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No Longer Human, Vol. 2

January 22, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Usamaru Furuya
Original story: Osamu Dazai
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781935654223
Released: December 2011
Original release: 2010

Usamaru Furuya’s manga series No Longer Human is an adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s 1948 semi-autobiographical novel No Longer Human. Furuya’s manga adaptation began serialization in Weekly Comic Bunch in 2009. The second volume of the series was published in Japan in 2010 while the English-language edition was released in 2011 by Vertical. No Longer Human was the second manga by Furuya that was published by Vertical, the first being the one-volume Lychee Light Club. Although Furuya’s No Longer Human is based on Dazai’s novel, he has taken a few liberties with his rendition, one of the most notable changes being that the story is now set in the 2000s instead of the 1920s and ’30s. Furuya has also inserted himself into the manga as a framing character. These changes, as well as others, are actually quite effective. It is not at all necessary to have read the original No Longer Human to appreciate Furuya’s interpretation of the story.

Yozo Oba attempted a double suicide with a club hostess named Ageha, but only she drowned while he survived. He’s come to the realization that although he doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want to live, either. Yozo has long since been disowned by his family and the one person for whom he held any sort of honest feelings is now gone. He spends his days directionless and in despair, slowly recovering from a torturous situation partly of his one making. He desperately wants some meaning to his life, but has failed to discover what that might be. At one point he thinks he’s found it, only to have it snatched away from him. Yozo was once adored by all and even in his current pitiful state people are drawn to him and dare to care about him. He uses this to his advantage, putting on airs to get what he wants and needs, recognizing all the while how distasteful it is. Yozo uses people and he knows it. To him, life is still an act.

No Longer Human is a dark and troubling manga series. Yozo doesn’t treat himself well and treats those around him even worse. He is extremely manipulative and frankly can be a terrible person. And yet at the same time Yozo is a tragic figure; No Longer Human is heart-wrenching. While I don’t find his portrayal in the manga to be as sympathetic as it is in the novel, there are still points with which I can empathize. Yozo has a fear of people and their expectations of him that prevents him from being authentic. He’s repeatedly told that he is a good, sweet, and kind person, but this is the last thing he wants to hear. Yozo’s extraordinarily anxiety-ridden and conflicted over it because he see the life he is living as one big lie. He is very aware of his dishonesty and how he misleads people, but continues to do so because he is so desperate to be liked and accepted. Occasionally he manages to express some feelings of legitimate remorse and genuine caring, but more often than that it is already too late to undo any of the damage done.

No Longer Human, Volume 2 follow Yozo from the depths of despair to the heights of happiness and back again. Those glimmers of hope that Yozo will be able to turn his life around make his failure to do so even more anguished as he lets chance after chance to slip through his fingers. Furuya’s artwork in No Longer Human suits the story well, capturing Yozo’s internal and emotional turmoil and dragging the readers along for the ride. Furuya provides disconcerting glimpses into Yozo’s psyche, visually expressing his suffering through imagery of suffocation (harkening back to his near-drowning) and showing the ugliness he sees in the world. No Longer Human isn’t necessarily an easy read and it can be emotionally exhausting, but I find it to be incredibly compelling and difficult to turn away from as well. Yozo may not often be particularly likeable, but as with so many of the other characters in the series I can’t help but wish the best for him no matter how doomed he seems.

Weekly Shonen Jump Recap: January 6, 2014

January 22, 2014 by Derek Bown Leave a Comment

Sometimes life gets the better of us and despite our beset intentions we may find ourselves falling behind in obligations. Whether those obligations be self-imposed or involuntary doesn’t really matter, what matters is that once you say you’ll do something, you’d better do it.

Towards the end of 2013 I found myself struggling to keep up with some of my own obligations, and the more they piled up the harder it was to even do the things I wanted to do. Sometimes all we can do is just throw our past failures to the wind and start fresh. Speaking of which, you may have noticed that there were no reviews of weekly shonen jump posted in December. Suffice to say a busy year kept me from really spending any time actually thinking about manga. And rather than write about something old I’ve decided to start fresh this year and post brand new content every week as soon as the chapters are released. After all, what’s the fun in discussing manga if I wait for a month to even think about writing down my opinions. With that said, I look forward to discussing the latest Shonen Jump chapters every week with all of you.

So let’s get started with this week.

One Piece Ch. 733
The battle to take Dressrosa back continues as the Toy Soldier and Usopp’s teams begin their assault. Meanwhile Rebecca continues to stick it through in her fight but an unknown force seems to have taken control over the match. One Piece has had some pretty amazing chapters the past several weeks, and while this specific chapter doesn’t have anything particularly ground breaking being revealed, it’s still an excellent chapter. The plot is in full motion, and it looks like the arc is moving towards a conclusion. It won’t be any time soon, but we’ll be getting some one on one battles not too soon I imagine. It turns out that the toy soldier is actually very strong, despite being in a fragile toy body. I like the idea that he’ll be limited based on his durability, any kind of handicap given to characters is more than appreciated and helps ratched the tension up. Overall this was a great chapter, even if it didn’t have any ground breaking revelations.

