Reviews

Cross Game is one of those series that was so great, I’m a bit angry at myself for taking so long to finish it. The seventh omnibus volume was a bit of a surprise, because something that I expected to happen didn’t, and it didn’t happen in a way that was really interesting with the story that Adachi was building. All along I thought that there’d be a major confrontation between Ko’s team and the antagonistic coach at Kurokoma. But Kurokoma doesn’t even bother to scout their first-round competition because they’ve never heard of the team. Daimon’s arrogance is on full display as he talks to Junpei who is on his way to scout Seishu’s first-round opponent. Daimon says of his competition that he doesn’t even know what they are called, they’re “some no-name school…a team I have no intention of remembering…” The no-name team ends up being Seishu’s next opponent, as Kurokoma is defeated in the first round. Daimon’s comeuppance didn’t come at the hands of Seishu, it came from his own internal failings. In most other shonen manga there’s be a more simplistic confrontation between the two teams during the tournament, but thankfully Adachi doesn’t write his manga in an expected way.

Junpei has proposed to the oldest Tsukishima daughter Ichiyo, and she’s answered that she’ll marry him if Seishu gets to Koshien, adding an extra element of romantic tension to every baseball game. Ko’s finally reached a point where he can’t rely on Aoba for advice. His athletic abilities keep growing and as he tries to adjust his form after throwing the ball faster than he has before, Aoba can’t help him because she’s never thrown a ball that fast. Akane is hospitalized, and the idea of losing her combined with her similarity to Wakaba, makes the summer seem a bit eerie. Ko seems largely unflappable through the whole situation and Aoba comments to Yuhei that he seems cold. Yuhei comments that Ko knows “some things you just gotta do. Other things, you can only have faith…”

One of the things I love is the way simple scenes end up saying so much about the relationships between the characters. Aoba and Ko are riding an empty train together and she makes a point of sitting as far away from him as possible. Ko comments that the distance between them never changes and when she sharply asks if he said anything, he just replies “Nope.”

As the series comes to a close, I was reminded all over again how for a manga the focuses so intensely on baseball, it isn’t really about baseball at all in terms of the motivations and actions of the characters. Ko’s calm and constant training is touched off by the idea that Aoba’s will only like a boy who can pitch a 100 mph fastball. As All of Ko’s training begins to pay off with some inspired pitching as his team becomes a contender for Koshien, his pitches start clocking at higher and higher speeds. As Aoba watches Ko she thinks that he used to be like her, overly emotional and with a quick temper, but now “he’s just like Wakaba.”

During the final game there’s parallel baseball action and emotional revelation happening, as the reader sees the depth of Aoba’s hatred for Ko, and how that hatred is a proxy for dealing with Wakaba’s death, and how stoic and emotionally mature Ko is to just let himself be the object of Aoba’s scorn. During a pivotal moment Ko has to bat, and he hands the umpire a token, putting himself firmly back in the mental space of all of the times he’s practiced his batting at the Tsukishima’s batting cage. Adachi introduces these moments in such an off-hand naturalistic way that the symbolism involved never seems forced or overly precious. As the series concluded I realized that more than just showing the dramatic struggles of a high-school baseball team, Cross Game is really a classic romance manga, with some closing moments that would put most shoujo manga to shame just in terms of the emotional depth portrayed. Ko and Aoba are one of my favorite manga couples, and Cross Game really is a work to be treasured.

By Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. Released in Japan by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Manga Action. Released in North America by Dark Horse.

I had never read Lone Wolf and Cub when I started to get into manga back in the day. My tastes ran more towards Ranma and Sailor Moon at that time, and it was also in a weird format, with smaller trim than what I was expecting. Then as it went on I simply never got a chance to go back to it. Now Dark horse is releasing the series in large omnibuses, sized like the other books on your shelves (although still flipped), with the first three volumes in this giant 700+-page monster. Is it worth picking this up?

