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Webcomics Weekend 2009

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One quick link to start off with: I have a review in today’s Manga Minis, for volume four of Go!Comi’s Ultimate Venus. It’s a fun little manga that I’ve enjoyed so far, and I’d recommend it as light shojo fluff. Now on to the real topic of this post.

So, over this past weekend, I attended the first annual (yes, they said so!) New England Webcomics Weekend at the Eastworks building in Easthampton, MA, just a couple of towns over. I read a few webcomics regularly, but my husband is the real fan, so though many of the panels sounded interesting to me, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. It was, however, an exceptional weekend, and I came away a fan of many more webcomics than I’d been when I arrived.

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Ultimate Venus, Vol. 4

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By Takako Shigematsu
Published by Go!Comi, 200 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)

At the end of the last volume, Yuzu had determined to foil her grandmother’s plan to force her into an engagement announcement at the wedding hall’s grand opening, and as volume four begins, she struggles for a way to follow through. Just as her plans are finally coming together, her bodyguard, Hassaku, figures out what’s going on and at first Yuzu worries that he’ll betray her plans out of loyalty to her grandmother. Thankfully he does not, and the plot works beautifully but this is not the end of Yuzu’s problems as her grandmother makes it clear that she will marry one of the three men chosen for her whether she likes it or not. After a painful rejection from Hassaku, Yuzu agrees to meet the other men, unaware that one of them would be her childhood friend Sudachi who has his own reasons for not wanting to be forced into an arranged marriage. Unfortunately, it seems inevitable that Yuzu will continue to cling to feelings for Hassaku, despite the fact that there are so many more interesting men around her.

After a fun start, this volume drags in the middle as Sudachi’s reluctant courtship begins. Still, there are some interesting moments, particularly with Masaya, the first of Yuzu’s so-called fiancés, and the book ends with a fairly troublesome misunderstanding that is sure to shake things up in the next volume. The premise of this story is startlingly similar to that of Kiyo Fijuwara’s Wild Ones, yet Ultimate Venus is so much more fun. Each of the characters is likable and idiosyncratic, and elements that feel tired and contrived in Wild Ones read as whimsical here.

Though this is far from the series’ strongest volume, it provides an opportunity for some nice character development and sets up some intriguing plot points as well. Ultimate Venus may not be a shojo masterpiece, but it continues to be a fresh, fun read.

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

They Were Eleven, Web Comics Weekend!

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Thanks to Brigid Alverson’s recent interview with Matt Thorn, I got inspired to read some Moto Hagio, beginning with her short science fiction manga from 1975, They Were Eleven. Last night I wrote up a review, which you can find below! I’m afraid my lack of background in manga shows terribly in this review, despite my ongoing quest to become more knowledgeable, so for further reading, I’d recommend going through Matt Thorn’s website, where he has many articles and resources chronicling the history of shojo manga, all of which are much smarter than anything I could write. My review, however, does include some nice images I scanned in from my copies of the manga so it’s worth checking out if you’ve never read it! They Were Eleven is unfortunately out of print here, but the Viz pamphlets can be picked up very reasonably on ebay, which is how I got them. Don’t even think about trying to get Four Shojo Stories, though, unless you’re a lot richer than I!

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be pretty much occupied at the New England Web Comics Weekend, which is conveniently located just a couple small towns over! My husband is a huge fan of webcomics, and I keep up on a number of them myself, so it should be an enjoyable event all around. There are quite a few interesting panels being presented, and you know I’ll be at the print vs. web discussion, right? :D I’ll try to report in at some point with any interesting news.

A million thanks to those who have chimed in with recommendations over at my Let’s Talk About Manhwa post! I’m so excited to find new things to read! Please stop by if you have anything further to add!

