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It Came from the Sinosphere: Night Market Hero

January 15, 2013 by Sara K. 1 Comment

This movie was Taiwan’s biggest box-office success in 2011. The top-rated review of this movie at the IMDb starts like this:

As a Taiwanese in a foreign country, this movie reminds me of my home town more than I think. With all the joys and tears, this movie is just so TAIWAN! Not exaggerated, this movie brings the way we live, we feel, we care, and we earn for life.

As a foreigner in Taiwan, I agree that this movie is “just so TAIWAN!”

The Story

Well, there’s a night market, the 888 Night Market, full of a cast of colorful characters. Ah Hua, a young man, helps manage the night market, and when he’s not dealing with the night market he takes care of his grandmother.

A screen shot of Ah Hua

He also gets into a bit of a tense (flirty?) relationship with a young journalist, Yi-nan.

A screen shot of Yi-nan

But then a corrupt local politician sells the night market’s land to developers (note: this kind of thing happens all the time in Taiwan). Can Ah Hua and Yi-nan SAVE THE 888 NIGHT MARKET????!!!!

Oh, and to make things juicier, the corrupt local politician is Ah Hua’s uncle.

Night Markets

When you ask a Taiwanese person “What is Taiwanese culture?” or “What makes Taiwan special?” there is a very high probability that they will mention night markets within the first few minutes. Almost all tourists visiting Taiwan are advised to visit night markets, for that matter, when I tell Taiwanese people “I visited [place in Taiwan]”, I’m often asked “Did you go to the [place in Taiwan] night market?”

I have a confession to make.

I don’t actually like night markets.

Okay, at first there was the novelty value. That gradually wore off. What I eventually found is that, even though the food seems cheap, that’s only because it’s sold in small portions, and if you want a full meal, it’s cheaper to go to a humble restaurant than to try to fill your stomach a night market, and IMHO, the restaurant food will probably taste better. Night markets are also often crowded, and … yeah, I’m not a night market person.

It’s still common to see traditional performances at night markets, temples, and other public spaces in Taiwan.

However, I definitely prefer the night markets in the mid-size to small cities than the night markets in big cities like Taipei and Kaohsiung. When I go to big city night markets, I get the sense that most of the sellers are trying to get their buck quickly and efficiently, and they don’t have much energy left over for human bonding. I think the smaller city night markets are just as commercial, but at least the atmosphere generally feels more laid-back. If I do go to a night market, I prefer going to a night market like the Taoyuan City Night Market. It’s small, it’s usually not too crowded, there aren’t many tourists so many of the people there actually know each other, and it just feels friendlier.

The night market in this movie is definitely a small-city / town night market. You won’t find a night market like this in the big city, or at least I haven’t.

Countryside vs. Metropolis

Many contemporary Taiwanese stories revolve around a clash between small towns and rural areas, and the cosmopolitan big city. This can be seen in Fated to Love You and even in Autumn’s Concerto. Usually somebody from the countryside encounters somebody from the big city, and they have some kind of relationship. The country person often speaks Taiwanese, needs to take care of elders, has economic trouble, etc. The city person generally speaks Mandarin, and often speaks English or another foreign language too, is better dressed, is wealthier, and might not even live in Taiwan. In this movie, the country person is Ah Hua, and the city person is Yi-nan. While country-boy-has-romance-with-city-girl seems to be the most common setup, there are other setups – in Seven Days of Heaven the city girl and country boy are siblings, and in Formula 17, both the country boy and the city boy are gay.

Ah Hua and his grandmother

The fact that this story is so common and popular demonstrates that it really resonates with a Taiwanese audience. On the one hand, Taiwanese people want to learn English/Japanese/German/Korean/whatever, want to live abroad, or at least travel extensively, and want to adapt a modern, international lifestyle. On the other hand, there is a great deal of fear that they are about to lose their own culture and identity.

I think their fears are well-founded. If you ever come to Taiwan, I dare you to find somebody under 30 who is fluent in the Hakka language. I have met young Hakka speakers in Hsinchu county (where the government supports Hakka language education and, in some towns, over 90% of the population is Hakka) but even in the hills of Taoyuan county – which also has a large Hakka population – I have yet to find a single young Hakka speaker. And I’ve spent a lot more time in Taoyuan county than Hsinchu county.

Ideally, Taiwanese would be able to preserve their own traditions and embrace whatever aspects of international culture they please. However, life is not so simple. Both understanding foreign cultures and keeping one’s own heritage alive requires a great deal of time and effort (you can ask MJwhat it takes to maintain Manga Bookshelf). Therefore, Taiwanese people do have to choose what they are willing to invest their time and energy in, and that’s why there’s a debate.