Well, if you already have it, I wouldn’t get it again, as there’s no new translation or anything. If you don’t have it, though, this is a surprisingly gripping tale of assassination and vengeance. I say surprising as, at least for these three volumes, it’s also very episodic, bouncing back and forth between various parts of feudal Japan. It appears to all take place in the same year, given that Daigoro (the ‘Cub’ of the title) stays about 3 years old throughout, but there’s little continuity between each story, and we really don’t even know much of why Ogami is an assassination for hire beyond “he was set up and his wife was killed”. This is an early 70s seinen action manga, so there’s not a lot of heavy continuity here.

That said, this also adds to the purity of the story. Our hero roots out corruption (he even makes sure to get the FULL story from his clients, including everything they’ve done wrong, just in case) and metes out his own brand of justice. Naturally, given that the protagonists are a killer assassin and his three-year-old son, the villains tends to go either two ways: horrible and cowardly villains who die like the dogs they are, or noble-yet-conflicted samurai who duel to the death with dignity. And they all know who Lone Wolf is, not to mention his Cub. Doesn’t really stop him from getting what he wants, even if he has to take out 8 female ninja assassins, or fight on a rickety bridge, or even inside an inescapable prison.

This is, of course, written by Kazuo Koike, later known for works like Crying Freeman. It will not surprise anyone, therefore, that Ogami is also an excellent lover, though we don’t see that quite as often as I expected here. Partly as the focus of the series is sword battles, but also because the women here tend to be dead or evil – I was rather surprised when one chapter showed a thief/prostitute actually surviving to the next chapter. At least I think that’s her in the next chapter – the artist is not that great at differentiating between his characters. Luckily, Ogami’s eyebrows are large enough so he can be spotted anywhere.

This is a giant tome of a book – it may actually read easier in its original non-omnibus format – and we have a ways to go, as the series runs to the mid-20s or so, and this is only Vol. 1-3. Nonetheless, it’s highly influential, and you can see why – as a mood, the book is stellar. Recommended for those who like manly manga, swordfights, or samurai.

By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

In my last review, I noted that all the characters were just starting to reach that age where love would come into the picture, and wondered what would happen when it arrived. Well, that moment is here, and the answer is simple: a trainwreck of feelings and emotions. There’s actually not as much regarding Nitori and Takatsuki’s gender identity disorder here, but there doesn’t need to be. Takako-san has set up all the characters’ wants and needs in the first three volumes, and now can send them careening everywhere confident that we’ll follow along.

This is not to say that everyone is embracing these new-found feelings. Nitori and Anna’s feelings for each other, for example, almost read like they’re out of Bob’s Big Book Of Manga Cliches. Anna is clearly attracted to Nitori, but is still a bit weirded out by Notori’s gender issues, so this tends to come out as abuse. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting Anna to be as utterly tsundere as she is here, given this is a very realistic, subtle work. And Nitori is also attracted to Anna, but she’s sending all the wrong signals, so he just ends up frustrated. And then there’s Takatsuki to consider…

Sometimes friends fall out, particularly in the elementary school/middle school years. The tragedy of what happens with Saori is that she can see it – hell, she excoriates herself for it, quoting from Anne of Green Gables again – but still can’t help what her heart feels, and this causes her to lash out at Takatsuki. Meanwhile, Takatsuki’s relationship with Nitori is all over the school – there’s a rumor they were seen kissing, and it won’t quite die down. It’s getting to the point where Nitori and Takatsuki are starting to dream of each other… erotic dreams. Takako-san’s subtleties excel here, as you clearly know that we’re seeing wet dreams without there being anything racy or suggestive.