Naruto Ch. 660
The majority of this chapter focuses on giving Shukakuu a back-story where before he was just a pure evil monster that drove Gaara to become a homicidal maniac. As such it is a bit difficult to take the more positive direction Kishimoto has been driving the tailed beasts, especially when applied to a character who we only knew as a force of destruction. In fact, I find it hard to remember that this is the same Naruto that I once enjoyed reading. I’m not saying I don’t like the tailed beasts becoming good, but when the entire development over the course of the series with one exception, was to show how evil and destructive these monsters are, then I have a hard time taking this sudden turn to good seriously. I still remember how out of left field Kurama becoming a good guy was, and I’m not about to accept the same of Shukakuu without proper development. And I can’t really say this chapter does much to add to that development. I can accept someone hating humanity because of how horrible they are, because frankly we have our terrible moments. But this is also the same character that terrorized a little child, an innocent I might add, by saying that he would kill everyone if Gaara ever fell asleep. I will say, in this chapter’s favor, that seeing Naruto apparently lose the nine tails’ chakra makes for a pretty great cliffhanger.

Toriko Ch. 263
Sentimentality is not Toriko‘s strong point. In theory I really love the idea of Toriko being confronted by all of his success and how much his discoveries have meant to people. It’s actually really easy to forget that Toriko was actually an accomplished gourmet hunter, considering how throughout the course of the series he keeps coming across foods that he doesn’t know that other people do know about. Kind of hard to remember that there are foods he was the first person ever to discover. It might have helped if we’d actually seen him discover some new foods, without being directed there by someone else. My one problem with this chapter is I have no idea how all those random people knew that Toriko needed a pep talk? And am I really supposed to believe that someone in this series was allergic to all kinds of food except for one? Is that even possible? The montage of all the powerful beasts of the gourmet world was a lot of fun, even though by now the power levels are completely meaningless. And while we’ll be having a month long break, I’m hopeful that this series will come back more insane than before.

Seraph of the End Ch. 008
There really isn’t that much I can say about this chapter. I enjoy seeing the characters in their uniforms, but nothing has changed beyond the dress code. Well, that’s not entirely true, we can finally drop the facade of this being a school series, but all the characters I hated are still annoying, and we get another character who promises to be just as annoying as the rest of the cast. And please keep in mind, I normally tolerate most characters that other manga fans hate. But this series is just comprised of nothing but annoyances. And on top of that the comedy isn’t even any good. There are multiple attempts to make me laugh, but they are all just too painful to do anything but give a sarcastic little laugh.

Nisekoi Extra Chapter!
The nice thing about Nisekoi is that even when on the surface a chapter is nothing but shameless fanservice, and this special chapter is so very much that, there is still something to enjoy for people that aren’t complete degenerates. In this case it’s a twist on the old “guy being trapped in the girl’s hot springs”. Rakku is in fact not only completely innocent, but he’s exactly where he is meant to be and it’s the girls encroaching on him. Of course this doesn’t stop him from being pummelled. And the reason for having the girls in such an embarrassing situation actually kind of works. Having to get their clothes back makes perfect sense, since those are kind of important. Though methinks it would have been easier for them to just ask Rakku to get their clothes out of the tree and put them somewhere they can get to them without him catching a glimpse. But if everyone in comedies acted rationally there would be no story. Overall, a fun chapter if somewhat awkward to read at work.

One-Punch Man Ch. 031.2
Saitama fights off the alien barrage, while the knight confronting the alien monster finds himself in a bad spot. I think that One-Punch Man is surprisingly good at action despite having a hero who can do something ridiculous like punch giant bullets out of the air. But beyond saying that the designs in this chapter are really cool I don’t have much else to say.

Bleach Ch. 563
I love Mask de Masculine. It feels like Kubo just stopped caring and drew whatever nonsense came to mind, and what we got was glorious. Mask refuses to go down, coming back with even more insane abilities. Renji is clear to win this battle, but it’s stretched out in a way I can’t help but love. Content wise this chapter was kind of sparse, but it was glorious nonetheless.

World Trigger Ch. 045
The invasion seems to be a lot more serious than I’d thought it would be. World Trigger has avoided serious fatalities by having its characters never really be in harm’s way. This chapter actually felt tense, despite the heroes being able to bail out. I actually look forward to this war even more now. I’d had high hopes, but by this point I think my faith has been rewarded and we will get some pretty amazing action.

Nisekoi Ch. 105
Fortunately we got a Nisekoi chapter this week that wasn’t entirely fanservice. And one of my favorite characters gets some focus again. I really love how Nisekoi can take some standard character tropes and yet still make them interesting. Onodera may be the standard nice girl, but she was hysterical this chapter. I was laughing the entire way through, even during the minor lulls in the story. That’s not an easy thing to do.

Blue Exorcist Ch. 053
Well then, this chapter was just a little bit dark. I’m still annoyed at Kato introducing the professor character. Can we please not have blatant pedophile characters please? I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of the direction this story is going, I don’t mind dark, but there are times that I’d rather not put up with an excessively dark story. But really my problem right now is that I don’t know what to think of this chapter. It certainly explains why Izumo is the way she is.

Dragon Ball Z Ch. 046
Vegeta is defeated by being crushed under a giant child. I’m surprised he had any dignity left in this series after that. But at least the arc is wrapping up, with Vegeta declaring that he needs to escape, finally he is defeated. And so ends one of the better arcs of the Dragonball manga.

This was a pretty great week overall. If you had any favorite chapters this week let me know, also, has anyone tried out the crunchyroll manga section? It’s pretty great and I highly recommend it, beyond a few teething problems they seem to be having with getting the new chapters out.

