Features & Reviews

Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink

March 14, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Milk Morinaga
U.S. publisher: Seven Seas
ISBN: 9781937867317
Released: June 2013
Original release: 2012

Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink is the second yuri manga by Milk Morinaga to have been licensed in English. The first, and my introduction to her work, was her series Girl Friends. I quite enjoyed Girl Friends and so was looking forward to reading more of her manga, in this case one of her earlier series. Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink was released in English by Seven Seas in 2013 in a single-volume omnibus edition. Morinaga first began creating the stories included in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink in 2003. In Japan, the earlier stories were collected into a single volume in 2006. However, Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink was later released again in 2012 in two volumes that collected additional stories, including some that were previously unpublished. This two-volume edition of Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink is the one upon which Seven Seas’ omnibus is based. As such, the English-language edition of the manga collects nearly a decade’s worth of material into a single volume.

Nana and Hitomi were best friends who grew up together and attended the same elementary and junior high schools. Nana was looking forward to becoming a student at Sakurakai Girls’ High School, but that was when she thought Hitomi would be enrolling as well. However, Hitomi was accepted at Touhou Girls’ High School. Finding it too painful to continue to suppress her love for Nana after being rejected, Hitomi chooses to attend Touhou instead. Despite how close the two of them used to be, Nana finds Hitomi drifting away and she misses her terribly. But recognizing her own feelings is only the first step in mending their relationship as is begins to evolve into something more than just friendship. Similarly, several of the other young women at Sakurakai and Touhou are faced with their own first loves and crushes on classmates. It isn’t always easy to confess their feelings and falling in love with a person of the same gender often brings along challenges that other couples don’t have to deal with.

The stories collected in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink follow a vague chronological order, but many of them aren’t directly related to one another. They share the same setting and to some extent the same characters, but only Nana and Hitomi are the focus of multiple stories in the volume. I actually really enjoyed Morinaga’s structural approach to Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink. Nana and Hitomi’s relationship provides a more developed, ongoing narrative, creating a framework which supports the supplementary side stories about their classmates and friends. Overall, I feel this gives the manga slightly more depth. Also included in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink is a diagram that visually shows how all of the different stories and characters overlap and are connected to one another. Although they are interrelated and occasionally make references to previous developments and chapters, most of the stories do stand perfectly well on their own in addition to contributing to the manga as a whole.

Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink tends to be very cute, sweet, and romantic, which is not to say that every story is a happy one. I appreciated that some of the chapters in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink have touches of angst, sadness, and bittersweetness to them. Nana and Hitomi’s relationship, despite having its ups and downs, does have an ending that seems to tie everything up a little too easily and nicely, but I won’t deny that it made me smile. Morinaga also addresses some very real issues and concerns, such as homophobia, that are encountered by same-gendered couples, but many of the feelings expressed are relevant for any romantic relationship. The manga may be a bit melodramatic at times, but it is emotionally resonant. Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink also incorporates a fair amount of humor. It’s a highly enjoyable and charming collection of short manga with likeable characters, a generally optimistic outlook, and a satisfying amount of realism to go along with its sweetness.

Manga the Week of 3/19

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

SEAN: There are no quiet weeks for the month of March, each week having a surprisingly robust group of manga coming out. Here’s what’s next week.

Genshiken returned after a hiatus, never a good sign, and with a ‘next generation’ cast that almost immediately brought back the previous generation, an even worse sign. Despite this, it’s been incredibly entertaining, always remembering to focus on the people rather than the otaku. Vol. 4 of Season 2 comes out next week.

MICHELLE: Will I lose my manga badge if I admit I’ve never read Genshiken?

ASH: I only got around to it after the omnibuses were released, but I’m glad that I did. I’m enjoying the second season, too.

ANNA: I will have to lose my manga badge too, because I have never read it either.

MJ: I’ve had this on my “to read” list forever. Perhaps I can finally start picking up the omnibus release.

SEAN: Speaking of returning after a hiatus with a next-gen cast, UQ Holder is Ken Akamatsu’s new work for Kodansha after the abrupt end of Negima. The series takes place in 2086, and magic is now known to the world after the events of Negima. The main cast (with perhaps one exception) is not from Negima, however, but a new crew getting ready for some adventure. Expect action, humor, and gratuitous nudity.

And while CLAMP has indeed gone back to the well and restarted their old series xxxHOLIC, we aren’t getting that new run yet. Instead, here’s the first omnibus putting back into print the old series that came out 11 years ago – an eternity in manga boom years! – from Del Rey Books, who also published Negima. And Genshiken.

MICHELLE: Ooh! I somehow missed out on buying the last couple of volumes of the first run of xxxHOLiC, and now they’re pretty expensive. Maybe I’ll pick up the final omnibus instead.

MJ: This makes me very happy!

SEAN: Seven Seas reminds manga bloggers who don’t follow the series that casual readers who don’t follow manga bloggers can’t get enough of Dance in the Vampire Bund. The spinoff The Memories of Sledge Hammer has Vol. 2 arrive, and still does not star David Rasche.

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: They are also bringing you Vol. 5 of Mayo Chiki, which is what it is, and no amount of my wishing it was more like Railgun or Toradora will change that.

And there’s another Witch Buster omnibus on the manwha front, as Vols 9-10 are due out next week.

On the Viz front, we have the final volume of March Story, which is not quite manwha – the creator is Korean, but the story itself ran in the Japanese Sunday GX, home of Black Lagoon. I never did get around to reading it, but always heard good things.

MJ: I’m looking forward to this! I’ve enjoyed it from the start!

SEAN: Lastly, it has been a full year since the last volume of Vagabond, so Vol. 35 had better be worth the wait. Oh wait, it’s still an Inoue manga, of course it is.

MICHELLE: Someday, I will read more Vagabond. I just seem to prefer basketball!Inoue, though I know Anna disagrees with me! :)

ASH: I adore Inoue’s work and Vagabond is fantastic. I’ve actually read the novel that the series is based on, too. They’re both epic, and I love Inoue’s interpretation.

ANNA: Vagabond is the best. I pine for more VizBig editions of this excellent series.

SEAN: Sadly, there are no Irish manga this week, just Japanese (and Korean). What are you getting?

Indian Summer

March 12, 2014 by Ash Brown

Author: Mieko Kanai
Translator: Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley
U.S. publisher: Cornell University East Asia Program
ISBN: 9781933947556
Released: August 2012
Original release: 1988

My introduction to Mieko Kanai was through her short novel Oh, Tama!, the second volume in her Mejiro series. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to read more of her work, which is how I came to pick up Indian Summer. Although Indian Summer was Kanai’s first novel to be released in English, and only the second volume of hers to be translated (the first being the short story collection The Word Book), it’s actually the third book in the Mejiro series. Each novel in the Mejiro series, though they share some of the same characters, settings, and events, largely stands on its own. While it isn’t necessary to read one novel to enjoy another, it may add some additional depth. After being serialized between 1985 and 1987, Indian Summer was collected into a single volume with some slight modifications in 1988. The English translation of Indian Summer by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley, published by Cornell University’s East Asia Program as part of its New Japanese Horizons series in 2012, is based on the later 1999 Japanese edition of the novel.

