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Manhwa Monday: March Releases

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Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! I’ll get to the reviews in a moment, but first let’s take a look at some of this month’s upcoming releases. It’s all Yen Press this month (at least in print) but they are giving us plenty to look forward to. In March, we’ll see new volumes of Angel Diary, Very! Very! Sweet, Raiders, You’re So Cool, The Antique Gift Shop, and Time and Again.

My personal picks from the lot would be the next installment in JiUn Yun’s Time and Again (see my review of volume one here) and new installments of JiSang Shin and Geo’s Very! Very! Sweet and Lee Young-hee’s You’re So Cool, both in their sixth (and final, in the case of YSC) volume.

Meanwhile, NETCOMICS will be offering at least one new chapter of Sooyeon Won’s Full House (see my reviews of chapters one and two) and Youngran Lee’s There’s Something About Sunyool, both due on March 5th. …

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Confessions of a Former Scan Junkie

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I’m sure by now everyone has heard the news about Nick Simmons’ alleged (and meticulously documented) plagiarism in his fledgling comic, Incarnate. For those who haven’t, Deb Aoki has a collection of links and Twitter conversations here in her blog. As you’ll see from her post, discussion of plagiarism has segued into discussion of piracy. I was foolish enough to wade into the comments section yesterday evening, which turned out to be frustrating, exhausting, and really nothing else.

As I mentioned to someone later on Twitter, I was not nearly as anti-scanlation when I entered the conversation as I was when I left. In the end, the pro-scanlation crowd had turned me against them to the point where I not only could no longer see any merit in what they were saying, but was frankly disgusted by the idea of being part of the same fan community. I have some examples to share, but first, a confession: …

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Kamichama Karin Chu, Vol. 7

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By Koge-Donbo
Del Rey, 176 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

Karin and Michiru traveled to the future in volume six to try to stop Kirihiko Karasuma (in Jin Kuga’s body) from creating the future they’ve worked so hard to avoid. As they arrive in volume seven, they discover that Kazune has come along as well, despite the loss of his Apollo ring. Together, the three of them face Kirihiko in a final battle to save their futures and bring everyone together again, including loved ones who have been fighting against them.

Time travel is a messy thing indeed and though it has been a major element in the story all along, things begin to unravel here with Karin meeting up with her future self and the Chronos Clocks suddenly taking on new power that seems a bit too conveniently manipulated to make things turn out just right. Everything about this volume feels strained, from its rushed romantic moments to its anticlimactic final battle, as though mangaka Koge-Donbo was forced to wrap things up just a bit too quickly.

Though this series has declined toward the end, diminishing its adult appeal, it is still a fun, whimsical choice for younger readers with a fairly powerful message about making one’s own fate. “We are all little gods,” reads the final page of the series proper. “Sometimes, we can even change destiny.”

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

Manhwa Monday: Welcome, Sunyool!

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With just a handful of reviews to report this week, the big buzz among manhwa fans online is a new series from NETCOMICS, There’s Something About Sunyool by Youngran Lee, author of Click. Though Click has some fairly questionable qualities, a quick read through the three available chapters of Sunyool shows quite a bit of promise.

Born the illegitimate child of a big-time politician, Sunyool has been accepted officially into her father’s household as an adult and thrown straight into negotiations for arranged marriage. While the premise seems rife with cliché, the execution (so far) is anything but. What could easily be a typical rags-to-riches or fish-out-of-water story actually appears more likely to be a thoughtful, wry look at two young people from vastly different backgrounds learning to make a life together within the cold world of politics. Sunyool’s smart (occasionally cruel) sense of humor and self-awareness make her a very appealing female lead…

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Hikaru no Go 18 by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata: B

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After the drama of the past few volumes, “the main storyline takes a holiday” (to quote the back cover) in volume eighteen and instead we get six short stories of varying quality.

A couple of stories, like those focusing on Akira Toya and Yuki Mitani, fill in some background for scenes from earlier in the series, and one revisits what’s left of Hikaru’s old middle school go club. Two others—about Asumi Nase, an insei, and Atsushi Kurata, a relatively young pro—serve to flesh out supporting characters and are the best of the bunch.

The sixth purports to be about Sai, and it was this story I’d looked forward to the most. Alas, it’s nearly the least interesting (Mitani’s claims top honors in that category), as it boils down to another case of “corrupt merchant trying to sell antique merchandise that Sai knows is fake.” I had hoped for a story from Sai’s life or perhaps from his time with his previous host, but instead we get a rehash of something we’ve seen as recently as volume twelve.