Stereotypes and Zhong Xin Ling

Like the United States, Taiwan is a fat-phobic society. However, a much smaller portion of the population of Taiwan is fat, so it’s much easier to forget that there are fat people.

In spite of this, Zhong Xin Ling, who is fat, has forged a career as an actress, TV host, and media personality (she performs in both Fated to Love You and My Queen). She has done a lot to make fat people visible in Taiwanese media, and to demonstrate that fat people are, you know, people. For that, she has earned my respect.

However, when a producer wants to cast someone to play the stereotypical “fat girl,” they call her. This is not Zhong Xin Ling’s fault, it’s the producers and scriptwriters’ fault that they perpetuate the stereotypes.

Zhong Xin Ling’s brief appearance in Night Market Hero, alas, is as a stereotypical “fat girl.”

Chu Ke-liang

Chu Ke-liang is Taiwan’s most well-known living comedian and TV personality, and is by far the most famous person in the entire cast. However, even though he is famous for his humor, and this film is a comedy, his part as the corrupt politician is played completely straight.

Budaixi Puppets!

Ah Hua’s grandmother has a set of budaixi puppets – not the jinguang kind, but the old, traditional kind.

Once upon a time, there was no television in Taiwan, and most of the population was illiterate. Back in those days, glove puppet shows, known in Mandarin as budaixi were the most popular form of public entertainment. In fact, they stayed in the mainstream of Taiwanese entertainment until a generation ago, and even now they have a core group of die-hard fans. Even 7-Eleven sometimes uses budaixi in its ads.

When I ask why budaixi are not as wildly popular as they were, say, 30 years ago, I always get the same answer: there is too much competition from Hollywood, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and most recently, Seoul. People who in an earlier generation would have been puppet geeks are today anime geeks (or Hollywood geeks, or K-pop geeks … you get the idea).

Based on my observation of young Taiwanese men (which, to be fair, is entirely anecdotal), they are most likely to embrace manga and anime as their primary form of mass entertainment, with Hollywood movies coming in second place. Though I know there is a set of young puppet fans, I haven’t met them, and most of them are into jinguang budaxi, not the traditional budaixi. To see Ah Hua messing with traditional budaxi puppets instead of, say, One Piece merchandise, simply screams of Taiwanese pride. In fact, it is so unusual that stretches my suspension of disbelief, and makes me feel that the movie might be laying on the Taiwanese pride a bit too thick. On the other hand, it is sending the “this is authentic Taiwanese culture” meme pretty pretty clearly (at least to an audience that is familiar with ‘authentic’ Taiwanese culture).

Location Spotting

In some of the flashback scenes, they show Danshui, with Mount Guanyin—possibly the most recognizable of all Taiwanese scenery—in the background. Danshui, of course, is one of the most touristy places in Taiwan, and is referenced in Autumn’s Concerto, Pinoy Sunday, and in my post about Creative Comics Collection, while Mount Guanyin is also shown multiple times in It Started with a Kiss (adapted from Itazura na Kiss).

Some comments on the language

This movie is in a mix of Taiwanese and Mandarin, with a little Hakka too. I suspect they deliberately added the Hakka to show that this is a movie about Taiwan, and not just the Hoklo people (about 70% of the population of Taiwan identifies as Hoklo, while about 10-15% identify as Hakka).

In Taiwanese media, it is common practice, when people are speaking Taiwanese, to have subtitles in Mandarin. However, in this movie, I noticed that the subtitles (at least on the DVD released in Taiwan) for the dialogue in Taiwanese were not pure Mandarin, but rather a mix of Mandarin and Taiwanese, so they assumed that anybody who would use the Chinese subtitles could understand at least some Taiwanese. I notice that they did not do this with the dialogue in Hakka – those subtitles were in pure Mandarin (as were the subtitles for the Mandarin-language dialogue).

Speaking of subtitles…

Availability in English

This movie is available on DVD with English subtitles.

Conclusion

The eight generals, a staple of Taiwanese festivals, arrive on motorcycles

When seeing these guys in the street doesn’t seem remarkable, you know you’ve been living in Taiwan for a while.

I don’t think it’s possible to sum up Taiwanese culture in two hours. However, I think this movie can serve as a decent introduction to Taiwanese culture. It IS a movie – life in Taiwan is more mundane and less idealized that what is seen in Night Market Hero. At the same time, it does manage to convey a sense of what Taiwan is like, and I’m tempted to tell my friends and family to watch this movie so they have a better understanding of the environment I live in.

