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It Came From the Sinosphere: Cheerful Wind

July 10, 2012 by Sara K. 3 Comments

About the Title

This film has quite a few titles in English. Cheerful Wind is the title used by the IMDB, yet Play While You Play is the English title on my DVD. The Mandarin title is Fēnger Tītà Cǎi (風兒踢踏踩) which roughly means ‘The Wind Tip-Tap Steps’.

Three People

I picked this film because it brings together three of the most important people in Taiwanese pop culture: Chiung Yao, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Fong Fei-fei.

*****

Chiung Yao

Chiung Yao is the most popular writer of Chinese-language romance novels ever. I think she’s also Taiwan’s most popular female novelist ever. Many of her works have been adapted for TV, some of which are available on DVD even though they are over 30 years old. It is rare for a 30+ year old Taiwanese TV series to be available on DVD, which demonstrates just how popular Chiung Yao is. Furthermore, the 1998-2003 Chinese TV series adapted from her novel Princess Pearl, aka My Fair Princess, is the most popular Chinese-language TV series ever.

I’ll be honest; I haven’t read any of the novels or watched any of the TV series. Yet. But Chiung Yao’s position in Chinese-language pop culture is so important that I have to read at least a few of the novels and watch a few of the TV series if this column is to have any credibility. So I assure you, I WILL read some novels / watch some of the TV shows, and write about it here.

Naturally, none of her novels are available in English, because publishers apparently think there is no commercial potential in translating the works of the most popular romance writer in the Chinese-speaking world into English.

I am not clear what Chiung Yao’s involvement with this film is. The DVD claims that she is the original creator and that she ‘supervised’ the film, but this is not adapted from any of her novels, nor did she write the screenplay. Maybe she created the plot, or maybe she just let the film use her name to sell more tickets.

*****

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Out of all of the people involved with this film, Hou Hsiao-hsien is the best known outside of Asia. He is one of Taiwan’s most famous filmmakers. His best-known work is City of Sadness, set in the town of Jiufen (Jiufen also inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, and thanks to City of Sadness and Spirited Away Jiufen is constantly packed with Taiwanese and Japanese tourists). Hou Hsiao-hsien’s films get discussed in film schools around the world, put on “films to see before you die” lists, and played at international film festivals.

This film was made very early in his career—it’s only his second feature-length film. Nonetheless, his distinctive, low-key style is already apparent.

*****

Fong Fei-fei

If you created a list of “Five Most Important Taiwanese Singers of All Time,” Fong Fei-fei would definitely make the list. Frankly, I think she would belong on the “Three Most Important Taiwanese Singers of All Time” list too. She also happens to be one of my favorite Chinese-language singers. It was a big deal in Taiwan when she died earlier this year, and I wrote my own blog post about it.

Unlike Chiung Yao and Hou Hsiao-hsien, whose families fled China after WWII, Fong Fei-fei’s family had been in Taiwan for centuries, and she herself had been born in Taoyuan county (hey, I live in Taoyuan county!). Even after becoming a star, she stayed in touch with her working-class roots, and that is part of why she is so beloved.

Even though she is best known as a singer, she got her big break in show business as an actress, not a singer. That break was being cast in the TV show A Pair of Swallows Fly (燕雙飛), for which she sang the theme song. Even after establishing her singing career, she continued to accept acting roles, including the leading role in this film.

The Story

Xinghui is a photographer. She lives with her boss/boyfriend, Luozi, a producer of TV commercials from Hong Kong. However, her feelings for him a bit … lacking. While on a trip to Penghu to shoot a commercial, Xinghui meets Jintai, a flute-playing medic who lost his eyesight in a car crash while driving an ambulance. The two establish a rapport which only deepens when they happen to run into each other in Taipei. After an operation, Jintai can see again, and follows Xinghui to the countryside when she has to act as a substitute teacher for her brother. There, Jintai asks Xinghui to marry him. Meanwhile, Luozi plans a trip to Europe with Xinghui—knowing that travelling in Europe has been Xinghui’s dream.

So, does Xinghui run off to Europe with Luozi, or does she stay with Jintai in Taiwan?

The Theme Song

I really like the theme song for this film (which, by the way, was sung by Pauline Yeung and Kenny Bee, NOT by Fong Fei-fei herself). There are several other songs in the film, but the theme song is the clear winner. In fact, I like this song so much I translated the lyrics into English:

The wind blows and blows,
The clouds float and float,
The branches climb outside the window,
The little orioles are all adorable.

The wind steps on by,
The clouds step on by,
Knocking on the doors, asking,
‘Is my friend there?’

Spring’s footsteps come leisurely,
Yet quickly will be tip-tap stepping,
Young friends are tip-tap stepping,
And the world brims with love.

Charm

This film excels at charm. The story moves quite slowly and quietly, focusing more on highlighting how playful life can be instead of driving a plot forward.

For example, in the opening scene, they are shooting a commercial at a place where it is written “TAKING PICTURES IS FORBIDDEN.”

Xinghui and some men by a wall which says 'Taking Pictures is Forbidden'

The writing on the left side of the picture says “Taking pictures is forbidden.”

This is actually quite common in Taiwan—there are many places where the use of cameras is restricted for military reasons. I imagine these places would be especially common in Penghu, where this scene is set, because it is one of the most fortified places in Taiwan.

Speaking of military locations, one of my favorite scenes is where Xinghui, Jintai, and some children are playing hide-and-seek in an abandoned fortification (I am guessing that it is from the Japanese era, but I’m not sure).

Right at the beginning of the film, there are children who are setting up a dung bomb as a prank to play on a passerby.

However, the kids get the timing wrong, so the dung bomb explodes on them instead.

This boy is a victim of his own dung bomb.

Then, it is revealed that this is actually being filmed for a laundry detergent commercial. And because there was something wrong with this shot, they have to look for a cow so they can get more cow dung for more shots.

The dung bomb scene turns out to just be a film set.

It’s all just a film in the process of being shot.

I also cannot help notice that Xinghui wears at least five different hats during the film. Fong Fei-fei is known as the “Queen of Hats,” and I am pretty sure that is why Xinghui is wearing so many stylish hats during the film.

On Blindness

I am not comfortable talking about this because a) I have been sighted my entire life and b) I do not know much about the experience of blind people in Taiwan, but I am also not comfortable ignoring this.

There are times in the film when people treat blind!Jintai as an object instead of as a person with agency. I find it plausible that some Taiwanese people treat blind people this way (there is a reason why Taiwan has disability rights activists), so I do not fault the film for showing this. However, the film depicts this as being cute … and I do not think it’s cute.

There is also, of course, the fact that Jintai regains his sight during the film. On the one hand, the film depicts Jintai being fairly content as a blind man, which is an improvement over stories where blindness is depicted as being TEH MOST TRAGIC THING EVAAAAR!!!! On the other hand, the film does not explain why Jintai decided to have the operation, since the underlying assumption is that all blind people want to be sighted. I have no objection to people having operations to restore their eyesight, or to having this happen in stories, but I do object to the underlying assumption that this is the only way to address blindness.

Speaking of blind people and movies … Tommy Edison is a good film critic.

Nostalgia

This film was made in 1981, so it gives me a chance to see how much Taiwan has (not) changed.

