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Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Phillip Anthony

About Phillip Anthony

Phillip Anthony is 30 years old and still not dead. After discovering anime in the mid 90's, he kept up an on-again, off-again love affair with the medium until 2006 when he read an article in Newtype USA about something called a podcast. After that, his life never really got back on track. He now semi-podcasts about the anime and manga industry on his website. His work can also be found at Otaku News, where he attempts to not get fired from being a news reporter and reviewer. When he's not crying over the latest VIZ drama manga, you can find him on Twitter discussing how awesome ARIA is, and why Masters Of The Universe might be the greatest 80's movie ever. Phillip lives in Dublin, Ireland with his family.

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Skip Beat! 3-in-1, Vol. 2

January 15, 2015 by Phillip Anthony 1 Comment

Skip Beat | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: Teen

skip_beat_2

“Oh, it’s like riding a bike!” That’s what I told myself when resuming the responsibility of the column. The worst thing I could have done was tackle an ongoing storyline with complex characters, new characters being introduced, and a rapid fire script. So, I went for Skip Beat! which doesn’t sound anything like that, right? Well, if it were any other manga, I’d say I’d done myself a mischief, but with Skip Beat!, it’s such a good story I can’t complain.

Kyoko Mogami wanted to beat her slimy ex-boyfriend, Shu Fuwa, at being an idol after he cheated on her and treated her like a servant for kicks. Kyoko is now fully invested in becoming an idol at the LME agency and has been put into the grinder for it. Mr. Takarada (head of LME and secret Telenovela wannabe) has made her a member of the Love Me team (yeah, it sounds as bad as all that) along with Kanae Kotonami (Moko) who can’t stand Kyoko’s effervescence. While this made sound like a bit of a bad turn, in truth, Takarada really does see something in her that merits further help. Everyone else however sees her as either a joke or is scared to be around her. Along the way, the mangaka manages to fit in a petulant child who needs someone to see her as her, a psycho rival for Moko and the pressures of being Ren Tsuruga’s manager. Kyoko has to deal with the pain of seeing Shu again and by falling into the trap of wanting to hate on him (for good reason I might add), she ends up jeopardising her career. Despite all the progress she makes, he only has to turn up and she can’t help herself. I feel for her as there are people who have crossed my path and hurt in life and when I see them in the street, God help me, I want them to stub a toe or something. Now, I can shrug it off and go on with my day but Kyoko is so hurt and raw that we laugh at her getting angry and sending wave after wave of Kyoko demons into the air (scaring the hell out of anyone around her by the way) but then she does herself in and we’re there with her again as Sho dumps her.

For me, the highlight of the omnibus is the stand off between Kyoko and Moko and Erika Koenji and her partner in the audition for the drink commercial. After we learn in true villainess fashion that Erika has been thwarting Moko’s acting career since they were in school (I love how Nakamura makes it seem like it was ages and ages ago!) and that even when Moko looks like she could win, Erika uses her money to stop her. I am not kidding when I say I peed myself laughing at her. She makes the best villains in a silent era film look tame by comparison. Every time she wins, it’s the stock Japanese schoolgirl “Ho! Ho! Ho!” attitude and when she gets beaten, it’s the “I won’t be beaten by the likes of YOU!!!” for Moko. She lies, cheats and bribes her way into winning the audition and only because Moko completely has to trust Kyoko is the day won for our heroes. Speaking of heroes, Moko and Kyoko really start to look like they could be more alike than in the previous volume. Moko still has these tantrums where Kyoko is screaming at her for being bad (at least in Kyoko’s book) and Moko just screams back. It’s really amazing to see them as two bitching friends than rivals. Along the way, they deal with Erika and her hench-squad (who couldn’t catch a cold) and still manage to make it seem like they got away with it rather than have any actual skills, though we know they do. I like how the author uses the people and trials Kyoko finds to give us little snippets of her backstory. Whatever happened with her mother, it’s as open a wound as the one Sho made in her. When he brings the mother subject up with Kyoko, you can actually see Mr. Takarada wince at the crestfallen expression on the poor girl’s face. Also, when she runs across Sho, Kyoko makes me love her more by all the things she did for that git and he still burned her at the stake for it.

Nakamura spends the last bit of the book with Ren and Kyoko being together as she learns about him and who he was and is as a person and actor. I still think he acts way too aloof to be taken seriously. The author does show him to be a hard working actor and a kind person in his own way but every time he sees Kyoko’s angry side and tells her she’s wrong to want to be an entertainer for selfish reasons, I am left asking myself “Who are YOU to make such a judgement on people?” I’m not saying he can’t make assumptions like that, just that it’s hard to see where the author is going with this given that they’re quite good at showing Kyoko making enough of her own mistakes to prove Ren’s point. It feels like we need reminding that, oh yes, Ren will be the other person in this relationship with Kyoko and Sho. I wish this wasn’t needed but I’m hopeful that Nakamura doesn’t rely on old tricks as well as old tropes to carry the story. With that said, the lines and little comments the cast makes have me smiling and watching people like Mr. Takarada riding in on a horse with full trumpeting musicians behind him is double take territory. I’m happy to watch Kyoko get dirty and clean fighting her corner for another volume.

As always, please feel free to agree or disagree with my assessment. Leave comments in the area provided or give me a shout on Twitter at my account or the MBS account.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: manga, omnibus, shojo beat, VIZ

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Princess Knight, Vol. 1

January 22, 2014 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

PrincessKnight volume 1Princess Knight Vol.1 | By Osamu Tezuka | Published by Vertical Inc. | Rated: Unknown
“The Prince is here!”

Looking at Osamu Tezuka’s work, I would be hard pressed to pick one thing the man was most famous for. 150,000 individual pieces of artwork, dozens of works in manga and anime, almost single handedly popularising manga as we know it in Japan plus innovations in genre and work ethic. The last point is interesting as it pertains to my review. Shoujo is a genre that had existed before Tezuka came along but he is indelibly linked to it. Princess Knight is a title that many creators of manga in Japan cite as an influence and it’s not hard to see why. A magical fairytale setting, a prince/princess to root for, a cast of evil villains to hate and a wonderful Wagnerian background. So does the book have it’s share of problems? Yes, but I’m not that annoyed by them. Let’s begin, shall we?

I imagine that Princess Knight volume 1 starts much like the 1959 Walt Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. Don’t ask me why, the two art styles are miles apart, the tempo is all wrong and the movie came out three years after the first version of the book finished in Shojo Club. But two things stay true in both cases: the sweeping nature of the story (Princess Sapphire is carried through her adventure by the people conspiring against her, Aurora is carried along by the plotting of Maleficent, dragons, witches, sword fights) and the fact that both stories deserve epic, classical scores. Shame only Sleeping Beauty has that score.

In creating Princess Knight, Tezuka seeks to both subvert and add to the Happily Ever After idea by having the Princess take on the attributes of the Prince arch type. Sharing two hearts, the Prince is daring and brave while being graceful and light (the story goes a bit overboard with some of these traits but I’ll save that for later). It’s hard to decide where Sapphire wants to go as a character from the start of the book. She fulfills all her roles as Prince because she has to but then, in her off time, she likes to be a princess and wear dresses and do all the things that Princess’ are supposed to want to do (need to find that particular rule book and beat up its author) in these tales. But she’s constantly having to walk a tightrope between what she wants and what’s demanded of her. If she slips for an instant, the Duke will strike and that will be the end of the fairy tale. You get the sense from the first five or so pages that Sapphire is screwed no matter what she does. Tink (or Choppy depending on what version you’re reading) is a nice enough character but he reminds me a little too much of Dororo from the title of the same name but with a little more reserve. The characters Tezuka has on display are varied and I do like them but it’s frustrating for me to have to read this as I’m not and was never supposed to be the target audience. You could argue that Tezuka was primarily creating the story for young girls exclusively but since that time the title has taken on a life of it’s own with people of all ages enjoying it. I have read commentary on the story in regards to how Sapphire reacts to danger in both of her guises, male and female. I will get into that in a minute.

But for now let us talk about how the book looks at times to veer into silly country and how it always seems to pull out at the last second. Tezuka is famous for his gags in the middle of high drama and Princess Knight is no exception. In our modern times, this sort of pop culture reference assembly line might seem trite but Tezuka was doing stuff like this years before it was expected. Like calling for the villains to photograph the Princess in a compromising position only to be told cameras haven’t been invented yet. Or the fact that the good and true characters all have named after natural minerals (Silverland, Sapphire) versus the synthetic names of the villains (Nylon, Duralumin). Couple that with Tezuka having characters like Madame Hell (Madame Hell!!!) being entirely superfluous and then Tezuka will draw a whole page panel scene with her bringing the elements of nature down on someone. It’s always hard to gauge whether or not to laugh at what he’s trying to say. What can’t be argued with is the fact Tezuka really keeps the pace going. The use of Looney Tunes-esque sword fighting is quirky, I must admit. It really looks like “Take this! And That! Touché!!! Ha! I meant to lose my sword like that!” in sequentially paced panels. Sapphire doesn’t get a chance to herself and goes from one adventure to another, one life or death moment to another. While Prince Franz goes from wandering pretty boy to foil for Sapphire’s male persona and onto love interest. All while the evil elements conspire against the Princess and her family. Tezuka takes a Disney approach to pacing. In fact, early Disney movies might be the best way of describing the tone and pace of the whole endeavour. Films like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are reflected in this story with a European style of storytelling (good always triumphs, animals are your friend and yes, there’s magic involved). For me, I like the whole tone and would have liked to see more from Tezuka in this genre.