Next Time: The Laughing Proud Wanderer (manhua)

Sara K. is shocked, saddened, and angered by what happened to Aaron Swartz (if you don’t know what happened, read this and (trigger warning) this). If you feel the same way as Sara K., please sign this petition if you can. Aaron Swartz was one of the key organizers of the anti-SOPA/PIPA campaign in which Manga Bookshelf participated (he speaks about in this video). We should all honor, remember, and most importantly, continue the good work he has done.

Bookshelf Briefs 1/15/13

January 15, 2013 by MJ, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith 3 Comments

This week, MJ, Sean, & Michelle look at recent releases from VIZ Media, Kodansha Comics, and Yen Press.

Bakuman, Vol. 17 | By Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata | VIZ Media – As a running meta-commentary on shounen manga, it was perhaps inevitable that Bakuman‘s focus would one day shift from friendly rivalry to something with a real villain. Sadly, the further Bakuman strays from reality, the less interesting it becomes. Though its heroes’ journey as up-and-coming mangaka has long eschewed any shred of realism in terms of an artist’s daily survival (like having to eat or pay the rent), the boys’ struggles with their craft and the pursuit of commercial success were always grounded enough to ring true. Now, with the addition of a corporate super-villain and the manga creator’s equivalent of a doomsday machine, that foundation of truth is rapidly eroding. Though Bakuman is necessarily Jump-friendly, this was always carefully balanced by an affectionately critical eye. But the spectacular nature of villain Nanamine’s anti-editorial scheme only serves to underline its industry biases. Questionably recommended. – MJ

Jiu Jiu, Vol. 3 | By Touya Tobina | VIZ Media – I feel like I should be liking Jiu Jiu more than I am. There’s a lot of good stuff here. I always enjoy political machinations in a manga, which this has plenty of. There’s many and varied characters here, most tying into our heroine, including the ex-fiance she hates and the fiance she’s seemingly cool to. And there are some excellent funny moments (the two ‘explanations’ of her family) and well laid-out action scenes (the climax of the volume). But in the end I’m still not quite into it. Could be that I still find Snow and Night somewhat annoying as bodyguards/familiars to a far more interesting heroine. Could simply be too many characters and plots introduced too fast. And it could be this series benefits, like Bleach, from being read in large, 5-volume-at-a-time chunks. But I’ll keep pecking away at it. -Sean Gaffney

Missions of Love, Vol. 2 | By Ema Toyama | Kodansha Comics – I’m enjoying this series quite a bit, mainly because the three leads are all a bit more screwed up than I’m used to with Nakayoshi titles. Yukina seems ignorant of not merely love but basic emotions in general, particularly in regards to other people’s feelings. Shigure is still basically a jerk, but to be fair to him he’s being given constant mixed signals and is discovering that there may be a girl behind all this he can like. And Akira is seemingly the nice childhood friend who will end up second best after all is said and done, but there’s a dangerous side to him that pops up here, and I don’t think we’re done seeing it. After two volumes I’m still not quite sure where this will be going, and I don’t really identify with anyone yet because they’re all slightly too annoying (but only slightly). Fantastic. Lure me in more! -Sean Gaffney

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 12 | By Hiroshi Shiibashi | VIZ Media – Long arc is long, and we’re still battling the forces of evil in Kyoto. I am impressed with the evilness of the forces of evil, speaking of which – we see them killing off sweet young things here, and the resurrection they’re trying to bring about is going swimmingly. Meanwhile, Yuki-onna is kidnapped, and Nura is completely curbstomped. You know what this means: more training. Yes, even during an apocalypse, there’s still time to train. The bulk of the action goes to disconnected head-guy Kubinashi and sexy oiran-type Kejoro, who have a backstory that’s developed quite well here. (Are they a couple? Who knows, this is Jump.) So there’s a lot going on, and most of it is interesting, but at the end we’re seemingly no closer to finishing this very long battle. Ah well. -Sean Gaffney

