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Sean Gaffney

Bookshelf Briefs 9/10/12

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This week, Sean, Kate, and Michelle look at recent releases from Seven Seas, Yen Press, VIZ Media, and Vertical, Inc.

Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Vol. 2 | By QuinRose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas – Ace, the cheery yet sociopathic character who’s quickly become my favorite in this series, tells Alice he finds her most attractive when she’s upset and stressed, as the conflict makes her pretty. That’s sort of how I feel about this series as a whole. When it’s talking about whether Alice and Boris will get over their fight and become closer and maybe even move in together, it’s just another generic reverse harem title. When it’s analyzing the mechanics of the world, putting Alice on a high wire act and pitting her friends against each other, and showing why leaving Wonderland and going back continues to possibly be horrible, it’s fascinating. Hence my favorite part of the book – Boris shooting at Alice’s vial and failing to even crack it, to his annoyance. -Sean Gaffney

Bamboo Blade, Vol. 14 | By Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi | Yen Press – I was underwhelmed by the initial volumes of Bamboo Blade: I found the one-note characters and slapstick humor too familiar to be compelling. As the series unfolded, however, the artist’s ability to draw kendo matches improved steadily, yielding fight scenes that were fun to read and advanced the plot in a meaningful fashion. The final volume resolves the individual characters’ conflicts first, then features a lengthy, 100+ page epilogue in which we see the girls strut their stuff at a Burnish Academy tournament. It’s not brilliant by any means, but the matches are expertly staged, and the final pages of the story suggest that even Toraji is capable of growing up. -Katherine Dacey

The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 2 | By Shuzo Oshimi | Vertical, Inc. – Quite often I agree with MJ on matters of manga, but this series is one where our opinions differ wildly. She liked it and found the leads sympathetic; I pretty much hated it and found no one to sympathize with except Saeki, the innocent (though idealized) girl who has agreed to date Kasuga, a middle-schooler who’s being manipulated by a female classmate (Nakamura) into acknowledging his inner perversion. I know I probably should applaud the depiction of teenage sexuality and pretention, but this series is just so not my cup of tea that I can’t find anything good to say about it. It’s very disturbing to me that what Saeki believes is a sweet, if awkward, first date with Kasuga is in reality tainted by the fact that he’s been forced to wear her stolen gym clothes beneath his own. She’s being duped. To his credit, Kasuga hates himself for the ruse and the final moments of the volume find him on the verge of telling the truth in a horrible, messy way, but ugh, I just can’t see myself picking up volume three to see what happens next. – Michelle Smith

Is This a Zombie?, Vol. 2 | Comic by Sacchi, Character Design by Kobuichi • Muririn, Original Concept by Shinichi Kimura | Yen Press – Is This a Zombie? has the dubious distinction of being the worst comic I’ve read this year. The artwork is lousy, the jokes unfunny, the fanservice unrelenting, and the plot so nonsensical it often seems as if the characters themselves are confused by the rapid turn of events. In volume two, for example, there’s an extraordinarily silly fight scene in which we learn the identity of Ayumu’s killer. There are so many reversals and reveals packed into that chapter, however, that it reads more like something a six-year-old brainstormed than the work of a professional script writer. Add an unnecessary episode in which the characters go to the beach and participate in a food-eating contest, and presto! you have a recipe for a Manga Hall of Shame nomination. – Katherine Dacey

Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 8 | By Kiiro Yumi and Hiro Arikawa | VIZ Media – And now, at last, after eight volumes, we get some resolution, as Tezuka’s horribly smug brother jogs Iku’s memory and forces her to realize who her prince is. And so now she’s freaking out, which is fun and yet also a bit predictable. Hopefully they’ll talk about it next volume after dealing with a molester who haunts libraries. What really impressed me, though, is Shibazaki’s plot thread. There’s lots of revelations here, some of which I found rather unpleasaant – but then that was the point – and you hope that someone (coughTezukacough) is able to take a hold of her and get her out of this ‘no one can ever really love me for who I am’ spiral she seems to be in. In comparison, Iku has it easier, but then Iku is a less complex person – as Shibazaki knows and envies. Good shoujo fluff. – Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 10 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – Longtime readers should now by now how much I love the humor in this title, and how I think it’s at its best when everyone is being as thick as planks. That said, I was surprised that my favorite moments in this volume were the more emotional ones. Hojo, the new Student Council member introduced here (another female character? How did that happen?) is comparatively ‘normal’, and thus we empathize even more with her obsession/frustration with Yui, who continues to vacillate between being cool and intelligent and being the dumbest, most clueless guy ever. As for our heroine, Mafuyu’s reaction to Takaomi reaching around to tie up her hair shows that, despite Western fandom’s dislike of student/teacher relationships, she’s still got it bad for him. All this, plus the return of SUPER BUN! – Sean Gaffney

OreImo, Vol. 1

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By Tsukasa Fushimi, Sakura Ikeda, and Hiro Kanzaki. Released in Japan as Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai by ASCII Media Works, serialized in the magazine Dengeki G’s. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics.

After reviewing I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!, I have to admit that I was not particularly looking forward to OreImo, which does not quite swim in the same waters but is in the same general area, featuring a sister who may harbor closer feelings for her brother than most would be comfortable with. So readers may be pleased to know that I didn’t really hate this, it cleared the low bar that I had set it when I came into it. That said, there’s a lot here that I found awkward, overdone or creepy too. Japanese harem manga lately seems to not only find originality unnecessary, but positively revels in its cliches, and you can see that going on here.

