Archives for February 2012

By Koji Kumeta. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Once again, I don’t really have much to talk about with this excellent volume of Zetsubou-sensei except a string of random observations. Which seems somewhat fitting, given this series.

As I’ve noted before, Zetsubou-sensei has acquired a reputation of burning out translators, with each one before Joshua Weeks lasting 4 volumes. I’ve no idea if this is Joshua’s final volume as well, but it wouldn’t surprise me: this one was an absolute nightmare to adapt, I imagine. The first chapter is an entire chapter based on “explain the Japanese pun”, the final ‘extra’ makes no sense unless you read the weekly Magazines, and another chapter is based around Rakugo. Certainly this is why, after doing notes for Vol. 10, *I* gave up. Still, an admirable job, even if I once again feel there’s too few endnotes. But that’s just me.

Most of the cast of high schoolers tend to have lousy lives in general, but at least can sometimes have a default of ‘happy’ most of the time, even if it’s a psychotic sort of happiness. Manami, though, who graces the back cover with her debt book… wow, her life is simply brutal. Married at the age of 16 to a philandering husband who appears to use her as a name to saddle all his debt on to, she’s also hideously unlucky and tends to get herself into more debt through sheer gullibility. In Volume 11, after hearing some of her complaints, her teacher decides to simply ignore them to save his sanity. Really, we should do the same here. Her face in Chapter 119 as she talks about realizing her husband is the one for her speaks of horrible illicit affairs gone wrong. Luckily, this is a gag manga, so we’ll never have to worry about it.

I also noticed a couple of chapters showing Maria at the receiving end of some of the unfortunate gags, which surprised me. Generally the cast divides into “people bad things happen to” (Manami being an excellent example), and “people who blithely walk through the chaos” (Kafuka is a prime example here). Usually Maria is one of the latter, so seeing her two falls here is rather unusual. Still, no one in the end is safe from a gag as long as it’s funny. Well, except for the aforementioned Kafuka. I think even if a meteor destroyed the Earth, she’d be blithely smiling in her space bunker somewhere else…

The ‘hot or not’ chapter really worked much better in the anime. Probably due to the chilling chirpiness of Chiri’s ‘ari ari ari ari!’ in the original Japanese. Speaking of Chiri, she seems now to be committing murders on an almost daily basis, judging by her having to hide from police disguised as tree bark. And yet she still has a rival: Mayo’s face as she demonstrates the blowtorch is absolutely beautiful. (It was an inspiration for her appearance in the ending to the 3rd season.) And I love Kiri and Matoi sniping at each other as usual.

Then there’s Kiyohiko’s Night. Oi. The folks who watch the anime have an advantage over others, as they’ve actually seen the sequence in question, but here goes: Weekly Shonen Magazine has a special issues with one-shots and short special versions of regular comics that comes out on holidays. For one of these, Kumeta released a 4-page comic that involved a pun on the Japanese version of ‘Silent Night’ and a bizarre man named Kiyohiko. As viewers of the anime can tell you, it was not particularly funny. What’s more, the magazine it appeared in had to be pulled due to a controversy surrounding another artist’s work so very few people got to read it anyway. It was presumably supposed to be in this volume, but Kumeta, realizing it wasn’t that funny, pulled it and instead drew 4 pages of the cast complaining. So now you know! (You can see Kiyohiko on the swing by Maria at the back of the book, if you’re curious.)

Also, Kiri is changing into her sweats for her “don’t open it”, and you can see her semi-naked. I therefore conclude the missing Kiri from Vol. 10 was indeed the usual poor quality control rather than any censorious reasons. (Quality control seems better here.) Lastly, we have some of the Japanese fanart. One piece of which made me absolutely boggle. It involves Kafuka ogling her teacher’s ass. You really should see it for yourself.

And now I’m caught up! Roll on Vol. 13!

By Mitsuru Adachi. Released in Japan in 2 separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

I had noted in my Manga The Week Of column that this new Cross Game might simply be 2 more volumes of nothing but baseball, but for once that’s not the case. Oh, there’s lots of practicing, and baseball does feature prominently in one of the subplots. But this is the offseason, and despite much practice and training, Ko and Aoba’s thoughts are also turning to other things. And then there’s the problem of Akane…

I find Akane fascinating, honestly. Adachi is certainly not flinching from showing us the sheer discomfort that everyone from Wakaba’s past has in her presence. At the same time, especially as the volume goes on, that same presence also gives them a sense of calm and peace. It’s also additionally unsettling for the reader who has followed Adachi’s works since the late 70s. Here is a story he created that finally has the heroine not being ‘nice, supportive, calm girl’, and what does he do? He has the spitting image of his old heroines show up and insinuate herself into Ko’s life! To be fair to Akane, she’s not being the ‘other woman’ here. She seems to know very well the feelings Ko and Aoba have for each other. But they’re both in denial, and not actually going anywhere. And Akane is starting to fall for Ko. So why not take a chance?

It’s not as if Ko is the only one being hit by this, of course. We get the best look at Akaishi we’ve had since the first volume, as he presses Akane and Ko into going on a date. Given that he loved Wakaba, and is clearly attracted to Akane, this seems highly unusual, but we shouldn’t be surprised, given that this is a manga where everyone is always so supportive of the other person without thinking of their own feelings. I noted on Twitter that if the cast of Cross Game were remotely selfish, the manga would only be about 100 pages long. I think Adachi knows readers are rooting for Akaishi… if only as they’re all rooting for Ko and Aoba, and someone needs to get the other cute girl.