Raiders, Vol. 9 | By JinJun Park | Yen Press – Up until now, each volume of Raiders had parts that were confusing, but I’m happy to say that here at the end, things make more sense. True, I’m not exactly sure how we got here, but I at least understand what happened in the end and can feel a sense of closure. Otherwise, characters get what they want, characters make hard choices, characters suddenly tap into hidden reserves of power, characters engage in epic battles with the Big Bad… There’s one particularly surreal scene where the protagonist’s severed head wails over the apparent death of a comrade. That’s imagery you don’t see every day. Anyway, after a generous amount of philosophizing, and some unexpected and thoroughly welcome ambiguities concerning our protagonist’s future, Raiders wraps in a satisfying fashion. This series has been unique in that it kept me reading despite its occasional abstruseness, and ultimately, I’m glad I stuck with it. – Michelle Smith

Strobe Edge, Vol. 2 | By Io Sakisaka | VIZ Media – So, if you’re going to confess and get rejected, but still note that the love feelings don’t go away, you’d best be prepared for dealing with them every single day. That’s what Ninako is doing here, and it’s tough – Ren is hard to read, she runs into him or works with him constantly, and there a new irritating smug guy who simply won’t let her forget about it. And even worse, he has a girlfriend. And she’s nice, dammit. In fact, the best part of the volume for me was the last quarter, a side-story showing how Ren and Mayuka met and fell in love. It helps to make Mayuka more than simply ‘the rival’, but someone who could easily star in her own shoujo manga with Ninako as the one trying to take her man. It takes things to another level, and helped make this volume of Strobe Edge particularly excellent. -Sean Gaffney

IKKI launches new site, Shonen Jump Alpha gets One Punch Man

January 15, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

I talked to the editor of IKKI’s webcomics site, Yumetaro Toyoda, and translator Simona Stanzani about the new site, which carries a House of Five Leaves spinoff (in Japanese only, alas) and a very interesting new comic, Pandemonium, by Sho Shibamoto, which is in both English and Japanese.

And I got a little cranky about how-to-draw-manga books at Robot 6.

As the countdown continues to simultaneous release with Japan, Shonen Jump Alpha adds a new series, One Punch Man, by Eyeshield 21 manga-ka Yusuke Murata and the pseudonymous ONE. Sean Gaffney has more on One Punch Man.

The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their pick of the week.

Matt Thorn notes a few lines of missing text in Heart of Thomas. ‘Fess up, now—how many of you even noticed?

Daniel BT isn’t that excited about the return of Tokyopop; he’d rather see a revival of CMX, DC’s sometimes excellent but sadly neglected manga imprint. But he can’t resist highlighting a few bloopers.

News from Japan: Keiko Suenobu, creator of The Limit (licensed by Vertical) and Life (formerly licensed by Tokyopop) will launch a new series, Hope, in the Feb. 13 issue of Bessatsu Friend. Nanae Chrono is winding up Vassalord in the Feb. 15 issue of Comic Avarus. Buronson and Ryoichi Ikegami are also bringing their series Soul Lord 2 to an end. Gokusen manga-ka Kozueko Morimoto has a new rom-com series in the works for for Monthly You.

Reviews: Ash Brown shares some thoughts on a week of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Kristin on vol. 22 of 20th Century Boys (Comic Attack)
Ken H on vol. 1 of Attack on Titan (Comics Should Be Good)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Jiu Jiu (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 7 of One Piece (Blogcritics)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Paradise Kiss (Manga Xanadu)

Pick of the Week: Punch Up!, Book Girl

January 14, 2013 by MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 2 Comments

MJ: This is a tough week for me. My favorite item from this week’s shipping list at Midtown Comics would be volume two of Girl Friends: The Complete Collection, but since Sean chose that last week, it feels a bit late to the party. So instead, I’ll go out on a limb and name volume three of Punch Up!, a SuBLime title about which I’ve heard nothing but raves. Obviously I need to catch up first, but I’m feeling optimistic that once I have, I’ll be pouncing on volume three in no time! So, yeah, Punch Up!

MICHELLE: I’m in the exact same boat. Definitely check out Girl Friends, if you haven’t already, but I’ll go with Punch Up! too, since its kitties-interrupting-bedtime-shenanigans cover is quite original and charming. I found volume one to be intriguing, if not exactly my cup of tea. Good enough to challenge me to keep reading, though!

SEAN: Whereas I’m getting quite a few titles from Yen, any of which would be a decent pick of the week. But I’m still going with Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore a Moonflower, the 6th in the light novel series. Book 5 was a major turning point in both the plot and in the disposition of Konoha, our hero with PTSD from his middle school days who has been slowly brought back out into the world through the series. Now that he seems to have resolved a lot of issues, what will happen? Will he finally open up to Nanase? (I doubt it.) Realize how important Tohko is to him? (Likely that will wait a book.) Find disturbing similarities between himself and whichever screwed-up person the book focuses on this time? (Always.) I must find out!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Viz Licenses One Punch-Man

January 14, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

One of the most word-of-mouth popular manga of 2012 is now getting an official release in Viz’s online Shonen Jump Alpha. Technically, One Punch-Man is seinen – it runs in Young Jump’s online magazine. But I suspect that’s only for convenience’s sake, and there’s nothing in this title that isn’t hilariously shonen.

