Sean Gaffney

By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Ikki. Released in North America by Viz.

No thrilling escapes for Nikaido after last volume’s cliffhanger ending – she’s captured, and En is determined to make her his new partner. That said, the most fascinating thing about this volume, and indeed Dorohedoro as a whole, is the motivations of the so-called ‘villainous’ characters. In a world where everyone’s a bit of a sadistic murderer, how do you judge who’s really a good person or not? Well, one way might be that they don’t chain you in a dungeon and mind-control you into being a zombie. But on the other hand…

En is on this volume’s cover, and En gets the most attention, as we get a flashback to his own origins. Of course, this particular flashback is a movie directed by En, so there’s a slight question of veracity. But even if it is propaganda, it *sounds* right – we even see him without his mask! (He has thins tiny pencil mustache – I bet he thinks it makes him look cooler, but I was thinking more cute.) The big thing about this flashback, though, is it continues to show that En’s past is tied with the past that Caimahn is trying to discover – and that the current happy-go-lucky lizard head Caiman was probably a very different person when he was a Cross-Eyed.

However, as sympathetic as En seems in the final chapters, it’s balanced by his treatment of Nikaido, which I already alluded to. Forced to sign a partner contract – which in this universe involves literally opening up your chest and sticking it inside your body – Nikaido is then imprisoned for the majority of this volume, and it’s very much the chains and bread and water type of prison. When she’s finally freed, it’s only because the contract – which is shown to be magical in nature, as if opening people’s chests like doors wasn’t a clue enough – is making her passive and accepting. Indeed, at one point she has a bowling ball dropped on her head by a jealous Chota, her reaction is basically “oh”. It’s sad to see, and does not endear En to you, no matter what grand plans he has. (The ‘extra chapter’ is a side story showing us how Nikaido got her restaurant, in case we missed the old chirpy version.

And as always, there’s the world building. This month the Manga Moveable Feast is discussing Viz’s Signature titles, and this is certainly one of them. Indeed, I have trouble imagining this series anywhere but in Ikki, Shogakukan’s experimental seinen line. Hayashida clearly has an ongoing plot, but the series works because she’s given so much time to play everything out – even the action scenes don’t feel rushed. Dorohedoro’s been running since 2000, and Japan is up to Volume 16. While this means it must be selling something, I think it also shows the trust the editors place in her to deliver these sorts of goods. Of course there is *some* pandering to the reader – each volume is filled with gory violence, and one scene showing Noi and Ebisu bathing a struggling Nikaido has our standard gratuitous nudity – but it’s not done in the usual “look, boobs!” way we see in, say, Cage of Eden.

Lastly, what struck me about this volume was the unashamed sentiment it still has in its crapsack world filled with morally ambiguous characters. The ongoing funny-yet-heartwarming relationship between Fujita and Ebisu. The way that Caiman has quickly won Tanba over and is now prepared to reveal things that he really only told Nikaido before. And Johnson and his compatriots escaping En’s prison, not because of a clever and daring escape, but because Johnson saved Shin’s life back in the day and Shin owes him. In a world where hell is literal (and not always filled with the dead, as En can attest) but we’re not so sure about heaven, these little moments are precious. It’s the difference between having a world of villains and having a world full of unlikeable villains. All of Dorohedoro’s cast makes you want to read more of them. Even En. Though I wish he didn’t have to resort to brainwashing.

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

This is a revelatory volume of Higurashi, both in the way that it wraps up the plotline with Rena and Keiichi, and in the way that it affects Rika, who is turning out to be the real star of the series. Of course, we have a ways to get there. First off, we deal with Rena’s continuing slide into madness, which culminates in her holding the entire school hostage and dousing it with gasoline. (Thank heavens this isn’t Naruto-level popular, I have to say, or the censors might wake.)

There’s not as much creeping paranoid horror as there was in the previous three volumes, mostly because Rena’s all the way there. That said, there are some impressive visuals from artist Karin Suzuragi. The way the panels and pages are set up and flow from one to another is very well done, and there’s lots of ‘turn the page and be shocked’ moments, particularly when Keiichi realizes he’s been tricked with the fake bomb. And, of course, Rena’s ‘Higurashi faces’ are impressive as well, though the best and most terrifying of those is at the end of the next arc.

