Ash Brown

Pick of the Week: Old Familiar Faces

April 11, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: Much as I Am A Hero is award-winning and intriguing, I am not going to pick a zombie apocalypse as my pick of the week without reading it first. So let’s go with the default ‘second week of the month’ pick, Magi, which could always use more good publicity, as it’s consistently fun to read.

MICHELLE: Sound reasoning, Sean. Magi for me, too.

ASH: Okay, I’ll take the plunge and pick the debut I Am a Hero. I’m actually not especially interested in the zombie angle, but I’ve heard great things about the series from people whose opinions I trust. (I’m really looking forward to the next volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride, too, though!)

ANNA: I gotta go with Magi too! One day I will get caught up, but I love the earlier volumes in the series that I’ve read.

My Week in Manga: April 4-April 10, 2016

April 11, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

In case anyone was wondering just how much I was looking forward to seeing Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish released in English, I apparently ended up devoting an entire week to it at Experiments in Manga. (Sort of.) First was the announcement of the winner of the Princess Jellyfish giveaway, which also includes a list of upcoming manga releases that I and the giveaway participants are especially looking forward to. (Yes, Princess Jellyfish was mentioned multiple times, and not just by me.) The honor of the first in-depth manga review for April goes to the first Princess Jellyfish omnibus which I (unsurprisingly) loved. I’m enjoying the manga immensely, but I’m especially looking forward to getting to the point in the series where the anime adaptation left off. Princess Jellyfish even got a specific mention in March’s Bookshelf Overload, which was posted over the weekend.

There were a few manga-related things caught my eye last week. Brigid Alverson’s article on the state of the North American manga industry, which focuses on the impact of a few of the top-selling series, is now free to read at Publishers Weekly. The translation and quality of Digital Manga’s original release of the first volume of Kou Yoneda’s Twittering Birds Never Fly drew a fair amount of criticism from fans, so much so that the publisher decided to completely revise and re-release it. Apparently 200 of the 223 pages were redone in some fashion. The new edition should be available sometime in late May or early June. Also, Vertical launched it’s most recent licensing and readership survey for anyone who might have any manga or light novel requests. And last but certainly not least—Kodansha Comic’s will be releasing more of Vinland Saga!

Quick Takes

Beyond: The Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology edited by Sfé R. Monster. A fair number of independent queer comics anthologies have been released relatively recently, but I’m always happy to see more. Beyond collects twenty works from twenty-seven creators. I was previously familiar with a few of the contributors, but most of them were actually new to me. Overall, it’s a strong, well-thought-out collection. The anthology shows a wonderful range of stories and characters, but I was especially happy to see a wide variety of diverse trans identities represented. While many of the works in Beyond include some romantic elements, romance isn’t at all at the forefront of the collection. Instead, the stories tend towards science fictional and fantastical adventures—space exploration, battles against monsters, survival in strange worlds, and so on—in which queer characters are not only the protagonists but the heroes of their stories. A second Beyond anthology focusing on urban fantasy and post-apocalyptic worlds is currently in the works; I’m looking forward to it a great deal and will definitely be picking it up.

Goodnight Punpun, Omnibus 1 by Inio Asano. The first omnibus of Goodnight Punpun is one of the manga that has left the greatest impression on me so far this year, though I have difficulty coherently explaining why I find it so extraordinary. The series has been described as a surreal and dark coming-of-age story, which is accurate but doesn’t quite capture the intense experience of actually reading the manga. Punpun is the titular character, an elementary school student who, along with the rest of his family, is portrayed as a bird-like creature. This perhaps slightly softens the blows of the story. In addition to dealing with the normal sorts of problems associated with getting older, Punpun’s family is also violently falling apart. And if growing up wasn’t terrifying enough, most of the adults in Goodnight Punpun seem to be on the verge of insanity if they haven’t already succumbed to it. Although there are wonderful moments of hope and humor, the worldview presented in Goodnight Punpun is a pessimistic one and Punpun is learning some very hard truths. Goodnight Punpun is heart-wrenching, but very good.

Paradise Residence, Volume 1 by Kosuke Fujishima. Oh My Goddess! has been one of the mainstays of the North American manga industry, so it’s probably no too surprising that one of Fujishima’s most recent series, Paradise Residence, was licensed. I’m not entirely sure if the series is being released in an omnibus edition or not, but the first volume from Kodansha Comic’s also includes Volume 0 as bonus material at the end. I would actually recommend reading Volume 0 first as some of the jokes and characterization in Volume 1 make much more sense with more context. This is important because the humor, which can be legitimately if inconsistently funny, tends to be based on the characters’ personalities. Despite some of the more outrageous scenarios in Paradise Residence, the comedy is actually fairly subdued. Paradise Residences is a largely episodic manga about dorm and school life at an all-girls boarding school. At times Paradise Residence can be a really sweet and charming series, but every once in a while some nonsensical fanservice is thrown in that’s more distracting than anything else.

Bookshelf Overload: March 2016

April 9, 2016 by Ash Brown

Well, while still not as large as some previous months, March did end my streak of smaller monthly hauls, but I swear I have some legitimate excuses! First of all, Kodansha Comics apparently remembered my mailing address and the fact that I read and review manga. It’s been about half a year since I last received any review copies, but it was a big box so it should keep me happily occupied for some time. A bunch of Kickstarter rewards arrived in March as well, but since those were already paid for, they didn’t impact my budget for March, just my shelf space. As for the other March arrivals that I was particularly excited about, at the top of the list is Princess Jellyfish, Omnibus 1 by Akiko Higashimura (which I just reviewed earlier this week). A few of Viz Media’s March releases also had my attention and wallet, such as Real, Volume 14 by Takehiko Inoue, the first Goodnight Punpun omnibus by Inio Asano, and Yoshiki Tanaka’s novel Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 1: Dawn. And I’m very happy to have Ken Liu’s first short story collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories in my hands. The volume includes his award-winning story “Mono no Aware” which I first read in The Future Is Japanese and which was my introduction to his work. Hopefully I’ll find some time to actually read (and review) the collection soon!