The scenes set in Taipei in particular brought feelings out of me. The Taipei scenes are set in and around Taipei Main Station, which is the same area I lived in when I lived in Taipei. The train station itself has been completely rebuilt since the movie was filmed … yet some of the trains are still the same! Yep, some train cars from the 1980s are still in service today in Taiwan.

Taipei Train Station does not look like this AT ALL today.

I was also impressed by how little February 28 Peace Park has changed since the 1980s, even though the name of the park itself changed (in the film, it is called “New Park”).

That bridge, on the other hand, looks just the same today as it did in the 1980s.

Availability

I have this film on DVD. My DVD does not have English subtitles. I suspect there is no DVD with English subtitles. That said, this is a Hou Hsiao-hsien film, so there may very well be a film society out there which has a copy of this film with English subtitles.

Conclusion

Is it a great film? No. Is it a good film? Yes. I enjoyed watching it. Part of my pleasure came from recognizing different parts of Taiwan and Taiwanese culture, but even if I couldn’t tell Taiwan from Thailand I think I would have still enjoyed this quiet, whimsical film.

Next Time: CCC Manhua Anthology

Sara K. rather enjoys going to abandoned military sites in Taiwan. Recently she visited the coastal town of Shenao where she went to an area formerly restricted by the military—and saw cool-looking network of tunnels left by the military within the unusually-shaped rocks (she did not go inside because the entrance to the tunnels said “Danger: Do Not Enter”).

Not By Manga Alone: Supreme and other drawings

July 9, 2012 by Megan Purdy and Sean Gaffney 1 Comment

Chicks dig comics, Sean is the world’s foremost Kliban expert, and Wonder Woman was originally named Suprema. But you knew all of that already, right? Welcome back to Not By Manga Alone!

This month Sean pushes onward and upward, in his quest to read all the Kliban ever—this month he checked Two Guys Fooling Around With The Moon And Other Drawings off his list. Megan meanwhile, goes meta with The Comic Book History of Comics and Chicks Dig Comics.

* * * * *

Two Guys Fooling Around With The Moon And Other Drawings | By B. Kliban | Workman Publishing – After seeing Kliban’s two collections of Playboy cartoons, going back to the sketchbook collections is a relief. Not that they were bad, per se, but this feels like the real, unrestrained Kliban. Ugly, grotesque caricatures; sexual humor too risque even for Playboy; and of course a combination of wordplay and art like no other. The art in particular attracted me this time. It’s quite bold, with strong, thick lines and absolutely no attempt to make the characters and situation anything other than funny. In fact, in many ways the funny art helps to relief a few of the more controversial comics. Again, Kliban has no patience for corporate America or art critics, and both get savaged here. And even if Kliban wrote sexual punchlines for Playboy, some were a bit too weird even for them. The “earmuffs” gag, notably, features a self-portrait of Kliban as its focus—possible wish-fulfillment, if it weren’t so bizarre.

That’s what you really read these collections for. There’s a bit of sexual or political humor, but for the most part all this is just strange. Far stranger than anything The Far Side or Fusco Brothers ever hoped to come up with. There’s a series of Johann Sebastian Bach puns that are deadpan in their simplicity. There’s a couple using a sheet of plywood as if it was a swimming pool. There’s a clever variation on the “child won’t eat his vegetables” situation. It’s not perfect—several gags are here simply to pad out the book, or are simply TOO strange, and Kliban can be sexist at times. But again, this isn’t an author whose books you read just to laugh out loud, although you will several times here. But more often, you may cock your head to one side and go “huh?” Some gags need a bit of figuring out first, which is what B. Kliban is best at. – Sean Gaffney

* * * * *

The Comic Book History of Comics | Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey | IDW — Near the end of The Comic Book History of Comics, Van Lente says, “The industry might not survive. Should it?” It’s a smart and important question. Van Lente is talking about the great content industry boogie man, the digital revolution, and more specifically, torrents. Comics downloads probably do, as he argues, eat into the Big Two’s profits. They probably eat into their potential profits too, which is an even more ominous prospect for the health of the supposedly dying American comics industry. There’s a generation of comics fans who expect everything to be free—because in their experience, everything IS free. Downloading is easier than visiting a comic book store, especially in remote or rural areas. Downloading illegally is easier than navigating that weird digital back catalog thing Marvel offers. Comixology though, is easy to use and it’s cheap. And there are new and interesting ventures. Last week’s launch of MonkeyBrain Comics sent paroxysms of joy and terror through the industry, and for good reason. Cheap, high quality, creator-owned, digital indie comics? My god! The industry might not survive. Should it?

The Comic Book History of Comics traces the medium from its origins in newspaper cartooning, through the funnybook explosion, the crippling era of post-war censorship, the various booms and busts of a newly superhero-oriented industry, to the the challenges the industry faces today: the slow decline of the direct market, and the digital revolution. While this is a history of American comics, Van Lente and Dunlavey make smart—and necessary—visits to the British, French, and Japanese traditions. You can’t talk about American horror and fantasy comics without mentioning Metal Hurlant (and it needs to be said: Metal Hurlant is just the best). You can’t talk about the 90s grim and gritty trend, or the explosion of female readership, and the push into bookstores without talking about the “British invasion” of creators like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis. And frankly, you can’t talk about contemporary comics without talking about manga.

The book is pretty much delightful. Dunlavey’s pencils, layouts, and numerous visual quotes make it a fun and easy read. And while Van Lente’s clearly done his research, and has serious and important things to say about the industry and the medium, his tone is breezy, more pop history than academic—and thank god. He quickly and efficiently leads us through the shift from newspaper funnies to funnybooks, as not just a thing that happened, but a radical shift for both creative and business reasons. He keeps the focus both on the ongoing creative transformations within the medium and its presentation—panels, subject, art style—and the economic factors both intersecting with and driving those changes. Why did so many early anthologies have a “house style”? Well, so the artists would be replaceable! Why did horror and crime comics all but disappear for a while? Why was Batman so milquetoast, for so long? Well, because of the comics code. And also because of the subsequent shrinking of the market, and the retreat of publishers into the few things that did still sell—namely, goofy, semi-nostalgic superhero stories. This dual narrative is crucial, because you can’t talk about the history of commercial art, without talking about the commerce.

The Comic Book History of Comics is at its best when covering the great moments and movements in comics history—at its worst, perhaps, when dealing with contemporary issues. Also—what do you really want to say about Stan Lee, guys? There’s a bit of an untold story there, as the famous writer/editor/huckster is depicted as a blithe kind of sinister—maybe the rat, who torpedoed Simon and Kirby’s scheme to working for both Timely (later renamed Marvel), and for themselves on the side—definitely an egomaniac who stole Kirby’s thunder—but was it intentional? Is Stan the badguy? A vaudevillian self-promoter and hack? Or was he just another overworked, underpaid cog in the comics machine, who stumbled into fame and found that he liked it? This is unclear. Unlike the rich, layered depiction we get of Kirby, Bill Gaines, and so many other comics heroes and villains, Stan Lee is little more than a mustache, a pair of glasses and a grin. Van Lente and Dunlavey don’t shy away from making judgements—Disney: definitely a visionary, also an epic asshole—but Lee is left a bit of a mystery.

