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Manga the Week of 11/9

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Thank you to all who have patiently seen my blog not updating for days due to the nightmarish power loss here in New England.

Now, next week. Bandai has the second volume of their Tales of the Abyss manga tie in, Asch the Bloody. I somehow suspect the series is not much like Evil Dead, but may be wrong.

DMP has some more BL. The second volume of the amusingly titled Bad Teacher’s Equation. Volume 2 of Border, which seems a lot more dramatic. And a one-volume manga called Yakuza Cafe, which I imagine will have Yakuza… running a cafe! See, who said 5 days with no power impaired my ability to write?

Speaking of BL, or at least BL light, Kodansha has the 2nd and final volume of Until the Full Moon. Which has a teenage vampire/werewolf bishie betrothed to a playboy vampire bishie. In other words, you would think it was a license to print money.

Udon has the 3rd volume of Mega Man Gigamix, which really gets no blogger love whatsoever. Come on, where’s the Mega Man fans? (Yes, I know, pot meet kettle.)

And then there’s Viz, acknowledging that nobody parties like it’s 1999 anymore, with their re-release of CLAMP’s most apocalyptic series, X. I have a general “I like happy endings” objection to this series, especially given it takes the fun couples from CLAMP School Detectives and writes them in here to be part of the disaster, but luckily the series has been on hiatus in Japan for years, so likely I’ll never have to worry about the mass deaths that will inevitably be supplied at the end.

In non-X news, there’s new Dogs: Bullets and Carnage, which has more than two characters, but you’d never know it by the fandom. There’s a new Inu Yasha omnibus, which I believe will have Vols. 25-27. And new Rin-Ne, where Sakura will continue to not get angry. That’s her trait. ‘And Sakura?” “She doesn’t get angry. A lot.” and of course a new Pokemon Black & White, which is filled with the sort of things that makes people Pokemon fans.

What appeals to you?

Yurara, Vols. 1-5

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By Chika Shiomi | Published by VIZ Media

Yurara Tsukinowa can see spirits and sense their painful emotions, but she can’t actually do anything to help them. Or so she thinks. When a new school year finds her in the same class as Mei Tendo and Yako Hoshino, two hunky boys who use their spiritual powers to ward off vengeful spirits, she ends up helping them out, but not entirely alone. You see, Yurara has a guardian spirit—also named Yurara—and it’s this spirit who manifests when spiritual nasties are afoot, causing regular Yurara to adopt the spirit’s good looks and feisty personality until the threat is dealt with. “That was awesome!” Mei proclaims after spirit!Yurara’s first appearance. “She’s beautiful and strong!”

At first, the series is pretty episodic. Before Yurara came along it seems the boys simply drove off the spirits—Mei possesses offensive powers of fire while Yako’s water-based abilities lean toward the defensive end—but now that she’s around to actually communicate with the ghosts the encounters typically end with the spirit being able to pass on peacefully. The exception is the case of Mei’s mother, a ghost who claims to be hanging around so that her husband and sons can’t bring chicks over, but who is really worried about protecting her son from an evil spirit.

As time goes on, Yurara begins to learn more about the boys and is especially intrigued by cheerful, glompy Mei, whose skirt-chasing demeanor is really a way to hide his sorrow over the spirit-induced death of his first love. When Yako asks whether there’s someone Mei loves, Mei replies, “You should know. There is… but she’s not here.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back on it now, the plight of loving someone who is gone and will never return actually comes full circle, alighting upon Yako by the end of the series. Because the more he’s around Yurara, the more Mei falls in love with her. She returns his feelings in her normal guise, but when under the influence of spirit!Yurara, she’s drawn to Yako instead. This makes for much confusion, as you might imagine.