Manga!
Attack on Titan, Volumes 17-18 by Hajime Isayama
Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Volume 7 written by Ryo Suzukaze, illustrated by Satoshi Shiki
Crime and Punishment by Osamu Tezuka
Fairy Girls, Volume 1 by Boku
Fairy Tail: Blue Mistral, Volume 2 written by Hiro Mashima, illustrated by Rui Watanabe
Fairy Tail: Ice Trail, Volume 1 by Yuuskuke Shirato
Forget Me Not, Volume 1 by Nao Emoto
Goodnight Punpun, Omnibus 1 by Inio Asano
I’ve Seen It All, Volume 3 by Shoko Takaku
Kiss Him, Not Me, Volume 2 by Junko
LDK, Volume 2 by Ayu Watanabe
Livingstone, Volumes 1-2 written by Tomohiro Maekawa, illustrated by Jinsei Kataoka
Maga-Tsuki, Volume 1 by Hoshino Taguchi
Ninja Slayer Kills, Volume 2 by Koutarou Sekine
Noragami: Stray Stories, Volume 1 by Adachitoka
Otouto no Otto, Volume 2 by Gengoroh Tagame
Paradise Residence, Omnibus 1 by Kosuke Fujishima
Persona 4, Volume 2 by Shuji Sogabe
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P3, Volume 1 by So Tobita
Princess Jellyfish, Omnibus 1 by Akiko Higashimura
Prison School, Omnibus 3 by Akira Hiramoto
Real, Volume 14 by Takehiko Inoue
Real Account, Volume 1 written by Okushou, illustrated by Shizumu Watanabe
A Silent Voice, Volume 4 by Yoshitoki Oima
Storm Fairy by Osamu Tezuka

Comics!
Anatomy of Melancholy: The Best of a Softer World by Joey Comeau and Emily Horne
The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew
Bulldogs written by Dale Lazarove, illustrated by Chas Hunter and Si Arden
Curveball by Jeremy Sorese
Dates: An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction Stories edited by Zora Gilbert
Dream Tube by Rebekka Dunlap
Food Porn edited by Gina Biggs
Cuttings: A Johnny Wander Collection by Yuko Ota and Ananth Panagariya
Lucky Penny by Yuko Ota and Ananth Hirsh
The Young Protectors, Volume 1 written by Alex Woolfson, illustrated by Adam Dekraker and Veronica Gandini

Novels!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 1: Dawn by Yoshiki Tanaka
United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

Anthologies!
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Anime!
My Neighbor Seki directed by Yūji Mutoh

Princess Jellyfish, Vol. 1

April 8, 2016 by Ash Brown

Creator: Akiko Higashimura
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781632362285
Released: March 2016
Original release: 2009
Awards: Kodansha Manga Award

Akiko Higashimura’s Kodansha Manga Award-winning Princess Jellyfish wasn’t a manga series that I expected would be licensed for an English-language release. Anecdotally, josei manga hasn’t historically done particularly well in the North American market. And on top of that, Princess Jellyfish is a longer series, currently ongoing at more than fifteen volumes, which can also make licensing prohibitive. When Kodansha Comics announced that it would be publishing Princess Jellyfish in print in English, fulfilling the hopes of many fans, I was thrilled. My knowledge of Princess Jellyfish stems from the 2010 anime adaptation directed by Takahiro Omori which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, as the anime only adapted a small portion of the series, it left me wanting more, so I am very excited to see the original Princess Jellyfish manga available in translation. Kodansha’s release of the series is an omnibus edition with a larger trim size and color pages included. The first omnibus, published in 2016, collects the first two volumes of the series as released in Japan in 2009.

Tsukimi is the youngest resident of Amamizukan in Tokyo, a communal apartment building catering to a particular type of woman who is completely and utterly devoted to her specific interests despite societal expectations—the fujoshi. Chieko, the manager of Amamizukan, collects traditional Japanese dolls and kimono. Mayaya is obsessed with Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Jiji has an intense appreciation for older, distinguished gentleman. Banba is fixated on trains. Mejiro is a reclusive boys’ love mangaka. And as for Tsukimi, ever since her mother took her to an aquarium as a child, she has adored jellyfish. Tsukimi’s love of jellyfish is one of her remaining ties to her mother who died of illness many years ago. It’s also that passion that leads to her chance encounter with Kuranosuke, the illegitimate son of a prominent politician who she initially assumes is a stylish and fashionable young woman due to the way he was dressed at the time. Their meeting will not only have a great impact on Tsukimi, but on everyone living at Amamizukan.

