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Sean Gaffney

MMF Guest Post: Fruits Basket – Hiro and Rin

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Sean here, readers. Another MMF brings us another guest post! Ysabet MacFarlane is not only a good friend but also a huge Fruits Basket fan, and I knew she would not want to be left out of this month’s discussion. She was even able to adapt the two Fruits Basket fanbooks for Tokyopop! Here she is, discussing the relationship between two of the more prickly members of the Zodiac.

Hi, Sean’s readers! Despite my good intentions in previous months, this is my first-ever MMF post. Sean has had several years to notice that Fruits Basket is quite possibly my favorite thing in the world to discuss, and he kindly invited me to come hang out in his space and chat about it.

Disclaimer: Let’s play it safe and assume that this post contains for spoilers for all 23 volumes of the manga.

As a reader, what I look for in a series is great characters, and Fruits Basket has them in spades. I’m generally happy to talk about any of them, including the few I dislike, but when I’m starting a conversation it almost always starts or ends with Rin, and usually has a lot to do with her relationship with one of the other characters.

Sean already blogged about Hiro this week, but I’m here today to talk specifically about Hiro’s relationship with Rin. Like a lot of people, I discovered Fruits Basket through the anime, and when I switched to the manga I found that my feelings about a few characters changed. The main (although not the only) reason for that the manga offers a lot more development for most of them, often even in the chapters that made it into the anime adaptation. Sometimes it still took me a while to adjust, but Hiro found a shortcut: I fell for Rin pretty much on sight; Hiro was intensely worried about her; and poof!, he entered my good graces. And from my new softened-up position, it was much easier to see the many ways in which he’s a great kid who’s well on the way to growing into a truly awesome adult.

Even though Hiro and Rin’s personalities are very (very!) different, they’ve got some surface similarities: they’re both prickly as all hell, they’re each driven up the wall by some of the same things, and they’re both in the habit of calculated verbal attacks–albeit for entirely different reasons. Hiro’s smart-mouthed tendencies have to do with being young and smart and excruciatingly aware of his own limitations, while Rin’s have more to do with being constantly on both the offensive and defensive and having no energy or inclination to be pleasant about it. (Consider this: she’s a terrible liar, and she spends her first ten volumes living and breathing a lie. That alone would wear on a girl.)

What Takaya shows us with these two is almost an incomplete relationship. Time after time, we see Hiro worrying about Rin and actively checking up on her, and she in turn usually ignores him or tries to drive him off, as she does with pretty much everybody. But there are plenty of things we’re not shown. We don’t have any idea how close they might have been, if they were at all, before Hiro saw Akito attack Rin. (The closest thing we have to a clue is that we see Hiro’s mom wishing Rin were around so she could meet Hinata, which at least suggests that Hiro’s not the only member of his family who’s fond of her.) We also don’t know how seeing Rin attacked might have affected Hiro differently if he weren’t already tormented by knowing that Akito hurt Kisa because of him, and if he weren’t keeping that knowledge secret from Kisa.

Hiro is fundamentally a good kid, as I said, so I’m not at all suggesting that he wouldn’t have cared (or been traumatized) by seeing what happened to Rin, no matter what his circumstances were. But as it is, he already felt powerless and as if he wasn’t there for Kisa when she needed him, and dammit, he’s going to be there for Rin, even if that means she bites his head off just about every time he comes near her.

I think “be there” is really the critical thing here: Hiro knows he can’t actually help her, but only he can fill this particular role for her. Tohru is more than willing to befriend and support her, but Rin never actually confides in her about a lot of things (a trend that continues through the entire series, even after they’re obviously real friends), and Shigure knows what happened to her but can’t exactly be said to be on her side.

And then there’s Hiro, who doesn’t just know what he saw; he knows why she got hurt, and he knows what she’s trying to do–break the curse–and what she’s doing to herself in the process, which is literally sacrificing her life to try to save Haru while pretending she couldn’t care less about him. How much of this Hiro knows because of what Akito told him isn’t clear–he says in volume 18 that Akito and Rin both swore him to secrecy about Rin’s “accident”–but the only way he can know some of it is that somewhere along the line, Rin told him. He probably still doesn’t know everything (her red-herring conversation with Shigure in volumes 9 and 14 comes to mind as a likely omission even if she confided in him again later, but that incident would be a whole ‘nother post), but somewhere off-screen, she trusted him with the truth about what she’s trying to do and then trusted him to keep it secret. Given Rin’s rampant trust issues, that speaks highly of how she feels about him.

What this adds up to, IMO, is an unbalanced but important relationship. Hiro is a child and fully aware of how that limits him–as Tohru says, living with that awareness takes real courage–and he’s Rin’s witness. With the exception of his slip-up in volume 15, when he unthinkingly starts to criticize Haru for how his behavior may have made Rin feel (and oh, that’s such a great scene–poor Hiro! But his internal monologue is so revealing), he keeps her secrets as long as he can.

When Hiro finally does break and tell Haru the truth in volume 18, it seems to be due to a combination of factors. Haru opens the door by referring back to Hiro’s brief outburst in volume 15, and Hiro, who’s been guilt-ridden about Kisa (and he seems to be on the verge of talking to her about it before they bump into Haru and it all comes out), who’s seeing everything in a new light after the birth of his little sister, and who’s so very aware of his own inability to do anything to help Rin, betrays her trust and defies Akito because he believes Haru can help her.

I think it’s also very telling of Rin’s character and Hiro’s understanding of her that what he says isn’t “help her”. It’s “tell her she can stop now”.

“Tell her she can stop now.”

Because Hiro may not know where she is or how bad things have gotten, but he’s been watching her long enough to know that what she needs is to be stopped before she completely destroys herself. Of course, at this point she has stopped, but only because Akito has blackmailed her with a “choice” that leaves her entirely powerless, and the effects of that particular abuse and of losing her momentum stay with her for the rest of the series.

We never see Rin and Hiro together again after this point, so how much Hiro ever finds out about what actually happened to her remains a mystery. We don’t know for sure that Rin tells anyone about it herself; she’s not even in the room when Haru discusses the situation with Yuki and Kazuma, and Shigure knew about it before (probably long before) he comes to talk to her in chapter 107.

I don’t want to wrap this up by extrapolating, but as the series closes Rin is moving in the direction of very, very slowly being less guarded, and Hiro seems to be placing more value on his relationships all the time, with the weight of secrecy lifted and a baby sister in his life. If there’s one thing Fruits Basket is clear about at the end, it’s that everyone is moving forward at their own pace, and that there’s more holding this group of characters together than the supernatural bond that’s been broken.

MMF: Fruits Basket – Hiro

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I knew I was going to write about Shigure for the Manga Moveable Feast, but wasn’t sure if I wanted to write another article. There’s no end of things to talk about in Fruits Basket, but a limited number of hours in the day. But I also keep coming back to Hiro, and I suspected that, as in fandom itself, he wouldn’t get that much love unless I took the time to write about him.

A lot of characters get introductions in Fruits Basket that don’t show off their best side – Kyo, Kagura, Rin – but Hiro’s entire introductory chapter seems to be designed to get the audience to really take a dislike to him. Which is fine, only Takaya did not reckon on the power of Western fans to grab that first impression and encase it in amber, FOREVER. Hiro’s past, in comparison to the other Zodiac, is not as traumatic, he’s a male tsundere (which usually gets you a severe backlash in North America), and worst of all, he’s too young to be a sexy bishonen, and thus have all his sins forgiven because OH SO HOT. Therefore Hiro tends to get some flack.