Momoko is a new student at a university in Tokyo. She’s looking forward to leaving her home in the country behind and setting out on her own in the city. Unfortunately, her overbearing mother isn’t about to let her nineteen-year-old daughter live unsupervised and plans for Momoko to stay with her aunt Chieko instead. The arrangement is meant to be temporary. In a year, Momoko’s younger brother Jun’ichi is also expected to be attending a Tokyo university and their mother intends for them to live together so that Momoko can look after him. Momoko isn’t at all interested in either of these plans, but happily she and her novelist aunt get along fairly well with each other. Chieko has her quirks, as does Momoko, but the two of them are doing what they can to make the best out of a rather awkward situation and to appease Momoko’s mother. Although the arrangement isn’t ideal, life does go on for Momoko as she beings university, makes friends (her classmate Hanako just so happens to be a huge fan of Chieko’s writing), and deals with any of the other curveballs that are thrown her way.

The structure of Indian Summer is particularly interesting. The novel is primarily told from Momoko’s point of view, but her narration is interspersed with the essays and stories that her aunt has written. Generally they are somehow related to whatever is currently going on in the story, but they do break it up somewhat. Much as in Oh, Tama!, Kanai frequently makes references to other works of literature as well as cinema in Indian Summer. Although I know there were some references that I didn’t recognize, I was delighted by those that I did, such as an homage of sorts to Nobuko Yoshiya’s Hana Monogatari. However, enjoyment of Indian Summer doesn’t depend on familiarity with the works being referenced, some of which are Kanai’s own. In Oh, Tama!, Kanai mentions that the characters in her Mejiro series are all based on real people. Indian Summer makes it fairly clear that she herself is at least partly if not primarily the inspiration for Chieko.

In Oh, Tama!, Momoko, Hanako, and Chieko were side characters. In Indian Summer, their roles are very much center stage. Momoko makes a genuinely appealing lead. She’s self-aware, a bit headstrong, forthright, and very capable of speaking her mind. Indian Summer, like Oh, Tama!, is lighthearted and humorous, focusing more on the characters themselves rather than on a complicated or involved plot. Not much actually happens in the novel. Mostly it’s about a young woman expressing herself and even venting a little as she deals with the very normal events in her life. Granted, while the actual events aren’t particularly unusual, the characters in Indian Summer all tend to be rather eccentric in one way or another. As Momoko begins to experience life away from home, the novel explores themes of family, interpersonal relationships, sexuality, and gender roles in a very amusing manner. Indian Summer was a wonderfully delightful and witty read. I can only hope that more of the Mejiro series will be translated in the future.

One Piece, Vol. 70

March 11, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

Sometimes you’re reading a manga and you get to one page, or even just one particular panel, that makes you grin so hard and flail around because it perfectly encapsulates everything about that series into one compressed image of fabulous. For One Piece 70, it was, believe it or not, Law giving his sandwich preferences. After everyone is setting sail again, Luffy demands food, which Sanji notes will be sandwiches today. The crew start giving their preferences, and Law briefly joins in, noting how he doesn’t want bread. He them stops and gasps, horrified. THEY’VE SUCKED HIM IN.

Once again we see in this volume how Luffy and his crew are different from the norm. They’re contrasted with the other pirates elsewhere in the world, particularly Donflamingo. They don’t want power as such (Luffy wants to beat the Four Kings, but it’s not so that he can take their domain away, it’s for the thrill). They don’t abuse, kill, or sexually assault anyone. They are the idealized kid version of a pirate, only actually making it happen. As the Marines note, they have to constantly belittle them and talk about how evil they are, as if they didn’t the Straw Hats would be far too easy to love.

This volume wraps up Punk Hazard, so as you’d expect there’s a lot of sections where the crew does awesome things. Usopp and Nami both get to show off (it’s even lampshaded, as Law talks about how they don’t have time to fool around, then later shows his grudging respect after they both do exactly what they bragged they would), Zoro gets to cut things, and of course Luffy gets to punch Caesar Clown into next week. As I sort of expected, the deadly poison gas is not quite as immediately deadly as it looks, so we were even able to rescue the marines who were hit by it. It calls for an arc-ending giant party, this time with Straw Hats and Marines, however grudgingly.

There’s a nice scene here where Tashigi begs Nami to be allowed to take care of the recovering children, and Nami agrees to it, noting she has a soft spot for ‘lady sailors’. I like that Bellemere and her upbringing is still very much a part of her life, and it helps to make sense of some of Nami’s maternal attitude during this arc – we’re not sure of all the details about her early childhood, but she and Nojiko were adopted, so seeing these kidnapped children probably spoke to her on that level.

So now we’re off to a new adventure, this time on the island of Dressrosa. Law and the captured Caesar are coming with the crew, however, and this is an island that Donflamingo already controls. We also get a harrowing shot of him beating Smoker nearly to death (hello, Aokiji cameo! Please arrive in the nick of time more) just to show how badass he is. Is the combination of Luffy and Law enough to stop Donflamingo? Well, yeah, probably. But can it stop… a TOURNAMENT ARC? (shudder)

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

March 10, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week the Smuggler Giveaway Winner was announced. As usual, I took the opportunity to compile a list. In this case, I pulled together some of the manga licensed in English that feature assassins. And speaking of assassins, last week I reviewed Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal, Volume 28: Raining Chaos which focuses on the confrontation between the remnants of the Ittō-ryū and the Rokki-dan warriors and the Mugai-ryū assassins. There isn’t much plot development in the volume, but there are some great battle sequences. I also reviewed Real, Volume 2 by Takehiko Inoue, which features battles of an entirely different sort. Real is a mix of human drama, tragedy, and hope as its characters deal with events in their lives beyond their control. It’s a truly fantastic series.

There was quite a bit of manga industry news and analysis last week. I’m particularly excited that Moyoco Anno will be a featured guest at TCAF! ICv2 interviewed Dark Horse’s manga editor Carl Horn (Part 1, Part 2). Deb Aoki took a look at the state of digital manga for Publishers Weekly. Vertical’s licensing survey is currently underway. Vertical also posted a little more information about past surveys and how they’ve been used. Sean Gaffney rounds up some of the recent licensing announcements at A Case Suitable for Treatment. Not directly related to the current state of the manga industry but still worth a read is Dan Mazur’s post about early shōjo manga.

Quick Takes

My Little Monster, Volume 1 by Robico. On the first day of school, Haru was suspended and he hasn’t been back since. As a favor to a teacher, Shizuku agrees to bring him his homework which Haru interprets as a sign of friendship. Now, much to Shizuku’s dismay, the two of them have become nearly inseparable. Because of Haru’s propensity towards violence and his almost complete lack of understanding as to what is socially appropriate behavior, some of the situations in My Little Monster can be extremely uncomfortable and worrisome. However, although they are often used as a source of humor, I was very happy to see that Haru’s actions were not romanticized. His tendency to lash out and physically intimidate others, whether out of fear or for some other reason, was not generally portrayed as a desirable characteristic. It’s completely understandable that some people are afraid of him. However, Haru’s naivety and earnestness can be very endearing. Shizuku, one of the few people who can seem to handle the volatile Haru, is an interesting character in her own right with both flaws and strengths. They are both social misfits in their own ways; I’m very curious to see how their relationship continues to develop.

