Michelle Smith

Bookshelf Briefs 1/30/12

January 30, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith, Katherine Dacey and Sean Gaffney 4 Comments

This week, MJ, Michelle, Kate, and Sean take a look at recent releases from Kodansha Comics, Vertical, Inc., and the Digital Manga Guild.

@Full Moon, Vol. 2 | By Sanami Matoh | Kodansha Comics – Published a full ten years later than Matoh’s supernatural gender-bender Until the Full Moon, @Full Moon continues the story of pretty-boy vampire David and his werewolf husband Marlo (who turns into a woman on the night of each full moon). Though the new series features updated character designs and an internet-savvy title, it’s interesting to note how little else has changed. The series’ primary conflict still revolves around hapless romantic rivals attempting to break up the story’s main couple using revolutionary tactics like kidnapping. And though Matoh’s storytelling is more grounded than it was in 1998, there’s nothing unique enough to warrant more than a surface read. For readers like me, for whom the only draw of the original was Matoh’s gorgeous, retro artwork, I’d recommend passing on the cyber-age remake, though I must award a few points for sleeves. Not worth it for the lulz alone. – MJ

Air Gear, Vol. 21 | By Oh!Great | Kodansha Comics – After slogging through the “Full Contact” edition of Tenjo Tenge, I had a strong suspicion that Air Gear wouldn’t be my cup of tea. Reading volume 21 didn’t do much to change my opinion of Oh!Great as a storyteller — he vacillates between dopey harem comedy and ultra-violent nonsense with whiplash-inducing frequency — but it did convince me that his artistry has improved dramatically since TenTen. I was genuinely impressed by his slick, sexy character designs, elegantly choreographed fight scenes, and bad-ass monsters, even if the plot didn’t make much sense. I can’t say I enjoyed Air Gear, exactly, but I finished the volume with a grudging respect for Oh!Great’s ability to draw cool stuff. – Katherine Dacey

Cage of Eden, Vol. 3 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – Cage of Eden is the manga equivalent of a frenemy. Sometimes it’s fun: Yoshinobu Yamada shamelessly borrows plot points from Lord of the Flies, Lost, and I Know What You Did Last Summer, creating an entertaining pastiche of chase scenes, monster fights, and teenage tribunals. Sometimes it’s a drag, however: Yamada seems to enjoy humiliating his female characters, who are groped and ogled at every turn. Only a third-act plot twist prevented me from throwing in the towel with Eden; it’s the kind of game-changing revelation that has the potential to move the story in an intriguing new direction, and make me (temporarily) forgive Yamada for his lousy treatment of Rion and Kanako. – Katherine Dacey

Full Bloom, Vol. 1 | Story by Rio, Manga by Saori Mieno | Digital Manga Guild – In this 13+ offering from the Digital Manga Guild, we meet Masaki Shiina, a princely karate expert who is holding a torch for Nagi, the girl who disappeared three years ago right after Shiina confessed his feelings for her. When she and her twin brother—who also goes by “Nagi”—transfer to Shiina’s school, he is thrilled to see her again (despite her initially frosty reception) but also confused by the appeal of her equally lovely brother. As the volume progresses, we learn a few of the twins’ secrets—with the suggestion of more to come—and that Nagi may really like Shiina after all. This might sound confusing and/or dull, but Mieno’s languid execution of the story promotes a mysterious atmosphere. True, Shiina’s not the most fascinating character around, but overall, the romantic triangle is shaping up to be more interesting than such things generally are. I’m looking forward to volume two! – Michelle Smith

Monster Hunter Orage, Vol. 3 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – The third volume of Monster Hunter Orage succeeds largely on the strength of Hiro Mashima’s wonderful cartooning. Watching Ailee and Sakya’s faces register amusement, irritation, bewilderment, and awe is a fine spectator sport; one could almost dispense with the dialogue in this goofy, somewhat aimless series, given how marvelously plastic the character designs are. Mashima also knows how to inject humor and suspense into the series’ rigid formula of track-fight-kill, whether he’s pitting the gang against a ferocious tundra jaguar or a herd of ‘tudinous lizards. The result is like a decent sitcom: it doesn’t push any creative boundaries, but offers a familiar and pleasing menu of laughs, conflicts, and big, toothy predators. – Katherine Dacey

The Song of Rainfall | By Nawo Inoue | Digital Manga Guild – I gotta admit, it was the cover that drew me to this one. No matter what it was about, I had to read it. As it turns out, this is a collection of stories about three couples. In “The Man Wearing One Sock,” Itou’s lousy luck begins to change when adorable Aoi moves in next door. “In First Love’s Midst” is a relatively insubstantial piece about a boy named Shin and the childhood caretaker he has come to love. The title story, about a reserved professor and the stranger he invites in from the rain on account of a resemblance to his first love, is the longest, but though it’s enjoyable, it lacks a certain emotional punch. That said, I like the way Inoue draws her characters, and would definitely read something else by her in future. – Michelle Smith

Twin Spica, Vol. 11 | By Kou Yaginuma | Vertical – Much of the first half of this volume deals with the fallout from last volume’s cliffhanger, and it’s handled perfectly, being achingly sad without quite getting overly sentimental. And it’s telling that it has a flashback to the five protagonists reiterating their dream to go to space together. This series balances those dreams with pragmatism, and while we want them all to succeed, intellectually we know by the end of the series, only Asumi’s going to be there. So we continue the ‘culling’ as it were – though I was pleased to see Marika’s story did not go the dark and downbeat way I thought it would – and come ever closer to the day when we know Mr. Lion is going to leave for good. Well-written stuff, though the end of this volume, coming so soon after the last one, does ring a bit false in terms of cliffhanger-ness. I’m not quite buying it. But this only detracts a little from a great series in its penultimate volume.-Sean Gaffney

Dawn of the Arcana, Vols. 1-2

January 29, 2012 by Michelle Smith

By Rei Toma | Published by VIZ Media

In premise, Dawn of Arcana sounds like fairly generic shoujo fantasy. Princess Nakaba of Senan is married to Prince Caesar of Belquat in an arrangement ostensibly meant to ensure peace between their warring kingdoms, but which nobody expects to do so for long. Nakaba is resigned to her fate, but not without backbone, while Caesar is arrogant and entitled and makes remarks like, “Make no mistake. You are my property.” It’s pretty obvious they will fall for each other soon.

Accompanying Nakaba is her demi-human attendant, Loki, who belongs to an enslaved race possessed of heightened strength and senses. He’s been by Nakaba’s side ever since the village in which she lived was attacked by Belquat soldiers—evidently, her mother (also a princess) eloped with a member of a race possessed of precognitive powers, which Belquat was attempting to wipe out and of which Nakaba is now the only survivor—and so she feels much love and gratitude for him.

The first volume mainly focuses on Nakaba’s attempts to fit in around the enemy castle. In Senan and Belquat, only royalty have black hair, so the fact that hers is red has always prompted sneers, curiosity, and contempt, so the reaction would be the same no matter where she resided. Gradually, she gets to know Caesar a little better, and we see that his main problems are youth and actually buying into the “it’s your right” lectures that his mother has been subjecting him to since childhood. Here’s a great sample exchange between them:

Caesar: (After planting a smooch on Nakaba.) I’m a prince, and this is my kingdom. If I want something, I take it.

Nakaba: You may be a prince, but there are some things you’ll never have. Allow me to be the first.

Nakaba actually trusts him to keep his word when he promises to help Loki get out of trouble at one point, and expresses faith in his abilities to succeed in the very endeavors which his mother discouraged him from even trying. In return, he somewhat awkwardly tries to make her happy by bestowing lavish gifts upon her, and learns that a simple thing like caring for a wounded bird does the job better than fancy dresses. It’s certainly nothing new for a surly hero to be thus tamed by a spunky heroine, but I like the development all the same.

And speaking of development, volume two is a lot more interesting than the first. While someone plots to poison Caesar—and attempts to frame Nakaba for the deed—tension is brewing between Nakaba’s husband and her attendant. Loki intervenes to save Caesar from the would-be assassin, but admits that this is only to earn his trust. “I do want him dead… Have you forgotten? They are the enemy.” For too long, Loki’s people have been kept down, and he is now plotting rebellion. “You must not let him into your heart,” he warns, knowing that Caesar must eventually be his target, but though Nakaba attempts to comply, out of loyalty to Loki, she’s ultimately unable to do so.

Despite the fact that Nakaba falling for Caesar is predictable, I still like them together—how she improves him, and how he manages to make her feel safe yet simultaneously guilty—and I really like that she’s torn between these two guys, but not exactly in a romantic sense. Even while her feelings for Caesar are growing, she’s aware of the possibility that she’ll end up betraying him for Loki’s sake. Personally, I’m betting on Caesar becoming aware of the atrocities committed by his father and joining Loki’s cause—there have been some hints in this direction already—but the angst will be fun in the meantime.

