Ash Brown

Mechademia, Volume 10: World Renewal

March 11, 2016 by Ash Brown

Editor: Frenchy Lunning
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 9780816699155
Released: November 2015

Mechademia, one of the few academic journal’s in English specifically devoted to the study of manga and anime, began publication in 2006. Since then, under the editorial guidance of Frenchy Lunning, a new thematic volume has been released every year and the journal has grown to include research and analysis of other areas of Japanese popular culture, such as film, television, games, novels, and fandom. I’ve previously read individual articles published in Mechademia, and even own several of the volumes, but I’ve never actually read one of the annuals from cover to cover until now; I had the happy opportunity to receive a review copy of Mechademia, Volume 10: World Renewal from University of Minnesota Press. It’s an aptly themed volume, signalling the end of one era and ushering a in a new one for the journal—World Renewal, released in 2015, is the last volume with Lunning serving as editor-in-chief.

After Lunning’s acknowledgements and introduction, World Renewal is divided into four main sections which collect articles, essays, stories, and even a short manga. The first part of the volume, Passages of As Not, uses the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster as a touchstone. Akira Mizuta Lippit’s “Between Disaster, Medium 3.11” examines the experience of disaster, time, and space through Koreda Hirokazu’s film After Life. Similarly, “The Land of Hope: Planetary Cartographies of Fukushima, 2012” by Christophe Thouny uses Sion Sono’s film The Land of Hope to discuss fictionalized portrayals of disaster and changing landscapes. Sabu Kohso’s “Tokyo Apparatus (Version 1.0)” looks beyond the Tōhoku disaster towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The section concludes with a translation of Tomoyuki Hoshino’s “Good Morning: A Postdisaster Palm-of-the-Hand Story” which I was particularly happy to see as I find Hoshino’s works in general to be especially powerful.

While as a whole I found World Renewal to be interesting and rewarding, the second section, Positions of What If, dealing with alternate histories, presents, and futures, was perhaps my personal favorite. I especially liked Andrea Horbinski’s “Record of Dying Days: The Alternate History of Ōoku” which explores one of Fumi Yoshinaga’s most tremendous manga series. Susan W. Furukawa’s “Deconstructing the Taikō: The Problem of Hideyoshi as Postwar Business Model” is a fascinating analysis of the various interpretations of Hideyoshi Toyotomi in Japanese popular culture of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. (Eiji Yoshikawa’s Taiko from the 1940s is also mentioned in passing.) Matthew Penny presents a fictional essay outlining a future history of Japan based on the ideals of the political far right in “A Nation Restored: The Utopian Future of Japan’s Far Right” which was a remarkably effective technique. I was also extraordinarily pleased to discover that Moto Hagio’s short manga “Nanohana” was included in this section as well.

World Renewal continues with the third part, Worlds of As If, which collects three case studies investigating possible emerging worlds through an examination of evolving methods of creation, experience, and engagement. Satomi Saito uses Sword Art Online, Vampire Hunter D, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as examples of the varying and changing approaches used in the development of cross-media franchises in “Beyond the Horizon of the Possible Worlds: A Historical Overview of Japanese Media Franchises.” Sandra Annet’s “What Can a Vocaloid Do? The Kyara as Body without Organs” in part focuses on how fans use, reuse, and reimagine official characters and narratives to create their own media. The third section closes with “A World Without Pain: Therapeutic Robots and the Analgesic Imagination” by Steven R. Anderson which discusses Oriza Hirata’s dramatic play Sayonara and Katsuhiro Otomo’s Roujin Z anime among other works.

The final and fourth section of World Renewal, Loops of Just Then, largely deals with parallel narratives, worlds, and temporal loops. In “The Girl at the End of Time: Temporality, (P)remediation, and Narrative Freedom in Puella Magi Madoka Magica,” Forrest Greenwood compares the anime’s narrative structure to those that are commonly used in visual novels. Pamela Gossin delves into the complexities and connections between Hayao Miyazaki’s life and work in “Animated Nature: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Empathy in Miyazaki Hayao’s Ecophilosophy.” The Higurashi franchise forms a platform for Brett Hack’s examination of Japanese news coverage and media commentary on youth violence in “Ominous Image of Youth: Worlds, Identities, and Violence in Japanese News Media and When They Cry.” Finally, World Renewal concludes with “Parallel Universes, Vertical Worlds, and the Nation as Palimpsest in Murakami Ryū’s The World Five Minutes from Now” by Kendall Heitzman, an analysis of Murakami’s dystopic alternate history novel which I would love to one day read in translation.

Overall, I found World Renewal to be a thought-provoking and intellectually stimulating volume. Some of the essays can be fairly dense—this especially seemed to be true of those included in the first section—so the volume is difficult to recommend to a casual reader in its entirety, but there are also essays that are more readily accessible. For most people, picking and choosing among the various submissions according to their own particular interests will likely be the most satisfying approach to take. Personally, while I enjoyed reading about some of my own favorite series and creators in World Renewal, I greatly appreciated the analysis of works that I was less familiar with. In fact, my curiosity has been piqued and I’m much more interested in experiencing first hand some of the media examined in World Renewal that I had previously passed over or was unaware of. I also particularly liked the thematic nature of the volume which allows for a wide variety of material to be explored while still retaining some focus and cohesiveness. World Renewal understandably tends towards the academic which will at times prove challenging for a general audience, but the topics and material discussed are fascinating and many of the ideas expressed are quite interesting.

