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My Week in Manga: July 30-August 5, 2012

August 6, 2012 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I had three posts for you all last week here at Experiments in Manga. First was the announcement of the Love Hina Giveaway Winner which also includes a brief list of some of the harem and reverse harem manga that have been licensed in English. I also posted July’s Bookshelf Overload. I managed to restrain my impulse buys over the last month (for the most part). And finally, I reviewed Frederik L. Schodt’s The Astro Boy Essays. I actually haven’t read or watched much Astro Boy, but Schodt’s book is a fantastic introduction to Astro Boy and Osamu Tezuka.

Many boys’ love fans celebrated “Yaoi Day” on August 1st, or 8/01. (With a little Japanese wordplay, 801 can be pronounced as “yaoi.”) I saw a lot of love for est em last week, and for a good reason–she’s a fantastic creator. Jocelyne Allen translated and posted a portion of her interview with est em from 2010 at her site Brain Vs. Book. Over at Otaku Champloo, Khursten Santos had a special spotlight on est em. And, while not part of the yaoi day celebrations, Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga featured est em a few weeks back.

Also! The call for participation for August’s Manga Moveable Feast has been posted! Later this month the manga blogging community will be taking a closer look at Eiji Ōtsuka and Housui Yamazaki’s The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

Quick Takes

Fist of the North Star: Master Edition, Volumes 7-9 written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. Gutsoon Entertainment was only able to publish nine volumes of Fist of the North Star before going defunct. I would absolutely love to see more of the series available in English. When I first started reading Fist of the North Star, it seemed like the series was heading towards a bad-guy-of-the-week sort of story. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I was very happy to see it evolve an engaging overarching plot. Plus, I love the gloriously over-the-top martial arts. These last few English volumes further develop Kenshiro and his brothers’ backstories and introduces one of the primary antagonists of the series.

My Cute Crossdresser by Mitohi Matsumoto. A part of Digital Manga’s new hentai imprint Project-H, My Cute Crossdresser falls into the genre known as otokonoko. Generally written for a male audience, otokonoko features cross-dressing guys, often in somewhat compromising situations (it is ecchi, after all). I quite enjoyed My Cute Crossdresser. For the most part, the sexual content is actually fairly mild. The first and longest story, “Raising Decoy,” in which a guy dresses as a girl to catch gropers on the train in order to bring them to justice, ends up being rather sweet. “Spilled Milk” and “Leo and the Night Sky of Summer” are partially excuses for suggestive crossplay. The collection also includes “An Angel’s Flight” and “Actress.” The volume is fun and even a bit fluffy.

Sexy Voice and Robo by Iou Kuroda. It’s difficult for me to adequately capture my response to reading Sexy Voice and Robo, or to even describe what this manga actually is about. It’s a strange and rather unusual story, but I found it be appealing and immensely enjoyable. Nico, aka “Sexy Voice,” is a bright fourteen-year-old girl who wants to be spy when she grows up, or maybe a fortuneteller. She finds other people intensely fascinating and can’t help but meddle in their affairs, often putting herself in some very dangerous situations as a result. The endearing and hapless “Robo,” who is frequently caught up in her escapades, is one of many men she met while working for a tele-club dating scam.

Tactics, Volumes 1-2 by Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. First published by ADV Manga, then Tokyopop, and now available through JManga, Tactics is one of the few manga that I’ve read that takes place during Japan’s Taishō era. Kantarou is a young folklorist who is occasionally called upon to exorcise yokai that are causing problems for people. The plot moves a little too quickly at times and is nearly as hyperactive as its protagonist. The stories tend to be fairly benign even when they include slightly more menacing elements. Personally, I prefer my yokai tales to have a little more bite to them, but there were parts of Tactics that were genuinely fun. I was particularly amused by the tengu Haruka’s extreme attachment to his rice bowl.

Yaoi fans celebrate their special day

August 6, 2012 by Brigid Alverson

I took a look at the past week’s new releases at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo covered them in her On the Shelf column for Otaku USA as well. Meanwhile, Sean Gaffney looks forward to this week’s new manga.

