragon). The cat with the cross is the blood-sucking cat Nyanpire and the partially transparent cat is Nyatarou-chan, a ninja cat, that Masamunyaa marks with the word “ninja” so they can see him more easily. The 4-panel strip is titled “Signpost” (which is my new word for the day.)

This is life in a typical (?) children’s magazine; where animals decorate cakes, children swim in the ocean and are covered in squid’s ink, warring period general cats study history, cheerful pieces of toast put cheese on themselves and characters eat, drink and make merry in a hundred marketable ways. Ne~Ne is a mere 86 pages, for 680 yen ($8.89 at time of writing) which makes it one of the more expensive of the magazines we buy, but the entertainment value is pretty high. We love Ne~Ne around here, because it also comes with loads of giveaway goods, stickers, cards and other ephemera.

Ne~Ne is not, as with most other manga magazines, sold to its readers. Children under the age of 8 rarely have a lot of disposable income, nor do they always have computer access of their own. The website for Ne~Ne is not full of bright colors and shiny things. Instead it clearly is meant to appeal to the family-oriented sensibilities of the parents who buy the magazine for their children.

As a primer for living in a consumer-goods society, Ne~Ne is pretty ingenious. It’s also a fun way to learn to read for overseas otaku who obsessively buy things like Masamune Date goods. (Stop looking at me like that!)

Ne~Ne, by Shufu to Seikatsusha (Which has the English tagline: A publisher, igniting your life with fulfilled sources of information): http://www.shufu.co.jp/magazine/nene/

Loveless, Vols. 1-2

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By Yun Kouga. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha, serialized in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Viz.

Another license rescue, this time of a very popular josei-ish series that’s still running, albeit at a crawl, in Japan. So I picked up the first omnibus thinking, why not? Generally I don’t read much BL, if any, but the author herself has said she doesn’t think it’s BL. Actually, if I’m honest, there’s not only a huge genre of ‘BL only not quite’, but several magazines devoted entirely to it, of which one is Comic Zero-Sum. (The most famous is probably Shinshokan’s Wings, whose manga I always classified as ‘whatever Wings is’ back in the day.) Given the cover, however, which features what seems to be an abused catboy being aggressively fondled by an unseen party, I’m going to guess that Loveless falls into ‘it may not be BL, but its fans sure are’. You know, like Naruto.

That aside, Loveless is basically a fantasy thriller with psychological overtones. Our hero, Ritsuka, is trying to start his life over after his older brother was apparently brutally murdered. He also has amnesia, and so is trying hard to figure out what he used to be like – something not helped by his mentally unstable mother, who keeps assuring him over and over again that he’s wrong and horrible and she wants her son back. To make matters worse, he ends up being stalked by another guy, who was close to his brother. Now he has to fight various members of an evil organization, figure out why his brother was killed, and deal with these strange feelings he gets whenever he’s around Soubi, the aforementioned stalker.

There’s very little setup here, with the author deciding it would be easier to simply drop you into the middle of her world and let you figure out how it works. So far it’s crossing between high school drama and fantasy. In this world, virgins have cat ears and a tail, which fall off after they lose their virginity. This mostly seems to be an easy way to mark off who’s meant to be innocent and naive and who isn’t so far, including Ritsuka’s ‘Christmas Cake’ teacher, Hitomi. Notably, she’s the only one actively mocked for said virginity, if only by the villains. Aside from this, there’s a lot of battle sequences where Ritsuka and Sougi must pair up to defeat whoever’s attacking them. This was easily the poorest part of the manga, with generic combat and spells/power words/whatever. The idea of your partner taking whatever damage you get could lead somewhere in the future, but at the moment it just seems to be there to make Ritsuka suffer more nobly.

When the manga isn’t focused on combat, it’s a lot better. Ritsuka is a messed-up young kid, and his hot-and-cold running emotions, even for a teenager, are jarring. He’s not quite sure about this whole ‘love’ thing, or why he’s so attracted to Sougi, but then again he’s not all that good at friendships either – it’s cute seeing him have to deal with someone as bright and talkative as Yuiko, the tall girl in his class who slowly befriends him. In case anyone’s curious, I absolutely loved Yuiko. I knew going in she was a heavily bashed character, so those who know me probably guessed this, but even more than that, she helps to lighten up the book and prevent the psychological drama from getting too depressing. I hope (but am not optimistic) she sticks around as events ramp up.