Thermae Romae, Omnibus 3 by Mari Yamazaki. If it seems like it’s been a long time since the last Thermae Romae omnibus was released, that’s because it’s been almost a year. Thermae Romae is a series that started out more like a gag manga, following the exploits of the Roman bath engineer Lucius as he somehow time travels to modern-day Japan and back after repeated near-drownings. With the second omnibus, the series shifts into a romantic comedy when Lucius meets Satsuki after becoming stuck in Japan. That ongoing plot continues through the rest of the series. Although there is still plenty of humor in the third omnibus, Thermae Romae takes a decidedly more serious turn when it looks like Satsuki and Lucius will be torn apart. Satsuki’s grandfather, an incredibly skilled massage artist (as well as a man who should definitely not be trifled with), plays an increasingly important role in the story. Thermae Romae is a great deal of fun. It has drama and romance and comedy, not to mention great art. The ending does feel a little abrupt, but Yamazaki notes that she hopes to write additional Thermae Romae stories that address some of the lingering questions that readers may have about the series and its characters.

Arakawa Under the Bridge, Season 1 directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. The Arakawa Under the Bridge anime series is based on an ongoing manga by Hikaru Nakamura. Kou Ichinomiya lives his life following one very simple rule that has been instilled in him by his father: never be indebted to another person. So when Nino, a rather strange young woman living on the banks of the Arakawa River, saves him from drowning, Kou wants to repay the favor and move on as quickly as possible. Except, the only thing that she wants is for him to stay with her and so Kou finds himself obligated to move in under the bridge. There he meets the other residents of the Arakawa River, all of whom are not just a bit peculiar and strange. Though Kou is supposedly the “normal” one, it quickly becomes obvious that he fits right in and is just weird as the rest of them. I found Arakawa Under the Bridge to be highly entertaining and enjoyable in all of its absurdity. The series doesn’t have much of an ending, which makes some amount of sense seeing as there is a second season (which I’ll definitely be watching), but the anime tends to be fairly episodic so I wouldn’t necessarily expect it to have a definitive conclusion, either.

Like Father, Like Son directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Ryota and Midori Nonomiya are stunned when they discover that their son Keita isn’t related to them biologically. Six years ago at the hospital where he was born, Keita was somehow switched with Ryusei, the son of Yudai and Yukari Saiki. Now the two families must decide how to handle the situation and whether blood ties are stronger than those of time. Ryota, who has his own father issues to work out and whose relationship with Keita wasn’t especially strong to being with, is having a particularly difficult time, but his wife is struggling tremendously as well. The members of the Saiki family tend to be a little more easy-going in comparison, but the situation is a challenge for them as well. And caught up in the whole mess are Keita and Ryusei, who have very little say in the matter. The revelation of the two boys being switched at birth disrupts both families, resulting in both joy and heartbreak as they grow to know each other better. Like Father, Like Son is a beautiful film about parental and familial love as Ryota learns what is important in life and what it really means to be a father.

The Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki. The anime film The Wind Rises is historical, biographical fiction, following the life of Jiro Horikoshi, an aeronautic engineer who designed fighter planes for Japan during World War II. Almost as much of the film takes place in Jiro’s dreams as it does in his waking life. At first, the designs of the planes in The Wind Rises are very fantastical but as the film progresses they become more and more realistic as Jiro makes his dreams a reality. There is an emphasis placed on the beauty of design and creativity, but this is contrasted with the ugly, destructive forces of war and the terrible applications of those innovations. His planes may have been beautiful, but their purposes were not, which begs the question–how much responsibility do artists hold over their creations and their use? The Wind Rises‘ answer to that question is left ambiguous. As with many of Miyazaki’s other films, The Wind Rises has gorgeous flight sequences and an anti-war sentiment. Some of the time skips were a little difficult to follow at first, and I think the film was a little longer than it really needed to be, but overall The Wind Rises was well done. It’s far from my favorite Miyazaki film, though.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/10/14

March 10, 2014 by Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

This week, Sean and Michelle check out recent releases from Viz Media and Kodansha Comics.

Midnight Secretary, Vol. 4 | By Tomu Ohmi | Viz Media – This is a volume of two halves. In the first part, with Kaya and Kyohei separated from each other, they’re both at their best, and she even gets a very tempting marriage proposal – one which, as she turns it down, she notes would likely be better for her than her current situations. Then once she does come back to Kyohei’s side, things turn sour, as his staff think she’s a paid mistress, and a vampire acquaintance reminds her of her place in the hierarchy as a human. To give Kaya credit, she’s able to figure out right away that Kyohei’s vampire pride is getting between them – and we have the added bonus of knowing it’s also due to his growing love for her, and the disbelief that comes with that. At the midway point of this series, it’s still an excellent read for those who enjoy more mature titles. – Sean Gaffney

Missions of Love, Vol. 6 | By Ema Toyama | Kodansha Comics – I have to hand it to Toyama. Most series that begin with prickly, hard to deal with characters have them soften up fairly quickly as circumstances come along. Not Yukina, who six volumes in remains incredibly frustrating to read about. She’s also frustrating for Shigure to deal with as well, as he finds it impossible to get her to accept his feelings even when he asks her straight out. Things are not helped by a) Mami and Akira, who continue to plot to drive the couple apart even as they grow closer, and b) Yukina herself, whose new order for a forced kiss leads to some very uncomfortable areas – something lampshaded by Shigure himself. All in all, however much you want to strangle its heroine, this remains a compelling potboiler of a manga. – Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 16 | By Izumi Tsubaki | Viz Media – This is a darker, more serious volume of Oresama Teacher. Oh, there’s still plenty of laugh-out-loud humor, rest assured. But the presence of Momochi as the Student Council’s latest lancer in their attempts to destroy the Public Morals Club is far more frightening than any of its previous comedic types. The club is broken apart so easily that you worry, and it’s quite notable that Hayasaka’s blackmail letter is never actually revealed – I suspect his background will be at the end of the while series. Yui is also learning the danger of having real friends when you have to betray them – you feel horrible about it. It’s a good thing that Aki and Komari’s plot wrapping up is so cute, as it helps to lighten a funny but dark darker volume. – Sean Gaffney

Ranma 1/2 2-in-1 Edition, Vol. 1 | Rumiko Takahashi | Viz Media – Somehow, I have missed out on Ranma 1/2 up until this point. I knew it was an episodic sitcom-esque sort of series, which aren’t really my thing, but as it turns out, I enjoyed this one quite a bit! I’m honestly surprised and I have no choice but to conclude it’s because Takahashi is at the helm. How else to explain that the bickering leads with the occasional glimpse of genuine feeling—Ranma and his unwilling fiancée Akane—do not bother me nearly as much as the bickering leads with the occasional glimpse of genuine feeling in Nisekoi? I also found myself giggling more than expected. Not at the multitudinous conveniently placed bodies of water that trigger Ranma’s gender transformation, but at some of the dialogue. “She’s really a very sweet girl. She’s just a violent maniac.” is a particular favorite. All in all I’m left to wonder why I waited so long. – Michelle Smith