Thank you to University of Minnesota Press for providing a copy of Mechademia, Volume 10 for review

Manga the Week of 3/16

March 9, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: Third weeks are usually the most diverse manga weeks. And that’s the case here, with lots of new titles debuting. Let’s see what we’ve got.

Dark Horse gives us the first volume of Dangan Ronpa: The Animation, which contrary to its name is indeed a manga. It’s based on a game and has had tons of adaptations – this is the Shonen Ace one. A lot of folks I know like it, but it is set in a school where people die one by one, so be warned.

And there’s a 3rd Oh My Goddess! omnibus as well.

Kodansha has a couple of debuts next week. Forget Me Not (aka Soredemo Boku wa Kimi ga Suki) is a somewhat ecchi romance from the Shonen Magazine group (it’s been in both Weekly and Betsu), and should appeal to fans of Suzuka and other titles where you just scream in rage and bafflement at the male lead for months on end.

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: There’s a second volume of supernatural mystery series Livingstone.

Kosuke Fujishima, author of Oh My Goddess!, actually finished that series, and so needed something to draw. That something is Paradise Residence, whose first omnibus volume is due out next week. It runs in Afternoon. I’m not sure if this collects Vol. 0 and 1 or 1 and 2 – it’s that kind of series. It also has a female lead at an all girls’ school, because Fujishima knows no one reads his series for the men.

MICHELLE: I’m kind of interested in this one, though I know virtually nothing about it.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a 4th omnibus of Freezing, with lots of girls fighting and being busty.

And the fourth and final volume of Evergreen, the bittersweet not-quite-romance from the author of Toradora!.

Vertical has the 7th My Neighbor Seki, which I think catches us up with Japan, so it may be a while till Seki 8.

ASH: My Neighbor Seki is still an utterly delightful series.

MJ: This, yes.

SEAN: They also debut a quirky romance called Mysterious Girlfriend X, which also ran in Afternoon. It’s an omnibus of the first two volumes, and should be fun to read provided you’re OK with drool. If you aren’t, this is probably not the title for you.

MICHELLE: Ew.

ASH: I actually know quite a few people who are excited about this series; I may need to check it out, drool and all.

ANNA: I know I am not ok with drool and will be skipping this.

MJ: I… wow, drool?

SEAN: The big debut this week for bloggers, who never met a depressing artsy manga they didn’t love, is Goodnight Punpun, a series by Inio Asano, author of Solanin, Nijigihara Holograph, etc. This is his longest series, I believe, and ran in Young Sunday (then Big Comic Spirits when YS folded). It’s extremely weird, extremely cruel, and extremely heartwarming. It too is an omnibus with 2 volumes inside.

MICHELLE: I am still not recovered from A Girl on the Shore, honestly. I don’t know if I can take more Asano right now.

ASH: Asano can be rough, but I’m looking forward to this one.

ANNA: I own but have not read A Girl on the Shore because I haven’t felt up to it, but I’m going to get this and I think that more Asano is always a good thing.

MJ: I am always ready for more depressing artsy manga, as long as it’s from Asano.

SEAN: There’s also a 6th volume of insurance madness with Master Keaton.

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: And Manga Bookshelf peeps will be delighted to hear we’re getting a 14th volume of Real as well.

MICHELLE: Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

ASH: Excellent.

ANNA: Extra Yay!!!!!

MJ: Hurray!!

SEAN: Lastly, Terra Formars has Volume 11 coming out.

A whole bunch of new series next week. Which ones are you getting?

Bookshelf Overload: February 2016

March 9, 2016 by Ash Brown

February was a rather reasonable month for me when it came to additions to my collection, though I did end up with a little bit of everything. After a small delay, Persona 4, Volume 1 by Shuji Sogabe was finally released which I was particularly curious about, so I made sure to review it. I’ll have a review posted of Mechademia, Volume 10 in the very near future as well, which may be of interest to those looking for a scholarly approach to the study of Japanese pop culture. I finally got around to importing Takako Shimura’s Illustration Works, an artbook that includes some Wandering Son material among other artwork. (I don’t expect that we’ll ever see an English-language release, but it’s mostly illustrations, anyway.) As for February releases, some of the things that I was most excited about weren’t manga-related at all. The most recently translated volume in Keigo Higashino’s Detective Galileo series, A Midsummer’s Equation, is now available, for one. (I also discovered that another of Higashino’s works, Journey under the Midnight Sun, was released in translation a few months ago, but only in the United Kingdom. I’m not sure if there will be a North American release or not, but either way I’ve got some catching up to do!) And surprising no one who is aware of my obsession with Lianne Sentar’s Tokyo Demons, I’m also thrilled that the collection of the series’ sexually-charged short stories Know What You Want has now been released! I should hopefully have a review of that one at some point, too.

