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Weekly Shonen Jump Recap: May 13, 2013

May 14, 2013 by Derek Bown 1 Comment

These past two weeks have been a bit strange for me. A few years ago Golden Week was like some kind of massive torture perpetrated against me by the Japanese people. How dare they take an entire week off and deprive me of my new manga chapters!?

Please keep in mind this is a comedically exaggerated representation of a much more immature me.

Jump forward to this year, and I found myself mostly unconcerned about there being no new manga chapters last week. I attribute it to being a lot busier than when I first started reading manga on a weekly basis. It almost felt like a bit of a relief not to have new chapters, though that I attribute mostly to the fact that I didn’t have to write up a recap. As much as I enjoy this, a break is nice every now and then. But, now we’re back and we won’t be off for the next several months. I’m pretty sure there’s a week or two during the summer that we don’t get new chapters, but the only extended break in Japan I’m aware of is closer towards Christmas and New Years.

Blue Exorcist Ch. 046
There was once a time when I would have raged at a chapter like this. I hated romantic drama, and to an extent I still do. In a way, I remind myself of a certain fictional manga artist, “But I don’t want to make it hard for my main character.” Thank goodness for perspective. There are certainly plenty of reasons to rage about this chapter, depending on one’s varying levels of shipping aptitude. But the main thing I took from this is that Shura is my perfect woman. Not because of her fashion sense, but because she just doesn’t give a crap. All this teenage romantic drama and the only thing she cares about is giving Yukio a hard time. Were she real I would ask her to marry me. Sadly, she is not, so I’ll just sit back and keep enjoying chapters like these.

Naruto Ch. 629
There are a few things I could go off on in this chapter. The first thing that really stuck out was the giant hole Obito now has in him. But I was able to remember that part of his body is actually made up of a Zetsu clone. So chances are, he can survive with a giant hole through his chest because that’s not actually part of his body.

What really got me going was the reveal of how Rin actually died. I’m going to go off on a slight tangent here, but one of the reasons I really like the series Fairy Tail is because it’s one of the only manga series that addresses the fact that “one can die for their loved ones and have said loved ones be okay with it” is a pretty arrogant conceit. The sacrifice is no less noble, but one should not approach it without the understanding that while your loved ones’ lives will be saved by your sacrifice, they will still be severely hurt by your death. Because they love you so much that they would rather they die and you live, and vice versa.

That being said, I don’t know what exactly was going through Rin’s mind when she decided to jump in front of Kakashi’s attack. Certainly she was sacrificing herself to prevent the Three Tails from going on a rampage in Konoha, but besides Obito’s word we have no proof that the higher ups in Konoha couldn’t have controlled the Three Tails somehow. In fact, the majority of this series is about how Jinchuriki can control their tailed beasts. Does Kirigakure have some special way of forcing her to go on a rampage? We don’t know, we’re never told that information. Perhaps she couldn’t control it because she wasn’t a Jinchuriki from birth? We don’t know. That crucial bit of information, upon which the validity of her sacrifice hinges, is never actually explained.

We’re given the most bare bones explanation, and are expected to feel sad just because someone died for someone else. (Semi)Pro Tip for aspiring writers, if you’re considering a plot twist that will just make readers pause and ask, “Say wha?” and you don’t intend to explain it later, then perhaps you need to rethink what you are writing!

And if it wasn’t bad enough that the entire sacrifice is dubious at best—why in the world are we supposed to think that there is some kind of deep significance in Rin using Kakashi to commit suicide? “She decided to die at the hands of someone she loved in order to protect Konoha.” From that sentence alone her actions are portrayed as something meaningful. But instead all I can see is a poorly written character deciding that it was a good idea to force the person she loved to kill her!

Now we get to the relevance of my Fairy Tail tangent. If dying for others without understanding the pain the survivors go through is a bad enough sin, then forcing them to be the one to kill you—forcing them to live with that guilt—is the most selfish thing I can imagine. We barely know what Rin’s personality was like, besides her being a proto-Sakura, but already she’s probably the worst character in this entire series! I make no effort to hide that I think Naruto has some poorly written women. But it’s a testament to Kishimoto’s skill that he could take a character we’ve barely even met and make her the most despicable character in the entire series. And what’s worse, we’re supposed to like her for what she did. It doesn’t work like that! We’ve got an entire series worth of Kakashi feeling guilt over his comrades dying. This isn’t making Rin’s death seem noble or anything, rather it’s just compounding how awful she is.

And what gets me is that we’re supposed to think this is anything other than the most awful thing anyone could do to someone they love.That’s the impression I’m getting. Why can’t we have characters in this series that don’t make the worst decisions ever? Or at least don’t ask us to accept that their decisions are not the worst decisions ever. I still haven’t forgotten that Naruto told Sasuke they would die together! Why is nobody pointing out how stupid that plan is!?!

Mario One-Shot
Fortunately Mario was a lot more tolerable than Naruto was this week. It’s a fair shake at a more serious story, though it still has those little flaws in Kishimoto’s writing that always get to me. For one, why exactly does Mario apparently die at the end? I know he says he’s sick of the world or something, but that’s not exactly a good reason. And once again we’re supposed to accept the events of the manga without questioning it. The ending practically screams, “This is meaningful and touching, don’t you dare question it!” To which my only response is, “Now wait just one darn minute!”

I think, if nothing else, that is my biggest problem with Kishimoto’s writing—that he does things not supported by any kind of logic, and expects me to buy in unquestioningly. That may work for some authors but it doesn’t here, because I have far too many questions every time I read one of his pieces. He focuses far too much on the emotional aspect of the story without backing it up with logic. Considering I’m a fan of Doctor Who I can’t exactly complain about relying on emotion more than logic. However, there is a certain level of logic required for the emotion not to crumble under the weight of questions. Consider the logic the cake and the emotion the sweet, sweet frosting. Frosting tastes good on its own, but if you try and form it in the shape of a cake you better have a crap ton of frosting or it’s either going to collapse or be a much smaller cake. And ultimately it won’t be nearly as satisfying. A sweet little nothing, without the backing of more solid food.

One Piece Ch. 708
All this talk about cake has made me hungry, but sadly the next series is not Toriko, so that segue has been wasted this week. Still, One Piece was excellent again. By this chapter, Luffy’s attempts to hide his identity are pointless, though I will give him credit for not being the instigator of his unmasking. I expected him to be dumb enough to once again tell someone that he’s Luffy. But rather than pulling that joke for a second time, Oda gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him slip up only after someone else called him on his identity. I look forward to seeing how the C block fights turn out. By that point I imagine his identity will become general knowledge and everyone will be ganging up on him.

