Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Don’t Disturb Me and Him, Please

by

By Asuka Katsura. Released in Japan as “Soko Wa Bokura No Mondai Desu Kara” by Ohta Shuppan, serialized in the magazine Manga Erotics F. Released in North America by JManga.

I… am not sure where even to begin. What the heck was this? Not since Sasameke have I been left with such a feeling of vague confusion and disgust. This one didn’t have quite the kick in the balls ending that Sasameke did, but it certainly matches it for weird gag humor out of nowhere and appalling over-the-top grotesqueries being presented as comedic. Which, to be fair, works at first, but as the manga goes on and tries to also have a real plot, the flaws inherent in the entire work become more apparent.

disturb

Given that the manga actually tries to have a plot, I suppose I should sum it up. Yaeko is a high school girl who reacts cutely whenever she’s tormented (or, more accurately, reacts in a highly amusing way), and thus has always been prey for perverts who want to dress her up, strip her, seduce her, or just rape her. Including her family. And her best friend, who in fact rapes her at knifepoint in the first chapter. While escaping said best friend by running nude through the streets at night, she’s helped by Rokuro, a gorgeous man carrying a teddy bear… who happens to match the description of a guy who’s been propositioning little kids around the neighborhood. After a series of misunderstandings, she injures his right hand, only to discover he has a high-stress job that absolutely needs doing. And so she moves in with him to be his right hand while it heals.

The reader, honestly, is meant to identify with the perverts here, as Yaeko’s reactions to everything are the best part of the manga. They are so over the top it goes beyond comedy into farce, and she frequently will be dressed as, say, a soldier or a Greek Statue for one panel only. She’s obsessed with proving that Rokuro is a lolicon, to the extent that she tries to frame him by going to a park and telling kids to pose for photos (realizing, a bit late, that this makes her a pervert – she’s even wearing the standard manga pervert outfit). Her complete lack of common sense is what drives the humor, along with her need to scream almost every line.

Sadly, Rokuro is not nearly as interesting – or indeed interesting at all. In the final chapter, we get an attempt at a backstory that explains his retiring personality and his tendency to chat up little kids, but for most of the story he’s a non-entity who exists to make Yaeko panicked and insane. He has a faux-girlfriend who (naturally) has a shotacon complex, who mostly seems to inhabit the manga so that the two of them have a third character to bounce stress off of. (Yaeko’s best friend, for obvious reasons, doesn’t fit this description. Which is a shame, as she was easily the most appalling (and therefore funny) part of this whole manga.)

I suspect this worked better serialized, but even them I think I’d be exhausted by the end of 20 pages or so. The author is better known for Blood+ and La Portrait de Petite Cosette, neither of which I believe are anything whatsoever like this. It has little to no internal logic, tries to tack on a heartwarming ending that is then ruined by both its heroine and hero, and is amazingly offensive at times (and by at times, I mean most of the volume). I will admit that I laughed at first at many of the situations, but by the time the final chapter rolled around, I was exhausted. (There were also several typos and misspellings, more than usual for a JManga release.)

I can’t possibly recommend this, as it’s bad, but if you’re in the mood to stare at your screen with your mouth open, you may want to try Chapter 1. If nothing else, it’s very different from anything else JManga has put out, and indeed any other Manga Erotics F titles I’ve seen.

JManga the Week of 1/31

by , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: No new series on the last day of January, but we do get a new volume of a series I adore, even if I am seeing it for a 2nd time.

joshikousei5

Joshi Kosei, aka High School Girls, hits Vol. 5. Given that I’m reading more and more manga digitally these days, I am very pleased to see this series come out in that format. It’s big doofy fun, always prepared to sacrifice what little dignity the characters have for comedy, and reveling in female friendships.

MJ: I really should check this out, shouldn’t I?

SEAN: Yes. :)

Elemental Gelade hits Vol. 3 on JManga, which reminds me that Elemental Gelade has also hit Vol. 12 on Comixology. I guess they’re digitalizing the Tokyopop license? Different translations, I assume, but it’s quite weird to see the first digital vs. digital competition.

MJ: The Digital Manga Guild also has this, and I’m not sure if they’re all the same or not!

SEAN: Madame Joker, another in a long line of ‘Manga JManga is putting out that I should read as I’d love it but don’t have the freaking time as they’re putting out piles’, has hit Vol. 4. Madame Joker, AIALLO’MJMIPOTISRAILIBIDHTFTATPOP’ for short.

MICHELLE: I have benevolent feelings towards Madame Joker but I too haven’t found the time to read it. I feel bad having such a lackluster response to next week’s offerings, when I found so much this week to be grateful for, but that’s how it is, I’m afraid.

SEAN: And we also have Vol. 4 of Recorder and Ransell, which I’m sure is adorable and cute and moe, but I simply can’t get past the fact that its premise creeps me out.

So what’ll you have? (Pabst Blue Ribbon: The Manga.)

Manga the Week of 1/30

by , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Let’s see if I can sort out this week, given my recent habit of taking Midtown’s list and then ignoring it horribly.