That’s our hero on the cover, who is pretty much what the title says he is. But this doesn’t make him happy. Victory Is Boring. Of course, what One Punch-Man really is is a fun doofy parody/satire of superhero, kaijuu and monster comics in the Dragon Ball mode, while also having lots of genuinely cool action scenes. The writer, ONE, originally started it as an online webcomic. When Shueisha picked it up, they had the art redone by Eyeshield 21 artist Yuusuke Murata. The hero’s face when not posing manfully on the cover… simply makes me happy. I can’t wait to see this coming out over here. Luckily, I only have to wait a week!

Tokyopop returns

January 14, 2013 by Brigid Alverson

The slow return of Tokyopop continues with the relaunch of their website. A much calmer version than the previous iterations, it puts the books front and center, with a selection of print manga (Hetalia and OEL titles) that are available via RightStuf, some e-books from Graphicly, and some merch from CafePress. I took a look at what’s going on at MTV Geek, and Mike liveblogged their Anime LA panel, at which they discussed what’s going on, at Anime Diet. And at Robot 6, I picked six of their OEL manga that rate a second look.

Diamond lists the top-selling manga in comics shops. Spoiler alert: Sailor Moon and Naruto dominate.

The Manga Bookshelf team takes a look at this week’s new manga, both in print and coming up from JManga. Lissa Pattillo looks at the past week’s new releases in her On the Shelf column at Otaku USA.

Back at Kuriousity, Lissa opens up the swag bag and discusses her latest purchases, and Victoria Martin concludes her countdown of her favorite manga of 2012 with parts 3 and 4.

Justin lists his top ten manga of 2012 at Organization ASG.

Derek Bown kicks off a new column at Manga Bookshelf: A weekly Shonen Jump Alpha recap.

Erica Friedman posts a new episode of Yuri Network News at Okazu, and she also announced a new yuri manga from ALC and JManga, Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan, by Fujieda Miyabi.

In his latest House of 1000 Manga column, Jason Thompson takes a long, thoughtful look at Barefoot Gen, whose creator, Keiji Nakazawa, passed away last month.

Molly McIsaac lists the ten manga she is most looking forward to in 2013.

Justin and Manjiorin discuss Attack on Titan at Organization ASG.

Khursten Santos introduces Blush, a BL fan anthology, which is up on the web for free, although you’ll have to log in to Issuu to read it.

Starsamaria discusses beta couples—second bananas—in shoujo manga at Shoujo Corner.

Anna is giving away a copy of vol. 1 of 07-Ghost at Manga Report; hit the link to find out what you have to do to enter.

News from Japan: Two manga magazines, Manga Sunday and Comic Cawaii, have ceased publication. A Touhou Project doujinshi event scheduled for late February has been cancelled after the management of the Sapporo Teisen Hall, where the event was to take place, received a threatening letter. The incident follows a string of threats to people and venues involved with Kuroko’s Basketball, but there doesn’t appear to be any connection between the two other than the venue—a Kuroko’s Basketball event was scheduled to take place in the same hall on February 10. A manga series based on the film A Certain Magical Index will begin running in Shonen Gangan in March. Btoom manga-ka Junya Inoue is working on a new series, La Vie en Doll, which will begin running in Monthly Jump X this spring. The March issue will also include a one-shot by Saturn Apartments creator Hisae Iwaoka. And Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun is coming to an end.

Reviews

Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of 21st Century Boys (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on Angel Heart (Comics Worth Reading)
Sakura Eries on vol. 17 of Bakuman (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 54 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Sweetpea on Bride of the Water God (Organization ASG)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 7 of Bunny Drop (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Angela Eastman on Danza (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on Emerald and Other Stories (Blogcritics)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 24 of Excel Saga (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Girl Friends (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Helen on vol. 1 of The Good Witch of the West (Narrative Investigations)
Victoria Erica on vol. 1 of Gossip Girl (Inside AX)
Connie C. on Jyu-Oh-Sei, Paradise Kiss, and X (Comics Should Be Good)
Lori Henderson on Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something (Manga Village)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 1 of Mayo Chiki! (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 4 of Oh My Goddess (Blogcritics)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of Paradise Kiss (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 8 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Blogcritics)
Erica Friedman on Wagamama Millefeuille (Okazu)

07-Ghost, Vol. 1

January 14, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Viz.

