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Pick of the Week: Abundance

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potw-8-5-newMICHELLE: There’s a lot of good stuff coming out this week, but since I only get to do this once a year… my pick of the week goes to volume 21 of Kaze Hikaru. Even though this particular volume disappoints me just a little (see today’s briefs column!) the series still ranks among my favorites.

ANNA: If someone else hadn’t picked Kaze Hikaru, I would have gone with that! So I will pick the first volume of Happy Marriage?! because I am always ready to celebrate new josei titles.

SEAN: It’s gotta be Kitaro for me. Ever since I first saw an anime adaptation at Otakon in 1999, I’ve been fascinated by this series. Kitaro, the mostly stoic boy hero; his father, who is an eyeball with legs; his not-quite-girlfriend Neko Musume, and most importantly, Nezumi Otoko, the worst friend ever. Creepy yokai galore. It’s gonna be great.

MJ: This is a tough week, for sure. I do like to applaud endings, so it’s difficult to pass on the final volume of Bakuman, especially now that I’ve begun to care about its primary romance, and I’m interested in all the titles listed here, as well as the second omnibus edition of Lone Wolf and Cub. But I’ll give my vote to volume four of Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia, out this week from Vertical. It’s got everything I could want in a mecha series, which is to say, everything I could want in any series—action, complicated characterization, heartbreak, and truly stunning artwork. I’m all in for Knights of Sidonia.

What looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Overload: July 2013

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I had some great luck in finding out of print manga in July: my collection of the ultimate edition of the Battle Royale manga is finally complete; I’m now only missing one print volume of Shotaro Ishinomori’s Cyborg 009; and I came across an entire set of Kyoko Ariyoshi’s Swan (or at least the volumes that were released in English.) More importantly, I managed to get them all below cover price, which is saying something. Other July manga acquisitions included a near-complete collection of Ai Yazawa’s Nana for an incredible price. I had been borrowing Nana from my local library; I’ve been debating picking up a copy of my own because it’s so good. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and finally caved. But the manga I was most excited about in July was Suehiro Maruo’s The Strange Tale of Panorama Island. I have literally been waiting for this release for years. Expect a review soon!

Manga!
Animal Land, Volumes 1-4 by Makoto Raiku
Battle Royale: Ultimate Edition, Volumes 5 written by Koushun Takami, illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi
Black Jack, Volume 7 by Osamu Tezuka
Cyborg 009, Volume 8 and 10 by Shotaro Ishinomori
The Flowers of Evil, Volume 6 by Shuzo Oshimi
The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry Chan by Ai Morinaga
Hide and Seek, Volume 1 by Yaya Sakuragi
The Last of the Mochicans by Shigeru Sugiura
Limit, Volume 6 by Keiko Suenobu
Loveless, Omnibus 4 by Yun Kouga
Math Girls Manga, Volume 1 written by Hiroshi Yuki, illustrated by Mika Hisaka
Nana, Volumes 1-20 by Ai Yazawa
Ral Ω Grad, Volumes 1-4 written by Tsuneo Takano, illustrated by Takeshi Obata
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends, Volume 1 by Yak Haibara
The Strange Tale of Panorama Island by Suehiro Maruo
The Super-Cool Life of Strawberry Chan by Ai Morinaga
Swan, Volumes 1-15 by Kyoko Ariyoshi
Triton of the Sea, Omnibus 1 by Osamu Tezuaka
The Twin Knights by Osamu Tezuka
Velveteen & Mandala by Jiro Matsumoto
Wolfsmund, Volume 1 by Mitsuhisa Kuji

Manhwa!
Aron’s Absurd Armada, Omnibus 2 by MiSun Kim

Comics!
Demeter by Becky Cloonan
Every/Body: An Open Discussion of Gender and Body by Various
Meat Cake by Dame Darcey
NNN by Dan Kim
Samurai: A Digital Tribute to Men by Various

Light Novels!
Orochi no Kishi written by Itoshi, illustrated by Lehanan Aida

 Novels!
The Crimson Labyrinth by Yusuke Kishi
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Anthologies!
The Edogawa Rampo Reader by Edogawa Rampo
Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo

Anime!
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood directed by Yasuhiro Irie
The Garden of Words directed by Makoto Shinkai
X: The Movie directed by Rintaro

Music!
Kodo vs. Yosuke Yamashita in Live

Manga the Week of 8/7

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SEAN: Can’t talk, too much manga.