Loveless is a very odd duck, and I kept alternating between being fascinated and creeped out by its storyline. Soubi, who I barely mentioned at all, is likely the main reason for this – I just don’t like him yet, and thus it’s hard to see his disturbing devotion to Ritsuka, who is meant to be 12. The shotacon aspects are partly intentional, of course, but I’m pretty sure it’s only meant to be partly – which disturbs me. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still, there’s no denying that the author has skills and power to draw you in. It’s easy to see why this series is popular. And I do wonder what happens next. (Will Ritsuka abandon his shotacon stalker for cute tall-girl love? Mmmmmmm, probably not…)

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 21 October

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Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

##

Manga Bestsellers

1. ↑8 (9) : Sailor Moon 8 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012 [386.2] ::
2. ↓-1 (1) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [370.4] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [364.8] ::
4. ↓-2 (2) : Yotsuba&! 11 – Yen Press, Sep 2012 [354.8] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [351.8] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [351.6] ::
7. ↓-2 (5) : Naruto 58 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2012 [326.0] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Death Note vols 1-13 box set – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Oct 2008 [312.5] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [301.6] ::
10. ↑10 (20) : Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus 4 – Dark Horse, Oct 2012 [293.6] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Yen Press 88
Viz Shonen Jump 80
Viz Shojo Beat 54
Kodansha Comics 43
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 34
DMP Juné 29
Dark Horse 22
Seven Seas 21
Vertical 19
Viz 14

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [1,064.0] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [723.0] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [608.7] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [487.0] ::
5. ↑2 (7) : Negima! – Del Rey/Kodansha Comics [474.6] ::
6. ↑2 (8) : Death Note – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [418.0] ::
7. ↑2 (9) : Yotsuba&! – Yen Press [380.4] ::
8. ↑8 (16) : Skip Beat! – Viz Shojo Beat [365.9] ::
9. ↑12 (21) : Cardcaptor Sakura – Tokyopop/Dark Horse [365.8] ::
10. ↓-5 (5) : Alice in the Country of Clover – Seven Seas [361.9] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

4. ↓-2 (2) : Yotsuba&! 11 – Yen Press, Sep 2012 [354.8] ::
7. ↓-2 (5) : Naruto 58 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2012 [326.0] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [301.6] ::
10. ↑10 (20) : Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus 4 – Dark Horse, Oct 2012 [293.6] ::
11. ↑15 (26) : Negima! 36 – Kodansha Comics, Oct 2012 [287.8] ::
13. ↑10 (23) : Bleach 48 – Viz Shonen Jump, Oct 2012 [263.3] ::
20. ↑26 (46) : Skip Beat! 29 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2012 [223.2] ::
21. ↑16 (37) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 13 – Seven Seas, Oct 2012 [217.7] ::
22. ↑17 (39) : Berserk 36 – Dark Horse, Oct 2012 [206.6] ::
23. ↑12 (35) : Girl Friends: Complete Collection 1 – Seven Seas, Oct 2012 [194.9] ::

[more]

Preorders

1. ↑8 (9) : Sailor Moon 8 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012 [386.2] ::
12. ↑5 (17) : Sailor Moon 9 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013 [263.5] ::
16. ↑2 (18) : Sailor Moon 10 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2013 [240.8] ::
43. ↑2 (45) : Naruto 59 – Viz Shonen Jump, Nov 2012 [163.3] ::
52. ↓-1 (51) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 2 vol hardcover box set [complete] – Viz Ghibli Library, Nov 2012 [146.9] ::
61. ↑80 (141) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 10 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Nov 2012 [128.6] ::
63. ↑51 (114) : Sailor Moon 11 – Kodansha Comics, May 2013 [124.6] ::
72. ↔0 (72) : Negima! 37 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013 [117.5] ::
74. ↑1 (75) : Omamori Himari 9 – Yen Press, Nov 2012 [114.8] ::
75. ↑159 (234) : Sailor Moon vols 1-6 box set – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012 [112.5] ::