This chapter also featured the best segue from Luffy’s scene to the B block fight. It’s a simple thing, but it’s so well done in its simplicity that I can’t help but take a moment to appreciate it. The fight itself is moving into the final phase with some of the prominent fighters from last week being taken down, allowing us to focus on the true powerhouses for this fight. I imagine that we’ll have one more chapter before we’re down to the final two, which I’ll predict to be Bellamy and Bartolomeo.

Toriko Ch. 232
Toriko continues to prove that we really can’t know what will happen week to week. It defies my attempts to predict exactly what will happen. Characters dying that I didn’t expect, others turning out to be members of this mysterious third party… The fight seems pretty equal between the IGO and Gourmet Corp, but the only safe prediction I feel I can make is that both sides will be pretty much devastated after this war. And unless Toriko pulls himself together fast he’s going to lose this fight. And then Komatsu will become one of the rare male damsels in distress.

Nisekoi Ch. 073
I really need to stop falling in love with manga characters. Rakku’s teacher is possibly the master troll, and supreme not-give-a-crap master. Once again I find that the only way I can review Nisekoi is by giving a detailed summary about what was funny in this chapter. Which would result in me recapping the entire chapter and just butchering the jokes. So instead, go read it if you haven’t. You’ll need to read the chapter from two weeks ago, since this is a direct continuation of that. In fact, Viz has the first three volumes as digital editions. Go pick those up.

World Trigger Ch. 013
By this point my interest in World Trigger is null. I feel unfair writing a series off like that, but there really isn’t anything left for me to say. This is not a very engaging manga, and I can’t quite pinpoint why I’m not engaged by it. As a critic it’s been driving me mad. I should be able to point out why exactly something isn’t very good, but in this case I really can’t say anything but that this series is just dull. The premise was interesting at first, but the pacing has been atrocious (oh hey, that’s a specific right there!). It’s taken this long to come close to something even resembling a main focus, but by now it’s pointless. I’m already annoyed by this manga’s general lack of anything interesting to say. The fact that a missing piece has finally been inserted into the story doesn’t take away the fact that I’ve all ready seen how dull this story is.

Bleach Ch. 536
Well then, this chapter has an interesting panel in it. I won’t dwell on it, though it’s kind of hard not to, but am I the only one who noticed way more detail put into Masaki’s chest than I thought Shonen Jump allowed? Anyone else? Fine then, I guess I’m just a pervert, but I swear that’s way more detail in the nudity than I thought was allowed.

By now I think it’s pretty clear that Katagiri is Uryu’s mother, or if she isn’t then we’ve been pointlessly mislead. The rest of the chapter prefers to show rather than tell, but since the important part has been shown already I can let it pass. Now all we need to do is sit back and wait to see how much Masaki’s death will be retconned. My prediction, given the general tone of this arc, is that Masaki’s death will actually be because of the militant Quincy faction.

Cross Manage Ch. 032
This week was not quite as strong as the chapter two weeks ago, but it was still very strong. Sakurai and the rest of the team’s despair over how outmatched they are by Chihara is very well portrayed. Personally I would have loved if we’d gotten another twist at the end of the chapter with Komatsu stopping Chihara’s ball, but what we did get was still very solid. By this point I’m pretty certain the Fujioka team will be defeated. It’ll be another loss to mirror their first loss against Chouran. Except this time we actually get to see the game, and the loss comes after many chapters of training and character development. It’s actually a really clever move. Show the standard loss that every sports story needs early on, and then move forward as if still following the formula. By this point the tropes had been matched and I imagine more than a few were thinking Fujioka had a chance against Chouran. By having them actually lose this match, the first loss was a decoy to give the actual important loss that much more of an impact. I imagine next chapter Misora will rally her team together and they’ll fight back, but ultimately I expect them to lose.

Really it all depends on whether the series will continue or not. If it’s being cancelled this would be a good time to have them pull themselves together and win the game. It would be satisfying, after what we’ve gotten so far, but not nearly as good as what they could do if they lose this match and the series keeps going. Considering how good Cross Mangage has been the past few months I would be surprised if it was cancelled. There are worse series in Jump that need to go away well before this one disappears. So I hope we get the more satisfying, long term story, but either way what we’ve gotten so far has been amazing.

One-Punch Man Ch. 016
One-Punch Man is always good, but sometimes it’s just a little less good than others. The past few weeks have been a bit iffy as far as this manga is concerned. Still good, but not amazing. This week was back to amazing. We go back to the same old joke, but at the same time we get an absolutely awesome color page at the end of the chapter. I had to zoom in real close to determine if the background was just a picture of a sunset, or if it was an actual painting. I’m pretty sure it was a painting, but I could be wrong.

The fact that Saitama barely passed the Hero exam was amusing, especially considering how his full score on the physical test barely represents his actual abilities. He could easily beat Genos, who got a full score on both the physical and the written portion of the exams. It really begs the question, what is more important to a hero? Strength? Or brains? Well, in this case I’d definitely say strength is the most important aspect. Since Saitama can take down any hero, he just needs to study a bit more for the written portion.

Dragon Ball Z Ch. 014
Has it really been fourteen chapters? And here I was thinking not much had happened at all. I used to defend the Dragon Ball Z manga as being much faster paced than the anime, which it is, but I apparently gave it a tad more credit than it deserved. And still, somehow this manga manages to hit the butter zone for what I like in manga pacing. I can’t stand it when it’s too fast, I can’t stand it when it’s too slow, it has to be just right. And while Dragon Ball Z errs on the side of too slow, it’s still much better paced than a good chunk of the manga we’ve seen come and go since Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha started.

The one thing that always bugged me about Dragon Ball in general was how nonchalant the characters were about cutting off Saiyan tails. Sometimes they just popped right off, with no sharp implements needed. I can’t exactly speak for the characters, but I’m pretty sure that if I grew up with a tail I would be more than a little peeved when it got cut off. I probably wouldn’t even know how to properly balance. Because, as I’m sure we all know, animals with tails use them to help maintain their balance. We humans, and most apes, don’t need them thanks to our vestibular system. Though, when it comes to upright balance we’ve got the rest of the apes beaten. Any animal that has a tail generally has it in order to maintain their balance. And without said tail balance would become much more difficult. Unless of course the Saiyans have the same kind of internal balancing system we have, in which case them having tails would be an evolutionary goof.

Why, it’s almost like Toriyama was some kind of comic book artist, and not an expert in biology at all.