Like the residents of Amamizukan, Kuranosuke goes against society’s set roles and expectations, but in his case he’s doing it deliberately rather than it being an unintentional side effect of an obsession. Princess Jellyfish plays with the notions of outward appearance and self-expression in some really interesting and satisfying ways. I’m generally skeptical of stories that put an emphasis on beauty and looks or that make use of dramatic makeovers (for various reasons, Tsukimi and the rest of the Amamizukan fujoshi become targets of Kuranosuke’s enthusiasm for fashion and makeup), but Princess Jellyfish is a series that recognizes that a person’s appearance is only one part of an extremely complicated whole and that attractiveness is much more than skin deep. It also recognizes that there is tremendous power in someone being able to influence other people’s perceptions of who they are and that first impressions are often rightly or wrongly based on what can be visibly seen. Kuranosuke understands this and uses that knowledge to his advantage, as does the series antagonist Inari—a woman paving the way to the demolition of Amamizukan to make way for new urban development. Through blackmail and her own sex appeal, she leverages the importance placed on appearances and society’s inherent sexist prejudices for her own benefit, often finding the circumstances to be distasteful but the feeling of being in control of them intoxicating.

While it is the impetus for much of the story’s forward movement in the first omnibus, the threat of losing Amamizukan is only one of many intertwined plot threads in Princess Jellyfish. Tsukimi’s maturation as she continues to deal with the pain of her mother’s death and begins to fall in love for the first time is very important to the series as is Kuranosuke’s complicated family history and relationships. Although Kuranosuke is heterosexual, considering his custom of dressing as a woman his presence in the manga brings additional elements of queerness and gender fluidity to the series which I especially enjoy. (Also worth mentioning: the Princess Jellyfish translation notes are very thorough and valuable in explaining some of the nuances of Japanese word usage and terminology in regards to various gender and queer identities, which can be quite different from their Western counterparts.) Princess Jellyfish incorporates a fair amount of comedy which is one of the reasons the manga has such charm. But while Kuronosuke’s fashion choices and gender performance can result in humorous situations, the series treats him as a person and not as a joke, which I greatly appreciate. In fact, Princess Jellyfish has an entire cast full of wonderful characters which is perhaps the series’ greatest strength.

Manga the Week of 4/13

April 7, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Technically, this is the smallest week of the month. That does not mean there aren’t a lot of titles, just slightly less than the deluge of the other weeks.

I Am A Hero has been a long-awaited title here, and Dark Horse has it. It’s not just a zombie apocalypse manga, it’s a multiple award-winning zombie apocalypse manga, which runs in Big Comic Spirits (yes, that means it’s another seeming Viz title that went to Dark Horse – possibly for aesthetic reasons, like Gantz). This is an omnibus of the first two volumes.

MICHELLE: I’m eager to see reviews of this, as I can’t tell yet whether it’s something I’d like.

ANNA: I’m also intrigued by this series.

ASH: I’m very excited for this one, even considering that I’m a bit burned out on zombies.

SEAN: And while one popular title begins, another ends, as we see the last Lone Wolf and Cub omnibus, Vol. 12. But fear not, New Lone Wolf and Cub is still around.

ASH: I’m so glad that Lone Wolf and Cub is back in print in its entirety in an edition that doesn’t cause as much eyestrain.

SEAN: And we have a giant omnibus of the Evangelion spinoff Campus Apocalypse, which is a sort of shoujo-ish BL-ish mystery-ish take on the series. Ish.

ASH: Ish, eh?

SEAN: Kodansha theoretically gives us a 34th volume of Air Gear. I say theoretically as of all the titles that have sliding release dates, Air Gear’s has been the most egregious – don’t blame me if it’s delayed till August by next week.

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall turns out to be a much longer spinoff than I expected, as we’re at 7 volumes and still running.

Fairy Tail 53 continues… some plot, I guess, I’m about 20 volumes behind by now, alas. There will be fights and nudity, no doubt. The staple of all Shonen Magazine series.

And Tsubasa World Chronicle 2… I got nothin’, sorry. MJ?

MJ: I… don’t either. I admit I haven’t been reading this, and suddenly I’m feeling kinda guilty.

MICHELLE: I can’t remember whether I didn’t know this existed or whether I did and promptly forgot. Which is worse? I dunno; I guess I’ve still got CLAMP fatigue.

SEAN: Seven Seas has the 4th volume of dark romantic fantasy The Ancient Magus’ Bride, which I quite like.

ASH: As do I!

SEAN: And there’s a 3rd volume of awkward college romance Golden Time.

And also a 3rd of Monster Guy gag manga Merman In My Tub.

SubLime has a new debut, the first volume of Midnight Stranger, which apparently involves goat demons? I assume they’re sexy goat demons.

MJ: Goat demons do not sound promising.

ASH: Of course they’re sexy goat demons, Sean.

SEAN: Udon has the 3rd volume of Steins;Gate and its damned semicolon of awful.

Viz gives us a 58th volume of Case Closed, which is a lot.

And a 17th Itsuwaribito, which is another series that turns out to be much longer than I had originally expected.

There’s also a 17th Magi, but I’m absolutely delighted that it’s running this long. I still boggle this is written by the same person who gave us Sumomomo Momomo.

MICHELLE: It is?! I never noticed.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a new manga debut with Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter, which I think is primarily for the PokeMarket, though I could be wrong.

As with many 2nd weeks of the month, it’s very much a hodgepodge of stuff. What catches your eye?

Manga Giveaway: Princess Jellyfish Giveaway Winner

April 6, 2016 by Ash Brown

And the winner of the Princess Jellyfish manga giveaway is… Laura!

As the winner, Laura will be receiving a copy of the first omnibus in Kodansha Comic’s English-language edition of Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish. There are quite a few manga releases that I’m looking forward to in 2016, but the debut Princess Jellyfish in English was one of my most highly-anticipated. I was curious to know what other upcoming manga people were excited about, so for this giveaway I asked participants to tell me a little about some of the manga they’re looking forward to. Check out the giveaway comments for the detailed responses, and check out below for the compiled list of manga mentioned (plus a few more that I’ve added for good measure).