If you want to hear more, check out the Manga^3 Podcast Archives.

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Princess Knight, Vol. 1

January 22, 2014 by Phillip Anthony Leave a Comment

Princess Knight Vol.1 | By Osamu Tezuka | Published by Vertical Inc. | Rated: Unknown
“The Prince is here!”

Looking at Osamu Tezuka’s work, I would be hard pressed to pick one thing the man was most famous for. 150,000 individual pieces of artwork, dozens of works in manga and anime, almost single handedly popularising manga as we know it in Japan plus innovations in genre and work ethic. The last point is interesting as it pertains to my review. Shoujo is a genre that had existed before Tezuka came along but he is indelibly linked to it. Princess Knight is a title that many creators of manga in Japan cite as an influence and it’s not hard to see why. A magical fairytale setting, a prince/princess to root for, a cast of evil villains to hate and a wonderful Wagnerian background. So does the book have it’s share of problems? Yes, but I’m not that annoyed by them. Let’s begin, shall we?

I imagine that Princess Knight volume 1 starts much like the 1959 Walt Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. Don’t ask me why, the two art styles are miles apart, the tempo is all wrong and the movie came out three years after the first version of the book finished in Shojo Club. But two things stay true in both cases: the sweeping nature of the story (Princess Sapphire is carried through her adventure by the people conspiring against her, Aurora is carried along by the plotting of Maleficent, dragons, witches, sword fights) and the fact that both stories deserve epic, classical scores. Shame only Sleeping Beauty has that score.

In creating Princess Knight, Tezuka seeks to both subvert and add to the Happily Ever After idea by having the Princess take on the attributes of the Prince arch type. Sharing two hearts, the Prince is daring and brave while being graceful and light (the story goes a bit overboard with some of these traits but I’ll save that for later). It’s hard to decide where Sapphire wants to go as a character from the start of the book. She fulfills all her roles as Prince because she has to but then, in her off time, she likes to be a princess and wear dresses and do all the things that Princess’ are supposed to want to do (need to find that particular rule book and beat up its author) in these tales. But she’s constantly having to walk a tightrope between what she wants and what’s demanded of her. If she slips for an instant, the Duke will strike and that will be the end of the fairy tale. You get the sense from the first five or so pages that Sapphire is screwed no matter what she does. Tink (or Choppy depending on what version you’re reading) is a nice enough character but he reminds me a little too much of Dororo from the title of the same name but with a little more reserve. The characters Tezuka has on display are varied and I do like them but it’s frustrating for me to have to read this as I’m not and was never supposed to be the target audience. You could argue that Tezuka was primarily creating the story for young girls exclusively but since that time the title has taken on a life of it’s own with people of all ages enjoying it. I have read commentary on the story in regards to how Sapphire reacts to danger in both of her guises, male and female. I will get into that in a minute.

But for now let us talk about how the book looks at times to veer into silly country and how it always seems to pull out at the last second. Tezuka is famous for his gags in the middle of high drama and Princess Knight is no exception. In our modern times, this sort of pop culture reference assembly line might seem trite but Tezuka was doing stuff like this years before it was expected. Like calling for the villains to photograph the Princess in a compromising position only to be told cameras haven’t been invented yet. Or the fact that the good and true characters all have named after natural minerals (Silverland, Sapphire) versus the synthetic names of the villains (Nylon, Duralumin). Couple that with Tezuka having characters like Madame Hell (Madame Hell!!!) being entirely superfluous and then Tezuka will draw a whole page panel scene with her bringing the elements of nature down on someone. It’s always hard to gauge whether or not to laugh at what he’s trying to say. What can’t be argued with is the fact Tezuka really keeps the pace going. The use of Looney Tunes-esque sword fighting is quirky, I must admit. It really looks like “Take this! And That! Touché!!! Ha! I meant to lose my sword like that!” in sequentially paced panels. Sapphire doesn’t get a chance to herself and goes from one adventure to another, one life or death moment to another. While Prince Franz goes from wandering pretty boy to foil for Sapphire’s male persona and onto love interest. All while the evil elements conspire against the Princess and her family. Tezuka takes a Disney approach to pacing. In fact, early Disney movies might be the best way of describing the tone and pace of the whole endeavour. Films like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are reflected in this story with a European style of storytelling (good always triumphs, animals are your friend and yes, there’s magic involved). For me, I like the whole tone and would have liked to see more from Tezuka in this genre.

The tricky thing about this story is two-fold: does the story still hold up against other shoujo works and secondly does the dual-gender identity story have weight today? For my money, it doesn’t really hold up as a shoujo story as the whole genre has moved on from what Tezuka helped to pioneer. It sits more as the story that started it all in a manner of speaking to borrow one of Disney’s taglines. When put against a franchise monster like Sailor Moon, Princess Knight feels quaint but I give it a pass because of the time it was made in and the fact that the story still works as a fairy tail. As a gender identity story, I must say it has things to say in today’s world. I would preface the next statement by saying that it is my opinion that Tezuka didn’t foresee how the manga’s unique twist would be interpreted. How could he as the things that today’s youth and people in general face as personal difficulties couldn’t have been imagined in 1953? Sapphire’s want to be a boy AND a girl goes to the heart what people of all walks of life must go through in the name of love. Who do I love and how does their gender make a difference to me? How does my gender make a difference to them? You don’t have to be one specific gender to know that crosses like these are hard to bear. The fact that Tezuka wrapped it up in a fairy tail makes the transmission of the story’s heart to modern times amazing to see.

