Sean Gaffney

By Quin Rose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru, based on the game by Quin Rose. Released in Japan as “Clover no Kuni no Alice – Cheshire Neko to Waltz” by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

(Note: this reviews mentions THAT Alice spoiler later on. You know the one.)

Now that this series has finally come to an end, I think it’s a good time to take a look at it in a larger context. Volume-wise, it’s the longest Alice series to date. However, many of these volumes were bloated up with side stories – some featuring Alice and Boris, some not – to the point where I suspect the actual content would struggle to make it to 5 volumes if put together on its own. Overall, I think the series was successful, but its tendency to meander and focus on the romance over the darker themes make it perhaps midrange in overall quality. Let’s see if we can pin down what it did best.

First off, the premise of the Clover world spinoffs (as opposed to Hearts) is that Alice has been there longer and is finding love with someone she already has a friendship with, as opposed to a sudden passionate love. I think it does a pretty good job of that here – much as I’m not a fan of the romance part of this series in general, the author does a good job of showing us Alice and Boris’ friendship, and how that’s affected by their growing love. It also shows off dealing with Boris’ cat-like tendencies – he can wander off, or seem aloof, and is quite changeable – as well as Alice’s mood swings and anger issues. And, of course, jealousy. It didn’t really knock me out, but as a romance it’s perfectly sweet.

The other thing I think this manga did very well is the attention that it gave to the ‘faceless’ inhabitants of Wonderland. Our view of this world has almost entirely come from Alice and the 12 ‘role-holders’, all of whom are naturally drawn to her by their very existence. The faceless are meant to be bodies filling out the story, so unimportant they don’t even get eyes. And yet Alice can tell then apart, something that mildly astounds everyone else. What’s more, here they are shown to have goals and lives beyond support of the heroes and heroine. Some are plotting a takeover against the hatter, some are jealous of Alice’s ability to get someone to love her whether she likes it or not, and some are just doing a job, even if it means their death. I’m still not certain about the faceless overall, but I have a much greater understanding of them after reading this.

And then there’s Lorina. This is the second book we’ve seen recently where Alice is shown abandoning the real world and staying in Wonderland with her love. I’ve discussed how this makes me slightly uncomfortable, something I think is entirely intentional on the author’s part. Cheshire Cat Waltz is not as dark and twisted as, say, Joker and Liar’s Game, however, so we see Alice, who’s having another post-traumatic breakdown, visited by Lorina’s spirit, who reassures her that it’s OK to forget and move on, and that her death (looks, it’s been 15+ books, I am now prepared to reveal the horrible secret of the Alice books) was not Alice’s fault. So her stay in Wonderland is couched in terms that make it look less like escaping from reality and more like accepting this is her new reality. How you feel about that depends on how you view the Alice series as a whole, I think.

As for the major drawback of the series, well, it meanders. It meanders even more than my reviews do. And just when each volume seems to be leading up to an exciting bit, the story ends halfway through so that we can get either side-stories of Alice and Boris in the Hearts world, or even worse, Crimson Empire side-stories that have nothing to do with this world at all. Read all at once, it must be more tolerable. Read over the course of a year, it’s a mess.

Still, overall, I’m pleased to have read this. Alice and Boris are cute, and it fleshed out the personalities of the non-Hatter cast a lot more. (The Hatter cast got a lot to do as well, but they always do.) It’s a good read for fans of the series. Just be prepared for the story to start and stop a lot.

By Sakura Tsubasa. Released in Japan as “Yoroshiku Master” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine LaLa DX. Released in North America by Viz.

It’s rare to find a manga series with so many things I’m wary of and so many things that I love in the same package. Sweet Rein manages to hit all my buttons, both the good and bad ones. It’s fortunate that it’s only a 3-volume series, as I suspect this isn’t sustainable in the long-term, but as a short romantic comedy, it’s quite readable. Even the unrelated short story at the end manages to be deeper than I thought while also briefly appalling me. Sweet Rein pulls in about ten different directions.