Some upcoming manga releases to look forward to in English:
Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei
Don’t be Cruel by Nekota Yonezou
Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito
A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi
The Gods Lie by Kaori Ozaki
Guardians of the Louvre by Jiro Taniguchi
Haikyu!! by Haruichi Furudate
I Am a Hero by Kengo Hanzawa
In/Spectre written by Kyo Shirodaira, illustrated by Chasiba Katase
Magia the Ninth by Ichiya Sazanami
Neo Parasyte F by Various
Nichijou by Keiichi Arawi
The Osamu Tezuka Story by Toshio Ban
Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura
Orange by Ichigo Takano
Otherworld Barbara by Moto Hagio
Queen Emeraldas by Leiji Matsumoto
Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda
Sherlock: A Study in Pink by Jay
A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima
Sweetness and Lightning by Gido Amagakure
That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! by Yoko Nogiri
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle by CLAMP
Welcome to the Ballroom by Tomo Takeuchi
Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their excitement with me; quite a few of the manga that were mentioned are releases that I’m looking forward to a great deal as well. This should be a great year for manga!

Pick of the Week: Love & War

April 4, 2016 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Anna N and Ash Brown 1 Comment

MICHELLE: Having a series finale in the mix makes my pick so much easier! I am eager for more Food Wars! and Honey So Sweet especially, but the one can’t-delay title for me this week is volume 15 of Library Wars. It has occasionally been a bit frustrating, but its charms have kept me hooked ’til the end.

SEAN: It is absolutely Library Wars for me. It has romance, it has action, it has resolution, it has epilogues, it has character growth, and it has amusing facial expressions. Who could ask for anything more?

ANNA: I have to agree, I love Library Wars in general for being a series that is so much better than its premise about librarians fighting censorship with guns, but I also love it as a librarian. Never has my profession been so cool in popular culture.

ASH: Likewise, I’m all about Library Wars this week! The series can at times be somewhat ridiculous, but as another librarian and as a fan, I enjoy its action, comedy, and romance tremendously.

My Week in Manga: March 28-April 3, 2016

April 4, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

A couple of different things were posted at Experiments in Manga last week. For starters, since it’s the end of one month and the beginning of another, it’s time for another manga giveaway! There’s still an opportunity to enter for chance to win the first omnibus of Akiko Higashimura’s wonderful Princess Jellyfish. I also posted an in-depth review last week of The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, which is an engaging work in addition to being surprisingly entertaining and humorous. Fukuzawa helped to shape modern-day Japan; I was inspired to pick up his autobiography after reading Minae Mizumura’s The Fall of Language in the Age of English.

Quite a few Kickstarter projects have caught my attention over the last week or so. I’m especially excited to see that Sparkler Monthly has launched a campaign to release the first volume of Jenn Doyle’s Knights-Errant in print. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund launched a project for She Changed Comics, a book that will profile women comics creators from around the world, including Moto Hagio, Machiko Hasegawa, Rumiko Takahashi, the Year 24 Group, and others. There’s an illustration zine inspired by and dedicated to gay manga called Burl & Fur that looks like it will be amazing. As promised, Digital Manga’s most recent classic manga Kickstarter is for a non-Tezuka title—Izumi Matsumoto’s Kimagure Orange Road. Finally, I wanted to take the opportunity to mention the campaign for the North American release of the Skip Beat! anime again. The series needs financial support in order to be dubbed, which is a requirement by the licensor for its release.

Quick Takes

Caramel by Puku Okuyama. The cover art of Caramel makes it look like a cute and sweet boys’ love one-shot, and at times that’s exactly what it is, but there’s enough about the story and the leads’ relationship that’s dubious and questionable that overall I can’t say that I really enjoyed it all that much. Part of the point of Caramel is the contrast between the two main characters, Roku and Iori, each of whom is childish in his own way. Roku is a successful businessman who is afraid of the dark and picky about his food. Iori has just moved to Tokyo to begin his first year of university, and being younger has had less experience in life and love. I think most of my annoyance with Caramel stems from Roku—I have little patience for and a difficult time sympathizing with adults who exhibit such an astounding lack of self-responsibility, not to mention that he’s an utter creep at first. I have no idea how he even survived before Iori became his roommate and eventual lover. Iori, on the other hand, I found to be much more likeable. He’s the oldest of four siblings and so has developed into a very responsible young adult. Iori also loves to cook and I liked how food was incorporated into Caramel.

Livingstone, Volume 1-2 written by Tomohiro Maekawa and illustrated by Jinsei Kataoka. I’m not especially familiar with Maekawa, a respected playwright and director, but I recognized Kataoka as one of the creators of the manga series Deadman Wonderland. One of Maekawa’s short plays provides the inspiration for Livingstone, a largely episodic manga exploring themes of life, death, and the human soul. The series follows Sakurai and Amano who help to collect and preserve psycholiths, stones that are the physical manifestations of human souls after they have left their respective bodies. Though at this point frustratingly incomplete, I find the worldbuilding in Livingstone to be one of the most fascinating aspects of the manga, especially in regards to souls. There are a limited number of souls and the world is beginning to run out so that some people, like Amano, are born without them, which is one reason that the work of psycholith collectors is so important. Additionally, souls that are irrevocably damaged at the end of a person’s life will shatter, leaving behind psychic stains that will continue to contaminate others unless the cycle can be stopped.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Omnibuses 3-4 (equivalent to Volumes 5-8) by Satoshi Mizukami. I’m definitely behind in reading Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer but I do enjoy the manga. It’s a rather peculiar series with oddball characters who are in the position to either save the world or destroy it—the line between heros and villains can be very thin. Most of the characters have something dark or tragic about their pasts, so their feelings about the world and the other people in it are understandably conflicted. Tragedy isn’t limited to their pasts, either. These two omnibuses include multiple deaths that have great impact, as well as other moments of pain and devastation. But the characters also grow and overcome many of these challenges, becoming stronger mentally and emotionally as well as physically. There are betrayals, both real and imagined, as well as love confessions as friendships and relationships change, some characters drifting apart while others are realizing that people might not be so bad after all. All of this interpersonal drama plays out against the backdrop of a literal battle against monsters as the series ramps up the danger in preparation for its finale.