Ultimately, this is a solidly good series. It’s not great yet, but it’s also far from bad.

Dawn of the Arcana is published in English by VIZ Media. Volume one is out now and volume two will officially be released on February 7, 2012. The series is ongoing in Japan, where the ninth volume has just come out.

Review copies provided by the publisher.

Off the Shelf: No Longer Human

January 27, 2012 by MJ and Michelle Smith 10 Comments

MICHELLE: This month’s Manga Moveable Feast, currently in progress, is devoted to the works of Usamaru Furuya, prompting MJand me to devote this week’s column to the most recent of his series to see publication in English, No Longer Human.

Based on a book by Osamu Dazai that’s described as “a decadent novelist’s autobiographical masterpiece,” No Longer Human depicts the story of Yozo Oba, a young man with no comprehension of what it feels like or how to be an ordinary person. We first meet him as a high school student, where he has learned that being the class clown is the one thing that enables him to connect to his classmates.

Soon he falls in with a group of misfits plotting political rebellion, but he’s more comforted by being among outsiders than he is honestly devoted to their cause. There, he meets the first of several women who will be drawn to him and agree to feed and care for him. This becomes his pattern in life. By the middle of the second volume, he’s twenty and living with a much older woman while drawing a gag manga and helping out at the bar she owns. He realizes that he’s “a genius parasite on women,” but sees that as his only option left to survive.

MJ: As in most “decadent masterpieces,” Oba’s excesses drive him deeper and deeper into tragedy, as he drinks and sleeps his way from one safe haven to another, usually leaving the women who care for him in significantly worse condition than he found them (and in one case, even dead). The narrative lets us know that things are only going to continue to get worse, yet it’s impossible to look away.

Though there have since been at least two other graphic novel adaptations of Dazai’s original, where Furuya goes very much right, in my opinion, is in his decision to move the pre-WWII story into the present, which I think is at least partially responsible for his ability to present such a self-indulgent tragedy in a way that makes it genuinely readable. I realize the original is a classic, but I feel like the novel might suffer more from a contemporary reading than Furuya’s adaptation does.

(click images to enlarge)

Note: No Longer Human reads from left-to-right

MICHELLE: I was surprised by just how readable it was, actually. Just looking at the plot, you’d expect it to be depressing, but it’s so skillfully done that I enjoyed it very much! But yes, you’re absolutely right that updating the story was a smart choice, especially as it enabled a bit of self-insertion on Furuya’s part. Ordinarily, I’m kind of annoyed when mangaka break the fourth wall—particularly if they do so in a silly way—but here, Furuya’s interludes of discovering and being transfixed by Oba’s story are absolutely essential in setting the mood. We feel like he’s captivated right along with us.

MJ: Yes, he’s sort of sharing it with us like a guilty pleasure, and it really works as one. I think the story benefits greatly from being presented as an outrageous internet diary that’s impossible to stop reading. There’s something about this story that makes me feel like I’ve stayed up all night reading, strung out on caffeine and cheese puffs, and, frankly, that really suits it. I kind of wish I’d read it like that for real, actually.

Talking about it like this, it would be easy to gloss over Furuya’s artistry, though, which is put to pretty spectacular use in this series, wouldn’t you agree?

MICHELLE: I can imagine the back cover blurb now. “It had me craving cheese puffs.” – MJ, Manga Bookshelf

As for Furuya’s artistry, I whole-heartedly agree. His talent was on prodigious display in Genkaku Picasso, the only other series of his that I’ve read, but it really suits a darker story like this one.

I was particularly struck by the depictions of Oba as a marionette controlled by his father’s money and/or putting on a show for his peers. It’s such a vivid symbol of someone going through the motions of trying to be normal! And even though Furuya occasionally uses some symbolism that might seem overly obvious—like the surfeit of bugs lurking beneath the petals of the flowers Oba admires with his fiancée (we must return to this point)—it’s done with such finesse that it doesn’t seem trite.

MJ: My previous experience with Furuya has consisted only of Lychee Light Club, which I found visually striking on a nearly theatrical level, but juvenile and kind of emotionally empty. It’s nice to see his gifts utilized so differently here. There was a lot of sexually-charged violence in Lychee Light Club, and certainly there’s no lack of sexual themes in No Longer Human, but it’s approached so differently… it really feels like a much more mature work.

MICHELLE: I did wonder how this compared to Lychee, which I still need to read.

I wanted to ask… did you find the sexual content as supremely unsexy as I did? Beyond not being idealized at all, there are some closeups of things like twirling tongues that look downright disgusting, almost like something drawn by Junji Ito! I wonder if this is Furuya’s way of depicting the impure motives of Oba in these situations. It would be completely out of place to portray what he’s doing as titillating, let alone dreamy.

MJ: I don’t know if I’d say that I found it supremely unsexy, but it definitely does not read as something that’s supposed to be titillating. It’s interesting, too, even though the character confesses early on that his frequent, semi-anonymous sexual encounters are the only things that make him feel good (“When I’m here seems like the only time the smile on my face in genuine”), from the reader’s perspective, he seems just as detached during those trysts as he is the rest of the time. I almost feel like he’s fooling himself when he says that, and that this is reflected in Furuya’s artwork.

MICHELLE: There’s definitely a lot of emphasis on what makes Oba comfortable in a relationship. With the ladies in the “massage parlors,” it’s because he doesn’t have to use any subterfuge. With the members of the political group, it’s because everyone is a misfit in some way. And the two loving/honestly affectionate relationships he has are with women who exhibit a sort of elegant melancholy. Outsiders themselves, in a way.

But speaking of fooling himself, what on earth is going on with the abrupt change in the end of volume two?! Oba has maintained all along that he has no interest in and cannot fathom embarking upon ordinary relationships, and yet here he is, falling in love with and ultimately proposing to a virginal girl who works in a smoke shop. I’m sure he’s got an idealized version of her, but man, I just wanted to shake her and go, “Yoshino, no!” That poor girl is in for a very rude awakening. What will be her price for associating with Oba?

MJ: Yes, disaster is clearly just around the corner, in the same sure way as you’d expect in, say, a Dickens novel. Yoshino is doomed just as it seems Oba is truly doomed, and nobody’s even trying to hide it. Furuya makes the most of this, too. I’m glad you mentioned that last page in the volume, with a swarm of insects seemingly prepared to devour a flower. It’s a melodramatic image, I suppose, but so perfect for the tone of the story.

MICHELLE: Exactly! He just seems so much like a different person here from his behavior, which is emphasized by the drastic haircut Furuya has given him. It really comes out of nowhere, narratively speaking, but I have faith that Furuya is going to make it all make sense in the end. I suppose it helps knowing that, theoretically, all of this did happen to the same protagonist in the original novel (and in the life that it’s based upon?).

MJ: Well, I don’t know if I’d say he feels like a different person, but definitely a different version of a person who keeps reinventing himself over and over, in order to survive. Or perhaps I should say, “in order to survive without having to ever put himself out or curb his own desires,” because really, that’s what his survival is about. So here he is, seemingly falling in love for real for the first time ever, yet in a way, what I see is a guy who has finally figured out how to reinvent himself on the inside–enough to fool even himself. And really, that can’t go well.

MICHELLE: Maybe it’s all the drinking he’s doing that’s enabling him to fool himself to such an extent, to actually believe in one of these personas he’s crafted for himself. And I think there’s a line in there, too, about how living with Mama (do we ever learn her real name?) is so peaceful and great that he starts to believe that all the world is the same. But ultimately, he’s still pursuing the kind of parasite arrangement that’s been sustaining him the past few years, but viewing it through the illusion of love.

MJ: And in a way, maybe that’s the only direction he could really go at this point. After having finally become too disgusted even with himself in his usual arrangements, he’s gotten by with Mama (no, I don’t think we know her real name) because she lets him off the hook so completely. He’s able to be a child, a lover, an employee, whatever, but ultimately she’s just letting him play at those roles without expecting him to be any of them.

He can’t go back to what he was exactly, so what else would he do but move on to something he could play at wholeheartedly with someone who is unlikely to notice? Yoshino’s lack of experience makes her the perfect fit for this phase, because she won’t burst his bubble, at least not for a while.

MICHELLE: And I’m sure she’ll temporarily inspire him to clean up his act—stop drinking, stop blowing the income he makes from his manga—but it just can’t last long. And maybe one could look at that like a good thing, but I kind of hate him for inflicting himself on her. It’s like, what he sees as the best thing that’s ever happened to him, I see as the worst thing he’s ever done.

