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Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 18

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By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

We have arrived at the end of “The End Of The World” arc, and just as predicted, things quickly turn sour. This is not a fairy tale with a happy ending, but a story of two children getting broken, one by supernatural happenstance, the other by his own “loving” parents. Hata has said he had this arc planned nearly from the start, but it kept getting put off. My guess is Sunday’s editors wanted to wait till the series was popular enough that it could withstand 10 chapters that are nothing whatsoever like what has come before it.

These three final chapters to the arc are heartbreaking. I’ve gone on about Hayate’s parents before, so won’t do so now (they’re loathsome monsters, FYI). The rift between Hayate and Athena, though, is that of two six-year-olds who find that sometimes you say things you can’t take back. We don’t know exactly what happened to Athena’s parents, though certainly we can guess based on her reaction here. And so they fight (and Athena seems to be possessed by evil at some point), and she tells Hayate to leave. Which he does. And again, words you can’t take back. There’s a nice mirror of both children looking up desperately to hope the other has returned, only to find cold reality instead.

We have no idea how Athena left the castle, but we do get Hayate’s aftermath – and we also meet his brother! Yes, a family member of Hayate’s who is not hateful and deceptive. While you’re left wondering why his brother leaves Hayate with those parents, his advice is certainly good… though it comes a little too late. And so Hayate is resolved to become the best he can be, but also closes off his heart to a certain degree. He’s also resolved, if he ever meets Athena again, to tell her that she was right and he was wrong, at least in regards to his parents.

And hey, what a coincidence! Athena is now 10 years older, and in Athens! And dressed entirely in black – not suspicious at all! But I doubt we’ll see her again. After all, it’s not like the entire cast is going to wind up in Greece anytime soon…

So we have the rest of the volume, which is devoted to the entire cast, in various ways, ending up on a holiday in Greece. We’re not there yet, of course, so it’s also an excuse to catch up with characters shoved to the side by the enormous Hayate/Athena story. (Nagi and Maria lampshade this, in one of the funnier parts of the book.) Maria in particular gets a rare focus here, as she goes on a pretend date with Hayate, who is being stalked by a mysterious girl who is obsessed with him and wants him dead. (Well, no, not really.) They’re cute together, but you’re reminded that Maria still sometimes sees Hayate as a toy to dress up rather than as an actual male – she’s far less comfortable when reminded of that.

And then there’s Ayumu and Hinagiku, who continue to bond here – in fact, Hina makes a big sacrifice in order to advance her cause in a contest (the winner of which gets two tickets to Athena – subtlety went back out the window once Athena left the manga, in case you weren’t aware). And Nagi seems to be starting to learn the value of money – very slowly. And of course, there’s Fumi, who in a manga composed entirely of eccentrics manages to outdo them all – her answer for the ‘what is a fire station symbol’ question makes your jaw drop.

Casual readers will get nothing out of this, as it’s entirely dependent on knowing the characters. But longtime Hayate readers will enjoy it, and may be happy we’re back to the standard comedic antics after a long hiatus of drama. And Volume 19 is only 5 months away, rather than 6! Progress!

License request Day: Amai Seikatsu

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Work has been extremely busy lately, and yet my yearning to read more workplace manga only seems to increase. What’s that about? Whatever the psychology behind it, I find myself turning to Shueisha’s Business Jump for this week’s license request.

Now, among the professions I’ve considered over the course of my lifetime, I cannot say that “lingerie designer” has ever even hovered on the periphery. Would I want to do that for a living? No. Would I want to read a seinen manga about someone who does? Oh, yes, my friends. Hence, we arrive at Hikaru Yuzuki’s Amai Seikatsu.

Now, the likelihood of this being published in English seems extraordinarily slim, certainly slimmer than the models who work in the lingerie industry. If you click on “Enter” on the Shueisha page above, you should probably make sure you don’t do so at work, because here be nipples. So we’re definitely talking about a manga for legally adult males, which isn’t synonymous with it being a manga for a mature audience, but it looks like it might be amusing.

It’s about a young designer, Shinsuke Edo, who works with a lot of women at a lingerie company. Based on the little animations and sample panels, Shinsuke seems to find himself in the kind of wacky circumstances that come with being in a seinen comedy manga set in an at least partially clothing-optional milieu. He also seems to be surrounded by the usual mix of harridans, temptresses, and good girls, so we probably have a harem vibe in play. (I know. Duh.)

Honestly, this is more of a dare than a license request. I’ve often thought that there’s a fine line between American comics readers who like to read about women who appear to be wearing underwear and posing suggestively and American comics readers who like to read about women who actually are wearing underwear and pose suggestively. There’s generally a heroic narrative providing a veil of “I read it for the ass-kicking” respectability that Amai Seikatsu simply doesn’t seem to possess.

It’s also really, really long. In fact, it’s the longest-running series currently in Business Jump, having recently hit the 40-volume mark. So that limits the chances even more. But it never hurts to throw out a little reminder that seinen can be cheesy and smutty and ridiculous and possibly sweet and funny at the same time.

 

Ninja Papa, Vol. 1

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By Yasuto Yamamoto. Released in Japan by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Manga Action. Released in the United States by Futabasha on the JManga website.

Just as we see here in the West, a lot of Japanese manga thrives on ‘fantasies’, and having the reader imagine a world in which they (or rather, the character they are meant to identify with) were really awesome. For boys this could be ‘what if I was a super ninja?’. For teenagers it could be ‘what if I was surrounded by various girls all trying to get into my pants?’. And for 35-year-old salarymen, married with kids but balding, bullied at work, and dealing with disrespectful in-laws, the question might be ‘what if I had been born a ninja?’.

This is the problem that our hero, Nobuo Matsuri, is dealing with. He was raised by his clan to be a ninja, an instrument of secret death. But then he met Aya and fell in love. Now he’s abandoned his ninja ways and is trying to make it in the world as a lowly salaryman. He’s not attractive, he tends to back down from any conflict at work, and he is generally seen as a goofy screw up. But all this is to conceal his old life from his wife and kids, and his old clan are still sending enemies out to kill him at every turn. Luckily, he still has his ninja skills.