Another issue is the treatment of digital comics piracy. The Comic Book History of Comics rigorously researched—I say, as a non-expert—and packed with anecdotes and data (no annecdata). This is a big part of why it’s such a fun read. But this fades away, necessarily, when dealing with contemporary issues. It’s hard to talk about comics distribution and the demographics of the readership right now, because the data isn’t very clear or very deep. How much does piracy cut into publisher’s profits? We don’t know. What percentage of the readership is female? We… don’t really know that either, because the direct market can’t give us reliable figures, and the Big Two have only recently started surveying their readers. And too, as any pundit will tell you, contemporary commentary and predictions are hard. I mean, I think ventures like MonkeyBrain Comics are the next big thing, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the publisher will be a minor footnote of history. It’s easier for Van Lente to organize the history of comics into broad themes and movements than to do the same with a transformation that’s still unfolding.

We don’t know if the industry as we know it is going to survive. And should it?

Of the early days of sweatshop comics, one creator says, “We wanted to be splendid, somehow.” That’s kind of the takeaway for me. The Comic Book History of Comics is the story of an artform still creating itself, while also paying the bills on time. And while I’ve maybe lingered more over its flaws than its virtues, it is splendid. Like Tom Spurgeon says in the introduction, this is necessary book. We need this history of comics—more and many varied histories of comics. So basically this. More of this. – Megan Purdy

* * * * *

Chicks Dig Comics | ed. Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid Ellis | Mad Norwegian Press — It’s not actually a comic. It’s a book of essays and interviews about comics, chicks who work in comics, and chicks who love comics. I initially picked up the anthology because I’m, you know, a pretty loud geek feminist, and because of Kelly Thompson’s essay. (I’m preparing to interview her, so it was kind of a twofer). I have a lot feelings about Chicks Dig Comics, and they’re decidedly mixed.

To begin with, audience. Or, what is this book’s intended audience? I’m not sure, and the book doesn’t seem to be either. In the foreword, the editors say, “The title of this book describes a phenomenon so manifestly self-evident that we find it difficult to come up with more to say on the topic.” This stopped me short. Is the book intended for chicks who already dig comics? Chicks who would perhaps like to try out comics, and maybe also dig them? “The industry”? Guys who dig comics, who haven’t yet internalized the fact of female readership? I’m not sure. Compounding this confused messaging is the cover design. I read this book at work—during lunch, boss, I swear—at school, and on transit. Everyone wanted to know what I was reading. Everyone thought I was reading some adorable shoujo adventure story. The cover is attention grabbing, and that’s great. Not so great that even after checking out the title and subtitle, they couldn’t figure out what it was. Who is this book for? I don’t know. (These are the questions that keep me up at night…) That said, having checked out Chicks Dig Timelords and similar books, I have to admit that this kind of cover may be a genre convention—unfortunately, the intended “serious! also fun!” tone didn’t translate well to the uninitiated.

The anthology opens with an introduction by Mark Waid and an essay by Gail Simone. While I don’t object to the presence of men in a book billed as “A Celebration of Comics By the Chicks Who Love Them,” I have to wonder at the choice of a guy to introduce the topic. It reads less passing of the torch, than sop to the potential male audience, or an “all clear” for any potential male readers. “Mark Waid digs that chicks dig comics. Also Greg Rucka and Terry Moore.” Gail Simone’s essay hits many of the same points as he does. Both are personal retrospectives of the changing demographics of the industry and fandom. Basically, “When I was a kid not that many girls read comics, and now lots of girls do, and that is great.” All of which is true. When Mark and Gail were kids, girls weren’t a particularly visible or catered to segment of the comics reading population. Because of this thematic repetition, I’m left wondering why the editors didn’t lead with Gail’s essay. Is the book indeed for guys? Did they want a big name to anchor the book?

But this is all about the framing—you want to know about the content. A few of the essays are too brief or too light, and a couple of them are eminently skippable, but many are fantastic. The interviews and retrospective essays especially bring it. Carla Speed McNeil on how she broke into comics, and self-publishing then and now—fascinating! Terry Moore on the “why” of drawing—yes! Sara Ryan’s essay in script form—fantastic! The unevenness of the book made it a not always fun read, but there’s enough solid stuff here to make up for the bad. Sara Ryan’s Nineteen Panels About Me And Comics is tight, neatly constructed, quick, and genuinely interesting. I turned it into a recs list—her passion made me passionate about titles I haven’t even read. Jan Van Meter’s Vampirella: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Page Turn is the comics-reader origin story I didn’t know I was looking for. It’s about monsters and horror and the closed world of childhood, in which horror fiction can be not just scary stories but hope—hope for justice, hope for yourself, hope even, for lesser monsters—and hope that one day, we too might be sexy space vampires with cute boyfriends. And that Kelly Thompson interview I got into this for? Awesome.

It’s undeniably true that women are present in the comics industry and fandom, in a way they weren’t in the recent past (remember, girls and women were big comics consumers before and after WW2!). We’re a loud demographic, sometimes angry, sometimes overjoyed. And slowly, even the Big Two are starting to get that our money too is good money. Those are, as the editors point out, self-evident facts. I love that a book like Chicks Dig Comics exists, and I hope that there will be more books like it. – Megan Purdy

New Sailor Moon anime; looking ahead to San Diego

July 9, 2012 by Brigid Alverson

San Diego Comic-Con is just around the corner, and you can expect plenty of manga action. I’m going this year, for the first time, so I’ll be handing over the keys to MangaBlog to The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey, for the second half of the week. I’ll have a lineup of manga-related programming later in the week, but a few things are jumping out now. One is that three editors from Japanese Shonen Jump will be guests at Viz’s Shonen Jump Alpha panel on Saturday at noon. Interestingly, the Japanese Shonen Jump has a teaser website up with a countdown that ends on Saturday. Could these two things be related?

The big news broke Friday, at a video event celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon: Kodansha and Toei will be producing a new Sailor Moon anime. We don’t know too much more than that it exists, but it will be released simultaneously worldwide. Lissa Pattillo has a bit more at Kuriousity.

Lissa Pattillo has the scoop on the new licenses announced by Digital at Anime Expo.

I looked over the past week’s new manga at MTV Geek, and Lissa Pattillo has her selections in her latest On the Shelf column for Otaku USA. Meanwhile, Sean Gaffney takes a peek at what to expect this week, and at Manga Bookshelf, the team discusses their Pick of the Week.

Erica Friedman has the latest edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

For the second year in a row, Yen Press concluded their talent search without announcing a winner. Deb Aoki talks to Yen editor JuYoun Lee about why this is, how Yen Press finds artists, and what they are really looking for.

Jason Thompson takes a look at the classic sci-fi manga Parasyte in his latest House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Tony Yao meditates on the true meaning of strength as expressed in Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond.

Matt Blind looks at the manga best-sellers for the weeks of May 20 and May 27.

This month’s Manga Moveable Feast will focus on CLAMP, and it will be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, where MJ posts the Call for Entries.

The Ninja Consultants present their 2012 Anime Boston con report.

