Sean Gaffney

By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan as “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” by Kodansha, serialized from various sources. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

And so we come to the final final volume of the Sailor Moon manga. Kodansha has indicated there’s an artbook coming along, but for the moment, this is it. And I really wish that it ended better. I’ve been a huge supporter and preacher for this entire series, pointing out how awesome it is, and thus it saddens me that this collection of three short stories has only one that really measures up to the standards set by the series in the past. And no, that’s not the one the anime chose to adopt into a movie. (I do give big props for that cover, though, which has a post-coital Usagi and Mamoru in bed, with Usagi winking at the viewer. Fourth-wall breaking has always been in the Sailor Moon manga to a degree, but this really takes it in new directions of cute.)

Let’s start with the story that takes up over half this volume, Princess Kaguya’s Lover. This was adapted into the 2nd of the 3 Sailor Moon movies, Sailor Moon S. And indeed that’s quite deliberate: Takeuchi wrote it with a movie in mind. I don’t think it ran in a magazine, but instead appeared straight in the original tankobon. It also stars Luna. Luna, Artemis, and Diana have gotten dramatically less focus in the manga than they did in the anime, which ironically helps the story a bit here. We’ve never seen Artemis pining over Luna quite as much as we do in animated form, so there’s less bafflement at Luna’s treatment of him. And the invasion of yet another female villain poised to destroy the world is handled with the usual Sailor Moon aplomb. At heart, though, this is a love story about a cat and a human, and that’s just sort of uncomfortable, even if Sailor Moon does transform Luna into a human so she can say goodbye to her (already in love with his childhood friend) crush. (Also, Venus and Jupiter have birthdays 6 weeks apart! Throw them separate parties, sheesh.)

Casablanca Memory is the reason to pick up this volume, as it’s excellent. Given Rei had to share a short story with Minako last time (and that really was Minako’s more than Rei’s), it’s fitting she gets one of her own. This takes place early on in the Senshi’s lives, around the time they first met Jupiter. Rei’s background has been quietly mentioned before, but this story is all about it: her father is a prominent politician with no time for family, and has assistants to remember things like “when is Rei’s birthday” and “get her something nice.” Her mother was a quiet supporter of her father, but fell ill and died, which Rei has never forgiven him for. Then there’s Kaido, the assistant of Rei’s father, who’s like an older brother to her… or maybe something more. The story isn’t perfect – it’s never clear if Kaido is possessed or was posing as a Dark General all this time, and his death is also very ambiguous. But it really gives you a good sense of Rei, and is at least very much in character.

And so we come to Parallel Sailor Moon, the final story in the manga, and the nadir of the series. This was written a couple of years after the series ended for an artbook, and the author noted it was in an alternate universe AND THANK GOD, because everyone in this is shallow and awful. Takeuchi has, throughout the manga, had a bad habit of making her characters shallow and annoying for the sake of humor. Since this story is all humor, that’s all we get. The premise has our heroines all grown up and married, with kids of their own, and apparently not senshi as they all live in modern-day Tokyo. They’re all noted to be daughters of prominent families who had arranged marriages, and the kids are “wise above their years” cynics who would not be out of place on an 80s ABC sitcom. Usagi has had a 2nd child, Ko. Ko is hyper-annoying and loves to eat, and everyone hates her. There’s not even the “we love Usagi for all her faults” here, except for one panel where they realize she’s in trouble. It’s just “Ugh, her.” I just… I identify with the characters more than anything, so seeing them portrayed like this hurts my soul. I laughed once the entire story, when Hotaru remarked about how they were going to take over the world as civil servants. That was it.

There are a few extras here, with a timeline for the series (real-life timeline, i.e. publishing dates) and Takeuchi’s description of visiting Cape Kennedy to see space shuttle launches. But overall, despite Rei being cool and beautiful, this book is for those who want t have the complete collection, and I suspect that of all the re-releases it will be the one I dip into least. Still love Sailor Moon, though.