At times, this manga almost reads like a parody. The situations can be ludicrous, though they’re always taken seriously. Nobuo not only has his gorgeous wife, who’s devoted to him and with whom he has amazing sex (which we see several times – this is a mature title), but a co-worker at work was rescued by his ninja self, and has unknowingly fallen for him. She’s cute too. The contrast between Nobuo wanting to have a simple, everyday life yet being constantly beset by insanity can be a bit head-spinning – at one point he’s trying to save his daughter from a sadistic teacher (who in turn it’s revealed was sexually abused by his own mother) who believes that all children are just dolls, and then he is at a party where rich guests decide to set a lion on him and see how much fun can be had watching him get eaten. As I said, you’re wondering if it’s meant to be this serious.

But yes, of course it is. The ninja scenes are played with the utmost seriousness, and Nobuo may be overweight and balding but that doesn’t mean he’s past it as a ninja. He tries to avoid killing his enemies, but will do so if pressed. And the ninja combat scenes do look pretty badass. As for his family, his daughter seems to have unknowingly inherited some of his ninja talents, as seen in the arc with the teacher, and his hateful mother-in-law, who belittles him every chance she gets, may have a dark secret of her own. As for his wife, well, she’s unaware he’s a ninja (so far – there’s a cliffhanger) and generally sees him as this lovable but great guy. Her character is therefore a bit flat. Her strongest scene comes when she’s rejecting the old high-school lothario who’s now trying to hit on her since he’s rich and successful and her husband is a loser. Needless to say, she stands by her man.

JManga’s translation is fine, but the lettering does pose a problem. A lot of the series takes place in the evening, and features Nobuo’s inner monologue as he thinks about true love prevailing and why must all this happen to him. Unfortunately, the text is also black, with a very fine white border. This makes it very hard to read, especially as it’s presented next to the unaltered Japanese text (just for the inner monologues, the dialogue uses standard word balloons) which has a much stronger white border and is much easier to read. I realize that there’s space issues involved here with the translation, but hopefully it’s something that can be fixed in future volumes.

Parody or no, Ninja Papa is not a manga to be taken seriously. However, if you like watching ninjas get waylaid at every corner, taken on many assassins at once, and then return to their hot wife and beautiful family, well, you are likely the audience Ninja Papa is going for. Fight on for love, Nobuo!

BL Bookrack: September 2011

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Welcome to the September installment of BL Bookrack! This month, MJand Michelle take a look at three offerings from Digital Manga Publishing’s Juné imprint, An Even More Beautiful Lie, Only Serious About You, and Private Teacher.

An Even More Beautiful Lie | By Kei Kanai | Digital Manga Publishing/Juné | Rated YA (16+) – It was an impulsive decision on Kurosu Keiichiro’s part to attend Teio Art University, but he believes that meeting genius painter Yukari Yohito proves that it was the right choice. Kurosu is in awe of Yukari’s works, and when he spots the other boy sleeping on the train and about to miss his station, he wakes him up and makes sure he doesn’t forget his umbrella, at the cost of forgetting his own and getting left behind by the train.

This leads to an offer from enigmatic Yukari to spend the night at his place, after which Kurosu comes around more often, making sure Yukari remembers to eat and bathe. Yukari is so completely obsessed with painting that he doesn’t “have any time to think about today, tomorrow, how to live.” Gradually they grow closer, even though Yukari insists that he’d never be able to care for someone more than he does painting. When his home and studio is randomly invaded by thieves, however, and Kurosu gets seriously hurt while single-handedly subduing the culprits, Yukari is unable to paint at all until his friend is fully recovered and discharged. Once he assures himself that Kurosu is fine and will stay by his side, he is finally able to start creating again. Theirs is a quirky love story, and an interesting one.

On the negative side, the narrative occasionally feels disjointed and self-consciously “artsy,” thanks to some obtuse dialogue (“Excessive bias makes me stop thinking about the essential nature of things”) and abrupt flashbacks which, while they provide useful information about characters’ motivations, also require flipping back a few pages to figure out where and when they’re supposed to occur. This issue pales in comparison to the true head-scratcher of the volume, however—the scene in which one of Yukari’s attackers engages in a brief daydream about raping his victim. It’s tonally dissonant, completely gratuitous, and takes one out of the story. I’d still recommend An Even More Beautiful Lie, but it’s too bad the mangaka (assuming it wasn’t an editorial mandate) found it necessary to include that scene.

– Review by Michelle Smith

onlyseriousOnly Serious About You | By Kai Asou | Digital Manga Publishing/Juné | Rated YA (16+)- Nao Oosawa is a busy guy. Juggling a demanding restaurant job and life as a single dad, he’s barely keeping his head above water. So when his daughter comes down with a fever, Oosawa can’t possibly turn down help, even when the offer comes from an overly-familiar customer, Yoshioka, who never stops flirting. Having observed Yoshioka’s endless stream of boyfriends, Oosawa’s got him pegged as a pretty careless guy, but as Yoshioka becomes more a part of Oosawa’s life, things start to look a bit different.

There’s a lot about this manga that looks like the same-old, same-old—the “straight,” serious uke, the playboy with a heart of gold, the double helping of hurt/comfort—not the worst of the genre’s overused tropes, perhaps, but gratingly familiar (much like Yoshioka). Fortunately, these bits of cliché are fleshed out with a level of warmth and thoughtfulness generally associated with the very best romance.

Both Oosawa and Yoshioka’s characters have been crafted with real care, and from authentic human stuff. They’ve both got baggage, which is neither easy to let go of or the sum of who they are. Oosawa’s holding his little family together, running between home, work, and daycare (fans of Yumi Unita’s Bunny Drop will sigh adoringly), completely devoted to his daughter even as he worries that she might be happier without him. And Yoshioka’s a mess, but the kind of mess that manages to prop up everyone around him when it looks like they might fall.

Asou’s got it right on the romantic front too, even with the straight guy and the somewhat contrived means of throwing the characters together. She builds the relationship slowly on a surprisingly solid foundation, and even by the end of this first volume, all she’s really shown us is the evolution of a friendship. Sure, we’ve yet to see how she handles Oosawa’s realization that he’s fallen for a man, but given the series’ maturity so far, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

Artwork is the least exciting element of this series, but in some ways that may be for the best. It’s always refreshing to read a BL manga where character design feels unimportant, and that’s certainly the case here. The designs are serviceable and the visual storytelling is competent, but Asou gets the most mileage out of dialogue and a handful of very expressive visual moments.

Overall, Only Serious About You is exactly the kind of BL I hope to see much more of. Now how to get by until the release of volume two?