Cool things you can only get in Japan at the moment: The omake from vol. 7 of Inoboku and the latest cover of Morning, featuring art from Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond.

Three Steps Over Japan takes a look at the manga magazine Young Ace.

News from Japan: The Japanese Association for Gender, Fantasy, and Science Fiction gave the top prize in its Sense of Gender Awards to Naname no Ongaku (Schräge Musik), by Dolls creator Yumiko Kawahara. Shaman King manga-ka Hiroyuki Takei is creating a one-shot manga for the September issue of Jump Square. Wataru Yoshizumi (Marmalade Boy) is has ended the series Chitose Etc., which ran in Margaret. Also coming to an end: Shigeru Tschushiyama’s Gokudō Meshi, a gourmet manga in which prisoners reminisce about their most memorable meals. JManga has published the first two volumes in English.

Reviews: J. Caleb Mozzocco truly appreciates vol. 1 of Pretty Face, a manga that I have had nothing but mockery for, so go, check out his review at Every Day Is Like Wednesday. At The Hooded Utilitarian, Erica Friedman sings the praises of Sukeban Deka, which has yet to be translated into English. MJ and Michelle Smith discuss some recent releases in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Also at Manga Bookshelf: This week’s Bookshelf Briefs.

Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Attack on Titan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Alex Hoffman on Barrage (Manga Widget)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 42 of Bleach (The Comic Book Bin)
Khursten Santos on Breathe Deeply (Otaku Champloo)
Kristin on vol. 43 of Case Closed (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 20 of Claymore (The Comic Book Bin)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 1 of Cowboy Bebop (Blogcritics)
Connie on vol. 1 of Dog x Cat (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 2 of Dragon Ball (omnibus edition) (Blogcritics)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Gakuen Prince (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Connie on issue 5 of GEN (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of Genshiken: Second Season (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Lexie on vol. 2 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Poisoned Rationality)
Sesho on vol. 1 of Harukaze Bitter Bop (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 3 of Hetalia: Axis Powers (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sesho on vol. 22 of InuYasha (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Kate Dacey on vol. 1 of Jiu Jiu (The Manga Critic)
Kristin on vol. 9 of Jormungand (Comic Attack)
Connie on vol. 6 of Kizuna (Slightly Biased Manga)
Anna on Knight Princess of Orelian and Serilia of Silver (Manga Report)
Sesho on vol. 28 of Naruto (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Reviews)
Anna on Queen’s Stairs and Love Spice (Manga Report)
Lesley Aeschliman on vols. 14 and 15 of Ranma 1/2 (Blogcritics)
Queenie Chan on Skip Beat! (Queenie Chan)
Manjiorin on vols. 1 and 2 of Slam Dunk (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sean Kleefeld on vol. 3 of Summit of the Gods (Kleefeld on Comics)
TSOTE on Tabibito no Ke (Three Steps Over Japan)
Connie on vol. 6 of Tenjho Tenge (omnibus edition)
Erica Friedman on vol. 17 of Tsubomi (Okazu)
Lexie on vol. 1 of Until Death Do Us Part (Poisoned Rationality)
Jocelyne Allen on Yagate, Ai ni Naru (by est em) (Brain Vs. Book)
Shannon Fay on Your Story I’ve Known (Kuriousity)

Pick of the Week: Summit of the Gods & more

July 9, 2012 by Katherine Dacey, Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Brigid Alverson and MJ 3 Comments

KATE: I only have eyes for one book this week: the long-awaited third volume of Summit of the Gods. This manliest of manga focuses on two Japanese climbers’ efforts to find out what happened to doomed explorer George Mallory, who disappeared during a 1924 attempt to reach the top of Mt. Everest. As one might expect of a series illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi, the artwork is superb; if you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to navigate a glacier or dangle from a rope above a yawning chasm, Taniguchi’s drawings will transport you to the Himalayas with the same vertigo-inducing accuracy as an IMAX film.

MICHELLE: I, too, am happy to see volume three of Summit of the Gods appear at long last, but I’ll throw a bit of love toward Alice in the Country of Clover: Chehsire Cat Waltz. Okay, true, the Bloody Twins Clover installment was nowhere near as good as the original Country of Hearts series, including as it did a variety of “what-if” scenarios pairing Alice up with various guys from the video game, but it seems as if Cheshire Cat focuses on her relationship with one guy. Maybe I’m wrong and it’ll disappoint again, but you can be sure I’ll be checking it out.

SEAN: Yeah, I’ll go with Cheshire Cat Waltz as well. It’s still more ‘romance’ oriented than the first series, but does at least make the effort to show that Alice is in a strange land filled with dangerous psychopaths who change moods at the drop of a hat. I hope they go a bit further into her reasons for being there – briefly hinted in the first manga’s ending – but in the meantime, I am content to see her wandering around with the hot guys as long as it keeps up the frisson of discomfort that makes it intriguing.

BRIGID: Summit of the Gods sounds pretty tasty, but it’s 95 degrees and I’m in the last stages of San Diego prep frenzy, so I need something light and amusing. I thought the first volume of Animal Land was kind of strange but interesting in an oh-Japan kind of a way, so I’ll swing for volume 5 this week. Since it springs from the fevered brain of the creator of Zatch Bell, I know I won’t have to take it too seriously, and that’s good enough for me.

MJ: Aside from Summit of the Gods, this week is pretty light for me, so as I’m weighing in last, I’ll to head over to NETCOMICS and recommend their Totally BL bundle, available through the end of the month. While NETCOMICS’ limited-time rental model is looking less and less attractive these days, next to other publishers’ iPad apps and other ownership-based digital venues like JManga (even eManga offers a “Keep” option for their titles), there are a number of Korean titles from NETCOMICS that I must continue to recommend, especially for BL fans. One of these is Hajin Yoo’s Totally Captivated, included in the NETCOMICS bundle along with the super-addictive Let Dai. If you’ve never given Korean BL a chance, this is the time to do so.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 7/9/12

July 9, 2012 by Katherine Dacey, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 3 Comments

This week, Kate, Michelle, and Sean look at recent releases from VIZ Media and Vertical, Inc.

Case Closed, Vol. 43 | By Gosho Aoyama | VIZ Media – In the latest volume of Case Closed, Conan and the gang solve three mysteries: one involving a lost cell phone, another involving a toy company president, and yet another featuring a bomb-wielding maniac. The stories are a little hit-or-miss, relying heavily on surprise twists that few readers will be able to anticipate from the available clues. Of the three, “One Demon Among 53,000” is the best, a crisply executed beat-the-clock thriller in which Conan must find a terrorist who’s threatening to blow up Koshien Stadium during the national baseball championships. Smart pacing and effective jump cuts convey the urgency of the situation, making it all the more frustrating that volume 43 ends without resolving this promising storyline. Guess I’m on the hook for 44! – Katherine Dacey

Dawn of the Arcana, Vol. 4 | By Rei Toma | Published by VIZ Media – While this volume doesn’t play up my favorite aspect of Dawn of the Arcana—Nakaba’s inner struggle between her loyalty to her protector, Loki, and her burgeoning feelings for her new husband, Caesar—as much as I would like, it’s still quite an important volume. Nakaba’s influence on Caesar continues to be profound, and when he learns that his father is planning an attack on a village of Loki’s people, he sets out to foil the plan. Meanwhile, Nakaba begins to explore her powers of foresight and starts to think she may be able to use it to help people, only she can’t tell Caesar because the king would execute her if he were to catch wind of her ability. She’s shaping up to be a strong and capable heroine, and I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here! – Michelle Smith

