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BL Bookrack: March 2012

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Welcome to the March installment of BL Bookrack! This month, MJand Michelle take a look at two debut volumes from the Digital Manga Guild, Tweeting Love Birds and You & Tonight. In Brief: About Love from Digital Manga Publishing’s Juné imprint, and volume one of My Darling Kitten Hair from JManga.


Tweeting Love Birds, Vol. 1 (Kindle) | By Kotetsuko Yamamoto | Digital Manga Guild | Rated YA (16+) – Thanks to a back cover summary that made one of the characters sound intensely annoying, I wasn’t expecting much from Tweeting Love Birds. I ended up being pleasantly surprised, but that’s not to say that the book is riveting or unique.

Daisuki Ohtaka started playing baseball because his grandfather was a fan, and even goes so far as to enroll in his grandpa’s alma mater. He doesn’t seem to have much personal love of the game, however, and once he arrives and discovers the shabby state of the team, he immediately wants to leave. After the small and cute captain, Suzume Morino (aka “Tweetie,” a nickname derived from the fact that his name means “sparrow”), blackmails Daisuke (whom he promptly christens “Taka”) into staying, he finds himself becoming more intrigued by Tweetie and experiencing jealousy when others give him attention, even while maintaining that he is straight.

Yes, this might be another “only gay for you” story, but so far it’s kind of charming. It has a slice-of-life feel that I appreciate, with any baseball action firmly in the background, and sometimes it’s even funny. I snickered out loud, for example, when a drunk Tweetie proclaims, “Taka touched my boobies.” There’s nothing much original about the plot or its execution, but neither is there anything glaringly offensive. The adaptation by DMG group Boys’ Love Bang Bang is also flawless, with no errors or awkwardness to detract from one’s reading experience.

I’m a little surprised that Yamamoto-sensei was able to squeeze enough material out of this setup for a second volume, but there is indeed one more installment to go before the series is complete. Despite first impressions, I’ll be coming back for more.

– Review by Michelle Smith


You and Tonight, Vol. 1 (Kindle) | By Keiko Kinoshita | Digital Manga Guild | Rated YA (16+) – Rikuro has spent ten long years hiding his feelings for his straight best friend, Yasutaka, only to discover that Yasutaka gave in and slept with a male coworker after he begged and cried. Though the news gives him sudden hope, it also makes him begin to panic that his time is running out. But can his friendship with Yasutaka really survive the truth?

I’ve developed a bit of a love affair with Keiko Kinoshita’s work as of late, and this series has only deepened my feelings. Written in the same vein as her earlier two-volume series Kiss Blue, You and Tonight is a thoughtful, quiet manga about the delicate balance between love and friendship, and how two lifelong friends deal with the complications that arise when that balance is disturbed. Also like Kiss Blue, You and Tonight lets its characters process this sloooowly, which is one of the things that makes Kinoshita’s romance work so well. She isn’t afraid to let her characters wallow in uncertainty, and she certainly takes her time, but there’s never a sense that the story is dragging. On the contrary, there is tension in each moment, even the quietest ones.

Kinoshita’s artwork has always been on the understated side, but her expressiveness really shines here in this volume. She makes the most of her characters’ body language and subtle facial cues, working as much emotion into them as she does into her equally understated dialogue. Both Rikuro and Yasutaka process most everything on the inside, making their moments of visible weakness even more powerful. A single panel of Rikuro breaking down, alone in an elevator, springs immediately to mind. It’s an image that’s stuck with me for days after reading this volume. Digital Manga Guild localizing group Cynical Pink does a lovely job, too, providing a clean, lyrical adaptation that suits Kinoshita’s tone perfectly.

For fans of Keiko Kinoshita, this series is a must-read. For everyone else… it’s a must-read too. Highly recommended.

– Review by MJ

In Brief:

About Love (Kindle) | By Narise Konohara | Digital Manga Publishing/Juné | Rated YA (16+) – I’m late to the party on this title, and I can only say that with the deepest regret. With its complicated characters and slow-building romance, About Love is absolutely my type of BL. Mangaka Narise Konohara weaves an unlikely love story between two seemingly unremarkable characters—a fresh-faced newlywed and the insecure young wedding planner who discovers the truth behind his smile—and she does it with the utmost subtlety and care. From its expressive, melancholy cover to the very last page, About Love is thoughtful, moody, and stunningly poignant. The only downside is that this title is not yet available digitally, but if any recent BL title is worth the shelf space, this is it. Highly recommended. – MJ

My Darling Kitten Hair, Vol. 1 | By Haruko Kumota | JManga/Libre Publishing | Rated Mature – This title came to my attention by way of JManga’s ABC of BL/yaoi and I could not be more grateful for the introduction. This adorable manga follows the romance between a slovenly young writer and his salaryman boyfriend who has just come to live with him (in a charming, Maison Ikkoku-like setting) after maintaining a rather chaste, long-distance relationship for six years. It’s not often we see a romance manga that begins in the middle of the relationship, and even less often that the main pairing is surrounded by convincingly queer characters who feel authentic as part of the story and not just as glorified set pieces. Even more encouraging, the series is still ongoing in Japan, which means there is some hope of us having a good, long time with it. Honestly surprising and highly recommended. – MJ

Some review copies provided by the publishers.

Disclosure: MJ is currently under contract with Digital Manga Publishing’s Digital Manga Guild, as necessitated for her ongoing report Inside the DMG. Any compensation earned by MJin her role as an editor with the DMG will be donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Other recent BL reviews at Manga Bookshelf: Ata (Digital Manga Guild)

A Comic Beam of Light

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“Monthly Comic Beam A Magazine for the Comic Freaks!” reads the tagline of Enterbrain’s Comic Beam magazine.(コミックビーム)

At a mere 25,000 copies sold every month, Comic Beam is not a contender in sales in any category of manga magazine, but that’s not a concern for the creators and editors of Beam – instead, they are playing to the small, but hardcore comics-reading audience,people who don’t care what category a manga is but just want to read good stories. Nominally listed as “seinen” (for young men,) along with Kodansha’s Morning 2, Shogakukan’s IKKI and Hakusensha’s Rakuen Le Paradis, Ohta’s Manga Erotics F, Comic Beam can easily be considered part of a small, but slowly growing genre of manga not limitedby gender or age, but is targeted to “whoever reads it.” I have taken to referring to these magazines in my head as the “fifth column” (i.e., not shoujo, shounen, josei or seinen.)

Comic Beam is the home of a number of stories that have been published in English. Kaoru Mori’s story about love between different classes in Victorian England, Emma, wasthe first to make its way here, through CMX’s beloved but unfortunately unsuccessful edition. Astral Project (Marginal and Syuji Takeya), Bambi and Her Pink Gun (Atsushi Kaneko), King of Thorn (Yuji Iwahara), and Fancy Gigolo Peru (Junko Mizuno) have allbeen released in English. Eagerly received, and from Fantagraphics is Takako Shimura’s award-nominated tale of tweens dealing with gender transitioning, Wandering Son. Currently running (and adorning the cover of the image above) is Mari Yamazaki’s award-winning Thermae Romae, a story that whimsicallycombines modern Japan and ancient Rome through their shared cultures of bathing. (This series is about to be launched as a  a live-action drama and anime in Japan.) I was both surprised and pleased to find Izumi Takemoto contributing a charming little Heidi-esque romp, Akane Kono Mahou, to the current lineup.  Kaneko Atsusuhi’s dark speculative fiction manga Soil has generated some press on both sides of the ocean as well.

Enterbrain has a website, mostly to provide information for potential contributors.There are no chapter previews and currently no downloads. It’s a sparse, somewhat depressing site. Given the “experimental” nature of the work in Comic Beam, it would probably be a good choice to offer example chapters, but then, the audience already knows what it likes.

Taken as a whole, it’s easy to label Comic Beam an “art house” comic magazine. There’s room for the sweet, the grim, the wacky, the serious, real and fantastic, all with room to explore artistic stylings and story telling techniques. Comic Beam is indeed a comic for comic freaks. People who prefer their stories formulaic and predictable need not bother. The light from Comic Beam will appeal to few, but for those few, it will be a beacon illuminating the world of manga magazines.

Comic Beam from Enterbrain and Kadokawa Group Publishing: http://www.enterbrain.co..jp/ad/html/media14.html

*Originally published on Mangacast.

Fannish Inquisitions: Countering Assumptions About Fandom

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Happy 6th anniversay, KAT-TUN! Thank you for providing us this useful visual metaphor for what often happens when other communities and fandom, er, collide!

 

Hi, MB! This is the first of a series of posts about fandom being written in response to a series of posts about fandom. The romance review site Dear Author is holding a week-long examination of fandom and fanfic—with somewhat confusing results. It’s my goal, through these posts, to argue for a more contemporary view of fandom and fanwork that falls more closely in line with a) how fans actually act in fandom, b) how fanwork actually operates and what it actually does, and c) the actual status of fanwork under the law.

Starting with the first post in the DA series, we have “How I Came to Appreciate Fan Fiction.” This is, overall, a fairly positive post, but it has a lot of outdated assumptions about fandom that I’d like to unpack.

