Manga Bookshelf

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Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: September Bounty

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KATE: After several lean weeks, the Midtown Comics list is bursting at the seams with great titles. I have no doubt that at least one of my fellow Battle Robot members will bang the drum for Osamu Tezuka’s Message to Adolf, which Vertical is re-issuing in a splendid, two-volume hardcover edition, so I’ll plug another Vertical title: volume nine of Chi’s Sweet Home. I adored Chi before I became a cat owner last November — c’mon, what’s not to like about cute kitten antics? — but I’ve developed an even deeper appreciation for the series after living with Francesca. Kanata Konami does a great job of showing the pet-owning experience from both the pet and the person’s point of view, never avoiding those moments that test an owner’s patience: barf, shredded toilet paper, pilfered food, accidents. In the last few volumes, Konami’s done a nice job of expanding Chi’s horizons beyond the confines of her apartment, preventing the story from becoming too cutely claustrophobic or repetitive. Best of all, Chi is one of those rare manga that I could hand to just about anyone — a six-year-old, my mom, a grumpy subway commuter — and know that they’d enjoy it.

SEAN: Tempted as I am to go with one of my many light, fluffy comfort manga which will no doubt make me smile more, I have to admit that the pick of the week is going to be Message to Adolf, the new Tezuka release from Vertical. I never did read the first release of this when Viz put it out back in the day, so am looking forward to seeing what late-period, mature Tezuka can be like. The premise alone sounds good – examining the life of three people named Adolf, one of whom you probably know – but the artwork is also more advanced and detailed, and the book’s design is gorgeous. At about 1200 pages total between the two volumes, this tome is a big investment, but I sense that it’s going to be worth it.

MICHELLE: I am completely on board with both Chi’s Sweet Home and Message to Adolf—I was fortunate enough to be able to read the old VIZ editions via inter-library loan a couple years ago—but I would be remiss if I did not voice my squee at a new volume of Yuu Watase’s Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden appearing on this list! It’s been nearly three years since we’ve had a new installment in this series, which finds Watase revisiting the world of Fushigi Yûgi as a more experienced storyteller. I can’t wait to get caught up, and it makes me even happier that volume eleven isn’t too far behind!

MJ: After all that, I hardly know what to choose! I’ll be anxiously digging in to all three of my colleagues’ picks as soon as I can get my grubby little hands on them, but with such a bounty shipping in this week, I feel I should take the opportunity to spotlight another title. So in the end, I’ll give my nod to volume eight of Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves. I’ve made it a habit to champion this title whenever I have the chance, so why stop now? This series really shows off all of Ono’s greatest strengths—subtle relationships, nuanced characterization, complicated morality, and her lovely, distinctive artwork. Even in the midst of a very hectic week, when I sit down with a new volume of House of Five Leaves, I simply have to savor it, page by page. It’s an enduring favorite.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Off the Shelf: Sakuran

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MICHELLE: Hey, MJ! What’s red and bad for your teeth?

MJ: Um. I got nothin’.

MICHELLE: A brick!

MJ: Well. Huh. Um. So, hi!

MICHELLE: Howdy! So, once again, we’re devoting our column to a single series. This time it’s Sakuran: Blossoms Wild by Moyoco Anno, published by Vertical. Although I own a couple of other complete series by Anno, this was my first time actually reading one of her works. I definitely enjoyed it, but found myself somewhat stuck between enjoying it for what it was and wishing it was somehow more uplifting.

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself and we should offer readers a synopsis.

MJ: Okay!

Sakuran tells the story of Kiyoha, a young woman in Edo-era Japan who was sold to a brothel in Yoshiwara as a child. Over the course of the story, she endures the path towards becoming an oiran (the highest-ranking courtesan), very little of which is particularly graceful or glamorous, and after suffering through some unexpected heartbreak finally seems to accept the brothel as her home.

It’s a rather cynical tale that does not attempt to gloss over the fact that Kiyoha will most likely live her entire life in servitude (either to the brothel, or to some future man who might buy her freedom), and manages somehow to make the brothel feel like the better fate in the end.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it may be a difficult life, but at least Kiyoha seems to have made peace with it by the end.

Which is, really, not exactly the end, as Sakuran follows a similar structure to Ooku, in that the first chapter is “current day” in the life of its protagonist, followed by detail on how exactly Kiyoha came to be in that situation. Kiyoha’s not an easy person to like at first—one of the first things she does is clobber and pee on another courtesan—but I did grow to sympathize with her by the end, especially when her love proves false. “Cry, and you lose. Love, and you lose. Win, and you lose.”

MJ: I admit that I sympathized with her practically from the start, but especially as soon as Anno began to tell Kiyoha’s story from the beginning. Her intense desire to escape the pleasure quarter felt so real and relatable, I couldn’t help but side with her from then on.

One of the things I was immediately struck by was what a different kind of story this was from Blade of the Courtesans, a prose novel Vertical released a few years ago. Though the novel had some stirring moments, one of the comments I made in my review was this:

The story constantly describes the power of women in the Yoshiwara society, yet in the midst of an impassioned explanation of how the women are able to come to Yoshiwara to “rinse away their origins” and escape from the persecution of their clan, it is revealed that they are indentured to the various houses in the pleasure quarter (all owned by men) until their 28th birthday, at which time they may choose to get married or to remain courtesans for the rest of their lives. That these women, shackled to a system that values them only for their skills in lovemaking, are held up as the pinnacle of female beauty and sovereignty is inexpressibly sad.

If there is one thing Sakuran does not do, it’s try to romanticize or glorify the life of an indentured courtesan. For that, I am very grateful.

MICHELLE: It definitely does not do that.

It was an interesting experience reading this at about the same time as I was getting caught up on Ooku, because both of them deal with women forced to take many sexual partners but for vastly different reasons. It’s the courtesan’s job to do so, but so too the female shogun (who supposedly has all this power) must take lover after lover in the desperate attempt to produce a child hearty enough to become her heir. In reality, are they really so different, the shogun and the courtesan? In both cases, their fates are bleak as they submit to (or compel) their parade of lovers, very rarely finding true love.

MJ: That’s a great point, Michelle. Despite the power having supposedly been transferred to women out of necessity in Ooku, it’s ultimately still a story about women trapped in a society that values them really only for their sexual organs, one way or another.

Heh, you know, with all this in mind, I have to admit that I was pretty surprised to hear at the beginning that you had any hope or expectation of Sakuran being “uplifting.” Given the circumstances, it’s hard for me to imagine how it could be!

MICHELLE: Well, I don’t know, I thought she might actually escape or something! But, of course, her options really wouldn’t have been any better outside Yoshiwara (without a husband, at least), which Anno makes clear. So it would’ve completely been a fallacious fantasy to read a story about a courtesan getting out and living happily ever after. Not challenging for a reader, but kind of… satisfying.

MJ: I can understand the impulse to wish for a more unambiguously happy ending. Yet the ending as it is isn’t exactly bleak, even if it seems like it should be. That’s actually one of the book’s greatest strengths, really. It manages not to be just grim, which is kind of amazing.

MICHELLE: Definitely. I want to add here that if we’d actually been given a happier ending, I probably would’ve hated it and chastised Anno for not being brave and taking a darker route. I guess I’m just conditioned now to expect creators to go for uplifting instead of ambiguous, since it has happened so many times before.

MJ: Probably one of the reasons we’re able to get a more ambiguous ending here is the fact that, aside from something like Sugar Sugar Rune, Moyoco Anno mainly writes for adults–and most often about adult women. But since manga about teen girls is sort of the default for female-centric manga imported to the US, that’s really what we’ve become accustomed to.

MICHELLE: Yes, you’re definitely correct. And when we do encounter a story aimed at teen girls that takes a more painful route—We Were There, 13th Boy, to some extent…—we tend to love it to pieces.

MJ: We do! Now, I’m not sure if I’m prepared to say that I love Sakuran to pieces. I enjoyed it very much, and I think it’s very well-crafted, but it’s not the kind of story that resonates really strongly with me on a personal level the way some others do.

That said, as a critic there is so much here to enjoy. One aspect we haven’t really touched on yet is the artwork, which is really quite stunning, especially with Vertical’s particular touches. The paper choice, color pages, and beautiful foil cover let you know right away that Sakuran will be a visual treat.

MICHELLE: Well, no, I didn’t love Sakuran either, but I really admire it, if that makes sense.

Going in, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the artwork, since Anno has such a distinctive style, but I ultimately enjoyed it and thought she did a terrific job capturing the atmosphere of the tea house. I did have some problems with telling a few of the courtesans apart, though.

MJ: That makes perfect sense. I think that’s where I was at with it, too, though I did really feel strongly for the main character, which is always a big plus. And one of my favorite aspects of the artwork has to do with her as well. I was really impressed by Anno’s ability to visually portray both Kiyoha’s spite and her vulnerability, which is not a combination that always translates well to the page.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t thought about that specifically, but it’s true that even nearly two weeks after I read Sakuran, I can still easily conjure some of Kiyoha’s expressions falling into both of those categories. Actually, I can still vividly remember quite a few scenes, including specifics of panel layouts. And that’s not something I could say about quite a lot of other manga.

MJ: One thing Anno has accomplished, perhaps specifically by writing Sakuran as a collection of story snapshots rather than a long narrative, is that the moments she’s chosen to highlight are genuinely memorable, and that goes for individual images as well.

MICHELLE: Yes, that is true, though I still wish it could’ve been longer. Carlo Santos at ANN put it well: “This volume offers a glimpse into a fascinating world, but closes up before we ever get a chance to peek around the corners.”

MJ: I certainly would have read much, much more of it!

BL Bookrack: August 2012

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Welcome to the August installment of BL Bookrack! This month, Michelle takes a look at Flutter from Juné Manga and the debut volume of Punch Up! from SuBLime, while MJchecks out the first two volumes of Setona Mizushiro’s Dousei Ai at JManga. In Brief: Awkward Silence (SuBLime), Honeydew Syndrome, Vol. 2 (New Shoe), My Boyfriend the Mad Dog (DMG), and Starting With a Kiss, Vol. 1 (SuBLime).


Dousei Ai, Vols. 1-2 | By Setona Mizushiro | Published by Libre Publishing Co., Ltd./JManga | Rated Mature – When innocent middle-schooler Tsubaki tells his classmate Kaoru that he loves him, he is completely unprepared for the consequences of his words. Devastated by Kaoru’s violent rejection, Tsubaki begins to withdraw from his other friends and, as he reaches high school, enters into a sexual relationship with a male teacher in order to ease his growing sense of isolation. As graduation approaches, Tsubaki becomes anxious to get out of the increasingly one-sided relationship with his teacher. But when he tries to break up, the teacher reacts by dramatically outing him to his family—sending Tsubaki running to Tokyo to escape his parents’ visible pain and disapproval.

If the entire series was Tsubaki’s alone, his poignant tale would be more than enough to keep me hooked. But its second chapter makes it immediately clear that Mizushiro has much bigger plans, as she introduces the series’ second protagonist, Koutarou.

Having mainly been raised by his kind, domestically-inclined older brother, Koutarou is a fairly manipulative, smart-ass kid who privately prides himself on being able to “beat” his brother at anything. When his brother brings home a girlfriend for the first time, it seems he’s finally bested Koutarou at something, but the girl sneaks into Koutarou’s bed during the night, providing Koutarou with both the loss of his virginity and proof that he’s still on top (so to speak). Things take a downward turn, however, when Koutarou’s brother announces that he’ll be marrying the girlfriend, who is pregnant with a child he believes must be his. Wracked with guilt and self-loathing, Koutarou falls into a pattern of loveless one-night-stands with any women (and later, men—which eventually establishes itself as his preference) who express interest, all the while keeping up appearances as the guy who’s got it all together.

