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Manga the Week of 11/19

November 13, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N 1 Comment

SEAN: So. Many. Books.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: Kodansha has the 5th volume of shoujo romance My Little Monster, which is still dealing with social ineptness in the best way.

MJ: I feel like I’m really missing out by not reading this. I probably have to fix that.

MICHELLE: I do honestly think that you would like it.

ASH: You should!

ANNA: Now I feel like I should be reading this! But I have far far too much manga to get caught up on.

SEAN: And the 2nd volume of Noragami, which I’m hoping kicks things into gear now that we have a 3rd cast member.

ASH: By the end, I rather enjoyed the first volume. Looking forward to seeing how the series develops.

SEAN: Seven Seas has another Devils and Realist, which I’m hoping keeps the denial in addition to all its handsome devils.

ASH: This series has actually really started to grow on me.

ANNA: I liked the first volume well enough but haven’t picked up the others for whatever reason.

SEAN: Dragonar Academy 4 has dragons and fanservice, possibly not in that order.

Kokoro Connect was surprisingly serious about its body swapping, even if at times the exposition felt a bit stilted. I look forward to seeing where the second volume goes.

Monster Musume 5 has monsters and fanservice, possibly not in that order.

ASH: Since both things are fairly constant, I’m not sure there can be much of an order…

SEAN: Prophecy is our first new title, a seinen title involving a masked man who predicts crimes… which then happen. This looks pretty grim, but is supposed to be a real page-turner.

MJ: Oooo, I like the sound of that.

MICHELLE: Me, too! Something just got added to my shopping list!

ASH: I’ll be checking it out!

ANNA: I’m intrigued but am reserving judgement until you guys check it out.

SEAN: Viz, as always in the 3rd week of the month, has its ‘Signature’ series titles. We have another volume of Gangsta, which I’m starting to like even more than Black Lagoon, its spiritual predecessor.

ASH: I think I do, too, actually.

SEAN: Ooku hasn’t come out in ages, so a 10th volume is very welcome.

MJ: Yay, yay, yay! And more yay!

MICHELLE: What she said.

ASH: And another yay for good measure!

ANNA: Yet another yay for Ooku!

SEAN: And I know the Manga Bookshelf crew will be ecstatic with a 13th volume of Real.

MJ: Truth.

MICHELLE: I am performing the Baby Groot dance as we speak.

ASH: Real is a phenomenal series. If you’re not already reading it, give it a try!

ANNA: It is really great.

SEAN: I’ve never played the games, but one can’t deny the overwhelming popularity of the Resident Evil franchise, and here we have the first volume of a manga adaptation called The Marwha Desire, which ran in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shonen Champion.

Terra Formars 3 is also coming out.

Yen On has a 2nd volume of the light novel Accel World, whose first volume I enjoyed, and whose protagonist is intriguing, so I will see where it goes from here.

MJ: I’m on board for this, definitely!

SEAN: The big light novel out next week, though, is even more well-known in the anime and manga fandom. A Certain Magical Index has become a giant franchise, whose anime is already out over here, and whose manga spinoff, A Certain Scientific Railgun, has sold quite well indeed. Now see where it all began, with this first volume.

Ani-Imo is a shoujo title from Aria, a magazine known for odd shoujo titles. Do you like bodyswapping? Do you like suggestions of incest? Then you’ll love this title, whose creator has been doing ‘saucy’ shoujo for years.

MJ: I was right there… until “incest.” Just. No.

MICHELLE: That’s an odd shoujo title for sure. Even the cover art looks like it’s meant for some other demographic.

ANNA: Yeah, I don’t think so.

SEAN: Anything I could have said about BTOOOM! I got out with the previous 7 volumes, so… 8.

Durarara!! continues adapting the third novel with the 2nd volume of the Yellow Scarves arc. (That can be confusing. Welcome to light novel adaptations, here’s your accordion.)

Another debut with Gou-dere Sora Nagihara, which ran in Hakusensha’s Young Animal Arashi. It’s pretty ecchi, and involves an otaku’s 2D fantasy girl coming to life and not being quite the shy, demure girl he was expecting.

Speaking of ecchi, another volume of High School DxD is here.

Higurashi: When They Cry ended last year, and Rika finally got her happy ending, provided she doesn’t do anything foolish like bike in front of a truck. (cough) Please enjoy Higurashi’s “epilogue”, the Dice-Killing Arc.

Jack Frost has reached its final, 11th volume! No more head-raising antics!

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya also has its 20th and final volume, though the spinoffs are still running. Forever doomed to be in the shadow of the novels and anime, it’s probably for the best it ends here as it runs out of novel to adapt.

Milkyway Hitchhiking is a new manwha from the creator of One Fine Day, and is also in full color. It seems to be episodic tales connected by a time-space cat.

MJ: Wahoo! I loved One Fine Day, so I am very enthusiastic about this.

MICHELLE: Oh! I forgot this was coming out. It looks like very much my sort of thing.

ASH: Space-time kitty!

ANNA: This does sound quite appealing.

SEAN: Pandora Hearts 22… MJ?

MJ: You know me so well. I will be eating this up with a spoon.

SEAN: As well as the Pandora Hearts artbook, Odds & Ends… MJ?

MJ: It’s beautiful! Truly. Really, truly. And I offer proof (thanks to Sean).

SEAN: Soul Eater’s covers are still nearly black, which tells me things are still not looking good for our heroes as we head towards the story’s climax.

And there’s also the 4th volume of Soul Eater NOT!, which I believe is also a final volume. Who will Tsugumi choose as her girlfr… um, partner?

Everyone’s least favorite arc of Sword Art Online, Fairy Dance, has its 2nd manga volume ship.

MJ: Heh, I haven’t enjoyed the manga as much as the novels (or the anime), but I’ll take it.

SEAN: Lastly, Triage X marches on, with its 8th volume out next week.

That’s not too much. Surely you can buy all of that in one week, right?

3 Things Thursday: SOS

November 13, 2014 by MJ 8 Comments

As I was casting about for ideas for this week’s column, I found myself consistently drawn back to a manga-related quandary in my own life that I have not quite been able to resolve. As you know, I have recently opened up my personal manga collection as a library for my students (with a few rules in place about age appropriateness). It’s gone about as well as I expected, which is to say that a small number have shown interest. My problem is this: while I have had no trouble at all recommending manga for my teen students, I have been pretty well flummoxed by requests for recommendations from parents of my tweens. These kids are mostly girls, 9-11 (some will turn 12 over the course of this school year), very smart, highly imaginative, fabulously ambitious, heavy readers, into the arts, and not particularly interested in romance or other “teen” concerns. And while I have a few series I’ve recommended for kids in this age range in the past, I don’t consider them ideal for a number of reasons. Let’s take a look:

1. Shugo Chara! | Peach Pit | Kodansha Comics – This is a title I love very much and have recommended for younger readers in the past, for lots of reasons. It’s got a fantastic female protagonist (and lots of other great girl characters as well), wonderful friendships, an emphasis on positivity and cooperation, action, adventure, pretty artwork, and some pretty enticing, tween-fantasy romance, the likes of which my childhood self would have eaten up with a spoon. Thing is, these girls are (for the most part) much, much less interested in boys than I was a their age, which is great, but also makes this a far less compelling choice. Also, the early storytelling and artwork, especially, I think might strike these girls as childish (which, I find, tends to be way less forgivable to actual children than it is to adults). So as much as I love this series, I am having trouble recommending it to these particular girls. Also in this category: Cardcaptor Sakura.

2. Sugar Sugar Rune | Moyoco Anno | Del Rey Manga – While this title is more combative than romantic, its wry take on romance as a competitive sport between girls is commenting on a social structure that, frankly, I’m hoping these particular girls are going to play a part in crushing. In my day, girls their age were already learning how to hate each other and bring each other down in pursuit of popularity with boys, and I see none of that at all in this collection of smart, empowered young girls. In fact, their kindness to each other pretty much blows me away any time I see them interacting as a group. The kind of competitiveness Sugar Sugar Rune so deftly skewers just does not seem to be part of their lives, and I’m hesitant to introduce it to them. Same problem (though less humorously approached): Fushigi Yugi.