First of all, they’re finally getting in the Yen Press books that most of us got last week or this week. I’ve gone over those already, but FYI they are Black Butler 12, Black God 18, Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore a Moonflower, A Bride’s Story 4, The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan 3, and Soul Eater 12.

Udon has a Super Street Fighter series debuting, with what seems to be Korean artists and American writers. Um… a must for Street Fighter fans? I dunno, I got nothing. How Do I Capcom?

MICHELLE: Yeah, sorry Udon, but this just doesn’t appeal to me.

MJ: I always want to like things with Korean artists, just on principle, but… meh.

limit3SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd volume of Limit, their shoujo experiment that is not selling all that hot so MORE PEOPLE should buy it as it’s excellent. Come on, doesn’t that cute young thing on the cover scream adorable shoujo? I bet there are some wacky misunderstandings in this volume!

MICHELLE: And probably it is Valentine’s Day!

ANNA: I like to think of Limit as a lovely violently cynical sorbet that cleanses the palate of manga readers who have been reading too much shoujo with wacky misunderstandings.

MJ: Mostly I’m just entertained here by all your commentary, but I’ll also note that I’m really looking forward to volume three of Limit.

SEAN: Meanwhile, Kodansha is releasing a lot of stuff next week via Amazon that’s not hitting comic shops till February or later. Given next week also has a pile of Viz, why don’t we run down Kodansha now? If nothing else, it will broaden the Pick of the Week a bit.

First off, Bloody Monday was out this week. It’s up to Volume 9 of about 11, which wraps up the ‘First Season’. I think, when asked about the Second and Third Seasons of the series, Kodansha made ‘well, buy more’ noises. So buy more if you want to read more of ’24: Japan’.

MICHELLE: I really do mean to read this one of these days.

MJ: I enjoyed the first volume, but I guess not enough to propel me further on. Should I feel regretful?

SEAN: Fairy Tail is starting to get ready to speed up, which means more volumes online on its digital Apple-only thing that I don’t use as I don’t have Apple (this grump brought to you by Android), but also print volumes about once a month or so. It hadn’t sped up quite yet, though. In the meantime, we’re still in Edolas, though we may be about to wrap that arc up.

MICHELLE: I occasionally forget that Fairy Tail exists, even though I’ve read 14 volumes of it.

MJ: I’ve never had any interest in Fairy Tail, yet I’d really like to develop some, if only because Hiro Mashima was so incredibly charming at NYCC a couple of years ago. Convince me?

SEAN: Um… it’s good solid shonen, and has finally, I think, stopped trying to be One Piece only for Kodansha. It has a few good female characters, though it waffles quite a bit on how strong they get to be (but that’s typical for most Japanese shonen). It’s quite funny at times, and not in a “boobs!” way. (That said, there are many, many stacked girls here.)

Mostly, though, I think it’s the sort of title that you start of hoping gets better and really improves by the time you’re 16 volumes in and invested in the world. It rewards long-term investment. Which can be a pain, I know.

MJ: Actually, that’s pretty persuasive. Thank you!

SEAN: Genshiken finishes off its Omnibus Releases with the 3rd, covering Vol. 7-9. Nice timing, as I suspect the new anime of Genshiken 2nd Season coming up may spark interest in the first again.

Another series bites the dust, as Vol. 4 wraps up Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations. Barring the appearance of an Apollo Justice manga (don’t hold your breath), this may be it for this franchise for the time being – at least in manga form.

Speaking of series almost being finished, 37 is the 2nd to last volume of Negima. I’ll have a lot to say about this volume and the next. A whole lot. That said, if you like an overabundance of fanservice in the best old-fashioned Akamatsu ways, this is the volume for you.

sailormoon9MICHELLE: Pass!

MJ: Thank goodness we have Sean to care about Akamatsu on our behalf.

SEAN: Aheh. Let’s just say that my comment that Negima should have ended with Vol. 36 will be followed up on. My *least* favorite part of Negima is the naked antics.

SEAN: Lastly, Pluto graces the cover of Sailor Moon Vol. 9, and I think she actually even shows up in this, though not till the end. In the meantime, we’re really delving into the Super S arc now, which means dreams, and mirrors, and unicorns, and lots of Chibi-Usa (though less than you’d expect).

MICHELLE: Yay, Sailor Moon! I might’ve said this last time—probably I did—but the manga version of Super S differs from the anime in that the outer senshi are in it, so it’s worth reading even if that season of the anime wasn’t your favorite. The next volume of the series also includes something nifty that was missing from the anime.

ANNA: More volumes of Sailor Moon are always a thing to celebrate!

MJ: Agreed!

SEAN: There you go, that’s plenty of manga to chew over. What’ve you got?

Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore a Moonflower

by

By Mizuki Nomura. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen Press.

