Derek Bown

Weekly Shonen Jump Recap: January 21, 2013

January 23, 2013 by Derek Bown 4 Comments

This is it! The big week! When what most thought would be impossible became possible—simultaneous releases of Shonen Jump manga. Back when WSJA first started a year ago I thought that while it was a little sad that we couldn’t get simultaneous releases, it was still the best thing we’d gotten. And it was more than enough for me. I figured that simultaneous releases were an inevitability, but never would I have imagined we would get them just a year later.

With the simultaneous releases the Alpha phase is over. And the magazine has been renamed: Weekly Shonen Jump. And since this will cause confusion between the Japanese print magazine and our e-magazine I propose we call it Weekly Shonen Jump Online.

There was a slight hiccup with the release on Monday, in my case at least. This may not have been experienced by other readers, but it took a day for the WSJ section in my viz app to be updated, and during that time I couldn’t get to even my old copies of WSJA. Fortunately this was a minor problem, since the browser-based reader was perfectly functional.

But enough of that, let us take a look at the first chapters we get to read simultaneous with Japan.

Naruto Ch. 616
Naruto managed to leave little impression, which is possibly the best I can say about a manga that I honestly can’t say I’ve enjoyed in a good few years. The concept of sharing chakra felt out of place, mostly because it’s been so long that I can’t remember if that was ever brought up before. If it was, then my dissatisfaction is a matter of my poor memory. If not then the fault lies entirely of improper set up.

I did enjoy the color spread, it seems forever since Naruto has gotten one of those. It harkened back to the days when Team 7 were the main characters, and only served to remind me that Sakura’s development was abandoned by the roadside ages ago.

One Punch Man Ch. 001
We tend not to get all that much from the superhero scene in Japan over here, to the point that sometimes I tend to forget they do have the genre. It just doesn’t appear that often in manga. Sure there are super-powered characters, but few of them are actual superheroes. And while the superhero genre in Japan is somewhat different from what we are used to in the West, it follows similar tropes as our own. So it is odd that one of the rare examples of superheroes in manga happens to be a parody.

It only took me one chapter to fall in love with this series. There’s something charming about the idea of a superhero who is so powerful that he beats all his enemies in one punch—no specific powers, no real reason for them—he just punches enemies and they die. One would think that gimmick would run dry fast. But somehow the execution saves it and I look forward to seeing more predictable yet hilarious fights.

One Piece Ch. 695
While this was mostly a chapter to show off Nami and Usopp’s abilities further, I have to say that once again One Piece had one of the strongest chapters in WSJ. There’s an innate charm in the series that just can’t be beat. Even the proud declaration that the two will fight any injured and retreating enemy is less a character flaw and more a funny quirk.

While it may be based in gender stereotypes, I still love the General Franky jokes. All the men, adult and children, love that robot and all the women, adult and child, just don’t get it. Sure there are women who like giant robots, but even a joke playing on stereotypes can be funny if it’s done without malice.

Nisekoi Ch. 058
It was good to get a chapter focusing on Ruri. While she isn’t one of the main characters, she’s still one of the more entertaining characters. And while she’s normally the serious character, she gets a lot of good laughs, as well as some impressive character development.

I find this an example of my favorite type of manga. An ongoing story is all good and fine, but I like it most when each chapter can stand on its own and do so without seeming too short or forced. In my opinion some of the best manga manages to tell a single story in a chapter and then move on to the next story without sacrificing quality.

Bleach Ch. 523
I really used to love this manga. It was one of the first I read all the way through, before I ever read One Piece or Naruto. For a while I loved Bleach more than even One Piece. And then we get chapters like this one. While the ideas are interesting, they showcase the dangers of weekly serialization. While it’s interesting to finally meet the man who creates zanpakuto, and to learn that zanpakuto start off blank and are then written over by their owner’s spirit essence, it does beg the question: Where did Ichigo get his zanpakuto? Not the aspect of it that is part of his spirit, but the actual, physical sword. He didn’t take Rukia’s, since hers was already written over with her powers. So where did he get a blank to write over with his powers?

The biggest problem here is that while this is a cool idea, Kubo unfortunately has already written parts of the story that contradict what he’s saying here. And while it’s a limitation of the medium, I can’t help but feel that at some point manga writers have to suck it up and decide that certain ideas won’t work because they contradict what has been said elsewhere.

I could go on forever about this chapter, mostly in regards to how this chapter managed to destroy all respect I had for Kyoraku. Why would anyone think that training one soldier by losing the other is a good idea? It reeks of false drama that had to be forced in to make use care about a story element that is pretty weak.

Cross Manage Ch. 017
I do like this manga, but I feel like I may join the crowds predicting its demise. While this was a good chapter, it resolved the match much faster than I would have expected. I don’t get the feeling that we will be getting much development for the other characters—that all the time allotted this series has been spent with our leads because the author doesn’t expect the series to last much longer. It would be a shame to see Cross Manage go, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Toriko Ch. 218
This chapter was a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t bad, it just took the story in a different direction than what I was hoping for. I would have liked to see more of the cooking tournament. Seeking the Gourmet Corps attack so soon in the series certainly caught me off guard, but it seemed like a much more distant threat. I imagine that the outcome of this event will be the kidnapping of Komatsu, which would take the story in an interesting, if predictable, direction.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Ch. 026
There really isn’t much more I could say about this series that I haven’t already said. Without the necessary context I can’t say I’m equipped to properly comment. A card game happened, there is little more I can say than that.

Want more? Go listen to last week’s episode for a more in depth look at WSJA. Episode 031 – January 14, 2013 – Don’t Be a Jerk Just Enjoy Your Manga and Fairy Tail Vol. 4 Check out other past episodes: Manga^3

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha Recap: January 14, 2013

January 16, 2013 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

We’re just one week away from being up to date with Japan. And all I can say, as I sit here pondering these most recent chapters, is that I’m glad I don’t have to sit here with no new chapters, unlike those reading scanlations. My self control at not reading ahead has paid off.

The big news this week is that One Punch Man will be added to Weekly Shonen Jump (the Alpha has been dropped from the title). I haven’t read this series myself, but we did do an episode on it. I have to admit, this was not one of the series I was expecting to make it into our Jump. Still, I hear it’s a good series, and look forward to reading it. Now someone at Viz please get Beelzebub into Weekly Shounen Jump? And Sket Dance too, please.

What? Me? Demanding? Perish the thought.

Naruto Ch. 615
It’s times like these that make me glad I grew out of my shipping phase a long time ago—though not so long ago that I can’t still feel the sting of a sunken ship. That being said, I actually ran into spoilers about this chapter two weeks ago, because there is nothing in this world more vindictive than a “victorious” shipper. And they want to make sure everyone on the internet knows about it, even those of us who have been sticking to the legal release.

What? Am I sounding bitter? Huh, I wonder why that could be.

I could go into details why I don’t think this chapter is that big a deal, but that would only incite comments against me. Though, too be fair, I’m almost thinking that even those comments are better than no comments.

From a non-shipping standpoint, I feel that this chapter dragged a bit. The entire run was used to build Naruto’s confidence back up, and apparently build up the moment between him and Hinata. Frankly I would probably enjoy this more romance if Naruto weren’t so schizophrenically written. The biggest problem I find with this series is that I’m never sure exactly what Kishimoto intends to do. He rarely gives romance a focus, and when he does it seems to come out of nowhere because it’s involving characters who haven’t done anything in forever. And he seems to relish sending mixed signals, making it hard for the casual reader to really catch on to what exactly his end goal is.

The entire purpose of this chapter is giving Naruto and Hinata a moment, and since I’m not really invested in that relationship (personally, I’ve always thought Hinata was too underdeveloped to be really interesting), I can’t say this chapter did much for me.

One Piece Ch. 694
All this talk about shipping makes me appreciate Oda’s no-romance stance all the more. It’s refreshing to know that I can read this series and when I go to participate in the fandom not all of the discussion is about romantic drama.

The main thing I feel worth noting is that Baby 5’s devil fruit ability raises some interesting questions. Is she a logia or a paramecia? If she’s a paramecia then she’s an overpowered paramecia since she can reconstitute herself. If she’s a logia then does this mean that those types of fruits aren’t limited to elemental forms? None of these questions are answered, but I hope that eventually we will get an answer.

The ending, well, I won’t give it away, but I have to say I did not expect the story to go the way it’s going. Monet’s supposed fate comes as a bit of a surprise, though I doubt this is the end of her, since hints in previous chapters have suggested that there’s more to her than we’ve gotten this arc.

With the exception of a bit of deus ex machina I have to say this was a solid chapter, and I look forward to more. As always.