One of the side-effects of reviewing manga and trying to hit most of the new Vol. 1s is that I get exposed to series that I wouldn’t otherwise pay much attention to. And this one definitely falls squarely into that wheelhouse. Epic fantasy isn’t really my thing, and this is overwrought epic fantasy of the finest order. That said, it’s quite good at what it does, especially since it’s apparently the debut work of both creators (who are female – I’m used to male manga creators collaborating, so this is nice to see).

Teito Klein is your average fantasy bishonen, and indeed there’s more than a touch of the CLAMP influence here. He’s seen as cold by his military academy classmates, who don’t know how much he really feels. He has, however, managed to open up to one kid there, who has become just like family to him. That kid’s name is Doomed. Wait, sorry, no. It’s Mikage. They spend about 40 pages bonding and showing off that they’re skilled fighters, then Teito accidentally hears something he shouldn’t, and suddenly this military school becomes a lot more sinister and evil. Clearly the only thing to do is to run away and end up at a church filled with hot bishops, who are taking out evil wherever they may find it.

Given the authors’ past works (which consist of about 59 million Naruto yaoi doujinshi), I was rather surprised that this didn’t have quite as many BL overtones as I expected. Oh sure, Teito and Mikage have that close bond of friendship, but it actually feels like that. And Frau’s attentiveness towards Teito is somewhat undercut by his constant flirting with everyone and his porn collection. In general, this is about as gay as K-On is lesbian, which is to say that the main cast lacks any real females, so you ship what you can.

There’s a lot of religious symbolism here, with eyes given the names of archangels and discussion of heaven and hell (complete with reincarnation – as always, never let it be said that Japan settles on one religion when it can have them all). I liked the legend talking about the three dreams, which is both suitably epic and nicely sweet. I do note that I feel things went a bit too fast in this first volume. I’d have liked to see more at the military academy before Teito was captured, and we also get precious little of our main antagonist (who seems pretty ambiguous), Ayanami, who appears to have stepped out of the pages of Weiss Kreuz.

There’s a lot of goofy humor here, which helps to relive the tension caused by the apocalyptic events going on with Teito. Clearly he is a messiah figure here, and I imagine things are only going to get worse for him before they get better, which is somewhat sad given that this volume ends with his possessed best friend trying to kill him. Still, if you like CLAMP’s more fantastic titles, such as RG Veda, This should be a good read, and is a nice change of pace from Viz. (I always like seeing series in their plain old ‘Viz Media’ imprint, as opposed to Jump/Beat/Signature.)

Girl Friends The Complete Collection, Vol. 2

January 12, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Milk Morinaga. Released in Japan by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Comic High!. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

When we last left our heroines, Mari had decided that her love was never going to be requited, and had decided to move on – sort of – and tell Akko that she’d gotten a boyfriend and had gone all the way. This leads us to the first half of this omnibus, which is Akko trying to figure out why this makes her jealous, and dealing with her own newly discovered feelings for her friend. The focus shifting to Akko is very welcome, as though she’s the outgoing one of the pair she is not necessarily more worldly or mature. We see flashbacks to her childhood that show her being very much a solitary person, and even when she made friends (via discussion of fashion and makeup) they didn’t seem to be lasting friendships. This is when she latched onto Mari.

It’s interesting how Mari and Akko both have misunderstandings about the nature of their relationship, but in ways that are true to their characters. Mari is basically negative, with a “no girl could possibly like me in that way” sort of attitude. While Akko’s problem is that, after kissing Mari impulsively at karaoke, she assumes that all is now well and they *are* together, not realizing that actually discussion of such feelings is needed. This is not helped by Mari’s naivete – one of the best lines in the book is Akko’s exasperated “You don’t usually slip a friend the *tongue*, got it?” That said, this makes it all the more satisfying when they do finally connect and get together as a couple.

Of course, what does that entail? Since they’re both girls, going out together, texting each other late at night… they’ve done that before as just friends. So what’s different? Sexual attraction, of course, and unlike many a mainstream yuri (or faux-yuri) manga the author does spend a fair amount of time dwelling on this. Given both girls lied to each other about their sexual experience, each worries that they’ll screw things up somehow. (This leads to Akko looking at German Porn sites to see how girls do it, which made me laugh out loud). Eventually the two do take things to the next level, in a scene that sort of rides the edge of the OT rating that Seven Seas gave the book.