That was probably more summary than I’ve ever included in a single review in my entire career as a manga critic, but in those two paragraphs you will find evidence of both the best (and worst) things about Dousei Ai. In the category of “best,” well… wow. This is no casual one-shot or simplistic BL romance. Setona Mizushiro has carefully crafted a complex emotional drama with some of the best-written characterization I’ve ever seen in this genre and a long game that is pretty obviously going to offer up significant payoff for the reader. I mean, going into this it’s clear that we’re in for a killer of a ride, along the lines of something like Sooyeon Won’s manhwa epic Let Dai, only better—much, much better. Both Tsubaki and Koutarou are rich, genuinely fascinating characters, who somehow manage to remain sympathetic even as they fall into their individual patterns of using others in order to get by with their own pain. And as the second volume wraps up it becomes clear that the main cast will continue to grow as the series goes on. I can’t wait. Seriously, I can’t.

On the downside—and perhaps at least partially due to the era in which this was originally released—Mizushiro puts a lot of work into making sure we know just how broken her protagonists are, which wouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t also hint at their personal trauma being at least partly responsible for their sexuality. I’m giving her a pass on this so far, since it hasn’t been stated outright from an authorial point of view, but it is the one small bruise on this otherwise deliciously epic treat. And while I’ve heard the series’ old-school ’90s artwork (it began serialization in 1996) described as “ugly,” it satisfies my admittedly-retro tastes with near-perfection.

If you’ve got a hankering for lighthearted comedy or sweet romance, this series is emphatically not the ticket. But for my part, Dousei Ai may be the BL epic I’ve long been waiting for. Highly recommended.

– Review by MJ


Flutter | By Momoko Tenzen | Juné | Rated Mature – Sometimes I’m tempted to write a review that simply says, “This is really good. Go read it.” Flutter is just such a case, but I suppose I ought to present at least some evidence in its favor.

Masahiro Asada works in the sales division of a company. Although straight, he’s transfixed every morning by the sight of a beautiful male coworker, Ryosuke Mizuki, who is so impeccably dressed and put together that he almost doesn’t seem human. When a project brings them together, Asada gets to know Mizuki—and his all-too-human flaws, sorrows, and weaknesses—and finds himself even more attracted.

There are so many things to recommend this manga. The atmosphere is sort of… elegant and languid, which suits mysterious Mizuki well and makes an earnest everydude like Asada stand out all the more. The growing friendship between the men is believable—and they’re both completely professional adults, I might add—as is Mizuki’s wary reaction when Asada confesses his feelings. Mizuki’s been hurt before, and is concerned he might be tempted to just use Asada to make his ex jealous.

It’s lovely and complicated, and when the guys do finally get together physically it’s wonderfully awkward. I’m always a little embarrassed when BL lets us get to know the guys well before they start getting intimate, because then it feels like we’re spying on something we shouldn’t be seeing. Thankfully, the love scene fades to black before this becomes an issue.

Ultimately, Flutter is the best BL oneshot I’ve read in a long time. This is really good. Go read it.

– Review by Michelle Smith

Punch Up!, Vol. 1 | By Shiuko Kano | Published by SuBLime Manga | Rated Mature – Shiuko Kano has had a lot of manga published in America, but somehow, despite owning several volumes, I’ve never managed to read any of her work until this first volume of Punch Up!, which is itself a spinoff of Play Boy Blues.

The concept is pretty simple: Maki Motoharu is a gay architect with a lively appreciation for attractive men. When he learns that his lost cat has been found and cared for by Ohki Kouta, a construction worker helping to build his latest project, and that Kouta has quarreled with his landlord because of that, he offers the younger man a place to stay. Kouta soon realizes that Motoharu’s fancy digs (and cat) are woefully neglected, and ends up bonding with the cat (Nyanta) far more than her owner ever had.

Pretty soon Kouta’s concern for Nyanta translates to concern for Motoharu, and they hook up. What’s interesting about their relationship is that it’s not sweet at all. This isn’t some dreamy romance manga. Motoharu is pretty much a crappy person, but not in an over-the-top villainous kind of way. Kouta realizes this, bemoaning his own lousy taste in men, and has no expectations that their relationship is going to last. And somehow… this seems to give the story a lot of potential to go in various soapy directions while seeming at least a little more realistic than the thoughtful/adorable BL to which I typically gravitate.

Though a lot more explicit than I usually prefer, and tonally different as well, Punch Up! has at least intrigued me enough to check out the next volume, though I don’t see it becoming a permanent fixture in my collection.

– Review by Michelle Smith

In Brief:

Awkward Silence, Vol. 1 | By Hinako Takanaga | Published by SuBLime Manga | Rated Mature – With his impassive face, Satoru Tono has always had trouble expressing his feelings. He can’t even visibly convey his happy surprise when Keigo Tamiya, a popular athlete and object of Satoru’s long-time crush, asks him out. Various obstacles and misunderstandings ensue—drama over a lost cell phone charm, jealousy over a flirtatious female transfer student, and a persistent sempai with an eye for Satoru— but the boys reaffirm their affections as needed and engage in end-of-chapter “romping” with predictable regularity. If you’re thinking, “Gee, that sounds pretty generic,” you’re absolutely right. It’s not actively bad, so I might have read a second volume if the series had ended there, but it looks like it’s up to four volumes in Japan and still ongoing! I am, quite frankly, astounded that Takanaga was able to extract that much material from this tired premise. – Michelle Smith

Honeydew Syndrome, Vol. 2 | By New Shoe | Rated Teen – With Metis and Josh’s relationship well in hand, volume two of this charming BL comic turns the camera on quiet, easygoing Jay and his growing interest in Metis’ caustic friend Charles, as well as a few other members of Metis’ idiosyncratic social sphere. Though this can feel a bit choppy as a volume, the individual stories are just as engaging as the first half of the series, and perhaps more so in places—evidence of this team’s growth over the course of the series. The print version of this webcomic also includes a a terrific prose story about Jay and Charles that offers up some essential character notes on both of them and is not to be missed. Still recommended. – MJ

My Boyfriend, The Mad Dog | By Sanae Rokuya | Digital Manga Guild – Akae is an eccentric mangaka who expects his assistants to, er, “assist” with more than just artwork. Honma is a highly sought-after freelancer with ample talent for the job. If this sounds like the introduction to a little mindless porn, you’d only be partly right. Though their story is far from deep, there is some fairly nuanced characterization here, especially in Honma, who refuses to be cast as simply the blushing uke. Unfortunately, the volume’s second couple—an aspiring artist who hasn’t learned the word “no,” and his (apparently) desperate editor—is pretty cringe-worthy throughout. If you don’t enjoy persistent non-con, proceed with caution.– MJ

Starting with a Kiss, Vol. 1 | By Youka Nitta | SuBLime Manga | Rated Mature – As a fan of multi-volume BL, I’m usually pretty anxious to try out anything with a volume number in its title, though results are frequently negative or mixed at best. Starting with a Kiss falls squarely into the latter category, with its mix of confusing narrative and comically rushed romance alongside some genuinely interesting characterization. Though Youka Nitta’s yakuza are intriguing, her jumps between past and present read as awkward rather than illuminating. Furthermore, her plentiful sex scenes are hampered by unbelievable relationships that seem to form in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, with multi-volume series, there’s always hope for next time. Not yet recommended. – MJ

Review copies of most titles provided by the publishers.

Disclosure: MJ is currently under contract with Digital Manga Publishing’s Digital Manga Guild, as necessitated for her ongoing report Inside the DMG. Any compensation earned by MJin her role as an editor with the DMG will be donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Pick of the Week: Ikigami, Gate 7, Itazura, Dorohedoro

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KATE: This week’s shipping list is heavy on Dark Horse and DMP titles, and light on just about everything else. I still have no idea what’s happening in Gate 7, and I lost patience with Itazura na Kiss several volumes ago, so my pick goes to one of Wednesday’s few VIZ releases: volume eight of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit. I have a hot-and-cold relationship with Ikigami: the artwork is terrific and expressive, and the premise is chilling in a good, thought-provoking way. At the same time, however, the stories are unrelentingly grim, and the tone so pessimistic that I can only read a few chapters at a time before needing a stiff drink. The other problem with Ikigami is that the overarching story — in which a “reaper” slowly begins to question his job — unfolds at what might be charitably described as a snail’s pace. Still, recent volumes have shown incremental progress in bringing Fujimoto’s crisis of conscience to the fore, giving me hope that the series is moving in a new and more dramatically satisfying direction.

MJ: It’s kind of an odd week for me, which is to say that there is a decent amount of new manga shipping in, with little of it to my taste. So I’ll make a rather optimistic choice this week and pick volume three of CLAMP’s Gate 7. While I joyfully declared volume one of this series to be “my kind of CLAMP,” its second volume’s onslaught of exposition and historical information left me a bit cold. However, having now discovered this tumblr full of guidance on Gate 7‘s historical matters, I’m ready to jump back in again for another try. If nothing else, Gate 7 offers me CLAMP’s latest take on their Watanuki-model character, which is pretty much bullet-proof for me, so that may get me through on its own. So, Gate 7 it is!

MICHELLE: Although I do intend to check out the latest volume of Ikigami and haven’t completely given up on Gate 7, I don’t feel enthusiastic enough about either to appoint one my pick of the week. I’m largely unfamiliar with most of the rest of the offerings on the list, though I confess to being slightly amused that I’ve Seen It All evidently involves love in a urology clinic. So, basically this is my exceedingly long-winded way of saying, yet again, that Itazura Na Kiss gets my vote.

SEAN: I have to know what happens! Will Caiman reunite with Nikaido? What about the new relationship between her and En, now that we know more about En’s past? I want to see more goofy humor between Noi and Shin as they casually kill people. I want more casual killing and gore from this cast of anti-heroes (or lovable villains). I want to be able to spot tiny little things in the background. I want more world-building and locations we haven’t seen before! I want to find out more about the head in Caiman’s mouth, who I think we finally have figured out. And I want more gyoza! Delicious gyoza! So yes, for all that and more, and to no one’s surprise, Dorohedoro is my pick this week.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 8/20/12

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This week, Sean, MJ, Kate, & Michelle look at recent releases from Yen Press, VIZ Media, and Kodansha Comics.