What Hiro is, of course, is an extraordinarily intelligent and precocious 12-year-old who lacks the emotional maturity to be able to handle it. And you know? I may not be able to identify with the torture, parental neglect, or horrific emotional trauma of the other Zodiac, but I can TOTALLY get where Hiro is coming from. No curse needed. I don’t get angry much, but the combination of pride, arrogance, worry and powerlessness that Hiro has speaks to many of us.

Hiro is also very much hemmed in by his huge crush on Kisa. He’ll do anything she wants as long as it makes her happy, but much like Rin (and it’s telling that the two of them are close – indeed, with Kagura they form a sort of ‘angry trio’ bond in the story), he gets to decide what her definition of happy is. Balancing between childhood and adulthood is next to impossible, which is why the teenage years are so tumultuous. And Akito beating Kisa up and telling Hiro it was his fault… man, why would anyone do that to a kid?

Much of Hiro’s arc is defined by the inability to speak out. Which is hilarious, given that he’s a blunt prodigy who will happily speak his mind to Tohru to the point where Kyo whacks him in the head. But he can’t tell Kisa why she was injured, so he avoids her. Then he realizes that was the wrong thing to do… but how is he supposed to simply go back to normal now? How do you erase a stupid action? Then even worse, he sees Akito pushing Rin out the window and hospitalizing her. The Sohma love and fear of Akito is the curse as much as the animals, and having him belatedly confess to Hatsuharu, as well as to Kisa about what he did is his emotional catharsis.

Hiro also dislikes Tohru. Now admittedly much of this is due to jealousy over Kisa giving Tohru all the attention, but I think even after he gets over this he’s still uncomfortable around her. He’s the one who notes her devotion to her mother is more like an obsession, and it’s almost as much for the reader’s sake – it’s the turning point at which we begin to understand Tohru is NOT the magical healer of all, but is in many ways just as broken as the Sohmas. And in the end, when they’re getting ready to send Tohru off, he tells Kisa it’s OK to cry because of the bond between them, but I think still is distant from Tohru. Which is good – it’s more realistic than Tohru simply being able to cure everyone’s problems.

Now, much of Hiro’s growth toward adulthood comes from his ability to let go of his fear and pride and admit mistakes. The other part comes from his wanting to grow stronger so he can protect his loved ones. He’s not alone here – see Hatsuharu for another good example – but Hiro is in a unique position with the birth of his sister. Hiro’s loving family is almost unique in the Zodiac – we hear Kisa’s family supports her, but never see them, and don’t get me started on how everyone handles her being bullied – in that his mother adores him, and has no issues with the curse at all. When he finds out she’s pregnant, he immediately starts to think ahead, both to what happens before birth (his mother seems to be a bit of a dojikko), and how he can be a good big brother. My favorite Hiro moment in the series may be when he discusses his sister with Kisa, and notes her complete innocence to the world. He knows what life with the Sohmas is like, and what everyone has suffered, and is determined to be a good big brother to her. It’s here that you can see why Kisa has fallen for him as well.

Shortly after this, his curse breaks. It’s only the second to break, and Kureno’s was years earlier, so it’s quite a shock. [EDIT: Yes, sorry, the third to break. I apologize to Momiji fans. Several volumes were unavailable so I was doing this partly on memory.] But really, after his confession, and with a new path he wanted to walk on, there was nothing tying him to Akito. In fact, as Akito is doing their ‘exit interviews’ after the curse breaks for everyone, she notes that Hiro’s stubborn tenacity was something she admired in him.

Hiro can be a spoiled brat at times, but he grows just as much as everyone else in the series. Interestingly, almost all of his growth has little to do with the animal curses, which don’t seem to trouble him much. If you took his character arc and Kisa and plunked them in some other manga without any supernatural elements, it would be much the same. Hiro’s not a manipulator or an innocent victim. He’s just this kid who knows far too much about what’s going on and needs to mature in order to deal with it. He’s just like us. And that may be why it makes some fans uncomfortable with him, but it’s also why I come back to him again and again.

MMF: Fruits Basket – Shigure

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“I want to spoil her rotten. I want to trample her to a pulp.”

When it came time for the Manga Moveable Feast to do Fruits Basket, I pretty much knew I would be writing about Shigure Sohma. He’s the character I keep coming back to even now, the little thorn in the side of the entire storyline, trying to free people from the bonds they have with their God by cutting into their flesh until they squirm free in their agony. He’s a manipulator, and you’d swear he finds people’s emotional pain amusing. The anime, sadly, never got to the point in the story where this really comes out, so we mostly just see him there as the goofy ‘yay, high school girls!’ guy who occasionally gives Tohru sage advice. No one who finishes the manga is left with that impression.

Hatori, who is one of the people who probably understand Shigure best, and he once noted that Shigure needed to be careful in all his manipulations that he didn’t break anyone. Which, in many ways, is what Shigure *is* trying to do. He’s trying to break the curse, even if it’s not directly – trying to get it to snap and crumble away from Akito. And well, if that means breaking other people, then so be it – at least they’ll have someone around to pick up the pieces. Right, Rin? (Chapter 107, which implies Shigure was aware of what Akito did to Rin and let it happen in order to prove a rather sadistic point, is probably his worst moment.)

Speaking of that chapter, Shigure and Rin discuss the curse, and note that it should break within their lifetimes. But that’s not good enough for Tohru, who is painfully aware of what Kyo’s fate is to be – and how easily he seems to accept it. After briefly running off, Shigure goes to get her – and delivers another stunning speech, clearly intended to push all of Tohru’s buttons and weak spots. It’s quite an interesting contrast to earlier volumes, where Shigure can be seen cheering Tohru up or giving her a gentle push in the right direction with a few kind words.

But if Tohru wants to save Kyo, time *is* running out, and Shigure can’t simply sit by and watch her stress out over whether Kyo is pushing her mother’s memory out of her life. He’s mean – talking about how the curse *is* a curse, and not just some cute ‘we turn into animals!’ thing. All the Zodiac feel horrible about it, and Kyo is, as Shigure notes, a reminder that it could be worse – they could be him. Tohru, notably, stops Shigure’s monologue with a hand outraised and her head down – she can’t bear to hear his words anymore. I was reminded of the way she stopped Akito from abusing Yuki very early in the series, when she and Akito first met. It’s probably my favorite Shigure scene in the series.

Of course, it’s not just about Tohru. All of Shigure’s actions, everything we see him set up throughout the book, is designed to drive people away from their God and break the curse – so that he can have Akito all to himself. Shigure is a very possessive lover, and does not take kindly to having to share. It’s quite telling that the only time we really see him filled with hatred for anyone, it’s for Kureno – the man who is currently closest to Akito. And so he pushes at Akito – harder than he does anyone else, really – and watches as she does break. There’s only one moment where I think Shigure wonders if he went too far – he asks, after Tohru falls from the cliff, whether Akito pushed her – but it all works out well in the end.

This is the odd thing about the series. Everything seems to work out well in the end. Shigure never apologizes for anything he does, but I think in his mind he doesn’t *have* to – after all, everyone ended up happy. The curse is broken. Tohru wasn’t seriously crippled and is now with Kyo. Hatori has gotten over his first love and is opening up to Mayuko. Rin has chosen to embrace Haru and stop trying to ‘protect’ him by shoving him away. Same with Hiro and his relationship with Kisa.

In a way, I’m strangely reminded of Usagi from Sailor Moon. I once discussed the Outer Senshi Haruka and Michiru with my friend John, who has mixed feelings about the two of them. In the real world, the two outers would be right – Usagi’s idealism and super purity would be ripe for abuse, and it’s sensible to be pragmatic like the two of them. But they fail to realize that they aren’t in the real world, they’re in Usagi’s manga, and she’s the star. Therefore she is always right, and they are forever proven wrong. Likewise, Shigure’s actions don’t seem wrong to him at all. I’m sure if anyone tried to call him on it, he’d note how happy everyone is after the end of the series.