Dark Horse has the 2nd Lone Wolf and Cub omnibus. I enjoyed the first one more than I thought, and will hope that the 2nd gives us just as much assassination intrigue and adorable toddlers with killer eyes.

MICHELLE: I also liked it more than I expected.

ANNA: I read the first five or so volumes of this back in the day, and am glad it is getting reissued.

MJ: I’m surprised to find myself really looking forward to this second omnibus!

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SEAN: Drawn and Quarterly finally, after a long gestation period, has the first in what I hope becomes a series of books based on Shigeru Mizuki’s 60s yokai classic, Gegege no Kitaro. Retitled Kitaro for North America (Gegege is sort of an untranslatable sound of fear), it’s over 400 pages of 60s shonen goodness. For those who love all the yokai manga coming out these days, here’s the King.

ANNA: I am intrigued by this!

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: I know only I care, but I still do care: Kodansha Comics has Vol. 31 of The Wallflower. 31 volumes! That’s more than Kenshin! Lots more than Fruits Basket! It’s 30 volumes more than Gaba Kawa! It’s a long series that rewards me with comedy, not romance.

MICHELLE: Back in the day, I bought the first six or seven volumes of this. But then I learned about its length and its episodic nature and I just went “Ugh.”

ANNA: I had a very similar reaction to Michelle’s. I found the first few volumes amusing but wasn’t willing to sign up for a neverending series.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a significant presence this week. There’s another Alice spinoff, The Clockmaker’s Story. The spinoffs are starting to glut the market, but I really enjoy Julius and his grumpypantsness. He reminds me of Austria from Hetalia. So I have hopes for this.

MICHELLE: I kinda like Julius, too, but I have really lost count of these spinoffs.

ANNA: I am pro-Julius!

SEAN: Hooray, a new volume of A Certain Scientific Railgun, the manga that reminds you once again that spinoffs can not only do better than the original, but inspire flamewars about the original! The athletics festival continues here, and we find out what Misaka does when her support team of good friends is taken from her.

Dance in the Vampire Bund continues to omnibus itself with Vols. 7-9. I understand it has vampires.

Kanokon also gives us an omnibus, featuring Vols. 3 and 4. I think I’ve already said what I need to about this series.

MICHELLE: I don’t even know what Kanokon is. Should I be glad?

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SEAN: The Sacred Blacksmith has a second volume, for fantasy swordplay fans. I seem to recall I liked this slightly better.

And World War Blue, Seven Seas’ attempt to license a Fairy Tail that’s all their own, has its own Volume 2, just a month after Vol. 1.

It’s rare I discuss artbooks, but I’m also a giant Haruhi Suzumiya fanboy, so this dovetails nicely. Udon is putting out the first of a series of Haruhi artbooks, this called Haruhi-Ism: Noizi Ito Artworks. I suspect, as opposed to Udon’s amazing Read or Die artbook, we’ll see more art and less infotext here. But hey, getting it anyway.

MJ: I’m actually kind of interested in this, too.

SEAN: Vertical gives us the 4th volume of Knights of Sidonia. What’s the chance they go back to the wacky harem comedy this time around? I’m guessing it’s more likely there will be body horror and space battles instead. But it’s good. I’m just being churlish.

MICHELLE: But it’s creepy body horror of the best kind! I love Sidonia a lot.

ANNA: I guess I am now two volumes behind on this series, but I look forward to getting caught up. I’m happy that Vertical is bringing over mecha manga like this and Gundam: The Origin.

MJ: I *heart* Knights of Sidonia very much.

SEAN: And Viz. Bakuman comes to an end with its 20th volume, and has proven to at least be a slightly happier ride than Death Note. Certainly more people know about the workings of Jump now…

MICHELLE: Stay tuned for a special Off the Shelf devoted to Bakuman., coming next month!

MJ: I’m really looking forward to the discussion with Michelle. This series surprised me at intervals, throughout, and I was especially surprised to find myself actually caring about the romance during the last volume. Can’t wait to see how it plays out!