In the end, almost everyone ends up unhappy or unfulfilled here, which is not a surprise given the age of the protagonists. Saori seems to have shut down (the unwanted attention she’s getting from a male friend at church isn’t helping), and the others are simply trying to keep it together. The other friend in their little group, Sasa, barely appears, but it’s noted a couple of times they want to try to stay on an even keel for her – she seems to be the heart of the group. There is, however, one romance that does work out, and fittingly, it’s for a slightly older couple. Maho is finally able to get over her own shyness and panic, and she and Seya become a couple. (His own feelings for Nitori-as-a-girl are still an issue, of course.)

So another solid volume that really makes me love these characters even more. My favorite part of the entire book was probably a chapter where Nitori, frustrated by his sister, Anna, and everything going on at school, decides to run away. Not being able to afford to go anywhere, though, as the day progresses Nitori just ends up at a zoo. In the end, the day passes and on Nitori’s return, no one realizes he’s even been gone. Nitori’s imagination and emotions are further along than his maturity level, and it’s causing him great pain. Will middle school help to guide him? Can’t wait to find out.

By Satoko Kiyuduki. Released in Japan by Houbunsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As I have mentioned before, there are an awful lot of 4-koma series coming out featuring a bunch of eccentric, yet cute and lovable girls around high school age. Indeed, most of them are also being put out by Yen. And yet I’ve always enjoyed reading GA the most, particularly as it rewards detail-observant readers. There’s a lot going on here, not least of which is how much this series has taught me about art. And about how to draw a panda properly.

Actually, much of this volume takes place over the summer break, meaning we get the opportunity to observe the girls outside of the school environment. (Though this does mean we get less of the ‘B’ cast, i,e, Awara and company.) We even get to see a couple more family members, particularly Namiko’s sister, who turns out to be the sort of aggressively good at everything big sister that would drive Namiko insane (which is indeed what happens). We also get a brief view (back only) of Noda’s gorgeous big sister of legend. The siblings in GA tend to show off a lot of that ‘we can’t stand each other, but love each other deep down’ dynamic you like to see in comics like these.

The ‘art’ parts of the volume focus on the four seasons, and how you get your piece to show off what spring means, or summer, etc. This includes several examples of works that do precisely thins, both Western and Japanese, so you can go to Google and look up paintings like ‘Autumn in the Village’ by Marc Chagall or ‘Beach Baskets in Holland’ by Wassily Kandinsky. The art actually helps you to understand the girls better, as you see how they might see the world, and what kind of canvas they want to create with it.

The girls, by the way, are exceedingly cute here, as you would expect. A trip to a summer festival is enlivened by a fox spirit briefly taking the place of one of the girls (Kisaragi being Kisaragi, she goes to the fox shrine the day after to thank them for having fun with the rest of the girls). A trip means postcards, which the girls hand-draw, and discussion of how to balance picture and words (it also shows Namiko and Noda talking about getting married one day – sorry, yuri fans!). Perhaps the most poignant chapter shows Noda unknowingly showing up for school the first day of summer break, and having lunch while pretending her friends are there around her. Noda surrounded by people is the best Noda, I think we all agree.

As ever, if you’re looking for a deep manga with a lot to say about the human condition, this isn’t the one for you. It’s a 4-koma about cute high school kids, and no amount of praise from me is going to change that. If you do enjoy this genre, however, GA is fantastic, balancing humor, cuteness, and an appreciation of art, even if you aren’t artistic. It doesn’t come out very often (it’s caught up with Japan), but is always recommended.

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Karin Suzuragi. Released in Japan as “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Matsuribayashi-hen” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Joker. Released in North America by Yen Press.

And so, finally, welcome to the Good End, as well as the longest of the arcs – it’s 8 volumes, or 4 omnibuses. We’ve come a long way to get to this point, seeing most of the main characters at their worst, and then later seeing them at their best. Well, mostly. The adults in Higurashi haven’t really gotten a good backstory yet. Particularly the villain of the piece. We knows that she’s insane and sociopathic – witness her face at the end of the Massacre Arc, as well as the plot she’s cooked up – but “she’s evil like that” is not a motivation, and Ryukishi07 has gone to great pains in previous arcs to show us how important someone’s past and the way their life unfolded can be to the actions they may take in the future. So, what’s Miyo Takano’s past?