That said, we do occasionally see stabs of regret. Shigure notes early on that he is ‘the filthiest’ of the Zodiac, and I think knows that his relationship with Akito – even post-curse – is not a healthy one, but doesn’t particularly care enough. He once wondered what would have changed if he’d dreamed about Tohru. Leaving aside the horror that fills me if I imagine Shigure with Tohru, I think that it’s one of those hypothetical questions that will never get a true answer. So much of what Shigure is – everything that drives him – stems from that dream of Akito, and his love of Akito, and his need to possess Akito. Perhaps, now that he has everything he wants, he can find the time to get in touch with the nice young man who gave Tohru advice on how to deal with multiple problems.

Pick of the Week: Boys, Girls, & Ghosts

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It’s a slow but not quite dismal week at Midtown Comics. Check out the Manga Bookshelf bloggers’ picks below!

DAVID: It’s a narrow but interesting selection at Midtown Comics. In one of my experiments in crowd-sourcing, I ended up pre-ordering Kikuko Kihuya’s Entangled Circumstances, which will consequently earn my Pick of the Week status. I admit that I’m shallow enough that part of this was because I really found the cover design to be striking. It’s also about grown-ups with jobs, which makes my heart flutter, though the protagonists also share a past of some degree of awkwardness tracking back to their university days. I’m really just that easy to please, though: make it look nifty, and make your protagonists old enough to drink or sign a lease.

KATE: Them’s some slim pickings at Midtown Comics this week! But if I had to pick something from the list, I’d choose the sixth and final volume of Time and Again (Yen Press). I admit that I found the first few volumes a bumpy ride, as the script abounded in slangy phrases and anachronistic jokes that detracted from the spooky atmosphere. By volume three, however, author JiUn Yun had a better handle on the material, and the series began to evolve into something more interesting: a character study about a troubled young exorcist. The final volume explores the family curse that doomed Baek-On to a life of lonely wandering, allowing us to fully appreciate the origins of his prickly, detached personality. Oh, and that flashback? It’s a heck of a ghost story, too.

MICHELLE: You’re not kidding about the paucity of options on Midtown’s list! Still, like David, I find myself intrigued by the new batch of DMP releases. Entangled Circumstances has the prettiest cover, it’s true, but some of the others fare pretty well, too, like This Night’s Everything, which definitely doesn’t look like your typical BL. It also involves grown up with jobs—apparently a politician and his bodyguard who coldly handles dirty work—and sounds like it has potential to be an interesting story.

SEAN: I am going to rebel against the Midtown list, as they are apparently involved in some giant Kodansha boycott or something, and make my pick the thirtieth volume of Ken Akamatsu’s Negima!, which Diamond will be shipping to all non-Midtown stores this week. The manga has been in its ‘Magical World’ for about 10 volumes now, and things are finally getting to a big action-packed climax, which will take several volumes and is still ongoing as of this writing. This is the start of it, where Negi finds out the truth about his mother’s so-called treachery and the enemy makes their move against his students. Also, I believe this volume is low on fanservice, so it’s a great one to pick up if you dislike that aspect of it.

MJ: Since Kate’s already put the spotlight on what would have been my pick from Midtown, the final volume of JiUn Yun’s Time and Again, I’ll follow Sean’s lead and go rebel against the list by naming volume eleven of Peach Pit’s Shugo Chara! from Kodansha Comics, which by all appearances should be arriving this week, but isn’t. Shugo Chara! is a long-time favorite of mine, thanks to its feisty, deeply-conflicted heroine, her idiosyncratic team of friends, heart-pounding tween-fantasy romance, adorable artwork, and identity-searching themes that resonate more personally with this forty-something reader than they probably should. This is the final volume of the original series, with volume 12 picking up the published chapters of its sequel, Shugo Chara! Encore!, thankfully continued by Kodansha Comics after being pulled from Del Rey Manga. So if you’ve never tried this thoughtful magical-girl series, this is the time to start!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 7/24/11

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This week, Michelle, MJ, Kate, & Sean check out recent releases from Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, Seven Seas, & Vertical, Inc.

Dengeki Daisy Vol. 5 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Published by Viz –I cannot help but compare the cover of this volume of Dengeki Daisy to those of Black Bird, which runs in the same magazine in Japan. Black Bird’s covers always reminded me of sexual assault, with inappropriately placed blood and a terrified heroine. Dengeki Daisy also features a somewhat bloody hero clutching his heroine, but the image here is meant to invoke protection, and she isn’t frightened of him at all. I find that much better. As for the story itself, the plot continues to get more and more dangerous, as Tasuku is even briefly hospitalized. The enemy is trying to confront Teru psychologically, and it’s to her credit that she’s keeping it together as much as she is. Meanwhile, she and Tasuku are still hiding things from each other about her knowledge of Daisy, and are finding it increasingly hard to deal with their burgeoning feelings. Tense, gripping stuff, this series is a real page-turner.– Sean Gaffney

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, Vol. 7 | By Motoro Mase | Viz Media – Every volume of Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit follows the same template: Motoro Mase introduces the victim, then shows us how he or she copes with the news of his impending death. Though a few victims have violently resisted their fates, almost all the stories have an uplifting ending in which the victim reaches out to an estranged relative, apologizes to a friend for callous behavior, or gives a final performance. I think these stories are meant to underscore how unjust the National Welfare Act really is, but the cumulative effect induces numbness, not outrage. Death messenger Fujimoto’s own journey to conscientious objection is unfolding at such a slow pace that it’s hard to know if he’ll ever have the courage to resist his charge. And with no one actively fighting the government, Ikigami is rapidly devolving into an unpleasant hybrid of Afterschool Special and snuff film. In a word: grim. -Katherine Dacey>

RIN-NE, Vol. 6 | By Rumiko Takahashi | Published by VIZ Media – Even though RIN-NE is now up to its sixth volume, nothing has really changed much. (Sort of) shinigami Rinne is still stingy and still besotted by perpetually calm classmate Sakura Mamiya, who assists him in aiding spirits to pass on. The addition of a female shinigami with the hots for Rinne (Ageha) and the continued presence of incompetent exorcist Jumonji (with the hots for Sakura) do little except fuel occasional episodic diversions, such as when Jumonji is tricked into cursing Rinne. Storylines are usually wrapped up within three or four chapters, with few lasting repercussions aside from a slowly growing cast of recurring characters. Speaking of which, I am seriously weary of Sabato, Rinne’s irresponsible dad, whose deceitful ways just bring more misfortune upon our hero. It’s probably expecting too much to hope for his comeuppance to happen any time soon, alas. – Michelle Smith

Shugo Chara!, Vol. 11 | By Peach-Pit | Published by Kodansha Comics – Three of Amu’s Guardian Characters have disappeared and, led by the fourth in an effort to find them, she embarks upon a journey along the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey (not to mention sparkly) “road of stars,” catching glimpses of various characters with whom she interacted over the course of the series—friend and foe alike—who are all now working hard and having fun. What would be a warm and fuzzy conclusion is marred slightly by the fact that the mystery of the Embryo is never explained and one of Amu’s friends never divulges an important secret, but maybe these things will be rectified in the final volume, which “explores the side stories of the other characters.” My advice is to try not to think too hard about the dangling plot threads and just enjoy the good-hearted vibe of this delightful magical girl series. – Michelle Smith