3. Fullmetal Alchemist | Hiromu Arakawa | Viz Media – I love Fullmetal Alchemist. Everyone knows how much I love Fullmetal Alchemist. This is not a secret. So it should come to no surprise to anyone that it tends to be my number-one go-to manga recommendation for any kid with reading skills developed enough to take it on. It’s got incredible world-building, intricate plotting, compelling characters, heart-wrenching drama, hilarious comedy, action, adventure, fantastic artwork, minimal romance, and (hooray!) awesome female characters. Unfortunately, none of those female characters is the protagonist. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s a shounen manga, and its protagonists are among my favorites of all time. They are smart and funny and totally woman-friendly. They are written by an extremely talented woman. All these are reasons why this is my number-one, most recommended series for kids, including these girls. But man do I wish that I had something this good to recommend to them with girl protagonists, but without the romance themes they do not care about. At all. Similar problem: Hikaru no Go.

So let’s get to the real reason for this column. I do not doubt that there are series floating around that are perfect for my tween girls. I’m certain there are. I just may not own them. For the sake of these students (and for mine as well!), however, I’d be open to picking up a series or two to add to my library. So what do you recommend. With the girls I’ve described in mind, what manga would you recommend I give them?

My Week in Manga: November 3-November 9, 2014

November 10, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga the winner of the Sherlock Bones manga giveaway was announced. As usual, I took the opportunity to compile a list of manga as well, in this case a list of manga available in English that feature detectives or other crime solvers. I also posted two reviews last week. The first review was of No. 6, Volume 9, the final volume of Hinoki Kino’s No. 6 manga adaptation. I’m happy to report that the manga has a much less rushed and much more complete ending than the anime adaptation had. And for something completely different, I also reviewed Ivan Morris’ translation of The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon last week. It may have been written in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but it’s still an engaging and enjoyable work.

Interesting reading found elsewhere online included a look at some of the most completely collected manga series in Japan, many of which have been licensed in English in whole or in part. (I was happy to see some of my personal favorites, like Parasyte and Hikaru no Go on the list.) Brigid Alverson has a nice overview of the current state of the manga industry in North America for School Library Journal. And over at A Case for Suitable for Treatment, Sean Gaffney has a roundup of some of the recent manga licenses from various publishers. There are also two surveys that are going on right now. Viz has its Fall 2014 Anime and Manga Survey and Vertical has its first ever light novel survey. Last but not least, Khursten Santos of Otaku Champloo has an excellent writeup of the Manga Futures conference recently held in Australia.

Quick Takes

Black Jack, Volumes 14-17 by Osamu Tezuka. It’s a shame that much of Black Jack has gone out of print. Fortunately, Vertical announced just last week that it will be publishing ebooks of all its Tezuka manga, so readers who missed Black Jack in print will at least be able to read it digitally. Even though Black Jack isn’t my favorite Tezuka manga, I enjoy the series immensely and Black Jack is one of my favorite Tezuka characters. He can be a bit of a bastard, but there’s usually a reason for it and it tends to mostly be a cover for his extraordinary compassion. He’s also amazingly skilled. Some of the stories in Black Jack are fairly improbable although still highly entertaining while others are actually quite realistic. (Tezuka’s medical training comes in very handy for Black Jack.) Plastic surgery, specifically surgeries that are intended to change or hide a person’s identity, are particularly prominent in these final volumes. It provides an interesting contrast to Black Jack himself who rarely denies who he is. The seventeenth volume in Vertical’s edition of Black Jack also includes a handy guide to the publication history of the individual chapters.

Black Rose Alice, Volume 2 by Setona Mizushiro. I absolutely loved the first volume of Black Rose Alice and I remained captivated by the second. It’s a strange, dark, and disconcerting series. Mizushiro’s vampires are completely different from any other type of vampire that I’ve come across in fiction. I do like that, but it’s also challenging since readers can’t rely on an already established mythos or assume what it actually means to be a vampire; Mizushiro has to explain it all. I’m not sure that I actually understand everything that is going on with the vampires yet, but I’m assuming that more will be revealed as the series progresses. One thing is certain, though: they are definitely very creepy. In exchange for the life of the young man with whom she is in love, Azusa has entered into an agreement with a nest of vampires. Out of the four vampires, she must choose one to procreate with after which they will both die. The relationship dynamics are bizarre, and honestly a little discomforting, but very compelling as the vampires vie for her affections. It’s not as simple as choosing one of the vampires; in order to fulfill her agreement, she will actually have to come to love them. I’m really looking forward to reading more of Black Rose Alice.

Same Difference by Nozomu Hiiragi. Tsuburaya and Ozaki are the elite of the elite, and both adored by the women at the company where they work. (So much so that the ladies literally swoon in their presence.) However, Ozaki isn’t used to sharing the attention, and so decides to make Tsuburaya fall in love with him, unintentionally falling for Tsuburaya in the process. Out of the two of them, Ozaki is more muscular and crude while Tsuburaya is more elegant and refined. Despite arguably being the more masculine and aggressive of the pair, Ozaki is often the one being out-maneuvered by Tsuburaya in their seemingly antagonistic relationship. It’s not that Tsuburaya dislikes Ozaki–quite the opposite, actually–it’s just that he has a sadistic streak and enjoys making the other man squirm. Same Difference is definitely played for laughs more than romance. Apparently the manga is actually an ongoing series that’s currently up to three volumes in Japan, which I hadn’t realized while reading it. Unfortunately, only the first volume has been licensed in English at this point. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind reading more of the series. It doesn’t have the most subtle, nuanced, or realistic characters or story, but it’s amusingly ridiculous and doesn’t take itself seriously at all.

Manga the Week of 11/12

November 6, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith 2 Comments

SEAN: After the deluge of the last two weeks, I am relieved to say that next week is at least a LITTLE quieter. Unless you’re Kodansha.

Speaking of which, apologies to Kodansha and Viz– I missed two of their titles that are out this week. The 2nd Heroic Legend of Arslan is already out! Go get it, it’s good! And Viz has All You Need Is Kill, the manga based off of the novel (as opposed to the earlier comic based off the novel).

ASH: I really enjoyed the original All You Need Is Kill novel, so I was happy to get my hands on the manga omnibus. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but am already very confident in recommending it over the graphic novel adaptation.

MJ: I can’t believe I haven’t picked this up yet, considering the artist. What have I been doing with my time??

ANNA: I feel guilty I haven’t started reading the Heroic Legend of Arslan yet.

SEAN: On to next week. Dark Horse has its second omnibus of Samurai Executioner, which pretty much lives up to its name.

Drawn & Quarterly has the 3rd big volume of Shigeru Mizuki’s Showa, this one covering the years 1944-1953. It is an absolute must read.

ASH: Agreed.

MJ: Oh, yes.

SEAN: Kodansha time, and they have a lot. Air Gear does not have QUITE the same gravitas as Showa, but at Vol. 32 I don’t think it has anything to prove, really.

And there’s also the 4th Air Gear omnibus.

Cage of Eden is down to its final quarter, and I suspect we will start getting answers soon, or at least fewer baffling questions. And more naked bathing as well, of course.

After reading Ubel Blatt, seeing the more mild and cute fanservice from The Seven Deadly Sins seems like a relief. The 5th volume arrives next week.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle has a 2nd omnibus. Will you be caught up in time for its new sequel starting up next year?

MICHELLE: Eh? I was totally ignorant of that. I never did finish the first one!

MJ: Hurray!

SEAN: UQ Holder offers more Akamatsu goodness. Will there be more Negima teases in Vol. 3?

SubLime gives us the 2nd volume of False Memories, which would appear to involve a Burger King crown of some sort.