Strobe Edge, Vol. 9 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – I warn you that you will end up very angry at a group of thugs who make their appearance halfway through this volume. Not only do they beat up one of the main characters, but they also ruin the romantic resolution that was so tantalizingly close. And so, with one volume left to go after this, Ninako and Ren are farther apart than ever, even as they both come to terms with their true feelings. Luckily, there’s more to this series than just its two leads. I’ve remarked before on the compelling side characters this story has, and one drama bomb dropped by Ninako’s friend Toda, who in the space of two pages reveals a manga story that I’d love to see and then vanishes from the narrative. Strobe Edge comes to an end next volume, and I hope that Ninako, who has finally learned what love really is, can find happiness. – Sean Gaffney

Real, Vol. 2

March 9, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Takehiko Inoue
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421519906
Released: October 2008
Original release: 2002
Awards: Japan Media Arts Award

Although I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself to be a sports fan, I have come to the realization that I really enjoy sports manga. Out of all of the sports manga that I’ve so far read, Takehiko Inoue’s wheelchair basketball series Real is the one that stands out for me the most. (Actually, Real happens to be one of my favorite manga series in general.) But it’s really more than just a sports manga. Yes, basketball is an important part of the series, but to an even greater extent Real is about challenges faced in life and how people deal with them. It’s a mix of human drama, tragedy, and hope that earned Inoue a Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize in 2001. The second volume of Real was first published in Japan in 2002 while the English edition was released in 2008 by Viz Media under its Signature imprint. Real, Volume 1 did a fantastic job of introducing the series’ main characters and establishing some of the themes that the manga begins to explore more deeply in the second volume and those that follow.

After his accident, Takahashi no longer has the use of his legs. Confined to a hospital bed and with very few visitors he has had to come to terms with his condition largely on his own. He had good grades and excelled at whatever he applied himself to, becoming the captain of his high school’s basketball team with ease. No longer having the ability to walk is a devastating blow to Takahashi and how he is viewed by others and by himself. It won’t be an easy process to compensate for what he has lost. It’s been five years since Togawa lost one of his legs to bone cancer and that’s something he continues to struggle with. He still has most of his mobility, but having a leg amputated brought his dream of becoming the fastest sprinter in Japan, if not the world, to an abrupt end. An extremely competitive athlete he has redirected his ambitions towards wheelchair basketball, now one of the few things in his life for which he has any enthusiasm. Nomiya has a strong love for basketball as well, but as a high school dropout he currently has no outlet for that passion.

A large portion of Real, Volume 2 is devoted to Togawa and part of his backstory. The series turns to his middle school days as he is discovering his love of running, struggling with his relationship with his father, and developing strong, lasting friendships. Immensely talented, it is crushing to know that Togawa will never achieve his dream even as everything seems to be going his way. Just as Takahashi is now being forced to admit his limitations, Togawa also had to deal with events in his life that were beyond his control. The interplay between their two stories in Real is handled extraordinarily well. The two young men have never met, their only direct connection at this point is that they both know Nomiya, but Inoue draws on the parallels between their experiences to great effect. Takahashi is at the beginning of his recovery while Togawa has made years of progress, but the challenges that they face are very similar. Their personalities and how they handle things are very different, though.

Parallels also exist between Togawa and Nomiya. They are both very focused and intense, taking any and all opportunities that they can to practice and improve their game. Even when Togawa, Nomiya, and Takahashi’s stories don’t directly intersect, they are all still very closely tied together. The second volume of Real is very much about beginnings and endings. After originally leaving his basketball team, Togawa has found new drive and inspiration that brings him back. Nomiya doesn’t have the option of returning to his old team and can only watch from the sidelines as his former teammates play their last game. As for Takahashi, he can’t even do that. His denial is slowly turning into agonizing despair as he comes closer to admitting to himself that his life will never be the same. Inoue captures all three of their struggles in a very realistic way. The story is emotionally intense without being melodramatic and the artwork is fantastic, making Real and incredibly effective series.

Insufficient Direction

March 9, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Moyoco Anno. Released in Japan as “Kantoku Fuyuki Todoki” by Shodensha, serialized in the magazine Feel Young. Released in North America by Vertical.

The North American market has been enjoying Moyoco Anno’s manga for years now, be it Happy Mania, Sugar Sugar Rune, or Sakuran. Hideaki Anno has also been a favorite over here, mostly for Evangelion but also for cult classics like Gunbuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. (And also infamous for the Kare Kano anime… and, well, Evangelion.) As a result, a volume such as this one, which is a biographical look at their married life with an otaku slant, is one that can actually be released over here and gather some interest. The book itself is a lot of fun, though it did go in a direction I wasn’t quite expecting…

Of course, this is deliberate. Moyoco Anno frames the story to set up my expectations of a normal Japanese woman overwhelmed by her insane otaku husband. The first chapter shows her avatar, Rompers (so called as she draws herself as a baby in a sleeper outfit), stepping on Gigantor toys left around the house like they were a child’s Lego toys. And yet throughout this book, the message we get is somewhat different: Moyoco is a lot like him. It’s very easy for her to get drawn into the otaku lifestyle, and she’s a lot less ‘normal’ than she may pretend to be. As for Director-kun, his sense of self and peace with being a giant weirdo is so great that he ends up being the calm and collected one a lot of the time. It really reads like a great relationship.

A word of warning: there are a LOT of translator notes for this volume. The Anno life is cluttered with 60s Japanese TV series, be it familiar ones such as Ultraman and Star Blazers or untranslated works like A Karate-Crazy Life. And, like many obsessed fans (including myself), the couple tend to speak to each other in terms of the media consumed. Even an argument about proper use of Japanese is referencing Dragon Ball and Galaxy Express 999. This is not something that a casual reader should pick up, though if they do they can at least be reassured that there are lots of notes telling them the importance super sentai shows and George Akiyama.

I note that this series ran in the josei magazine Feel Young, and its presence there was not all that unusual. Most josei magazines (and many seinen ones as well) have these slice-of-life biographical “and here’s what my husband/child/cat did the other day” comics running through them, usually in short 5-6 page bursts in between the larger serialized stories. (And indeed, the chapters in Insufficient Direction are all about that length.) It’s a type of story we’ll almost never see over here, partly due to cultural translation issues but mostly because there’s not really a market for it – North American anime and manga fans tend to prefer their slice-of-life looking more like K-On!. As such, this title is not only an amusing look at the otaku lifestyle of the author and her husband, but also a glimpse into a genre that we are rarely privileged to witness. It’s a lot of fun.

Toradora, Vol. 6

March 8, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Yuyuko Takemiya and Zekkyo. Released in Japan by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Given how impossible it is for most mass media to avoid cliches and tropes, the question often becomes “how well does this work manage the cliche”? This volume of Toradora! handles this in both a comedic and serious fashion. The Culture Festival rears its ugly head, and though thoughts of a maid cafe drift through our male classmates’ heads, what we end up with is far sillier, particularly after it’s subverted midway through. It’s the more serious plotline that folks will take with them, however – Taiga’s father is back in her life again, and wants her to come live with him. Something which a projecting Ryuuji can’t help but assist with.