The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa

April 1, 2016 by Ash Brown

Author: Yukichi Fukuzawa
Translator: Eiichi Kiyooka
U.S. publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231139878
Released: January 2007
Original release: 1897

Yukichi Fukuzawa—scholar, translator, author, and educator, among many other things—is one of Japan’s most influential historical figures of the modern era, helping to shape the country as it is known today. As the founder of Keio University whose writings continue to be taught and whose likeness appears on the 10,000 yen banknote, there are very few Japanese to whom Fukuzawa is entirely unknown. Fukuzawa’s life was recently brought to my attention while reading Minae Mizumura’s The Fall of Language in the Age of English which discussed some of his influence and included excerpts of his autobiography. Intrigued by this, I decided to read the work in its entirety. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa was originally dictated by Fukuzawa in 1897. The first English translation by Eiichi Kiyooka, Fukuzawa’s grandson, appeared in 1934 and was later revised in 1960. Many editions of The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa have been released in English, but the most recent was published in 2007 by Columbia University Press.

The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa originated from a request by a foreigner interested in Fukuzawa’s account of the time period leading up to and surrounding the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Fukuzawa narrated the story of his life fairly informally in 1897 and soon after edited, annotated, and published the transcribed manuscript. He intended to write a more formal and comprehensive companion volume, but he died in 1901 before it was completed. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa begins with Fukuzawa’s childhood and follows his life into his old age. Fukuzawa was born in 1835 in Osaka into a samurai family originally from Nakatsu, where he grew up. From an early age, Fukuzawa showed interest in Western learning, first studying Dutch (at the time the only foreign influence permitted within Japan) and the eventually English. He was very passionate about language as a tool to access new knowledge and understanding, and he served on multiple missions to America and Europe as an interpreter and translator. But his interest in the West also put him in danger during a time when anti-foreign sentiment was rampant in Japan.

The various editions of The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa available in English are primarily distinguished by the accompanying materials included to supplement Fukuzawa’s main text. The most recent release from Columbia University Press offers several useful additions, some of which were available in previous editions or which were published elsewhere. Albert Craig, an academic and historian whose work focuses on Japan, provides the volume’s foreword as well as its lengthy afterword “Fukuzawa Yukichi: The Philosophical Foundations of Meiji Nationalism.” Originally published in 1968 in the the volume Political Development in Modern Japan, the afterword places Fukuzawa and his ideals into greater historical and political context. Also included in Columbia’s recent edition of The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa are two appendices—a chronological table outlining the events in Fukuzawa’s life and in world history and a translation of Fukuzawa’s influential essay “Encouragement of Learning”—as well as copious notes and an index.

The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa is a surprisingly engaging, entertaining, and even humorous work. In his autobiography, Fukuzawa comes across as very amicable, down-to-earth, and forward-thinking. I particularly enjoyed Fukuzawa’s invigorating account of his experiences as a young man who was devoted to his studies, but who would also willingly participate in the revelry, antics, and pranks of his fellow students. Speaking of how drunken “nudeness brings many adventures” and such other things greatly humanizes a person primarily known for his impressive accomplishments. As Fukuzawa matured, he played a pivotal role in the development of the Japanese education system. While he introduced many Western concept and ideas in his pursuit of knowledge, at heart Fukuzawa was a nationalist who abhorred the violent methods of many of his contemporaries. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa provides not only a fascinating look into the life of Fukuzawa, it provides a glimpse into a particularly tumultuous and transformative period of time in Japan’s history.

Manga the Week of 4/6

March 31, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: This is it, folks. We’ve hit peak manga boom. Every week of next month has at least 15 titles out. All you can do is whimper, really. What’s out next week? Well…

Kodansha gives us an 18th volume of Attack on Titan, which is such an obscure title with very few readers. To try to pump up that readership, there’s also a limited edition with a DVD!

And there’s a 4th volume of oddball shoujo romance Kiss Him, Not Me!.

ASH: I’ve already fallen behind, but I do enjoy oddball shoujo!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a third volume of Ten Little Lesbians sitting down to dine, aka Akuma No Riddle.

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends has an unlucky 13th volume. We left off with Kadota and Sena engaged. I suspect that won’t last.

Seven Seas is debuting a zombie title, Hour of the Zombie. This runs in Comic Ryu, and is apparently a pure horror series.

Udon has a 2nd volume of clothes and fanservice battle manga Kill La Kill.

And Vertical gives us a 4th omnibus of Tokyo ESP.

MICHELLE: Yay! I enjoyed part one of the series quite a lot and am looking forward to more of the story.

SEAN: Viz, believe it or not, has no debut titles this month. But that doesn’t stop them from giving us many, many volumes of its ongoing series, like the 9th Assassination Classroom.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House gives you more Aya Shouoto with a 4th volume.

