Archives for October 2012

A First Look at Cross Manage

October 13, 2012 by Katherine Dacey

For a series whose plot hinges on a mammary collision, Cross Manage is better than it has any right to be: it’s interesting, funny, and populated with appealing characters who rise above type. The collider and the collidee are, respectively, Sakurai, an aimless second-year student, and Misora, captain of the girls’ lacrosse team. Though Sakurai has joined and quit twelve clubs, he has yet to discover an activity at which he excels; he scoffs at the idea that anyone would play a sport or pursue a hobby simply for enjoyment. Misora is his diametric opposite, an enthusiast who can describe the history of lacrosse in voluminous detail, but can’t make a shot to save her life. When Sakurai accidentally grabs Misora’s chest during an impromptu coaching session, she offers him a choice: become the manager of the girls’ lacrosse team, or risk public humiliation.

Yikes! The “whoops-I-touched-your-boob!” gag is one of the most overused and least amusing “comic” bits in shonen manga, not least because it portrays boys as the victims of mammary collisions, rather than the other way around. I admit that my heart sank a little when I read that scene: surely Kaito could have found a more creative way to set the plot in motion, perhaps one that didn’t scream Love Hina: The Lacrosse Years. But I soldiered on for another chapter, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that Cross Manage wasn’t evolving into a panty-fest or a string of lecherous, Benny Hill-style gags, but an amusing character study of two charmingly screwed-up teens.

Anyone who’s read more than two shonen rom-coms will recognize Sakurai and Misora as familiar types, but artist/author Kaito has invested them with more personality than is called for by the genre. Misora, for example, is a classic Shonen Spaz Dream Girl, but she’s an interesting variation on the type; though she’s utterly incompetent at everything, she’s clearly knowledgeable about lacrosse. She freely admits that she’s terrible, but she doesn’t care because playing the game gives her a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

Sakurai embodies another classic type, the Cool Reader Surrogate. As portrayed in the first two chapters of Cross Manage, Sakurai is a natural at everything — photography, shogi, sports — even though he never practices. Sakurai is a sympathetic character nonetheless, one who’s both moved and puzzled by Misora’s dedication to a sport at which she… well, sucks. And while Misora has a lot to learn from Sakurai about how to handle the stick and pass the ball, Sakurai clearly has a lot to learn from Misora as well — not the least of which is how to enjoy doing things at which he’s not an expert. (Also how to comport himself around girls, of whom he has a deep, unnatural phobia that’s sure to be explained in a future chapter.)

As with many Shonen Jump titles, the artwork is crisp if not terribly distinctive; I’d have a hard time picking Sakurai and Misora out of a line-up of recent Jump characters, though both are memorable enough within the context of the story. Kaito has the artistic chops to populate Cross Manage with a diverse supporting cast — a key skill in a series that promises to have a bumper crop of comic relief characters. Though he hasn’t had many opportunities to showcase this skill just yet, a throwaway scene involving the “prince” of the shogi club hints at Kaito’s ability to establish personality through a few well-chosen details.

If Kaito can steer clear of excessive fanservice, and provide both Sakurai and Misora room for personal growth, I could see myself following Cross Manage; if not, it will join the large pile of shonen romantic comedies that I’ve abandoned after the fifth — or fifteenth — “misunderstanding” involving groping, nudity, or panties. Stay tuned.

CROSS MANAGE, CHAPTERS 1-2 • BY KAITO • VIZ MEDIA • CURRENTLY RUNNING IN WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA

A First Look at Cross Manage

October 13, 2012 by Katherine Dacey 3 Comments

For a series whose plot hinges on a mammary collision, Cross Manage is better than it has any right to be: it’s interesting, funny, and populated with appealing characters who rise above type.

The collider and the collidee are, respectively, Sakurai, an aimless second-year student, and Misora, captain of the girls’ lacrosse team. Though Sakurai has joined and quit twelve clubs, he has yet to discover an activity at which he excels; he scoffs at the idea that anyone would play a sport or pursue a hobby simply for enjoyment. Misora is his diametric opposite, an enthusiast who can describe the history of lacrosse in voluminous detail, but can’t make a shot to save her life. When Sakurai accidentally grabs Misora’s chest during an impromptu coaching session, she offers him a choice: become the manager of the girls’ lacrosse team, or risk public humiliation.

CROSS MANAGE, CHAPTERS 1-2 • BY KAITO • VIZ MEDIA • CURRENTLY RUNNING IN WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA

NYCC 2012 – Day 1

October 12, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

Today was, frankly, an exhausting day at NYCC, so let’s go right to the details of said day.

Started off with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund panel. They’re actually doing a 2nd panel on Sunday (which I can’t make), but this was their general panel giving a history of comic censorship and litigation in North America. It went through the topics one would expect – Seduction of the Innocent, Bill Gaines’ testimony, R. Crumb and the underground movement – but Charles Brownstein is an excellent speaker and made it all seem fresh. Because it was pro-artist, history sometimes downplays the disaster that Gaines’ testimony ended up being. As the years have gone by, litigators have gone from arresting retailers, to artists, and now to readers such as Ryan Matheson – who will be at NYCC this Sunday to tell his story.

After this I had ‘Editors on Editing’ on my schedule, but I’d already covered a very similar panel yesterday. So I briefly dropped by to see Sir Terry Pratchett, who was promoting his new non-Discowrld book Dodger. Unfortunately, they’d put Terry at an open stage, with lots of other loud con activity going on around the hall. It led to severe volume problems unless you were right near him. I could only stay a few minutes, but Dodger sounds like a lot of fun – and reminds me I need to finish that reread of Oliver Twist.

Archie promised to be full up, so I ducked into the panel before it, which was on Digital Pricing. This was very much a North American comics discussion, with no mention of JManga or the manga publishing apps. They discussed trying to experiment further as the tech improves, with things like Motion Comics, etc. DRM was a large part of the discussion – people are very paranoid a lost license will mean their content will be removed and they’ll lose it, unlike print. The creators, you could tell, got what the audience was saying, but they aren’t giving in – DRM and Cloud is how they control piracy. “People like to own things” is not really enough of an argument to them. That said, the panel ended on an upbeat note as they talked about the next big challenges, discoverability and manageability. Indexing and sorting comics, as well as making sure people can find and acquire them with ease.

Archie then came barreling in, giving out its traditional free bag of publications. The real reason to go to these, however, is the panel itself – Archie knows how to put on a show, no matter who the publicity director is, and they also known how to make their enthusiasm contagious. On the panel were stalwarts John Goldwater, Victor Gorelick, and Dan Parent, as well as Michael Uslan, Batman producer and the mind behind the Archie Marries series that led to Life With Archie’s soap-opera magazine reboot.

Archie had a pile of stuff to talk about. The new Betty and Veronica artbook, which looks gorgeous. A line of Archie Cosmetics, out soon in Department stores and MAC stores. Best of Archie Book 2 is out (I bought that at the exhibit hall earlier), with more classic stories over all 6 decades of the show. Sadly, there’s more Super Duck in it as well. Archie Meets Glee is out next year, on the heels of Archie Meets KISS. They noted it was very easy to slot the Glee cast into the Archie mode. There’s an Archie Mobile Game due out soon, for phones and tablets, that sounds very much like your typical Japanese datesim (though no doubt squeaky clean). You go after Betty or Veronica, and your choices end up affecting how the other girl sees you. Should be out in the Spring.

It’s Sabrina’s 50th anniversary, and there’s a digital exclusive 50 Stories book out now at Archie’s digital site. They showed some test footage for a new Sabrina cartoon that’s in the works for Summer 2013, which is big on thrills and adventure. It’ll be on The Hub. Tania Del Rio’s manga-style Sabrina is getting collected into 4 graphic novels, the first of which will be out in February. Great news for those who loved her take on Sabrina.

At this point the announcements were coming even faster than I could type them. Kevin Keller will meet George Takei in his series. More Storybook Land Archie, with the gang as characters from nursery rhymes and other such literature. A new Josie comic is due in 2013. In Life with Archie, we’ll see Josie as well, and Kevin Keller will be running for Senate. Little Archie is getting a cartoon series. Married Life Book 3 will be out soon. They’re doing foreign editions of their digital apps – Archie in 13 different languages, including Chinese and Japanese, and also comics in Singapore. Even Hindi!