SEAN: A Devil And Her Love Song hits double digits with Vol. 10. Given where last volume left off, it’s expecting this one will be a big ol’ angstfest, but you never know.

MICHELLE: I think angstfest is a good bet.

ANNA: I have read this and haven’t been able to write my review yet, but I would say that it goes beyond angsfest and heads strongly into severe emotional traumaland.

MJ: Oh, my.

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SEAN: Happy Marriage?! is the new josei title from Shojo Beat, being another foray into the magazine that gave us Butterflies, Flowers. I must admit, I’m a bit wary – Butterflies, Flowers succeeded for me because of its ridiculousness – this may not have as much of that. But hey, any Petit Comic over here is good.

MICHELLE: I’m wary, too, but I’ll give it a shot.

ANNA: I liked it just fine! It is a lightweight, fun to read josei title. Not as goofy as Butterflies, Flowers, but still enjoyable.

MJ: I’m interested, for sure. Wary, but interested.

SEAN: Kamisama Kiss has caught up with Japan, at least as much as Viz allows itself to do, so it’s been a while since we’ve seen it. Lucky Number 13 should give us yokai manga of the week #2.

MICHELLE: I’m going to try to get caught up on this soon.

SEAN: Kaze Hikaru 21! Squee! OK, I admit, I’m still 20 volumes behind on this series. But hey, any series that comes out yearly is always in my wheelhouse, given Excel Saga was there for a while as well. Highly underrated shoujo, from what my friends tell me.

MICHELLE: I love Kaze Hikaru very much. Everyone should read it! But especially MJ.

ANNA: I adore this series and I always feel a bit giddy when a new volume comes out.

MJ: *hangs head in shame*

SEAN: Kimi ni Todoke 17. I have little to say about this series, even though I love it to bits. Just expect everyone to be even more sweet and adorable, OK?

MICHELLE: Works for me!

ANNA: Works for me too!

MJ: Count me in!

SEAN: Another series hits double digits as Library Wars: Love & War gets to Vol. 10. I think this got delayed a month or so, so I hope it’s worth the wait.

MICHELLE: I’m kind of surprised how much I’ve been enjoying Library Wars lately.

ANNA: I was always going to be a fan because it is not that often that my profession gets featured in a manga, but I think that this series has gotten more enjoyable several volumes in.

naruto62

SEAN: Naruto 62. That’s a whole lotta ninja.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan wraps up Kyoto here at last, and moves on to a few side stories before the next big arc. It’s also yokai manga #3.

There’s always one Viz manga Diamond ships to my store late, and this month it’s Otomen 16. But the rest of you will get it. As always, I’m there for the Ryo.

Slam Dunk is in its closing volumes, but still not quite there yet. Here’s Vol. 29.

MICHELLE: It is taking a lot of willpower not to read the three unread volumes I have now collected, but this series is so good when read in chunks, so I’m tying to hold out ’til volume 31 gets here.

ANNA: I have less self control and generally read Slam Dunk as soon as it arrives because I can’t ration out my reading of this sports manga masterwork.

SEAN: Tegami Bachi is bachi-ing its tegami with Vol. 14. (Sorry, this has been a long post, I’m tired, and I don’t read the series.)

Lastly, Toriko 17 wraps everything up with some more tasty food fighting.

Assuming you didn’t move on halfway through this endless list, what are you getting this week?

Manga Giveaway: 801 Manga Giveaway (Affair)

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Not only is it the last Wednesday of the month–meaning it’s time for another manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga–it’s also the last day of the month. Tomorrow begins the Boys’ Love Manga Moveable Feast, also known as the 801 MMF. Keeping with the theme of the Feast, I decided to coordinate this month’s giveaway by offering you all a chance to win Shiuko Kano’s boys’ love collection Affair from Digital Manga’s imprint 801 Media. Now, this is a mature title so entries are restricted to those who are eighteen and older. The giveaway is open worldwide, but if boys’ love or yaoi is illegal in your country, please refrain from entering. (Sorry!)

My introduction to Shiuko Kano’s work was through Affair, one of the earliest to be released by 801 Media and Kano’s second manga to be released in English. Since then she’s had a pretty good run of it. Her boys’ love manga has been published in print by 801 Media, Be Beautiful, Deux Press, Juné, and SuBLime. It’s quite impressive, really. Seeing how much of and how frequently her work has been licensed, I think it would probably be safe to assume that Kano has a fairly strong following.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Affair?