[more]

Manhwa

298. ↑729 (1027) : March Story 4 – Viz Signature, Oct 2012 [39.1] ::
602. ↑164 (766) : Bride of the Water God 11 – Dark Horse, May 2012 [15.2] ::
690. ↑78 (768) : Color Trilogy 1 The Color of Earth – Macmillan First Second, Apr 2009 [11.6] ::
786. ↓-29 (757) : Time & Again 6 – Yen Press, Jul 2011 [8.2] ::
866. ↓-74 (792) : One Thousand & One Nights 8 – Yen Press, Aug 2009 [6.7] ::
870. ↓-27 (843) : Time & Again 2 – Yen Press, Mar 2010 [6.5] ::
892. ↓-50 (842) : Time & Again 3 – Yen Press, Jul 2010 [6.2] ::
896. ↓-327 (569) : Bride of the Water God 10 – Dark Horse, Jan 2012 [6.1] ::
904. ↓-6 (898) : Time & Again 5 – Yen Press, Mar 2011 [5.9] ::
913. ↓-2 (911) : Time & Again 1 – Yen Press, Dec 2009 [5.8] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

27. ↓-13 (14) : Loveless 9 – Viz, Sep 2012 [191.8] ::
38. ↓-6 (32) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [174.1] ::
69. ↑21 (90) : The Tyrant Falls in Love 7 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [119.1] ::
173. ↓-93 (80) : Secret Thorns – DMP Juné, Oct 2012 [63.4] ::
183. ↓-63 (120) : Samejima-Kun & Sasahara-Kun – DMP Juné, May 2012 [61.0] ::
206. ↓-22 (184) : Only the Ring Finger Knows (novel) 5 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [56.1] ::
211. ↑14 (225) : Honey*Smile – DMP Juné, Oct 2012 [54.5] ::
212. ↑14 (226) : His Arrogance – 801 Media, Dec 2008 [53.6] ::
230. ↑22 (252) : Ai no Kusabi (novel) 7 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [49.6] ::
241. ↑70 (311) : Black Sun 1 – 801 Media, Nov 2008 [47.3] ::

[more]

Ebooks

15. ↑6 (21) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [244.5] ::
18. ↓-5 (13) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [230.6] ::
32. ↑4 (36) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [179.4] ::
35. ↓-5 (30) : Maximum Ride 5 – Yen Press, Dec 2011 [177.4] ::
56. ↑4 (60) : Maximum Ride 2 – Yen Press, Oct 2009 [136.6] ::
59. ↓-4 (55) : Naruto 55 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [133.0] ::
68. ↑2 (70) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [119.4] ::
70. ↑7 (77) : Blue Exorcist 1 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2011 [119.0] ::
83. ↓-17 (66) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [105.9] ::
94. ↑16 (110) : Naruto 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2003 [102.1] ::

[more]

Bringing the Drama: To the Beautiful You

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There’s a particular type of excitement that grips a manga fan when they find out about an upcoming live action adaptation of a favorite manga. Will the latest version be inspired or insipid? I had high hopes when I found out that a new Korean drama version of one of my favorite manga, Hana Kimi, was in production. Fortunately for the most part I wasn’t disappointed. The entire series of To the Beautiful You is available for streaming on Hulu and Dramafever.

Clearly, these are all boys

For those of you unfamiliar with the Hana Kimi manga, I’ll provide a brief summary. Mizuki lives in the US, but decides to return to Japan, disguising herself as a boy and enrolling in an exclusive all-boys school in order to get close to her long-time track and field crush, Sano. Like many shojo heroes, Sano is tormented by his past and thus is currently struggling with his high jump. He’s disturbed when he gets assigned a new odd transfer student as his roommate, and his orderly and somewhat solitary life is about to get shaken up dramatically. Hana Kimi the manga explores the romance between Mizuki, who is determined to bring Sano back to high jumping glory. Comically enthusiastic soccer player Nakatsu finds himself falling for the new boy at school and starts questioning his sexuality, while Sano sees through Mizuki’s disguise fairly easily but keeps his knowledge to himself as Mizuki’s kind and energetic personality slowly starts to win him over. Hana Kimi is one of the manga that cemented my addition to shojo, and to this day I still have an irrational affection for cross-dressing reverse harem stories.