Manga!
A Bride’s Story, Volume 7 by Kaori Mori
Ding Dong Circus and Other Stories, 1967 to 1974 by Sasaki Maki
Does the Flower Blossom?, Volume 2 by Shoko Hidaka
Franken Fran, Omnibus 1 by Katsuhisa Kigitsu
Hey, Class President!, Volumes 1, 4-5 by Kaori Monchi
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2: Battle Tendency, Volume 2 by Hirohiko Araki
Ouran High School Host Club, Volumes 1-3 by Bisco Hatori
Pandora Hearts, Volume 10 by Jun Mochizuki
Persona 4, Volume 1 by Shuji Sogabe
Tomodachi x Monster, Volume 1 by Yoshihiko Inui

Manhwa!
Behind Story, Volume 3 by Narae Ahn

Artbooks!
Guin Saga Artbook by Naoyuki Kato
Illustration Works by Takako Shimura

Novels!
Journey under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino
A Midsummer’s Equation by Keigo Higashino
Silence by Shusaku Endo

Anthologies!
Mechademia, Volume 10: World Renewal edited by Frenchy Lunning
Tokyo Demons: Know What You Want by Lianne Sentar

Anime!
Free! Eternal Summer directed by Hiroko Utsumi
Library War directed by Takayuki Hamana

My Week in Manga: February 29-March 6, 2016

March 7, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga, I announced the World Trigger Giveaway Winner. As usual for such announcements, the post also includes a thematic list of manga. In this case, I’ve put together a list of some of the manga licensed in English that feature parallel worlds, dimensions, and universes. Speaking of which, last week I also reviewed the first volume of a series that was included on that list–Shuji Sogabe’s Persona 4, Volume 1. I haven’t played any of the Persona 4 video games yet, but the manga adaptation is off to an intriguing start. I’m looking forward to reading more, and I’ll likely give the anime a try as well.

I found quite a few interesting things to read last week. Frederik L. Schodt (whose work I greatly admire) wrote about translating manga for World Literature Today. ICv2 has been busy interviewing folks from the North American manga industry, including a two–part interview with Viz’s Kevin Hamric and another two–part interview with Dark Horse’s Michael Gombos and Carl Horn.

There have been a few interviews with manga creators posted recently, as well. Manga Brog translated an interview with Tsutomu Nihei from earlier this year. Kazuo Koike participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. And Kodansha Comics has a new creator interview with Chuya Koyama, the mangaka of Space Brothers. Related to that interview is an autograph sweepstakes and survey about Space Brothers which is a great opportunity to let Kodansha know if, like me, you’d be interested in seeing a print release of the series.

In licensing news, Seven Seas slipped in an announcement for Kanekiru Kogitsune and Kobayakawa Haruyoshi’s Re:Monster manga adaptation. There’s also currently an Indiegogo campaign to add an English dub to and generally improve the quality of the upcoming North American DVD and Blu-ray release of the Skip Beat! anime adaptation.

Quick Takes

A Bride’s Story, Volumes 6-7 by Kaoru Mori. Every time I pick up A Bride’s Story I can’t help but be impressed by Mori’s stunningly detailed and beautiful artwork. The manga is gorgeous to look at, but the storytelling is lovely as well. These two volumes fall at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to tone, but they’re both still wonderfully engaging. Though it has its quiet moments, the sixth volume is dominated by exciting action sequences and battles as Amir’s original clan struggles to find a way to survive now that it has lost access to grazing lands. The intensity of the sixth volume isn’t found in the seventh, but there’s still plenty of drama as the series shifts to follow more of Mr. Smith’s journey. The story itself focuses Anis, a young Persian woman whose husband is quite wealthy. Because of this she leads a somewhat lonely and secluded life until, at the urging of her maid, she starts going to the public baths where she can spend more time with other women. (Much of the volume takes place at the baths, so there is a fair amount of tasteful nudity.)

Tokyo ESP, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Hajime Segawa. It took me a couple of chapters to completely warm up to Tokyo ESP, but by the end of the first omnibus I was completely engaged. Segawa’s artwork doesn’t particularly grab me, but I’m immensely enjoying the quirkiness of the manga’s characters and the weirdness of its story. Tokyo ESP is ridiculous in a good sort of way. One morning, Rinka wakes up to discover that she has the ability to pass through physical objects. She’s not the only Tokyoite to have suddenly gained strange superpowers, but Rinka does appear to be one of the few to try to use her newfound skills for justice rather than personal gain. Though reluctant at first, wishing that she could just go back to normal, Rinka is quite capable and soon finds herself caught up in gang war fighting other espers. Tokyo ESP is a violent, action-packed series with a goofy sense of humor. Rinka can literally kick ass, but she also gets her fair share of beatings. The manga can actually be surprisingly brutal at times.