By Mamoru Hosoda, Iqura Sugimoto, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Vertical.

Adaptations of something into another form, be it a manga, anime, novel series, or movie always carries an inherent risk that it won’t recapture the moments you loved from the original material, or that people will say it’s dumbed down or exaggerated. And yet the appeal is there as well – I really loved this in one form, so why not take a look at it from a different angle? Certainly companies hope you’ll spend your money to check something out that you liked before. Luckily, with Summer Wars, I seem to be one of the few people who never saw the original movie this is based on, so I came at this adaptation fresh. And now I really want to see the movie, and worry the original won’t match up. As this first volume was just terrific.

Things start off looking like a very typical shonen romantic comedy. Kenji is a high schooler, somewhat shy, good at math but not good enough to be in a national competition. He has a crush on Natsuki, who takes kendo and is the pure awesome Japanese high school student. One day she asks for a favor, though is cagey about the details. Those with experience in such stories won’t be surprised by what happens next: he’s pretending to be her boyfriend, so that she can get through a huge family reunion without a lot of hassle. And a lot of the beats that follow are familiar as well, though they’re all handled deftly. Some of the family like the kid, some don’t. There’s an older cousin that Natsuki has a crush on, which makes Kenji feel awkward. And her awesome old grandma sees right through both of them, realizing that Natsuki made this up, but also that Kenji is a good kid.

But that’s only half the story, and this is also a techno-thriller. Much of the world works in the manga via a virtual reality network. One day the network is hacked, and it’s put out on TV that it was Kenji who did it. (This turns out to be false, and there are many culprits who were conned into doing this, which I think is a shame. I loved the joy on Kenji’s face as he solved the math problem that ended up being a hack, and wish he had been more culpable later on.) And now the world is slowly spiraling into chaos by an AI that turns out to be far smarter than it was previously thought. Natsuki’s family, who are huge, positioned in just the right places, and can work together awesomely, try to stop the AI… so the AI kills off Natsuki’s grandmother, in a way that reads “this could be a coincidence, but really probably isn’t.) Now things are at a crisis point.

This is a two-volume manga in the Vertical edition (originally 3 in Japan), and it’s paced almost perfectly, with every scene having meaning. Even the Summer Wars title works well – the Summer and the Wars balancing each other out – romantic comedy with heartwarming family, and computers destroying everything we must now stop them. I didn’t mention Kazuma, another of Natsuki’s cousins who’s a young (and androgynous -I thought he was a she for a while) prodigy who will no doubt have a larger part to play in Vol. 2, which also suggests that Kenji will find his inner General. This manga really makes me want to see the original, one of the best things you can say about an adaptation, but also works great as its own story. And the couple’s cute, too. Highly recommended.

By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

Switching to a new environment can be crippling to a young person, particularly if they’re going through a lot of other things as well. So it is with the cast of Wandering Son and middle school. Nitori tries to continue to define himself while also discovering something he’s genuinely good at, Takatsuki discovers she’s no longer the only one in the room doing what she does, and Chiba finds that even if she’s gone from overly emotional to overly stoic, she still has difficulty dealing with anyone. So, in other words, it’s an excellent depiction of anyone’s life in middle school.

We also meet some new cast members, who basically fly into Takatsuki’s circle of friends and explode like a bomb. Sarashina also sometimes wears male clothing, but it’s nothing to do with gender identity and more to do with her being an eccentric loudmouth who does whatever the hell she wants. Naturally, Takatsuki is drawn to her, as not caring about what people think is something everyone else in this book has trouble getting past. She also has a best friend, though, Shirai, who clearly is very close to her, and is very unhappy with this new girl making advances on her… um, friend. There are no yuri overtones here, really, but Shirai certainly exhibits all the classic signs of jealousy. She’s written a little flatly, so I hope we find out more about her later.