They Were Eleven by Moto Hagio Published by Viz Media

Sometime in the distant future, hopeful students from all over the galaxy gather for the difficult entrance exams at the elite Galactic University. For the final test, they are divided into computer-generated groups of ten students each and sent off to various locations where they must survive as a group for fifty-three days without pushing the provided emergency button, which immediately summons a rescue team, resulting in automatic failure of the entire group. One group is deposited on a derelict ship, devoid of engine power and filled with dangerous explosives, which they must safely maintain in orbit for the length of the test. As the group arrives on the ship, however, it becomes apparent that there are eleven students rather than the assigned ten, indicating that one of them must be an impostor. Potential disasters pile up quickly, including an unstable orbit and the presence of a deadly disease, and in the midst of it all the group begins to suspect Tada, a young Terran (Earth descendent) with intuitive powers and uncanny knowledge of the ship’s layout, of being the eleventh member.

With the ship’s mechanical problems and deadly health threat driving things forward, it is young Tada’s story that takes focus, as he struggles to understand his relationship with the decrepit ship while also attempting to clear himself of the other students’ rapidly-mounting suspicion. Despite the fact that his intuition saves the group early on, it also becomes the greatest point of contention amongst the group, and as more about Tada’s own history comes to light, each revelation seems to point more clearly to his potential guilt.

They Were Eleven ran over three issues in the Japanese magazine Shojo Comic in 1975. It was written and drawn by pioneering mangaka Moto Hagio, one of the famous “Year 24 Group” of female manga artists who revolutionized shojo manga, which up to that point had been mainly written by men. In the U.S. it was released in four “flipped” pamphlet-style issues from Viz Media in 1995, as well as in the compilation, Four Shojo Stories, both of which are now out of print (though the pamphlets are easily found on ebay). Lovingly adapted by Matt Thorn, They Were Eleven is an intriguing science fiction comic, featuring several of Hagio’s most prevalent themes, including childhood trauma and gender identification.

Two of the characters in the story are species whose gender is not determined until adulthood. One of these, Frol, who is decidedly feminine in appearance (referred to hereafter as “her” and “she”), is taking the test because she will be allowed to become male if she passes, a privilege otherwise only granted to a family’s oldest child. On Frol’s planet, “men govern and women work,” and becoming a woman would mean relinquishing all autonomy and joining the harem of the neighboring lord (eighteen years her senior), so it is understandable why she would want to instead take advantage of her society’s male privilege and collect a harem of her own. Still, it’s a little bit jarring that when the story finally reaches a point where it becomes clear that they may very well not pass the test, the only other alternative presented to Frol is for her to leave her own people, become a woman, and marry someone else. The fact that in every scenario her future as a woman leads directly to marriage is not a fantastic message for today’s young girls (nor is the fact that Frol, the story’s only obviously “feminine” character, is depicted as capricious and “simple”) and it is this that dates the series more than anything else.

That said, in the midst of today’s shojo offerings, it is refreshing to read a comic for girls in which a science fiction/mystery plot so markedly overshadows the story’s minimal romance. The atmosphere of the story is extremely tense throughout, and the level of complexity packed into four short issues is seriously impressive.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the various backgrounds of the students on the voyage, and what brings each of them to Galactic University. One student is the newly-crowned king of his planet-nation, who is taking the exam only to test his own abilities with no intention whatsoever of entering the university. Another is a half-cyborg, whose body was created to test out a potential cure for his planet’s deadly disease–one which kills every person on the planet by the age of thirty. Tada, whose parents both died when he was very young, seeks to make a way for himself out of the care of the Elder who adopted him. Each of the students has a rich backstory, some of which are only hinted at in this very short series, and each has his own personal determination to pass the final test. As the ship’s trajectory pulls them further towards certain death, it is the prospect of failure that terrifies and energizes most of these students rather than the growing risk to their lives, pushing the stakes to a place much higher than mere survival.

What is difficult to appreciate now is just how revolutionary Hagio’s art (and that of the others in the Year 24 Group) was at the time, as she eschewed the standard rectangle panel layouts of the day for innovative designs that were as vital to the tone and emotion of the story as the characters’ dialogue and facial expressions. This kind of drawing is common today, not just in shojo manga, and it’s difficult to imagine otherwise. Perhaps what is easier to note is that the art itself does not seem at all dated, and that alone is quite telling.