Ryuuji is not helped by the cover art for the volume, showing a tear-filled Taiga and Ryuuji looking askance. This clues the reader in that we are meant to be in her side in the matter. Things are not helped by the appearance of her father himself, who seems far too contrite and meek to be true. Of course he’s playing right into Ryuuji’s hands, though I don’t think that it’s deliberate on his part – her father isn’t genuinely evil, he’s just monumentally selfish. What he doesn’t know, but we do, is that Ryuuji’s lack of a father figure looms incredibly large in his life. And so naturally Ryuuji is going to move heaven and earth to see Taiga and her father reunite, just as he can never do.

On the other side we have Taiga and Minori, who have experience with her father doing all this before and know the truth. Crucially, however, neither of them tell Ryuuji that full truth. In meta terms, this is because the plot has to happen. In the story itself, though, Taiga is more understandable. She gets the reasons why Ryuuji wants this to happen, she’s in love with Ryuuji and doesn’t want to disappoint him, and she really does love her father despite everything, so she opens herself up to him one more time. Minori, though, I’m rather disappointed in, as you’d think she’d be the one to sit Ryuuji down and say ‘Hey, let me give you a timeline of the times this guy has tried this with Taiga before.’ Instead, she just gets angry, saying it’s obvious he’s being a selfish ass. And so they fight, which, Ryuuji still having lingering feelings for Minori, devastates him.

Luckily, Ami is there to be the voice of reason and get Ryuuji out of his funk. Unluckily, Taiga’s dad *is* everything they say he is, and therefore things come to a head at the culture festival with a devastating text sent to Ryuuji. And, once Ryuuji sees for himself what’s going on, he gets it all IMMEDIATELY – a sign of his maturity, even as he backslides here. Sadly, resolution will have to wait – this is the end of the volume, and so we get the horrible cliffhanger with Taiga’s appearance on stage waiting for parental acknowledgement that will never come. How is this going to be resolved? Well, Toradora! comes out about every year and a half in Japan, so we’ll likely have to wait till summer 2015 to find out. See, and folks wonder why publishers don’t want to catch up to Japan…

Blade of the Immortal, Vol. 28: Raining Chaos

March 7, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781616553210
Released: January 2014
Original release: 2011
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

Raining Chaos is the twenty-eighth volume in the English-language edition of Hiroaki Samura’s manga series Blade of the Immortal. Because of slight differences between the Japanese and English publications of the series, Raining Chaos is actually equivalent to the twenty-seventh volume of Blade of the Immortal released in Japan in 2011. The English edition was released by Dark Horse in 2014. Blade of the Immortal is a multi-award-winning series, having earned Samura honors both in Japan and in other countries. The series was one of the first manga that I made a point of following, so I am glad that Dark Horse is seeing Blade of the Immortal through to its end. Raining Chaos is part of the fifth and last major story arc in Blade of the Immortal. With only a few volumes left in the series, Blade of the Immortal is quickly approaching its final climax and Raining Chaos is part of that approach.

The majority of the remaining Ittō-ryū members have steadily been making their way to Hitachi, but it was only a matter of time before those in pursuit would catch up with them. After encountering the Rokki-dan en route, the Ittō-ryū has once again split its members into smaller groups so that some of them may have a better chance of survival. Most stay behind to face the Rokki-dan warriors, hoping to at least delay them if not destroy them, while a smaller force forges ahead attempting to keep the Ittō-ryū’s current second-in-command, Abayama Sōsuke, alive and safe. What they hadn’t counted on was the involvement of the Mugai-ryū, the predecessor of the Rokki-dan. Only two members of that group are still alive, and neither of them are the fighters that they once were, but they are both still extremely skilled and dangerous. With the Ittō-ryū occupied with both the Rokki-dan warriors and the Mugai-ryū assassins, the continued existence of the radical sword school looks increasingly grim.

The Ittō-ryū isn’t so much a specific style of fighting as it is a philosophy. The only agreed upon “rule” is that battles are nominally to be fought one-on-one. Other than that, almost anything goes. In part because of this, the school has attracted a diverse group of fighters with different backgrounds, martial abilities, and motivations. Some, like the Ittō-ryū’s leader Anotsu Kagehisa and several of the other high-ranking members, have very honorable intentions; they fight against what they see as corruption, though their methods may be questionable. Abayama, for example, is very concerned about the welfare of the men who train and serve under him. Others, however, are more interested in their own personal vendettas and selfish desires. They don’t care about others as long as they get what they want. The differences between these two types of people–those with noble and lofty ideals and those who are completely without morals–can be clearly seen in Raining Chaos. Even so, they are all still Ittō-ryū.

In addition to having different goals and reasons for joining the Ittō-ryū, the individual members also have different styles of fighting, which is put to good use in Raining Chaos. There isn’t much plot development in this particular volume of Blade of the Immortal, but there is plenty of action as the confrontation between the remnants of the Ittō-ryū and the Rokki-dan and the Mugai-ryū is largely brought to a conclusion. Happily, the battles in Raining Chaos are quite good; they’re well-choreographed and interesting to watch play out. Samura has a tendency to introduce unusual weapons and techniques in Blade of the Immortal, but even the most fantastic and strange have some basis in reality; legitimate tactics and fighting techniques are still applied to the battles in the series. In Raining Chaos, the importance of range and distancing is particularly emphasized. With excellent fights and compelling characters, Blade of the Immortal continues to be a series that I enjoy. I’m looking forward to the next volume, Beyond Good and Evil, a great deal.

Manga the Week of 3/12

March 6, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown and MJ 5 Comments

SEAN: There’s a lot of new titles here next week, so it’s a great one if you want to start off a series. Even if two of those are spinoffs of an already existing series. And one is a re-release omnibus. Details, details!

I honestly keep forgetting Drifters exists. It’s one of those manga titles Dark Horse puts out once in a blue moon. That said, I believe I’ve enjoyed both volumes that have come out to date, and it’s different enough from Hellsing while still attracting fans of its author. Let’s see if I remember what happened before when I read Vol. 3.

MICHELLE: I had completely and utterly forgotten about Drifters.

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to the next volume of Drifters. It’s a bombastic series and I’ve been getting a kick out of Hirano’s liberal reimaginings of historical figures.

MJ: I was just thinking about picking up Drifters! Good timing, I guess.

SEAN: The BL manga debut of the week is Deadlock from DMP, involving going undercover in a prison to make contact with the one man who can possibly make our hero feel all squishy inside. Or something. In any case, the cover does indeed look sultry.

MJ: Is it wrong that this sounds enticing to me? I think that must be terribly wrong.

SEAN: Kodansha has most of next week’s debuts (and indeed this month’s, as we shall see). First we have Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, a manga adaptation of the novel prequel to everyone’s favorite military vs. monsters series. Different artist, but the titans are still pretty horrible.

ASH: So far it seems to be a fairly decent entry point for readers who gave up on the original Attack on Titan manga because of the art but who are still interested in the franchise. (I’m also looking forward to reading the Before the Fall novels later this year.)