As for Chiba, you really want to reach out and give her a hug, but there’s no way she’d let you. She can’t get over her own feelings of hatred/jealousy towards Takatsuki, and attempting to suppress all emotion is not working out very well when everyone around you is giving you an excuse to go off like a rocket. So the answer, clearly, is to be antagonistic to *everyone* – even the girls in a higher grade than her, a definite no-no in Japanese society. I really hope Chiba can eventually move on past her repressed and upsetting anger, because right now she’s on a very dark road, and given she’s only 12 or so that’s depressing in itself.

Meanwhile, our hero and heroine are both facing the realities of puberty. Nitori and Ariga record their voices on tape, so they’ll be able to remember what they were like before they change. Nitori is a little upset at the idea that he won’t be able to dress as a girl anymore. Takatsuki is having an even worse time… her sports coach is demanding she wear a bra to practice, another reminder that her gender is trying to impose limits on her. The two of them finally make up, sort of, in a touching yet somewhat sad scene as they both worry about the future. Nitori, however, seems to get an idea for it, and begins to start writing a story based on his own experiences. I like the idea of Nitori’s insecurities and dreams fueling his creativity, and wonder if Takatsuki will be able to help in the process besides just having her life give him ideas.

All in all, this was an excellent transitional book in the series. As we settle into middle school, things are bound to get even more awkward, and I hope our cast finds the strength to make it through.

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Karin Suzuragi. Released in Japan as “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Matsuribayashi-hen” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Joker. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As I’ve been following the Higurashi manga, I’ve also been slowly going through the original visual novel, which MangaGamer has released here in North America (don’t look for their site – Higurashi is their token ‘not porn’ title). I just happen to be at the appropriate place in the novel as I am in the manga, so am able to compare them even more. It’s not clear how closely Ryukishi07 checked the content of the manga with the Higurashi artists – I know he’s very involved with the Umineko manga, particularly the final volumes, to correct certain issues with the novels – but certainly the manga glosses over a lot, being a sort of “greatest hits” compared to the deep immersion of the original. That said, where the manga does succeed is in the emotion. Be it heartwarming, sad tears, or dull horror, the manga delivers the goods here.

Nothing better demonstrates the difference between the two than the fate of Rika’s mother. The visual novel has this scene from the perspective of Ooishi, who is at the Festival waiting to see if anyone is killed. He’s on hand for the death of Rika’s father, made to look like a heart attack, and tries to follow the group back to the Irie Clinic but is hamstrung by traffic. Thus, we only hear that the wife is later found missing, supposedly having drowned herself in the swamp with a suspicious letter left behind. The manga, on the other hand, follows Rika’s mother. Rika’s mom has always been fairly high-strung from what little we’ve seen of her. It’s not hard to figure out why… Rika must be an amazingly difficult child to bring up. And what with the clinic using her as a guinea pig, and her father basically going along with it, her nerves just stretch to the breaking point. As such, she is ill-equipped to deal with Takano.

Takano remains fascinating, and though I think the visual novel does a better job of showing that a lot of this is Hinamizawa Syndrome rather than “lulz, I’m evil like that”, there’s enough here to keep everyone happy. Notably, for the sake of her research, she grovels at the feet of Rika’s parents, and when that fails, seems genuinely at a loss until Okonogi suggests “taking care of” Rika’s parents. Murder comes as a surprise to her… but once it’s in her head, she doesn’t hold back, as Rika’s parents instantly make the transition from “people” to “research subjects”. As such, she can easily justify using Rika’s mother as a live test subject. The murder is terrifying, and does not remotely hold back, with blood flying everywhere and Takano’s insane rictus grin it’s straight out of an Italian horror film.

