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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Features

Just five more minutes, mom…

March 9, 2009 by MJ 5 Comments

It’s an ugly morning here in western Massachusetts, with snow, freezing rain, oh and that thing where it’s AN HOUR EARLY. *weep* I’ll be heading out to work shortly, but I do have a review out there this morning in today’s Manga Minis column. The review is for the two most recent volumes (4&5) of the Korean series, Comic, and though I enjoyed the first three volumes more, it still interests me as a series and I’m hoping the next one will offer less romantic drama and more of the story’s main plot.

Now I must prepare myself to face the elements. Later!

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: manga, manhwa

Tokyo Babylon (Full Series)

March 5, 2009 by MJ 4 Comments

Hi hi, sorry for all the silence the past couple of days. I’d made a rule for myself that I wasn’t allowed to spend time on a blog post until I’d finished my Tokyo Babylon review, and I finally have! (Reprinted below following the demise of the blog Comics Should Be Good, for which it was originally written.) It’s pretty image-heavy and probably looks more like one of my persuasion posts than a typical review, but I thought I’d do something a little special for the full series. I’m a tad nervous about my new place over there, so if you have the time, please check out my review and let me know what you think!

Look for a real blog post later on. I have lots of thoughts swirling through my brain, and no time to write them down! Soon!


Tokyo Babylon (Complete Series) by CLAMP Published by TOKYOPOP

Originally created in 1991 by all-female mangaka group CLAMP, Tokyo Babylon tells the story of Subaru, the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan, a family of onmyoji (spiritual mediums and sorcerers) who have protected Japan for hundreds of years. Just sixteen years old as the series begins, quiet and unassuming, he is already an experienced and powerful onmyoji. He shares an apartment in Tokyo with his worldly, outgoing twin sister, Hokuto, who dresses him up like a doll in her hand-picked fashions. The two have become friendly with a local veterinarian, Seishiro Sakurazuka, whose surname suggests he is related to an infamous clan of magical assassins. Despite this sinister connection, Seishiro is mild-mannered, kind, cheerfully protective of the twins and repeatedly claims to be in love with Subaru, which draws enthusiastic support from Hokuto but embarrasses Subaru terribly.

Despite a cynical opening chapter and the series’ occult premise, the story gets off to a fairly light start and it would be easy to dismiss it as stylish fluff. By the end of the first volume, however, darkness begins to push toward the surface in the form of an old memory that causes Subaru to suspect there may be more to Seishiro than what he claims. This uneasiness hovers in the background for much of the series (only manifesting fully in the final volume), but as it slowly seeps into the fabric of the story it highlights the peculiar depth and Shinto-influenced ideology that has long characterized CLAMP’s work.

As Subaru performs his missions as an onmyoji, he encounters many sad or lonely people, some of them alive, some not. One early story, for instance, involves a childhood friend of Subaru’s who has fallen into a perpetual dream state in an effort to escape her traumatic waking life. Another features the ghost of a failed actress whose love-hate relationship with the city has kept her bound to the main observation deck of Tokyo Tower. In another, Subaru befriends an old man who has spent years of his life fulfilling a promise to his late wife, desperate to complete it so that he may finally join her.

In one particularly poignant story, Subaru encounters a woman who is determined to place a curse on the man who murdered her young daughter, Mai. Subaru urges the woman to abandon revenge both for her own sake and her daughter’s, and even calls upon Mai’s spirit so that she can tell her mother what she truly wishes her to do. However, instead of angelically entreating her mother to stop, Mai arrives crying in pain, begging her mother to avenge her, something which Subaru finds himself wholly unable to convey.

The primary message CLAMP drives home in Tokyo Babylon is that no person can ever truly understand another person’s pain, and that the kindest thing people can do for themselves and each other is to recognize and embrace that fact. Interestingly, the character who seems to understand this best is Subaru, though he is also the person who most often tries, as he strives desperately to ease others’ pain while generally ignoring his own. Despite his formidable spiritual powers, Subaru leads an oddly passive existence, dutifully fulfilling his calling as directed, though his personality is obviously ill-suited for the job. He works tirelessly and without complaint, his naturally compassionate nature allowing humanity’s darkest corners to erode his seemingly incorruptible heart.