Something this manga brings to mind is the question of how much significance there is today in Japanese demographic categories, at least when importing manga to the west. In the case of They Were Eleven, for instance, it is difficult to determine just who wouldn’t be interested in the story in terms of gender demographics. Its science fiction setting, mystery plot, and even the very small glimmer of romance seem very much in line with works enjoyed by girls, boys, women, and men alike, and even for western comics fans only the characters’ oversized eyes are evidence of anything stereotypically Japanese. Reminiscent of the short stories of Ray Bradbury or Zenna Henderson, this comic uses the thrilling mysteries of space fantasy to provide food for thought about humanity and how we relate to and survive with each other.

For a glimpse into classic manga that is fast-paced, wrought with tension, emotionally compelling, and a pleasure to look at, Moto Hagio’s They Were Eleven offers the perfect, bite-sized package.

Bleach, Vol. 26

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By Tito Kubo
Viz Media, 216 pp.
Rating: Teen

At the end of volume 25, after discovering former soul reaper Aizen’s true objective, tenth division captain Hitsugaya was asked to stay behind for someone who was waiting to speak with him. That person turns out to be his childhood friend, Momo Hinamori, and volume 26 begins with a quietly horrifying scene in which she begs Hitsugaya not to kill Aizen, certain that he must have had good reason for his murderous acts. As short and simple as this scene is, it starts things off very effectively, setting a tone of tense anticipation that continues throughout the volume.

Though this volume’s big drama is saved for the end, its middle chapters provide some rich moments, particularly concerning Orihime, who is told very bluntly by Kisuke Urahara that her combat abilities are too weak for her to play a role in the upcoming battle with Aizen, and that she’d do best to stay out of the way. Orihime has long provided the heart of this series and here, poised on the brink of discovering her true worth, she shines, lending a much-needed warmth to the grim battle preparations that make up much of the volume. Rukia, too, plays a very poignant role here, making the series’ primary female characters the real stars of this volume.

Heavy on characterization and plot development, this volume is a welcome respite for the battle-weary, as it anxiously works its way toward its cruel cliffhanger ending. The volume’s humorous moments work well too, especially a scene in which Yumichika and Rangiku argue about their zanpakuto, each unwilling to admit that the qualities they find most frustrating about them are actually the same as their own.

Though this volume offers very little action, its quiet warmth and tense anticipation make for a nicely satisfying read.

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

Let’s Talk About Manhwa

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So, I’m starting this entry with the full awareness that I know very little about Korean comics, and the truth is, I’m hoping it will lead to a flood of recommendations and information so that I can remedy that. Everything I say here will be based on the very small amount of manhwa I have read, almost all of which was provided by publishers and given to me to review at Manga Recon. I hadn’t really formed an opinion about manhwa as a whole, but as I was thinking about it recently, I realized that out of the five or so titles I’ve reviewed (most of them multiple volumes), I’ve liked all of them. This makes me want to know and read more.

Soyoung Jung, VP of NETCOMICS, has been quoted as saying that she considers manhwa to be more “poetic” than Japanese manga. I don’t have enough background to necessarily say the same, but I can speak to one genre and the titles I’ve read in it, and that would be boys’ love. Most of the manhwa I’ve reviewed so far has been BL manhwa (and by “most” I mean “three”): Let Dai and Totally Captivated, both from NETCOMICS, and One Thousand and One Nights from Yen Press. All of these are good-sized series (two of them complete at this time), and they definitely have some things in common.

