Sean Gaffney

By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

Sometimes you’re reading a manga and you get to one page, or even just one particular panel, that makes you grin so hard and flail around because it perfectly encapsulates everything about that series into one compressed image of fabulous. For One Piece 70, it was, believe it or not, Law giving his sandwich preferences. After everyone is setting sail again, Luffy demands food, which Sanji notes will be sandwiches today. The crew start giving their preferences, and Law briefly joins in, noting how he doesn’t want bread. He them stops and gasps, horrified. THEY’VE SUCKED HIM IN.

Once again we see in this volume how Luffy and his crew are different from the norm. They’re contrasted with the other pirates elsewhere in the world, particularly Donflamingo. They don’t want power as such (Luffy wants to beat the Four Kings, but it’s not so that he can take their domain away, it’s for the thrill). They don’t abuse, kill, or sexually assault anyone. They are the idealized kid version of a pirate, only actually making it happen. As the Marines note, they have to constantly belittle them and talk about how evil they are, as if they didn’t the Straw Hats would be far too easy to love.

This volume wraps up Punk Hazard, so as you’d expect there’s a lot of sections where the crew does awesome things. Usopp and Nami both get to show off (it’s even lampshaded, as Law talks about how they don’t have time to fool around, then later shows his grudging respect after they both do exactly what they bragged they would), Zoro gets to cut things, and of course Luffy gets to punch Caesar Clown into next week. As I sort of expected, the deadly poison gas is not quite as immediately deadly as it looks, so we were even able to rescue the marines who were hit by it. It calls for an arc-ending giant party, this time with Straw Hats and Marines, however grudgingly.

There’s a nice scene here where Tashigi begs Nami to be allowed to take care of the recovering children, and Nami agrees to it, noting she has a soft spot for ‘lady sailors’. I like that Bellemere and her upbringing is still very much a part of her life, and it helps to make sense of some of Nami’s maternal attitude during this arc – we’re not sure of all the details about her early childhood, but she and Nojiko were adopted, so seeing these kidnapped children probably spoke to her on that level.

So now we’re off to a new adventure, this time on the island of Dressrosa. Law and the captured Caesar are coming with the crew, however, and this is an island that Donflamingo already controls. We also get a harrowing shot of him beating Smoker nearly to death (hello, Aokiji cameo! Please arrive in the nick of time more) just to show how badass he is. Is the combination of Luffy and Law enough to stop Donflamingo? Well, yeah, probably. But can it stop… a TOURNAMENT ARC? (shudder)

By Moyoco Anno. Released in Japan as “Kantoku Fuyuki Todoki” by Shodensha, serialized in the magazine Feel Young. Released in North America by Vertical.

The North American market has been enjoying Moyoco Anno’s manga for years now, be it Happy Mania, Sugar Sugar Rune, or Sakuran. Hideaki Anno has also been a favorite over here, mostly for Evangelion but also for cult classics like Gunbuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. (And also infamous for the Kare Kano anime… and, well, Evangelion.) As a result, a volume such as this one, which is a biographical look at their married life with an otaku slant, is one that can actually be released over here and gather some interest. The book itself is a lot of fun, though it did go in a direction I wasn’t quite expecting…

Of course, this is deliberate. Moyoco Anno frames the story to set up my expectations of a normal Japanese woman overwhelmed by her insane otaku husband. The first chapter shows her avatar, Rompers (so called as she draws herself as a baby in a sleeper outfit), stepping on Gigantor toys left around the house like they were a child’s Lego toys. And yet throughout this book, the message we get is somewhat different: Moyoco is a lot like him. It’s very easy for her to get drawn into the otaku lifestyle, and she’s a lot less ‘normal’ than she may pretend to be. As for Director-kun, his sense of self and peace with being a giant weirdo is so great that he ends up being the calm and collected one a lot of the time. It really reads like a great relationship.

A word of warning: there are a LOT of translator notes for this volume. The Anno life is cluttered with 60s Japanese TV series, be it familiar ones such as Ultraman and Star Blazers or untranslated works like A Karate-Crazy Life. And, like many obsessed fans (including myself), the couple tend to speak to each other in terms of the media consumed. Even an argument about proper use of Japanese is referencing Dragon Ball and Galaxy Express 999. This is not something that a casual reader should pick up, though if they do they can at least be reassured that there are lots of notes telling them the importance super sentai shows and George Akiyama.