I’d be lying if I said these stories aren’t disappointing, coming on the heels of some very important plot developments, but I gather they’re meant to function as a palliative bridge between a dramatic story arc and whatever lies ahead, so I can’t fault them too much.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Goong, Vol. 8

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Goong, Volume 8
By Park SoHee
Published by Yen Press


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It’s one step forward, two steps back for Shin and Chae-Kyung, as the new openness shakily established between them is blown away by Shin’s resolve to remain Crown Prince–a reaction to the news of his mother’s pregnancy. Both Shin and Chae-Kyung fall back on their own worst habits, with Shin presenting the news as an irrefutable barrier to Chae-Kyung’s future freedom and Chae-Kyung rebelling with all her might. Taking advantage of the situation, Yul throws Chae-Kyung a lifeline, but will it really have the effect she hopes for?

Though Shin’s bullying and Chae-Kyung’s temper continue to be the real barrier to their happiness–both together and as individuals–it is the Queen’s pregnancy that exacerbates everything in this volume, putting Shin on the defensive (on behalf of both his mother and his wife) and making Chae-Kyung further aware of the gravity of her position. Having been asked to assume the Queen’s duties during her pregnancy, Chae-Kyung becomes more mired in tedious palace workings than ever, bringing a new desperation to the promise of divorce, though that promise has now been cruelly retracted.

That Yul finds a way to exploit this comes as no surprise (he is his mother’s son, after all) but it does shed some incredibly unflattering light on how far he is willing to go to get what he wants, even if it ultimately hurts the person he claims to love. “From the start, I had no interest in becoming King,” Yul says to his horrified mother as she struggles for his cooperation. “What I wanted was to take away the most important thing to Shin, because he took away everything important to me.”

Heavy tension and anticipation make this volume’s slow pace maddening to say the least, which is a real testament to author’s skill with consistent characterization. Though it might seem like it would be a huge relief to have these characters shake off their most damaging personality traits and just work things out already, the result would be utter destruction of everything Park SoHee has worked so hard to create. I, for one, am grateful that she has not taken that tempting, deadly road.

The one truly distressing thing about this volume is the re-emergence of Eunuch Kong, who remains this series’ most unfortunate trait. That aside, fans should find plenty to angst over and enjoy in the latest installment of Goong.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell: B+

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From the back cover:
For young barrister Julia Larwood, it was to be a holiday of romance as well as flight from the tax man; in short, an Art Lover’s Tour of Italy. Reduced to near penury by the Inland Revenue, Julia could hardly afford such luxury but she’d be in hock to the Revenue either way so why not? But poor, deluded Julia—how could she have known that the ravishing Art Lover for whom she had conceived a fatal passion was himself an employee of the Inland Revenue? Or that her hard-won night of passion would end in murder with her personal, inscribed copy of the current Finance Act found lying a few feet away from the corpse.

Review:
Thus Was Adonis Murdered, the first of only four mysteries penned by Sarah Caudwell prior to her death, introduces Professor Hilary Tamar and a group of young barristers working in London in 1977. One of the barristers, chronically absent-minded Julia Larwood, takes a vacation to Venice and, while there, meets and beds “the enchanting Ned” and ends up the chief suspect in his murder. Aided by Julia’s improbably lengthy and descriptive correspondence, Hilary and the barristers attempt to assist Julia from London. This involves many scenes of the group reading her letters over coffee and wine, and eventually conducting some discreet inquiries of their own, since, as they have no official legal status, they cannot compel anyone to actually talk to them.

The structure of this mystery is quite fun, actually. Although it’s highly unlikely that anyone would spend hours of their vacation writing such detailed epistles to friends back home, it’s still an interesting literary device, and I liked the idea of there being a group of sleuths rather than only one. Hilary recounts the events retrospectively from his/her perspective (these mysteries are famous for successfully obscuring Hilary’s gender), which is fitting because it’s Hilary who eventually solves the whole thing by way of extreme attention to detail honed through years of scholarship—the clues are there if anyone would but notice them, but I certainly had not until they were pointed out in the narrative.

