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Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

girls only

Girls Only Week Recap!

August 10, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

Last week, I reviewed series only by female mangaka. Here’s a quick rundown!

Sunday: Volume six of Peach-Pit’s insightful take on the magical girl genre, Shugo Chara!
Monday: The second volume of Yun Kouga’s RPG-like shonen fantasy series, Gestalt.
Tuesday: Both volumes of Mikase Hiyashi’s quiet tale of a young girl raising her nephew alone, March on Earth.
Wednesday: A day off at PAD, but the Girls Only spirit was alive and well at CSBG, where Danielle Leigh, Michelle Smith, and I discussed volumes 3 & 4 of NANA!
Thursday: The fifth volume of Yuki Obata’s delicate shojo series We Were There–one that is especially personal for me.
Friday: Volume 19 of my favorite long-running shonen series, Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist.
Saturday: For the grand finale, the full series (5 volumes) of Ai Yazawa’s gorgeous tale of love, fashion and self-discovery, Paradise Kiss!

I had a wonderful time reading these books and I will definitely repeat the theme again in the future. I hope it was enjoyable for everyone!

The new week begins with yesterday’s guest review from Megan M. of the first volume of CMX’s manga adaptation of light novel series Ballad of a Shinigami. Much more to come!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: girls only, manga

Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 19

August 7, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 6 Comments

Here on the penultimate evening of Girls Only Week, I talk about the most recent volume of my favorite long-running shonen series which just happens to be written and drawn by a woman. Is this a coincidence? One must wonder. Meanwhile, enjoy:

Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 19
By Hiromu Arakawa
Published by Viz Media

fma19
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In this volume, Hawkeye reveals the truth about President Bradley’s son to Mustang, though he finds it impossible to believe. Ed is badly injured in the attempt to take down Kimblee and ends up purposefully disappearing along with a couple of Kimblee’s men. Finally, Al is discovered by Scar and Winry’s group in time to warn them away from Fort Briggs, though it isn’t long before he suffers a repeat of last volume’s experience in which he begins to feel pulled out of his body. All of this feels almost trivial, however, compared to this volume’s real story, which reveals the origins of Father and the homunculi (down to their names), as well as the distant past of Ed and Al’s father, Von Hohenheim, and the dark history they share.

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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: fullmetal alchemist, girls only, manga

We Were There, Volume 5

August 6, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

We Were There, Vol. 5
By Yuki Obata
Published by Viz Media

wwt5
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It’s been a week since Nana broke up with Yano and though Nana’s trying very hard to move on, Yano is really not doing well at all. A friend’s attempt to bring him on a group date is a complete failure, resulting in a drunken, late-night visit to best friend Takeuchi’s and a close brush with drunk dialing (or at least drunk texting). Things for Yano really don’t improve over the course of the volume either, as Nana is visibly irritated with his (admittedly weak) attempts to win her back, and Takeuchi takes advantage of Yano’s uncertainty over his feelings for his deceased ex in order to pursue Nana himself. Meanwhile, Nana is simply trying to get over her own heartbreak against all odds. The volume ends with a cruel cliffhanger, softened somewhat by an enlightening side story featuring a younger Yano and Takeuchi and the perils of unrequited love.

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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: girls only, manga, we were there

March on Earth, Volumes 1 & 2

August 4, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

We are now three days in to Girls Only Week here at There it is, Plain as Daylight! Today I review Mikase Hayashi’s March on Earth, a sweet two-volume series about a young teen raising her nephew alone after her older sister’s death. Don’t forget to check out this week’s earlier reviews, for volume six of Peach-Pit’s emotionally rich magical girl series Shugo Chara! and volume two of Yun Kouga’s shonen fantasy series Gestalt!

March on Earth, Vols. 1 & 2
By Mikase Hayashi
Published by CMX

marchonearth1
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When Yuzu’s parents died, it was up to her older sister to take care of her. Now that her sister has been killed in a car crash, only Yuzu is left to care for her sister’s two-year-old son, Shou. Determined to do for her sister’s young son what her sister did for her, Yuzu takes on this responsibility with her whole heart. Fortunately, she’s got a kind landlady with two sons, each of whom dotes on Yuzu and Shou (particularly the older son, Seita, who harbors a not-so-secret crush on Yuzu) so she is far from alone, no matter how bleak things might seem to Yuzu in the loneliness of night. Over the course of the story, Yuzu pieces together a family for herself and Shou, first with the discovery of the man who is Shou’s father and finally including the family who already loves her, regardless of the lack of blood relation. She also faces questions about her own future and whether or not her own dreams can exist alongside her commitment to Shou.