The premise of this work, which is also translated as “My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute!”, is that our generic everyhero Kyousuke discovers that his pretty, popular and standoffish younger sister Kirino has a secret fetish for anime and otaku stuff. Specifically, she loves H-games. And even more specifically, she loves H-games based around older brother/younger sister incest. When confronted about this, she’s upset, but even more she’s relieved that she can finally talk to someone about it, even if it’s her brother. Kyousuke is (of course) a Really Nice Guy, so he tries to find ways to get her to make friends and be able to not repress everything until she’s unhappy. This is hard, as she’s a massive tsundere (see the cover image), but eventually she bonds with a grumpy goth and a busty Gundam fanatic, and all seems well. At least until their father finds her porn…

Let’s start with the things I liked. All the characters are more likeable than IDLYAA,BB. Kyousuke may be a generic everyhero, but at least he *is* the nice variety, trying to do his best for his little sister, bonding with his childhood friend who clearly has a massive crush on him (that he doesn’t see), and so forth. The emphasis in this title is clearly meant to be about the two kids growing closer and opening up as family, with the incest providing a plot setup but (I hope) not really the main thrust of everything that happens. It’s lower-key and sweeter, and the humor is more character based. I also liked the Gundam Girl, who seems poised to be this series’ Cool Big Sis, and who I suspect is hiding something behind those huge otaku-parody glasses.

Now for the bad. The art is terrible. This is not all that uncommon in light novel adaptations these days, but unfortunately it really caught my attention here. All the girls are 14 but look about 4-5 years younger, and the artist has this very odd habit of drawing smiling happy girls as if they’ve just been drugged. Also, I suspect someone took Ikeda aside after the first four chapters and said “Yo, tone it down”, as the overemphasis on asses and the incestual imaginings vanish rapidly when we reach the halfway point and things get less big brother-ey.

The other problem is simply that there’s not really much here that’s new and exciting. A harem comedy with a tsundere lead and a generic male who will, no doubt, get involved in all sorts of wacky misunderstandings, with the ‘gimmick’ being that the supposed cool and beautiful younger sister character is actually an otaku with a slight big brother fetish. The brother-sister incest thing is very big in Japan right now, as a quick look at the bestsellers charts may tell you, but in and of itself it’s not all that interesting. Indeed, I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother! is at least upfront about its perversions. OreImo’s attempt to be the kinder, gentler incest title comes off as more boring than anything else.

Otomen, Vol. 13

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By Aya Kanno. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Viz.

Note that I say ‘serialization ongoing’ up there. One might be forgiven, after reading the final two chapters here, in thinking that Otomen ends with this volume, wrapping up on a high note where we finally see a bit more into Ryo’s psyche and see Asuka struggle with what he wants to do with his future. But fitting as it might be, it’s not the end – these chapters ran in early 2011 in Japan, and the manga is still going in Betsuhana, so we have at least three more volumes to go, including one Viz has scheduled for January.

This is not, however, to take away from what might be one of Kanno’s best volumes in this series. It was deliberately written to focus on Ryo, who also gets the cover, albeit disguised as a boy. 3/4 of the book has her meeting up with a judo club that’s being taught poorly by its physically skilled captain whose frustrations make him completely incapable of leading. After seeing him attack one of his students, Ryo throws him into a wall, where he “breaks his arm”. Now Ryo has to dress up as a boy and lead the judo team to victory against their opponents… who happen to by her own school. This means she will have to fight Asuka.

If this sounds incredibly cliched, clearly you haven’t read Otomen before, which specializes in taking the most hideously cliched plots imaginable and doing something with them. In this particular case there are two plots interweaving, both involving Ryo. The main one has her making the judo team into a force of awesome. They have skills, as Sakata (the captain Ryo took over for) has drilled things into them, albeit poorly. Seeing what she can make of them sends Sakata spiraling into despair and self-loathing (not helped by the fact that he doesn’t realize the boy teaching them is Ryo at first, so we get a standard ‘why do I have feelings for this guy?’ reaction) and declaring he’s quitting. Ryo, who can see the good guy underneath, asks if he’ll stay if Odo is victorious. Eventually we *don’t* get our expected Asuka vs. Ryo match, as Sakata breaks his cast (showing he was faking, as we suspected) and demands to fight Asuka himself.

Asuka has a smaller role here, but it’s important – Juta plants a seed of uncertainty in his head about Ryo, and Asuka can’t stop thinking about it. Even after he learns what Ryo is doing, he still puts on a false front in front of her. Because let’s face it, Ryo is not the most demonstrative of people. He’s said he loves her three times now, as well as dated her, and her reactions seems to be more of a cheery “Okee doke!” than anything else. Here, helped out by her father and Sakata, Ryo is starting to realize that her lack of direct expression is bothering Asuka, and she does something about it. THIS. This is what I wanted from this series all along – a direct, honest statement from Ryo that she is also in love with Asuka, as well as some insight into her inner thought process. Very well done.

Then there’s the last chapter. It’s Valentine’s Day, but this is Otomen, so naturally the guys are the ones giving out the chocolate. In between this, we see them all discussing plans for their future, as he’s expected to inherit the family business… but isn’t sure he really wants to do that. Making matters worse, everyone else seems to have a firm goal in mind – including Ryo, who is following in her father’s footsteps in becoming a police officer. This is another chapter that’s more about the heart than the laughs, though I did laugh at Asuka’s realization of what it is he truly wants – or more accurately, what he’s focused on when it happens (truly an otomen to the end). His response, however, is fantastic, and leads to that ending which I told you feels like the end of the series, but isn’t. I hope (and pray!) that finally we can move away from “are we truly a couple?” stories and show Asuka and Ryo growing and getting closer.

Of course, Asuka’s mother probably has a few things to say about this. We’re not done, and I will look forward to Otomen 14 in January. But this particular volume put its foot on the ‘heartwarming’ pedal and never let up, and finally gave focus to one of my favorite characters in the series. Very well done.

Also, anyone notice that the guys in Otomen blush constantly, and Ryo never does? There’s only one time in the volume we see her blush, and it’s not at either of the two places I expected.