New Crusaders had a motion comic intro, and it’s very superhero-ish. There’s also a Sonic/Megaman crossover coming. To my surprise, this had never been attempted before. Q&A then occurred, with fans asking about the Jughead series (a reimagining of the series is coming next year), Katy Keene returning, Dilton getting a short series. Archie Marries Valerie will be getting a collection, of course – they noted it was the easiest of the three to write, and an audience member said their chemistry was “scorching”. Many happy Kevin fell in love – “He needs to get some” was called the takeaway quote of the panel. An interesting question about whether other countries would be unhappy with, say, Kevin. They note they can auto-detect countries and try to keep in mind any sensitive political/censorship issues. And, of course, someone asked about Jughead and romance. The panel merely laughed. As always, great fun was had by all.

After that long diversion, it was time to get back to manga, as it was Vertical’s panel. Ed walked us through the most recent announcements, then broke out the two premiere ones. Twin Knight is the sequel to Tezuka’s shoujo classic Princess Knight, though ironically it appeared 5 years before the rewritten PK that Vertical actually released – Tezuka redid his seminal series in 1963. Twin Knight ran in Kodansha’s Nakayoshi in 1958, and stars Sapphire’s twin children, who end up running into the same enemies and have to deal with the same gender-bending issues.

Ed’s other new license is a far more adult tome, this one from famed josei publisher Shodensha. Helter Skelter is an award-winning work from the magazine Feel Young, written by Kyoko Okazaki. This was a popular license request, and fans talked it up enough that Vertical went out and got it. A harrowing look at the fashion industry and what steps the heroine will take to crawl to the top of it, this is a mature work that is a “very Vertical” sort of release.

Some other details were provided about titles previously mentioned. Paradise Kiss 2 and 3 will have additional color pages. Flowers of Evil is doing better than they expected, Ed called it a “sleeper hit”, and noted its 7th volume just came out recently. It also has an anime out soon. Ed noted that Limit is the sort of shoujo work you don’t see picked up here too often, very much a thriller/horror piece. Gundam the Origin had the audience very excited – Ed noted the creator removed a lot of the dumb comedy and slapstick from the story, leaving it as a tense serious mecha piece. The books will be hardcover and gorgeous, but also limited – no reprints, get them right away. 11 volumes total. Wolfsmund is apparently a retelling of the William Tell legend, and the artist was previously an assistant on both Emma and Berserk. I jokingly asked if the series combined the two, but Ed said it felt like it did! The artist has Mori’s sense of impeccable research.

After this came Q&A. I asked about digital manga, they’re working on it. They want to do something other than an app like the other publishers. They also said that some of their novels are out digitally.

After a quick bite for dinner, I went to JManga’s author spotlight panel, which featured the artist of SoreMachi, Masakazu Ishiguro, and the editor at Young King OURS, Masahiro Ohno. This was a very relaxed, laid back panel and both guests were in a great mood. There were also many giveaways (the audience was quite loud). SoreMachi has 9 volumes on JManga, with the 10th due out soon. Ishiguro also does art for other writers. I was interested to hear that he enjoys series, but found that he excelled at short story format when he replaced other artists who were unable to meet deadlines. One of his Short Story collections, Present for Me, also just hit JManga. He then did some live art, a picture of Kon-senpai from SoreMachi, which impressed me with its speed.

Q&A began with some questions from Robert. We were all amused to hear that Ishiguro-san did a lot of his art while soaking in the bath, which led to a few bath-related questions. I asked Ohno about how they view the NA market – Shonen Gahosha has a lot of licenses over here through a variety of publishers. He said they do think of the Japanese audience first and foremost, but he’s interested in seeing what other countries’ artists could provide – you can submit some art to info@jmanga.com and they’ll forward it to him. And he’s another in a long line of popular manga artists who grew up loving Fujiko Fujio and Doraemon.

The last panel of the day I attended was Udon’s, which was moderated by Comics212’s Chris Butcher, who is their marketing director. I was intrigued to hear that Udon does a lot of stuff totally unrelated to artbooks and Capcom, which they dub “creative services”. Art for Sucker Punch, advertizing art for Inception, World of Warcraft artwork. They work closely with companies to comb through the old vaults looking for content. They’re doing that with Namco right now. They also use their Deviantart page heavily (under UdonCrew), and the audience seemed enthused about this.

The Evangelion artbooks got a lot of positive attention, as did the Read or Die artbook, which I’ll definitely be taking a look at. The Haruhi-ism artbook apparently had some extra colors used in Japan – moren than the usual 4-color – and so they’re taking the time to use that color as well over here, noting the vibrancy jumps out at you. Speaking of Haruhi, they announced two more artbooks here at NYCC. Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter are, as you might guess, themed along seasons, and deal with anime-style art as seen in Newtype and such (whereas Haruhi-ism is devoted to Ito’s artwork). Those will be out in Spring/Autumn 2013.

They also announced a Growlancer artbook, which should appeal to Plastic Nipple… um, sorry, Plastic Little fans, as it’s by Urushihara. They do note that this is a PG-13 title, and not adult like some of the artist’s other works. There were 3 Vocaloid character-specific artbooks announced, which provides some rare official merchandizing for that media empire. Lastly, they’re teaming up with Blizzard for a World of Warcraft tribute book – similar to the Street Fighter ones – which will solicit artwork from artists to include. They’re expecting thousands of submissions. The dates are 11-1 – 1/15, if folks are interested.

And then I had to duck out, so apologies to Chris and company. Tomorrow will have even more news! Can I possibly survive? Well, yes, but to do so I will need sleep, which I will now go and do.

NYCC 2012 – Day 0

October 11, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

The two panels I went to on “Day 0” of New York Comic Con didn’t have any manga content, but definitely contained points of interest, particularly to me.

First I dropped by the “Editing Graphic Novels” panel, which was hosted by Heidi McDonald of Publisher’s Weekly, and featured editors from Vertigo, Lerner, First Second, Yen, and Oni. Yen talked about their Interview with the Vampire tie-in, and how to match a good artist with a story. This is, in fact, the artist’s first work. They also mentioned Nightschool, and noted Svetlana had “too many ideas” – even after pruning, it was still 4 books instead of the original 3!

Vertigo is an old hand at this sort of thing, and mentioned their new GN Right State. A graphic novel lets them get away from the ’22 pages then a cliffhanger’ problem that floppies have. Right State is political, and was timed to come out near the election. They also talked about Colleen Doran’s new work she’s doing art for, Gone to Amerikay, which is historical but also relevant to today’s world, something Karen Berger (Vertigo’s speaker) tries to work with.

Oni Press mentioned Crogan’s Vengeance, which is also a historical-themed manga with pirates. This artist actually had the first book completely thumbnailed when it was sold – when he did the third book, needing an outline first was a bit vexing. Naturally, Scott Pilgrim also came up. The editor considers it one 1200-page book that had to be put out in 6 parts. Also, as the series grew the editor was promoted, and had to find a balance between editing and the administrative aspect of Oni.

Lerner is a school and library publisher, so are usually looking for educational or younger comics. A Game of Swallows is a memoir of one harrowing night in Beirut, and was translated, but barely needed any editing. They noted they do sometimes have to censor, due to age groups – breasts, etc – but they were allowed to leave the guns in this story, of course. They also mentioned Chicagoland Detective Agency, which had the funniest part of the panel, as they came up with a ridiculous premise… that the execs loved, so they had to find a writer. Luckily, Trina Robbins loved the idea as well. Its artist is a webcomic artist, so had to adjust to the different ways of working – there’s actual editing this time! They also discussed how to give feedback and criticism to “a famous person” such as Trina.

First Second talked about its GN Sumo, and noted the way that mini-comics can be a good stepping stone to finding out if an artist can work with deadlines and larger publishers. The author, who did not really know how print runs worked, suggested each copy be hand bound – and that he could do it if needed. They talked him down from that. There’s also a comic due out next Spring, Relish – My Life In The Kitchen. It’s a biographical memoir that uses food as a bit of a mnemonic, and also has recipes.