One of the main themes of the Book Girl series has been elements of the past seemingly overlaying with elements of the present, and our heroes and other protagonists finding themselves trapped in a seeming reimagining of past crimes. Konoha, our hero, is especially notorious for seeing his relationship with Miu mirrored and kaleidoscoped in virtually everything he interacts with, but it also plays out with Takada, Akutagawa, and the other members of the cast. Including a girl from the 2nd novel named Hotaru Amemiya, whose presence is felt in this 6th book of the Book Girl series.

BookGirlv6Final

This novel takes place chronologically between books 2 and 3 (Famished Spirit and Captive Fool), during Tohko and Konoha’s summer break. That said, it reads better having come after the others, and has significant foreshadowing for the last two books, so it’s well-placed here. It also delves into the story of Maki Himekura, which isn’t too surprising, given she’s the one remaining main cast member who didn’t get a book of their own. I had worried that Famished Spirit would be all we saw of her, but that was Amemiya’s book, and its consequences play out a bit here, as we see Maki unchained, to a degree. Or rather, that’s what she wants to be.

Each Book Girl novel focuses on a specific work, and this one is no exception. I admit I’ve never read Kyoya Izumi’s play Demon Pond (I’m not even certain if it’s available in English), but its plot it helpfully laid out by Tohko along the way, so there’s no real need to. This book is also heavily imbued with demons and the supernatural, just like Famished Spirit, and even though most all of the ghostly elements are eventually explained as being all too human, the book has an atmosphere of tension, sort of like the old haunted castle romances of the turn of the 20th century.

This book takes place at the Himekura summer estate, so Takeda, Akutagawa and Kotobuki are absent. We do get to see Ryuto, however, Tohko’s cousin, and it becomes clear that Maki isn’t the only one deeply affected by the events in Famished Spirit. He and Maki clash immediately, with physical as well as verbal abuse. Not a surprise given how they’re both extroverted, flamboyant characters. As for Maki herself, she’s trapped in a situation that fans of Japanese manga with rich girls will know all too well – her life is already laid out for her and she can’t escape the thumb of her all-controlling grandfather. This helps explain (though not excuse) some of the rather unpleasant things she does in this book.

As for Konoha and Tohko, things are seemingly the same as ever. We get a classic Konoha panic attack here (though he’s just been kidnapped and is lost in a forest during a downpour, so I’ll grant him this one), and Tohko once again has a long speech at the end where she lays everything out for the cast, something that always seems a bit affected in these books, but fits the character perfectly. However, we also get a few hints of the final two books. Ryuto gives Konoha some prompts that, when eaten, given Tohko an altogether different attitude, and the final few pages of the book show Tohko in a highly melancholic state over the fact that soon she won’t be able to be with Konoha anymore. (The answer being ‘she’s graduating’, but given who Tohko is and the way this scene is written, it makes it *sound* as if she may have some wasting disease or something. I doubt the series is that downbeat, however.)

All five previous books of this series have bold type showing the inner monologue of the volume’s protagonist or antagonist, be that Takeda, Akutagawa, or whoever. Interestingly, the epilogue to this book’s bold type not only gives us a hint of Maki’s eventual fate (not sure how I feel about it, but that’s just the shipper in me talking), but reveals who the actual author of these pieces may be. If you’ve been reading along, it’s not much of a surprise, but the fact that we’re seeing it shows that we’re definitely getting all the cards laid out now. All that’s left is the final Book Girl story, which is so epic it will take two books to cover.

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 4

by

By Kaoru Mori. Released in Japan as “Otoyomegatari” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine fellows!. Released in North America by Yen Press.

I reviewed the two previous volumes of this series as Bookshelf Briefs, but continued to have the same issues I had with Volume 1. The quality was excellent, but I had trouble connecting with many of the characters due to Kaoru Mori’s standard operating procedure of placid people with vaguely repressed emotion. This was not helped by the release of her Something And Anything collection, which showed she could write loudmouths and comedy as well as the rest of them. And so, seeing this new volume was coming out and had a slightly more upbeat cover on it, I wondered if it would get me more involved emotionally.

Mori_A-Brides-Story-v4

Oh yes. Hyperactive tribe of loudmouths for the win! Actually, we do start off in Amir’s area, with ominous foreshadowing about her family’s clan, as well as a cute little story where the tribe’s resident tsundere, Pariya, finally meets a guy who may not be terrified of her. But the bulk of the story continues to follow Dr. Smith as he heads towards the West slowly (and thankfully does not run into the well-written but depressing angst that Vol. 3 gave us). Here he meets the twins of the title, who are rambunctious hellcats who can’t sit still and who are so much of a pair that a suitor for them would almost have to involve a pair of brothers so they aren’t separated. The bulk of this volume is dedicated to their trying to catch themselves a man, and their family’s eventual success at this task.