The World’s Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera, Volumes 1-3 by Shungiku Nakamura. I know quite a few people who we extraordinarily pleased when SuBLime announced that it would be releasing The World’s Greatest First Love. It was their enthusiasm that led me to giving the manga a try–I had read and even enjoyed parts of Nakamura’s earlier series boys’ love series Junjo Romantica, but overall I wasn’t especially enamored with it so I wasn’t necessarily intentionally seeking out more of the creator’s work. But I will admit, so far I am consistently amused and entertained by The World’s Greatest First Love even if I am more interested in the series’ hilarious (and I’m told accurate) portrayal of the inner workings a shoujo magazine than I am in any of the manga’s dubious romances. The World’s Greatest First Love works best for me when it’s a bit over-the-top and not trying to be taken too seriously. Though the anatomy of the characters can occasionally be rather awkward, Nakamura excels at reaction shots and the artwork is well-suited for a comedy.

Pick of the Week: Legend of the Galactic Heroes

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

MICHELLE: Is there really any doubt? Legend of the Galactic Heroes!

ASH: No doubt here! It may not be manga, but it’s Legend of the Galactic Heroes for me this week, too.

SEAN: It is absolutely Legend of the Galactic Heroes, as I have said before. Cannot wait for this epic classic novel series, so influential on so many other anime and manga.

MJ: See above, re: Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

ANNA: What’s happening? Could it be a unanimous pick for Legend of the Galactic Heroes? I think it is!

Persona 4, Vol. 1

March 4, 2016 by Ash Brown

Creator: Shuji Sogabe
U.S. publisher: Udon Entertainment
ISBN: 9781927925577
Released: February 2016
Original release: 2009

Shin Megami Tensei is a sprawling multi-media franchise that began as a series of video games in 1987 and has grown to include manga, anime, novels, merchandise, and more. One of the most popular series within Shin Megami Tensei is Persona, which has its own multitude of spin-offs and adaptations. Persona 4 was initially developed as a role-playing game for the PlayStation 2, but the story and characters have inspired multiple other games, novels, anime, and manga series. The first Persona 4 manga was created by Shuji Sogabe, who was also responsible for the earlier Persona 3 manga adaptation. Sogabe’s Persona 4 manga, currently ongoing, has been licensed in English by Udon Entertainment. After a slight delay, the first volume of the series, originally published in Japan in 2009, was released in early 2016. My personal experience with Shin Megami Tensei as a whole is somewhat limited and up until now my knowledge of Persona 4 had largely been earned vicariously through others.

Soji Seta has grown used to transferring from one school to another due to the demands of his parents’ careers, but when they are both sent overseas, Soji is sent to stay with his uncle and young cousin in the small rural town of Inaba. Because Soji has moved so often he doesn’t have many friends and tends to keep his distance from other people. And as a city boy he’s also a bit out-of-place in the countryside. Even so, he’s warmly welcomed by his classmates and is quickly included in their social circles. Only there’s something unsettling about Inaba and Soji finds himself suffering from disorientation and strange dreams. Soon after his arrival, a string of bizarre deaths begin to occur which somehow seem to be connected to a local urban legend. It is said that on rainy nights, staring into the reflection of a television screen will reveal the face of one’s true love. But the truth behind the rumor is even more peculiar. Suddenly, Soji and the others find themselves pulled into another world as they pursue the mysteries surrounding the murders.

Soji would arguably be the main protagonist of the Persona 4 manga (he’s the player character in the original video game, among other things), but except for the initial chapter most of the first volume is actually told from the perspective of Yosuke Hanamura. Like Soji, Yosuke is a transfer student, having moved to Inaba from a large city six months earlier due to his parents’ work. Although his character is more complex than is initially implied, Yosuke tends to be an easygoing and somewhat clumsy goofball. This provides an interesting contrast to Soji’s colder, more reserved personality. Over the course of the first volume they begin to form a close friendship which will likely become one of Soji’s most important relationships. The connection will also be meaningful for Yosuke whose outwardly upbeat attitude hides feelings of discontent, inadequacy, and doubt. I’m looking forward to seeing how their bond evolves as it seems to be something that they both need.

Not having yet played any of the Persona 4 video games, I’m not in a position to comment on Sogabe’s manga as a derivative work, but at this point it does appear to be an adaptation that can largely stand on its own. Some elements of gameplay can still be detected, though for the most part they have been convincingly incorporated into the story itself. In addition to the plot and characters, I find the manga’s settings to be particularly intriguing. Sogabe’s stylish artwork and use of shadows and fog create an effectively disconcerting environment in both Inaba and the TV world. But one of the most fascinating and potential-laden aspects of Persona 4 is that while in that alternate reality, fragments of a person’s psyche can physically manifest to either great benefit or great harm. Persona 4, Volume 1 is the introduction to the series so there is a fair amount of setup, but the sense of mystery and danger has already been well-established. So far, I am intrigued by the Persona 4 manga and am curious to see how it continues to develop.

Manga the Week of 3/9

March 3, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Ash Brown, Anna N and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: I love quiet weeks. I love them so much more given we’re in a new manga boom where the first and fourth weeks of the month can be crippling on the wallet. But don’t worry, there’s still big things afoot next week.