Cross Manage Ch. 016
Oh hey, look, they’re playing a match. A sports match in a sports manga? What a novel idea. Though, to be fair, for this series the focus on the characters rather than the sport was established early on. It’s not about learning the sport as much as it is the sport acting as a vehicle for the characters’ personal growth. While seeing them grow as a team is interesting, I personally would have preferred some more development for the team members before moving to this stage. I can’t help but feel that this fast pace is the death throe of a manga about to be cancelled. But, if it does survive I wouldn’t mind reading some more.

Bleach Ch. 522
I suggested it in my last column, and it stands confirmed in this chapter. Kubo just wants to draw lots of attractive women, preferably with big breasts as well. Or maybe Nimaiya is Kubo’s current author avatar. But, sexy antics in the first half of the chapter aside, it looks like we’re going to get to see some fighting next chapter. I do like the idea of Ichigo and Renji having to reconcile with their Zanpakuto, and look forward to seeing what Kubo does with that.

Or, if he wants, he can just keep drawing sexy women. At this point I’ll take what I can get.

Nisekoi Ch. 957
Ah Nisekoi, you and your silly antics. I didn’t think it was possible to make me like ALL the girls in this series. It’s fairly obvious, since this is the way these series work, that Raku will end up with Chitoge. And while I have my own preferences, I have to admit that Komi Naoshi does a great job of making me like all the girls fairly equally.

Which is why this chapter works for me. If I didn’t like Chitoge I wouldn’t like this chapter. Her escalating attempts to get Raku to notice the little changes she’s making to her appearance are hilarious as they get more and more obvious and everyone but Raku seems to be noticing. And again, there are some great expressions this chapter.

Toriko Ch. 217
The odd thing about Toriko is that it has a fairly large cast, but characters are constantly being introduced and then forgotten about, only to be brought back like it’s no big deal. Seeing Melk back was a fun bit of the chapter, I like that she actually came to meet Komatsu instead of just watching him from the the stands. Though it was odd that neither she nor Komatsu said anything to each other.

The other thing I have to say about this chapter is something I never thought I’d say. But, well, there’s a first for everything.

I really, really actually wanted to see the tournament play out. I know this is something nobody in his right mind would say. But I really like cooking and one of my favorite parts of Toriko is seeing the cooking. This was like an arc made just for me. And it looks like it will be cut short. Oh well, I’m sure whatever Shimabukuro does next will be interesting too.

Blue Exorcist Ch. 042
While I enjoy Blue Exorcist, it’s currently suffering from me not having the funds to buy all the volumes yet. So most of these chapters I’ve been reading don’t have a larger context for me to put them in. Sure, I enjoy the characters. Sure, the overall story, while unfocused from what I have read, is pretty good. But at the moment it doesn’t really have anything that it’s really building towards. Or at least that’s what it feels like to me. I don’t have a single goal to watch the characters progress towards, or at least they don’t seem to be actively pursuing that goal. Whenever a manga does that it ends up feeling disoriented and suffers as a consequence.

As far as this chapter is concerned, the further development that Yuki is undergoing (that he himself might be a demon as well), is pretty well-executed. The final page is especially creepy. As long as the manga does a better job than the anime did with similar material I think I’ll be satisfied.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan Final Chapter
I’ve been a fan of manga long enough and seen enough series end to know that not all endings are as satisfying as Fullmetal Alchemist‘s. In fact, most endings are downright disappointing. Not that I was expecting much from Nura. I enjoyed it more or less while I was reading it, but eventually I got to a point where the flaws kept sticking out far too much for me to enjoy. It was a fairly decent shounen action series, but it suffered from lack of focus and severely crowded paneling. Were I to recommend something to the author were he to try the series again, I’d say the cast needs to at least be cut in half, and the distinction between Rikuo’s human and yokai self should get some more explanation.

As for this chapter, It was an ending to the series without feeling excessively rushed. The series never really got fleshed out further after the move from Shounen Jump, but for what it’s worth I’ve seen worse endings in the series that don’t make it past twenty chapters in Jump. For those, it’s mostly “there are more adventures but we can’t show them.” With Nura, at least it’s a conclusion. Sure there’s a fair bit that needed wrapping up that never did get wrapped up, but I’ve come to believe that sometimes it’s better to have something left open-ended rather than risk having it end in a way you don’t like.

I’m not sure how I would feel about this chapter if I were more invested in the series, but as it is I can look at it from an academic standpoint. The ending wraps up the main conflict, but it does it in a way that leaves absolutely no impression. The characters—of which there are too many to really care about—end in a place that is no better or worse than where they started. I probably would have liked to see some more development, but I can’t say I was really expecting it.

And that’s it for this week, if you want to hear my expanded opinion on last week’s chapters, go over and check out my podcast, Manga^3 Episode 030 – January 7, 2013 – Character Death and Fairy Tail Vol. 3.

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha Recap: January 7, 2013

January 9, 2013 by Derek Bown 3 Comments

There’s no real cure for a lazy writer than a topical issue that is updated every week. Thus, here we are, with a brand new column dedicated to celebrating the spearhead of digital and simultaneous manga publishing in the West: Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha.

The basic idea of this column is to provide my opinion of the most recent issue of WSJA, and to provide a forum for fans to share their own opinions on the latest Jump chapters. For those who hate reading but love listening to people talk about manga, fear not, just check out my podcast, new episodes posted the weekend after each issue comes out. You can find it at: Burning Lizard Studios

Without further ado, let’s see how the chapters this week fared. And yes, ye have been warned, there will be possible spoilers in these columns. I’ll try to keep it to a minimum, but when talking about a story you kind of need to talk about the story. So I can’t make any promises.

One Piece Ch. 693
The thing about One Piece is that depending on who you’re talking to it’s the most satisfying manga to read on a weekly basis, or it’s complete gobbledegook. Well, if you’ve paid attention to what I’ve written in the past then you know I love One Piece more than any other shounen manga. And this week was as good as ever. Some would say that Oda’s artwork is cramped, and I can’t quite deny that, seeing as how I had that same reaction the first time I ever saw the manga. But the advantage of this is that we get a chunky bit of story every week. And with how large the cast of One Piece is, that’s an absolute requirement.

The majority of this chapter was setting up the finale of this arc. Caesar Clown looks like he’s about to get away scott free, if Baby Five manages to get past Franky. With the island possibly exploding it looks like we’re in for a close escape.

Naruto Ch. 614
Speaking of series with giant casts, Naruto is one of those series that could either use a little more content with each chapter, or at the very least spend a little more time focusing on the side characters. And even when it does focus on side characters, it’s never the ones that actually need the focus.

Case in point: A certain character is mortally wounded this chapter, and apparently dies. I’m not one to downplay tragedy, even when it’s fiction, but this really would have meant more if the certain character had actually done something in the past three hundred chapters.

It’s not like it’s impossible for an underused character’s death to be tragic; after all, Asuma’s death back in the early days of the time skip was actually well written and tragic. This is because right before killing Asuma, Kishimoto took the time to show us why him dying was tragic. His relationship with Kurenai was confirmed, and we get the revelation that they were about to have a child together. Coupled with the impact this has on his students it’s a pretty tragic moment. Granted I wasn’t entirely convinced because I personally would have preferred to see more of him before he was offed, but at the very least Kishimoto took the effort to make his death meaningful.

With the death in this chapter I have to admit that there’s still a chance that it will become more meaningful in later chapters. It just doesn’t help that I haven’t read anything substantial about this character in the past four years or more. The flashbacks to his scenes with Naruto early on in the manga don’t help much either. Rather they feel more like Kishimoto is waving them in our face, saying, “Remember how meaningful he was back when I bothered to do anything with characters other than Naruto and Sasuke? Feel bad!!!”

Nisekoi Ch. 56
It takes some serious writing chops to take a character like Marika Tachibana and actually make her interesting. We’ve seen her likes before. She’s the one everyone hates in the harem show—the arrogant one, the clingy one, the Shampoo, the Ayeka. The characters hate her, and the readers hate her. And yet, that really isn’t the case with Marika. Sure, her outer character is blatantly one-note, but those moments with her are actually entertaining, and there are just enough hints that there is more to her character—that she’s playing a part to keep us interested.

It also helps that Komi Naoshi is a genius at comedic facial expressions. I rarely get through a chapter of Nisekoi without finding an expression I love. This week the prize goes to Ruri, for her look of utter disgust at being ranked right under Shu.

Toriko Ch. 216
I love Toriko far more than I should, considering I haven’t even read all of it. I’ve read the first nine volumes, and everything that’s been published in WSJA. This one is a victim of Viz’s inability to provide the chapters leading up to the most recent in a way that is actually economically feasible. Thus I find myself stuck in a position where I can either read the most recent volumes and wait for those to catch up with the chapters first published in WSJA, or I can find alternative ways to catch up. At the moment I’m holding strong with just reading the volumes, so here’s hoping we catch up soon.