Seishiro’s steady pursuit of teenaged Subaru alternates between being sweetly good-humored and intensely creepy, and for those who find the concept disturbing, be assured that the dramatic payoff is well worth it. As hinted early on, Seishiro is indeed more than he seems, though the full truth about him is not revealed until very late in the series. None of the primary characters in Tokyo Babylon is especially transparent or easily placed into manga stereotypes. Each is multi-layered and idiosyncratic, and each lends something unique to this quirky, shadowy tale.

Though Subaru and Seishiro tend to dominate the pages of most volumes, it is Hokuto who is the story’s unexpected gem. Fun and breezy, she initially seems interested in little besides in keeping Subaru dressed up in elaborately assembled outfits and nudging him toward Seishiro. As the story progresses, however, her real depth begins to show, and she eventually proves herself to be strong, compassionate, and kind of a bad-ass. It also becomes clear that her world is dominated by her devotion to her brother. “I wanted you to have something you would love so much, that you wouldn’t care what others thought,” she says to Subaru late in the series, as his world is unraveling around him. “Something you wouldn’t change your mind about. It didn’t matter what it was. I just wanted you to have something like that.”

Despite the series’ many strengths, Tokyo Babylon is far from perfect. Its episodic setup leaves too much room for unevenness and blunder, and it takes several volumes for CLAMP to successfully establish the story’s real tone, which means the series does not really come into its own until volume four. Still, getting there is well worth the effort, and not just because Tokyo Babylon is a great read (though it is). This series also provides an opportunity to delve into early incarnations of the themes and ideas that have come to define CLAMP’s diverse body of work. The selfishness of self-sacrifice, the murky quality of “good” and “evil,” the pain of loneliness, the necessity of wanting to exist–CLAMP uses Tokyo Babylon to explore these ideas to the full extent of their skills at the time, and everything that begins here is carried through their later work, one way or another. This is not to suggest that they are stealing from themselves or just repeating ideas (though they do like to reuse their characters). This is simply the natural evolution of ideas as they progress from one series to the next, finally reaching maturity in xxxHolic, a series which remains ongoing both here and in Japan.

With its beautiful, clean imagery and striking use of black, Tokyo Babylon is unmistakably CLAMP’s work, though again, it doesn’t show the maturity of their later work, or even X/1999 which began its run before Tokyo Babylon was completed. As early as this work is, however, the visual storytelling is extremely effective, with the same intuitive panel layouts and creative use of space that makes all of CLAMP’s work both a pleasure to look at and easy to read. The artwork shines in black and white, capturing perfectly the stark drama and lurking melancholy of the series, and the story’s seven volumes feel truly epic, largely on the strength of its visuals.

TOKYOPOP’s English language editions, released between 2004 and 2005, are very nicely done, with crisply reproduced artwork and fold-out color pages at the beginning of most volumes. This series, like much of CLAMP’s work, is unmistakably Japanese, deeply tied to its Tokyo setting and to Japanese culture in general. TOKYOPOP preserves this by retaining honorifics and sound-effects (with translations in the back), using Japanese name order (surname first), and keeping as many Japanese terms and cultural references as possible within the translation. The detailed glossaries at the back of each volume provide context and explanation for western readers.

For fans of CLAMP’s newer work, Tokyo Babylon provides a glimpse into the group’s past which will be both compelling and familiar. For new readers, it is a great introduction to the CLAMP universe, in all its complex beauty.

Filed Under: FEATURES, MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: manga, tokiday, tokyo babylon

Snowy Monday

March 2, 2009 by MJ 6 Comments

The snow today has forced me to take a day off, which ends up being a replacement for the day I planned to take (but did not) on Friday. Still, I’d like to have a day off that did not involve shoveling snow. *sigh*

I have one review out today, at Manga Recon’s Manga Minis for volume 26 of Bleach. I still enjoy Bleach more than some of my MR cohorts do, so this was fun for me to review.