The big release, and I will warn in advance this is absolutely my Pick of the Week, is the debut of the space opera novel series Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Viz’s SF imprint Haikasoru has picked up the first 3 volumes, with promises of more if it sells well. Old-school anime fans will recall its adaptation being a gateway series in the 1990s, trading fansubs and joking about “That man, Yang Wen-Li”. It is also filled with very handsome young men, so has a large female fanbase as well. This isn’t space opera like the Irresponsible Captain Tylor – it takes itself Very Seriously Indeed. But don’t let that stop you getting this, it is an absolute Must Buy.

MJ: Okay, you’ve sold me. Which is good, because nothing else here really does.

ASH: I am so incredibly excited for this!

ANNA: I am also incredibly excited for this! Space Opera for the win!!!!

MICHELLE: What is that I spy, sitting in my Amazon cart? Why, it’s the first volume of Legend of the Galactic Heroes!! Hi there, little guy!

SEAN: Dance in the Vampire Bund’s spinoff, Scarlet Order, ends with its 4th volume from Seven Seas.

Seven Seas also has a 3rd volume of Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto. I’ve heard it’s selling poorly, which is a shame, as I’m very fond of it. Go get this! It’s weird and funny! It has an anime coming soon!

ASH: Oh, that is a shame; I really enjoy the series. Hopefully the anime will help sales.

SEAN: After a few false starts, I believe that we do have the 4th World’s Greatest First Love volume from SubLime.

ASH: I actually just started reading this series. Guess I’ll have to add the fourth volume to the pile!

SEAN: Ranma 1/2 omnibus 13 contains two of the more beloved arcs of the franchise, as it wraps up the Herb story and also has Shinnosuke’s arc, which highlights Ranma and Akane’s awkward love story. Oh yes, and we meet Hinako-sensei as well.

Lastly, there’s a 20th Rin-Ne volume, and I admit I waved a little white flag last time around at the extreme lack of anything happening in the series.

Aside from IMPERIAL SPACE OPERA, what interests you this week?

Manga Giveaway: World Trigger Giveaway Winner

March 2, 2016 by Ash Brown

And the winner of the World Trigger manga giveaway is… Serene!

As the winner, Serene will be receiving the first two volumes of Daisuke Ashihara’s World Trigger as published in English by Viz Media. One of the most notable aspects of World Trigger is it’s setting in which gates between parallel worlds appear. I asked participants of the giveaway to tell me a little about some of their favorite manga that feature parallel dimensions, worlds, or universes. Be sure to check out the giveaway comments to read all of the detailed responses.

Some manga available in English featuring parallel worlds:
Alice 19th by Yuu Watase
Arata: The Legend by Yuu Watase
Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato
Drifters by Kohta Hirano
From Far Away by Kyoko Hikawa
Gate written by Takumi Yanai, illustrated by Satoru Sao
Higurashi: When They Cry written by Ryukishi07
Into Illusion written by Rieko Yoshihara, illustrated by Ryo Tateishi
Kyo Kara Maoh! by Temari Matsumoto
Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP
MeruPuri by Matsuri Hino
Orange by Ichigo Takano
Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki
Persona 4 by Shuji Sogabe
Reborn! by Akira Amano
Steins;Gate by Yomi Sarachi
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle by CLAMP
World Trigger by Daisuke Ashihara
xxxHolic by CLAMP

The above list is certainly not exhaustive, and I’ve deliberately left off a few titles in order not to be too spoilerific, but it’s a decent place to start for anyone interested in reading manga with parallel worlds or dimensions. Thank you to everyone who shared your favorites with me; I hope to see you all again for the next giveaway!

Pick of the Week: Kyoko vs. Saitama

March 1, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s a lot of good titles out this week, but only one that has me waving my arms around and going “AT LAST!” So the pick, as you may have guessed, is the 36th volume of Skip Beat!.

MICHELLE: I am solidly in Skip Beat!‘s corner, as well. It’s telling when a series as long as this still makes me excited to get the next installment.

ANNA: I have to join in the group picking Skip Beat!. Having a new volume to read is a great excuse for celebration!

ASH: I’m shockingly far behind in my reading of Skip Beat! so I’m not quite ready for this week’s volume even though I’m looking forward to it. However, I’m not nearly as far behind in One-Punch Man, another series I’m thoroughly enjoying, so this time I’ll be making that one my pick.

MJ: I’m going to surprise everyone, I guess, by joining Ash here on picking One-Punch Man! I somehow actually missed it in this week’s releases, but now that I realize it’s there, I’m psyched. Count me in!

My Week in Manga: February 22-February 28, 2016

February 29, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

It’s the end of the month, so there were a couple of different things posted at Experiments in Manga last week, such as the launch of the most recent manga giveaway. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, but until then there’s still time to enter for a chance to win the first two volumes of Daisuke Ashihara’s World Trigger. The most recent review in my monthly horror manga review project was posted last week as well (technically it’s a week late). This month I took a look at After School Nightmare, Volume 8 by Setona Mizushiro. It’s a fairly momentous installment in the series, with several major developments and revelations.