To give Sunita D, today’s contributor, credit where it’s due, there’s probably always a moment of shock upon a first encounter with fanfiction, or doujinshi or yaoi, just like there is with any new concept. Like sporks! Or literal cloud computing! We might think of this first encounter as a moment of simple culture shock. Sunita even describes hers:

Of course I’ve hated certain books’ endings, I’ve wished for sequels, and I’ve thought about the off-page lives of favorite characters. But I’ve never written to authors to ask them to keep writing about a particularly loved protagonist. And I’ve never wanted to write my own versions of books. Not because I thought doing so would be wrong, but because it just never occurred to me.

Whoa, hold on a tic. Already we’ve run into the first of what will be many false assumptions about fandom and especially fanfiction in general throughout the Dear Author series on fanfic.

False assumption #1: All fans long to interact with creators.

“I’ve never written to authors to ask them to keep writing about a particularly loved protagonist.”

Okay, but most fans haven’t either. Most fans don’t need to, because our interaction with a canon has very little to do with what’s going on in the author’s head. This is a key aspect of fandom that many people outside of fandom get wrong. Many fans get very nervous and gunshy when the prospect of interacting with creators comes up, because those fans prefer as little contact with the makers of their canons as possible. Please note that this impulse is often not, not, NOT out of shame or embarrassment or fear of reprisals, but rather from a desire not to have the gatekeepers poking their noses in our business. There are exceptions, of course, especially in RPF fandoms; we are seeing something of a cultural shift happen as Twitter puts celebrities and fans in touch with each other on a daily basis. But for the most part, fans go about their business with little regard for TPTB (The Powers That Be). Which brings me to the next mistaken assumption:

False assumption #2: Fanfiction = Do-Over.

“I’ve never wanted to write my own versions of books. Not because I thought doing so would be wrong, but because it just never occurred to me.”

Most fans don’t want to write their own versions of books either. That’s not what fanfic is. Many people think of fanfiction as the practice of trying to prove a creator got it wrong. Not at all. For most fans, most of the time, fanfiction is not about rewriting canon.

Sure, a fan can write fix-it fic—but then they’ll turn write around and write something completely different. Fans explore their canons and play around with the worlds they’re engaging with in order to do something completely new. Take, for example, what may be the most popular narrative genre of all: the post-canon fic. The canon ends—you write about what happens after. But that’s a story that can be told and retold forever, because the possibilities are endless.

In general terms, fanworks are about expansion, not re-creation.

Happily, this is also the conclusion Sunita arrives at: This path isn’t just about creating new romantic relationships or changing unhappy endings to happy ones. What if you think the most interesting character in the Harry Potter novels is Luna Lovegood and you want to read more about her?…. Even if you adhere strictly to canon, there’s plenty of scope for your imagination.

From this point on, Sunita’s post is a plain, fair and positive view of fanfiction; but it’s a simplistic one. It justifies rather than celebrates. Which leads me to…

False Assumption #3: Fanfiction is just a simple, fun creative exercise that has no serious repercussions!

 

My main problem with all of this justification/explanation of fanfic is that it’s just SO DATED. I have been hearing people “defend” fanfic or try to “explain” fanfic in exactly this way for the last ten years. Two thousand-fracking-two, folks (and incidentally those defenses were on the front page of the NY Times, hardly out of mainstream cultural earshot).

And yes, everyone’s experiences are different, and I’m sure Sunita’s explanation is helpful for many people. But REALLY. TEN YEARS, GUYS. COME ON. CAN WE MOVE THIS DISCUSSION FORWARD A LITTLE? How’s this for an advancement:

  • Fanwork is dangerous because it challenges your worldview and makes you think critically about pop culture, literature, art, and the world you live in.
  • Fanwork has serious repercussions because it operates outside of traditional modes of access to ideas, and it is predicated entirely on a culture of free exchange and non-monetary systems of value.
  • Fanwork is complex and diverse. It opens minds, educates, and introduces new cultural experiences to the fan participant. It is anything but shallow.

SHIT JUST GOT REAL AKA THIS IS THE COOL PART OF THIS POST

In lit-crit terms, fandom is the living, breathing embodiment of Bakhtin’s ideas about dialogic imagination. Canon is monologic, expressing a single worldview, because usually canons have single or very few creators with one narrative goal in mind. But fandom? Fandom creates fics within communities, fics that are partly meta-commentaries, fics that arise out of passionate debates, fics that get reworked and turned into original fic, fics that offer serious literary critique, fics that seek to actively engage other fans in responding to them. Fandom is dialogic imagination.

Canon has to stick to the narrative parameters that define its medium. (Unless you are Homestuck and you are your own medium. Yeah, yeah, we know.) But fandom has no defined parameters and expresses itself any way it wants. Fics written in fictional languages? Have several! Fanart? totally and 100% canon compliant! Fanvids? How much is that geisha in the window, Joss?

Fandom constantly critiques privileged narratives, challenges established sociocultural ways of thinking, and expands the parameters of a particular established worldview. Have some of my favorite examples of fics that critique canonical narratives:

WTF is this b.s. about fanwork being derivative? To quote Lev Grossman in his amazing Time magazine article, which you don’t get a link to because you have to SLOG YOUR WAY THROUGH THIS MESS WITH ME FIRST, these works “talk back to canon.” And they show their teeth.

We could have ended this post here (and I could have saved you 500 words, look, I tried, guys), because Sunita was on the right track! We could have worked with this! ugh, we were doing so good, Sunita. we could have been pals.

Except then we arrive at the money quote:

“Whether the changes authors introduce to these characters are sufficient to make the jump from derivative to transformative is not something we can usually predict in advance, but I think it’s important to have a conversation about what such a transformation entails and think about conditions in which authors might succeed or fall short.”

what. I mean. WHAT.

 

lsjdfksadjklad you don’t suddenly GAIN TRANSFORMATIVITY BY BEING THE SPARKLIEST OF ALL THE FANFIC PONIES IN DERIVATIVELAND, WTF.

(this is one of the results I got when I googled “fanfic pony.” Looks legit.)

False Assumption #4 & #5: Fanwork is Derivative / Fanfiction May Or May Not Be Legal.

I hope that at the end of the week Rebecca Tushnet will come along with her shining orb of Transformative Justice and articulate this idea as part of the DA series much better than I ever could (ETA: YESSSS she has!), but in her stead: There are absolutely no court rulings on whether a work of not-for-profit fanfiction is legal or not. None. That means all fanfiction is legal under the fair use clause of U.S. copyright law, safe and legal until proven otherwise. This protection will most likely last as long as the Fair Use clause exists. To quote the OTW, “current copyright law already supports our understanding of fanfiction as fair use.” And as long as current copyright law supports fanfiction, fanfiction is legally transformative.

It’s dishonest to talk about fanworks as if they pussyfoot around the law when they don’t. The ‘sliding scale’ train of thought implies that “transformative” fics have narrowly succeeded in evading the clutches of copyright law while “derivative” fics are just hanging around waiting to be slapped with a Cease & Desist. This train of thought implies shame, illicitness, wrongdoing, and flat-out genre snobbery and elitism. Most importantly, since presumably all fanfics (in the U.S.) currently enjoy legal protection, many fans don’t act as though they’re engaged in something that’s illegal. So the “sliding scale” perspective doesn’t even apply to us.

For comparison, look at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. You don’t see them going “Manga is not a crime! Except for the really, really dirty yaoi, and the shota, and okay, maybe we could really really do without the vore and the bukkake because honestly, people.” Their argument is simple: either all licensed manga, in all its forms, is legal and deserves protection, or none of it does.

By the same token, fanwork does not “succeed” or “fall short” by managing or failing to qualify as transformative.

And here’s the ultimate kicker—a concept that this series of DA posts sadly seems to completely miss: the meaning of ‘transformative’ creative work extends beyond purely legal contexts. It involves the power of creative expression to change the creator and the audience. To many fans, the act of conceiving and creating fanwork is a transforming act, before you ever write the first word. They are transformative because they transform the reader. You and me.

 

Fanworks Cited:

arboretum. “A Resolution of Territory.” Livejournal. May 5, 2008.

Dhobi ki Kutti. “Promise of the पुरवाई.” An Archive Of Our Own. June 30, 2010.

electrumqueen. “i am the hero of this story (i don’t need to be saved).” Livejournal. August 14, 2010.

eruthros. “Ephemera from the Avatar Collection at Republic City University with notes and commentary by the archivists.” An Archive Of Our Own. February 7, 2012.

Glock. “one last thing about Supernatural fanwork” and “Sam and Dean Winchestgopal.” Dreamwidth. June 15, 2010 and July 1, 2010.

Lierduoma. “How Much is the Geisha in the Window? (Firefly).” Youtube. July 24, 2009. (Fanlore listing.)

Shirozora. “So if Castiel was Zoe Saldana…” Dreamwidth. June 10, 2010.

Various authors. “Victorsverse Art and Artifacts. including the Ars Atlantiadae as well as Earth documents.” trickster.org. February 16, 2011.

Manga the Week of 3/28

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A nice array of stuff this week, as… wait, what… could this be?

Legend speaks of an ancient and mysterious manga series, that detailed the exploits of a team of heroes whose job it was to embrace the dead and take on their causes for the betterment of all. Long thought to be a mere myth, the volumes were passed down from generation to generation in hopes that one day… ONE DAY their children’s children might someday see it. And now, that day is here! From Dark Horse, you thought it was gone, you thought it was sitting next to Translucent Vols. 4 and 5, YOU WERE WRONG!