The tricky thing about this story is two-fold: does the story still hold up against other shoujo works and secondly does the dual-gender identity story have weight today? For my money, it doesn’t really hold up as a shoujo story as the whole genre has moved on from what Tezuka helped to pioneer. It sits more as the story that started it all in a manner of speaking to borrow one of Disney’s taglines. When put against a franchise monster like Sailor Moon, Princess Knight feels quaint but I give it a pass because of the time it was made in and the fact that the story still works as a fairy tail. As a gender identity story, I must say it has things to say in today’s world. I would preface the next statement by saying that it is my opinion that Tezuka didn’t foresee how the manga’s unique twist would be interpreted. How could he as the things that today’s youth and people in general face as personal difficulties couldn’t have been imagined in 1953? Sapphire’s want to be a boy AND a girl goes to the heart what people of all walks of life must go through in the name of love. Who do I love and how does their gender make a difference to me? How does my gender make a difference to them? You don’t have to be one specific gender to know that crosses like these are hard to bear. The fact that Tezuka wrapped it up in a fairy tail makes the transmission of the story’s heart to modern times amazing to see.

When we leave the volume, Sapphire gets involved with the Prince Franz, finds her mother turned to stone and facing enemies both real and supernatural. So where could Tezuka go at the end? Have Sapphire board a pirate ship, of course! I wasn’t expecting that. We’ve gone from Disney to Burt Lancaster high adventure. Where will we and Tezuka goes from here? I am looking forward to find out.


More Princess Knight at Manga Bookshelf: Manga Artifacts: Princess Knight (Katherine Dacey) | Off the Shelf: Princess Knight (Melinda Beasi & Michelle Smith)

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: shojo, shojo beat, vertical

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Strobe Edge, Vol.2

November 3, 2013 by Phillip Anthony 2 Comments

Strobe Edge Vol.2 | By Io Sakisaka | Published by Viz Media | Rated: Teen

strobe_edge_vol_2

Ah, the tangled web of love. After being shot down by school hotie, Ren, Ninako is trying to adjust to life in a post-rejection world. The poor girl has been told by the guy she likes that he’s not interested after she told the guy who is interested in her that she wasn’t interested! Now that the whole school knows, she is trying to figure out the “what now?” It’s not fair when that happens to someone but to her credit she’s trying to deal with it. Though, there are a couple of moments in this volume where she kind of scares me with something along the lines of “I still love him but I’m happy to be around him.” That is a recipe for disaster but who wants to listen to little old me? Anyways, the point of this volume seems to be that section in the guidebook where you really should let sleeping dogs lie. Ninako doesn’t seem to disengage from Ren, in fact she’s over the moon that they will be attending school council meetings together. I feel that she is trying to live off the embers, as it were, of her infatuation with Ren. I really love her earnest wish to be around her currently-not-to-be beau but I can’t help but feel she’s going about it in the wrong way.

Ren for his part almost seems to not notice that the girl who confessed to him is now hanging out with him. Now, the author looks like she’s skirting this issue by showing us the rejected girls club, a group of girls who have been rejected by Ren alone, and their snotty attitude toward him. But after Ninako rejects (lot of rejections going on in this volume) their ideas, she is then ostracized from a club she didn’t want to be part of. Wait, what? We then get them bullying her in minor ways for the remainder of the volume. Does this happen to Japanese girls or girls in general? If it does, man that is a sad way to conduct yourself. While I’m sympathetic to Ninako and her plight, the fact that she still likes Ren even after she tells us, the reader, that she knows Ren has a girlfriends is kind of weird. What is she trying to accomplish by doing this? She isn’t a bad person so she wouldn’t try and steal Ren from his girlfriend, Mayuka. But she still wants to be around Ren? Sorry, I don’t get it. On the other hand, Ren spends much of this volume going from cold fish to says hi to Ninako to getting into an embrace with Ninako. No wonder the girl doesn’t know which way is up.

Another thing I don’t get is Daiki. He is Mayuka’s younger brother and the guy who Ninako rejected. He spends the entire volume chasing around after Ninako or getting in classmate Ando’s face (more on him later) for being so brazen as to ask the girls for their numbers. Daiki is my least favourite character because, and I’m just giving my initial impressions of him here, he comes across like a sore loser in this edition. Like someone took away his beloved toy and won’t give it back. I understand he’s just as hurt by Ninako as she is with Ren but there’s no excuse to treat other people this way. On the subject of Ando, he is a great element to the cast. He’s a disruptor, coming in and hanging out with Ninako and making her goes places with her. He seems to be just another cad but then he has an interesting conversation with Ren when they witness her standing up to the Rejected Club. More or less, he warns Ren not to treat Ninako to same way as the other girls he rejected. That is a strange statement to make. He, ostensibly, doesn’t know Ninako until he joins the class so why would he say this? Could this mean he knew Ninako before and she doesn’t recognise him? I’ll be interested to see volume three for a clarification. Ando seems to be fresh with everyone but he skirts a fine line between being outgoing and being a complete flirt. Is he really into Ninako or is he playing? When he kisses Ninako on the head, he does seem upset that he upset her.

One thing that bothered me more than the up and down character reveals was that I couldn’t recognise a lot of the girls in this volume. Io Sakisaka is a good artist with wonderful designs so the fact I have to stare at each girl’s hair style to recognise Ninako or others is a little much for me. It’s not a major thing but it did become distracting through the middle of the book.

The series looks like it is a lock for my ongoing pile in a way that I haven’t been able to attach to Sakura Hime. I’m interested in the characters plight (yes, even Daiki) so I want to see how things start to turn out for them.

Little bit of housekeeping here, readers. You may have noticed that it has been around four months since my last post here on Manga Bookshelf. First, my apologies to you and also to Melinda who basically left me alone to sort out my stuff. For the purposes of letting you guys understand that I wasn’t just sitting on my duff, scratching my proverbial, here’s what happened to me over the summer. First, I effectively lost my job. It was a nice job, I liked it but it didn’t like me and the people where I worked couldn’t have been more accommodating to me but c’est la vie. Next, I got a bad respiratory infection that wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t serious but it kind of kills your ability to like reading manga. Lastly, writers block set in whenever over the month of August I tried to read anything. Just a wave of “ugghhh” set in whenever I tried to concentrate. But that’s all done with now and I’m looking forward to posting the end of the Sailor Moon series and seeing how that turns out. So, thanks for sticking with me, readers and I promise I won’t do that again.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: shojo, shojo beat, VIZ

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol. 8

June 22, 2013 by Phillip Anthony 1 Comment

sailormoon8Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 8 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics | Rated: T (13+)

And the hits just keep on rolling in this volume. After the hellfire brought down by the destruction of, well, the whole district, the Sailor Senshi find themselves facing down the remains of Hotaru’s body as it takes on the form of one of Pharaoh 90’s creatures. Meanwhile Chibi-Usa’s body remains in a critical condition. If they’re not going to be destroyed by this creature, then the newest member of the Senshi, Sailor Saturn, will finish them off.

On one hand, I’m fine with this volume because we finally get to end the ridiculous Pharaoh 90 story arc. I know I should expect these arcs since they are the meat and potatoes of the whole gig. But I find myself trying to invent reasons to be excited about them. I suspect it’s the fact that, after eight volumes, I want something else to happen. I want some kind of overarching villain to appear; I want some kind of “There’s a reason all of this is happening.” But every time, the Senshi just battle just another group who want to suck the energy/emotions/blood/flesh or whatever other substitute the story requires out of people to go to Valhalla/Eden/7-Eleven or whatever other substitute the villain requires. I swear to Jiminy nobody even says out loud that it’s awful suspicious that all these groups keep attacking the girls and don’t seem to have an overarching agenda.

I don’t know, readers, I feel like I am not skilled enough to figure out the appeal of watching the same fight happen to the same team in every volume. Yes, the appeal is that the gang gets to have an adventure, but it’s getting kind of repetitious. I want to know more about the team—yes, even Usagi. We do get snippets, but for the last few volumes there seems to be some kind of attempt to answer the question of what happens when Chibi-Usa goes back home to the future? Takeuchi is going for an idea of domesticity between Mamoru, Usagi and Chibi-Usa. But it only comes out when there’s no fighting going, so you can pretty much guess how often this happens.

What is weird about reading this volume, and indeed the rest of the volumes, is that I want something closer in tone to Codename: Sailor V than what’s presented here. In Sailor V, when Minako had to fight a different foe, at least it wasn’t relentless. Foes, who are about as thin as anything that Sailor Moon comes up with, were dispatched, sure. But at least it was over and done in two volumes. This has been going on in Sailor Moon for eight volumes and I really hope that things change in the run up to the end.

So at the halfway point in the volumes, am I happy? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, I’ve gotten to watch as Takeuchi paints a pretty epic canvas taking ordinary girls and making them responsible for people’s safety, even those they don’t know. I never get a sense that they don’t take their duties seriously. As they struggle to beat every adversary that stands against them, they have their moments of indecision but they always overcome them and find inner resolve to succeed. I’m a sucker for story dynamics like these. Plus for all her insufferable points, Usagi is a good leader who cares about her flock.