I note that this series ran in the josei magazine Feel Young, and its presence there was not all that unusual. Most josei magazines (and many seinen ones as well) have these slice-of-life biographical “and here’s what my husband/child/cat did the other day” comics running through them, usually in short 5-6 page bursts in between the larger serialized stories. (And indeed, the chapters in Insufficient Direction are all about that length.) It’s a type of story we’ll almost never see over here, partly due to cultural translation issues but mostly because there’s not really a market for it – North American anime and manga fans tend to prefer their slice-of-life looking more like K-On!. As such, this title is not only an amusing look at the otaku lifestyle of the author and her husband, but also a glimpse into a genre that we are rarely privileged to witness. It’s a lot of fun.

By Yuyuko Takemiya and Zekkyo. Released in Japan by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Given how impossible it is for most mass media to avoid cliches and tropes, the question often becomes “how well does this work manage the cliche”? This volume of Toradora! handles this in both a comedic and serious fashion. The Culture Festival rears its ugly head, and though thoughts of a maid cafe drift through our male classmates’ heads, what we end up with is far sillier, particularly after it’s subverted midway through. It’s the more serious plotline that folks will take with them, however – Taiga’s father is back in her life again, and wants her to come live with him. Something which a projecting Ryuuji can’t help but assist with.

Ryuuji is not helped by the cover art for the volume, showing a tear-filled Taiga and Ryuuji looking askance. This clues the reader in that we are meant to be in her side in the matter. Things are not helped by the appearance of her father himself, who seems far too contrite and meek to be true. Of course he’s playing right into Ryuuji’s hands, though I don’t think that it’s deliberate on his part – her father isn’t genuinely evil, he’s just monumentally selfish. What he doesn’t know, but we do, is that Ryuuji’s lack of a father figure looms incredibly large in his life. And so naturally Ryuuji is going to move heaven and earth to see Taiga and her father reunite, just as he can never do.

On the other side we have Taiga and Minori, who have experience with her father doing all this before and know the truth. Crucially, however, neither of them tell Ryuuji that full truth. In meta terms, this is because the plot has to happen. In the story itself, though, Taiga is more understandable. She gets the reasons why Ryuuji wants this to happen, she’s in love with Ryuuji and doesn’t want to disappoint him, and she really does love her father despite everything, so she opens herself up to him one more time. Minori, though, I’m rather disappointed in, as you’d think she’d be the one to sit Ryuuji down and say ‘Hey, let me give you a timeline of the times this guy has tried this with Taiga before.’ Instead, she just gets angry, saying it’s obvious he’s being a selfish ass. And so they fight, which, Ryuuji still having lingering feelings for Minori, devastates him.

Luckily, Ami is there to be the voice of reason and get Ryuuji out of his funk. Unluckily, Taiga’s dad *is* everything they say he is, and therefore things come to a head at the culture festival with a devastating text sent to Ryuuji. And, once Ryuuji sees for himself what’s going on, he gets it all IMMEDIATELY – a sign of his maturity, even as he backslides here. Sadly, resolution will have to wait – this is the end of the volume, and so we get the horrible cliffhanger with Taiga’s appearance on stage waiting for parental acknowledgement that will never come. How is this going to be resolved? Well, Toradora! comes out about every year and a half in Japan, so we’ll likely have to wait till summer 2015 to find out. See, and folks wonder why publishers don’t want to catch up to Japan…

By Yuuki Kodama. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In the new Blood Lad omnibus, a lot of big things happen. We finally see what’s going on with Braz and what he’s planning; Wolf meets up with his human mother (an ex-Yanki, to boot!) and is told he may have to be the hero that saves the demon world; Staz is captured by the authorities and later reunited with Braz, who gives himself up; and a major confrontation seems to be what Vol. 5 will be all about. Despite all this, it’s the small character moments of Blood Lad that are the best, the funniest, the most heartwarming, and keep me coming back for more.

Let’s take a look at Fuyumi. If nothing else, she continues to be the most problematic character in the series. Staz is trying to get her to be more of her own person, but this seems to have devolved into a basic shonen “I will protect you” stance that isn’t really helping. (Also, putting a rope around her and dragging her around is probably his low point. Naturally, Fuyumi points out how humiliating it is but doesn’t really object.) She does get a nice moment later on, where the cowboy outfit and accessories Staz bought her prove useful to getting her out of a perilous situation. But probably the most striking scene is seeing her addiction to Staz’s blood, and how this is shown to be VERY BAD for her and yet at the same time the most erotic scene in the entire volume. I suspect I’m reading too much into her each time, but what else am I supposed to do? Ogle the boobies? Let’s keep overanalyzing.

We meet up with a superhero team in this volume as well, who are shown on the cover. As with most superhero teams, they’re a collection of eccentric weirdos with bizarre powers that seem to bond together as a unit when the chips are down. And, as with Wolf and a number of other people, they’re pitted against Staz, who remains the “bad guy” even as he’s the hero. Can you be a good guy when the entire world views you differently? Later on, when Staz and Fuyumi are captured by the police, we see something similar. Staz is a vampire overlord with massive amounts of untapped power (so much it can apparently be used to resurrect the dead), and now is the best time to stop him, before he discovers that potential.