When we leave the volume, Sapphire gets involved with the Prince Franz, finds her mother turned to stone and facing enemies both real and supernatural. So where could Tezuka go at the end? Have Sapphire board a pirate ship, of course! I wasn’t expecting that. We’ve gone from Disney to Burt Lancaster high adventure. Where will we and Tezuka goes from here? I am looking forward to find out.

More Princess Knight at Manga Bookshelf: Manga Artifacts: Princess Knight (Katherine Dacey) | Off the Shelf: Princess Knight (MJ & Michelle Smith)

Genkaku Picasso, Vol. 2

January 21, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Usamaru Furuya
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421537542
Released: February 2011
Original release: 2009

Genkaku Picasso was the second multi-volume manga series by Usamaru Furuya to be released in English. The first was a seinen gag manga called Short Cuts which, like Genkaku Picasso, was published by Viz Media. Genkaku Picasso is very different from Short Cuts. It’s an example of one of Furuya’s few shōnen manga and is currently his only shōnen series available in English. Furuya is an extremely versatile artist, changing styles, genres, and demographics to suit his needs. He had his start in alternative manga, but Genkaku Picasso, while quirky, is a more mainstream title. Initially serialized in Jump SQ, the second volume of Genkaku Picasso was released in Japan in 2009. Viz Media published Genkaku Picasso, Volume 2 under its Shonen Jump imprint in 2011. I found the first volume of Genkaku Picasso to be intriguing, but more uneven and less compelling than some of the other manga by Furuya that I had read. But with the second volume, the series finds its footing.

After a bizarre near-death experience, Hikari Hamura, given the nickname Picasso by his classmates, finds himself in an even stranger predicament. Chiaki Yamamoto, a victim of the same accident that nearly killed Picasso, is now small enough to fit in his pocket and is sporting angel wings. Picasso himself has gained the ability to see into people’s hearts and minds. Compelled to draw what he sees, he can literally enter into the psyches of others through his illustrations. Using this newfound power, Picasso is able to help his fellow classmates. Not that he really wants to go to all that effort. In fact, he’d much rather be left alone to concentrate on his artwork. But unless he wants to let his arm rot away–another peculiar consequence of his accident–Picasso must do what he can to help those around him. With Chiaki’s assistance and prodding he has successfully resolved some of his classmates problems and has even gained a few friends in the process, but Picasso is still incredibly reluctant to get involved.

Although there has always been an ongoing story in the series, the beginning of Genkaku Picasso felt fairly episodic. However, with the second volume the series starts to become a bit more cohesive. The stories in the first volume seemed to be resolved a little too simply and cleanly, but as Genkaku Picasso progresses it becomes apparent that it’s not really that easy. Picasso has helped some of his classmates (though they are only aware of that subconsciously) but they continue to have problems; he hasn’t solved everything for them. The first volume’s stories had a “one and done” sort of feel to them while the issues in the second volume, even after they are initially resolved, are long-lasting challenges. They are things that the characters may very well struggle with for the rest of their lives. I much prefer this approach since realistically matters of the heart and mind are not so easily mended. I think Genkaku Picasso becomes a stronger, better series with the inclusion of these more complicated and nuanced narratives.

From the very beginning one of Genkaku Picasso‘s strengths has been its artwork, something that continues to be a highlight in the second volume. Furuya uses a variety of art styles in the series. Picasso enters the drawings he creates of other people’s hearts. They are filled with beautiful, surreal, and even disturbing imagery, allowing Furuya to creatively illustrate and explore the characters’ internal states of mind. But probably the greatest reason that I find the second volume of Genkaku Picasso to be more effective than the first is that the problems that Picasso must help to try to solve happen to be more relevant to me personally. For me, many of the stories in the first volume were little far-fetched while those in the second volume are a bit more realistic and universal. Most of them focus on love, romance, gender, or sexuality which are themes that I have a particular interest in. I could personally identify with the characters in Genkaku Picasso, Volume 2 in ways that I previously couldn’t. I did enjoy the first volume of Genkaku Picasso, but I was able to appreciate the second volume even more.

Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game, Vol. 2

January 20, 2014 by Anna N

I enjoyed the first Alice in the Country of Hearts series much more than I expected to. I’ve since tried out some of the sequels here and there, and I think this series is one that I’ve enjoyed the most, just because the storyline seems to echo back to the first series in both theme and tone. While most of the other Alice series that I’ve read tend to focus more on what I think of as the core cast of characters, Alice in the Country of Joker introduces the Circus as a new place and the mysterious Joker accompanies the Circus. It is April season, which is a different and unsettling time for the inhabitants of Wonderland.

The second volume of the series continues with many of the things I enjoyed about the first. There are flashbacks to Alice’s previous life that hint at the psychological issues that might cause her to take refuge in Wonderland. Alice is reminded of her sister as she spends time with the obsessive white rabbit, Peter White. Blood Dupre continues his flirting campaign, but the influence of the Circus and the barrier that Nightmare placed in Alice’s mind are in conflict. There seems to be a cyclical conflict between the Circus and the rest of Wonderland, and Alice is trapped in the middle of it. The unsettling tone and hints of suspense were more of what I tend to look for in one of these many Alice stories. So far, this is the main spinoff series I would make a point of recommending to fans of the first Alice in the Country of Hearts. I still miss the art from Soumei Hoshino in the original series. There isn’t anything really wrong with the illustrations of the adapter here, but Hoshino’s art was more delicate and surreal, adding another dimension to the Wonderland portrayed in these stories.