Viz has 07-GHOST 13. Buy it or it will be unlucky! You don’t want bad luck, do you?

MICHELLE: I believe Anna vowed to get caught up with this series last time there was a new volume. Did you fulfill your pledge, Anna?

ANNA: I’m also feeling guilty for not fulfilling my pledge! But I did buy the missing volume 5 that was preventing me from getting caught up, and I started reading it only to get distracted (as usual) by shoujo manga from Viz. Maybe I will fulfill my pledge this month. It could happen!

SEAN: I believe that the 9th volume of the Fullmetal Alchemist omnibus is the final one, in which case it contains one of the best endings in shonen manga. But you should know this already.

MICHELLE: Yep.

ASH: Such a great series.

MJ: I can’t believe just how happy it makes me to consider new readers finishing this series for the first time.

SEAN: Lastly, Rin-Ne keeps chugging along with its 16th volume.

MICHELLE: I wish I could be excited about RIN-NE, but it’s always pleasant, at least.

SEAN: Which manga cries out for you to buy it?

My Week in Manga: October 27-November 2, 2014

November 3, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

October is finally over, and I somehow managed to survive! I’ve been extremely busy at work which bled over into the rest of my life and has interfered with a lot of things that I would otherwise rather be doing. I’m really hoping that my stress levels and schedule settle down a bit in November, but my immediate supervisor is retiring in December and I’ll be taking on some more responsibilities in my unit (at least temporarily), so we’ll see how that goes! Anyway, I was somehow able to keep on top of my posts here at Experiments in Manga. The most recent manga giveaway is currently in progress and there’s still time to enter for a chance to win Sherlock Bones, Volume 1. Since this past Friday was Hallowe’en, I decided it would be appropriate to review Junji Ito’s manga Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror. It’s been deservedly called a masterpiece, and the deluxe omnibus edition is especially nice. And over the weekend, I posted October’s Bookshelf Overload for those of you interested in what made it onto my bookshelves last month. I’m sure there was plenty of interesting reading to be found online, but I’m afraid I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to pay much attention recently. Let me know if I missed something particularly good!

Quick Takes

Angel Sanctuary, Volumes 1-5 by Kaori Yuki. It’s pretty clear after reading the first few volumes of Angel Sanctuary that this manga is going to be epic, for better or for worse. Angel Sanctuary has a huge cast (most with multiple names and multiple identities) and easily enough material for several completely different and unrelated series. So much is crammed into the early volumes that I’m afraid that Yuki might be trying to do too much at once with the manga. Though he is initially unaware of it, Setsuna is the reincarnation of the angel Alexiel, fated to suffer for her past deeds life after life. This causes significant problems for him–other angels and demons are searching for Alexiel, some to reawaken her soul and some to completely destroy her. But even more problematic is Setsuna’s incestuous love for his younger sister Sara. So far the story is somewhat confusing and difficult to follow, albeit with moments of brilliance. However, I do consistently enjoy Yuki’s gothic artwork, tragic melodrama, and gender play. Many of Yuki’s angels also happen to be sexist assholes, completely capable of murder, deception, and greed, which is certainly an interesting take on the celestial beings.

The Flowers of Evil, Volumes 10-11 by Shuzo Oshimi. Several years have passed since the incident in Kasuga’s hometown and his tumultuous relationship with Nakamura. The time has now come for him to face everything that he has done in his past and to confront how his actions have affected the people in his life–his family, his former classmates, his girlfriend, and most importantly himself. Up until now, he has been unable to move on with his life. His past, though he tries to hide it or run away from it, still defines who he is. The finale of The Flowers of Evil is a very effective exploration of personal identity and responsibility. Oshimi’s artwork, while never awful, has improved tremendously since the beginning of the series. This is particularly important for the last two volumes of The Flowers of Evil since large portions of the manga are completely without dialogue or narration; the art must be strong enough to carry the story entirely on its own, and it succeeds in that. The Flowers of Evil is a surprising series, ending with a very different tone and in a very different place than where it first began. It was quite a journey and it was worth every page.

Free!: Eternal Summer directed by Hiroko Utsumi. I rather enjoyed the first season of Free! and was pleasantly surprised to discover that in addition to its goofiness the anime series actually had some substance to it. And so I was looking forward to watching its second season, Eternal Summer. A lot of the humor and drama in the second season comes from the introduction of several new characters. It was a little strange to have best friends suddenly appear when I’m pretty sure they weren’t even hinted at in the first season, but I ended up really liking the additions to the cast. Although most of the characters see some development, most striking is how much Rin has changed from the first season. His anger and angst is mostly gone and he’s become fairly chill, although he’s still very passionate about swimming. It’s a passion that he shares with the other swimmers in the anime, but each has his own approach and way of expressing it. They really don’t always make the best, wisest, or most mature decisions, though. (Not that I would expect that teenagers would.) Driving the narrative of Eternal Summer is the characters’ struggles and searches for their dreams and futures. The season provided a very satisfying conclusion to Free!.

Manga the Week of 11/5

October 30, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, MJ and Michelle Smith 6 Comments

SEAN: November does not have quite as many books as October, but that’s only due to Thanksgiving week providing a minor break. The other three weeks try harder to drown us in books.

Dark Horse finishes off its Trigun re-release with the 5th Trigun Maximum omnibus, depriving me of additional attempts to mock Nightow’s art style, at least until the next Blood Blockade Battlefront comes along.

Attack on Titan 14 focuses more on Levi and Hange, for fans of those two (no, it doesn’t have any shipping fuel).

ASH: I found the thirteenth volume of Attack on Titan to be particularly good, so I’m looking forward to reading the fourteenth.

SEAN: The third and final volume of Alice in the Country of Clover: Knight’s Knowledge will no doubt see if Alice and Ace can resolve their respective psychoses and find peaceful happiness. God, I hope not. They’re far less interesting that way.

Seven Seas has been hyping their print release of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, and with good reason: it’s an excellent series, with a nice take on ‘what if the superheroes who had to save the world wanted to destroy it instead?’ It’s come out digitally twice, but get it in print, it’s worth it.

ASH: I plan on checking this series out!

ANNA: Huh, this wasn’t on my radar before, but this sounds interesting!

MJ: What Anna said!

SEAN: The Sacred Blacksmith lost me with Vol. 5, so I have no further jokes to spend on Vol. 6.

And the penultimate volume of Zero’s Familiar Chevalier, which will hopefully be able to wrap things up nicely by the final volume, as the author has passed away, making more series unlikely.

Vertical has the 5th volume of seinen foodie manga What Did You Eat Yesterday?.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ASH: Yay, indeed!

ANNA: Triple yay!

MJ: There cannot possibly be enough YAY!

SEAN: The rest is all Viz. Black Rose Alice was pretty dark in its first volume. Will this second one lighten things up a bit, or continue on its gothic pace?

MICHELLE: I found this quite a unique take on vampire mythology, so I’m looking forward to volume two.

ASH: Although I was sad to see the story leave Vienna so soon, I loved the first volume of Black Rose Alice and am very curious to see how it continues to develop.

ANNA: I enjoyed the first volume too. It has an interesting take on vampires, which is quite tricky to pull off. Also the thematic tone of this series sets it apart from other supernatural manga.

MJ: I’m so happy to be reading this series, and I can’t wait to dig into the second volume!

SEAN: Bleach hits Vol. 62, and I think a person is fighting with another person somewhere in it. At points they brag about how they can’t be defeated, I’m guessing.

MICHELLE: Ha!

SEAN: Blue Exorcist looks like it was getting ready to head into a darker arc last time, and I think that’s what we’ll get here. Can’t wait, this is always good.

There’s also a 5th D.Gray-Man 3-in-1, speaking of shonen series with a high female readership. In fact, in North America I’d argue D.Gray-Man has an almost exclusively female readership…

Dengeki Daisy is almost over! Waaaah! Here’s the 15th, penultimate volume.