Toradora! Vol. 2 | By Yuyuko Takemiya and Zekkyo | Published by Seven Seas –Memo to the manga artist for Suzumiya Haruhi: take a few lessons from Toradora’s adaptation. The series finishes up Vol. 1 of the light novels here and starts Vol. 2, and manages to keep the romantic comedy aspects going without it ever becoming tiresome. Taiga can be incredibly overbearing, but we see a lot more of her softer side than most manga tsunderes, and her facial expressions make this worth the purchase price alone. The artist knows when to do exaggeration and when to keep it real, fortunately. As for the plot, well, after the worst love confession I’ve seen in a long time, Taiga and Ryuuji seem to be back to Square One. But they’re not giving up, not even as a new girl arrives on the scene to make everything much worse. A fun, breezy read for those who like comedic romance hijinks and don’t mind tsunderes.– Sean Gaffney

Twin Spica, Vol. 8 | Kou Yaginuma | Vertical, Inc. – I often worry that I don’t have enough new to say about continuing volumes of Twin Spica, not because there is little worth noting, but because it so faithfully maintains its high quality over the course of its run that it’s hard to keep topping my own praise. The truth is, no matter how much I’ve raved about any particular volume, each new installment renews those feelings ten-fold, as mangaka Kou Yaginuma continues to dig deeper into the minds and hearts of his young student astronauts. This volume is largely about partings (or the prospect thereof) and left me teary at several points, while also steadily building up my anticipation and imagination as I ponder what’s in store for its characters, personally and professionally. Yaginuma’s nostalgia-tinted artwork is especially effective in this volume, and I’m constantly surprised by how expressive it is, despite its simple aesthetic. Still recommended. – MJ

Naruto Volumes 4-6

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By Masashi Kishimoto. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

And this is why everyone should give Jump series about 5-6 volumes before they give up on them. This omnibus is definitely a big step up from the first, with the leads being slightly more likeable, lots of interesting new characters introduced, and a new arc that promises to be much more thrilling – and possibly more deadly.

First, however, we have to finish up the cliffhanger from last time, with Naruto and company defending the bridge and its creator from the evil ninja and the mob boss who hired him. Once again, we are reminded that small, petty villains are always MUCH WORSE than noble yet evil guys in the Shonen Jump world, and while Zabuza spends a lot of time showing us what a horrible person he is, he does manage to get some redemption, as does his gender-malleable assistant. I was rather startled at the death of Haku here – it’s quite gory, and from a blow by Kakashi, no less (if accidentally). Clearly ‘nobody dies in Naruto’ is not a meme that’s going to take hold. Well, not yet anyway.

Once that’s over with, we head back to the village and begin our next big arc – the exams are coming up for journeyman ninja, and despite only having worked together for a short time, Kakashi recommends that they all do it. This is a huge exam with over a hundred ninja apprentices from all walks of life, most of whom we meet in this book. I have no idea who will be important later or not – the only ones that really stuck with me are Hinata, who clearly has a crush on Naruto that’s a mile wide; Ino, who has some sort of rivalry/friendship with Sakura; and Gaara, who gives off the appearance of being one of the next big villains, so must not be one.

And then there’s Rock Lee, who really deserves a paragraph of his own. Even though I’d never read Naruto before this, I still knew of Rock Lee – how could I not? Amazingly, he’s exactly as I anticipated, being a larger than life Sylvester Stallone type bruiser in the midst of all these tricky ninjas. His master Guy looking pretty much like him only older also amuses me, and I was rather startled to note that Guy can apparently hold his own with Kakashi – even the comedy characters here are tough cookies.

As for the exam itself, it’s a ninja exam, so naturally there’s lots of secret cheating, given they all assume the point of the exam is to see how good they are at not getting caught. The final question is psychological, something that works on many of the exam takers but not on Naruto, who is far too stubborn for such tactics. (Note: not dense – Naruto seems to fully understand what he’s sacrificing. It’s the principle of the thing that bothers him.) And then we get Round 2, featuring a survival match through a deadly forest – one that has been infiltrated by one of the villains, Orochimaru.

This last third of the omnibus is far more serious than the volume before it, and once again shows that the author is not afraid to laughter its minor cast members in the way of drama. There’s lots of good stuff here – Sasuke shows that he’s not all smug jerk, though unfortunately seems to get infected (possessed?) by the enemy anyway. Even better is Sakura, who while she doesn’t accomplish much does show a plucky streak that’s very endearing, and is at least clever enough to not fall for the minor mook’s traps. The three leads are all coming along, and I’m interested in seeing how they get out of all this.

This still hasn’t reached the heights of One Piece for me – the battles still have trouble keeping my attention, for one, and introducing 25-30 new cast members in 2 volumes is over the top even if you *aren’t* meant to remember who they all are. But it’s definitely come along from the first omnibus, and this new Exam Arc is indeed as exciting as people said it would be. I’m looking forward to seeing how things go from here on.

SDCC Round-Up

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Yes, it may still have two days to go, but for most manga fans, the news is done now due to a heavily overbalanced schedule. And who better to give you a breakdown of all of it than me, a person who wasn’t there and mostly followed everything on Twitter! Onward!

First up we have Kodansha, who sadly did not have any new announcements. A bit worrying, given that they have really announced one new title since their debut – Code Name: Sailor V. Sailor Moon, Love Hina and Tokyo Mew Mew are all new editions of previously issued stuff, though I suspect Sailor Moon’s differences between Tokyopop and Kodansha will be large enough that it will seem new.

They did announce that the Negima omnibuses will continue “till they catch up with the new volumes”, which I presume means catching up to where the Nibleys began translating/adapting it. They also showed off the cover (as yet not online) for the first Love Hina omnibus, which will be 5 volumes, each containing 3 of the original (the last will have 2).

The other unsurprising but disappointing news is that they indicated that, due to poor sales and a poor economy, there are currently no plans to go back and grab other Del Rey series left hanging that aren’t already coming out. Yozakura Quartet and Pumpkin Scissors were mentioned specifically, but I expect this also includes titles such as Nodame Cantabile, Moyasimon, and School Rumble. They also indicated they have no digital plans at this time. Most likely as they’re still concentrating on getting back up to speed book-wise.

The big news of the weekend was the J-Manga panel, which debuts in North America in August. It’s a collective between 39 manga companies (basically everyone you can think of which the exceptions of Square Enix (who have their own initiative) and Mag Garden (no Aria for you!) to have their manga available here. To my surprise and happiness, this is *not* an Apple-only iPad app, but web-based. The price point will be determined by publisher, but they’re also trying to get a wider variety of content than just ‘Jump/Hana to Yume’ licenses that tend to come out over here. The readers can apparently message the authors, and there will be exclusive content, including videos. And yes, some brave soul did ask why we should care when we have scanlations. Brave soul. :) It’s web-only right now, but they’re working on mobile apps.

The site hasn’t debuted yet, but this was much more than I was expecting, so I am greatly pleased. There are still some unanswered questions (who’s doing the translation work? How are they being paid?), but I am now greatly looking forward to the opening of the site.

Speaking of online manga, Viz debuted their new web-based manga site Thursday evening. I have not yet had a chance to try it out, though I will do so this weekend, but all signs point to it being exactly what we asked them for – a non-iPad way to pay to read their manga online. The titles are mostly what you’d expect, being their best-sellers, along with a few Signature titles for ‘cool’ readers. I wonder in future if they might use it as a way to access volumes that are out of print and don’t sell well enough to justify a reprint (yes, I am thinking of Excel Saga). In any case, kudos to Viz!

Viz had two new manga licenses, both in the Shojo Beat line. The first I’m very excited about, and have been hoping Viz would pick it up. January sees the debut of Devil and Her Love Song, which is about a blunt, no-nonsense girl who was expelled from her classy all-girls’ academy and is now attending a public school. Her ‘devil’ personality causes her no end of problems, but does attract the attention of two guys – one cheery, one grumpy. No, it’s not the most original thing ever, but it’s great fun, and I can’t wait to see it in English.