My Week in Manga: January 13-January 19, 2013

January 20, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

There were three posts at Experiments in Manga last week, only two of which were mine. First up was my review of Negi Banno’s S.S. Astro, Volume 1, a yonkoma manga about a group of young, twenty-something high school teachers. Sadly, the series was canceled before a second volume could be released. The review is the second manga for my Year of Yuri review project. My other post last week is a part of my continuing efforts to track down manga podcasts. Discovering Manga: Podcasts, Part 3 takes a look a three ongoing podcasts that started in 2013. Also last week, I was happy to welcome Jocilyn Wagner as a guest to Experiments in Manga with her review of Hiroki Ugawa’s Shrine of the Morning Mist, Volume 1.

On to interesting things found online! Alexander Hoffman posted a Lessons from the Crater Project over at Manga Widget, which is a great summary of the events surrounding the Kickstarter project for Osamu Tezuka’s The Crater. The Daily Dot has an excellent overview of the debate over Zoë Hange gender in Attack on Titan, which has apparently become rather heated in some circles. Opening Ceremony took time to talk to the wonderful folks behind Massive–New-to-OC Brand MASSIVE on Husky Gay Asian Erotica. I also particularly enjoyed reading Tony Yao’s post The Beautiful Negativity of Seinen over at Manga Therapy.

One last thing: Usamaru Furuya’s birthday is on January 25. In honor of that, I’m declaring this week Usamaru Furuya Week at Experiments in Manga. Basically, it’s an excuse for me to get around to reviewing the rest of his manga, which I’ve been meaning to do ever since I hosted the Usamaru Furuya Manga Moveable Feast a couple of years ago. So, I’ll be posting a whopping five reviews this week! I hope you enjoy.

Quick Takes

Arisa, Volume 12 by Natsumi Ando. Since its beginning Arisa has gone through so many disconcerting twists and turns, how is it possible that the twins look so utterly happy on the cover of the final volume? For the most part, I was satisfied with the ending of Arisa. Things aren’t resolved as happily as the cover might imply, which I find appropriate considering the darker aspects of the story. And I wouldn’t want everything to be tied up neatly. Once again though, some of the plot twists are a little ridiculous and over-the-top. I’m all for heightened drama, but I also like it to at least make some logical sense. Admittedly, Arisa can be a bit of a mess. Even so, I really enjoyed reading the series. Also included in this volume is a rather silly side story that takes place before the events of the main series. In this case it’s Arisa posing as her sister instead of the other way around. The results are amusing though not particularly believable. Granted, at this point I’m not expecting Arisa to be particularly believable anyway.

Eyeshield 21, Volumes 28-31 written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. I’ve discovered that, for some reason, I really like sports manga, even when that sport is something that I’m not particularly interested in in real life. For example, American football. Yet here I am thoroughly enjoying Eyeshield 21, completely caught up in the Deimon Devil Bats’ fight to reach the Christmas Bowl. And a fight it is. These volumes focus on the game between the Devil Bats and the Hakushu Dinosaurs with an emphasis placed on football as a combat sport. (I’ve actually never really thought of football that way before, so that was an interesting take on the sport for me.) The Dinosaurs have a habit of intentionally sending their opponents to the hospital, so it’s a fairly rough game. The face-off between the two teams also shows just how far Sena has come as a player since the beginning of the series. Once a weakling pushover, he’s now become much more confident in his abilities and in himself. I’m very excited to read more of Eyeshield 21.

Hetalia: Axis Powers, Volumes 4-5 by Hidekaz Himaruya. I know just as many people who absolutely hate the Hetalia franchise as I do people who absolutely love it. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a rabid fan, but it is a series I follow. I do, however, generally prefer the anime adaptation over the original manga. For some reason, even though the anime and the manga both make the same jokes, I find the anime to be funnier. There are times that I just can’t seem to figure out what the punchline is supposed to be in the manga. The manga still can make me laugh, though, and I even occasionally learn a bit of history in the process, which I appreciate. The number of countries involved in Hetalia continues to grow with these volumes, including more female personifications which is nice to see. The Netherlands in particular seems to get a fair amount of page time this time, too. Hetalia does rely heavily on stereotypes for its humor, but I don’t get the feeling that they’re being used maliciously or to be deliberately offensive.

White Brand by Youka Nitta. Although I didn’t realize it until reading the afterword, apparently White Brand was Nitta’s first collection of boys’ love short stories. I’ve now read several of Nitta’s manga, but it seems that they tend to be fairly hit-or-miss for me. Despite Embracing Love actually being one of my favorite yaoi series, none of Nitta’s other works have really grabbed me. That hasn’t especially changed with White Brand, though I did like it more than The Prime Minister’s Secret Diplomacy. White Brand collects five short boys’ love manga. I’m not sure if it was an intentional or not, but a recurring theme throughout most of the stories is opposites. “White Brand” is about cousins with different color skin tones. “Teal End” is about two men from different countries. “Exhibition Painting” features men from very different classes and walks of life. “One Size Fits All” is somewhat frivolous story about a tall model and a much shorter man. “Hasta la Vista, Baby” is the only story that this play on opposites isn’t immediately obvious.