Assuming that you are all buying this (You *are* all buying this, right?), there is actually SOME other stuff coming out next week. Gen Manga has Vs. Aliens, a collection of this series in complete form, and a great way to check out the alternative manga publisher if you haven’t already.

Kodansha has a trio of series. There’s Volume 4 of Animal Land, Vol. 5 of Deltora Quest, and the 3rd volume of cute 4-koma adventures of Shugo Chara-chan! None of which I follow. So, um, insert witty quip here!

When I looked at Midtown’s list about 1:30pm, they had listed the re-releases of Drawn & Quarterly’s three Tatsumi books: The Push Man, Abandon the Old in Tokyo, and Goodbye. Now that I look at it at 7pm, those releases were removed. So perhaps they are getting re-released next week… or not.

Lastly, Vertical gives comic shops its new re-release of Dororo, now in giant-sized brick format. Impress your girlfriends with how well you can bench press Dororo! To really show off, put A Drifting Life in your other hand!

So that’s it. Aside from Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 12, what appeals to you?

2011 Autumn Manga Bestsellers

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Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales
for the 15 Weeks Ending Sunday 1 Jan 2012

last quarter’s charts
about the charts

The Quarterly chart is a bit different from the usual weekly post: There are five times as many volumes in the Manga Bestsellers (a full 2,500 volumes listed & ranked) and the Series/Property list is twice as long, with a top 100 listed & ranked. Secondary charts – New Releases, Preorders, Manhwa, and BL/Yaoi – are each a Top 50.

##

Manga Bestsellers

1. ↑7 (8) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [6,786.2] ::
2. ↑27 (29) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [6,751.5] ::
3. ↑83 (86) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [5,652.8] ::
4. ↑80 (84) : Naruto 52 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2011 [5,270.6] ::
5. ↑9 (14) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [5,245.3] ::
6. ↑262 (268) : Vampire Knight 13 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2011 [5,210.3] ::
7. ↑2 (9) : Maximum Ride 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2009 [4,968.6] ::
8. ↑73 (81) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [4,744.6] ::
9. ↑457 (466) : Yotsuba&! 10 – Yen Press, Oct 2011 [4,613.5] ::
10. ↓-9 (1) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [4,601.5] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 2500:

Viz Shonen Jump 358
Viz Shojo Beat 319
Yen Press 277
Del Rey 171
Tokyopop 152
Dark Horse 144
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 130
Viz 118
Viz Shonen Sunday 104
DMP Juné 81

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↑4 (5) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [16,019.7] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [11,156.0] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [10,796.1] ::
4. ↓-3 (1) : Black Butler – Yen Press [10,697.3] ::
5. ↓-1 (4) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [10,208.8] ::
6. ↑4 (10) : Pokemon – Vizkids [8,073.2] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Negima! – Del Rey [7,508.1] ::
8. ↑4 (12) : Warriors – HC/Tokyopop [7,375.6] ::
9. ↑5 (14) : Fullmetal Alchemist – Viz [6,987.1] ::
10. ↓-2 (8) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [6,748.6] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

2. ↑27 (29) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [6,751.5] ::
3. ↑83 (86) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [5,652.8] ::
6. ↑262 (268) : Vampire Knight 13 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2011 [5,210.3] ::
9. ↑457 (466) : Yotsuba&! 10 – Yen Press, Oct 2011 [4,613.5] ::
11. ↑344 (355) : Black Butler 7 – Yen Press, Oct 2011 [4,587.9] ::
16. ↑848 (864) : Maximum Ride 5 – Yen Press, Dec 2011 [3,916.5] ::
21. ↑856 (877) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 6 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Oct 2011 [3,541.3] ::
22. ↑536 (558) : Naruto 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [3,475.2] ::
28. ↑217 (245) : Negima! 32 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [3,110.0] ::
34. ↑760 (794) : Skip Beat! 25 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2011 [2,942.3] ::

[more]

Preorders

8. ↑73 (81) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [4,744.6] ::
18. ↑53 (71) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [3,804.1] ::
19. ↑698 (717) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [3,646.3] ::
84. ↑3143 (3227) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [1,711.9] ::
93. ↑355 (448) : Negima! 33 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [1,593.5] ::
117. ↑1056 (1173) : Negima! 34 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [1,330.1] ::
121. ↑475 (596) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 11 – Seven Seas, Jan 2012 [1,319.7] ::
128. ↑531 (659) : Black Butler 8 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [1,217.8] ::
136. ↑1025 (1161) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [1,135.5] ::
145. ↑731 (876) : Private Teacher 2 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [1,066.0] ::

[more]

Manhwa

278. ↑3072 (3350) : March Story 3 – Viz Signature, Oct 2011 [581.2] ::
309. ↑1838 (2147) : Bride of the Water God 9 – Dark Horse, Oct 2011 [523.9] ::
492. ↑649 (1141) : JTF-3 Counter Ops (ebook) – RealinterfaceStudios.com, Mar 2011 [307.7] ::
584. ↓-105 (479) : Jack Frost 4 – Yen Press, Dec 2010 [242.6] ::
684. ↓-26 (658) : March Story 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2011 [188.2] ::
685. ↓-535 (150) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [188.2] ::
784. ↓-14 (770) : Jack Frost 3 – Yen Press, Jul 2010 [152.9] ::
794. ↓-408 (386) : March Story 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [150.2] ::
818. ↑new (0) : Black God 14 – Yen Press, Oct 2011 [141.7] ::
822. ↓-9 (813) : Angel Diary 13 – Yen Press, Dec 2010 [140.2] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

50. ↑40 (90) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [2,511.1] ::
90. ↑48 (138) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [1,667.9] ::
145. ↑731 (876) : Private Teacher 2 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [1,066.0] ::
160. ↑359 (519) : Secrecy of the Shivering Night – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [1,003.2] ::
187. ↑new (0) : Maelstrom (ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [883.5] ::
191. ↑227 (418) : About Love – DMP Juné, Nov 2011 [848.0] ::
217. ↑672 (889) : Only Serious About You 2 – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [725.7] ::
224. ↑757 (981) : Storm Flower – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [696.4] ::
244. ↑186 (430) : Private Teacher 1 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [649.5] ::
262. ↓-177 (85) : Maelstrom (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [611.1] ::

[more]

Kodoku no Gourmet, Vol. 1

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By Masayuki Qusumi and Jiro Taniguchi. Released in Japan by Fusosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Spa!. Released in the United States by Fusosha on the JManga website.

It’s Jiro Taniguchi month at the Manga Moveable Feast, and I thought I would contribute (as I’m sure many are) by looking at his new title released on the JManga website, a foodie manga called Kodoku no Gourmet, which translates as ‘Solitary Gourmet’ (I have been told JManga is working on getting permission to actually translate titles, but it hasn’t happened yet). This is a collaboration between Taniguchi (providing the art) and another writer, and this is probably a good thing, as the repetitive nature of this series (like a lot of foodie manga, honestly) would likely be overbearing were it not for Taniguchi’s impeccable craft.

Our hero has a name, but it’s only used once in the entire volume, and I had a tendency to refer to him as “Sad Sack’ due to his general demeanor. He’s an importer of foreign goods who spends half of his time moving heavy objects in warehouses, and the other half selling them to interested parties. This leaves him a) in very good shape, and b) hungry a lot of the time. As a result, whenever he’s wandering around various neighborhoods all over Japan, he’s constantly on the look out for something to eat. Not necessarily a new exciting taste sensation – this has gourmet in the title, but is not about rare and unusual foods. Instead, he’s after the staples of Japanese diet, and each chapter shows him at a different eatery, getting different food and taking it in by himself.

There’s a backstory that we only get a tiny hint of here. The character, as the title would suggest, is always eating by himself, and though he’s not necessarily glum or depressed, there’s a consistent air of despondency about him. His work seems to be his life, and the occasional relationships he’s had in the past are shown to be long since ended. Taniguchi really captures the essence of the man in his art, with the few smiles we see from him mostly being wry self-effacing grins. He is very passionate about food, I will admit – clearly the huge amount of heavy lifting he does for his job is the only thing keeping him from ballooning up. Well, that and the judo practice. He also has no tolerance for folks who interrupt the serenity of his meal, as we see in the most startling chapter of the book. I hope as the series goes on that we discover more about his past, though given it apparently has one volume that came out in 1997 and nothing since, I may be out of luck.

As for Taniguchi’s art, as always I find it a tactile experience more than an intellectual one. Food serves him well here, though as you’d expect we also see a lot of our protagonist walking around and looking at the sites. Taniguchi’s art inspires me to remember smells and tastes in what it shows, and I think that’s deliberate – he works with the writer to make sure that each menu choice in each neighborhood evokes a different mood from the reader. Sometimes it’s nostalgic, such as when he returns to a scenic view he’d been to with a girlfriend long ago. Sometimes it’s informative, as when he goes to an industrial section of Tokyo he’d never seen before, and we see a lot of the built up factories. Taniguchi’s works in general, and this one in particular, are not something that you simply read with your eyes – you need to use all five senses to give the best impression, or else it will become dull.

JManga’s translation is pretty decent – as with most foodie manga, it’s hard to screw up folks reacting to the dishes. I wish I had a physical copy to read, but then I also wish I had a pony, so digital is probably as good as I can get right now. As for Kodoku no Gourmet, even if we never get a 2nd volume, I’m pleased we got this. The writer gives us a melancholy yet comforting story, and Taniguchi’s art is the perfect complement. Just like a good meal, in fact.