As I noted, this entire tribe seems a lot more lively than Amir’s. It’s not just the twins – their parents may be more mature, but they’re just as over-the-top. Indeed, the mother’s reaction to her children being unable to sit still for even two seconds is comedy gold. And for all that it looks as if the twins are trying totally stupid things to get themselves noticed and married off, when their mother and aunt talk about how they both got married, the stories are based off of coincidence and luck. This does not help to provide a good influence. And of course the couples contrast nicely, as each girl is matched up with a quieter, more cynical young man (childhood friends, of course) and the two couples learn how to take their own path and be slightly different. It’s only slight, too – I liked how it’s shown the two twins really are nearly alike, even in personality, and only differ in subtle ways that have to be picked up on.

Not all is sweetness and light, thought. I already noted the ominous first chapter with Amir’s tribe, but there’s a constant reminder here at how many folks die young – particularly women in childbirth. Pariya’s suitor notes her attitude, and his father says that the girls with ‘too much energy’ are the best. Likewise, the twins’ mother gives them one last request – stay healthy, above everything else. This is very much a series from another time, and it gives a poignancy to all these matchmakings.

Vol. 5 only came out in Japan recently, I think, so it may be a while before it hits here. In the meantime, we have a wedding to attend. Let’s hope this one is filled with more unambiguous joy than the others we’ve had so far. Though I have a feeling that, even as this series focuses on ‘different’ brides every arc, that we’ll soon be wandering back to Amir’s village.

Pick of the Week: The Flowers of Evil

by and 2 Comments

flowersofevil4SEAN: It’s a fairly slim week of stuff, but there are some intriguing titles. My pick of the week is Vol. 4 of the dark shounen series Flowers of Evil. I admit I’m about a volume or so behind on this one, but it’s worth my catching up on. The cover design has turned darker, and the book seems to be trending the same way. I can’t say I enjoy reading the volumes, but I’m utterly fascinated by them, and want to know what happens next so I can be repelled against my will again. Which is a recommendation, in case anyone was unsure.

MJ: I’m going to go with Sean on this one. The Flowers of Evil is the only print volume I’m really interested in this week, but it should be noted that even in a stronger week, it’d have a good chance with me. I find this series very compelling, and I’m pretty psyched to read more of it. From my review of the last volume, “Volume three is unexpectedly moving as Kasuga comes to the surprisingly insightful realization that putting his dream girl on a pedestal is not the same thing as loving her, and as all three of the series’ main characters are faced with truths they weren’t quite prepared for. If this series’ first volume read mainly as “better than Sundome” its third proves that it is really so much more.”

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

JManga the Week of 1/24

by , and 3 Comments

ningenSEAN: It’s getting harder, I admit, to find things to say every week, mostly as JManga’s really sped up some releases ridiculously. As such, there’s new Crazy for You and Pride! Excited, but I’ve talked about those so much already.

ANNA: I can’t believe I’m two volumes behind with Crazy For You now! Crazy for You and Pride are for sure the titles I’m most excited about this week. I really really hope that they are doing well enough that we’ll see some similar titles coming out soon.

SEAN: There’s also a new Ekiben Hitoritabi manga, where the ongoing question has been “which cute young thing will he travel around with this time around?”

MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be reading the latest volumes of Crazy for You, Pride, and Ekiben Hitoritabi, but I admit I’ve kind of run out of new ways to say “Yay!” about them, too. Definitely glad to see them continuing to come out, and this’ll be the penultimate volume of Crazy for You, as well, which is pretty insane in terms of getting the whole series out in record time!

SEAN: Mythical Detective Loki has reached Vol. 3, which is also the last English release that came out back in the day via ADV. (Remember ADV?) From here on, it’s chapters new to North America…

The debut this week is another BL title from Fumiko Shusai. Ningen no Ichiban Muboubi na Bubun, aka Where a Person Is Most Vulnerable. It’s from Libre Shuppan, and I’ll be honest, its cover looks quite cute. More covers like this, please!

Anything catch your appetite?

Manga the Week of 1/23

by , , and 2 Comments

SEAN: It’s a quiet week at Midtown, which to my surprise still doesn’t have the Yen Press titles that I got this week and, um, apparently no one else did. This does not mean that nothing is being released there, however.

flowersofevil4Vertical has the 4th volume of Flowers of Evil, aka Baudelaire for Shonen Manga. The covers have turned black and so has the story, with its three protagonists going to darker and darker places. Who’s for joining them?

MJ: *raises hand* Out of everything on this short list, Flowers of Evil is really the only thing that interests me.

MICHELLE: I keep saying that I’m not sure I’m going to continue with this series, but then I keep continuing with it.

SEAN: And Viz has its Signature Series, which makes this Blogger Love week. Afterschool Charisma has hit Vol. 7. I must admit I’ve lost track of it, but, um… clones!

ANNA: Oh, Afterschool Charisma! I really enjoyed the first three volumes or so. I should get caught up.

MICHELLE: I intend to get caught up soon, too. Maybe I can even manage to talk about the series on Off the Shelf, finally!

SEAN: There’s the penultimate volume of Jormungand, which is filled with action, gunplay, awesome moments and likely a huge pile of grey and grey morality amongst its cast.

MJ: I am ashamed to say that I don’t read either of these. Um.