SEAN: If you’re in the mood for something lighter, there’s an omnibus of the first two volumes of Attack on Titan: Junior High, which is exactly what it sounds like, and is actually quite funny.

ASH: It’s true!

MJ: Okay, I might have to check that out.

SEAN: Lastly, our shoujo debut next week is My Little Monster, a Dessert title about a girl trying to blaze through high school with top grades so she can lead an International Life of Success, and the incredibly weird boy who gets in the way of that.

MICHELLE: Hmm… Maybe.

MJ: I’m also maybe on this.

SEAN: In non-debut Kodansha titles, we have Vol. 4 of Sherlock Bones. So far, there is no sign of a dog that looks like Lucy Liu. This saddens me.

MICHELLE: Is there an otter that looks like Benedict Cumberbatch?

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: SubLime has the 2nd Embracing Love omnibus, which has possibly the best BL synopsis I’ve seen in months: the two leads are so exhausted after a 10-day sex bout that it’s affect their work as adult film stars. With a description like that, it cannot possibly fail.

ASH: Embracing Love is actually one of my favorite BL series. I’m happy that SuBLime rescued this one.

SEAN: As for Vol. 2 of Hide and Seek, it looks as if one of the men is breaking the other one’s wrist on this volume’s cover. Sad to see true love end so badly.

ASH: I’m also a fan of Yaya Sakuragi manga, so it looks like this is a good week for me from SuBLime!

07-Ghost is a thing that still comes out. I still can’t really think of much to say. Seems filled with dark intrigue. Vol. 9 ships next week.

MICHELLE: I must shamefully report that I still haven’t progressed beyond the first volume. But I will one of these days!

MJ: I will speak up for Anna here and say, “yay!”

SEAN: There’s a 17th volume of Arata the Legend, which is timely given that Fushigi Yuugi just finished. Can it pick up the audience desperate for more Watase? (Or did it have them already?)

MICHELLE: I do like Arata, but it’s a series I tend to forget about between releases. Then when one shows up, I’m like, “Oh yeah! Arata exists!”

SEAN: Assuming there are still some people who have not yet read Fullmetal Alchemist (and I despair of a universe that allows such people to exist), the 7th 3-in-1 is out from Viz.

ASH: With the omnibuses getting close to the end of the series, they’re a great way to go for people just getting into Fullmetal Alchemist.

MJ: Yes, yes, yes. I’m always going to push this series.

SEAN: Lastly, the big reissue this week is Viz’s first omnibus of Ranma 1/2, the title that basically WAS Viz back in the 1990s. It was the title that, along with Sailor Moon, started the 2nd wave of North American fandom, and many folks – including myself – got into anime and manga due to Ranma. The artwork is apparently miles better than the third-generation xeroxes we used to have, and the translation, while still no doubt filled with Shampoo-isms and Kuno babies, will be touched up a little. Also, unflipped. Find out for yourself what the fuss was all about, newbie fans!

MICHELLE: I must confess that I have never read or seen any Ranma. Well, aside from the briefest glimpse of an anime episode. So I’m definitely looking forward to checking it out!

ASH: I already own the entire series, but the reissue does look tempting!

SEAN: You no buy manga this week? Sean kill! (cough) Sean is no Shampoo, that’s for sure. What are you getting this week?

Phantom Thief Jeanne, Vol 1

March 4, 2014 by Anna N

Phantom Thief Jeanne Volume 1 by Arina Tanemura

Phantom Thief Jeanne is by far my favorite Arina Tanemura series. It is also one of her earlier ones, since it came out in 1998. It might be less polished than her more recent series, but I have always found it amusing because it has a certain magical girl “throw the spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks” approach to plotting that I find amusing. It also has one of the most bonkers ending volumes I’ve experienced in shoujo manga. I already own the full set of this series from the CMX edition that came out in 2005, but this reissue from viz is based on what I assume are the Bunkoban volumes in Japan, so instead of a seven volume set, this edition will be 5 longer length volumes. There’s a new translation, a color page, and a couple extra sketches in the back.

The Jeanne in the title is in real life the ordinary high school student Maron Kusakabe, who is in the rhythmic gymnastics club at her school. At night, she magically transforms into Phantom Thief Jeanne, who fights for the forces of good in the universe by detecting demons hidden inside masterworks of art and exorcising them. The demonic possession will also extend to the owner of the piece of art, leading Maron to have plenty of encounters with oddly acting art collectors. Maron is aided in her holy quest by her helper, the tiny angel Finn. Maron’s phantom thief name is due to the fact that she’s the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, so she is extra skilled at being a art thief warrior for God. As the volume begins, Maron attempts to deflect her friend Miyako’s interest in her secret alter ego and she’s made a bit nervous by Chiaki, the flirty new boy who just moved in next door in her apartment building.

Maron has a frustrating day and heads out for her typical night out phantom thieving. Her best friend Miyako, who’s father is a police detective, is on the scene determined to capture Jeanne. Like any good phantom thief, Jeanne tends to leave warning notes with clues about where she intends to strike. Jeanne has one of the best magical girl introductions, as she proclaims “I am the Phantom Thief Jeanne…sent down before you by God!” It is hard to argue with the power of the Almighty. When she seals the demon inside the painting, she yells “Checkmate!” and a white chess piece appears. The painting changes into a depiction of an angel, and usually the owner of the painting is so happy at the quality of the new work of art and the lack of danger to their immortal soul that they don’t tend to mind Jeanne’s intervention.

Jeanne is bounding along in the night, trailing ribbons when an enemy appears! It is Phantom Thief Sinbad and he announces his intention to challenge her! Maron goes through her regular school activities, fending off Chiaki by day and dealing with Sinbad’s sudden appearance near all the works of art that she’s targeting at night. It is amazing how Sinbad basically looks just like Chiaki but with a headband and a cloth covering the lower half of his face. Sinbad has similar powers as Jeanne, but he can turn captured demons into black chess pieces and has a dark angel helper as a counterpart to Jeanne’s angel Finn. As a shoujo manga heroine, Maron is both exuberant and kind. Chiaki clearly starts developing feelings for her as he spends more time with her. Maron is also desperately lonely, because her parents went away and haven’t been in touch with her. Maron has a great deal of difficulty trusting people, but she starts opening up to Chiaki a little bit. As Jeanne’s missions continue, Sinbad acts as more of a helper than a rival, but he seems very conflicted about it.

The art in Phantom Thief Jeanne is exactly what you would expect from a Tanemura title, but maybe a tiny bit less detailed than her later works. I enjoyed having a chance to read the manga again in a new edition. I thought that the new Shojo Beat translation was a bit more subtle and smooth than the CMX editions. I also preferred the lettering in the Shojo Beat edition. The CMX version tended to use a great deal of variation in font size and font weight to convey emotional aspects of the dialog, and while that can be an interesting approach, when I was reading a few pages from each edition side by side, I thought that the CMX edition was a bit more choppy in terms of reading experience. Since this is a reissue, I almost wish that the edition had been a bit more deluxe, with a few more color pages or some other extras. I did like the new edition very much, I’m not sure I’d recommend that everyone who already has the CMX version rush out and buy it right away but it has been so long since the first edition of Phantom Thief Jeanne came out there’s a whole new group of readers that can experience this title for the first time!