Elsewhere online: Ryan Holmberg examines pro-nuclear manga of the seventies and eighties; Kodansha Comics has a two part interview with Hiroya Oku, the creator of Gantz and the more recent Inuyashiki; Justin of The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses contacted Robert McGuire to determine the status of Gen Manga since the publisher has been rather quiet of late; finally, in an interesting move, Funimation has launched a Kickstarter for a newly dubbed blu-ray release of The Vision of Escaflowne; Anime News Network also interviewed some of Funimation’s staff members about the project.

Quick Takes

Aldnoah.Zero: Season One, Volumes 1-2 written by Olympus Knights and illustrated by Pinakes. I haven’t seen any of the original Aldnoah.Zero anime series, though I have been meaning to give at least a few episodes a try. The series mostly caught my attention for two reasons: the underlying story about interplanetary warfare between the humans on Earth and Mars (as I’ve mentioned in the past, I have particular interest in Mars), and the fact that Wandering Son‘s Takako Shimura was responsible for the character designs. Seeing as I generally have more opportunities to read manga than I do to watch anime, I figured I’d give the Aldnoah.Zero manga adaptation a try. Sadly, parts of the manga are somewhat difficult to understand if one isn’t familiar with the original. Pinakes makes heavy use of screentone, which obscures the artwork and action and gives the pages a cluttered feel. I do like the basic premise of the series, but the motivations behind the war, while cursorily explained, remain frustratingly unclear and many of the Martians come across as villainous caricatures rather than well-rounded characters.

Franken Fran, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Katsuhisa Kigitsu. I tend to enjoy horror manga and I had heard great things about Franken Fran, so I was very much looking forward to giving the series a try. The manga and its characters are delightfully quirky, in turns disturbingly cute and skin-crawlingly creepy. Fran is a charming young woman who, due to her nearly irrational reverence for life, is more or less an unintentional sadist. She, along with her cadre of assistants and monsters, saves lives through extreme surgeries and bizarre experiments often with gruesome results. Although there are recurring characters, the manga is generally episodic without much of a continuing story, but the chapters all have at least one deliberately shocking twist to them. Franken Fran, with its incredibly dark sense of humor, quickly and repeatedly swings from the surprisingly heartwarming to the magnificently grotesque and back. It’s definitely not a series for everyone, but I’ll certainly be picking up the rest of the manga.

Purity: The “Post-Yaoi” Anthology edited by Anne Notation and A. E. Green. I was previously unfamiliar with most of the contributors to Purity; I learned about the anthology due to the participation of two creators whose work I currently follow—Kori Michele Handwerker and Starlock. (I was happy to discover that a comic by Alexis Cooke, one of Sparkler Monthly‘s creators, was also included.) Purity is a collection of forty-two homoerotic illustrations and short comics by forty-eight creators from around the world who have been influenced by yaoi manga. Although it’s clear that some of the artwork was originally in color, the anthology has been printed in grayscale. There’s a nice variety in the tone and style of the contributions in Purity; some are sweet while others are unapologetically smutty (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Genre-wise, the anthology tends towards the paranormal, fantastic, and futuristic, but there are contributions firmly based in reality, too. Although all of the stories stand on their own, a few do tie in with some of the creators’ existing works.

After School Nightmare, Vol. 8

February 26, 2016 by Ash Brown

Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617633
Released: August 2008
Original release: 2007

I first started reading Setona Mizushiro’s manga series After School Nightmare several years ago. I was specifically drawn to it due to the series’ exploration of gender and identity, but it was also those themes that caused me to hesitate to finish reading the work. After School Nightmare is fairly dark and heavy, in many ways hitting very close to home for me, and so I’ve only recently been able to bring myself to read beyond the first few volumes. After School Nightmare, Volume 8 was originally published in Japan in 2007. The English-language edition of the volume was released by Go! Comi in 2008. It, like the rest of the manga, is now out-of-print, but I had previously collected the series in its entirety based upon my impression of the early volumes alone. My initial feelings have so far carried through to the later volumes as well—I continue to find After School Nightmare to be oddly compelling, chilling, and disconcerting.

Mashiro has been living as a man for his entire life, but his gender identity has been something that he has always struggled with. Born with a body that was neither entirely male nor female, he’s constantly fighting the feelings of his own inadequacy and lingering self-doubt. Mashiro along with several other students have been participating in a special after school class which, through shared dreams, forces them to confront their most personal troubles and fears. Slowly things are changing. Mashiro has been able to begin to accept himself, realizing that the feminine side that he’s been trying to suppress is closer to his true self than the masculine persona he’s created. Along with his personal identity, Mashiro has also admitted to his romantic interest in Sou—another student dealing with a difficult past, traumatic secrets, and conflicted feelings—which only serves to complicate matters even further for the both of them.

The events, revelations, and realizations that occur in After School Nightmare, Volume 8 are momentous, not only for Mashiro but for many of the other characters as well. Intense feelings and emotions that have been churning under the surface, largely hidden from the view of others, finally erupt as Mashiro and several others reach their breaking points in a dramatic and chilling fashion. After struggling for so long trying to live up to the expectations set for themselves either personally, by their families, or by society at large, they can no longer contain their apprehension, anger, and distress. The masks that they publicly wear are beginning to disintegrate, for better and for worse. The eighth volume is a turning point in the development of many of the characters as they claim or reclaim their identities along with all of the good and bad that comes with recognizing and admitting to themselves and to others who they really are as people.