The drawback of solving a mystery from a distance, of course, is that it becomes a very detached and academic sort of pursuit. It’s a very clever exercise, I grant, but it’s much more in the vein of a puzzle than anything that acknowledges the true horror of murder. Also, while most of the barristers receive at least some personality (those remaining in London, at least), the fellow who heads off to Venice to assist Julia personally is really quite bland.

Even while I have a few complaints, I still enjoyed Thus Was Adonis Murdered a good deal and am really looking forward to reading the other three in the series.

Rasetsu, Vol. 4

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Rasetsu, Vol. 4
By Chika Shiomi
Published by Viz Media


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Ghostly hi-jinx continue in this volume, as Rasetsu becomes more aware of her feelings for Yako, finally compelling her to do something about it. Realizing that his chances may be running out, Kuryu decides to make a move of his own. Meanwhile, Yako discovers how to amplify his powers (much to Kuryu’s chagrin) and Rasetsu receives a visit from her dreaded future lover.

At first glance, volume four of Ratsetsu seems very much like the first three. Early chapters featuring humorous takes on Kuryu and Yako’s growing rivalry and the gang getting stuck in an elevator offer up the same kind of light, enjoyable froth that has made up most of the series so far. In the volume’s later chapters, however, Shiomi ramps up the drama to great effect.

Yako’s stunningly cold manipulation of Kuryu’s equally stunning arrogance is awesome in every sense of the word, casting new light on Yako’s character and shocking Kuryu to the core, something I’ve wanted to see happen for a while. On the other hand, this turn of events leads directly to Kuryu’s accelerated pursuit of Rasetsu, which seems likely to cause pain for everyone (including himself) down the line.

Even four volumes in, Kuryu is still a mystery. With his immense power (now no longer hidden), he seems both dangerous and potentially sinister. Yet he often appears genuinely sincere, especially regarding Rasetsu and his feelings for her. Was his early Seishirō Sakurazuka (Tokyo Babylon) vibe a red herring? It’s too early to know for sure.

Though this series will never be more than standard supernatural shojo fare, that’s not exactly a bad thing. Rasetsu plays out familiar tropes with enthusiasm, offering up the kind of casual, comforting read one often craves at the end of a long day. With this volume’s fresh dose of drama and romance, things won’t be getting old anytime soon.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Vampire Knight 9 by Matsuri Hino: C+

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After the revelations in volume eight, the world of Vampire Knight goes—please pardon my indelicacy, but this is really the only way to put it—batshit crazy.

Pureblood vampire Rido Kuran (our villain) completes his resurrection and summons his followers to him. Said followers feel no compunction about snacking on the day class students of Cross Academy, so the noble vampires of the night class must protect them. Kaname challenges the vampire senate, Zero gains thorny super powers along with some self-control, Yuki squares off against Rido, and the Hunters Association arrives to exterminate the night class, but is held off by Headmaster Cross and his hunter pal, Toga.

This synopsis might make it seem as if the volume is action-packed, but “incoherent” is actually closer to the truth. I honestly have no idea why half of this stuff is going on. Perhaps it’s because it’s been three months since I read volume eight, but that just goes to show how little of this series is actually memorable beyond its main characters and its prettiness. Zero’s evolution is genuinely interesting, though, and makes for some cool moments near the end of the volume.

The art of this series is usually its best asset, but Hino’s style is far more suited for depicting pretty, angsty vampires than scenes of battle. Many times, I was left puzzled by what was happening—“‘Shunk?!’ What just went ‘Shunk?!’”—and kept confusing Rido and Toga, since they both have wavy shoulder-length black hair and an unruly forelock.

I am left to conclude that Vampire Knight is like a morsel of dark chocolate: its bittersweet taste lingers on your tongue while you’re consuming it, but its impact doesn’t last much beyond that moment.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Excel Saga Volume 1

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By Rikdo Koshi. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young King OURS. Released in North America by Viz.

One of my all-time favorite manga series, I want to review this from the start, mostly because the general reaction I get when I mention it is “Wait, that’s still running?” Or even worse, “Wait, that was a manga?”. A classic case of Adaptation Displacement, the anime that was released over here in 2002 was wildly popular, and the manga, coming out about a year and a half later, ended up disappointing fans who wanted more over the top lunacy.