I love cooking, and I love shounen fighters, so this is a match made in heaven. Especially with the most recent arc being a cooking festival. This is where I’ve truly fallen in love with the series. All the colorful characters, the way something as simple as food and cooking can fascinate an entire world. All of it together is just wonderful, and the introduction of Brunch these past chapters has been a great addition. This chapter itself is a bit on the weaker side, since it skims over most of the competition to introduce the final matches. Personally I would have loved to see more of the preliminaries, but considering how many chefs were involved I’m thinking this was probably for the best.

Cross Manage Ch. 15
I don’t particularly care for sports manga, nor am I making the mistake of getting too attached to brand new Jump series. Experience has taught me that new series have to be phenomenally lucky to actually survive to the point where they really become entertaining.

A lot of Cross Manage has been focusing more on the development of the main characters than the actual sport of lacrosse. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering that lacrosse is presented more as a setting rather than the driving force of the story. But I really would like to spend some more time with the extended cast. I like series like this, where superficially it’s about a sport, but really it’s about the large cast of characters. So I find myself at a loss for what to do with a series that promises shounen manga, but then gives me a shoujo manga.

Not to say a shounen with shoujo tendencies is a bad thing, I actually find it hilarious that Cross Manage is potentially fooling people into believing it’s a shounen manga, when it so clearly isn’t.

At the very least we’ll get to see some more lacrosse, with perhaps some more focus on the ancillary characters during this tournament arc. I’d love to see this manga continue, but considering the fates of Barrage and Takama-ga-hara, I’m not too optimistic about Cross Manage‘s chances.

Bleach Ch. 521
Is it just me, or would Kubo be happier if he replaced his entire cast with big breasted women? Or just women in general. It seems to me that there is nothing he loves more than expanding a story that should take a fourth of the time it takes, and that’s drawing attractive women. Now, as a straight male I have absolutely no problem with this whatsoever. However, as a fan of manga, and fiction in general, I would appreciate if a bit more care went into the story. I’ve mentioned One Piece as an example of a manga that has a lot of material every week; well Bleach is the exact opposite. Kubo’s biggest problem, and there are some doubts that this is entirely his fault, is that he just doesn’t have enough material per chapter. A chapter of One Piece may take me a quarter of an hour to read. I can get through a chapter of Bleach in about five to eight minutes. There just isn’t enough to sink your teeth into on a weekly basis.

To be fair to this chapter, I’ve always liked Kubo’s sense of comedy. It’s not necessarily what he does best, but in my opinion he does it pretty well. The overall comedic sense of this chapter might throw some people off, but I for one at least enjoyed it. I look forward to next week’s chapter where we get to find out about the origin of Zanpakuto.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Ch. 25
Just this first column alone has taught me something important about being a manga reviewer. Sometimes you have to read something you don’t want to read. Sometimes you have to read a chapter based on an anime, based on a card game, based on a manga that by all accounts was pretty decent but has since turned into a monster of a franchise.

I’ve only ever watched the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series. And not even all of that. I’ve never read the manga. Nor have I ever read the manga (besides a few chapters) of the spin-off series. The problem with a manga like this is that it’s a tie-in media for the anime, and in my personal experience that tends to be a code phrase for, “Not very good at all.” There’s an element of laziness that creeps through in the adaptation from a different media to the graphic novel media.

But, let us not allow my bias to cloud my vision of this chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. What do I really think of the chapter? To be honest I don’t have a clue. Like Toriko, this series has the disadvantage of having several chapters published before it made its way into WSJA. But unlike Toriko I refuse to spend money to catch up on this series.

Superficially this is the most Yu-Gi-Oh! of all the series. The hair alone would put any glam rock band to shame. At least with the original series all the crazy hair looked fairly anime standard. With this one it looks like all the characters are Yugi poser wannabes. How many different shades of color can one head of hair have!?

This series even goes so far as to introduce technology that would be a lot more effective at resolving the conflict than a bunch of cards. Someone kidnaps your little brother? Forget the cards, you’ve got a jetpack! Fly up there and save the kid!

I will admit that a lot of my complaints stem from never really getting into this franchise. So at the very least I can say that were I invested in the series I might be more positive about this. But since I am not, I have gone from the original series to this, which is a bit of a jarring transition to say the least. As an outsider I can say that what I’m looking at is pretty ludicrous, but as an outsider I readily accept the fact that I just might be missing something.

That wraps up this week’s recap, join me next week as we continue our journey towards legally reading Jump chapters at the same time as Japan. If you want to know my opinion on last week’s chapters, check out my podcast, Manga^3 for the latest in manga news and commentary: http://www.mediafire.com/?09m5dfpi5lx92tf

Combat Commentary: Fullmetal Alchemist Ch. 91-92 Alphonse & Heinkel vs. Pride & Kimbley

December 8, 2012 by Derek Bown 2 Comments

What Happened?
With the rest of the cast joining in on the attack on Central, Alphonse and Heinkel, the Lion Chimera, stay behind to detain the Homunculus Pride. Unknown to them, Pride calls for help, and is answered by the Crimson Alchemist, Kimbley, who easily takes out Heinkel and frees Pride.

What Happens?
Alphonse, badly injured by Pride, manages to create a dust cloud and tries to escape with Heinkel. When he refuses to leave Heinkel behind and save himself, despite the Chimera’s insistence, Heinkel gives Alphonse the philosopher’s stone he picked up back in the North.

(click images to enlarge)

Armed with the power of the stone, Alphonse fights Pride and Kimbley, even going so far as succeeding in trapping Pride again. He and Kimbley share philosophies for a moment when Kimbley reveals that he has another philosopher’s stone hidden away. With it, he frees Pride and the battle seems to turn against Alphonse as he is restrained.

Alphonse reveals that he no longer has the stone, having given it to Marco who was using the dust to read the direction the wind was blowing. Just as he is about to warn Kimbley, the transformed Heinkel pounces from the dust and sinks his teeth into Kimbley’s neck.

What Does it Mean?
It means that Hiromu Arakawa is a master of cliff hangers. Consider this, those of you that read these chapters when they were first published in the States. Imagine that you were reading chapter 92 as it was being released monthly. Really let that image sink in—consider that Kimbley was one of the biggest bastards in the entire Fullmetal Alchemist series. Imagine the sense of elation at seeing his doom. Imagine the nagging sense that maybe he would still survive. Was this the end for him? Characters in manga had survived worse. But then again, Fullmetal Alchemist was always more realistic about what kind of injuries could be survived. Imagine, if you will, all these thoughts racing through your head, all heading towards the realization that you had to wait another month before you get your answers.

That’s what it must have been like, reading this fight as the series was being published. Reading it from the volumes all one must do is turn the page for the next chapter. Reading it chapter by chapter as each new one came out, would have made that moment all the more sweet and frustrating.

But what about the fight itself? Well, for one it was Alphonse’s big character moment. He’d had his moments in the past, but this was the first time he really got to dish out some punishment, and he did it beautifully. In my last column about Fullmetal Alchemist I talked about the Armstrongs’ fight against Sloth. While I very much like that fight—as I do most fights from this series, of which there are many that will be covered in this column—anytime Edward or Alphonse fights it’s always a much more interesting fight.

Rather than focus on just one type of alchemy, the Elric brothers can form almost anything they want, which makes for some very interesting fights that rarely get dull. This one especially used a lot of interesting trickery, which was necessitated by the fact that they were fighting a far superior opponent. Even at the end they are unable to defeat Pride and have to escape with their lives.

There are a lot of reasons to like Fullmetal Alchemist. One of my main reasons is perfectly illustrated in this fight. The deep imagination that went into the creation of this world, story, and magic system. It’s one of my all-time favorite manga, and I can’t wait to spend more of your time ranting about how awesome the fights are.

Combat Commentary: One Piece (Overview)

July 31, 2012 by Derek Bown 2 Comments

If anyone hasn’t already noticed that One Piece is my favorite manga series of all time, then my upcoming Alabasta Arc special will put any doubts to rest. For now, allow me to focus on discussing the treatment of fighting scenes in One Piece in general, before I get into details later on.

One Piece‘s strength lies in a large variety of different powers. While early on in the series it had to rely on characters with different fighting styles, once the story entered the Grand Line the Devil Fruit powers were expanded upon. The basic idea behind this power is that anyone who eats one of the devil fruits will gain a power tied to the fruit, but lose the ability to swim.

Examples of powers include a body made of rubber, a body that can split apart, the ability to turn into animals, and the ability to turn into any of the classic (and some not classic) elements, such as fire, ice, smoke, etc. Each of these powers bring very different fighting styles to the table, while the powers all originate from the same place, taking care of the problem of having too many different magic systems, or not enough variety to make the fights interesting. It’s a tough line to walk, but One Piece manages to pull it off beautifully.

