Archives for September 2012

By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan as “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Sailor Moon continues to introduce us to the Outer Senshi and their way of dealing with things in this volume. It can be a bit hard to take, and the anime was never quite sure when to quit with the whole ‘no, we are right and you are wrong’ schtick. To be fair, one can argue that it’s all that the Outers know. We see, in their flashback (and note that their memories of past lives seem MUCH clearer than the Inner Senshi pasts have ever been) that they basically patrol their solitary planets looking for distant threats. They don’t even have cute animal companions to keep them company. And the one time they were able to do something, it was pushing the big red ‘PRESS THIS TO DESTROY UNIVERSE’ button of summoning Sailor Saturn. So it stands to reason they’d regard this as something that’s their job, and has to be done their way. Plus they’re two years older than Usagi and company. For a teenager, that’s, like, FOREVER.

That said, it’s Sailor Moon’s manga, and you know she’s going to be right in the end, so it can be a bit aggravating to see them try to do the whole ‘go away and let us handle this’ thing. Luckily, there are several moments that endear them to us. For one, I loved that, immediately after Setsuna’s memories awaken and she reclaims her powers as Pluto, she rushes to embrace Chibi-Moon. From a story perspective, Pluto’s death was devastating to Chibi-Moon the most, so it stands to reason that if you’re going to retcon it (and I don’t remotely understand how Pluto gets reincarnated in the past, but hey, timey-wimey ball and all that) you’d better reclaim that emotional moment. Pluto’s joy at seeing Chibi-Moon is equally fantastic. Of course, once that’s over she joins the Outers in their aloofness, but hey, can’t have everything.

I know that it’s a common theme throughout all 12 volumes of the manga, but it always seemed to me that S really ramped up the idea of possession as an attack to an insane degree. Here the Inners and Outers get pitted against each other by pumping up their negative emotions, we see Kaolinite (back when she was just Kaori, presumably) getting possessed by Pharaoh 90, and of course there’s Hotaru, whose success at fighting off the Evil Mistress Nine within her is even more admirable in this context, given that nobody else seems to have any luck fighting anything off at all. Speaking of Hotaru, her father in the manga is a really evil bastard, who it’s made clear seems to have been off the rails even BEFORE turning evil, so no redemption for him as you may have seen in the anime. That said, Hotaru’s reaction to all this is sweet and loving, even as a disembodied spirit.

Lastly, while bonds of friendship, love and respect are all very well and good, there’s a lovely reminder that being a senshi is a calling rather than a cute little fantasy. Most magical girl manga tend to have their heroines thinking of romance first and foremost – and indeed Usagi is fairly typical in that regard – but we’ve seen over and over again that this is a lifetime profession for Sailor Moon and the others – and that the lifetime is going to last MUCH LONGER than most. The Witches Five (brought back to life again, in one of the poorer plot choices in the entire series – don’t kill off minions if you need them again!) each taunt the Inners with the idea that there are other careers they could be doing – doctor, fortune-teller, florist, idol – that they’re sacrificing by choosing to be a senshi and help Sailor Moon instead. This is not a one-time theme, and will become even more important in the SuperS arc that follows this.

This isn’t a perfect volume of Sailor Moon – it’s a bit more messy and chaotic than it’s been in the past, and there’s more shouting at everyone else than I’d like (most of it designed to fill up pages while we wait for Mistress Nine to be powerful enough to break out). But, as noted above, it’s filled with food for thought, and now that we have all our ducks in a row we’re ready for a powerful climax. Will the Outers have to kill Hotaru to save the world? (Note: if you want this to remain secret, try not to look at the color pages for this volume.)

By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Ikki. Released in North America by Viz.

Once again I am struck by how much this manga develops close bonds of friendship and respect between people who, were they in the real world, would be horrible monsters. En and his gang, Caiman’s ongoing search for Nikaido, even Kasukabe’s strangely distant yet loving relationship with his (as yet unseen) wife. The reason I bang on about how much I like Dorohedoro is that its world building makes it FEEL like a world. This is a place where life goes on even when the protagonists are not on screen, and has people whose priorities are more than simply helping the hero carry out his master plan. Let’s face it, finding your lost friend is all well and good, but there are pies to be sold!

