Sean Gaffney

By Osamu Tezuka. Released in Japan as “Futago no Kishi” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc.

In this sequel to Princess Knight (well, the original Princess Knight, that is – the rewrite we saw here is still 5 years away), Osamu Tezuka shows us very clearly right from the start that this is a fairy tale, a stage production, a full-blown melodrama. No, even more, a mellerdrammer. This is a cartoon straight out of Mickey Mouse. It has talking animals, it has villains that are so paper-thin it’s amazing they don’t blow away, it has truly ridiculous plot contrivances, it’s has somewhat questionable gypsies (who are straight out of the European Comics Book Of Stereotypes), two sets of twins, multiple breaks of the fourth wall, including an appearance by Tezuka as himself, and an ending that does not so much end as simply stop.

I loved it. But it really does seem to have everything that folks find annoying in a Tezuka manga. More than anything, I think this is the style of manga Tezuka did that we haven’t really seen over here much. The quick, dashed-off adventure stories. Lots of animal characters. Glib protagonists with not much depth. This is a good chunk of his output, particularly at this point in his career. If you read Tezuka for titles such as Barbara or MW, I can see you finding this ridiculously cloying and silly. Which it is. But it’s also so much fun! I can’t tell you the number of times I was grinning like a maniac while reading this. Not just for the adventures of Daisy and Violetta – truth be told, Daisy is perhaps the weak point of the entire manga. No, for things like the evil Duchess simply having her henchmen back out a high window to their deaths for irritating her. Ridiculous, but fun.

As for the sexism or lack thereof, it’s not too bad given the era and country it was written in, and I think does slightly better than Princess Knight. Yes, Violetta is constantly yearning to be female and wear dresses, etc, and her relationship with Emerald is far more interesting than that of her with Prince White (if this plot were written today, Daisy would marry Prince White and pretend to be Violetta while she goes off with Emerald for more adventures). But there’s no denying that Violetta kicks ass throughout, and the last page does note “Well, she may dress up as a man and have adventures in the future.”

Even better, and my favorite scene in the entire book, is when she and her family are thrown into the tower by the evil Duke and Duchess. She and her mother are separated into one room, and Violetta starts to despair. Then her mother sees a couple of swords that were conveniently left on the wall (the duke and duchess are not exactly the smartest of villains… we’re talking Gargamel-level smarts here) and decides that Violetta needs to learn how to REALLY fence… and be taught by Princess Knight. Here we see that, despite choosing to be Queen and settle down to raise a family, Sapphire has never truly abandoned her upbringing as a boy (and in fact, clearly must keep in shape with the rapier, given that she kicks her daughter’s ass). I loved this bit of family bonding.

There’s a lot packed into the 240 pages we get here. I didn’t even mention the incredibly tragic deer, or the cartoon wolves (one of whom I swear is voiced by Billy Bletcher), or the truly weird art that we see in places (check out the duke on page 231… pure Tex Avery). It’s not deep… it is in fact the very opposite of deep. But it’s fun, and lively, and would make a great fairy tale for children. Which, of course, is what it was meant to be back in 1958. A great addition to the North American Tezuka canon.

By Atsushi Ohkubo. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Soul Eater is a series I love, but it’s also a series that’s very easy to put on my ‘I only have one paragraph worth of things to say’ list, which is why I’ve been reviewing it as a brief for the last two years. With this volume ending the Baba Yaga’s Castle arc, however, it’s a good time to take stock and remind ourselves just why this series works. It’s not just about the awesomely surreal art any more. (Though the art is great… in particular, the use of simple black scribbles to show everyone’s minds being taken over by “spiders” is absolutely horrific.)

The last time I did a big review was Vol. 6, where our heroes ended up losing their battle to stop the resurrection of the big bad. They fare somewhat better here, but it’s still something of a Pyrrhic victory. Arachnae, for all her disturbing spider imagery, was always going to fall into the category of ‘not as interesting as Medusa’. And the astute reader has been waiting for Medusa’s ‘helping’ our heroes to eventually rebound back on them for about 4 volumes, now, so it’s not much of a surprise when it does. (I do wonder what happened to the little girl Medusa was possessing… I assume she lived, but we never do see her again. The anime implied she was returned to her parents and absolutely not mentally scarred by all this, which… seems unlikely.)