The first thing that surprised me is the degree to which this is a magical girl series. Animal companion (who is also the romantic lead, but let’s save that for another paragraph) finds a somewhat melancholic girl dissatisfied with her life and shows her that she can bring happiness to the world. In this case, the animal companion is a reindeer who is actually a young man named Kaito. His entire family is reindeer (on his mother’s side), and when he meets our heroine, Kurumi, it’s love at first sight. In fact, it’s more than that. The Japanese title of this series translates as “Hello, Master!”, and it becomes clear that Kaito is bound to Kurumi, both physically and emotionally. This doesn’t bother him at all, but gives her some difficulties. What part of his feelings are his own heart, and what is the magic “making” him love her?

Because this is a magical girl series deep down, I was a bit more forgiving of some of the more ridiculous plot contrivances, though the Spirit of Christmas curing cancer was a bit much even for me. It’s far more fun to focus on Kurumi, who is a more down-to-earth and practical person than many shoujo heroines, and doesn’t even crack a smile till towards the end of the first chapter. Her background will be familiar to readers of this genre – mother long dead, father works long hours to support them so he’s never home, all her friends out with guys for Christmas. The Japanese reading of Christmas as being “Love + Santa” really comes into play here, with little to no religious subtext. (And thank God for that.) As for the reindeer thing, it would seem that Kaito’s body is ‘default human’, so I can deal. They do make a cute couple.

The side story is unrelated to the main action, being a one-shot about an immortal vampire (who looks like a cute young man) being saddled with a daughter from a woman that he had bedded some time ago. Most of the chapter is actually decent, with a good look at what it’s like to be an immortal and watch everyone you love die, and a nice vampire mythology that basically makes “turning” someone pot luck – either they die or they become vampires, they usually die, and it’s not controllable. Unfortunately, the entire thing is nearly upended by a very unfortunate choice at the end, where the art and storyline dovetail in exactly the way I was hoping they wouldn’t the moment this little girl showed up. Bleah.

Overall, though, I think the good parts of this manga outweighed the bad. It’s the sort of series that I suspect you shouldn’t think too deeply about, which makes it a bad fit for me but a great choice for anyone looking for some Christmas escapism.

By Osamu Tezuka. Released in Japan initially by Fujishobo; this edition was licensed from Tezuka Pro. Released in North America by PictureBox.

(Note: I spoil the ending in the review, be warned.)

I’m not sure that this manga, one of the first ones produced by the legendary Tezuka, can quite match the surreal heights of Picturebox’s first release, The Last of the Mohicans. It’s just as influential, but its style is more generic and the author’s early flaws show through a bit more. I think this actually works best as sort of a scholarly or critical edition, with the helpful essays by Ryan Holmberg providing a context that gives depth to what feels first time around like a pulpish adventure story. It will likely fare very well with rereads.

The entire plot feels like an old Republic serial, and the accompanying essay does mention Flash Gordon as one of Tezuka’s big influences. The main thing you won’t see in a live-action adventure serial, though, is Mimio, the intelligent rabbit who is modified (in a quite disturbing sequence showing the horrors of science for science’s sake) into a humanoid rabbit with feelings and emotions, but in a world where that sort of creature is going to be a pariah. In a later work, this might be the bulk of the story’s premise, but here we also follow John, the young scientist who is trying to follow in the footsteps of his late father and build a tunnel through the Earth (because flying is dangerous), with the help of his rich uncle and the Snidely Whiplash-esque Ham Egg, who many Tezuka fans will know is the villain the moment they see him.

What made this manga so influential to other Japanese artists and writers, of course, was the ending. I’ll admit, I found it rather curt and over the top melodramatic, but killing off one of the main characters and ending on a depressing note was a big sea change in the world of manga right then. Indeed, Tezsuka would come back to this basic storyline both in the 60s and 70s, revising and expanding, something he was known to do with several works (see also Princess Knight). I found it rather sad, given that Mimio not only wasn’t on the cover but didn’t make the cast of characters page. His death is the tragic ending, yet the book’s very design designates him to the forgotten extra pile. (Though this may be to avoid pointing out his disguises later on.)