Lofty idealism? Bitter rants? Might as well just call it “fangirling.”

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Hi, MB! I’m Aja! I’m your newest columnist and I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’ve been brought on board primarily to give a pan-fandom perspective to the work being done on this site, and to regularly infuriate you all with my hastily conceived opinions! So let’s just dive right in, shall we? :D


This is F(X)! This is going to be a long post, HERE, HAVE SOMETHING FUN TO LOOK AT.

 

I’ve been in fandom for 14 years. I’ve been active in lit, media, RPF, and Asian fandoms, writing het, slash, and femslash. If this is all fangirl Japanese to you, please let me know, guys, because I am going to be spending a lot of time talking about fandom in this column (which is why it’s called FANBATTE! is that not the greatest name ever) and I want to make sure I start from the same place as the rest of you! I feel comfortable claiming a general acquaintance with fandom history and culture regarding literary fandoms, “western media” fandoms, comics fandom, sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, anime/manga fandoms, and Asian pop fandoms. I don’t claim that my knowledge is universal (lol what is gaming fandom, what is Vocaloid, what is Homestuck*), but I’m here and this is my column, dammit, so it’s enough to be going on with!

My mission statement, in a nutshell:

♥´¨`♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Fanfic is okay. Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥´¨`♥

 

Not just okay, but amazing. I believe that participating in fandom is a way of engaging in critical discourse about something you love, and I also believe that fanfiction is part of a huge, centuries-old cultural tradition of recursive literature. Fandom is so cool, and I hope you’ll stick around to talk about it with me, because I’m still learning so much and I hope ! :)

The focus of this column will most likely shift between general topics and discussions of specific canons. I have no idea what those topics and canons will be yet, so if there’s something you’d like me to discuss, please let me know, because I would love to!

* lol j/k no one can explain Homestuck

 

 

Now. Let’s talk for a second about Fandom Perspectives. oh wait hang on MJ said this should be a header

Fandom Perspectives~

This week, the respected romance review site Dear Author is doing a series on fandom and fanfiction. Unfortunately, they’re doing it wrong. So, so wrong, you guys. It’s like they’re trying to have peace talks while hemmed in on all sides by barbed wire. FACEPALM.

In most of the posts so far, the panelists’ starting assumptions and their conclusions actually highlight many of the problems you run into when you generalize about fandom. And since part of what I will do in this column is generalize about fandom based on my personal experiences, I want to start by talking about why such generalization is tricky.

Dear Author has obviously tried to round up differing perspectives and different topics related to fanfiction, so kudos to them for that, really. However, they have not secured a plurality of experience or even knowledgeability about fandom, so their discussions are proving very unsatisfying to many actual fans I’ve talked to who’ve followed along.

There are 3 main reasons for this disconnect between us (as fans) and the representations of fan experience in the DA posts:

  1. So far, all of Dear Author’s assumptions seem to be built around the idea that fanfiction has to defend itself, that by way of existing it is encroaching on someone else’s space. This is not only a false dichotomy but completely antithetical to the way most fans do fandom and think about their fanfic.

    I can’t say this enough. To most fans, what they do is not shameful, it’s natural. And why shouldn’t it be? People have been reworking their favorite stories for centuries. Why is fanfic somehow any different? But if you start your deliberation of fanfic from the perspective that fans have something to be ashamed of, then you color the entire discussion with all kinds of icky assumptions and negative stereotypes. What I will be doing, in my first week here at MB, is unpacking some of these assumptions and attempting to offer a more balanced and nuanced examination of what fandom is and how it operates in various cultural corners of the internet.

  2. There are no fans from non-western fandoms represented in DA’s list, nor are there any queer fans (at least none I saw representing themselves as queer fans) or femslash fans. If the only voices you hear coming from fandom are from people who are culturally closest to you, then you won’t ever have a well-rounded discussion on what fandom is.
  3. The majority of the DA discussion about fandom is being had by people who come either from outside of fandom, or from within primarily het fandoms. By “primarily het,” I mean fandoms for which major emphasis is given to canon heterosexual ships within the source pairing, and whose discourse encourage their fans to adhere to canon relationships. (This doesn’t mean that there aren’t subsets of alternate pairing fans within those fandoms, but those other fans don’t typically interact with the rest of the fandom.)

    Among these primarily het fandoms, the major ones claimed by the panelists tend to be isolated pockets of fandom that don’t have any interaction with other fandom communities. Fandom, like every other corner of the internet, is as diverse as the people who are in it. So you can have whole communities within fandom that never talk to other communities, and then you can have whole corners of fandom that are focused around being multi-fandom hubs and pan-fandom hubs (like Livejournal or formerly Delicious), that also have their own limitations and cultural expectations that don’t translate out to the “satellite” communities of fandom. And that can become a problem because you can wind up with people who have drastically different conceptions of: a) what fandom looks like; b) what fans are doing fandom for; c) who is in fandom; and d) what kind of fanworks are produced by fandom.

    D) is especially important because the fanfic that you find on, for example, AFF, looks nothing like the fanfic you find on AO3. By the same token, someone who is in an archive-based fandom would not have the same conception of what fandom is as someone who is involved in primarily livejournal communities, or for example Tumblr, where there are natural overlaps and discourse between all kinds of fandoms and fans. The Austen and Twilight fandoms are both represented several times on the panel, probably because of their close ties to the romance industry. While these fandoms are totally different in many respects, they are both well-known for being primarily archive-based rather than pan-fandom-community based. This means that pan-fandom fans don’t talk to them, and they don’t talk to us, which leads to a huge disconnect on both sides about what fandom is for everyone involved.

    As an example, for years every time rare fandom nomination came up during Yuletide, people attempted to nominate Pride & Prejudice, and every year those of us who actually knew anything about Austen fandom would have to explain that Pride & Prejudice is in no way a rare fandom; that it actually has thousands upon thousands of fanfics and hundreds more published fanfics to its name–they just were all tucked away in archives and not in spaces that the typical Yuletide participant played in. So this disconnect hurts communication on both sides of the divide.

All of this translates into a need to recognize that your experiences are not universal. I’m going to spend a lot of time counter-arguing many of Dear Author’s other posts from this week, so I’ll just point to their post “Fan fiction: a personal perspective” as an example of an open-minded post about keeping your own experience in perspective.

If only the rest of their posts took this advice! Instead, the overall impression of fandom that I and others are taking away from this series is that fandom is primarily shamefaced, defensive, and poorly attempting to justify copyright infringement.

To all of which, over the next week, I will be merrily calling bullshit.

Whew! Okay, so that’s me finished for now! What about you guys? WHO EVEN ARE YOU PEOPLE? Where do you come from? What perspectives do you bring to your corner of the internet? Are you in fandom? (Hint: are you reading this site? Then yes.) Oh my god this post is 1300 words long. HERE, HAVE ANOTHER K-POP GROUP.

The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Benkei in New York

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I’ve always thought that I had something in common with Warren Ellis — besides a sailor’s fondness for colorful language, that is — and reading Benkei in New York confirmed my suspicions: we both like Jiro Taniguchi. Flip to the back cover of the VIZ Pulp edition, and you’ll see Ellis declaring that “Benkei is better than 96% of the crime fiction coming out of America right now.” I have no idea how he arrived at that figure, but eleven years after Benkei’s initial US release, I’m still inclined to agree with him.

Originally serialized in Big Comic Original, Benkei in New York (1991-96) is a collaboration between Taniguchi and writer Jinpachi Mori, best known in Japan for Kasai no Hito, a long-running manga about an eccentric but wise judge. The seven Benkei stories focus on a Japanese ex-pat living in New York. Like many New Yorkers, Benkei’s career is best characterized by slashes and hyphens: he’s a bartender-art forger-hitman who can paint a Millet from memory or assassinate a thug using a swordfish. (Let’s just say they call it “swordfish” for a reason.)

Benkei’s primary job, however, is seeking poetic justice for murder victims’ families. Of course, there wouldn’t be much of a story if Benkei simply used a gun; part of the series’ allure is watching him set elaborate traps for his prey, whether he’s borrowing a page from the Titus Andronicus playbook or using a grappling hook to wound an unscrupulous dockworker. In “Haggis,” for example, Benkei uses a draft-dodger’s memories of a 1968 trip to Scotland to win the man’s confidence, persuading him to visit an out-of-the-way bar where a gruesome dish awaits him. “Throw Back,” another stand-out, culminates in an elaborate showdown in the American Music of Natural History that gives new meaning to the phrase “interactive exhibits”; Benkei and his victim plunder display cases for weapons, dueling their way through the Hall of Human Origins.

As the scene in the Natural History Museum suggests, New York City is as much a “character” as Benkei himself. Taniguchi clearly spent hours poring over photographs of the city: his rendition of Coney Island, for example, doesn’t just show the Cyclone — an easy symbol for this iconic stretch of New York coastline — but all the bathhouses, apartment buildings, and other structures that line the boardwalk, including the distinctive facade of the New York Aquarium. Moreover, he captures the feeling of Coney Island in the off-season — the dark grey color of the ocean, the empty expanses of boardwalk, the absence of people — imbuing the scene with a melancholy authenticity.