Mushishi: Sun-Eating Shade directed by Hiroshi Nagahama. I won’t lie–I love both the Mushishi manga and the anime. I was very excited when the special episode was announced and thrilled when Crunchyroll picked it up so that I could actually watch it. Although about twice as long as the individual episodes of the anime series, Sun-Eating Shade matches the tone, atmosphere, and ambiance perfectly. I was very happy to see that the same animation style was kept for the special episode. The backgrounds are still gorgeous, the music is still haunting, the pacing is still relaxed and unhurried. Mushishi has always been a rather episodic series, but I liked how Sun-Eating Shade made references to and loosely tied together several stories adapted in the first season of the anime. If someone didn’t enjoy the original anime series, there is nothing in Sun-Eating Shade that will change their mind. But established Mushishi fans (like me) probably won’t be disappointed with the special episode. I’m looking forward to the second season of Mushishi a great deal.

Fairy Tail, Vol. 32

January 20, 2014 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

Fairy Tail, Vol. 32 | by Hiro Mashima | Yen Press – The Grand Magic Games start in earnest with a game of “The Hidden” where the contestants must discern which of their opponents is real, in a way that makes me think Hiro Mashima was playing a bit of Assassin’s Creed at the time he wrote this story. Gray and Juvia try to win it for Fairy Tail, but the sinister Raven Tail marks them and constantly harasses them until they end the game at the bottom ranks.

From there, the tournament continues into regular combat with Fairy Tail doing their best but due to outside influence both Lucy and Jellal (who is disguised as Mystogan) lose their battles, ending with both their teams in dead last. It all ends, after some other battles from the different competing guilds, with Charle making a dire prediction for their future.

Where I enjoyed the last volume a lot more than I thought I would, this volume was a couple steps backward for me. The biggest problem is that we see exactly why tournament arcs are such a tiresome trope in action manga. It’s nothing but fights for several chapters as we get through all the non-Fairy Tail wizards. That’s not to say the fights aren’t interesting. In fact Mashima does mix things up by including other types of competition, and Lucy and Jellal’s fights are well done. In Jellal’s case it’s a matter of just being really funny, but Lucy’s fight is another matter.

While the outside interference and unfair methods practiced by Raven Tail during Lucy’s fight really make us hate them, I find that the fight falls flat because I am unable to suspend my disbelief that nobody would notice that Flare is threatening Bisca and Alzack’s kid to keep Lucy from fighting back. Are we seriously supposed to believe that these two don’t even bother looking at their kid from time to time? Even if they aren’t worried about her being kidnapped, being surrounded by friends and all, isn’t it common practice for parents to at least glance at their child every once in a while? I’m pretty sure that if I were a parent I would like to keep my child at least in my peripheral vision.

And if they were keeping her in their peripheral vision, how did they not notice the speck of bright red that suddenly appeared in the corner of their eyes! It’s all used to make Natsu look cool, which we’ve had more than enough of, when a different manga artist would have played how obvious the whole thing was as a laugh.

But the biggest problem with the volume is the stretch of individual fights right towards the end. We get the big game, we get Lucy’s fight, but then suddenly we get a bunch of characters fighting that we don’t care about. And while Jellal and Jura’s fight is great, we’ve still been fatigued on fights in general by the end and the volume itself doesn’t leave a good taste in our mouths. So as far as essential volumes of Fairy Tail go this one is not among them. There certainly are worse volumes out there but were I not an avid collector, as most manga fans are, I’d consider skipping this one.

A major problem this time around, even compared to last month’s volume, is the excessive fanservice. The fight with Lucy and Flare is impossible to take seriously solely because most of the panel layout seems to be to show off the assets of the fighters in the most erotic way possible. I don’t like to dismiss Lucy as the fanservice character, since she has had some great moments in the series, but her inclusion in the story is feeling more like she’s the one selling all the copies of this series to a target demographic of teenagers who haven’t figured out how to type the word “hentai” into google.

And yet, complain though I might, I do still enjoy this series. This just happens to be a volume that doesn’t have the useful distraction of good story or humor to distract from Mashima’s descent into complete ecchi artist.

Pick of the Week: Manhwa & More

January 20, 2014 by Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Sean Gaffney and MJ 1 Comment

MICHELLE: Typically when a series I read is ending, I devote my pick of the week to its final volume, but not even that can compel me to rank Arisa above Goong: The Royal Palace this week. I am just so very grateful that Yen Press has resumed publishing this series that I will avail myself of every opportunity to encourage folks to check it out!

ASH: Oh, this is a tough week for me, there’s so much that I’m interested in! I’m very excited to read the next omnibus of Vinland Saga, I’m always glad to see more Ooku, and I’m curious to see how No Matter How You Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! develops. But in the end, I think I’ll have to go with the most recent volume of one of the first manga that I ever read, Blade of the Immortal.

SEAN: As one might expect, my pick of the week is Book Girl And The Scribe Who Faced God, Part 2. The whole series has been terrific, even if the lead male has been intensely frustrating, and the sheer love of books and reading that drips through every page is worth its weight in gold. I hope the series does well enough that we can get a couple of the short story and side story collections, but even if we don’t, it’s been a terrific run of light novels.