The psychological drama of After School Nightmare is tremendous and the subject matter that Mizushiro explores can be hard-hitting as the characters deal with a wide range of traumas. As slow as some of their personal growth has been, and as unlikeable as some of the characters can be at times, I am glad to see them coming to terms with themselves, what they’ve been through, and what they continue to experience. Mizushiro effectively conveys the turmoil of young adulthood and through the characters’ nightmares brings it to the forefront to the series. The nightmares are heavily symbolic, the emotional and metal states of the characters directly impacting and influencing the dreamscapes. The consequences of their behaviours both within the dreams and outside of them can be devastating. While the eighth volume of After School Nightmare grants some relief from the mounting tension, it also reveals just how long-lasting and damaging the effects of one person’s actions on another can be.

Manga the Week of 3/2

February 25, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: Honestly, it’s a very light week for the first of the month, helped out by Viz’s big shoujo debut getting pushed back a couple weeks for some reason. But there’s still a lot left here. (Of note, for reasons unknown to me, Diamond is not shipping any Viz next week, so I am not getting any of this.)

MICHELLE: Huh. Maybe they wanted it to stand out from the pack?

SEAN: New Lone Wolf and Cub isn’t so new anymore now that it’s on its 8th volume from Dark Horse.

ASH: Heh.

SEAN: On the Seven Seas front, there’s an 8th volume of Science vs. Fantasy manga Devils and Realist.

And a 2nd omnibus of otaku favorite Mayo Chiki.

And now for the rest of Viz, which has not been delayed but is coming out as usual (except via Diamond). Starting with the 66th volume of Bleach, now 2/3 of the way to 100 volumes. (Please do not let Bleach hit 100 volumes.)

MJ: Lord, no.

SEAN: Bloody Mary has a 2nd volume, and continues to feature vampires.

MICHELLE: I didn’t love the first volume of this, but I’m not ready to give up on it yet, so I will be checking this out.

MJ: I will follow Michelle down this road.

ANNA: I liked it ok! It is a bit different from all the other vampire manga out there, which I found refreshing.

SEAN: Dragon Ball has still not run out of 3-in-1s with its 12th, but it may be close.

I was quite fond of the first volume of Idol Dreams, but I acknowledge that it has potential to be what I cheerily refer to as “problematic”, which tends to be a code word for “they’re only xx years old!”. Gender reversed in this case. In any case, Volume 2 is next week.

MICHELLE: This is another I didn’t love, but I’m totally going to read volume two.

MJ: I will probably read this.

ANNA: I liked it well enough despite the “problematic” aspect. I’m weirdly all in for all Tanemura manga.

SEAN: Final volume! Kiss of the Rose Princess wraps up with Volume 9.

MICHELLE: And this is why I keep reading sometimes underwhelming things, as I ended up kind of liking this after a while. Enough to keep going ’til the conclusion, anyway.

ANNA: I am a couple volumes behind but will get caught up!

SEAN: And Komomo Confiserie reaches its halfway mark with Vol. 3.

MJ: This has not landed for me, sadly.

ANNA: It isn’t as great as other shoujo manga, but I like the combo of food and wacky heroine.

One Piece has not remotely reached a final volume, but here’s a 15th 3-in-1 to tide you over.

There can never be enough PUNCHING! Thank goodness for a 5th volume of One-Punch Man.

ASH: Woohoo!

SEAN: Seraph of the End has an 8th volume, and also continues to feature vampires.

ANNA: It does! I enjoy all the angst and action scenes.

SEAN: Shuriken and Pleats is… delayed 3 weeks, not sure why. Moving on…

ANNA: Boo!

SEAN: Skip Beat! Yay! I miss the days when we gorged on new volumes all the time, but it just makes the wait for some nice sweet Corn all the more satisfying. (I’m so sorry.)

MICHELLE: IT HAS BEEN SIX WHOLE MONTHS!!!!

ANNA: HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? IT IS INHUMANE!

SEAN: World Trigger is up to Vol. 9, which in Jump terms means that it can be called a definite success.

ASH: I’m behind in reading the series myself, but I do have a giveaway for the first two volumes going on right now.

SEAN: Lastly, what Viz manga list would not be complete without a Yu-Gi-Oh somewhere in it – this one the 8th volume of Zexal.

Manga is coming in like a lion next week! What are you getting?

Manga Giveaway: World Trigger Giveaway

February 24, 2016 by Ash Brown

February’s a short month, so it’s already time for another manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga! For this giveaway, participants will have the chance to win not one, but two volumes of Daisuke Ashihara’s World Trigger as published in English by Viz Media. Why? Because it’s the second month of the year, or something. (Really, it’s mostly because I just felt like it.) Anyway, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Parallel worlds, dimensions, and universes provide interesting narrative opportunities for creators to explore. In some instances the worlds remain parallel and separate, allowing for multiple realities to exist simultaneously. But in some stories, like World Trigger, those separate realities end up crashing together. Either approach can be equally fascinating, though invasion scenarios like those found in World Trigger do perhaps lend themselves to more action-oriented tales.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win the first two volumes of World Trigger?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite manga that makes use of parallel worlds. (If you don’t have one, or haven’t read one, 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).