The other one is Earl and Fairy, based on a very long (25 volumes and counting – don’t expect it to be licensed) light novel series about a woman who is attuned to fairies, and her interaction with a roguishly handsome young man seeking a legendary sword. It’s Victorian Fantasy, so no doubt will appeal to Black Butler fans, and its general feel should also draw in the Vampire Knight crowd.

And given the success of the shonen ‘omnibus’ formats (which, word of warning, will likely all end about 9-12 volumes in – these are teasers to make you buy, not full re-releases), Viz is now doing two popular shojo series in the 3-in-1 style: Hana-Kimi and Skip Beat! I never got a chance to take in Hana-Kimi back in the day, so will be looking forward to this.

The Shonen Jump panel following did announce a new chapter of a just-begun-in-Japan Jump title available in English – St&rs, which can be accessed from their website – but did not announce any new licenses. This is possibly as the one they announced last year, Psyren, still has yet to debut in graphic novel form. It’s also possibly due to the fact that the other ‘mid-range’ Jump titles running right now all have potential difficulties with NA sales. Sket Dance is a Gintama clone, and Viz just cancelled that. Beelzebub has a lot of Satanic backstory, and also has a naked baby and his naked penis in many, many chapters – Viz has already censored this sort of thing in titles like Dr. Slump. Kuroko no Basket is a basketball manga, at a time when they’re still putting out Slam Dunk. And Medaka Box… is Medaka Box. They may wait to see if the Gainax anime takes off to do something about that. :)

Onward to the Yen panel! They win the prize for total number of new licenses, piling up three. The first one was spoiled a bit ahead of time for some, but is not a surprise given the anime got a TV deal: Durarara!!, the manga adaptation of the light novel series about a group of Ikebukuro residents and their interactions and misadventures, centering around several rival gangs and a young woman searching for a missing past – and her missing head. It’s from Square Enix, and runs in their female-oriented shonen magazine GFantasy, home of Black Butler and Pandora Hearts. It just finished ‘Stage one’ in 4 volumes, but will be restarting a second arc soon.

Then there is Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka?, a comedic title that just started last year in Kadokawa Shoten’s fanservicey shonen magazine Dragon Age. Also based on a light novel that won’t come out over here (DRRR!! is a far more likely pickup, though still very unlikely), it’s about a young man who gets killed, then resurrected as a zombie by a silent young necromancer woman. Then he runs into a magical girl with a chainsaw – and accidentally steals her powers. Now he has to deal with the trials of being a zombie cross-dressing magical girl. Didn’t I read this plot on Fanfiction.net with Naruto and Usagi?

Lastly, we have what appears to be another omnibus, but a bit more high-end than Dragon Girl and Sasameke were. Olimpos is from the author of Utahime, which DMP put out over here, and is apparently based around the mythical Greek Gods. It ran for 2 volumes in Ichijinsha’s josei magazine Comic Zero-Sum (and its sister publication Zero-Sum Ward), and I suspect will be the most ‘blogger-friendly’ of the titles announced at SDCC. Yen also mentioned a 4-volume color omnibus for High School of the Dead, and noted they were working on an Android app for their stuff.

The last thing I heard about was the Best and Worst manga of 2011, which I was delighted to hear spent so much time talking about the best that they barely managed to mention the worst. Always a good thing, IMO.

That’s it for now! Otakon will be a much easier write-up, as there’s only one manga industry panel there – Vertical. And as for New York Comic Con, I will actually be present at that one. :)

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection announced

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To go along with my post on the new Tom & Jerry Golden Collection collector’s set, Warners has announced their first Looney Tunes Blu-Ray release. Unlike Tom & Jerry, this one is Blu-Ray only. Most likely because, while the T&J set will have restorations not out on DVD yet, this first LT collection will feature a lot of cartoons previously restored on DVD. That said, Jerry Beck and company have indicated the picture quality is really incredible, as one would expect from the new medium, and this is really more ‘Warners dipping its toe into Blu-Ray’ than anything else.

The contents list reads very much like ‘what would a cartoon fan want in a ‘best ever’ Looney Tunes set, along with some lesser cartoons that star such fan favorites as the Tasmanian Devil and Marvin Martian, both of whom have popularity that far outweighs the few cartoons they were in. Some contents are apparently not announced yet, but here’s what we have. I’ll note which DVD collection the cartoon first appeared on if applicable (and when I say new to DVD, I mean new to Blu-Ray, of course, but also not on a DVD collection before):

DISC ONE
1) Hare Tonic (1945, Jones) (Golden Collection 3)
2) Baseball Bugs (1946, Freleng) (GC1)
3) Buccaneer Bunny (1948, Freleng) (GC5)
4) The Old Grey Hare (1944, Clampett) (GC5)
5) Rabbit Hood (1949, Jones) (GC4)
6) 8 Ball Bunny (1950, Jones) (GC4)
7) Rabbit of Seville (1950, Jones) (GC1)
8) What’s Opera, Doc? (1957, Jones) (GC2)
9) The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946, Clampett) (GC2)
10) A Pest in the House (1947, Jones) (GC5)
11) The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950, Jones) (GC1)
12) Duck Amuck (1953, Jones) (GC1)
13) Robin Hood Daffy (1958, Jones) (GC3)
14) Baby Bottleneck (1946, Clampett) (GC2)
15) Kitty Kornered (1946, Clampett) (GC2)
16) Scaredy Cat (1948, Jones) (GC1)
17) Porky Chops (1949, Davis) (GC1)
18) Old Glory (1939, Jones) (GC2)
19) A Tale of Two Kitties (1942, Clampett) (GC5)
20) Tweetie Pie (1947, Freleng) (GC2)
21) Fast and Furry-ous (1949, Jones) (GC1)
22) Beep Beep (1952, Jones) (GC2)
23) Lovelorn Leghorn (1951, McKimson) NEW TO DVD
24) For Scent-I-Mental Reasons (1949, Jones) (GC1)
25) Speedy Gonzalez (1955, Freleng) (GC1)

DISC TWO
1) One Froggy Evening (1955, Jones) (GC2)
2) Three Little Bops (1957, Freleng) (GC2)
3) I Love to Singa (1936, Avery) (GC2)
4) Katnip Kollege (1938, Hardaway/Dalton) (GC2)
5) The Dover Boys (1942, Jones) (GC2)
6) Chow Hound (Jones, 1951) (GC6)
7) Haredevil Hare (1948, Jones) (GC1)
8) Hasty Hare (1952, Jones) NEW TO DVD
9) Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953, Jones) (GC1)
10) Hare-Way To The Stars (1958, Jones) NEW TO DVD
11) Mad As a Mars Hare (1963, Jones) (BB:HE)
12) Devil May Hare (1954, McKimson) (GC1)
13) Bedevilled Rabbit (1957, McKimson) (BB:HE)
14) Ducking the Devil (1957, McKimson) (DD:FF)
15) Bill of Hare (1962, McKimson) NEW TO DVD
16) Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964, McKimson) (BB:HE)
17) Bewitched Bunny (1954, Jones) (GC5)
18) Broom-Stick Bunny (1956, Jones) (GC2)
19) A Witch’s Tangled Hare (1959, Levitow) NEW TO DVD
20) A-Haunting We Will Go (1966, McKimson) (GC4)
21) Feed the Kitty (1952, Jones) (GC1)
22) Kiss Me Cat (1953, Jones) (GC4)
23) Feline Frame-Up (1954, Jones) NEW TO DVD
24) Fram A to Z-Z-Z-Z (1954, Jones) (Academy Award Collection)
25) Boyhood Daze (1957, Jones) (GC6, special features)

As one can see, the cartoon set above has some fantastic cartoons, but it is also very conservative. Nothing in black-and-white, no cartoons with controversial ethnic gags (save Chow Hound), and a lot of Chuck Jones, whose films are here 3-1 over everyone else. The first set has the LT stars, with Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, Roadrunner, Pepe, and Speedy cartoons. The second starts with famous one-shots, and then throws in a bunch of Marvin Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Witch Hazel, Pussyfoot and Ralph Phillips cartoons to appeal, my guess is, to the casual fan. Still. Dear WB, stop appealing to the casual fan. There’s only 3 cartoons here from the 1930s, as well. At the same time, it’s hard to begrudge the set, as it’s filled with the very best WB cartoons, as you would expect from a debut Blu-Ray set. Aside from Porky Chops (which Jerry has always loved, for some weird reason) and Katnip Kollege (ditto, though I love this one too), everything before the Marvin cartoons start is a bona fide Looney Tunes masterpiece.

