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Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, Vol. 8

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By Yuu Watase
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: T+ (Older Teen)

In the wake of the previous volume‘s tragedy, Takiko and her warriors are taken in by the Odo, a diverse tribe made up of members from several smaller clans who joined together to rebel against the Rowuns and who, unlike most, believe in the legend of the Priestess of Genbu. Hidden away in the Nassal Forest, a holy refuge with power to turn away the uninvited, the Odo help prepare a ceremony for Soren which allows Uruki to find some peace and to renew his commitment to the Celestial Warriors and, more importantly, to Takiko. Takiko, more determined than ever to save Teg and bring him (along with Hagus) into the fold, camps out at the edge of the forest, waiting for Hagus to decide take a chance on her. Meanwhile, Uruki is visited by the oracle Tai Yi-Jun, who reveals to him the true fate of the Priestess of Genbu–a fate Uruki will do anything to prevent.

After giving poor Takiko a taste of some real jealousy (which of course she strives valiantly to overcome), this story’s primary romance begins to really soar, only to be struck down by Tai Yi-Jun’s revelation to Uruki. The only unfortunate thing about this volume is Uruki’s decision to reject Takiko (just after having reassured her of how much he cares) for the purpose of supposedly keeping her safe from a destiny she knows nothing about and which is absolutely hers to choose. It’s always maddening when someone takes it upon his/herself to limit another person’s choices “for their own good” and this is not made less maddening by the persons involved being fictional. While this is the kind of plot device to be expected in a shojo fantasy, honestly, Watase could have done better. Fortunately, there are enough truly lovely moments (stone warrior Namame’s faithful protection of Takiko, for instance, especially in the face of her supposed “rival,” is utterly charming) to more than make up for it.

Overall, this is another strong volume in a very engaging series that balances romance and adventure more deftly than most.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

On The Shojo Beat

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I have a couple of reviews in today’s On The Shojo Beat column at Manga Recon, for volume 8 of Yuu Watase’s Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (you can read my review of the previous volume here), and for the first volume of Honey Hunt, a new series by Hot Gimmick creator, Miki Aihara. It’s probably too early to really say, but Honey Hunt could potentially make its way on to my list of addictively readable shojo (thanks, David Welsh). It’s not of the same quality as something like NANA, but it is pure, trashy fun.

Expect a few more additions to my recent shojo review binge on this blog over the next couple of weeks, as well as a nice new burst of shonen (beginning with last night’s review of Hikaru no Go, vol. 15). Later!

Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica by Emily Salzfass et al.: C+

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The beginning of Battlestar Galactica’s third season found the majority of what’s left of humanity living on New Caprica, a planet that had seemed like their salvation until the Cylons arrived and the occupation began. Some people joined resistance groups while others collaborated with the enemy to protect themselves and their families. Eventually, they were rescued, though no one lived happily ever after. With the exception of one story taking place during the occupation, the focus of Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica is the effect the experiences of New Caprica have upon the survivors even after the planet is left behind.

“Teacher’s Pet,” story by Emily Salzfass and art by Chrissy Delk, takes place during the occupation. Former president Laura Roslin is working as a teacher and many of her lessons serve as a celebration of the history and culture of the now-destroyed colonies. The Cylons get wind of her curriculum and aren’t at all happy, but Roslin refuses to back down, even as she confronts the possibility that one of her students may be the informant.

Though the climactic moments are a little muddled, “Teacher’s Pet” is the best in the volume. Its tone is appropriately grim and there are moments where character voices seem spot on. One line from Roslin, “I’m a big girl; I can handle risk,” perfectly evokes her calm yet steely resolve. The art is not as successful as the writing, however. Characters are usually recognizable even though they don’t look like much like the actors that portray them (the Eights bear no resemblance to Grace Park, for example) but there was one random schlubby guy that I kept seeing in the resistance meetings that I couldn’t identify. I kept wondering who he was until he finally made an expression I recognized. Who was this mystery man? Chief Tyrol. Hardly a minor character.

“Shelf Life,” story by Richard Hatch (the actor who plays the story’s protagonist) and art by Christopher Schons, is set immediately after the colonists have been rescued from New Caprica. Vice President Tom Zarek is temporarily in control of the government and seeks to exact punishment on collaborators by creating small cells of trusted individuals who will try and execute them. These events do play out in the television series, but here we see more of Zarek’s perspective as well as how his decisions impact his oldest friend.