1) In the comments below, name at least one boys’ love or yaoi mangaka whose manga you would like to see more of in English and tell me why you enjoy their work.
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

Pretty simple, no? For this giveaway, each person who participates can earn up to two entries. As usual, you have one week to submit your comments. If you have trouble leaving comments, or if you would prefer, you can e-mail me your entry at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on August 7, 2013. Good luck to you all and enjoy the 801 MMF!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: 801 Manga Giveaway Winner

More Alice!

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Lissa Pattillo takes a closer look at some new license announcements at Kuriousity.

Tom Langston looks at the popularity of yon-koma (four-panel) gag manga in the U.S. in recent years.

Chris Beveridge asks “Is ‘Alice in the Country of…’ the best manga series you’re not reading?” My own answer would be “nope,” but Chris points out that there are a lot of new volumes coming out.

News from Japan: Demon Ororon manga-ka Hakase Mizuki is launching a new series, Dracul, which will run in Ichijinsa’s Zero Sum Ward magazine starting in the September 14 issue. Gokusai will come to an end this week. Sarakiel, by Excel Saga creator Koushi Rikudou, is also winding up soon.

Reviews: Carlo Santos checks out K-ON! College, Twin Knights, and some other recent manga in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. Ash Brown takes us through a week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Matthew Alexander on vol. 3 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Justin on Cross Manage (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Justin on Give My Regards to Black Jack (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Anna N. on vols. 1 and 2 of Goong: The Royal Palace (Manga Report)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow (Comics Worth Reading)
Helen on Kitchen Princess (Narrative Investigations)
Erica Friedman on vol. 5 of Ohana Holoholo (Okazu)
Manjiorin on vol. 3 of Oreimo (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Justin on Shamrock (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)

The Twin Knights

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By Osamu Tezuka. Released in Japan as “Futago no Kishi” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc.

In this sequel to Princess Knight (well, the original Princess Knight, that is – the rewrite we saw here is still 5 years away), Osamu Tezuka shows us very clearly right from the start that this is a fairy tale, a stage production, a full-blown melodrama. No, even more, a mellerdrammer. This is a cartoon straight out of Mickey Mouse. It has talking animals, it has villains that are so paper-thin it’s amazing they don’t blow away, it has truly ridiculous plot contrivances, it’s has somewhat questionable gypsies (who are straight out of the European Comics Book Of Stereotypes), two sets of twins, multiple breaks of the fourth wall, including an appearance by Tezuka as himself, and an ending that does not so much end as simply stop.

twinknights

I loved it. But it really does seem to have everything that folks find annoying in a Tezuka manga. More than anything, I think this is the style of manga Tezuka did that we haven’t really seen over here much. The quick, dashed-off adventure stories. Lots of animal characters. Glib protagonists with not much depth. This is a good chunk of his output, particularly at this point in his career. If you read Tezuka for titles such as Barbara or MW, I can see you finding this ridiculously cloying and silly. Which it is. But it’s also so much fun! I can’t tell you the number of times I was grinning like a maniac while reading this. Not just for the adventures of Daisy and Violetta – truth be told, Daisy is perhaps the weak point of the entire manga. No, for things like the evil Duchess simply having her henchmen back out a high window to their deaths for irritating her. Ridiculous, but fun.

As for the sexism or lack thereof, it’s not too bad given the era and country it was written in, and I think does slightly better than Princess Knight. Yes, Violetta is constantly yearning to be female and wear dresses, etc, and her relationship with Emerald is far more interesting than that of her with Prince White (if this plot were written today, Daisy would marry Prince White and pretend to be Violetta while she goes off with Emerald for more adventures). But there’s no denying that Violetta kicks ass throughout, and the last page does note “Well, she may dress up as a man and have adventures in the future.”