MICHELLE: I haven’t always loved this one, but I’ll miss it when it’s gone.

ASH: I’ll miss it, too.

ANNA: I love this series. This is one of those manga that’s going to have a permanent place on my bookshelves.

SEAN: High School Debut has its 4th 3-in-1 as well.

MICHELLE: Getting closer to the one with new material!

ANNA: There’s a volume coming out with new material? I am excited!

MJ: Wait, what? New material? Ooh.

MICHELLE: Yep! The fifth omnibus will contain volumes 14 and 15, which I believe will contain short stories published after the series officially ended.

SEAN: Kiss of the Rose Princess is this month’s new series, from Shojo Beat. It’s an Asuka series, so I expect it’s most likely fantasy, and also probably reverse harem. Am I right?

MICHELLE: I don’t know yet, but I’ll check it out.

ANNA: Surprising no one, so will I.

MJ: Surprising… also no one. Me too.

SEAN: And for non-reversed harems, here’s the 6th volume of romantic comedy Nisekoi.

Did you not pick up One Piece? Shame on you. Here’s a 2nd giant Box Set so you can catch up all at once. Now. I’ll wait here all night if necessary.

The 5th and final volume of Phantom Thief Jeanne should wrap everything up, though I’m not sure if it will be happy or bittersweet.

ANNA: The ending of Phantom Thief Jeanne is bonkers in the best possible way.

SEAN: The 5th Ranma 1/2 omnibus introduces Ukyou Kuonji, who is another character who invites controversy. Well, they all do, really. It’s that kind of fandom.

Have you had enough 3-in-1 omnibuses yet? No? Good, here’s Skip Beat! with its 9th.

Spell of Desire’s first volume was solid but didn’t wow me. I’m hoping for more wow in this second one.

MICHELLE: And more kittens!

ANNA: I’ve read this already and I continue to enjoy this series.

MJ: I talked about this a bit in Monday’s Off the Shelf. I’m not exactly *wowed*, but optimistic about this series.

SEAN: Tegami Bachi, you’ve hit Volume 17. As ever, I have no idea what to say about you. You seem to have caught up with Japan now.

Ultimo hits double digits even as it’s been announced it’s ending soon.

Lastly, if the One Piece box set wasn’t enough for you, here’s one for Vampire Knight.

If you were expecting the manga deluge to end, more fool you. What suits you from this tsunami of manga?

3 Things Thursday: Pretty Pictures

October 30, 2014 by MJ 4 Comments

Wow, this has been a weird week. I mean, really, seriously weird. Weird on levels I can’t quite talk about here. But whatever the weirdness, it is in times like these that I really just want to look at something pretty. No, seriously. That’s the only thing to be done. So today, that’s what we’re going to do. It’s Thursday. And these are…

3 manga spreads that are just freaking beautiful:

You’ve seen them here before… you’ll see them again.

1. The Heart of Thomas | by Moto Hagio | Fantagraphics

2. Please Save My Earth | By Saki Hiwatari | Viz Media

3. xxxHolic | By CLAMP | Del Rey Manga

I have more. So many more. But this will do for now. Got favorites of your own? Gimme!

Manga Giveaway: Sherlock Bones Giveaway

October 29, 2014 by Ash Brown

The end of October is fast approaching, which means it’s time for another manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga! I’m not entirely sure why, but my review of the first volume of Yuma Ando and Yuki Sato’s manga series Sherlock Bones is by far one of the most frequently visited posts at Experiments in Manga. It’s been more than a year since Kodansha Comics published the volume in English, but the review still gets plenty of page hits. And so, for this month’s giveaway, I decided that I would give people the chance to read the actual manga. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed Sherlock Bones. The premise is inherently silly–Sherlock Holmes reincarnated as a puppy–but perhaps in part because of that, the series can be a lot of fun. Sherdog is tremendously smart, despite occasionally being distracted by his more canine tendencies, and he’s cute, too. But probably most important for a detective and mystery series like Sherlock Bones, the crimes and how they are solved are consistently interesting. Additionally, readers who want to have a more interactive reading experience can actually search for and find the clues needed to solve the crimes within the pages of the manga.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Sherlock Bones, Volume 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite or the most unusual detective/crime-solver that you’ve encountered reading manga. (If you don’t have one, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

There it is! Each person can earn up to two entries and has one week to submit comments for this giveaway. If preferred, entries can also be sent via e-mail to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. Your comments will then be posted in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on November 5, 2014. Best of luck!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Sherlock Bones Giveaway Winner

My Week in Manga: October 20-October 26, 2014

October 27, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I posted two reviews at Experiments in Manga last week. First up was my review of Baku Yumemakura and Jiro Taniguchi’s The Summit of the Gods, Volume 4. It’s the penultimate volume in one of my favorite manga series. It was also a particularly intense volume. The fifth and final book should be available sometime next year; I’m really looking forward to it. My second review last week was of Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator, Part 1, the second volume in Kouhei Kadono’s Boogiepop light novel series. I didn’t find it to be quite as dark as the first novel, but it still had an interesting mix of science fiction, horror, mystery, and even a bit of romance. I discovered Boogiepop late (the four novels and the four volumes of manga that were translated into English are now out of print) but I’m really enjoying the franchise so far. At this point I definitely plan on checking out the rest of the Boogiepop novels, manga, music, anime series, and live-action film.

On to other things online! Digital Manga has launched its most recent Tezuka Kickstarter project and it is…ambitious. At Manga Comics Manga, Deb Aoki has a nice roundup of some the concerns and criticisms fans have been expressing about the project. Justin has been busy posting more New York Comic Con content at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, including interviews with Viz Media’s Andy Nakatani (editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump) and Leyla Aker (Vice President of Publishing). Also, in case you missed it (like I did), Brigid Alverson posted her NYCC interview of Takeshi Obata at Comic Book Resources a couple Fridays back. Ryan Holmberg’s most recent What Was Alternative Manga? column focuses on the proto-gekiga work of Masahiko Matsumoto. The post has great (and probably deliberate) timing–Matsumoto’s The Man Next Door is now available to order from Breakdown Press. Over at Manga Connection, Manjiorin is embarking on a new review project focusing on Crunchyroll’s digital manga. And speaking of manga reviews, Manga Blog’s inagural Bookmarked! feature was posted. I’m very happy to see Manga Blog so active again. Be sure to check it out for its link-blogging, too!

Quick Takes

The Dawn of Love by Kazuho Hirokawa. Masahiro is infatuated with his fellow law student Takane and so is very happy to discover that Takane, like him, is also gay. Takane has multiple partners which doesn’t bother Masahiro at first, but eventually he decides that he wants Takane to exclusively date him. My biggest issue with The Dawn of Love is that Masahiro uses sex to manipulate Takane, basically forcing Takane to choose monogamy regardless of his own feelings about the matter; it’s really not a good basis for a healthy, long-lasting relationship. I think Hirokawa was trying to going for a sort of “true love conquers all” take with the manga, but The Dawn of Love isn’t successful in achieving that, mostly because I was never convinced that Masahiro and Takane were actually in love to begin with. Even Masahiro doesn’t bother to ask himself why he loves Takane until well into the story, and he never really answers that question. It’s obvious that the two of them enjoy having sex with each other (and there’s a lot of sex in The Dawn of Love), but sexual desire isn’t the same thing as romantic love. The Dawn of Love had great potential and was even rather funny in places, but overall I didn’t end up enjoying it much at all.