Later on, Takano faces an even bigger setback when her mentor dies, and it’s shown that he was basically the only thing keeping her project going. Higurashi has a very realistic and cynical take on the Japanese political system and how power-grabbing it can be, particularly in the early 80s when this takes place. Takano once again has everything almost crumble around her, and it becomes apparently that even though she’s the source of all of Rika’s misery, she herself is being manipulated throughout this story, not just by Okonogi, but also a new faction who wants to use her in order to facilitate their own rise to power. If it works, great. If she dies, meh. And it’s clear the Mountain Hounds work for them, not Rika *or* Takano. Honestly, those two really have so much in common. They should talk over a nice cup of tea when this is over.

The visual novel goes into great detail on the pasts of most of the characters, and the manga manages to include some of it – Okonogi’s mourning for his father, and meeting his mentor after WWII shows why things starting with that guy’s death have led to his own obsession, even if it’s misdirected at the Sonozakis. Speaking of the Sonozakis, we see Mion’s grief and anger over Satoshi’s disappearance (Shion is carefully absent here), and her grandmother doing her best to bring “new blood” into the town while still trying to look old and crotchety. That new blood is the Maebara family, with Keiichi trying to start over after the BB gun incident. Rika and Hanyuu are at their most blatant here, with Rika actively showing she knows who they are and relying on people not realizing she’s living the same life over and over again so they laugh it off.

We also see Hanyu’s past, several hundred years ago. She really is a supernatural being, and her earnest attempts to stop the violence between the two tribes occupying Onigafuchi is heartwarming. I do think the drama needed more time to develop – as it is, it’s not as effecting simply as it goes by so fast – Hanyu gets her own daughter to kill her with a giant sword, which should have been given more weight. But then, Hanyu in general is the most problematic character of Higurashi’s so this is likely appropriate.

There are a few other things I felt didn’t work. Given how much Rika is using her past knowledge to make events work for her, her memories “catching up” with her at the end isn’t explained well enough, and seems to be awkwardly shoehorned in so there can be a cliffhanger. Also, four years pass between the start and end of this volume, yet the kids – all growing like weeds, one would think – look exactly the same in 1980 as they do in 1983. (The visual novel has a similar issue – the sprites never change.) More realism, please.

So now, all the pieces are in place – even Akasaka is having memories of a past life where his wife died and Rika was slaughtered, and is prepared to make his way to Hinamizawa immediately. Will all this be enough to defeat Takano and the forces that are manipulating her? And will Shion ever show up in this again? We’ll find out in January. In the meantime, this is still a very good adaptation with a lot of tragic and emotional scenes.

By Maki Minami. Released in Japan as “Seiyu Ka!” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

Long-time readers of this blog will know that I am a huge fan of the Japanese shoujo magazine Hana to Yume. Sadly, I have been increasingly unable to rave about its style of shoujo recently, as CMX and Tokyopop went under, and Viz has licensed less and less from the title, preferring to concentrate on their own owners’ magazines. This makes me very happy when I see a new series starting up, specially one from an artist I’ve liked before, Maki Minami. Her prior series here was Special A, a romantic comedy with an emphasis on the comedy, which had all of Hakusensha’s usual strong point, as well as all its weak points. The text and art tends to clutter the page (Hakusensha shoujo packs the page, Shueisha shoujo opens it up), the plotting could be insanely frustrating, particularly in terms of how drawn out the romance was, and character’s growth ended as soon as their function in the story was complete. Now we have her new series, which has many of the same types of people we’ve seen before. Can it fix its predecessor’s issues?

Our heroine has the name Hime Kino, which already sounds like a pseudonym. She wants to follow in the footsteps of her inspiration and become a voice actress. There’s just one problem – she has a deep, husky voice, and she wants to sound like a cute girl. Nevertheless, the academy lets her in anyway, and it’s hinted there’s some deeper, behind the scenes reason. The solution, of course, is obvious – she should play sexy pretty bishonen, which female voice artists do in Japan ALL THE TIME. It’s such an obvious solution that we see it happening at the end of the first chapter, where she has to fill in as the prince in a Snow White dramatization. But Hime clearly wants to be cute, and girly, ad adorable. I imagine a large part of this plotline will be showing her how she should really succeed at what she’s best at.