Even better, and my favorite scene in the entire book, is when she and her family are thrown into the tower by the evil Duke and Duchess. She and her mother are separated into one room, and Violetta starts to despair. Then her mother sees a couple of swords that were conveniently left on the wall (the duke and duchess are not exactly the smartest of villains… we’re talking Gargamel-level smarts here) and decides that Violetta needs to learn how to REALLY fence… and be taught by Princess Knight. Here we see that, despite choosing to be Queen and settle down to raise a family, Sapphire has never truly abandoned her upbringing as a boy (and in fact, clearly must keep in shape with the rapier, given that she kicks her daughter’s ass). I loved this bit of family bonding.

There’s a lot packed into the 240 pages we get here. I didn’t even mention the incredibly tragic deer, or the cartoon wolves (one of whom I swear is voiced by Billy Bletcher), or the truly weird art that we see in places (check out the duke on page 231… pure Tex Avery). It’s not deep… it is in fact the very opposite of deep. But it’s fun, and lively, and would make a great fairy tale for children. Which, of course, is what it was meant to be back in 1958. A great addition to the North American Tezuka canon.

Goong: The Royal Palace vols. 11 and 12

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“This will be my great, tear-filled finale!”

Melodramatic lines like this, spoken in this case by prince-in-waiting Yul are why I enjoy this melodramatic manhwa so much. The misadventures and heartbreak of Prince Shin and common girl turned princess Chae-Kyung continue in Goong, as she deals with the death of her grandfather and forces within the royal family conspire to drive the couple apart.

Shin is consumed with guilt over not being able to tell Chae-Kyung that the palace kept her from going to her grandfather’s side as he was dying. The King begins to crack under the weight of the promise he made to make Yul the Prince instead of Shin. Yul manipulates the Queen into putting forward the divorce of Shin and Chae-Kyung even as he’s saddled with his own fiancee, the psychotic rich girl Mi-Roo. Yul justifies his actions by thinking of the love he has for Chae-Kyung, thinking that she’ll be happier outside the palace. While it is clear that living in the palace is taking a toll on her physical health, her growing devotion to Shin ensures that she’ll be experiencing plenty of trauma if she’s separated from her young husband.

As I was reading this volume I appreciated how far Shin has come as he’s adjusted to his royal responsibilities. The reader gets a sense of the king he could become when he hears out his father’s confession and makes an audacious speech to parliament. Shin and Chae-Kyung manage to sneak off with each other a little bit, and as a couple they seem stronger, which means that surely disaster lurks ahead.

The 12th volume marks a turning point, as the divorce between Chae-Kyung and Shin becomes public. Even thought the queen attempts to get Chae-Kyung to keep the reasons for the divorce secret, Shin quickly figures out that his wife isn’t divorcing him willingly. Chae-Kyung prepares to live the life of an ex-princess and Shin is determined to get her back somehow even after the divorce goes through. Chae-Kyung at first protests the idea of leaving the palace with money and property but Shin insists on giving her what she’s due because that’s the only thing he can do for her during the divorce.

More than anything else, I finished reading this volume with a sense that the institution of the palace in Goong damages most people in irreparable ways. The King seems like he’s about to have a nervous breakdown. The Queen vows revenge on her evil sister-in-law. Yul continues to be both handsome and deluded. Chae-Kyung and Shin are devastated, and while there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll end up together, I’m guessing that it’ll take a bit of time before that’s possible. The glimmerings of kingly behavior Shin has displayed recently make me think that he might be up to the task of manipulating the Royal Family and leaning on public opinion until he gets what he wants.

Goong is a very satisfying, soapy series. The slapstick comedy elements combined with all the scenes of emotional devastation sometimes make the tone a little off, but the elaborate settings, ongoing plots, and stylized art combine to tie everything together nicely. I’m looking forward to reading volume 13, and I was excited to see that it looks like previous volumes of Goong are going to get a release on the kindle in the next couple months.

Comic-Con roundup, Doraemon is on the way, and more Alice!

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I’m back from a long Comic-Con induced hiatus—first I went to the show, then I had to write up all my experiences for people who, you know, pay me to do that. Here’s my roundup of manga news at MTV Geek.

My roommate at Comic-Con was Deb Aoki, formerly of About.com, who has struck out on her own with a much more user-friendly blog, mangacomicsmanga.com. As the name suggests, it’s about one-third comics and two-thirds manga. I got to watch Deb in action all through the long weekend, so I can tell you from an insider’s perspective that she has a lot of great content planned. Two stories to check out right now: Doraemon is finally going to be licensed in English—as a digital comic—and her writeup of the Best and Worst Manga panel at San Diego (audio here).