– Review by MJ

Private Teacher, Vol. 1 | By Yuu Moegi | Digital Manga Publishing/Juné | Rated M (18+) – Rintaro is a high school student being tutored by a college student named Kaede.

That’s the shortest summary I’ve ever written for a manga review, but Private Teacher may have the least interest in its own plot of any manga I’ve ever read. There’s some banter back-and-forth about Rintaro’s test scores and so on, but the entire thing is a stunningly transparent excuse for younger boy/older boy porn, and nothing else is even remotely on the table.

Now, I have no objection to pure pornography, but I’ll admit that it’s not what I was hoping for from this manga (there’s seriously another volume of this?). More importantly, however, it is simply Not For Me. Not only is this manga obsessed with its age gap (this is even more pronounced in the book’s second story, where the characters are younger), but also with obsessive love, which is not at all my cup of tea, at least not when it’s presented with such uncomplicated romanticism.

In each of the three stories in Private Teacher (seriously, the main story only lasts three chapters, and there is still a second volume?) the driving force behind the relationships is jealous obsession. “I get jealous when you laugh and talk with anyone but me.” That’s a frequently expressed sentiment in this manga, and it’s always received with love and gratitude. The message being delivered is loud and clear. Isn’t it wonderful to have someone feel so possessive of you? Aren’t you happy that someone wants to own you?

As I said, this manga is really Not For Me. Your mileage may vary.

– Review by MJ

Review copies provided by the publisher.

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.

The Favorites Alphabet: D

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Welcome to another installment of the Favorites Alphabet, where the Manga Bookshelf battle robot ruthlessly assess the titles in our respective collections to pick the manga title from each letter of the alphabet that makes us feel all floaty, whenever possible. We’re trying to stick with books that have been licensed and published in English, but we recognize that the alphabet is long, so we’re keeping a little wiggle room in reserve.

“D” is for…

Dominion | By Masamune Shirow | Published by Dark Horse – Appleseed is the most ambitious, and Ghost in the Shell the most popular, but I have to admit that I find Dominion and its alternate universe sequel Dominion Conflict One to be my favorite Shirow manga, and one I keep going back and rereading.  It’s the funniest of his works, particularly Conflict, and the Puma Sisters were a major influence on “catgirls” in the Western fandom.  The environmental message is also strongest in these works, with the plotting devoted to ecoterrorism, and set in a future so miserable that if you go out without an oxygen mask, you die.  Most of all, though, Dominion revels in its property damage, and it may rival the Dirty Pair in sheer amount of destruction seen in a series.  Leona is a hothead who does not know the meaning of the words “Stand down”, and in Conflict, where her love interest and morality chain Al is missing, she’s even worse.  Dominion is just sheer fun, and a title I hope that Shirow eventually returns and wraps up some day.  – Sean Gaffney

Dororo | By Osamu Tezuka | Published by Vertical, Inc. – I could very easily have given this slot to Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Fantagraphics), but if I’m going to be completely honest, the title for this letter that I can read over and over again and take near-complete delight in is this truncated bit of action-fantasy lunacy from Tezuka. It’s about a guy whose greedy father sold all of his body parts to demons to get power, and now the kid has to use his prosthetic body and mad swordsman skills to go get his limbs and organs back. He’s also got a spunky kid thief tagging along, as one does in these circumstances. I could have read about a dozen volumes of this story, but there are unfortunately only three, probably because Tezuka was always doing a million things at once and one must prioritize. It’s hardly Tezuka’s most ambitious work, but, for my money, it’s a prime rendering of his defining qualities: passionate social critique and eye-popping entertainment. – David Welsh

Dororo | By Osamu Tezuka | Published by Vertical, Inc. – Once upon a time, when I was a brand new reader of manga, I was terrified of Osamu Tezuka. I found his status as a master so intimidating, I was actually afraid to read his work lest I be forced to face my own incompetency as a reader. Then, in a moment of madness, I bought Dororo, and less than a chapter in, I realized what it actually meant to be a master. Not only were my fears unfounded—Dororo was a truly thrilling and emotionally affecting manga—but it was Tezuka’s mastery of the craft that made the work so accessible, even today.  Dororo may not be my very favorite of Tezuka’s works, but it will always be special. – MJ

DVD | By Kye Young Chon | Published by DramaQueen – Even though DramaQueen has only managed to release two of DVD’s eight volumes so far, I’ve seen enough to deem this my favorite manga/manhwa starting with the letter “D.”  When Ddam’s boyfriend dumps her, sick of her quirky attributes like the ability to see illusions, her suicidal plans are thwarted by a bizarre pair of fellows, boob fetishist Venu and punk DD, who proceed to attempt to cheer her up in their own inept way. The story is playfully told, with various amusing excursions, and the mystery of Ddam’s gradually solidifying illusions is tantalizing. I continue to buy DramaQueen’s new releases, in hopes that this will help fund more DVD, but really, I am not very hopeful. Thankfully, TOKYOPOP Germany finished the series, so there’s always the Google Translate route. – Michelle Smith

What starts with “D” in your favorites alphabet?

Manga the Week of 9/28

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Our long national nightmare is over: Sailor Moon is hitting comic shops. Not Midtown, of course: they have not had a Kodansha release (bar one or two tiny exceptions) in months. But I have my own shop’s list of what’s coming in for me, and it has Kodansha stuff.

I’m not sure of exactly what’s shipping, as I haven’t ordered every Kodansha title for the month, but you should see Sailor Moon and Sailor V 1, Shugo Chara 12, Arisa 4, Negima 31, and Deltora Quest 2. No, not the releases actually due out in bookstores next week – that would be too logical. Only the stuff that’s running 1-3 weeks late. Still, Sailor Moon! And Negima! And Arisa!

In other release news, Bandai has the second volume of Kannagi, with more wacky antics about the girl who already had a boyfriend before the story started and somehow offended an entire otaku species. Oh, and it’s about supernatural shrine maidens as well. :)

Dark Horse has another volume of Berserk, one of their biggest manga series, and one which has caught up with Japan, so a new volume is a treat. If you like dark, gritty violence. Which, let’s face it, many do. It doesn’t hit NYT bestseller lists, but sells very briskly via Diamond.

NBM has the long-awaited Stargazing Dog, a Futabasha title which is the company’s first manga! It looks adorable. (I note the title is also one of the ones JManga offers, though with a different translation.)