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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: girls only, manga, march on earth

Gestalt, Volume 2

August 3, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

Gestalt, Volume 2
By Yun Kouga
Published by Viz Media

gestalt2
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This volume begins on a fairly dramatic note, as Father Olivier is possessed by something clearly unfriendly and very powerful. Ouri manages to drive out the intruder (using a pretty interesting tactic involving an incubus whose usual role is as “the monster that gives you wet dreams”) and the group’s quest continues after a short break in which more background is given about Ouri’s personal mission and how she acquired female form. The real drama of this volume, however, involves fortune-teller Shazan, whose participation in a local tournament (the prize for which is an item needed for the group’s transport) causes his true identity to be revealed. The volume ends with both Ouri and stray elf Suzu facing dangerous foes who also happen to be their siblings.

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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: gestalt, girls only, manga

PAD Introduces New Guest Reviewer & Girls Only Week!

August 2, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 7 Comments

First off, I’d like to introduce our new guest reviewer, Megan M! To quote her bio, “Megan M. is a customer service representative for an evil credit card company who lives in Texas. She would be a single English major living alone with a cat if her apartment complex allowed pets, and has compensated for the lack of a cat with far too many books. She has read so much that it has turned her brain and her shelves are overflowing with romance novels, fantasy novels, mystery novels, american comics, and, of course, manga. If one looks closely, one may spot the rare volume of Serious Literature valiantly gasping for air, struggling to survive in the sea of popular fiction. Her fictional preferences for women with weapons and attractive, often roguish, male accessories were firmly established at a very young age due to early exposure to Star Wars and Willow.”

Megan starts things off with a fantastic mini review of CMX’s Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea. Please give her a warm welcome!

Secondly, today marks the beginning of Girls Only Week, a week-long focus on female mangaka here at There it is, Plain as Daylight. Inspired by the recent controversy over SDCC, the creation of the Women Make Comics t-shirt, and the re-launching of Girlamatic, I’ve decided to spend the entire week featuring works solely by female writers and artists. Something I think is important to point out here, in terms of just how many “women make comics” is that I don’t have to reach to do this. I’m not going back to my shelves and digging through to find female-created manga. I’m just glancing at what’s in my review stack, throwing in a couple of features I’d already planned to do anyway, and there it is, a full week, easy.

Today begins with a review for the most recent volume of one of my favorite shojo series for young girls, Shugo Chara! by female mangaka duo, Peach-Pit. Please note that though the creators may be “girls only,” the manga definitely won’t be. I’ll be covering works in a range of styles and genres this week, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: NEWS Tagged With: girls only, guest reviewers, megan

Shugo Chara! Volume 6

August 2, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 5 Comments

shugochara6Shugo Chara! Vol. 6
By Peach-Pit
Published by Del Rey

As volume six opens, Kairi is becoming more troubled over his role as Easter’s spy within the Guardians and especially his mission to distribute the “Wishing CD” to students at Seiyo Academy. Rima is struggling as well, both with her parents’ constant fighting and their overprotective behavior, particularly their insistence that she quit the Guardians. It doesn’t take long for either of these issues to be resolved, for better or worse. Meanwhile, Amu faces demons of her own as she finds herself once again forced into battling teen pop idol Utau (still working as a puppet for the evil corporation, Easter) who is now character transforming with Amu’s wayward guardian character, Diamond. Winding up to a final battle involving all the Guardians, Utau, and Ikuto, several new character transformations, and at least one unexpected guest, you’d think that was enough for one volume, but there is yet another surprise in store for Amu by the end.