Still, I think the characters are cooler with their tails and I don’t get why Toriyama kept cutting them off. It would have been awesome to see them learn how to control their monkey forms. Probably would have taken the series in a completely different direction. Spiky blonde haired, blue eyed martial artists beating each other up, or giant monkeys doing the same thing? Hmmm…

Bit of a long one this week, sorry about that. But, considering we didn’t have anything to discuss last week I think I can get away with a double length review this week. So, anyone getting sick of my Naruto bashing? Or perhaps do you agree? Leave your feedback in the comment section.

If you want to hear more, check out the Manga^3 Podcast Archives. Or go directly to last two episodes, Episode 046 – April 29, 2013 – Manga Endings | Medaka Box, and, Special 002 – May 6, 2013 – Where the $%#! Is My Manga!? – A Discussion of Golden Week | Toriko Vol. 4

It Came from the Sinosphere: The Wushe Incident

May 14, 2013 by Sara K. 3 Comments

Practically everybody in Taiwan knows about Seediq Bale, the most expensive Taiwanese movie ever made. During my entire time in Taiwan, not a single other movie, Taiwanese or not, has made as much of a stir as that one. What few people know is that it was adapted from a manhua, The Wushe Incident (台灣第一部霧社事件歷史漫畫), which is gratefully back in print thanks to the success of the movie.

The Story

Deep in the central mountains of Taiwan, 1930, the Japanese relentlessly inflict suffering on the Seediq people. Many young Seediq men are anxious to strike back at the Japanese, but their leader, Mona Rudao, stops them, and always placates the Japanese whenever a young Seediq man loses his temper. Of course, Mona Rudao himself hates the Japanese, as they killed his father, ruined his sister’s life, and continue to exploit his people. However, Mona Rudao has also travelled to Japan, and personally witnessed just how powerful the Japanese military is, so he dares not provoke the Japanese … before there is a good opportunity.

Background

If I had to sum up Taiwan in two words, those two words would be “mountain island.” Those two words alone explain a great deal about Taiwanese culture, history, politics, geography, agriculture, economy, weather, etc.

For example, Taiwan is difficult to conquer/unify because it’s a mountain island. That’s why the indigenous peoples speak over 20 different languages – travel was so difficult that most people would never went far from their birthplace.

During my various trips to Taiwan’s mountains, when I didn’t have to deal with road closures, landslides, fog so thick that the driver can’t see more than a meter or two ahead, buses that got cancelled because the road collapsed, etc., I was lucky. To read about the condition of what until recently was one of Taiwan’s most important mountain roads, click here. Right now, I reckon at least half of the major mountain roads in Taiwan are closed or have major obstruction, and there hasn’t even been a typhoon recently. This is why Taiwan has been politically united for less than a hundred years.

Conifers and high-mountain grasses are cloaked in lots of fog.

I took this photo near Wushe, where the story takes place.

Astonishingly, some of the “Japanese” mountain trails are still intact. I’ve been on a couple sections of the former Japanese Hehuanshan trail, which is one of the trails used by the Japanese to send reinforcements to Wushe. Along the trail there are the remains of Japanese police stations, schools to teach the indigenous children how to be more Japanese, and the graves of Japanese police/soldiers who died along the trail (most of them were killed by Mother Nature). Here is a description of an epic Japanese mountain trail running through Taiwan.

The manhua starts with a set of detailed color drawings showing various scenes of Seediq life.

The creator of the manhua, Qiu Ruolong, got stranded in Wushe (which is near Wuling pass, Taiwan’s highest mountain pass which is car-accessible – though I personally wouldn’t want to drive through it) when his vehicle broke down. While he was stuck in Wushe, he stayed with the local Seediq people, who gradually shared their history with him. This is how he first learned of the Wushe incident, and it fascinated him so much that he did more and more research – for example, he spent six months sewing traditional Seediq clothing. Eventually, he made this manhua.

The Wushe incident is historically significant as the last act of armed resistance to Japanese rule in Taiwan.

The Artwork

I love it.

First of all, Qiu Ruolong manages to capture a bit of the majesty of Taiwan’s high mountains. Just flipping through the pages brings up memories of my trips to the mountains.

It’s not just that he draws spectacular scenery – he populates it with the characters, making both the people and the scenery look solemn and magnificent.

Sometimes, I just have stop and let my eyes rest on a page for a while.

I love that halo of light around Mona Ludao as he walks through the dark forest, as the diagonal rays of sunlight frame him from above.

Which brings me to another point – Qiu Ruolong is great a compostion.

Take this page, for example. Here, Qiu Ruolong explains the way the Japanese treated Seediq women. These two pages can be split into about four parts – in the top-right, we see the Seediq women in their native village before any Japanese men bother them, in the bottom-right, we see the Seediq woman marrying the Japanese man and adopting a Japanese hairstyle (she does not look overjoyed), in the top-left we see the Japanese husband beating her, and in the bottom-left we see the Seediq woman weeping, isolated in the midst of Japanese architecture. Notice that the last section is the biggest, and the image of the weeping woman is the single biggest thing on these two pages. That makes that the center of this scene, and all of the other, smaller drawings are supports which explain the existence of this central image.

In the picture below, notice how all of the Seediq warriors with their backs facing the reader circle around Mona Rudao, whose front faces the reader.

And in this picture (below), notice how the simple image of the stare, surrounding by black, contrasts with the detailed drawings around it.

Qiu Rulong is a master of drawing violence. The way the Seediq warriors chop off Japanese heads is both silent and chilling.

However, possibly the best part of the artwork is he really brings the Seediq people (and to a lesser extent the Japanese people) to life. This is partially because the drawings are so detailed, but it’s mainly because he puts a human in every figure.

This is How You Make a Historical Graphic Novel

One of my biggest criticisms of In the Fires of 2/28 is that it didn’t focus on any specific characters, so it didn’t make the historical events feel personal. Qiu Ruolong does not make this mistake. While he often goes into digressions about Seediq life, historical background, etc., he centers the story around Mona Rudao and his family. Watching their personal journeys makes the story that much more powerful.

That said, I would have liked to have seen a bit more about the Seediq characters who adopted a Japanese lifestyle. The graphic novel shows just enough about them to intrigue me.

Exploited Resource vs. Sovereign Agent

While the Japanese did various bad things to the Seediq people, all of the awful behavior stems from a single root – the Japanese regarded the Seediq people as a resource to be exploited, not as agents with which one should establish mutually beneficial relationships. Some people would phrase this as “the Japanese did not see the Seediq as fully human.” which would be accurate … but I’d like to emphasize that the Japanese had the exact same attitude towards the Seediq people as they did to the other “resources” in the mountains. For example, the Japanese saw the mountain forests as a way to make money quickly (that was one of the main reasons the Japanese wanted to control the mountains), rather than as an ecosystem to steward and preserve.