MJ: Yeah, I agree. Not that the other women have deserved him or anything, but to some extent they’ve enabled him by giving in to their own issues and insecurities. They’ve knowingly let him manipulate them (even if they hid it from themselves as best they could), but Yoshina isn’t worldly enough to grasp what’s happening or what kind of guy he is. And on some level, he knows that, and is taking advantage of it.

I feel almost cruel, not giving him any benefit of the doubt here, but the guy hasn’t given me anything else to work with!

MICHELLE: Whereas I don’t feel cruel at all! He’s been very frank about his own shortcomings and survival tactics throughout.

I rather wish I knew more about the source material or the other adaptations, so as to pinpoint which elements have been introduced by or presented best by Furuya, but on the other hand, I don’t want to muddy my mind with other versions of the story when I like this one so much.

MJ: I admit I suspect I wouldn’t have much patience for the novel at this point in my life. There was a time when I really loved self-indulgent tragedy, but those days are long past. I think Furuya’s wry adaptation may be exactly the thing for me now, and I feel content to leave it at that, at least for the moment. Perhaps I’ll change my mind after I’ve read the end. I’m pretty anxious to read volume three at this point.

MICHELLE: So am I! And I think I’m going to go back and read Lychee soon, too. I was unsure about it, but now I feel confident I could admire it, even if it doesn’t reach the heights of No Longer Human. Too bad CMX folded before they could release any of 51 Ways to Save Her.

MJ: I’m regretful about that now, too. Let’s hope someone else picks it up soon!

For more Furuya talk, be sure to check out this month’s Manga Moveable Feast, hosted by Ash Brown at Experiments in Manga.

Unbelievable by Sara Shepard

January 26, 2012 by Michelle Smith

From the front flap:
Behind Rosewood’s grand façades, where the air smells like apples and Chanel No. 5 and infinity pools sparkle in landscaped backyards, nothing is as it seems. It was here, back in seventh grade, that five best friends shared everything—Seven jeans, MAC makeup, and their deepest, darkest secrets.

Now someone named A has turned their charmed lives into a living nightmare. Emily has been shipped off to her hyper-conservative cousins in Iowa. Aria is stuck living with her dad and his home-wrecker girlfriend. And Spencer fears she had something to do with Alison’s murder. But Hanna’s fate is worse than all of that—she’s clinging to life in the hospital because she knew too much.

With A’s threats turning dangerous and Ali’s killer still on the loose, the girls must uncover the truth—about A, about Ali, and about what happened to Hanna—before they become A’s next victims. But as they unravel Rosewood’s mysteries and secrets, will it bring an end to the horror… or is this just the beginning?

Review:
I find it hard to know where to start in reviewing Unbelievable without it becoming simply a reiteration of all the plot craziness that ensues. I’ll try to keep it to a minimum, at least.

We begin with all four girls in unfamiliar environments. Emily has been shipped off to Iowa to live with uber-strict relatives on account of continued gayness, Aria is living with her father and his girlfriend after having exhausted all other options, Spencer has been been whisked off to New Jersey by her parents in an attempt to repair her relationship with her sister, and Hanna is in a coma in the hospital, after being hit by a car. Plus, “A” is still sending them creepy messages and Ali’s killer remains on the loose.

I believe this was originally planned as the end of the series, but I’m not sure, since the last few pages suggest that a new “A” will come to town and there were also some unresolved hints about weird issues in Ali’s home life. Anyway, we do conclusively learn who A is (sadly, I had spoiled myself on this point) and are lead to believe that we learn who killed Ali, though that is not nearly as certain. Various repressed memories return in dramatic fashion. In addition, issues plaguing the various girls in their home lives get resolved—and I do appreciate how much of their drama this time is familial rather than romantic—and they sometimes even do reasonable things! (Though mostly they continue to do stupid things.)

I can’t really in good conscience recommend this series to others, but I will say that I have fun with it. This time, I checked out the unabridged audio edition narrated by Cassandra Morris. My first reaction was “This narrator sounds about nine!” but I did eventually get used to the pitch of her voice. What I never could accustom myself to, however, was her inability to pronounce the letter “t” when it appears in the middle of a word. Windows are hung with “cur-ans,” characters are suddenly “fry-end”… It’s very annoying!

In any case, I am totally going to keep reading. The fifth book in the series is called Wicked—and I have just boggled at its blurb, which mentions Emily having a boyfriend—but I am first going to read the newly released Pretty Little Secrets, which is set in the winter break between books four and five. I hope it’s not as insubstantial as the interstitial Princess Diaries books proved to be, but we shall see!

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 1

January 24, 2012 by Michelle Smith

By Miyoshi Tomori | Published by VIZ Media

The back cover blurb of A Devil and Her Love Song contains the following lines: “Meet Maria Kawai—she’s gorgeous and whip-smart, a girl who seems to have it all. But when she unleashes her sharp tongue, it’s no wonder some consider her to be the very devil!”

And in my mind, this built up the expectation for a comedy, but that’s not what A Devil and Her Love Song is at all. It’s much more serious and sad than I had anticipated, but if I had done my research beforehand and realized that it originally ran in Margaret, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Beautiful Maria Kawai has been expelled from her prestigious Catholic school, St. Katria’s, and must now enroll in a new school. She carries a lot of mental baggage from her experiences at St. Katria’s, most notably the fact that someone she regarded as her best friend told her “You taint everyone around you.” And, as if to lend credence to these words, Maria stirs up hostilities amongst her classmates almost immediately. The problem is that she’s so perceptive, and so blunt in her delivery, that she points out personality attributes that her classmates would rather not acknowledge, like the fact that they’ve been gossiping about her prior to her arrival, or that one boy is pushing himself to be liked by all even though he is not naturally a people person. Over the first week of school, matters escalate to the point where Maria is shoved down a flight of stairs and a truly odious teacher is telling her she’s “rotten to the core.”

And yet, there are certain lessons from her St. Katria’s days that serve Maria well in tough moments, like “those who believe will be saved,” which provides her encouragement to get through bullying encounters with a group of Mean Girls in her class. But she’s not taking solace from a religious implication of these words; instead, she seems to feel that if she believes in people’s good intentions, has faith that one day they will accept her, that this will actually come to pass. And so, even though she knows the girls have it in for her, she puts herself in the path of their harassment in the hopes that one day, she’ll win them over. As I said, it’s really rather sad and makes her far more sympathetic than I ever expected a sharp-tongued heroine to be.

I regret to admit I made another snap judgment of the series based on the chapter one title page, which depicts Maria and a couple of boys, one a cheerful blond and the other a surly-looking brunette. I assumed these would be her stereotypical shoujo love interests, but though both boys are definitely interested in her, they are far more complicated individuals than I had assumed they would be. The brunette, Shin, is grumpy, rebellious, and not really friendly with the rest of the class, but has a kind heart. It unsettles him that Maria can so clearly see through him, and he’s terrified of what would happen if she could discern what he’s feeling about her, but he still comes through with her when no one else will. There’s one especially nice scene where she’s so happy and scared by his kindness that she can’t even find the words to explain, so she sings instead.

On the other hand, you have Yusuke, who is trying so hard to be everyone’s friend that he’s actually no one’s real friend at all. His philosophy is the “lovely spin,” which is a survival mechanism he tries to impart upon Maria with little success. Turn everything into something palatable and nice, even if you’re being untrue to yourself, is the basic gist. It’s probably good for her to master this subterfuge, to avoid further confrontations and to effect the personal change she seeks, but why is he doing it? Just as he helps her master the art of diplomacy, one wonders whether she will help him drop the charade.

I mean no slight to shoujo comedies when I say that A Devil and Her Love Song is much better, richer and more deep, than I anticipated. To say that I am looking forward to reading the rest of this story would be a gross understatement.

A Devil and Her Love Song is published in English by VIZ Media. The first volume will officially be released on February 7, 2012. The series is complete in Japan with thirteen volumes.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Pick of the Week: Expect the Unexpected

January 23, 2012 by Katherine Dacey, Michelle Smith, Brigid Alverson, Sean Gaffney and MJ 6 Comments

There’s plenty of good manga coming in to Midtown Comics this week. Check out picks from the Battle Robot below!

KATE: I think I was the only person in the mangasphere who liked Nao Yazawa’s Moon and Blood, so I was happy to see the second volume on Midtown Comics’ shipping list this week. What charmed me the most about this jokey horror-romance was its retro vibe: Yazawa’s characters seem to have stepped out of a shojo manga from the late 1980s/early 1990s. There’s an imperious, handsome boy who’s an ace at everything (and looks like the lead in Itazura na Kiss); a ditzy but energetic heroine with long, curly hair; a dumb but kind thug who’s loved the heroine since childhood; and a child-vampire who looks like a refugee from an early Rumiko Takahashi story. The script won’t win any prizes for originality, but it’s brisk, funny, and — most importantly — never takes itself too seriously. For folks who have OD’ed on angstful horror-romances — and I count myself among that number — Moon and Blood is a great palate cleanser.