Erica Friedman has another installment of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

Jocelyne Allen celebrated yaoi day (8/01) by running a 2010 interview with est em, the creator of Seduce Me After the Show and Red Blinds the Foolish. And she follows that up with a review of Gad Sfortunato, a yaoi title by Natsume Ono (writing under her pen name, basso) that has yet to make it into English.

And as a service to her fujoshi readers, Kimi-Chan posts a list of free BL manga and webcomics. Khursten Santos also runs a list of recommended yaoi webcomics, and she shines the spotlight on est em as well.

At Heart of Manga, Laura posts the list of new shoujo titles for August.

Matt Blind’s best-seller lists are gaining on us: His latest is the best-selling manga (online sales) for the week ending July 15.

Takamasa Sakurai noticed more Japanese people than ever at the most recent Japan Expo in Paris, which is a good thing:

Meanwhile, overseas events provide Japanese guests with an opportunity to communicate with each other. In Japan, they part as soon as they finish work. But overseas, they have plenty of time to speak to each other. They can meet for dinner or go out together after events. It’s rare in Japan for artists and staff from various genres to get together, but outside Japan, they’re “Team Japan.” By sharing similar experiences, they can build friendships.

News from Japan: Crunchyroll has some photos of the National High School Manga Championship. You knew there had to be one.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Awkward Silence (I Reads You)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vols. 11 and 12 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Cactus’s Secret (Blogcritics)
Connie on Cigarette Kisses (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate Dacey on vols. 3-5 of Dawn of the Arcana (The Manga Critic)
Connie on vol. 1 of Dousei Ai (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 19 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Jiu Jiu (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on est em’s Kine In! (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kimi-Chan on Love Soul (The Kimi-Chan Experience)
Erica Friedman on vol. 8 of Lucky Star (Okazu)
Connie on vol. 2 of Scent of Apple Blossoms (Slightly Biased Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 23 of Slam Dunk (I Reads You)

Pick of the Week: Flowers of Evil, GTO, Lizzie Newton

August 6, 2012 by MJ, Sean Gaffney, Katherine Dacey and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

MJ: Though Midtown Comics’ selection is pretty limited this week, I still find myself a bit torn. I’ve been a big fan of Tohru Fujisawa’s GTO: 14 Days in Shonan—much bigger than I’d ever expected, in fact—so that’s certainly a major draw for me. But I think my real vote goes to the second volume of another Vertical title—Shuzo Oshimi’s The Flowers of Evil. The series’ first volume offered up a thoughtful take on some of the awkward realities of teenage sexuality, portrayed with a level of honesty (especially regarding its young, male protagonist) that I really hadn’t anticipated. I was surprised by my own reaction to this series, and I am really looking forward to more.

SEAN: Tempted as I am to ignore Midtown’s list and pick one of the pile of Viz coming out everywhere else this week, I will refrain. Instead, let’s go with Vol. 13 of GTO The Early Years, which doesn’t get as much critical praise as its sequels, but is just as much fun. The first half is an epic high school battle involving what a man has to do. After that we get to see exactly what it’s like to be Onizuka’s mother (answer: not all that fun), and find out what the dangers are of claiming to your gang that you’re so badass you can defeat anyone and anything. And the last two chapters are filthy and hilarious. It may seem retro, but just like GTO, its heart is in the right place.

KATE: I second both of MJ’s recommendations—GTO: 14 Days in Shonan for being much funnier than it has any right to be, and The Flowers of Evil for being more complex and real than Sundome, the manga it most closely resembles. If I had to choose one of the two, Flowers nudges out GTO simply because it’s weirder and less formulaic than 14 Days in Shonan. The ending of volume two is amazing—it gives new meaning to the term “blow-out”—and pushes the plot in a new and unexpected direction.