The Seediq people knew that the Japanese were treating them as objects, not as agents. They could feel it. The Japanese were constantly rubbing it in. And passively accepting it was destroying their psyche.

The graphic novel does an excellent job of getting the readers to understand why the Seediq act as they do. First, the manhua patiently describes humiliation and humiliation suffered by the Seediq at the hands of the Japanese, making the reader angry. The worst is when the Seediq have to bow their heads and plead for forgiveness from the Japanese, even when it was the Japanese whose behavior was wrong. It’s like a rubber band slowly being stretched until it … snaps.

The Seediq knew that they were not strong enough to drive out the Japanese and restore their independence. But they felt they had to attack anyway. They had to prove to the Japanese, and to themselves, that they have some agency, and that they could not be oppressed without consequences. Suicidal action which proved they still had some power was better than powerlessly submitting to the Japanese.

Availability in English

This manhua is totally unavailable in English. And that’s a shame. This is a downright excellent graphic novel, and it’s only about 300 pages long – would somebody please publish it in English?

Conclusion

This manhua definitely exceeded my expectations. It brings out so many feelings … from relatively benign nostalgia of my trips to the mountains, to the horror of the humiliation and violence, to passionate desire of the Seediq people to assert power over their lives.

Though the Seediq did not drive out the Japanese, they did shatter the Japanese perception that they were just passive objects to be used however the Japanese pleased. And today, the Japanese are long gone, while the Seediq are still there.

This manhua would not have been possible, or at least not as good, without Qiu Ruolong’s passion for the subject. I know the film Seediq Bale has been criticized for historical and cultural inaccuracies, and I cannot judge to what extent this manhua is or is not accurate. Accurate or not, it is clearly something that Qiu Ruolong cares about deeply.

Next Time: Khóohái Lúsînliông (TV show)

Sara K. has had far more fantasies about living in the mountains that living by the beach. She is upholding the San Francisco tradition of disliking beaches (the beaches in San Francisco are at best unpleasant, and at worst life-threateningly dangerous). She is no doubt also influenced by her family – her father, who was born and raised in southern Florida, also has a distaste for beaches, as does her mother, who grew up on the coast of the Mediterranean. That said, it is still good for her to go to beach instead of the mountain once in a while. Heck, last week she went *swimming* for the first time in over five years.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/13/13

May 13, 2013 by Anna N, MJ and Sean Gaffney 3 Comments

It’s all Viz, all the time this week, as Anna, MJ, and Sean look at recent releases from Viz’s various imprints, including Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat, and SuBLime Manga.

07-Ghost, Vol. 4 | By Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara | Viz Media – A ton of stuff happens in this volume. Confrontations with the Barsburg Empire! Teito loses the source of his mystical power and gets back his memories! There’s a crazy final exam as everybody tries to become a Bishop! Teito cements his bonds with new friend Hakuren and the mysterious priest Frau as he begins to progress on his journey to fully understand his power and what it means to be a long-lost prince of the Raggs kingdom. Truthfully, I wasn’t following all the action all that closely because I was so distracted by all the billowing robes and mystical bolts of energy. After the first four volumes of the series, it seems like Teito is set up for the next phase of his adventure, and I’m curious to find out what will happen next. – Anna N

Bakuman, Vol. 19 | By Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata | Viz Media – As this series finally reaches its penultimate volume, I’m stunned to reveal that it’s finally hooked me on its ridiculous primary romance and I’ve officially been reduced to a blubbering pile of goo. Now that something is truly threatening Mashiro and Azuki’s happiness, it seems that I’m suddenly, hugely invested in seeing their dreams come true. As a jaded reader, this kind of pisses me off, but I can’t deny that it’s also significantly enhanced my enjoyment of the series’ building climax. It helps, of course, that the romantic subplot has become overtly entwined with the characters’ professional success, which I’ve been invested in from the start. Who knew that such an over-the-top romantic setup could provide this kind of emotional payoff? Well done, Ohba and Obata. Still recommended. – MJ

Blue Morning, Vol. 1 | by Shoko Hidaka | SuBLime Manga – Sean described this series’ premise as “Black Butler with the fantasy removed and the BL actually consummated,” which isn’t entirely wrong, in that it’s a BL story involving a butler with no supernatural elements. Fortunately, that’s where the comparison ends. This story about a young viscount left in the care of his late father’s mysteriously devoted butler is an angst-heavy, emotionally dense study of 19th century classism, with a dark, romantic undercurrent that’s more Les Liaisons dangereuses than Black Butler. Teen viscount Akihito’s unrequited feelings for his butler/mentor Katsuragi make way for the series’ obligatory sex scenes, but it’s their ongoing power struggle over Akihito’s political future that really pushes the story forward. A new multi-volume BL drama is always worth a look, and Blue Morning makes a strong showing from the start. Recommended. – MJ

Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 12 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – One of the many things that impresses me about Dengeki Daisy is that it hasn’t abandoned its comedy roots even as the plot gets more serious. The first chapter in particular has a marvelous Titanic parody that’s only topped by Teru’s performance as a ‘scorned woman’. That said, the plot is getting darker and more serious. We knew that the guy who kidnapped Rena last time was a small-time villain, but he does lead us to a man who may be the ‘final boss’… one who not only manages to give Kurosaki a major freak out, but almost drives a wedge between our heroes with just a few well-placed words. All that plus we get romance (in a shoujo manga? Gasp!), as Teru and Kurosaki edge ever closer together without actually getting there. One of the most addicting manga currently on the market. – Sean Gaffney

Otomen, Vol. 15 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – This probably has the least Asuka of any of the volumes we’ve seen to date – indeed, Ryo appears more than he does! The first half of this volume wraps up Tonomine’s storyline, and once again emphasizes the core message of ‘be true to yourself even if it makes you ‘girly’ that every volume of this manga has had. (I note the moment those dresses came out, I thought “And Ryo will get a tux.” And I was right.) The second half has a summer festival, and features Yamato, who’s still self-conscious about his cute face and personality, which is not helped by spending most of the festival with Ryo, who is pure coolness in a female package. I’m not certain the cliffhanger ending of the volume will amount to anything, but that’s mainly as Otomen is still light froth. There’s tons of things wrong with it, but I still enjoy it immensely. – Sean Gaffney

Otomen, Vol. 15 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – I stopped buying this series regularly because I kept feeling frustrated that it never really explored the interesting aspect of people subverting gender roles in a more in-depth way. Still, it is fun to check in on Otomen now and then. Make-up artist Tonominie confronts his father’s political legacy and gets some resolution about finally being able to live for his own dream instead of fulfilling his family’s expectations. Ryo is one of my favorite characters in the series, so I was happy to see the last half of the book focused on her unique blend of oblivious coolness as she decimates every single (manly) challenge at a festival in an attempt to help Yamato with his own image issues. – Anna N

Pick of the Week: Blue Morning, Evangelion, 07-Ghost

May 13, 2013 by MJ, Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and Anna N 5 Comments

MJ: The shipping list is light this week, and though I do have some interest in the latest volume of 07-Ghost, I’m going to surprise myself (and probably others) this week by choosing a SuBLime debut, Blue Morning, as my pick. I read an early copy yesterday, and though it’s provided more questions than answers in this angsty, intense first volume, I have to admit it got under my skin. Fortunately, it’s actually nothing at all like Black Butler. I’m officially intrigued.