The latter half of the series is primarily focused on this romantic triangle/square, and I ate up all of the attendant angst with a spoon. I sighed a bit when a contingent of mean girls harrasses Yurara for hogging the boys’ attention, but was pleased when she actually ended up befriending one of them. Really, this shoujotastic twist on a supernatural tale was exactly what I was craving when I began Yurara, and so I found it very satisfying. My one quibble is that early on, Yako seems to acknowledge the fact that he’s in love with “a phantom of a person no longer of this world,” but later seems surprised to realize that it’s the guardian spirit who loves him and not Yurara herself. Perhaps that’s not so much a flaw, though, as it is something to ponder over.

I shan’t spoil the ending except to say that I liked it and that it paves the way for Rasetsu (now released in its nine-volume entirety by VIZ), in which a slightly older Yako meets a girl who reminds him very much of spirit!Yurara.

Ultimately, Yurara is not a masterpiece, but it was exactly what I wanted it to be and I enjoyed it very much. Now on to Rasetsu!

Yurara was published in English by VIZ. All five volumes were released.

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 2

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For those who note that very little happens in Kaoru Mori manga, I must inform you that there is a pitched battle in the second volume of A Bride’s Story (Yen Press). Normally, this would be confined to Mori’s bonus comics and consist of a hyperactive, hilarious difference of opinion with her editor, but it actually happens in the narrative here.

Amir’s relatives try to reclaim the young woman, hoping to offer her in marriage for a more valuable alliance. But Amir is very taken with her young husband, as he is with her. The lesson here is to never underestimate a group of determined villagers with a big pile of bricks. The lesson is also that Mori can really stage an action sequence when she puts her mind to it. In addition to being exciting, these sequences shine with character-driven moments and really give you a sense of Amir’s new community.

Of course, me being me, I’m equally taken with the very long sequence where Amir’s sister-in-law teaches her daughter about embroidery and the family’s traditional designs. What can I say? I’m probably even more partial to scenes where next to nothing happens as I am to ones where lots does.

It’s a little hard to come up with anything new to say about a given volumes of Mori’s manga, because she’s so consistent. Her art is lovely, her attention to detail verges on hypnotic, and her clear fondness for her subject matter is infectious. I just love A Bride’s Story, maybe even as much as I loved Emma (CMX).

 

Manga Giveaway: Happy Hallowe’en! Winner

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And the winner of the Happy Hallowe’en giveaway is…Maxy Barnard!

As the winner, Maxy Barnard will be receiving the first volume in Moyoco Anno’s marvelous fantasy series Sugar Sugar Rune! For this giveaway, I asked entrants to tell me about some manga that got them in the mood for Hallowe’en. I received some great responses, so please check out the comments for more details. Thank you to everyone who participated and spread the word about the giveaway. I hope to see you all again for next month’s giveaway, too!

And now, without further ado, a brief list of manga to get you into the Hallowe’en spirit (in one way or another):

Berserk by Kentaro Miura
Demonbane written by Nitroplus and Takashi Tanegashima, illustrated by Yūki Tanaka
Franken Fran by Katsuhisa Kigitsu
Goth written by Otsuichi, illustrated by Kendi Oiwa
InuYasha by Rumiko Takahashi
Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara
Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun by Shin Mashiba
Rosario+Vampire by Akihisa Ikeda
Shaman King by Hiroyuki Takei
Sugar Sugar Rune by Moyoco Anno
Vampire Princess Miyu by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano
Vampire Princess Yui by Narumi Kakinouchi
The Wallflower by Tomoko Hayakawa
The Wanderer by Narumi Kakinouchi

Upcoming 11/2/2011

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Like that house in the neighborhood that always offers the best haul on Halloween, the ComicList has lots of appealing choices this week. I’ll focus on three.

I doubt it will be a barrel of laughs, but I’m eager to read No Longer Human (Vertical), Usumaru Furuya’s adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s acclaimed, apparently depressing novel. I haven’t read it, but the book was heavily featured in Mizuki Nomura’s Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime (Yen Press), which was awesome. Furuya’s work is always interesting to me, even if I don’t particularly like it, if that makes sense.

