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I’ve got a theory, it could be bunnies.

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I’ve been a bit stressed and over-taxed lately, and I keep sitting down to try to write something vaguely intelligent about manga for this blog, but as I’ve been pretty wrapped up in Nana lately, everything seems to come out as, “Ode to Nobu.” Heh. This is why I don’t write reviews. I can write passionately about certain aspects of a manga, but I fail at well-rounded, critical writing.

In lieu of brilliant reviews or scintillating commentary, I instead offer up a photo of my husband’s (early) birthday present. It will slay you all with its cuteness and make you forget what this entry sorely lacks.

Her name is Kino.

This also does not amount to “scintillating commentary,” but I guess I will talk a moment about Tsubasa chapter 201 and xxxHolic chapter 167 since they are receiving a sound thrashing in most corners of the internet I frequent, and I’m a bit perplexed about that.

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I am a font of yaoi?

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A couple of months ago, I wrote up a little entry to discuss what I don’t like about yaoi, which turned out to be a great thing for me, bringing forth a whole slew of very nice folks with recommendations. I’ve found some titles I can enjoy in the genre, and made a few new friends, too! One odd side-effect, however, is that people have somehow gotten the idea that I’m a yaoi fan. Just this week, in fact, I’ve received two yaoi-related requests from readers passing through.

The first was a request from an author to review her yaoi e-book. Since I read a very small amount of yaoi, and rarely write proper reviews of anything, I have recommended that she may want to seek out a more suitable voice, though if she really wants me to do it, I’ll try. The second, was a request from a woman who is working on her Master’s thesis, asking me to link to a survey on yaoi, and to quote the following text:

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Sand Chronicles 3 by Hinako Ashihara: B+

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From the back cover:
Sweet 16-year-old Ann returns to rural Shimane from Tokyo for the summer, eager to reconnect with her boyfriend Daigo. But will the allure of their close friends—wealthy brother and sister Fuji and Shika—sunder the romantic ties that have bound Ann and Daigo since they were 12?

Review:
I didn’t like this volume quite as much as the first two because it was missing that special feeling of nostalgia. Instead, it focused mostly on relationship and family angst, which was entertaining in its way, but didn’t elicit the bittersweet vibe that usually elevates this title above its fellows.

There was more focus on the Tsukishima siblings in this volume, which was welcome, as both of them separately tried to break free of the stifling mold their family has imposed upon them. Ann and Daigo begin by being worried about the Tsukushima in their town, but it’s probably only a matter of time until things escalate. I’m not really looking forward to that happening, since it will cause so much pain all around, but it will undoubtedly be interesting.

I’m also looking forward to farther down the line chronologically; will the series depict Ann in her early twenties, and follow right up to where she is as the story begins? That would be really neat.

Although these chapters here were not the best, the cliffhanger ending was pretty cool and I’m definitely looking forward to volume 4.

Post-NYAF manga binge

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I’ve been plugging away at a post about global manga, but it’s just not coming together quickly, so I’ll take a brief rest to talk about some of the manga I bought at NYAF!

Some volumes are yet unread (Dororo v.1, Galaxy Girl, Panda Boy, Seduce Me After the Show), but here’s a quick rundown on what I’ve plowed through so far.

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Fairy Tail 3 by Hiro Mashima: B

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From the back cover:
The evil members of the Dark Guild Eisenwald have found a cursed flute that can murder anyone who hears its music—and now they’ve taken over a midtown train station with a very loud public address system. Only Natsu and his crazy friends (including a flying cat) can stop them!

Review:
Fairy Tail has finally won me over. I think it was the fact that several guild members went on a mission together that did it, since I enjoyed seeing their various powers on display. Natsu also got to partake in a couple of nifty battles with nice choreography.

One thing I like about the combat in this series is that people have more than one trick. They don’t have to keep doing a “Wind scar” or “Amekakeryu no Hirameki” over and over again, but have many different aspects of their magical specialties that they can employ. I especially like Erza’s ability to don armor to suit her opponent; it has the added benefit of being very prettily drawn, as well.