When adapting the manga for Korean drama format, there were several choices that I thought really made sense in driving the story forward, even though some of the plot points diverged a bit from the manga. In To the Beautiful You, the Sano character Tae Joon is a high jump champion, but he’s also a celebrity with an agent and issues with endorsement deals. It makes a lot more sense for Tae Joon to be a mini-celebrity when Jae Hee (Mizuki) sees him on TV in California and promptly decides to move to Korea to be near him. In the Hana Kimi manga, I just assumed that Mizuki only had a very odd attachment to track and field. I don’t think it is possible for a Korean drama to air without a slightly evil second lead girl to serve as an antagonist for the main character. The second lead girl in To the Beautiful You is Ha Na, a rhythmic gymnast who is also signed to Tae Joon’s agency. Ha Na is pretty much exactly what one would expect from a second lead girl, although she does put her gymnastics abilities to work in interesting ways whenever she decides to infiltrate the boys’ school to spy on Tae Joon.

Platonic roommates, just hanging out the way guys do.

Hana Kimi the manga dealt with the love triangle between the three characters, but it did so against a backdrop of slice of life school antics in a boarding school with dorm-based rivalries between groups of jocks, martial arts trainees, and drama geeks. There’s a large extended cast in Hana Kimi, and for the most part the emphasis in To the Beautiful You is on the love triangle only, and many of the supporting cast members are either not present, combined into one character, or seldom seen. This aspect of the manga is referenced in a couple episodes where the three dorm leaders have to come together in conference. It makes sense that a TV version of the story would opt for a more intimate plot focusing on fewer characters. One big change is in the character of Dr. Umeda, who is no longer the fabulously gay man he was in the manga version. The doctor in To the Beautiful You is quirky in his own way, but Umeda was such a standout character in the manga that I missed him quite a bit.

Cheer up, Eun Gyul, the boy you loved might have turned out to be a girl but at least your haircut has improved.

The acting in To the Beautiful You is for the most part fine, although Eun Gyul (Nakatsu) seems to be channeling the character Jeremy from You’re Beautiful in the first few episodes. This isn’t helped by the fact that they have almost identical haircuts. Minho does a good job contrasting Tae Joon’s closed-off personality before Jae Hee enters his life with the more open and expressive person he becomes after spending time with her. One storyline where I thought the drama had a bit of an edge over the manga was showcasing Eun Gyul’s reaction to finding out the truth behind Jae Hee’s disguise. In the manga I always thought that there should be more emotional fallout from the revelation and since Korean dramas tend to go for the crying scenes whenever possible, I thought that Eun Gyul’s storyline was handled better over several episodes as opposed to the faster way the Hana Kimi manga wrapped up this particular plot point.

Fans of the Hana Kimi manga looking for a live action drama version will likely not be disappointed by To the Beautiful You. I think that if I were watching this drama without the inherent interest of seeing one of my favorite manga adapted, I’d rank it more towards the midrange of the dramas I’ve seen. It is good, but it isn’t an instant classic like You’re Beautiful and I’m not sure if I’m going to feel the need to rewatch it at all. Still, it was interesting to see the adaptation choices as Hana Kimi was translated into a Korean drama, and this series maintained my interest and kept me entertained until the last episode.

Vampires at the Feast

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This month’s Manga Moveable Feast has a vampire theme, which is appropriate to the season. Apricotsushi is hosting at Chic Pixel; here’s the opening post and the archive page.

The Manga Bookshelf team chooses their pick of the week—and it’s unanimous. (I didn’t have time to contribute to this week’s column, but if I had, I’d be in agreement with everyone else.)

Also at Manga Bookshelf, MJ and Michelle Smith discuss King of RPGs, Pride, and a handful of other manga in their Off the Shelf column and Matt Blind lists the manga best-sellers (online sales) for the week ending October 14.

Jocelyne Allen writes about the work of Machiko Kyo (Erotics f), whose work is so far available only in Japanese.