But back to the beginning. First there was Rikdo Koshi the doujinshi artist, who did fan parody comics for various series running in the 1990s, including Card Captor Sakura. He also had an original hentai doujinshi that was collected into a volume called Municipal Force Daitenzin, a sentai parody about a group of idiotic people in powered suits trying to save the day. Two minor characters in that doujinshi series were the villain of the piece and his hyperactive, incompetent assistant. When Shonen Gahosha gave Rikdo the opportunity to create his own manga, he cut out the pornographic bits and made Excel and Il Palazzo the focus.

And so we have Volume 1, which seems very odd to read coming at it about 15 years later, with Volume 23 just having been released in Japan. We are introduced to our main cast working for the secret organization ACROSS: Excel, the still hyperactive and incompetent minion; Il Palazzo, her cold yet bishonen superior with a fondness for dropping her into a pit of water at the slightest provocation; Hyatt, a fellow minion at ACROSS with a nasty tendency to cough up blood and drop over dead; and Mince, a put upon puppy who gets deemed ’emergency food’ by Excel.

We also meet three of her neighbors, Iwata, Watanabe, and Sumiyoshi, but as yet they are not part of the main plot and almost seem to be off in their own separate manga. Notable is Watanabe’s first meeting with Hyatt, beginning his obsessive crush with her, and also Sumiyoshi’s tendency to communicate only in captions behind his head. (He also “speaks” in the manga in a heavy Geordie accent, Carl Horn’s attempt to show his Okayama accent while getting out of the Brooklyn/Southern trap most Viz or ADV manga fell into. Strangely, it works, though the phonetic absolutism of the accent can make him hard to interpret.)

At this point, the manga is still finding its feet, and there’s not much of the overreaching plot we’ll get in future volumes. There’s also not much here the anime watcher will recognize. The manga was only up to Volume 4 when it was licensed for anime, and the publisher requested that the anime not actually use the manga’s plotline (hence the “I agree to let Excel Saga be turned into a ______ anime” shtick). So the characters and basic plot (ACROSS tries to take over the world and fails) are the same, but the details are altered.

The humor is also a bit different. There is still some slapstick violence, and Excel shows her remarkable endurance even in the first chapter, but the comedy here stems from wordplay and ridiculous situations. Excel’s part-time jobs come before her minioning, as a girl has to eat, and we can also see from some of her complex rambling speeches (going off about the phylum and order of cave crickets, for example) that she’s quite intelligent. Excel isn’t stupid, just crazy, impetuous and a bit broken. Notably, when joined by Hyatt she starts to comment wryly on her health state, and shows signs of becoming a deadpan snarker. She’ll develop this far more once Elgala shows up in Volume 8.

There are occasional references to the anime in this translation, which is adapted and edited by Carl Horn and Dan Kanemitsu. Several jokes are Westernized, but notably the endnotes also note the original Japanese joke as well, which works out fine. Amusing bits include noting that Rikdo asked the anime version of Excel Saga not to have any panty shots (especially amusing if you know how fanservicey Excel Saga gets in later volumes), as well as Il Palazzo calling Jesus Christ a criminal of the State worse than Hitler and Aum Shinrikyo, much to Excel’s horror. (In case anyone is wondering, this is the scene they didn’t dare put in the anime, as the back cover notes.)

Excel Saga Volume 1 is just plain fun. It doesn’t have the healthy backstory we’ll get in future volumes, but you don’t need that right away. Instead, you just have fun watching Excel and Hyatt fail desperately for the glory of Il Palazzo, and her next-door neighbors assaulting each other for random slights. It’s a fun, funny manga.

New Shojo Beat Licenses?

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These VIZ licenses may not be new to some, but they were to me!

This evening, while perusing the Amazon listings for Beast Master, by Kyousuke Motomi, my friend and fellow manga blogger Jennifer Dunbar noticed a listing for Dengeki Daisy by the same creator with a July 2010 release date. I checked the Simon & Schuster site, and sure enough, there it is!


Dengeki Daisy
From the site: One day at school, Teru accidentally breaks a window and agrees to pay for it by helping Kurosaki with chores around school. Kurosaki is an impossible taskmaster though, and he also seems to be hiding something important from Teru…

This inspired me to check for other new prospective Shojo Beat titles on Amazon, and I struck gold with a listing for Seiho Boys’ High School! by Kaneyoshi Izumi, mangaka of Doubt!!, with an August 2010 release date.