Seven Seas is putting out the second volume of A Certain Spinoff Franchise, and I still wait with bated breath to see if Yen will pick up the original. In the meantime, Misaki is fun, and can zap things.

Vertical has the new Tezuka book. No, not Princess Knight, which is a rather nontraditional Vertical title. This is The Book of Human Insects, which is a VERY traditional Vertical title. Provided you don’t mind dealing with horrible people doing horrible things, this promises to be another hefty slice of seinen masterpiece.

And Viz has a new Pokemon book, which will thrill and delight Pokemon fans everywhere! Or possibly be awful. Dunno, have never sampled the series. But it sells like Pokemon, so it has some people who think it’s great.

So what, aside from Sailor Moon and V of course, is appealing to you?

Manga Bestsellers: Week Ending 18 September 2011

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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 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [434.3] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [421.5] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Black Bird 10 – Viz Shojo Beat, Sep 2011 [415.3] ::
4. ↑7 (11) : Dengeki Daisy 6 – Viz Shojo Beat, Sep 2011 [391.8] ::
5. ↑3 (8) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [385.1] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Bleach 36 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2011 [384.3] ::
7. ↔0 (7) : Maximum Ride 4 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [365.3] ::
8. ↑16 (24) : xxxHolic 17 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [328.0] ::
9. ↑33 (42) : One Piece 58 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2011 [327.5] ::
10. ↓-5 (5) : Black Butler 1 – Yen Press, Jan 2010 [318.7] ::

[more]

Top Imprints
Number of volumes ranking in the Top 500:

Viz Shojo Beat 90
Yen Press 86
Viz Shonen Jump 76
Kodansha Comics 38
Viz Shonen Jump Advanced 29
Vizkids 29
Del Rey 17
DMP Juné 16
Viz Shonen Sunday 15
Dark Horse 13

[more]

Series/Property

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon – Kodansha Comics [960.6] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Naruto – Viz Shonen Jump [746.8] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Maximum Ride – Yen Press [739.6] ::
4. ↔0 (4) : Black Butler – Yen Press [700.8] ::
5. ↑2 (7) : Negima! – Del Rey [690.1] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Bleach – Viz Shonen Jump [688.2] ::
7. ↓-2 (5) : Black Bird – Viz Shojo Beat [688.0] ::
8. ↑2 (10) : Dengeki Daisy – Viz Shojo Beat [651.4] ::
9. ↓-1 (8) : Vampire Knight – Viz Shojo Beat [563.8] ::
10. ↑3 (13) : Finder Series – DMP Juné [537.5] ::

[more]

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

1. ↔0 (1) : Sailor Moon 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [434.3] ::
2. ↔0 (2) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 1 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [421.5] ::
3. ↔0 (3) : Black Bird 10 – Viz Shojo Beat, Sep 2011 [415.3] ::
4. ↑7 (11) : Dengeki Daisy 6 – Viz Shojo Beat, Sep 2011 [391.8] ::
6. ↔0 (6) : Bleach 36 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2011 [384.3] ::
8. ↑16 (24) : xxxHolic 17 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [328.0] ::
9. ↑33 (42) : One Piece 58 – Viz Shonen Jump, Sep 2011 [327.5] ::
12. ↑27 (39) : Negima! 31 – Kodansha Comics, Sep 2011 [313.7] ::
13. ↑14 (27) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [310.2] ::
19. ↑83 (102) : Fullmetal Alchemist 26 – Viz, Sep 2011 [272.2] ::

[more]

Preorders

5. ↑3 (8) : Sailor Moon 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [385.1] ::
35. ↓-1 (34) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [214.9] ::
37. ↑36 (73) : Sailor Moon 3 – Kodansha Comics, Jan 2012 [203.5] ::
40. ↑45 (85) : Sailor Moon 4 – Kodansha Comics, Mar 2012 [201.8] ::
44. ↑17 (61) : Sailor Moon Codename: Sailor V 2 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [191.6] ::
135. ↑91 (226) : xxxHolic 18 – Kodansha Comics, Dec 2011 [102.3] ::
138. ↓-37 (101) : Negima! 32 – Kodansha Comics, Nov 2011 [99.7] ::
143. ↑93 (236) : Vampire Knight 13 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2011 [95.9] ::
149. ↑180 (329) : An Even More Beautiful Lie – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [92.8] ::
172. ↑203 (375) : Black Butler 7 – Yen Press, Oct 2011 [81.0] ::

[more]

Manhwa

145. ↑157 (302) : Jack Frost 4 – Yen Press, Dec 2010 [94.0] ::
190. ↑ (last ranked 28 Aug 11) : Jack Frost 3 – Yen Press, Jul 2010 [74.9] ::
237. ↑497 (734) : Angel Diary 13 – Yen Press, Dec 2010 [62.3] ::
293. ↓-89 (204) : March Story 1 – Viz Signature, Oct 2010 [51.3] ::
339. ↑485 (824) : Laon 3 – Yen Press, Sep 2010 [43.5] ::
380. ↑224 (604) : Jack Frost 2 – Yen Press, Nov 2009 [39.5] ::
435. ↓-17 (418) : Evyione: Ocean Fantasy 2 – Udon, Sep 2008 [35.8] ::
450. ↑1199 (1649) : Laon 5 – Yen Press, Apr 2011 [34.8] ::
454. ↓-116 (338) : Bride of the Water God 8 – Dark Horse, May 2011 [34.6] ::
456. ↑250 (706) : 13th Boy 4 – Yen Press, Jun 2010 [34.6] ::

[more]

BL/Yaoi

13. ↑14 (27) : Finder Series 4 Prisoner in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Aug 2011 [310.2] ::
35. ↓-1 (34) : Finder Series 5 Truth in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [214.9] ::
94. ↓-4 (90) : Maelstrom (Kindle ebook) 1 – Yaoi Press, Jun 2011 [132.5] ::
147. ↑190 (337) : Sky Link – DMP Juné, Sep 2011 [93.4] ::
149. ↑180 (329) : An Even More Beautiful Lie – DMP Juné, Jan 2012 [92.8] ::
191. ↑37 (228) : Finder Series 3 One Wing in the View Finder – DMP Juné, Mar 2011 [73.7] ::
194. ↓-44 (150) : Maelstrom (Kindle ebook) 3 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2011 [71.7] ::
200. ↓-39 (161) : Maelstrom (Kindle ebook) 4 – Yaoi Press, Jul 2011 [71.1] ::
209. ↓-8 (201) : About Love – DMP Juné, Nov 2011 [69.3] ::
239. ↓-9 (230) : Secrecy of the Shivering Night – DMP Juné, Dec 2011 [62.0] ::

[more]

Internet Archive Link: http://www.archive.org/details/MangaRankingsWeekEnding18September2011

I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

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From the back cover:
John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it. He’s spent his life doing his best not to live up to his potential.