MJ: Oh, what a choice! Being faced with any new volume of a Fumi Yoshinaga manga and not choosing it is a bit of a PotW nightmare for me, but if I’m being really honest, the truth is that I’m with Michelle all the way this week. There are few soapy things I love with the kind of fervor I feel for Goong, and anticipating a new volume is almost too much to handle. I, too, am grateful that Yen Press has continued this series–the last remnant of its once-generous catalogue of Ice Kunion manhwa. I simply can’t wait to dig in.

What looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/14

January 20, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Anna N and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

This week, Sean, Anna, & Michelle look at recent releases from Seven Seas, Viz Media, SuBLime, and Kodansha Comics.

Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Mad Hatter’s Late Night Tea Party, Vol. 2 | By QuinRose and Riko Sakura | Seven Seas – If this were the first Alice volume that a casual reader had read, I think they’d be pretty satisfied. At only two volumes, Alice and Blood not connecting doesn’t last long, there’s lots of discussion of the basic themes of this world, and we get some mafia madness with a few timely rescues. As someone who’s been following all the spinoffs, though, it’s all a bit same-y. It’s likely a lot easier with the game, where you can purchase one copy and explore all the different routes. Here, as individual manga series, it’s like starting over again each time, with a slightly diminished return. Some of the spinoffs make it worth seeing what they do to poor Alice, but while this is skillfully done, there’s nothing here we haven’t read before, so in the end it’s inessential. – Sean Gaffney

Crimson Empire: Circumstances To Serve A Noble, Vol. 3 | By QuinRose and Hazuki Futaba | Seven Seas – With the Alice series, while she’s quite a good protagonist, I tend to be more interested in her male partners. In this series, it’s the reverse – I find the men rather dull, but Sheila fascinates me. There’s a core of self-loathing to her that Alice simply doesn’t have, even with the tragedy in her life that she’s forgotten. Indeed, even after her lover wins the day, and the two admit they’re in love, Sheila still thinks nothing has changed, except now she’ll be bodyguard for a different man. Sheila IS her profession, which is assassin/bodyguard ninja maid. Anything else is just beyond her, both subconsciously and consciously. And that’ means that despite its happy ending, Crimson Empire seems a lot more melancholy than Alice in the Country of Hearts. – Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail, Vol. 33 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – After a somewhat teeth-grinding Vol. 32, it’s nice to see *some* things go our heroes’ way in this volume. Mirajane wins, as expected, but she gets the comedic fanservice win – though it does end in a powerful finish. Elfman also impresses, taking the fight that was supposed to be Erza’s and managing to be the manlier man. There’s a few other amusing things here as well, which is good, because there are implications of very dark things to come. Saber Tooth and Raven Tail are looking like even worse guilds than we expected, and the way they’re treating their members (female, of course – Mashima tends to have his women suffer nobly) is horrid. And what does Lucy have to do with everyone’s plans? This volume has a good balance between ‘tournament battle’ and other plot, overall.. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 15 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – I don’t even know where to begin in expressing my utter adoration for this series in general and this volume in particular. There’s just so much to love: the wistful tone, the episodic stories that still advance the overall plot; the comic relief provided by Nyanko-sensei; the yokai, who are often sweet, sad, and endearing; and, of course, Natsume himself, who is better able to discover the reasons for yokai activity at a former exorcist’s home than anyone else and single-handedly responsible for resolving things peacefully. As if all of this weren’t great enough (and it is), the last chapter in the volume is a special episode about Toko and Shigeru, the distant relatives who took Natsume in when the rest of his family had written him off as disturbed. It is simply lovely and prompted many a sniffle. Natsume’s Book of Friends is a true gem. – Michelle Smith

NightS | By Kou Yoneda | SuBLime Manga – Having enjoyed Kou Yoneda’s No Touching At All back in 2011, I was pretty eager to check out NightS, even though it’s a compilation of short stories, which aren’t really my thing. None of the stories included here is terribly unique in premise—an attraction between a “transporter” and a yakuza, a fairly standard high school romance, love blooming at the car dealership—but Yoneda fills her stories with intelligent, natural-seeming dialogue and characters (well, at least the adult ones) with interesting personality quirks and flaws that impact how they approach relationships. While the format prevents achieving much depth, and hence prevents the volume from matching No Touching At All for quality, it’s nonetheless an enjoyable read. – Michelle Smith

Pokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened | by Momota Inoue | Viz Media I have to admit, I am not really all that interested in Pokemon, but Pokemon fever is raging through my kids’ elementary school, so I read this book with them. This is a stand alone one-shot movie adaptation centering around the story of an ancient Pokemon called Genesect who has suddenly awakened, causing trouble for the present day Pokemon and their trainers. Mewtwo takes on an important role in dealing with the Genesect, although Ash and Pikachu also contribute. The art is consistent, my kids enjoyed spotting all the Pokemon, and they smuggled it out of the house to show off at school. So if you have young Pokemon fans, I feel safe in predicting that this manga will appeal to them! – Anna N

Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, Vol. 2 | By Nobuhiro Watsuki | Viz Media – This wraps up the revisiting of Rurouni Kenshin prompted by the recent live action movie. Really, the original series was so great, revisiting the series in a slightly different form wasn’t really all that necessary. Still it was nice to be reminded of Watsuki’s facility with character design, especially the villians, and most characters from Kenshin got a little bit of a showcase. This second volume featured more turns from Saito and Yahiko, as they also battle in the Meiji era. Even Watsuki’s author notes seem to indicate that he was going through the motions a little bit, pointing out small things that he changed that he ended up regretting. Really, the original series is so much more charming than this version, most people would be better off just picking up some of the VizBig versions if they are interesting in reading this shonen classic. – Anna N

Shrine of the Morning Mist, Vol. 1

January 19, 2014 by Jocilyn Wagner

I am very pleased to introduce Jocilyn Wagner to readers of Experiments in Manga. Jocilyn doesn’t currently have a platform of her own, but she was still interested in occasionally writing about manga. And so, I’m happy to offer up some space here and welcome her to Experiments in Manga as a guest.