21stcenboys1

SEAN: And just when you thought it was safe to stop buying 20th Century Boys, Viz brings us 21st Century Boys! This one’s only 2 volumes, though. Still, 21st Century Boy doesn’t scan! You’re making Marc Bolan sad!

MJ: Heh.

ANNA: I loved 20th Century Boys but just fell way behind on that series. One of these days…..

MICHELLE: I literally laughed out loud at your Marc Bolan reference, Sean! I’m a fairly serious Bolan/T. Rex fangirl, so was filled with glee when the opening pages of the manga feature the protagonist playing “20th Century Boy” over the morning announcements.

Anyway, I too fell way behind but it was kind of on purpose. I did the same with Urasawa’s Monster, reading the first couple volumes and then just waiting until all the rest of it was out before indulging in a huge marathon. Soon, I’ll do the same with this series.

SEAN: Any picks from you folks? Aaron, if you pick Gunslinger Girl for a 3rd straight week, I’m sending you to the corner…

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, Vol. 3

by

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

A Quick Guide to writing manga AUs for the otaku fan, by Sean Gaffney.

I’m assisted today by Puyo, author of the Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, a spinoff of the Disappearance movie filtered through the sensibilities of Puyo’s Haruhi-chan gag manga. With that in mind, let’s examine a volume of this series closely, keeping an eye out for handy tips.

yuki-chan3

The first thing to learn is that you have to know your audience. In this case, the audience are fans of the Haruhi franchise who read Kadokawa Shoten’s Young Ace magazine. They’re a built-in fanbase, and know the source material inside and out. This has its uses. You don’t have to delve so hard into character introductions, as everyone reading it knows who you’re writing about. And it means that your character interaction can be subtler. Take a look at page 27, which features Mikuru. Her dialogue, “I’m not very assertive, though, so I appreciate it when people can push me into doing things” is a redemptive reading for the original series’ Haruhi. This Mikuru is free to admit that she’s not simply being bullied and assaulted by a girl she can’t say no to, but is grateful for the assertiveness training.

In fact, this is another of the main bonuses to franchises like these, especially ones based on a light novel with a first-person narrator. Due to the viewpoint, the reader’s observations and biases are linked with the main character, as you rarely see scenes outside his purview. Even a straight manga adaptation, such as Haruhi’s, is forced by its source material into this narrow path. But in Nagato Yuki, the viewpoint is third person, which means we have the opportunity to see people in perspectives other than Kyon’s. This is particularly helpful in regards to Haruhi and Ryoko (or, as I like to call them, OTP), Both these characters change when they’re around each other. Ryoko, normally forced to be the perfect oneesama around Kyon and Yuki, lets out her childish immaturity near Haruhi. Likewise, the genki Haruhi is forced into the straight man role around Ryoko, and shows a genuine concern for her. Both characters benefit immensely from this.

The key in writing these sorts of AUs is to deviate from canon an acceptable amount, but not too much. In this case, the material is benefited by the movie itself, which gave us the shy, emotional Nagato used for this adaptation. Certain other AU adaptations, which I won’t name but rhyme with Bevamgelion, have taken their characters and made them 100% different from the original in almost every way, leading the reader to wonder why they simply didn’t create a new character? (The answer, as I’m sure you all know by now, is MONEY. Use your franchise well and use it wisely.) Nagato Yuki here is considerably different from the canon, to be sure, but the movie helped build a bridge, and there are enough signs of the original (Yuki’s explanations being incomprehensible, her reaching out for the stars) that it works.

Even Kyon, who has been poorly developed so far, gets a bit to do here, as his conversation with Ryoko shows that he seems more aware of Yuki’s affection than his canon counterpart, and is simply taking things slow. (As for Koizumi, well, he gets nothing. The others even acknowledge in the story how useless he is. We’ll be discussing this next month when we talk about the Kyon and Koizumi collection.)

In terms of things NOT to do – get back here, Puyo, and take your medicine – the artist’s art still needs work. His shading is too simplistic, especially in regards to hair. This means when you have Haruhi, Tsuruya, and Ryoko all standing near each other, they can be difficult to distinguish. I shouldn’t have to identify a person only by their hairband or eyebrows. There’s also quite a bit of fanservice here, but the artist wisely put it all in one eight-page chapter, along with the interstitials. And really, compared to some other Kadokawa titles I’ve seen, this is pretty tame. The readers of this book are the “D’aaaaawww, look at them being adorable!” crowd, they don’t need lots of nipples.

I apologize to the class for the cliffhanger ending, but Puyo assures us there’s a good reason for it, and reassures us that Yuki is not in fact killed by a car. That would make the rest of the series quite short. In the meantime, your homework is to compare and contrast this franchise to Evangelion – whoops, sorry, Bevamgelion – and Alice in the Country of Hearts, paying particular attention to which audience subset each separate spinoff title aims for. We’ll see you back here in May, and we’ll have a lot more to talk about with Yuki then. Dismissed!