I’ve been working on a full series review of Tokyo Babylon, but I’m having a lot of trouble finding a way to address its most compelling themes without giving away major plot points. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Also, I’ve been watching the discussion on the demise of Scans Daily at LiveJournal, and a lot of the arguments I’ve seen flying around have been perplexing (if not surprising). I can go along with objections to scanlations and the sharing of full scans of comics, but objections to the posting of partial scans with analysis/discussion baffles me. For some very sane words on the topic, check out Brigid Alverson at Digital Strips and Johanna Draper Carlson at Comics Worth Reading.

You know, one of the points I’ve seen argued in favor of Scans Daily is that, unlike many comics forums, it was a place where non-typical fans, particularly women, could feel comfortable talking about comics without feeling like they were intruding in someone’s clubhouse, and honestly, I can really understand that. I think some guys in the comics world don’t realize that they exist in an atmosphere that actually discourages new readers to a great extent. I’ve had a hard time getting into western comics, despite the best efforts of some of my friends. I was not a reader of Scans Daily, but I’m considering checking out their new home to see if it might help steer me towards some western comics I could love.

On a completely different topic, those who follow me on Twitter, either through Twitter itself, its RSS feed, the sidebar of this blog, or Facebook (where it feeds my status updates), will know that Paul and I were unexpectedly gifted with free tickets to the Fountains of Wayne acoustic show last night at the Iron Horse in Northampton. I may try to write up a review of some kind later on (the show was fantastic), but for now, here’s a review Paul tracked down at the Hartford Courant. FoW draws a nice crowd in this area (which is Chris Collingwood’s home), and it was great to be there with so many people, most of whom were our age or older.

That’s all for now. Wish me luck on the shoveling. Later!

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: bleach, fountains of wayne, manga, music, scans daily, tokyo babylon

More on digital comics and related items

February 27, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

So, just a week after I made a post about this subject, Sam started a roundtable discussion for Manga Recon about digital comics. And here it is: Manga Recon Roundtable: Digital Comics. Everyone has very good points to make, and it’s a much better (less whiny) read than my entry, so go see!

On a related subject, is there anyone who hasn’t been following the stuff about the text-to-speech capabilities of the Kindle, and how some folks are up in arms about it violating the copyright of audiobooks? Neil Gaiman has made some awesome posts about this, and in his most recent one, he links to Wil Wheaton’s post too, which includes a side-by-side comparison of a human voice (his) reading a passage from a book (also his) and a computer voice reading it. I think his point is well made.

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: digital distribution, manga, neil gaiman, wil wheaton

North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter

February 25, 2009 by MJ 14 Comments

Just a quick note to let you know that a review of mine went up this evening at Manga Recon’s Otaku Bookshelf. The review is of Vertical’s release of Sakie Yokota’s heartbreaking memoir, North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter, and I hope you’ll take a moment to stop by and read it. This is not a perfect book by far, but I would recommend it to anyone. It’s a story that very much deserves to be read.

In other news, I finally finished reading Tokyo Babylon, and now I’m kind of traumatized.

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: books, manga, tokyo babylon

Ode to Google

February 25, 2009 by MJ 16 Comments

I realize this is hideously mainstream of me, but… wow, I love Google. I’m not talking about the search engine (though I love that too). Lately I’ve become so dependent on a few of their web applications, I am not sure how I got by without them all this time.

1. Google Reader: I have talked about this before, but seriously, Google Reader is solely responsible for my ability to keep up with what the rest of you are talking about every day. In the beginning, I actually used to just click things one by one from my blogroll, and when that eventually proved to be too cumbersome, I switched to using Safari to collect RSS feeds. But Google Reader… oh, Google Reader… it allows me to keep track of exactly what I’ve read and what is new from any of the three computers I use regularly, eliminating the need to add feeds to three different browsers or to waste time with things I’ve already seen. I’m also able to organize my subscribed feeds into different categories, such as “manga/comics” and “friends” to facilitate more focused reading. Google Reader, I love you.