Where the series lets her down is when she reverts back to type and becomes an airhead after saving the world. I could buy that for the first couple of volumes but now I have to wonder if the author is deliberately sabotaging her lead because if she became more confident then there wouldn’t be much tension. The only way to stop that would be if the author actually wanted to make the kinds of changes that would simultaneously improve and ruin the tempo already set. Heaven and hell, I suppose.

On the other hand, the series seems to be incapable of letting the story go out on a limb and have more serious stakes. When the characters risk their lives, I’m never in any doubt they will make it through. When Mamoru was facing against his old friends, there was a real sense of danger and the gang had to fight to save themselves from being destroyed. But now it’s become so par for the course that I’m not even worried about them.

The team really must work on their tactics because they get hit again by the bad guys and spend a good portion of the initial battle—you guessed it—knocked unconscious. I shouldn’t be surprised, but still I have to stare at the page and say “What, again?” The promise of the Outer Senshi returning for the next volume intrigues me as their departure from the roster is not done with any finality, but in a manner that suggests when they do return it will be interesting to see how the Inner Senshi treat them.

Again, I find myself locating genuine problems that I have with the series, but they are not enough to stop my enjoyment of the proceedings. My worry is that when the final volume comes, it will be another cases of fighting yet another unknown boss and then that’s it, we’re out of time here folks.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: kodansha, shojo, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol.7

April 20, 2013 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

sm7Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 7 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours! I was going to write down a red hot review after finally, FINALLY getting through volume 7 of Sailor Moon. Then sleep and fatigue set in and I had a think about it. So now I’ll temper my steel as some of my thoughts last night don’t make a whole lot of sense the day after. So let’s begin!

We find our heroes recovering from their last battle and wondering about the mystery behind the Mugen Academy—specifically why the new Sailor Senshi Sailors Neptune and Uranus are so antagonistic toward the rest. Meanwhile, Chibi-Usa is starting to worry about her new friend Hotaru Tomoe, a girl whom we met briefly in volume 6. Hotaru is the daughter of Professor Tomoe who runs the Mugen Institute, which is part of the Mugen Academy. Are you following me so far? Because I can help matters by telling you that Mugen Academy is evil. We know this because Master Pharaoh 90 and her/his (I don’t want to guess at this point) minions, the Death Busters, are in cahoots with Professor Tomoe. See, the ol’ Prof is attempting to build the perfect life form, and he thinks the best way of doing this is by bonding life energy onto creatures of Tomoe’s design. What Chibi-Usa doesn’t know is that Hotaru is hiding a secret. I like how Hotaru clearly understands that her father’s work and she herself are dangerous, and that she tries to shield Chibi-Usa from the truth while trying to have a life. The poor girl just wants to be normal, but because of who and what she is, anyone innocent around her is in danger.

The thing that annoyed me about the last volume is the change in tone for Neptune and Uranus. Before, they were playful and a bit mysterious but now they are openly hostile toward Usagi and the rest of the team. They believe as protectors of Silver Millenium (the kingdom on the moon that Usagi and the rest once lived on) that they have to go ahead of Usagi who, as the future Queen, is in their care. They want to stop the ascension of Sailor Saturn who is only supposed to arrive on the scene when the world must be destroyed. This presents me with an interesting conundrum: if the two Sailor Senshi wish to prevent the destruction of, well, everything then they have to kill another Sailor Saturn before she can become a Senshi, then doesn’t that mean that they knew they would have to kill her from the get go? Plus, wouldn’t killing her go against being a team? It’s not really explained, so I’m left with these questions. Thankfully, Takeuchi doesn’t confuse the issue by having them explain the whole nature of the Silver Millenium and the pre-destiny of the Senshi. Still, Usagi’s constant cries of “Let us help you and work together!” and the Outer Senshi’s replies of “NOOOO! WE have to do this on our own! IT’S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!!!” are confusing, as they are unnecessary.

One of my favourite characters from earlier volumes is Sailor Pluto. Sailor Pluto met her end in a previous volume and I missed her, because while she came across as very formal, her love for Chibi-Usa allowed a crack in her armor; she became my secret favourite Senshi (don’t tell Sailor Venus). Now, we spotted her in a reincarnated form at the end of volume six, and here she turns up again as Setsuna Meio, a researcher of all things. That’s not important because she’s back as Sailor Pluto as well. Strangely, while the other Senshi all became their alter-egos after coming into contact with Usagi, Pluto, along with Neptune and Uranus, already know that they are Sailor Senshi. This means they already know their jobs better than the others and they sometimes come across as older sister types despite being the same age. Pluto’s personality isn’t as full-on as the other two, but she’s not the same Pluto as the original version. The formality isn’t quite there yet, and she does love the other Senshi, but she feels as Neptune and Uranus do and wants to deal with the Mugen Academy without the Inner Senshi.

As for the fight with Mugen itself, the team receives a new power level and Usagi becomes Super Sailor Moon and lays a Chuck Norris-style beatdown on the minions of Master Pharaoh 90 (what’s with these ridiculous names!?). The others do try and fight against Mugen but they are quickly overwhelmed by the bad guys and Professor Tomoe (who goes all Dr. Jekyll and becomes a monster using his own research). He gets put down in the blink of an eye, so there’s something to be said for planning ahead. The greatest danger the team and Usagi are up against is something that I’ve been meaning to talk about since the character of Chibi-Usa was introduced. Hotaru goes mad with the creature that is inside of her and the creature, in lashing out, accidently absorbs the crystal energy that Usagi and Chibi-Usa both share. Chibi-Usa, being Usagi’s daughter, carries this ’round in the form of a crystal avatar. When it is removed, Chibi-Usa becomes fatally ill. Mamoru stays with her while Usagi goes to bring the smackdown on Mugen and get Chibi-Usa’s energy back. Now, this leads to said point of order. How does Usagi view Chibi-Usa? She and Mamoru ARE Chibi-Usa’s parents in the future so Mamoru clearly has paternal instincts toward his future daughter. But Usagi seems to fight for Chibi-Usa at every turn without showing any sign that she sees her as a daughter. It’s not like when she fights for the other Senshi—she fights for them in her own way. When Chibi-Usa is threatened, Usagi pulls out the big guns and not in a proactive way. When Usagi powers up and saves Chibi-Usa, she finds strengths and powers that she didn’t realize she had. Maybe this is her way of saying “this is my daughter, evil-doers, and I will kick your arse if you threaten her!”

The end of the manga calls for a showdown between the remains of Hotaru and Usagi. Whatever is left of Hotaru’s physical body is under the direct control of Master Pharaoh 90 and has destroyed the lab, the buildings and the academy. I don’t know how they’ll cover this up come the morning! Something happened to Hotaru’s spirit which leads me to believe she will be quickly resurrected in the next couple of volumes. I know I’m giving somewhat short answers here but this stuff literally comes up at the last second in the volume so I have no information to go on. Whatever happens, Sailor Moon is as always a mixture of the good, the bad and the unexplained.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: Kodansha Comics, sailor moon, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Strobe Edge, Vol. 1

March 17, 2013 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

Strobe Edge Vol.1 | By Io Sakisaka | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: Teen

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Here is your basic relationship equation: Girl (Ninako Kinoshita) likes school friend (Daiki Korenaga) but develops feelings for other school boy (Ren Ichinose). After finding out she might love Ren, Ninako discovers Daiki has feelings for her. So, Boy + Boy / Girl = Story. Not the most original idea but Strobe Edge uses what it’s got and delivers a good slice of teenage angst with some aplomb. Some parts I liked in its execution, some I did not. Shall we begin?

Understanding love is one of the fundamental questions of humanity. What is it? Why is so good and bad at the same time for us? Why do we need it so much? What does it feel like? For teenager Ninako, the fact that she’s never been in love, never been loved (that she knows of) and doesn’t know how it feels is the smartest and dumbest thing about this manga. I would like to say that there’s more to it than that but I respect when authors can just explore a simple idea and run with it, warts and all.

On one hand you want to scream at the girl for being so naïve that she doesn’t know what love is, presumably because she must be loved at home. I mean, I haven’t seen her family yet but she gives no indication that things are bad. Plus she has her friends in school, so she must know what love is! Yes, I know, love for your friends is not the same as love for a significant other. But the basic feeling is the same. I don’t understand why Io Sakisaka tries to present Ninako as laughing with her friends in school and then have her go into automaton mode around Ren. It’s like “What is feeling I have? I … feel? What is feel?” (Sorry, I’m being really simplistic with that last sentence but you get the idea). It’s a set of mental tracks that doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. I don’t know if I have the fortitude to root for a character who is that emotionally stunted.

Yet, in the same way, it is fun to watch her as she tries to make sense of these two guys and their attempts (or non-attempts) at getting her to like them. If I had to choose, I would say that Ren is a better character than Daiki. Daiki comes across as a nice guy but there’s something off about a guy who wants the girl but when he finds out that somebody who is dating his sister is interested in the girl, he warns them off from the girl but not his sister. I dunno, but Ren for all of his aloof slightly bad boy angle is a better idea in action as everybody, and I mean everybody, reacts against him. He doesn’t need to do anything and people take notice of him or are aware of him. Ninako is aware of him but as she gets into the mystery of who Ren is as a person we see her change as she realizes that by studying him, she fell in love with him. This is done in a slowly unfolding manner rather than BOOM! I LOVE HIM. Which would cheese me off as that isn’t what Sakisaka is possibly going for here.