MICHELLE: There’s actually quite a bit on this list that I can see myself picking up at some point in time. Perhaps the most obvious pick is the third volume of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, but I think I’ll choose volume six of Arisa this time, for a little variety. Even though I’m not entirely convinced that mangaka Natsumi Ando knows where her story is going, it is nevertheless the fast-paced and suspenseful tale of a girl masquerading as her twin sister to find out what made her attempt suicide. I don’t know a lot about Nakayoshi, the magazine in which this is serialized, but it’s darker fare than I’d generally expect to find there, all while looking as stereotypically shoujo as can be. An interesting mix, to be sure!

BRIGID: I’m going to go with Michelle’s choice and pick up vol. 6 of Arisa. I find Natusme Ando’s manga strangely addictive, despite her wholesale embrace of shoujo manga cliches. I think it’s because she throws in a twist now and then to keep me guessing. I’m really enjoying Arisa, even more than Kitchen Princess, so this week’s choice is an easy one for me.

SEAN: It’s tough for me as well, as this week features volumes of two of the most essential shoujo series available in English. Tempted as I am to pick Sailor Moon – which is awesome – I’m going to make my pick the third omnibus of Cardcaptor Sakura. Back in the days when CLAMP didn’t need to confuse its audience, this is still one of their best and most heartfelt series, and Sakura is still one of the quintessential shoujo heroines. This omnibus begins the second half of the series, where the reader wonders where the manga can go now that she’s collected all the cards (answer: quite a long way), and also begins to move forward her cute romance with Syaoran. Great stuff, and Dark Horse’s package is wonderful.

MJ: It’s not too often that I choose a BL title for this column, but I admit I’m pretty psyched to see the second volume of Kai Asou’s Only Serious About You finally making its way to Midtown Comics. I enjoyed volume one immensely, and I’ve been eagerly anticipating its continuation. Good romance is so difficult to write, and in a genre where shoddy writing is so widely-tolerated, it’s no wonder few writers really make the effort. Fortunately, Asou is one of the few. She’s the kind of skilled writer who is able to make standard genre tropes feel fresh again, and perhaps even reminds us why they became”standard” to begin with. Though this was officially released in December, Midtown and I are equally behind the times, as I hadn’t realized it was already available. It’s just become this week’s must-buy manga! My only regret is that it isn’t yet available by way of DMP’s iPad app.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 1/23/12

January 23, 2012 by Katherine Dacey, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

This week, Kate, Michelle, & Sean look at new releases from Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, and Yen Press.

Animal Land, Vol. 3 | By Makoto Raiku | Kodansha Comics – What a difference a volume makes! Now that Taroza can walk, talk, and kick butt, Animal Land has taken a turn for the better. The action sequences are imaginatively staged, allowing Taroza to display a wider range of abilities and fight more formidable opponents. Volume three is also noteworthy for the introduction of the series’ second human character, a feisty blond girl who’s allied herself with a pride of hungry lions. While the interactions between her and Taroza are predictable (Capri is puzzled by her attraction to Taroza), Makoto Raiku manages to eke some fresh laughs out of their awkward courtship. A good choice for the middle-school crowd, in spite of the 13+ rating. – Katherine Dacey

Bokurano: Ours, Vol. 5 | By Mohiro Kitoh | Viz Media – I hadn’t originally planned on reading this right away, figuring it might be nice to have several volumes of this series to consume sequentially. But then I read that there’s a major revelation in this volume, and I just couldn’t resist. Actually, for a series about children who are conscripted into piloting a giant mecha with their life force, this is what passes for an upbeat volume, in that one boy successfully completes his mission then donates his heart to a very ill friend and one of the girls is able to catch a glimpse of her newborn baby brother before passing away. I thought the “major revelation” was telegraphed a bit too strongly beforehand, so it wasn’t as shocking as it could’ve been, but it’s certainly an intriguing twist. Kitoh’s sketchy, minimalist, and distinctive art style is growing on me, as well. Definitely still recommended. – Michelle Smith

Gon, Vol. 3 | By Masashi Tanaka | Kodansha Comics – If you dutifully purchased all seven volumes of Gon in late 2000s, fear not: the new Kodansha version is nearly identical to the old CMX Manga edition, save for the trade dress. If you missed out on Gon, however, now is a perfect time to explore this delightful series. As you’ve probably heard, Gon features a small orange t-rex who has a ten-year-old boy’s penchant for causing mischief. In volume three, for example, Gon floats down the Amazon, accidentally ingests some hallucinogenic mushrooms, and goes mano-a-mano with a tiger. All of Gon’s escapades are rendered in breathtaking detail; Masashi Tanaka’s linework is impeccable, capable of suggesting the texture of a reptile’s skin or a pine tree’s bark. Tanaka also has great comic chops; only Chuck Jones is his peer when it comes to drawing funny animals. Highly recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Kimi Ni Todoke, Vol. 12 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media. – We continue to focus on Sawako and Kazehaya’s new relationship, and how neither of them are quite sure what to do now. Sure, they’re dating and all, but how do two basically shy people go about holding hands, or even *gulp* kissing? To add to Kazehaya’s nervousness, Sawako’s parents now know they’re together. Luckily Kazehaya is a sweetie pie – indeed, her father is irritated that he can’t forbid Sawako to date him as he’s basically swell. There’s also a fantastic chapter showing how Chizu and Ayane met – Chizu, who always speaks before she thinks, makes a wonderful contrast to Ayane’s calculated speech and cognizance of the way others think. One could argue very little really happens in this volume, but who cares? Still fantastic.-Sean Gaffney

Pandora Hearts, Vol. 8 | By Jun Mochizuki | Yen Press – As we approach a volume count in the double digits, we’re starting to get plenty of information about the past, including some significant revelations about Alice. My reactions to this material can best be summed up by one of the characters, who says, “Hrm… ‘twould all seem to make sense, but not quite.” Here’s another applicable quote: “It’s been one crazy story after another, so my head’s still working on catching up.” After demonstrating some sympathy for her readers with this dialogue, Mochizuki gets back to the present, sending Oz to a local festival while suggesting that Gilbert’s about to go all crazypants. Rounding out the volume is the original one-shot concept for the series which is, I am sorry to say, both confusing and dull, but offers some entertainment in the form of familiar characters in unfamiliar situations. – Michelle Smith

Psyren, Vol. 2 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | Viz Media. – I always find these mid-range Jump series difficult. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Psyren – the hero is fun in a Jump way, he contrasts nicely with his more competent friend, and the heroine is cute and more sensible than her other two friends. Still, there’s nothing here that demands I go out and get the next volume IMMEDIATELY, as I always feel with One Piece. It’s not a great series, it’s merely pretty good. Still, pretty good isn’t that bad. Matsuri is a fun addition to the cast, and there’s some great humor here with Ageha completely failing to use his psychic powers… then overdoing it when he finally gets it. The fighting scenes aren’t really as interesting yet, though. Given it’s a Jump manga, I hope that gets sorted out soon. Again, recommended if you like the Jump style.-Sean Gaffney

BL Bookrack: January 2012

January 22, 2012 by MJ and Michelle Smith 3 Comments

Welcome to 2012’s first installment of BL Bookrack! This month, MJand Michelle take a look at two offerings from the Digital Manga Guild, Love & Trap and My Sempai, as well as Men of Tattoos from Digital Manga Publishing’s Juné imprint.

Love & Trap| By Kotetsuko Yamamoto | Digital Manga Guild | Young Adult (16+) – High school student Mochida Masaki will do anything to keep himself safe from bullies, even if it means using his body to “trap” someone stronger or more powerful into becoming his protector. Having only ever used sex as a tool for persuasion, it’s a tremendous shock to Masaki when he finds himself experiencing real attraction to Aihara, the class loner whose family is rumored to be connected to the Yakuza. Are Masaki’s feelings real, or is he just gravitating towards his next target?

Building a romance manga around real societal or psychological issues is tricky business, especially when one of those issues is as serious as teen prostitution, which is essentially what Yamamoto attempts to tackle with Love & Trap. Regardless of the writer’s knowledge of the subject, it’s incredibly difficult to balance complex reality with the demands of the genre, without either trivializing the issue or doling it out with an insufferably heavy hand. This balance is even more challenging to achieve if one must do so over the course of a single volume (or less).