News from Japan: Fujihiko Hosono, the creator of Gallery Fake, is bringing the series back to Big Comic Spirit for a special episode set in the Tohoku region. Hosono and seven other manga-ka will draw new manga featuring their signature characters and donate the royalties toward the rebuilding effort in Tohoku, which was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team queues up some short manga reviews in their latest Bookshelf Briefs column.

Matthew Warner on vol. 44 of Bleach (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Girl Friends: The Complete Collection (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 15 of GTO: The Early Years (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Anna on vol. 1 of Limit and vol. 1 of Paradise Kiss (Manga Report)
Kate Dacey on Mail (The Manga Critic)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 33 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Ken Haley on Skullman (Sequential Ink)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 24 of Slam Dunk (The Comic Book Bin)
Anna on vol. 1 of Summit of the Gods (Experiments in Manga)
Drew McCabe on vol. 12 of Toriko (Comic Attack)
Lori Henderson on vols. 12 and 14 of Vampire Knight (Manga Village)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Wandering Son (Blogcritics)

Bookshelf Briefs 10/22/12

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This week, Sean, Kate, MJ, and Michelle look at recent releases from Kodansha Comics, VIZ Media, Yen Press, and Vertical, Inc.

Cage of Eden, Vol. 7 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – Yes, the fanservice is still as gratuitous as ever. That said, there’s a lot to like here. For one, we get more casualties, reminding us that the longer everyone stays on the island, the more the cast is going to be culled. The fact that the group is taken out by what turns out to be ticks is quite chilling. Akira’s open show of determination and leadership, meanwhile, gives everyone inspiration and makes them want to keep up with him. This then takes a much darker turn, as we see the consequences of everyone not wanting to be dragging the group down – the cast getting altitude sickness that nearly kills them because no one will rest. And finally the cast start to hallucinate (a genuine symptom of altitude sickness) – which allows for a cliffhanger involving more horrific extinct animals. Shonen madness! – Sean Gaffney

A Devil And Her Love Song, Vol. 5 | By Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – Maria’s first instinct when confronted with conflict is still brutal honesty, and I admire the fact that the manga shows this remains ultimately a good thing. Indeed, it’s not just Maria in this volume, as Shin shows off his own tendency to say exactly what he thinks. He thus ends up meeting Maria’s friend from her old school, Anna. I knew from the moment we started Volume 1 that Anna would be appearing at some point, and would be an antagonist. Thus I am once again pleased at how believable Tomori-san makes her. Maria, meanwhile, is still having trouble dealing with her feelings for Shin. This fails to surprise anyone, given how she has trouble with friendships, much less love. But I can’t wait to see what happens next. – Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail, Vol. 21 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – There is a WHOLE lot going on in this volume. We meet most of the Fairy Tail cast doppelgangers – including Lisanna, who’s dead in Natsu’s universe – and find Erza’s working for the bad guys. Speaking of the bad guys, they’re the usual eccentric lot, ranging from obviously sympathetic to completely insane. There’s a healthy dollop of humor here, as we see Lucy’s double showing off how alike the two are and Loki ignoring Lucy’s call to battle as he’s on a date (presumably with Aries). And there are sad and heartwarming moments, such as Carla’s realization of what she’s been involved in, as well as the identity of the cats who briefly harbor them. Most of all, I’ve finally stopped thinking about how much Fairy Tail rips off One Piece when I read it. Which is quite the accomplishment. – Sean Gaffney

The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 3 | By Shuzo Oshimi | Vertical, Inc. – Though I had high praise for the first two volumes of The Flowers of Evil, volume three is a weaker and less psychologically plausible installment than what preceded it. Saeki’s increasingly desperate attachment to Takao seems more like a plot contrivance than a natural progression for her character, while Nakamura’s bullying sails over the line from nasty manipulation to outright sadism. The two girls’ tug-of-war isn’t beyond the realm of possibility; nor is Saeki’s unfounded belief that Takao represents something more interesting or profound than what other boys her ages could offer. What feels wrong is the way in which that conflict manifests itself, culminating in a scene that only a teenage boy would feel was an accurate representation of how girls think and behave. I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet, but I’m no longer convinced that Oshimi has as a firm a grasp of his characters as he did in the first chapters of the series. – Katherine Dacey