Smaller publishers noted they mostly get creator-driven ideas, rather than farming ideas out. They also discussed working under the umbrella of a much larger company – such as First Second with MacMillan, or Vertigo with DC/Time Warner. They get to blame the “corporate overlords”. Lastly, there was a discussion of how to refer to what an editor does. Someone suggested it’s like the director/producer of a movie, and “project manager” is one one editor referred to it. More importantly, it’s a relationship between an editor and a creator – you have to make it work, know how to deal with people.

After this invigorating discussion, I waited for Hasbro’s My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic panel. At the panel were Hasbro Execs Mike Vogel and Brian Lenard, producer Jason Thiessen and writer Meghan McCarthy. I had thought, given it was a Thursday panel, that it would be more marketing oriented. Nope, this was pure 100% fan panel. They got the ball rolling by discussing Equestria itself. The show isn’t a serial, but there’s a lot of world building within the self-contained episodes. They like to do subtle visual cues that point to future episodes, rather than have actual continuity. They also like that the new series is its own thing, and doesn’t reference the earlier 80s series. Hasbro gets premises and outlines to approve, and notes they do listen to the audience – though they will not be crossing over with Transformers. They discussed doing something with a human element to it (as in actual humans in the show), but it didn’t seem to fit. It’s a magical fantasy world, so they try to keep it low tech. Unless they don’t – see the DJ equipment, etc.

It’s a mythological based world, which helps to make the show timeless – Twilight Sparkle will not be using Twitter. They also do have sometimes heated discussions about the show with Hasbro, much more than any other Hasbro property. (A clip from Hearth’s Warming Eve played here). They want to explore more of Celestia and Luna’s past, and note that there are three separate “pasts” in the show – Hearth’s Warming Eve, Discord, and Nightmare Moon – that aren’t worked out beforehand, but they try to fit together. This was not planned out in detail from the start. (At this point they joked about how it’s OK if they spoil Season 12, and noted Rarity and Spike were married after Equestria passed the Pony/Dragon Marriage Act.)

Not all the animals talk, and it was noted that what they try to convey is that it’s the “hooved animals” who can speak, while others, such as Angel Bunny, are mute/more of a normal animal type. They then discussed ensemble darkhorses, and showed a clip of Luna from Luna Eclipsed. Fans adore Luna, even though she’s barely appeared. Octavia took them entirely by surprise – they had no idea fans latched onto her. Vinyl Scratch, on the other hand, they knew would be loved. It’s all part of “the circle of pony”.

Discord, with a clip from The Return of Harmony. Dragonequus is unique to the series, and was designed by Lauren, who also suggested/requested John DeLancie in the role. It was the perfect combination of design, animation and voice acting. They noted DeLancie acts with his body like a stage actor, so sometimes managed to exhaust himself. There was lots of bits they had to cut out with Delancie, and Hasbro hinted it may be on a future DVD release. They also discussed him returning, though this read more like a troll.

Other villains were discussed, with a clip of Chrysalis from A Canterlot Wedding. Meghan scripted it, but was blown away by what the designer came up with – the holes in the legs, etc. Someone asked that she be made larger. The panel then teased about things Jason and Meghan wanted to write about in future. The griffon society was mentioned, insofar as we know nothing about their society. Luna’s abandoned moon colony? Is there something beyond Equestria? All things not yet written down (so not spoilers), but food for thought. Equestria’s map was deliberately left with unfinished bits so they could fill this in.

We then got a spoiler clip with the Crystal Empire, which I won’t spoil here, except to say that Pinkie Pie continues to be very Pinkie Pie.

They then opened the floor to questions, and discussed Lauren’s creating the pony personalities as archetypes, which makes them easy and fun to work with. Someone asked if the new season was only 13 episodes – rather than answer, Hasbro noted that everyone adores the show, and that episode number has nothing to do with popularity. Hasbro loved that this is an all-ages show that kids as well as adults can enjoy – they compare it to Pixar. Gilda was asked about, she simply hasn’t come up again yet. Star Swirl the Bearded would be hard to work with, given he’s in the past. If only they had a world with magic in it… The panel agreed that Fighting Is Magic looked really cool, though Hasbro of course cannot officially admit they have seen the awesome gameplay.

They love the bronies, but also like that they’re just a piece of an even larger all-encompassing fandom. Jason lives next to two young boys who wanted Rarity toys for their birthday, so they’re also crossing gender barriers at a young age. Even the Hasbro interns, who were very grudging about having to watch this, admitted they loved the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Official Video games and RPG-style FIM was brought up, Hasbro gave a ‘sounds like a good idea’ response. A fan asked about Fluttershy, Applejack and Scootaloo’s parents, and got no real answer, though it was noted when asked about Cadence and Shining Armor’s marriage having difficulties that that would have to be “A very special episode.”

A soundtrack CD was also brought up, and they’re considering it. Someone noted certain comparisons between Hearts and Hooves Day and Discord, and Jason noted “you know, we only do these panels with you guys to get ideas for future episodes.” They like to use Greek mythology, but note that they can also dip into other things. They are VERY excited about IDW’s upcoming comic series, and note that they’re working closely to make sure it “feels like Pony”. Pinkie Pie’s parents were brought up. “They’re still farming rocks. The rocks must keep flowing.”

Movie? “Mmmmmmaybe.” Broadway was also mentioned, the panel laughed. It was also noted that, despite using Flash rather than hand-drawn animation, it still took a great deal of time and effort. It’s all still frame by frame. They want to explore the nature of the “monarchy”, and how the power structure works. Lastly, Alicorns were brought up (or ‘pegacorns’, as they apparently called them before fans used alicorn so often they gave up and switched it in the scripts). They’re “special” ponies who will rarely be seen. Celestia’s age was not mentioned exactly, but it’s noted she is at least 1000, and looks fantastic for her age.

It was a fantastic Day 0, even with only two panels. Tomorrow, the manga coverage begins.

Manga the Week of 10/17

October 10, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

If you thought last week was tiny, wait till you get a load of this week. Tiny tiny tiny. (I blame Yen for shipping a week later than usual.)

Kodansha has the 2nd omnibus of the popular shoujo title Kitchen Princess.

Speaking of omnibuses, Viz has the 9th Tenjo Tenge omnibus, showing that we’re getting near the end. And they also have Vol. 4 of March Story, which has a Korean creator but runs in a Japanese magazine, so is manga in my opinion.

That’s it. Not even enough to make bad jokes about. Anything?

Crazy For You, Vol. 1

October 10, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

By Karuho Shiina. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (“Betsuma”). Released in North America by JManga.

I will admit, JManga is very good at planning their surprises. I had thought the big news for NYCC would be the Kodansha rescues, where they picked up several old Del Rey series that sold poorly enough that Kodansha Comics didn’t want to continue them, and are going to finish them off on the JManga site. And that is indeed very awesome news. But they followed it up with new, unreleased in North America titles from another of the ‘untouchable’ publishers that everyone assumed was supporting JManga quietly without actually giving them anything. Shueisha has added two older shoujo titles that Viz presumably doesn’t have an interest in, and I couldn’t be happier. Especially as one of them is an earlier series from the author of Kimi ni Todoke.

The first 3/4 of this volume is, quite simply, warm fuzzy fluffy shoujo romance. The heroine is Sachi, who is bright, bubbly, and eager to experience life, whatever it may be. She’s naive to a fault, but otherwise is quite different from Sawako, Shiina’s other heroine. Her more down-to-earth friend Akemi is arranging a get together so Sachi and her other friends can meet some guys Akemi’s boyfriend knows (the curse of all-girl schools). While there, she sees Yuki, a somewhat passive yet handsome guy, and falls almost instantly in love. The problem is that Yuki has issues. Will she be able to get through to his true self and show him her feelings? And is she really ready for love herself?

Sachi is an interesting heroine, at once incredibly naive and yet aware of her own naivete. At times in this volume she sets herself up to be hurt, knowing that even if she does it will be a good life experience and make her a stronger person. She’s also able to see that Yuki is a deeply wounded young man, though she’s unable to see exactly what those wounds are. After he initially rejects her (we suspect as she’s not the sort of girl he can casually date and drop), they become friends, but Sachi is still trying to show how much she cares for him. There’s a very awkward yet warm tone to their conversations that KnT fans will find familiar.