With all that in mind, it’s not surprising to note that Love & Trap leans towards the former. Despite the manga’s dramatic setup, Yamamoto quickly resolves issues that would take most therapists years to unravel, just in time to grant Masaki his genre-approved happy ending. She fares a little better with the book’s obligatory (unrelated) side-stories, “Love Blood,” a dreamy little tale of sexual awakening that reads like a light-BL letter to Penthouse Forum, and “We’re Blooming,” a breezy workplace love-triangle romance set in a florist’s shop.

Yamamato’s artwork is a highlight throughout, clean and expressive, with an almost-classic sensibility that reflects some impressive influences, including Moto Hagio, whose character “Jeremy” (from A Cruel God Reigns) was Yamamoto’s model for the lead in “Love Blood.” On the strength of this alone, I’d be interested in seeking out her other works. Fortunately, the DMG seems to have licensed quite a few, including Blooming Darling, a two-volume sequel to the charming “We’re Blooming.” Stay tuned!

– Review by MJ

Men of Tattoos | By Yuiji Aniya | Digital Manga Publishing | Mature (18+) – I have recognized in myself a fondness for yakuza-themed BL, so when Deb Aoki named Men of Tattoos her Best New Yaoi Manga of 2011 and described it as “strange, funny, heartbreaking and surreal,” I knew I had to read it for myself.

Deb was absolutely right in her description of the series. The first four stories feature yakuza and are interconnected in various unexpected ways. “My Katagi-kun” is the story of a pair of childhood friends who reconnect and become lovers, “Dog of the Ranunculus” is about a guy who’s relatively high up in the organization falling in love with the boss’s son, “Cinderella and the Mad Shark” is about getting revenge, and “Everyone’s Song” is about dreams that don’t come true. Probably the last one packs the biggest punch, but it needs the other three stories to put it into context.

Rounding out the collection are two stories about a pair of college students who keep having dreams about each other. It’s more interesting than it sounds—and fairly steamy besides—and functions like a mental palate cleanser, as it allows the book to actually end on a happy note.

Even if you’re not a particular fan of yakuza stories or of BL in general, I’d still recommend Men of Tattoos. Aniya does some clever things with storytelling that can be appreciated by any manga fan.

– Review by Michelle Smith

My Sempai | Hebiko Habuyama | Digital Manga Guild | Young Adult (16+) – In terms of premise, My Sempai doesn’t sound terribly unique. A fresh-faced teenager, Hajime Amemiya, is being hassled by some thugs when he is rescued by cool and intimidating Saburo Ninomiya, who turns out to be an upperclassman at Hajime’s school. Immediately, a comedic tone is set when Hajime proceeds to stalk Ninomiya, pouncing on him from time to time while absurdly declaring, “I am a love vulture!!” Saburo attempts to discourage his interest at first, but when faced when Hajime’s inextinguishable belief in his being a better person than rumors suggest, he relents.

The boys start spending time together on the weekends—seeing movies, playing video games—and gradually get closer. Saburo’s not a very communicative guy, so instead of volunteering information about himself, he tells Hajime that he can ask anything he likes. It’s tough for Hajime to do this, though, so he’s pretty uncertain about how Saburo feels about him, and also feels left out when one of Saburo’s obnoxious friends (my least favorite character by far) spills the beans about a post-graduation job offer in Okinawa. They do make a cute couple, though, so I enjoyed their interactions. In addition, the chaste, fade-to-black consummation of their relationship has to be one of the happiest-looking I’ve ever seen in BL.

Habuyama’s artwork takes a bit of getting used to, as screentone (and maybe everything else, who knows?) appears to be rendered by computer. Eventually, though, I discovered that her style is particularly suited for outdoor scenes, especially at night, and there were quite a few wide-shot panels with composition worth admiring. I’m always a sucker for drawings of buildings, and there’s a particular image of a dejected Hajime standing on Saburo’s shadowy front porch that I remember as especially striking.

While some elements of My Sempai are not exactly original, I still found it a pleasant and generally humorous read. Habuyama writes in her afterword, “All that matters is that you laughed and enjoyed yourself. I draw with that intention.” I did both, so I’d call that a success.

– Review by Michelle Smith

Review copies provided by the publisher.

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.

Tidbits: A Trio of Kodansha Shoujo

January 21, 2012 by Michelle Smith

I’m catching up on three of Kodansha’s currently running shoujo series, so I thought I’d group them all together here for a Tidbits post! First up are volumes four and five of Natsumi Ando’s suspenseful Arisa, followed by the second and final volume of Naoko Takeuchi’s Codename: Sailor V, with the second volume of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon bringing up the rear. Tidbit power, make up!

Arisa, Vols. 4-5 by Natsume Ando
Tsubasa Uehara continues to attend school in the guise of her sister, Arisa, as she endeavors to find the identity of the King who is fulfilling wishes from chosen students in dangerous ways. Her spirits flag when it seems she’s been unsuccessful in protecting the latest target, but when it turns out her efforts actually prevented the girl from sustaining permanent injury, her spirits rise. Alas, a friend’s betrayal is followed by an explanation of divided loyalties and the introduction of a pivotal new character with kind feelings towards Tsubasa but a burning hatred for Arisa.

So, there are several characters at this point who could be the King, but the strongest possibility seems to be Kudo, a transfer student who I had forgotten about entirely after reading volume three, so that tells you how memorable of a guy he is. Manabe doesn’t seem like the culprit, and neither does Arisa’s boyfriend, Midori, but it’s not out of the question. Mostly we see the King as a shadowy figure, grinning in a dastardly fashion as he does things like arrange for Tsubasa to fall off a cliff. (Side note: any time the female lead of a shoujo manga goes out into the woods at night, she is going to fall off a cliff. It’s, like, the law.) New character Shizuka seems like a potential candidate, until it’s revealed that the King is manipulating her into making wishes that will harm Arisa/Tsubasa.

All of this makes for a fast-paced and suspenseful read, but it does cause me to wonder whether Ando’s just making up all of this as she goes along. Does she really have a plan for who the King is, or is she keeping readers suspicious of everyone until inspired to take the story in a specific direction? I’m not exactly complaining—because, again, it is a fun read—but the lack of any kind of permanent gain is a little bit frustrating. I just hope there’s a satisfying and dramatic payoff in the end!

Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 2 by Naoko Takeuchi
It’s rather hard to like Minako for the majority of this volume, as several of the stories play up her shallow side. First she gets fat by eating too much evil chocolate, then she must contend with a trio of animal-themed siblings who unleash energy-sucking cats, dogs, and mosquitoes upon the populace. Minako slacks off frequently and makes various unkind comments to her long-suffering feline companion, Artemis. She also meets the latest idol sensation, handsome and mysterious Phantom Ace, and becomes one of his biggest fans.

There’s not really a whole lot to recommend these chapters except more of Sailor V’s amusing speeches, like this one, which occurs as she’s foiling the enemy’s scheme to collect energy via blood donation:

You have used clever words to abscond with a precious tribute of blood from weakened hospital patients! That is your crime!

And to add to it, you have sullied a woman’s simple joy of collecting stamps!

Worse, you forgot to give me my reward for donating blood to the tune of 800cc! And that crime is grave!

Luckily, though the premise of the final two chapters is just as silly as what’s come before—Minako is ordered to win the part of Ace’s leading lady in his latest project, filming in China, so that she can observe his potentially evil production company—it doesn’t preclude genuine dramatic impact. Though Minako entertains fantasies of marrying Ace and retiring, when he professes his to love her, she realizes that it’s not what she wants. She loves being Sailor V and, furthermore, remembers making a promise to protect an important person. Eventually, her memories fully awaken and her Sailor V costume is replaced by one matching the design of the other senshi. It’s kind of goosebump-inducing.

Though I’ve read this series before (with translations), I had completely forgotten that Ace had any connection at all to Minako’s past life, so was pleasantly surprised by that revelation as well as by this awesomely grim quote:

Your love will never be granted, for all eternity… Your love or your duty… now you can live the rest of your life never having to worry about the tortures of deciding between them. Your fate is to battle on. Because your true battle starts now.

How could I have forgotten that?! Minako is a girl who is always falling (if superficially) in love, so she can’t welcome this news, but neither does she shirk from her destiny. Ever irrepressible, she ends the series on an upbeat note, poised to show (if I recall rightly) greater maturity and determination when she joins the others in the main series.

Ultimately, Codename: Sailor V is worthwhile despite its flaws. We never learn what the enemy was hoping to achieve, nor the identity of “Boss” (though the second volume of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon provides some insight on the matter), but we do meet a special, spunky girl as she comes to accept her unique destiny, and that can never be a bad thing.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2 by Naoko Takeuchi
A lot happens in this volume, which I shall attempt to quickly summarize. When facing off against Zoisite, the girls are rescued by the timely arrival of Sailor Venus. Minako is now in her second year of middle school and comes across as very mature, competent, and serious about her duty. She’s been monitoring Usagi through the Sailor V game and has also been researching the enemy. She provides all sorts of information about the Dark Kingdom and also claims (well, Artemis claims) that she is Princess Serenity. Her proximity triggers some past-life memories in the others, as well.