I was pleasantly surprised by the first volume of Bloody Monday (Kodansha Comics), which overcame the total familiarity of its teen-hacker plot with rock-solid execution. Volume two is due tomorrow.

And oh, mighty Isis, is that the fifth volume of The Story of Saiunkoku (Viz) I see? It is! Okay, so I already bought this at the bookstore over the weekend. I’m still excited for the seven people who buy it through their local comic shop.

Over at the partially snow-bound Manga Bookshelf, a weather-reduced Battle Robot offers its Pick of the Week and some Bookshelf Briefs. We’ll take a week off from The Favorites Alphabet this week and devote all of our energy to hoping that our afflicted members get their power back soon.

 

Bookshelf Briefs, 10/31/11

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With several important limbs of the battle robot immobilized by snow, David and Michelle bravely forge on with a look at recent releases with a Halloween or costume party sort of vibe!

Animal Land, Vol. 1 | By Makoto Raiku | Kodansha Comics – The most striking thing about Animal Land is that it actually manages to convey the physical sensation of shrillness without actually creating any sounds. I swear my ears were ringing by the time I was done with this comic, and if it had been an animated cartoon, I would have clicked away from its high-pitched shrieking within seconds. It’s too bad, because Raiku has created a clever plot featuring a human baby winding up in a functioning society of tanuki. The baby, who can understand and communicate with all species, shakes up the inter-animal dynamic by helping them understand what everyone else is saying. That’s a really interesting starting point, but the hyperactive characters always seem to have their volume set at shônen 10, which is about 4 levels higher than I can tolerate. Some of Raiku’s anthropomorphic character designs for the tanuki end up being unintentionally creepy rather than cute, too. – David Welsh

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 4 | By Kazue Kato | Viz – There’s a pretty big reveal in this volume and, as is sometimes the case in stories by relatively inexperienced creators from weeklies, it seems a bit rushed. Kato does a great job in a lot of departments. Her art is attractive and stylized, but it keeps the action clear. The character types are certainly familiar, but they’re likeable and distinct in spite of the recognizable functions they fulfill. (I find myself surprisingly fond of hard-ass mentor Shura in spite of her fan-service-friendly wardrobe.) And Kato thinks about the small things in terms of the ways her characters interact and react to events, which is always welcome. As far as the long-term storytelling goes, though, Blue Exorcist seems a little lumpy. While Kato gets good follow-up mileage out of big events, the overall structure doesn’t seem as tight as it could or should be. There’s tons to like here, but it lacks the seamlessness of something like Fullmetal Alchemist. – David Welsh

Gate 7, Vol. 1 | By CLAMP | Dark Horse – Gate 7 is so extraordinarily pretty. From the handsomely detailed settings to the finely carved faces and gorgeous costumes, it’s a feast for the eyes. The glamour of it all almost – almost – excuses the fact that it has very little else working in its favor at this point. The plot reads like a CLAMP Mad Lib. A dorky but good-natured guy falls in with a pack of weird but incredibly attractive people with magical powers and lots of secrets, and he learns that he has some semblance of supernatural ability. In spite of the reams of exposition CLAMP has provided, I still feel like I know very little about most of the cast or what their function is in the grand scheme of things. But I really, really like looking at them, and I think I will be content to do so for at least a few more volumes. – David Welsh

Raiders, Vol. 7 | By JinJun Park | Yen Press – Raiders is such an odd series. It’s somewhat incoherent—the super-swift cuts between scenes don’t help one make sense of what is going on—but there’s enough intriguing about it that I keep reading. And now that I’ve read seven of the nine volumes, might as well keep going to the end! This volume features a pair of guys breaking into Area 51 in order to obtain data on the military’s research into weaponizing the undead. I’ve no idea how they learned about this, or who one of these guys even is, but with Raiders I’ve learned to set aside such concerns and just focus on the action, which is usually pretty cool. Also, the fanservice is not gratuitous—okay, yes, there’s one inexplicably nude moment for Lamia (the sexy zombie!) and copious bra flashes in a fight between two blade-wielding women, but these moments never subtract from the characters’ overall badassery, which I appreciate. – Michelle Smith