Accompanying the devil fruit powers are several different fighting styles as well, but they all fit inside the same world. The introduction of Haki is a bit of a concession to the tropes of shonen fighter manga, but it fits into the world Oda created as a whole.

Thanks to these varied powers the fights are not only creative, they can be tense or humorous when necessary. The writing is just top notch, some of the best in the genre. Some series suffer from boring uninteresting fights, One Piece does not have that problem. The fights themselves are what make the manga good, along with other things.

Best of all, the entire cast gets their time to shine. While there is a bit of an emphasis on the men in the main cast, this being a comic for boys, as Oda likes to remind people, the women do still get their moments. In fact, as far as representation of women in shonen manga go, One Piece is one of the best at avoiding allocating its female characters into one-note roles.

But even when I love something so much I will tolerate no ill word spoken about it, I cannot deny that nothing is perfect. Especially in recent arcs One Piece hasn’t had any really strong fights. Or at least it hasn’t had any fights that match the grandeur of past arcs. Most of the fights have been cut somewhat short, and while that works for the story, it does show that Oda has not been as creative with his fights as he was in the past. Nami and Robin have gotten the shaft as well, while before they played big parts in the climactic fights, this time around they stood off to the side and did not get their own opponents to fight. While this is the first arc after the crew got back together, it is still a little disappointing to see after such a strong track record.

The only other main complaint I have about the fights in One Piece is that powerups come out of nowhere. While we do have a two year timeskip to explain where the characters gained their new powers, in the past they’ve pulled new abilities out of nowhere without proper explanation. The biggest examples of this is during the Enies Lobby arc, where Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji each have new final attacks, without any sign that they’d been training or practicing to use these moves. I hate to make the comparison, but I’m reminded of the Uchiha characters in Naruto, each pulling out brand new powers without any indication that they’d been training to unlock these abilities.

But while I will continue to complain about Kishimoto, Oda gets a pass, because every single one of those moments in Enies Lobby was pure awesome. When a manga has so much substance, it can be forgiven for a few moments where style rules supreme. Especially when the rule of cool is applied so hard that it takes several years before you start thinking, “Hey wait a minute…”

In the end, even my complaints don’t add up to much. One Piece is just one of those series that is fun on all levels, but most importantly the fights are just amazing. And while Oda has not yet wowed me with his most recent fights, I have every bit of faith that it’s just a matter of time before I get to see something amazing.

Combat Commentary: Naruto (The Entire Series)

July 17, 2012 by Derek Bown 5 Comments

You know what the most disappointing thing is about Naruto?

It’s not the story that’s stagnated to the point of resembling a soap opera that’s passed its prime. Neither is it the considerably large female cast that gets absolutely no focus. Nor is it the fact that Kishimoto insists on focusing on the one character more mind-numbingly awful than the actual protagonist.

No, it’s that Naruto used to be good.

That isn’t to say that Naruto can’t be enjoyed by a very particular breed of person, but when considering the first three volumes of the manga I can’t help but wonder: What the heck happened?

As far as shounen fighters go, Naruto was something of a godsend in its early days. Rather than focus on two muscley men punching each other to death, Naruto had the audacity to focus on preteen children punching each other to death. With magic! And as anyone who has spent an extended amount of time around children can attest, this is an incredibly cathartic experience.

Rather than the admittedly much simpler, “Guy A punches Guy B very hard” repeated ad nauseum, Naruto instead had fights that were more about strategy and trickery. This led to a variety of intelligent ways in which Guy A could halt Guy B’s vital functions. Even with the addition of magic powers (Kishimoto can call it “chakra” and “chi” or whatever he wants, one’s inner energy does not give one the ability to shoot fireballs with one’s eyes!) Naruto remained intelligent and fast moving—a battle manga for the intellectual. Sort of.

(click images to enlarge)

But somewhere along the line Naruto lost its way. Focus was placed on the magic, rather than the clever ninja fighting techniques. Fights became longer and more repetitive. The biggest problem was the grave misuse of the sharingan powers. Rather than be satisfied with just two powers, Kishimoto decided at some point the sharingan needed to be so powerful that it made every other technique obsolete.

It’s a problem of escalation really. Dragon Ball experienced the same problem. After you introduce a villain that can destroy a planet, where do you go from there? By introducing a villain that can destroy planets—only he does it harder! The problem is found in most battle manga, and is a curse of the way in which manga is published. If a manga is clever and engaging then the readers will connect with it. And when they connect with it they want more. And when the readers want more the publishers squeeze the creator for everything he or she has, even if the creator’s best ideas dried out a long time ago.

It would be easy to dismiss Naruto as one of those comics that outstayed its welcome. The problem is that not only has Kishimoto never shown any signs of being close to done, but he’s single handedly responsibly for the downgrade in quality. Just like he decided Sasuke was the most engaging character anyone would want to read about, so he decided that magic eyeballs were the way of the future.

One of Kishimoto’s signature stylistic choices was having diagrams describing what happened in the action scene, as a kind of recap or to explain new techniques. I was never a fan of this, as it broke the flow of the story in favor of presenting information with more tedium than my entire undergrad program. For a while Kishimoto abandoned this—one of the only good decisions he’s made in the past few years I’d say. But as those who have been reading Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha know, Kishimoto recently brought that particular feature back—to describe yet another inane sharingan power. It’s as if Kishimoto realizes he doesn’t have that spark anymore, and so he’s reaching back to the early days of his manga. A note to the wise, perhaps try bringing back the engaging parts of your manga, not the one lousy thing that should have stayed buried.

As easy as it is to complain but not provide a solution to the problem, I’m afraid it’s too late for Naruto. The escalation has gone too far. Characters are capable of leveling mountains now—going back to throwing shuriken just won’t work. Which begs the question, why do they still bother carrying the things?

While I’m sure there are still those who read and enjoy the series, I for one have long since abandoned it to that depressing part of my mind where good manga go to stagnate. It seems that’s been happening far too often with current ongoing shounen manga. Bakuman had the right idea and got out while the getting was good.

My current negative opinion of the series isn’t going to stop me from reviewing later fights in, for some, excruciating detail. Please stay tuned, unless you like Naruto—might be a good idea to avoid those future reviews.

Combat Commentary: Fullmetal Alchemist Ch. 91-96 Armstrong(s) vs. Sloth

June 6, 2012 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

I don’t often fall in love with fictional characters…okay, that’s a lie, I do it all the time. Despite what I imagine most people would think, this does not usually happen because the character is drawn with very few clothes, or has over-developed sexuality. No, my feelings are more pure and entirely based on personality (with a small heaping of looks thrown in there).

The thing is, I tend to fall for very specific type of fictional woman—the type that would utterly terrify me in real life. Olivier Armstrong is one of those women. I can’t really explain why this happens, but what I can explain is why she’s a badass, and if she were real I’d willingly be her servant for life.

PS: I was thinking this would make a perfect Valentine’s Special…but…well, it’s a little late for that. So pretend this got published back in February.

What Happened?
As the rebel forces begin their assault on central, Major General Olivier Armstrong makes her move, capturing one of the inner circle generals. The Central forces target her as a high priority target and attempt to take her down. But they are impeded by the arrival of the Homunculus Sloth.

What Happens?
Olivier’s sword does little to no damage to the behemoth, and it isn’t until the arrival of Major Alex Armstrong that they are able to do some damage to Sloth. Just after the sibling pair deal the first serious blow, Sloth reveals his true ability, supernatural speed.

Sloth’s speed turns his body into basically an obscenely heavy bullet, as he is unable to control his trajectory after launching himself. Major Armstrong is able to use this to his advantage, by placing a stone spike right in Sloth’s path. This severely injures Sloth, but not enough to finish him.

The Armstrong siblings are surrounded by Central soldiers, who try to arrest them, but are attacked by the artificial humans. As Sloth breaks free from the spike, more Central soldiers arrive, and Olivier takes command of them. She organizes them to take on the artificial humans, while Alex focuses on Sloth. With his dislocated shoulder, Alex is unable to properly fight. The soldiers urge Olivier to go help him, but she refuses, knowing Alex is tougher than the soldiers give him credit for. He uses one of Sloth’s attacks to pop his shoulder back into place, and is able to start fighting Sloth back.

Sloth still won’t go down, and he continues to target Alex and Olivier. The soldiers try to hold him back and give the Armstrongs a chance to escape, but Alex refuses. It is at this point that Izumi and her husband show up. They, along with a reinvigorated Alex, give Sloth a thrashing to the point that he finally dies.

(click image to enlarge)

What Does it Mean?
What makes Fullmetal Alchemist stand out is that Arakawa isn’t afraid to break shounen tropes here and there. Usually fights in shounen manga focus more on one on one battles. Team battles like this one tend to be more the rare side. The fight also serves as more than just a way to eliminate one of the enemies. It serves as closure for the relationship arc between the two Armstrong siblings.