Bookshelf Briefs 1/15/13

by , and 3 Comments

This week, MJ, Sean, & Michelle look at recent releases from VIZ Media, Kodansha Comics, and Yen Press.

bakuman17Bakuman, Vol. 17 | By Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata | VIZ Media – As a running meta-commentary on shounen manga, it was perhaps inevitable that Bakuman‘s focus would one day shift from friendly rivalry to something with a real villain. Sadly, the further Bakuman strays from reality, the less interesting it becomes. Though its heroes’ journey as up-and-coming mangaka has long eschewed any shred of realism in terms of an artist’s daily survival (like having to eat or pay the rent), the boys’ struggles with their craft and the pursuit of commercial success were always grounded enough to ring true. Now, with the addition of a corporate super-villain and the manga creator’s equivalent of a doomsday machine, that foundation of truth is rapidly eroding. Though Bakuman is necessarily Jump-friendly, this was always carefully balanced by an affectionately critical eye. But the spectacular nature of villain Nanamine’s anti-editorial scheme only serves to underline its industry biases. Questionably recommended. – MJ

jiujiu3Jiu Jiu, Vol. 3 | By Touya Tobina | VIZ Media – I feel like I should be liking Jiu Jiu more than I am. There’s a lot of good stuff here. I always enjoy political machinations in a manga, which this has plenty of. There’s many and varied characters here, most tying into our heroine, including the ex-fiance she hates and the fiance she’s seemingly cool to. And there are some excellent funny moments (the two ‘explanations’ of her family) and well laid-out action scenes (the climax of the volume). But in the end I’m still not quite into it. Could be that I still find Snow and Night somewhat annoying as bodyguards/familiars to a far more interesting heroine. Could simply be too many characters and plots introduced too fast. And it could be this series benefits, like Bleach, from being read in large, 5-volume-at-a-time chunks. But I’ll keep pecking away at it. -Sean Gaffney

missionsoflove2Missions of Love, Vol. 2 | By Ema Toyama | Kodansha Comics – I’m enjoying this series quite a bit, mainly because the three leads are all a bit more screwed up than I’m used to with Nakayoshi titles. Yukina seems ignorant of not merely love but basic emotions in general, particularly in regards to other people’s feelings. Shigure is still basically a jerk, but to be fair to him he’s being given constant mixed signals and is discovering that there may be a girl behind all this he can like. And Akira is seemingly the nice childhood friend who will end up second best after all is said and done, but there’s a dangerous side to him that pops up here, and I don’t think we’re done seeing it. After two volumes I’m still not quite sure where this will be going, and I don’t really identify with anyone yet because they’re all slightly too annoying (but only slightly). Fantastic. Lure me in more! -Sean Gaffney

nura12Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 12 | By Hiroshi Shiibashi | VIZ Media – Long arc is long, and we’re still battling the forces of evil in Kyoto. I am impressed with the evilness of the forces of evil, speaking of which – we see them killing off sweet young things here, and the resurrection they’re trying to bring about is going swimmingly. Meanwhile, Yuki-onna is kidnapped, and Nura is completely curbstomped. You know what this means: more training. Yes, even during an apocalypse, there’s still time to train. The bulk of the action goes to disconnected head-guy Kubinashi and sexy oiran-type Kejoro, who have a backstory that’s developed quite well here. (Are they a couple? Who knows, this is Jump.) So there’s a lot going on, and most of it is interesting, but at the end we’re seemingly no closer to finishing this very long battle. Ah well. -Sean Gaffney

raiders9Raiders, Vol. 9 | By JinJun Park | Yen Press – Up until now, each volume of Raiders had parts that were confusing, but I’m happy to say that here at the end, things make more sense. True, I’m not exactly sure how we got here, but I at least understand what happened in the end and can feel a sense of closure. Otherwise, characters get what they want, characters make hard choices, characters suddenly tap into hidden reserves of power, characters engage in epic battles with the Big Bad… There’s one particularly surreal scene where the protagonist’s severed head wails over the apparent death of a comrade. That’s imagery you don’t see every day. Anyway, after a generous amount of philosophizing, and some unexpected and thoroughly welcome ambiguities concerning our protagonist’s future, Raiders wraps in a satisfying fashion. This series has been unique in that it kept me reading despite its occasional abstruseness, and ultimately, I’m glad I stuck with it. – Michelle Smith

strobeedge2Strobe Edge, Vol. 2 | By Io Sakisaka | VIZ Media – So, if you’re going to confess and get rejected, but still note that the love feelings don’t go away, you’d best be prepared for dealing with them every single day. That’s what Ninako is doing here, and it’s tough – Ren is hard to read, she runs into him or works with him constantly, and there a new irritating smug guy who simply won’t let her forget about it. And even worse, he has a girlfriend. And she’s nice, dammit. In fact, the best part of the volume for me was the last quarter, a side-story showing how Ren and Mayuka met and fell in love. It helps to make Mayuka more than simply ‘the rival’, but someone who could easily star in her own shoujo manga with Ninako as the one trying to take her man. It takes things to another level, and helped make this volume of Strobe Edge particularly excellent. -Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Punch Up!, Book Girl

by , and 2 Comments

cvr9781421543543_9781421543543MJ: This is a tough week for me. My favorite item from this week’s shipping list at Midtown Comics would be volume two of Girl Friends: The Complete Collection, but since Sean chose that last week, it feels a bit late to the party. So instead, I’ll go out on a limb and name volume three of Punch Up!, a SuBLime title about which I’ve heard nothing but raves. Obviously I need to catch up first, but I’m feeling optimistic that once I have, I’ll be pouncing on volume three in no time! So, yeah, Punch Up!