He’s obsessed with serial killers but really doesn’t want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he’s written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation.

Dead bodies are normal to John. He likes them, actually. They don’t demand or expect the empathy he’s unable to offer. Perhaps that’s what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there’s something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat—and to appreciate what that difference means.

Now, for the first time, John has to confront a danger outside himself, a threat he can’t control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could.

Review:
It’s hard to resist a book with a title like I Am Not a Serial Killer, at least for me, and when I picked this up I figured I was in for something akin to “Dexter: The Early Years.” But that was before Wells pulled a genre switcheroo.

Fifteen-year-old John Wayne Cleaver is a markedly self-aware sociopath, in that he is fully cognizant of his lack of empathy and bizzare compulsions and narrates about them in an articulate manner that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn is uncommon in others of his kind. He’s seeing a therapist and trying to keep “the monster” at bay by following a series of strict, self-imposed rules (a what-to-avoid list gleaned from intensive serial killer research) designed to keep him from going down a dangerous path. When mutilated bodies start showing up in his small town, John is excited and fascinated, but the more he learns about the crimes and the fact that the killer never intends to stop, the more he comes to realize that he may be the only person who can prevent the deaths of more innocents by letting “the monster” out to kill the perpetrator.

Soon it becomes clear that John is dealing with something supernatural. Ordinarily, it would bug me when a “real world” mystery suddenly veers into the supernatural for its resolution, but it actually kind of works for me here. John is such a broken person that he can’t understand why the culprit is doing certain things, and eventually realizes that even a demon is more capable of genuine human emotion than he is. This ties in some with the depiction of John’s family life—an absentee father who never follows through with promises and a mother who loves with desperate urgency to try to make up for her ex-husband’s shortcomings—since one of the most important moments of the book occurs when John is finally able to achieve a bit of real understanding with his mom instead of just faking it.

I guess the book is somewhat gross. None of the descriptions of the crimes bothered me, but the mortuary scenes—John’s mom and aunt run a funeral home and allow him to assist sometimes—are clinical and grim. They made me think of my late grandmother and made me want to call my parents. That said, I appreciate how familiarity with the mortuary layout and equipment pays off later in the story.

Ultimately, I Am Not a Serial Killer is pretty interesting. Though I’m not sure I buy the extent of John’s self-knowledge, he’s still an intriguing protagonist, and I thought Wells did a decent job of making him simultaneously sympathetic and abnormal. When I picked up the book I didn’t realize it was the first of a trilogy, but it was a pleasant surprise. Look for a review of book two, Mr. Monster, in the near future.

Cardcaptor Sakura, Vol. 2

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As it was with the first two-volume collection of CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura (Dark Horse), so it is with the second: pretty much pure delight. I may not be the biggest CLAMP fan in the world, but I love this series.

Our titular heroine continues to collect the powerful, magical Clow Cards that give her control of various elements and let her… well… collect more Clow Cards. She protects her friends, wins over dubious rivals, generally enjoys everything about her life, and wages an unstoppable charm offensive in the process. Sakura is a terrific, terrific heroine. I love that CLAMP can portray her as being inexperienced without seeming stupid or clumsy, and that they can portray her as being instinctive and resourceful without eliminating any element of risk.

The already engaging supporting cast is enhanced even more by additional focus on Kaho Mizuki, a knockout of a substitute teacher who has a history with Sakura’s brother and a lot of secrets that may or may not relate to Sakura’s mission. In my experience, CLAMP tends to enjoy portraying enigmatic moments and behaviors without necessarily making them pay off later. (I’m a patient reader, but enigmas are annoying if they don’t ultimately mean something.) Mizuki is a wonderful example of that kind of mystery reaching satisfying closure while being a lot of fun along the way. I hope she comes back, if only for the pleasure of seeing her accurately assess the relationship dynamics of the other characters but being too polite to spoil things for them.

I’m ceaselessly amused and even a little moved by the romantic geometry in evidence. Boys crush on boys. Girls crush on girls. Boys and girls commiserate over their shared crush on the same boy. There’s a school festival, an event that rarely distinguishes itself, but CLAMP even manages to liven up that old saw with emotionally urgent peril and cross-dressing.

There’s just nothing to dislike about this book. It’s got great characters, a fun plot, art that’s just the right kind of cute, and tons of energy and good will. I may never forgive CLAMP for not finishing Legal Drug or for the song lyrics and angel dredge in Clover, but they will always be in the win column thanks to Cardcaptor Sakura.

 

Codename Sailor V, Vol. 1

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By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Run Run. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

And here is where it all began – Takeuchi’s first big success (which was immediately subverted by its own publishers and then cannibalized into Sailor Moon) and the debut of Minako Aino, the only senshi besides Usagi not to give off that ‘I am ostracized from my peers and need a purpose in life’ vibe. Mainly as she and Usagi are the everyday heroines, and therefore get the everyday lives. Indeed, their families could be almost identical, minus Usagi’s younger brother. There are a few differences, though.

In fact, the cover pretty much gives the biggest one. Usagi is a sweet, but reluctant superhero who has to be dragged into her first few battles as villains are scary. Minako has no such issues. She is athletic, hyperactive, and ready and willing to leap into being a superhero, after a few initial shocks. She’s battling Dark Kingdom enemies as well – though these are far more of the monster-of-the-week variety – but she also uses Sailor V to catch bank robbers and generally ‘do good’. Not that she’s perfect – she also uses her magic tools to cheat at homework, and wonders at one point how to make money out of all this – but Minako’s proactiveness seeps through every panel here.