Ai Ore!, Vol. 6 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – It really is astonishing what changing magazines/publishers has done for this title. It still has its issues, but the way that it handles them is more acceptable and more mature. This is not to say that the premise is completely different, however. Akira is still trying to prove that he’s a manly man for Mizuki, Mizuki is still getting embarrassed and misunderstanding everything, and Ran and Rui trade off between being comedic creepers and serious creepers. At one point, Rui tries to seduce Misaki, to the point almost of sexual assault. But Misaki doesn’t buy it, and neither do we – unlike Vol. 1 of this series, the danger doesn’t feel genuine. You can argue this makes the series fluffier and less electrically charged, but it also makes Akira and Mizuki’s relationship far sweeter and more tolerable. –Sean Gaffney

Bunny Drop, Vol. 6 | By Yumi Unita | Yen Press – As the series continues with its new switch to Rin as its primary POV character, the story begins to revolve around Rin’s increasingly awkward relationship with her childhood friend Kouki, whose (supposedly) ex-girlfriend deliberately alienates Rin. Fortunately, this plotline is more nuanced than it sounds, deftly avoiding most of the “evil rival” territory common in manga for female readers. Unfortunately, Unita seems less comfortable writing Rin’s voice than she was writing Daikichi’s—or maybe Daikichi is just infinitely more comfortable than Rin herself—which means that there is often a noticeable distance between the reader and the series’ protagonist. On the upside, Rin’s evolving balance between dependence and independence creates unexpected difficulties in Daikichi’s own personal life, allowing us back (however briefly) into his somewhat more forthcoming mind. Though the series’ new direction seems to still be settling in, there’s enough solid ground left for nearly any fan to stand on. Still recommended. – MJ

Cage of Eden, Vol. 6 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – This really is the perfect series for 12-year-old boys, though I would not recommend it to parents of those boys. There’s far too much casual nudity, casual violence, and general skeevy fanservice. But it also has bears vs. wolves, in which our hero teams up with the wolf because of their similar roles in their groups. It’s almost pure shonen at its finest. We meet two more regulars here. I suspect Rei is there entirely to be a large-breasted woman (you know, in case there weren’t enough of those), but Maya seems to be more of an action girl, and backs it up. She seems a bit *too* eager for battle, though, and I wonder if she’ll last long. Then again, the only people in this series who seem to be killed are the irredeemable ones, such as manipulative Kotomi or stalker Ryoichi.-Sean Gaffney

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 13 | By Gaku Tsugano and Nagaru Tanigawa | Yen Press – I haven’t reviewed this series for a while, but since it’s moved on to stories that aren’t animated, it has managed to improve – finally, it can be 2nd best, rather than 3rd! It has a difficult job here, as Editor in Chief, the short story adapted for this volume, does not lend itself well to the visual. Still, it manages pretty well, and also throws in an original short story chapter, featuring Miyoko, the girl from Kyon’s story, arriving to ask the SOS-Dan to help her investigate a haunted house. It shakes things up by having Taniguchi and Kunikida there rather than Yuki and Mikuru, and also has an ending that undercuts the tension but still is nicely sentimental. The art is still only fair, and I’d rather read the novels, but this is now an acceptable alternative. –Sean Gaffney

Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 7 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | VIZ Media – Ever since the end of volume one, the latest Tokugawa Shogun, Yoshimune, has been reading Chronicle of a Dying Day, which tells the story of how women came to rule Japan. Readers have followed along, and here in volume seven we finally return to the “present,” but not before realizing just how much scheming Yoshimune—or perhaps simply her ever-faithful attendant, Hisamichi—has engaged in to become the next Shogun. It’s just another lesson that nearly everyone in this tale, no matter how likeable, has sinned in pursuit of power, sometimes inflicting misfortune upon the innocent. Maybe it’s because of this that Ooku, despite being interesting and boasting some impressive art, doesn’t stand a chance of becoming my favorite Yoshinaga manga. Oh, I’ll keep following it, but Antique Bakery‘s place in my heart is secure. – Michelle Smith

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 2 | Story by Magica Quartet, Art by Hanokage | Yen Press – If your chief aversion to magical-girl manga is its earnest, perky wholesomeness, then Puella Magi Madoka Magica is for you. The series is dark and violent, using the magical-girl concept as a metaphor for adolescence in all its ugliness. In volume two, for example, we see the corrosive influence of jealousy, as Sayaka begins to regret wishing for her friend Kamijou’s full recovery. Sayaka’s rapid descent into anger and self-pity is one of the most astonishing developments in the volume — and that’s saying something, given the healthy sprinkling of fight scenes, dramatic confrontations, and plot twists. As terrific as some of these scenes are, Puella often feels rushed. Most of the fight sequences are too brief and too busy to make much sense; one gets the sense that the writers were trying too hard to cover all the major plot points of the anime, rather than tailoring the story to a different medium. That said, Puella has consistently surprised me with its ability to both faithfully observe and thoroughly subvert magical-girl tropes, and continues to grow on me with each volume. -Katherine Dacey

A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George

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From the back cover:
A shocking murder calls forensic scientist Simon St. James and his wife, Deborah, to an isolated island in the English Channel. An old friend of Deborah’s, China River, stands accused of killing the island’s wealthiest benefactor, Guy Brouard. There is little evidence pointing to China—and Deborah and Simon are certain that their friend didn’t murder the inveterate womanizer. But if China didn’t kill Brouard, who did?

As family and friends gather for the reading of the will, Deborah and Simon find that seemingly everyone on the history-haunted island has something to hide. And behind all the lies and alibis, a killer is lurking.

Review:
Every once in a while, a strange thing happens to me: I get an incredibly strong craving to read a mystery by Elizabeth George. This isn’t a bad thing, but I’ve only got five left now ’til I’m current, and I wonder what’ll happen then. Anyway, in the case of A Place of Hiding this craving was strong enough to trump the off-putting fact that this novel prominently features Deborah St. James, a character whom I dislike most intensely.

Before I get into the ways in which Deborah caused me to contemplate violence upon her fictional person, I should probably talk about the actual mystery, such as it is. Guy Brouard, wealthy war orphan and inveterate womanizer, has been killed on the island of Guernsey the morning following a party announcing his plans for a war museum. Among the attendees was China River, an American and old friend of Deborah’s, who has now been arrested for the crime. China’s brother, Cherokee, comes to London to enlist the aid of Deborah and her forensic scientist husband, Simon, in proving his sister’s innocence.

Simon’s credentials convince the local force to allow him to poke around, and he, as one might assume, soon discovers additional suspects with various motives. He also entrusts Deborah with an important piece of evidence, and when she fails to do with it what he requested, he gets chewed out about it by the local DCI, which obviously leaves him feeling rightfully irritated with her. Deborah fails to see how this is her fault, and indulges in repeated hissy fits about how Simon views his rational approach to the investigation (and life in general) as superior to her own “passionate, unpredictable” one.

This eventually culminates in Deborah idiotically interrupting a stakeout and, once again, making Simon look unprofessional in front of the local police. Elizabeth George tries so hard to make us sympathize with Deborah that she introduces characteristics in Simon that I had never before noticed, like a patronizing form of sexism. So now, not only do I hate Deborah, she’s making me start to dislike Simon, too! Great.

Some of the secondary characters are fairly odious, too, but honestly I am ready to put them (and this book) behind me. I will say, however, that this is the first Elizabeth George novel to ever make me cry happy tears (the last scene involving Paul Fielder), so it’s obviously not all bad.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

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Book description:
When Ellie and her friends go camping, they have no idea they’re leaving their old lives behind forever. Despite a less-than-tragic food shortage and a secret crush or two, everything goes as planned. But a week later, they return home to find their houses empty and their pets starving. Something has gone wrong—horribly wrong. Before long, they realize the country has been invaded, and the entire town has been captured—including their families and all their friends.

Ellie and the other survivors face an impossible decision: they can flee for the mountains or surrender. Or they can fight.

Review:
It’s been several weeks now since I finished Tomorrow, When the War Began. Normally, I write a book’s review as soon as I finish reading it, but I feel like I’m still processing this one to some extent, trying to figure out exactly how I feel about it.

This is due in part to the fact that I have greatly enjoyed the other books by John Marsden that I have read, and so built this series up in my mind as something that was going to be jaw-droppingly amazing. And when it turned out not to be so, even though it’s still quite good in general and genuinely riveting in parts, I was kind of disappointed.

This is the story of seven Australian teenagers (later eight) living in the rural town of Wirrawee who go camping while their parents and most of the people in town are attending a fair. The kids return to find that a mysterious military force has invaded Australia and has imprisoned most of the townspeople at the fairgrounds, including their families. They must decide what, if anything, they’re going to do to help. Ellie Linton has been tasked with chronicling their story.

Large portions of the tale are pretty fascinating. The teens are resourceful and rise to the occasion, especially Ellie’s clown/daredevil childhood friend, Homer, who emerges as the group’s leader, and Fiona, a ladylike rich girl who proves to have unexpected reserves of courage. While Homer is the tactician of the group, Ellie seems to find herself trusted with the most dangerous missions, which require some quick, inventive thinking on her part in difficult situations involving things like exploding lawn mowers, demolition derby bulldozers, and exploding gas tankers.

I even liked the parts of the story where the characters talk about what they’re going to do—are we going to hide out here in our camping spot, or are we going to try to engage the enemy somehow?—and the various supplies they’re going to need from town, whether to keep chickens, etc. Where the story really bogs down, however, is with the introduction of romance.

Ellie has never considered Homer in a romantic way before, but begins to see him in a new light given his metamorphosis. Meanwhile, she’s also intrigued by Lee, the inscrutable Asian musician, and Homer has fallen for Fiona. Ellie dwells a lot on her confusion before ultimately deciding upon Lee, and then telling readers about all the making out they’re doing and how she has learned the things that make him groan, etc. I kept thinking how embarrassing all of this will be for Lee whenever he/anyone reads this official chronicle!

Anyway, it’s not that I am anti-romance or anything, but it’s just that these scenes really slow down the pace of the story. And maybe that is the point. Even if something as dramatic as an invasion has occurred, there will still be a lot of downtime if you’re hiding out in the woods, and a lot of time for more mundane things to be going on.

I guess what it boils down to is that my perception of the book has been hampered by my expectations. I am certainly going to read the rest of the series, and hopefully I will like it better now that I’ve reconciled myself to what it actually is rather than what I thought it was.

Additional reviews of Tomorrow, When the War Began can be found at Triple Take.

Pick of the Week: Ninja, Samurai, Hoops, & Blades

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MICHELLE: There’s a lot of good stuff on Midtown’s list this week, including new volumes of a few favorites like Slam Dunk and Dawn of the Arcana, but I must avail myself of the once-yearly chance to award my pick to Kaze Hikaru, now in its 20th volume. While I’m sad that this series doesn’t come out more frequently, I’m exceedingly grateful that it hasn’t been outright cancelled, because it’s quite an affecting read. The cross-dressing element of the story—a young woman has disguised herself as a warrior in order to fight alongside the Shinsengumi—doesn’t do much for me, but I love that very sad and complicated things can and do happen, which makes me keen to see just how closely mangaka Taeko Watanabe will follow history. Highly recommended.

SEAN: Lotsa good stuff this time around, but my obvious pick is for a series I’ll see for the last time. I’ve loved Bamboo Blade since it began, a sports manga that shows jaded girls, flaky girls, ambitious girls, and quite frankly dangerously insane girls, all of whom can throw off all that baggage and become awesome with the power of kendo in order to reach the top. For most of the series the top has been our heroine, Tamaki. And now she’s finally discovering that she still has something to reach for, and that kendo is not just about making her more sociable. I can’t wait to see the end, and will miss the series dearly when I do get to it.

KATE: Long-time readers of my blog know I’m a shameless promoter of Kaze Hikaru. And InuYasha. And Kekkaishi. So I’m going to deviate from my well-established pattern of promoting my favorite titles and recommend volume twenty-three of Slam Dunk. One of the things I like best about this series is the way Takehiko Inoue balances intense game play with slapstick humor. Hard-core sports fans will appreciate the skill with which Inoue renders the pick-and-roll and free throw, while ordinary otaku can can appreciate the goofy, anything-for-a-laugh moments that punctuate the practices, scrimmages, and games.