The best way of describing the three kids; relationship is this: imagine if they were part of a solar system, OK? Ninako is in the middle of the system and Daiki is the sun. The sun in Ninako’s world is bright, happy to have her around and has always been in her view. But one day a gas giant, Ren, which had always been there but did nothing, suddenly exerts an influence over the planet in the middle. Not enough to completely dislodge it from the sun’s view but once the gas giant has started, a critical change occurs on the planet in the middle. Daiki isn’t going to give up Ninako to someone like Ren but I don’t think it’s as simple for them as “I must possess her!” because Ninako is trying to sort out her own head at the same time. Speaking of Ren, I don’t know why the author chose to insert that final revelation about Ren and his relationship with Ninako at the point she did. I can’t go into specifics without spoiling certain things, but it felt like it was an attempt to promote the idea that Ren really was too good to be true. I am not saying that it is unwelcome but it could have been left until volume two and that would have been a better jumping point for the cast to deal with in the rest of volume two. It’s kind of happily maddening, that’s how I would describe it.

Is there a point in saying that the artwork in this is gorgeous? It’s not master craftsmanship levels at work but the story that it tells, the work on display suits it perfectly and I don’t have a problem with the amount of daydreaming the cast seem to engage in as long as the art looks like this.

I am a bit of a soap drama watcher and while I don’t need to obsess over every episode of the shows I watch, I would say that Strobe Edge has some of that going on here. This first volume presents a few problems for me, that much is certain, but there’s just enough in the way Sakisaka presents the cast and the setup that doesn’t allow me to dismiss it out of hand without giving it a proper whirl. Much like those soaps I am not supposed to like.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: shojo, shojo beat, VIZ

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Skip Beat! 3-in-1, Vol. 1

February 5, 2013 by Phillip Anthony 7 Comments

Skip Beat | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: Teen

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Kyoko just wants to be with her boyfriend, Sho. That’s all—simple enough request. Trouble is Sho’s not really into the whole “love and respect” thing. He’s also not into the whole “tell the truth” angle in a relationship. Sho is coasting towards being a superstar pop idol (whatever the hell that is) but isn’t quite there yet. Still, he thinks things are secure enough that he makes the mistake of blabbing to his REAL girlfriend about how he’s playing with Kyoko and would dump her in a heartbeat. Soon Kyoko has no boyfriend, no life, and no reason to go on.

Kyoko should have paid attention to the axiom: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” After Sho dumps her, Kyoko’s only purpose in living is to destroy Sho and beat him at his own game. By “beating him” I mean that she’s going to become an idol like him, and by “destroying him” I mean in the Doctor No, James Bond villainy sort of way. You know things will not stay calm when the lead character is delirious over the idea of her enemy’s destruction.

The main thing I took from my reading of this manga is that victories over your enemies are often hollow. Kyoko, for all her wild plotting to destroy Sho, sometimes hits brick walls. Her first order of business after vowing revenge on Sho is to join L.M.E., the rival talent agency to Sho’s. But she thinks that raw anger is enough to carry her through the auditions. When she’s rejected, she curls into a ball. Only the poking and prodding of friends and rivals gets her going again. It’s like every time she hits an impasse, Kyoko reverts back to the day after Sho left her. Luckily she doesn’t waste time, and like every good leading character, she comes back better than ever.

Of course, the supporting cast of this story has to be good to keep up with such a manic main lead. The family that employs Kyoko in one of two jobs she held while supporting Sho spends their time fretting about her, just like her real parents would. The patriarch in that family is one of my favourites. He pretends to be gruff, but really has that Burgess Meredith coach-like toughness. Another person who antagonizes Kyoko into action is Sho’s rival, Ren Tsuruga. Ren is everything Sho isn’t: quiet, reserved, and methodical. But every time he and Kyoko get close, he says something to deliberately make her mad. Is he going for this tactic because he sees something in her? Possibly—he does make cryptic remarks to his assistant with that in mind. More often than not, his observations coincide with lessons that Kyoko has to learn the hard way. Is he saying what he’s saying because he’s been in her shoes or because her motives are so transparent? Interesting how that question is not resolved in this volume.

I haven’t spoken too much about Sho. The reason is, he feels somewhat one-dimensional. When the big reveal shows him to be a cad, playing with Kyoko’s heart, all he’s short of is having the moustache and twirling it—he’s that evil. But afterwards, he’s shown to be clueless and unaware of the horrors he’s caused for our heroine. So this leads me to conclude that either the author didn’t know quite what to do with him after the initial chapters, or that he was always this inept and Kyoko was just too blinded by love to see it. Resolutions, I require them.

The most enjoyable parts of this omnibus occur after Kyoko joins L.M.E., where she is put into the agency’s version of the morale maintenance squad. There, she must play general dogsbody to the rest of the employees in order to gain points, which means that if she cheeses off the wrong person, points will be taken away. Kyoko spends her time thinking she’s done a good job only to have her work undone by one trip up—sometimes in the service of comedy, other times for dramatic effect. Either way, it’s another way to gauge her progress as a character.

It’s great to see a female protagonist engage in the kind of antics reserved for comedy manga. The way Kyoko describes how she will destroy Sho is incredibly rewarding, and Yoshiki Nakamura’s artwork makes light work of putting Kyoko’s narrative across. The characters around her can almost sense what she’s done or what she’s thinking in these moments (usually with a murderous intent), and their reactions are as satisfying as hers are.

As the volume progresses, the cast begins to include other people from L.M.E., like the manager of the new recruits section who has to put up with Kyoko haunting him day and night in her quest for a place at the agency. The president of L.M.E. wins the prize for most flamboyant character in the volume (mind you, it’s set around a talent agency which has naturally flamboyant people in it!) who takes a personal interest in Kyoko. His tests are where Kyoko hits most of her brick walls, but he seems to be waiting for her to “get” something that she’s not paying attention to. Hopefully either Kyoko figures out what that is or his actions get some kind of sharper clarity in further volumes.

I didn’t think I would like Skip Beat as much as I did. Coming late into shoujo romance, I don’t always know what is considered standard in the genre and what’s not. When you get past the funny parts of this tale, you are still left with a girl who has been hurt by someone she trusted and cared for and who must now find herself, her place, and her self-respect again. I can relate to this and I’m sure you reader can too. Shojo Beat had earlier indicated that Skip Beat’s omnibus’ might not keep going—I would presume due to low sales—but recently they confirmed that they would be continuing with these releases. These omnibuses are a great way for new readers to make their way in and I recommend reading these rather than trying to dive into the latest volume (which is on volume 30 now as far as I know).


Sailor Moon will be back in March with two reviews for volumes seven and eight. Are you looking forward to it returning to the column? If not, why? Please leave a comment or send me a tweet to me or the official MBS twitter account.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: manga, omnibus, shojo beat, VIZ

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: A Kiss on Tearful Cheeks, Vol.1

December 22, 2012 by Phillip Anthony 3 Comments

A Kiss on Tearful Cheeks | By Tsumugi (Story), Yukie Sasaki (Art) | Published by JManga.com | Rated: Teen Plus

Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying might be the perfect anthem for the heroine of A Kiss on Tearful Cheeks, Iori Narazaki. She is constantly upset by the little things, not the big things. She’s never been in love because her feelings never lasted. Mam and Dad are abroad so big sister Shiori takes care of her. Shiori works in a publishing company and Iori, 17, goes to school. One day she is crying after being dropped off at school when a young man named Yusuke Izumi asks her if she’s alright. After revealing that he works in the same company as Shiori, and also knows her, Yusuke gives her his card and says if she’s ever crying again to call him. Iori toys with the idea of contacting him but doesn’t, and after being set up on a date by her best friend, Megu, seems to like the guy Megu set her up with. Unfortunately, the date turns out to be a lesser example of the male sex and when things look bad for Iori, Yusuke suddenly turns up and rescues her. So, Iori begins to think that this feeling she has when she thinks of Yusuke might not be so bad.

The best thing about this title for me upon starting it is that it is a million miles away from my usual fare for the column. It’s entirely contemporary and set in the here and now. Iori is a bit of a crybaby but she isn’t helpless. She has a bad case of poor self-esteem, that’s all. She really wishes that people wouldn’t have to worry about her. She always wonders why she isn’t like her sister, for example. But when Yusuke comes into her life, it really does transform things around her. He wants her only because of her not because he grew up with her, or is best friends with her or is related to her. And Yusuke, aside from one or two odd bits of behaviour, doesn’t want to pressure her into doing something she doesn’t want to. Simply put, he is enchanted with her and she’s smitten with him.

Now, as I said, there are one or two quirks of behaviour on Yusuke’s part that I don’t get as they seem slightly at odds with the rest of his makeup. One, he gets intensely jealous whenever other boys Iori knows pay attention to her. He’s only known the girl a wet week and already he’s jealous? Second, after he and Iori decide to get together, he keeps leaving love bites on her body. And refers to them as his mark. Hmm, I don’t understand that. Now, if he didn’t have positive attributes like not wanting to push her into having sex with him (every bloke worth his salt should come with this way of thinking as a standard part) or explaining himself when he does get jealous, this would be a different kind of story. One thing about the way Iori is written that doesn’t sit very well with me is she, twice in a row, gets into a situation where really creepy lads try to maul her (thats’s the best way I can put it) and twice Yusuke rescues her. Does she really need him to rescue her? So little of her psychological makeup is described in this first volume, I worry that it will become an “Oh, no! I’m being attacked! Save me, Yusuke!” trope of the story. The authors are not helping matters by using Iori in this way, because they have a person she barely knows attack her and then has a person she has known all her life attack her. What does that say about girls in Japan? No matter what they say, you can have your way with them? I really worry about that kind of message.