MICHELLE: I’m in the exact same boat. Definitely check out Girl Friends, if you haven’t already, but I’ll go with Punch Up! too, since its kitties-interrupting-bedtime-shenanigans cover is quite original and charming. I found volume one to be intriguing, if not exactly my cup of tea. Good enough to challenge me to keep reading, though!

BookGirlv6FinalSEAN: Whereas I’m getting quite a few titles from Yen, any of which would be a decent pick of the week. But I’m still going with Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore a Moonflower, the 6th in the light novel series. Book 5 was a major turning point in both the plot and in the disposition of Konoha, our hero with PTSD from his middle school days who has been slowly brought back out into the world through the series. Now that he seems to have resolved a lot of issues, what will happen? Will he finally open up to Nanase? (I doubt it.) Realize how important Tohko is to him? (Likely that will wait a book.) Find disturbing similarities between himself and whichever screwed-up person the book focuses on this time? (Always.) I must find out!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Viz Licenses One Punch-Man

by

One of the most word-of-mouth popular manga of 2012 is now getting an official release in Viz’s online Shonen Jump Alpha. Technically, One Punch-Man is seinen – it runs in Young Jump’s online magazine. But I suspect that’s only for convenience’s sake, and there’s nothing in this title that isn’t hilariously shonen.

Onepunchman

That’s our hero on the cover, who is pretty much what the title says he is. But this doesn’t make him happy. Victory Is Boring. Of course, what One Punch-Man really is is a fun doofy parody/satire of superhero, kaijuu and monster comics in the Dragon Ball mode, while also having lots of genuinely cool action scenes. The writer, ONE, originally started it as an online webcomic. When Shueisha picked it up, they had the art redone by Eyeshield 21 artist Yuusuke Murata. The hero’s face when not posing manfully on the cover… simply makes me happy. I can’t wait to see this coming out over here. Luckily, I only have to wait a week!

07-Ghost, Vol. 1

by

By Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Viz.

One of the side-effects of reviewing manga and trying to hit most of the new Vol. 1s is that I get exposed to series that I wouldn’t otherwise pay much attention to. And this one definitely falls squarely into that wheelhouse. Epic fantasy isn’t really my thing, and this is overwrought epic fantasy of the finest order. That said, it’s quite good at what it does, especially since it’s apparently the debut work of both creators (who are female – I’m used to male manga creators collaborating, so this is nice to see).

07ghost1

Teito Klein is your average fantasy bishonen, and indeed there’s more than a touch of the CLAMP influence here. He’s seen as cold by his military academy classmates, who don’t know how much he really feels. He has, however, managed to open up to one kid there, who has become just like family to him. That kid’s name is Doomed. Wait, sorry, no. It’s Mikage. They spend about 40 pages bonding and showing off that they’re skilled fighters, then Teito accidentally hears something he shouldn’t, and suddenly this military school becomes a lot more sinister and evil. Clearly the only thing to do is to run away and end up at a church filled with hot bishops, who are taking out evil wherever they may find it.

Given the authors’ past works (which consist of about 59 million Naruto yaoi doujinshi), I was rather surprised that this didn’t have quite as many BL overtones as I expected. Oh sure, Teito and Mikage have that close bond of friendship, but it actually feels like that. And Frau’s attentiveness towards Teito is somewhat undercut by his constant flirting with everyone and his porn collection. In general, this is about as gay as K-On is lesbian, which is to say that the main cast lacks any real females, so you ship what you can.

There’s a lot of religious symbolism here, with eyes given the names of archangels and discussion of heaven and hell (complete with reincarnation – as always, never let it be said that Japan settles on one religion when it can have them all). I liked the legend talking about the three dreams, which is both suitably epic and nicely sweet. I do note that I feel things went a bit too fast in this first volume. I’d have liked to see more at the military academy before Teito was captured, and we also get precious little of our main antagonist (who seems pretty ambiguous), Ayanami, who appears to have stepped out of the pages of Weiss Kreuz.

There’s a lot of goofy humor here, which helps to relive the tension caused by the apocalyptic events going on with Teito. Clearly he is a messiah figure here, and I imagine things are only going to get worse for him before they get better, which is somewhat sad given that this volume ends with his possessed best friend trying to kill him. Still, if you like CLAMP’s more fantastic titles, such as RG Veda, This should be a good read, and is a nice change of pace from Viz. (I always like seeing series in their plain old ‘Viz Media’ imprint, as opposed to Jump/Beat/Signature.)