Weekly Shonen Jump Recap: March 3, 2014

March 4, 2014 by Derek Bown Leave a Comment

It’s so easy to be pessimistic about manga. Except for this week, even working to my full ability I couldn’t find any reason to be overly enraged at any of the chapters, so I’m afraid you’d just be wasting your time reading this. Well, except for…

Seraph of the End Ch. 012
This only applies to me most likely, but starting off the week with Seraph of the End is a sure fire way to make sure I put off reading the new chapters until I run out of other things I’d rather be doing. I suppose I could always skip the first chapter, and go on to more interesting series, but that would just mean I never come back to read this one. My habitual bitterness aside, this week was actually pretty decent. Granted, any time Shinoa opened her mouth was excruciating, even when she was sharing plot important information, but especially when she was forcing what passes for humor in this series on us. The action, however, was quite well done, with the opening pages of Yuichiro killing a vampire giving me hope for the rest of the chapter. And the final two page spread gives me hope for the rest of the series. Not much hope, given the general writing style, but I’m curious if Writer Kagami will fully commit to what this could mean to the series, or if the outcome will be a half-hearted at a dramatic cliffhanger easily resolved next chapter.

Stealth Symphony Ch. 002
This is where things started picking up this week. While chapter two, after the introductory chapter last week, was spent wrapping up the rest of the set up it certainly convinced me that we’ve got something good on our hands here. The story is passable, if nothing spectacular, but what really sells me is the art design. Troma’s design, of what we can see, is traditional western, but after so many attempts at artists trying to be more original with their dragon designs it feels comforting to go back to a more standard fantasy design. And what other manga can boast a character who looks like a goblin straight out of World of Warcraft? The first chapter may not have been anything special, and downright predictable in places, but in an age where design aesthetic is moving away from traditional designs it’s almost unique to see someone willing to go back to what has been a standard in fantasy art for decades. I can’t promise for where the story will go after this, but I can certainly recommend this series to anyone based just on the refreshingly familiar approach it takes to fantasy.

Nisekoi Ch. 112
Marika is both the worst and best character in this series. In part she is everything that characters I would normally hate are. But mostly because she is so obvious about how conniving she is I can’t help but love her. Even Raku isn’t fooled, he knows exactly what she is doing, but fortunately for him she is so easily satisfied that even when she tricks Raku into doing her will she can’t go too far because a simple pat on the head is good enough for her. And it is thus that she is so lovable. I have to commend Raku for his smooth move with the ring though, that is a legitimately romantic move that it even leaves the “mastermind” behind the whole scene speechless for a moment.

Add in a perfect fourth wall breaking opening (perfect in that I had indeed forgotten entirely about Migisuke), and an ending that is both the most awkward and ridiculous thing you’ll read this week.

One Piece Ch. 739
Well, Trebol’s overreaction was received about as well as was expected, but sadly it did not knock Sugar out as I had hoped. Sure that would have been an easy resolution to a major plot point, but it would have been worth the joke. We get a minor flashback for Rebecca, it seems that Oda is definitely playing around with shorter, more frequent flashbacks this arc. Which I think would be an excellent change to his storytelling style. While flashbacks tend to be one of the highlights of each arc, they do drag the reader out of the story, making it hard to get into the flashback and then back into the actual story. Several smaller flashbacks would definitely smooth the flow of each arc over much better, giving us the same information but spreading it out. It works much better on a narrative level because the big reveals in each flashback would then be able to correspond to the big reveals during the current timeline.

It’s a shame though that Rebecca’s effectiveness as a fighter seems to have come to an end. Of course it makes sense that she couldn’t stand up to one of the high ranking villains, but nonetheless it’s a disappointment to see her pushed to the side, when Oda was once one of the few manga artists that actually let his female characters have fights as important as those of the men in the story.

And of course we have a big reveal at the end, which was somewhat obvious, but the question is whether it is meant to be obvious or whether Oda legitimately thought no one would figure it out. Given his decade plus track record I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I will say that the twists this arc have been very easy to call. Or at least those that had any kind of buildup earlier in the arc. The one involving “Lucy” was impossible to call seeing how we had nothing to suggest that’s where Oda was heading.

All You Need Is Kill Ch. 007
Now we get some real action, we’ve finally gotten past the buildup, though more will surely follow, and now it’s time to enjoy our newly baked badass action hero. I had been a bit confused as to why Keiji turned Rachel down last chapter, but this time around it makes sense as he’s not interested in one-night stands, which is all he could have since she would not remember anything when he looped again. Which officially makes him a better person than Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. And of course the twist at the end of this chapter suggests that maybe Keiji’s lonely journey won’t be quite so lonely anymore. And again, this twist was somewhat easy to call, but nonetheless opens the story up for some interesting direction.

Toriko Ch. 268
Even the worst tasting food will be a feast to anyone that is hungry enough, and the denizens of Toriko’s world have hungered for real food long enough that even the apparently foul tasting Billion Bird becomes the greatest food. Though it seems that maybe the bird doesn’t actually taste that bad, and its entire body can be used to make meals that are more than just the meat. And while this is clearly a message heavy chapter, I for one can definitely appreciate the message that sometimes all someone needs is a bit of praise.

It’s nice to see that Shimabukuro isn’t planning to ignore the fact that Rin proposed to Toriko and he accepted. I thought that would have been ignored for a while, so it’s a nice change of pace that it isn’t being ignored. Though I’ll never understand why anyone would eat raw or barely cooked egg; nor do I understand why I suddenly hunger for a soft boiled egg.

Bleach Ch. 570
Rukia’s bankai certainly looks spiffy, it’s a shame we have absolutely no idea what it actually does. And while I do get somewhat annoyed when the series focuses on the Soul Reapers too much, at least my annoyance is somewhat lessened when it focuses on the more ignored Soul Reapers like Isane and Yachiru. I think this might be the first time that Isane actually gets any kind of major focus. If she’s to have a fight I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what she can do. Though I get the idea that perhaps this is meant to be Yachiru’s time to shine?

World Trigger Ch. 050
Osamu’s fight is perfectly executed. The parallels between him and Yuma make the pay off of his victory all the sweeter. What else can I say? The flashback was a bit time consuming, but not in a distracting way, and the cliffhanger has me tearing my hair out in frustration. I can’t believe that this manga, that I actually used to pretty much hate, can actually be good enough to make me hate it for the cliffhangers now. We’ve definitely come a long way, and I’m pleased that the awkward teenage years of this series have been put behind us.

There’s no such thing as a perfect week for manga. But this one got pretty close. Definitely a great way to start the week off right.

If you want to hear more, check out the Manga^3 Podcast Archives.

Blood Lad, Vol. 4

March 4, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Yuuki Kodama. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In the new Blood Lad omnibus, a lot of big things happen. We finally see what’s going on with Braz and what he’s planning; Wolf meets up with his human mother (an ex-Yanki, to boot!) and is told he may have to be the hero that saves the demon world; Staz is captured by the authorities and later reunited with Braz, who gives himself up; and a major confrontation seems to be what Vol. 5 will be all about. Despite all this, it’s the small character moments of Blood Lad that are the best, the funniest, the most heartwarming, and keep me coming back for more.