So, we get a cute bubbly girl and a quiet guy whose mask hides his loneliness and true feelings. We also have the cute beta couple of Akemi and her boyfriend, and another guy, Akahoshi, who is another shoujo cliche, the guy who initially is annoyed by the girl’s ditziness, but starts to fall for her as he realizes she has a truly good heart. It’s all very cute but slight. But this is six volumes long, not one, and we realize that something has to go wrong. The last 15 pages or so are a total mood swing, turning violent and dramatic, and end with a brutal cliffhanger. I suspect Volume 2 will be a lot less happy and fluffy.

(I actually liked the way all the players came together. Kimi ni Todoke’s main romantic pairings all tend to happen in parallel to each other, with no intersections (except maybe Kent). This is a giant messy pile of friendships and relationships.)

I’ve said this before about other titles, but again, this is what I want to see JManga doing. A nice, solid shoujo title that other publishers aren’t going to bother with. It doesn’t quite hit the heights of Kimi ni Todoke (the art, in particular, is less elegant and more typical shoujo), but it has a likeable heroine and an addictive plot. I want to know what happens next. Good thing Vol. 2 is also out now.

It Came From the Sinosphere: Spirit Sword

October 9, 2012 by Sara K. 12 Comments

I have previously discussed Zheng Feng’s first publishing success, Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero. While that was her first published novel, this novel is actually the first novel she wrote, though after publishing Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero she made major revisions to this one before publication. She said that, of the two, this novel was much more difficult to write, partially because she would often weep while revising it. I can believe it. In fact, she thinks she made Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero so breezy to compensate for the solemness of this novel.

So, what is this novel about?

Story Overview

The martial arts world is being menaced by the ever-growing Fire Cult. So some people try to divine how to defeat the Fire Cult. They get a prophecy, which says that to extinguish the fire (as in the Fire Cult), the spirit sword must weep.

The story starts with a boy who has the power to read other people’s minds and to sometimes see the future (yep, psychic powers). Yet even though he can sometimes see the future, he doesn’t know about his own past – he has no memory of anything that happened to him before he was five years old, and knows nothing whatsoever about his parents. Furthermore, his body is covered with strange marks. He doesn’t even know his own family name – only his nickname, ‘Ming’er’.

Meanwhile, the Fire Cult is taking over the world with its kung fu, assisted by the psychic powers of its charismatic yet monomaniacal leader, Duan Dusheng. And for some reason, the Fire Cult is seeking out Ling Xiao, a former cult member who betrayed them. Yet Ming’er knows Ling Xiao’s father, Ling Manjiang and knows that he and Ling Xiao are about the same age … how could a little boy been a member of the cult, let alone do something so terrible that the cult would still be searching for him years later.

As it so happens, while Ming’er lives with Ling Manjiang, Ling Manjiang has a relationship with a woman, and she dies after giving birth to a daughter, Ling Yun. Ling Manjiang leaves, telling Ming’er to treat Ling Yun as his own sister.

Well, as a teenager, Ming’er finally figures it out … this ‘Ling Xiao’ boy is none other than himself. His mother was mad that Ling Manjiang was falling in love with another woman, so she left him and entered the Fire Cult. Duan Dusheng recognized Ling Xiao’s psychic powers, and decided to steal them. However, in order to make use of them, Duan Dusheng had to subject Ling Xiao to heavy-duty physical torture. His mother regretted bringing her son into the Fire Cult, so she made him drink a potion which made him lose all of his memories, sent him to a safe place. The cult punished her with torture and death. During the novel, Ling Xiao occasionally angsts over the fact that he doesn’t have a single memory of the mother who made such a sacrifice for him.

And of course, because he is in fact Ling Xiao, Ling Yun happens to be his biological half-sister.

This is only the beginning of course (this novel is over a thousand pages long), but I think this is enough to get the idea. Oh, and if you don’t know Chinese, you might want to know what the meaning of the prophecy is, right?

[MAJOR SPOILER WARNING]

At some point Duan Dusheng had loses his psychic powers, but he is still practically invincible because of a special kung-fu power. But to maintain this invicibility, he needs to regularly sexually assault young women. Most of these women die, and the ones who survive usually go mad. Now, if somebody interrupted the kung-fu ceremony, Duan Dusheng would temporarily lose his invincibility, but he’s not going to let anybody get close enough to do such a thing (well, except for his victim, since the victim has to be nearby for the ceremony to work, but trying to get into the ceremony this way is a suicidal mission).

So, during the course of the novel, Ling Xiao falls in love with a woman called Qin Yanlong, whose backstory is even more complicated than Ling Xiao’s. She has observed that, in spite of all of the suffering Ling Xiao has endured, he’s not a bitter guy at all, and it’s really difficult to make him angry. In fact, he doesn’t even hate Duan Dusheng. He is so used to being tormented that he thinks it’s normal … yet he won’t allow anyone he loves to suffer. The only time he ever wanted to kill anybody is when he thought that his beloved sister, Ling Yun, had been assaulted and tortured, and the only time he ever weeped was when he thought she herself (Qin Yanlong) was dead or dying.

Qin Yanlong eventually realizes that the ‘spirit sword’ mentioned in the prophecy is Ling Xiao himself. And she puts two and two together.

[END MAJOR SPOILER WARNING]

How it Works as a Prequel

So, since I had read Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero first, I knew how things were going to end up in this story. That did not reduce the suspense. It might have actually increased the suspense, since I knew exactly how terrible things were going to get the for the main characters.

Yet there were many surprises. For example, when Qin Yanlong was first introduced as Cheng Da’s young male companion, my reaction was ‘WTH’, because a) in Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero, Qin Yanlong is female and b) in Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero, Qin Yanlong is paired with Ling Xiao, whereas Cheng Da is paired with Ji Huohe (to the extent you could call it a pair, since they were both had other partners).

And, as a fan of Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero, I greatly enjoyed seeing the characters from that novel appear in this one, though I personally would have liked to have seen more of Ji Huohe (Zheng Feng says that she plans to write a novel about Cheng Da one day … I hope we might see more of Ji Huohe in that one). Learning more about their backgrounds, particularly Qin Yanlong’s background, was also a fannish delight.

Yet it is remarkable just how different this novel is from Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero considering that many of the same characters appear in both. Whereas Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero is fleet-footed and humorous (well, it’s can also pretty grim, but the grim parts tend to be brief), Spirit Sword is somber and tragic. And it was much harder to get into Sprit Sword. I was hooked on Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero by page 10, but it took over a hundred pages for me to really get sucked into Sprit Sword.

And while Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero is definitely more fun, Spirit Sword feels like a deeper experience. I cried a lot more while reading this novel. I think it’s because of the pain level. While Ling Haotian and Zhao Guan have to suffer quite a bit in Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero, it’s not in the same league as what Ling Xiao and Qin Yanlong endure in Sprit Sword.

The fact that Zheng Feng has written two such different yet wonderful novels had only deepened my admiration for her.

The Intoxicating Atmosphere

It’s really hard to describe the feel of this novel. It’s … a lot like classic fairy tales, (the originals from Hans Christian Anderson, Brothers Grimm, etc … not the Disney versions). Those old fairy tales are often bizarre and, frankly, cruel when you take a cold look at them. Yet they form such striking impressions in one’s mind … blood red and snow white and all.

A lot of this novel like that. If you actually pause (like I did when I was trying to put in the description) you think ‘what the jianghu is that?!’ For example, while Ling Xiao is being tortured and slowly dying from the curse Duan Dusheng put on him, a woman comes into his dreams and relieves the symptoms of the curse, and Ling Xiao falls in love with her. That could come straight from a fairy-tale; a curse that kills slowly, and the mysterious dream woman who eases the pain. Or, for example, the time Qin Yanlong comes back bloodied up. It turns out that she had become friends with a tiger and her cubs, but when the tiger threatened Ling Yun, she ended up killing her friend (the tiger), getting heavily wounded herself, and begs Ling Xiao to take care of the orphaned cubs because she’s in no condition to raise them herself.

But life is like that. Or at least, a life worth living. Surprises happen. Great emotions get stirred by striking events. Whether it’s a 80 tall waterfall, or hearing that your great-aunt saw two of her children die, a full life is marked by punctures to mundane.

This novel is a bit like Please Save My Earth, and I’m not talking about the psychic powers. It sounds ridiculous when you summarize it, but makes total sense while actually experiencing it … and it just sucks you in with the complex character backgrounds and (often messed-up) interactions.