While Olivier’s opinion of Alex had been low the entire series, during this fight we see how she works. She may say Alex is worthless, but when it comes down to it she trusts him enough to remain focused on her own job. An effective fight scene needs to accomplish multiple things. At the most basic it needs to be cool to look at, but it also needs to provide this kind of character growth.

In team fights like this it may be tempting to say that one member of the team did more than the other. The bulk of the fighting is done by Alex, which could be construed as downplaying Olivier’s ability as a fighter. But there is no need to pull out the sexist manga card on this one, as the Alex and Olivier both fulfill specific roles that were previously developed parts of their characters.

Alex may not be able to beat Olivier in a one-on-one fight, but he is more suited for fighting with brute strength. And while Olivier has been portrayed as an exceptional fighter, that part of her is not emphasized as much as her ability as a leader. There is no need to give her character arc closure with a one-on-one fight, because her character is much more focused on leadership. And just as Alex gets his good fight, Olivier gets to show off her chops as a leader by taking command of two platoons of soldiers sent to capture her and fully gaining their loyalty.

(click image to enlarge)

The end of the fight is a bit disappointing, because the two are unable to win without being saved by the Curtises. A better ending would have been to go the more archetypal route of having Alex and Olivier pull through to the very end and finish Sloth off. To have two outside forces aid them this far into the battle does unfortunately diminish their success. Fortunately this is a minor complaint, as the moment is executed with plenty of style and comedic callbacks with Alex and Mr. Curtis.

Ultimately the final fight against Sloth works because the bond between the two siblings is more important than their ability to defeat their enemy. They had prior victories, and in the end it did not take a final victory to cement their character arcs. The important development occurred during the fight, so the weak ending can be forgiven.

Combat Commentary: Bleach (The Entire Series)

May 16, 2012 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

It occured to me that in the event that I ever run out of fights to cover (HA!), I needed to think of variations on my basic theme. And then I thought, instead of focusing on individual fights, it would be worth it to look at the basic fighting style(s) of entire mangas. If the overall fighting style of the manga isn’t interesting, then no amount of individual fights can salvage it. So in the spirit of imposing my opinion on which fighting manga are worth your time, I will start this brand new variation on my old theme.

Bleach has been called Dragonball Z, with swords. And I personally have absolutely no idea where anyone ever got that idea. I mean it’s not like Bleach spends insane amounts of time on fights, has characters of world shattering power, constant powerups, and always one more enemy to overcome … okay so maybe I can see where people might get that idea. But this is not a piece comparing DBZ and Bleach, rather it’s about the fighting in Bleach as a whole.

While Bleach does fall under the category of a “sword” manga, the swords are never really focused on that much, at least not later on in the series. There is no actual swordplay that goes into the series, rather it’s about who has the higher spirit power. Essentially the swords could be removed from the equation, and absolutely nothing would change.

Where a series like Rurouni Kenshin focuses a great deal on the philosophy of swords, different sword techniques, etc, Bleach takes a different approach. Rather than taking a swordsman philosophy stance, Bleach instead takes a “warrior” stance. The characters are not seen as swordsmen, but rather as warriors. This is emphasized by the fact that several of the characters have releases that remove all semblance of swordsmanship from their fighting style.

While there are several fighting styles presented in the manga, the most basic form of combat is using Zanpakuto, which are essentially the only weapons capable of damaging spirits. Each Zanpakuto has three forms it can take. The basic form is that of a Katana, which rarely gets used during fights as the series progresses; the next form is the Shikai, which changes the form of the Zanpakuto and gives it extra powers—very few of the Zanpakuto still look like swords after this initial release; the final release is the Bankai, which enhances the basic powers given by the Shikai, and enhances the spirit powers of the wielder.

Initially the basic enemies, Hollows (fallen spirits that devour other souls), have a variety of powers, but as the series progresses they are replaced by the Arrancar, a new form of Hollow that have removed their masks to gain Soul Reaper powers. They seal their Hollow powers into Zanpakuto that they can release to unseal those powers.

Throughout the later volumes of the series, a lot of focus is put on why Ichigo fights, with a fair bit of philosophizing going on about what it means to be a warrior. The fights, early on at least, are well developed, and take advantage of the unique powers to make every conflict interesting. In a way, despite the initial focus being swords, moving away from swords is a good idea, as it provides an infinite number of possible powers. But as the series progresses, more focus is put on nothing but the fights. And without the investment required to care about the conflict, I for one was left uninterested in any of the fights, especially since many of them devolved into just sword fights, something the series had moved away from.

Overall, Bleach took full advantage of a large variety of powers, and made fights that were a delight to read. Unfortunately, the fights lost their luster later on, resulting in a series that focuses entirely on fights, but fails to instill them with any kind of gravitas. Considering that for a while it was one of the only series where the outcome of the fights could really get me emotionally invested (see Ichigo vs Ulquiorra), it’s a real shame to have lost that.

I hope you enjoyed this new format. I’ll still focus on individual fights, but I think it might be interesting to look at the fighting styles of a series overall. I can’t promise anything just yet, but eventually I plan to broaden my gaze even further, and compare fighting styles of different series, to really show how they compare to each other, in an attempt to really understand what makes for a good fight scene.

Feel free to check out Derek’s blog over at Burning Lizard Studios, for manga and anime, as well as general graphic novel and cartoon reviews.

Combat Commentary: One Piece Ch. 656

March 14, 2012 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

Warning: Spoilers follow for the more recent chapters of One Piece, published in Weekly Shounen Jump Alpha. Proceed at your own discretion.

click image to enlarge

Is there a minimum length for a fight? A character getting knocked out in one panel hardly counts, but how many panels are necessary for something to qualify as a real fight? How many pages are needed? Is a quarter of a chapter the minimum? Half a chapter? Maybe an entire chapter is the bare minimum for something to qualify as a fight. Of course this is mostly semantics, and everyone will have his or her own opinion. But opinions are nothing without evidence, so here is a piece of evidence that a fight can, in fact, be just one chapter long.

What Happened?
After leaving Fishman Island, Luffy and crew make their way to the surface of the New World to find the sea around them aflame. Through the flames, they see a burning island. Luffy picks up a distress call from the island, naming it “Punk Hazard.” The person calling for help says they are being attacked by a Samurai, and strangely complains about how cold it is. Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, and Robin draw the short straw and are chosen as the ones to go and find that person. They make their way onto the island, and after a bit of searching (somehow avoiding being set on fire) they find themselves face-to-face with a Dragon.

(click images to enlarge)

What Happens?
At first, the Dragon is too strong for Luffy and Zoro to fight it. Its scales are too thick to be cut, and too hot to even touch. The dragon’s breath keeps the two fighters at bay, and it seems like the dragon can shrug off any of Luffy’s blows. Even stranger, the dragon seems to be talking!

The dragon takes to the air, and Luffy jumps up to knock it out of the sky so that Zoro can finish it off. While on the dragon, Luffy sees that there are a pair of legs sticking out of the dragon’s back. The dragon tries to bite Luffy, but ends up biting its own wing. As the two fall, Zoro uses one of Usopp’s plants to jump into the air, and finishes off the dragon.

What Does it Mean?
First off, the appearance of an actual dragon in the manga makes the Apis Filler Arc in the anime look absolutely ridiculous now. Those dragons were feathery pussies. This dragon—now this is the real deal. Too bad for it, Luffy and Zoro are beyond overpowered now.

It's still badass, it just had the misfortune of living in a time where Skyrim taught us not to fear dragons.

Out of all the fights in shounen manga, this one stands out for not only its brevity, but for following all the required phases of a shounen fight. Just like Toriko’s battle against the GT robot, the heroes go from being unable to defeat their opponent, to figuring out how to do it and winning—the difference being that rather than changing tactics, it is just a matter of time before one of them lands a solid hit and finishes the dragon off.

The problem is, that though the first half of the fight sets the dragon up as a legitimate threat, the ease with which it is finished off ruins that. Luffy and his crew are in the strange position of essentially getting to experience the beginning of the series all over again. One Piece started off with fights that were no real challenge—that served the purpose of showing off the characters’ strength. As the series progressed, the opponents got harder and harder to beat, and the Strawhats had to struggle more and more to win. But at this point, after the two year training period, there will be fights like this one, where the opponent seems dangerous, but in reality are no match for any of the Strawhats.

Except for some.

With the exception of the ending being a disappointment, this is still a fun fight to read. Not only is there the novelty of seeing our heroes fight a mythical creature, but it bodes well for the rest of the series. If the creatures found here are so badass, what does that suggest about future villains?

That they're out of shape astronauts?