Magical Girl Apocalypse, Volume 1 by Kentaro Sato. I can’t tell for certain yet, but by the end of the first volume of Magical Girl Apocalypse it seems as though the series might actually be a parody. If that’s true, it makes the manga a little more interesting to me. If not, Sato is going to need to do something else to keep my attention. I’m more frightened that Yoruka will have a horrifying back injury due to her ridiculously large breasts than I am of the series’ “zombies.” Despite the inclusion of the creepy-cute magical girls instead of more traditional zombie-like monsters, the manga doesn’t really set itself apart yet. At this point, it somehow feels like a pretty generic zombie story. There’s plenty of disturbing scenes and well-drawn gore, and I appreciate that Sato isn’t afraid to kill off characters who in other series would actually manage to live for more than one chapter, but otherwise I found Magical Girl Apocalypse to be a fairly typical zombie survival manga. The series should be an entertaining read for those fond of the subgenre, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but personally I find myself a little zombied-out these days and prefer my horror to have a little more substance.

Say I Love You, Volume 3 by Kanae Hazuki. One of the things that really impresses me about Say I Love You is Hazuki’s forthright portrayal of teenage sexuality. The characters exhibit both maturity and immaturity in their relationships; they can be surprisingly levelheaded, but they can also let their feelings get the best of them. There’s conflict and selfishness in addition to the beginnings of new love and developing respect for others. The characters and their relationships are believable and have depth to them. The more I read of Say I Love You the more and more like Mei. She, like so many of the other characters, has been hurt in the past, but despite her nervousness and anxiety she’s at a point in her life that she’s able to stand up for herself and for others. (Bullying and dealing with bullies is a recurring theme in Say I Love You.) Though Mei tends not to take crap from other people, she is still vulnerable and she still experiences pain, especially now that she is beginning to open herself up to others again. She’s learning to trust, but it doesn’t always come easily for her. It’s this sort of realistic and layered characterization that Say I Love You does particularly well.

YU+ME: Dream, Omnibuses 1-2 by Megan Rose Gedris. I only recently discovered YU+ME, a webcomic that was originally released online between 2004 and 2010. The comic is still freely available to read online, but the series has also now been collected into two omnibuses which include additional content. The first part of YU+ME comes across as a fairly standard girl-meets-girl high school love story. It’s certainly enjoyable, but not an exceptional story on its own. (Although it is noteworthy that the series may have been one of the earliest queer-focused webcomics.) What really makes the YU+ME outstanding is its second part, which places the first half within an entirely new context. Gedris wanted to turn the “but it was all a dream” trope on its head and she does so magnificently. Both the artwork and the storytelling are a bit rough in the beginning, but Gedris steadily improves and by the end the series has turned into something truly spectacular. The first part of YU+ME primarily uses a single art style while the second half explodes into a brilliant variety of design, color, and texture. YU+ME is an epic and surreal lesbian love story with a grand mythos to go along with it and a plot that is much more complex than it first appears.

Manga the Week of 10/29

October 24, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, MJ and Michelle Smith 2 Comments

SEAN: I think Yen Press has set a record for most volumes released in a single week. (At least for that publisher… I suspect Viz has it beat overall there.) Let’s start with what isn’t Yen, though.

Blade of the Immortal is perilously close to finishing, and it also hits its 30th volume this week from Dark Horse. Wasn’t it the last series still published in 32-page floppies to give in and go volume-only?

ASH: I’m not certain, but I think that’s true. Either way, I’m very happy that Dark Horse continued to release the series. Nearly two decades later, this is the penultimate volume in English!

ANNA: That’s pretty epic! I loved the artwork in the first few volumes of this series, but I didn’t really stick with it for the long haul. No question that this is a big achievement.

SEAN: Attack on Titan: No Regrets has its 2nd and final volume, in which Levi’s two childhood friends survive and go set up a nice house somewhere, no doubt. Wait, no, this is Attack on Titan.

ASH: I rather enjoyed the first volume of this spinoff, so I’ll be picking up the second volume, too.

SEAN: I’ve gotten too far behind on Fairy Tail to make jokes about its plot, so hey! Fairy Tail 43!

There’s a double dose of Alice this week, from two different publishers. Seven Seas gives us the 6th volume of my favorite spinoff of the series, Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game.

Vertical has The Garden of Words, one of the more optimistic works by Makoto Shinkai. That’s not saying much, of course. I reviewed it here.

MJ: As a Shinkai fan, I’m a pretty interested in this. I’ve enjoyed manga adaptations of his films in the past, including 5 Centimeters Per Second. So, yeah. I’m on board.

ASH: Me, too! (Though, I’ll admit I haven’t actually gotten around to watching the anime, yet…)

SEAN: In case you missed the digital release of Another, the horror novel Yen put out last year, we now have an omnibus print edition under the Yen On label.

MJ: This looks interesting to me as well!

SEAN: Alice in the Country of Diamonds ~Wonderful Wonder World~ is part artbook, part guide to the PSP game, and part fan thing, with interviews, manga, etc. If you like Alice, it’s all here.

Barakamon is an anticipated new series from Yen, about a calligrapher who is sent to a remote island after losing his temper; the plot is basically “fish out of water”, but it’s apparently quite well done.

MJ: Again, I’m interested. This actually is turning out to be a pretty intriguing week!

MICHELLE: I was just reading the description for this on Yen’s site the other day. It definitely looks appealing!

ASH: This is one of the series from Yen that I’ve been most looking forward to reading.

ANNA: This does sound really intriguing.

SEAN: Black Butler hits its 18th volume, and I’ll bet you two to one that Ciel and Sebastian are investigating something-or-other.

Bloody Brat gives us a 2nd volume of wacky antics with the cast of Blood Lad, to contrast with the wacky antics already present in the main series.

MJ: Always up for more wacky antics in this universe.

MICHELLE: Me, too. It just suits my humor. I actually found that the main series is funnier than the spinoff, at least in the first volume, but I’ll actually be reading volume two this evening for… reasons.

SEAN: A Bride’s Story is now an annual release, but that’s more ‘caught up with Japan’ than anything else. It’s still a terrific title everyone should read.

MJ: It’s been a while, indeed. This can’t come too soon.

ASH: Anything by Kaoru Mori is always a must for me. (Also, Yen is bringing back Emma!)

ANNA: I need to get caught up on this series. I agree that anything by Kaoru Mori is a must have.

SEAN: Doujinshi Anthologies (non-porn) are a staple of popular Japanese franchises, but we rarely see them over here. Yen has made a few exceptions, and after seeing The Misfortune of Kyon and Koizumi a while back, we now have The Celebration of Haruhi Suzumiya, which binds together three similar volumes into one big omnibus.

Inu x Boku SS had quite a plot twist last time, one that leaves the series seemingly with no one left to carry on. Where it goes from here will be the big reason to read this 5th volume.

Given the author drew the Time-Killing Arc, one of my favorite Higurashi arcs, I wish I liked Judge better than I do. Survival Game is just not my favorite genre. Here’s the penultimate volume.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days has its fourth volume, and yeah, I got nothing.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the gag manga The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan, whose 8th volume ships this week, is a better adaptation of the source than the main manga. Not more accurate. But better.

No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! has its 5th volume ship, and the only thing that makes me more uncomfortable than reading it is having to type out its full title. Still good, just cringe inducing.

ASH: Yeah, it can be a bit hard to read, but it is a good series.

SEAN: Hey, remember Oninagi? Had 3 volumes out about 5 years ago from Yen? Not very good? Ever wonder where that final fourth volume ever got to? Well, wonder no more. Here ‘tis.

ASH: Oh, wow, I’m not familiar with this series at all! It’s still great to see it being completed in English, though.

ANNA: I’m going to sit in the corner and whimper for all the unfinished series I’d like to see completed in English.

SEAN: Another Madoka Magica tie-in also wraps up, this being A Different Story.

I was surprised to see the dark fantasy series Ubel Blatt licensed, but unsurprised to hear it will be coming out in omnibus form, given its length. This first one collects Vol. 0 (a special prologue) and 1, but is labeled 0 to confuse everyone.

MJ: I’m cautiously interested. “Dark fantasy” can go either way for me.

MICHELLE: Same here. I must say, too, I’m kind of relieved that series I don’t follow about are wrapping up; I always feel guilty when I’ve nothing to say about them.