Availability in English

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Conclusion

I think you have all figured out by now that I love this novel. I’m now sad that there is currently only one un-read Zheng Feng novel left for me … but Zheng Feng is still an active writer, so I look forward to reading whatever she writes as long as her pen (or keyboard) keeps moving.

Next Time: The Love Eterne (movie)

Sara K. really did see an 80m high waterfall today. In fact, she saw a lot of waterfalls today. And rainbows. And mountains shrouded with clouds. And forest-blanked hills. And a clear, blue, cascading stream. And … you get the idea.

Pick of the Week: Quick Pick

October 8, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: It’s a mild second week at Midtown, leading to a somewhat mild choice of picks for the week. I’ll go with the first omnibus volume of Girl Friends, which JManga released digitally last year. Seven Seas is doing its own edition with a different translation. I’m happy to buy it again, as I like reading paper volumes, but it’s also a fun story. One might argue that it’s a bit too cute and fluffy – this is a far cry from angsty 70s shoujo series where one girl always has to die – but honestly I’m happy to sacrifice that for some happy endings. Not that there isn’t a fair share of fretting to be found here, but this is seinen yuri, not shoujo—so the moe is ascendant. Good stuff.

MICHELLE: My vote’s going for the second volume of Punch Up!, which is actually by Shiuko Kano and not Hinako Takenaga (sic), as Midtown claims. This series from SuBLime isn’t really my usual cup of BL tea—nothing about it is sweet or adorable—and yet I am intrigued to see where it goes from here. Plus, there is a cat!

MJ: I’m making my pick a bit frantically today, as I prepare to travel for New York Comic Con, but the title that stands out for me most on the list this week is Viz’s omnibus release of Loveless, volumes one and two. I’m a fan of Yun Kouga in general, but this is a series I missed on its first go-around, so I’m grateful to have a chance to catch up to the newer volumes Viz is releasing as well! Definitely my must-buy of the week.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 10/8/12

October 8, 2012 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney and MJ 1 Comment

This week, Michelle, MJ, and Sean look at recent releases from VIZ Media and Vertical, Inc.

The Drops of God: New World | By Tadashi Agi & Shu Okimoto | Vertical, Inc. – Rather than release a fifth volume of this series, which would’ve included volumes nine and ten of the original release, Vertical has jumped ahead to this New World arc (volumes 22 and 23 of the original), which focuses on wines from regions without a long-established winemaking tradition, particularly the US and Australia. It’s incredibly easy to jump back into the story even after a gap of over a dozen volumes, since so little changes with the characters., though Issei is a lot more prominent now and his hair has mysteriously gotten cuter. Highfalutin’ descriptions of wine still abound, and still make me roll my eyes with regularity, but there’s something captivating about this series that keeps me reading. Honestly, it’s more the sports manga-like themes of perseverence and presumed eventual triumph than the subject matter or the characters, but that’s enough for me. – Michelle Smith

The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 3 | By Shuzo Oshimi | Vertical, Inc. – There are a number of scenarios I might have imagined coming out of the rather stunning final pages of the second volume of The Flowers of Evil, but this series continues to be fresh and surprising in just about every way. Oshimi’s characters refuse to fall into neat categories, while still managing to ring true—in fact they feel truer with each page. Volume three is unexpectedly moving as Kasuga comes to the surprisingly insightful realization that putting his dream girl on a pedestal is not the same thing as loving her, and as all three of the series’ main characters are faced with truths they weren’t quite prepared for. If this series’ first volume read mainly as “better than Sundome” its third proves that it is really so much more. Highly recommended. – MJ

Jiu Jiu, Vol. 2 | By Touya Tobina | VIZ Media – After being so thoroughly unimpressed with the first volume of Jiu Jiu, I wasn’t expecting much from the second volume. Perhaps, then, my low expectations are the reason that I somehow now feel more kindly disposed towards the series, even though it’s still pretty generic and aimless and has weirdly proportioned art. I haven’t been moved to care more about Takamichi, Snow, and Night as characters, but I don’t hate the plot wherein the boys/dogs want to assert their independence, or that they’re prodded in this direction by Meru, a mischievous new character who spends part of his time in the form of a super-cute vampire pig. I hate to think a vampire pig is all it takes to sway me, but at least it’s something unique, which this series desperately needed. – Michelle Smith

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 11 | By Hiroshi Shiibashi | VIZ Media – In a contest for ‘Jump manga that varies most in quality’, Nura may not have any serious competition. This particular volume is mostly one long battle, which I generally don’t like to begin with, and unfortunately the author does not manage to save much of it from excessive tedium. There’s a focus in the middle on Awashima, who changes sex depending on whether it’s light or dark (so is rather grumpy about the darkness of Kyoto, keeping her female all the time), which is meant to show her accepting both sides of her, I think, but simply reads as an annoying diversion. At least towards the end we get a really nasty bad guy, who proceeds to take all our heroes and crumple them into little balls of failure. I suspect Nura will get his revenge in Vol. 12, hopefully in a more interesting way. -Sean Gaffney

The Story of Saiunkoku, Vol. 8 | By Kairi Yura and Sai Yukino | VIZ Media – It really is startling how much I’ve come to love this series. I think it’s the fact that all the court intrigue and scheming is presented in both a positive *and* negative light, with the best schemers winning because they are smarter and more devious than the bad guy. This is a series that has a lot of handsome men relying on people underestimating them, which is nice but means the author has to have them be savvy enough to back that up. It works very well here. Our heroine Shurei does very well keeping up with everyone, and is starting to chip away at the ‘she is a woman and therefore weak’ attitude in the court. Well, given the last chapter, she’s going to get a lot more chances to do that in the future. All this plus a tiny bit of romance again. Saiunkoku is simply a great story, full stop. -Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 12 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Toriko fares much better than Nura this time around, mostly as it’s between arcs and has therefore gotten away from the standard Jump ‘2-3 volumes of people punching each other hard’ syndrome. Instead, we get to see the results of Century Soup, and then set out on a new arc, as Toriko is told he’s not really strong enough yet to take on the Gourmet World. So he does some training by climbing a ten-thousand-meter plus vine to a sky garden with the best vegetables in the world. Actually, Komatsu is the one who really impresses here – not that he does anything, but his simple willingness to carry on is amazing. Toriko is all about world building, which is what makes it so much fun – the combination of food, fighting, and larger than life characters. I also suspect our hero is in for some harsh reality soon, though… -Sean Gaffney

JManga picks up Kodansha titles; Seven Seas announces three new licenses

October 8, 2012 by Brigid Alverson

With New York Comic Con just around the corner, we are seeing a flurry of announcements from publishers about licenses and digital deals. JManga announced on Friday that they are adding Kodansha manga to their digital service, and so far that seems to mean the series that were previously published by Del Rey and not picked up by Kodansha Comics, the U.S. arm of Kodansha. The series up there right now include School Rumble, Code:Breaker, Pumpkin Scissors, Princess Resurrection, Pastel, and The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls. ANN went to JManga and asked the obvious question: Yes, they will be publishing the volumes that weren’t released in English as well.

And Seven Seas announced three new licenses: The Sacred Blacksmith, a sword-and-sorcery fantasy; Kanokon, a harem comedy; and Zero’s Familiar, a fantasy romantic comedy.

Here’s my roundup of the past week’s new manga releases at MTV Geek. Sean Gaffney looks ahead to this week’s new releases at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Sean also posts a handy guide for readers who want to see more manga being licensed—he lists which publishers are most likely to publish which manga.

Jason Thompson looks at Moyoco Anno’s Flowers and Bees in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Erica Friedman has a big announcement in this week’s edition of Yuri Network News: ALC has published Rica Takashima’s Tokyo Love ~ Rica ‘tte Kanji!?, and it’s available to read for free online.

Volume 7 of Sailor Moon and vol. 58 of Naruto were the top two graphic novels in the bookstore market last month, according to BookScan. Vol. 11 of Yotsuba&! took the number six slot in the chart, and vol. 2 of Alice in the Country of Clover was number nine. That’s in the brick-and-mortar world; at Manga Bookshelf, Matt Blind calculates the top-selling manga via online sales for the week ending September 30.

Fantagraphics has posted a 23-page preview of Heart of Thomas.