MJ: There really is a lot to choose from this week, but the title that most catches my eye is one I haven’t thought about in a while. I became an immediate fan when I read the first volume of Nabari no Ou back in 2009, but I let it fall off my radar a bit after the first few volumes. Then last week, I read this review of volume ten by Kate O’Neil at the Fandom Post, and it became suddenly clear that I needed to catch up. So this week’s must-buy for me is volume eleven of Nabari no Ou. I really look forward to digging in to this series again, especially now that I have a few volumes ready to marathon all at once. I’ll be sure to report back!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 8/13/12

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This week, Michelle, MJ, and Sean look at recent releases from Seven Seas, VIZ Media, Yen Press, Kodansha Comics, and Dark Horse Manga.

Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Vol. 1 | By QuinRose & Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Published by Seven Seas – I am pleased to report that, so far, Cheshire Cat Waltz is much better than the prior “country of Clover” installment, Bloody Twins! Some of the elements that made Alice in the Country of Hearts so surprisingly good are back, like ominous hints about a particular character and Alice experiencing culture clash with the various attitudes and mysteries of Wonderland. However, because this is much more obviously a romance—here, Alice is paired up with Boris, the Cheshire Cat—the story’s more intriguing aspects must occasionally take a backseat to Alice being confused about her motives for remaining in Wonderland, Alice being pounced upon, Alice getting smooched, and lovers’ quarrels born of jealousy. Although I am sure I’m being duped again and that nothing significant of Wonderland will be revealed, I remain interested enough that I’ll probably come back for volume two. – Michelle Smith

Bakuman, Vol. 13 | By Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata | VIZ Media – Bakuman‘s heroes, Mashiro and Takagi, are always the most interesting when they are at odds, and this volume is a perfect example of exactly why that is. As all the young Jump mangaka throw themselves into a rather unusual competition (writing romantic one-shots), it isn’t Nizuma’s sudden display of inexperience or even Hiramaru’s over-the-top romantic hero act that make the volume work, hilarious though they may be. What really steals the volume are a few scattered scenes between Mashiro and Takagi’s wife, Kaya, as they try to make sense of their shared partner. These moments are uncharacteristically honest and sincere for an Ohba/Obata manga, and it’s a real pleasure to discover them amidst all the slick shounen meta. On a personal note, Kaya has long been my favorite of Bakuman‘s characters, and I’ll admit that a scene in which she receives a basket of flowers from Shueisha as thanks for her work on her husband’s series was surprisingly gratifying. Still recommended. – MJ

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 4 | By Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – As “Devil” Maria’s class finally prepares for their choral performance, everything falls (rather predictably) apart, but fortunately this is shoujo manga, and even in a story with a heroine as prickly and jaded as Maria, a little romance can save the day. Any feelings of frustration one might have as the choral competition story drags interminably on are blown away completely by the impact of a wholly surprising confession by the character from whom you least expect it. Despite this series’ cynical bent, its romantic thread reads as genuinely sincere and even sweet—a mashup of contrasting tones that apparently works very well. Even as the series appears to be gearing up for a typical romantic triangle, it seems clear that Miyoshi Tomori’s gift for injecting raw emotional truth into standard shoujo tropes will continue to keep things interesting. – MJ

Drifters, Vol. 2 | By Kohta Hirano | Dark Horse Comics – Volume Two of this series continues to do what the series does best – give us a lot of people trying to kill other people in nasty ways. It’s great fun for those who don’t mind that sort of thing – Hirano draws battles that are easy to follow, and the ‘nasty’ aspect of the combat is not remotely glossed over here – Nobunaga’s treated arrows are as disgusting as possible, and the rape of the elven women is not played for laughs. As for our hero, Shimazu, well, he does seem to be strategizing a little more, almost despite himself, and is also forming a deep bond with Nobunaga that involves a lot of yelling and punching. Meanwhile, for those wondering when this ‘warlords in a fantasy world’ would reach Hitler, it didn’t take long at all. Still good fun, even if it plays mostly to the 12-year-old in all of us. –Sean Gaffney

Durarara!!, Vol. 3 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda & Akiyo Satorigi | Yen Press – There’s a lot of big reveals in this volume, which would be churlish of me to talk about, so I will merely note that one of the weaker of our heroes turns out to have far more strength than we had imagined. Elsewhere, Shizuo shows once more how incredibly tough he is, Izaya is one of the most obnoxious S.O.B.s in all of the universe, and Celty is cute, if frantic. But then, she has reason to be frantic. There’s also a fantastic parody of Doraemon about 1/3 through, when the art style shifts to that in order to demonstrate Mikado’s disbelief at the latest plot twist. And of course there’s Namie and Seiji, whose creepy desires are something completely amped up in this manga, to the point where even the novel’s author was impressed. A solid adaptation. –Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 10 | By Julietta Suzuki | VIZ Media – I have to say, Nanami is starting to remind me a bit of Tohru in Fruits Basket, who sometimes felt as if she existed to interact with the screwed-up Sohmas and heal them with her magical power of niceness. Tohru turned out to be just as screwed-up, though, whereas Nanami is shiny all around. Her interaction with Jiro (who irritates Tomoe as he reminds him of himself) is fairly predictable, though that doesn’t necessarily mean bad – there’s a wonderful bit towards the end where she notes Tomoe’s strength as something that might not be a positive. In the end, though, this arc wrapped up a lot easier than I’d anticipated, and I’m left with a feeling that things are simply going too well for our protagonists right now. Of course, I’m sure that will change – the manga is not ending anytime soon… –Sean Gaffney

Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations, Vol. 1 | By Kenji Kuroda & Kazuo Maekawa | Kodansha Comics – I try not to review Volume Ones in the Briefs category, but with something like this title there’s little choice, as there’s so little *to* it. Heck, we don’t even get to see Kay Faraday, which I was expecting given the title – the only regulars are Miles and Detective Gumshoe. The cases are both pretty good, though the first is extremely short, and the writing is much the same as it was in the Phoenix Wright books. The trouble is that Miles is not Phoenix – he doesn’t make screwups or say dumb things on occasion. He’s simply too smart to make this anything but a foregone conclusion. Indeed, in the first case he solves things so quickly that everyone around him just stares. Let’s hope future books find more of a challenge – and maybe more faces we know? –Sean Gaffney

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 10 | By Hiroshi Shiibashi | VIZ Media – The cliffhanger from last volume is resolved incredibly quickly, leaving us with two major plotlines for this volume consisting mostly of fighting sequences. First we see the conflict between Yura and her siblings, which shows us how even the purest of heart can be ruined by just a tiny sliver of pride and jealousy. Meanwhile, Rikuo and company are taking their airship to Kyoto (still being destroyed bit by bit), but infighting may destroy them before the enemy can. Here we see just how much trust Rikuo has gained over these ten volumes – and how much more he has yet to earn, though the greater control of his power here helps. Unfortunately, this conflict doesn’t look nearly like it’s reaching the end, so expect Volume 11 to me more fight, fight, fight.-Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 11 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | VIZ Media – Thankfully, the fighting briefly pauses here in this volume of Toriko, which is especially a relief as it means we don’t have to see more of the repulsive Tommyrod. Instead, our heroes leave the Ice Hell for their own separate quests – Toriko to somehow regrow the arm that he lost in the last book, and Komatsu to try to recreate the Century Soup from the brief sip that he got. Komatsu continues to be my favorite part of Toriko – he’s smart enough to know he has to make his own soup and can’t simply duplicate another, and stubborn enough to keep at it even knowing it might take years. Of course, in his own way Komatsu is as badass as Toriko, so we know it won’t take that long. In the meantime, there’s more weird food and weird creatures, which is the main reason to read this fun manga. –Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Flowers of Evil, GTO, Lizzie Newton

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MJ: Though Midtown Comics’ selection is pretty limited this week, I still find myself a bit torn. I’ve been a big fan of Tohru Fujisawa’s GTO: 14 Days in Shonan—much bigger than I’d ever expected, in fact—so that’s certainly a major draw for me. But I think my real vote goes to the second volume of another Vertical title—Shuzo Oshimi’s The Flowers of Evil. The series’ first volume offered up a thoughtful take on some of the awkward realities of teenage sexuality, portrayed with a level of honesty (especially regarding its young, male protagonist) that I really hadn’t anticipated. I was surprised by my own reaction to this series, and I am really looking forward to more.

SEAN: Tempted as I am to ignore Midtown’s list and pick one of the pile of Viz coming out everywhere else this week, I will refrain. Instead, let’s go with Vol. 13 of GTO The Early Years, which doesn’t get as much critical praise as its sequels, but is just as much fun. The first half is an epic high school battle involving what a man has to do. After that we get to see exactly what it’s like to be Onizuka’s mother (answer: not all that fun), and find out what the dangers are of claiming to your gang that you’re so badass you can defeat anyone and anything. And the last two chapters are filthy and hilarious. It may seem retro, but just like GTO, its heart is in the right place.

KATE: I second both of MJ’s recommendations—GTO: 14 Days in Shonan for being much funnier than it has any right to be, and The Flowers of Evil for being more complex and real than Sundome, the manga it most closely resembles. If I had to choose one of the two, Flowers nudges out GTO simply because it’s weirder and less formulaic than 14 Days in Shonan. The ending of volume two is amazing—it gives new meaning to the term “blow-out”—and pushes the plot in a new and unexpected direction.

MICHELLE: I too recommend GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, but since that’s already been touted by my compatriots I will instead mention a title that’s due on August 7th according to Amazon, but which is absent from Midtown’s list, and that’s the debut volume of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries, a new manhwa coming from Seven Seas. I suppose its plot isn’t too original—headstrong lady is more interested in solving crime than in marrying advantageously—but it still sounds pretty fun to me!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 7/30/12

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This week, Kate, Sean, and Michelle look at recent releases from Vertical, Inc., Viz Media, and Kodansha Comics.

5 Centimeters Per Second | By Makoto Shinkai and Yukiko Senkei | Vertical, Inc. – In this skillful adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s film, middle schooler Tohno Takaki falls in love with classmate Akari Shinohara. First love is a common manga subject, but Shinkai and collaborator Yukiko Senkei resist the temptation to idealize Tohno’s formative romantic experiences; rather, Shinkai and Senkei show us how that relationship’s gradual disintegration soured Tohno on love, making him loathe to form similar attachments to anyone else — even in adulthood. Tohno’s quest to achieve closure on this first love is carefully and beautifully observed, making 5 Centimeters Per Second a compelling read. – Katherine Dacey

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Vol. 3 | By Tohru Fujisawa | Vertical, Inc. – Reading a new installment of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan is a lot like listening to a comedian perform “The Aristocrats”: the humor lies less with the punchline than with the telling of the joke. In the third volume of Shonan, for example, Onizuka has his share of lady troubles. Though anyone familiar with Onizuka’s track record can anticipate the outcome of his encounters with the White Swan’s female staffers, watching Onizuka strike out with both women is excruciatingly funny. As in previous volumes, some of the jokes cross the line from raunchy but funny to just plain rude; I could have done without the cameo from Eikichi, canine sidekick to Onizuka’s supervisor at Holy Forest Academy. Still, the gags yield laughs more often than not, and the sprinkling of heart-warming dramatic moments prevent the story from becoming too silly. Still recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 9 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – After a couple of not-so-great volumes, the ninth volume of Oresama Teacher represents a (likely temporary) turn for the better. It’s the first school festival in three years (a riot at the last one ruined the school’s reputation), so Mafuyu dons her (male) Natsuo guise to make sure it goes off without a hitch. I can’t claim that the plot here is really very good—the reveal about why students keep disappearing at 5 o’clock is particularly groan-inducing—but I like Natsuo, and I like Okegawa, the reluctant bancho of the school’s gang. Somehow, the stories about Mafuyu’s former gangmates bore me to tears, but Okegawa’s gang dynamics are more interesting. It probably helps that none of them are one-note masochists. Anyway, I will probably keep reading Oresama Teacher, but I think it’s gotten to the point where I’ll be checking it out from the local library rather than making it a permanent part of my collection. – Michelle Smith