This fight currently holds the honor of being the shortest fight ever covered in this column. And yet it still works. Oda shows that he knows not only how to be entertaining, but how to fit as much entertainment value as possible into each of his pages. Unlike some creators who waste their pages with white space, Oda fills every panel with as much detail as possible. Though this may come across as cluttered for some, it provides the most content in the least space. And while this is not a column about One Piece in general, it still bears noting that out of all the manga series available weekly, this remains one of the most satisfying reads around.

All images from Shonen Jump Alpha, © Eiichiro Oda/SHUEISHA Inc. Chapter available in full at vizmanga.com.

Combat Commentary: Fairy Tail Vol. 11, Ch. 86-87 – Lucy & Juvia vs. Vidaldus Taka

March 6, 2012 by Derek Bown 2 Comments

The good thing about writing about fight scenes in shounen manga is that I will never run out of material. The bad thing is that I have too many to chose from. When considering which battle from Fairy Tail to write about, I had to eliminate several possibilities, though chances are they will all see the light of day eventually.

Let’s be honest, women get a raw deal in shounen manga. More often than not, the female lead is one of the least appreciated characters. Her prowess is constantly being compared to that of her male counterpart. And with almost no exceptions, she is found lacking by an incredibly picky fanbase.

I could go into detail about how it’s ridiculous to judge a character’s value based on her combat ability, but that seems a little counter–productive for a column focusing on nothing but fights. Instead, let us talk about a series that puts the women on the same playing field as the men, and gives them a fair shot at being just as formidable as the boys.

Erza Scarlet is one of the rare female characters who is consistently stronger than the male lead. But she is not the female lead—that falls on Lucy Heartphilia instead. At first glance, Lucy comes across as the basic female lead in a shounen manga. More often than not, she needs saving, and she’s consistently weaker than Natsu, the male lead. The difference between her and far too many other female shounen leads is that she consistently gets at least one fight per arc in the latter parts of the manga.

Compared to characters like Naruto‘s Sakura (who’s gotten exactly one fight over the course of years of publication), Lucy may not be the most powerful character, and her fighting style isn’t as direct as shounen audiences like. But at least she gets fights, and she usually wins them. On the other hand, she also tends to lose her clothes during the fight. You win some, you lose some.

(click images to enlarge)

What Happened?
Erza, in a rare case of damsel in distress, is kidnapped by former friends of hers. They take her to the Tower of Heaven, where she and they had been child slaves years ago. There, Erza discovers that an old friend of hers, Jellal, has almost finished the Tower of Heaven, and intends to use the R-System within it to resurrect the dark wizard Zeref.

Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Juvia make their way to the tower and infiltrate it to save Erza. After meeting up with Erza, who had escaped captivity on her own—damsel in distress did not agree with her—they all split up to take down Jellal. Lucy and Juvia go together, and are confronted by Vidaldus Taka, a punk rocker with the ability to control his hair and make women his slaves.

Eeyup, no subtext here. Just unfortunate translations.

What Happens?
Vidaldus takes control of Juvia, and turns her against Lucy. Juvia beats on Lucy, but her real feelings manage to make their way through. Lucy then realizes she can use the water that makes up Juvia’s body to summon her strongest Celestial Spirit, Aquarius. Aquarius floods the room with water, and Lucy and Juvia combine their magic power into a unison raid to overpower Vidaldus.

What Does it Mean?
Last week’s column brought up the issue of using established abilities vs sudden power-ups in the middle of battle. This is an example of the latter. Lucy and Juvia somehow manage to combine their magic powers, an ability that is never foreshadowed, nor is it ever explained or brought up again.

Clearly, you are meant to know exactly what this prior unexplained phenomenon is!

For all of his ability to create entertaining manga, Mashima is bad at ending things. Whether it be fights, or an entire story. The reliance on a deus ex machina (sort of) power-up is lazy writing, especially when the proper groundwork hasn’t been laid. The difference between a satisfying climax and a deus ex machina is always in the preparation that has been done prior to the climax.

That being said, considering this is the eleventh volume of the series, it’s actually only Lucy’s second proper fight. Fairy Tail does an interesting thing with her character. She starts off as being the damsel in distress more than once, but as the series progresses she becomes more involved in fights and even starts to win them on her own. More or less. She never really fights on her own, much the way a pokemon trainer never really fights his own battles.

I choose you...Dewgong?

If Natsu, Gray, and Erza get the big cool moments, with epic powers clashing against mighty foes, Lucy gets the small cool moments—such as the moment she realizes she can summon Aquarius using Juvia’s unique body structure&mdashwhich makes the random power up at the end of this fight all the more a shame. Lucy is one of the characters who fights differently from the average shounen fighter. She has to use more strategy and take advantage of her surroundings and the unique abilities her Celestial Spirits give her. Generally, her fights are more interesting than most of the other characters,’ which isn’t too shabby at all for a member of a demographic too often neglected in shounen manga.

How about you? Is this shoddy writing at its worst, or an interesting start to a well-rounded character development? Best comment wins cake. Also, if you have any requests for future entries to this column, feel free to submit them here. If I’ve already read the manga, then the chances of it getting covered are much higher. Also, be sure to check out my blog at Burning Lizard Studios.

Combat Commentary: Toriko Vol. 4, Ch. 26-28

February 28, 2012 by Derek Bown 3 Comments

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of food manga? Is it shounen fighter series? I didn’t think so…

Huh. I guess it would be kind of up there. Surprisingly enough, food is actually a major part of many shounen fighter series. Take for example Goku, Luffy, and Natsu, who are well known for consuming insane amounts of food. Or Naruto, who has a ravenous hunger for ramen. Or Yoshimori (from Kekkaishi) whose hobby is baking cakes. In some way or another, many shounen protagonists are connected to food, to the point where the big eating hero has become something of a trope. Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro took that trope and based an entire series around it, giving us Toriko.

The majority of Toriko features the titular character defeating and eating a large variety of exotic beasts. But in Vol. 4 he faces off against a human opponent for the first time. Or, rather, he faces off against a robot being controlled by a human. Nevertheless, this battle was the first one in which he found himself facing off against an intelligent opponent in a more traditional kind of fight.

What Happened?
Toriko and Komatsu visit Biotope 1, a place where rare gourmet ingredients are kept and studied, at the request of the International Gourmet Organization (IGO). While there, they discover an gladiatorial ring that pits rare and powerful creatures against each other as the rich and famous bet on the outcomes of the matches. When a pregnant Battle Wolf is pitted against four of the most vicious creatures in the world, Toriko steps in to protect the wolf while it gives birth. In the panic caused by Toriko breaking open the protective dome around the coliseum, a strange individual calmly remains sitting. Director Mansam confronts him, but he is attacked by the stranger, who reveals himself to be a GT Robot.

(click images to enlarge)

While Toriko and the Battle Wolf deal with an enraged Devil Python, the Battle Wolf finishes the beast off immediately after giving birth, only to be struck down by the GT Robot’s laser.

What Happens?
Toriko, enraged by the GT Robot’s sneak attack on the Battle Wolf, faces off against the machine. None of his attacks do any damage, as the robot is made of a Titanium alloy—even its joints are reinforced. Toriko, after taking some gruesome damage, goads the robot’s controller into using his most powerful attack. Doing this exposes his only weak point, the laser array inside his head, and Toriko takes advantage of that moment of weakness with his most powerful concentrated five fold spiked punch.

What Does it Mean?
This early on in the manga, Shimabukuro is still exploring the extent of Toriko’s power. He manages to create a fight that not only is a legitimate challenge for his hero, but also allows him to expand his strength. Toriko has three basic attacks available to him; Knife, which allows him to use the edge of his palm to cut through almost anything; Fork, an attack that uses the tips of his fingers to give him great penetrative strength; and the Spiked Punch, which comes in scatter and concentrated varieties, and has a power level that can be adjusted depending on how many times he punches.

As far as fights go, this one is surprisingly short. The GT Robot is shown as being indestructible, and then Toriko finds a way to enjoy it. Sometimes brevity is best, in this case it most certainly was. Toriko is still in the early stages of his development, but he is also still in the stage where he can take care of most opponents with relative ease. The fight is almost elegant in its execution. It uses the basic elements of a shounen battle: an overwhelming opponent appears who apparently cannot be beaten, the hero takes some damage, and finally the hero discovers the power within himself to overcome his opponent. Toriko takes that framework, which usually spans several chapters in most series, and condenses it down to barely two chapters. It’s shounen battle at its most basic.

While it isn’t uncommon for the hero to defeat his opponent by discovering a new power, Toriko instead adapts his already established attacks, modifies his fork attack into a more penetrative icepick, and uses what he already has to defeat his enemy. He shows intelligence in how he fights, taking his ability to absorb incredible amounts of damage and marrying it to an intelligent mind, making him one of the tougher shounen heroes around.