2. Google Docs: It’s gotten to the point where I write basically everything in Google Docs, because it allows me to (again) access whatever I’m working on from multiple locations. It auto-saves every few minutes, which is awesome, and also allows me to share documents with others, for instance if I want someone to look something over for me, or if I want to collaborate on a document with another person (or multiple people). Yes, I still save copies of really important items to my hard drive (actually to more than one), but the fact that I no longer have to remember to carry a USB key with me everywhere I go is seriously awesome.

3. Google Calendar: This is a new addition for me, but boy has it become quickly indispensable! I use Google Calendar to keep track of important manga release dates, as well as all of my (largely self-imposed) review deadlines, for Manga Recon, Comics Should Be Good, and even here! I’m a person who works best if I have a firm deadline, so I tend to set them and stick to them almost 100% of the time. Also, I’m a fast reader but a very slow writer, so laying out my deadlines in a visual form helps me better understand and manage my time. Google Calendar lets me have a different color-coded calendar for each of these categories, which I can view all at once to see everything that I have coming up at a glance. Again, I can access this from any computer, and share each calendar with other users as desired.

Thus concludes my ode to Google applications. The day Google starts charging money for these things is the day I become a weeping puddle of goo. Let’s hope that day does not arrive soon.

Filed Under: FEATURES, REVIEWS Tagged With: google, manga

Free time? What?

February 24, 2009 by MJ 17 Comments

With my review schedule finally under control, I actually have some time to read some things to talk about here, but I’m having a hard time deciding what to start with. I have volume 1 of Two Flowers for the Dragon sitting here looking at me, as well as a number of other things. It’s been so long since I had time to read something just for pleasure, I hardly know what to do! :)

In the meantime, I’ve been looking around online, and I have a couple of links to share. First of all, Ed Sizemore posted a review today of the most recent Mechadamia journal, and I though it sounded really interesting. His review is good reading on its own, so I recommend checking it out.

Also, Gia reported at Anime Vice about Crunchyroll’s participation in the upcoming Global Shinkai Day, including the fact that they’ll be streaming (among several of his films) 5 Centimeters Per Second which is a film I love very, very much. It is the kind of fiction that makes me long to create something that could affect other people the way it affects me. If you’ve never had a chance to see it, do yourself a favor and go watch for free at Crunchyroll on February 28th!

Lastly, I think I mentioned somewhere around the New Year that I decided to let my Shonen Jump subscription expire and pick up Shojo Beat instead. I got my first issue a little while back and… I’m so glad! Not only am I enjoying more of the comics, but I also really appreciated some of the other features in the magazine. So, Bakuman aside, it seems my early shonen manga obsession really is over! I guess I really am a girl after all! ;D

Watch for a review from me in the upcoming Otaku Bookshelf column at Manga Recon. Until then, goodnight!

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: 5 centimeters per second, anime, makoto shinkai, manga, shojo, shojo beat

Mushishi, Vol. 6

February 23, 2009 by MJ 22 Comments

I have a cool announcement! About a month ago, Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good (home of Danielle Leigh and sometimes host to Michelle Smith) asked me if I’d like to be an occasional contributor to the site, like Michelle. I jumped up and down in an undignified manner and said I would like to very much. Today my first contribution has been posted! Behold my review for Mushishi, volume 6 (reprinted here after the demise of CSBG) which will be a part of my new, occasional series, “Tokidoki Daylight” (meaning “sporadic daylight,” TokiDay for short). Many thanks to Michelle and Grace for helping me decide on the name. I’m pretty thrilled to have been offered this opportunity, as I’m sure you can imagine. So go on over and see! :D


Mushishi, Vol. 6 By Yuki Urushibara

Published by Del Rey Manga

Called “verdancy” or “the green things” by some, mushi are primordial beings close to the original forms of life. They live in every corner of the world, in many different forms, though few humans are ever able to perceive them. Some who can see mushi learn to make a living by it. These people are called “mushishi.”