SEAN: Given I’m only getting one thing this week, I suppose that is the pick. The re-release of Neon Genesis Evangelion as a deluxe omnibus has reminded me why I’m still fascinated by the series, and why I still prefer the manga to the anime. This third volume should introduce Kaworu, and things will go even further to hell. Good times!

MICHELLE: Blue Morning looks intriguing, and the fact that MJlikes it goes a long way. But I’m still gonna have to go with 07-Ghost. I can’t believe it’s up to four volumes already, and I can’t believe I’m already behind! Must remedy at the next opportunity!

ANNA: There aren’t a whole lot of options, so I’m going to have to agree with Michelle and cast my vote for 07-Ghost. The storylines might not always be coherent, but there’s plenty of stylish angst to distract the reader. I also find the world building aspects of the series interesting. The reincarnation elements, action scenes, fighting priests, and warring states combined with the mystery surrounding the protagonist make me still want to read the next volume.

What looks good to you this week?

Zero’s Familiar, Vols. 1-3

May 12, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Noboru Yamaguchi and Nana Mochizuki. Released in Japan as “Zero no Tsukaima” by Media Factory, serialized in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

I must admit to disappointment. Again. Not with the manga itself. Zero’s Familiar actually turned out to be much better than I’d given it credit for. No, I’m disappointed with anime and manga fans, who once again have labeled a young tsundere love interest as “the worst person ever, and deserving of all the epithets thrown at her!”. I found that she’s just a normal teenager with far too much going on in her life, a spoiled background, an entire class of students calling her a failure, and her familiar is not only a disrespectful commoner, but he also tries to molest her in her sleep at one point after thinking they’d grown close enough. Honestly, I felt the most sympathy with Louise through most of this omnibus. I’m sure I will hear, as I have with Ranma 1/2 and Love Hina and other harems featuring love interests men hate, “BUT IN THE ANIME” and “SHE NEEDS TO BE NICER TO HIM” and the usual chatter. And indeed, she may be worse in the anime and in the light novels, neither of which I know. But for now, my experiment to find a harem tsundere who’s genuinely loathsome and not hyper-exaggerated by fandom continues.

I suppose I should actually get around to reviewing the manga. The basic premise cries out for crossover fanfiction – indeed, I understand there’s more Zero’s Familiar crossovers in fanfiction than there are stories with the hero. The aforementioned Louise (who *is* a spoiled brat who tends to hit Saito in frustration whenever she’s upset or embarrassed, in case people thought I read the wrong manga) is at a magic school somewhere in Fantasy Europe, trying to summon her familiar – a lifelong spell that can only be done once. To everyone’s surprise, she summons Saito, a young Japanese high school student. this is not the usual frog or owl. This is unfortunate, as Louise is well-known for being a failure as a witch, and this only expands her reputation. Now Saito has to get used to living as a familiar in a magical world, and gradually accumulate girls who fall in love with him, as this is a standard harem series. No worries, though, he’ll end up with Louise. This is not a GROUNDBREAKING harem series, after all.

Indeed, the lack of originality is the series’ main failing. Louise and Saito are straight out of the stock cliche factory, though Saito is a bit more of a smartmouth than I’m used to, and also more of a lech – that scene where he said “you smiled at me, so I assumed you loved me and we could cuddle” made my jaw drop. We get the shy young maid, the busty rival, the stoic Ayanami clone. The villains especially disappoint by being lampshaded – I think the story would have had more suspense had the two bad guys not been signposted as “SECRET BAD GUY HERE”. Particularly the mustachio’d guy. Guys with mustaches in harem manga are evil, ESPECIALLY if they’re also fiancees.

But there’s stuff here to like. The series has a good feel for humor, knowing when to be funny and when to be serious, and the comedic violence that so offends young male anime fans is actually fairly mild compared to what I had been expecting. I like the backstory and world building going on, showing it’s not just a magic school divorced from the outside world. I also liked Henrietta, who shows us that it’s not everyone vs. Louise after all, and provides a good female friend for her. And the entire action scene with the Staff of Destruction’ was fantastic, and added intrigue as you wondered how the heck it got there.

I’d still only read this if you happen to like harem series with tsunderes, but if you do enjoy that genre, this should be right up your alley, and I find myself surprisingly wanting more. Also, that cover reminds me that every Japanese fanart we got of “Hermione Granger” back in the day seems to have been Louise instead – and that this story deserves the title “Harem Potter” more than Negima ever did.

It Came from the Sinosphere: Hear Me

May 10, 2013 by Sara K. 1 Comment

The Story

Tiankuo, who works for his parents’ eatery, delivers some lunch boxes to a training session for a deaf swimming team. There, he meets a pretty young woman called Yangyang. Yangyang is there for her sister, Xiaopeng, who hopes to participate in the Deaflympics (note: the Deaflympics 2009 happened in Taipei, the same year the film came out). Tiankuo happens to be proficient in Taiwanese Sign Language (henceforth referred to as TSL for brevity), so he can chat with Yangyang … but will their relationship go in the direction that Tiankuo hopes for?

Some Background

This was the most popular Taiwanese film of 2009. That same year, the Deaflympics happened in Taipei.

Ivy Chen, who plays Yangyang, also starred in Black and White, and Michelle Chen, who plays Xiaopeng, starred in You Are the Apple of My Eye.

TSL is the dominant sign language in Taiwan, and is closely related to Japanese Sign Language and Korean Sign Language (this is because the Japanese established formal Deaf education in Taiwan). TSL has also been influenced by Chinese Sign Language.

I have encountered a lot more users of sign language in Taiwan than I did in the United States. I can think of three explanations for this:

1) Sheer coincidence
2) Deafness may be more prevalent in Taiwan
3) Deaf people may be more integrated into general Taiwanese society

I don’t know which of the above explanations is correct.

Why Didn’t They Cast a Deaf Actress?