Manga the Week of 9/12

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As always, Midtown, Diamond and Amazon can’t quite mesh together. My store and most Diamond shops have Hayate the Combat Butler, Arata the Legend, House of Five Leaves, and Loveless out on 9/12. On the other hand, my store got in the Seven Seas stuff on 9/5, but Midtown isn’t getting it till 9/12. Best to just smile and nod.

Kodansha debuts the new Genshiken volume. In Japan it’s just Genshiken 10, but Kodansha USA has made a break with the former series and started its sequel with a new subtitle and Vol. 1. Of course, you can’t get rid of the old cast that easily – Saki and Kousaka make cameos, and Madarame is still a large presence throughout. For the most part, though, this is Ogiue’s new club, with new members – and a shifting mindset, devoted less to typical guy porn and more to typical girl porn. It’s a must buy for fans of the series.

And Seven Seas has a troika of September releases. The 2nd volume of Boris spinoff Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz. A new omnibus of killer loli series Gunslinger Girl, containing the Japanese 11 and 12. (The end of the series was recently announced in Japan, possibly as they’d simply run out of cast members.) And the 5th volume of Toradora!, still the tsundere series to read if you don’t like tsunderes all that much.

And that’s about it, really. A nice quiet week. Any plans?

Bunny Drop, Vol. 6

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By Yumi Unita. Released in Japan as “Usagi Drop” by Shodensha, serialized in the magazine Feel Young. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Please do not discuss Bunny Drop beyond Vol. 6 in the comments. At all.

When I reviewed Vol. 5, I noted that I couldn’t wait to see what direction Unita would take things, even though I thought it would make me cringe. And I was 100% correct – this entire volume is like a giant train wreck, where both of the main ‘ships’ we could be rooting for are faced with tortured reality.

Last time around, we had been told about Kouki’s ‘bad boy’ period in middle school, and now we get to see it in the form of an extended flashback. Which is good, as it really gives us insight as to why Rin has decided that she’s no longer ‘romantically’ inclined towards him. The two of them walked that fine line between ‘like brother and sister’ and small crush last time, but seeing Akari’s wholehearted efforts to drive Rin away, you can’t help but feel horrible for her. Cyber-bullying isn’t just an American thing.

This is paralleled with the ongoing not-relationship between Daikichi and Kouki’s mother, who still doesn’t have a first name (and likely never will, sadly). Their conversation at the end of the volume is all about wishing things could be different but having to move forward anyway, and it almost feels like Nitani-san cares about Daikichi too much to get involved with him. They’ve been there for each other in order to raise their children, but this has perhaps led both of them to be too self-sacrificing – Nitani-san is marrying someone else so that Daikichi can move on and find anotehr as well. The whole scene is heartbreaking.

Rin and Kouki aren’t as sad, but they’re equally hemmed in by feelings that things have moved beyond a point where everyone can go back to how it was before. This is helped, of course, by Akari, who Rin confronts when she tricks Kouki into thinking she’s pregnant. There’s a nice effort to show Akari’s side of things, which isn’t sympathetic at all, but it’s quite understandable – and mercenary. Akari wants to be her own woman, and if that means abusing the love of a gullible high schooler for money, well hey. Unfortunately, all this seems to have done is shown Rin that she needs to get over Kouki, and she tells him so – though notably getting over him is not as simple as she thinks, judging by her red-eyed face the next day.

We all make bad choices in life, and wish that we could turn back the clock and do things better. But we can’t, and that’s what this volume is all about. There’s no going back in time so Nitani could meet Daikichi when she was younger. There’s no do-overs so Kouki isn’t sucked in by Akari’s schemes. And sometimes you can’t fix things, and you have to accept it and move on. Which is where we are now in this series that, while it still has a lot of quiet and cute moments, has come an awful long way from the saga of a young guy raising an adorable daughter.

Pick of the Week: September Bounty

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KATE: After several lean weeks, the Midtown Comics list is bursting at the seams with great titles. I have no doubt that at least one of my fellow Battle Robot members will bang the drum for Osamu Tezuka’s Message to Adolf, which Vertical is re-issuing in a splendid, two-volume hardcover edition, so I’ll plug another Vertical title: volume nine of Chi’s Sweet Home. I adored Chi before I became a cat owner last November — c’mon, what’s not to like about cute kitten antics? — but I’ve developed an even deeper appreciation for the series after living with Francesca. Kanata Konami does a great job of showing the pet-owning experience from both the pet and the person’s point of view, never avoiding those moments that test an owner’s patience: barf, shredded toilet paper, pilfered food, accidents. In the last few volumes, Konami’s done a nice job of expanding Chi’s horizons beyond the confines of her apartment, preventing the story from becoming too cutely claustrophobic or repetitive. Best of all, Chi is one of those rare manga that I could hand to just about anyone — a six-year-old, my mom, a grumpy subway commuter — and know that they’d enjoy it.

SEAN: Tempted as I am to go with one of my many light, fluffy comfort manga which will no doubt make me smile more, I have to admit that the pick of the week is going to be Message to Adolf, the new Tezuka release from Vertical. I never did read the first release of this when Viz put it out back in the day, so am looking forward to seeing what late-period, mature Tezuka can be like. The premise alone sounds good – examining the life of three people named Adolf, one of whom you probably know – but the artwork is also more advanced and detailed, and the book’s design is gorgeous. At about 1200 pages total between the two volumes, this tome is a big investment, but I sense that it’s going to be worth it.

MICHELLE: I am completely on board with both Chi’s Sweet Home and Message to Adolf—I was fortunate enough to be able to read the old VIZ editions via inter-library loan a couple years ago—but I would be remiss if I did not voice my squee at a new volume of Yuu Watase’s Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden appearing on this list! It’s been nearly three years since we’ve had a new installment in this series, which finds Watase revisiting the world of Fushigi Yûgi as a more experienced storyteller. I can’t wait to get caught up, and it makes me even happier that volume eleven isn’t too far behind!