First of all, they all tend to be pretty violent and somewhat melodramatic. This is obviously not the draw, though, as these are the two things (aside from bizarre female fantasy versions of gay men) I’m most likely to complain about in a BL review. So what is the draw? You know, they are all freakin’ epic. They are epic, plotty, multi-volume stories with complicated characters, and that’s the thing I want from comics in general that seems so hard to find in BL. I mean, even while these three Korean series are busy being melodramatic and violent, they are also getting really deep into the characters’ minds and hearts–all their strengths, weaknesses, and contradictions–great, small, ugly, beautiful–and that’s what makes these stories so compelling. It’s also what I’ve been missing in most of the Japanese BL I’ve read. Again, these observations are based on a pretty small sample of books, so there is no way I can claim any of it as Certifiably True, just true to my experience. And judging from my experience only, it wouldn’t be ridiculous to conclude that I like Korean BL more than Japanese BL, which I think I might, and indeed I might describe it as “more poetic.”

Of the other manhwa titles I’ve read so far, only one includes multiple volumes, and that is Yen Press’ series, Comic, which I talked about here. So far it has grabbed me a little less than the other manhwa series I’ve reviewed, but enough to happily anticipate the next volume.

So, what fantastic titles am I missing? There must be loads! What should I know about Korean comics that I’m not going to find out from wikipedia? Talk to me, friends! Teach me about manhwa!

Wild Ones, Vol. 6

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By Kiyo Fujiwara
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

After volume five’s focus on holidays and gift-giving between Sachie Wakamura and her Yakuza family, volume six begins with a new school year and the introduction of Sachie’s new teacher who turns out to be her childhood friend, Chi-chan. Unfortunately, Chi-chan has a long-standing grudge against Sachie (of which she is completely unaware) and begins a campaign of harassment with the intent of exposing her family history to the entire school. Fortunately, even Chi-chan is eventually won over by Sachie’s plucky sincerity, and becomes yet another ally by the end. Also in this volume, Sachie saves a man’s family restaurant from unscrupulous loan sharks, and it is this plot that allows further development of the volume’s real drama—the continuing romantic rivalry between Rakuto and Azuma. Not that the rivalry actually gets anywhere. Though Azuma comes very close to confessing his feelings to Sachie, in the end he chickens out, leaving things essentially unchanged.

Out of all the things that are maddening about this series—the unbelievable premise, the warm-fuzzy Yakuza guys, the lack of any actual crime—the most maddening by far is the near suspended animation of the story’s romantic plot. While it’s usually effective to keep romantic tension going for as long as possible, in this case, the romance is just not exciting or complicated enough to withstand the wait. Sachie loves Rakuto, Rakuto loves Sachie, and so it has been for the entire length of the series. Everybody knows this. Nobody appears to object besides Azuma, and even he is visibly frustrated by Rakuto’s persistent inaction. In a more complex story this kind of anticipation might be intoxicating, but here it just makes the drama feel forced and repetitive.

That said, the volume does have some warm moments. The characters grow, little by little, and the uncomfortable bond between Rakuto and Azuma is almost interesting enough to make up for the endless drudgery of the romantic plot. While this series remains decidedly mediocre, there is still some distant hope of it one day finding its spark.

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

NANA, Vol. 15

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By Ai Yazawa
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Mature

After Search’s cruel delivery of a suggestive photo of Ren and Riera at the end of volume fourteen, this volume opens with the fallout from that and Takumi’s brilliantly manipulative efforts to keep the photo out of the papers. Unfortunately, the ramifications of the photo run deeper than that and Nana and Ren’s relationship continues to unravel further. Hachi and Takumi finally get married (thanks to Takumi’s manipulations) and Yasu and Miu begin to solidify their relationship as well. All of this brings Nana’s abandonment issues to the fore as she watches the most important people in her life drifting further away from her. Shin, too, feels the effect of the Search incident as Reira, suddenly aware of how vulnerable her world is to scandal, suggests they stop seeing each other. The appearance of the Search photo highlights how fragile everyone’s world is and how far a single act of thoughtlessness or cruelty can reach.

