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Seduce Me After the Show by est em: A

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From the back cover:
A stylish, tempestuous dance of anguish and passion. Seduce Me After the Show contains seven short stories which take place within the artistic worlds of dance, painting, and music. Overall themes focus on the dichotomy of hope and despair as well as the relationship between pleasure and longing. In the title story, devastated by the death of his world famous dancer mother, Theo Gallardo abandons his own dancing career to become an actor and co-stars in a film with popular Hollywood idol Darren Fergus. What should have been a joking kiss shared between them takes a sudden turn when Darren asks, “So what now?” Theo answers, “That depends on the script.” As lustful passions boil over, will Theo be able to regain the fire that he once possessed and return to the dancing world?

Review:
The back of this book is doing a lot of my (self-appointed) job for me! Though, to be honest, I probably never would’ve written about the “dichotomy of hope and despair” anyway.

Right up until I read the last story, I thought my favorite tale would end up being the two-parter starring Theo and Darren (details above). It’s wonderfully told, with an ending I adore even as I wish there were more to read about these two. The final story has a similar feel and tells the story of a man returning to Kyoto after a long absence. He’s come back to attend a festival and, while there, asks about an old friend of his. Gradually, the details of their parting are revealed and, I swear, the final page makes me sniffly.

I really like the art—the use of screentone and backgrounds is minimal, resulting in a largely black and white style. Some of the character designs are quite original, too. Theo looks more like Severus Snape than he does a typical manga character. One of the couples includes a guy in his fifties, and when’s the last time you saw that happen in this genre? Lastly, I appreciate that est em takes the “artistically suggestive” route with the pair of love scenes; depicting things in exacting detail would detract from the emotional element.

Usually, I don’t notice things like paper or print quality, but the production values from Deux (the yaoi imprint of Aurora Publishing, a fairly new player on the American manga scene) are good enough to attract my notice. The translated dialogue seems natural and though I had trouble a couple of times working out exactly what Theo meant, I think that’s just a facet of his character. There was one fairly glaring grammatical error, though. “You’re work has really matured.” Nails on a chalkboard, that one.

My only real complaint is the surfeit of ambiguity. There are times when it isn’t easy to determine which character spoke a line, whether two characters actually slept together, or how one really feels about the other. I’m sure all of this is intentional, but to quote Davy Keith from Anne of Green Gables (‘cos where better to do that than in a yaoi review?), “I want to know!”

Seduce Me After the Show is a character-driven collection featuring grown-up men dealing with their feelings for each other. There’s no blushing or glomping here, and though the stories may be short, they’re also original, thoughtful, and memorable. If you buy one yaoi title this year, buy this one. There’s another book by est em due in December, though, so maybe make it two.

A slightly different version of this review was also published at Manga Recon.

I.O.N by Arina Tanemura: B-

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From the back cover:
Ion Tsuburagi chants the letters of her first name as a charm to bring good luck when she needs it. Then she meets Mikado Hourai, the president of the Psychic Powers Research Society at school, and touches a mysterious substance he’s been developing. Now chanting ‘I-O-N’ gives her telekinetic powers!

Review:
I don’t normally comment on covers, but I.O.N has one of the prettiest I’ve seen. It’s all shades of green, blue, and purple, making Ion’s ginormous Ribon-issue brown eyes stand out. Her hair is blue on the cover, which prompts me to consider that I haven’t really encountered too many manga characters with oddly-colored hair (by which I mean impossible for a human and not merely improbable for a Japanese person). Maybe that’s more of an anime thing. In this case, I’m not sure whether Ion’s hair is truly supposed to be blue or if Tanemura is just having fun with the cover art. Either way, it’s purty.

Alas, it turns out the cover is really the best thing about this one-shot. Some of its problems are due to its length. Exposition gets crammed into dialogue where it doesn’t really belong, resulting in awkward sentences like, “I was wondering who that was, but what do you know, it’s Mikado Hourai, the President of the Psychic Power Research Society.” Emotional developments are also rushed, like when Ion declares that she might be falling for Hourai a mere 7 pages after meeting him.

