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Off the Shelf: CLAMP & More

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MJ: So. Hi!

MICHELLE: Yo.

MJ: I’m feeling extremely frazzled and not at all witty. How about you?

MICHELLE: Kind of sleepy, actually. Maybe readers should just think up a joke here and pretend one of us said it.

MJ: Good call. So. Read anything lately?

MICHELLE: Indeed I have! I decided to make it a CLAMP week, and first up is volume four of Kobato., currently being released by Yen Press.

I wasn’t very impressed with the first three volumes of this series, which follows the dim-witted titular heroine in her attempts to fill a magic bottle with wounded hearts so that her wish can be granted. Kobato is very compassionate, so she heals hearts pretty well when given the opportunity, but has been spending a lot of time with two particular wounded people—Sayaka, the proprietor of a kindergarten, and Fujimoto, her part-time assistant—and so hasn’t made much progress on filling her bottle. In this volume her guide, the irascible Ioryogi (some kind of supernatural being currently stuck in the body of a stuffed dog) learns that she’s only got six more months in which to complete her task. If she fails, her wish can’t be granted and he can’t regain his original body.

Getting background information on Ioryogi and his motives—mostly revealed in conversations between serious-faced animals—at last is very welcome, making this volume an improvement over the last, but I still can’t say I am enjoying Kobato. all that much. I wish I could like someone, but I just don’t. Kobato would be okay, especially as she works out her burgeoning feelings for Fujimoto, except CLAMP seems to have a fixation with her falling down as much as possible. Ioryogi is always yelling, and not even a mysterious background can make him a compelling character for me. The kindergarten employees seem to have one default emotion each. Heck, the most interesting character in the whole series is the yakuza who’s trying to close the kindergarten down. Let’s jettison everything else and just follow him for a while, eh?

Still, there are a few mysteries that will keep me reading. What is the precious thing in the Heavenly World that Ioryogi is after? What is Kobato’s wish? And why is it so important that she not remove her hat? With either two or three volumes remaining, I figure I can stick around long enough to at least see whether these questions are answered.

MJ: I haven’t gotten as far in to this series as you have, though I think I might like it a bit more. Mostly because I actually do like the title character. But I admit I rather wish CLAMP were spending their time continuing Legal Drug instead. Is that terrible of me to say?

MICHELLE: Not at all. And, in fact, they just finished Kobato. in Japan, so at least it’s not actively consuming any more of their time.

It’s not that I hate Kobato, either, but more like I feel CLAMP is doing her a disservice, if that makes sense.

Annnyways, what have you been reading this week?

MJ: Well, earlier this week, I dug into the first issue of GEN Manga, a new “indie” manga magazine available online or in print from GEN Manga Entertainment. I happened to have the print version, provided in a small, red volume about the same trim size as a standard volume of manga in the US.

GEN‘s promotional material is pretty up-front about their artists being unknown. “GEN puts on no airs about how grand their authors are. In fact, they readily admit that their authors are underground. GEN is manga the way it should be without the flash, for the fans, raw and fresh.” They make a lot of noise about the magazine’s “indie” feel, too. “This original work of graphic fiction boldly challenges the industry while breaking new ground. It presents what manga readers are hungry for, the release of fresh underground work from Japan.”

Trouble is, the stories don’t really read as ground-breaking so much as amateurish. Each of the volume’s four stories has its strengths, certainly, but it’s rarely enough to compensate for its flaws. Both Nakamura Shige’s “Wolf” and Suzuki Yu’s “VS Aliens” suffer from convoluted plotlines that fail to live up to an initial, fairly ambitious premise. Karino Arisa’s “Souls” is intriguing, but artistically immature. Mihara Gunya’s “KAMEN,” the story of a man controlled by a mask he can’t remove, holds up the best, but offers just the barest glimpse of what the story might be.

On the other hand, the volume is currently free for download, ($9.95 in print), which renders it worth checking out at the very least. Don’t get me wrong. I really like what GEN is going for, as a concept anyway, and I’ll definitely be watching to see what kind of work might come out of it in the future. There’s just not much there for me so far.