The expressive genius of Ai Yazawa’s art is what really makes this volume shine, elevating what could easily be trite soap-opera to the realm of top-notch fiction. Her ability to use panel layouts and close-ups to get to the heart of her characters is unmatched. The art feeds the complexity of the characters, transforming them into something that almost feels more real than “real life.” It’s not the art alone, of course. Yazawa resists letting any character fall into pat categories like “good” or “evil,” giving full dimension to each of them and their rich, complicated, gray-shaded world. Even manipulative, controlling Takumi, who frames everything in terms of protecting own interests, is not a clear-cut villain any more than Nana and Hachi perfectly virtuous heroines.

There is an interesting scene early in the volume, where the folks at Search mull over the power that they wield, finally determining that if Ren and Nana break up because of what they print, then the breakup was “meant to be.” “The strength of their bond will be tested,” says one writer, determined to justify the paper’s actions as some kind of righteous social experiment. The lengths to which people will go to justify their own poor behavior is a fascinating (if horrifying) study, and it is this type of insight into humanity that makes Yazawa’s writing so powerful.

Though it is clear that much of the story’s real drama is yet to come, this is a strong volume in an exceptional series that continues to be both beautifully crafted and extremely compelling.

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

NANA 15, Wild Ones 6, Ache of Head

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Still feel like I’m kind of running on empty over here, and it looks like my website is feeling the same way, considering how slow it’s loading this morning.

I have two reviews out in the world today, both at Manga Recon’s On the Shojo Beat column. The first is for volume fifteen of NANA, and the second for volume six of Wild Ones. The difference in quality between these two series is so great, it would be unfair to compare them, so for the moment let’s just say I really love NANA. Reading volume fifteen gave me the urge to do a re-read of the series so far. I haven’t started yet, but I think I probably will do this. Volume fifteen also provids one of those sporadic moments in which I identify strongly with Nana Osaki. Most of the time I identify really heavily with Nana Komatsu, but when it comes to career drive, it’s all Nana O. I suppose I’m three parts Hachi, and one part Nana, if you think of it like that. This particular instance was very rare, because it actually had nothing at all to do with career. I have (more than once) had the experience of watching everyone around me drifting away, or worse, the sudden realization that everyone is already gone (hello NYC in the couple of years before I left), and I was feeling that hard while reading this volume.

In other news, I have had a headache since Saturday evening, and it won’t really go away. Ugh. Oh, and the guy who draws xkcd has obviously been visiting my dreams. I’m almost forty and I still have these, including just last night. I also still have theater dreams. You know, where it’s time for your entrance, and you realize you never learned the lines/song/dance/etc., and in fact are not sure what the play is. Oh, and you’re going to miss the entrance anyway, because you aren’t in the right costume/shoes/wig, etc. Even after all these years. Wow, my head hurts.

Totally Captivated, volume 6 + links

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I can’t believe I haven’t made a post here in almost a week! Oh, life. So, those who follow me on Twitter will know that I spent last evening hurriedly writing a review, which is not something I was certain I could do. Usually I read a book, think about it for three days, and only then can I even begin to put down any kind of words about it. Last night I attempted to read and review in the same evening. And here is the result! Volume six of Totally Captivated, reviewed at Manga Recon. This is a Korean boys’ love manhwa (published by NETCOMICS) which I enjoyed quite a bit, particularly in its final volume. It’s got a somewhat ridiculous premise, but the characters are extremely well-written and it provides the kind of emotional complexity I love best.

It’s worth noting, too, that I experienced almost none of the readability issues with Totally Captivated at NETCOMICS that I had with Let Dai, which leads me to believe that Let Dai was a victim of particularly poor scanning or reproduction that may even reflect issues with the print volumes.

Speaking of BL manhwa, I also recently read NETCOMIC’s U Don’t Know Me which, despite its weird netspeak title, is actually a really nice BL one-shot. Michelle reviewed it in yesterday’s Manga Minis, and I don’t have much to say that she didn’t, though I am slightly disappointed that it falls into the same old habit of basically ignoring the characters’ sexuality aside from their feelings for each other. I know that it plays into a lot of women’s fantasies to make a couple of guys gay only for each other (rather than gay in general), but it’s also offensive on a lot of levels, and I wish BL authors would stop pandering to that. That said, it’s a very nice story with fantastic characters and a warm, delicate feel, so I’d second Michelle’s recommendation.