The Drops of God, Vol. 4 | By Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto | Vertical, Inc. – The moment that Shizuku won the battle for the first Apostle, I was ready for the second battle to be Issei’s. He has to be a formidable foe, after all. To that end, he gets the bulk of the character development here, going to the Tibetan desert in order to find the perfect inspiration and also to acquire another love interest (in a sequence which is both heartwarming and laughable in its cliche). Shizuku, meanwhile, seems the odd one out this time – in a volume that is filled with lovers reconnecting and familial bonds, he can’t even understand why Miyabi seems so grumpy when he notes they’re just colleagues. No surprise, then, that he ends the volume with need of some serious soul-searching. Hopefully he’s found it by the next omnibus, which jumps ahead about a dozen or so volumes. –Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 8 | By Julietta Suzuki | VIZ Media – The kami conference wraps up quickly here, and I liked that they did show Kayako again just to have a bit of closure. The bulk of the volume, however, deals with Kurama and his tengu family, as Nanami and Tomoe get involved in a tortuous succession battle. There are sprinklings of the main romance here and there, but for the most part this volume works like many of the previous ones – a new character meets Nanami and takes an instant dislike to her, only to eventually fall for her on account of her gumption, stick-to-it-ive-ness, and general main character syndrome. I don’t expect Jiro to be any different, especially as he’s already noting the differences between men and women. Provided you haven’t grown weary of everything revolving around how swell Nanami is (she needs more obvious flaws), this series still entertains. –Sean Gaffney

La Corda D’Oro, Vol. 16 | By Yuki Kure | VIZ Media – This dating-sim-cum-manga would be a true guilty pleasure if Kahoko, the heroine, wasn’t such a dithering idiot. Alas, her doormat behavior and lack of focus make her an unlikely candidate for classical music greatness, as she spends more time mooning over cute guys than she does practicing her etudes. In volume sixteen, for example, she nearly flops in competition because she’s become utterly preoccupied with aloof but handsome violinist Len. Len’s big revelation — and the fallout from it — could have been handled in five or ten pages, but Yuki Kure milks it for nearly three chapters, treating us to repeated scenes of Kahoko blushing, stammering, and playing sour notes as she frets about Len. Worse still, these scenes feel like they’ve been pilfered from earlier chapters; even the characters seem bored with their lines, sleep-walking through an all-too-familiar tournament scenario. Wake me up when the backstage backstabbing resumes! – Katherine Dacey

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 12 | By Yuki Midorikawa | VIZ Media – For the most part, this manga is content to be a series of short one-shots and two-parters dealing with the yokai world, and the new yokai Natsume has to deal with. We have seen him slowly starting to open up, however, and the three-parter here shows how it’s affecting both him and Tanuma. This is the classic ‘if I’m not close to them, they won’t be in danger’ hero dilemma for Natsume, but we not only see Tanuma’s side – wanting to help but feeling completely inadequate about it – but also Nitori’s, who it is implied made his choice earlier in life and is trying to ensure Natsume does not duplicate it. There’s a lot more action here as well, as if the increase in emotions lends itself to a faster, more frantic pace. Loneliness has plagued Natsume’s life as it did his grandmothers. Can he stop the cycle? Addicting. –Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 9 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – It’s great to see Tsubaki’s abilities improve with each volume. In particular, the focus issue she’s always had is almost entirely absent here, mostly due to the fact that there’s only one real plot here – the attempt to crush Okegawa. It’s his story more than Mafuyu’s here, which is why he takes her out right before the final battle – and also why he is seemingly finally allowed to see through her disguise. Okegawa is fantastic here, as we see that being a bancho is not just about thugging it up, but almost a military calling – planning the battle, caring for your subordinates. And loving a good fight as well, of course. Lest you think that this is a serious volume, however, fear not – the author can’t go three pages without sticking in something hilarious, with this particular volume ending in what amounts to a giant pie fight. I still like this series better than most. Listen to me, though, as I’m the correct one. –Sean Gaffney

Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 18 | By Bisco Hatori | Published by VIZ Media – I read the first volume of Ouran back in June 2006, so getting to this final volume has been a six-year journey. Staying true to itself to the end, the conclusion is simultaneously so silly it’s positively ridiculous and so sunny that it’s pretty endearing. I’d say this is a satisfying ending for the most part, though the special side story, about Kyoya’s ambition and his thoroughly Slytherin family, was really kind of dull. I wanted more Tamaki and Haruhi cuteness! Throughout the volume, Hatori includes illustrations and sidebars about the futures of various characters, and some of those are adorable, and we also get one final cameo by Mori’s chicken! I can’t adequately express how much I love that durn chicken. Not without flaws, but still recommended. – Michelle Smith

Toriko, Vols. 10-11 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | VIZ Media – The latest installments of Toriko illustrate what’s bad — and good — about this goofy series. Whenever the story’s focus shifts from food to fighting — as it does in volume ten — Toriko becomes a dreary slog, filled with ugly characters engaged in sadistically violent combat. Making these battle scenes even more tedious is the dialogue, as bad guys pause to outline their plans, or explain the source of their power, thus providing Toriko an opportunity to gain the upper hand. When the story focuses on food and friendship, however, it’s a cheerful, if occasionally stomach-churning, parody of Iron Chef, as Toriko and his sidekick Komatsu scour the globe in search of rare ingredients. For my taste, there’s too much combat and not enough cuisine in Toriko; even the reappearance of master chef Setsuno, one of the series’ most memorable characters, wasn’t enough to erase the memory of volume ten’s endless wrangling. – Katherine Dacey

Hetalia Axis Powers, Vol. 3

July 9, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

By Hidekaz Himaruya. Released in Japan by Gentosha, originally serialized as an online webcomic. Released in North America by Tokyopop in association with Right Stuf, Inc.

For the first time in over a year, I get to review a new Tokyopop book. And naturally, it’s the third volume of Hetalia Axis Powers. It was a runaway bestseller, so it makes sense that it should come back. The translation for it had already been done, given it was scheduled to ship a mere month after TP initially went under. And, being one of the company’s few Gentosha books, I imagine the renegotiations were easier than with a company like Kadokawa or Akita, who might inquire about the 7-8 other abandoned titles that there is little interest in reviving.

The quality of the book itself is a huge improvement over the first two, at least production-wise. The paper is thicker and more durable, there are color pages, and it simply feels more ‘quality’ than the almost xeroxed feel of the first two volumes. As for Himaruya’s art, it’s always going to look a bit dashed off, as that’s just what he does, but it does look a bit clearer here than in prior books.

The series is less about World War II than ever before, but that’s absolutely fine. History buffs may like Hetalia, but in the end it’s not particularly written for them. It’s a goofy comedy starring a bunch of (mostly) guys who do dumb things around each other, and happen to be nations of the world. There’s a bit less reliance on stereotype here (though still a lot – don’t think it vanishes) as we have grown to know the characters and therefore the author can rely on simple character-based gags, such as tomboy Hungary not realizing that she’s a girl, or Japan’s crushing disappointment that Switzerland does not look like Heidi at all.