Are there extras? Of course there are! Behind the Tunes mini-documentaries (most likely taken from the DVD sets), Chuck Jones documentaries (ditto), the 1944 FDR propaganda cartoon Hell-Bent for Reelection (by Chuck Jones, and I believe NEW TO DVD), the 1955 Army short A Hitch in Time (Jones again, also NEW TO DVD), the antiwar WB short The Door, from 1968, directed by Ken Mundie (also NEW TO DVD), and 2 new documentaries on Marvin and Taz. Plus no doubt a few more unannounced goodies.

It can be hard to take when technology moves so quickly. Especially in a crappy economy, where the WB Golden Collections were scrapped for poor sales. Having to not-only re-buy cartoons you have but also invest in a new player to view them (I don’t have Blu-Ray myself yet, though obviously will be getting a player soon) is asking a lot of the hardcore cartoon fan. Still, it’s not surprising to see this as the debut set, and more are promised. Hopefully the set will do well, and we’ll see cartoons like Porky in Wackyland and some more unreleased to DVD stuff in the future.

Kekkaishi Volumes 4-6

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By Yellow Tanabe. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

The second omnibus edition of Kekkaishi continues the demon hunting plotline of the first, and adds such popular shonen tropes as the elite older brother who the hero looks up to but is also jealous of, as well as the grumpy new guy who insists he can do everything himself. Both are in the ‘I will not be nice to you as you are TOO WEAK’ school of characters, so Yoshimori is having an especially difficult time.

Of course, Yoshimori is NOT actually too weak, he’s simply too inexperienced and too eager to use his power as a blunt object. Many times throughout the volume, characters are impressed with how long he can keep his kekkai going, and how powerful they are. Of course, Masamori, his elder brother, really is pretty awesome in his own right, and demonstrates several times in this omnibus his coolness under fire. Judging by how he deals with both his little brother and Yomi, the minor villain from an earlier arc, he seems to favor the carrot and stick approach to learning.

One thing that intrigued me greatly throughout these three volumes was Yoshimori’s decision to seal off the Karasumori site. Given it’s what’s attracting all the demons they have to keep fighting, it’s a good idea at its core, but the 87 billion things wrong with it also make themselves known. To his credit, Yoshimori knows this, and spends a lot of the next couple of volumes trying to figure out the secrets of the site and how he can possibly accomplish such a thing. Seeing him deep in thought is also quite amusing, as he tends to squat down with this constipated look on his face – it’s no wonder Tokine figures out he’s hiding something right off the bat.

And then there’s Gen, who would appear to be the new regular character. He has ties with Yoshimori’s brother, and would appear to be there to be the ‘darker’ version of the hero, especially as we see the classic ‘he’s a wastrel who’s absolutely nothing like me – oh wait, except that we’re a lot alike after all’. I liked what his fighting revealed about Yoshimori, and how he’s the sort who thunders ahead without thinking, but as the battle rages gets craftier and more tactical. As for Gen’s own issues, briefly seen here, clearly they’re going to become more important in future arcs.

There’s more to talk about, like all the politics and rivalries going on around the land, and Tokine, who is a presence throughout the book, even if I don’t have as much to say about her this time. But as with Volume 1, Kekkaishi is a good example of solid, well-written shonen manga. It’s not breaking any new ground, but it’s exciting and fun to read. It also features one of the creepiest ‘retired professor’ types I’ve ever seen. He’s probably evil. (Remember, kids, always judge by appearances!)

Manga the week of 7/27

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Right, Midtown is really starting to irritate me. I don’t know where their distributor has wandered off to, but the Kodansha titles are just passing them by. With that in mind…

Stuff that’s come out from Kodansha but hasn’t hit Midtown in the last 2 months: Well, we have (deep breath) Air Gear 18 (back to single volumes), The Wallflower 25 (ditto), Negima Neo 7 (the final volume, and thank God for that), and Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei 9. Reviews of Zetsubou and Wallflower are already on my site. That’s June.

From July, we have out already the 14th volume of Fairy Tail, the 3rd of the blogger favorite Arisa, the final volume of Shugo Chara proper (the last volume is a collection of the sequel, Shugo Chara Encore), and a new Ninja Girls, which is… not a blogger favorite. Those came out today.

Next week, from Diamond but not Midtown, we have the 30th volume of Mahou Sensei Negima!. It’s in the middle of a kickass arc that doesn’t let up. And while I can’t confirm this (as I didn’t order it), we may see the new Deltora Quest as well. Hey, Midtown! Fix this!

Rant over, so what *is* Midtown getting in? Well, there’s the 6th volume of Gurren Lagann, from Dengeki Daioh. There’s also a large stack of stuff from Digital Manga Publishing, who apparently finished a bunch of Taiyo Tosho stuff at once. All one-volume sets, with such suggestive titles as I Give To You, This Night’s Everything, and Entangled Circumstances. All these come from their two yaoi magazines, Hertz and Craft.

(Side note to DMP: If you license one more yaoi manga where a seme has one hand cupping the chin of his lover while the uke is staring back at him with this sort of tortured ‘do what you will, you callous ruffian of my heart’ look, I shall be very cross with you indeed.)

And that’s it. What appeals to you this week?

Wandering Son Volume 1

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By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

I will admit I sometimes get intimidated by manga that are ‘important’ or ‘worthy’ in some way. Given a choice between discussing the latest gegika masterpiece from Drawn and Quarterly and the seventeenth volume of shoujo series X, I’m going to take the easy route every time. It’s the sort of book that reminds you that you’re actually meant to be reviewing, not just rambling on. And I felt a bit like this while seeing Wandering Son’s fancy, well put-together hardback sitting on my pile. Which is amusing, of course, as the manga itself is quite unassuming and easy to read.

Wandering Son is about a time in life when every single interaction with anyone is fraught with awkwardness. Especially for a shy kid like Nitori. Things are in flux, and you start to get a sense that even though you really want to do something, that doesn’t necessarily solve the problem if it will just lead to laughter and being thought of as ‘weird’. Yoshino is more self-confident, both in her general personality and in her feelings regarding how she wants to be seen, but her own body is the one reminding her that things aren’t simply cut and dry.

And then there’s Saori, who winds up driving much of the plot in this first volume. Saori interested me quite a bit, if only as she made my skin crawl at times with her trying to force things onto people. The combination of the dress and suggesting the play was interesting enough, but then there’s her reaction after Nitori returns the dress. Christianity is growing in Japan, but I think for a young girl such as herself, the appeal of penance and forgiveness is what’s drawing her more than the faith itself. I’ll be interested to see how this pans out.