Speaking of recommendations, one more link before I go, to Ed Sizemore’s detailed, thoughtful, and all-around awesome write-up of the first twenty volumes of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles at Comics Worth Reading. I love this series, and he writes beautifully about it. Go read!

Monkey High! 3 by Shouko Akira: B+

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From the back cover:
On Valentine’s Day, it’s no surprise that playboy Atsu gets plenty of chocolates from fawning girls. But everyone’s shocked when a heart-shaped box is found on Macharu’s desk—especially since it’s not from Haruna! Does Macharu have a secret admirer?

Review:
The trend of basing the chapters around relatively commonplace events continues—there’s one taking place on Valentine’s Day, one on Haruna’s birthday, and one about student council elections. The overall story continues to be pretty episodic, with much silliness from the supporting cast, but the moments between Haruna and Macharu are always serious and always good. I think that’s because Haruna herself is so serious she balances out the wackiness of her classmates.

Like the main couple in High School Debut, I like that it’s easy to see why Haruna and Macharu like each other and why they’re a good match. I get a little annoyed when various characters attest that Haruna really should be going out with Macharu’s friend Atsu because of his looks, but I suppose that does give her the opportunity to unequivocally state that she likes Macharu. There’s a great scene toward the end of the volume where she seeks him out to talk about some thoughts she’s been having, like how she’s not sure what she can do on her own, having always believed the influence of her politician father was in some part responsible for her success at her old school. It’s nice that they can talk to each other so freely. I also love that Haruna many times initiates the smooching, rather than passively waiting for it like some shoujo heroines I could name.

While I’m very happy with the development of the main couple, I could wish for a more memorable supporting cast. Atsu’s easy to remember because he talks so much. Next in recognizability are the guy that eats a lot and the girl from the student council, but that’s seriously all we know about them. There are a couple of other boys and girls who appear and have lines of dialogue and stuff and I have no idea what their names are or anything. I don’t want the story to veer off and focus on one of these classmates or anything, but they’re meaningless as they are.

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei + Geekiversary!

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First of all, my review of Sayonara, Zetsubuo-Sensei, Vol. 1 is finally done and posted at Manga Recon. I really enjoyed this book, and though I haven’t read any other full reviews of it yet, I get the feeling most people will either be pretty delighted with it or be completely baffled that anyone could be. Its humor just happens to hit my funny bone just so, which is a pretty great thing!

Secondly, I’ve been waiting until I was finished with the review to talk about my anniversary, so it is finally time! Besides a lovely dinner and so on and so forth, the main feature of the day was that we both got Blackberry Storms! Yes, we spent our wedding anniversary geeking out over new phones, do you have a problem with that? We geeked out at home, we geeked out at the restaurant. All in all, the “Geekiversary” (as we named it early on) was pretty fantastic, and now that I’m finally done with that review, I am finally allowed to really play around with my new toy! I’ll begin with two photos I took this morning of my office. The camera on the Blackberry blows away the one on my old phone (though my skills are sadly the same). …

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Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Vol. 1

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By Koji Kumeta
Del Rey, 192 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)

Schoolteacher Nozomu Itoshiki is pessimistic, depressed, and fed up with the world. He is first introduced attempting to hang himself from a cherry tree, where he is discovered by student Kafuka Fuura, who nearly kills him in the process of trying to pull him down. “What if I had died?” Nozomu exclaims, setting the tone for this whimsical black comedy from the start. Kafuka is the polar opposite of Nozomu, excessively optimistic to the point of delusion. Unable to believe that anyone could consider suicide on a beautiful spring day, she insists that Nozomu must have been trying to “make himself taller,” a practice she confesses her father took up often when faced with hard times. “At times, even mother would try to grow taller,” she says brightly, pushing Nozomu’s patience to the limit. Thus the two who never should have met, meet—the man who views everything negatively, and the girl who views everything positively.