The rest of the problems are due to the story itself, which just isn’t very cohesive. The nature of the plot is episodic, with Ion using her new-found powers to perform astonishing feats such as extinguishing fires, saving drowning kids from being struck by malicious logs, and protecting her romantic rival from a falling tree. Tanemura’s sidebars mention that her editors kept her in suspense regarding the ultimate length of the series, and it shows. She doesn’t really try to do anything substantive until the end, but even so, that mostly consists of Hourai being uncertain whether he likes Ion for herself or because she’s got psychic powers.

The artwork is typical of Tanemura’s style—lots of screentone, lots of flowers and stars—but as this is her first published manga volume, the result is a little less polished than in her later works. When seen from straight on, noses are just vertical lines and after I conceived of the notion that they looked like coin slots, I kept seeing them in the fashion. Pages do get a little overcrowded at times, but I didn’t have any problems following the story visually. I particularly like the character design for Tagosaku, who’s drawn in a different style from everyone else. The loyal henchman of the President of the Student Council, he’s essentially just a weird little dude who is used for comic relief throughout. I like him.

I.O.N is a decent read. It’s largely lacking in substance and purpose, but if one goes into it just expecting a magical girl fantasy, it’s not that bad. It might be better to procure it from a library, though, if one can.

Sand Chronicles 2 by Hinako Ashihara: A

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From the back cover:
Just when Ann has adjusted to life in the countryside—and even has a boyfriend!—her father invites her to live with him in Tokyo. Now she must choose between a father she hardly knows and a young man she is just beginning to know. But she soon discovers that they aren’t the only ones vying for her affections!

Review:
In a recent post on his blog, David Welsh said, “It’s entirely possible that Hinako Ashihara’s Sand Chronicles is less a great graphic novel for teens than a great graphic novel for former teens who remember the pointed moments of awkwardness and uncertainty of that time of life.” I kept remembering that comment as I read this volume, and I think it’s very true.

There’s a definite sense of “this was once terribly important to me and I wanted it to last forever, but now it’s all just a memory” about it all. This is bolstered by the way the story is structured—like a series of recollections and snapshots in time, with the shortest interval between chapters so far being six months. It induces strong nostalgia in me for those days—the me I was, the things I did, the people I used to see every day—and I think a distance of some years from one’s adolescence is required for that kind of wistful retrospection to flourish.

As regards the story itself, I really love both chapters included in this volume. In the first, Ann must decide whether to remain in Shimane with Daigo and her friends or to return to Tokyo to live with her father. The depiction of her divided loyalties and struggle to decide is very well done and I was impressed by how much of an emotional response the conclusion to the chapter provoked in me. In the second, the love triangle that’s been developing since the first volume gets explored. I really like that neither of the boys involved is an easy shoujo stereotype. One is more reserved than the other, but there are no fiery hotheads involved.

Seriously, y’all. Read this manga.

xxxHolic, Vol. 12

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I’ve been waiting anxiously for the official release of xxxHolic volume 12, and though it’s been quite an ordeal getting to finally read it (late shipments, car crashes, etc.) it was such a treat to finally really sit down with it. I read it once last night while I was still pretty screwed up in the head (that would be the car crash factor), and then again tonight, slightly less screwed up. Both reads were pretty intense. Volume 12 is very special to me, and I’ll talk a bit about why.

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Four Shōjo Stories by Keiko Nishi, Moto Hagio, and Shio Sato: B+

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From the back cover:
An unprecedented collection of stories by the greatest shōjo manga (girls’ comics) artists of our time!

In shōjo manga, a uniquely literary genre of Japanese comics, the relationships between characters are as meticulously crafted as the story’s action. Shōjo artists are renowned for their visual innovations, as well. Experimenting with page layouts, panel placement, the interplay of text and image, and expressionistic background effects, the three female manga artists of Four Shōjo Stories create a uniquely absorbing reading experience!

Review:
It would be impossible to write a review of Four Shōjo Stories without referencing its unique history. Who better to shed light on its origins than Matt Thorn, the original translator and author of the book’s introduction. Here’s a post he made on MangaBlog in March 2007. Suffice it to say that, although this wasn’t cheap, I am pleased to’ve found a copy significantly below the price range stated in Matt’s comments.

Of the four stories, two are sci-fi works by shoujo creators and the other two are by josei artist Keiko Nishi. I liked those by Nishi least, though they weren’t bad. The second one in particular had a melancholy vibe that I liked, but none of the characters were sympathetic.