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Vol. 5 | By Kenji Kuroda and Kazuo Maekawa | Kodansha Comics – I’ve noted before that the only people who should be reading this series are hardcore fans of the games. That said, the manga does actually do a good job at keeping the feel of those games. Both the cases in this final volume of PW:AA feel like events that could, if drawn out a bit more, have appeared somewhere in the third game or so. Indeed, it even features a Franziska Von Karma who helps out our heroes, although it’s subtle and she denies it when asked. But the humor, the mysteries, the stunned poses of overdramatic guilt from everyone: this is exactly what a media tie-in should be like. Given that the manga will never ‘fill in the blanks’ between Phoenix and Apollo, that is. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s fun. – Sean Gaffney

Psyren, Vol. 5 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | VIZ Media – Ah, another one of those ‘fighting’ volumes we see so often in Jump manga. It was nice to see Kabuto actually gain a useful power, though it seems to be something designed more around his cowardly personality than anything else. The opening of the volume was rather startling, showing us the gruesome deaths of the Elmore Wood kids trying to defend the Earth. Clearly we’re going to be looking at changing that future. But mostly this volume is lots of villains bragging about how resistance is useless against them, and then heroes kicking their asses. Generally, I think volumes like this should be saved and read with one of the more ‘plot’ oriented books – which Volume 6 should be, given the pattern of ‘plot – fight – plot’ the manga has established. Not bad, but clearly second-tier Jump. – Sean Gaffney

Vampire Knight, Vol. 14 | By Matsuri Hino | VIZ Media – I’ve given up on following the plot in this series. It comes out too infrequently now that it’s caught up with Japan, and so I find it impossible to keep track of anything even with the guide at the front and back. Yuki, meanwhile, has recovered from Kaname’s induced flashback, and feels closer to him in that vaguely romantic, vaguely familial way we’ve grown used to. Sara continues to be the real genuine villain here, contrasting with Kaname’s tortured ‘I do what I must’ personality. Her little yuri harem of thralls is disturbing in the extreme. But despite her rule-breaking, the real shocker in the volume is the fate of Aido’s father, which results in Yuki being arrested – no doubt to meet up with Zero again. So pretty, but so utterly confusing. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Sakuran & X

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SEAN: It’s another tiny, tiny week at Midtown Comics, with only four titles to choose from. Given that, I will go with Sakuran from Vertical, Inc., despite it also appearing on this list two weeks ago. Comic readers who enjoy Love & Rockets type fare should give this book a try, though. It’s complete in one volume, contains some fantastic art, and has a strong plotline showing us someone who could easily use her looks and intelligence to rise to the top, and does—in spite of all her best efforts. It’s fascinating and raw, and probably the best Moyoco Anno title I’ve read to date.

MJ: I’m with Sean. I’ve been eagerly anticipating Sakuran‘s release since Vertical announced it last fall, and it’s my must-read manga this week. I can hardly wait to pick this up.

MICHELLE: See above re; Sakuran!

KATE: Since I’ve already plugged Sakuran both here and at my own site, I’ll make a pitch for the third volume of CLAMP’s X. One of the things I like best about the new VIZ 3-in-1 edition is the trim size. CLAMP’s gorgeous, swirling linework and epic battles finally have enough room to breathe, allowing readers to appreciate just how detailed (and gory!) it really is. I’m also enjoying the omnibus format; with an enormous cast and a profusion of subplots, X is the kind of story that’s best read in large installments. (I can’t keep track of the Seals and Dragons otherwise!) It’s frustrating to know that this series still doesn’t have a proper conclusion, but when the page-by-page journey is so engrossing, I almost don’t care.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Chatting About CLAMP

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The following discussion contains spoilers.

MICHELLE: For this month’s CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast, special guest Karen Peck and I decided to weigh in on couple of the quartet’s shorter works, namely Suki (complete in three volumes) and Legal Drug (unfinished in three volumes, but newly relaunched in Japan under the name Drug & Drop). I’d heard these series were related in some way, too, though that turned out to be little more than a cameo.

Anyway, let’s start with Suki! Child-like Hinata Asahi is a first year in high school who is extremely book smart, but trusting to an excessive degree. She lives alone with two teddy bears, and when the guy who moves in next door turns out to be her substitute homeroom teacher, Hinata takes a liking to him. Shiro Asou is kind of prickly, but does a few things for Hinata that make her feel all warm and fuzzy, like patting her on the head and helping her sweep some leaves in her yard. Hinata’s obvious affection for Asou-sensei troubles her friend, Touko, and it’s Touko’s concern (coupled with hinting about Hinata’s past) that lends a welcome ominous vibe to the story.

KAREN: Ah, Suki! I read this when it first came out, and thought it was a nice little trifle—enjoyable but not especially notable. Hinata is one of those CLAMP heroines who is impossibly sweet and naïve, but it’s forgivable—because she should be a darker, sadder character, what with living alone in an empty house, her father only a distant figure, and having been through some intense events in her past. In Cardcaptor Sakura, you could see where all of [Sakura’s] abundant sweetness comes from—she comes from a world of love and security. That Hinata is still such an innocent, despite her situation, is very interesting.

It’s that ominous vibe you noted, Michelle, that does make this story a little more interesting—I think three volumes of Hinata and teddy bears would have been adorable, but pure fluff. Reading through the series, I also like the ambiguity of Asou-sensei—despite HInata’s affection for him, the story really feels like it’s building him to be another bad thing in Hinata’s life.

MICHELLE: HInata actually reminded me quite a lot of Sakuya from Natsuki Takaya’s Twinkle Stars, both in her demeanor and with the family secrets lurking in the background. (I think the similarity also sprung to mind because it was another case where I was used to reading a creator’s fantasy-infused manga but was now reading something taking place firmly in the real world.) But yes, one has to wonder how she was able to maintain her trusting spirit despite, we later learn, having been kidnapped nine times as a child.

I definitely enjoyed the build suggesting Asou-sensei was going to do something nefarious, and I admit to being disappointed that he merely turned out to be a bodyguard sent by Hinata’s father. The whole setup—lonely, selfless teen falls in love with enigmatic older guy—reminded me a little of Tokyo Babylon, but in the end CLAMP follows a more stereotypically shoujo storyline by offering redemption and a happy ending. It felt like all of the wonderful worrying Touko got up to just kind of petered out into very little payoff.

KAREN: Maybe Hinata maintains her child-like spirit by reading cute books about teddy bears? The book-within-the-book, another Suki, is precious.

I didn’t mind the payoff/ending. Terrible things happened to Hinata—and I’m sure that this kidnapping was a good deal more personal than past ones—but she remains unchanged. Hinata is still the same trusting person she always was, as was foreshadowed in a conversation with Asou-sensei—after he warned her that she would be sorry for living in her dream world, she replied, “No, I won’t. The people around me are all people I love. None of them are bad people. Not now, not ever.” And this plays out in the end—not only does she forgive her kidnappers, she convinces her father to help them. While a dark ending would have been more interesting, this story, for all the hints otherwise, was always going to be sweet. Like in CCS, a kind-hearted girl is tested but not broken, and continues on to share her loving nature with those around her.

MICHELLE: Yeah, you’re totally right. And I guess they can’t all be shocking endings, otherwise they would cease to be shocking!

I did like the book-within-a-book segments, something that we also see a little later in Chobits. If it didn’t involve a lot of physical labor to unearth my copies, I could check to see if the author of those picture books was the same Tomo! But I am lazy.

KAREN: I’ve not even read Chobits, so I’m no help whatsoever!

So my old assessment—that it’s a nice little story, prettily told—remains true for me after this re-reading. Not one of the great classics of CLAMP’s, but enjoyable all the same.

MICHELLE: I can agree with that!

Moving on to Legal Drug… as mentioned in Friday’s Let’s Get Visual post, this is a series that gets compared a lot to xxxHOLiC. Seventeen-year-old Kazahaya Kudo has run away from home and been rescued by Rikuo Himura. Both of the boys are live-in workers at Green Drugstore, managed by the enigmatic Kakei, and also take on the occasional odd job for their employer, which typically involve using Kazahaya’s ability to see visions when he touches people and objects to find various items.

Kazahaya and Rikuo aren’t friends, and fall into the spazzy/stoic dynamic characteristic of the early Watanuki/Doumeki relationship. There seems to be more overt romantic chemistry between them, however, which CLAMP plays up in the third volume, which finds them going undercover at an all-boys’ school.

KAREN: First, on a totally shallow level, I love Tokyopop’s presentation for Legal Drug. Vellum! Color pages! I’m totally a sucker for things like that.

I get the xxxHOLiC comparison; it’s one I’ve used before to describe it. However, Kakei isn’t quite Yuuko, luckily for Kazahaya and Rikuo!

My enjoyment of this series has always been tempered by its unfinished status—I really was wanting more details about the boys’ past which had been teased throughout the entire series. But what did you think of the stories—the “jobs,” Michelle? I think that they tended to be more personal than the stories in xxxHOLiC, which made them a little more central to the story.

MICHELLE: I think that if I had read this previously—before the resumption of the series in Japan—I would’ve been extremely frustrated by the lack of follow-through with the hints and glimpses we get of Kazahaya’s twin sister, Kei, and the mysterious woman in Rikuo’s past, Tsukiko. Now, I can feel more confident that CLAMP will address those story elements, even though there’s no guarantee we’ll ever see Drug & Drop in English.

As for the jobs, it’s been so long since I last read xxxHOLiC that I can’t really compare them, but I do agree about them seeming very central to the story. What first comes to mind is the cat that the boys rescue, who initially seems ordinary, then is revealed to be something supernatural, and then thanks its rescuers by showing them images of Kei and Tsukiko. That’s a perfect example of what you’re talking about, I think.

KAREN: Drug & Drop is now being published in a seinen magazine, so if we ever get to see it here, it will be interesting to see how it changed—will Kazahaya be in a dress as often?

Going back to our first title, there is a cameo by Hinata and Asou-sensei from Suki in volume two (chapter nine) which only shows that sometime after the events of that series, Hinata is still the same girl—who would think that there’s nothing odd about a strange boy asking for her school uniform, and who is able to draw others out. It’s a nice callback for a cameo.

Because the jobs tend to be about objects rather than people, the stories don’t have the larger emotional punch that some of the xxxHOLiC ones do, but that does allow Kazahaya and Rikuo to have more of the focus. I also liked how most of volume three was about one job—and that gave the story of the school and Nayuki room to breathe. It was a little dark at times, and maybe rambling, but it worked…

MICHELLE: I liked that about it, too, though I admit being a little annoyed at how much flailing about Kazahaya seemed to do during that story. It almost seems like the manga takes a sharp turn into generic BL, with the sudden schoolboy dynamic, Rikuo doing a little too well with his pushy seme impersonation, and the random school traditions of voting for a pretty boy to be a “bride” who wears the costume of his fans’ choice, but there were some nice ominous turns to keep it from worrying me too much. I am fairly certain the seinen Drug & Drop will definitely have less of that, though.