However, Usagi starts having dreams that suggest that she was actually Serenity, and when Mamoru is injured protecting her from one of Kunzite’s attacks, one of her tears transforms into the Legendary Silver Crystal and her true identity is revealed. (The bit with Venus was evidently a ruse to direct enemy attacks onto a more experienced Guardian.) Mamoru is subsequently kidnapped by the Dark Kingdom and eventually used as Queen Beryl’s pawn, securing the crystal for her by volume’s end.

So, all of this is very dramatic and shoujo-tastic while it occurs and I honestly loved every minute of it. There are a couple of things that I found especially interesting, though. The first is how much information we get on the enemy compared to the dearth of intel provided in Codename: Sailor V. We see, for example, a flashback to the moment in which Beryl was “irresistibly drawn to” the North Pole, where she discovered the remains of the Dark Kingdom. This made me wonder… was Beryl reborn on Earth as a regular human, just like the Guardians? And did she waken to her past memories as the seal imprisoning Metalia faded?

We also learn a bit about the Four Kings of Heaven, who were generals to Endymion (Mamoru’s past identity) that were swayed into becoming Metalia’s devotees. I’m not exactly sure about this, but it seems as if their bodies had been converted into crystals and recently awakened into human form at Metalia’s whim, and that they can be revived as many times as necessary. Somehow this is sadder and more sympathetic than if they had just been some regular guys suddenly remembering their previous lives.

The second thing that struck me was how much certain elements of the story remind me of Please Save My Earth. Usagi and friends living on the moon in their past lives is the most obvious resemblance, but there’s also the fact that Usagi is troubled by questions of identity brought on by these recollections (“Am I becoming the princess? It’s like I’ve stopped being me…”) and that the residents of the Moon Kingdom were tasked with fondly watching over Earth and helping it to evolve in the best manner possible. They actually travel to the moon to listen to a computerized incarnation of Queen Serenity tell them about the tragic events of the past and how Metalia must be sealed away for good. (She was also responsible for waking Artemis and Luna from the stasis they entered after the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, which makes me suspect that she is “Boss.”)

I could probably go on for another five hundred words, which just goes to show how engaging this story is. It wouldn’t be a Kodansha review if I didn’t complain about the typos—seeing the word “it’s” used instead of “its” is even more painful when it’s part of genius Ami’s dialogue—but even their irksome presence does not detract from the enjoyment I derive from reading this series.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

January 19, 2012 by Michelle Smith

From the back cover:
You can’t stop the future. You can’t rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret… is to press play.

Clay Jensen doesn’t want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead, he reasons. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah’s voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes—and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his small town…

… and what he discovers changes his life forever.

Review:
I finished Thirteen Reasons Why yesterday and I’m still not sure what I think of it. Oh, I was certainly captivated by it, but was that because it’s well written or was it because it deals dramatically with hot-button issues? Maybe it’s a little bit of both.

Hannah Baker is a girl tormented by a reputation founded on rumor. And this reputation is the first block upon which many successively crappy incidents build until Hannah is seriously contemplating suicide. First, though, she records a series of tapes elucidating the thirteen reasons why she is planning to kill herself and sends it to the first person on the list. Each recipient is to forward the tapes on to the next person featured, with the threat that a second set of tapes will be made public if Hannah’s wishes aren’t followed. When nice guy Clay Jensen gets the tapes, he’s baffled: what did he ever do to Hannah?

As I listed to Hannah’s story, I was torn between finding the momentous quantity of suck in her life unbelievable (not to mention occasionally self-inflicted) and feeling sympathy for someone who just seemed cursed. But maybe this is the point. Maybe we are supposed to feel simultaneously irritated and sympathetic towards her. Circumstances that are overwhelming for one person won’t necessarily appear that way to someone else, and so maybe it’s natural to think “why didn’t she do this or that?” and forget that she’s just a traumatized kid.

One thing that bugged me about Hannah is actually a sign of decent characterization, and that’s her tendency to say one thing but expect others to know that she didn’t mean it and to push for more honesty from her. She wanted a sign that people cared enough not to just accept her assurances that she was fine. And, yes, that’s manipulative, but this is a suicidal teenager we’re talking about here. As for Clay… this isn’t really his story. He reacts to Hannah’s story throughout, and is motivated by it to no longer ignore signs that people may be hurting, but he’s sort of along for the ride with the reader.

In the end, I liked the book enough to seek out more by Jay Asher. I also want to commend the narrators of the unabridged audio edition—Joel Johnstone and Debra Wiseman—for a job well done. Wiseman as Hannah initially came across as a little too snarky, calm, and strong for the part, but I liked her quite a lot by the end. In fact, audio is a great way to “read” this book, given that most of it is Clay listening to the cassettes. I do have to wonder how much of the target audience even know what those are…

PotW: 13th Boy, Twin Spica, Book Girl, Durarara!!

January 16, 2012 by MJ, Katherine Dacey, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 2 Comments

Midtown Comics has a lot to offer this week, from Pokemon to Twlight. MJ, Kate, Sean, and Michelle make their picks below!

MJ: It’s nearly impossible for me to choose just one title, with new volumes of several favorites arriving at Midtown Comics this week. This week’s list runs the gamut when it comes to my personal tastes as well, with series as different as, say, Twin Spica and Pandora Hearts tempting me with pretty much equal power. But in the end, I’ll do the predictable thing, and throw my vote to volume ten of SangEun Lee’s supernatural sunjeong manhwa, 13th Boy. I know I keep raving about this series, but seriously, it’s just that enjoyable. With only two more volumes to go, the drama really ramps up here in volume ten, and we begin to understand more clearly just what the connection is between weirdly gifted Whie-Young and the boy-cactus he gave life to, Beatrice. It’s all kind of heartbreaking, really, and as a reader, I’m torn over even what I want to happen. This is a great thing. If you’ve never gotten around to trying this series, keep your eyes open, as I’ll be doing a giveaway later this week.

KATE: My vote goes to volume eleven of Twin Spica. Writing about Twin Spica in 2010, when I named it one my best manga of the year, I noted that Twin Spica is “an all-too-rare example of a direct, heartfelt story that’s neither saccharine nor mawkish.” Asumi, the story’s heroine, is painfully sincere, but she isn’t the least bit annoying; if anything, she may be one of the strongest, most resilient female characters I’ve encountered in a comic, in spite of her small size. The supporting characters are just as memorable as Asumi. Kei, Asumi’s hot-headed friend, is a great example: she means well, but has a tendency to fire from the hip, unwittingly insulting people she cares about. We’ve all known someone just like Kei — perhaps when we were in high school — giving her scenes with Asumi, Marika, and the other students an extra charge of realism. These true-to-life characters prevent Twin Spica from becoming too precious, even when it flirts with magical realism. (See Mr. Lion.) A lovely coming-of-age story that works for stargazers of all ages.

MICHELLE: With MJso eloquently advocating for 13th Boy, a series I also feel strong affection for, I’m going to branch out a bit and recommend the first volume of Durarara!!. I just read it this week, and found it to be “weird but intriguing.” Frequently, I am daunted by series that introduce this many characters and ideas right up front—this is why it took me a while to get back into Pandora Hearts, after all—but that didn’t happen with Durarara!!. I think it’s the hints of interconnectedness between the subplots that really pulled me in, not to mention the incredibly cool Ikebukuro urban legend: the Black Rider. I have no idea how the manga compares to the novels or the anime, but I really enjoyed this volume and look forward to the next.

SEAN: And since Michelle was kind enough to mention Durarara!!, it falls to me to plug another volume of my favorite light novel series coming out over here to date. Book Girl and the Corrupted Angel is the 4th in the Book Girl series, each of which I have greatly enjoyed. The books aren’t perfect, but they’re fast reads and really good at getting inside the teen psyche. They can also be quite creepy when they want to be, and not just because the titular book girl is a ‘goblin’. Each volume has turned out to focus on a different member of Tohko and Konoha’s social circle, and judging by the description this new volume will finally focus on Nanase Kotobuki. I’ve found her a bit of a cliched tsundere in the previous books, but have no doubt that we’ll see different facets of her here. Highly recommended.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 1/16/12

January 16, 2012 by Michelle Smith, MJ, Katherine Dacey and Sean Gaffney 2 Comments

This week, MJ, Michelle, Kate, and Sean take a look at recent releases from Yen Press, Viz Media, and Kodansha Comics.