Seiho Boys’ High School
From the site: Remote, lonely and surrounded by the ocean. This isn’t Alcatraz we’re talking about, it’s Seiho Boys’ High School, where the student body is rife with sexually frustrated hunks! How can these young men get girlfriends when they’re stuck in the middle of nowhere? These are the stories of the students of Seiho High and the trouble they get into as they awkwardly pursue all girls who cross their paths.

I’m not sure that Seiho will really appeal to me, but I’ll probably give it a shot. I’m really happy to see more from Kyousuke Motomi, though, since Beast Master is adorable. Looks like this is a slightly longer series, as well.

Angel: Long Night’s Journey by Brett Matthews and Joss Whedon: C-

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From the back cover:
An enemy from Angel’s past has come to L.A., and enlisted three powerful supernatural creatures to break Angel’s spirit before killing him. In one catastrophic night, Angel has to figure out who’s after him, and then bring him down, in a climactic battle above the glittering Los Angeles skyline.

Review:
Wow, this is really lousy. It’s written at least partly by Joss, but it’s so lackluster that it’d pass for something written by Keith R. A. DeCandido.

The basic plot is thus: a boobalicious snake lady (Joss seems to like these, since one appears in the Buffy season 8 comics), a fiery stone guy, and a knight with a glowy sword all attack Angel and are eventually bested. A symbol on the knight’s chest (Joss seems to like this idea, too, since it also figures into the season 8 comics) clues him in to the fact that his foe is a Chinese vampire he once met.

Turns out the Chinese vamp is upset because he was supposed to be the champion vamp with a soul but instead Angel has that role. This plot is pretty irksome, because it all of a sudden introduces notions like that when Angel was cursed, he was just a test subject for the real deal, and that perhaps the soul he received isn’t even his. It’s annoying and vague and I’m happy all of these ideas were dropped along with Dark Horse’s publication of Angel comics after this miniseries.

The art is competent enough except that nobody looks like they should. I conducted a test by obscuring all but one panel, which featured Cordelia and Wesley, and asking my Whedon-loving coworker, “Who are these people?” She stared at it for a full minute and could not hazard a guess, even though she’d surmised the answer was probably Whedon-related. Cordelia comes off the worst, looking either trampy or middle-aged, and sometimes both at once. Still, it’s so nice to see her appear in a comic at all that I have revised the grade slightly upward from the D this dreck truly deserves.

Manhwa Monday: Lazy Holiday

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Welcome to Manhwa Monday! It’s a lazy day over here at the household, but thankfully there’s always enough energy to talk about manhwa.

Today’s featured review comes from Emerian Rich at dashPunk, discussing Yeon-Joo Kim’s Nabi the Prototype (Tokyopop, 2007). Posted specifically for yesterday’s holiday, Emerian explains, “When we think of Valentine’s day, we often think of poetry, so for today’s post, I thought I’d bring you a book of poetry themed comics.”

This short review contains a sample from the book to whet the appetite, explaining also the potential difficulty for readers who may not connect easily with the book’s poetic style. “I’d recommend this book for anyone who likes to look beyond the obvious and experience love stories truly unique.” Check out the review for more!…

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Shugo Chara! Vol. 8

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By Peach-Pit
Del Ray, 192 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

In volume seven, Ikuto spilled the truth to Tadase about hiding out at Amu’s, sending Tadase running in anger and humiliation. With Ikuto now back in the clutches of Easter, Yoru is desperate for Amu to help, but she’s less than enthusiastic about being expected to save Ikuto once again when she’d rather be taking care of her own problems. Meanwhile, thanks to a visit with Kukai and his brothers, Tadase is reminded that sometimes people don’t say what they mean.

This volume is all about the complexities of growing up and being forced to recognize and respect the reality of life’s gray areas, including those within yourself. While Amu is facing the consequences of her lie being revealed to Tadase, Nagihiko is resigned to living with his, proving that maintaining a lie can ultimately be much more painful than being caught in one. Similarly, Tadase must learn that becoming the person he wishes to be means letting go of long-held grudges and viewing the people in his life (and even the events of the past) with fresh eyes.

From the beginning, Peach-Pit has used the series’ magical girl format as little more than a rough foundation for a much deeper story about trust and self-acceptance. The last couple of volumes have hit this theme hard, particularly in the way they’ve handled the subject of lying—why a person might choose to lie (or not) and what that really means. Unwilling to tell a simple morality tale, this series’ dedication to shades of gray underneath its cheery, bubblegum surface continues to make it a worthwhile read for adults as well as for young girls.

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