Cute vs. cool is a classic modern shoujo trope. Usually, heroines want to be the former but end up being the latter, and Hime easily fits into that pattern. And naturally, she’s never more attractive than when she’s acting strong and powerful and masculine. This is a reverse harem manga, so we already have the obvious winner (a sullen brunet – sigh – named Senri Kuno), as well as a few obvious runner-ups. We have the traditional one female friend. I’m hoping for a second as time goes on. And, this being Maki Minami, we have a lot of incredibly goofy guys doing dumb things – there is some fun humor here.

There are some issues, of course. I am rather weary of bullying by teachers in Japan being a) accepted by the institution as good for students in the long run, and b) not called out because the student has to get stronger on her own. It *sounds* admirable, but I think teaches an incomplete lesson. Hime is also a bit aggressively clueless, though so far she’s not quite as bad as Hikari from Special A, who set new records for denseness. Lastly, as with a lot of mainstream shoujo, there’s nothing really original here – just a few old cliches given a new paint job. But I’m perfectly happy with that as long as it’s fun. And for the most part, Voice Over! is fun. I’ll be looking forward to Vol. 2.

By Reiji Suzumaru. Released in Japan as “Jigokuren” by Futabasha, serialized in the online magazine Web comic High!. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Everyone discusses how difficult it is to write comedy, and the same applies to the person who is trying to review it. One person’s subtle satire is another’s amazingly offensive insult, and one person’s tasteless bodily function joke is another’s “BUT FARTING IS HILARIOUS!”. There are almost as many types of humor in the world as there are people, and sadly I am only allowed to use my own here. So I have to note that Love in Hell just didn’t quite gel for me, despite an interesting premise. Indeed, the author came up with the premise and setting first, which shows, as I think it’s a lot more fleshed out than the characters.

The use of Hell here is interesting. It seems throughout the volume like your typical city, only with suffering and pain added to every equation. You need to get jobs, earn money, etc. But the way you earn money is by, well, atoning for your sins. Usually in the form of having your head chopped off, being boiled to death, etc. Being hell it’s quite nonlethal, but the pain hurts the same. In fact, we’re even told at one point that this is one of the nicer bits of hell, and we see a hole that goes down to a lower level where they keep the adulterers and murderers.

Our hero is not an adulterer or murderer, and indeed is somewhat surprised to find that he’s in hell, as he can’t quite think what he did that was bad enough. He seems to be fairly shiftless and thoughtless throughout, but by the end of the volume we’re not quite sure how he ended up here either. Rintaro is nice enough so that you’re rooting for him in the book, but he’s not really possessed of any good virtues because… well, he needs to be someone who’s believably sent to hell. He’s just a dumb manga romantic comedy schmuck, only here instead of getting punched into the sky Love Hina-style, he gets maimed and brutalized.

The girl on the cover, our heroine, is Kiyori. Like the hero, she comes from a certain ‘cliched romantic comedy manga’ background: easily embarrassed, neophyte who’s trying hard but bad things keep happening to her. The first bad thing that happens to her in Rintaro, as her promotion prospects are tied to him actually putting in repentance time in hell, and so far it’s not going well. We also have him walking in on her naked, and seeing she pads her bra, something which didn’t need hell to be one of the oldest manga cliches.

In the end, while the premise is interesting, and there’s promise of a more serious plot in the 2nd volume, the characters simply didn’t grab me enough to make this rise above ‘serviceable’. I smiled a couple of times, and I’m sure the couple will eventually be cute and moe (there’s only 3 volumes, so this shouldn’t get too drawn out). I wonder if it wouldn’t have been funnier in a 4-koma style. As it is, though, Rintaro and Koyori just can’t quite manage to carry this title on their backs.