13th Boy, Vol. 10 | By SangEun Lee | Yen Press – I swear, this series just keeps getting better and better. About the only thing keeping it from a perfect score in my book is the occasional obnoxious behavior from protagonist Hee-So, but the well-executed story and character growth more than make up for that. In this volume, Beatrice the erstwhile cactus strives to establish independence (and learns the price Whie-Young pays for using his power), Hee-So does her best to see Beatrice as an ordinary boy with legitimate feelings for her, Whie-Young is given the chance for a normal lifespan if he meets a specific condition, and one of the aspects of that condition falls in to place. This last is a great twist that leaves me honestly rather terrified about what’s in store for these characters in the final two volumes—which I need right now, please—but I wouldn’t have it any other way. – Michelle Smith

Afterschool Charisma, Vol. 5 | By Kumiko Suekane | Viz Media – For most of the series, Kai, St. Kleio’s only “ordinary” student, has remained an enigma. Volume five at last sheds light on Kai’s origins with a lengthy flashback in which he discovers that he, too, is a clone. These scenes bristle with tension; one can feel Kai’s frustration as he struggles to assert his unique identity, in spite of the fact his clone looks and acts just like him. Kai’s backstory serves another important purpose as well, offering several important clues about St. Kleio’s true purpose. Though volume five is one of the most information-dense installments of Afterschool Charisma to date, crack pacing, surprise twists, and a cliffhanger ending make it a swift and engaging read. – Katherine Dacey

Bamboo Blade, Vol. 11 | By Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi | Yen Press – The start and end of this volume focuses on the self-doubts and backstory of Saya, the large tsukkomi of our little group of kendoists, and makes you think that this volume will be about the main cast. But just like Vol. 10 focused its attention on Ura and her backstory, here we get introduced to more participants in the television show that Kojiro’s team is going to be doing. There’s not much new here – the jealous actress who realizes that her co-star can outshine her in any athletic event has been seen in manga before this – but it’s still a good mine for humor, especially watching her flip moods and beat the hell out of her manager (and later yell at him for sexism, probably the manga’s best moment). Still, as enjoyable as this has been, and as much fun as Totsuka-san can make things, I’m really ready for the TV show to actually happen. I hope we see it in Vol. 12.-Sean Gaffney

Bleach, Vols. 36-37 | By Tite Kubo | Viz Media – Volume 36 is the best volume of Bleach since the conclusion of the Soul Society arc, as it takes us away from the interminable battle to rescue Orihime from Hueco Mundo and focuses instead on the history of enigmatic Kisuke Urahara and the first, secret betrayal by certain villainous Soul Reapers. Though it would’ve been cooler to have this information ten or fifteen volumes ago, it’s plenty engrossing as it is and even seems to reinvigorate the action when we return to present day. Volume 37 offers more awesome interaction between Orihime and her de-facto warden, and though I still don’t care much about Ichigo, I welcome the chance to see bishounen like Yumichika and Hisagi again, and actually find myself somewhat eager to continue the series. I haven’t felt that way about Bleach in a long time. – Michelle Smith

Dawn of the Arcana, Vol. 2 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – The tension ramps up in this series’ second volume, as Princess Nakaba becomes more aware of her growing feelings for her new husband, as well as just how deeply those feelings conflict with her loyalty to long-time servant Loki. While this series is shaping up more and more to be another shoujo love triangle, it does have enough genuine intrigue to set it apart from the crowd. This volume also delves further into Nakaba’s preternatural abilities, which are perhaps more interesting than they first appeared. But what really makes this volume work is Nakaba’s inner conflict. Though there’s nothing really new going on there, it’s written from a place of real emotional truth, and that makes this series well worth reading. Toma’s expressive artwork is a highlight as well. Tentatively recommended. – MJ

Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 8 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – Well, if you thought things would be easily resolved after last volume’s cliffhanger, think again. Kurosaki is quite aware that the message sent to Daisy was a fake – he says so on Page 21. But it doesn’t take much to make a broken soul shatter again, and Kurosaki is determined to remove himself from Teru’s life forever. Teru, after a brief chapter of self-pity and moping, isn’t having any of this, and asks everybody else to explain exactly what happened with Kurosaki and her brother. The explanation is the rest of the volume, and it’s by turns uplifting and crushing, as with most tragic backstories in shoujo. The drawback, of course, is that if you read this manga for the fun romance and humor between its two leads, there is precisely nothing here for you. Read it anyway, it’ll make the eventual reunion, presumably in Vol. 9 or 10, that much sweeter.-Sean Gaffney

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Vol. 3 | By Kenji Kuroda and Kazuo Maekawa | Kodansha Comics – The main reason for Phoenix Wright fans to pick up this third volume is featured prominently on the front cover – Franziska Von Karma is the prosecutor this time around, and that means a lot of foolish fools and a lot of whip jokes – none better than at the start, where her side job is revealed. In fact, that seems to be a problem with most of these Ace Attorney mangas – the setup is invariably more interesting than the trial. Anyone reading this for the mystery will be disappointed – it’s obvious. Those who read it to see more Phoenix adventures should be pleased – there’s even a few shoutouts to the Apollo Justice game, as Phoenix gets an eerily accurate fortune given to him. There’s also some nice art here, showcasing the dramatic poses and plot revelations in ways the writing can’t quite match up to.-Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 8 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – The eighth volume of Toriko offers readers an entertaining respite from hand-to-hand combat, as Toriko and Komatsu visit Chef Setsuno, one of four “gourmet living legends” in the world. Setsuno is a hoot: she’s a demon in the kitchen, dispatching a chicken with ferocious precision, slicing vegetables mid-air, and preparing a broth of such purity that it’s invisible to the eye. Lest anyone confuse Toriko for Oishinbo, however, this pleasant interlude is swiftly followed by an action-packed trip to the Antarctic, where Toriko wrestles sharks, serpents, and evil gourmands for the chance to taste century soup, a dish that only materializes once every hundred years. Subtle it isn’t, but the characters’ goofy antics and goofy powers (“Flying fork!” and “Long-range bazooka breath!” were my personal favorites) mitigate against macho excess. – Katherine Dacey

Durarara!!, Vol. 1

January 14, 2012 by Michelle Smith

Story by Ryohgo Narita, Art by Akiyo Satorigi, Character Design by Suzuhito Yasuda | Published by Yen Press

Here is the sum total of my Durarara!! knowledge prior to reading volume one of the manga:

1. It is based on light novels.
2. There is an anime.
3. People were really excited about the license.

It turns out that those light novels are by the creator of Baccano!, another exclamatory property with an anime that I’ve never seen, but which has been praised by various reputable sources. So, even though I knew nothing about Durarara!! itself, I was definitely curious.

In the space of six pages, three concepts and one narrative conceit are efficiently introduced. Time for another list!

1. Inside a pharmaceutical laboratory, a speaker (presumably male) promises a girl in a tank that he will “get us out of here.”
2. A trio of anonymous hands chat about the Tokyo neighborhood of Ikebukuro and the twenty-year-old urban legend of the Black Rider.
3. Timid fifteen-year-old Mikado Ryuugamine moves to Ikebukuro to reconnect with a childhood friend and attend high school.

Each of these threads will be developed and expanded upon in the volume to come, with some slight overlap but so far not much. Because of that, I’ll address them separately.

1. We learn the least about this subplot in this volume, but it appears to have something to do with Seiji, a boy in Mikado’s class, who lives with his possibly evil sister. Seiji briefly has a stalker who sees something she shouldn’t, and I wonder if that doesn’t tie in with the next item on our list.

2. We see the anonymous chatters a few times throughout the volume and it soon becomes clear that Mikado is one of them and I’m pretty sure the Black Rider is another. Seriously, the Black Rider is the most awesome thing about the volume. A competent fighter with a body seemingly comprised of shadows, the Black Rider takes courier jobs around Ikebukuro, dispatches thugs efficently, and lives with a “shut-in doctor” who would not be averse to a romantic relationship even though the Black Rider has no head.

3. Mikado, alas, is not so interesting, though the fact that he came to town because he wanted something strange and exciting to happen to him is at least somewhat encouraging. He reconnects with his friend, Kida, meets some of Kida’s otaku friends, and is warned against associating with various unsavory people, including someone named Shizuo, who hasn’t really appeared yet but looks kind of awesome, and Izaya, an informant with bleak ideas about the afterlife who extorts money from those who intend to kill themselves.

There are some series that bombard one with so much information that one ends up frustrated. If I were more astute, I might be able to pinpoint how, exactly, the creators of Durarara!! manage to avoid this pitfall, but they do. Granted, there is a lot going on, but the exposition is sure-handed, leaving one with the expectation that all will eventually make sense. Perhaps it’s the light-novel foundation that inspires this confidence, though that is certainly no guarantee of quality.