And of course our heroes have some casualties of their own, namely Kid, who is still trapped within the villains’ book. This means that Liz and Patty are now a duo like everyone else, rather than a threesome with Kid, and Patty is now the meister. This is dealt with mostly in a lighthearted way (Patty is shown to be hella strong, and also has no qualms whatsoever in fighting dirty when the need arises), but I am hoping that at some point we get an explanation of their backstory, as Liz and Patty just aren’t as developed as the rest of the cast (no pun intended).

The end of one arc means the start of another, though, and there are several things in this volume that point forward to what is coming soon. We discover who the killer of B.J. is, and while it wasn’t obvious, it wasn’t all that surprising either – the killer has always seemed a little fishy throughout the series, so seeing he’s really evil is not that much of a stretch. As for Kim Diehl, it’s a bit of an anticlimax, as the far-too-understanding Shinigami seems to be perfectly OK with “she’s a witch, but not evil, so forgive her”. I wonder if Soul Eater Not! will deal with any of this fallout… assuming it ever catches up to this point in the manga. (I also want to meet her sister, who will inevitably be called Kelly Diehl.) Lastly, Maka and Soul hunt down a serial killer who is an amusing Freddy/Sadako hybrid, and finally gain the Death Weapon status they almost had in Chapter 1 before Soul messed everything up.

Everyone has matured and seem stronger now, which is good, as things are only going to get more dangerous from now on, particularly if Maka is still intent on saving Crona. Soul Eater has rapidly become one of the best shonen series available today. Get it.

(Also, trigger warning for spiders, but honestly, Soul Eater has so many terrifying art things that it seems a bit pointless to just narrow it to one.)

By Rie Takada. Released in Japan as “H³ School!” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shoujo Comic. Released in North America by Viz Media.

As many of you know, Viz has been releasing many of its titles digitally. And, while it’s great to have the latest Naruto or One Piece on your tablet, the main reason this is an amazing boon for consumers is seeing some of the older, out of print titles of yesteryear return. Let’s face it, I have enough trouble keeping up with the current titles I read, much less trying to go back and grab that series I missed 8 years ago. And this one intrigued me in particular, because I had vague memories of people really enjoying it. My other two experiences with the author – Punch! and Gaba Kawa – were more mediocre, so I wanted to give this a try to see if it was the exception. Sure enough, this is so far an excellent shoujo series with a great, spunky heroine.

Hanabi Ozora is typical of the shoujo heroines I like – takes no shit from anyone, generally beloved by her female classmates, can be dense as lead when it comes to the opposite sex, etc. These qualities are put to the test for her when her school is folded into a boys’ school as it wasn’t doing all that well. Now she and her classmates have to deal with boys – boys who seem, at times, arrogant, haughty, and cold. But also, y’know, really amazingly handsome. In fact, the girls’ school council can’t deal with the devastatingly attractive Yoshitomo, who is making rules against classmates dating. That can’t stand! Enter Hanabi, who has no issues whatsoever dealing with handsome guys – hell, her biggest issue is her frizzy hair.

The romantic male lead, by the way, is not the aforementioned Yoshitomo, who so far tends to be the ‘arrogant with a nice streak underneath’ sort, but the school vice-president, Yasuaki. Yasuaki has trouble dealing with girls in general, so getting Hanabi in his face every day is almost too much for him. His cold aloofness, naturally, turns out to be shyness. Oh, and did I mention he’s a surfer? Hanabi has to get his signature in order to ditch the anti-fraternization rule, and he gradually comes to appreciate her never-quit attitude, which seems to apply to her entire life as well as her petitions.

The complications start when the other school council member, Tokihisa, starts to fall for Hanabi, who’s never dealt with romance, so has no idea why being friendly with another guy would make the first guy jealous. This must be resolved by a tennis match… between men! (With added Hanabi.) It doesn’t help that Yasuaki is effortlessly good at everything he does, leading to Tokihisa having a serious inferiority complex. And if you guessed we’d be dealing with a forceful kiss by the end of this, you’re right… in fact, as a bonus, we also get mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after a surfing accident too!