Lori Henderson rounds up all the manga news from SDCC in her latest Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu. Sean Gaffney rounds up the new license announcements, with commentary.

Daniella Orihuela-Gruber spells out five reasons why this year’s Anime Expo was good for manga, starting with the fact that there was so much manga there.

Seven Seas has announced four more Alice in the Country of… licenses; it will now be releasing one Alice book a month.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses their Pick of the Week. Also at Manga Bookshelf, MJ and Michelle Smith discuss Off*Beat, soon to be serialized in Chromatic Press’s Sparkler Monthly, and the other things they have been reading lately in their Off the Shelf column.

Johanna Draper Carlson takes a closer look at Kodansha’s new digital program.

Erica Friedman brings us up to date on the world of yuri with the latest edition of Yuri Network News.

Having just read Jiro Matsumoto’s Velveteen and Mandala, Sarah Horrocks decides to write about another book of his, Jyoshikohei.

At Comics Should Be Good, Connie C. looks at three manga by Suehiro Maruo.

News from Japan: Naoki Urasawa has drawn his first monster manga, a one-shot titled Kaijū Ōkoku, for Big Comic; the issue will be out on August 10. 07-Ghost will come to an end in the October issue of Comic Zero Sum. Also in the pages of Comic Zero Sum, Kazuya Minekura will slow down the schedule for Saiyuki Reload Blast and Wild Adapter due to health problems. Attack on Titan continues to be a runaway success: Kodansha’s first printing for the 11th volume was 1.85 million; there are 20 million copies of the first ten volumes in print. The artist for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic manga has been announced: It’s Akira Himegawa, a two-person team best known for drawing Legend of Zelda manga. The final volume of Gantz will be released in January 2014.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team kicks off the week with a new set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Shannon Fay on Beautiful Creatures (Kuriousity)
Matthew Alexander on vols. 1 and 2 of Black God (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 2 of BTOOOM! (Comics Worth Reading)
Justin on chapter 40 of Cross Manage (Organization ASG)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 9 of A Devil and Her Love Song (The Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Doubt (Comics Worth Reading)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 5 of GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class (Comics Worth Reading)
Josh Begley on vol. 4 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (The Fandom Post)
Tony Yao on Gin Tama (Manga Therapy)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Happy Marriage?! (Comics Worth Reading)
Anna N. on vol. 1 of Happy Marriage?! (Manga Report)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 17 of La Corda D’Oro (ANN)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 9 of Naruto (Blogcritics)
TSOTE on vol. 10 of Q.E.D. (Three Steps Over Japan)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Sleeping Moon (ANN)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 15 of Soul Eater (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Strobe Edge (The Comic Book Bin)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 16 of Toriko (ANN)
Ken H. on vol. 7 of Vampire Hunter D (Comics Should Be Good)

Bookshelf Briefs 7/29/13

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This week, Sean, MJ, & Michelle look at recent releases from Yen Press, Seven Seas, Viz Media, and Vertical, Inc.

cheshire5Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Vol. 5 | By QuinRose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas – Once again, we have half a volume of the main story and half a volume of a side story, though at least the side story is about Alice and Boris. Aside from that niggle, this volume has a couple of interesting things going on. Ace is back to being the psychopath I like after the miserable Ace of Hearts spinoff, noting he only loves Alice when she’s miserable and indecisive. We also see two faceless spies who actually seem to have motivation and an agenda, which gives a whole new impression as to the real roles of the faceless. Mostly, though, this is Boris and Alice still feeling out their new relationship: what I noted are the interesting irrelevant bits. Still worth getting if you don’t mind the romance and can put up with side stories galore. – Sean Gaffney

limit6Limit, Vol. 6 | By Keiko Suenobu | Vertical, Inc. – The final volume of Limit is filled with dramatic, expository speeches that play to the back of the house. It is over the top, it is emotional, it is theatrical, and it has a truly ridiculous plot twist right at the end. Despite that, it’s also highly enjoyable and cathartic… precisely for those very reasons. No one wants a dull blase book about teens fighting for survival in the wilderness. Moreover, teenagers are by definition over the top, emotional creatures – heck, even Kamiya, the closest this series had to a stoic, is losing it by the middle of this book. And so we accept the ridiculous plot twists, and the drama. These are likeable characters put through the wringer, and I liked seeing how they all ended up by the end. Which I will try not to reveal here. I’m pleased that Vertical picked this up, though if it had been any longer I think I might have broken. – Sean Gaffney