Rika had mentioned last time that it was too late to save this world, but Keiichi is trying to make her realize that it’s not just about ‘how do I avoid getting disemboweled’ but about trying to prevent the little tragedies. She was already stunned that he remembered a previous world where he was the instigator. Now, in teaming up with Keiichi and Satoko to stop Rena, she decides after so long to try to stop fate even if it is impossible. (I love her cynical face as she faces off against Rena – we’re seeing more and more of the Rika that remembers every single go-round, and must be far older than 10 years old.) Incidentally, when Rika tells Keiichi that last time she didn’t try hard enough and Rena succeeded? We’ve seen that world too, in the Beyond Midnight arc.

Satoko is also impressive here, and it’s nice to see an arc where she’s less physically and mentally abused. Mion also gets a fantastic moment at the very start of the volume, reminding you that she is indeed the heir to a huge yakuza family and has no intention of doing anything else when she grows up. Mostly, however, she is the abused one in this volume, getting the blunt end of Rena’s billhook to the head in a mistaken belief that her family is behind everything that’s happened for the last few hundred years. In the end, though, this is about Rena and Keiichi.

There really aren’t as many “ship wars” as you’d expect from a harem series in Higurashi fandom. Partly as it ends up being about friendship, partly as little is resolved one way or the other. Keiichi/Rena fans, however, can be happy that the most shippy of their arcs was adapted for manga – Keiichi/Mion fans have to say “But hey, we got the PS2 arc!”. It will be hard to top this, though. The fight on the roof is fantastic, the best Keiichi has ever been, showing him finally breaking through to Rena not by pleading and making sense, but by the game they started with. This arc has been very cyclical, with Keiichi’s need to atone going back to the first arc. Now we end as we began, with a battle between friends – only instead of water, they have lethal weapons in their hands. But lethal weapons are only lethal if they’re used.

Rena’s been very clever through this volume – she’s one of the smartest in the cast, and implied, like Keiichi, to be playing stupid much of the time. But perhaps her finest hour is being able to break through the madness that has gripped every antagonist in this series to date, before killing him. Keiichi realizes how amazing this is, praising her for it in text. By distracting her with the roof battle “game”, he was able to remind her of the fun they all had – and also of her love for Keiichi, and his love for her. They both seem to know it’s not to be – there’s still a certain fatalism here – but Rena cries, and repents her earlier actions. She’s no longer crazy.

And so this arc ends, with the schoolchildren safe, Keiichi and Mion alive, Rena sane, and a final speech by Rika and Keiichi about finding the strength to fight fate, and that they’ll kick back against it as many times as they have to. Which is good, as after this happy ending (the chapter is called “Happy Rena”, anotehr cyclical bookend), we turn the page… and the whole village is dead again. Yes, we’ve managed to resolve Rena’s issues, but Rena was never the one who was disemboweling Rika on an altar, and the main villain is still unknown (though I can hazard a guess). The manga actually makes our irritation at another bad end explicit, with “The End” appearing 25 pages early, and then someone (Bernkastel?) chiding us for ruining the happy ending by turning the page. And so we’re left with Akasaka, 25 years later, wondering what could have stopped this horrific tragedy.

Overall, this arc was one of the best of the series, especially for fans of Rena, its iconic character. Higurashi now takes a summer break, but Yen Press will return in September with what I’m sure will be the final arc in the series, in which everyone lives happily ever after.

After all, how could the “Massacre Arc” possibly be bad?

By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Akiyo Satorigi. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine GFantasy. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In this second volume of Durarara!!, I was reminded once more of how mentally unbalanced the entire cast is. In Volume one we had Izaya and his ‘I will pretend to murder wannabe suicidal teens’ schtick, but here we manage to get our cover boy Shizuo, who seems to have a bit of a rage problem; Erika and Walker, who turn out to not just be crazy otaku but *really* crazy otaku; and the creepy incestual text (to call it subtext would be wrong; the bathing sequence speaks for itself) between Namie and Seiji. It’s enough so that when you see the supposedly three normal teenagers in the cast, your first reaction is to say “I wonder how warped we’ll find they really are?” rather than assuming they’re there as relief.