Usagi also had her main cast – she met Mamoru, Ami and Rei almost immediately. Minako pretty much just has Artemis there to poke her into doing the right thing and groan at her hijinks. Yes, she technically has a best friend (who, sadly, does not have a T-shirt reading ‘I am not Ami Mizuno’ like earlier scanlations gave her) and an annoying otaku classmate like Umino (the otaku actually gets more screentime than the best friend, oddly enough), but most of the time Minako sets out on these missions on her own, and you can tell that by the time they got to integrating her into Sailor Moon (especially the anime) they wanted to play up the Lone Wolf aspect of her.

The manga is very episodic in general – unlike Sailor Moon, which has a feel of an epic romance almost from the start, Sailor V looks like an action comedy, and doesn’t really gain depth until midway through it. The series ran very irregularly in Nakayoshi’s spin-off Run Run, and once Sailor Moon started, you’d see long breaks between chapters – sometimes yearly breaks. You can pretty much see the exact point the series goes from regular to irregular – it’s lampshaded by having Minako pass by Usagi in the final panel of the chapter.

Some other interesting things to note. Minako and Artemis here are communicating with a mysterious ‘boss’ who’s giving them orders – something which may puzzle those who know Sailor Moon. Is it Luna? No, can’t be, she won’t wake up Sailor Moon for about a year. (I did like Minako being 13 here, a year younger than Usagi in Sailor Moon, which means no timeline issues when the other senshi in Sailor Moon note Sailor V’s been fighting evil for over a year now). The identity of the power-that-be is an intriguing mystery.

Likewise, one of the highlights of each chapter is seeing Minako use her disguise pen to change into a different outfit, complete with pose – note how they’re timed to match the page turn, students of manga art! Usagi did this at the start of Sailor Moon as well, but it gets dropped once the manga gets more serious. My personal favorite when when she turned herself into a male teen idol – and seemed pretty much fine with it. (Bet she experimented when she got home too… *whack* Ow.)

The final chapter might give us a taste of what’s to come in the second and final volume of Sailor V. It’s more serious in general, and for the first time Minako’s disguise pen is used for serious purposes. There’s a more melancholy feeling to it, and it actually bookends nicely with the opening chapter. You sense that Minako is not going to be able to continue in the wacky adventures line for much longer. But for now she is, and thank goodness. Minako is my favorite of the ‘main five’ senshi, and I’d read the Japanese version of this (in 3 volumes) with a text translation years and years ago. It’s fantastic to see it here, and see Minako fight for (and sometimes run roughshod over) justice.

Winter by John Marsden

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From the back cover:
For twelve years, Winter has been haunted. Her memories will not leave her alone. There are secrets she does not remember—but needs to know.

The time has come for her to go back home.

Every journey starts with a single step. But sometimes if you want to step into the future, you must first step into the past…

Review:
After reading Checkers, So Much to Tell You, and Take My Word for It, I realized that John Marsden has a certain… preferred pattern. In each case, something profoundly traumatic has happened to the (Australian) teenaged heroine and the slim book consists of her first-person narrative as she attempts to work past whatever it was, while gradually divulging enough tidbits to enable readers to figure out what happened. In many ways, Winter is very similar, though in this case, the titular heroine begins the book as in the dark as anyone else.

It’s been twelve years since sixteen-year-old Winter De Salis has set foot on the family estate of Warriewood. Both of her parents died when she was four, but she wasn’t told much about them by the relatives with whom she spent the intervening years. Now old enough to leave school and return home, that’s exactly what determined Winter does, and makes short work of dispatching the dishonest caretakers of her property while questioning anyone who might provide some useful information concerning her parents’ deaths. After making friends with a girl around her age, enjoying a bit of romance, and uncovering the family secret, she is eventually able to face her future without obsessing over the past.

Despite the structural similarities to other Marsden books, Winter doesn’t much feel like them. Its setting is more rural, for one thing, so there are sections like the one describing the cathartic process (for Winter) of removing unwanted blackberries from the property, or the depiction of her first attempt to take care of the cattle by herself. Winter is a unique protagonist, and I love how Marsden shows her capacity for being difficult—when you’re underage and you want something strongly, sometimes the only weapon in your arsenal is being stubborn—while simultaneously showing that she really is a good kid. She’s grateful for kindness and not so wounded that she can’t make new friends, and posits at one point that perhaps the early death of her famously strong mother is what has enabled her to become so strong herself. It’s a pretty devastating truth that she learns, but it’s believable that she is able to move on from it and not dwell too long on questions that will never have answers.

My only minor quibble is that the romance feels somewhat superfluous; granted, it plays an important role in demonstrating Winter’s progression from someone fixated on the past to someone anticipating the future, but I would’ve liked the boy (Matt Kennedy) to be a more well-rounded character. I’d almost wish for a sequel—perhaps a story set twenty years later with Winter and Matt as parents to a new protagonist—but I suppose that would require something traumatic to happen to their offspring, and we wouldn’t want that!

Bookshelf Briefs 9/19/11

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This week, Kate, David, Sean, & Michelle take a look at recent releases from Viz Media, Digital Manga Publishing, Kodansha Comics, and Vertical, Inc.

Afterschool Charisma, Vol. 4 | By Kumiko Suekane | Viz Media – Afterschool Charisma has all the right ingredients to be a Kaori Yuki manga: there are impossibly attractive leads wearing fanciful costumes (see Florence Nightingale’s clone), evil bishies (see Rasputin’s clone), wackadoo plot twists (see Hitler and Napoleon’s clones), and excursions into taboo territory (see Joan of Arc’s clones). What sets Afterschool Charisma apart from Fairy Cube or Grand Guignol Orchestra, however, is that Kumiko Suekane uses action sequences to advance the plot and not just interrupt the talking. In so doing, Suekane liberates her characters from the burden of explaining what’s happening — a key shortcoming of Yuki’s storytelling, which often bogs down in long-winded exposition. Suekane isn’t as wildly imaginative as Yuki, but shows a similar talent for creating and sustaining a mood of almost unbearable dread, producing a story that’s both incredibly suspenseful and deliciously silly. Recommended. -Katherine Dacey

Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. 10 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media- Sometimes you can get frustrated with a series taking so long to buildup to what seems like an obvious conclusion. You stare at the leads misunderstanding each other over and over, and wish that they’d just get on with it. Of course, when they DO get together, and it’s even sweeter than you possibly imagined, you forget you were ever frustrated in the first place, because it’s all worth it. This is an entire volume of payoff. Right from the cover, which seems to be a mirror of the first volume, through our desire to KILL Joe for being what he is – an author-crafted character designed to get in the way, and through Pin once again being helpful and yet appalling at the same time, it’s all worth it for those wonderful scenes of Sawako and Kazehaya finally achieving enlightenment. I think it can best be summed up by the start of Chapter 42, where Sawako has written notes her herself all over her room telling her it wasn’t a dream. No, but it sure felt like one, huh?– Sean Gaffney