The mood of the manga itself is sort of ‘slice-of-life’, but the plot really doesn’t follow the same format as your typical school 4-koma. The basis of this story is transgender issues, and that’s what you get for these first eight chapters. It just so happens that the issues are part of Nitori and Yoshino’s lives, so they aren’t presented with a huge amount of heft the way they would in an after school special. The other classmates have not made much of a name for themselves (indeed, the author admits she hasn’t yet come up with a name for Nitori’s perky friend yet), but I expect that will change.

As for the art style, it’s handled with an amazing deftness. The characters are subdued much of the time, but not in a way that, say, Adachi’s Cross Game characters are. We do see a lot of emotion here, particularly towards the end where Yoshino’s growing up gets thrown back in her face by the class troublemaker (via a proxy, another thing I found quite true to life). But what I liked best was seeing the looks on Nitori’s and Yoshino’s faces when they did try to dress as the other gender. Nitori’s look of bashful happiness as he wears the hairband. Yoshino’s stunned joy and pride after she’s ‘hit on’ by a woman at a fast-food place. They’re expressions you remember, and make for a stronger work.

Fantagraphics has done a great job with this. It’s a handsome volume, well-bound and with sturdy paper. Matt Thorn’s translation and adaptation are seamless, and his essay on the use of honorifics is both enlightening and amusing, inasmuch as he wouldn’t want to use them for most titles, but this is an exception.

So intimidation aside, in the end this is simply a well-crafted story, well-told. You want to read Volume 2 right away to find out how Nitori, Yoshino and Saori continue to deal with these feelings as they grow older. I’m very pleased that it was brought over here, and hope that it sells well enough so that we might see other titles in a similar vein. Not necessarily transgender, but handling difficult issues with such a light touch.

Pick of the Week: Something for everyone

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It’s a relatively slow week at Midtown Comics, but what’s there is well worth reading, as the Manga Bookshelf bloggers reveal below!

MJ: I’m feeling pretty indecisive this week, with new volumes of a couple of my favorite series shipping into Midtown Comics, as well as new work from a favorite creator. Viz Media’s releases are few but fantastick, as they offer up the latest volume of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku as well as the older (but new to us!) La Quinta Camera from the ever-glorious Natsume Ono. Still, I’ll throw my vote to volume eight of Kou Yaginuma’s Twin Spica, just out from Vertical. Twin Spica contains everything I look for in a series, thoughtful characterization, carefully crafted plot, awesome female characters, and more than a dash of bittersweet whimsy. It’s one of my favorite series currently running, and I wouldn’t miss this volume for the world. Neither should you!

DAVID: Ono and Yoshinaga have become linked in my thinking, as they’re both creators who seem to tell precisely the kind of stories that please them, and if someone would like to publish those stories in their magazines, that’s lovely, but neither is inclined to accommodate the house style. And I love that in a creator. So, while it’s cruel of Viz to force me to pick just one of their works, circumstances demand it. As a result, I’ll go with Yoshinaga’s Ooku, as it’s been longer since I’ve read a new volume of her work than Ono’s. I’m looking forward to more mesmerizing period drama about women in power.

KATE: Tempting as it is to join the chorus of folks praising La Quinta Camera, Ooku: The Inner Chambers, or Twin Spica, I’m going a little further off the reservation with my Pick of the Week: Marvel Comics’ 15 Love. Anyone who’s read my site knows that I’m not a Big Two kinda gal; I’m not keen on superhero comics, and seldom find much outside of DC’s Vertigo imprint that appeals to me as a reader. But I’m genuinely excited to buy 15 Love, a three-issue mini-series about a teenage tennis player who’s juggling competition, school, and a modeling career. The series has an interesting history: originally commissioned in 2003, the project was completed but never published — until now. I’m not sure who Marvel hoped would read it, but the concept and preview art have a pleasant, shojo manga vibe. (You can view a few pages at The Beat.) Even if the story doesn’t live up to Sho Murase’s awesome cover, art 15 Love seems like the kind of comics project that deserves my support as a female reader.

MICHELLE: I am a huge fan of Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk, and though I must admit that I have yet to actually read his other VIZ series, Real and Vagabond, I have been buying them faithfully. I started picking up the Vagabond VIZBIG editions when I had a Border’s gift certificate to burn and, seeing the first one on the shelf, proceeded to flip through it, whereupon I encountered color illustrations so gorgeous I immediately, and without hesitation, proceeded to the checkout counter. My pick this week, therefore, is the tenth VIZBIG edition of Vagabond, collecting what I presume is volumes 28 to 30 of the series.

SEAN: I will be picking the latest Natsume Ono, La Quinta Camera. I didn’t really get into not simple, which I found a bit too depressing for my taste. This new one-shot seems to be more along the lines of Ristorante Paradiso and Gente, however, which is fantastic, as I loved those to death. Ono seems to be at her best when people are sitting around having a conversation, usually while not looking at each other. And this still isn’t quite all of her backlog, either, as we’re supposed to get the short-story collection Tesoro later in the year.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 7/18/11

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This week, Michelle, MJ, David, Kate, & Sean check out recent releases from Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, Yen Press, & Vertical, Inc.

Arisa, Vol. 3 | By Natsumi Ando | Kodansha Comics – With the help of classmate Manabe, Tsubasa continues to look for the identity of the “king,” an unknown person who grants wishes and made her twin sister Arisa his target. In this volume, suspicion falls on Midori, Arisa’s boyfriend, who is nearby after a nicely creepy fun-house mirror King sighting, and who is also one of the chosen five, an elite group of students allowed to submit their wishes to the king. Tsubasa can’t believe he’s involved, though, as his friendliness seems too genuine, but she may have to do some untrustworthy things herself if she wants to help her sister. Fast-paced, spooky, and yet thoroughly shoujo, Arisa is a great deal of fun to read. Each time I finish a volume I lament that I do not already have the next in hand. – Michelle Smith

Black Butler, Vol. 6 | By Yana Toboso | Yen Press – The sixth volume of Yana Toboso’s Black Butler finds young aristocrat Ciel Phantomhive and his devilish (literally) butler Sebastian infiltrating a circus upon Queen Victoria’s orders. They’ve been assigned to investigate a string of missing children whose last-known whereabouts coincide with the troupe’s itinerary, and the bulk of the volume sees them first qualifying to join and then attempting to find an opportunity to do some poking around while contending with chores and the appearance of an unfriendly grim reaper. It’s not a bad volume by any means—certainly better than the recent silliness involving a curry competition—but suffers some from being only the first half of the story. Still, the creepy atmosphere Toboso creates for the circus is fun, and there’s a certain satisfaction to be derived from watching imperious Ciel peel potatoes. – Michelle Smith

Black Jack, Vol. 15 | By Osamu Tezuka | Vertical, Inc. – Readers who love Tezuka in his crazy, kitchen-sink mode will find plenty of over-the-top stories in volume fifteen. Black Jack performs a full-body skin graft on a porphyria patient, saves a boy who’s begun sprouting leaves from his body, and gets trapped not once but twice in caves with critically injured people. Entertaining as these stories are, the real highpoint of volume fifteen is “A Surgeon Lives for Music,” in which a famous doctor finds an ingenuous way to circumvent a totalitarian regime’s ban on “decadent” music. “A Surgeon” may not be Tezuka’s best work, but it’s a deeply personal story, touching on two of the most important things in his life: his medical training, and his passion for Ludwig van Beethoven. Highly recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Cross Game, Vol. 4 | By Mitsuru Adachi | Viz Media – Due to an error on Viz’s Facebook page, some of us were afraid that this was the final volume that Viz would publish. Unpleasant as those hours of uncertainty were, they served as a reminder that this series should be praised as often as decency allows, if not somewhat more frequently. The most consistently amazing thing about Adachi’s tale of high-school baseball players is that there’s absolutely no contrivance to it – not in the evolution of the team, not in the prickly relationship between star pitcher Ko and childhood frenemy Aoba, not even in the endearing bits of fourth-wall demolition that Adachi occasionally indulges in. I can think of few manga where the reader is invited to know the characters so well and like them so much, and even fewer examples where that was accomplished with this kind of gentle understatement. Just read it. You won’t be sorry. – David Welsh