At the end of the story, Erza gets arrested by the body that governs those with her special abilities. Oh noes! I predict the spiky-haired hero and friends will attempt a daring rescue, that Happy will turn out to be a sexay layday, and that Erza’s heretofore unseen angsty brother, Pyakuya, will make an appearance.

Fairy Tail 2 by Hiro Mashima: B

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From the back cover:
Beautiful celestial wizard Lucy has teamed up with the crazy fire wizard Natsu and his bizarre flying cat, Happy. Their job: to steal a book from the notorious Duke Everlue. But the eccentric Everlue has killed wizards before, and Lucy’s team is walking right into his death trap!

Review:
I was getting serious GetBackers vibes from the first mission in this volume. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy are hired by a client who will pay them two million “jewels” to retrieve a book from the library of some crazy, lecherous old guy. They fight some bodyguards with specialized combat abilities, and Lucy goes around in skimpy outfits, though not quite as skimpy as the stuff Hevn wears. (Side note: I haven’t read any GetBackers for two whole years now. Must remedy. It’s not the best thing ever, but I would still like to finish it.)

A new powerful female character is introduced in the second mission and I thought I’d like her, since she seemed keen to instill some discipline in her fellow wizards, but she turned out to be as illogical as the rest in her own way. The second story also introduces the threat of dark guilds, those who’ve broken rules (such as accepting assassination requests) and have been ousted from the league of official wizard guilds, which is pretty nifty. Some of these villains have some neat magic abilities, too; I particularly like the guy who manipulates shadows.

The art continues to be great. Not only does Mashima excel at depicting cities, but there’s never any question of where a scene is occurring, and sometimes you even know what room is next door, what’s down the street, etc. Some maps are helpfully provided, as well.

I liked this volume a little more than the first one, but I’m still not entirely sold on following it long term. Mashima employs gag humor that I don’t really care for (someone turning up naked for one panel just so someone else can joke about it), but at the same time there are amusing bits that I like, such as when Happy (the cat) picks up a skull in a storage room and randomly wears it as a helmet for a few pages. The magic system, not only the abilities but the organization, is also original and interesting. If only the characters weren’t so irksome!

Fairy Tail 1 by Hiro Mashima: B-

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From the back cover:
Cute girl wizard Lucy wants to join the Fairy Tail, a club for the most powerful wizards. But instead, her ambitions land her in the clutches of a gang of unsavory pirates led by a devious magician. Her only hope is Natsu, a strange boy she happens to meet on her travels. Natsu’s not your typical hero-he gets motion sickness, eats like a pig, and his best friend is a talking cat. With friends like this, is Lucy better off with her enemies?

Review:
This series was praised on a couple of review sites I read, but I have to say I’m kind of underwhelmed so far. I think my main problem with it so far stems from the characters, who are fairly annoying and reckless. The wizard guild members pride themselves on thumbing their noses at authority, and one has to wonder how they keep getting jobs when they’re famous for destroying public and private property.

There’s definitely potential, though, and later chapters that began to explain Lucy’s magic were more to my liking. I’m quite impressed by the art, as well. I adore any panel that depicts a city, because Mashima does them particularly well, and though we’ve got the stereotypical spiky-haired hero and buxom girl for the leads, some of the other character designs are very original. Like the Taurus spirit Lucy conjures who looks like a man-cow in superhero briefs. With six nipples. His appearance led to the one line that I actually did giggle at, when he saved them from a dangerous situation and Natsu gratefully cried, “Cow!!”

So yeah, I didn’t like this as much as I thought I would, but I’m willing to give it a couple more volumes to catch my interest.

Small announcement

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A few people have expressed interest in knowing a bit more about my comic-in-progress, and though I think it is really too early to talk about it publicly in detail, I’ve created this short public info page to try to satisfy the curiosity somewhat. I’m afraid it reads a lot like those horrible blurbs on the back of books, and may, in fact, do my comic more harm than good. I guess we’ll see. Please feel free to ask questions, or to tell me that it makes my comic sound awful and that I should kick myself for having put it up, which I strongly suspect to be the case.