MJ: After all that, I hardly know what to choose! I’ll be anxiously digging in to all three of my colleagues’ picks as soon as I can get my grubby little hands on them, but with such a bounty shipping in this week, I feel I should take the opportunity to spotlight another title. So in the end, I’ll give my nod to volume eight of Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves. I’ve made it a habit to champion this title whenever I have the chance, so why stop now? This series really shows off all of Ono’s greatest strengths—subtle relationships, nuanced characterization, complicated morality, and her lovely, distinctive artwork. Even in the midst of a very hectic week, when I sit down with a new volume of House of Five Leaves, I simply have to savor it, page by page. It’s an enduring favorite.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bamboo Blade, Vol. 14

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By Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Young Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Throughout the 14 volumes of Bamboo Blade, we’ve seen its heroine, Tamaki Kawazoe, grow and evolve. She’s always been an amazing kendo student, but that’s not her goal, or her passion, or even her hobby – it’s just what she does. Meeting with Kirino and the others has helped bring her out of her shell, and she’s learned the value or true friendship, but they aren’t able to challenge her enough in regards to kendo. Now, after her defeat by Erina in Vol. 13, we come to the final volume, where Tama-chan spends half of it asking: why do people do kendo?

Everyone’s answer is slightly different, but they all end the same. Azuma uses kendo to improve herself (and make up for her hopeless study habits); Miya-Miya, in addition to finding beating the hell out of everyone fun, wants to see how strong she can be and how far she can go. Saya, who’s suffered from being the ‘comedy character’ in a manga filled with them, finally admits that kendo gives her discipline she needs to grow up. Kirino, of course, simply lives and breathes kendo. It’s surprising to realize that, like Tama, she hasn’t had a real reason for doing kendo beyond “I love it!”, but given her simple and direct personality, this fits. Yuuji and Kojiro-sensei both chime in briefly, but are savvy enough to note that Tama-chan has to find this answer by herself.

Everyone’s final ‘real reason’ for doing kendo is elided out at first, and we only hear it once Tama-chan is back in her bedroom, watching a tape provided for her of her mother on a kendo TV show years ago. Her mother is asked the exact same question, and notes that she wants to make everyone feel the same joy and satisfaction in kendo that she does – its ideals, it’s disciplines, its purity – and that she teaches to to this. And then we flash to the end of everyone’s answer, the one thing all the other girls said. They want to be like Tama-chan. She is their goal, what they are pushing themselves to. And as she breaks down in cathartic tears (part grief over her mother’s death, part simply feeling the weight of everything, and part because she now has that goal), she knows what it is she wants to do kendo for. To be a teacher.

And this ties back in with Kojiro-sensei. I’ll admit, when the series began I had little time for him, putting up with his waffling and goofball tendencies because I liked the rest of the cast so much. But he’s grown just as much as Tama-chan has, and it’s also due to kendo. Seeing him strive to teach the girls how to use kendo to further themselves, and realizing what he can and cannot do in that regard (much of the series has been his angsting about not finding the right way to teach something), he knows he wants to keep doing this – but not with these girls, who he feels have learned all they can from him. He’s leaving for a different school to start with a new class of beginners. We only see Kirino’s reaction to this (and she outright says she’s refraining from saying what she thinks…), but I think they’ll understand his reasoning, just like they did with Tama-chan.

Despite the comedy throughout (even the last climactic battle features Saya (of course) getting herself in trouble by not having eaten for 48 hours prior out of nerves), Bamboo Blade has been almost the pinnacle of idealistic sports manga. If someone is at a loose end in life, or trying to make a change, or needing to find something within themselves… all this can be found through kendo. It’s a trend we see in a lot of sports manga, be it baseball, soccer, or what have you. but despite the idealism (or because of it), this is a manga that really makes you feel good about yourself, and have confidence in the lives of its cast. And it’s not just our 5 heroines – even the ‘rival’ characters such as Sakaki and Erina find strength and fulfillment in kendo, and in bringing kendo to others. Filled with emotional moments, goofy comedy, and of course awesome sports battles, anyone who likes to see humanity striving for a goal should read Bamboo Blade, where kendo will have the answers.

Bookshelf Briefs 9/3/12

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This week, Sean and Kate look at recent releases from Yen Press, VIZ Media, and Dark Horse Comics.

13th Boy, Vol. 12 | By SangEun Lee | Yen Press – For a series that featured a talking cactus in a doo-rag and a sassy stuffed rabbit, 13th Boy has a surprisingly restrained finale. Yes, there are dramatic moments, but author SangEun Lee focuses more on what her characters don’t say to one another than what they do; she honors the intensity of their feelings while reminding us that teenagers don’t usually express themselves in complete paragraphs outside the world of Dawson’s Creek. Readers who became attached to 13th Boys‘s supporting cast won’t leave disappointed, either; Lee includes a lengthy postscript explaining, in comic detail, what happened to Nam-Joo, Sae Bom, and Hee-So’s sisters. In short, 13th Boy‘s last installment offers readers a happy ending that’s ever-so-slightly tinged with sadness, remaining true to the spirit of earlier volumes. -Katherine Dacey

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 4 | By Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – OK, first of all, that teacher has to go. Seriously, I cannot take nine more volumes of him. That said, apart from him, there was an excellent attempt made at humanizing all the kids in this volume. There’s still the usual high school melodrama, with everyone believing the worst of everyone else – especially Maria – but her blunt forthrightness is actually starting to pay dividends, as we see one of the class pretty yet petty girls (she has princess curls, so you know she’s a brat) attempting to follow that path… and finding, as Maria has, that it’s full of thorns. So the other kids are finding that Maria is not this hideous ‘other’ that she was painted as, but Maria still can’t quite see herself as being just like them. Also, kisses out of nowhere. That can be bad for a girl’s fragile heart. Can’t wait for the next volume. –Sean Gaffney