Vampire Knight, Vol. 13 | By Matsuri Hino | VIZ Media –So much of Vampire Knight is comprised of angst-ridden scenes and moody grey screentones that important revelations kind of sneak up on the reader. You’re reading along, lulled by the pretty art as you watch Zero mope about his plight as a vampire again (“Inside me… is there anything human left?”) and Kaname wrestle with conflicting impulses concerning Yuki, and then suddenly Kaname’s revealing the truth about his origins to Yuki, which explains how he could be both the progenitor of the Kuran clan and her sibling and also tangentially covers the formation of the vampire hunter society. I wouldn’t say it’s riveting stuff—it’s all a bit too languid to qualify—but it ought to have some interesting consequences. One thing I will say for Vampire Knight—it’s compulsively readable, and even though I’m not a fervent fan, I see myself sticking around for the long haul to see how things turn out. – Michelle Smith

Urameshiya Volume 1

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Urameshiya Volume 1 by Makiko

Available online at Jmanga.com

I was hoping to cover more scary manga for the month of October and the horror themed Manga Moveable feast, but life got in the way and the only new spooky title I’ve managed to read recently is Urameshiya from jmanga.com. This is a historical variation on what I tend to call “spooky shop” manga, where a person with spiritual powers has to intervene in the lives of people who are affected by ghosts. It is a snowy night in Edo era Japan, and an attractive woman named Oyou has used up her welcome and the sake supply at a local tavern. The owner apologies and says that he has to ask her not to come anymore because she’s scaring the other guests. She leaves with the advice that he should throw some salt at the ghost that is standing in a corner and heads out into the night. A handsome man who turns out to be a not overly bright pickpocket stumbles against her. She catches him in the act and tells him that he has to buy her sake to make it up to her. Saji decides that he’ll put a different spin on things by taking her to his house and getting her drunk.

As they travel they cross a bridge with a lonely female ghost. Oyou prevents Saji from getting trapped and they end up spending the night together, but one of Saji’s neighbors turns up frozen to death after listening to the spirit. Saji asks Oyou for help getting back at the ghost that killed his friend. What follows are three long episodes where Oyou and Saji form an incongruous ghost-busting team. Oyou is mysterious and a bit snarky, never confirming her feelings for Saji. In contrast, he’s quietly smitten. He decides to move in with her into the spooky tenement that seems to be inhabited only by freaks of nature. They deal with a case of wronged love, a rapacious rich girl cursed with vagina dentata, and have an unfortunate run-in with a young fox spirit. I really enjoyed the art style in Urameshiya, which is old fashioned and stylized in a way that highlights the historical setting. Oyou and Saji both have glossy black hair, long flowing robes, and angular faces with gigantic eyes. Saji provides Oyou with a bit of a grounding influence, tying her to the real world. For all that Oyou protests that she cares nothing for the young thief, she’s actually incredibly protective of him if he’s threatened. Having only three chapters in a single volume seemed to give the author the room to more thoroughly set the scene for each episode. I enjoyed the relationship between Oyou and Saji, the space given to each monster of the week, and the historical setting of Urameshiya. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the next volume in this series.

Random weekend question: costume drama

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Okay, here’s the obligatory Halloween-themed random weekend question: if resources and logistics were no object, what manga character would you emulate for your costume? While it seems fairly easy, I’d probably go with Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. Now, I know you’re probably thinking that’s fairly simple — a trench coat, a wig, a few scars drawn on with an eyebrow pencil, and you’re finished. But that coat would take some wicked tailoring, and I’d want the whole armory of surgical tools in the lining, just for the effect.