SEAN: Lastly (at long last), there the 2nd omnibus of Umineko When They Cry: Alliance of the Golden Witch. We’re getting closer than ever to defining what magic is, which in turn will help us to understand Beatrice. And by we, I mean the reader. Not Battler, he’s still useless.

Despite all these titles, is there nothing here that can satisfy you? And if so, why? Look at them all.

3 Things Thursday: It’s Problematic

October 23, 2014 by MJ 10 Comments

As we near the end of my first full year at my new job, I’ve once again been finding more time to read and talk about manga (and hurray for that, I’d like to say). As a side-effect of that, my once music-centric Tumblr has seen an increase in manga-related posts and reblogs. This is mostly a perfectly fine thing, but given Tumblr’s fandom-heavy vibe, I think it’s safe to say that I must have experienced some kind of temporary loss of wits a week or so ago when I chose that as my venue for a brief rant on a popular(ish) manga ‘ship. Fortunately, Tumblr fans were fairly kind to me over the incident, but really, what was I thinking?

If you dared to click, you’ll know by now that my rant centered on a particularly destructive and tragic canon relationship between the two male leads of CLAMP’s Tokyo Babylon, and my lack of ability to understand why or how fans could actively ‘ship a pairing that was born pretty blatantly out of deception, cruelty, and (at best) sick curiosity. And I’ll admit that, though I now have a deeper understanding of their devotion to the ‘ship, I simply can’t get on board. As much as I love Tokyo Babylon (and I really, really love Tokyo Babylon), I’ll never be able to view Seishirou’s carefully calculated seduction of Subaru (and its significant collateral damage) as anything but horrible.

“Well, that’s just fine,” you say, “Judge McJudgy-pants.” And okay, I see your point. And before you add “hypocrite” under your breath, I’ll be the first to admit… YES. I have some pretty problematic ‘ships in my own catalogue. And even if maybe no part of them ever murdered anyone’s sister (ahem) I can’t deny that there are… issues. Really serious issues. Sometimes. Okay. Whatever. *sigh*

3 Problematic Relationships I Accidentally Love (or something like that):

1. Hachi/Nobu (NANA) – She’s a married lady (*@#!@^&#*^@&* Takumi grrrrrrr) whose poor judgement and inability to deal with romantic confrontation completely destroyed him and he’s a sweet but kind of codependent musician whose weakness and privileged upbringing will almost assuredly cause him to lose his current girlfriend (like it did with Hachi, whether he knew it or not). But even after all this time, and increasing unlikelihood that we’ll ever find out what really happens in this series, I CAN’T LET IT GO. Like Nobu, I’m always going to be hanging on to that tiny piece of hope, even when it’s obviously, irretrievably gone. And like Nobu, I’ll probably hate Takumi forever. Screw Hachi’s legal and emotional commitments. And… her children? GAH. Um. She belongs with Nobu. Damnit. Sorry, that’s just the way things are. Also, along these totally destructive and morally questionable lines? Shin/Reira. I ‘ship it. Sorry, I just do. Here, have some pictures:

(click image to enlarge – read right-to-left)

2. Seth/Shonach (Moon Child) – This one is really tough for me, but there’s a part of me that can’t let it go. So. Seth is a genderless fish alien who has yet to mature into female mermaid form (yes, seriously, this is a thing), and Shonach is a freaking human jerk who fails to recognize the awesomeness he has at hand. It’s hard for me to admit that I ‘ship this pairing at all, because, well… from our discussion of the series: “… it really bothers me that his [Shonach’s] obsession with Benjamin’s [Seth’s sister] beauty (her beauty only—he doesn’t care about her as a person at all, really) keeps him from being able to appreciate the best parts of Seth, to the point that even at the end, when Seth has matured into a female, he can only see her as Benjamin. That the only expression of true affection Seth ever really gets from Shonach is when he believes she is Benjamin really breaks my heart.” Also, that my personal justification for the ‘ship (“because Seth wants it”) is pretty much exactly the same as one fan’s justification of her Subaru/Seishirou ‘shipping (“because Subaru wants it”) has not escaped my notice.

(read right-to-left)

3. Ritsuka/Soubi (Loveless) – I can’t even really believe I’m putting this on the list, because not only is it just wrong on so many levels, but I don’t even want it as a romantic or sexual relationship. But the difference between this age-inappropriate ‘ship (Ritsuka: twelve; Soubi: … not twelve) and a few others I notably enjoy (Amu/Ikuto in Shugo Chara!, Alice/Rin in Please Save My Earth) is that, though it is the only one that is not explicitly romantic, it is by far the most sexualized, and there’s no getting around that. Yun Kouga does not let us get around that, as I’ve lamented many times. So I feel that to not include it on this list would be pretty dishonest. No, I don’t want to see Ritsuka and Soubi’s relationship become more romantic/sexual than it currently is. No, I am not even comfortable with what it currently is. Yes, I want them to be able to be together and stay together, whatever that means, because Soubi (especially) needs it—you know what, they both need it, and I’m sort of willing to accept that that’s probably awful. And. Yeah.

(read right-to-left)

So there’s my own sort-of ‘shipping shame. What about you?

My Week in Manga: October 13-October 19, 2014

October 20, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Only somewhat unintentionally, last week ended up being a yuri-filled week here at Experiments in Manga. My friend Jocilyn was inspired to write a guest review of Takako Shimura’s Sweet Blue Flowers, Volume 1 by Takako Shimura, which is currently only available digitally. (I’m hoping that one day the series will be available in print, but as Jocilyn points out, a few fixes may be needed for that to happen.) As for the manga review that I posted last week, I took a look at Chiho Saito’s Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena for my Year of Yuri monthly review project. Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of my absolute favorite anime series and I was quite pleased with Saito’s The Adolescence of Utena, finding it to be an incredibly compelling work in its own right. And speaking of my Year of Yuri project, I only have one more review to go! I haven’t quite decided which manga (or comic) my final review will tackle, so if you have any requests or would like to see something in particular, let me know! I also posted one other (non-yuri) review last week: Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan, Volume 4. Monkey Business is a literary journal featuring a mix of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and even a bit of manga. The stories tend to be a little strange, but that also tends to be something that I enjoy.

Elsewhere online, New York Comic Con articles are still being posted. At Publishers Weekly, Deb Aoki has a general roundup of the manga industry’s presence at NYCC. Justin of Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has a few interesting things from his time at NYCC, including why publishers and fans think it’s worth it to buy manga and an interview with Gen Manga’s Robert McGuire. Vertical also posted a bit more information about the Vertical Comics imprint. Unrelated to NYCC but still interesting reading, at Contemporary Japanese Literature Kathryn Hemmann has an excellent critique of Helen McCarthy’s A Brief History of Manga, specifically addressing the male-centric focus of the work. (I’ve had the volume on my “to be read” pile since its release; I should really get around to actually reading it one of these days) Also, Frederick L. Schodt wrote a bit about the history of his groundbreaking work Manga! Manga!. (Exceptionally good timing, as I am just about to start reading it.) And last but not least, Digital Manga has licensed ninth and final volume of Hinako Takanaga’s The Tyrant Falls in Love! (I mistakenly thought the eighth volume was the series’ end, so I’m doubly happy for this license.)

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan, Volume 13 by Hajime Isayama. Although I have largely been enjoying Attack on Titan since the beginning of the series, the thirteenth volume is a particularly good installment of the manga. As the series has progressed, mystery on top of mystery and twist on top of twist has been added, which is something that can only be sustained for so long. But with the thirteenth volume it feels as though some progress has actually been made with the plot and some answers are finally being given–or at least some convincing and appropriately disconcerting theories are being offered. The thirteenth volume begins with the aftermath of the Survey Corps’ rescue of Eren. The number of deaths and casualties incurred by the group is severe. Eren must come to terms with just how much ensuring his safety costs and just how much depends on him in the battles to come. The focus of Attack on Titan has shifted from confronting the Titans themselves to confronting the corruption within the government while trying to discover who or what is even behind the existence of the Titans. It’s a particularly effective development–the prospect of fighting Titans has a significantly different psychological impact than that of fighting, and even killing, humans.