ANNA: I enjoy this series, as you might expect.

SEAN: And Food Wars! is still having intense food competitions in Vol. 11.

MICHELLE: I delayed on reading volume 10 just so I could enjoy a two-volume binge. Looking forward to it!

SEAN: Honey So Sweet has a 2nd volume. How sweet is it? You’ll just have to read.

ANNA: Pretty darn sweet!

SEAN: The 15th volume of Library Wars: Love & War wraps up the story, despite hints of some side-story volumes that don’t appear to have materialized. Luckily, the final volume is immensely satisfying, and will make fans very happy.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this, too!

ASH: As am I!

ANNA: Me too, although I have an odd habit of postponing reading the final volumes of series I really like, so I can lie to myself that the series hasn’t actually ended.

SEAN: Speaking of immensely satisfying, that’s how you can describe every volume of My Love Story!! really, and I suspect the 8th is no different.

ANNA: Yes! I always read this right away when a new volume shows up at my house.

ASH: My Love Story!! is the best.

MJ: Yes!!

SEAN: Naruto has a 14th 3-in-1, meaning it’s still nowhere near done.

Nisekoi Vol. 14 does what ever fan of harem manga hates – introduces a new main candidate late in the series.

School Judgment has a 2nd volume of chibi-Ace Attorney antics, and hopefully will continue to be slightly ridiculous.

And I have no doubts as to the ridiculousness of So Cute It Hurts!! 6, though I fear I must give up my vow of adding exclamation points with each book.

Toriko is up to Vol. 33, and I am starting to hear mutterings of people who wish it would be more about food and less about battles, to which I remind them this runs in Shonen Jump, concurrently with Food Wars!, which IS more about food than battles.

Twin Star Exorcists is getting an anime very soon, so it’s a perfect time for its 4th volume.

Lastly, Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s 9 continues to look like some sort of World War II secret code.

Are you prepared for SO MUCH MANGA? No? Well, tough.

MICHELLE: No. However, I must say it’s lovely to see all of this activity in a once-troubled publishing sector.

ASH: True that!

Manga Giveaway: Princess Jellyfish Giveaway

March 30, 2016 by Ash Brown

The end of March is drawing near, which means it’s time for another manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga! Thanks to the fine folks at Kodansha Comics who provided the manga for this month’s giveaway, you all have a chance to win the first omnibus of Akiko Higashimura’s manga series Princess Jellyfish. And, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

As a fan of manga, I’m constantly looking out for new releases and license announcements. While I will happily read older titles, and find great joy in tracking down out-of-print gems, I eagerly await news of what’s to come in the future. Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish, which hit the shelves just last week, was one of my most highly anticipated releases for 2016. I watched and loved the anime series, but it only adapted a small portion of the manga, so I was left wanting more. For years, fans wished for the original Princess Jellyfish to be licensed in English. Sadly, josei hasn’t always done particularly well in North America, so for a very long time it looked as though a license would never materialize. I was absolutely thrilled when Kodansha Comics announced that the Princess Jellyfish manga would finally be getting an English-language release, and I preordered it as soon as I was able to.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win Princess Jellyfish, Omnibus 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a upcoming manga release that you’re excited about. (If you don’t have anything in particular in mind, or don’t know what’s coming out, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

There you go! For this giveaway, each person participating can earn up to two entries and has one week to submit comments. If preferred, or if you have trouble using the comment form, entries can also be emailed to me directly at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. I will then post the comments here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on April 6, 2015. Best of luck!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Princess Jellyfish Giveaway Winner

Pick of the Week: A Broad Choice

March 28, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: The Pick of the Week is obviously the title I’ve been anticipating the longest – Nichijou. While most slice-of-life comedies use weirdness in order to advance the humor of the situation, Nichijou at times does the opposite, sometimes not even bothering to have a proper punchline but just reveling in being strange. Loved the anime, can’t wait for the original.

MICHELLE: I definitely intend to check out Nichijou, but since it’s my last opportunity to pick My Little Monster, I can’t let it go to waste, especially since volume 13 hopefully features more glimpses of these beloved characters as adults. I can definitely see myself rereading this series in the future!

ASH: Likewise, I’m very interested in reading Nichijou, but my pick lies elsewhere: The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame is definitely not something for everyone, though. However, I am glad to see this important collection return to print. The original release was by PictureBox back in 2013 (which I reviewed), but Bruno Gmünder’s revised and expanded hardcover edition includes additional material, so I’ll be happily picking up the volume again.

ANNA: There’s a ton coming out this week, but as a die-hard shoujo fan, I could only pick Boys Over Flowers Season Two. When I read the first few chapters I was a little worried it would be a bad sequel, but Yoko Kamio’s great storytelling skills totally drew me in.

MJ: I don’t have a strong pick this week, but I do intend to check out Nichijou, so I’ll bring things full circle here and join Sean on that.

My Week in Manga: March 21-March 27, 2016

March 28, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I only posted one in-depth manga review at Experiments in Manga last week, taking a look at Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Volume 1 by Nanao, which is an adaptation of a visual novel by the doujin group HaccaWorks*. I was actually a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the manga. Though I can imagine the series getting tiresome if at least some answers to story’s many mysteries aren’t given soon, at the moment I’m intensely intrigued. I think I’m finally starting to come to terms with the fact that much of the time I can only manage one review per week right now, though I’d honestly love to do more reading and writing. I also want to quickly follow-up on a statement that I made in the Bookshelf Overload for February—I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if Keigo Higashino’s novel Under the Midnight Sun would be released in the United States or not, but it turns out that it will be! The United Kingdom simply got it first, which is sometimes what happens with works in translation.