News from Japan: AstroNerdBoy catches up with the latest chatter on Ken Akamatsu. GTO creator Tohru Fujisawa is one of the minds behind a webcomic adaptation of the tokusatsu show Space Sheriff Gavan, which will debut a few days before the live-action movie. The first episode of a new series by Kaiji Kawaguchi, the creator of Eagle and Zipang, will appear in the first 2013 issue of Kodansha’s Morning (available December 6). The goddess Athena will go to middle school in Chū-2-Shin Attēna, a gag manga by Kōji Ōishi that will run for three episodes in Young Jump. Champion RED magazine will run the epilogue to Shin Mazinger Zero in their January issue.

Reviews

Rebecca Silverman on vols. 5 and 6 of Ai Ore! (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz (ANN)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Angelic Layer (Blogcritics)
Dan Polley on vol. 1 of Ballad of a Shinagami (Manga Village)
Kristin on vols. 44 and 45 of Bleach (Comic Attack)
Michael Buntag on vol. 7 of Black Lagoon (NonSensical Words)
Theron Martin on vol. 20 of Claymore (ANN)
Drew McCabe on chapter 1 of Cross Manage (Comic Attack)
Jessi Silver on vol. 2 of Dr. Slumpp (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden (The Comic Book Bin)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Give My Regards to Black Jack (The Manga Critic)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 17 of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time (ANN)
Shannon Fay on vol. 7 of Highschool of the Dead (Kuriousity)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries (ANN)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Message to Adolf (Experiments in Manga)
Carlo Santos on vol. 10 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (ANN)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Oh My Goddess (Blogcritics)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 64 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin)
Chris Beveridge on vol. 1 of Paradise Kiss (The Fandom Post)
Clare Stewart on vol. 1 of Paradise Kiss (Forbidden Planet)
Greg McElhatton on vol. 1 of Polterguys (Read About Comics)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 29 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Philip Anthony on vol. 6 of Sailor Moon (Manga Bookshelf)
Laura on Sakuran (Heart of Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 29 of Skip Beat! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 8 of The Story of Saiunkoku (The Fandom Post)
Kate Haddock on Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (The Collegian)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 14 of Vampire Knight (ANN)
Victoria Martin on vol. 19 of xxxHoLiC (Kuriousity)

Skip Beat!, Vol. 29

October 8, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

By Yoshiki Nakamura. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

I hope you enjoyed the Black Bird-esque cover art, as that’s really the closest thing Skip Beat gets to romance. Oh yes, there’s Kyoko and Ren teasing each other briefly, but the point of that scene is the same as it’s been before – when pressed, Kyoko freaks out completely and shows, as Lory lampshades in this volume, that she’s not remotely ready for love or romance. Which is one reason why Skip Beat is at Vol. 29 and things are still up in the air. Not that we’ve any doubt that the final pairing will be Ren and Kyoko – if Sho somehow manages to win her heart I’ll be mind-boggled (and I think angry fans would storm Hakusensha’s offices). But there’s simply demons in Kyoko’s past that really haven’t resolved yet.

Honestly, I wish we’d see more of Kyoko’s mother. Yes, she’s horrible, and I certainly don’t want to see more of her interactions with Kyoko. Except I totally do, because her emotional abuse at her mother’s hands is what continues to drive her story. Every single time she twitches or reacts poorly to someone getting angry with her – even when it’s obviously meant to be comedic – it reminds me that she’s hypersensitive to everyone’s reactions. And one reason she may be so good at method acting is that she grew up trying to be the good child – or, as she increasingly got pawned off on Sho’s family, the dutiful wife/sister figure. Kyoko’s ability to immediately sense when Ren is upset with her, and her over the top reactions, are incredibly funny, but they’re also built on a foundation that screams ‘trigger warning’.

In a way, Kyoko’s emotional maturity when it comes to love and romance (and even simple things such as friendship) is trying to catch up to the personas that she’s put on her entire life. Which is why she’s still so incredibly naive about love. Her discussion with her Bo costume about Ren’s ‘playboy’ ways show that Lory isn’t kidding about her being completely unable to love. He may glibly tell Ren to avoid taking ‘that final step’ with her, but there’s a reason behind it – if Kyoko is freaking out to the point of bolting across the room when Ren even suggests seducing her, she’s not ready for anything else.

As for the rest of the manga, despite the fact that we’re twenty-nine volumes in, not much time has passed within the manga itself, as we can see given that Dark Moon is only just wrapping up. Meanwhile, Cain Heel’s drama finally starts filming, and we meet one of his fellow actors, Murasame, who seems to be a combination of rival and tsukkomi, as he points out to himself all the weird things Cain and Setsu are doing, but is also clearly attracted to Setsu. Of course, he shows this attraction via his own emotional immaturity – after pondering the best way to introduce himself to her, he starts by insulting her brother. Kyoko’s not the only one with issues.

I love the fact that this cute, funny shoujo manga can make me write about serious things. It doesn’t look to be ending anytime soon, so here’s to more volumes (and perhaps Kyoko conquering her love and affection demons).

License Requesting the Fall 2012 Anime Season – Manga Edition

October 7, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

So you’ve decided you really like that hot new 2012 anime property – so much so that you want to support it by actually buying the manga instead of just reading it on a scan site! First of all, congratulations, you are a very rare individual. But it’s not as easy as walking up to a publisher at New York Comic Con and saying “Hey, you guys should get _____!” After all, what if they don’t deal with that publisher? What if it doesn’t have a manga? What if it’s already licensed and you didn’t realize it?

So, for the anime fan who wants to try a bit of manga, a quick guide to how to beg for Fall 2012 titles. (Note: if I don’t mention a title here, it doesn’t have a manga as far as I can tell.)

First off, let’s eliminate series that are already licensed and actively coming out here. That takes care of Bakuman (Viz), Hayate the Combat Butler (Viz), Hidamari Sketch (Yen), Jormungand (Viz), Kamisama Hajimemashita (Viz) and Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal (Viz). (It’s a Viz world, kids, we just live in it.) I’m also including BTOOOM! (Yen), which is licensed but doesn’t debut till next year.

Secondly, there’s a couple of series which were licensed, but are now, putting it politely, “On hiatus”. Asking about them will likely get you a pained look and a ‘We have no plans at this time’ response. So that takes out Code: Breaker (Del Rey), JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Viz), and Gintama (Viz). The one exception to this is Code: Breaker – JManga has picked up the two volumes Del Rey released, and there is a definite possibility for more in that online-only direction. And technically, JoJo’s finished the arc that it was putting out, so I suppose it’s more ‘didn’t pick up further arcs’ than ‘on hiatus’.

Lastly, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is based off a light novel that has no manga yet, as far as I can tell. Asking about light novel licenses is a great way to get publishers to cry.

So, which publisher can you nag for which books?

SEVEN SEAS: Well, they aren’t at NYCC (they don’t do the East Coast), so a politely worded tweet might do the trick. The anime Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne, aka ‘As Long As There’s Love, I Don’t Care If He’s My Brother!’ is the latest in a theme of faux-incest titles. And runs in Comic Alive. Both of which are very similar to things Seven Seas has recently picked up.

TOKYOPOP: OK, so technically they don’t put out much these days. But honestly, there’s really no better fit for Seitokai no Ichizon, a Kadokawa title that runs in Dragon Age. See if you can sweet-talk Stu.

KODANSHA COMICS: There are two really obvious titles here and one less so. The non-obvious one is Shin Sekai Yori, based on an award-winning SF novel. Its manga adaptation does indeed run in Kodansha’s Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. It began… about 2 weeks ago. So ask them to keep it in mind for NYCC 2013. So that leaves the two big contenders: Sukitte Ii na yo and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, both of which run in Kodansha’s shoujo magazine Dessert. They’re both terrific, but they are in a magazine that is generally ignored when it comes to shoujo NA licenses (honestly, Kodansha Comics tends to avoid anything but Nakayoshi these days), and they’re both still running (series that haven’t already ended in Japan worry publishers).

VERTICAL, INC.: See the two previous titles. If Kodansha says no, maybe Vertical wants to try it out? They are putting out Limit this fall, after all…

JMANGA: Aside from Code: Breaker, which I mentioned above, the one that jumps out at me is Teekyū, a school tennis comedy from Earth Star Entertainment’s Comic Earth Star. JManga recently put out four of their titles, so there’s always a possibility of more.