I’m also impressed with the way this series handles metatext. The characters aren’t necessarily aware that there is a fourth wall – there’s no talking to the reader or anything – but you can see the artist and writer playing around a bit with the medium. Walker’s monologue about how he and Erika are simply insane naturally, and that it has nothing whatsoever to do with all the anime and manga they consume, is a clever stab at Japanese moral guardians (even as the scene itself can be deeply disturbing – if you dislike implied eye torture, you may want to be warmed, even though it doesn’t actually happen). Likewise, Anri’s description of Mika’s past activities are done as a cute 4-koma, helping to show the dissonance between Mika’s looks and personality and her creepy stalker reality.

Celty gets the first chapter to herself, but otherwise takes a back seat until the cliffhanger. The main plotlines we seem to be following now are a) Celty and her head, and b) the Dollars gang that everyone seems to either be interested in or a part of. Kadota suspects the gang is Izaya’s doing, and you can certainly see why – it’s exactly the sort of thing he *would* do. But isn’t it a bit too obvious? Then we also have Mikado and the high schoolers, who, while interacting with the others, don’t seem to be getting drawn into their plots just yet, aside from Minako’s continued curiosity about Dollars. I quite liked Mikado during his meal with Anri – we see him reject the blunt, vicious reply he’d like to say, but when Anri shows she’s aware of her own flaws (and her own tendencies to use others), he doesn’t hesitate to be direct. They’re good kids.

Someone once told me that Durarara!! is a superhero comic where there aren’t any actual heroes, only supervillains going about their daily life. The word ‘villain’ might perhaps be a bit too strong, but not by much. These eccentrics are not your wacky moe harem cast, and the cliffhanger, which implies that the missing Mika Harima has been put to a very, very bad use shows us that things may only go downhill from here. Despite all this, however, Durarara!! remains a fun, breezy ride. It’s just a ride filled with sociopaths.

By Mitsuru Adachi. Released in Japan in 2 separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

As we reach Viz’s penultimate volume of Cross Game, the tournament is upon us. Meaning that, after a brief break last volume, baseball finally returns in a big way in this volume. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. Adachi finds new ways to make things interesting. An old, proud villain getting what’s coming to him. An old friend on a rival team trying his best. Akaishi dealing with distractions putting him off his game, just as Azuma did last volume. Ko finding that if he sacrifices control, he can throw even faster. This is still a sports manga, and the baseball chapters are very good.

Speaking of Akaishi, it’s interesting contrasting his relationship with Akane to Ko’s here. Akane spends most of the last half of the volume in hospital, which, as I noted before, is throwing Akaishi off his game due to his being distracted. The way she handles this is great, and shows me that I think she’s pretty much written Ko off. (She gets the 2nd best line of the book. “Boys are nice, aren’t they?” It’s funnier in context.) Later, we see her conversation with Ko, which is almost entirely elliptical and filled with unspoken meaning. She’s pushing Ko towards Aoba, just as she tries to push Aoba towards Ko at the start of this volume.

Ko, honestly, doesn’t need that much pushing. I think he understands where his feelings lie on the matter – at one point he notes Akane looks like Wakaba… too much like her – but he simply isn’t the sort of guy who presses things in a straightforward way. His training to become a great pitcher took Aoba by surprise, and I think his feelings need to do the same. We’re hearing more and more about Ko being a “great liar”, and that’s not just discussing his ability to say the opposite of what he means with a straight face. We have several moments here where Ko is clearly being honest and forthright – with Aoba at Wakaba’s grave, and with Azuma when discussing Ichiyo’s “bet” (Ko clearly knows Ichiyo is going to get married Koshien or no.) However, the constant background chant of “liar, liar, liar” makes us wonder if this is how Aoba sees him – deceptive, shifty, not saying what he means.

As for Aoba, I’d noted several reviews ago that Cross Game features a hero who’s similar to Adachi’s heroines, and Aoba is a heroine that’s quite like Adachi’s heroes. She still has trouble accepting things. Not just the idea that Ko might be interested in her – something Ko denies to her face – but the idea that she has any worth beyond sports. Her attempts at common ‘feminine’ activities – cooking, sewing – are disasters, and the fact that everyone looks to her as an inspiration in baseball must hurt horribly given that she can never truly participate. Akane says point blank that if Aoba learns to like herself, she might learn what Ko really sees in her. And even Ko is, I think, starting to realize that he can’t pull the “I’ll do anything but date you” thing forever. His brushing off of Aoba when he goes to Akane in the hospital, saying “you’d be a third wheel”, is startling, and one of the few times I think Ko means to provoke a deliberate reaction.