Taniguchi’s eye for detail is evident in his busier scenes as well. In the opening pages of “Throw Back,” Benkei pursues his mark through the 42nd Street subway station. A series of narrow, horizontal panels convey the bustling energy of the platform, cross-cutting between a busker pounding on plastic drums (a subway fixture in the 1990s) and Benkei threading his way through the commuters. Taniguchi swiftly pulls back from extreme close-ups of the the drummer and Benkei to crowd scenes, in so doing helping us see this claustrophobic, noisy space as Benkei does: camouflage for the urban hunter.

Like many VIZ manga from the 1990s and early 2000s, Benkei in New York boasts a stylish translation. (Yuji Oniki is credited as the adapter.) The script crackles with wit and energy, as Benkei trades one-liners with clients and targets alike. One of my favorite exchanges occurs early in the volume, as Benkei talks business with the leader of an art forgery ring:

Forger: Timing is of crucial importance. Once we agree on a deal, it’s our responsibility to deliver the product to the client while they’re still drooling.
Benkei: You sound like you run a pizza joint.
Forger: What’s wrong with that? Selling pizzas is how I learned everything about New York.

Hokey as that conversation may be, it wouldn’t be out of place in a gangster flick; one could almost imagine a character in Goodfellas or The Godfather reminiscing about his past in a similar fashion.

If Benkei’s motives and methods are sometimes inscrutable — or downright illogical — the stories still work beautifully, with crack pacing and memorable denouements that can be as deeply unsettling as they are emotionally satisfying — or, in Warren Ellis’ words, Benkei in New York is “diabolically well-told.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

BENKEI IN NEW YORK • STORY BY JINPACHI MORI AND ART BY JIRO TANIGUCHI • VIZ • 224 pp. • RATING: MATURE (18+)

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol.2

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Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

“Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice in a Sailor Suit! Sailor Moon has arrived!!”

I would be lying if i said I haven’t been looking forward to this review. Specifically, because around fifty pages into this volume we are introduced (reintroduced?) to Sailor Venus, aka Minako Aino, the first Sailor Senshi. Her adventures are chronicled in two volumes of Codename: Sailor V. When she popped up, I had only started on the first volume of Sailor V, so on the advice of a friend, I stopped reading Sailor Moon until such time as I finished Sailor V. Well, I’m glad I did, but I would caution that you don’t need to do the same in order to enjoy the second volume of Sailor Moon. Returning to my original point, the reason I’m looking forward to this volume is that the team building is over, the villains are known, and now we are ready for the real fights to begin.

This volume explores the concept of pre-destiny, particularly in regards to the finding of the Princess and the Legendary Crystal. Turns out that our heroes have done this sort of work before. I will endeavour to explain without ripping the lid off the plot. Usagi finally understands why she’s been thinking the way that she has about Tuxedo Mask, and her worldview is shattered as a result. The team is in the middle of a battle with the Dark Kingdom’s latest flunky, Zoisite, when one of their allies is injured. This causes the Moon Kingdom’s Princess Serenity to appear at which time she displays an enormous amount of energy. When the dust has settled, the team is changed forever and only a trip to the moon with Luna’s and Artemis’ (Sailor Venus’ familiar) help will answer their questions. But even after that clarification, the team is still fighting above their weight. I like how they stay together inside and outside the battlefield. They might be reeling from the blows, but they’re still standing. I can’t help feeling that this is a different fight they face due to Sailor V’s warnings and her emphatic statement that this evil must be destroyed for good. This theory is backed up by what the team learns on the moon. It’s a lot to take in, but Takeuchi keeps things moving fast. About two-thirds into the book there’s a brief respite, but it’s short-lived.

Looking at this from a guy perspective, I would say that I feel for Usagi and Mamoru so badly. They are tentatively trying to find their way toward how they feel about one another, but their intertwined destines keep being thwarted. I get now why people used to say to me that I was too dismissive of the series. For me, as someone who likes to write creatively, I think I understand where Takeuchi might be going with this. The path to true love is never easy in real life, harder in the realm of fiction, and almost impossible when it involves the fate of the world in the balance. So is Mamoru and Usagi’s love doomed to the void? Possibly, but I think the idea behind this volume might be that true love cannot be stopped, merely diverted. Also, if I’m going for broke, I would say the idea behind the first volume would be that big things start with something small and/or you are not as unimportant as you believe yourself to be. But, returning to the story, Takeuchi seems to be saying in this volume that not only are the Senshi going to have to deal with setbacks but also, potentially, casualties as well.

I wonder, though, how meaningful it is for me to write about Sailor Moon, given that I’ve been aware of the title for ten plus years but never really got into it. I am trying to imagine how young girls (and indeed guys) reading this in Japan at the time might have felt. Add to that my differing cultural heritage and the gulf gets wider by the minute. But my quest is not in vain, I hope. Alexandre Dumas wrote more than 150 years ago of the value of friendship with comrades in arms, Gandhi wrote and spoke of the fact that tyrants, while invincible for a time, always fall, and a Canadian filmmaker once commented that there is no fate but what we make for ourselves. The Sailor Senshi face a difficult task but the battles they face are universal and common. They have happened before in reality and fiction, they are happening now, and they will happen again.

Nearly seventy years ago, my grandfather’s brother stood on the beaches of France. He was fighting in a foreign army for a cause he believed in. When the ramps dropped and his squad ran onto the beach, he did so knowing what was asked of him. At a critical moment, however, the enemy directed a heavy machine gun at his squad mates. Without any thought for himself, he stood and took the hail of bullets. I presume that afterwards his squad returned fire. As to how accurate that account is, I have to trust the report my grandfather’s family received. In Sailor Moon, Usagi stands in front of the enemy protecting Tuxedo and her friends and laying down a burst of energy at her opponent. She does so because the thought of losing her friends and the one she loves is too much to bear. It is there that she discovers her inner light and does what it is her heart requires—much like a soldier taking the brunt for his team because the thought of losing his friends and failing his loved ones is too much for him to bear.

It’s funny how 200 pages of printed paper with drawings and letters can stir things in you that you had never considered. The weaknesses of this volume, such as the massive amounts of exposition, the somewhat Jason and the Argonauts-esque level of “Kill! Kill! Kill them all!!” of Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom, and the fact we still haven’t seen much character development for the other girls can be negated by the fact this is (or feels like) the opening salvo for the war that’s coming. I suspect it will be fought with the population being unaware, and that makes me appreciate Takeuchi even more as a writer. To fight for people and have them know of your achievement is one thing. It is another to do so without the issuing or request of acknowledgement. The question I pose myself is: would I do the save if the situation called for it? Would you?

As I’ve said, I love the artwork and I can’t fault it. If these pages were pastels or watercolours, I would happily have them on my wall. Just as the first volume has a lot of serene moments this one does too, but now they are happening within the story-building moments and the action scenes. It’s a hard act to follow. The Internet continues to punish me for not discovering Sailor Moon sooner, as original art books by Takeuchi-sensei command higher than normal prices. Even if I weren’t broke, I would still be unable to afford some of them.

There aren’t as many liner notes from the translator this time around. I chalk this up to the pace of the story. Thanks for the crisp job, Kodansha. This volume maintains my high opinion of the series and moves into a new direction. If proof is required of my enjoyment of the series, I start volume three tonight and have ordered volumes four and five. So far my experiment at this shoujo malarkey seems to be working.

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 19 February

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Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

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Manga Bestsellers

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [468.0] ::
2. ↑2 (4) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [420.0] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Negima! 33 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [398.4] ::
4. ↓-1 (3) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [389.3] ::
5. ↑1 (6) : Black Butler 8 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [387.1] ::
6. ↓-1 (5) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [384.3] ::
7. ↑3 (10) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [366.4] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Naruto 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [358.3] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [355.3] ::
10. ↑12 (22) : Bleach 38 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [294.5] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 98
Yen Press 73
Viz Shojo Beat 68
Kodansha Comics 38
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 30
Seven Seas 21
DMP Juné 20
Vizkids 17
Dark Horse 13
Del Rey 13

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [1,107.5] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [843.6] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Black Butler – Yen Press [787.5] ::
4. ↑1 (5) : Negima! – Del Rey/Kodansha Comics [581.5] ::
5. ↑2 (7) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [565.3] ::
6. ↓-2 (4) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [564.3] ::
7. ↓-1 (6) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [515.9] ::
8. ↑1 (9) : Pokemon – Vizkids [499.5] ::
9. ↑2 (11) : Blue Exorcist – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [446.8] ::
10. ↔0 (10) : Rosario+Vampire – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [441.5] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [468.0] ::
3. ↓-1 (2) : Negima! 33 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [398.4] ::
5. ↑1 (6) : Black Butler 8 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [387.1] ::
14. ↓-1 (13) : Highschool of the Dead 5 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [272.7] ::
15. ↑10 (25) : Omamori Himari 6 – Yen Press, Feb 2012 [269.9] ::
18. ↑2 (20) : Black Bird 12 – Viz Shojo Beat, Jan 2012 [254.1] ::
20. ↓-5 (15) : Rosario+Vampire Season II 7 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Jan 2012 [251.7] ::
23. ↑24 (47) : xxxHolic 19 – Kodansha Comics, Feb 2012 [239.0] ::
24. ↑30 (54) : Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus 3 – Dark Horse, Feb 2012 [237.2] ::
25. ↑3 (28) : Blue Exorcist 6 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Feb 2012 [236.4] ::

[more]