The one thing this does have in common with its earlier Picturebox neighbor is seeing how the artists worked Western influences into the artwork of the title. Again, Holmberg’s essay is vital here, as the first time through you may simply read the story and characterization and miss the designs. I’d mentioned Flash Gordon, but there’s a lot of Disney here as well, as you’d expect from Tezuka. I also spotted the Popeye faces right off the bat. What I wasn’t expecting was Chic Young’s Blondie to be such a huge influence. Not only is John’s house and several poses reminiscent of Dagwood Bumstead, but the physician who watches over Mimio’s end is none other than Mr. Dithers! I’m not sure you could get away with that these days.

I definitely enjoyed this book, but I enjoyed it more from an academic, historical standpoint. If you’re the sort that loves to look at panels so see which issue of Bucky Bug this corresponds to, or to find out how this title resonates in a larger historical context, than this is the book for you. Well-researched, in a nice small size, and a good example of how, even when his writing is somewhat unformed and amateurish, Tezuka can still fascinate.

By Kosuke Fujishima. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Dark Horse.

Sometimes there’s just too much to say for a Bookshelf Brief, and that’s certainly the case with this volume of Oh My Goddess. Since my last full review 2 years ago, we’ve been going through hell like a video game, with various mini-bosses being taken down. In the midst of this, Keiichi and Belldandy had to break their contract in order to get past one obstacle. Once they reconnect it, Keiichi notices that his feelings for Belldandy, while just as strong, seem more… arousing than normal. And there’s a reason for that, one that set fandom alight when this chapter first came out about a year and a half ago.

Like most everyone who has now read this series for 45 volumes – indeed, hardcore fans may have read the series THREE TIMES by now, in 32-page floppies, then the flipped volumes, then the unflipped volumes – and I had always assumed that the total lack of sexual desire between Keiichi and Belldandy was a function of Japanese fandom and the “we must keep our idols pure and virginal” mentality, as well as a strong dose of “if they actually do get it on, the manga will end, and this is a GIANT CASH COW, so nothing can happen.” Now Fujishima is saying this has all been deliberate on the part of heaven, who have locked up Keiichi’s libido magically so that he and Belldandy won’t procreate – because of the past past experiences with demigods.

That wasn’t the thing that made fandom upset. It was that Belldandy and Urd were aware of this all the time, and said nothing. It’s worth noting that for those who remember the very early days of the series, this retcon is very awkward. Keiichi spent most of the first volume or so trying to get into Belldandy’s pants, and this vanished around the same time that his eyebrows stopped being huge and 80s-shaped. What’s more, Urd’s constant attempts at aphrodisiacs and love potions now make a whole lot of no sense. That said, for a manga that is looking forward and not backward, it’s a fascinating twist, and Belldandy clearly feels horrible and self-doubting about it.

There’s not really much to worry about, as K1 is pretty much the perfect boyfriend, so even when Bell and Skuld’s mother suggests they may have lost the trust between them (oh yeah, she showed up as well, forgot to mention that) he’s quick to smile and show that if anything, he loves her even more. Keiichi and Belldandy can be sickeningly sweet even when they aren’t stressing about whether they truly deserve each other, and I have to assume that if you’re still reading the series you’ve just resolved yourself to that happening. It can be adorable in the right mood.

I note Hild’s plotline is resolved here, which was meant to be the main goal of this arc. Instead, it’s turned into a combination of Dante’s Inferno and Orpheus, with Keiichi and Belldandy having everything that they know and trust about their relationship torn apart and destroyed so that (presumably) it can be rebuilt even stronger and with more sweet smiles. Plus hey, Keiichi can now see her and get aroused, which is a big step forward for the wrong type of fan. :) We end up with a cliffhanger that looks as f it may involve past lives, and I suspect won’t work out nearly as well as K1 and Bell have. But we’ll have to wait a long time for that, as the volume likely won’t arrive till August 2014.