Let me be perfectly up-front from the beginning. I love Shugo Chara! It is one of my very favorite series for younger girls and a great example of the way a talented team like Peach-Pit can take all the trappings of a standard shojo formula (in this case, the “magical girl” genre) and use it to tell a rich, thoughtful story that successfully explores the dreams and fears of children and adults alike. Its core concept–that all children have a “Heart’s Egg” that holds the potential for their most personal dreams–is honestly adorable, but more than that, it allows the story to delve into questions of desire, ability, hope, hopelessness, insecurity, self-awareness, and even gender identification (yes, really) as the series goes on. Its heroine, Amu, whose outward persona and inward personality are constantly at odds, begins the story by making a heartfelt wish to find “the courage to be reborn as the person I want to be.” Her wish brings her heart’s egg into the world to hatch as a shugo chara (guardian character)–a tiny, human-like representation of her would-be self. Where the story gets brilliant, however, is that Amu ends up giving “birth” to four different guardian characters over the course of these six volumes, representing all the many aspects of who she might be, making it clear that there is no one future self for any of us–but rather a wide array of potential selves, any of whom we may become or destroy, depending on our choices and desires.

This concept looms large in the series’ sixth volume, as Amu finds herself facing her own would-be self in battle. Yes, these mangaka have managed to create a literal fight between their heroine and a single piece of her inner self that is not only clever but actually quite stunning to behold. The children’s “character transformations”–magical incarnations of their would-be selves created by a bonding between them and their guardian characters–are a highlight of the series, and Amu’s transformation here is an enormous step forward for her. In the end, she discovers that believing in herself is what is truly important, even if she doesn’t yet understand who that is.

What draws me so to this aspect of the story’s premise, is that it contradicts the too-common idea that there is just a single destiny possible for any one person and that we must each choose one future for ourselves, no more, no less. Children these days are encouraged to make “permanent” decisions about their lives or careers earlier all the time, which is something I’ve found quite disturbing over the years. As someone who has already experienced several major career shifts in my life and explored many different versions of my would-be self, I suppose I feel akin to Amu, but my feelings about this go far beyond the personal. I really believe it is important to encourage children to acknowledge all their varied potential when they are young, and to make it clear to them that there is always possibility beyond what is right in front of them, even as adults. This series embraces that kind of thinking and that definitely contributes to my affection for it. It also doesn’t hurt that Amu’s would-be selves demonstrate that there is more to any girl than can be portrayed by a single stereotype. Between cheerful, athletic Ran, outspoken, artistic Miki, and girlish, nurturing Su, Amu can’t be placed into any neat shojo category (nor would she ever stand for such a thing) and that’s the kind of message I think young girls need to be getting from their fiction.

Another major theme in this series is cooperation, and that comes strongly into play in this volume as well. Just as Tadase finally achieved his first character transformation (“Platinum Royale”) in volume five, here the two remaining transformation-less Guardians achieve theirs as well, which is not only exciting but also frankly awesome (in the case of Kairi, whose “Samurai Soul” is beyond cool) and surprisingly cute (Yaya’s “Dearest Baby” uses a flock of rubber duckies as a weapon). Though Amu remains the most powerful of the group, as their enemies become more formidable, the children discover quickly that they always fight more effectively if they work as a team. This volume is quite action-heavy, containing at least two major battles. While this means that there is not as much page time given to thoughtful characterization in this volume, these battles are the culmination of all the careful plotting and character development the mangaka put into the first five volumes, and they provide quite a nice payoff. On a quieter note, something I mentioned in my review of volume five was how telling I thought it was that, despite his obvious personal conflict, Kairi was the one boy of the group able to appreciate and admire Amu for who she actually is (rather than who she might be), and this volume offers a major payoff in that area as well. Lastly, look for a subtle hint at the return of a beloved character who has been gone far too long!

As always, the art is a real highlight of this volume. Though this series adheres to the usual sensibilities of shojo for young girls–big eyes, sparkles, flowery backgrounds, and ornate paneling–it is done so cleanly and so well that it’s impossible not to admire it, even as a jaded adult. The style always adjusts to fit the character’s moods as well, as is most evident in an early scene with Rima, which is drawn in an uncharacteristically subdued manner, appropriate to her deep sadness at the time. The final chapter of the volume is honestly stunning, as both Amu and Utau achieve new character transformations, ending with a desolate look at Ikuto’s position that evokes true loneliness.

As this review becomes quite obviously over-long, I think it’s clear that I have a lot to say about this series, and I think my level of admiration probably comes dangerously close to hyperbole. It’s really satisfying, however, to read a series that makes me want to go on and on like this in praise. For those who think manga like Shugo Chara! is kids’ stuff (or perhaps more to the point, “girls’ stuff”) I urge you to set those preconceptions aside and give it a try. This series nicely demonstrates just how emotionally complex and genuinely moving sparkly, girly manga can be.

Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: girls only, manga, shugo chara!

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