KAREN: There was a lot of flailing through the entire series, and I agree with you that it could be annoying. I get it, there’s tension/chemistry. But I like Kazahaya and Rikuo, and Rikuo is never creepy in his pushy seme moments, so I don’t mind it overall. But I don’t like being teased—I hope that running in a seinen mag, the new series can build their relationship with less blushing into something more concrete to where we see some solid character development.

Post-xxxHOLiC, I like Legal Drug less than I remember. Hopefully whatever CLAMP has in store with the characters in Drug & Drop will provide some satisfaction. As Kakei said in the last chapter of volume three, “We’ve been waiting a long time… for that boy and Rikuo to meet,” so hopefully we’ll see where this is all supposed to go.

MICHELLE: Well put! We share the same hopes for this series, it sounds like.

Thank you for joining me in this conversation today!

KAREN: And thank you for the opportunity!

Let’s Get Visual: A Tale of Two Series

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MICHELLE: You didn’t think we were going to let a CLAMP MMF go by without devoting a special Let’s Get Visual column to it, did you? (Insert a Hokuto Sumeragi “ho ho ho” laugh here.) It’s an absolute must for a group like CLAMP, whose output is so diverse, not merely in the realms of story and demographic, but also artistically speaking. In fact, I had a pretty tough time choosing which images to talk about today. How about you, MJ?

MJ: Yes, there’s so much to choose from! Though CLAMP is nearly always clearly distinguishable as CLAMP, they manage to do that while also significantly varying their style from series to series, especially when they’re writing for different demographics.

MICHELLE: I wish I had the artistic vocabulary to really thoroughly describe these subtle variations, but I’m afraid I don’t. Still, this diversity inspired MJand I to compare two CLAMP series with different art, but similar stories. Legal Drug has been described as a prototype for xxxHOLiC, as it features a hyper protagonist (Kazahaya) and his more stoic companion (Rikuo) who are asked to perform various odd, supernatural-related jobs by the precognitive manager of a store (Kakei). Kazahaya is quick to proclaim that they’re not friends, but is forced to begrudgingly thank Rikuo for several timely rescues. This is a setup very similar to the initial relationship between Watanuki and Doumeki in xxxHOLiC.

MJ: Personally, I think you could even make an argument for Kakei’s companion Saiga as a weird prototype for Mokona.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I guess he does spend the majority of his time either sleeping or pulling off surprising domestic tasks.

Anyway, how about you start us off with the pages you’ve chosen?

MJ: Sure! I’ve picked out a couple of different scenes from volume twelve, and the reason I chose that volume is that it’s really where Watanuki’s reality starts to fall apart. At first, he’s simply having a series of strange dreams, but by the end of the volume, dreams and reality are melding into each other, one after the other, to the point where it’s impossible for him to tell the difference between them.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

xxxHOLiC, Vol. 12, Pages 30-32 (Del Rey)

The first scene I’ve chosen comes in early in the volume, and it’s very obviously a dream world. The ever-present blossoms in the wind, Yuuko’s train of butterflies, the wind in the air, and even just the sense of space feels entirely like a dream–like something clearly outside our waking reality. It’s beautiful, but it’s expected, and even when there’s a sense of eeriness, it feels friendly and familiar.

xxxHOLiC, Vol. 12, Pages 138-141 (Del Rey)

The second scene, on the other hand, comes in much later, when Watanuki is being shuttled from dream to dream to dream, never knowing if he might finally be awake. The scene starts out simply with the kind of lunch picnic he might have with Himawari any day of the week. The backgrounds are sparse and the panels sort of matter-of-fact. The only hint at first that something might be off, is the hole Watanuki notices in the wall behind Himawari. And even though the scene becomes comedic, with the scaly hand popping out of the hole to steal Watanuki’s sherbet, it feels very sinister to me–not just because Himawari never notices what’s happening, but because it’s intruding on what feels to Watanuki like normal life, letting him know that he’s somehow *still* not awake. Unlike the earlier dream scene, which feels so perfectly dreamlike, this one reads as something more like madness, which is much scarier to me as a reader.

MICHELLE: My first reaction when I saw the scaly hand stealing the sherbet was to deem it “cute” but that’s because it’s been so long since I read xxxHOLiC that I had utterly forgotten the context of this scene. Now that you’ve informed me, I read it as sinister. It’s definitely something that could look like “Watanuki’s everyday life” to the casual reader as much as to Watanuki himself, at first.

MJ: I probably am letting the context influence me, which maybe makes this not the greatest example for a Let’s Get Visual column! But I do think it’s interesting how differently CLAMP treats these two scenes, when they’re both representations of Watanuki’s dream world.

MICHELLE: Oh, I think they’re fine examples! What you’re basically showing here is that in xxxHOLiC, or at least in these scenes, CLAMP draws the supernatural in a way that blends in with the everyday world. It’s a very simple approach, free of some of the bells and whistles that my images from Legal Drug possess.

MJ: Well, let’s take a look at those, then!

Legal Drug, Vol. 2, Pages 40-43 (TOKYOPOP)

MICHELLE: These pages are from a scene in the second volume of Legal Drug. Kazahaya and Rikuo have just rescued a magical kitty, and in gratitude, the kitty has led them to the park where its powers are strongest and transformed into the images of the person each boy wants to see most.

What struck me strongly here is the way the kitty begins to unravel. Seriously, the fact that it’s just one little toe of his little paw really gets to me somehow. Somewhat like xxxHOLiC, there’s that feeling of “You thought things were normal, but really they are not.” As the transformation is underway, we get several reaction shots from the boys (with a bevy of speedlines), resulting in a page layout far busier than xxxHOLiC. The two-page spread is quintessential CLAMP: two slim and lovely ladies with long flowy hair speckled with white ink. The tight panels of the boys’ eyes include more speedlines to help convey their shock.

Honestly, besides the slightly more ornate style here, it’s the speedlines that really convey the biggest tonal difference between these series to me. It’s presumptuous to declare that CLAMP “matured” between the two series, but it really does feel as though they realized they no longer needed to rely on such tricks to convey the protagonist’s feelings. Less is more!

MJ: Well, I think it’s probably worth bringing up the fact that Legal Drug ran in a shoujo magazine, where those kinds of flourishes might have been expected, unlike xxxHolic, which had to fit in to the style of a seinen magazine. I mean, CLAMP is always CLAMP, but there’s always a clear sense of what demographic they’re drawing for–even in two series as similar as these.

MICHELLE: That’s a good point. I certainly don’t mean to disparage the style of Legal Drug or insinuate that it’s inferior, but in terms of personal preference, I simply like the cleaner, restrained style of xxxHOLiC more. I mean, just check out how the panel shapes themselves are different. It’s really neat to compare them!

MJ: Oh, I completely agree! And though I also have a preference for the artwork in xxxHolic, I do appreciate the shoujo flourishes for their classic flair. More and more, I find the differences fascinating, and I was really surprised, actually, at how easy it was to tell which demographic CLAMP was writing for simply by looking at the artwork of their series in preparation for this Feast. I don’t think I expected it to be so obvious.

MICHELLE: I wouldn’t have, either. But going forward I’ll be making a special point to notice how they adapt their style to the magazine!

Off the Shelf: Tokyo Babylon

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Warning: This roundtable contains spoilers for the entirety of Tokyo Babylon.

MJ: So, I’ll be honest, here. Though I am very anxious to see what the manga blogosphere has to say about CLAMP’s body of work as a whole, the biggest reason I proposed a CLAMP MMF in the first place was that I longed for an excuse to talk about my favorite CLAMP series, Tokyo Babylon.

As one of CLAMP’s earliest commercial works, Tokyo Babylon is certainly not their most deftly-plotted manga, nor their most polished—not by far. It is, however, one of their most honest manga, by which I mean that it contains a level of raw humanity and emotional truth that can be harder to find in some of their more sophisticated works.

And when it comes to things like “raw humanity” and “emotional truth,” who do I want to hash it out with? Why, The NANA Project, of course! This week, Michelle and I are pleased to welcome our NANA Project collaborator Danielle Leigh to the table for our MMF edition of Off the Shelf!

Welcome, Danielle, it’s so wonderful to have you here!

DANIELLE: Thanks so much for asking me to participate! We planned this so long ago but now that I’m rereading the project I found I’ve rediscovered my love of the title and, in a way, CLAMP as an artistic group. Even though parts of Tokyo Babylon are clumsy as hell I found myself really appreciating how well thought out the twists and turns were. For example, take all the artistic touches surrounding Seishirō anytime he appears in the work — CLAMP clearly knew who that character would be and what his backstory was from the very start.

And, okay, maybe the foreshadowing was heavy enough to drown in, sure, but there’s also a straightforward simplicity to how events play out that I feel CLAMP’s later titles would certainly benefit from (*cough* Tsubasa *cough*). It’s just refreshing to read a work and think, “yes, this plot was planned but not *forced.*”

MICHELLE: That was one thing I wanted to ask you two, actually. I pretty much learned about manga and CLAMP in the same breath, and because I asked a lot of questions, I was spoiled on the outcome of Tokyo Babylon before I ever read it. But, given that the foreshadowing is heavy-handed and starts at the end of volume one, was the reveal actually a surprise even to anyone who had not been spoiled?

MJ: For my part, I would say that the reveal of Seishirō as the Sakurazukamori was not remotely a surprise—nor do I think it was meant to be by that point. But what that ultimately meant for everyone involved was a huge surprise for me. I expected to find out that Seishirō was the “bad guy,” but I never expected his entire Seishirō-san persona to have essentially been a lie. I knew the truth, but I didn’t expect the consequences, if that makes sense.

DANIELLE: I was exposed to X/1999 (or the anime X) before I read this title so honestly I’m not sure if anyone would be *too* surprised about Seishirō being such a bad guy….but I think MJ’s right. The consequences are so horrific when he finally takes off his nice guy mask that emotionally the whole thing *still* feels like a vicious punch to the gut.

MICHELLE: That’s a good way of putting it!

MJ: So, we’ve sort of accidentally started with the end of the series. Let’s back up a bit, so new readers can grasp what on earth it is we’re talking about!

For a series with such a sweeping title, Tokyo Babylon is a fairly intimate manga, in that it essentially has only three characters: Subaru, a shy 16-year-old onmyōji and head of the powerful Sumeragi clan; his twin sister, Hokuto; and Seishirō Sakurazuka, a kindly veterinarian whom the two Sumeragi twins have befriended. Other characters (like the twins’ grandmother, and a young woman Hokuto meets during adventures of her own) flow in and out of the story, along with a host of onmyōji customers and “monsters of the week,” but every real theme in this story revolves around these main three, and them alone.

All three characters are introduced in the first chapter, in which Subaru is finishing up a job exorcising the spirit of a young woman who committed suicide after being cruelly dumped by a womanizing celebrity. While Hokuto chastises Subaru for helping out such a creep, Seishirō points out Subaru’s kindness in freeing the young woman’s spirit for her own sake, establishing the trio’s dynamic pretty much immediately. As the series goes on, chronicling Subaru’s continued duties as an onmyōji, two things will remain consistent; Seishirō will express his love and admiration for Subaru’s selfless spirit, while Hokuto will wish desperately for him to abandon that selflessness just long enough to want something for himself—a wish that will ultimately have consequences far beyond her expectations.