I’d expected to like Moto Hagio’s “They Were Eleven,” since I’ve seen it praised before. I wasn’t disappointed. It seemed to drag a little initially (at 120 pp, it was by far the longest story in the collection) but picked up steam and by the end it was clear that all the stuff that happened at the outset had served a purpose. Fans of sci-fi in general but also fans of shoujo series that feature what I call “gender hijinks” would probably enjoy this story.

The surprise for me was Shio Sato’s “The Changeling.” I’d never heard of Sato before, but I liked her story just about as much as Hagio’s. In it, a competent and boyish female space pilot received a signal from a previously uncontacted planet and went to investigate. Her opinions on the inhabitants she encountered were thoughtful and different than I’d expected. The story stuck in my head after I had finished and made me wish something else by Sato would get licensed. It also had a cute final panel.

While the contents of Four Shōjo Stories might not be uniformly stellar, they’re still enjoyable. It’s too bad they probably won’t see the light of day in a readily accessible, $8.99 sort of package any time soon.

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers: B+

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From the back cover:
The Crown’s case was watertight. The police were adamant that the right person was on trial. The judge’s summing up was also clear. ‘The prisoner had the means—the arsenic. She had the opportunity to administer it.’ Harriet Vane was guilty. And Harriet Vane should hang. But the jury disagreed. And so did Lord Peter Wimsey—he had to prove that Harriet hadn’t murdered her lover with arsenic—and he also had to find out who had.

Review:
Alas, I was rather disappointed in Strong Poison. True, it addressed one of the complaints I had early on in the series and featured loads of personal drama for the investigators. I liked the turn Peter took here—in love and accepting rejection with grace and angst—and I liked Harriet, too, though there wasn’t enough of her. Miss Climpson and another enterprising spinster were also entertaining and made valuable contributions to the case.

But! I just about tore my hair out when another confounded will entered the picture. There was a twist involved that made it slightly different than a matter of mere inheritance, but just once, I’d like to read a Sayers book that mentions neither a testatrix nor a legatee! There was also a certain clue that, by the randomness of its inclusion, enabled me to immediately guess the method in which the arsenic was administered.

Despite not being everything I’d hoped for, it was still probably the best of the Sayers so far.

7SEEDS 3 (Japanese) by Yumi Tamura: A-

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Book description:
In the near future, a huge meteorite has collided with the earth. Governments around the world, who had forseen this worst case scenario, took countermeasures so that humanity would not go extinct. One example is Japan’s “Seven Seeds” project, in which young people were carefully selected and cryogenically frozen until such time as a computer deemed Earth safe for human habitation.

Team Summer B has left their inhospitable island in search of answers while Team Spring’s attempt to escape theirs failed due in part to the misogynist Yanagi, who wants to assume control of the group and refuses to heed the others’ suggestions. After a fall into a pit of deadly mantises, Yanagi is presumed dead. What could his sudden reappearance mean?

Review:
There were some sequences in this volume that were just downright COOL. In a deliciously freaky moment, Team Summer B discovered a Nagasaki landmark—a giant statue—almost entirely submerged in water. It was that discovery that really made the reality of their situation sink in. On their separate course, Team Spring realized that they were in Yokohama. Members of each group ventured off separately to check on the status of their home towns, leading to the exploration of creepy abandoned buildings and stuff. I love that sort of thing.

Tamura is adept at maintaining a tense atmosphere and kept the pacing of the story at a satisfying level. Some of the answers I’d been waiting for were provided, but plenty of plot potential remains. I suppose my main complaint at this point is the size of the cast. Sure, Basara had a ton of people, but they felt more gradually introduced. In 7SEEDS there’s already 15 or so. A couple of them got some development in this volume, but there really aren’t any that I particularly care about yet.

It’s the story rather than the characters that’s driving the series at this point. Luckily it’s a darned good one.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers: B+

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From the back cover:
This sinister, engaging case takes aristocratic sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey from London to Paris and then back, to the austere dignity of the Bellona Club. There, 90-year-old General Fentiman was found dead in his favorite wing chair by the fireplace. Oddly, his sister died elsewhere the same day, perhaps within minutes of her brother. Investigating the question of who died first, a critical matter for inheritance, Wimsey grows suspicious about vital rigor mortis evidence. Might it actually be a case of murder? Intricate, elegant, and delightful—quintessential Wimsey.