There is talk of the future, but it’s mostly the same sort of talk you’d find in books with a het romance – Akko’s going to a different school than Mari, leading to stress, but you know their love will see it through, etc. There’s a brief discussion of telling their friends and family about their relationship, but that’s not something that happens in the manga itself, nor do we see any of the fallout that might arise from being a lesbian couple in Japan. This is a seinen yuri fantasy for men that ran in Comic High!, after all. Reality is not welcome in its hallowed halls.

With all that said, I don’t think the manga suffers all that much from avoiding the harsher aspects of Mari and Akko’s relationship. This is meant to be adorable moe romantic fluff, and it succeeds admirably. The emphasis is more on romance here in this 2nd omnibus, but I was pleased to see that friendship is still given a huge spotlight – Sugi gets to be the ‘mature adviser’ type of friend, Tama-min the eccentric cutie, and we even get more development from Kuno and Taguchi, the other two girls in the main circle of friends. I was pleased to see that there was no effort made to pair up the other girls with each other… even though this isn’t overly realistic, having what’s called a “cast Full Of Gay” might have strained my credulity a bit.

It goes without saying that this is a great series that fans of yuri (and moe) will adore. That said, I do have one more very important complaint. If Akko is cosplaying Lum, then Mari should be Ataru… but she just doesn’t have the personality for it. Tama-min seems to have her cosplaying as Ryuunosuke, which she’s also unlikely to pull off, but I can see it if I squint. But if she’s doing Ryu, Akko needs to be Nagisa… which leads to even more problems. Tama-min needs to think these things through! Geez!

(Also, two of those omakes make me think that Milk Morinaga has watched too many 80s American sex comedies… Getting Lucky specifically.)

JManga the Week of 1/17

January 11, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: There are only 3 manga series next week from JManga, but one of them is a biggie. Let’s get the other two out of the way first.

A 6th volume of PoyoPoyo’s Observation Diary means a 6th volume of adorable and funny 4-koma slice-of-life cat manga. I approve. (I may not *read*, but I approve…)

JManga has a 4th volume of Crime and Punishment: A Falsified Romance out incredibly fast, meaning I haven’t even had time to come up with a witticism for it. Bah.

And now for one I’ve really wanted to see. Miyabi Fujieda is one of the most popular yuri artists in the West, and his Iono-sama the Fanatics had half of its two volumes released by Infinity Studios before they folded. (It also had a character romanized as Fletch, something I bring up to Erica ALL THE TIME. It is unclear if her name was actually Irwin Fletcher. Somehow I doubt it. Also, Iono-sama really needed a female Irish cop…) Anyway! Ame-iro Kochakan Kandan may be better known here as Chatting at the Amber Teahouse, and it is absolutely adorable. I cannot wait to see it come out in English!

MICHELLE: That was definitely the only one on the list that excited me at all, so I’m glad to hear it’s absolutely adorable! I’d rather read adorable yuri than any other kind.

MJ: I’m with Michelle. As I so often am.

Manga the Week of 1/16

January 10, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N 2 Comments

SEAN: I’ve noted before that Midtown doesn’t always (or even often) use Diamond Distribution to get their orders. As a result, sometimes you get weeks like this. The titles on Midtown’s list for next week arrived most places today. While Diamond is shipping Yen’s stuff to most stores (including mine) next week, but not Midtown. (Again, a reminder that I use Midtown’s list mostly as it’s first, rather than most accurate.)

With that in mind, here’s a fusion of both lists.

Kodansha has the second volume of Missions of Love, which continues to feature a hero and heroine who really aren’t very likeable, and a love rival who is headed that way. It’s fun seeing the reader having to work harder at identifying with everyone. Fun stuff.

MJ: Yeah. Fun…

MICHELLE: Sometimes my need to like characters prohibits me from enjoying shows/books that other people swear are great. This might be one of those times.

ANNA: I really have had no urge to check this out, and I suspect those feelings will continue.

SEAN: I did mean fun in a genuine and non-sarcastic sense, by the way. I quite enjoy this series.

Seven Seas has a slew of titles (most of which, as I noted, arrived today everywhere else). The one I like the best is the 2nd and final omnibus of Girl Friends, which I already praised in my Pick of the Week. Cute yuri fluff/angst.

MJ: I also adore Girl Friends, though I’ve only read it at JManga.

MICHELLE: Same here.