This is not to say that there aren’t plenty of historical strips, they’re just used as setup for the most part. Probably the best in the book is the analysis of the alliance between Poland and Lithuania in the 15th and 16th century, which also gives us a chance to see some actual action in the series, however brief, as the two nations battle against Prussia and Sweden (what an odd pairing. Are their fanfics? … yes, of course there are.) At times the history/gag comic balance can be upset a bit, but it’s mostly unintentional. When Prussia comes across an older Hungary lying beaten against a tree with clothes torn open, the unpleasant implication is that she was just raped by Turkey. While this is not entirely out of place given the actual history that happened between the two, it jars in a comic that mostly has a light touch with catastrophic world events.

There are a few new nations introduced here (including another rare female, Belgium), and some get a bit more development, such as the Nordics. But for the most part the main cast of 3 Axis and 5 Allies remain the focus, and they have lots of goofy times. Several of the gags fall flat, but the book reads quickly, and in the end you read it with a smile on your face more often than not. That said, this is only recommended to those very familiar with the series, and would be a wretched starting point for newbies. Let’s hope it sells well enough to get a Vol. 4… and perhaps inspire some other license rescues?

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 27 May

July 8, 2012 by Matt Blind 1 Comment

Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

Manga Bestsellers

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [423.3] ::
2. ↑3 (5) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [407.5] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [384.3] ::
4. ↓-2 (2) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [379.5] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [371.5] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [343.0] ::
7. ↑7 (14) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [312.3] ::
8. ↔0 (8) : Negima! 34 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [301.7] ::
9. ↓-2 (7) : Black Butler 9 – Yen Press, Jul 2012 [300.9] ::
10. ↑3 (13) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [286.3] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Yen Press 83
Viz Shonen Jump 80
Tokyopop 67
Viz Shojo Beat 48
Kodansha Comics 42
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 35
HC/Tokyopop 19
Dark Horse 16
Vizkids 15
DMP Juné 14

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [1,090.5] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [827.1] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Black Butler – Yen Press [633.1] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [622.3] ::
5. ↑2 (7) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [561.1] ::
6. ↑4 (10) : Death Note – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [511.9] ::
7. ↓-2 (5) : Negima! – Del Rey/Kodansha Comics [490.9] ::
8. ↓-2 (6) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [417.4] ::
9. ↑4 (13) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [411.7] ::
10. ↑1 (11) : Avatar: The Last Airbender – [multiple publishers] [394.0] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [423.3] ::
4. ↓-2 (2) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [379.5] ::
8. ↔0 (8) : Negima! 34 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [301.7] ::
15. ↑13 (28) : Warriors SkyClan & The Stranger 3 – HarperCollins, Apr 2012 [251.9] ::
24. ↓-4 (20) : One Piece 62 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [209.8] ::
32. ↑3 (35) : Pandora Hearts 10 – Yen Press, May 2012 [183.4] ::
36. ↓-13 (23) : Highschool of the Dead 6 – Yen Press, Apr 2012 [170.4] ::
37. ↑61 (98) : Soul Eater 9 – Yen Press, May 2012 [166.6] ::
41. ↓-8 (33) : The Betrayal Knows My Name 3 – Yen Press, Apr 2012 [151.6] ::
43. ↑17 (60) : Pokemon Black & White 7 – Vizkids, May 2012 [151.3] ::

[more]

Preorders

9. ↓-2 (7) : Black Butler 9 – Yen Press, Jul 2012 [300.9] ::
10. ↑3 (13) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [286.3] ::
11. ↑1 (12) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [280.5] ::
12. ↑5 (17) : Sailor Moon 8 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2012 [278.3] ::
33. ↑22 (55) : Sailor Moon 9 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2013 [181.8] ::
38. ↑18 (56) : Ouran High School Host Club 18 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2012 [166.5] ::
40. ↑8 (48) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [157.5] ::
48. ↑87 (135) : Bleach 40 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2012 [144.5] ::
52. ↑25 (77) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 12 – Seven Seas, Jun 2012 [142.8] ::
53. ↔0 (53) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [142.4] ::

[more]

Manhwa

321. ↑289 (610) : Ragnarok 1 – Tokyopop, May 2002 [38.9] ::
369. ↑383 (752) : Bride of the Water God 11 – Dark Horse, May 2012 [33.7] ::
472. ↓-135 (337) : Bride of the Water God 9 – Dark Horse, Oct 2011 [26.2] ::
544. ↑204 (748) : Priest Purgatory 1 – Tokyopop, Aug 2010 [21.2] ::
572. ↓-240 (332) : INVU 5 – Tokyopop, Nov 2009 [19.4] ::
680. ↓-1 (679) : Bride of the Water God 10 – Dark Horse, Jan 2012 [14.5] ::
764. ↑687 (1451) : JTF-3 Counter Ops – RealinterfaceStudios.com, Mar 2011 [11.2] ::
868. ↑ (last ranked 15 Apr 12) : Jack Frost 1 – Yen Press, May 2009 [8.5] ::
874. ↓-152 (722) : Toxic (anthology) 1 – Udon, Jul 2012 [8.3] ::
1063. ↓-360 (703) : Black God 16 – Yen Press, Apr 2012 [5.0] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

40. ↑8 (48) : Finder Series 6 Passion within the View Finder – DMP Juné, Jul 2012 [157.5] ::
62. ↑10 (72) : Only the Ring Finger Knows (novel) 5 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [126.1] ::
76. ↑10 (86) : Ai no Kusabi (novel) 7 – DMP Juné, Sep 2012 [110.7] ::
157. ↓-12 (145) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [71.5] ::
174. ↓-68 (106) : Private Teacher 3 – DMP Juné, May 2012 [67.9] ::
240. ↓-84 (156) : Private Teacher 2 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [51.2] ::
248. ↑3 (251) : Dog x Cat 3 – 801 Media, Jun 2012 [49.7] ::
257. ↑22 (279) : World’s Greatest First Love: Ritsu Onodera’s Affair 1 – Tokyopop Blu, Cancelled [47.4] ::
262. ↓-16 (246) : Good Morning – DMP Juné, May 2012 [46.1] ::
297. ↑489 (786) : Silver Diamond 8 – Tokyopop, Dec 2010 [41.4] ::

[more]

Ebooks

4. ↓-2 (2) : Naruto 56 – Viz Shonen Jump, May 2012 [379.5] ::
7. ↑7 (14) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [312.3] ::
13. ↓-4 (9) : Naruto 55 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [265.0] ::
16. ↓-6 (10) : Maximum Ride 5 – Yen Press, Dec 2011 [246.7] ::
25. ↑20 (45) : Maximum Ride 2 – Yen Press, Oct 2009 [204.7] ::
28. ↑23 (51) : Maximum Ride 3 – Yen Press, Aug 2010 [192.1] ::
31. ↑16 (47) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [185.0] ::
42. ↓-13 (29) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [151.4] ::
53. ↔0 (53) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [142.4] ::
58. ↑117 (175) : Naruto 1 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2003 [139.3] ::