And then there’s the climax of the volume, which I will walk around and try not to spoil. It should be a very emotional, heartwarming moment, but it seems filled with a sort of impermanence, a sense that this isn’t going to last long. Braz seems to get this too – his open affection for Liz reads very much as a “I’m about to die and will never see you again” gesture (poor Liz, by the way – there’s some great in-text analysis of her character and how she’s starved for affection from her brother). In the end, I have a suspicion that the confrontation that is the cliffhanger to this volume will be dealt with swiftly and anticlimactically before long when we get to Volume 5.

Overall, this remains a great read. You breeze right through it, it’s filled with good humor, some creepy horror, and occasional character development. Plus the obligatory fanservice. It’s everything you could want in a shonen manga (well, except it’s seinen, running in Young Ace… shh, don’t talk to me about demographics).

By Kohske. Released in Japan by Shinchosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic @ Bunch. Released in North America by Viz Media.

One of the things that most manga fans who follow publishing closely have found is that manga readers tend to be loyal to genres rather than authors. Sure, Natsuki Takaya may have written Fruits Basket, one of the best-selling shoujo manga of the last ten years, but other similar titles have proven less stellar, and there’s no rush on anyone’s side to license Hoshi wa Utau or Liselotte to Majo no Mori, her post-Furuba work. On the other hand, when you see a title with vampires that sells, manga publishers go and find other vampire titles. (Oddly, this doesn’t work with other non-Naruto ninja titles, which tend to bomb. I wonder why.) In any case, Dogs and Black Lagoon have done quite well for Viz, but both have ‘caught up’ to Japan. Dogs is now a yearly title, and Black Lagoon is at the mercy of its author’s ‘whenever’ schedule. Clearly another similar title is needed. And so we have Gangsta.

Gangsta apparently takes place in “Ergastulum”, which judging by the decor seems to be somewhere in Southern Europe – my guess is “fantasy-world Italy”. Our heroes are mercenaries for hire, who do bad things but have good hearts deep down. Which does not stop them, however, from doing bad things. Each has a tragic past – Worick seems to have been from a rich family at one point, till he was kidnapped and lost one eye. Nick, meanwhile, has it worse – he’s a Twilight, which gives him superior strength and agility, but at the cost of lifespan and getting close to anyone – he’s a pariah. Oh, and he’s also deaf, which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with his Twilightness. The manga starts when they’re hired to wipe out a gang in town, and end up sparing one of the prostitutes in it – Alex, who becomes their new secretary. She’s the naive newcomer in this manga, needing Worick to explain things to her. Indeed, her lack of knowledge about ANYTHING in the town is suspicious in itself.

Gangsta has a very solid first volume. Its art is decent, its plot is better than its art, its characters are better than its plot, and its aesthetic is best of all. The series tends to hit all the right beats. As I noted before, its weakness may be Alex’s need to have the plot exposited to her, which can come across as blunt exposition at times, but it’s so odd I’m prepared to reserve judgment till I see more volumes. Of the two mercenaries, I’m possibly more sympathetic to Nick, but that could just be because he doesn’t speak much – while Worick’s constant chatter always seems to hide darker undertones, as we see towards the end when he brutalizes another prostitute with his harsh words. I also liked Nina, the teenage nurse at a local clinic, who shows that this isn’t just an ‘everything is awful’ world, but is allowed to have happy, innocent kids – even if they are under constant danger of being threatened and kidnapped.

This seems to be the first major work of its author, Kohske, who is female, by the way. I always like to note female creators, especially on titles like this and Dorohedoro where it may not be immediately obvious. In any case, Gangsta is definitely an M-rated title, but if you enjoy titles of this ilk, it’s definitely worth a try, and I will happily get the second volume.

By Ryo Suzukaze and Satoshi Shiki. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sirius. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

(This review is based off an advance copy provided by the publisher.)

If Attack on Titan: Junior High as the inevitable lighter, fluffier gag manga spinoff of the main Titan series, then this one is even more inevitable. A prequel set far back enough so that it features no one we know, yet providing some much needed context and perhaps even a few explanations that might carry over into the new series, while still remaining its own title. That said, it remains to be seen how successful it will be, as this is very much Vol. 1 of a longer work, and we’ve just barely gotten started before things are all over.