Well, it starts with a little girl named Miyoko Tanashi. That’s her on the cover, isn’t she a cutie? She lives with a loving mother and father, and her hobbies are collecting flags of the world from a local restaurant chain. She is living a great childhood. Then… there’s a train accident. Miyoko went out to play with her friends instead of going shopping with her parents. From that, comes one of the most horrific childhoods we’ve seen in all of Higurashi, even managing to top Satoko and Rena’s. Miyoko’s father, before he dies, tries to get Miyoko to contact a researcher friend of his, but to no avail – Miyoko is sent to the local orphanage instead.

Orphanages in fiction are usually never a good deal, but this one goes above and beyond. (I have no idea if this is what orphanages in Japan were like in the early 60s – I hope it’s heavily exaggerated for dramatic effect.) It’s a prison camp for children, with daily beatings and abuse. Then comes the most striking scene of the volume, where Miyoko and her three other friends make an escape attempt from the orphanage – led by Eriko, who has heard there’s another orphanage a few miles away that’s loving and happy. What follows is… bad. They don’t escape – indeed, the whole “other orphanage” doesn’t seem to even exist. They are taken back. Eriko is tortured and killed by having her unconscious body tied down and covered in chicken feed, so she is basically pecked to death. I mention this as a spoiler because it’s so grotesque and graphic – everyone who reads the manga remembers this. The other two girls are rolled into a mat (which is then beaten with sticks) or put into a metal shower cage (and then beaten with sticks till they go deaf).

As for Miyoko, before capture she was able to accomplish a few things. First, she found a phone and managed to call her father’s friend. More importantly to the story, though, she screams at God to kill her, and a lightning bolt then comes down… directly behind her, missing her body. She takes this as a sign. It doesn’t go into effect right away – I won’t spoil her punishment, except that it’s the ugliest of the four, and the only reason she isn’t killed is that her father’s friend, Hifumi Takano, shows up to adopt her. (Note there is no suggestion the orphanage is ever shut down or stopped – only Miyoko is saved. I am reminded of the fact that everyone accepts Mion will be a yakuza head when she grows up. Morality in Higurashi can be starkly realistic when it wants to be.)

So, ten points to Hifumi for rescuing Miyoko, who changes her name to Miyo Takano. However, just putting her in a loving home and having her help with his research into brain parasites is not going to do the trick. Miyo clearly has post-traumatic stress disorder – we see her reliving the events of the orphanage more than once – and really should be getting therapy that she never gets. As a result, the PTSD will never really leave her, and drives her actions and descent into madness. Especially when the government mock and ridicule his research into parasites, and this drives him into deep despair. And so Miyo makes it her life’s dream to prove her father’s research is correct and that he was right all along. His research… into Hinamizawa Syndrome.

That leads us to the second half of the omnibus, where an adult Miyo is putting all her pieces into place. She’s not going to be stopped by some nasty old government officials – indeed, at one point, she believes that bullets won’t kill her (flashing back to the lightning bolt missing her as a sign). She delves further into his research, and also makes connections, showing that she’s an up-and-coming woman whose drive is not merely frivolous. (We briefly see her fighting a bit of “but gosh, why is a girl interested in parasites?” male doctors.) And finally, she gets what she wants – a research facility in Hinamizawa, with a helpful doctor in Kyousuke Irie, and a liaison in Jiro Tomitake. she notes Tomitake looks like an easy sucker, something that does not bode well for their relationship.

Irie is more complicated, though, and our sympathy shifts to him in this second half as Takano starts to slip deeper into madness. Turns out Irie, due to his parent”s crumbling marriage after his father had a head injury, has made it his life’s work to study brain injuries. Unfortunately, he was doing this around the time lobotomies were discredited, and therefore his career was somewhat ruined. Here in Hinamizawa, he’s trying to start over – being a nice helpful doctor, encouraging a young and stress-out Satoshi to take an interest in baseball – while also researching Hinamizaqwa Syndrome and trying to stop it. He’s a good guy, mostly.