The baseball team, in case I forgot to mention it, has made it to the finals by the end of the book. If Seishu wins, they go to Koshien. Of course, while we’d like to see that, the final volume will be about Ko and Aoba, as always. They both took Wakaba’s death in different ways, creating behavioral habits that were designed to avoid having them be hurt again. And as they grow up – Ko, drifting away from any conflict, and Aoba, angrily punching past obstacles – they realize that this can’t go on forever. Something has to give. In the final volume, we’ll see how Adachi handles it. And who wins.

By Rikdo Koshi. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialized in the magazine Young King OURS. Released in North America by Viz.

As you can see by the fact that that header says ‘serialized’ rather than ‘serialization ongoing’, Excel Saga has finally come to an end in Japan, with Vol. 27 being the last. Sadly, this does not mean that the volumes will be going on a faster schedule anytime soon – Carl Horn ends the volume by saying we will likely see Vol. 24 in 2013. On the bright side, at least it’s still not cancelled! Given this economy, we can all be grateful for that. Of course, as the plot gets more convoluted and some of the past volumes get harder to find, it can be difficult to work out exactly what’s going on. This is a manga series that requires a great deal of paying attention to get the most out of it. So what happens here?

Given Misaki’s on the cover, let’s start with her. When we last left her in Vol. 22, she was somewhat shaken up by Iwata being in Nishiki’s body, but more by the fact that Iwata was near death. That’s temporarily halted here, but not for long – we think things are back to normal, but halfway through the volume Iwata’s brain has regressed to the point where he’s forgotten everything after meeting Misaki in college. This shakes her up badly – by now most folks are aware that she’s in love with Iwata, but given her personality – and Iwata’s – it still comes as a shock every time we see it shown. So much so that she is willing to betray a newly formed allegiance.

Back to the first chapter of the book, and we are rather surprised to see Misaki and Excel genuinely teaming up, especially after last time when Misaki basically admitted her true desire was to stay out of things and just be left alone. Unfortunately, what’s going on with Iwata – and its connection to Excel – means that really isn’t an option anymore. Seeing them briefly working together is awesome – they are both in their own ways the most sensible and competent members of their respective groups – and it’s a shame we couldn’t see more of it.

We can’t see more of it because of what happened with Excel and Isshiki (Ropponmatsu 1 for those playing at home). To be fair to Rikdo, he did not pull this out of thin air. Much of the plot of the previous two volumes has been setting us up for what we see here. Excel’s amazing strength is shown in Vol. 20 in her fight with Isshiki, and we also see how consciousnesses can translate into other robot bodies when Iwata does it. That said, Excel definitely does not seem to be a robot. Despite having robot strength, and apparently robot invulnerability. Misaki hitting her with the laser whip was startling, but she had to know for sure. And that’s BEFORE Excel swapped bodies with Isshiki.

This is, as Shiouji tells Elgala, very dangerous. They’ve no idea how it happened, and no idea how to recreate or stop it. Meanwhile, Excel’s ACTUAL body does not have an Isshiki mind in it – it’s just sitting there slowly dying. And so Misaki is forced to ally with Elgala. This is much less of a powerful alliance. Elgala is very strong for a human, and is incredibly resilient for one too, but the fact is that compared to Excel she is simply not a superhuman. She’s also an idiot – yes, even compared to Excel. On the plus side, she’s a member of ACROSS. That’s about all the pluses. Her reasoning with Excel fails to take into account Excel’s devotion to Il Palazzo – one made even stronger by her immortal robot body.

As for other characters, it was rather surprising to see Hyatt not only remember Watanabe, but even seem to remember affection for him. Hyatt will, let’s face it, always be the most opaque cast member (And I include Miwa in that group) – and it’s not surprising that she vanishes from the second half of the manga. However, seeing this suggests that perhaps there is something more to her than just falling over and dying, and Watanbe brings it out… somehow. As for Watanabe, those weary of his descent into sleazy pervdom will be relieved to note that he reverts after this confrontation to his old Miss Ayasugi-loving self. Who is still a wuss, but the alternative was not to most people’s liking.

(BTW, Carl Horn confuses ‘True End’ with ‘Good End’. Watanabe thinks he’s getting the True End as he’s going to DIE, but still happy knowing he was loved/remembered. True endings tend to be bittersweet. Higurashi is a good example – the original games, manga and anime had a ‘Good End’, but the PS2 game version had a ‘True End’, which did not save everyone. True endings are generally deeper and more realistic, but of course less happy.)