[more]

The Future Is Japanese: Science Fiction Futures and Brand New Fantasies from and about Japan

July 8, 2012 by Ash Brown

Editor: Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington
Publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421542232
Released: May 2012

I have been impatiently waiting for The Future Is Japanese: Science Fiction Futures and Brand New Fantasies from and about Japan, edited by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington, ever since the anthology was first announced. I already adore Viz Media’s Japanese speculative fiction imprint Haikasoru and will buy and read anything it publishes. However, I was particularly excited about The Future Is Japanese because it is Haikasoru’s first original publication. (I also hope that it isn’t the last.) I was thrilled when the book was finally released in 2012. The anthology collects thirteen stories from creators both East and West (primarily Japanese and American). All but two of the stories were being published for the first time. Just looking at the table of contents I was very pleased with what I saw. Most of the contributors to The Future Is Japanese are already award-winners in their own rights; those whose works with which I wasn’t already familiar I at least recognized by name. As an added bonus, the book’s cover illustration is by Yuko Shimizu, one of my favorite artists. The Future Is Japanese had a lot going for it from the very start.

After a foreword by Masumi Washington and an introduction by Nick Mamatas, The Future Is Japanese begins strongly with Ken Liu’s short story “Mono no Aware,” a meditation on impermanence wrapped in a science fiction tale of humanity’s survival at the edge of space. The next two stories were probably my least favorite in the collection although there were moments in each that I enjoyed tremendously. “The Sound of Breaking Up” by Felicity Savage starts as one story and ends up being an entirely different one. This frustrated me because I was more interested in the first. David Mole’s mecha tale “Chitai Heiki Koronbīn” ends too abruptly for my taste and seemed like it should be the introduction to a longer work. (Granted, one that I would like to read.) These are followed by “The Indifference Engine” by Project Itoh which explores war, hatred, and prejudice. Originally published in 2007, the story confirmed the fact that I want to read everything written by Itoh. The next story was one of my personal favorites in the anthology, “The Sea of Trees” by Rachel Swirsky, a haunting tale about death, ghosts, and letting go. Toh EnJoe’s story “Endoastronomy,” which follows next, has a philosophical and intellectual bent to it, something I enjoy about and have come to expect from his work.

The next selection, “In Plain Sight” by Pat Cadigan deals with the complications caused by artificial and augmented realities. The Future Is Japanese continues with “Golden Bread” by Issui Ogawa. I happen to be fond of Ogawa’s longer works and was not disappointed with his short story. Next is Catherynne M. Valente’s contribution, “One Breath, One Stroke” which is about yokai that live close to the human world. Written in a delightful but fragmented style, the work creates more of a mood rather than a cohesive story. Ekaterina Sedia’s near future and slightly melancholic tale “Whale Meat” follows. Next in the anthology is a selection from the extremely prolific Hideyuki Kikuchi. I actually preferred “Mountain People, Ocean People” over many of the other works of his that I have read. Following next is “Goddess of Mercy” by Bruce Sterling, one of the longer stories in the collection it is about the pirates and darkness that settle on Tsushima island after Japan is destroyed. The Future Is Japanese concludes with “Autogenic Dreaming: Interview with the Columns of Clouds” by TOBI Hirotaka. Originally published in 2009, the story won a Seiun Award in 2010. A complex story featuring a digitization project that has unexpected consequences, “Autogenic Dreaming” particularly appealed to my information science background.

As with most short story collections, how much a reader will enjoy each individual work in The Future Is Japanese will depend on personal preferences. Although I wasn’t blown away by the anthology, personally I found The Future Is Japanese to be a very satisfying read. The short story can be a difficult form to master, but even the works that I found problematic had their strong points. The stories do all tend to be serious in tone, but the collection covers a nice range of speculative fiction from fantasy to science fiction to horror. The Future Is Japanese also has a good balance between Western and Japanese authors. Appropriately enough for the anthology’s theme, even the Western works show Japanese influence, whether stemming from the writers’ personal interests or from the creators having lived in or visited Japan. Overall, The Future Is Japanese is a solid anthology that was well worth the wait.

It Came From the Sinosphere: Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero (Part 2)

July 6, 2012 by Sara K. 6 Comments

On Tuesday, I introduced Passionate Wastrel, Infatuated Hero. Because there is very little information about the novel available in English, I split this post into two parts. This is part two.

The Style

First of all, this is a novel that MOVES. Before the reader is five pages into the novel, an innocent girl witnesses a murder. From that point on, the story does not slow down very much, and generally only when it needs to slow down. There are a few sections where the plot loses a little momentum—particularly when focusing on Ling Haotian’s moping over Zheng Baoan—but just when I think the plot might actually drag, a new plot twist bursts in with a BAM!

One reason the novel moves so well is its accessible writing style. I would not go so far as to call it a plain writing style, but the literary flourishes are generally playful in nature. For example, there is a scene where Zhao Guan and Ling Haotian seem to be in a competition to spit out the most chengyu. However, when Zheng Feng is not having fun with words, the language is very direct and to the point.

Fighting

The most enjoyable set of fights for me was the poisoners’ tournament. It has novelty—the contestants duel by trying to out-poison each other instead of using direct combat. It has all of the classic psychological appeals—our protagonist is the underdog (Zhao Guan is the least experienced of all of the contestants) and the stakes for him are really high. And because he is the least experienced of the poisoners, he needs to rely on his wits to win, which is a lot of fun for the reader.

Fighting is a central part of Ling Haotian’s development as a character. Training is how he (tries to) take his mind off of his problems, and as a wanderer he needs to fight to defend himself. It is when he wins a tournament—not of poisoners, but of the finest fighters in the martial arts world—that everybody, including himself, finally realises that he is himself and not merely the son or brother of so-and-so.

Feminism?

One of the reasons I was so interested in reading this novel was, being written by a female, I hoped it would be less patriarchal than other wuxia novels I’ve read. Is it feminist? On the surface, no. But there are some very interesting things beneath the surface…

The two main characters are male, and they both get lots of attention from beautiful women, which makes it seem like a typical harem fantasy wuxia aimed at straight males. However, the standard wuxia-harem-fantasy-for-straight-males tends to feature a man who, while strong, is not particularly handsome, and the women who fling themselves at him tend to be young chaste maidens (please note that I use the word “tend”—of course there are exceptions). Zhao Guan, on the other hand, is so gorgeous that the novel specifically states that 80% of the young women he encounters gets a crush on him. I have come to the conclusion that he probably looks like Hu Ge.

Two pictues showing off Hu Ge's prettiness.

Hu Ge, Chinese bishonen

Even with his looks, he still has to work at getting so many women, unlike the typical wuxia hero who basically has women fall into his lap. And, much as he does not like it, he often has to refrain from pursuing certain women for pragmatic reasons. Most wuxia heroes do not put so much thought into which women to pursue or not pursue—when they do refrain, it’s usually because of sexist cultural programming, not because they actually considered what might be in his or her best interests. Of course, if they actually thought about it before entering into certain problematic relationships, there would be less dramatic conflict, whereas making decisions based on sexist programming tends to increase, not decrease, dramatic conflict.