Then they bring in a live specimen. The murderer of the dam construction manager, who is at Level 5 and trying to claw out his throat. And Takano blackmails Irie into dissecting his brain – while he’s alive. This really doesn’t bode well for Satoko Hojo, as she’s also showing signs of Hinamizawa Syndrome, and her parents fell off of a bridge just now in a very suspicious manner. Miyo isn’t too bothered – more live dissections! – but with Irie draw the line and cutting open a little girl?

As you can see, there’s a lot of backstory here, but it’s presented with a lot of dramatic effect – indeed, one might argue too much at times. This is really over the top grotesque in places, and the images of Eriko, and later the live dissections, are some of the more nightmare inducing of the entire series. That said, I think we can now see how Miyo Takano got to be the way she is, even if we can’t sympathize with her. Irie’s role in the series expanding is also a good thing, taking him away from “comedy lolicon doctor” and into a man trying to hold onto his ethics while still doing surgery FOR SCIENCE.

Karin Suzuragi did the Keiichi and Rena arcs, and her art is back as well for the final arc. It’s not my favorite of the artists, but it’s pretty good – although she’s not good at showing younger versions of our leads. Satoko in 1980 looks exactly the same as Satoko in 1983, and given that’s going between age 8 and age 12 or so, I’m not sure I buy that. Overall, though, for an omnibus whose job is to pour out backstory and explanations, this remains an amazingly gripping read, though of course I only recommend it for fans who’ve read the other books.

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

I’d mentioned in my previous review that Blood Lad had become a very solid shonen series (that runs in a seinen magazine, yes). I’ll go further with Vol. 3: this is really excellent. The previous volume showed us the main characters being quite clever, something which continues here. But this volume also shows us the writer being very clever. Kodama has crafted a plot that makes me want to dig deeper, with no elements so far dominating the others. The internal power struggle for the demon world, the Frankenstein monster corpse-robbing from last time, and Staz’s quest to restore Fuyumi to life all get about the right weight, with few pointless side journeys. Best of all, we have Fuyumi’s backstory, which I’ll delve into further.

I knew coming in that Fuyumi’s family was going to somehow be connected to the demon world, given all the hints we’d had in the previous book. And indeed, that turns out to be exactly the case. But there’s no secret adultery or trips to the demon world here. Instead, there’s a very clever (and fairly creepy) use of doppelganger legends to show how Fuyumi is related to Bell and her brother while still remaining completely human. What’s more, it actually plays out what happens after with Bell and Fuyumi’s fathers, and shows us that the demon world is not the only one to have scary guys. This is easily my favorite part of the book.

Of course, Fuyumi’s reaction to this is pretty much the same as it’s been since the start of the series: dull surprise. This is actually lampshaded in the series, as she notes after discovering her mother’s real identity that she’s been too overwhelmed by events to process anything since she came into the demon world, and seems to have been fairly mellow even before her death. Still, it can be frustrating, especially given how often she’s meant to be fanservice for the reader, how passive she is. Her stepfather gives Staz two very important conditions to satisfy before he’ll let Fuyumi put herself in danger by journeying with him, and both of them amount to the same thing: give Fuyumi agency to decide things herself.

Which is good, because while Staz is not your typical shonen ‘rush into fights’ dolt, he has not really given much thought to what Fuyumi wants, something else pointed out to him. He has to stop treating Fuyumi like an object (and then, perhaps, the manga itself will stop doing the same thing). Staz is already suffering from the fact that, as a vampire, he’s almost trained since birth to see himself as an evil person. So his desperate attempts to restore Fuyumi, without asking her what she really wants to do, are indicative of this. He thinks that this is something that makes him evil, and that, by listening to Fuyumi and doing what she really wants, he can become a hero for her. (This also brings up the question of whether they love each other – everyone except the two of them seem to think this is the case.)