Absolutely nothing about this is original, but as I’ve noted before, if you want originality, why are you reading shoujo manga? This manga gave me what I wanted: a strong, amusing heroine, a variety of hot guys she could potential end up with, the one cool, brooding guy she obviously will end up with, and some nice surfing shots. (The author, by the way, has moved on to josei, writing for Hakusensha’s Silky and Shogakukan’s Judy. Since those two magazines combined have inspired zero North American licenses, we may not get much more of her over here.) I’ll definitely be checking out further volumes of this series.

By Kakifly. Released in Japan by Houbunsha, serialized in the magazine Manga Time Kirara. Released in North America by Yen Press.

It’s hard to be drawn in sometimes when a series is just so corporately driven. There was nothing wrong with the ending of the original K-On! It ended quite well, with the girls graduating and moving on to college. And yet suddenly, a few months later, we return with not one but TWO new series, each running in a separate magazine. It’s hard not to look at this and think that the publisher asked the writer to drag things on a little bit longer. What’s more, it is only a little bit – each sequel only lasted one volume, and the ending for this college volume just isn’t as satisfying as the original ending. Not to mention that many of the new characters fill similar functions to the old group. So, why read this cash-in?

Well, because the author still knows how to write cute girls doing cute things and having cute situations. I mentioned in a comment on a previous review that I use ‘moe’ in two distinct and separate ways, and this is the first one. Everything about this is designed to make the reader happy to read about girls doing everyday things and trying to keep their high school rock band going. There is zero romance, and next to zero fanservice (there’s a suggestive color page of Mugi at one point). And there are absolutely no little sisters being this cute. Well, there’s Ui, but she acts the part of the responsible oneesama in any case. In any case, what we have here is more of the same, but at college. But if you enjoyed the first four volumes, there’s a high percentage you’ll enjoy this.

There is even, dare I say it, a bit of character development, showing that the girls might be growing up. Yui is trying to think about why she wants to keep playing music, even if she tends to think so hard it gives her a fever. Ritsu is the same, only she’s not a prodigy like Yui or a hard-worker like Mio and Mugi, so her fears tend to come to the fore. Mio still has her little foibles, but is cringing and freaking out a lot less, and is able to give just as good as she gets (her friendship with Ritsu remains a highlight). As for Mugi, she’s on her own for the first time in her life, so has her own insecurities that the others have never worried about. Seeing her joy in the little things we take for granted is really sweet.

As for the new girls, they get fleshed out more than I expected. Akira in particular I wasn’t fond of when we first met her, as it was fairly clear that the author needed someone for Yui to glomp and Azusa wasn’t around anymore, so here was a nearby replacement. Gradually, as the manga wears on, though, we see that she’s isn’t just another tsundere. She’s also allowed to have an old male crush, since she’s not one of the original cast and fanboys won’t burn merchandise in protest. But fear not, it doesn’t go anywhere. Sachi and Ayame round out the rest of that trio, and each have their own little quirks (particularly Sachi), but sadly don’t get as much time as Akira to develop in the minimal pages we see here.

Again, there’s nothing here that doesn’t support the idea that the author was asked to draw a little bit more to make some more money. But the core of what made K-On! enjoyable is also still here, and there’s nothing actively wrong with this. If you enjoyed reading about the four girls before, you’ll enjoy it here. If not, well, get it so that you can watch Ritsu’s hair evolve over the course of the volume.

By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan as “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

And so at last we come to the climax of Sailor Moon’s story. We’ve seen her start off as a whining crybaby of a superhero, and advance to the point where the obvious solution is “kill the entire population and then let Sailor Moon resurrect everyone”. She’s gained friends, a lover, and a future child. Her life has, despite the ongoing war against various miasmic shrouds of darkness, been pretty damn awesome. So what happens when you take all of that from her? Worse, when her enemies are alien versions of her – Sailor senshi from other planets who were the Sailor Moons of their worlds, now fighting with Galaxia in an effort to gain some form of happiness and peace? Why is Usagi Tsukino the special one, why is she the hero, why (if we get right down to it) is she the messiah? This is heavy stuff for a manga that runs in a magazine for 7-9 year old girls.