Though the beginning of the series feels straightforwardly light and (rather awesomely) humorous, even its jokes—like Seishirō’s teasing “love” for Subaru—are pretty deeply nuanced, something that’s become even more apparent to me on this particular re-read.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


DANIELLE: MJ, you are much more generous about taking the opening premise and early characterization seriously than I am. When I was first introduced to the character I found I neither liked nor disliked Subaru and that in the early volumes both Hokuto and Seishirō behave in fairly cliched, and, to me, rather annoying ways. Hokuto often feels like the proto-yaoi fangirl (even though we find out about her deeper motivations much later on), while Seishirō plays the not-really-bad-wolf-in-veterinarian’s clothing (only later to be revealed as guilty of much, much worse than being a potential seducer of a 16 year old boy). Subaru is the empty center of the story and he lacks real definition for a very long time.

This all sounds terribly harsh but I firmly believe that all these characterizations are, in fact, carefully orchestrated by CLAMP to give the reader one hell of a payoff later on. And, of course, Subaru grows tremendously as a character over the course of the series. He starts of as a bit of a cipher (personality wise) and eventually develops real flaws, character traits, and deeper emotions.

MICHELLE: There’s definitely a sense of being lulled into a false sense of security. “Oh, nothing to see here. Just some disposable supernatural monster-of-the-week stories plus some fashion-conscious twin and a lot of BL teasing that results in Subaru taking pratfalls every three pages!” But we later learn that, with the exception of Subaru, everyone secretly had an agenda for acting the way they did, which is just marvelous.

MJ: I think why I’m so generous about this (to use Danielle’s words) is because my re-read convinced me that it was all incredibly brilliant, and it also helped me notice a lot of nuance that wasn’t apparent to me the first time around. I’m especially impressed with the way CLAMP handles Subaru.

One personal philosophy that is stated over and over again in this series (expressed by both Subaru and Hokuto at various times) is that no person can ever truly understand another person’s pain. Most often this idea is used to explain a lack of judgement made regarding other people’s choices and decisions and a respect for their uniquely painful circumstances. But while this philosophy seems on the surface to be a grand acknowledgement of individuality, Subaru takes it so much to heart that he not only refuses to make his mark on anyone else, he also resists becoming a fully realized individual himself, as though even that might be an affront to others. He lets other people dictate his movements, his feelings, his personal appearance—he is deliberately a non-entity. And while someone else as spiritually powerful as he is might do these things deliberately to facilitate deception, Subaru does this to avoid being an influence on anyone else. Once I realized that this was what he was doing, I could see it everywhere—along with Hokuto’s need to find a way to get him to rebel against it, even if it meant becoming involved with someone dangerous.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


I’ll be honest—on this re-read I was kind of blown away by how carefully CLAMP crafted these characters, especially Subaru.

DANIELLE: I very much agree with your take on Subaru’s characterization with one important exception — I don’t think Subaru consciously understands a lot of his own choices and behaviors (in other words, I think CLAMP is being deliberate in their writing choices, rather than the character consciously making the choice to become a non-entity). Otherwise, I don’t think he would have such a shocking sense of emptiness, terror and guilt in the aftermath of Seishirō sacrificing his eye to save Subaru’s life. In those moments you can see him gradually awakening, with some desperate prodding by Hokuto, to his true self. Eventually he reaches the point where it all boils over and he basically realizes, “yes, I not only love Seishirō, but I’m also *in love* with him” (I’m just paraphrasing here). That’s the moment he reaches person-hood and it’s in that moment, of course, CLAMP tears it all down by having Seishirō reveal himself. God, it’s just so brutal.

(click image to enlarge)

MICHELLE: Yeah, I do think it’s so deeply ingrained in him he doesn’t know he’s doing it. When one of his jobs takes him to the home of a former classmate who’s spent four months asleep to avoid a traumatic reality, we see a flashback to a very young Subaru taking the delinquents’ kicks originally meant for a stray dog. He’s perfectly willing to take on consequences himself if it means protecting someone or something else, but he’s horrified that someone would do something similar for him.

MJ: Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully, because the truth is, I agree! When I say he’s “deliberately” doing this, I don’t necessarily mean that he’s completely aware of why or even always when he is refusing to assert himself as an individual. But I still think that kind of behavior is deliberate. Somewhere inside him, Subaru has determined that he should not put himself forward in a way that impacts anyone else—maybe it’s a reaction to the amount of power he knows he possesses, or to being given such a heavy role in the world at so young an age, or something completely different—but even if he’s not aware of all the steps between that determination and the actions he takes every day, I feel that’s still a real choice.

Michelle, I’m reminded too of the scene in which Subaru is trying to help a group of girls who have been practicing amateur dark magic over a party line. This scene hit me especially hard after the fact because of Seishirō’s interference, which at the time feels like absolutely the correct reaction. As Subaru is voluntarily taking all sorts of damage in order to avoid hurting the girls, I found myself somehow on Seishirō’s side, unwilling to accept Subaru’s selflessness when it meant he’d be sacrificing himself to atone for someone else’s horrible mistakes. But of course, Seishirō’s motivations are entirely sinister, while Subaru’s alone are pure. The way that CLAMP stealthily aligns the reader’s sympathies with something that is ultimately evil in a scene like this is also part of what makes later events feel so brutal.

(click image to enlarge)

This is also part of what makes Hokuto’s journey so moving and tragic, since we essentially find ourselves mirroring her own concerns for Subaru (or at least, I do), but unlike a lot of supporting female characters in manga featuring a male protagonist, she doesn’t only exist in the story for his sake. One of my favorite chapters in the entire series is one in which we get to see Hokuto’s life outside of Subaru’s (yes, she actually has one). In this chapter, Hokuto helps a young foreign woman escape from police, and in pretty spectacular fashion, too. Here, Hokuto—who is otherwise shown mostly in her role as Subaru’s caretaker and personal fashion designer—is a bona fide hero herself, showing up exactly when she’s needed to kick some serious ass. It’s the only chapter in which she appears on her own like this and I wish there were more, though I do appreciate the fact that later in the series when she’s headed out on a “date,” it’s implied that she’s meeting up with the woman she befriended at that time.

By about halfway through the series, I found I absolutely adored Hokuto—which of course made her end especially horrifying. What are your thoughts on her?

DANIELLE: Even though Hokuto has tried to distinguish herself from her brother—and to help give him the tools to do the same—I still feel like half of Subaru dies with Hokuto in the end. And I hate this feeling, because it goes against what the character herself says she stood for (i.e. that even though they are brother and sister, and twins, they are *not* the same person). On the other hand, I feel as though my inability to see her as separate from Subaru is also a consequence of that character failing to follow her own instructions. She gets so caught up in trying to give Subaru his own identity, I think she sacrifices parts of her own identity—not merely her own life—on his behalf.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


MICHELLE: I was thinking along similar lines, actually. If one person is allowing their identity to be largely defined by another, that means there exists someone whose purpose it is to try to shape that person into what/who they think they should be. Which ultimately means Hokuto is a fairly selfless person, too.

Perhaps that’s why I so dearly loved the chapter where we see Hokuto help the foreign woman, because she suddenly comes so vibrantly and independently alive. I don’t think we even knew she had powers of her own up until that point—possibly because they are so modest that they wouldn’t be of help to Subaru on the job—but she is such a pure heroine in the other lady’s eyes that I wish we got to spend more time with her, to see how she truly sees the world when she’s not so desperately trying to save her brother.

MJ: You’re both brilliant, and (of course) right. And maybe what you’re getting at is something beyond either of the philosophies stated by Hokuto and/or Subaru over the course of the series. Perhaps both of their ideas are too simple to be useful.

While Hokuto is desperately trying to carve out identities for both herself and her brother as individuals and Subaru is desperately trying to have no identity at all, the truth is, they are both separable and inseparable at the same time. While they clearly are and must be individuals, they also can’t help being two parts of a single unit, and trying to define themselves entirely as either one or the other is simply not possible, or even desirable.

Is it wrong that they should need each other? I don’t think so. Nor is it wrong for them to be considerate to each other as individuals (this speech of Hokuto’s is one of my favorite things in the series, by the way). And in the end, the loss of either of them is inevitably devastating to the other. It would have to be. And even though I hate seeing what happened to Subaru over the loss of Hokuto (or contemplating the state Hokuto would have been in, had it ended up the other way around), I guess I can’t really wish for them to have been less important to each other. Can you?

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


DANIELLE: And forgive the irreverence of the following comment, but what the hell are two 16 year olds doing with such trenchant life philosophies anyway? Oh, CLAMP. Even though Subaru looks like a teenager, he and Hokuto never really get to act like they are one (compared to say, Watanuki, who gets to throw tantrums, complain constantly, hold irrational grudges, and generally act like a pain in the ass. Every inch of him a teenager most of the time). Even when Hokuto’s doing silly things in a silly way for a very silly reason, there’s such an element of *seriousness* to it all. It kind of breaks my heart all over again.

MICHELLE: One wonders how much of a childhood they were actually able to have, with their parents gone and such heavy responsibility thrust upon Subaru so young.

It’s such a sad life for him, and one that doesn’t get any better. I’m not sure how much either of you have read or seen of X. I’ve seen the anime, but read only the first volume of the manga, and I’m not sure MJ’s done either, or if she’s investigated to see what eventually becomes of Subaru.

MJ: I have read all of X/1999 (and didn’t care for it much, though I’m trying to let the new omnibus releases convince me that there’s more to it than just waiting for Subaru to show up), so I do know what becomes of Subaru, and you’re right, it really it does not get any better for him. There is more hope for alternate-universe vampire!Subaru in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (he at least gets to have a twin again), though of course that isn’t quite the same. I guess that’s an advantage to being a CLAMP character, though… you do get second chances, one way or another.

I actually wanted to talk a bit about both these characters in other CLAMP universes and also what traits Tokyo Babylon does and doesn’t share with other CLAMP series. While reading Cardcaptor Sakura alongside Tokyo Babylon for the purposes of the feast, I was struck by one of the funnier philosophies they share—that designing and creating outfits for someone might be the ultimate gesture of love. Comments?

DANIELLE: In spite of the fact this series is a prequel to X/1999 (and a kind of dress rehearsal for the relationship between Kamui and Fūma in that series) in my mind I connect it to xxxHolic more than CCS, Tsubasa or X/1999. But I think that’s an artistic link, rather than a character or thematic one, that’s going on in my head. Thinking it over, I feel like X/1999 is the sprawling, epically messy unleashing of the very carefully designed plot of Tokyo Babylon. The story is, in fact, so fantastically messy the damn thing — for whatever reason — can’t even be finished. I get the feeling I might be the only one here who is rather fond of X/1999 (or the anime X) but it’s a fondness that comes from appreciating how imperfect it is as a sequel and as a narrative work. In contrast, you could never use such a mild word as “fond” to describe how I feel about Tsubasa or xxxHolic (although for very different reasons).

I really like MJ’s point, though….providing a friend or family member with a costume change is the ultimate act of love in the CLAMP universe! :-)

(click image to enlarge)

MICHELLE: I’m not anti-X, but I feel oddly disconnected from it.

And yes, I am sure Hokuto and Tomoyo would get along fabulously. Hokuto could be a kind of mentor to her… it’d be great!

Of course, another theme that begins (I think) in Tokyo Babylon and proceeds to permeate CLAMP’s other works is the idea of “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.” Seishirō loses his eye to protect Subaru, and then suddenly eyes are lost or swapping all over the place. It’s become such a CLAMP trademark that it’s actually a cliché now, sort of how people just stopped being surprised when Joss Whedon kills a character.