Staz is, of course, already a hero, and I hope that this change of lifestyle for him does not involve more charging ahead and less cunning in fights. (The fanservice this volume went to Bell, by the way, and the fight between her and Staz is a great example of how to combine Staz’s intelligence and cunning and his complete lack of awareness when it comes to women’s feelings.) How all this plays out, though, is something I really am desperate to find out. Though I may have to wait a while: we’re caught up with Japan, at least as caught up as Western publishers like to get. In the meantime, read this series.

By Milk Morinaga. Released in Japan by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Comic High! (earlier stories serialized by Ichijinsha in the magazine Comic Yuri Hine). Released in North America by Seven Seas.

When I was growing up, the generally accepted “yes, you can now be nostalgic about this” period was about 20 years. Happy Days being the primary example, but the same thing applied as the 1980s wore on. Then, sometime around the early 90s, nostalgia started to speed up. Suddenly we can’t get enough of revisiting things that only happened 5-10 years ago. And this makes sense, given how fast culture has been moving lately thanks to the Information Superhighway and such. (See what I told you about nostalgia?) What this means in practice is that we can be startled that things we read only a few years back suddenly seem like products of a bygone age, and Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink is an excellent example.

When these stories first came out in 2003 or so, it was fantastic. They were in a magazine devoted exclusively to ‘yuri’ stories, and many of them sailed along based solely on that premise. Girls! In love with other girls! And even kissing and stuff! This particular story was actually a group of one-shots that ended up centering around the same school, which is attended by Nana and her friends (Hitomi’s school gets far less attention, possibly as it seems to be far less yuri-friendly). It’s not just Nana – there’s ghosts in love, and unrequited love, and a Takarazuka ‘prince’ who’s actually a bit of a weirdo. It’s a whole yuri subculture. And, in 2003, this was fantastic.

Why does it seem to old and cliched now? It’s partly because Morinaga Milk essentially rewrote and improved Nana and Hitomi’s story in Girl Friends a few years later for Futabasha (after first wrapping it up, as we see in the second volume of this collection.) But it seems to me to be primarily that this sort of story is now old hat. There’s so much more yuri out there, and not all of it has to be “Girl meets girl, girl likes girl, they like each other, the end.” Actually, at the time this collection went FURTHER than a lot of the stories in Yuri Hime. Nana and Hitomi are sexually active, and we see that – again, something that was a real wow in 2003.

But nostalgic doesn’t necessarily mean bad, it simply means “wow, I can’t believe this is only 10 years old”. These stories are cute and sweet, and even the story that doesn’t end with two girls getting together still manages to be adorable. There’s not a lot of “couples buying refrigerators” here – indeed, the manga ends literally right before Nana and Hitomi will have to do that – because in 2003, this was enough. Girls being gay and in love (well, as gay as they’re allowed to be – the word ‘lesbian’ isn’t used much here) at their local schools, and some of them even (gasp!) staying together after they leave school.

I really enjoyed this series, as it brought back a lot of happy memories, and the stories set up a lot of other series that I’ve also enjoyed that followed its example. Nana and Hitomi are sweet, everyone is happy (though the final Nanan and Hitomi story does have a deus ex machina so blatant you could drive a moving truck through it), and the series is quaint. Quaint and twee, you’re in 2003. Nostalgia is the new nostalgia. Recommended.

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

If you had not been following along with One Piece and were trying to come into this volume totally unspoiled, well, sorry. The cover totally spoils one of the funniest gags Oda’s come up with in some time, unashamedly. There’s a whole lot going on in Punk Hazard, and I’ll get to some of it later. But mostly what people remember from this volume is the bodyswapping. The reasoning behind it is somewhat flimsy – Law doesn’t want the Strawhats getting away, so does this to create chaos, I believe – but the consequences are pure gold, even if it means putting up with Sanji trying to feel himself up half the time. Even Smoker and Tashigi get in on the act, with a bodyswap that makes your head hurt even more. (Tashigi is still, I note, dealing with “we’ll obey our captain because she’s really hot!” from the crew, and is totally unable to do anything against Law. But then again, neither is Smoker.)