Review:
There’s a complexity to The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club that is missing from earlier entries in the series. Lord Peter shows a darker side, capable of manipulation or steeliness. He gets into two verbal arguments (both with great dialogue), one even culminating in a fist fight. I am liking this Peter! There’s also more nuance to his relationship with Parker and a bit more sophistication in the plotting. A harbinger of good things to come, methinks.

Some things, however, remain doggedly the same. Yet another will with a strange clause figures into the plot. I have lost track of how many times that has happened now. And, if the perpetrators had had their way, the money would’ve gone to a medical purpose, just like in a couple of the short stories. Sigh.

There are also a couple of leaps in the solution that don’t quite make sense to me. The most major is that the suspect had a big secret and somehow the victim knew it. But I don’t remember it ever being explained how it was known; that bit was just kind of glossed over.

I look forward to the result of these various improvements in characterization combined with a fresher motive. The first person to recommend Sayers to me named the next in the series as one of her favorites, so perhaps I shan’t have long to wait for something satisfying on both levels.

Love*Com 6 by Aya Nakahara: B+

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From the back cover:
Ôtani acquires tickets to the Umibouzu concert and asks Risa to go with him. Could this be the answer to her dreams—their first date?! But as fate would have it, Ôtani gets sick the day before the concert. Concerned (about her friend and the date) Risa visits his sick bed and gets her first kiss! Or does she! Was it an accident? Does Ôtani even remember it?

Review:
This volume started and ended well, but the middle was annoying as heck. In the first chapter, Ôtani was sick and ended up smooching Risa in a fever daze. There was more to it than that, of course, like further discussion of his reaction to her confession. And at the very end, Ôtani was stirred into jealousy over Risa and led her away from another dude.

Said other dude, however, was incredibly annoying. New faculty member Maitake, who looked just like a dreamy guy from one of Risa’s dating sim video games, was creepy and cheesy. I honestly couldn’t tell whether he was nice and was purposefully attempting to help Risa and Ôtani out or whether he’s truly creepy and interested in one of his students. I reckon it’s the former, but I still didn’t like him much. Worse was how Risa became an utter moron in singing his praises.

While it’s true that Ôtani can be dense at times, I felt sorry for him again in this volume. Everyone portrayed him as the villain when he’s just this kind of clueless guy who keeps getting broadsided by the unexpected twists in Risa’s female brain. An example: Risa’s sad and Ôtani, told by everyone that it’s his fault, went to apologize because he wanted her to cheer up. Risa throws him for a loop by asking, “What’re you saying sorry for? For not remembering that you kissed me? Or did you mean you’re sorry, but you’re never ever going to be attracted to me in a million years, no matter what I do?” Poor guy! Of course he had no ready answer for that one.

Anyway, I ultimately liked how the volume ended and I hope that stupid Maitake either goes away soon or ceases to be someone that Risa focuses on to distract herself from Ôtani.

Love*Com 5 by Aya Nakahara: A-

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From the back cover:
Heartbroken by Ôtani’s rejection, Risa decides to give up on ever getting together with him. But a chance encounter with her musical hero Umibouzu helps Risa get back in the fighting spirit. With a new surge of self-confidence, Risa is ready to go after Ôtani. He’ll never know what hit him.

Review:
I was pretty wary of the “chance encounter with her musical hero” because it conjured up awful images of some country singer or something playing himself on The Young and the Restless and dispensing life and love advice to, like, Nikki Newman in a bar. I bet that has happened at least once.

Anyway, it turned out to be better than I’d expected, which was a relief. This volume dealt with the aftermath of Risa’s love confession and all of her varied reactions to it: despondency, hope, discouragement, determination. It was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions, and I had to sympathize with Ôtani some, because she did spring some completely random things on him.

I did like that he realized that he had more fun with Risa than he did with his ex, a girl whom he’d formerly considered to personify his type. And, of course, the parts where he was being nice to Risa were my favorites; I understand the yelling bits are supposed to be part of their “comedy duo” routine, but I still am not fond of them.

Lastly, I appreciated the support provided by the friends of the parties involved, and that we got to see Ôtani and Risa talking things over separately with their respective best friends. 99% of the happenings occur in Risa’s head, so I enjoyed any chance to see what Ôtani was thinking in a given situation.

Love*Com may have its over the top moments, but more than any shoujo manga I’ve read where love confessions figure into the story, this is the one that really brings back feelings of what those days where like.