SEAN: Gunslinger Girl is almost finished with its run, which must mean it’s running out of people to kill off. Expect more of that in this omnibus, which contains the Japanese Vol. 13-14.

I Don’t Like You At All, Big Brother!! has an omnibus out as well. with Vols. 3-4. I can’t think of anything funny to say here that isn’t slanderous. Moving on…

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: I know nothing about Jack The Ripper: Hell Blade, a manwha series also from Seven Seas, but the covers to Vol. 1 through 3 (which is out next week) at least reassures me that it isn’t moe. Yay! (Is there a moe Jack the Ripper 4-koma series? Maybe with his sister Jill the Ripper having a tsundere crush on him? Sounds like a winner to me.)

SubLime has Vol. 3 of Punch Up!, whose cover art is complete and total win. Don’t care if it’s horribly offensive within. I can’t decide if it’s the cat with the ‘yay!’ face, or the glasses-wearing guy’s befuddled “now what was I doing again?… oh right, him” expression. It’s probably both. I do wish that SubLime provided bigger cover images, though…

MJ: From what I understand, Punch Up! is win all around! I gotta start reading this manga.

MICHELLE: I need to continue it! Loving the kitty footprint on the face, too.

SEAN: Yen Press, meanwhile, has a bevy of January releases. Black Butler has hit an even dozen, and continues to apparently be filled with supernatural antics and almost-but-not-quite-BL. But damn, it looks cool.

MJ: I think I am one of maybe three people who really can’t stand Black Butler. Sad, but true.

MICHELLE: I think it’s okay. It falls on the “worth reading” side of the scale for me, but doesn’t manage the heights of “worth rereading.”

ANNA: I did read the first volume of this and decided that was enough.

SEAN: Black God is up to Vol. 18. I know absolutely zilch about it, but now at least I have a group of people I can tag to gush about it for me. Michelle, MJ, gush away!

MJ: Well, hm. Collecting full series without reading them is usually Michelle’s MO, but I have to admit with shame that though I have the entire available run of Black God sitting in my shelf, I have yet to read any of it. This just change!

MICHELLE: Hey now, are you calling me out on my hoarding tendencies?! :) Actually, I’m doing far less of that these days, though I regret nothing when it comes to stuff from ten years ago that I’m very thankful to have snagged. Anyway, I too must admit that I have never read Black God. I do not have a good excuse. Sorry we have failed to provide the gushing you requested!

SEAN: A Bride’s Story is up to Vol. 4, and no doubt will continue to look lush and gorgeous, and feature a heroine that every other blogger in the world except me seems to connect with.

MJ: Though I do connect with the heroine, one thing I appreciated about volumes three and four, is that they are focused heavily on other characters. This is particularly poignant in volume three, but it doesn’t hurt volume four either. You might find more in it for you now?

MICHELLE: I haven’t started this one yet, though I was pondering doing so soon as there’s a new volume to discuss. So far, the only Mori I’ve read has been the first two volumes of Emma and her recent short story collection.

ANNA: I haven’t read volume 3 yet! But I did love Emma and will be catching up on this series eventually. I do love the fact that the editions are so nice.

SEAN: The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan continues to struggle with its slow start, something that is allowed in Japan but not North America, which is far more unforgiving to manga that take a while to get there. We’ve got one volume to go till the good stuff. Till then, enjoy the sweet fluff.

Soul Eater has reached a point where I can’t really divide it into arcs anymore. Disasters just pile one upon another until they seem to reach the sky. I presume the same thing will happen here. But it will look cool, the characterization will be magnificent, and the abstract art style will amaze me. (This is just a prediction, but I’m usually right.)

MICHELLE: This is the first description that’s ever made me want to read Soul Eater.

SEAN: Lastly, in the “not manga” category, Book Girl and the Undine Who Bore A Moonflower is out, the 6th in the series and the final stand-alone novel before the two-part finale. The title may be a mouthful, but this is probably the best light novel series I’ve seen brought over here to date. And for those who missed Maki in the last book, the ojou with a thing for our Book Girl heroine, she apparently features prominently in this one.

MJ: I haven’t read these either, and I really should, given that both you and Erica are fans.

MICHELLE: Now, here is an instance of a series where I’ve collected all the volumes so far without reading them. I swear I’ve got good intentions!

ANNA: I am slightly ashamed that I have not tried out any volumes of this series because usually as a librarian I would be all over any series with the phrase “Book Girl” in the title. One day I will read it!

SEAN: So what are you combining 3 different release lists to get?