It’s not going to be Azuma, who also gets a nice look in here. This is where the baseball I mentioned earlier comes in, as one subplot has Azuma smashing a line drive into Aoba, fracturing her leg. This upsets him far more than usual… not that we can see it in his face, of course, but you can see it through his actions, as his swing is not really what it should be until Aoba gets out of the hospital. Like Akane, he’s fallen in love with someone while knowing that she’s already taken, she just needs to realize this. The frustration can sometimes be palpable, which is likely why he decides to pretend the maintenance kit came from him. Ko already has a lead so large that no one can really pass it. Azuma’s brother gets the line of the volume when he asks Aoba “Have you ever thought you liked my brother without someone asking you first?”.

There’s a definite theme of growing up here, with the other two Tsukishima heroines both shown to be going out with (and toying with) other guys, and Ko telling Aoba’s father that he should think about remarrying as well. But the past still clings to us, be it a lookalike of Wakaba who has innocently taken her place in their lives, or a birthday present list that you just can’t stop buying for, even if you can’t admit it. The characters aren’t selfish. And that’s why Cross Game is 17 volumes long. This was Vol. 12 and 13, for those keeping up with the NA releases. Next up, I suspect: more baseball games.

(Also, love that reference to Major, which is not only Adachi self-deprecation, but a namecheck of a 78-volume baseball series, a friendly rival to Cross Game in Sunday, that will be licensed by Viz about the same time as the heat death of the universe.)

By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan as “Mahou Sensei Negima!” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

This review contains spoilers for this volume, and I recommend you have read it before you begin.

When we last left our heroes, they had finally arrived at the scene of their final battle, only to be met by the least expected foe ever. This was part of a sequence of five chapters that basically hit Negima fandom like a bomb, and honestly, even though we’re over 50 chapters down the road now, I’m not sure it managed to top it until just this week. At least in terms of chatter.

Akamatsu, of course, knew exactly what he was doing – he has Chisame immediately lampshade the fact that he dropped said foe right into the battle with little to no foreshadowing, which is *just not done*. In fact, given the state of things between Earth and the Magic World, it’s pretty much impossible that she can be there at all. But there she is, being deadpan and managing to… easily take out all of our heroes at once. Wow.

The two chapters that follow, which show Negi in a ‘perfect world’ where his parents defeated the enemy 20 years ago and never died, is really heartbreaking. Not just for Negi, who knows that no matter what he does, he’ll never ever have a childhood like this, but also in how the others are affected. In Negi’s dream the Kyoto arc never happened, which means that Setsuna and Konoka are still not speaking to each other. Eva is removed from him as well. As Negi himself notes, it’s a fun, happy world, but he instinctively knows there’s something wrong with it.

We get a sneak peek at most of the other fantasy worlds of the cast as well. Some are purely for comedic effect (Setsuna’s, Chamo’s), but it’s startling to see how many of them have the potential for heartbreak just as Negi must be feeling. Yue studying happily with her late grandfather; Mana still partnered with her dead sempai; Sayo simply being *alive*. Even the ones featuring couples give pause for thought. Nodoka’s fantasy involves her reading books with Negi… and Yue (I’m starting to suspect that these two are going to end up taking each other out of the love sweepstakes by sheer politeness), Ako is no doubt going to once again realize that the Nagi of her dreams doesn’t exist; and unlike Setsuna’s sexualized dream, all Konoka has is happily playing with Setsuna as a child. (That’s got to hurt; you may have your work cut out for you, Setsuna.)

Luckily, Negi is helped out by Zazie. The *real* Zazie, not the fake one that confronted him at the start of this volume. It is highly reassuring, especially given how little we know about her, to see that Zazie is still in Negi’s corner. She was supposed to have an arc of her own in the Festival volumes, but the story got out of control and Akamatsu had to cut it. Here you can see him using her complete lack of characterization as a boon, first to throw us off, then here to reassure us. I hope we see more of her in the future.

The next chapter contains what I think is, in my mind, the funniest moment in Negima ever. Admittedly, others will no doubt disagree with me, but Chisame being told why she and Makie did not succumb to the dream world like everyone else is a thing of beauty. It works well in English too, given that Poyo explains things using a ‘net term’, rea-juu, which had to be explained for the Japanese audience as well. (Also, thankfully, Makie’s confusion as to what the word means is given a different translation. I’ve no idea which is more accurate, Kodansha or the scanlators, but I’m happy to go with the less controversial one.) Chisame’s horror that she’s enjoying all aspects of her life right now is a thing of beauty, and wonderfully timed.

After that, everyone wakes themselves up, and the rest of the volume is a standard battle. Not that this is without many items of merit. It’s a lot of fun. Negi’s reveal that he has a plan to save the Magic World without destroying the magical inhabitants, as well as Fate’s angry reaction. Mana’s revelation of her own heritage, which is clearly combined with an honest lust for battle. Kotaro’s brief thoughts of taking on Fate himself, and (showing how he’s grown), his realization that it would be impossible. The cameo from Tsuruko of Love Hina, here more than just a shadow in the background (though she’s still unnamed). Nodoka tackling an enemy made of fire to stop her. And, in case you thought it was all serious business, Ako’s artifact, as well as the glee with which she wields it.

This is a very busy volume of Negima, which something for almost everyone. (Even Anya and Asuna get a look in.) Kodansha Comics nearly gets it right, but they’re still missing the character bios at the end. I’m not certain why, as they have 4 pages of fanart as well as Misora’s Q&A. Is it just because they decided to add the ‘Next Volume’ preview? I think most fans would disagree with that choice. In any case, recommended to all of you who’ve kept up with the series anyway.

This review was based on a review copy provided by the publisher.