In other licensing news, several manga publishers made announcements over the course of last week and the weekend. Kodansha Comics will be releasing twelve new titles in print, some of which I find to be particularly exciting or intriguing (the Parasyte shoujo anthology, shounen ballroom dancing, single fathers learning to cook, and more!). Among other things Viz Media will be publishing a new deluxe edition of Junji Ito’s Tomie (which has gone out of print at least twice before from two other publishers) and will continue releasing more of the fancy JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure hardcovers. Yen Press announce seven print manga licenses, two of which were previously part of its digital manga catalog. (This gives me hope that one day, however unlikely, it could be possible to see Saki in print.) Finally, Sekai Project, is expanding its manga efforts by licensing Suzunone Rena’s Sakura Spirit manga adaptation. (Also, the first two volumes of the publisher’s debut manga, Gate, are now available for preorder.) I also came across a couple of interviews last week that were interesting: the Shojo Beat tumblr posted the second part of its interview with Arina Tanemura and Anime News Network has an interview with Inio Asano.

Quick Takes

Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Volumes 5-7 by Mamenosuke Fujimaru. Overall, I must say that I rather enjoyed Cheshire Cat Waltz. It’s only the second followup to the original Alice in the Country of Hearts manga that I’ve read, but I liked how it expanded the story, characters, and world of the franchise. Cheshire Cat Waltz features two tangentially related storylines. The first is the romance between Alice and Boris which by now is well established even though she’s still working through some self-doubt. Their relationship actually ends up being rather sweet. One of the running themes in the various Alice in the Country of manga is that Alice’s very presence changes the others in Wonderland; Boris certainly has become a better person over time. The second major storyline in Cheshire Cat Waltz has to do with the mob war in which Alice unwittingly becomes embroiled in due to her association with the Hatter’s mafia family. These last few volumes of Cheshire Cat Waltz also include an Alice in the Country of Hearts story which features Boris as Alice’s romantic interest as well.

Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law, Volumes 1-2 by Fumi Yoshinaga. Out of all of Yoshinaga’s boys’ love manga that have been released in English, I believe that Ichigenme may very well be one of the most explicit. Like many of her other two-volume series, it does take its time getting there, though. The first volume of Ichigenme is mostly focused on introducing the various characters and their evolving relationships. The leads of the manga are two law students who happen to join the same seminar—the particularly bright and honest Tamiya, who’s in the process of coming to terms with his homosexuality, and the openly gay Tohdou, a seemingly carefree son of a politician. The second volume, which is actually set seven years later after the first, more fully explores the developments in their physical relationship. What I particularly appreciate about all of the sex in Ichigenme is that it isn’t just sex for sex’s sake—Yoshinaga uses it to delve into the character’s themselves, revealing parts of their thoughts, feelings, and personalities through their intimacy with each other.

Tomodachi x Monster, Volume 1 by Yoshihiko Inui. I’ve heard Tomodachi x Monster described as a dark parody, but after reading the first volume, I’m not sure how accurate that really is. The humor that I would expect seems to be missing (granted, parody doesn’t necessarily mean comedy), but the darkness is certainly there—Tomodachi x Monster is what you get when you take a series like Pokémon and turn it into a bizarre horror manga accompanied by heavy doses of violence and gore. Confrontations between middle school students become much more dangerous and deadly when their little monster pals inflict extraordinary amounts of damage and pain. Characters start dying off surprisingly quickly in Tomodachi x Monster, generally in some sort of gruesome fashion. The series can be pretty ridiculous and over-the-top with its violence. While the art style tends towards creepy-cute designs, some of the most effective imagery in the manga is legitimately disturbing. The mental states of most of the characters are perhaps even more terrifying, though.

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 1

March 24, 2016 by Ash Brown

Creator: Nanao
Original story: HaccaWorks*
U.S. publisher: Yen Press
ISBN: 9780316351966
Released: December 2015
Original release: 2012

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi was originally a visual novel developed and created by the doujin group HaccaWorks* that was released in 2011. The manga adaptation by another doujin creator, Nanao, began serialization in Japan in 2012. The first volume of the manga was also collected and released later that year. In English, the Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi manga is being released by Yen Press and debuted in late 2015. I haven’t actually played the original Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, though I’m fairly certain it would be something that I would enjoy. In fact, I didn’t even known that the manga was based on a game when I first picked it up. Nor was I previously familiar with any of the creators involved which probably isn’t too surprising—I believe that Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi may very well be Nanao’s first professional work as a mangaka. But, due to the evocative and vaguely ominous cover art and title as well as the promise of the involvement of yokai, the series still caught my attention.

For as long as he can remember, Yue has lived at the mountain shrine associated with the town of Utsuwa where he has been taken care of by the local fox spirits and their attendants. Despite being told not to leave the mountain, Yue and Kurogitsune, one of his fox companions, sneak out of the shrine to attend the town’s festival. The new experience, although exciting, is somewhat overwhelming for Yue. But while at the festival, he encounters two young men who stand out to him more than anyone else—whereas most people appear as shadowy, indistinguishable figures to Yue, Tsubaki and Akiyoshi are distinctive and unique presences. Upon his return to the shrine Yue is duly scolded for breaking the rules but when the master learns about Akiyoshi and Tsubaki she encourages him to meet them again. The fate of all three boys are now intertwined. Because Yue finds himself so irresistibly drawn to Tsubaki and Akiyoshi, he is told that he will one day have to choose one of them to become his “meal,” necessary for sustaining his very existence.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first volume of Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi. The manga combines elements of folklore, horror, and mystery in a very satisfying way. Granted, after the first volume, readers are left with more questions than answers. Much about the series’ story, setting, and characters remain unclear at this point, but what is possibly implied is tantalizing. At times Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi can be unnecessarily cryptic—entire conversations are held in which the characters obviously know what they are talking about but readers aren’t given enough information or context to really understand or follow—which is more frustrating than mysterious, but this still sparks curiosity. I am genuinely intrigued by the series; I want to know more about the ominous events and strange disappearances occurring in Utsuwa, a place inhabited by both humans and spirits which seems to be some sort of threshold between worlds.