It’s as easy as that! Each participant has one week to submit comments and can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. Comments can also be emailed directly to me at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com if preferred or if you have difficulty with the form. The comments will then be posted here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on March 2, 2016. Good 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: World Trigger Giveaway Winner

Pick of the Week: Variety Bandbox

February 22, 2016 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown and Anna N Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: There is a lot of good stuff coming out next week, but for me it’s all about the kittehs. Bring on FukuFuku: Kitten Tales!

SEAN: I’m definitely up for some kittens this week as well. My pick this week is The Boy and the Beast, though, a book-and-manga combo from Yen that’s from the creator of Summer Wars and Wolf Children. I expect some coming of age heartwarming moments in bucketloads.

ASH: I definitely plan on picking up FukuFuku, but for my official pick this week I think I’m going to go with Dimension W. Admittedly, I don’t actually know much about the series, but I’ve enjoyed Iwahara’s work in the past, so I’m curious.

ANNA: Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun! Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun! Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun! Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun! If you can’t tell, I’m excited about Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!!!!

My Week in Manga: February 15-February 21, 2016

February 22, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was another one-review week at Experiments in Manga, but I should hopefully be back to the normal swing of things again soon. (Though it does seem as though one review per week is the new normal… ) As for the review itself, I took a look at the first omnibus of Planetes, an excellent series about space exploration and development by Makoto Yukimura. I don’t tend to double-dip when it comes to manga (Planetes was originally released in English by Tokyopop), but Dark Horse has done such a nice job with the new edition that I couldn’t help myself. I really enjoy Planetes and am very glad to see it back in print.

In licensing news, Jay’s manga adaptation of the BBC’s television series Sherlock will be released in English by Titan. Elsewhere online, Kodansha Comics posted an interview with Hiro Mashima and Viz Media’s Shonen Jump posted an interview with Kohei Horikoshi. The OASG hosted an interesting light novel roundtable in which my Manga Bookshelf cohort Sean Gaffney participated. And the Toronto Comic Arts Festival announced its second wave of featured guests, which includes Shintaro Kago and Faith Erin Hicks among other great artists.

Quick Takes

Chiro: The Star Project, Volume 1 by HyeKyung Baek. I picked up Chiro mainly for two reasons. The first was that the manhwa is one of Netcomics most recent releases. (Technically, it could even be considered a license rescue; Udon Entertainment published a few volumes of the series back in the day, which I also counted in its favor.) The second reason was that at some point Chiro apparently begins to play with gender in interesting ways. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen in the first volume and there is nothing else that does happen in the first volume that would convince me to read any further. No matter what directions the series might eventually take, I really did not like the beginning of Chiro at all. The lead is incredibly self-conceited and self-absorbed and her actions frequently make no logical sense whatsoever. The plot, too, seems to be lacking any real direction at this point and ends up being a mess of unfortunate cliches and tropes. At times I think Baek is intentionally attempting to be off-the-wall and absurd, but the humor and the series as a whole just isn’t working for me.

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Volumes 5-8 written by Yuto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki. I tend to enjoy food manga, so it doesn’t really surprise me that I find Food Wars! to be entertaining. The fanservice is admittedly and purposefully ridiculous. People frequently lose their clothing not only figuratively but literally as their reactions to tasting exquisite food are nearly orgasmic. And there are plenty of delectable dishes to go around—these particular volumes bring to a conclusion the challenges of the school’s cooking camp and the beginning of the Fall Classic competition. One danger of a tournament-style manga like Food Wars! is the sheer number of characters that are introduced over the course of the series. Fortunately, Tsukuda and Saeki have so far managed to create a cast made up of characters who, while not necessarily being particularly nuanced or deep, are distinctive in their personalities and designs. Perhaps even more important is that they each have their own dramatic and over-the-top style of cooking. It’s especially interesting seeing the different approaches to cuisine pitted against one another.

Horimiya, Volume 1 written by Hero, illustrated by Daisuke Hagiwara. Because I knew quite a few people who were very excited when Horimiya was first licensed I wanted to make a point to give the manga a try even though I didn’t really know much about it except for the fact that it was adapted from a webcomic. They were right to be excited—Horimiya is a delightfully sweet and charming series. The basic premise is similar to any number of other manga featuring a high school romance with quirky characters, but both the leads and Hagiwara’s execution of the story are so wonderful that I didn’t at all mind. At school, Hori presents herself as fashionable and upbeat, but she’s a bit frustrated with her family situation which requires her to be something of a homebody. Miyamura is a classmate whose reserved nature and social awkwardness hides the fact that he’s liberally tattooed and pierced. Neither of them are quite like the other expected but they fall into an easy and natural friendship with each other. I’m really looking forward to reading more of Horimiya. It’s cute, funny, and has a ton of heart.