And Dorohedoro also has a glorious sense of humor, not afraid to let everyone embarrass themselves in the name of broad comedy. Thus we have Pieman, Caiman’s alter ego while in En’s mansion, who looks like a refugee from Burger Time with fake breasts. Even better, not only does Caiman pretend to be Tanba’s new wife, but he finds himself getting too into the role, needing to actually remember what he’s here for. As for the pie battle itself (between Tanba and a rival merchant/ex-girlfriend), it ends the way you’d think, even with the use of supernatural aid on the enemies’ side.

There is also Risu and his attempts to connect with a gang of cross-eyed. I will admit that I still tend to find the parts of the manga with Risu a weak point of the book, mostly as he’s simply not as boisterous as our 4 protagonists and not as downtroddenly pathetic as Fujita. I know he has a story that will pay off down the road, however, so it’s worth paying attention. Likewise, I find Chota’s obsession with En to be a bit much, but then that’s how it’s supposed to be. And his imitation of Nikaido is quite funny (you just know this will end badly for him).

There’s darkness afoot, though – this is still a dark and gory manga. First we have Nikaido, still possessed for about half of this book, getting her back sliced open by… well, as she says it’s not caiman, but it’s certainly connected to him in some way, just as Risu is. Unpleasant stuff, especially given how happy-go-lucky Caiman is in general (there’s a nice heartwarming flashback to how he and Nikaido first meet, and he gets his name). Secondly, when chasing after Kasukabe and company, who have gone to visit his wife and found some nasty goons instead, Shin and Noi get the crap beaten out of them – indeed, Shin gets left for dead. Which no doubt will prove to be a mistake, as the cliffhanger shows a not-dead Shin preparing to wreak his revenge.

The beauty of Dorohedoro, in addition to his morally grey but fun characters and its amazing crapsack world, is that after finishing a volume you can’t wait to see what’s next. That’s absolutely the case here. Bring on Vol. 8, I have to know how Shin wins!

By Tsukasa Fushimi, Sakura Ikeda, and Hiro Kanzaki. Released in Japan as Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai by ASCII Media Works, serialized in the magazine Dengeki G’s. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics.

After reviewing I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!, I have to admit that I was not particularly looking forward to OreImo, which does not quite swim in the same waters but is in the same general area, featuring a sister who may harbor closer feelings for her brother than most would be comfortable with. So readers may be pleased to know that I didn’t really hate this, it cleared the low bar that I had set it when I came into it. That said, there’s a lot here that I found awkward, overdone or creepy too. Japanese harem manga lately seems to not only find originality unnecessary, but positively revels in its cliches, and you can see that going on here.

The premise of this work, which is also translated as “My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute!”, is that our generic everyhero Kyousuke discovers that his pretty, popular and standoffish younger sister Kirino has a secret fetish for anime and otaku stuff. Specifically, she loves H-games. And even more specifically, she loves H-games based around older brother/younger sister incest. When confronted about this, she’s upset, but even more she’s relieved that she can finally talk to someone about it, even if it’s her brother. Kyousuke is (of course) a Really Nice Guy, so he tries to find ways to get her to make friends and be able to not repress everything until she’s unhappy. This is hard, as she’s a massive tsundere (see the cover image), but eventually she bonds with a grumpy goth and a busty Gundam fanatic, and all seems well. At least until their father finds her porn…

Let’s start with the things I liked. All the characters are more likeable than IDLYAA,BB. Kyousuke may be a generic everyhero, but at least he *is* the nice variety, trying to do his best for his little sister, bonding with his childhood friend who clearly has a massive crush on him (that he doesn’t see), and so forth. The emphasis in this title is clearly meant to be about the two kids growing closer and opening up as family, with the incest providing a plot setup but (I hope) not really the main thrust of everything that happens. It’s lower-key and sweeter, and the humor is more character based. I also liked the Gundam Girl, who seems poised to be this series’ Cool Big Sis, and who I suspect is hiding something behind those huge otaku-parody glasses.

Now for the bad. The art is terrible. This is not all that uncommon in light novel adaptations these days, but unfortunately it really caught my attention here. All the girls are 14 but look about 4-5 years younger, and the artist has this very odd habit of drawing smiling happy girls as if they’ve just been drugged. Also, I suspect someone took Ikeda aside after the first four chapters and said “Yo, tone it down”, as the overemphasis on asses and the incestual imaginings vanish rapidly when we reach the halfway point and things get less big brother-ey.