The Earl and the Fairy, Vol. 3 | Story and Art by Ayuko, Original Concept by Mizue Tani | VIZ Media – The Earl and the Fairy is a quintessential Shojo Beat title: it has a handsome male lead who’s both a rogue and a romantic, a spunky heroine who won’t admit she likes him, and a pretty female rival who schemes to separate the heroine from her prince. In volume three, for example, Lydia finds herself locked in a battle of wits with Rosalie, a spoiled girl who’s enlisted a “bogey-beast” to dispatch any woman who shows so much as a faint interest in Edgar. Lydia and Rosalie’s catty exchanges wouldn’t be out of place in a high school melodrama, but the supernatural elements and Victorian setting add an element of dramatic interest that distracts the reader from the sheer predictability of the scenario. That the volume ends with a genuine cliffhanger is one its most pleasant surprises; we may not have much difficulty guessing the outcome, but there’s enough at stake for the reader to wait patiently for the next installment in December. -Katherine Dacey

Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 8 | Story and Art by Kiiro Yumi, Original Concept by Hiro Arakawa | VIZ Media – I’ve been something of a skeptic about Library Wars — not because I disliked the premise, but because I found story too pat. Volume eight has almost made me into a convert, as it strikes a better balance between Ray Bradburian intrigue and shojo romance, introducing a subplot with a radical anti-censorship group and a possible court martial for Kasahara. What prevents it from being a slam dunk is Kasahara’s impenetrable cluelessness; she spends almost half of volume eight berating herself for not recognizing Dojo as the “prince” who inspired her to join the Library Forces — an epiphany that all but the least astute reader had in the very first chapter of the series. Let’s hope Kasahara’s Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus moment frees Kiiro Yumi to move the story in a more compelling — and dramatically fruitful — direction in volume nine. -Katherine Dacey

Oh My Goddess!, Vol. 42 | By Kosuke Fujishima | Dark Horse Comics – Skuld graces the cover of this volume, and that’s appropriate as she’s the focus for most of it as well. Skuld’s growing power and growing maturity has been an ongoing plot point in this series, and it ties in well to the overall subplot of ‘inanimate objects need love too, and will reward you if you treat them right’. Skuld faces off against a demon with a better set of machines, but she triumphs because her machines are sentient beings with feelings to her, and she doesn’t destroy them so casually. We also see a sign she may pass her sisters some day – she doesn’t need the big spell buildup the other two do. Apart from her, though, the plot churns along slowly, as we advance from boss fight to boss fight, waiting for the inevitable climax. Which is very slow in arriving. –Sean Gaffney

Soul Eater, Vol. 10 | By Atsushi Ohkubo | Yen Press – There’s a whole lot going on in this volume. Our heroes finish their battle against Mosquito, with the help of Soul’s piano (it makes sense in context), but fail to obtain their objective… which is, of course, in the enemy’s hands. Maka finds that Crona may be a double agent. Black*Star is having issues with his power destroying him, and his bullheadedness leads to a fight with Death The Kid. And a new character from Marie’s past comes to the DWMA to try and ferret out a traitor. If you’ve read stories like these, you can guess how that’s going to end up. Impressively, the author manages to make these all work together, and invest some real emotion in their fates, especially B.J. and Black*Star. I still love the weird art deco art style, but it’s not longer just about that. This is a dark, addicting rush of a manga.-Sean Gaffney

‘Porky and Friends: Hilarious Ham’ Announced

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Hot on the heels of the 2nd Platinum Collection, we have this 18-cartoon set for fans of Porky Pig, as well as the smaller one-shot characters that come with him on the back of the collection. As always, the question is “If I have the Golden Collections, do I have to buy this?” Let’s find out.

Cartoons in this set will be (I’ll summarize the ones not out yet):

1) Tom Turk And Daffy (1944, Jones) – NEW TO DVD – Featuring a MYSTERY WRITER (and boy, is there a long, confusing story about that), this is a great early Daffy cartoon where he’s being an utter brat.
2) Wagon Heels (1945, Clampett) – GC5
3) Mouse Menace (1946, Davis) – NEW TO DVD – Art Davis’ first cartoon at Warners, this is another one pitting Porky against a mouse, this time utilizing a robot cat. It doesn’t go well.
4) One Meat Brawl (1947, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Porky and the Foghorn Leghorn dog are out hunting for groundhog, and the groundhog is determined to make them pay for it. McKimson’s earliest cartoons are some of his best.
5) Curtain Razor (1949, Freleng) – NEW TO DVD – Porky is a talent agent auditioning acts. A few gags (including the gasoline one) would be reused in Show Big Bugs by Daffy.
6) The Pest That Came To Dinner (1948, Davis) – NEW TO DVD – Can the world handle two Art Davis cartoons on one collection? Porky has termites, and tries various horrible methods to remove them.
7) Riff Raffy Daffy (1948, Davis) – NEW TO DVD – I guess the world can, as here’s a third Davis cartoon! I always liked ‘Daffy is screwy and Porky isn’t’ cartoons, though the question of how sane Porky is comes into question here.
8) Boobs in the Woods (1950, McKimson) – GC1
9) Dog Collared (1950, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Porky gives brief affection to a dog (no, not Charlie Dog), and lives to regret it.
10) Thumb Fun (1952, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – A hitchhiking Daffy makes Porky’s life miserable. Some call this the final screwball Daffy cartoon, which isn’t true, but he *is* a screwball here.
11) Fool Coverage (1952, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – I adored this cartoon as a kid. Daffy sells Porky insurance. “And one baby zebra!”
12) Corn on the Cop (1965, Spector) – NEW TO DVD – The final Porky Pig cartoon of the classic years. Shame it sucks. He and Daffy are police officers.
13) Corn Plastered (1951, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – A wise-cracking crow annoys a farmer, who tries to kill him in various ways. The crow is a lot of fun.
14) Gone Batty (1954, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Stars Bobo the Elephant, in his 2nd and final cartoon, where he ends up at a baseball game.
15) Ant Pasted (1953, Freleng) – NEW TO DVD – Always nice seeing Elmer in a cartoon on his own. He’s taking on ants during a 4th-of-July picnic.
16) Dog Gone People (1960, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – Another Elmer cartoon, but Arthur Q. Bryan had died by this time, so his voice sounds horrible. Elmer has to babysit his boss’s dog, who thinks he’s a human.
17) Bunny and Claude – We Rob Carrot Patches (1968, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – The first of two appearances of Bunny and Claude, an obvious parody. Watch for the scene where it’s suggested they have sex on a pile of carrots. No, I’m not making this up.
18) The Great Carrot Train Robbery (1969, McKimson) – NEW TO DVD – And here’s the second B&C cartoon. It’s not as good.