March Story, Vol. 3 | By Kim Hyung-Min and Yang Kyung-Il | Viz Media – After two hit-or-miss volumes, March Story has finally found its sea legs. The five stories that comprise volume three run the gamut from folklore (“Wedding March”) to horror (“Song of the Waves,” “The Sword-Maiden and the Glass Palace”) to comedy (“Extra Version”) while giving each of the principal characters a turn in the spotlight. It’s hard to single out one chapter as the volume’s highpoint, though “Ode to a Doll” comes close: the plot revolves around a toy who develops a deep attachment to its owner, going to extreme lengths to bring a lonely little girl a few moments of joy. As in the previous two installments, the artwork is a pleasing amalgam of stylistic influences from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away to Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. The character designs, faux-European settings, and objects are rendered in meticulous detail, making March Story one of the best-looking titles in the VIZ Signature line. Recommended. -Katherine Dacey

Mardock Scramble, Vol. 1 | Created by Tow Ubukata, manga by Yoshitoki Oima | Kodansha Comics – I’m probably as guilty as anyone of judging books by their covers, and I can’t say this one’s made a great impression, with its aggressively vulnerable but sexy waif gazing out at me. I was pleasantly surprised by the content behind that cover, though. It’s about a homeless prostitute who’s nearly murdered but ends up rescued and remade with amazing powers by an odd pair of private investigators. Our heroine, Rune Balot, adapts quickly to her new abilities to sense and control all of the electric currents around her, but she’s much less sure of her place in the world and even her willingness to stay in it. There’s a genuine gravitas to Rune and her plight, which elevates the book over its familiar and potentially pandering premise. Here quirky benefactors – a mad scientist named Dr. Easter and a great partner named Oeufcoque – have lots of promise. There is a lot of formula evident here, but there’s also a lot of sincere feeling and some fun surprises. – David Welsh

One Piece, Vol. 58 | By Eiichiro Oda | Published by Viz Media – Much like volume 57 before it—which saw the beginning of a battle at Marineford, where Luffy’s brother Ace is scheduled to be executed—the first half of volume 58 sidelines even Luffy (the only Straw Hat pirate we’ve seen in some time) to focus on the conflict between Whitebeard’s crew and the navy. That’s not to say that the conflict isn’t epic or interesting, but that it does not feel immediate. Not to worry, though, as Oda brings the emotional gut-punches to the second half of the volume, driving Luffy to the point of death to achieve his goal, reminding everyone of various familial or family-esque bonds, and then showing how such costly sacrifice can be squandered when one is unable to put aside their pride. This is tragedy, folks, in the Greek sense of the word. – Michelle Smith

Rabbit Man, Tiger Man, Vol. 1 | By Akira Honma | Digital Manga Publishing – In this yakuza-themed romance, Nonami, a brash mobster, falls in love with Uzuki, the timid doctor who saved him from bleeding to death in an alley. No yaoi cliche goes untouched: Nonami is boorish and heterosexual, but inexplicably and powerfully drawn to Uzuki, while Uzuki discovers that he’s attracted to Nonami, even though he’s sorely afraid of him. (Poor Uzuki sweats like a triathlete whenever Nonami calls him or walks into the same room.) Nothing about the characters or their relationship has a whiff of plausibility about it: is the Japanese economy so abysmal that Tokyo U. grads are really taking gigs as hit men? The artwork is Rabbit Man, Tiger Man‘s sole redeeming feature, as Honma demonstrates a flair for drawing handsome male characters and cute animal caricatures. Strictly for yaoi enthusiasts. -Katherine Dacey

Twin Spica, Vol. 9 | By Kou Yaginuma | Vertical – While this series is ultimately very gentle, I’m consistently impressed by the way Yaginuma makes the most of small character grace notes. In this volume, a relatively brief sequence shows an unexpected but rewarding side of Asumi, Yaginuma’s tiny, determined heroine. A younger student moves into her rooming house, and Asumi is troubled by the lack of respect she receives from the newcomer. One of Asumi’s defining traits is that she looks so much younger than she actually is, but it’s never really shown as bothering her. She compensates by redoubling her efforts. Now, she’s presented with someone who isn’t aware of those efforts, and just reacts to Asumi’s surface. It results in a few extremely telling moments that give Asumi the luxury of being a little egotistical and one of her friends the chance to show how well he understands Asumi. It’s not a seismic event, but it really adds to the overall narrative. – David Welsh

Velveteen & Mandala | By Jiro Matsumoto | Vertical – I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book, besides ‘alternative’. I was surprised, therefore, to find that it held my attention for almost the entire volume. Yes, I could have done without the casual body humor, and the fourth-wall breaking, normally something I’m quite fond of, didn’t really work for me in this setting. But much of the volume is spent trying to figure out what’s going on – how much of what Velveteen and the Super say is true; is this is post-apocalypse, the afterlife, or something in between; what’s alive, dead, or a zombie; and the entire problem of whether one of the two leads actually exists. I thought that it fell down a bit right at the end – after Velveteen is hit by the car, things fell apart for me. But just because the ending didn’t quite satisfy dind’t mean the journey wasn’t worth it. And I did love both final images of the heroines, each of which give a strange hope that isn’t anywhere in the actual narrative. Flawed, and not for the easily grossed out, but worthy.– Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 4

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By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

We are perhaps in a golden age of strong, spunky shoujo heroines. Minako from Sailor Moon is back in the spotlight. Iku from Library Wars is beating up those who would dare censor books. And now we have Mafuyu from Oresama teacher, who may have to dress up like a guy due to circumstance, but has shown that she is the one to bet on in a fight over anyone. Heck, I think she could take out Ichigo from Bleach if she tried.

It is entirely possible that this is not someone’s brand of humor, but it just happens to be mine. Mafuyu is wonderful. The way that she finds herself thinking like a thug in order to solve problems. And even better, the fact that she’s still learning as she goes, where she finds for the first time what it means to have someone you like injured because of you. And then, of course, there’s pretending to be a gay boy rather than a girl in order to fool the easily fooled Hayasaka. And any interactions she has with Takaomi are fantastic, if only as he can still wrap her around his finger without even trying.