MICHELLE: I too recommend GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, but since that’s already been touted by my compatriots I will instead mention a title that’s due on August 7th according to Amazon, but which is absent from Midtown’s list, and that’s the debut volume of Lizzie Newton: Victorian Mysteries, a new manhwa coming from Seven Seas. I suppose its plot isn’t too original—headstrong lady is more interested in solving crime than in marrying advantageously—but it still sounds pretty fun to me!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Book Girl and the Wayfarer’s Lamentation

August 6, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

By Mizuki Nomura. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This volume of Book Girl does not introduce a new situation of tragic consequences that resonate with our hero’s own past and causes him to grow and change a little more. We’re done with that. Instead, we tie the previous four books together and bring things full circle, as Konoha must confront his past head on, deal with the return of his objectified girl, and realize that despite all the growth he’s made in this last year, he still has quite a ways to go.

These books are all told from Konoha’s point of view, and thus sometimes things can happen around him that he is unaware of. This is especially true of this volume, but Nomura-san is very skilled at letting the reader in on things that Konoha either doesn’t know or is deliberately deluding himself about. Those who have been frustrated by Konoha’s attitude in the past are not going to find this book any easier to delve into. Indeed, as a reader I found myself identifying more with Akutagawa, who is clearly sympathetic to Konoha, but also can’t stand what he’s doing to Kotobuki (and himself). There’s a wonderful scene where Akutagawa lays everything out for Konoha to see, with an expression on his face that says “you aren’t going to believe this or care but I am doing it anyway, dammit.” When his frustration boils over into violence, it’s very cathartic.

Speaking of Kotobuki, I think I’m finally coming to like her. It’s taken a while – she was very stereotypical to start with – but as she’s opened up we’ve seen more of her inner turmoil, and here we see her risking everything in order to protect Konoha. It’s inspiring, but also rather sad, as I think by the end of the book, despite what he may say, he’s no closer to Kotobuki than he was when the book began.

And then there’s Takeda. I’d mentioned in my review of the third volume that it was rather refreshing seeing how in this series, people’s issues aren’t magically fixed by page 235. And indeed, we see that sometimes they aren’t fixed at all. Takeda still puts on a mask of happiness to hide her confusion and sorrow, and now has even taken to self-harm. It’s quite interesting how she actually takes up with Ryuto, a boy who seems to delight in girls with issues, so to speak. Even by the end of the book, after another cathartic moment, we’re not sure if she’ll be OK.

And then there’s Miu. I was predisposed to liking her because of my nature (I find myself drawn to and supporting unlikeable characters), and felt that I was correct when I read the scene with a young Miu meeting Konoha, and telling him a story. Konoha’s narration of it is beautiful, and you believe that it shows you the real Asakura beneath all the anger, hatred and manipulation we’ve seen. And then, later on, that beautiful scene is thrown back at us, as we get it from Miu’s point of view and see the horrible pedestal Konoha has placed her on, leading to writer’s block and her desperate cribbing of stories from other sources. I’m not sure it makes up for everything she’s done, but at least I look forward to seeing if she can finally move on and begin to heal.

I haven’t talked all that much about the book as a book, but that’s mostly as I’m so drawn into the character’s lives. It’s a good book. Frustrating at times, but that’s the frustration of a reader towards the characters doing dumb things, not the author. I do wish we’d had more of Maki – she’s the only supporting character whose story didn’t tie into the others, and her presence at the end seems to be nothing more than ‘I need the whole cast here’ – but she apparently features heavily in Book 6, so I’ll let it go. I also haven’t mentioned Tohko, the titular Book Girl, but that’s because Tohko’s story is still so diffuse. Yes, she’s studying to get into university – barely – but she’s the one who helps others, the detective who puts everything together. We haven’t had her own story yet – clearly that will be Books 7 and 8, the finale. For now, all we get are suggestions and small tastes.

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 05 August

August 5, 2012 by Matt Blind Leave a Comment

Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

Manga Bestsellers

1. ↑2 (3) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [402.7] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [401.0] ::
3. ↑1 (4) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [385.7] ::
4. ↑1 (5) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [381.9] ::
5. ↑1 (6) : Vampire Knight 14 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jul 2012 [348.8] ::
6. ↑2 (8) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [330.5] ::
7. ↑6 (13) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [326.8] ::
8. ↓-7 (1) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [324.0] ::
9. ↓-2 (7) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 9 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Jul 2012 [316.8] ::
10. ↓-1 (9) : Negima! 35 – Kodansha Comics, Jul 2012 [314.8] ::