Maybe I’m projecting too many of my own insecurities about messages like that in this review. If I am, consciously or unconsciously, I apologise as the series has a lot of potential. The best bits in this are the moments when Iori and Yusuke are with each other and we hear Iori’s innermost thoughts. These are the thoughts of a person who doesn’t know where she and he are going but after living a life of uncast doubts, she wants this feeling she gets around Yusuke. Wants it more than anything. Come hell or high water. Come laughter, scares and yes, even the tears. I think some of us can relate to this feeling. Hell, I know I’ve been in throes of such a feeling and having and wanting no way out. It could all turn to cat poop in five minutes. Iori doesn’t seem to care. Much like the lyrics of the above mentioned song, Iori doesn’t mind crying now because now she’s not crying about nothing, she’s crying about a feeling she’s got and that’s not a bad thing.

Yukie Sasaki’s art is somewhat refined but the joy here is the long delicate features of her characters, their huge expressive eyes, and the unfinished look to things. It makes for a uneven mess, but it’s a lovely mess for my money. Tsumugi, the author, really needs to decide where her main characters mental tics should settle. Plus the mixed messages thing about Iori being a target for every guy that’s not Yusuke needs to end, full stop. Other than that, I’m happy to keep going.

This is my first review for Manga BookShelf using the JManga platform, though I would humbly ask that you check out the rest of the writers on Manga Bookshelf for a better view of the service as a whole. I like JManga, not enough to say it’s a perfect system because it’s not. There are parts of it I would change. They are starting to address the pricing problems of the original setup of the website. And yes, universal access to all titles, regardless of geography, is an absolute must. But for titles like A Kiss… there is simply no way it would ever be released by a print publisher. Sadly, the market just won’t support it. So, I am looking forward to buying more of A Kiss… but I would ask the people at JManga to bring over the rest of the series as there are only three volumes of nine available. Incomplete series make no money no matter how loyal their readers are.

Question time: Given how much fun I had with JManga, would you like me to take a break from Sailor Moon more often and do stuff like A Kiss…? I know that a few of you had said initially that doing Sailor Moon alone was not the end all and be all of shoujo and I do see that. Seeing as I can’t spend all that much on manga these days (Google: Irish economic problems. Not being sarcastic here.), what would you like more of? Stuff like A Kiss… and Skip Beat or more fantasy stuff like Sakura Hime or Sailor Moon? With it ending in 7 or so more volumes and I’m having so much fun on the column that I don’t want to dry up when I finish on SM. Comments and emails are welcome in this endeavour.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: a, cheeks, JManga, kiss, manga, on, shoujo, tearful

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor V, Vol.2

November 2, 2012 by Phillip Anthony 2 Comments


Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 2 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

Oh, ho. What a difference a few months make. I had planned to review the second volume of Codename: Sailor V right after I reviewed the first. Then, Sailor Moon became more important to read and review, so Minako’s final solo mission was put to one side. Now that I’m officially taking a breather from Sailor Moon (it’ll be back later this month) and making time for other stuff, I want to get Sailor V out of the way first. Not that it’s a chore to read it—in many ways it is like its sister series in terms of execution—but the tone is different between the two leads.

In our last volume with Sailor Venus, a twofold structure is in place. One constitutes the bulk of the volume and is completely deceptive as to the volume’s true intentions. The other is examined near the end of the book and sets up the story to be continued on a grander scale. To explain, we get Mina fighting crime and villains for the most part—and yes, whether it’s DeVleene with her evil fattening chocolates (shame on thee!) or the Atavistic family of Nyan-Nyan, Wan-Wan and Chu-Chu (some mothers do have them), she dishes out the smite most excellently. She takes all of this in stride, all the while whining and complaining to Artemis, her familiar, about everything. At the end of the DeVleene chapter, we get a glimpse of a character who will trigger the other plot restructuring, Phantom Ace. As the final chapters started, I had no idea that Takeuchi would pull the rug from under me and ramp up some drama and heartstrings being pulled. She hadn’t done it for the whole of the other volume, so I wasn’t paying attention. When she showed Phantom Ace looking like Tuxedo Mask, I should have known what she was up to.

In many ways, I wish that Sailor V had been like this from the beginning, with some kind of gravitas to anchor the story. But then I remember that before Venus (spoilers) joins the rest of the Sailor Senshi in Sailor Moon, the girls treat Sailor V as a hero and a very serious character. So without having the Sailor V series be goofy by default, it would have been weird for Takeuchi NOT to portray Venus as a goofball to begin with and then, as she matures, the serious girl that she is. Plus when the aforementioned serious arc starts in Sailor V, all of Mina’s notions about what exactly she is destined for change for the better, but not without a bittersweet cruelty to proceedings. Mina HAS to have these challenges or what does she want to fight for? Certainly not for boys or fame, both of which she chased and lost and laughed off—but only at the end of her journey does she see how far she’s come.

This made me ask the question, to myself at least, what is the heroine/hero in a story of destiny? Is she the instrument of destiny or the catalyst of destiny? Where does her free will stop and the path of the “chosen one” come into play? If Mina had not found Artemis that day, would Artemis have sought her out anyway? If the Boss (whom we never meet at all, strange that) had not pushed Artemis to accept Mina despite her spacey moments and her reckless attitude, would Mina have succeeded? I suspect that that Mina would have become a Sailor Senshi anyway, but her journey would have been longer. She has all the talents to be one; all she needed was to accept her destiny. In the end, though, she has to make the decision to accept it. This brings me to the destiny that is revealed to her at the end. It’s not as bad a destiny as some shoujo heroines get saddled with. Certainly it sets her up for the awesome nature of being a Sailor Guardian. But still, the mantle of responsibility has a downside.

Artwork-wise, I find that Takeuchi has clean lines and excellent design work especially when she has Mina transform into whatever disguise she needs to use and with the costumes the villains wear. Things get a little busy in the crowds scenes and yes, I still have difficulty following some of the action, but it’s more manageable than in Sailor Moon. The translations by William Flanagan are excellent and he gives us a healthy dose of reference notes at the end of the book. I’m really spoiled by the level of the work.

In the end, I would say that in order to get a complete picture of the whole Sailor Moon manga experience, Codename: Sailor V is required reading. It sets up parts of the story that the reader will recognize from the main series. It also provides a fully detailed origin story for a team member other than Usagi. Not that Usagi’s origin is more or less important than Mina’s. But this is Mina’s story, full stop. You don’t need to read it to enjoy Sailor Moon—the other saga being self contained. But this is a nice arc for a character who starts out as slightly ditzy and a klutz but who takes on the whole ball of wax in regards to knowing what her path looks like and what it will take to walk it. It’s definitely not what it appeared to be in its first volume and it is a rare thing indeed for me to find a manga where I kinda liked the main character but totally got them after only two volumes. Still, however serious the last parts become, the title remains fun until the end. Mina makes me laugh as she commits crimes against basic logic and sense. As I sit reading while my family and friends talk or move around me, Mina’s silliness lets me forget my troubles for awhile. I laugh at Mina, reply to a question someone in the room asked me, and then go back eagerly to see what Mina’s going to do next. My advice: buy the two volumes, have fun and go from there.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: kodansha, Kodansha Comics, kodansha usa, manga, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol. 6

October 3, 2012 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 6 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

A curious thing happened to me the other night. After reading the sixth volume of Sailor Moon, I looked back over the earlier volumes of the series, and I came to the inescapable conclusion that the Sailor Senshi could be confused with a murderous vigilante gang. Now, before you laugh, let me explain it this way. In this volume, the girls find themselves tangling with the Mugen Group and their master, Pharaoh 90. The entire clan of bad guys all live in an evil-looking tower and seem to be happy drawing in unsuspecting minions rather than going out to destroy. Oh, and no, I’m not kidding about the evil tower part, several characters mention the fact that they get a weird feeling just looking at it. Therefore it becomes evil, the Trashheap has spoken on the matter.

As I was saying, the Mugen group are turning their students into monsters with the aid of some questionable science, at best, and then said monsters go on a rampage. The Senshi turn up and vaporize the bad guy and everything’s all right with the world. But if you viewed it another way, the Senshi have been going around destroying public property, causing mass panics and riots to break out, and killing any God’s amount of singers/idols/famous people because they were in league with that month’s chief villain. Isn’t anyone going to notice they’re, I dunno, dead? Or that there seems to be an abnormal amount of incidents around this particular part of Tokyo? Don’t get me wrong, I’m as OK with suspension of disbelief as the next person but does Takeuchi expect us to believe that nobody has noticed anything, at all? One of these days, I’ll get an answer, I just don’t think it’ll come from Sailor Moon. Not that I mind, because in this volume, we are introduced to Sailors Neptune and Uranus, two of the more interesting Senshi. I only know of these two by internet reputation so in that respect, I’m kind of trying to walk around spoiler territory for myself here. Haruka (Uranus) is interesting in that she is presented as a girl and a fella. There’s no ambiguity with her/him when they interact with other people. Strangely, the only person who is confused and states that she is confused is Usagi but that’s because Uranus kisses her in her male persona. There’s something familiar about Haruka to Usagi and it upsets her to think about it. Curiouser and curiouser. Michiru as Neptune is not as exciting but she definitely is more mysterious. I think because of her lower profile, I worry that Takeuchi will give all the revelations to Uranus, and that would be not so good.