Oh yes, Law! One of the most popular of the Supernovas, we knew he’d show up again, but not quite so soon. He doesn’t seem to be entirely behind what’s going on here, but he’s involved in some way, and it’s interesting seeing him scheme and plan when compared with Luffy’s “well, whatever” style of piracy. As for who is behind things, well, it would appear to be ex-government scientist Caesar Clown, who is basically the Joker from Batman, only as a mad scientist. He is creepy as hell, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s the guy Luffy will have to fight a few volumes down the road. His plot involves kidnapping and experimenting on young children, which is pretty damn dark, but then I remember the other backstories that this series has given us.

I would be remiss in this review if I did not stop to talk about my favorite character. Robin gets a lot to do here, including, to my surprise and pleasure, a huge number of jokes. No, she’s not making goofy faces, but we do see her imagining Usopp and Zoro as Duck Ferry Rides, and joining with the others in stealing the villains’ clothes for warmth, and absolutely shutting Franky down when he tries to make his usual poses and faces in Chopper’s cute body. (Robin has always had a soft spot for Chopper. Also, I sense this may be Oda trying to sink the Franky/Robin ship a bit – she’s clearly REALLY IRRITATED here.) And of course she’s making her usual references to all her comrades possibly being dead on pools of blood. If it’s Robin humor you want, this is the volume for you.

And I haven’t even mentioned the goofy samurai who’s just a head, or Nami’s maternal instincts oddly popping up (I’ll buy it, but only just – I have to wonder if she’s thinking of her own childhood pre-Bellemere), or Brownbeard, of all people, making a comeback, or the really creepy chamber of corpses, or the bird woman and what role she’s playing. As ever, there’s just so much going on here. By the time you finish this volume of One Piece, you could have read 5 Bleaches! Absolutely recommended.

By Osamu Tezuka. Released in Japan by Sekai Bunkasha, serialized in the magazine Nico Nico Comic. Released in North America by Digital Manga Publishing.

I have been noticing, around the internet, a lot less enthusiasm for this particular title as opposed to other Tezuka titles. Usually the comment will start by saying “Well, any Tezuka is good Tezuka, BUT…” and then moving on to note its fluffiness and lack of deep, tragic history. This is a marked contrast to the other type of Tezuka fan, which is the “we must have every single Tezuka work ever created translated into English as soon as possible!” sort. I have sympathy for both camps. Tezuka wrote a TON of stuff, and not all of it is going to be on the scale of Apollo’s Song or Buddha. At the same time, I do want to see his lighter comics that are just moments of everyday life or dumb humor. And that’s why I’m quite pleased to see Atomcat, which is both.

The story of a young boy and his Astro Boy-themed superhero cat, this manga actually intersperses moments from the actual Astro Boy manga (redrawn by Tezuka) as contrast and compare. Usually Tsugio reads about another aspect of Atom’s fairly crappy life, and sympathizes, then has to deal with his own issues, such as an eccentric father, overbearing mother, and the ever-present school bullies. He tries to take home a stray cat as a pet, but the cat is an absolute disaster, destroying everything in the house in a great comedy sequence. Taking it away so he can abandon it, he and the cat and struck by a car… driven by Princess Diana. Only not really, she and Prince Charles are actually ALIENS. The boy is fine, but the cat is dead, so they fix him using the boy’s memories… with are filled with Astro Boy. So now the cat is intelligent and has superpowers. This doesn’t help quite as much as you think, although he’s a few levels above Doraemon.