MICHELLE: I’ve certainly been interested to see what happens with GEN, but admit that I haven’t personally been tempted to try it out. I guess I’m less hungry for “fresh underground work,” especially in short story format, than I am for “much-loved classics” that offer multiple volumes to enjoy.

MJ: I admit I’d be more interested in some of these stories if I knew they were first chapters of something that’s going to be serialized. But that’s not what the promo material suggests, sadly.

So, what’s your other CLAMP selection this week?

MICHELLE: My second CLAMP selection is the Magic Knight Rayearth Omnibus Edition, which was recently released by Dark Horse.

I’ve seen the Rayearth anime, and read TOKYOPOP’s second edition of the manga (with unflipped art), so this was really my third time through the material. I’d never previously counted this as among my favorite CLAMP series, so I thought a reread might be kind of a slog, but I ended up really enjoying it! The first story arc (originally comprising three volumes) benefits greatly from being contained in one volume, where momentum propels one through the adventure at a steady clip and doesn’t let up until the not-exactly-what-one-expects ending. The remastered art looks great, the color pages are beautiful, and, in the end, Rayearth has vaulted up several levels in my esteem.

Another really neat thing about the series is how CLAMP subverts demographic expectations. (Which they continue to do with series like Kobato., which has a shoujo-sounding premise but is, if anything, seinen.) Consider this description of the plot:

Three junior high students are visiting Tokyo Tower on a school trip when they are suddenly summoned to Cefiro by its princess, Emeraude. Emeraude has been kidnapped and the students are tasked becoming the Magic Knights of legend, rescuing the princess, and saving Cefiro, which has plunged into chaos in her absence. They agree, and are outfitted with magical armor and weaponry. As they head out on various tasks, their abilities grow and weapons evolve even as they forge a tight friendship. They are absolutely determined to save Cefiro, vanquish many menacing monsters along the way, and are frequently depicted in fierce and badass poses. Eventually, they awaken some giant mecha and defeat Zagato, the high priest who is holding Emeraude captive.

Now cast the students as girls and remind yourself that this ran in a shoujo magazine. The shounen-style fantasy flare makes for a fun adventure, but there’s a pretty powerful shoujo punch waiting in the final pages. I really enjoyed this series on a reread—though I’m not too enamored of the silly comedy—and eagerly await the omnibus of the second half.

MJ: Well, wow, you’ve inspired me to want to read this as well! I have to admit that despite being a CLAMP fan, I bogged down in the first volume of the TOKYOPOP editions. But you make this sound genuinely fascinating and fun!

MICHELLE: I remember bogging down myself when I first started the anime, but this time I breezed right through the story and ended up with a greater appreciation of the characters and the art, which is often quite pretty. I’d definitely say it’s worth another look. Plus, any Tsubasa or xxxHOLiC fan should enjoy seeing where Mokona originally came from!

What’s your second pick this week?

MJ: Well, It’s a bit of a strange one, or at least strange for me. While I’m used to receiving a variety of manga for review from Viz, I admit to being quite surprised when my latest review package contained volume one of Pokémon Black and White. I can say with complete honesty that I’ve never had the slightest interest in Pokémon, and really I missed its initial craze entirely, but there it was, in my apartment, Pokémon Black and White. So without any real knowledge of the Pokémon universe, I decided to sit down and read it.

Thankfully, as a series for kids, it wasn’t as difficult as it might have been to try to pick up the basic premise, though I can’t say I actually understand what Pokémon are, or why they are being raised up for “trainers” to have battles, but that indeed is what is going on. The main character being introduced here is “Black,” a guy who is so deeply obsessed with winning the “Pokémon League,” that in order to think about anything else at all, a creature named Musha must empty his brain— literally wipe it completely clean—so that new information can be introduced into it.

Though this all sounds a bit creepy, I admit I find the concept pretty compelling (I could use a Musha of my own, these days). Unfortunately, very little is made of Black’s periodically emptied brain at the time, and the rest of the volume is pretty much devoted to his first “trainer battle” with a guy who can’t tolerate heat.

Obviously, I am not the audience for this series, and I’d be hard pressed to find a reason to buy volumes of it on my own, but it does contain some surprisingly interesting elements, along with a slew of genuinely cute creatures. I developed a particular fondness for one called a “cottonee,” that was so distressed by its inability to protect its heat-intolerant trainer from fire, that it put itself in harm’s way to try to overcome its weakness.

MICHELLE: You win the gold star for diversity in this column!

I actually do know a little bit about Pokémon because I was teaching piano at the height of its craze and, of course, wanted to get the best stickers with which to motivate my students. At one point, I could even tell you which creatures morphed into which, but now all I really remember is that Snorlax is adorable. I even had a plushie.

Anyway, even though I can’t say I want to rush out and read this for myself, it sounds like kids are for in for a treat.

MJ: I do think it is pretty vital for kids to have at least some introduction to Pokémon before trying to make sense of this bit of the series, which is actually why I didn’t end up sending it off to our own Jia Li for review, but yes, kids who are interested in the franchise should find quite a bit to enjoy in this volume, I’d think.

MICHELLE: I think kids would probably find Rayearth a lot of fun, too, actually. Dark Horse lists the age range as twelve and up (there are a few ladies in butt-floss garb) but the real issue would be whether a kid could actually lift the durn thing.

MJ: Heh, that’s good to know. I’d say that Pokémon skews younger, but it’s always nice to see manga out there that the under-13 crowd can enjoy.

MICHELLE: Definitely!

Manga the week of 8/10

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You know, for a 2nd week of the month, it’s pretty packed with stuff. There’s a lot here for almost any type of fan. Let’s get started.

First off, non-manga releases that interest me. There’s a new Complete Peanuts coming out from Fantagraphics. It may have hit the 1980s, but the quality still seems to be quite high. Can’t wait. Also, IDW is releasing a new Archie hardcover. Unlike their previous ‘Best of ‘ collections, this one focuses on a single weird Archie title from the 1960s: Archie’s Mad House. As you might guess, this comic started out with the Archie gang, focusing on really bizarre adventures. After about 20 issues or so, it dropped them and began running its own stories, including the debut of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I’m quite interested to see what IDW does with this.

Now back to manga. Dark Horse may be delaying every other manga title in its catalogue from now till doomsday, but its bestsellers keep coming out like clockwork. This week we have Vol. 18 of Gantz, from our friends at Shueisha’s Young Jump. For a more media-oriented title, there’s The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, now up to Vol. 9. It runs in Shonen Ace and will be sure to please Evangelion fans. Well, most. Well, some. A few? All right, it will inspire arguments. But it’s popular!

Bandai has a debut this week with Tales of the Abyss: Asch the Bloody. It’s based on a video game, and is one of about 10,000 manga spinoffs of said game. Given all that, can you guess where it originally ran? If you said Comp Ace, you’re a true Manga Geek! I suspect it will be tie-in-tastic.

Kodansha is, as ever, absent from Midtown’s list. Again. However, my local shop indicates two titles coming in next week. The debut of Deltora Quest, a fantasy manga that ran in the late Comic BonBon, a magazine geared towards elementary school boys. You know, like Shonen Magazine should be but isn’t. and the 2nd and final omnibus volume of I Am Here!, which saw Vol. 1 from Del Rey and is thankfully getting a conclusion. Like all Kodansha shoujo these days, it ran in Nakayoshi.

Udon has the 2nd volume of Megaman Gigamix, which is based on a video game as well. Though, despite its name, it’s not from Konami.

Viz has the 3rd volume of Blue Exorcist, which I think most of us got this week from Diamond. There’s a new Inu Yasha omnibus, the 27th volume of the energetic and likeable Kekkaishi, and the 6th Maoh: Juvenile Remix, which this time I believe is remixed by Saint Etienne. Blue Exorcist is from Jump, the other three from Sunday. And there’s the 7th volume of Ikigami, for fans of Bokurano who want to see more series where people die nobly over and over again.

And there’s a huge pile from Yen. The biggie for me this week is the 3rd Book Girl novel, Book Girl and the Captive Fool. I’ve been thrilled with the first two in the series, a dark high school thriller with an intriguing backstory, and definitely want more. Aside from that, there’s the conclusion of the Eye-Opening Arc in Higurashi (Gangan Wing), which will no doubt be filled with gore. But don’t worry, kids, a new arc starts in October! And I have it on good authority that the Eye-Opening arc is the low ebb. It’s all uphill from here! … mostly. There’s new K-On! (Manga Time Kirara Carat), Haruhi Suzumiya (Shonen Ace), AND Haruhi Suzumiya-chan (ditto) for all your moe needs. Oh yes, and Omamori Himari 4 (Dragon Age), which I don’t read, but certainly looks moe as well. There’s the 9th volume of Sumomomo Momomo, which lost me after the first volume but I understand gets better. And there’s the 4th and last volume of Ugly Duckling’s Love Revolution, the reverse harem manga from Enterbrain’s B’s Log. I found its comedic antics more annoying than heartwarming, but admit I was not remotely its target audience. Also (last time this week, I promise) based on a game!

See what I mean? That’s a lot. What are you getting?

Now You’re One of Us

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Noriko, the young heroine of Asa Nonami’s Now You’re One of Us, initially thinks she’s hit the marriage jackpot. Not only are her in-laws wealthy and well regarded by their neighbors, they’re also quick to embrace her as a member of the family. Her husband Kazuhito is handsome and utterly devoted; her mother-in-law Kimie, generous and uncritical; and her sister-in-law Ayano, solicitous to everyone in the household, including Kazuhito’s oddly child-like brother Takehami. Even the Shito matriarch, ninety-eight-year-old Ei, welcomes Noriko to the clan by declaring her the family’s “treasure” and “future.”

Shortly after Noriko arrives at the Shitos’ Tokyo home, a strange, slightly disheveled neighbor approaches her while she works in the garden. Though Kimie is quick to dismiss him as a troubled tenant who’s fallen on hard times, Noriko can’t shake the feeling that the neighbor was about to divulge something damning — a feeling intensified by his mysterious death in a fire several days later. The Shitos’ oddly muted, impersonal response to his death further arouses Noriko’s suspicion, as do the family’s clandestine midnight meetings. Though the Shitos offer reasonable, measured responses to Noriko’s inquiries, she begins wondering if the Shitos run an illicit business… or worse.

Thanks to a fluid translation by Michael and Mitsuko Valek, Asa Nonami’s simple, unfussy prose draws the reader into Noriko’s insular world, showing us how a simple girl from a working class family is lured into the Shitos’ web. In this passage, for example, Nonami reveals Kazuhito to be a deft manipulator, appealing to Noriko’s vanity by suggesting that Ei’s endorsement carries special significance:

“Great Granny’s been watching people for ninety-eight years — she can see through them at a glance, so lots of people in the neighborhood come to ask her for advice.” He explained how delighted he was that Great Granny had taken a liking to her; it showed that he hadn’t been blinded by attraction. He felt like the luckiest man in the world for having found someone of whom his family approved.

Unfortunately, Nonami is never content to let a passage like this one stand alone; she feels compelled to explain how Kazuhito’s words swayed Noriko by telling us exactly what Noriko is thinking at the moment he gives this speech. The obviousness of Noriko’s interior monologues is especially frustrating; Nonami does a competent job of revealing her characters’ motivations and feelings through their actions without resorting to such editorial interventions.

The other drawback to Nonami’s storytelling is that she begins telegraphing the ending just a few chapters into the book. Savvier readers will quickly figure out what the Shitos’ secret is — and it’s a doozy — though they probably won’t mind wading through another hundred pages to have their ickiest suspicions confirmed, especially since Nonami manages a few surprises in the final pages.

The bottom line: Now You’re One of Us is an entertaining, atmospheric potboiler that’s probably best read in the privacy of one’s own home.

This review originally appeared at PopCultureShock on 2/8/08.

NOW YOU’RE ONE OF US • BY ASA NONAMI, TRANSLATED BY MICHAEL AND MITSUKO VALEK • VERTICAL, INC. • 240 pp.

Now You’re One of Us

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Noriko, the young heroine of Asa Nonami’s Now You’re One of Us, initially thinks she’s hit the marriage jackpot. Not only are her in-laws wealthy and well regarded by their neighbors, they’re also quick to embrace her as a member of the family. Her husband Kazuhito is handsome and utterly devoted; her mother-in-law Kimie, generous and uncritical; and her sister-in-law Ayano, solicitous to everyone in the household, including Kazuhito’s oddly child-like brother Takehami. Even the Shito matriarch, ninety-eight-year-old Ei, welcomes Noriko to the clan by declaring her the family’s “treasure” and “future.”

Shortly after Noriko arrives at the Shitos’ Tokyo home, a strange, slightly disheveled neighbor approaches her while she works in the garden. Though Kimie is quick to dismiss him as a troubled tenant who’s fallen on hard times, Noriko can’t shake the feeling that the neighbor was about to divulge something damning — a feeling intensified by his mysterious death in a fire several days later. The Shitos’ oddly muted, impersonal response to his death further arouses Noriko’s suspicion, as do the family’s clandestine midnight meetings. Though the Shitos offer reasonable, measured responses to Noriko’s inquiries, she begins wondering if the Shitos run an illicit business… or worse.

Thanks to a fluid translation by Michael and Mitsuko Valek, Asa Nonami’s simple, unfussy prose draws the reader into Noriko’s insular world, showing us how a simple girl from a working class family is lured into the Shitos’ web. In this passage, for example, Nonami reveals Kazuhito to be a deft manipulator, appealing to Noriko’s vanity by suggesting that Ei’s endorsement carries special significance:

“Great Granny’s been watching people for ninety-eight years — she can see through them at a glance, so lots of people in the neighborhood come to ask her for advice.” He explained how delighted he was that Great Granny had taken a liking to her; it showed that he hadn’t been blinded by attraction. He felt like the luckiest man in the world for having found someone of whom his family approved.

Unfortunately, Nonami is never content to let a passage like this one stand alone; she feels compelled to explain how Kazuhito’s words swayed Noriko by telling us exactly what Noriko is thinking at the moment he gives this speech. The obviousness of Noriko’s interior monologues is especially frustrating; Nonami does a competent job of revealing her characters’ motivations and feelings through their actions without resorting to such editorial interventions.

The other drawback to Nonami’s storytelling is that she begins telegraphing the ending just a few chapters into the book. Savvier readers will quickly figure out what the Shitos’ secret is — and it’s a doozy — though they probably won’t mind wading through another hundred pages to have their ickiest suspicions confirmed, especially since Nonami manages a few surprises in the final pages.

The bottom line: Now You’re One of Us is an entertaining, atmospheric potboiler that’s probably best read in the privacy of one’s own home.

This review originally appeared at PopCultureShock on 2/8/08.

NOW YOU’RE ONE OF US • BY ASA NONAMI, TRANSLATED BY MICHAEL AND MITSUKO VALEK • VERTICAL, INC. • 240 pp.

The Josei Alphabet: Z

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“Z” is for…

Zanbara! Written and illustrated by Ikumi Katagiri, serialized in Ichijinsha’s Comic Zero-Sum and Zero-Sum Ward: A period piece about two kids who learn martial arts during turbulent times. I like that cover.

Zankoku na Hatsukoi, adapted from Anne Mather’s novel by Kei Kousaki, originally published by Harlequin, one volume: A difficult reunion ensues when a former husband and wife cross paths in the woman’s home town.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihaisuru, written and illustrated by Moto (A Drunken Dream and Other Stories) Hagio, serialized in Shogakukan’s Petit Flower, 17 volumes: I’m totally cheating, since I listed this as A Cruel God Reigns back in “C,” but it’s Hagio, so I feel justified.

Zombieya Reiko, written and illustrated by Rei Mikamoto, originally serialized in Bunkasha’s Horror M, 11 volumes, partially published in English as Reiko’s Zombie Shop by Dark Horse: I felt bad that I missed this one back in “R,” so I’m rectifying that.

Josei magazines:

What starts with “Z” in your josei alphabet?

 

Skyfall by Catherine Asaro

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From the back cover:
Skyfall goes back to the beginning, to the rebirth of Skolia, showing how a chance meeting on a backwater planet forges a vast interstellar empire. Eldrinson, a provincial ruler on a primitive planet, is plagued by inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a beautiful and mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat, inadvertently starting a great interstellar war, and birthing the next generation of rulers for the Skolian Empire.

Review:
Skyfall is technically the ninth book in Catherine Asaro’s Saga of the Skolian Empire series, but is first if one is reading in internal chronological order. It works well as an entry point, though there were a few things that could’ve used a bit more explanation—presumably this happens in the books that were actually published before this one.

Beautiful and golden (like, literally) Roca Skolia is a “Ruby Psion,” an extremely rare and valued psion descended from similarly rare parents who currently rule the Skolian Imperialate. Because of her pedigree, she is expected to marry someone of the ruling assembly’s choosing and produce more Ruby Psions, the only people capable of controlling “the Kyle web,” an instantaneous interstellar network that somehow protects Skolia. Roca’s been married twice before and her grown son, Kurj, has a lot of mental anguish about the death of his father, the abuse perpetrated by his stepfather, and the atrocities committed by another group of psions who relish the pain of others.

When Roca’s away on government business (she’s the foreign affairs councillor), Kurj calls an assembly vote to discuss going to war with the sadistic psions. She knows he’ll try to stop her from casting her dissenting vote, so goes underground to try to make it back home in time without attracting his notice. Her route takes her to a remote, unspoiled world called Skyfall by “the Allieds” (descendents of Earth) and Lyshriol by its natives. There, her plans are foiled by a treacherous snow storm, and while she waits for it to pass, she falls in love with Eldri, a passionate and epileptic bard with significant psionic gifts, and ends up pregnant just in time for Eldri’s rival to lay siege to his castle.

It wouldn’t be incorrect to label Skyfall as “a romance novel in space.” Certainly Roca’s relationship with Eldri, who believes she’s a gift from the sun gods and is otherwise baffled by the technology she sees as commonplace, is quite romantic, with the two of them drawn together pretty much instantly and conceiving easily when other Ruby Psion births have required much medical intervention to achieve. Roca’s position brings political factors into their relationship, however. It turns out that Lyshriol was once a Skolian colony, so when Kurj eventually comes looking for her and Roca’s family finds out she has actually married this “barbarian,” it is ultimately Eldri’s genes that convince them to accept him (after a barrage of tests during which Eldri’s mental abilities and illness are evaluated).

There aren’t a whole lot of sci-fi elements to the novel, though there are enough to give one a picture of how things work in the Skolian Empire and its relationships with other spacefaring people. Genetic manipulation seems quite normal, as are cybernetic implants, and I am totally envious of the language node Roca has, which enables her to process and gradually learn new languages. Kurj has turned himself into an intimidating metallic giant, but it’s still not enough to shield him from his self-conflicting inner demons. In his case, Asaro effectively uses technology to show just how damaged he is, with some pretty fascinating results.

Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to reading more in this series!

Additional reviews of Skyfall can be found at Triple Take.

Upcoming 8/3/2011

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Given the vagaries of comic distribution timing, I’ve already read two of the titles I’m most eagerly anticipating off of the current ComicList. So I guess I’m not eagerly anticipating them so much as fondly remembering them. Anyway, you might still be undecided, so…

First up was the fourth volume of The Story of Saiunkoku (Viz), Kairi Yura’s lovely adaptation of Sai Yukino’s light novels. It’s entirely possible that I love this series so much that I can no longer see its flaws, but I think it equally likely that there are no meaningful flaws to be seen. This arrival was particularly welcome during the debate over the debt ceiling, as it suggested a world where people go into governance for the right reasons, and the best and brightest are rewarded with responsibility and authority. So, yes, clearly it’s a fantasy, but it’s a lovely and reassuring one, and the creators reinforce its ultimately feminist message by moving their heroine closer to her dream, even if it damages the romantic prospects of the man who loves her. That’s not the kind of conundrum you see every day in entertainment, which makes this series just about priceless.

Less rewarding was the fourth volume of Julietta Suzuki’s Kamisama Kiss (Viz). I generally like this series very much for the evenhanded approach Suzuki takes with her male and female protagonists. She treats them with equal respect, and she gives each specific strengths which make their relationship much more interesting than some victim-rescuer dynamic would be. That balance slips a bit this time around, which is disappointing, though hardly fatal. I still like the characters a lot, but certain complications screw up their dynamic and make it depressingly… conventional. (Misunderstanding! Secrecy! Alienation!) I count on Suzuki’s quirky good sense to reassert itself next time around.

In other Viz news, this week sees the delivery of the third volume of Kazue Kato’s very promising Blue Exorcist, the eighth volume of Yuki Midorikawa’s lovely Natsume’s Book of Friends, and the second volume of Mayu Shinjo’s sure-to-be-repulsive Ai Ore!

Oh, and in the category of things I’m still eagerly anticipating, there’s the second volume of CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura (Dark Horse). I can’t believe I’ve yet to see this series in a Barnes & Noble.

What looks good to you?

 

Black Blizzard by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

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Black Blizzard by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

I haven’t read Tatsumi’s critically acclaimed The Push Man or A Drifting Life, so I’m probably starting at the wrong place by reading the earlier Black Blizzard. This manga has a pulpy appeal and when you consider that it was produced in the 1950s when the author was 21, it is pretty amazing.

Black Blizzard opens with a piano player frantically practicing. His fingers are jittery and drops of sweat are flying off him. A man in a fedora and trenchcoat enters the room. The piano player is expecting him. He collapses on the piano, saying “I killed someone, but it can’t be…it can’t be true!” The story picks up again with a train moving through a desolate winter landscape. The piano player is now handcuffed to a hardened criminal. There’s a crash, and the criminal takes the opportunity to escape, dragging the hapless musician along with him. They move through a blizzard trying to evade capture and take refuge in a desolate cabin together. The criminal is keen on sawing the musician’s hand off so the duo can separate, but the piano player objects. He starts telling the sad story of how he wound up handcuffed to a murderer, beginning with his involvement with a circus girl with a lovely voice. The escaped prisoners grow more frantic to detach from each other, leading to a surprising bargain and a plot twist that requires a healthy tolerance for contrived endings.

Tatsumi’s art style is sparse and dynamic. The characters are rendered with just a few effective lines for their facial expressions. The blizzard is depicted with slashing diagonal lines, making it easy to picture the horrible winds that buffet the escaped prisoners. Tatsumi relies on some straightforward square and rectangular grids but he varies his perspective often for effect – focusing on a face, a broken glass, and the snow building up on a deserted building. The production by Drawn and Quarterly plays up Black Blizzard’s pulpy heritage. The pages are tipped in yellow, and the jacket copy imitates the text you’d see on an old noir paperback. This manga is flipped, which I adjusted to ok. What I found distracting was the way the sound effects were handled. In some places the sound effects are left in the Japanese, with a note providing translation but on most pages the sound effects are translated. The original sound effects just looked so much more stylish on the page even though the translated effects mimicked the same style.

This wintery crime manga was a perfect thing to read on a hot summer night. The ending of the manga wrapped up things a bit too nicely, but I put the book down amazed that this was the work of such a young creator. There’s an interesting interview with Tatsumi in the back of the book that provides some background on the creation of the book. It was interesting to hear that single volume manga like Black Blizzard was produced for the rental book market in 1950s Japan.

Here and there, mostly there

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It’s Monday! More specifically, it’s the Monday following the conclusion of the Fruits Basket Manga Moveable Feast! I’m going to use that as an excuse to be a bit lazy and just point your attention elsewhere.

I did muster a couple of Bookshelf Briefs this week: Kikuko Kikuya’s Entangled Circumstances (Digital Manga) and the sixth volume of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ôoku: The Inner Chambers (Viz). I won’t spoil the suspense by telling you which one I liked better, though I can’t imagine it will come as an earth-shattering surprise.

Nor will I rob you of the sense of discovery involved with clicking through to my Pick of the Week! Let’s just say that I was a little resentful that I couldn’t find it at Barnes & Noble this weekend and leave it at that.

So, since I’m abdicating any responsibility to provide original content here, where might you turn for such things? Well, The Hooded Utilitarian is unveiling the results of its ambitious International Best Comics Poll. It should make for interesting reading.

And I wasn’t surprised to see Tom Spurgeon be the first person I noticed draw the comparison between DC’s delayed reaction to bad PR for the paucity of female creators in its upcoming re-launch and the flack Fantagraphics got when it re-launched The Comics Journal with an apparent paucity of female contributors. I’m a little confused by Tom’s assertion that the latter issue has actually been entirely rectified. The Cartoonist’s Diary feature as certainly put women in the spotlight, but only one of the Journal’s 13 regular columns is written by a woman. The site does have women among their roster of reviewers, which is nice, and editorial coordinator Kristi Valenti is developing content in a variety of areas. Still, it’s not exactly parity. I can totally agree that it’s better than DC’s 1%, though.

Update: Seconds after I posted this, I noticed that Deb Aoki had posted a summary of the Best and Worst Manga Panel from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Go, look, and see how their picks track with yours!

 

PotW: Kaze Hikaru, Gintama, Saiunkoku, Cardcaptor

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It’s another strong week at Midtown Comics! Check out the Manga Bookshelf bloggers’ picks below!

KATE: After last week’s meager offerings, this week’s new arrival list has something for everyone: robots, magical girls, hoop fanatics, mad surgeons, cross-dressing samurai. Though I’m looking forward to reading Tank Tankuro: The Pre-War Years, 1934-1935, my heart belongs to Kaze Hikaru, which returns to the VIZ publishing schedule after a one-year hiatus. Volume nineteen unfolds against the backdrop of Commodore Perry’s arrival in Tokyo Bay. Taeko Watanabe milks this political crisis for all its dramatic potential, but never loses sight of her story’s core: the relationship between Sei and Soji. Crisp artwork, memorable characters, and a sophisticated treatment of Edo-era history are the frosting on this delicious cake.

MICHELLE: There’s much on this week’s Midtown list that I will personally be buying—especially Cardcaptor Sakura and Slam Dunk—but nothing that I want more or care about more than volume nineteen of Kaze Hikaru, so I’m going to have to piggyback on Kate’s pick this week. The fact that the heroine is cross-dressing throughout may give one the impression that the series is a comedy, and certainly there are humorous elements, but mostly it’s an emotional story of one girl’s attempts to understand the other samurai and their notions about honor. It’s been a full year since the release of volume eighteen, which leaves me pretty worried for the fate of the series. This is not a case where releases have slowed down because we’ve caught up to Japan—volume 30 just came out there—but simply due to low sales. So, please check out Kaze Hikaru! Even if you think you don’t like shoujo.

SEAN: This saddens me, but I too must pick a doomed series as my Pick of the Week. The final volume of Gintama from Viz is not, of course, the final volume in Japan. There, the series is quite popular, and in no danger of ending soon. Sadly, that may be *why* Viz is ending it – mediocre sales don’t justify its constant release. A shame, as it’s not only one of Jump‘s funniest series, but also highly dramatic and battle-heavy at times, with great female characters to boot.

MJ: This really is a tough week, isn’t it? With new volumes of Black Jack and Cardcaptor Sakura shipping this week, not to mention a whole host of terrific options from Viz’s Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat lines, it’s incredibly difficult to choose just one. In the end, I think I’ll cast my vote for volume four of The Story of Saiunkoku, one of my favorite new shoujo titles from the past year. Quite a number of us have written glowingly about this series, and particularly about its smart, spunky, civic-minded heroine, but I think one of my favorite observations about her comes from Cathy Yan’s recent installment of Don’t Fear the Adaptation, ” Shoujo heroines often pay lip service to a life framed around something other than romance, but Shurei actually lives that life.” Yes, that. Definitely a must-buy.


DAVID: Good grief, it is an embarrassment of riches this week. I could easily pick Tezuka’s Black Jack or Saiunkoku, or I could branch out for Gajo Sakamoto’s Tank Tankuro. All of the reasonable arguments for these books are deafened by how much I loved Dark Horse’s first omnibus of CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura. Adorable, sly, funny, exciting, and beautifully produced, I’ve been counting the days to this release since about the minute I finished reading the first volume.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?