In unrelated news, I just read some spoilers for chapter 201 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Wow. More on this when the chapter comes out, but. Wow.

Mutter in this orange world

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This blog has become pretty exclusively a manga/anime blog, but initially it was intended to have a broader scope, and I’m going to use it as such today. These are the things on my mind right now.

First of all, I haven’t talked at all about politics here before, but it’s hard not to with the presidential election looming so close. I think Joe Biden was correct last night when he said that this is the most important presidential election I’ve been a part of in my lifetime. Others have felt important at the time, but the weight of this one is overwhelming. I feel it everywhere, too. I’ve been enjoying (and cringing at) Shaenon Garrity’s stories of her mom’s experience campaigning for Obama in Ohio. They remind me of my own mom, arguing with conservative relatives and friends over e-mail and on Facebook. I saw a bunch of old friends last weekend in New York, and with each one of them the conversation eventually turned to politics. My host’s ten-year-old daughter wouldn’t let me leave the house without my own Obama button. People are excited and terrified and energized. I’m not going to pretend this is a non-partisan blog. I’m obviously an Obama supporter. It’s hard for me to imagine, though, why anyone wouldn’t want to participate in a historic election like this one, regardless of ideology. So on that note, I’ll just remind everyone that you can register to vote online at declareyourself.com.

On a completely different note, I’ve been doing a lot of work on my comic over the past few days, and though I know people mainly come here to hear me talk about other people’s work, I’m going to talk about mine just a little.

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Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian: A-

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From the back cover:
it is the dawn of the 19th Century; Britain is at war with Napoleon’s France. Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson’s navy, is promoted to command of H.M.S. Sophie, an old, slow brig unlikely to make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a brave and gifted seasman, his thirst for adventure and victory immense. With the aid of his friend Stephen Maturin, ship’s surgeon and secret intelligence agent, Aubrey and his crew engage in one thrilling battle after another, their journey culminating in a stunning clash with a mighty Spanish frigate against whose guns and manpower the tiny Sophie is hopelessly outmatched.

Review:
I can’t help but compare this to the Hornblower series, so let me get that out of the way. Jack Aubrey is so Hornblower’s point-for-point opposite that I have to wonder if it’s intentional. He loves music, he craves companionship, and he’s not terribly clever. In fact, he’s a little dense and given to verbal blundering. His Lieutenant, who spends most of the book critical of Jack, gets it right when he says he possesses a “beefy arrogant English insensibility.”

I can see why Stephen Maturin finds Jack to be endearing, but I personally claim the good doctor as my favorite character. He’s somewhat morally ambiguous (or at least not opposed to questioning established conventions) and sardonic, but also affectionate and resourceful. I like how his ignorance of nautical matters is used to acquaint the reader with the workings of a ship, and I actually had a moment of squee later on when he ends up steering the sloop in a crucial moment.

I’d heard this series described as “Jane Austen on boats,” and I can see from where the comparison springs. There are several social gatherings with the rich and foolish in attendance and the manner in which some of them cluelessly spout very silly things would be quite at home in one of the interminable parties Emma Woodhouse was forced to endure. The writing is pretty witty in general, though O’Brian doesn’t stint in depicting the soldiers as the drunken, violent, filthy, whoring fellows the majority of them are.

By far, the best part of the book is the friendship between Aubrey and Maturin. There are several scenes between them that I love to pieces, like when Stephen is called upon to escort a misbehaving Aubrey from a party, the time Aubrey consults an imaginary Stephen for advice, and the awesome scene where Aubrey freaks out about a snake and climbs on a chair while Stephen nonchalantly laments a hole in his stockings. They are really quite slashy. I approve.

Lastly, I wanted to mention a very useful website. The book’s dedication is written in Latin and, because I am the kind of person who cannot abide not knowing what it means, I looked it up on Google and was led to A Guide for the Perplexed, a site with the ambitious undertaking of translating all foreign phrases in the series. I feel very fortunate to have discovered the site before I had ventured farther than the Author’s Note, so that I need never dwell in ignorance!