YEN PRESS: The only one that really leaps out at me is Zetsuen no Tempest, a fantasy manga that runs in Square Exin’s Shonen Gangan. Being a Gangan title, Yen seems the most likely player there. It’s also possible they might look at Little Busters, the latest from the Air/Kanon/Clannad folks, which runs in Kadokawa’s Comp Ace, but that seems less likely.

VIZ MEDIA: There’s a whole host of properties Viz *could* license here, but I’m not sure how many are genuinely *possible* licenses. Magi – The Labyrinth of Magic has a lot of potential, and is probably the most likely title on this list, but it’s 14 volumes and still running, and it also runs in Shonen Sunday, whose success in North America has been poor in the post-Inu Yasha age. Dangerous Jii-san Ja is a comedy 4-koma manga for kids about a goofy grandpa that runs in Corocoro. I can’t see it coming out here. At all. Medaka Box I have discussed many times before, and the same points still apply. And as for To-Love-Ru Darkness, even if the prequel had come out via Viz, this new sequel is simply too M-rated for their usual Jump line.

I HAVE NO IDEA: Two titles simply don’t leap out as going to any publisher. Aoi Sekai no Chūshin de is a fantasy manga that seems to anthropomorphize the console wars, and is written by a Russian woman. It is put out by Micro Magazine. I don’t know who they are either. Judging by the name, I’m guessing they focus on gaming. Lastly, there’s Chiisai Oyaji Nikki, from Ohzora Shuppan, which is about a very small old man.

Anything in that list take your fancy? You know I’ll be uselessly beating the Medaka Box drum…

Not By Manga Alone: Supernatural Revue

October 7, 2012 by Megan Purdy and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

This month Michelle catches up with vampires and vampire slayers with Buffy Season Nine and Angel & Faith, while Megan visits the Twilight Zone through Underwater Welder, and the trencoats-and-tentacles world of Fatale.

Welcome back to Not By Manga Alone!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine, Vol. 1 | By Joss Whedon, et al. | Dark Horse – After pretty much hating Season Eight by the end, I wasn’t sure I was going to bother with Season Nine. The completist in me couldn’t quit so easily, however, and I ended up tentatively checking out the first issue. It was loads better than anticipated, and so here we are!

This first collected volume includes the first five issues of the series, which comprise the four-issue “Freefall” arc and a oneshot entitled “Slayer, Interrupted.” The former introduces readers to Buffy’s new life in San Francisco, where she’s working as a barista and living with a couple of new roommates. Willow’s got a job as a computer programmer, and Dawn and Xander are trying to distance themselves from the supernatural element and move on with their lives. Buffy’s keen to have a normal existence, too, but soon finds herself a fugitive when some formerly vampire corpses turn up and she’s the prime suspect.

The plot here is not exactly exciting, but there are some good moments. Despite seeming somewhat younger than she did at the end of the TV series, Buffy feels more or less in character, especially when you consider that she’s finally free to act her age. At times, the dialogue seems a little too focussed on being amusing, but it’s hard to really complain about that. And if you’re a Spike fan and missed him in Season Eight, you’ll be gratified by his interaction with Buffy in these issues. You might, though, be a little bummed that Xander and Willow don’t seem to be playing much of a role in Buffy’s life these days. And you might be further bummed that Georges Jeanty’s art is still occasionally downright bad, including some abysmal renderings of Willow.

So far, Season Nine is a distinct improvement over Season Eight, but it isn’t perfect. And we haven’t even gotten to the controversial twists in the next batch of issues! Those will have to wait for next time. – Michelle Smith

* * * * *

Angel & Faith, Vol. 1 | By Christos Gage, et al. | Published by Dark Horse – I’ve always found Angel and Faith’s relationship to be a really interesting one. They’ve bonded over their search for atonement for past misdeeds and have seen each other at their worst. So it makes perfect sense that, after Angel does something terrible at the end of Season Eight (seriously, it’s impossible to avoid spoilers, so get out now if you don’t want to know!), Faith is the only one who cares enough about how it affects him to stay by his side.

I have to say… I really love this series. It is, by far, the best Buffy comic I’ve ever read. There are a few reasons for that. Time for a list!

It’s got a cool premise. Angel and Faith are now living in London, following up on cases from Giles’ journals. Angel has gotten it into his head that he’s going to bring Giles back to life, and Faith is torn between supporting someone who’s been there for her in some terrible moments and stopping him from committing a tremendous mistake.

Tighter focus than other Buffy comics. There’s no obligation to include half a dozen recurring characters (though a fluff piece about Harmony is included here) and therefore no grumblings when they appear to receive short shrift.

Faith is really a terrific character. She has matured so much, and has several great lines of dialogue as she confronts this realization, like, “I’m the — what? You’re kidding, right? If I’m the grownup, we’re screwed.”

The art. Hallelujah, Faith is free from the mangling inflicted upon her by Georges Jeanty. As drawn by Rebekah Isaacs, Faith not only looks as lovely as Eliza Dushku, but she’s expressive in ways Jeanty could never dream of achieving.

In short, this comic is great. Even if you hated Season Eight and even if you have no interest in Season Nine, Angel & Faith is still worth your time. – Michelle Smith

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Underwater Welder | By Jeff Lemire | Top Shelf — I heard a lot about this book before I read it. That’s what happens when you go to a ook launch cold. Lemire talked a lot about process (did you know he redraws every panel, rather than scanning and editing? take note, tracers), and a lot about how hard it is to find time to work on passion projects. Underwater Welder is four years in the making. Lemire made substantial changes to the plot and character designs along the way, and it all pays off. Underwater Welder is a weirdly pretty book. It’s also a smart one, tightly written and illustrated. There are no unnecessary panels, few misfires, and no dropped threads. This is 220 pages of wrung out coming of age, through a glass darkly.

In the introduction, Damon Lindeloff says that Underwater Welder is akin to one of the great Twilight Zone episodes, and man is he right. (All the cool reviewers are saying so!) Jack, our eponymous (literal) welder, is an expectant father with daddy issues grounded in real tragedy. When Jack was a boy, his father went diving one Halloween night and never came back. Jack was left waiting, and he’s never stopped waiting. With a baby on the way, and the looming promise of being dry docked while waiting out an injury and parental leave, things come to a head. Spoiler alert! Jack goes diving, and with the help of a lost and found pocket watch, things get weird. Jack gets the time and space, in the form of an emptied out town gone moebius strip, to work out those issues. And, you know how these things work, soon enough it becomes obvious that working things out is necessary to his ever getting home. This is a really spare narrative. It feels about as long as an hour long tv episode, quickly sketched, and full of supporting characters who I wish we’d had more time with. The focus is strictly on Jack and his dad, with the slightest detour for Jack’s wife and his mother. Jack’s wife is a latter days addition–Lemire originally intended her role to be filled by a male friend–and while it’s a smart choice, I still wish she’d gotten more page time.

Fundamentally, Underwater Welder is about fathers and sons. Jack and his dad are allied actually and thematically, even with Jack’s dad dead or MIA for most of the book. They both love the water, need the water, and are disconnected from the ordinary because of it. The demands that Jack’s wife and mother put on him have some weight, but once he’s in the water, they’re lifted. But only for a while, because this is a coming of age story. Specifically a coming into fatherhood story. Jack’s task, the thing he’s got to work out during his supernatural time out, is to be the man and the father that his own father never could be, and to be the one he should and needs to be. Lemire and his wife were starting their own family while he worked on the book, and that gives the book some of its weight and purpose. Lemire is nothing like Jack, but Jack’s journey is, supernatural experiences aside, an utterly ordinary one.