Some of the dialogue is a little cheesy (“When will we humans ever grow up?”) but the story isn’t bad. I appreciate that some small details from the show are included, such as Chief Tyrol’s tendency to be the last to cast his vote during the trials. Like “Teacher’s Pet,” however, the artist fails to capture many of the actors’ likenesses. For some time I thought they’d got the members of Galactica’s cell (The Circle) wrong because I couldn’t tell two female characters apart. Too, every scene has the same sort of dingy grey look to it, even those taking place on Colonial One (the President’s ship), which has a cleaner and brighter interior than a battlestar.

I found “Visitation,” story by Mike Wellman and art by Anthony Wu, to be the weakest of the three stories. While on New Caprica, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace was held captive by a Cylon and made to believe that her ovaries had been used to create a daughter. She becomes attached to the girl only to run into her actual mother after the evacuation from the planet. Now she encounters the girl again, living in unsavory conditions, and absconds with her.

My objection to the story isn’t that the events are implausible—the show certainly went to the “Starbuck is mentally unstable, does something crazy, and treats those who care about her like crap” well often enough—but because it’s simply a retread of the kind of thing we’ve seen before on the show quite a few times already. “Visitation” also had the strangest art of the lot. I understand an artist wanting to pursue their individual style and all that, but when I’m staring in puzzlement at an unidentifiable, weird-looking, block-headed dude who is then addressed as Helo, played by the undeniably hunky Tahmoh Penikett, then there is a problem.

The bottom line: If you’re a BSG fan who’s missing the show already, you could do worse. I found it kind of nice to revisit these characters at an arguably simpler time.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Good news & bad news

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Just a couple of things for today. First the good news, PopCultureShock is having a Naruto giveaway, mainly to help jump-start our new discussion boards over there. Here’s the announcement from Manga Recon with links to the PCS announcement and the boards. It’s always tough getting new forums up and running, so I hope some of you will go join in!

Then for the bad… AmazonFail. Wow. Having just signed up this blog as an Amazon Associate maybe three days ago, I was pretty dismayed to discover that I was inadvertently promoting a corporation that would do something like this. For the three people left on the internet who don’t know, Amazon has stripped its sales rankings from what appears to be mainly LGBT-themed books, labeling them as “adult” content, despite the fact that many of the books contained little to no sexual content at all, and plenty of books with explicit (heterosexual) content remain ranked. What this means is that these unranked books do not come up through their search engine, and in fact, if you do an Amazon search for “homosexuality” now, most of what comes up are books on how to “cure” or prevent it. Amazon claims this was a “glitch,” despite the fact that people were initially told that this was new official policy.

Obviously this is disgusting and if they don’t turn this policy around very soon I’m going to remove every link to Amazon from this blog, because there is no way I’m going to support that. Fortunately, the entire internet is outraged, which may hopefully effect change. Over at AnimeVice, Gia has a post about how/if this affects the manga industry (ETA: check out Kuriousity‘s as well). I also liked Danielle Leigh’s message to her students, EREC’s response to Information Week’s statement, “…it’s premature to blame Amazon” (thanks, gloss), and this article from Jezebel. ETA: Also, this is pretty interesting, and makes me think I’ll be switching away from being an Associate really soon. Sad.

For now I’ll say, don’t click those Amazon links. Hopefully I won’t need to say it for long.

Goong: The Royal Palace 4 by Park SoHee: A-

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A promise between their grandfathers leads to the wedding of regular girl Chae-Kyung to the crown prince, Shin. Their relationship was antagonistic at first, but Chae-Kyung eventually realizes she’s fallen for the mercurial prince while formerly friendless Shin gets a taste of what it feels like to have someone always by his side.

In this volume, the thawing of relations between the married couple continues while unforeseen political enemies grow in power. By wrangling to have a posthumous honor bestowed upon her late husband, Shin’s aunt earns a place for herself in the palace with the power to make Chae-Kyung’s life miserable. Both the romantic and political aspects to the story are interesting, and I’m continually impressed with Park SoHee’s ability to make a simple conversation between two people such a riveting thing.

Particularly worthy of praise is the development of Shin’s cousin, Yul. When initially introduced, Yul was a sympathetic character, a former royal grandson who lost his title, his home, and his fiancée to Shin upon the death of his father. The gradual revelation of his sly manipulation of Chae-Kyung has been well done, throwing new light on all of their prior, seemingly innocent, interactions.

One minor flaw the series possesses is the unattractive artwork that crops up during comedic moments. Most of the time the art is very pretty, though, and it’s true that these ugly episodes are occurring less frequently as the series progresses. I also wasn’t keen on the gag occurring at the end of the volume.