(By the way, there is an excellent tribute to the late Toren Smith by Carl Horn at the end of this volume, well worth reading even if you’d dropped the series long ago. This is one of the series that everyone things of when they think of Toren, so it was lovely to see.)

By Kenichiro Takagi and Amami Takatsume, based on the game by Tamsoft. Released in Japan as “Senran Kagura – Shoujotachi no Shinei” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

As I’ve noted before, I try not to let this review blog be entirely “wow, this is really terrific”, so sometimes I get a first volume of something that I’m wary of or suspect may not be for me. And yet, looking at the basic premise of Senran Kagura without actually seeing the character designs, this should be quite appealing to me. Five female kickass ninjas battling against the forces of evil. No major male characters to swoop in and save them. Some plotlines that show the attempt at character development. And yet…

Even though I read it last, the afterword of this volume really sums up the mindset of the creators. Not only do we have several references to “boobs”, but we get at least three to “mega boobs”. The artist, who seems to draw herself as a bell pepper, also pledged to keep drawing the characters’ boobs for the happiness of the audience. And, doing a little research about the game itself, I see there’s nothing out of place about this at all – the game is a side-scrolling platformer whose big selling point apparently is using 3D technology on the lead females’ breasts. You can tell this is the point by the fact that the manga stars five different girls, and even the least endowed of them is still a double-D.

In amongst all the lovingly detailed breasts, we get the girl whose main habit is sexually harassing the other girls, and we also get the girl (named Yagyu, and wearing an eyepatch – we never get first names of these girls, but it’s clearly Jubei) who has a repressed but obvious yuri crush on her best friend. (I had hoped this might actually go somewhere, but again, checking the game work notes that it’s due to “she looks just like my dead sister” rather than, y’know, just being a lesbian.) There’s the cute clumsy one, there’s the stoic class president type, and there’s our naive yet filled with purpose heroine. It’s like they were ticking boxes off a checklist.

I’m no stranger to fanservice, of course – I read Negima, and Cage of Eden, and Excel Saga, and Higurashi. But all of those titles use fanservice as a spice, something that is there to attract the male reader flipping through the magazine to check out the story. The entire volume of Senran Kagura involves the ninja plot being secondary to showing these girls in as many titillating scenes as possible. Honestly, you’d think there’d be MORE here than there is – for all the attention to the bosoms of the leads, there’s no nudity at all. Just lots of busty women running around hitting each other.

In the end, the audience for this is, I suppose, those who played and enjoyed the original games, or saw the anime that also came with it, like most Japanese media franchises. But if you’re just coming to this series cold, and wanted to see a lot of huge-breasted women molesting each other… you’d probably get a better payoff getting a Project H book or something.

By Quin Rose and Riko Sakura, based on the game by Quin Rose. Released in Japan as “Heart no Kuni no Alice – Boushiya to Shinya no Ochakai” by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

We have now had about seven or eight spinoffs to the Alice series, most of them being variations on “well, what if Alice fell in love with this person instead?”. It’s been so long, in fact, that we may have forgotten that the original manga adaptation was pretty definitive about Blood Dupre being the canonical love interest, and its 6 volumes revolved around that. Of course, being an otome game adaptation, the manga can easily delight in all the possible routes. But it does mean that this spinoff, also dealing with Alice and Blood, is coming to us with a handicap: is there anything introduced here that we can’t get in the main series?

That’s not the only handicap, unfortunately. I’ve said before that I prefer Alice when it’s a psychological mystery rather than when it’s “which hot guy do I want to go out with”, and despite occasional attempts at a plot, this is very much the second. Alice is clearly attracted to Blood, with only his resemblance to her old tutor and his blunt ways holding her back. And even that doesn’t last long – Alice and Blood are in bed halfway through this first volume. (Again, I note that I am pleased that the series allows Alice to be sexually active without shaming or punishing her for it – probably a benefit to running in Ichijinsha’s josei line, where this sort of thing wouldn’t be out of place.)