Just like its spinoff partner, Isayama did not write or draw this. The author seems to be known for writing tie-in novels (and indeed, this manga is based on a spinoff novel that Vertical will be releasing later in the year). The artist is likely more familiar to old-school manga fans. Satoshi Shiki did a Daphne in the Brilliant Blue manga that Tokyopop released, as well as Kami-Kaze and the really old Viz title Riot, which came out back in the ‘flipped, 32-page comics’ days. The art here is pretty and serviceable, with its leads being attractive and likeable. This puts it miles ahead of Isayama, who has gotten better as he’s gone along, but whose art is still his weakest point. Of course, just because the leads are pretty doesn’t mean bad things don’t happen – some of the grotesque shots of people getting eaten by Titans (and the aftermath) are just as bad as the original.

The basic premise is that, about 70 years before the AoT series proper, a child is found in the puked-up remains of people who had been eaten by Titans, one of whom was a pregnant woman. The baby in her womb miraculously survived, right in the center of the undigested pile. Found by the Survey Corps, he is immediately described as “the child of a Titan”. And promptly locked away for the next 13 years, feeding on bugs and tiny scraps and living a horrible prisoner’s life. It should be noted that Kuklo is not large or monstrous or anything – Child Of A Titan is a metaphor that has carelessly been allowed to become real.

Most of this volume is setup, showing us what life is like inside Wall Sheena, the innermost wall that the cast of the main series haven’t really had to deal with. The answer is that it’s filled with rich smug jerks, including a spoiled brat son who will grow up to lead the military one day, and takes delight in beating the shit out of his prisoner who doesn’t even know enough to fight back. The only other likeable person in the entire series is Sharle, the smug jerk’s younger sister, whose seems to be the innocent, human face of this series and who will no doubt die horribly at some point down the line.

Most of this first volume is setup, showing us the world Kuklo and Sharle live in, and setting up their journey to escape and find answers. It runs based on its mood, which is dark and grimy (the one place that Isayama’s art might have helped… at times this world feels a bit too clean compared to his own.) Certainly a title worth getting for Titan fans, and we’ll see how many volumes it can make it through before inevitable tragedy has to happen.

By Robico. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Dessert. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

(This review is based on an advance copy provided by the publisher.)

After an extended period where it seemed that only Nakayoshi titles could get licensed in North America, Kodansha Comics is slowly edging its way back into the more mature shoujo market, starting with this title from the older teen magazine Dessert. (Brief nerd aside: Dessert arose from the ashes of Shoujo Friend, Kodansha’s main ‘older teen’ magazine, which also spawned ‘Bessatsu Shoujo Friend’, aka Betsufure, home of The Wallflower et al. In case you wondered where the Fure came from.) As you can see by the cover, our two lead characters are just absolutely delighted with life and each other, and this is their sweet, fluffy love-love comedy.

Oooooookay, maybe that’s not quite accurate after all. Haru, the male lead, is the monster of the title, a freakishly strong, freakishly weird loner who doesn’t have any real friends, mostly as his reactions to any social situation are so far off the map from any reasonable human interaction he drives everyone away. As for Shizuku, she just wants to get perfect grades so that she can grow up to be rich, and has absolutely no time for nonsense or friendship. Which is a shame as she’s starring in a shoujo manga, so you know that she’s going to be dragged into shenanigans, if unwillingly.

I want to note that, though he’s nowhere near WataMote levels of social maladjustment (this is still a normal shoujo manga), Haru can be very hard to take for the average reader. I could have done without his forcefully dragging Shizuku into an alley at one point, and later forcefully kissing her without her consent. It stems from his ignorance of the basic norms of society, but that doesn’t make it any easier to see. We’ve also just barely begun the series, so there’s no real explanation as to why he’s like this beyond “well, he’s wacky like that”. I hope as the series goes on he gains some depth, as he seems a bit like a Manic Pixie Dream Boy at the moment.

I was far more interested in Shizuku. As the volume goes on and you see the way she interacts with people, you begin to notice that she’s not really the normal, slightly snarky girl she initially comes across as. Indeed, for all that Haru goes on about the need to have friends, Shizuku is equally solitary, and has closed herself off from emotions so much that she has difficulty dealing with then when they need to emerge… which can result in sudden explosions, such as when she realizes Haru is the #1 student in the school (if only he weren’t suspended at the start of the year). I suspect as this title goes on we’ll find she needs this interaction even more than Haru does.

We also get a couple of other characters set up to be regulars… Natsume is the slightly overwrought, ditzy type who contrasts well with Shizuku, and Sasayan is a sports-oriented boy who knew Haru from his previous school and I suspect will turn out to have a dark past or somesuch. This manga doesn’t really break any new shoujo ground. But it’s put together well, the characters are intriguing, and it can be funny (if a bit unnerving) much of the time. It’s 12 volumes total, so we’ll see how long it can keep this up. Definitely a solid first volume, though.