So, worth getting? Well, 16 of the 18 cartoons are new to DVD. HELL YES! An absolute must-buy. Can’t wait.

Manga the Week of 9/5

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There is an awful lot of it, huh? I think Gon was annoyed at being by himself last week and called in his friends… and this isn’t even counting the Seven Seas titles my store is apparently getting in but Midtown isn’t.

Remember about a month ago when I said I’d heard good things about that long-titled quasi-incest thing? Turns out I was thinking of OreImo, out this week from Dark Horse, rather than Seven Seas’ Big Brother title. OreImo’s full title is Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, aka My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute! This title has far less incest but just as many tsunderes, if not more, and is rumored to be good. So I will check it out to see if this is the case.

Bloody Monday from Kodansha Comics has hit lucky Number Seven, though I’ve gotten so far behind on it I may never catch up. Is it still the Japanese 24?

Sublime, Viz’s BL line, has Volume 1 of His Favorite. It has the typical BL seme with his arms around his man and a smirk on his face, but the fact that the other’s guy’s face, instead of fear or uneasiness, or even arousal, reads like “must control fist of death” made me smile.

Tempted as I was to give Hayate the Combat Butler the cover image just to see how many folks I could annoy, the clear winner this week is Vertical’s new Tezuka tome, the first part of Message to Adolf. I never got the series back when Viz put it out ages ago, so this was a must-buy for me. And it’s nice to see some late-period Tezuka as well, as this is a 1980s title. Vertical is also releasing the underappreciated yet fantastic penultimate volume of GTO The Early Years, and the adorably cute 9th (and penultimate?) volume of Chi’s Sweet Home.

PILE O’ VIZ time. Including some stuff Midtown is listing that I had thought would be next week. This includes the 11th volume of Watase Yuu’s shonen series Arata the Legend, 20th volume of still not cancelled and funny as hell Hayate the Combat Butler (Greece Edition), a new House of Five Leaves for you Ono fans, and 9th volume of recent License Rescue Loveless.

There’s also a pile of Jump stuff, which I was expecting this week. There’s new Bakuman! Two more volumes of Bleach, which is still not done with Aizen, believe it or not. Hunter x Hunter, taking time from its busy hiatus to give us a new volume. Naruto! One Piece! Two great tastes that few fans enjoy together, for some reason (can’t the ninja and pirate fans just get along?). And of course Psyren, which should be at the ‘exposition’ part of its fight/exposition/fight trend.

Shojo Beat is the bigger winner here, though, with some of my favorites out next week. There’s new Library Wars, new Oresama Teacher *and* a new Otomen. Now admittedly the three series have flaws. Library Wars doesn’t have enough war for some people; Otomen continues to be a BL series with no BL; and Oresama Teacher is written by Izumi Tsubaki, who is the ‘oooooh, shiny thing!’ of Beat authors. This does not make the series less awesome. Other titles out this week include Earl and Fairy 3and a new Fushigi Yuugi Sequel Thingy volume. (It is possibly that the title does not actually have the word thingy in it.)

Lastly, Viz’s younger fans will be delighted to hear there are new Fluffy Fluffy Cinnamonroll *and* Winx Club titles out next week.

That’s a lot. What’re you getting?

A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 5

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By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa. Released in Japan as “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun” by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

As we get into Vol. 5 of Railgun, it strikes me how many sociopathic killers are really in this series. It’s a whole lot. Misaka has found out about the experiment where 20,000 of her clones are killed off in order to force a Level 5 to get even higher, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Academy City and its dedication to science clearly continues to have a dark and sordid underbelly, and I doubt that the enemies this time will be as misguided but ultimately likeable as in the Level Upper arc.

First we have Accelerator, this arc’s “Big Bad”, who just finished brutally murdering Misaka 9982 at the end of last volume. The real Misaka is understandably upset by this, and does her best to try to make Accelerator see reason, or at least beat the shit out of him. This is especially true when she hears his motives are simply power, thus making the killings even more appalling. There’s a short battle, but a) it becomes clear that Misaka is severely outclassed by her enemy, and b) the clones stop things fairly quickly, pointing out that if he defeats the real Railgun now, that sort of ruins the experiment.

So now Misaka knows about the experiment, and has to stop it. The clones are of no help at all, as they don’t value their own lives so can only point out how easy it 9is to build new ones. She briefly has the help of Shinobu, a scientist who is trying to fix things after realizing that the clones are more than just lab rats. But for the most part it’s just Misaka straightforwardly trying to destroy the experiment by destroying every single site where it takes place – all 10 of them, supposedly used to combat muscular dystrophy. Yes, it’s Misaka the terrorist. Given that the hero of the main series, Touma, tends to solve problems by simply punching them very hard, it’s somehow fitting that our heroine is cut from the same cloth – if there are no more labs, there will be no more experiment.