Let’s take a look at Fuyumi. If nothing else, she continues to be the most problematic character in the series. Staz is trying to get her to be more of her own person, but this seems to have devolved into a basic shonen “I will protect you” stance that isn’t really helping. (Also, putting a rope around her and dragging her around is probably his low point. Naturally, Fuyumi points out how humiliating it is but doesn’t really object.) She does get a nice moment later on, where the cowboy outfit and accessories Staz bought her prove useful to getting her out of a perilous situation. But probably the most striking scene is seeing her addiction to Staz’s blood, and how this is shown to be VERY BAD for her and yet at the same time the most erotic scene in the entire volume. I suspect I’m reading too much into her each time, but what else am I supposed to do? Ogle the boobies? Let’s keep overanalyzing.

We meet up with a superhero team in this volume as well, who are shown on the cover. As with most superhero teams, they’re a collection of eccentric weirdos with bizarre powers that seem to bond together as a unit when the chips are down. And, as with Wolf and a number of other people, they’re pitted against Staz, who remains the “bad guy” even as he’s the hero. Can you be a good guy when the entire world views you differently? Later on, when Staz and Fuyumi are captured by the police, we see something similar. Staz is a vampire overlord with massive amounts of untapped power (so much it can apparently be used to resurrect the dead), and now is the best time to stop him, before he discovers that potential.

And then there’s the climax of the volume, which I will walk around and try not to spoil. It should be a very emotional, heartwarming moment, but it seems filled with a sort of impermanence, a sense that this isn’t going to last long. Braz seems to get this too – his open affection for Liz reads very much as a “I’m about to die and will never see you again” gesture (poor Liz, by the way – there’s some great in-text analysis of her character and how she’s starved for affection from her brother). In the end, I have a suspicion that the confrontation that is the cliffhanger to this volume will be dealt with swiftly and anticlimactically before long when we get to Volume 5.

Overall, this remains a great read. You breeze right through it, it’s filled with good humor, some creepy horror, and occasional character development. Plus the obligatory fanservice. It’s everything you could want in a shonen manga (well, except it’s seinen, running in Young Ace… shh, don’t talk to me about demographics).

My Week in Manga: February 24-March 2, 2014

March 3, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week ended up being surprisingly busy here at Experiments in Manga. The most recent manga giveaway was posted, and there’s still some time left to enter for a chance to win a copy of the new edition of Shohei Manabe’s Smuggler. All you have to do is tell about your favorite assassin in manga. Last week I also posted my review of Hinoki Kino’s manga No. 6, Volume 5. I already knew going into the series that I liked the characters and story, having seen the No. 6 anime, but each volume of the manga is progressively stronger than the last. Over the weekend, I posted February’s Bookshelf Overload for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing. Also over the weekend, I reviewed Real, Volume 1 by Takehiko Inoue. I honestly believe Real to be one of the best manga currently being released in English. The review is part of what I’m calling “Manga March Madness.” Each weekend in March I will be posting a review for another volume of Real. At least that’s the plan. We’ll see if I can pull it off or not.

On to other interesting thing online! The Guys with Pencils podcast posted the second part of their interview with TCAF-founder Chris Butcher. Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has some Advice on Manga Lettering, From Manga Letterers. Khursten Santos wrote about The Silence on Josei Manga on Otaku Champloo, and had some feedback and followup to the post show up on Tumblr. Finally, the Comics Book Legal Defense Fund has an interesting article about the impact government regulations can have on creative freedom–History Repeats Itself: How Korean Manwha Met the Same Fate as American Comics

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Volume 1 written by Ryo Suzukaze and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki. Set some seventy years before the main events of Hajime Isayama’s original Attack on Titan manga, Before the Fall is based on a series of light novels by Ryo Suzukaze (which Vertical will begin releasing later this year). Despite having a different author than the original manga, Before the Fall fits right in with Isayama’s worldbuilding and the tone set by Attack on Titan–there is still plenty of fear and darkness. The most striking difference, which didn’t come at all as a surprise, is that the artwork in Before the Fall is much stronger overall. The story follows Kuklo, a young man who, due to the unusual circumstances of his birth, is feared, abused, and reviled by those around him. It’s not pretty. People who have read the original Attack on Titan will have a slightly better understanding of the world than those who haven’t, but so far Before the Fall seems to stand quite well on its own. Before the Fall has a lot of potential; I look forward to seeing how it develops.

I Give to You by Ebishi Maki. As far as I can tell, I Give to You is Maki’s first and currently only boys’ love manga. It’s not a typical boys’ love story, either. The focus is very much on the characters themselves and their personal struggles and less on romance. The manga addresses what it means to be normal and lead a normal life, which isn’t an option for either of the leads. Ryoichi is being pursued by debt collectors after his ex-boyfriend defaults on a loan they co-signed together. He takes shelter from a storm in a teahouse run by Ren, another young man with a past he’d like to put behind him. The two are very different–despite his financial worries, Ryoichi tends to be fairly warm and happy-go-lucky while Ren is cooler and much more reserved. In the beginning, it’s Ryoichi who needs help and acceptance from Ren, but by the end of I Give to You their roles have almost completely reversed. The evolution of their relationship happens so slowly and naturally over the course of the manga that I was quite impressed with how it was handled. I would definitely be interested in reading more of Maki’s manga.

Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 6-7 by Tsutomu Nihei. For most of Knights of Sidonia, it has been the Gauna who have been adapting and evolving by adopting human strategies, techniques, and even form. In these volumes, it’s the humans who have begun to apply the abilities and characteristics of the Gauna to their own technologies, creating terrifying and powerful human-Guana hybrids in the process. Understandably, not everyone is comfortable with these developments, but humanity is running out of options if it wants to survive. Knights of Sidonia has this odd mix of comedy and creepiness that somehow works. Although by this point in the series he has largely been accepted by the rest of the population of Sidonia and even has a few romantic interests, Nagate continues to be incredibly awkward socially. Because of this he still has a tendency to unintentionally create quite a commotion, often with humorous results. At the same time, Knights of Sidonia is also a horror manga. The Gauna, and now the hybrids as well, have very disconcerting designs that can be both grotesque and beautiful.

Ral Ω Grad, Volumes 1-4 written by Tsuneo Takano and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The primary reason I decided to read Ral Ω Grad was because I’m a fan of Obata’s artwork. Ral Ω Grad is a loose adaptation of the 2006 video game Blue Dragon. The manga definitely has a fantasy RPG feel to it–a young hero with special abilities fights against the destruction of the world by gathering together a party of other gifted individuals around him–but familiarity with Blue Dragon isn’t at all necessary to understand what’s going on. Generally, Ral Ω Grad manages to be vaguely entertaining even though it’s breaking no new ground. I found that I enjoyed the series more when I approached it as a parody rather taking it too seriously. (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t intended to be a parody, though…) Ral’s motivation for saving the world? Because he loves women. And boobs. Consequently, there’s fanservice and groping aplenty, but Ral spends quite a bit of his time running around mostly naked, too. In the end, the series’ highlight really is Obata’s artwork, which is consistently excellent. The story, sadly, is less engaging.