Girl Friends The Complete Collection, Vol. 2

by

By Milk Morinaga. Released in Japan by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Comic High!. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

When we last left our heroines, Mari had decided that her love was never going to be requited, and had decided to move on – sort of – and tell Akko that she’d gotten a boyfriend and had gone all the way. This leads us to the first half of this omnibus, which is Akko trying to figure out why this makes her jealous, and dealing with her own newly discovered feelings for her friend. The focus shifting to Akko is very welcome, as though she’s the outgoing one of the pair she is not necessarily more worldly or mature. We see flashbacks to her childhood that show her being very much a solitary person, and even when she made friends (via discussion of fashion and makeup) they didn’t seem to be lasting friendships. This is when she latched onto Mari.

girlfriends2

It’s interesting how Mari and Akko both have misunderstandings about the nature of their relationship, but in ways that are true to their characters. Mari is basically negative, with a “no girl could possibly like me in that way” sort of attitude. While Akko’s problem is that, after kissing Mari impulsively at karaoke, she assumes that all is now well and they *are* together, not realizing that actually discussion of such feelings is needed. This is not helped by Mari’s naivete – one of the best lines in the book is Akko’s exasperated “You don’t usually slip a friend the *tongue*, got it?” That said, this makes it all the more satisfying when they do finally connect and get together as a couple.

Of course, what does that entail? Since they’re both girls, going out together, texting each other late at night… they’ve done that before as just friends. So what’s different? Sexual attraction, of course, and unlike many a mainstream yuri (or faux-yuri) manga the author does spend a fair amount of time dwelling on this. Given both girls lied to each other about their sexual experience, each worries that they’ll screw things up somehow. (This leads to Akko looking at German Porn sites to see how girls do it, which made me laugh out loud). Eventually the two do take things to the next level, in a scene that sort of rides the edge of the OT rating that Seven Seas gave the book.

There is talk of the future, but it’s mostly the same sort of talk you’d find in books with a het romance – Akko’s going to a different school than Mari, leading to stress, but you know their love will see it through, etc. There’s a brief discussion of telling their friends and family about their relationship, but that’s not something that happens in the manga itself, nor do we see any of the fallout that might arise from being a lesbian couple in Japan. This is a seinen yuri fantasy for men that ran in Comic High!, after all. Reality is not welcome in its hallowed halls.

With all that said, I don’t think the manga suffers all that much from avoiding the harsher aspects of Mari and Akko’s relationship. This is meant to be adorable moe romantic fluff, and it succeeds admirably. The emphasis is more on romance here in this 2nd omnibus, but I was pleased to see that friendship is still given a huge spotlight – Sugi gets to be the ‘mature adviser’ type of friend, Tama-min the eccentric cutie, and we even get more development from Kuno and Taguchi, the other two girls in the main circle of friends. I was pleased to see that there was no effort made to pair up the other girls with each other… even though this isn’t overly realistic, having what’s called a “cast Full Of Gay” might have strained my credulity a bit.

It goes without saying that this is a great series that fans of yuri (and moe) will adore. That said, I do have one more very important complaint. If Akko is cosplaying Lum, then Mari should be Ataru… but she just doesn’t have the personality for it. Tama-min seems to have her cosplaying as Ryuunosuke, which she’s also unlikely to pull off, but I can see it if I squint. But if she’s doing Ryu, Akko needs to be Nagisa… which leads to even more problems. Tama-min needs to think these things through! Geez!

(Also, two of those omakes make me think that Milk Morinaga has watched too many 80s American sex comedies… Getting Lucky specifically.)

JManga the Week of 1/17

by , and 1 Comment

SEAN: There are only 3 manga series next week from JManga, but one of them is a biggie. Let’s get the other two out of the way first.

ameiro1A 6th volume of PoyoPoyo’s Observation Diary means a 6th volume of adorable and funny 4-koma slice-of-life cat manga. I approve. (I may not *read*, but I approve…)

JManga has a 4th volume of Crime and Punishment: A Falsified Romance out incredibly fast, meaning I haven’t even had time to come up with a witticism for it. Bah.

And now for one I’ve really wanted to see. Miyabi Fujieda is one of the most popular yuri artists in the West, and his Iono-sama the Fanatics had half of its two volumes released by Infinity Studios before they folded. (It also had a character romanized as Fletch, something I bring up to Erica ALL THE TIME. It is unclear if her name was actually Irwin Fletcher. Somehow I doubt it. Also, Iono-sama really needed a female Irish cop…) Anyway! Ame-iro Kochakan Kandan may be better known here as Chatting at the Amber Teahouse, and it is absolutely adorable. I cannot wait to see it come out in English!

MICHELLE: That was definitely the only one on the list that excited me at all, so I’m glad to hear it’s absolutely adorable! I’d rather read adorable yuri than any other kind.

MJ: I’m with Michelle. As I so often am.