The other problem is simply that there’s not really much here that’s new and exciting. A harem comedy with a tsundere lead and a generic male who will, no doubt, get involved in all sorts of wacky misunderstandings, with the ‘gimmick’ being that the supposed cool and beautiful younger sister character is actually an otaku with a slight big brother fetish. The brother-sister incest thing is very big in Japan right now, as a quick look at the bestsellers charts may tell you, but in and of itself it’s not all that interesting. Indeed, I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother! is at least upfront about its perversions. OreImo’s attempt to be the kinder, gentler incest title comes off as more boring than anything else.

By Aya Kanno. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Viz.

Note that I say ‘serialization ongoing’ up there. One might be forgiven, after reading the final two chapters here, in thinking that Otomen ends with this volume, wrapping up on a high note where we finally see a bit more into Ryo’s psyche and see Asuka struggle with what he wants to do with his future. But fitting as it might be, it’s not the end – these chapters ran in early 2011 in Japan, and the manga is still going in Betsuhana, so we have at least three more volumes to go, including one Viz has scheduled for January.

This is not, however, to take away from what might be one of Kanno’s best volumes in this series. It was deliberately written to focus on Ryo, who also gets the cover, albeit disguised as a boy. 3/4 of the book has her meeting up with a judo club that’s being taught poorly by its physically skilled captain whose frustrations make him completely incapable of leading. After seeing him attack one of his students, Ryo throws him into a wall, where he “breaks his arm”. Now Ryo has to dress up as a boy and lead the judo team to victory against their opponents… who happen to by her own school. This means she will have to fight Asuka.

If this sounds incredibly cliched, clearly you haven’t read Otomen before, which specializes in taking the most hideously cliched plots imaginable and doing something with them. In this particular case there are two plots interweaving, both involving Ryo. The main one has her making the judo team into a force of awesome. They have skills, as Sakata (the captain Ryo took over for) has drilled things into them, albeit poorly. Seeing what she can make of them sends Sakata spiraling into despair and self-loathing (not helped by the fact that he doesn’t realize the boy teaching them is Ryo at first, so we get a standard ‘why do I have feelings for this guy?’ reaction) and declaring he’s quitting. Ryo, who can see the good guy underneath, asks if he’ll stay if Odo is victorious. Eventually we *don’t* get our expected Asuka vs. Ryo match, as Sakata breaks his cast (showing he was faking, as we suspected) and demands to fight Asuka himself.

Asuka has a smaller role here, but it’s important – Juta plants a seed of uncertainty in his head about Ryo, and Asuka can’t stop thinking about it. Even after he learns what Ryo is doing, he still puts on a false front in front of her. Because let’s face it, Ryo is not the most demonstrative of people. He’s said he loves her three times now, as well as dated her, and her reactions seems to be more of a cheery “Okee doke!” than anything else. Here, helped out by her father and Sakata, Ryo is starting to realize that her lack of direct expression is bothering Asuka, and she does something about it. THIS. This is what I wanted from this series all along – a direct, honest statement from Ryo that she is also in love with Asuka, as well as some insight into her inner thought process. Very well done.

Then there’s the last chapter. It’s Valentine’s Day, but this is Otomen, so naturally the guys are the ones giving out the chocolate. In between this, we see them all discussing plans for their future, as he’s expected to inherit the family business… but isn’t sure he really wants to do that. Making matters worse, everyone else seems to have a firm goal in mind – including Ryo, who is following in her father’s footsteps in becoming a police officer. This is another chapter that’s more about the heart than the laughs, though I did laugh at Asuka’s realization of what it is he truly wants – or more accurately, what he’s focused on when it happens (truly an otomen to the end). His response, however, is fantastic, and leads to that ending which I told you feels like the end of the series, but isn’t. I hope (and pray!) that finally we can move away from “are we truly a couple?” stories and show Asuka and Ryo growing and getting closer.

Of course, Asuka’s mother probably has a few things to say about this. We’re not done, and I will look forward to Otomen 14 in January. But this particular volume put its foot on the ‘heartwarming’ pedal and never let up, and finally gave focus to one of my favorite characters in the series. Very well done.

Also, anyone notice that the guys in Otomen blush constantly, and Ryo never does? There’s only one time in the volume we see her blush, and it’s not at either of the two places I expected.