Also, we are introduced to Hotaru Tomoe, a person whom I’ve heard about but know nothing about. Hotaru is a sick young girl whose father works for the Mugen group in their laboratory. He’s kind of like the Josef Mengele of the Mugen group insofar that nobody he knows specifically is being hurt by what he’s doing. In the meantime, eh, what do a couple of students matter? How do people like Professor Tomoe get college educations? Does nobody notice when his report cards read “COULD WORK HARDER. COULD APPLY HIMSELF. COULD BE LESS EVIL.”? Whatever his problem, Hotaru looks like she needs a friend, and she gets one in the form of Chibi-Usa. After stumbling into her in front of the Tomoe lab, Chibi-Usa decides to hang out with her. Is this going to end well? I don’t know but I’m happy that Takeuchi has decided to give Chiba-Usa something to do other than hang out with Usagi and Mamoru and monopolise their time together.

One of the wildest moments for me in this volume is the amount of bad guys who get vapourised by the Senshi. Sweet Christmas, they get enough time to say things like (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Sailor Mars! Sailor Jupiter! You won’t stop me or my master, Pharaoh 90! I’ll defeat-AARGGGHHHH!!!” before being turned into crispy critters. They even have their power levels displayed above their heads at one point and I was thinking going from head to head, “One round, one round, two round, end of level boss.” I am telling you, reading manga shouldn’t be this much fun. Every time a new villain is introduced to the series, I keep thinking of Col. Trautman saying to the Sheriff in Rambo that if he (the Sheriff) wants to send that many men to deal with the problem to not forget a supply of body bags. It’s almost like there’s no reason to give any credence to these lieutenants, they are literally not going to be in the book long enough to like or hate. Their job is to advance the plot or the characters or both. I’m not disparaging the practice, I’m just saying that you should be aware going into the series.

William Flanagan’s translation notes return in full and as always they are fun but not exhaustive. Things like naming structures and meanings of places and things always help me whenever I read manga so I was missing them in the previous volume. Kodansha continues to put out an excellent book with it being just the right size for me when I’m trying to find my groove at home (I would never read Sailor Moon out on the streets of Dublin. I value my life more!)

We are just around the halfway point in the manga and yes, we have a new villain who is in the Bwa-Ha-Ha mode again but this time, we don’t know if the new Senshi are friend or foe. This complicates matters and makes for an interesting interlude

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: kodansha, Kodansha Comics, kodansha usa, manga, MANGA REVIEWS, shojo, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol. 5

September 26, 2012 by Phillip Anthony 1 Comment

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 5 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

I’m trying to put into words the ideas I’ve discovered with this volume of Sailor Moon. In this volume, the fight between Wiseman and his Malefic Black Crystal and our heroes reaches its crescendo. Some of our heroes are not going to be returning, I’m sad to say, and one character who only recently got introduced is for the chop. As I said, it’s not easy trying to explain the ideas I’ve had bouncing around since I finished the volume. I guess if we’re boiling it down, it’s the idea of infinity and eternity. In my mind, Sailor Moon and her friends embody the idea of infinity. The idea of infinity is that there is no end to it, stretching out into an endless horizon. The Sailor Senshi are that concept in action. On first inspection there seem to be limits to their powers. Even after three of them being captured, Sailor Moon still finds an unending horizon of strength to fight back against the power of Wiseman and his planet, Nemesis.

As the fight against Wiseman heats up to include fighting against one of their own, the team has to—has to—find the inner strength to defeat an enemy who just won’t stop. And in turning to eternity, we see the concept in Wiseman. Here is an enemy who has been waiting for so long to destroy Neo Queen Serenity, 30th Century Crystal Tokyo, and the Earth in general that he has been bleached by the universe until only the hate remains. He could wait forever for his revenge, he just doesn’t want to. In this volume, despite the team fighting their hardest fight, Wiseman and his cronies just keep coming.

The core of this volume is the maturing of Chibi-Usa into a girl who isn’t just the daughter of the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo. She drops the bratty act in this volume and becomes a person who has only an idea about who she wants to be. The people around her only want the best for her but if she doesn’t recognize that, events will destroy the people she loves. The way Takeuchi writes the relationship between Usagi and Chibi-Usa, initially I despaired that it would degenerate into catty, screaming sessions between them. But Usagi starts seeing her as her daughter rather than the Queen’s daughter (Usagi has, up until this point, been viewing Chibi-Usa as another person’s daughter and not hers) and this causes her to risk everything. The person who helps her see this, surprisingly, is Mamoru. Without his character taking the risk to trust Chibi-Usa, the way Takeuchi is going with this wouldn’t work.

That’s not to say there aren’t problems with this volume. The other Senshi get pretty much pushed to one side and I thought they were treated as kind of “We need Sailor Magic artillery! Quick, call up our reserves!” And after I’ve been introduced to them properly over the last little while, it felt a bit jarring. Another problem is Demande (yeah, remember him?). We’ve been given hints that he’s really unsettled by something about Wiseman. When his suspicions are confirmed, he quickly descends into madness. Completely. Totally. I really mean this, he just goes crazy and does the whole Andross from StarFox: “If I go down, I’m taking you with me!” After watching him be so measured for the last few volumes, his spiral into CrazyTown is positively Shakespearean.

The destiny angle comes up again in this volume and I must say, I’m trying hard to figure out if Takeuchi will ditch putting Usagi in peril anymore. The reason I say that is because we know she becomes Neo Queen Serenity, so putting her in danger doesn’t make any sense since we know she’ll be ok. Yes, I know that she could be put into a pocket dimension or into the far future but still, I would feel kind of insulted if the author tried to do this.

If nothing else, normally I should hate the fact that Takeuchi keeps trapping me in endless cycles of “New enemy! Even more effeminate than the last! Another Senshi is kidnapped! Another massive fight! Another defeat for the Senshi! Another stand-alone fight between the big Evil Cheese and Sailor Moon!” I really should be annoyed because she hasn’t changed the record once, but really the parts I like the most about the fights are the little moments when Usagi and Mamoru try and reconnect with each other. They’re the parts that reveal the most about these two lovers and the lengths either will go for the other. It takes skill to pull the wool over my eyes like that and still get me to come back. Yeah, like I’m that important, right?

No translation notes this time around but that’s OK, there weren’t really any moments that confused me. One thing I wanted to ask you guys about. A few of the pages in the book are blurry and smudged. Dialogue is also blurred, so it’s a printing issue. Is this affecting anybody else’s copies? Let me know, would you?

We are nearing the halfway point of the series and while I’m enjoying myself, the fact is that little voice in the back of my head is whispering “It’s almost half over!” This makes me a little sad because I don’t want the merry-go-round to stop. It has to, I know, still here I am. This is a fine entry and I can’t say anything more praiseworthy in life than that.

(After a two month hiatus, I’m back on the column! Apologies if you were wondering where I had gone. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service MMF kept me busy so I decided to skip doing a column post for August. I’m up at full speed again and I’d like to know if there are any immediate recommendations you would suggest for after I end covering Sailor Moon.)

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: kodansha, Kodansha Comics, kodansha usa, manga, MANGA REVIEWS, shojo, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: X, Vol. 1

July 26, 2012 by Phillip Anthony 2 Comments

X, Vol. 1: 3-in-1 | By CLAMP | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: T, Ages 13+

CLAMP might be the first manga artists I became aware of back in the day. While Sailor Moon and its risable dub didn’t interest me, the dubbed version of Cardcaptor Sakura, or Cardcaptors as it was known, was interesting. Knowledge that was based on a Japanese manga sent me to the old MIXX edition of the book. So I knew they existed. A few years go by and I own smatterings of Legal Drug, xxxHolic, Tsubasa Chronicle, Magic Knight Rayearth and a few others. But strangely, it was the discovery of an anime version of one of CLAMP’s bigger properties that would start over ten years of frustration. The title? X.

X tells the story of Kamui, a young high school-going boy who returns to Tokyo after the violent death of his mother. Childhood friends, Fuma and Kotori, are of course delighted to see him again. However, things cannot be as they once were. Kamui seems to be pursued by people who want to possess him and his psychic powers. One one side, Princess Hinoto who only wants Kamui for noble purposes and on the other, Kanoe, her sister, who only wants Kamui for destructive reasons. Every physical conflict in the story is settled by psychic battles that take place inside barriers. No battle can damage the real world while it happens inside the barrier but once a combatant dies, the damage becomes real. Now the countdown is on to 1999 and the day of reckoning.

Wow, CLAMP’s serious stuff always reads like a 70’s disaster movie starring Cary Grant and Ava Gardner. It sounds goofy as anything but once into the nuts and bolts, it really has legs to run with. X, I’ve known about since watching the Rintaro-directed movie from the mid-90’s. And of course, the TV series from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, I’ve not seen but heard about. But you see, the most famous thing about one of CLAMP’s biggest titles is that it was never finished. The team just stopped working on it (for particulars, see the Wikpedia article on it) and have never gone back to it. I guess being successful means you don’t have to be consistent. The movie and the TV show had to craft their own endings so your milage will seriously vary. But the manga is good, I have to say. After reading about the books for a while, I picked up the VIZ omnibus edition of volume 1. I’ll try not to spoil the other versions too much for you.