Preorders

4. ↓-1 (3) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [389.3] ::
10. ↑12 (22) : Bleach 38 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [294.5] ::
11. ↑40 (51) : Naruto 55 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [287.6] ::
17. ↑1 (18) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [254.1] ::
30. ↑4 (34) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [229.0] ::
39. ↓-12 (27) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [215.4] ::
40. ↓-31 (9) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [204.8] ::
63. ↑1 (64) : Negima! 34 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [146.6] ::
74. ↑9 (83) : Ambiguous Relationship – DMP Juné, Mar 2012 [133.1] ::
92. ↑36 (128) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 12 – Seven Seas, Jun 2012 [111.7] ::

[more]

Manhwa

225. ↑238 (463) : Bride of the Water God 10 – Dark Horse, Jan 2012 [50.4] ::
340. ↓-34 (306) : JTF-3 Counter Ops (ebook) – RealinterfaceStudios.com, Mar 2011 [33.2] ::
384. ↑5 (389) : March Story 3 – Viz Signature, Oct 2011 [28.3] ::
403. ↑46 (449) : Bride of the Water God 9 – Dark Horse, Oct 2011 [26.5] ::
590. ↓-71 (519) : March Story 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2011 [15.3] ::
699. ↑229 (928) : March Story 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [11.3] ::
784. ↓-194 (590) : Bride of the Water God 1 – Dark Horse, Oct 2007 [8.7] ::
787. ↑ (last ranked 2 Oct 11) : Very Very Sweet 8 – Yen Press, Nov 2010 [8.7] ::
875. ↓-521 (354) : Black God 15 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [6.8] ::
901. ↑359 (1260) : King of Hell 12 – Tokyopop, Feb 2006 [6.2] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

22. ↑1 (23) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [240.3] ::
52. ↑6 (58) : Private Teacher 2 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [172.6] ::
62. ↑10 (72) : Maelstrom (ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [147.3] ::
74. ↑9 (83) : Ambiguous Relationship – DMP Juné, Mar 2012 [133.1] ::
76. ↑141 (217) : Ice Cage (ebook) – Yaoi Press, Feb 2012 [132.6] ::
84. ↑13 (97) : Only Serious About You 2 – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [121.7] ::
111. ↑169 (280) : Trapped Wizard (ebook) – Yaoi Press, Feb 2012 [92.3] ::
130. ↓-30 (100) : A Fallen Saint’s Kiss – 801 Media, Jan 2012 [79.7] ::
132. ↑50 (182) : Maelstrom (ebook) 3 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2011 [79.6] ::
134. ↑47 (181) : Maelstrom (ebook) 5 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2011 [78.9] ::

[more]

Ebooks

62. ↑10 (72) : Maelstrom (ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [147.3] ::
76. ↑141 (217) : Ice Cage (ebook) – Yaoi Press, Feb 2012 [132.6] ::
77. ↓-4 (73) : How to Draw Manga (ebook) Lesson 1 Eyes – Japanime’s Manga University, May 2011 [132.0] ::
99. ↓-25 (74) : Vampire Cheerleaders 1 – Seven Seas, Mar 2011 [106.6] ::
110. ↑23 (133) : Kanji de Manga 1 – Japanime’s Manga University, Jan 2005 [93.0] ::
111. ↑169 (280) : Trapped Wizard (ebook) – Yaoi Press, Feb 2012 [92.3] ::
122. ↑69 (191) : Vampire Hunter D (manga) 6 – DMP, Nov 2011 [81.8] ::
132. ↑50 (182) : Maelstrom (ebook) 3 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2011 [79.6] ::
134. ↑47 (181) : Maelstrom (ebook) 5 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2011 [78.9] ::
138. ↓-47 (91) : Manga Cookbook – Japanime’s Manga University, Aug 2007 [77.2] ::

[more]

Bookshelf Briefs 3/19/12

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This week, Kate, Michelle, & Sean take a look at recent releases from Yen Press, VIZ Media, Seven Seas, and Kodansha Comics.

13th Boy, Vol. 11 | By SangEun Lee | Yen Press – Reviewing the penultimate volume of a series is always a challenge. Divulge too little, and long-time readers might wonder if the story is building to a satisfying conclusion; divulge too much and incur the wrath of the Spoiler Police. I’ll try to find a middle ground here by saying that SangEun Lee uses volume eleven to explore the relationship between Whie-Young and Hee-So in greater depth — a relationship that may come at a price too great for Whie-Young, Hee-So, and the long-suffering Beatrice, who owes his existence to Whie-Young’s magic. The major plot developments of volume eleven are related with Lee’s customary mix of slapstick humor and sentiment; few writers can tack between the two extremes with such grace as Lee, who uses those sudden tonal shifts to underscore her characters’ emotional volatility. I have no idea if the story will turn out the way I want it to, but I’m confident that whatever happens in volume twelve will feel like the right outcome for this odd, magical manhwa. -Katherine Dacey

Ai Ore!, Vol. 4 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – This is the point in the series where Mayu Shinjo had her big falling out with Shogakukan, and as a consequence Ai Ore! moved to Kadokawa Shoten, starting to serialize in their magazine Asuka. Asuka not being nearly as porn-oriented as Shoujo Comic can get, there’s a definite change in mood. Akira has continued his slide towards being less horrible, which is a good thing. His relationship with Mizuki has also gotten far more chaste – they’re back to hand-holding. In its defense, the humor is just as sharp as prior volumes, and the best parts show a mangaka not taking anything seriously. (Mizuki in a cage will make you boggle.) On the down side, Mizuki continues to be the weak part of this series, even needing to be rescued here. But then, by now no one is reading the series for Mizuki anyway. Still sort of recommended-ish.-Sean Gaffney

A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 3 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa | Seven Seas – First off, we get the end of the battle between Misaki and Harumi, and it’s as brutal as you’d imagine. The backstory given is heartbreaking, especially since it involves children, and one hopes that this is not the last we see of it. Railgun is at its best doing serious and exciting action sequences – both with this and with the flashback showing a younger Kuroko in training – and given this is the majority of this volume, that makes it easily the best volume to date. Especially given the suggestion of more to Misaki’s destiny than she’s likely to be comfortable with. (Uiharu is also fantastic, lest I forget her.) I still think Kuroko is at her best when nowhere near Misaki, but that’s a minor point by now. Great action packed thriller manga.-Sean Gaffney

Mardock Scramble, Vol. 3 | Created by Tow Ubakata, Manga by Yoshitoki Oima | Kodansha Comics – If you asked me to summarize my response to volume three of Mardock Scramble, my one-word answer would be “grim.” (My two-word response: “really grim.”) Rune Balot plays cat-and-mouse with four of Boiled’s henchmen, dispatching each with gory zest. Though the plot flirts with moral complexity in later scenes — Balot seems to be enjoying her new-found powers in unexpected ways — that ambiguity feels unearned; Balot is such a flat, affectless character that her transformation feels too abrupt to be genuinely persuasive. A few startling images breathe life into the action scenes, but on the whole, volume three is so relentlessly brutal that few readers will want to continue with the series. -Katherine Dacey

Nabari No Ou, Vol. 9 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Published by Yen Press – Sometimes a volume of manga is good simply because it furnishes one with long-sought-after information. Volume nine of Nabari No Ou is just such a case, as it focuses primarily on Yukimi’s efforts to find out more about Yoite’s past. The momentum of the story is such that I was untroubled by that feeling I sometimes get with this series that it never quite manages to coalesce, and just simply enjoyed the revelations as they came. I still really don’t care about the search for five scrolls of secret ninja arts, but there are some good character moments in this volume that exemplify why I keep reading the series. The final pages are especially nice. Also, what I thought was going to be a depressing encounter with a malnourished kitten turned out to have a happy outcome. So, bonus points for that. – Michelle Smith

Rin-Ne, Vol. 8 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – By now readers should know that this is a manga where plot developments, if they happen at all, happen on a glacial scale. Shoujo writers, when they semi-retire, seem to gravitate to family stories in josei magazines for housewives. Takahashi seems to prefer going back to her roots, as this volume is filled with comedic one-to-two parters regarding Rinne and Sakura and their wacky soul-reaping adventures. We do get a longer arc involving Shoma, a young brat in the best Takahashi tradition (hi, Jariten), and this gets briefly serious when genuine innocent souls appear to be headed to hell. But for the most part, this manga is as calm and placid as its heroine, and is for fans who have read Takahashi for so long that they really have to keep reading her.-Sean Gaffney

Soul Eater, Vol. 8 | By Atsushi Ohkubo | Yen Press – It needs to be said right off the bat – if you hate snakes, or hate mental violation of children, do not read this volume of Soul Eater. Medusa’s takeover of Rachel is easily the most creepy and disturbing scene we have seen in the entire manga to date, and may honestly give nightmares. That said, Medusa and Arachnae’s confrontation is top-notch, and makes you want to see more of the two villains fighting for supremacy. Otherwise, it’s a fairly sedate volume of Soul Eater. Black*Star grows by tiny increments, and Crona discovers the warmth of friendship – very, very briefly. I’ve come to like this series for more than its art style, but it still leaves a weird feeling in your head as you read it – a sense that too much exposure might leave you ask insane as most of its characters. Recommended to those not easily squicked.-Sean Gaffney

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, Vol. 13

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By Koji Kumeta. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

It was recently announced that Zetsubou will be ending in Weekly Shonen Magazine in about two months, making it a total of 28-29 volumes long. As a result, this volume manages to not even be halfway through the series, something that I’m sure worries Kodansha Comics here in North America more than it does the average reader. Still, let us read on to see what we can glean from this volume.