The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 3 | By Shuzo Oshimi | Vertical, Inc. – I wrote in my brief review of volume two that I “pretty much hated” The Flowers of Evil and couldn’t see myself continuing with it, and yet here I am. I suppose curiosity got the best of me. Volume three deals with the aftermath of Kasuga and Nakamura’s classroom vandalism, during which it becomes clear to Saeki and Kasuga’s mother that he is the one responsible. I actually did like certain things about what follows—especially Kasuga’s admittance that he was only reading Baudelaire in an effort to convince himself he’s special and that he’s scared of facing the real Saeki as opposed to his idealized vision of her—but spent a lot of time baffled by the characters’ actions and reactions. What is clear is that nobody is the person that others thought they were, which seems like a decent note upon which to end the series, but it actually continues from this point. I’m still not sure if I’ll be reading it. – Michelle Smith

Jiu Jiu, Vol. 2 | By Touya Tobina | VIZ Media – First of all, that cover is far saucier than a typical Hakusensha shojo title – something the author lampshades in one of her notes! Despite that, this title is becoming for females what Cage of Eden is for males. There’s lots of rampant fanservice of Snow and Night looking half-naked and sweaty. The plot is still a bit ‘make it up as you go along’, but I’m used to that with Hakusensha. The author hasn’t made it clear whether we – and Takamichi – are supposed to think of the two male leads as pets, or as children/family, or as love interests. It’s somewhat uncomfortable, and I think that’s at least partly deliberate. The addition of a few new cast members is nice to see, but for the most part this is still a three-hander about young people who are very bad at social interaction and the laughs and awkwardness that comes with that. Hope it continues to improve. -Sean Gaffney

Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 8 | By Hiro Arikawa and Kiiro Yumi | VIZ Media- Okay, seriously, how did Library Wars end up being so shoujoliciously good? I mean, the premise is rather silly and the characters are far from convincing as soldiers, but the past couple of volumes have been genuinely enjoyable. In volume eight, the truth of why Iku’s being interrogated regarding a book-burning incident comes to light, which ultimately leads to her finally realizing that her commanding officer, Dojo, is her prince, whereupon she freaks out in a pretty awesome way. Combined with her composure under questioning and her reaction to this news, I am finally beginning to like Iku at long last. This volume also prominently features Iku’s awesome roommate, Shibazaki, who is one of those “I am jaded and unable to fall in love but will protect my idealistic friend with all I’ve got” characters whom I always adore. I’m looking forward to volume nine! – Michelle Smith

Pandora Hearts, Vol. 12 | By Jun Mochizuki | Yen Press – As tension ramps up over Oz’s questionable origins and the return of a mysterious villain with a penchant for beheading, I’ll admit that what really makes this whole volume for me is a (presumably) throwaway section in which Oz’s younger sister Ada reveals her secret obsession with the occult. That may not sound funny on the face of it, but trust me… it’s honestly hilarious, surprisingly charming, and makes it even harder to continue to hate the supposedly evil Vincent Nightray, to whom she bares her magically-consumed soul. Too, this section highlights one of the strengths of Mochizuki’s writing. No matter how dark and complicated her story becomes, she never loses her sense of whimsy or her deep love for her odd little cast of characters. Humorous interludes aside, volume twelve is full of terrific little nuggets of characterization—just part of the series’ considerable payoff for fans who have stuck with it so far. Still recommended. – MJ

Skip Beat!, Vol. 29 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I am probably somewhat of a broken record where Skip Beat! is concerned, because not only do I genuinely enjoy every new volume, I also always wish that I had twenty more of them waiting in the wings, that’s how much I adore it. In this volume, Kyoko has realized that she’s on the verge of sprouting feelings for Ren, which scares her very much, since he is able to slip past her defenses so easily. She’s so distracted she allows a male costar to make her over for a wrap party, which yields two developments: Kyoko becomes convinced Ren sees her as too childish to pursue and she gains confidence in her ability to transform herself for a role. That’s Skip Beat! in a nutshell—even when there’s a smidgen of romantic progress, there’s a healthy dollop of career progress for the awesome heroine to go along with it. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith