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Cross Game Volume 2

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Cross Game Volume 2 by Mitsuru Adachi

The first volume of Cross Game was my favorite new shonen manga of 2010, so when I got a new box of Viz goodies, this was the first manga I grabbed. I was happy to see that the second volume delivers on all the character development that was built up in the first volume. This omnibus edition contains volumes 4 and 5 of the manga. At the end of the first volume Ko and his “farm team” companions are gearing up to play against the elite varsity team at their high school.

The second volume opens with one of those deceptively simple scenes that serve to illuminate the relationships between the characters. Ko shows up at the Tsukishima household, asking to see Aoba. Mr. Tsukishima is slightly perplexed, but tells him to go into the house. Aoba’s oldest sister pops up suddenly into the panel with her hand on her forehead in disbelief, “Ko..? Here for Aoba?” Ko tells Aoba to follow him, and she goes with him, striking a fighting pose when he turns to throw her a baseball glove. It turns out that Aoba is the only person Ko can trust to give him a realistic assessment of his pitching abilities. His teammates haven’t said much to him, but they wouldn’t say anything to disrupt his confidence. Ko starts throwing the ball to Aoba and the sound effects start to kick in. Boom! Couples strolling in the park turn and stare. Boom! The sounds of Ko’s pitch echo in the night. Aoba catches every ball and when asked for her assessment, she says “You’re okay…I guess.” Ko is psyched and pumped up for the game, because Aoba’s “okay” is the best compliment she could give him. He challenges her to a bet, if he only lets the opposing team score 10 times, she’ll buy him a treat. Aoba changes the terms of the bet by yelling “Five runs!” Ko says “No fair.” and walks off into the night. Aoba nurses her battered catching hand and thinks “No fair for who?”

The game begins, and the corrupt coach and principal of the high school are unprepared for the farm team that they previously dismissed. The better players on the varsity team are aware of Ko’s talent, even while the coach tries to pretend that Ko’s pitching ability isn’t extraordinary. Even though the baseball game stretches over a good portion of the book, I was kept entertained by the skillful ways Adachi manages his cast of characters. Azuma, the ace batter on the opposing team begins to view Ko as a true rival. Aoba sits in the stands and provides a running commentary on all the players, which demonstrate that since she isn’t able to play with the boys on the field she might be better employed as an additional coach. The ancient but tricky coach of the farm team demonstrates some underhanded but effective ways of managing players, as he tells a false but inspiring story to his selfish third year players, and secretly arranges a different type of bat for a player who swings too hard but won’t work to change his approach.

One of the many things I appreciate about Cross Game is that the more poignant moments aren’t milked for melodrama. Ko’s still dealing with the tragedy that struck in the first volume, and the reader sees this in a couple scenes. He works himself tirelessly in the secret summer training camp of the farm team, saying that summer is a time he doesn’t want to think too much. He willingly humiliates himself just to get an item on Wakaba’s birthday list. These scenes are presented in the same slice-of-life manner as the rest of the manga, but I can’t help but think that in the hands of a less skilled creator, something like that would be presented with extra tears or emphasis. Cross Game just shows events unfolding with a natural rhythm that is deceptively effortless.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Flying the Heavenly Skies

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Thanks so much for your input on my Previews order! Many people provided thoughtful feedback on how I might best squander around $10 of my monthly comic budget, and the winner was…

The Beautiful Skies of Hou Ou High, written and illustrated by Arata Aki, published by Digital Manga! Here’s how the publisher describes it:

Houou High is a famous and incredibly prestigious all-boys school. It’s also the stomping grounds for the sons of the most well-renowned families from all walks of life, which gives rise to rumors that it holds a monopoly on money and power. Our protagonist, Kei Saeba, ends up enrolling in this veritable garden of blooming amateurs due to her mother’s guile. Now she must pretend she’s a boy for three years or she “will be erased”!

Another source told me that Kei is sent to this school because she likes girls and her mother wants to fix that via deep boy immersion, because that always works. I don’t have a particular aversion to reverse-harem stories and have enjoyed some of them very much, but blithe conversion comedy sets my phasers on kill.

It originally ran in Mag Garden’s Comic Avarus, home to notable titles like Alice in the Country of Hearts, Monochrome Factor, Tactics, Vassalord, and Your and My Secret, all from Tokyopop. That’s not a terrible track record, to be honest, but it’s still on the mixed side. We’ll see. Three months from now, I may come back to bitterly denounce you all. Won’t that be fun?!

Fanservice Friday: From the ladies

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… or at least one lady.

There’s been quite a bit of talk already about editor Sean Michael Wilson‘s assessment of female critics’ reaction to AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga, most of it much smarter than anything I might offer up (posts from Brigid Alverson and Kate Dacey among them).

Still, as a North American lady-perceived person, I feel compelled to examine Wilson’s argument, my personal reaction to it, and why I feel this is appropriate for Fanservice Friday. As I proceed, please keep in mind that I have not read AX, so my reactions are to Wilson’s theory about the tastes of North American ladies, not about those ladies’ reactions to that work in particular. This is important. Please remember it.

First, the increasingly famous words from Wilson:

Now, onto ‘AX alternative manga’ book. It has had a huge amount of reviews, and overwhelmingly positive … However, one aspect has surprised both myself and Asakawa, the Japanese editor – quite a few female American reviewers have taken issue with the large amount of scatalogical toilet humour and also the sexual content of the collection. Somehow they seem to find it offensive, or unpleasant, or immature. It was surprising to me to see this kind of reaction, as it never occurred to me at all – as a British person – that these could be seen as negative …

Now, I don’t mean that ‘I am right,they are wrong’ and certainly don’t mean to upset these reviewers – its their opinion, and I’m interested to see it. It’s been an illuminating thing for me to see such reactions. What hits me the most is that it’s perhaps an example of cultural (and gender within culture) difference on perception of such things. I say that because I noticed that all the people making such comments are North American ladies. I have not seen a single man say it, or any women from outside North America. Therefore, I presume that it MAY be something in the shared cultural values and norms of such commentators coming through that makes them react negatively to such toilet humour and sexual content – perhaps? In Britain toilet humour is one of the main types, and our attitude towards sexual content is relatively ‘liberal’, it seems. Asakawa, as a Japanese person, was also rather surprised, for perhaps similar cultural reasons.

Given that this is Fanservice Friday, I’ll leave the discussion of toilet humor to others and move on more appropriately, to sexual content, because here is where I must emphatically disagree with Sean Michael Wilson.

North American ladies don’t like sexual content? Has the man never cracked open a Harlequin romance? I can easily imagine that many men might be unaware of things like the enormous volume of sexually explicit fanfiction churned out by North American women on the internet every day, but sexual fantasy is big business in this part of the world, and there’s no shortage of demand for it from women.

Even in the (relatively small) North American manga market, we women like our fanservice just the same as anyone. Sure, some of that comes down to chaste romance and slashable bishounen, but many of the best loved and most eagerly anticipated manga among female readers in North America derive their main appeal from sexual content, ranging anywhere from coy bedroom scenes to outright pornography. Fans of yaoi in particular (me included, perhaps), have not usually been known for our delicate tastes.

What I think Mr. Wilson is more likely encountering is that we, many of us, also have other standards, at least when we’re engaging with something that believes itself to be Art. We see merit in sexual content, but we expect it to have meaning beyond shock value or pure titillation. Hell, even in our pornography, we expect some level of craft, either visual or narrative in nature.

Speaking for myself, having come from a prose background, I’ll cut the artwork quite a bit of slack, but if the sex doesn’t drive the story (at least when it’s onscreen) I’m probably going to be unimpressed. In fiction, as in life, effective sex scenes require effort, and I don’t have a lot of patience for slogging through otherwise. I’m over forty. I’ve seen it all. You can’t shock me with your content. But there’s an excellent chance that you’ll bore me if you don’t have something more to offer. And if your point is simply to be subversive, you’ll likely bore me with that as well.

Now, obviously AX is not concerned with fanservice. Nor is it, I expect, concerned with having fans. “Experimental” work is generally about social commentary, self-expression, Damning The Man, and other perfectly noble causes, none of which are guaranteed to produce art.

Having not read the collection, I’m not prepared to comment on what its contributors have produced, but if my fellow Ladies haven’t appreciated it, I’m fairly certain it’s not the sex.

Really, quite certain.

License Request Day: Kiko-Chan’s Smile

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As I wrap up The Seinen Alphabet (three more letters!), I find myself thinking of the upcoming Josei Alphabet. Since there isn’t a tremendous amount available in English, I’m guessing they’ll consist largely of unlicensed works. It seemed like a good time to do a little investigating and see what’s lurking out there. Imagine my delight when I found something that looks both funny and weird.

It’s called Kiko-Chan’s Smile, five volumes written and illustrated by Tsubasa Nunoura and originally serialized in Kodansha’s Be Love. And it’s about a weird little girl. Isn’t she lovely?

Kiko is an independent, taciturn and, from what I can surmise, kind of forbidding child. Her parents don’t know what to make of her, but her classmates are delighted by the unusual events that seem to swirl around her. She meddles with her teacher’s love life, and she enjoys the companionship of her cat, who also happens to be an angel and the father of five half-angel, half-cat kittens. (Kittels? Angens?) Kittens with supernatural powers, people… tell me that doesn’t light a fire.

I have a documented fondness for manga about weird girls and an unexpected weakness for manga about precocious, disruptive children, so this seems like a fine opportunity to cross the streams, as they say. It doesn’t seem like what one would traditionally think of as josei; I get more of a Morning vibe off of it. But it was adapted into an anime, so that’s always a good sign. And it’s nice to be reminded that the subject matter of josei can be as rangy and odd as the other demographics.

I’m thinking this would be a nice one for Vertical. We can always hope that Kodansha’s own initial offerings do well enough that they’ll publish some less commercial titles, but I definitely get a feeling that this would fit in nicely with the good folks at Vertical. They support kittens in manga.

3 Things Thursday: Looking Forward

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Though we’ve just barely finished looking back at 2010, for those ready to peer forward into the year to come, About.com’s Deb Aoki has posted a gallery of upcoming manga that is truly wondrous to behold. As I flipped through this delicious list earlier, I began to regret my decision to limit myself to 3 Things. Titles like Natsume Ono’s La Quinta Camera and Usamaru Furuya’s Lychee Light Club called out to me sadly, “You’re really going to skip us? Really? REALLY?” Yet I’ll attempt just three all the same. Here goes!

3 manga I’m looking forward to in 2011

1. Wandering Son | Takako Shimura | Fantagraphics – This eleven-volume series about two transgender middle school students making their way through the minefield of adolescence is an ambitious choice for Fantagraphics’ new manga line, and possibly my most-anticipated new manga for 2011.

According to the PR copy, “Written and drawn by one of today’s most critically acclaimed creators of manga, Shimura portrays Shuishi and Yoshino’s very private journey with affection, sensitivity, gentle humor, and unmistakable flair and grace.” I can’t wait to see it for myself.

2. A Zoo in Winter | Jiro Taniguchi | Fanfare – Ponent Mon – I’m still left in a state of dreamy mental bliss whenever I think about Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood, and the idea of being given the opportunity to read a semi-autobiography about the person who put me there is really all I could ever ask for in a manga.

From the PR, “For the first time ever, Taniguchi recalls his beginnings in manga and his youth spent in Tokyo in the 1960s. It is a magnificent account of his apprenticeship where all the finesse and elegance of the creator are united to illustrate those first emotions of adulthood.” Thank you, Fanfare – Ponent Mon, for continuing to bring us works like this!

3. A Bride’s Story | Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – Shockingly, I’ve never read Mori’s Emma, but everything I know about it leads me to believe that this tale of an accomplished young woman sent to marry a 12-year-old will be a must-read for me. From the PR, “At the age of twenty, Amir is sent to a neighboring town to be wed. But her surprise at learning her new husband, Karluk, is eight years younger than her is quickly replaced by a deep affection for the boy and his family … As the two of them learn more about each other through their day-to-day lives, the bond of respect and love grows stronger.”

Yen’s plans to release this in a “deluxe hardcover edition” certainly don’t hurt either.

A million thanks to Deb for providing such a tantalizing gallery! So readers, what are your most anticipated manga of the upcoming year?

From the stack: The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service vol. 11

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I always feel a little badly about my follow-up with reviews, as I tend to focus on early volumes of manga series with mostly cursory remarks on later installments unless my opinion changes materially or I feel the book is underappreciated. While my opinion of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Dark Horse) hasn’t changed, I did want to highlight the fact that the eleventh volume, written by Eiji Otsuka and illustrated by Housui Yamazaki, is pretty extraordinary, even by the standards of this uniformly excellent series.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the series, first of all, you really should be. The premise is simple at its core and extremely portable in terms of the kinds of stories Otsuka and Yamazaki tell. It’s about a group of unemployable students at a Buddhist university who combine their unique talents to form a side business dedicated to helping misplaced corpses with their unfinished business. Their various skills include hacking (with computers as opposed to cleavers), embalming and autopsy, channeling a foulmouthed alien entity, detecting dead bodies, and actually speaking to the deceased to find out how they ended up where they ended up.

It’s witty and gruesome, and Otsuka uses the episodic nature of the series to explore not only the ways humans respond to death, but contemporary culture as a whole. The satire is generally just the right kind of sly, which I think results in part from Yamazaki’s open, friendly cartooning. Yamazaki can certainly pull off grisly visuals, but he seems fond of the ways people look different from one another in age, size and shape. Even the terrible people who wander in and out of the narrative have that certain vulnerability you get from the fact that they look distinct, that you could imagine seeing them in your world.

The stories tend to run a few chapters each, but my favorite arcs tend to be longer. The second volume tells a single story, and it’s a glorious mystery with supernatural elements. The eleventh volume includes what I think is the second-longest story arc in the series, and it never flags. Otsuka packs it with both solid plot and smart embellishments.

It’s about mysterious happenings at an elite private school that center around a spooky little girl with an unsavory past named Chihaya. She has a connection to Sasayama, the retired detective/civil servant who often drags our heroes into worthwhile (but unprofitable) scenarios. Chihaya is an amazing character – steely, secretive, and purposeful, but entirely credible as a kid. I would love it if she got a spin-off or at least returned for another big, meaty arc.

Otsuka and Yamazaki have a great time with the social discord of the school setting and the ways little girls can be awful to each other, particularly at the elite levels. They also poke smart fun at the state of journalism and public perceptions of crime and youth. And they give their core cast some great moments. Corpse-finding Numata gets some surprising time in the spotlight, with his slacker-dope persona revealing some unexpected but totally logical nuances. Hacker Sasaki doesn’t get as much panel time, but she has a few terrific bits that remind readers of why she’s the brains of the operation.

The second arc in the book isn’t as good, but that’s mostly a matter of comparison. In an average volume, its look at the seedy underbelly of a beloved institution would be entirely welcome, and it’s not unwelcome here. It just can’t compete with Chihaya’s tightly written, sharply observed plight. If you want to give it a more charitable reading, start at page 171, then pick up at the beginning.

I mentioned this series as a worthy contender for an Eisner nomination, and I’ll happily restate that, particularly based on the strength of this volume. It’s a great comic, and I’d love it if more people gave it a chance.

Off the Shelf: Soap, Shoujo, & Samurai

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Welcome to Off the Shelf with MJ & Michelle, and our first column of the New Year! I’m joined, as always, by Soliloquy in Blue‘s Michelle Smith.

This week, I catch up on some favorites from Yen Press and Viz Media, while Michelle shares a look at a unique “how-to” offering from Tokyopop.

MICHELLE: Hey, MJ? Why were the little strawberries upset?

MJ: I dunno, why?

MICHELLE: ‘Cos they were in a jam!

MJ: Ba-dum-dum *chick*

MICHELLE: Thank you! I’ll be here all week. Tip your waitress.

Before you advise me not to quit my day job, perhaps I should make with the business at hand and inquire as to what you’ve been reading this week!

MJ: I spent the week catching up on new volumes of both a new favorite and an old one. I’ll start with the old one, which would be Park SoHee’s gloriously soapy manhwa, Goong. And I have to say, now that Yen Press has been releasing these in omnibus format, the series is more addictive than ever. Despite its soap-opera leanings, Goong moves at a brisk pace, so it reads very well in two-volume chunks.

Volume ten (consolidated from Korean volumes 11 & 12) begins with Chae-Kyung throwing both herself and her husband to the palace wolves by revealing the truth about their marriage in a live television interview. Incredibly, things only ramp up further from there to the end, making this one of the most dramatic volumes of the series so far.

What I admire most about Park SoHee, aside from her detailed, expressive artwork, is her ability to create well-rounded, morally ambiguous characters in both the “hero” and “villain” camps (particularly with the younger characters), displaying all their weaknesses, refusing to make clear distinctions between them, and yet still creating real biases and allegiances in the hearts of her readers.

Take Hyo-Rin for example. She’s certainly at odds with our heroine, Chae-Kyung, but she’s pretty well-balanced, overall. She’s equal parts “bitch” and “misunderstood victim,” and Park gives significant page time to both. As a reasonable adult, it’s clear to me that she’s just a regular teen girl stuck in a situation just as unfortunate and as unfair as Chae-Kyung’s. Yet I believe Park intends for me to really hate Hyo-Rin. Why? Because I do. I really, really do. Despite the fact that it’s incredibly juvenile of me to do so, I genuinely hate her and have, at times, wished ill upon her.

Writing a villain like a villain may not sound particularly noteworthy, but what’s brilliant about what Park does is the way she’s able to create the illusion of black and white using only shades of gray. It’s what keeps this series crisp and compelling, despite its soapy consistency. I’m impressed by it every time.

MICHELLE: The bit about you wishing ill upon Hyo-Rin literally made me crack up. Well done! And man, you have certainly stoked the flames of my love for Goong. I’ve been hoarding the past several releases with the intention of reading them soon, but now I’m tempted to reread from the beginning first the better to wallow in the melodramatic goodness that is this cracktastic series.

MJ: This volume is just about as melodramatic and as good as it could possibly be, and if you aren’t wishing ill upon Hyo-Rin right along with me by the end, I’ll eat my hat. :D

MICHELLE: No one ever goes through with that promise.

MJ: Well, I might not either. It’s a wool hat. Terrible texture. But never mind that! What have you been reading this week?

MICHELLE: My pick for the week is not actually manga, but is very much about manga. I read How to Draw Shojo Manga, by the Editors of Hakusensha’s shojo magazines. The title is a bit unfortunate, because it might lull one into thinking this is simply a book about drawing, when that isn’t the case at all.

What it is is a very thorough introduction to the entire (incredibly time-consuming) process of creating manga, with specific advice and examples. I’m not talking simply “use this kind of nib for thin lines” but in-depth instruction on topics like creating outlines and storyboards, panel arrangement, the proper order for inking, using digital tools, and even how to deal with criticism. This can sometimes get quite specific, like, “It’s effective to have a panel that draws the eye to the top of the left page.”

Throughout, readers follow Ena, an aspiring manga-ka, as she creates an outline for a 16-page submission to a short story contest, moves on to the storyboard phase, and finally submits her finished product for criticism from two of Hakusensha’s editors. Obviously, the parts of this book dealing with submitting one’s story for consideration aren’t really applicable to American would-be manga-ka—unless they are fluent in Japanese, one supposes—so it’s unlikely that the claim “Follow along with us, work hard, and you will find yourself transformed into a professional shojo manga artist” will ever come to fruition. I wonder how often a book like this has actually produced success in Japan.

That said, even a casual manga fan would find this book illuminating. For a reviewer, particularly ones like us who are trying to improve our skills in artistic criticism, I’d go so far as to call it positively indispensable. There’s so much practical advice about what a manga-ka should be—and theoretically is—striving for in his/her work that I found it quite a fascinating read.

MJ: I have a copy of this as well, and while I haven’t read it in-depth, I was immediately struck by how different it is from the lame, obviously western takes on “shojo manga” we’ve seen in so many how-to books. It’s honestly the first one I’ve ever been sent that I had any interest at all in reading after doing a quick flip-through, and that includes all the ones I’ve actually read. Heh.

Though I expect you’re right–not too many American artists are going to be submitting their work for publication in Japan–was any of the submission advice general enough to be useful for western artists submitting their work to OEL publishers?

MICHELLE: Indeed, there is nothing lame about this book at all. And absolutely, the advice would completely apply to OEL creators. From the aspects of the craft itself to how to solicit criticism—instead of asking a friend whether they liked your work, instead ask if they understood it, for example—it’s completely applicable for western artists!

MJ: Now I feel even more inspired to read this!

MICHELLE: Any time I like something, I always think that you should read it, but this time I really, really mean it. I think you’ll learn a lot. I did.

Anyways, enough gushing. You hinted earlier at a new favorite. Which one might that be?

MJ: Ah yes, well, the new volume of a new favorite is volume two of Natsume Ono’s House of Five Leaves, one of my favorite debut series last year. As you may recall, I read volume one pretty much on a whim via the SigIKKI website, during a week in which I had little access to physical books. It’s going to be real books all the way for Five Leaves from now on, though. This series is definitely a keeper.

As this volume opens, Masa falls ill, which forces him to retire to the country under the care of Goinkyo, a friend of the Five Leaves gang. With Masa separated from Five Leaves’ leader Yaichi for most of the volume, the story takes on a dreamy, disjointed feel, emphasizing how important Masa’s admiration of Yaichi has become to his sense of purpose–perhaps even his sense of self. At Goinkyo’s, Masa is encouraged to discontinue his association with the Five Leaves, but thanks to Yaichi’s influence, it’s clear by the end of the volume that Masa’s not going anywhere.

This series continues to be very much in tune with my personal sensibilities, which is obviously a major selling point for me. Masa’s layers of quiet turmoil, the story’s moral ambiguity, and Ono’s distinctive, melancholy artwork are all perfectly constructed for my enjoyment. Though this volume has a distinctly plodding feel, this has the effect of placing the reader in Masa’s convalescent headspace–part boredom, part relief, and tinged with some undetermined amount of separation anxiety. The volume’s a bit sleepy but never dull, and the last few pages are genuinely riveting.

I suspect a series that relies so heavily on prolonged character study may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s certainly a great fit for mine. And I’m expecting the emotional payoff to be pretty big as Masa submerges himself further into the world of the Five Leaves.

MICHELLE: I’ve really been looking forward to reading this second volume after I, too, loved the first very much. With his personality, Masa could so easily be irritating if handled poorly, but Ono renders him with incredible sympathy. He is ill-equipped to resist Yaichi and his charms and is actually kind of adorable in how he gets swept up in it all.

MJ: I absolutely adore Masa, and I agree that might well not be the case were he in another author’s hands. As it is, though, he’s a character I always want to know more about. I think I actually find him more interesting than any of the mysterious criminals around him. He’s really a unique protagonist.