The framework by which all shounen battles work, shown so elegantly in this example, is crucial to a good fight. The way in which it is executed determines the enjoyment of the fight. Fights that don’t follow this basic framework tend to suffer pacing issues. Because a good fight is like a good mystery, the method in which the hero overcomes his foe is crucial. And sometimes it can be something as simple as using the tools they are given that provides the reader with the most satisfaction.

Combat Commentary: Bakuman Volume 6, Ch. 48-50

February 17, 2012 by Derek Bown 2 Comments

What’s that, you say? What am I doing looking at Bakuman? It’s not even a battle manga. Don’t I know the title of my own column? Well, allow me to explain. I’ve mentioned before that I am interested in looking at non-conventional fight scenes and battles. Not all conflict (or even fights) needs to be physical. Sometimes they can be battles of ideals, or of ideas. They can be mental mindgames, or cleverly constructed traps. One could even say that any form of conflict resolution is a battle.

While I will continue to focus on battles involving actual physical confrontation, every once in a while I plan to slip in a commentary on the more unconventional battles that are found in manga. With this entry at least I hope to show that a manga does not need punching to be shounen. Series like Bakuman are just as shounen, possibly even more so, than series involving a great deal of fighting.

What Happened?
After overworking himself, Mashiro collapses on the floor of his studio. His assistants find him, and he is admitted to the hospital. While Mashiro insists that he can keep working while in the hospital, his friends try to get him to stop until he recovers. But one by one he convinces them all, even Azuki, that he needs to keep drawing, no matter what. Once he finally has everyone on his side, and is finishing up the pages for the next chapter, the Editor in Chief says that their series will be put on hiatus until Mashiro and Takagi graduate from high school.

(click images to enlarge)

What Happens?
Everyone, including several of the editors, and all of Mashiro and Takagi’s manga artist friends, disagree with the Editor in Chief’s decision to put the series on hold, despite the fact that the decision is made with Mashiro’s well-being mind. Fukuda, and the rest of Team Fukuda, decide that they will protest the Editor in Chief’s decision by boycotting the magazine. They meet with their editors, and tell them that they fully intend to withhold their series from the magazine until the decision to put Muto Ashirogi on hiatus is reversed.

The Editor in Chief remains firm in his decision, and despite the next issue being printed without any of Team Fukuda’s manga, he refuses to change his mind. Miura tries to resolve the issue by getting Mashiro and Takagi to accept a hiatus until Mashiro is discharged from the hospital. He manages to do this, and Mashiro convinces Fukuda and Nizuma to put an end to the boycott. But even after getting the boycott resolved, the Editor in Chief refuses to change his mind. It is not until Mashiro leaves the hospital, and he and Takagi and Miura present the Editor in Chief with all the chapters they created while Mashiro was hospitalized, that the Editor in Chief finally relents and allows Trap to continue serialization in the next issue.

What Does it Mean?
Battles do not have to be physical to be battles. Sometimes they can be a mental game between two opponents, such as are found in Death Note. At their most basic, battles are a clash between opposing ideals. In every good battle, the protagonist and the antagonist’s ideals clash, and the battle does not end until one set of ideals has been proven superior. Generally these confrontations are simplified down to the stronger fighter having the correct ideals.

Even better, is when there is no clear right or wrong. Oftentimes the ideals are simplified down to clear black and white, but in the case of Bakuman, a lot of the driving force of the conflict is that both sides have good arguments. In a way, the Editor in Chief’s lone stand against the rest of the cast puts him in quite a heroic role, especially when considering his motivation is to protect Mashiro from sharing his uncle’s fate.

In a series mostly based in the real world, like Bakuman, fantastic physical confrontations are not possible. And while no blows are traded, two ideals are still pitted against each other. The Editor-in-Chief is convinced that if Mashiro keeps working, he will end up like his Uncle, and wants to protect him from this fate. While Mashiro and the rest of the cast believe in the youthful ideals of always working hard, no matter what puts itself in your path.

The battle is fought with sheer willpower. The same willpower that brings other shounen heroes back to their feet, is what keeps Mashiro drawing, despite his body rebelling against him. It is the same willpower that allows his friends to risk their careers to fight what they perceive as an unjust decision. And in the end, it is that exact same willpower that convinces the Editor-in-Chief to reinstate the series before he had intended to.

By digging deep, and finding examples of battles in even a series like Bakuman we find that battles are the core of every good narrative. Whether actual battles are fought or not, a story relies on the clash of ideals that happens when two opposing sides face each other. And it is the resolution of this conflict that gives every story worth reading its bite.

In a way, the series itself manages to focus not only on how manga is created, but it also uses its story as a way to show how to create good manga. Mashiro’s battle against the Editor-in-Chief has all the hallmarks of a good battle scene, and everything else about the manga sets up the ideas used to create good shounen manga. From Mashiro and Takagi’s incredible drive, to their rivalry against Nizuma (which only really started because they decided to make him their rival) which drives them on to become Number One. Not only are meta-battles used in all forms of storytelling, but Bakuman is a rare case in that the entire point of the series is to portray shounen manga in a different setting than normal.

Combat Commentary: Hellsing Vol. 1, Ch. 4-6, Alucard vs. Alexander Anderson

February 8, 2012 by Derek Bown 2 Comments

Seinen battle manga can be a glorious thing. Once the restrictions of a younger audience are removed, seinen artists can show the brutal reality of battle. Limbs go flying, and blood splatters cover entire pages. That is not to say that shounen manga is sparkly clean. Despite being aimed at younger readers, shounen battle manga can get fairly graphic. However, the truly graphic scenes are saved for moments where they will have the most impact. With seinen manga there is a risk of over-exposure. Once the reader has gotten used to the limbs flying all over the place, the moment it’s meant to matter doesn’t make have the desired impact.

Consider, would Shanks losing his arm in the first chapter of One Piece have the same effect if it had been preceded by twenty pages worth of limb removal? However, where seinen excels is in trading in gravitas with pure, unfettered gore-mageddon. Sometimes you just want to see limbs removed and pages splashed with blood. But only if it’s in black and white—one wouldn’t want to aggravate one’s sensitive temperament.

What Happened?
While the Catholic Church is content to leave Hellsing to deal with the unusual numbers of vampires in England, an incident in Ireland prompts them to send their premier vampire hunter, Father Alexander Anderson. He confronts Alucard and Seras, who have been wiping out a ghoul infestation. He attacks Seras, and while Integra postulates about Anderson’s monster hunting chops, Alucard and the good Father face off, trading quips while they wait for the first strike.

(click on images to enlarge)

What Happens?
Anderson plants two bayonets in Alucard’s throat, but is blown away by a bullet to the head. The fight, however, is not over, as Alucard assumes. Anderson stands right back up and continues to fight, not going down no matter how many bullets Alucard puts into him. He impales Alucard against the wall, as the vampire realizes Anderson is a Regenerator. Anderson runs Alucard through with several more bayonets (where does he keep those?), and cuts off his head.

Seras tries to run, but finds herself surrounded by a barrier erected by Father Anderson. Alucard telepathically tells Seras to drink his blood to become a true vampire. Integra arrives at the scene, and tells Anderson to leave, telling him that the area is under their jurisdiction. Anderson kills her guards, and attacks Integra herself, but his boasts that he killed Alucard are met with derision. Integra says that Alucard cannot be killed as easily as a normal vampire, that he is the ultimate vampire, perfected over one hundred years by the Hellsing family. Realizing that his current gear will not be sufficient to finish Alucard off, Anderson leaves the premises via…magic teleporting bible pages?

I have no idea what is going on here, but it looks cool.

What Does it Mean?
Every battle series has an eternal rival character—someone who can stand toe-to-toe with the protagonist as a respected opponent. And when your protagonist is the ultimate undead, then you need to cheat a little with your rival. Enter Father Alexander Anderson, a Regenerator—the culmination of human anti-monster technology—a man with regeneration powers that render him effectively immortal, and who for some reason fights with an infinite supply of bayonets, because shut-up-it’s-cool. Ladies and gentlemen, to combat our ultimate undead protagonist, we are given Scottish/Irish Catholic Wolverine.

The fight itself is relatively short, with more focus being placed on the build up, presenting Father Anderson as a legitimate threat. And the follow-through is glorious, as Anderson completely overpowers Alucard. The purpose is to present Anderson as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle that Alucard will have to face in the future, so a lot of focus is placed on showing off Anderson’s abilities. His regenerating abilities are quite nifty, but it’s his choice of weapon that really makes him stand out.

A series like Hellsing relies on characters standing out, and one of the best ways to do this is to give the characters gimmicks—just one thing that makes the character iconic. And Anderson’s use of bayonets is especially effective in this regard. Machetes would be just as effective (probably more so, considering they are more firmly mounted to their handles). But seeing Anderson wield his bayonets makes the reader pause and notice. It draws attention to the fact that Anderson is a badass who uses strange weapons simply because he can. Indeed his entire character, along with the way he holds himself, is designed to showcase the bayonets.