Despite the inauspicious nature of their meeting, it seems that it was destined (or at least unavoidable), as Nozomu soon discovers that Kafuka is a student in his new class. The rest of the volume proceeds to introduce Nozomu’s other students one by one, each of whom is an extreme example of a dysfunctional stereotype—a stalker, a hikikomori (shut-in), an obsessive-compulsive, an abusive e-mailer, et cetera—most of whom develop some kind of fixation with their teacher. Though the premise could easily become mean-spirited, it never does, and each of the characters is presented with both humor and affection, the most poignant perhaps being Nami, the “ordinary” girl, whose only defining trait (much to her dismay) turns out to be that there is nothing really wrong with her at all.

Nozomu is not exactly a misanthrope, though he does suspect most people of plotting to wrong him, and he bonds with his students in spite of himself, if sometimes in slightly disturbing ways. Yes, he tears down their aspirations, belittles them with low expectations, engages in blatant favoritism (“Hold it! Don’t bully the girl I’m favoring.”), abandons them in class, and occasionally evaluates them as potential candidates for double-suicide. Yet somehow, through the filter of Koji Kumeta’s dark humor, he manages to be charming and almost warm as he leads his small band of misfits down the road to despair. His students are delightful, each in her own way, but Nozomu is the unlikely touchstone who keeps things grounded, and during the chapter or two in which he plays truant, his absence is keenly felt. Fortunately, the humorous payoff when he finally returns to the page is well worth it.

The real secret to this manga’s success is that nothing is ever allowed to become too serious or biting. The humor is dry but never bitter, and though some of the jokes translate better into English than others, each leads deftly into the next, showing off Kumeta’s satirical prowess. Even the fan service is played for laughs, deliberately inserted into the most absurd situations. The humor is sharp but never cutting, and the juxtaposition of complex satire, silly puns, and simple sight gags ensures that the mood remains light throughout.

One of the best visual gags happens quite early on as the book introduces Matoi Tsunetsuki, a girl who obsessively stalks any guy she falls for. After becoming interested in her teacher (Nozomu) she begins following him. This causes the boy she was previously interested in to become jealous, and so he starts following her. Another girl who is interested in that boy notices, and starts stalking him, and so on, until there is finally a chain of stalkers, each following the last with minimal subtlety.

The art is nicely clear and deceptively simple. Most of the girls are so similar in design, they look like a single girl with interchangeable hair, though the level of individuality granted to them with just hairstyle and expression is pretty impressive. The overall design is more complex, filled with fantastic angles and fun backgrounds, all in a wonderfully crisp style that manages to be both detailed and clean at the same time.

The book is dense with obscure jokes and Japanese cultural references, painstakingly annotated by translator Joyce Aurino over a whopping twelve pages at the back of the book. With so much information provided, it is easy to fall into the habit of checking the endnotes obsessively while reading, but this is really not a good idea. With a few exceptions (and despite what must have been an incredibly difficult translation process), Aurino’s adaptation stands strongly on its own, and though the notes are very interesting and informative, the interruption of the reading experience is simply not worth it. In most cases the context itself is sufficient, at least for the first read-through, and the notes can be viewed as an enlightening bonus to be enjoyed afterwards. With multiple layers of satire at work, this is definitely a book worth re-reading, so there are plenty of opportunities to catch new jokes that may have slipped by on the first read or two.

It is probably safe to say that the success of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei with any individual reader will depend entirely on whether or not that reader’s sense of humor meshes with Kumeta’s, and this question should be clearly answered by the end of the first chapter. If it’s not funny by then, it’s never going to be. But for those who are laughing by the end of the chapter, this book will provide a rare treat which, thanks to Del Rey, is about to become more common.

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

Monkey High! 2 by Shouko Akira: A-

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From the back cover:
Haruna and Macharu head off to the amusement park for their official first date! But how romantic is the date going to turn out with scary roller coasters, guys hitting on Haruna, and even rowdy classmates popping up?