There’s an awful lot of fighting in this manga, so much so that I wonder if it might be better marketed to Jump fans. Even better, as with last volume we see that Tsubaki is actually training her readers on the mechanics of being in a fight. Last time it was escaping from being tied up, here it’s how to dodge and parry, something that poor Hayasaka and his straight-ahead mind have simply never learned to do. Mafuyu’s actually quite a good teacher, but she’s up against a formidable opponent here, and I hope Hayasaka starts taking her lessons to heart before he dies.

I particularly enjoy seeing all the characters that you think are there to be goofball and comic show their inner badass. Maizono, Mafuyu’s masochistic third in command from her old gang, shows up to bring her a present. He never finds her (a given, since he asks the two guys who don’t know she’s a fighter), but we get a good chance to see that while he’s a goofball in front of her, he can fight like a demon when pressed. In fact, it’s notable how Mafuyu’s big problem in her new school is that she DOESN’T have a gang yet. Her old friends were trained fighters who all knew each other’s best strengths and weaknesses. Here she only has Hayasaka, who refuses to duck.

And lest we think that Mafuyu has it all together and isn’t an idiot as well, there’s that final chapter, where she completely forgets that she can’t swim. There’s a bit of romantic tease in it (really the only tease in the whole volume), but it’s second to simply laughing at everyone. There are no subtle characters here. Oresama Teacher is in-your-face gags about a girl who simply cannot stop being a delinquent fighter. And that’s why we love it.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1

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By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

I will try my best, but don’t expect me to be unbiased here. This is one of the most anticipated re-releases in the last 10 years, and I have been waiting for what seems like FOREVER. And now, it seems, it’s finally here. Sailor Moon is back, and she is Usagi Tsukino again, and the series, as reprinted in Japan with updated art (and a few rewrites of dialogue) from Takeuchi herself, is ours once again.

I can’t really summarize, so I’ll just try to give my thoughts. I really liked this volume. Takeuchi is clearly taking the time to develop a very different heroine from Minako’s Sailor Venus, one better suited for the long haul of character development, like the best shoujo heroines. As a result, Usagi may grate on some in this volume, especially if they’re reading it in conjunction with Code Name Sailor V. She doesn’t want to be a hero. She finds lethal danger terrifying, strangely enough. Luckily, she has various weapons and allies at her disposal, and (leaving aside the poses for the reader) does a good job despite her faults. What we really notice her is her ability to make friends, and get even the hardest of hearts to open up to her. Even Rei, who’s the coolest (and grumpiest) of the cast, is worried about her instantly.

Speaking of the other senshi, I like how they’re all different yet share a similar background of feeling as though they don’t belong. Ami is looked on as a prodigy, with all the good and bad that this implies, and seems to have taken it a bit too much to heart. “All that I’m good for is studying”, she says at one point, making one wonder if she has the typical “education mama” behind her. Rei, in contrast to her anime counterpart, gives off a cool and frosty aura, and has those who visit the shrine wonder if she uses supernatural miko powers for evil purposes. As for Makoto, well, she’s dressed like your standard 80s shoujo manga girl gang member. She’s huge, left her school for ‘unknown’ reasons, and no doubt has knives under that skirt. Scary girls, all of them.

Except, of course, they’re all nice as pie. (Well, OK, Rei is nice as sour cherry pie. But give her time.) What’s more, being a senshi gives them all a new purpose, and all three seem to feel as if this is the destiny they’ve been waiting for. It’s actually spelled out by Makoto, in her speech towards the end of her chapter. Fate brought them together. Now, Usagi’s backstory doesn’t match theirs – she’s well-liked and has no issues with lacking a purpose. So Sailor Moon isn’t quite as defining for her. It’s almost as if she has yet to discover her true role…

I had forgotten how fast things move in the manga. Most of Western fandom is more familiar with the anime plotlines and pacing, where it’s a good 8 episodes before we even meet Ami. Here we’ve already got 4 of the 5 main senshi before the book is out, and the entirety of the first ‘arc’ will be finished by Volume 3. This is a pacey series, which does not have patience for long protracted battles the way shonen manga does. Sailor Moon’s battles are fairly perfunctory and noticeably lacking in awesome moves. How the villains die is not quite the issue here. However, this does allow the main plotline to become relevant, and there are no monsters of the week. The search for the Silver Crystal (and the Princess) are what everyone is concentrating on, and Jadeite and Nephrite don’t get many second chances before they are dispatched. (By the way, the senshi kill off the bad guys here. Get used to that, much more than the anime.)

There’s some great humor here, but unlike the action comedy that is Sailor V, this is pegging itself as an epic romance. That Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask surprises no one, as clearly he and Usagi have that ‘destined’ look when they first meet in Chapter 1. After all, they bicker with each other. (By the way, the whole ‘secret identity’ thing gets kind of tossed aside right away here. Sailor Moon calls out the real names of her fellow senshi right off the bat, and there seems to be no issue of ‘why don’t they get that it’s the girls they know?’ here, as no one really sees them closely unless they’re unconscious or a villain.) The climax to this volume is actually more effective than the original Volume 1, which ended one chapter earlier. It makes you want to get more right away.

The presentation here is fine. I’m sure there are some translation issues, but I didn’t bother to get out my old Tokyopop editions and do a line-by-line compare. Nothing jarred enough that it made me want to verify anything, which is just fine. I particularly enjoyed Sailor Moon comparing Tuxedo Mask to Lupin III. (Usagi, you’re no Fujiko-chan.) This is the reprint edition from Japan, meaning we get nice new pretty covers (no stickers, though), and Kodansha’s usual liner notes. I do miss Takeuchi’s author’s notes in the originals, but she removed them from the reprint, so what are you going to do? They are basically more variations on ‘I am a busy and fluffy shoujo writer!’ in any case.

If you’re a big Sailor Moon fan, you’re going to be buying this anyway. If you’re not, well, Usagi may grate on you a bit at first, but give her time. The series is worth it. And the women in it kick eight kinds of ass. (Usagi, OK, does not kick as much ass. At least physically. But she gets to be the emotional core.) As we get further into the series, everyone will get even better. Highly recommended.