 

License request day: Franken Fran

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I swear I’ve seen Erica Friedman describe Akita Shoten’s Champion Red as a shônen magazine where dignity and hope for a better world go to die, perhaps even suggesting that its readership should be monitored for their potentially detrimental influence on the gene pool. I trust Erica implicitly, but there is a horror series that’s run in Champion Red that was recently… well… championed in comments, and – as sometimes happens with horrific scenarios – curiosity has overcome good sense. (Don’t go in the Champion Red basement, you fool! It’s filled with the creepiest kind of otaku!)

I refer, of course, to Katsuhisa Kigitsu’s Franken Fran. Those covers make me wish for the swift oblivion of death to end my shame, but the host of Sunday Comics Debt sent me on the road to no return with the following remark:

I like to think of Franken Fran as Pinoko all grown up, and being raised with the Doctor’s medical skill would make her a prime candidate for doing outlandish operations that would be banned in any country. Admit it – all the elements are there – she’s a childish tumor with no qualms of ethics or humanity, and enjoys operating madcap experiments that would make Desty Nova proud, just for the fun of it.

Now, you all know of my completely misguided adoration for Pinoko. I’m not going to bore you by repeating it, but she’s so creepy and disturbing and precious and… ahem. Sorry about that.

It’s being published in German by Panini, and you can see some preview pages at the Amazon listing for the volume. The insides look a little more restrained than the “purchase by mail and try not to think of the shipping clerk judging you” covers would suggest.

We’re almost done with Black Jack (Vertical), and while it seems like a series with great snowy-Sunday reread value, I’d feel better if I knew there was something similarly ridiculous and entertaining on the way. Franken Fran’s potential tackiness may overwhelm its giddiness, but I’m willing to take that risk.

 

The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes

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From the back cover:
Banished!

Old Witch likes nothing better than to fly about on her broomstick crying “Heh-heh!” and casting abracadabras, but now she has been sent away… by two young girls.

Amy and Clarissa love to tell stories about Old Witch… until one day they decide she is just too mean and wicked. Drawing a rickety old house upon a barren glass hill, the girls exile Old Witch there with the warning that she’d better be good—or else no Halloween! For company they draw her a Little Witch Girl and a Weeny Witch Baby.

Old Witch tries to be good, but anyone would get up to no good in a place as lonely as the glass hill… as Amy and Clarissa find out when Old Witch magics them into her world, a world of make-believe made real.

Review:
If you’ve got a clever and charming child and are looking for a clever and charming Halloween book that they might enjoy, The Witch Family just might fit the bill.

Amy and her best friend Clarissa, both “ordinary real girls,” are almost seven. Amy’s vivid imagination has been captured by the tales her mother tells about the wicked Old Witch, and she enlists Clarissa—who, with her faulty memory but pleasant disposition, is content with the sidekick role—in drawing a series of pictures that continue Old Witch’s adventures.

The story is presented in a really neat way. For example, it’s immediately clear through vocabulary that Amy is concocting Old Witch’s story herself. (She’s fond of big words, but doesn’t always know how to spell or pronounce them, so when she sentences Old Witch to live alone on a glass hill as punishment for her evil ways, she declares, “I banquished her!”) But a lot of the book is told from Old Witch’s point of view, so kids would probably enjoy the “is she really real?” mystery.

It’s certainly a fun Halloween tale, but I think Amy is the most fascinating character of all. What a bright little girl! Seriously, I found myself wishing for an epilogue that read, “And then Amy became a super-famous novelist” or something. There’s a real whimsy in the language used, and I love that she does typical little girl things like write the bumblebee who’d been in her yard into the story and give him a noble and heroic part to play. She’s also inserting herself into the story in a way, by giving Old Witch a little witch girl named Hannah to keep her company who looks so much like Amy that no one can tell them apart when Hannah comes to visit Amy on Halloween and goes trick-or-treating with her friends.

I find I haven’t a lot more to say about the book than this. It’s very cute. There are kitties and weeny witch babies and things to make adults giggle and the most adorable bee on the planet. Thanks for the recommendation, K!