The way he holds himself, with his blades held down at his sides, brings to mind a long-armed ancestor of our kind. He seems primordial, and thereby more dangerous. His form represents a primal fury not found in modern, civilized man. Simply his bearing alone, with his elongated arms extended by his weapons, shows that this man is not to be taken lightly.

The glasses reinforce that dehumanization of Anderson. They reflect the light, creating perfectly round eyes that hide any possible humanity. Notice how on the following page your eyes are drawn first to the glasses. Then look closer, to really see the expression on his face. There is fear there, but the glasses partially obscure it. Anderson’s design focuses on making him as inhuman as possible, with just a few moments added in to show there is a man underneath the beastly appearance.

This fight is not quite a full fight, but rather serves as the introduction for the true fight to come later on. Father Anderson is given a chance to show off his abilities by way of introduction to the reader, while Alucard is allowed to present more of his considerable powers. Both have unique abilities that bring a lot to the table. A fight like this is crucial in the first volume. It makes a promise with the reader, that sometime in the future Alucard will face off against the indomitable Anderson. And the battle will be glorious.

Combat Commentary: One Piece Vol. 3, Ch. 18-20 – Luffy vs. Buggy

January 31, 2012 by Derek Bown 2 Comments

And we save the best for last. Not necessarily the best fight, but most certainly the best series. One Piece is interesting when compared to the others of Jump‘s Big Three. As opposed to starting strong and losing steam as the years passed, One Piece did the exact opposite. It has become a war cry for One Piece fans trying to get new readers into the series, “Just make it past the first nine volumes, make it to the Arlong Arc and you’ll be hooked.” With oddly cartoonish art and stories that fans generally rank among the series’ worst, the early chapters of One Piece belie the powerhouse of a manga it would later become.

But surely there must have been something that drew readers in? After all, every manga fan knows that One Piece is easily the world’s number one manga (at least sales-wise). So what let it survive beyond its infancy? Well, if you’ve been reading this column for the past two weeks, chances are you have an inkling of my answer to this question.

Also, since this column is still new, I’m always testing new ideas for formats. Let me know what you think of this version.

What Happened?
After defeating the tyrannical Axe-hand Morgan, Luffy and Zoro find themselves drifting on the ocean with no food and no way to navigate. Luffy tries to catch a bird to eat, but ends up on an island occupied by the dread pirate Buggy the Clown. Luffy runs into Nami, who initially turns him over to Buggy in order to get to his treasure map, but then saves him at the last second. Luffy beats Mohji the beast trainer, and Zoro beats Cabaji the acrobat, leaving Luffy and Buggy ready for the final battle.

(click on images to enlarge)

What Happens?
Buggy’s devil fruit powers give Luffy a hard time at first, but before long he is able to take advantage of Buggy’s weaknesses. Buggy tells Luffy about the time he was an apprentice on a pirate ship with Luffy’s idol, Red Haired Shanks. After Shanks inadvertently ruin’s Buggy’s plan to sell a valuable devil fruit, Shanks then saves Buggy’s life, but earns his eternal ire. With some help from Nami, Luffy is able to defeat Buggy easily, sending him flying with most of his body parts missing.

What does it mean?
Compared to the straightforward action scenes in Bleach and Naruto, One Piece can often rub fans of those series the wrong way with how it portrays action. The early fights, especially the first three in the series (Alvida, Ax-Hand Morgan, and Buggy) come across as just ways to show off how cool the main character is.

Buggy stands out among the early fights, because he is the only antagonist Luffy faces (before Logue Town) that has devil fruit powers. While later on in the series every villain worth his (or her) salt has devil fruit powers, this early in the game it was a big deal. None of the other characters had powers like Luffy. What makes this fight stand out so much is how creatively these powers are put to use. Luffy always finds ways to make his strange power combat-worthy, but to see another character doing the same thing makes this fight stand out in a sea of sword-swinging and punching fights.

This is what makes Buggy’s status as a “joke villain” so strange. While he is portrayed as a serious threat, the ease with which Luffy deals with him (after some minor set backs) doesn’t quite match up. It feels as if Buggy could have either been taken seriously or written off as a complete joke, and seeing him as a little of both is jarring to say the least—still fun, but a little too much in the middle to make for easy classification.

Though Luffy is still portrayed as an invincible protagonist, Oda manages to throw in some tension by giving Luffy a weakness that Buggy can exploit. Luffy’s hat, given to him by Red Hair Shanks, is the only part of him that can be effectively damaged, and Buggy takes advantage of this.

But Buggy is not the only person who can take advantage of others’ weaknesses. As he learns to his suffering. Luffy takes advantage of Buggy still feeling the pain of his separate body parts. And with only two eyes, Buggy cannot both hunt down Nami (who is getting away with his treasure) and protect his lower half.

After this point, the seriousness of the fight dissipates, and Buggy goes from being a threat to being the the fight’s buttmonkey. While the transition is a little jarring, it helps that Oda does not switch back and forth. When Buggy is threatening, he is threatening, but once his weakness is discovered, Luffy takes full advantage of it, and Buggy becomes a joke. So in its own way, the shift from serious to gag goes as smoothly as it possibly could have.

This fight ranks as one of the best in the East Blue arc, solely because it stands out as the first real threat Luffy faces, as well as only one of two villains that have devil fruit powers. Compared to Kuro and Don Krieg, Buggy is one of the more memorable One Piece villains. The shift from serious threat to comedic foil may be jarring for some, but it’s One Piece in a nutshell. No matter how dangerous the situation, there’s always a good laugh to be had.

Combat Commentary: Belated Introduction

January 24, 2012 by Derek Bown 4 Comments

It occurred to me, after reading Philip’s new column, that I had been remis in my priorities. I should have realized that an introduction was in order, otherwise how could readers know what I was trying to do, let alone who I am. I will rectify that mistake right now.

Most of you probably don’t know me from my blog, Burning Lizard Studios, where I review anime and manga (among other things), though mostly anime, because for some reason I decided reviewing every single series I watched would be a good idea. But since my real love is manga, I’ve been wanting to write more about it. I’ve done a few reviews, and participated in some of the Manga Movable Feasts, but writing about manga is too easy to push to the side when I have episode after episode of unreviewed anime pilling up.

To force myself into writing about manga more often, and because I wanted to expand my audience a bit more, I responded to MJ’s call for contributors. My original idea was to write comparisons between manga and their anime adaptations. I thought that perhaps if I connected what I was already writing about to what I wanted to write about, it would make the transition easier. But that idea was far too similar to an existing column, so I had to think of some new ideas.

It took me a little while, and when I first came up with the idea for Combat Commentary, it was mostly something that I was throwing towards MJwithout much hope that it would be accepted. But, she liked it, and while spending the past month preparing to write this column weekly, I started to fall in love with it too.

The majority of my manga experience comes from shounen manga. I’ve explored shoujo, seinen, and josei a bit, but never found anything that quite caught my attention as much as shounen did. I could go on for a while about why exactly I prefer shounen over other types of manga, but I’d rather simply summarize it: Shounen manga is all about fun.

Most shounen manga (not all) tend not to delve too deep into serious issues. The main purpose is to entertain, and sometimes morality tales are slid in among the pages. I’m not a big fan of drama, though I can appreciate the power a well told tragedy can have. When I read I like to have fun. But not mindless fun, because that is not in my personality, so I tend to overanalyze what I read.

The major genre of shounen—the one most people know it for—is battle manga. The way I look at battle manga is similar to the way I look at a well-written novel. While some seinen series may have deeper characters and a greater focus on storytelling, shounen to me is the graphic medium in its purest form. Rather than rely on a large amount of text, good shounen take full advantage of the form to tell their stories. Most of the story is told with the pictures, and nowhere else is that clearer than during battle scenes.

Letting pictures do the talking is, in my opinion, the purpose of all graphic novels. And because battle scenes rely on pictures to tell the story so much, I consider them to be the heart and soul of shounen manga. Because of this, we can easily tell whether a battle manga is good or bad based on the creator’s skill at rendering battle scenes.

My intent for Combat Commentary is to examine various battle scenes throughout several different shounen (and non-shounen) series and evaluate their effectiveness. The purpose is not to pass judgement on the series as a whole based on the battles, though I do put a great deal of weight on them.

If anyone has any suggestions or requests of series and battles for me to look at, I’d be glad to hear them. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am willing to look at anything, even non-shounen series. While other genres of manga don’t focus on battles as much as many shounen do, my theory is that the skill to draw a good battle scene translates into other areas of creating manga. So I hope that you like my new column, and that I don’t ever run out of battles to review.

Read this week’s Combat Commentary: Bleach, Vol. 2, Ch. 9-12.