Zhao Guan of course prefers women who a pretty and not evil, but he does not care about their prior sexual history, or even if they have other sexual or romantic relationships (well, he does care about their other relationships … but in a “I won’t let him hurt her” sense and not a “how dare she have another man” sense). This lack of double standard is rather refreshing. He even takes a woman who had kidnapped and tortured him as one of his lovers. And while he does care about looks, the most beautiful women in the story are immune to his charms for some reason (*cough* the Ling brothers *cough*). This does not look so much like a fantasy for straight males to me. This looks like a fantasy for straight fangirls who want a hot guy who won’t turn them down.

What about straight fangirls who are not physically pretty? They have Ling Haotian. The most beautiful women in the story all fall for him or one of his brothers, not Zhao Guan. Meanwhile, Zheng Baoan, while not ugly, is said to be the plainest-looking young woman in the story. Yet she is the only woman that both Ling Biyi and Ling Haotian want. Even though they can get women who are far, far more beautiful. And they are both hot dudes. This is unambiguously a fantasy aimed at straight female readers.

Speaking of Zheng Baoan, she’s a cool character herself; she’s sweet, reserved, feminine, and tough as nails. Ling Haotian says she is far braver than he (I agree). Whereas Ling Haotian generally runs away from problems, Zheng Baoan confronts them. And while he’s busy angsting over his feelings for her, Zheng Baoan is too busy saving his life to indulge in angst. I like characters like this because they illustrate that courage is just as compatible with femininity as with masculinity.

And then there’s the gender-reversal in Zhao Guan’s story. First of all, instead of being a girl who has heard her parents say they wished she were a boy, Zhao Guan hears his mother wishing she had a daughter, and the other people who take care of him as a child keep on saying it is such a pity he is not a girl. Wuxia novels have no shortage of women who, for various reasons, dress and try to pass as male. No woman does that in this novel. Instead, it is Zhao Guan who sometimes tries to pass as female. His reason is very practical—he needs to hide from his enemies, and it is sometimes safer for him to present himself as female than male. However, he feels no shame in dressing as a woman. This reflects that he really, really does think females are equal to males—he has no reason to be ashamed of being perceived as female. Now count the number of straight men in your life who would not experience any shame or embarrassment if they had to dress up and pass as women.

And speaking of gender reversal, there’s Zhao Guan’s mother herself. She basically lives the live of a male wuxia hero without being male. She overcame childhood tragedy, mastered various martial arts skills, rescues the weak and innocent, punishes wrongdoers, became the leader of a martial arts faction, drinks alcohol, and has her own (reverse) harem. It’s a pity that she has to die so early in the novel … I’d be willing to read a novel which features her as the main character.

How the Novel Made Me Feel

Back in the later years of elementary school and in middle school, I voraciously gobbled up whatever decent-or-better fantasy novels came my way. I did it because it went beyond fun. I lived the exciting adventures of those characters.

Reading this novel brought that feeling back for me. I read this novel at a steady clip of about 145 pages per day—which may not seem like that much until you realize a) I didn’t start studying Chinese until I was in my 20s and b) I often had to put the book down to savor some bit which had captured my imagination. This novel dominated my life while I was reading it, and the story is still ringing through my mindspace.

And … CURSE YOU ZHANG FENG FOR WRITING THAT ENDING! YOU MADE ME CRY!

Availability

The only part of this novel that is available in English (or any other non-Asian language) is the excerpt I translated for this review. There is not even an unfinished fan translation.

I know the handful of wuxia novels which have been published into English or French have not been best-sellers (if any wuxia novels have been published into any non-Asian languages other than English or French, please comment—I want to keep track of all wuxia novels published in non-Asian languages). However, just as contemporary manga tends to be more commercially successful in English translation than classic manga, I suspect contemporary wuxia might be more commercially successful than classic wuxia in the English-speaking world. I think a publisher could make money bringing out this novel in English if they marketed it properly. Now, once enough people in the English speaking world are hooked on wuxia, the classic novels could come out, heh heh heh…

At the very least, it is available in both simplified and traditional characters. For those learning Chinese as a foreign language, I think this novel is a good pick because it has such an accessible style. Is it the easiest novel to read on linguistic grounds? No. But it is entertaining and fast-paced, which in my opinion is more important than whether the grammar or vocabulary are easy. And compared to many other wuxia novels, the vocabulary and grammar are not hard.

Conclusion

I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that I love this novel. It is a monumental artistic work that a literature professor would approve of? No. But much as I love high-brow culture, sometimes I want a story which will just suck me in. This story did that. If you can, you should give it a chance to suck you in too.

Sara K. used to be really into fantasy novels. Looking back, she wonders how she found time to read all those novels considering that she also had to go school, do homework, sleep, and so forth. It gives her hope that she might be able to actually find time to read many of the wuxia novels on her reading list. And she definitely plans to read Zheng Feng’s other novels.

Attack on Titan, Vol. 1

July 6, 2012 by Sean Gaffney

By Hajime Isayama. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

When the buzz for this series first started coming out, right about when it got the Kodansha manga award last year, I recall many people mocking Shueisha for turning it down. The author had shown the series to the editors of Weekly Shonen Jump, and was promptly told that the series was not Jump enough. So he turned around and sold it to Kodansha, and now it’s a bestseller. But they were absolutely right. This isn’t a Jump series at all. Leaving aside the basic horror of the premise, modern Jump simply isn’t this grim. Even Kodansha thought it was more suited to their monthly magazine than the flagship.

The series immediately knows that its strength are the titans themselves. They are huge, grotesque, and unknowable, even as the humans in the city desperately try to discover their weak points and flaws. Seeing likeable characters literally getting eaten by these things not only gives a feeling of desperation to the series, but helps you to side even more with our band of heroes who have vowed to destroy them – particularly the brother-sister team who keep the viewpoint.

Speaking of that, and this is a bit of a spoiler, apologies. I’m not at all sure, at the end of Vol. 1, how I feel about Eren. So-called decoy protagonists are nothing new in manga, and we’ve certainly seen folks we thought would be the hero getting mercilessly killed off right away before. But he doesn’t quite have the right *feel* of one of these, and I’m not sure the manga is ready to follow Mikasa and Armin for the rest of the series. I came out of the closing moments of the cliffhanger thinking along the lines of “…really? How are they going to walk back from that one?” Of course, if I prove to be wrong, it’s quite an impressive step to take. Especially given that the seemingly emotionless Mikasa seems more likely the sort to launch a roaring rampage of revenge after this.

If the series does have a downside, it’s the art when titans are *not* on the screen. There’s a fairly large cast filled with military types here, many of whom I presume will form our core cast. It’s a shame I had so much trouble telling them apart, then, and kept flicking to the montage introduction in the middle of the book to try to get them straight. There’s also some basic siege cliches in here – Eren’s fight with Jean is right out of the big book of war movies.

More to the point, I’d like a few more signs that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. This series is still ongoing, at 7+ volumes in Japan, and I really hope that we get a few more bright spots ahead. As if it ends up being the story of how a ragtag bunch of misfits go up against the enemy and slowly die one by one, the story will be fascinating, but far too downbeat for my taste. I hope the 2nd book can show a bit more optimism.