Kamui might be the most annoying CLAMP creation I’ve seen. He’s the lead, the hero, the chosen one—but by God, he’s so confident in his own abilities, it borders on arrogance. He fights anyone at the drop of a pin, which since he’s a psychic warrior, means the bar repair bill is going to be high. He’s angry, moody and pushy. He’s haunted by his last night in Tokyo before he and his mother had to flee. It’s so hard to see into his character in this volume. I get the sense that the manga version of Kamui cares about his childhood friends and normal people but psychic fighters, he couldn’t care less about, like they are fair game since he’s the king of the junkyard dogs. This is inconsistent with his promise to his mother to live long enough to see the year 1999. He’s fighting anybody without regard for his safety. What does this mean? The authors aren’t saying. Kotori is a typical non-leading female character from CLAMP in that she’s a frail, fragile girl who just wishes, darn it, can’t we all just get along? She clearly has fuzzy feelings for Kamui but he’s shutting her out to protect her. Fuma, well, is a nice guy who loves his sister Kotori and tries to shield her from the childhood trauma of finding their mother butchered, together. He loves his friend Kamui and would never hurt him but he’s being pushed to choose whom to protect. I’m not talking about the rest of the characters because you should find out yourself.

I like the set up of this first volume. You get a sense that something is coming from Hinoto’s apocalyptic visions to the way in which Kanoe is moving and maneuvering her own players. Kamui knows, just knows, something bad is after him and he tries shutting out Fuma and Kotori to protect both of them from whatever it is that pursues him. There are unintended fights between him and Hinoto’s people but the real fight is yet to happen. Another thing is, and this is one of CLAMP’s major strengths, that all the cast get a chance to explain themselves to the audience, and in doing so engage in exposition. It’s a really interesting technique to observe. If anyone else did it, I’d roll my eyes but CLAMP always make it seem natural. Even the antagonists get a chance to do this. It’s doesn’t make them any nicer people but at least I understand their motivations a bit better now. Finally, there seems to be a conscious choice to set the fights during the night. Nothing bad really happens in the day and in this volume the daytime is associated with Kamui’s arrival in school, and public, for the first time when he arrives in Kotori’s field of vision out of a school window as if heaven sent. Interesting concept, since later in the day, Kamui tries to coldy dismiss Kotori (of course we know he’s trying to protect her). Dining on ashes at the end of the day, before the eternal night, perhaps?

Talking about a CLAMP book means talking about artwork and this work benefits from VIZ selecting a larger format book size. Every ink brush stroke, every pencil line is detailed and prominent, every character is clear. The work in here has an almost dream-like quality with long elegant lines and weird tilted camera angles. CLAMP aren’t really urban or technological artists, but when they do decide to do that type of work, it’s always refreshing to see it on display. Trying to pin down their technology style is a bit difficult. It’s one part Shirow Masamune, one part Michael Okuda, how’s that? And the character designs are, as always, varied and function oriented. Everyone looks like what they wear suits them.

I have never liked the anime ending to the X movie. But while I’m resigned to the fact that CLAMP might never finish their popular series, at least it looks good, is written smartly and has enough steam to see me through to X Omnibus vol.2. For newcomers to CLAMP, it’s a good place to start and a good book to own. For veterans, well. You’re already trapped in the hole, so keep going, huh?


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: clamp, manga, shojo, VIZ

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sakura Hime, Vol. 2

July 2, 2012 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura Volume 2 | By Arina Tanemura | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: T, Ages 13+

“Faint hearts never won fair maidens.”

This statement works in the case of both lead characters in Arina Tanemura’s Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura. Aoba, a prince in the Japanese imperial court, is betrothed to Sakura, a princess of the moon (run with me here). But Sakura is now in danger of becoming a Youko (demon), and Aoba is charged with killing her. When last we left our leads, Sakura had to flee Aoba and his courtiers who were trying to kill her. After being betrayed by her retainer, Oumi, Sakura found sanctuary with Kohaku, a female ninja in the employ of Aoba’s family, and had finally confronted Aoba after being lured into a trap by him.

Well, things certainly have improved since last I wrote about this manga. A lot of the problems from the first volume have been addressed, if not corrected.

First up, the court intrigue hinted at now comes to the fore with not one or two but three groups with their own agendas working in the court. First is Aoba, who now is completely conflicted over his love for Sakura. She’s the enemy but she’s not at the same time. He has to kill her because of her exposure to the Youko. She is a demon so his course is clear. But when Lord Fujimarusaki (Aoba’s brother) offers a deal that allows Sakura to live in exchange for killing a local Youko that has been concerning the Togu (guy in charge) and his advisors, Aoba is stuck. Now that the reason for hating her has been put on hold, Aoba finds himself trying to fight his own brother for possession of her love.

Lord Fujimarusaki states his affection for Sakura both to her and to Aoba. But he also sees how important Sakura has become since Aoba rejected her. Suitors hoping for nothing more than political influence will try to gain her hand. So Fujimarusaki moves first. But is he doing this for noble reasons? Aoba doesn’t know, but doesn’t tip his hand.

Finally, an awesome new character has been introduced who has insiders in the Royal court working for them. This new character is definitively not human, has no trouble sacrificing others for the goal, and gets the cliffhanger moment at the end. Brilliant timing, and I hope this character will be staying around as more than just a villain of the week.

Poor Sakura’s position first gets better and then worse. After being betrayed by Oumi and then by Aoba, everything would be easier if she simply gave in and became a complete Youko. But her temperament (and I suspect her love for Aoba) is keeping her anchored, though I enjoy the fact that she, too, can’t get past either Aoba or his betrayal. They have a heated argument in this volume and you can see her wanting to tell him something—to tell him everything that she has in her heart and mind. But the fact is that he …I don’t know, has to be seen in a certain way with the court. Or perhaps she’s scared to tell him everything and risk losing him. Hmm, interesting bind to be in.

Also we finally learn why Oumi betrayed Sakura. On one hand, it’s predictable, and on the other it’s heartbreaking. Oumi isn’t strictly a bad person and she technically has good reasons for doing what she did. Still, no misguided person’s fall from grace stops at a single mistake, and sadly Oumi’s arc gets worse in tone. Sakura herself confronts the issue with Oumi at the same time, and Tanemura handles it well. If nothing else, the author seems to know where she’s going in this volume and sets up an excellent final act with tragedy, pathos, and heart.

My personal favourite moment in the volume comes when Sakura protects Aoba from a snake attack. Aoba thinks she did it for self-serving reasons but Sakura did it for the right reasons in her own mind. In doing so, it’s revealed that these near fatal wounds she receives are not as painless as people believe. When Aoba realises he’s hurt Sakura more than he imagined, he tries to console her as she sleeps. It’s a nice, poignant moment and it’s handled with care and no overload of emotion.

I think I’m still reading this story because of the setting in ancient Japan. This doesn’t allow for outward displays of affection, so everything is supposed to be low-key. Despite this, Tanemura lifts the constant downer material with great comedic spats between the characters. If they were in a modern setting, this story wouldn’t appeal all that much to me. It’s bubbly and effervescent but not overbearing. If I could single out anything, I’d say that there isn’t too much action going on for the most part. But not every apple has to be rosy red so I’m asking too much of the book. I’m still hanging in for a crack at volume three.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: hime, manga, MANGA REVIEWS, sakura, sakura hime, shojo, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon Vol. 4

May 14, 2012 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 4 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

After my aggravation over volume 3, in this volume, things start taking on a more serious angle with the remains of the team trying to make sense of new villains (Black Moon), and the kidnappings of Sailors Mars and Mercury. Chibiusa’s backstory begins to be fleshed out and Usagi starts to buckle under the stress of having all her friends snatched away from her. I was really frustrated by the previous story’s lack of tension despite all the danger they were in, but Takeuchi re-applies the pressure by bringing more people in on the fact that the Sailor Senshi are missing. So now things are moving faster, and this is better for the narrative in my humble opinion.

I find that despite Usagi discovering her royal lineage, she proves she’s still a teenager with her jealousy over Chibiusa hanging out with Mamoru so much. But as we learn more about Chibiusa, we discover that Usagi and she are more alike than they realize. Turns out Chibiusa and Usagi are related to each other and Chibiusa is from the thirtieth century. Using the two girls as a sounding board, I often wonder what would happen if I met my future descendants. Would I have anything in common with them? Or more importantly, if they were in trouble, would I fight for them? It’s interesting to speculate, especially since I had previously derided Usagi’s somewhat childish behaviour towards Chibiusa. Does this completely absolve Usagi? No, she can still go over her boundaries into somewhat irrational territory but I’ll give her a pass from now on, within reason.

A little window gets opened in relation to Sailor Jupiter. Since she was introduced, I haven’t seen sight nor hair of the poor girl, except when she’s needed to defeat evil, blah, blah, blah. But I get an teeny tiny window into her thoughts and how important the others have become to her, and she then perfectly articulates why the rest of the girls and Mamoru don’t look (on the surface at least) to be all that concerned about their missing comrades. Also, we see her and Motoki have a tender, quiet moment only to have it snatched away without Motoki knowing it’s happened. Is this a comment on the attrition of war and its effect on its soldiers? It would be interesting if I could confirm this. The manga runs its usual wire-thin line between tragedy and comedy, so all bets are off in this volume as to where Takeuchi takes this.