Mushishi chronicles the experiences of a traveling mushishi named Ginko, who has wandered alone for most of his life, studying and working with different kinds of mushi. Because mushi are so far removed from human life, both mushi and humans frequently affect each other in unintended (often devastating) ways. Mushishi seek out places in which coexistence has turned to conflict, and use their study of mushi to restore balance to the human world. What is unique about Ginko is that unlike most mushishi, he attempts to do so without killing mushi.

Volume six begins with one of the most poignant stories of the series so far. “Heaven’s Thread” tells the tale of a young woman named Fuki, who disappears after grabbing onto a string she finds hanging from the sky. Ginko discovers her lost in the mountains and returns Fuki to her village, where she is greeted with hostility by everyone except Seijiro, who wishes to make Fuki his wife. Because of Fuki’s experience, she has taken on mushi attributes herself, which could cause her to float away again at any time. Ginko is able to treat her with medicine, but most importantly, she must want to be human again, a task entrusted to Seijiro.

What’s extraordinary about Mushishi is the way in which mangaka Yuki Urushibara uses stories of non-human entities to more deeply explore the complexity and inconsistency of humanity. Though Fuki’s condition is caused by interaction with mushi, she is dependent on Seijiro’s human feelings and actions for her existence. This juxtaposition of simple, survival-driven mushi alongside complicated, egotistical humanity makes it clear just how unreliable humans can be.

Other stories in this volume include those of a mushi whose faint cry foretells natural disaster, a man whose infection by mushi gives him the ability to control other animals, a boy who lives in an eternal snow shower, and a man whose family’s famous sake is astonishingly similar to Kôki, the essence of life. Yet, despite the stories’ supernatural premise, with Ginko at the center, humanity is always at the fore.

As a person who naturally attracts mushi, Ginko’s can’t live with other humans without eventually causing them harm, so he must remain on the move, never allowing himself to get attached to other people or to truly become one of them. This is Ginko’s great tragedy, for despite the fact that he shares at least as much in common with mushi as he does with other humans, he is deeply bound to his own humanity. It is his humanity, with all its inherent chaos and contradiction, that guides him on his journey and makes his story interesting. Perpetually faced with the question of whether/how to sacrifice mushi for the sake of humans, Ginko struggles constantly with his choices, never knowing for sure if he is doing the right thing.

In volume six, Ginko’s frustration with the choices made by people who are able to have what he can’t is palpable. Seijiro’s inability to accept Fuki in her half-mushi state, a man’s reluctance to give up a destructive power, another man’s inability to forgive even for the sake of his own daughter–all these people alienating themselves and others by choice is understandably maddening to someone who must remain alone against his will. It is in these moments, however, when Ginko’s own feelings emerge unbidden, that he is most effective in his calling.

Mushishi‘s setting in rural Japan, somewhere between the Edo and Meiji eras, gives the series a simple, naturalistic feel, with the otherworldly quality of the mushi laid over it like a sheer film. Urushibara’s artwork reflects this sensibility perfectly, with its sketchy landscapes and simply dressed characters. Ginko, like the mushi, exists as a specter in the human landscape, in his modern, western clothing that somehow attracts no notice from anyone around him.

Though Del Rey’s production of Mushishi is top-notch overall, the greatest service they have done to this series is their choice of William Flanagan as translator. This means that not only is the story’s English dialogue exceptionally coherent, expressive and rife with subtlety, but that each volume contains Flanagan’s extensive notes in the back, giving the reader further insight into both the intricacies of the Japanese language and the author’s choices.

With its episodic nature, it is possible to pick up any volume of Mushishi as an introduction to the series, and volume six offers several very strong stories that could be easily enjoyed even without a deeper understanding of the universe as a whole. For those seeking a richer experience, each of the first six volumes is highly recommendable. In either case, Urushibara’s world is a unique and fascinating place which provides an immensely satisfying read.