At the talk, Lemire mentioned that he’s one of those artists who can’t look at old work. The increase in skill from Essex County (nominated for everything, a few years back) to Underwater Welder, is pretty obvious. It’s a tighter, prettier, and more thoughtful book. The mix of scratchy figures and wide expanses of dreamy wash are, you know, Lemire’s thing, but also a wonderfully useful tagteam for storytelling purposes. This is a book where art and layout always perfectly in tune with story. The town is characterized by claustrophobic grids of same size panels; the ocean by splash pages. It’s considered, and arresting, and makes the book an even better read. – Megan Purdy

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Fatale Vol. 1 | By Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips | Image — I’m a trade waiter, so I do a lot of breathless waiting. But this is a Brubaker and Phillips book, and as they say on Tumblr, my feels, let me show you them. I discovered Brubaker through Catwoman, rediscovered him through Captain America, and then, adoration cemented, I started in on his creator owned stuff. His work with Phillips is by now effortless. They’ve been teaming up regularly since 2003, when they started on Wildstorm’s (underrated and unread) superheroes-and-spies limited series Sleeper. In 2006 they gave us the critically acclaimed (and adored by Megan) crime drama Criminal, and in 2008 the superhero/pulp mashup Incognito, and now there’s Fatale.

The pitch everyone gives for this series is that Fatale is cthulhu noir, and, wow. Ok. Who needs a review, right? Trench coats and tentacles. Cthulhu noir. It’s a perfect premise, but does it work? Kind of.

Fatale Vol. 1 is strictly an introductory book, but because it’s dominated by a flashback and has an ending bereft of pressing questions, it’s hard to know where the series will go next. It’s a weak first volume that focuses on premise and feeling more than character, to the extent that it’s hard to get a handle on any of them. Will Dominic, the male lead of the flashback sequence, be back? I don’t know. Do I care about what’s going on with Nick, the male lead of the framing story? Not really. Who is Josephine, the female lead of both stories, aside from the femme fatale to end all femme fatales? I’m not sure. But so far, she’s the only character I’m interested in seeing more of. The hook here is all in the what, rather than the who.

Fatale opens with Dominic’s funeral, and Nick standing over his grave. We learn that this man’s only friend, Nick’s father, is now institutionalized. We meet Jo, a beautiful woman with a past. Nick finds an unpublished manuscript, shots are fired, the caper begins. Soon we’re thrust back in time to Dominic’s own adventure, the story on which Nick’s newfound manuscript is based, but there’s a thematic disconnect. The opening is straight up noir and with the move to Dominic’s story, there’s a sudden genre shift into a Lovecraftian thriller. Things play out for Dominic more or less as you’d expect. And the volume closes with Nick, now looking for Jo. It’s a poor introduction in the sense that it’s all introduction. The volume feels unfinished, and doesn’t stand on it’s own. The framing story drags down the flashback. The flashback doesn’t pay enough forward to make the framing story intriguing. Neither part serves the other, and the sum of it is like, ok, that was a thing that happened. And while I want to know what happens next, don’t need to know–I’m not hooked. I’ll keep reading because Brubaker and Phillips have yet to fail me, but I wonder if another reader, one who isn’t already a fan, would make the same choice. Nick and Dominic are dull everymen, and while desperate, cursed Josephine has enough ruthlessness to be interesting, I’m not sure if she’s interesting enough to to carry the book. Premise and setting are doing all the heavy lifting so far. The villain and his minions, the crooked cops, the looming horror of elder gods, face tentacles–they’re where Fatale shows real energy.

Unsurprisingly, Phillips does good. The art is stylish and expressive, and there’s not much more I can say on that subject, other than a greater visual distinction between past and present would have given Brubaker’s script some more oomph. As it is, it’s a matter of period details (clothes, buildings), rather than a sense of visual character that divide the two parts of the book.

I can recommend Fatale, but mostly on the merits of the team’s previous work, and the expectation that it’s going to get better. As it is, this volume was a bit of a disappointment. – Megan Purdy

Give My Regards to Black Jack, Vols. 1-2

October 5, 2012 by Katherine Dacey

Give My Regards to Black Jack tells a familiar story: a newly-minted professional enters his field, convinced that he has chosen the True Path. He soon discovers, however, that many of his colleagues have chosen profit over passion, forcing him to decide whether to follow their example or fight the system.

Eijiro Saito, the hero, is a graduate of a top medical school, brimming with energy and enthusiasm. Though Saito lands a plum internship at Eiroku University’s teaching hospital, his pay is meager; he supplements his income by moonlighting at a woefully understaffed emergency room. At both institutions, Saito encounters crooked doctors who demand bribes from patients; arrogant doctors who belittle poor patients; and money-minded doctors who care only about the hospital’s bottom line. For all the challenges to Saito’s idealism, however, he clings tenaciously to the belief that candor and sincerity are a doctor’s greatest assets.

As agit-prop, Give My Regards to Black Jack succeeds. Author Shuho Sato makes a convincing case that billing practices encourage Japanese hospitals to treat patients as cash cows, rather than people in need of medical care. Sato also offers a blistering critique of doctor training, showing us the toll that long hours, poor pay, and workplace bullying exact on residents.

As drama, however, Give My Regards to Black Jack is too tidy to be moving. True, Saito’s despair at his own futility seems genuine. Early in volume one, for example, Saito finds himself alone in the operating room with a motorcycle accident victim. Fearful of killing the patient, Saito does nothing; only the last-minute intervention of a more experienced surgeon prevents the victim from dying on the table. In a moment of self-hatred, Saito dissolves into tears, castigating himself for his paralysis — a scene that intuitively and emotionally feels right, given where he is in his residency.

Where the story falters is in its portrayal of the senior doctors at Eiroku Hospital: they’re haughty and deceitful, primarily concerned with asserting their authority over patients and junior staff members. Even when their words ring with truth, their advice is framed as a cynical and self-serving pose. Not all of the doctors fit this mold: the repulsively drawn Ushida, who toils in the Seido emergency room, is a wiser and more compassionate soul than his wolfish face or feral demeanor might suggest. So is Saburo Kita, a maverick heart surgeon who loves karaoke and paisley shirts; Kita cuts a flamboyant figure, but is humble when discussing his work. These characters are few and far between, however, with many more doctors acting like graduates of the Snidely Whiplash School of Medical Malpractice.

The series’ other shortcoming is the artwork. Though Sato shows a Tezukian flair for close-ups of mangled flesh and pulsating organs, his character designs lack Tezuka’s finesse. Tezuka’s Black Jack might be a cartoonish figure with his cloak and Frankensutures, but those design elements are fundamental to establishing Black Jack’s personality; a reader could dive into any Black Jack story and immediately understand who he is. Moreover, all of the characters in Black Jack are crafted with similar care, each assigned a few simple but telling details that communicate their role in the drama.

By contrast, Ushida looks like he stepped out of Toriko, with his bug eyes, lantern-jaw, and perma-sneer. Since none of the other characters are rendered in such a grotesque fashion, one could make the argument that Ushida’s ugliness must serve a dramatic purpose, symbolizing the corrosive effect of his working conditions. We never spend enough time with Ushida, however, to know how much he sacrificed his ideals for a steady career, nor do we see enough of his behavior with patients to rationalize his appearance. It seems perverse to draw only one character in such a distorted fashion; say what you will about Tezuka’s caricatures, but there was always a unifying aesthetic in Black Jack that made it possible for the reader to view Dr. Kiriko, Pinoko, and Biwamaru as inhabitants of the same universe.

What Sato’s work has in common with Tezuka’s is a fierce conviction that the Japanese medical establishment is bloated, ineffective, and indifferent to real human suffering. Sato addresses these shortcomings in a more explicit fashion than Tezuka did in Black Jack — or Ode to Kirihito, for that matter — using real medical procedures and real administrative dilemmas as plot fodder. Yet Sato’s stories are often unmoving, as his hero’s idealism compels him to take simplistic stands on complex issues. Tezuka, on the other hand, focused more on entertaining audiences than on educating them about Japanese health care, building his stories around a character whose subversive, self-interested behavior never prevented him from treating the genuinely deserving. Tezuka’s stories might be more formulaic and absurd than Sato’s, but they’re never so earnestly dull that they read like anti-JMA propaganda. Call me crazy, but I’ll take killer whale surgery and teratoid cystomas over a hectoring medical procedural any day.

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BLACK JACK, VOLS. 1-2 • BY SHUHO SATO • SELF-PUBLISHED (AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON’S KINDLE STORE)

Give My Regards to Black Jack, Vols. 1-2

October 5, 2012 by Katherine Dacey 1 Comment

GIVE MY REGARDS TO BLACK JACK, VOLS. 1-2 • BY SHUHO SATO • SELF-PUBLISHED (AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON’S KINDLE STORE)