Of course, things aren’t made that easy, as we also meet ITEM, the anti-terrorist group sent off to take Misaka out. These are basically child soldiers, with a slightly older leader, and are, like Accelerator, rather blase about all the people they have killed. The team is actually balanced nicely between two hotheads who glory in killing and torture, and two cool stoics who seem more blase about the whole thing. Naturally, it’s the hotheads who get most of the focus, and as we see a 10-year-old girl brag about the number of people she’s killed, we are reminded again what kind of environment this is.

And so in the end Misaka thinks she’s won, but somehow I doubt it. Blow up 10 labs, and 10 more will spring up. This is about defeating an entire scientific culture, and that will take far more than electroshock therapy. Luckily, we have an exciting cliffhanger, where… she sees Touma at a vending machine! Gasp! (This is actually more exciting to those who have read or seen A Certain Magical Index, as the two stories now join up, all of the past two volumes having been prelude.) Will she ask Touma for help? Or just be tsundere at him? It’s been a while since we’ve seen that side of her…

Pick of the Week: Ikigami, Gate 7, Itazura, Dorohedoro

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KATE: This week’s shipping list is heavy on Dark Horse and DMP titles, and light on just about everything else. I still have no idea what’s happening in Gate 7, and I lost patience with Itazura na Kiss several volumes ago, so my pick goes to one of Wednesday’s few VIZ releases: volume eight of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit. I have a hot-and-cold relationship with Ikigami: the artwork is terrific and expressive, and the premise is chilling in a good, thought-provoking way. At the same time, however, the stories are unrelentingly grim, and the tone so pessimistic that I can only read a few chapters at a time before needing a stiff drink. The other problem with Ikigami is that the overarching story — in which a “reaper” slowly begins to question his job — unfolds at what might be charitably described as a snail’s pace. Still, recent volumes have shown incremental progress in bringing Fujimoto’s crisis of conscience to the fore, giving me hope that the series is moving in a new and more dramatically satisfying direction.

MJ: It’s kind of an odd week for me, which is to say that there is a decent amount of new manga shipping in, with little of it to my taste. So I’ll make a rather optimistic choice this week and pick volume three of CLAMP’s Gate 7. While I joyfully declared volume one of this series to be “my kind of CLAMP,” its second volume’s onslaught of exposition and historical information left me a bit cold. However, having now discovered this tumblr full of guidance on Gate 7‘s historical matters, I’m ready to jump back in again for another try. If nothing else, Gate 7 offers me CLAMP’s latest take on their Watanuki-model character, which is pretty much bullet-proof for me, so that may get me through on its own. So, Gate 7 it is!

MICHELLE: Although I do intend to check out the latest volume of Ikigami and haven’t completely given up on Gate 7, I don’t feel enthusiastic enough about either to appoint one my pick of the week. I’m largely unfamiliar with most of the rest of the offerings on the list, though I confess to being slightly amused that I’ve Seen It All evidently involves love in a urology clinic. So, basically this is my exceedingly long-winded way of saying, yet again, that Itazura Na Kiss gets my vote.

SEAN: I have to know what happens! Will Caiman reunite with Nikaido? What about the new relationship between her and En, now that we know more about En’s past? I want to see more goofy humor between Noi and Shin as they casually kill people. I want more casual killing and gore from this cast of anti-heroes (or lovable villains). I want to be able to spot tiny little things in the background. I want more world-building and locations we haven’t seen before! I want to find out more about the head in Caiman’s mouth, who I think we finally have figured out. And I want more gyoza! Delicious gyoza! So yes, for all that and more, and to no one’s surprise, Dorohedoro is my pick this week.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 8/20/12

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

Ai Ore!, Vol. 6 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – It really is astonishing what changing magazines/publishers has done for this title. It still has its issues, but the way that it handles them is more acceptable and more mature. This is not to say that the premise is completely different, however. Akira is still trying to prove that he’s a manly man for Mizuki, Mizuki is still getting embarrassed and misunderstanding everything, and Ran and Rui trade off between being comedic creepers and serious creepers. At one point, Rui tries to seduce Misaki, to the point almost of sexual assault. But Misaki doesn’t buy it, and neither do we – unlike Vol. 1 of this series, the danger doesn’t feel genuine. You can argue this makes the series fluffier and less electrically charged, but it also makes Akira and Mizuki’s relationship far sweeter and more tolerable. –Sean Gaffney

Bunny Drop, Vol. 6 | By Yumi Unita | Yen Press – As the series continues with its new switch to Rin as its primary POV character, the story begins to revolve around Rin’s increasingly awkward relationship with her childhood friend Kouki, whose (supposedly) ex-girlfriend deliberately alienates Rin. Fortunately, this plotline is more nuanced than it sounds, deftly avoiding most of the “evil rival” territory common in manga for female readers. Unfortunately, Unita seems less comfortable writing Rin’s voice than she was writing Daikichi’s—or maybe Daikichi is just infinitely more comfortable than Rin herself—which means that there is often a noticeable distance between the reader and the series’ protagonist. On the upside, Rin’s evolving balance between dependence and independence creates unexpected difficulties in Daikichi’s own personal life, allowing us back (however briefly) into his somewhat more forthcoming mind. Though the series’ new direction seems to still be settling in, there’s enough solid ground left for nearly any fan to stand on. Still recommended. – MJ

Cage of Eden, Vol. 6 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – This really is the perfect series for 12-year-old boys, though I would not recommend it to parents of those boys. There’s far too much casual nudity, casual violence, and general skeevy fanservice. But it also has bears vs. wolves, in which our hero teams up with the wolf because of their similar roles in their groups. It’s almost pure shonen at its finest. We meet two more regulars here. I suspect Rei is there entirely to be a large-breasted woman (you know, in case there weren’t enough of those), but Maya seems to be more of an action girl, and backs it up. She seems a bit *too* eager for battle, though, and I wonder if she’ll last long. Then again, the only people in this series who seem to be killed are the irredeemable ones, such as manipulative Kotomi or stalker Ryoichi.-Sean Gaffney