Indeed, the last short gag comic in this volume talks about the fact that, after the anime has aired, the cast has lost all motivation to continue to excel. Lots of cute little gags here – we see Kiri and Matoi in regular school uniform, and Nozomu in a T-shirt, as they just can’t be bothered to care. Naturally, this is a reflection of Kumeta-san’s own misgivings. He had been tortured back when Katteni Kaizo was running with the promise of an anime… which never materialized (at least not then.) Now that Zetsubou has gotten an anime series, he’s at a loss for what to wish for now. As the manga demonstrates, a live-action series would probably simply be ridiculous – for one thing, the violence would have to be toned way down.

Speaking of violence, for a while it seemed as if Chiri was slacking a bit in her role as Zetsubou’s favorite psycho. Luckily, she’s back on top form here, as she kills the cast and buries them under the floor in one chapter (then returns home to parents it’s hinted she’s also killed…) and in another chapter simply incites the rest of the girls to slaughter a number of prison guards in order to rescue their teacher. Kafuka has lost a bit of focus as the series has gone on, with Chiri’s stronger, more insane personality becoming more popular. But as ever, Kafuka shows who’s really in control of events here – I’m positive that’s her dressed as the girl giving Nozomu a love letter.

Another consequence of the series getting an anime is that it led to the manga getting new readers that would likely not have picked it up before – the otaku fan. Indeed, going to pixiv, a Japanese art site, shows a truly staggering number of questionable art of Kiri Komori, who was quickly singled out as the most ‘moe’ of the cast. Kumeta attacks these types of fans with even more vitriol than usual, especially in the chapter devoted to ‘honey traps’. Whether it be the average watcher of Haruhi and Lucky Star, or the man who buys character sheets and body pillows, no one is spared. Of course, as Kafuka cynically undercuts, they’re perfectly happy to have fans buying Zetsubou-sensei merchandise.

Chapter 129 has one of the stranger endings of the entire series, and even though Joshua Weeks (congratulations on lasting more than four volumes, Josh!) does endnote it, it’s worth looking at. Kumeta got his start at Shogakukan’s Shonen Sunday, and worked there for years. His most popular series there was Katteni Kaizo, which ran from 1998 – 2004… the period right before Zetsubou-sensei. Indeed, it was an argument with Shogakukan about the series (and the anime that never seemed to happen) that led to him leaving for Kodansha. (His assistant, Kenjiro Hata, elected to stay at Shogakukan, and was given his own series, Hayate the Combat Butler. Needless to say, ‘friendly rivalry’ doesn’t begin to describe things…)

Katteni Kaizo is a high-school gag manga about a boy who is convinced that he is a cyborg, his friend Umi who knocked him onto his head as a child, and their many,m many insane friends. When Kumeta deliberately cut it short, he decided to end it by showing Kaizo and Umi waking up in a mental hospital, where they had been imagining the entire series. Now “cured”, they go out into Tokyo to start life anew. The fan reaction was basically “…”, as you might imagine. One of the minor characters, Yoko, had, towards the end of the series, sealed herself in a wall by accident (something that is quite typical of this character). Whether Kumeta did this deliberately in order to write this precise chapter of Zetsubou-sensei 7 years later is unknown (I tend to doubt it), but it ends up looking quite clever.

I’m not sure what the future of Zetsubou-sensei is in North America. Vol. 14 is scheduled for April, but after that Kodansha’s schedule (up through November on Amazon) does not show it. You might argue “but it’s a New York Times bestseller!”, but aside from the fact that the NYT list frequently bears no resemblance to reality, the question is whether Zetsubou’s sales are worth the stress of having to translate this monster. More jokes than ever before in this volume are simply “this is funny if you’re Japanese, trust us” jokes, and the minimal endnotes only help a little. On the other hand, it could simply be that the series is taking a short break, possibly for the translator to recover his frazzled mind, and will continue down the road. Obviously I’m hoping for the latter. In any case, this is another solid volume of the series.

Manga Bestsellers: 2012, Week Ending 12 February

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Comparative Rankings Based on Consolidated Online Sales

last week’s charts
about the charts

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Manga Bestsellers

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [471.0] ::
2. ↑3 (5) : Negima! 33 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [424.8] ::
3. ↑7 (10) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [410.3] ::
4. ↓-2 (2) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [407.5] ::
5. ↓-2 (3) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [398.5] ::
6. ↓-2 (4) : Black Butler 8 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [376.5] ::
7. ↑2 (9) : Naruto 53 – Viz Shonen Jump, Dec 2011 [363.8] ::
8. ↔0 (8) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [363.0] ::
9. ↓-2 (7) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [343.5] ::
10. ↑10 (20) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [338.0] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Viz Shonen Jump 90
Yen Press 76
Viz Shojo Beat 70
Kodansha Comics 42
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 32
Seven Seas 21
Dark Horse 17
DMP Juné 17
Vizkids 16
Del Rey 10

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [1,104.9] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [909.3] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Black Butler – Yen Press [825.7] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [669.2] ::
5. ↔0 (5) : Negima! – Del Rey/Kodansha Comics [631.8] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Highschool of the Dead – Yen Press [561.4] ::
7. ↑10 (17) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [518.8] ::
8. ↓-1 (7) : Fullmetal Alchemist – Viz [504.1] ::
9. ↔0 (9) : Pokemon – Vizkids [475.2] ::
10. ↓-2 (8) : Rosario+Vampire – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced [470.5] ::

[more]

New Releases
(Titles releasing/released This Month & Last)

3. ↑7 (10) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [410.3] ::
9. ↓-2 (7) : Naruto 54 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [343.5] ::
22. ↑19 (41) : Bleach 38 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [266.2] ::
25. ↑95 (120) : Omamori Himari 6 – Yen Press, Feb 2012 [238.5] ::
28. ↑77 (105) : Blue Exorcist 6 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Feb 2012 [225.1] ::
46. ↑97 (143) : Bakuman 9 – Viz Shonen Jump, Feb 2012 [188.8] ::
47. ↑8 (55) : xxxHolic 19 – Kodansha Comics, Feb 2012 [188.1] ::
51. ↑10 (61) : Naruto 55 – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2012 [180.8] ::
54. ↑9 (63) : Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus 3 – Dark Horse, Feb 2012 [172.1] ::
68. ↑351 (419) : Kamisama Kiss 7 – Viz Shojo Beat, Feb 2012 [130.8] ::

[more]

Preorders

18. ↑1 (19) : Sailor Moon 5 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [288.8] ::
27. ↓-1 (26) : Sailor Moon 6 – Kodansha Comics, Jun 2012 [232.8] ::
34. ↑26 (60) : Sailor Moon 7 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2012 [207.5] ::
64. ↑5 (69) : Negima! 34 – Kodansha Comics, Apr 2012 [144.5] ::
128. ↓-5 (123) : Dance in the Vampire Bund 12 – Seven Seas, Jun 2012 [85.9] ::
135. ↓-4 (131) : The Betrayal Knows My Name 3 – Yen Press, Apr 2012 [80.7] ::
168. ↓-13 (155) : The Betrayal Knows My Name 4 – Yen Press, Aug 2012 [64.6] ::
173. ↓-33 (140) : Naruto 57 – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2012 [63.7] ::
189. ↓-27 (162) : Toradora! 4 – Seven Seas, Apr 2012 [57.3] ::
204. ↑138 (342) : Black Butler 9 – Yen Press, Jul 2012 [53.6] ::

[more]

Manhwa

306. ↓-38 (268) : JTF-3 Counter Ops (ebook) – RealinterfaceStudios.com, Mar 2011 [39.0] ::
354. ↓-175 (179) : Black God 15 – Yen Press, Jan 2012 [32.5] ::
389. ↑62 (451) : March Story 3 – Viz Signature, Oct 2011 [28.0] ::
449. ↓-93 (356) : Bride of the Water God 9 – Dark Horse, Oct 2011 [23.4] ::
463. ↑610 (1073) : Bride of the Water God 10 – Dark Horse, Jan 2012 [22.7] ::
519. ↑147 (666) : March Story 2 – Viz Signature, Apr 2011 [18.9] ::
590. ↑385 (975) : Bride of the Water God 1 – Dark Horse, Oct 2007 [15.0] ::
719. ↑ (last ranked 16 Oct 11) : Pig Bride 5 – Yen Press, Jul 2010 [10.4] ::
755. ↑ (last ranked 22 Jan 12) : Jack Frost 4 – Yen Press, Dec 2010 [9.8] ::
928. ↑242 (1170) : March Story 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [5.8] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

23. ↑24 (47) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [240.7] ::
58. ↑18 (76) : Private Teacher 2 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [160.9] ::
72. ↑8 (80) : Maelstrom (ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [126.9] ::
83. ↑21 (104) : Ambiguous Relationship – DMP Juné, Mar 2012 [112.6] ::
97. ↑120 (217) : Only Serious About You 2 – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [102.0] ::
100. ↑1 (101) : A Fallen Saint’s Kiss – 801 Media, Jan 2012 [97.1] ::
118. ↑202 (320) : Private Teacher 1 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [88.7] ::
143. ↓-33 (110) : Seven Days Friday-Sunday – DMP Juné, Sep 2011 [76.0] ::
146. ↓-8 (138) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [74.2] ::
160. ↑141 (301) : The Tyrant Falls in Love 5 – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [66.5] ::