Kabapu really doesn’t do much here, but we do get more Miwa. She’s clearly our end villain by now, and the one in control at ACROSS. Well, most of the time – it hasn’t been clear for AGES when anyone is dealing with the real Il Palazzo. For example, the Il Palazzo Elgala and Hyatt report to seems unaware that there was a robot President Excel at all. And Miwa walks right up to him at one point – is that the hologram? Is Il Palazzo like Isshiki? Or, more likely, is Il Palazzo like Excel? (We’ve seen flashbacks of the two of them in their previous lives.) I wonder if his consciousness can jump bodies? As for Miwa, we don’t know precisely what she wants just yet, but I’m betting having Excel in Isshiki’s body is good for her and bad for everyone else.

And so we leave off for another year – at a fairly annoying cliffhanger, it must be said. (Though really, wait till Vol. 26 – that’ll really make you scream.) Is Excel aware she may be working for the enemy? Where is the real Il Palazzo? Will Iwata regain his old goofy self? Can Misaki admit her feelings for him at all? Is Miwa really her husband in disguise, as all of Excel Saga fandom seems to think? What is Kabapu going to do? Can Watanabe ever truly reunite with Hyatt? And is Elgala going to say hilarious yet dumb things?

We won’t find out any of those for at least another year. Though I’m guessing the Elgala one will be true if nothing else. This volume was great. So much hot, thick plot pushing into my brain – ACK! Must stop that! Keeping my brain free of plot is what Il Palazzo desires!

By Miyoshi Tomori. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Margaret. Released in North America by Viz.

In Volume two of this series, we delve further into the psyches of both Maria and Kanda, and get a good look at how the series overall is going to shape up. Basically, if you dislike hardcore bullying, or people abuse authority? You may wish to consider another series. I wish you wouldn’t, though, as this is really quite good.

It can sometimes be frustrating that so many manga series are devoted to life in high school. Do we really need to relive those years all over again? And this volume is especially good at showing us the darker side of high school – Maria has virtually the entire class (save our two heroes, of course, as well as Tomoyo, the girl we dealt with in Volume 1) united against her, with Ayu Nakamura only being the most obvious. Given the nature of shoujo manga, I expect Maria will eventually win over one or two more of these girls, but in the meantime, it’s hard to take – especially given how vicious they are here, calling Maria a slut and ripping off her rosary (which them gets thrown away by the teacher.)

Oh yes, that teacher. Another trend of Japanese manga and anime dealing with bullying is that ‘blame the victim’ seems to be the norm (not that this is limited to Japan). Fruits Basket had Kisa being urged to “get stronger” so that she wouldn’t be bullied, and Medaka Box has a bullied track star afraid to tell anyone as *she* would be the one cut from the track team. Towards that end, we have the class’ sadistic teacher, who seems happy enough to use Maria to further his own ends. He’s over the top, yes, but I also liked the fact that he is a clever bully – he manages to turn things around against Kanda quite well, and is compared uncomfortably with him. Teachers in Japan hate the nail sticking up, which is exactly what Maria is – and what Kanda tried not to be every day.

Vol. 2 delves deeper into Kanda’s psyche, as we see not only how much of his everyday behavior is a false front, but how much he relies on that front to get him through life. Maria has no filters, so is unable to see just how people use them to make things less harsh. (I’ve noticed her tendency to use full last and first names with everyone.) The trouble with these filters, of course, is it makes it harder for genuine feelings to get through – on either side. Maria is so unfiltered that she makes an impression right away, but I also loved the end, where Maria notes that the class is so angry with Kanda because he was so important to them in the first place.

This is a 13-volume series, and we’re barely into it. Which makes sense, not because Maria will have to defeat and/or befriend teachers and bullying classmates in order to get that brass ring, but that it’s becoming clearer that the biggest obstacle is her own self-hatred. If Maria keeps thinking of herself as making everyone and everything around her worse, then she’s never going to be able to open up. She seems to realize this, and is happy that she came to this new school. As we get more of her backstory (and the cliffhanger here seems to imply the next volume may have more of it), hopefully we’ll get to see her begin to cope with not being a devil, but simply a teenager who’s been through a harsh life.