I really think they should have cast a deaf actress in this film. Okay, maybe, just maybe, there aren’t any pretty young deaf women in Taiwan with good acting skills … but I would have preferred casting a deaf actress from Korea or Japan over casting a hearing Taiwanese actress to play a deaf Taiwanese woman (actually, Xiaopeng doesn’t even have to be played by a pretty actress, but I’ll give the producers a pass on that one). And don’t tell me there isn’t a single competent pretty young deaf actress in Taiwan/South Korea/Japan combined – the population is too big for there not to be one.

Now, I myself know almost nothing about TSL, so I can’t tell whether the actors worked so hard that in the film they pass for natives in TSL, whether they actually are natives in TSL, or whether people fluent in TSL find the actors’ TSL laughably bad. If the actors did not master TSL well enough to pass for native (well, I suppose Eddie Peng doesn’t need to pass as native since his character, Tiankuo, isn’t native in TSL), then that’s simply disrespectful to deaf people. But even if they do pass for native in the film, I think that casting a hearing actress to play Xiaopeng was wrong.

Why?

Fairness.

I bet that there there are deaf women in East Asia who love acting. This was a rare chance for one to get cast in a major East Asian film … and that chance was handed to a hearing actress who has a lot of other opportunities.

In the United States – and I suspect this is true in Taiwan too – deaf people are much poorer than their hearing counterparts, and one reason for this is employment discrimination. Casting a hearing actress to play a deaf woman is employment discrimination.

A Quiet Film

I’m not referring to the lack of spoken dialogue – though of course much of the dialogue is in TSL – but to the lack of melodrama in the film.

Nice boy meets nice girl, boy is nice to girl, girl is nice to her sister. Nice boy of course does get worked up and nervous about how nice girl feels about him, and nice boy and nice girl even get into a petty conflict at one point in the film, but it’s pretty mellow.

The most melodramatic event is when there is a fire which causes Xiaopeng to lose consciousness, go to the hospital, and messes up her breathing, which affects her swimming ability.

And that brings me to another point – the most intense relationship in the film is not the relationship between Tiankuo and Yangyang, but between Yangyang and Xiaopeng.

Tiankuo is insecure because he doesn’t really know Yangyang that well, and it’s implied that he has little experience with romance. Yangyang and Xiaopeng, however, have spent their lives as sisters, and the love and bitterness in their relationship comes from knowing each other too well.

But while intense, it’s a quiet thing.

Or maybe it seems quiet to me because of the sign language after all. After all, now that I’m trying to describe the events of the film, they seem more dramatic than I remembered. Since I don’t know TSL, I had to read the subtitles, which meant I was not paying the fullest attention to the actors’ bodies, and I didn’t hear any voices supplying aural emotional cues.

Then again, it could be the acting. The acting does not seem as vivid and animated as the work I’ve seen by American Deaf actors when using ASL. That might be because the actors in this film aren’t native in TSL … or maybe Taiwanese deaf culture does not encourage emotional expressiveness as American Deaf culture..

But whatever it is which makes the film seem ‘quiet’ to me, I like the quietness. Maybe I simply read/watch too many operas of various sorts (soap operas, sword operas, etc.) but letting the character feel as they feel rather than milking the pathos feels very genuine to me right now.

And of course, I love the sense of play throughout the film, such as when we discover what Yangyang’s job is.

Respect

There are two words in Mandarin, kàndeqǐ (respect / think well of) and kànbuqǐ (not have respect for / look down on), which are so useful that I find it frustrating that English does not have any direct equivalent for these words.

The current running under this film is that many people kànbuqǐ deaf people, a fact that Yangyang, Tiankuo, and especially Xiaopeng is very sensitive to. They are always concerned about people whether or not others will kànbuqǐ them. For example, Tiankuo is worried about his parents accepting Yangyang.

[Spoiler warning for this paragraph] The core of Xiaopeng’s resentment for her sister Yangyang is that she suspects, deep down, Yangyang, who is actually a hearing person, kànbuqǐs her. When Yangyang insists that she respects Xiaopeng, Xiaopeng responds that she wants to be independent, she doesn’t want Yangyang to constantly sacrifice herself to care for her ‘pitiful’ deaf sister. And finally, if Yangyang really has respect for deaf people, why won’t she go out and become Tiankuo’s girlfriend (at the time, they both thought Tiankuo was deaf).

I am not deaf, but I understand how Xiaopeng feels.

As a non-Asian, the default assumption is that I can’t understand written or spoken Chinese. I can’t blame Taiwanese people for assuming this, since most of them don’t encounter enough foreigners to figure out that foreigners who live outside of Taipei/Kaohsiung probably know some Chinese. Even I have had to train myself, when I see another non-Asian, to not immediately assume that they need language help.

However, even after I have demonstrated my degree of Chinese ability, some people still continue to act like I don’t understand Chinese, or that I don’t know what I’m doing, even in situations when it turns out I was better informed than most of the other people present. They sometimes make things harder for me, and I would have been better off if they had completely ignored me, but usually, it just feels like they kànbuqǐ me. Getting away from this is one of the things I look forward to on that future day when I leave Taiwan.

And what I’m describing is extremely minor compared to what Xiaopeng faces. I am merely irritated by various strangers. Xiaopeng is dealing with her own sister. Most importantly, my Chinese ability is not as deep into the core of my identity as being deaf is for many deaf people. Therefore, the cut goes in that much deeper.

And the irony is that Yangyang gets into a quarrel with Tiankuo when she assumes that he kànbuqǐs her.

For some people, the cute love story between Tiankuo and Yangyang may be the main point of the film. But to me, the relationship between Xiaopeng and Yangyang is what stands out.

Alas, the film undermines its own point by failing to cast a deaf actress. If the film-makers really believed that deaf people are competent, capable people, wouldn’t they have cast one to play a deaf character?

Availability in English

This movie is available on DVD with English subtitles.

Conclusion

I have mixed feelings about this film. I would love to learn something about Taiwanese deaf culture – heck, I’d like to learn more about American Deaf culture (I would like to learn some ASL if I ever get a good opportunity to do so). And it’s clear that there was some input from the deaf community, since many of the ideas presented in the film are similar to ideas expressed by deaf people. It’s also a good movie from an entertainment point of view. But ultimately … it’s a film made by hearing people, about hearing people, and for hearing people.

I obviously don’t have a problem with movies made by, about, and for hearing people, since that describes about 100% of the movies I watch. But most movies are not supposed to represent deaf people. This movie could have been a great cultural bridge between deaf and hearing people, but to me, it feels like a lop-sided conversation with the hearing people mostly talking to each other while occasionally bothering to listen to what the deaf people say.