[more]

Ebooks

72. ↑8 (80) : Maelstrom (ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [126.9] ::
73. ↑15 (88) : How to Draw Manga (ebook) Lesson 1 Eyes – Japanime’s Manga University, May 2011 [126.3] ::
74. ↑10 (84) : Vampire Cheerleaders 1 – Seven Seas, Mar 2011 [126.2] ::
91. ↑7 (98) : Manga Cookbook – Japanime’s Manga University, Aug 2007 [105.0] ::
108. ↓-31 (77) : Amazing Agent Luna 1 – Seven Seas, Mar 2005 [93.0] ::
123. ↓-4 (119) : The Outcast 1 – Seven Seas, Sep 2007 [87.1] ::
132. ↓-26 (106) : Amazing Agent Luna 2 – Seven Seas, Jul 2005 [81.8] ::
133. ↑18 (151) : Kanji de Manga 1 – Japanime’s Manga University, Jan 2005 [81.0] ::
140. ↓-10 (130) : Dragon Ball Z Legend: The Quest Continues – Cocoro Books, May 2004 [76.9] ::
155. ↑2 (157) : Manga Moods – Japanime’s Manga University, Mar 2006 [68.0] ::

[more]

A Bride’s Story, Vols. 2-3

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Around the age of ten, I had a brief but intense love affair with historical fiction. It began with Little House in the Big Woods — required reading for all American girls of a certain age — and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I then discovered Johnny Tremain, made an unsuccessful attempt to read The Last of the Mohicans — way over my head, I’m afraid — and devoured Summer of My German Soldier.

The books that had the greatest claim on my heart, however, were Lois Lenski’s American regional novels: Strawberry Girl, Cotton in My Sack, Blue Ridge Billy, Mama Hattie’s Girl, and Shoo-Fly Girl. Looking back on these books now, I can see that they weren’t as meticulously crafted as Roll of Thunder or Johnny Tremain; Lenski’s writing was, at times, pedestrian, and her characterizations thin. What Lenski did well, however, was help young readers imagine what it was like to live in rural areas before television, telephones, and electricity were fixtures of the American home. Her books were filled with vivid descriptions of everyday activities: baking pies, picking crops, making dresses from patterns, canning vegetables, feeding chickens, washing clothes. From my sheltered point of view, Lenski’s characters led exotic, fascinating lives: who wouldn’t want to turn a bolt of calico into an actual dress, or spend the day picking berries? (The answer turns out to be me, as I flunked Home Economics.)

Though I’ve read my share of historical novels in the intervening years, I’ve seldom loved those books with the same fierce intensity as I did Strawberry Girl. Some of that disenchantment could be chalked up to adolescence: as a teenager, music superseded books as my most important form of escapism, and I read far fewer novels. And some of my disenchantment reflected my academic training: as a college student, I majored in History, taking courses that gave me the tools for exploring other places and times. Reading A Bride’s Story, however, reminded me how powerful good historical fiction can be.

A Bride’s Story depicts everyday life in a long-ago setting — in this case, Central Asia in the nineteenth century, where the fictional Eihon clan herd sheep and make textiles. To give readers a better understanding of the period, Kaoru Mori devotes entire chapters to describing how her characters live. In chapter 6 of A Bride’s Story, for example, Mori documents “oven day,” a communal event in which women prepare and bake bread. Mori captures the scene in meticulous detail, showing us how the women shape and stamp the dough into elaborate patterns. At the same time, however, Mori uses this gathering to explore the social dynamic within the Eihon clan; though none of the women are overtly hostile to new bride Amir, her inexperience and outsider status make it all but impossible for her to join the circle.

Other rituals are depicted with similar care. In chapter 10, for example, British anthropologist Henry Smith observes the Eihon women embroidering linen. Smith is a clever device: he serves as a natural reader surrogate, neatly anticipating the reader’s questions about the materials and cultural significance of the patterns. His questions serve another equally important purpose: they prompt Balkirsch, the clan matriarch, to identify the author of each design, explaining who she was and where she came from, in the process giving an informal history of the village.

Even in volume three, which introduces a new romantic subplot, Mori continues to document everyday activities in painstaking detail. Once again, Henry Smith serves as our eyes and ears, this time during a brief stay with two women he meets on the road to Ankara. Mori does a superb job of contrasting these women’s existence with the Eihons’: unlike the Eihons, who live in a thriving village, these women live alone on the edge of a vast plain, occupying two modest yurts with little in the way of possessions. Talas, the younger woman, must do the work of two people, grinding grain by hand, spinning wool, preparing meals, and tending a flock of sheep, following them on foot for miles each day. Though her face is youthful, her body language is not; in stark contrast to the physically robust Amir, Talas’s stooped shoulders and downcast eyes suggest the physical toll her daily labors exert.

Though Mori punctuates these moments of quiet reflection with dramatic, juicy scenes — a nighttime raid on the Eihon compound, an interrogation by Cossack soldiers, an angry confrontation between suitors — A Bride’s Story is at its best when it focuses on women’s daily lives. As this reviewer observes, Mori is not critiquing Central Asian society so much as depicting it in its full complexity. Mori never shies away from showing us how vulnerable women are in a patriarchal culture, as Talas’ situation demonstrates: without a father to arrange a new marriage for her, her late husbands’ relatives may claim her as property.

At the same time, however, Mori recognizes that women find small but meaningful ways to exercise their agency in such cultures, carving out a sphere of influence for themselves. She celebrates their wisdom and resilience, honoring their hard work by documenting it in minute detail. Perhaps that’s why I love A Bride’s Story so much; like Strawberry Girl and Little House in the Big Woods, A Bride’s Story helps me imagine what my daily life as a woman would have been like, warts and all, had I been born in another place and time. Highly recommended.

Review copy of volume three provided by Yen Press.

A BRIDE’S STORY, VOLS. 2-3 • BY KAORU MORI • YEN PRESS • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+)

Poor Poor Lips, Vol. 1

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By Hayako Goto. Released in Japan by Takeshobo, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Life. Released in the United States by Takeshobo on the JManga website.

The first thing that struck me about this series, a title that I knew something of coming in thanks to Erica Friedman’s reviews on Okazu, is how appropriate it is that the word ‘poor’ is repeated in the title. In fact, if it had been called Poor Poor Poor Lips I wouldn’t have blinked an eye. More than a series about cute girls doing cute things, or about a growing love between two young women, this is a manga about a very, VERY poor girl, and what her life is like to the people around her. Mako isn’t homeless or anything. But she’s constantly on the knife edge of it, and deals with things like never having the money to buy clothes… or furniture… or even food beyond the meanest variety. It’s actually quite impressive the sheer amount of humor the author can wring out of Nako’s desperate poverty.

In contrast to this we have Ren, the woman who runs the shop that Nako comes to work for. Ren is an interesting character right off the bat, as she tells prospective employees point blank that she is a lesbian – something you rarely get in Japanese manga, even ones that do deal with actual relationships between two girls. Usually the closeness between the two gets some “it’s just because it’s you” lip service that manages to dance around the actual lesbian identity. So it’s refreshing to see Ren be so blunt about it, even if it is mostly to scare off people who can’t put up with her. Nako, of course, is not going to let anything like that stop her from work that might give her money to live, so she gets hired and the manga shows the two becoming friends.

This is a cute 4-koma manga, so the rest of the volume tends to involve a lot of cute 4-koma situations. We follow Nako’s staggeringly ridiculous poverty, and start to realize how it is she keeps ending up that way (a naivete that manages to remain innocent and charming while still making you slap your head); we see her interactions with an old male friend from high school, who clearly is interested in her but can’t quite get that across; and we see Ren, who has already told Nako that she’s ‘not her type’, begin to fall for Nako anyway. The two contrast very well, with Nako’s blithe matter-of-factness contrasting well with Ren’s occasional tendencies towards being overwrought. Ren, of course, would like to give Nako more money and help, but it’s hard to simply DO that, so she has to be subtle about such things.

The yuri in this first volume is mild – Ren clearly is interested in Nako, but this is different from the usual sort of relationship – and girl – she’s had before, so she’s still trying to figure out what to do. Meanwhile, Keiki is a relatively sympathetic male co-star considering it’s a yuri manga. He and Ren don’t get along, but you clearly see things from his side as well, and they both share a concern that Nako will one day simply be kidnapped off the street. Nako, being fairly oblivious about such things, is not particularly helping either of them. But then, this manga is meant to be more than one volume long, so that’s only to be expected.

This was a lot of fun. It uses the 4-koma style well, being a series of slice-of-life events without ever giving off that feeling of ‘nothing will ever happen’ you get from many similar series. The characters are funny and likeable, and you want Nako to better her situation while realizing that her situation is what drives all the comedy and plot. And the translation, done in collaboration with ALC Publishing, is excellent, showing none of the over-literal awkwardness that sometimes plagues JManga titles. The one drawback to the series is that Nako is yet another of those girls who’s 21 but looks to be about seven years old. Japan loves this, but I really wish they’d learn to write about adult women who look like adults. Still, Poor Poor Lips is an excellent addition to JManga’s library, and Vol. 2 is already available as well, with 3 coming out next week. Give it a shot – you likely can afford it more than Nako could.