Filed Under: FEATURES, MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: manga, mushishi, tokiday

Tricky Prince

February 23, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

By Yukari Hashida
Digital Manga Publishing, 200 pp.
Rating: M (18+)

Eugene Ratcliff is a smart, introverted university student, diligently working to maintain his scholarship status. After falling victim to a prank in which he is dolled-up as a girl, he unexpectedly catches the eye of a much sought-after fellow student–the dashing and impulsive Prince Willis. Unfortunately for Eugene, the discovery of his true gender only excites deeper interest from the prince, pulling him into an endless game of cat and mouse from which he is powerless to extricate himself. Willis pursues Eugene relentlessly, following him home for summer vacation, rescuing him from a lecherous professor, even arranging to have his dorm room burglarized. Yet despite the near-constant humiliation Willis’ attentions cause for him, Eugene eventually begins to return his feelings.

Tricky Prince strives to poke fun at the traditional seme/uke dynamic, but it isn’t nearly smart enough to pull it off. Instead, the story becomes just another example of what it attempts to mock. Though it does manage a few genuine laughs (thanks mainly to Eugene’s hostile wit), most of its other humor falls flat as well, mired in cliché it isn’t clever enough to transcend.

Unfortunately, the story’s tender moments are no stronger. Since neither of the two main characters are developed fully enough to truly be interesting, it is difficult to invest in their relationship with each other, a matter made worse by Hashida’s emotionally empty artwork. Though generally attractive, most of the story’s characters remain uniformly expressionless regardless of what’s going on, and Eugene’s apparently intentional resemblance to boy wizard Harry Potter is actually mildly disturbing.

Though Tricky Prince clearly aims to be a sly, sexy, hilarious romp, it unfortunately falls short on all counts, providing neither substance nor fun.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: yaoi/boys' love

Item: One Moon

February 20, 2009 by MJ 24 Comments

“You mean it wasn’t real? The bandit? The moonlight?”

Earlier today, an old friend commented on my Facebook status, jokingly begging me to blog about something other than manga. I had to laugh a bit, especially since this person has known me a very long time, because I would have thought most people in my life have realized by now that, well, I don’t really do hobbies. I do passions. I grab on to the things that are meaningful to me, and let them carry me to my next destination. I’ve always felt very strongly that these things lead me to where I most need to be, and so far that philosophy has served me very well in life.

So, if you’re among those who mourn the fact that this has become primarily a manga blog, just try to think back to all the things that brought me this far–all those stops along the way where I found each of you–and remember that even when I’m unsure about where I’m going, I’m always fully committed to the journey. This is the one truth about my life I know for sure I can believe in. For now, the journey has brought me to manga, and I’m extremely excited to find out where I’m headed from here.

Now… will somebody please license Bakuman?

Filed Under: DAILY CHATTER, FEATURES Tagged With: manga, navel-gazing, station identification

Idle thoughts in no particular order

February 19, 2009 by MJ 13 Comments

I’m enjoying a much-needed idle evening here at home. I have reviews I probably should be working on, and maybe I will as the evening goes on, but for now I’m feeling the need for random surfing and maybe a blog commenting spree.

Speaking of blog commenting, I drove by Danielle Leigh’s reading diary today, but didn’t actually read it, because she has a review there for the first volume of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The Power of Negative Thinking just released by Del Ray, and though I’m eagerly anticipating reading it myself, I already know I’ll be reviewing it for Manga Recon, so for now, other reviews are off-limits. I have found that I am easily intimidated by someone else’s fantastic review, so after one such experience, I decided to force myself to keep away until I’ve completed my own review. Now I’m wondering, you who review manga (or anything else for that matter), do you do the same?

In other news, I really enjoyed Brigid Alverson’s interview with Matt Thorn, whose translation of est em’s Red Blinds the Foolish (reviewed by me here) I found pretty spectacular. After I read the interview, I did some searching around, and discovered this essay on shojo manga that Matt Thorn published back in 2001. It was a pretty great read, so I thought I’d share that here.