As for Blood, well, he’s a charming rogue, and thus has the usual charming rogue issues. He’s attracted to Alice and wants her around, but demands control, and is jealous when she sees other men – particularly Julius. Yes, this is a Hearts world, so the clockmaker is back in the story, and everyone still hates him. I’ve mentioned before how much of this is due to the metatext of the game – his status as a neutral party, his connection with death that might remind Alice of why she’s in Wonderland in the first place – but this is a romance rather than a mystery, so honestly it’s mostly just the fact that they’re different types. Julius offers Alice peace and relaxation, something that Blood simply cannot provide.

There’s a lot of old ground gone over again – this being the Hatter Route, we get the subplot involving his secret relationship with Vivaldi again, as well as his ability to fluster and enrage alice simply by opening his mouth. If you’re a fan of Blood Dupre, you may want to give this a try, but for those wondering if this is a required read as an Alice fan, I’d have to say no. You get most of what happens here in the main series. (I was amused to see that this seems to be the only non-BL series the artist has drawn – she specializes in smutty yaoi.) I still like the Alice series, but the spinoffs are running out of ways to charm me.

By Kei Murayama. Released in Japan as “Centaur no Nayami” by Tokuma Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Ryu. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

I think the North American marketplace has sort of reached the point where it’s wary of slice-of-life series. There was a huge glut a few years ago, but we’re seeing less of them now. They were quiet, laid-back stories, usually involving a group of girls in high school and their slightly comedic, slightly heartwarming adventures. They’re so huge in Japan that one publisher, Houbunsha, has almost devoted its entire company to making them. But these days you can’t just have cute girls in clubs, or cute girls in bands, or cute girls in yuri relationships. So you need a hook. A Centaur’s Life certainly has that hook.

The title literally translates as “A Centaur’s Troubles/Worries”, and indeed the first chapter (which reads like an ecchi doujinshi that was toned down for publication… then again, given it’s Comic Ryu, maybe it wasn’t toned down too much) features our heroine being very worried indeed. She attracts some cute boys, and is concerned about her sexuality. The hook is that Himeno is a centaur, in a world where fantastic creatures are the norm, and her main concern is that she wants to know that she’s … compatible with other humanoids. After all, she has the body of a horse. Her friends Nozomi (a dragon girl) and Kyoko (a goat girl) help her out and calm her fears… not that this helps her romantically.

The first chapter is, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit too concerned with the girls’ privates. Luckily, the chapter does indeed seem to be more of a pilot chapter, and the rest of the series settles down as a slice-of-life that happens to feature a multiracial… indeed, multispecied cast. We see the usual school tropes. The marathon run, and the girls trying to get out of it. The school play. Side jobs as a model, and trying to hide it from the school. There’s also a hint of yuri sprinkled throughout between Himeno and Nozomi, though so far it seems to be mostly just the standard “if it’s you, it’s OK” high school tease.

What makes the manga interesting, and ensures that I will at least try a second volume, is that the writer doesn’t seem to be using the idea of fantastical creature folks as fodder for fetishes or comedy, they’re honestly worldbuilding. Centaurs used to be a slave race, so riding on top of them – even if consensual – can lead to arrest or worse. There’s discussion of “snake people”, and how the term is felt to be derogatory and they prefer “Antarctic people”. We see how Angel clothing deals with wings, what shoes centaurs wear, and how underwear works for those with tails (yes, the fanservice goes way down, but it’s still there at times). This is not just “let’s take these fantasy characters and dump them in cliched situations”, it’s “how would these situations go if these types of characters were involved”.

So far the series is merely adequate – like most slice-of-life, they tend to seem better the more you get to know the characters, so I expect my appreciation to rise as we go along. The girls may be fantastic creatures, but their personalities are still “the naive one”, “the tomboy”, etc. But given that the premise seems like an excuse for weird fetish pornography, I was pleasantly surprised at A Centaur’s Life, which is taking itself more seriously than you would think. I’ll get a second volume.