Eyeshield 21, Vol. 36 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – This is the penultimate volume of Eyeshield 21, and like the volume before it there is a sense that it should have ended with the Christmas Bowl. Much as it’s nice to see Sena take on Panther one last time, this feels more like a victory lap than an actual plot point. Still, it’s a fun victory lap, as we see lots of what make shonen sports manga so great – thinking you’re the strongest and then finding guys who are even stronger, faster, and smarter than you. The second half is the football game, and it’s great seeing all the Japanese stars on the same team. But the highlight is earlier in the book, watching Hiruma and Clifford in a high-stakes poker game, where both parties come out feeling like they’ve lost. Tense stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Seiho Boys’ High School!, Vol. 6 | By Kaneyoshi Izumi | Viz Media – For shoujo manga veterans, the fact that this volume begins with preparations for a school festival (one that involves slapstick humor mixed with cross-dressing, no less) does not bode particularly well. Fortunately, the real purpose of the festival plotline is to explore further one of the series’ most unconventional relationships—that between crude student Nogami and school nurse Fukuhara. The fact taht Izumi is the first creator since Fumi Yoshinaga to make me even remotely interested in a high school student/faculty affair is noteworthy on its own, and if Izumi doesn’t quite have Yoshinaga’s genius, her work still stands out, and in a decidedly positive way. This volume remains true to the tone of the series so far, with its refreshing mix of thoughtful drama and boy-centric humor. Still recommended. – MJ

Skip Beat!, Vol. 24 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Viz Media – From the creator of Tokyo Crazy Paradise, still unlicensed! (Yes, it never gets old.) After the method acting controversy of the last volume (which apparently bothered me a lot more than it did everyone else), we move on to romance again for this Skip Beat!, as Kyoko is dealing with Valentine’s Day attacks on three fronts: she’s missed Ren’s birthday, and is debating a Valentine gift for him; the loathsome Reino blackmailing her into chocolates; and Sho’s jealousy becoming almost its own separate character. Misunderstandings fuel that last one, but it’s a reminder that it’s not all the Ren and Kyoko show yet. Sho still has a hold of her heart, and isn’t about to give it up easily, as we find out in a gripping cliffhanger. Sho and Kyoko are far more alike than either is really comfortable with. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 24 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – Valentine’s Day is a staple of shoujo manga, but never has it been so awesome as in volume 24 of Skip Beat!. Just about every male character is hyper-interested in who Kyoko is giving chocolates to and why, from first love and current enemy Sho, who mistakes the “go to hell” chocolates Kyoko makes under duress for Reino (his musical rival) for the real thing, to Ren, who already receives a plethora of chocolates that he never eats but who would still secretly like to receive something romantic from Kyoko. There’s so much misunderstanding—of the justifiable, non-annoying variety, thank goodness—that I’m almost reminded of a Shakespearean comedy. And if that isn’t high praise, I don’t know what is! – Michelle Smith

The Story of Saiunkoku, Vol. 4 | Art by Kairi Yura, Story by Sai Yukino | Viz Media – The latest volume of Saiunkoku focuses on masked Minister Ko, revealing the real reason he hides his face from all but a few close associates. Though these passages have a delicious, soap opera quality to them, volume four feels a little pokey whenever the spotlight shifts to one of the other supporting cast members. The script often bogs down in expository dialogue and voice-overs; a little judicious pruning of subplots and minor characters would do wonders for improving the story’s pace. On the whole, however, Saiunkoku remains an engaging read, thanks to its smart, capable heroine and her dedication to becoming the first woman to take Saiunkoku’s civil service exam — think Yentl with bishies. – Katherine Dacey

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 9 | By Kiyohiko Azuma | Yen Press – I was listening to a podcast in which the participants were discussing some of the pop culture artifacts that they particularly missed. One that came up was Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, that marvelous ten-year look into the mind of a rambunctious little boy and his stuffed tiger. This volume of Yotsuba&! reminded me forcefully of Watterson’s strip, and not just because the title tot gets her own teddy bear. Like Watterson, Azuma absolutely respects the inner life and logic of the kid at the center of his storytelling. Azuma’s approach may be less fanciful than Watterson’s, but it has the same combination of raucous humor and emotional truth. Highlights here include an extended trip to a hot air balloon festival and dinner out for grilled meat. Lovely and spot-on as the balloon outing proved to be, few things delight me as much as seeing Yotsuba hang out with her father and his friends. – David Welsh

Cross Game Volume 4

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

Summer is here, and that means it’s time for another volume of Cross Game, which Viz has cleverly set up to be released one per season for the next 2 years. (OK, that may be coincidence, but it’s nice to think about.) There’s lots of baseball here, as well as lots of Ko and Aoba. It’s just what we want in an Adachi manga.

For starters, we meet the guy who showed up at the end of last volume, Mizuki. He’s clearly nuts about Aoba, ad just as clearly is not going to get anywhere. This is played with nicely – Aoba has to change the way she gallivants around the house with a boy living there now, and Momiji is quick to pick up on this and tease her for it. Moreover, he manages to kill the rumors that Ko and Aoba are dating – which admittedly doesn’t lead to much yet, but that’s likely as the focus of the last half of this omnibus is baseball. For the most part, though, as a rival Mizuki fails. But since he was never intended to be serious, that’s not all that bad a thing.

(And yes, as noted, you can marry your first cousin in Japan, though it’s done far less frequently than it once was. Hence the need to make the belabored joke here.)

Meanwhile, we continue to see Ko and Aoba’s similarities, which are almost eerie at times. It’s shown time and time again how they think almost exactly alike, and can read each other better than anyone else out there. This can be a plus – neither of them can hide a minor injury form each other for long – but is also serving to keep things distant between the two, as Aoba is quick to note that Ko and Wakaba weren’t just hanging out all the time, they were a genuine couple – even if Ko wouldn’t admit it. At least we get to see Aoba actually get flustered by Ko for once, when he gets right in her face trying to show what the cameras at Koshien will be like.

I mentioned Wakaba, and her presence is still felt here. Aside form the aforementioned discussion, we see a nice scene of Ichiyo, the oldest sister, trying to show Ko that it’s possible to move on and find new love. Ko, of course, remains reticent on the subject. There’s also a lovely montage of Momiji’s memories of playing with Wakaba and Ko when she was a little girl, and her realization that time will eventually move on. But not yet – Ko buys Wakaba a sparkly pendant for her 17th birthday, just as her list asked.

And of course there is baseball. We meet Mishima, a player on the rival Ryuou team, and you know that he’s meant to be a feature of the series because Azuma remembers his name. He’s good too, with Ko noting that he’s the one batter that he’s really worried about. Of course, he’s not actually PLAYING due to another slugger wanting all the glory and convincing the coach to leave him on the bench. It’s been rather startling how much power politics has been in these volumes – and how it’s nice to see Ko’s team as the one who’s there to play the game, with everyone contributing.

The volume ends on a cliffhanger, of course, so the outcome of the game isn’t known. Still, at this halfway point, the series shows no signs of flagging or getting boring. I will admit that we have had it hammered home a great deal how alike Ko and Aoba are, and indeed they seem to be slowly inching towards a realization. The male rival didn’t do anything to sway Aoba’s heart at all. Hrm… perhaps a distaff counterpart?