Lastly, Lianne Sentar asked me for further elaboration on my accusations of misogyny in Let Dai, and I’m embarrassed to be unable to respond with any kind of credibility, because I don’t have print copies of the series. Can anyone help me out? I think some specific examples of the language used by Dai would help me, but unfortunately, I’m not good at remembering exact words, especially when I’ve consumed a series as rapidly as I did Let Dai. If you’ve got some handy, let me know! ETA: I think these are no longer necessary! Conversation progressing without them. :)

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: let dai, manga, manhwa, red blinds the foolish, reviewing, shojo, writing, yaoi/boys' love

Let Dai, Vols. 1-15

February 18, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

Leaving a quick link here to my review of the full series of Let Dai over at Manga Recon. I have mixed feelings about this series (hence the fairly lengthy review), but as an epic boys’ love story, it shines like a jewel in a sea of one-shots and short series that never get the chance to be fully developed.

People have called Let Dai “the Korean Banana Fish” which I take some issue with, mainly due to the fact that Let Dai (unlike Banana Fish) asks me to love a sociopath, which isn’t something I can do so easily. That said, it is absolutely, utterly impossible to stop reading Let Dai, at least in my experience, and that’s some powerful storytelling.

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: let dai, manga, manhwa, yaoi/boys' love

Oh, shojo, I love you so!

February 17, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

Hello all! Just a quick update this morning. I have two longish reviews in today’s On The Shojo Beat column at Manga Recon, one for the first volume of a new series, Magic Touch, and also for volume seven of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden, which I’ll talk briefly about here.

I’ve never read the original Fushigi Yugi, which I realize makes me a very poor shojo fan indeed, but the truth is, it’s never really caught my interest, and every time I mention it here, I find out something through your comments that makes me even less excited to read it. Now I’m actually a bit torn, because I really enjoyed Genbu Kaiden, though I suspect that may be because it avoids the problematic elements of the original series, particularly issues concerning friendship between women. Anyone here read both?

In any case, Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden is on a pretty slow release schedule, both here and in Japan, but the next volume comes out here in April, and I’ll definitely be looking forward to it!

I have a long review coming out later this week which has taken up most of my free time over the past few days (and probably for the next day or two as well), so I haven’t had time to read or think about much else. Oh, to be a faster writer! I cling to hope that my careful deliberation pays off in some way.

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: fushigi yugi genbu kaiden, manga

Whining about digital comics distribution

February 16, 2009 by MJ 7 Comments

On my RSS feed this morning (via Dirk Deppey), I found this link to Stephen Schleicher’s recent post on the (according to him) exciting future of digital comics distribution. To be perfectly honest, it filled me with dread.

I like reading books. A lot. I like the feel of them, the smell of the paper, the winning combination of portability and tangibility. I like being able to pass a book from one person to another–knowing that something that I’m reading has been read by someone else before me, or that it will be someday in the future. More than any of that, though, they are just plain easy to read.

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Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: digital distribution, manga, whining

My brain, let me show you it.

February 13, 2009 by MJ 2 Comments

Hello all! I’m still recovering from my trip (and madly trying to catch up with all the reviews on my plate) but I wanted to point you toward something over at Manga Recon that was a special bit of fun for me. A while back I had an idea for a roundtable discussion, and while I was on the trip, Michelle asked me to start it up! My question was…

Some mangaka are stronger artists than writers, or vice versa, and most have pretty distinctive styles. If you could combine one mangaka’s writing with another mangaka’s art for a one-time collaboration, who would you put together and why?

Behold! Manga Recon Roundtable: Dream Teams, in which we discuss our favorite made-up mangaka pairings. I had a lot of fun with this, and I also put together all the silly images for the post. Enjoy! :D

One last note, it’s Danielle Leigh’s one-year anniversary over at Comics Should Be Good! Go wish her well!

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: manga

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