MICHELLE: Definitely. You know, your picks this week remind me how much thoroughly awesome manga and manhwa we have in English these days. Granted, I could easily rattle off a dozen series I’d love to see licensed, but we’ve got it good.

MJ: You’re absolutely right. It’s a great time to be a fan, no matter how you look at it.

MICHELLE: Which reminds me, Deb Aoki at About.com put together this thoroughly awesome gallery of the new series debuting here in 2011. I bookmarked it, and thought maybe others might find it useful as well.

MJ: Great call, Michelle! Way to start the New Year off right!

MICHELLE: I guess this just goes to show that I can never simply appreciate what we’ve got, but must always pine for more, but I’m looking forward to quite a lot on that list and that’s a fun place to be as a fan.

MJ: I’ll drink to that.

Happy New Year from Off the Shelf!

Manga Bookshelf’s Ayako Giveaway!

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As both a celebration of the New Year and of a new era at Manga Bookshelf, we’ll be giving away a copy of Osamu Tezuka’s Ayako, beautifully translated and produced in hardcover by Vertical, Inc.

Ayako has made quite a number of critics’ lists for Best of 2010, including mine and Kate’s. Both David and Kate have reviewed the book, and I’ll be doing so shortly.

TO ENTER:
Please submit your entry by using our fancy new contact form, with the subject line “Ayako” and your name in the body of the e-mail.

You must be 18 or older to enter and must be able to provide an address within the continental US for shipping if you win (this book is heavy).

The winner will be chosen at random on January 15th and announced here at Manga Bookshelf.

Good luck!

2010 Reader Awards for Manhwa

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Cover for Moss Vol. 1The winners list of the Reader Awards for best manhwa of 2010 has been posted online, and I’ve provided an English translation of the winners.

Grand Prize:

First place: Moss (이끼) by Yun Tae-ho
A horror/psychological thriller manhwa originally published as a webtoon and adapted into a live-action movie that was released last year. It was briefly reviewed in An introduction to Korean webcomics. (Aladin)

Second place: 2010 Sound of My Heart (2010 마음의 소리) by Jo Seok
A comedy featuring a protagonist with a bizarre personality and originally published on Naver as a very popular webtoon. (Aladin)

Third place: Let’s Fight, Monster! (싸우자 귀신아!) by Im In-seu
A supernatural manhwa about a girl who can see monsters. Like the above two series, it was also originally published as a webtoon. (Aladin)

Best Debut Prize:

First place: Fortune* (포천) by Yu Seung-jin
A historical manhwa about a fortuneteller, originally published online at Sports Donga. (Aladin)

Second Place: Let’s Fight, Monster! (싸우자 귀신아!) by Im In-seu

Third Place: The Unbiased Fairytale (실질객관동화) by Invincible Pink
As the title suggests, a revisionist retelling of fairy tales, with satirical commentary about the morals they teach. Yet another webtoon that was originally published on Naver. (Aladin)

Published Manhwa Prize

First Place: Gourmet (식객) by Heo Yeong-man
Bestselling manhwa series about a chef by one of the most well-known manhwa-ga and adapted into a television drama as well as two movies. (Aladin)

Second Place: Castella Recipe (카스텔라 레시피) by MASA+PnH
A fantasy manhwa series about the adventures of a new student at a magic academy. (Aladin)

Third Place: Gangteuk High Kids** (강특고 아이들) by Kim Min-hui
A school manhwa about a high school for children with psychic abilities. (Aladin)

Online Manhwa Prize

First Place: With the Gods (신과 함께) by Ju Ho-min
A Naver webtoon about a man undergoing judgment in the afterlife and a man haunting this world as a ghost after his death. (Aladin)

Second Place: Cheese in the Trap (치즈인더트랩) by Sun-kki
A Naver webtoon about a college student and her relationship with a mysterious upperclassman. (Naver)

Third Place: Welcome to Room 305 (어서오세요. 305호에.) by Wanan
A Naver webtoon about two roommates and their everyday lives. (Naver)