pandorahearts16Pandora Hearts, Vol. 16 | By Jun Mochizuki | Yen Press – The best description I can come up with for the events of recent volumes of Pandora Hearts is “dizzying.” And as if volume 15 weren’t painful enough, with its heartwrenching revelations and noble self-sacrifice, volume 16 shows absolutely no signs of relenting. Oh sure, there’s a brief interlude at the beginning in which it seems that our heroes are going to be able to have a moment’s peace to process what has happened, but this is quickly shattered by a thoroughly creepy meeting with their new nemesis, still more betrayal, followed by still more hints of betrayal to come, or at least of intentions concealed and origins heretofore unknown. Now I honestly find myself worrying about the allegiance of everyone Oz is associated with, particularly Break, who in the past seemed to be attempting to strike up an alliance with the Baskervilles. I’m genuinely on edge! Kudos to you, Mochizuki-sensei. – Michelle Smith

tigerbunny2Tiger & Bunny, Vol. 2 | By Mizuki Sasakibara, based on the franchise created by Sunrise, Masafumi Nishida, and Masakazu Katsura | Viz Media – The beauty of series like these is that I get to write much less than usual, as the list of authors takes up half the review. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this volume of Tiger & Bunny – the art is sufficient, we get more of Barnaby’s backstory which I presume drives the plot, and I liked seeing that the other superheroes are all just as goofy as these two – but there’s nothing really that makes me want to keep reading more. It’s not gripping, and it still feels very corporate – for those who enjoyed the anime, here it is again in book form. Thus I’d recommend the manga for those who love Kotetsu and Barnaby, but it’s easily skippable for those who have no investment in it. – Sean Gaffney

twinknightsTwin Knights | By Osamu Tezuka | Vertical, Inc. – In this sequel to the original version of Tezuka’s Princess Knight, Sapphire, now happily married to Franz, has given birth to twins—a boy and a girl. Thanks to an internal dispute over the right of succession, the two are separated, and the princess, Violetta, finds herself on an epic journey in search of her lost brother, Prince Daisy. Though Violetta’s path as a cross-dressing swashbuckler is exciting and thankfully devoid of the unfortunate boy’s heart/girl’s heart drama that so heavily compromised the feminist potential of Princess Knight, her ultimate destiny as a conventional princess feels a little disappointing, as does the silliness that so often overwhelms any truly empowering moments the book might have had. Still, Twin Knights is undeniably fun and action-packed, and its heroine is glorious, indeed. Quibbles aside, it’s definitely worth a look. – MJ

Pick of the Week: Sugiura & Tezuka

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potw-7-29SEAN: There’s a few interesting items this week, but none catches my attention more than Picturebox’s Last of the Mohicans, by Shigeru Sugiura. I’ll admit, I find the original Fenimore Cooper to be absolutely wretched. But I’m always up for a good adaptation, especially if it’s by an artist known to be as surreal as Sugiura was. Who knows, perhaps Natty Bumppo will be killed off horribly or something. In any case, this is a rare case where I know next to nothing about the content but am still excited to see it.

MICHELLE: And I know next to nothing about Tezuka’s Twin Knights, but I’ll still name it as my Pick of the Week. I really wanted to like Princess Knight more than I did, and I’m hopeful that somehow this sequel (though it actually came out before the remake we got here) will avoid some of the more problematic ideas, like female hearts being weak. I hope I don’t hope in vain!

ANNA: I’ll also throw in for Twin Knights as it is the manga from this week that I see myself reading soon!

MJ: Though I, too, have high hopes for Twin Knights, I’ll go with Sean’s choice, Shigeru Sugiura’s adaptation of Last of the Mohicans! I’m fascinated by everything I’ve heard about Sugiura’s art style, and though I’m skeptical about this story in particular, I’m willing to give it a try. It’s a unique opportunity, and I don’t intend to miss it.

What looks good to you this week?