That includes me by the way – I did not find any opinion of the movie by any Taiwanese deaf person (if you know of one online, in Chinese or English, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share the link), so this entire post has zero input from the Taiwanese deaf community. And I feel bad about not getting any input from Taiwanese deaf people in the writing of this post, since that means I’m doing the exact thing that I am criticizing this movie for doing – not having more deaf people directly involved.

Next Time: TBD (though I know it will be a manhua)

To learn what some people with various different disabilities think, last week was Blogging Against Disablism Day, which in previous years has included contributions from Taiwanese people (though not, IIRC, deaf Taiwanese people). On a completely different note, Sara visited the fort depicted in Cheerful Wind, which is related to why this post is so late. She met a Korean who was travelling all over the Penghu Archipelago by public ferry. She wishes she had enough spare time to do that, because she suspects that would be more fun than island-hopping by tour boat.

Manga the Week of 5/15

May 9, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N 5 Comments

SEAN: This will be a shorter post than last week, partly as there’s less manga coming out, and partly as I’m out of my brain on the 5/15.

MICHELLE: (smack)

SEAN: Ow.

First of all, last week I forgot all about Dance in the Vampire Bund, which had Vol. 14 come out. I can only put that down to the fact that I just don’t read it. Does it have a Young Miss Holmes crossover yet?

A new series from SubLime, Viz’s BL imprint, Blue Morning features viscounts and butlers, and the summary sounds oddly like Black Butler with the fantasy removed and the BL actually consummated. Certainly the cover indicates this won’t be a laff riot.

MJ: I’m usually open to trying new BL. I guess we’ll see? Hm.

SEAN: As for the cover for Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love 4, I regret to say it’s not quite as laughable as Vol. 3’s cover, though we do see a return of the ever popular GIANT SEME HANDS. Now there’s a post that needs to be done for BL Bookrack: Yaoi Misproportions I Have Known.

MJ: IT SHALL BE DONE.

MICHELLE: I think there’s a tumblr dedicated to yaoi misproportions, actually.

SEAN: Reminding me they don’t just do artbooks these days, Udon has the first volume of Disgaea 3: School of Devils. I believe it’s based on a game of some sort.

The rest of our week is Viz. 07-GHOST reaches Vol. 4, and is looking angstier and bishier than ever.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to catching up with this series!

ANNA: I think most people should have one angsty bishie series in rotation. 07-Ghost is more than sufficient to fill out that category, and I’m happy to overlook the occasional lapses of coherence for the pretty art.

MJ: Ditto on all counts!

SEAN: We’re still not done re-releasing Takahashi’s Inu Yasha into big omnibuses, though the fact that this is Vol. 15 means we’re well over halfway there.

MICHELLE: Yep! Entering the home stretch.

SEAN: Another seinen series bites the dust, as we have come to the 11th and final volume of Jormungand. Action-filled gun-running has never been so exhilarating, well, if you haven’t already read Black Lagoon. Now that the series is over, I should go back and catch up on it.

Lastly, Neon Genesis Evangelion releases its third omnibus, containing Vols. 7-9. Asuka’s on the cover, but if I recall correctly, it’s the arrival of someone else a little earlier than in the anime that causes the most fuss.

What manga makes you care more than you should?

Tess Monaghan, Books 1-4 by Laura Lippman

May 9, 2013 by Michelle Smith

In the mood for a new mystery series, I decided to check out the Tess Monaghan books by Laura Lippman. They’re compulsively readable, inspiring me to proceed to the next in the series practically immediately, but I found I hadn’t much to say about each. Therefore, a column of brief reviews was clearly called for!

Baltimore Blues introduces us to 29-year-old Baltimore native Tess Monaghan, underemployed former newspaper reporter and fitness buff, who undertakes a surveillance job for a rowing buddy whose fiancée has been acting weird. There wouldn’t be much of a book if this assignment didn’t turn out to be more than she bargained for, and in due course, a famous local lawyer is dead and the rowing buddy the chief suspect.

Now retained by the buddy’s lawyer, Tess continues to snoop about. She’s just supposed to be finding enough information to achieve reasonable doubt, but is instead driven to solve the mystery. And, ultimately, she does. It was an outcome that I didn’t expect, and the various plot threads and loose ends are wrapped up reasonably tidily, though the suggestion that a second killer is still roaming free was relegated to one blink-and-you-miss-it sort of line.

Tess herself is a little bit generic at this point, but she’s likeable enough. It’s interesting that she’s an investigator who isn’t technically tied to law enforcement, so she’s not obliged to divulge full details about crimes, with the flip side that because she lacks status she probably couldn’t divulge anything anyway without irrefutable proof. Baltimore emerges as a character of its own, too, and I loved that there was a Homicide: Life on the Street shoutout. Actually, there was a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 reference, too. Does Lippman know how to woo me, or what?

Charm City is the second in the Tess Monaghan series, set about five months after the first book. Tess has both a full-time job and a full-time boyfriend for the first time in two years, but her boss encourages her to accept an offer to investigate how an inflammatory story, originally not on the printing schedule, wound up on the front page of the local newspaper. Eventually, deaths ensue. Meanwhile, some shady guys hospitalize her uncle Spike and stalk Tess and her family members.

The good things about this sophomore outing revolve around Tess and her personal relationships. She comes into sharper focus as a character, first of all, but also makes some serious changes and/or mistakes in her personal life. And yet, this doesn’t read like one of those chick lit mystery series—my mind goes immediately to Meg Cabot’s dreadful Size 12 Is Not Fat—where the protagonist seems too easily distracted by the male characters. Tess just seems… normal.

On the negative side, the subplot (involving the aforementioned shady guys) was a real yawner and there were a couple of instances where twists were really obvious to the reader, making Tess appear incredibly slow on the uptake. And though the final big reveal did surprise me, in retrospect it shouldn’t have, because it was essentially the same gimmick used in the first book! Is a pattern forming? As I head into book three, I will definitely be looking for a certain type of character and setting my suspicious sights on them from the start.

Overall, Charm City was a little disappointing, but certainly not bad. Onward ho!

In Butchers Hill, Tess has set up shop as a private investigator in a not-so-great part of town. Her first two clients are looking for children—one wants to make amends to the witnesses of a crime he committed five years ago, while another wants to know that the daughter she put up for adoption is doing alright. Neither client has been completely honest with Tess, however.

This was a really interesting installment of the series. I appreciate that Lippman was able to create multiple African-American characters who feel like full-fledged, sympathetic individuals (though I do wonder what an African-American reader would make of them). There’s commentary here on race relations in Baltimore, among other things, but it doesn’t feel too heavy-handed. I also like that Tess is not strictly a homicide investigator, though her cases have all involved murder eventually.