Greetings and Salutations! Some of you might know me from my love of yuri and occasional manga and light novel translations, but that’s not what I’m doing this time. Instead… I thought I’d introduce you to some of the most forgotten and/or unappreciated (usually for good reason) manga I own, which have, in all likelihood, never before been reviewed on a Manga Bookshelf blog!

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I’d like to begin with a title that was so under-sold and under-appreciated it literally debuted at number 92 in graphic novel sales. The year was 2006; it was the end of an era. I’d just wrapped up my undergrad and year-long stint as president of the Western Michigan Anime Addicts and my heart was still full of some of the incredible anime we’d enjoyed: Paradise Kiss, Madlax, Last Exile, Read or Die, the list goes on. In my youthful vigor and utter boredom I was working on one of the many anime subtitling teams (in the days before Crunchyroll a great many of these existed if you can believe it!) editing scripts for #Ishin, when I was asked to finish up work on a silly series no one was watching. It was bizarre, ugly and ridiculously cute, and the episodes were so short it would be a breeze. I’m speaking of course of Asagiri no Miko (朝霧の巫女). You may now groan and pinch your noses in despair and hopefully save yourself the trouble of reading the following review of TokyoPop’s 2006 edition of the series they called “Shrine of the Morning Mist.”

The name has always been something of a sticking point with me since a literal translation would be closer to “shrine maiden of the morning mist” but then, I suppose TokyoPop didn’t want to confuse people with the bull in a china shop, Kannazuki no Miko, for which they’d already used the term (never mind the fact that the miko in Asagiri no Miko actually resemble real miko and Himeko and Chikane are rather infamous, but not for their pious purity), but I digress.

Ugawa Hiroki’s story is usually seen as a seinen action comedy, but I always thought of it as a supernatural slice-of-life romance. In the fine tradition of early 2000s dating sims, the story revolves around a loner teenage dude (Amatsu Tadahiro, usually referred to as Hiro) who returns to the home of his childhood and some of the girls he left heartbroken in his wake. In this case, the brokenhearted is his cousin Yuzu who is painted to be a fiery but loveable tsundere, as well as his closest childhood friend. Yuzu is the middle child of three girls: Kurako, the eldest, is quiet, thoughtful and spiritually driven and has made it her goal to bring the two star-crossed lovers back together. She reminds me of a cross between Belldandy and Toudou Shimako. Yuzu’s younger sister Tama-chan is the fun rascal who dotes on “Hiro Onii-chan” but often speaks with a maturity beyond her years. Actually she very closely resembles Yukino’s sister Kana from Kare Kano, except she isn’t a manga geek. Their father, in his insane knee-jerk reactions to everything, sketchy behavior and extreme unpopularity could easily be mistaken for Shimura-sensei of Azamanga Daioh! fame. A chapter or two into the series, we’re introduced to the girls’ mother Miyuki. I’m not at all sure how to describe Miyuki since she isn’t given a lot of dialogue in this volume. She’s really rather unlike other manga moms: she arrives on the scene with a samurai-like speed, agility and appearance, wielding a bouken and saves Hiro from becoming breakfast to a giant cyclops. The reader’s told she’d been sent to Izumo, so one might infer she’s a gifted Shinto priestess, but it’s not at all clear at this point. Finally, we’re introduced to Koma-san, a mysterious short-tempered but otherwise solemn woman who claims to have known Hiro’s father, though he had died before Hiro was born and this woman looks to be in her mid-to-late 20s. The way Koma is drawn, I can’t help but be reminded of Yumura Kirika, except Koma is endowed with some rather annoying feline qualities. No doubt inspired by a little known game at the time, Tsukihime.

The plot is tragically somewhat thin. Hiro has been traveling, searching out his way in life and has finally come home to the quiet town of his childhood (Miyoshi, in Hiroshima Prefecture). His cousins, the Hieda sisters put him up for the night but are hesitant to let him go since it’s obvious Yuzu still has feelings for him. From the moment he arrives, Hiro is hellhounded by a mysterious sorcerer who wears a tengu mask and summons a host of cruel-intentioned spirits to eliminate Hiro and his spiritual potential before it upsets the balance of something or other. Tengu-san and Hiro have many annoying random encounters in which Tengu-san is always easily defeated by the sisters, and a thoroughly incompetent yet nevertheless unappreciative Hiro is saved from certain doom in the nick of time. One might compare Hiro to Morisato Keiichi, except Hiro’s not all that nice or mature. He’s also unmoved by Yuzu’s total red-faced embarrassment (which comes into play whenever he’s around), though he obviously remembers what transpired between them five years ago. Yuzu’s mom and sisters are constantly trying to push Hiro and Yuzu together. That’s basically the entire plot.

Tune in next time for another segment of The Manga That Time Forgot/Was Hoping To Forget. ~jocilyn