A Love Song for the Miserable by Yukimura. Many of the boys’ love manga released in English are about high school or middle school students, so it’s always a refreshing to encounter a story about adults. A Love Song for the Miserable is one of those stories. Asada is hoping to work in events planning while Nao is studying to become a patissier. After a chance meeting, the two of them become friends and Asada ends up acting as Nao’s taste tester, developing feelings for the other man in the process. Sadly, Asada would much rather completely ruin any chance of a relationship with Nao than risk the possibility of being rejected after opening up. Their friendship ends badly which puts them both in an awkward position three years later when Asada meets Nao again while on the job. A Love Song for the Miserable captures Asada’s personality and insecurities extremely well and the complexities of his feelings are very realistic. It’s understandable that Asada’s lack of confidence in himself and his jealousy over Nao’s success when his own career is going nowhere would interfere with him developing a stable relationship. Asada has very good reasons for being miserable, and Nao has very good reasons for being upset with him, but they might just be able to make something work.

World Trigger, Volumes 1-2 by Daisuke Ashihara. In an interesting move, Viz decided to simultaneously release two volumes of World Trigger. It certainly caught my attention, so I guess the gambit was a successful one. There were several things that I liked about World Trigger. For example, I particularly appreciate that strategy and tactics come into play in the fights and that the battles aren’t all about who happens to have the greatest brute strength or power. I also liked Yuma–since he is a Neighbor his perspective is very different from that of the other characters and it shows–although I can easily see how he might get on some readers’ nerves. Other aspects of the manga didn’t work quite as well for me. Right off the bat Border is described as a mysterious organization; the general population seems oddly accepting of its presence and seems to require no further explanation as long as Border continues to fight against the Neighbors, which I found a little difficult to believe. I assume this is probably something the series will explore in the future, but as it is the lack of information is frustrating, especially when other things are over-explained. For the most part I did enjoy the first volume, but the second didn’t do much to retain my attention. Though it has its good points, World Trigger hasn’t quite managed to set itself apart from other series yet and seems a little generic so far.

Sweet Blue Flowers, Vol. 1

October 17, 2014 by Jocilyn Wagner

Earlier this year my good friend Jocilyn Wagner contributed a review of Hiroki Ugawa’s Shrine of the Morning Mist, Volume 1 to Experiments in Manga. She was recently inspired to do so more manga blogging and to write another review, and so I’m happy to welcome Jocilyn back to Experiments in Manga! This time she’ll be taking a look at the Digital Manga Guild edition of Sweet Blue Flowers, Volume 1 by Takako Shimura.

* * *

Easily Shimura Takako’s most well-known manga endeavour, Sweet Blue Flowers is an unforgettable bildungsroman of the classic Japanese girl’s school (minus the dorm boarding). The story focuses on two heroines: Manjoume Fumi and Okudaira Akira. Childhood friends who were separated for elementary and junior high and by coincidence have moved into the same neighborhood together for high school. The girls, who don’t at first recognize each other, are reintroduced when Akira (called “Aki” in this version) saves the timid Fumi from train molestation. Although the two attend different schools, their close friendship and shared interest in acting cause Fumi to find excuses to attend theatre club at Aki’s much more wealthy/prestigious school.

The setting of two close-knit girls’ schools often lends itself to a Yuri manga and Sweet Blue Flowers positively embraces the plot line. As the story opens, Fumi (tall and bashful) is recovering from her separation with Chizu, Fumi’s first love, a cousin who’s getting married. Enter in the dashing heartbreaker Sugimoto Yasuko who’s been recently cast against her will as the swoon-worthy Heathcliff. Yasuko is immediately smitten of Fumi and Fumi is quick to return her feelings (…perhaps too quick?). Despite being easily embarrassed and a worrier, Fumi manages to confide the relationship and her sexuality in Aki. The level-headed Aki doesn’t really understand why this would be a problem but ponders the issue while Fumi, who’s assumed it will come between them slips into fear-induced avoidance of her. When Aki’s finally able to snag Fumi aside she asks her, “What can I do to support you?”

Sweet Blue Flowers is as wonderful and poignant in English as it is in Japanese. The story is moving and rapturous. I’m really hopeful DMP can publish Sweet Blue Flowers in print…

But now I think I have a better understanding of why they might not. Compared to Fantagraphics’ Wandering Son, this version of Aoihana is frankly an embarrassment that in no way lives up to the beauty of the original and really shouldn’t be printed as is. It’s in desperate need of an English adapter and some real copy editing. As a Shimura fangirl, I really want to see Aoihana in print, so just in case the project leader is listening, the following is a substantial critique. The optimist should stop reading here. :)

The biggest problem in my mind is that bizarrely, instead of how it’s always been rendered “Ah-chan” in both the original manga AND the anime near and dear by now to the hearts of North Americans, this version replaces all the Ah-chans with “Aki.” To be fair, Aki is more of a fleshed out name than Ah-chan, but it’s really a boy’s name and it doesn’t suit Akira’s character, besides which it’s not a name Shimura-sensei chose. Part of what makes Aoihana so cute is that the Okudaira siblings have their names reversed: that is to say, Akira is usually though not always a boy’s name and Shinobu is similarly a girl’s name occasionally used for boys. Perhaps the idea here with “Aki” was to emphasize that her name doesn’t fit the image? Yet I think Shimura-sensei would argue that’s exactly why she’s always been called Ah-chan (to make up for/ignore the more masculine Akira). Put simply, Akira is always called Ah-chan because she’s ridiculously cute and her role in the story is to be the best friend and onee-chan from Fumi’s childhood, thus someone you’d want to give a cute nickname to like “Ah-chan.” Perhaps because she’s given a bit more wisdom than other characters or because of her future role in the story, the DMG team chose to call her Aki. At any rate, it feels like an awkward and unnecessary change that will stick out painfully to most fans of the work.

Additionally, there’s just too much left untranslated in terms of signage with parenthetical notes given instead that really detract from the flow of the reading. As far as I can tell, all the signs and documents are left untranslated (even ones that couldn’t possibly be hurt by replacement with English such as the heading card in the photo album scrapbook that reads “Christmas Party” or the words on the cake for Chizu’s party) which comes off looking like the typesetter just couldn’t be bothered/too inexperienced to handle the job. For the none-Japanese reader it’s too much work to constantly be hunting for marginalia. Shimura’s penmanship isn’t all that legible anyway (most were drawn with marker), so if you can read Japanese, leaving the signs as is doesn’t necessarily help things–except in the case of one of her school gateway engravings, it doesn’t exactly have a “Shoudo” quality. Perhaps the concept here is to give the English reader a sense that they’re really in Kamakura, but that’s actually doing Shimura-sensei a disservice as the gorgeous well-researched setting she’s drawn is more stark and striking than most mangaka can muster.

sweet blue flowers snippita

Add to this a lot of really tiring typographical errors such as “Pap” for “Pat” and “Beautiful is Youth” “Hasegawwa” and “Fajisawa”, really detract from the reading experience. The emanga version of Sweet Blue Flowers is very welcome and we love you for it, but please consider further editing before sending it to the printer.

In terms of the digital file, it’s definitely topknotch. Emanga allows you to choose from among seven or eight major formats as well as offering you the option of reading your books through their proprietary online reader. I was really happy to be able to get Sweet Blue Flowers in PDF since it looks and functions the best on the iPad. It’s not always the most annotation friendly, but since manga is an artistic medium it makes sense to use an Adobe format to access it. Unfortunately, once you’ve chosen to download the file in one format, you’re stuck with only that single file type and you’d need to repurchase it from emanga to get it in a different format (DRM is kinda evil like that). I had no trouble downloading the file and it opens great on all my devices. Given their many options for downloading, their pricing system that’s free from points and rentals and their interface with Amazon, I’d highly recommend emanga over some other digital manga sites I’ve tried (except when it comes to editing).