With its engaging characters, (generally) attractive art, and political intrigue, Goong has me pretty well hooked. How long ‘til volume five?

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Crimson Hero 9 by Mitsuba Takanashi: B+

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From the back cover:
Just when Nobara is set to play with the Eagles against the men’s team at Central Sokai University, Yushin shows up on campus! Has he come to make a play for Nobara?

Review:
At last! I love seeing good things happen for characters I like, and this volume is immensely satisfying in several important ways. Nobara gets her first taste of victory when the beach volleyball team manages to beat the elite college team, though I am kind of getting annoyed with all of these games that go all the way to the very final point. I guess that’s supposed to show how hard the struggle was? There’s also some awesome stuff between Nobara and Yushin.

But the very best stuff actually happens when Nobara returns to Crimson Field. In her absence, one of her teammates, Kanako, a relative newcomer to volleyball, has been training really hard. She’s proud of her new skills and shows them to Nobara, who is appropriately impressed. Alas, the coach is more interested in what Nobara has learned to do and is dismissive of Kanako, who’d been receiving personal attention up ’til that point and whose goal was to become better than Nobara.

Nobara realizes later, upon seeing the tattered state of Kanako’s equipment, just how hard she’d been working and refuses to accept Kanako’s resignation from the team. There’s this great scene where they meet up in a café or something. Kanako says, “I’m not going to lose to you!” To which Nobara replies, “I’m not going to lose to you, either!” Then they both break out in tears. There’s one panel of the two of them sobbing away with the sound effect “Waaaaah” going across it. It’s wonderful, funny, and in character, too. I think I read that sequence over, like, four times.

And, as if all that weren’t enough, the Newcomers’ Tournament (which has some bearing on the attendees for the Spring Tournament somehow) begins and the Crimson Field girls handily win their first game. It’s a feel good volume all around.

Crimson Hero 8 by Mitsuba Takanashi: B-

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From the back cover:
Coach Shima sends Nobara to train with the men’s team at Central Sokai University. However, these college guys have no intention of letting a girl join their practice—unless Nobara can find a way to gain their respect.

Review:
It took me this long to start to get tired of reading this series, which is probably a compliment. And really, this volume is pretty decent. Nobara is training with a beach volleyball team and learning to see her skills—like her amazing jumping ability—objectively. Her teammates are rather silly, but overall these chapters are pretty fun. In fact, they’re very shounen, with lines like, “I’ve got to become stronger!” and “There’s got to be an attack only I can do!”

Alas, there are also some lame, kind of retconny moments. Nobara having a particular childhood hero has never been mentioned before, but suddenly we are told she had one and turns out to be, of course, Ryo, the guy she’s been sent to train with. Worse, though, is that Nobara goes practically bonkers during a typhoon and rushes out to the beach to physically hold onto one of the posts holding up the net so that it won’t get destroyed because she must become stronger and all of that. She later explains that she often goes nuts during storms on account of the childhood trauma of being locked in a storage room during one. Normally Nobara is not the type of heroine to have a “too stupid to live” moment of such magnitude. It was pretty crapulent.

Anyway, it is at least clear that Nobara is improving. I look forward to seeing how her new skills will translate on the court.

Crimson Hero 7 by Mitsuba Takanashi: B

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From the back cover:
Nobara’s drive to get the girls’ volleyball team ready to qualify for the next Spring Tournament has tensions running high. Have Nobara’s dreams finally outgrown those of her teammates?

Review:
Yay, volleyball once again takes precedence over romance! This volume begins with the girls team in shambles, reeling from yet another defeat, and Ayako telling Nobara that they’re not like her and never really believed they could make it to the Spring Tournament (Nobara’s big dream). After a brief stint at a special training camp makes Nobara realize that it’s her own team that she wants to play with, she returns and the team gets itself together. Training begins in earnest, with the new coach leading the girls through intensive drills.

The problem is that Nobara’s simply enjoying playing so much that she’s not trying her hardest in the practice games. I love that the other girls are worried about her talents going to waste and are working hard to try to challenge her. Finally, at the end of the volume, Nobara realizes that she isn’t pushing herself, and departs to go study with some surfer guy who I can only assume is a volleyball guru of some sort.

With things mostly stable on the girls’ team, it’s up to the boys to provide the drama. Alas, I found this segment of the volume pretty boring. Basically, now that the third years have retired to focus on their college entrance exams, the second years are feeling overshadowed by the new crop of talented first years and quit in a huff. Yushin is ultimately the hero. No big surprise there.

This volume is better than the last, but still isn’t as exciting as it could be. Hopefully there’ll be another fun game before too long.