Judges’ Choice

First Place: Yongsan Where I Lived (내가 살던 용산) by various
Six manhwa-ga produced six stories about the everyday lives of people now passed away, based on stories from their families. (Aladin)

Second Place: Moss (이끼) by Yun Tae-ho

Third Place: Nothing to Cry About*** (울기엔 좀 애매한) by Choi Gyu-seok
A slice-of-life manhwa about the hardships and struggles of a working-class man who does not deserve his bad luck but bears it with good grace. (Aladin)

Translation Notes:
* I translated this title as Fortune because the title is meant to be wordplay on the English word “fortune” while the hanja characters given mean “to embrace the heavens”. (↑)
** The summary suggests that the full name of the school is “Gangwondo Special High School”—Gangwondo being a province of South Korea—but I left it untranslated in its abbreviated form as “Gangteuk”. (↑)
*** My translation of the title is not quite correct, as the nuance is “I haven’t done anything wrong to cry about.” (↑)

(H/t to Kim Nakho of @capcold and capcold.net for the link.)

The Seinen Alphabet: W

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“W” is for…

Wandering Son, written and illustrated by Takako Shimura, originally serialized in Enterbrain’s Comic Beam and due for English-language release from Fantagraphics. This tale of gender identity is easily one of the most anticipated books of 2011.

What a Wonderful World!, written and illustrated by Inio Asano, originally serialized in Shogakukan’s Sunday GX and published in English in two volumes by Viz. Interconnected short stories that are sometimes very lovely and sometimes kind of predictably mope-y, but Asano is undeniably talented, and I’ll certainly read any of his work that’s published in English.

What’s Michael?, written and illustrated by Makoto Kobayashi, originally serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning, then partially serialized in English in Dark Horse’s Super Manga Blast. It’s about cats. That’s all I really need to say.

Wolf’s Rain, written by Keiko Nobumoto and illustrated by Toshitsugu Iida, originally serialized in Kodansha’s Magazine Z and published in English by Viz. It’s a two-volume adaptation of a popular fantasy anime.

Wounded Man, written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, originally serialized in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits and published in English by Comics One. I think this might be the most violent Koike manga to be licensed. I certainly remember people cringing at the thought of it.

Working!!, written and illustrated by Karino Takatsu, serialized in Square Enix’s Young Gangan. It’s a comedy about quirky people working in a family restaurant. I have a weakness for manga of that type, so I suspect I would be pleased if someone published it in English.

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga, serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning. I mentioned this previously, but I’ll mention it again, because I’m desperate for someone to publish it in English. It’s about a food-loving gay couple.

What’s the Answer?, written and illustrated by Tondabayashi, originally serialized in Shogakukan’s IKKI, appears very intermittently on Viz’s SigIKKI site.

“W” is also for “Weekly,” a modifier that often appears before the title of various Japanese manga magazines to indicate the frequency with which they are published. Please peruse this list at your leisure for examples.

What starts with “W” in your seinen alphabet?

Update:

And the glaring omission klaxon sounds! I inexcusably forgot Daisuke (Children of the Sea) Igarashi’s Witches, originally serialized in Shogakukan’s IKKI, which means it seems like fair game for the SigIKKI site. I’ve already given this one the License Request treatment, which I’ll take this opportunity to reaffirm.

Update 2:

This omission is even more inexcusable, as Jiro Taniguchi’s The Walking Man (Fanfare/Ponent Mon) is one of my favorite comics of all time, and I read it over and over again. It’s title is entirely accurate; it’s about a middle-class guy who goes for walks in his suburban neighborhood, enjoying everyday wonders, and it’s quite unlike almost anything else you’re likely to find in a comic shop. It originally ran in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning and was later reprinted by Shogakukan.

On the creator front, there’s the hilarious Kiminori Wakasugi, whose Detroit Metal City (Viz) continues to delight and offend.