In my quest to understand what theories you could derive from Sailor Moon, I’m looking at the concept of Black Moon as villains. For the most part, the individuals fall into the Dark Kingdom’s mold of villainy for villainy’s sake. But the overarching idea behind them (and I’m trying to stay out of spoiler zones here) is they are rebelling against the established order. They don’t want to simply accept that this is how society has gone and they won’t agree with it. The problem for them is, like all rebellions, there’s nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to go with the rest of society, just that once you get out of talking and protesting about your ideals, you reach an impasse. You can either accept that change will take time and get into the trudge of eventually changing things, or you decide more drastic measures are required. Black Moon falls into the latter category. So they murdered and maimed their way to the top of Chibiusa’s world and now want to do the same to the present. So in this way, I would surmise, the lesson here is you can get what you want, the only thing you’ve got to do is not mind stepping on people to do it. It would be fantastic to think Takeuchi was trying to say something about the manga industry but I fear I’m grasping at straws here.

Another thing that pops up is the idea of pre-destiny. For those who do not know, predestiny is the idea that all the major events in your life were pre-ordained before you ever existed and continue after you’re gone. Two people suffer this problem: Chibiusa and Mamoru. Mamoru is in a brief (and I’m stumbling for the next word) spiritual conference with his dead lieutenants—the ones who were Queen Beryl’s resurrected minions but who later came to see the folly of their ways. He wonders why he was even reincarnated if he can’t protect Usagi. Was he fated to fail? No, say his lieutenants, because you’re here means that Usagi will be Queen and you King. While Mamoru begins to understand from that point on, it’s not decided or explained by the author whether Mamoru’s men know this truth about him because it is a truth or because they have advanced knowledge. Is it predestiny if it’s imparted by a person outside the need for a personal destiny? On Chibiusa’s side, was she always fated to find Usagi and the Sailor Senshi? Is the fact that she’s related to Usagi a deciding factor in her arrival in our present? Again, no answers, just concepts.

I have to say this volume has me thinking, rethinking and over-thinking the plot and concepts it brings with it. We haven’t even talked about the amount of pressure Usagi—that she alone finds herself under by the end of the volume. Things get very grim for our heroes—decidedly so. While I’m sure there’s an inner light or a new spell to call upon, I find myself hammering away at the cogs of the machine rather than the machine itself.

Hey, I’ve a homework assignment for all of you, if you’re interested. Can you tell me what part of Sailor Moon got you thinking beyond the page? What ideas or theories did it throw up? If not Sailor Moon, you can use any shoujo manga you like. I’ll print whatever you send me in next month’s Sailor Moon post. If your comment has spoilers for SM, then I’ll ask Melinda to post them for me so I don’t read them ^-^!

After my blood pressure problems with dealing with volume 3, I should be equally angry with this volume, but that one conversation with Sailor Jupiter took the wind right out of my sails. So is the series getting better for me? Certainly, and my initial hangups about the series (it’s too girly, the villains are wishy-washy) have largely evaporated due to Takeuchi’s layering of plot on plot, dialogue over dialogue as we start to see the whole thing start to coalesce into something close to a concept in motion. This series, despite the occasional landmine, continues to shine and hold my attention.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: kodansha, Kodansha Comics, kodansha usa, manga, MANGA REVIEWS, shojo, shoujo

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon Vol. 3

April 19, 2012 by Phillip Anthony 4 Comments

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 3 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

Escalation and dissipation could be the by-words of this volume of Sailor Moon and oh, Lordy, is it interesting! To illustrate my point, I use science, specifically stellar physics. In some stars, after a star has used up its fuel, which it burns through Hydrogen to produce a nuclear fusion reaction, it will start to bloat as the star fuses helium to carbon and oxygen. The pressure within this star has been building since fusion stopped and now it’s reached its breaking point. Solar layer upon layer will violently blow itself off until all that is left is a white dwarf, a smaller, brighter version of the original, full of its own mysteries.

It is this analogy that works for me in my attempt to explain the events of this volume. We have the conclusion of the fight with the Dark Kingdom. Queen Metalia and Queen Beryl (how many queens can you have?) are in the ascendant. The team is desperately trying to save Usagi from a brainwashed Mamoru, who has grabbed her in an attempt to get the Legendary Crystal. Their attempts cause the team to travel to the frozen wastes of the Arctic circle.

For her part, Usagi is trapped inside the Legendary Crystal. After sacrificing herself to free Mamoru, Usagi finds herself in possession of a newfound energy with which to defeat the rulers of the Dark Kingdom. I have to say I like how it’s resolved—not in a rush nor ponderous fashion, just somewhere in between. Takeuchi ties up most of the elements from this arc, sets them into motion for the next arc, all while allowing fans who’ve wanted a resolution to get it without going “OK, show’s over folks! Goodnight!”

Now, I have problems with the next arc’s beginning. We are introduced to the new villains, Black Moon, who’s plan is to… I don’t have a clue. (Really, the villains in this series sometimes give the appearance of “Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Champions of Justice, fear me, for I am…!” being villainous just for the sake of being villainous) During a battle with the Senshi, they kidnap Sailor Mars. And then don’t do anything remotely villainous with her. Or attack the team again. Wait, what? I don’t mind the idea of dissipation, it’s just that the team lose all momentum. Even with Mars missing, they don’t seem that pushed, at least in my mind. They even deflect questions in school as to where Mars is. Doesn’t this girl have friends or family outside of the Sailor Senshi? Has anyone filed an APB or what? Am I being too critical? Am I only one who feels that this kind of dissipation after such an epic fight is kind of a letdown? I understand that we have a change of pace after the Dark Kingdom’s “Bwa-ha-ha-ha!” methodology but there’s no reason to suspect or even hint that the bad guys are mistreating Mars for their own purposes. At least, Beryl brainwashes Mamoru.

But the most glaring problem I have got is with Chibi-Usagi (or Chibiusa as she’s later to be know as). She’s a smaller version of Usagi who appears out of, literally, thin air, holding a gun (!) to Usagi’s head and demanding the Legendary Crystal from her. To top things off, she’s clingy towards Mamoru, brainwashes Usagi’s parents into letting her stay with them, has a magical key to something that nobody knows anything about. Luna says she’ll investigate but that she doesn’t suspect that Chibiusa is dangerous. Wait, what? Luna was intensely distrustful of Mamoru when he first appeared as Tuxedo Mask, and tried to stop Usagi from seeing him. But Chibiusa is just fine, no trouble. Oh, my brain hurts so badly. If Takeuchi’s plan was to confuse and annoy me, she’s been successful. Is this confusing to anyone else? What is the point of introducing a new adversary, knocking out a member of the team and then introducing a (frankly) baffling new character, inside half a tankoban? How does this help anyone? I am prepared to suspend judgement until I read the next volume but something has to give. I am starting to fray at the edges and I can only give so much leeway.

On a more positive note, the deranged second half also allows me to get some perspective on the overall view of the series. We’re nearly a quarter into the book’s run and we’re still no closer to even a hint at where the series is headed. I like this insofar as I can understand if Takeuchi wants to take time out to set up the next chess battle. Where I think the series’ strength lies is in the backstory. We now know that the Senshi and Mamoru are reincarnations of the People of the Moon and the Prince of Earth (Prince Endymion) respectively. But even after learning all that, we still don’t know their origins as Moon citizens (I never thought I would write that outside of a Gerry Anderson review). But the nicest part of the whole Moon Kingdom is when Usagi chooses to send all of them back to Earth instead of living on the now rebuilt Royal Castle grounds. They’ve got family who love them, back on Earth, so Usagi doesn’t want then to give that up. So it’s back to the only life they’ve known. It’s a nice touch, I like it.

It’s frustrating to read such excellent character development in one part and be baffled by another. I know Takeuchi isn’t doing it deliberately but I’m left asking why she makes her cast take on near insurmountable obstacles then act like total dopes the minute things hit easy street. And by the bye, things haven’t hit easy street because Sailor Mars is still missing!

Artwise, I still am impressed by Takeuchi and her ability to mix the sublime with the ordinary. Even if I don’t like Chibiusa, she’s an interesting character from a design point of view. She looks like a younger version of Usagi, naturally. But unlike more modern young characters in anime/manga, she’s not done from a fetish view. Maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see, but it’s nice to see someone have a higher sense of decorum (God, when did I start sounding like my parents?). Also, I’m happy to report that I finally am starting to be able to tell the difference between the Senshi! Maybe it’s me becoming accustomed to Takeuchi’s art style or maybe it was the handy inside pages at the beginning of the manga telling us who everyone is. I think Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter gave me the most trouble as they have similar hairstyles. But it’s becoming clearer—I’m starting to learn the importance of sticking with a series and its inherent value of having names to the faces.

Sailor Moon is great but this volume was trying for me, more specifically the second half with its stop-start-stop plotting. But that’s the nature of the beast, it seems. I’m learning pacing structure within a multi-volume series (something I could never be bothered to do before) and also that for every step you take forward as a reader you must be prepared to take a few steps back, occasionally, (or a lot, if you’re a person who has ever read Stephanie Meyer) at the behest of the author. With a few gripes, minor ones given my overall enjoyment of the series, I will recommend to you, Sailor Moon Volume 3.

In some respects, a white dwarf’s life is more interesting then its previous one. As a normal star it’s only concern is keeping itself going. But as a white dwarf, it faces an eternity as it burns brightly. It will fade one day as all things do. But until it does it will be a shining beacon in space, drawing in people as they gaze at it in wonder.

Filed Under: Adventures in the Key of Shoujo Tagged With: kodansha, Kodansha Comics, kodansha usa, manga, MANGA REVIEWS, shojo, shoujo

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