Review:
Considering that my two complaints about volume one were its clichéd events and annoying supporting characters, this back cover blurb didn’t do much to entice me. Thankfully, the contents were better than described.

I continue to like the main characters and the contrast between them. Macharu is all spazzy, hyper, and enthusiastic while Haruna is beautiful and “cool.” It’s so nice to have a shoujo heroine who’s smart and reserved! The pain of her broken home life weighs on Haruna, and we see more evidence of that in this volume, so it’s nice to see her laugh in Macharu’s presence. She really needs someone like him, and this is the reason why she ultimately keeps some of her problems from him, to avoid damaging his carefree outlook.

The overall plots of these chapters are pretty silly—an amusement park date, the gang participating in a big quiz show, et cetera—but there are plenty of good character moments sprinkled throughout. There’s also a really cute bonus story about Macharu’s little sister, Misato. Usually the bonus stories included in manga don’t do much for me; this is probably the best one I’ve read in some time.

A few lunchtime thoughts

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Just a few loose ends on this lunch hour. Today is my eighth wedding anniversary, so I probably will not be online much this evening, but there are a couple of things lurking in my head which I will try to type out now.

Random: I finished Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei last evening in preparation for writing a review this week for Manga Recon, and it is one of those comics that makes me really, really wish I could read Japanese. Also, I’m really looking forward to completing my review so that I can finally read everyone else’s.

Also, someone’s comment early this morning got me thinking more about the discussion of online identity, specifically what I value most when I’m assessing someone’s credibility online. I replied in comments with my thoughts, but I’ll share them here as well. …

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Monkey High! 1 by Shouko Akira: A-

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From the back cover:
Haruna Aizawa thinks that school life is just like a monkey mountain—all the monkeys form cliques, get into fights, and get back together again. The school that she just transferred to is no exception. There’s even a boy called Macharu Yamashita who reminds her of a baby monkey!

It’s hard enough fitting in at a new school while dealing with family problems… Will Haruna remain jaded and distance herself from everyone around her? Or will Macharu win her over with his monkey magic?

Review:
Viz really does have some quality shojo of the high school romance genre. Love*Com, High School Debut, We Were There, and now Monkey High!. Each one that I’ve read, I’ve really liked a lot.

Haruna Aizawa’s father is an upstart politician at the center of a corruption scandal. Because of this, she transferred into a new high school, but the group dynamics—which she compares to a gang of monkeys—are much the same. She strives to keep her distance, but one boy manages to befriend her. Macharu is rather scrawny and not generally someone a beautiful girl like Haruna would consider the ideal boyfriend, but he’s kind, considerate, and sincere and before Haruna realizes it, she’s fallen in love with him. They receive instant support from their classmates who think the mismatch has great potential to be interesting.

Haruna and Macharu are both interesting characters, and it’s awfully refreshing to read a title where the heroine is not earning the affections of the dreamiest, most popular boy in school. Also, Haruna has had boyfriends before, so is not going spazzy over having attracted a boy’s notice. There are some genuinely cute moments between them, and I’m happy to see them become a couple so quickly, as I tend to like stories where getting together is only the beginning of the story, rather than its culmination.

There are some things I found a little annoying, though. The three chapters in this volume deal with the school play, school trip, and Christmas, respectively. Is Akira-sensei just getting the clichés out of the way up front? I’m a little worried. Also, I didn’t find it funny when Haruna and Macharu’s classmates just happened to be eavesdropping on the lead pair at a few crucial moments, interrupting with their antics.

Considering how often I grumble about unfunny attempts at comedy in manga, I wouldn’t blame anyone for concluding that I simply have no sense of humor. I assure you that isn’t the case; I just don’t like it when it isn’t part of the story but instead disrupts it.

Monkey High! was originally published in Japan as Saruyama! and is complete with eight volumes total. Viz is releasing it in English and five volumes have been published so far.