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 13 | By Gaku Tsugano and Nagaru Tanigawa | Yen Press – I haven’t reviewed this series for a while, but since it’s moved on to stories that aren’t animated, it has managed to improve – finally, it can be 2nd best, rather than 3rd! It has a difficult job here, as Editor in Chief, the short story adapted for this volume, does not lend itself well to the visual. Still, it manages pretty well, and also throws in an original short story chapter, featuring Miyoko, the girl from Kyon’s story, arriving to ask the SOS-Dan to help her investigate a haunted house. It shakes things up by having Taniguchi and Kunikida there rather than Yuki and Mikuru, and also has an ending that undercuts the tension but still is nicely sentimental. The art is still only fair, and I’d rather read the novels, but this is now an acceptable alternative. –Sean Gaffney

Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 7 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | VIZ Media – Ever since the end of volume one, the latest Tokugawa Shogun, Yoshimune, has been reading Chronicle of a Dying Day, which tells the story of how women came to rule Japan. Readers have followed along, and here in volume seven we finally return to the “present,” but not before realizing just how much scheming Yoshimune—or perhaps simply her ever-faithful attendant, Hisamichi—has engaged in to become the next Shogun. It’s just another lesson that nearly everyone in this tale, no matter how likeable, has sinned in pursuit of power, sometimes inflicting misfortune upon the innocent. Maybe it’s because of this that Ooku, despite being interesting and boasting some impressive art, doesn’t stand a chance of becoming my favorite Yoshinaga manga. Oh, I’ll keep following it, but Antique Bakery‘s place in my heart is secure. – Michelle Smith

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 2 | Story by Magica Quartet, Art by Hanokage | Yen Press – If your chief aversion to magical-girl manga is its earnest, perky wholesomeness, then Puella Magi Madoka Magica is for you. The series is dark and violent, using the magical-girl concept as a metaphor for adolescence in all its ugliness. In volume two, for example, we see the corrosive influence of jealousy, as Sayaka begins to regret wishing for her friend Kamijou’s full recovery. Sayaka’s rapid descent into anger and self-pity is one of the most astonishing developments in the volume — and that’s saying something, given the healthy sprinkling of fight scenes, dramatic confrontations, and plot twists. As terrific as some of these scenes are, Puella often feels rushed. Most of the fight sequences are too brief and too busy to make much sense; one gets the sense that the writers were trying too hard to cover all the major plot points of the anime, rather than tailoring the story to a different medium. That said, Puella has consistently surprised me with its ability to both faithfully observe and thoroughly subvert magical-girl tropes, and continues to grow on me with each volume. -Katherine Dacey

I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!!, Vol. 1-2

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By Kouichi Kusano. Released in Japan as “Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki ja Nai n da kara ne!!” by Futabasha, serialization ongoing in the online magazine Web Comic High!. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

People follow trends. It’s just a way of life. When something is popular, the first instinct of a business looking for profit, or writer looking for a surefire seller, is ‘what did it do and how can I use that to replicate it?’ And this is fine sometimes. I’ve known many derivative works that have been very good and sometimes even surpassed the original. But too often someone goes too far. Either they miss the original point that was being made, or they deviate in an unacceptable manner, or they add too many other, equally trendy things to make a giant stew of trends that all cancel each other out.

And incest as a sexual thrill is, god help us, popular these days. Especially in Japan. Naturally, *genuine* incest seems to be saved for the actual porn magazines, but there’s no end of manga and (more importantly) anime that feature guys crushing on their sisters, and girls worshiping their brothers. Usually at some point they find out they aren’t related after all. Other popular trends in anime these days include the tsundere type who says mean things and hits the object of her affection as she’s too embarrassed. And let’s not forget the pretty, reserved princess type who secretly turns out to be a stalker and pervert.

If all this sounds like a lot of moe animes seen in the past five years, it’s by design. I’ll be honest, I had initially confused this title with ‘My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute’, which comes out next month by Dark Horse, and has a somewhat better reputation. IDLYAA,BB!! features Nao, who loves her older brother a lot (the title may have given that away), despite his being a somewhat perverse non-entity in these two volumes. She goes to wake him up every day by hitting him (and giving him calculated panty flashes) and throws out anything in his porn doujinshi that it’s brother/sister incest. In fact, when told that she’s actually not related to him after all, this *depresses* her briefly, as it ruins the incest fantasy she’s been going for for so long.

This may seem rather hardcore for what’s meant to be a typical seinen title for horny guys, but rest assured there’s no actual sex, merely piles and piles of suggestion (though I note this is the author’s first ‘mainstream’ work after years of drawing adult titles). And to be fair, Nao’s obsession is treated in-story as immature and wrong. Then we meet our second heroine, Iroha, a long-lost childhood friend who meets Nao’s brother after all these years and proceeds to sexually assault him. This is actually one of the few interesting scenes in the book – it’s presented as incredibly disturbing (after all, we’re meant to root for Nao), and her brother’s horrified reaction to it, and realization that he may have led to her turning out this way, is a brief moment of soul searching that could be interesting… if it weren’t undone by Nao and Iroha’s determination to make sure that their man stays perverted and does not ‘turn over a new leaf’.

There’s a couple more things to like here – Nao’s two female friends are meant to function as a Greek chorus of sorts, and their reactions towards the end of the book at all the slapstick are well done – but to be honest, I have rarely seen a manga that seemed to calculated to hit as many fetishes as possible as this one. If you enjoy perverse moe harem comedies, well, I think you’ll get a big kick out of this, though even the most hardcore fan might finish the volume and say, “Erm, isn’t this a bit over the top?”