MJ: I admit I like the eye exchange in xxxHolic the best, but maybe that’s just because it was my first. Heh.

There are a lot of themes that run through CLAMP’s work as a whole, both visually and otherwise. One of the things I’m struck by with Tokyo Babylon, however, is how little it resembles its sequel, in every way, really. Danielle has already touched on this, in terms of structure and plot, but visually, too, they couldn’t be more different.

DANIELLE: Agreed. The reason I also think of X/1999 as messy is because it actually looks quite messy in comparison to the crisp, clear art of Tokyo Babylon. I absolutely love the art in Tokyo Babylon, it remains second only to xxxHolic in my own personal ranking of CLAMP styles. I think X/1999 pretty much begat Tsubasa, and my god does the art in that series drive me up the wall.

MICHELLE: I think “messy” is a great way to describe X, but for me it feels that way largely because of its huge cast, compared to the extremely intimate trio in Tokyo Babylon. Granted, I’ve not read the majority of the manga, but from what I’ve seen it looks like there’s just not time to get to know and care about everybody, there’s just so many people and so much going on in the scenes that the visuals can’t help but be all crowded and hectic. There’s no time for atmosphere, which Tokyo Babylon possesses in abundance.

I actually got used to the art in Tsubasa after a while—well, more or less—but the in-your-face gangliness of the character designs is not something I’ll ever be a fan of.

MJ: I think I may love the artwork in Tokyo Babylon even more than xxxHolic, but if so, it’s not by much. Both series are striking in their elegant storytelling, their stunning use of black, and a sort of woodblock sensibility that makes them feel somehow timeless. Even Tokyo Babylon‘s unapologetic 80s fashion sense manages to come off as elegant in CLAMP’s hands. xxxHolic also resembles Tokyo Babylon in its intimacy. Even though there are a greater number of vital characters, and obviously the story is much longer and wider in scope, the main setting of Yūko’s shop creates the same kind of private world Tokyo Babylon‘s characters live in.

DANIELLE: Honestly, MJsums up the ties I see between these series so beautifully I don’t have too much to add. I would just say if Yūko’s shop is is the centerpiece of xxxHolic, then Tokyo itself is basically the fourth character in Tokyo Babylon. Before the series gets almost claustrophobic in its tight focus on Subaru and Seishirō’s relationship, there’s a lot of pontificating in the omniscient narration about Tokyo as a kind of mirror of the human condition. It’s totally overblown and hokey, but that’s CLAMP. And I’m okay with it.

MICHELLE: That’s a great point, and you’re absolutely right. And a lot of the woes leading to the supernatural crises that Subaru is called upon to solve have something to do with Tokyo, from celebrities seducing pure-hearted girls to thugs running rampant in an apartment block, leading the residents to gossip about their misdeeds. It’s almost as if Subaru is having to clean up Tokyo’s messes.

I agree that visually (or perhaps the word I’m really looking for is stylistically), xxxHOLiC is probably the most similar to Tokyo Babylon of all CLAMP’s works. It feels like they really exhibited some restraint with these series. They didn’t go overboard with swirls and feathers and putting wings on everything, but kept things kind of understated and gloomy.

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MJ: I certainly agree, Danielle, that CLAMP’s Tokyo parables are pretty hokey, though what makes it all worthwhile for me is the payoff in the final volume, where Seishirō mocks Subaru’s agony over his betrayal by saying, “Things like this happen in Tokyo every day.” With that one sentence, Seishirō manages to belittle not only Subaru’s feelings in the moment, but also basically every single time the two of them had ever talked about the city as they worked to help its many lost souls. It’s so cruel, but wow does he hit that on the nose. I’m not sure it would have had the same impact without the overblown narrative in those early volumes.

Another connection this series has with xxxHolic is the primary message being aimed at its protagonist by those who love him—Hokuto and (interestingly) Seishirō in the case of Tokyo Babylon and Yūko and Dōmeki in xxxHolic—that lesson being that it’s ultimately selfish and perhaps even hurtful to devalue and thoughtlessly sacrifice oneself for the sake of others. Ironically, it’s Seishirō who says this outright in Tokyo Babylon, after sacrificing his eye to save Subaru (whom he actually does not love at all), and given that irony, perhaps it’s fitting and meaningful somehow that, unlike Watanuki, Subaru never really gets the message.

DANIELLE: I must pause here to mention that Watanuki is my favorite CLAMP character of all time. Dōmeki is probably my second favorite.

Okay, here’s a question that’s been on my mind—do we really think Seishirō does not care for Subaru at all? And by “care” I mean have some interest in Subaru in his own evil, twisted fashion and not…you know. Anything resembling traditional human affection. Why in the world would he go so far in order to keep his original “bet” (that, honestly, he made with himself, not even with Subaru). Or am I letting knowledge of X/1999 cloud my reading of the prequel?

MICHELLE: “Care” has so many connotations of loving kindness, that it’s hard for me to even use the word in this context. I think Seishirō delights in tormenting Subaru, and that Subaru is his favorite plaything. So he’s not utterly unconcerned with him, by any stretch of the imagination. It still really bothers me that we don’t learn what he said to Subaru in X, and I’m not sure CLAMP ever intended to tell us, even before the series went on hiatus.

MJ: I think that’s a really fair question, Danielle, and seriously I just don’t even know. I don’t know how much we can trust everything that Seishirō says to Subaru at the end of the series. He claims to feel nothing at all for Subaru and to perceive no difference between him and a common household object, but then you’re right… what the hell? Why bother with the “bet” in the first place? Why didn’t he just kill Subaru the first time they met? And even if you (or we) are letting our knowledge of X get into the middle of this, I think that’s fair, since it is a canon continuation of this storyline.

I feel like… he’s lying. Or perhaps he doesn’t even quite realize that he’s lying, since he’s completely inexperienced when it comes to human emotion.

Also, I agree, Michelle. I really wish we knew what he said to Subaru at the end of their arc in X. It will haunt me forever, as these things do.

DANIELLE: CLAMP really loves to play with shadow selves and mirroring and Tokyo Bablyon is just *bursting* with mirroring imagery, particularly with Seishirō. Everything about his representation points to the existence of the dark identity he’s skillfully hiding (i.e. part of the foreshadowing we discussed earlier). But we never get a hint that the surface self he presents is bleeding into the hidden self. I think I would understand that character a bit more if we saw any tension or conflict in how he perceives and understands his own actions. But we never see that happen. At least in this series.

MICHELLE: Oh, now you’re making me think of a character in Cardcaptor Sakura, but I’m not sure how much I should say without knowing where certain reveals transpire or where MJ is with the series!

MJ: I’ve read all of Cardcaptor Sakura, so you’re good to go.

MICHELLE: Oh, good! I was going to mention the dual identities of Yukito and Yue. Granted, Yue is not evil, but he is rather cold and unemotive, but has been hiding himself in the body of open and friendly Yukito for so long that some of Yukito’s feelings have begun to rub off on him, particularly as regards Tōya. And that’s something that doesn’t seem to have happened with Seishirō, who is able to just manipulate the Sumeragi twins without apparent qualm.

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MJ: I was thinking about that, too, Michelle, even though Yukito/Yue is such a drastically different character than Seishirō. I have to admit, the way that character is handled is so much more in line with what I expect from a shoujo manga than what CLAMP does with Seishirō.

You know, Danielle, I actually think what you just said about Seishirō is one of the reasons Tokyo Babylon was so surprising to me the first time I read it. I was relatively new to reading manga at the time, and I’d read a lot of shounen manga and a lot of fairly uplifting shoujo, and one of the things that nearly always happens in those series, is that characters we initially perceive as villains will turn around and become very sympathetic characters, by way of backstory or some other kind of revelation later on. The message driven home by that trope is that understanding is the key to learning to love someone, or perhaps that anyone can be granted salvation (of a sort) by way of understanding. These series are careful to always give us something to latch on to—to help us understand even the most seemingly depraved characters before the end.

Tokyo Babylon rips that trope to shreds by giving us nothing of the sort. Not only does the series end with unrepentant tragedy and despair, but there’s absolutely no sense that we should understand why it had to happen. There’s no redemption for Seishirō, because there’s not even the slightest hint of humanity for which we might feel sympathy. Seishirō’s motivations are inscrutable, he makes horrible things happen, and there is no understanding it (nor certainly any fixing it). The message of Tokyo Babylon is that sometimes people are just horrible, goodness does not always win, and our weaknesses may very well be exploited without any chance at all for us to learn from them. It’s a bleak, bleak message that I never expected to find in a shoujo manga series, and it left me absolutely wrecked as I finished it.

Of course, this was also kind of awesome.

So, I’ve talked a little here about my own personal response to Tokyo Babylon. I think you both know me well enough by now to know that it’s important to me to feel emotionally affected by a story, and I’m sure my strong emotional response to this series has a lot to do with why it’s such a favorite. Though it’s interesting to note that unlike so many favorite stories of mine, there isn’t a character I personally identify very deeply with—unlike, say, NANA, where I do find exactly that kind of touchstone in Nana Komatsu. I think I’m a more emotionally-driven reader than most, however, so I’d be curious to know what your own connections are with this series.

DANIELLE: I think my connection to this series is almost completely on the level of “that shit is entertaining.” Yes, I’m moved by what happens to Subaru and Hokuto but there’s also this *thrill* of reading a story where the creators aren’t afraid to just go for it. MJ, you’ve beautifully analyzed your expectations versus experience of the work, but man. All I can say is, that was a really *good time*—that reading this story was, in its own way, *fun.* The older I get the more I realize how rare it is to be able to say that about a piece of popular entertainment. Too often we see the flaws and the cracks and all the random authorship-by-committee stuff that gets thrown into mass culture to make it palatable for too large an audience.

Here all I see is CLAMP pulling a ripcord I didn’t even realize was there. So, yeah…I second MJ: It *is* kind of awesome.

MICHELLE: I feel similarly, Danielle, though for me there’s also a very powerful undercurrent of nostalgia, as Tokyo Babylon was one of the first manga series I ever heard about, and the first I was so excited to read that I bought the complete set in Japanese and scoured the internet for text translations.

But when I consider my response to the story itself, one of the things I’m most struck by is CLAMP’s chutzpah. I frequently wish that creators would be brave enough to go for the sad ending. It seems to me this doesn’t happen much anymore. Could this possibly be some Western influence creeping in? Now, granted, I’m not basing this on scholarly research or anything, but it seems to me that sad endings were more common in the past. Now even CLAMP seems to shy away from them—please note I say this without having read the endings of Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC, so please don’t spoil me!—if the way they handled Kobato. is any indication. There was the potential there for a bittersweet ending that would retroactively have cast the entire series in a more positive light for me, but they didn’t commit to it.

So while I lament that there aren’t more of these wonderfully, awesomely sad shoujo classics, I am very grateful for the perfect examples of same that do exist. (Aside from Tokyo Babylon, I am counting Banana Fish among them.)

MJ: You’ve rounded things out so nicely here, both of you. Thank you! And many thanks to you both as well for indulging my desire to dwell on this dark little series that has been such an enduring favorite of mine.

As we wrap things up, I’d like to make make one very heartfelt plea: We know that Dark Horse has acquired the license to reprint Tokyo Babylon in omnibus format, though the timeline has stretched quite a ways beyond what was originally reported. We know these releases take time and work, but… might it be soon? Pretty please?

It’ll be so lovely, won’t it?

MICHELLE: Very lovely indeed.

To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to mj@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mjbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to MJ, along with any included images.