Utsuwa isn’t the only thing peculiar that’s peculiar in Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi. The characters, too, are all a bit odd. Yue goes through life in an almost dreamlike, innocent state, his real identity not only obscured to readers but to himself as well. Akiyoshi, with his eccentric behavior and flair for the dramatic, comes across as conspiracy theorist except that he actually has evidence and legitimate reasons to be concerned. Tsubaki would initially appear to be a fairly normal if somewhat moody young man if it wasn’t for the fact that humans and spirits alike frequently find themselves obsessed or enamored with him. The three form an curious bond as they begin to investigate the unusual happenings in Utsuwa. They’re not exactly friends but are far more than mere acquaintances. Supported by Nanao’s attractive (if occasionally cluttered) artwork, intriguing characters, and an effective sense of mystery and impending misfortune, Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi has a dark, otherworldly atmosphere which I’m really enjoying.

My Week in Manga: March 14-March 20, 2016

March 21, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I managed to post two in-depth manga reviews at Experiments in Manga last week, though it looks like I’ll only be posting one this coming week since taiko will be keeping me pretty busy with a number of different performances and related events. Inio Asano’s A Girl on the Shore was the first manga that I reviewed last week. Like the rest of Asano’s work that I’ve read, it can be emotionally intense and hard-hitting at times, but it’s very well done. As part of my monthly horror manga review project, last week I also took a look Mushishi, Volumes 8, 9, and 10, the final installment in the English-language release of Yuki Urushibara’s award-winning debut. Although I’ve reached the end of the series proper, I’m planning on at least more Mushishi-related post before I’m through.

Elsewhere online: The BBC has an interesting piece on Keiko Takemiya—The godmother of manga sex in Japan. Rokudenashiko was interviewed by the Anne Ishii of MASSIVE about controversial art and free speech. Otaku USA posted an interview with translator and scholar Frederik L. Schodt about his work and Osamu Tezuka. An interview with Steve Oliff, the colorist who worked on Marvel’s release of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, was posted at Anime News Network. In licensing news, Dark Horse has picked up the Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami manga written by Midori Goto and illustrated by Natsuo Sai. Finally, the Skip Beat! crowdfunding effort that I mentioned a couple weeks ago has moved from Indiegogo to Kickstarter.

Quick Takes

Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon by Satoshi Kon. Compiling fifteen of Kon’s short manga from between 1984 and 1989, as well as an essay by Susumu Hirasawa (which was a pleasant surprise), Dream Fossil is a somewhat peculiar volume which will probably be of most interest to Kon enthusiasts although other readers may find parts of it appealing as well. As is the case with so many collections, some stories are much stronger than others. Some of the unevenness can likely be attributed to the fact that Dream Fossil consists of Kon’s early works in which his narrative techniques were still being refined and developed. I actually found myself frustrated with some of the stories because they read less like manga and more like a storyboard or broad outline for a more involved work; some of the stories and ideas seem like they would have been better conveyed through animation rather than sequential art. Even so, as a whole I did enjoy Dream Fossil. While the storytelling itself was sometimes weak, the underlying concepts and imagery were great.

Master Keaton, Volumes 2-4 written by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It’s been some time since I read the first volume of Master Keaton, but being a fairly episodic series without much of an overarching story it wasn’t at all difficult to fall right back into the manga. I first picked up Master Keaton because of Urasawa’s involvement with the manga. This is still a major draw for me, but I continue to read the series because I genuinely enjoy the stories and characters. Keaton is sent all over the world to investigate a wide range of cases, so there’s plenty of variety in the manga’s stories as well. Although the series’ drama, action and adventure is certainly engaging, I especially like the chapters that take advantage of Keaton’s archaeological and academic interests. Master Keaton, while fictionalized, makes use of actual people, places, and events, which I like. (I’ve even learned a few factual tidbits from the manga.) Occasionally the series does get bogged down in historical details that don’t necessarily further the story, though.

The Tipping Point edited by Alex Donoghue and Tim Pilcher. Published as part of the fortieth anniversary celebrations of the comics publisher Humanoids, The Tipping Point collects thirteen short works from creators influenced by Japanese, Franco-Belgian, and American comics traditions. The anthology specifically caught my attention due to the mangaka involved—Taiyo Matsumoto, Atsushi Kaneko, Naoki Urasawa, Keiichi Koike, and Katsuya Terada—although the European and American creators are notable in their own right. (Sadly, though the collection touts its own innovation and diversity, only male creators are represented, something that is quickly glossed over in the introduction.) I greatly enjoyed the individual comics which range in subject, genre, and tone, but as a collection The Tipping Point seems to be missing a sense of cohesiveness and context. In the end, I was left wondering why these particular creators and why these particular works were selected to be brought together. Perhaps the theme of a “tipping point” was simply too vague or broad.