Manga the Week of 10/22

October 16, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: Another week, another pile. Here we go.

I may not really enjoy Gantz, but it certainly sells in comic shops, and is popular enough that the author’s new title was just announced at NYCC. We’re still a few volumes from the end over here.

Animal Land, an underrated Kodansha title, has reached Vol. 10. I always mean to go back and check this out, but never do.

MICHELLE: I honestly had no idea this was still going.

SEAN: If you still haven’t gotten the first four Attack on Titan volumes, Kodansha has a nice box set of them for you.

No. 6 has hit Vol. 9, and there are many Manga Bookshelf peeps excited about that.

ASH: I’m looking forward to it! (I just hope the manga’s ending is handled better than the anime adaptation’s was.)

SEAN: Sankarea has also hit Volume 9, and has pretty much ceased to be a fanservice-filled romantic comedy entirely. At this point you wonder who will remain alive at the end.

In case manga was not enough Alice for you, Seven Seas has the light novel Alice in the Country of Diamonds: Bet on My Heart. Blood is the love interest du jour, I believe.

ANNA: I wonder if this series will ever run out of card suits and have to incorporate an additional organizational system drawn from other games like Jenga or Yatzee.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel impressed me more than I expected, and I am eager to see if the second volume can keep it up.

Thought you’d read all of Dance in the Vampire Bund, had you? Never! There are still the… Secret Chronicles. (makes scary woooo gestures with fingers)

Haganai 9 won’t get you many friends, but it should still provide a lot of laughs and some heart as well.

Seven Seas debuts the manga version of No Game, No Life. With the light novel out next year, this series is getting a lot of push. It looks pretty fanservice-heavy, but hey.

Vertical also has a new debut with Vol. 1 of Witchcraft Works. I reviewed it over here.

ASH: I’m rather curious about Witchcraft Works.

SEAN: Viz is releasing an 18-volume Black Bird Box Set, which… why? I thought we were done! (weeps)

MJ: NO… no… nooooooo…

MICHELLE: I know what I’m getting MJfor Christmas!

MJ: *stare of death*

MICHELLE: Dude. That’s harsh.

MJ: It was the mildest response I could come up with.

ANNA: Not a fan of Black Bird but hey, at least we have a series to point people to if they really enjoy wound licking.

SEAN: And Monster gets a 2nd omnibus Perfect Edition.

MICHELLE: I have fond memories of Monster

ANNA: I might buy these omnibus editions for myself as a holiday present!

SEAN: For Hayao Miyazaki fans, Princess Mononoke: The First Story is a must buy, being the original early 80s idea he had for the eventual movie to come.

And for alt-manga fans, you can’t go wrong with a new volume of Sunny.

ASH: That’s true!

MJ: Finally, something for me to get excited about this week!

MICHELLE: Same here! I was beginning to despair.

ANNA: Alt-manga isn’t my favorite thing, but Sunny is great.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a new Vagabond, still trundling along even after 3 dozen books.

ASH: I’ve really been meaning to catch up with Vagabond; Inoue does some fantastic work.

ANNA: I love the 3 in 1 Vagabond editions.

SEAN: Is there a book here that’s right for you?

MICHELLE: Just one, apparently!

3 Things Thursday: NETCOMICS

October 16, 2014 by MJ 3 Comments

It’s been over three years since Michelle and I published an Off the Shelf column entitled, “NETCOMICS Lives!” A year later, it seemed that our excitement was perhaps premature, as new chapter releases dwindled and the company’s social media accounts went dark. But this year, once again, we’ve seen signs of life! I’m a bit late realizing it, myself. When, just yesterday, the NETCOMICS Twitter account suddenly favorited two old tweets of mine from 2012, I headed over to the website, only to find that not only had NETCOMICS attended Anime Expo this year, but they were also releasing a new print series, Give to the Heart, the first volume of which was just released this week!

Give to the Heart is written by Wann, an artist I’ve had mixed experiences with (see 100% Perfect Girl), but her series So I Married an Anti-Fan was one of the charming new series Michelle and I got so excited about back in 2011, so I can’t help but feel optimistic. Most notably, as I mentioned, Give to the Heart is being released in print which I admit I far prefer over the company’s only other current method of distribution—its chapter-by-chapter, short-term rentals.

I still deeply regret not picking up all my favorite NETCOMICS series in print when they were available. In fact, one of my tweets that NETCOMICS recently favorited was this from February 9th, 2012: “Random wish–I read all 15 volumes of Let Dai digitally at @NETCOMICS… kinda wish I owned the complete print run. Volumes very $ now, tho.” Honestly, this is still true, perhaps even more now than it was in 2012. The longer I’m a fan, the more careful I am about keeping my personal print collection relevant and manageable, but it is series like Let Dai—epic fantasies (romantic or otherwise) with memorable characters and lovely artwork—that I most long to keep around.

Not only that, it’s exactly the kind of series I’d be pleased to share with my teen students, as it’s both the strengths and flaws of a series like this that make it something I’d have enjoyed most when I was a teen. If I enjoy it as an adult despite its excessively violent and melodramatic nature, I’d have loved it for exactly those things when I was twelve or thirteen. For this reason, I’ll likely pick up the print volumes of Give to the Heart as they become available, just in case it might become a source of later regret.

So what am I getting at here? What are my 3 things? Okay, here we go:

3 NETCOMICS series I wish I owned in print:

1. Do Whatever You Want | Yeri Na Oh, English-language publishing has been so cruel to Yeri Na. While I’m happy to have been able to read this series in its entirety on NETCOMICS’ site (a fate much kinder than that of Drama Queen’s ill-fated license for Peter Panda), a short-term rental just really can’t do this series justice. Like Let Dai, it’s a series that deserves a long shelf life, being re-read and shared and discussed in squeeful hushed tones between teens (or adults who still remember being teens). This is a terrific title that ends up being both deeper and larger in scope than it might initially appear. I own the first three published volumes, and they do sit happily on my shelf. I would dearly love to be able to add the remaining four. Pipe dreams… pipe dreams. Note: This same, unfinished fate also applies to Roureville.

2. Full House | Sooyeon Won – From the same gloriously over-the-top mind that brought us Let Dai, Full House was rescued from its original doomed publication by the defunct Central Park Media, and thankfully brought to us in its entirety to us via NETCOMICS’ digital platform. Unfortunately it remains in that format only. From my review of the second volume: “Though this series is, frankly, stunningly predictable, to leave it at that would be a grave oversimplification. Manhwa-ga Sooyeon Won has an extraordinary talent for turning romantic cliché into storytelling gold … Her secret to this is brazen excess, which in this case applies to the series’ endless stream of classic screwball comedy banter—precisely the thing that makes the story so much fun in the first place.” We wants it, precious… ON OUR SHELVES. *weep*

3. Small-Minded Schoolgirls | Toma – This three-volume series is the only one on this list that has never enjoyed a print run, and while I certainly understand the (apparent) difficulty in marketing comics for adult women, this truly is a shame. This unsentimental comic was one of my favorites in 2009, and remained so through the end of its run on NETCOMICS. Its idiosyncratic art style and fantastic female characters belong on my shelf next to Moyoco Anno, Natsume Ono, and Fumi Yoshinaga. What a wonderful collection that would be! Out of all the titles on this list, Small-Minded Schoolgirls is also the one I’d recommend most fervently to new readers. Its length makes it a low-cost, low-committment option at twenty cents a chapter (you can read the entire thing for under $3). It’s really a crime *not* to read it!

Of course, while I can avoid blame for not owning these non-existent volumes in print, will I ever recover from my lack of foresight in failing to buy Let Dai? Probably not. How about you? What NETCOMICS series do you wish you owned in print?