“Weird but intriguing” is my ultimate verdict for this volume, and I look forward to the second volume very much. It’s a stylish title, one that’s more cool than profound at this stage, and I realize that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it pushed the right buttons for me so I’ll definitely be back for more.

Durarara!! is published in English by Yen Press. The series is complete in Japan with four volumes.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Pick of the Week: Farewell, Bandai

January 9, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, Brigid Alverson, MJ, Katherine Dacey and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

The pickin’s are somewhat slim this week at Midtown Comics, but the Battle Robot is able to find a few comics worth buying.

SEAN: … I’ll be honest, nothing thrills me from this week’s manga list. Instead, my vote goes to Vol. 3 of IDW’s Best of Dan DeCarlo, another in their line of Archie Comics series devoted to classic authors. Admittedly, it would have been nice to see the fine folks at Archie show love to these artists while they were still alive, but we can’t have everything. The first collection of Dan’s work focused almost entirely on his Betty and Veronica classics, and that makes sense: Dan is most famous for the way he drew the female form, and those comics best show that off. Now that we’re three volumes in, I’m wondering if we’ll see some more variety. Plus this collection likely means even more scripts by Frank Doyle, who was simply the best writer Archie ever had in its classic years.

BRIGID: I probably wouldn’t do this if there were a stronger selection to choose from, but my pick is vol. 3 of Kannagi, both because it’s a nice series and as a tribute to the publisher, Bandai Entertainment, which is closing up shop next month. That means there will be no new volumes of Kannagi. That might be a good thing. The first volume was a pleasant surprise, the second volume a bit weaker. Still, I enjoy Eri Takenashi’s elegantly simple art, and Bandai did a nice job with production on these books. I’ll miss Kannagi.

MJ: I’m going to follow Brigid’s example here, and throw my vote to Kannagi. I enjoyed the series’ first volume quite a bit, and was disappointed by the second, but I’ve held out hope that the third might steer the story back to its original trajectory. I’m sorry to see Kannagi and Bandai go. Manga was never the compay’s focus, but they worked hard to do well by it and learned from their mistakes. It’s a shame this series won’t be completed in English.

KATE: My choice is the final volume of Hyde & Closer. At seven volumes, the series never overstays its welcome, offering readers an enjoyable mixture of comedy and horror, with a sprinkling of life lessons. The crisp, imaginative artwork is another plus; Haro Aso had a talent for transforming seemingly benign toys — a kokeshi doll, a teddy bear — into lethal weapons. (Do I really need to say more than “teddy bears with chainsaws” to sell you on the concept?) It’s a pity the series was saddled with an Older Teen rating, as it’s a perfect choice for younger teens who’ve outgrown material like BakeGyamon: Backwards Game but aren’t quite ready for the more mature shonen titles in VIZ, Yen Press, and Kodansha’s catalogs.

MICHELLE: Ordinarily, I’d cast my vote for volume five of Bokurano: Ours, but as I’ve done so at least once already, I’ll focus instead on volume 41 of Case Closed, which I talked about in a recent Off the Shelf column. I realize it’s unlikely that anyone new to a series would decide to start with volume 41, but Case Closed is the rare example of a manga where one could legitimately do this, not be lost, and enjoy it. All it takes is being in the mood for a mystery that features gadget-assisted sleuthing and convoluted murder puzzles. If this were seinen, no doubt the series would be more grim and realistic. Because it’s shounen, though, readers are in for uncomplicated fun.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 1/9/12

January 9, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith, Katherine Dacey and Sean Gaffney 1 Comment

This week, MJ, Michelle, Kate, & Sean take a look at new releases from Vertical Inc., Viz Media, Kodansha Comics, and Dark Horse.

Chi’s Sweet Home, Vol. 7 | By Konami Kanata | Vertical, Inc. – One might imagine that a manga series about the life of a cute cat would eventually become… boring. Fortunately, the appeal of Chi’s Sweet Home endures, adding to the internet’s growing body of evidence suggesting that the human fascination with feline behavior is essentially endless. In volume seven, Chi spends some time out of the house with stray cat Cocchi, who introduces her to the neighborhood’s best food sources, for better or worse. This series remains as fresh and charming as ever, and also stands as one of the few currently-running manga that can be successfully picked up at pretty much any point. This volume works as well as a stand-alone set of cute cat comics as it does as part of a heart-warming series, so there’s no excuse for passing on it, even if you’ve missed what’s come before. Still recommended. -MJ

Chi’s Sweet Home, Vol. 7 | By Konami Kanata | Vertical, Inc. – As a cat owner, I read Chi with a certain amount of sympathy for all parties concerned. This is especially true in this volume, wherein Chi eats something strange while exploring outside and ends up being whisked to the vet for treatment by her frantic owners. (Barf is such a ubiquitous part of cat ownership I’m actually pretty amazed that it took until chapter 127 for Kanata to get around to depicting it!) True, sometimes her owners still do very unwise things (like bring a new goldfish into their home), but Yohei continues to be adorable, as do Chi’s outdoor pals. I’m especially fond of Cocchi, a kitten without a home who plays gruff but secretly enjoys cuddling with Chi. His sad story—and Chi’s brush with danger—also serve to show that this series doesn’t need to rely on cuteness to affect its audience. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

No Longer Human, Vol. 2 | Based on the novel by Osamu Dazai, Adapted by Usamaru Furuya | Vertical, Inc. – I’m of two minds about No Longer Human. On the one hand, Usamaru Furuya’s sense of pacing and narrative has never been stronger; working from Osamu Dazai’s text, Furuya has crafted a grim but compelling story about a young man’s fall from grace. On the other hand, Furuya’s interpretation of the lead character, Yozo, is less nuanced than Dazai’s; Yozo has been transformed a young man paralyzed by his own self awareness to a garden-variety narcissist who thinks only of himself. That small but important change gives the material a bitter aftertaste, making No Longer Human a difficult manga to read — not because bad things happen, but because the hero’s apathy makes him seem like more of a jerk than a wounded soul. An uneven but worthy introduction to Dazai’s work. -Katherine Dacey

Negima! Magister Negi Magi Omnibus, Vol. 3 | By Ken Akamatsu | Kodansha Comics. – This third omnibus, containing Vols. 7-9 of Negima, sees Akamatsu shuffle plot points into position, dot i’s and cross t’s, and generally prepare for the next big arc, the fighting tournament. Most of Vol. 7 is taken up with a fight between Negi and Asuna, who is at her most Naru-esque here, a trait she’ll lose as the series goes on. Vol. 8 reintroduces Kotaro, but on Negi’s side and becoming a much needed “male friend”. The translation by the Nibleys had less to alter here – Trish Ledoux was not as free as Peter David was – so it’s not as absolutely necessary a buy as 1 and 2 were. Still, those re-reading will enjoy the foreshadowing of things that happened years later Akamatsu throws in here, as well as casually dropping in his first big villain – one of Negi’s own students! There’s also less service here (though still quite a bit), leading me to think this is where Akamatsu gained control over Kodansha’s editors.-Sean Gaffney

Oh My Goddess, Vol. 40 | By Kosuke Fujishima | Dark Horse Comics. – If you skip to the Letters column of this very short volume, you’ll see Carl apologizing – it was only 112 pages in Japan as well, for unknown reasons. It’s supposed to be a one-time thing. Still, we do get some action in these 5 chapters, as Keiichi and the three goddesses begin their journey into Hell to battle Hild’s usurpers. Keiichi’s place in the group is brought up a few times, and we get a few good reasons why he’s there – he’s genuinely good at strategy and thinking on his feet, something we’ve seen before but tend to forget because it’s balanced with so much of him waffling and not shtupping Belldandy. Speaking of whom, Bell’s jealousy is really starting to get lampshaded in these chapters – Hild’s farewell kiss causes Bell to lose control of her powers, and when a demon threatens Keiichi, she’s quick to break in with a pointed threat. Those who have read the series all along will still enjoy this volume, small though it may be.-Sean Gaffney

Psyren, Vol. 2 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | Viz Media – The second volume of Psyren is a minor improvement on the first, thanks in large part to the introduction of a second memorable female character, Matsuri Yagumo, a motorcycle-riding concert pianist who also wields a mean kitana. Though we’re treated to a few moments of Matsuri strutting her stuff, her primary role — in this volume, at least — is to explain the rules of Psyren to newcomers Ageha and Hiryu. Those exposition-dense passages dominate the volume, slowing the narrative to a crawl while Matsuri lectures the boys on how to use their psionic powers and what they can expect to see within the game. With the basic groundwork for the story laid, one can only hope that the talk-to-action ratio in volume three will cant more strongly towards the latter. -Katherine Dacey