Of course, Usagi’s never truly alone in this volume, if only as we need people to stare at the enemy and scream her name. The Starlights, Princess Kakyuu (who decides it’s time to man up and become a senshi at EXACTLY the worst time, I feel I should note), and of course the mysterious Chibi-Chibi. Best of all, when things are at their worst, and she’s being attacked by evil forms of all her friends (which is incredibly creepy and wrong – they’re not only using “Galaxia” versions of their attacks, but the expressions of cruel glee on “Venus” and “Saturn’s” faces as they try to kill Sailor Moon just screams out WRONG), back from the future comes Chibi-Usa and her own senshi, the Asteroids, to protect their own slowly dissolving future. I’ve given Chibi-Usa a bad rap over the years, but in the manga, where there’s no filler or drawn-out irritation to deal with, she’s become a really great character. Even if there’s not much she can do here.

Despite all this, in the end it’s down to Usagi herself to save the day, as you would expect. In this she’s helped by Chibi-Chibi, whose real identity is finally revealed (and is quite different from the anime, I note). Well, sort of revealed. Takeuchi has always had pacing problems, and the ending of the series can be quite rushed in places. Sailor Cosmos would seem to be a future Sailor Moon who was unable to take the pressure and ran away, but it’s unclear if she’s meant to be our Sailor Moon or one of the many, many senshi we see scattered throughout this arc (my personal favorite being ‘Soul Hunter Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon’, who cries out for an origin story, one that I hope involves Jem and the Holograms in some way).

The decision Usagi has to make, though, is laid out very well. Chaos is the origin of conflict in this universe, and Usagi can destroy it, leading to eternal peace (but her friends will all be gone), or bring back her friends and doom the world to an ongoing battle with darkness. This is laid out in such a way that it sounds like Usagi makes a horribly selfish decision, but that’s not what’s happening here at all. Life *is* conflict. Life is struggle. Choosing eternal peace is merely choosing death. And if you can’t reach out to save your friends and try to create a future that will last as long as it possibly can, then what’s the point of fighting in the first place? Usagi makes the right decision here, noting offhandedly that she’s never fought for peace or justice, but just for the sake of her friends and loved ones.

Who return at the end, because this is not a sad manga. (On a side note, I’d also like to address something that is really upsetting to me, as seen on the TVTropes page for Sailor Moon. The page states that since we don’t see the cats resurrected at the end along with everyone else, that we can assume they were genuinely killed off. No. That is 100% incorrect. I am sick of you fandom psychos going around to every happy, heartwarming, uplifting series we have and trying to inject your own DC Comics angst and murder into everything. Sailor Moon is a story about a messiah who resurrects the world MULTIPLE TIMES, for Christ’s sake. We didn’t see the cats as Naoko didn’t have room to fit them in in the rushed final chapter. They’re not dead just so that you can say that there’s always tragedy somewhere. This reminds me of all the readers who followed series like Negima or Bleach, and got very upset when their perfect unhappy endings were ruined by the day being saved. What the hell are you reading manga for? Go away. I hate you. The cats live.) And we have a wedding, where Usagi notes she can tell she’s already pregnant with Chibi-Usa. The final page may feel a little self-congratulatory towards Sailor Moon, but really, she’s been through a lot here. Cut her some slack. (Also, Minako’s top hat in that cover page is awesome.)

And so the main series of Sailor Moon concludes, though there are two volumes of short stories still to come. And in the end, after re-reading the series, I find that if anything I love it even more. A classic magical girl tale, not afraid to have kickass women defending love and justice, or whiny crybabies who save the universe. The stories could get a little similar at times (this arc even lampshades that, with the cloud of darkness noting all the other clouds of darkness Sailor Moon fought earlier were its siblings), and yes, 60 chapters of manga will never have the same time to develop character that 200 episodes of anime do as well. But you can have both in your heart, and cherish them equally. I am so pleased that this series is back in print. Everyone should read it.