Speaking of murder, after Charm City, I was a little worried that it would be easy to predict the perpetrators in subsequent books, but actually, I didn’t see this one coming. And that’s a good thing, though the reason why I didn’t was that it was a rather implausible twist. Despite that (and the one aspect of the ending that I predicted), the conclusion to this one is surprisingly affecting. I hope some of these new characters stick around.

In Big Trouble takes Tess away from her hometown of Baltimore and into the unfamiliar environment of San Antonio, Texas. When she receives an anonymous letter that Crow, her former boyfriend, is in big trouble in Texas, Tess ends up contracted by his parents to track him down. She finds Crow in fairly short order, but he is greatly changed and is also involved with a crazy young woman whose influential local family is tied to a notorious murder 21 years ago.

This was a bit of a weird one. I can’t say I disliked it, or that I predicted anything about it, but Tess is so off-balance personally for the duration that it sort of feels like the story never really gets… grounded, or something. Unlike the others in the series, I was able to set this one aside for a long time—like, weeks—and didn’t feel any particular urge to get back to it. That said, I did think the San Antonio setting was portrayed well, and Lippman successfully instilled a serious hankering for some authentic Mexican food.

In the end, I’m enjoying the Tess Monaghan series quite a lot! I’m going to take a break here for a bit, but I do intend to return to the series in the near future.

New licenses in the offing

May 8, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

New license news: SuBLime Manga kicked off the week with the news that they have licensed the first four volumes of Ayano Yamane’s Crimson Spell. And Vertical will announce a new title at Anime Central.

The Manga Bookshelf team discusses this week’s new manga and their Pick of the Week. MJ looks at the physical side of relationships in Loveless, and Michelle Smith joins her for a discussion of some recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf column. And Justin Stroman asks the readers: What’s your favorite Weekly Shonen Jump title?

Erica Friedman has the latest Yuri news at Okazu.

News from Japan: Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist) is drawing an adaptation of Yoshiki Tanaka’s novel series The Heroic Legend of Arslan. Give My Regards to Black Jack creator Shuho Sato will release his newest manga series, Secure Samba wo Yoroshiku, for free next week as part of Japan IT Week.

Reviews: Carlo Santos takes on recent volumes of 21st Century Boys, Knights of Sidonia, and Tokyo Babylon in his latest Right Turn Only!! column at ANN. The Manga Bookshelf team checks in with a new set of Bookshelf Briefs.

Rebecca Silverman on vols. 8 and 9 of Dawn of the Arcana (ANN)
Carlo Santos on vol. 5 of The Flowers of Evil (ANN)
Katherine Hanson on vol. 1 of Golondrina (Yuri no Boke)
Michael Buntag on vol. 10 of Honey and Clover (NonSensical Words)
Erica Friedman on vol. 7 of Ichigo Mashimaro (Okazu)
Daniella Orihuela-Gruber on vol. 4 of Kizuna (All About Manga)
Ash Brown on vol. 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Experiments in Manga)
Anna N. on Pepita: Inoue Meets Gaudi (Manga Report)
Mark Thomas on vol. 28 of Skip Beat (The Fandom Post)
Anna N on vol. 4 of Strobe Edge (Manga Report)
Matthew Cycyk on vols. 1-3 of Summit of the Gods (Matt Talks About Manga)
Jocelyne Allen on Sunny (Brain Vs. Book)
Manjiorin on Unico (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Rebecca Silverman on vols. 15 and 16 of Vampire Knight (ANN)

Negiho: Mahora Little Girls

May 8, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

Created by Ken Akamatsu, manga by YUI. Released in Japan as “Negiho (Ito) Bun” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Some of you may recall that this is actually the 2nd Negima spinoff. Negima Neo came out in seven volumes, and was essentially a cuter, more comedic Negima with most of the action and threats to our heroes removed. Somewhere down the road, though, some editor at Kodansha must have decided that this was simply not adorable enough, and came up with this. I assume they asked Akamatsu, and he looked up from where he was creating the actual Negima manga and nodded vaguely. And so we have Negiho, which takes place in a universe where Negi and Kotaro are young adult men teaching a class of 31 five-year-old girls.

I will be fair, this series was not nearly as creepy as it sounded. There are no panty shots of pre-pubescents throughout, which I was kind of expecting. And no one gets their clothes sneezed off, mostly as magic doesn’t seem to exist here. Asuna has a giant crush on Negi, who hits her ‘older man’ buttons this time around, but it’s clearly the crush of a 5-year-old girl on a teacher, and is never meant to be serious except in a ‘look at how freaked out she’s getting’ sort of way. There’s even stickers in the front of the book! Of course, the book is still rated OT, probably because of the chapter where Asuna and Ayaka try to make their non-existent breasts grow so they can seduce their teacher… Have I mentioned it’s hard giving Japan the benefit of the doubt sometimes?

The main reason this manga exists is for the comedy. Characterization attempts to happen, and a lot of the characters are sort of like their canon selves (Setsuna still crushes on Kanoka, Kaede is a ninja, Chao invents things) but are basically slaves to the gags. Heck, gag humor is actually the point of Chachamaru this time around, who has decided that the best way to become closer to the rest of her class is to be a manzai comedian. I will give credit to the Nibleys, who as translators had to deal with this and try to work out Chachamaru’s terrible Japanese jokes and turn them into terrible English jokes. The endnotes are also helpful here, mostly as even translated it still feels that we’re missing something.

Then there are the characters who don’t translate to ‘adorable preschoolers’ so well, and that’s Evangeline. Which is ironic, given she’s an undead vampire with the body of a 10-year-old in the original. But here, in the body of a 5-year-old, she doesn’t have the ability to be evil or malicious in any successful way, and instead merely becomes the buttmonkey of the entire series. Which, in a series with Asuna in it, is impressive. That said, I suspect the number of Negima fans who thought “I like Evangeline, but wish she wasn’t as awesome and terrifying and did more anteater impressions” numbers in the single digits.

There were one of two other things I sort of smiled at – it’s nice to see Rakan and Theodora get married in some continuity, even if it isn’t the main one, and Konoka and Setsuna’s attempts at death metal are possibly the funniest thing in the book. But at the end of the day, I came away wondering who this was written for? I can’t imagine fans of the original, especially in the West, being enthralled by preschool comedy adventures. And the romance and occasional sexual gags means it’s not for kids either. Even the artist, in his afterword, notes that this series had a lot of flaws. If you love everything Negima, give it a shot. It didn’t actively offend me most of the time, but it’s pretty inconsequential.

Also, how are a 5-year-old Chao and Hakase building Chachamaru anyway? Did anyone think this through at all?