This is a very 1980s manga – leaving aside Charles and Di the space aliens, we also have the school bully being named Gaddafi. It’s also very much for kids – Unico was too, but it had an undercurrent of melancholy at its core that Atomcat simply doesn’t possess. This is broad comedy with lots of funny faces. Our hero’s father is an absentminded freak, and his wife is the typical cartoon wife – all she needs is a rolling pin to beat her husband with. Atomcat and Tsugio fight mummies and gangsters, search for island treasure, and plunge through the sewers of Japan.

There’s no real character arc here – Tsugio starts the series as a bit of a wimp, and ends that way as well, and the series does not so much end as stop. But it’s fun! The dialogue is snappy, the Astro Boy inserts work well with the themes of the stories, and there’s lots and lots of comedic slapstick, which Tezuka was very good at indeed. I read this title and thought of Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game, or Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2. Everyone says they’re influenced by Tezuka, but we tend to look for it in series like Ayako. In reality, these manga artists were more likely to grow up reading stories like these – and these are the stories that influenced a future generation. Fluff, but IMPORTANT fluff.

By Atsuko Asano and Hinoki Kino. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Aria. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Dystopias are, as a general rule, not my cup of tea. Those who read this blog on a regular basis already know that I’ll forgive a lot of a story if it has a happy ending; likewise, if a series is just unrelentingly grim, all I really feel is exhausted. But that isn’t to say that a series can’t still win me over with enough interesting things going on. No. 6 is indeed one of those series. It takes place in a supposed elite utopia that turns out to have many deep, dark secrets, and our hero quickly finds out how fast events can turn against him. It’s also shoujo – it runs in Aria, Kodansha’s upscale magazine that’s competing with titles like Asuka and Wings to get the teen “not quite BL” market.

Our hero’s name is Shion, a stoic and reserved young man who is on the fast track for the elite school (and this is among a city of elites) until he lets a young fugitive, who seems to be called Rat, briefly stay at his place, and sews up his wounds. This causes him to lose that elite privilege, something which… really doesn’t bother him much. Several years later, he’s working part-time jobs and staring blankly at his female best friend, who blatantly says she wants to sex him up but is just not registering on his radar, when he comes across a hideous government conspiracy that is killing people by aging them to death. He’s rescued by Rat, and is forced to abandon his life and go on the run, where he’ll find out what the city is really like.

Passive characters like Shion have to be handled very carefully not to be boring. Luckily, these creators are doing a good job so far. Shion may be reserved, but he’s not unemotional, and I like his youthful enthusiasm (which sadly wears down as the volume goes on) and bluntness when he first meets Rat. The scenes with Safu, the aforementioned best friend, are also both quite funny and very telling. It’s not entirely clear if he’s uninterested because he’s not into girls (certainly he bonds better with Rat than he has with Safu) or if the concept of sexual love has simply never occurred to him, but it’s another thing that serves to make him watchable. (By the way, Safu will be dying at some point in this series, sacrificing her life for Shion. I don’t know any spoilers, but bank on this happening anyway, because DUR HEY.)

Rat is less successful, being more of a standard smug pretty boy who has learned not to trust anyone but can’t help but be drawn to our hero. Likewise, the government conspiracy itself, along with its Orwellian officers who administer it, are very much out of the school of Dystopias 101. The aging-to-death thing is pretty horrific, but we don’t know either of the victims long enough for it to really sink in. And the art is serviceable, but doesn’t really pull you in much.

That said, I’m interested to see what happens with Shion, who’s an intriguing enough character that I’ll try another volume of this. The genre isn’t my cup of tea, but the lead may be. And it’s a definite must-buy for anyone who likes conspiracy thrillers with overtones of possible BL romance.

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Jiro Suzuki. Released in Japan in two and 1/2 separate volumes as “Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Turn of the Golden Witch” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine GFantasy. Released in North America by Yen Press.

(In case there are any Umineko obsessives reading this, please avoid any future spoilers in comments. No need to Yasu this up till we have to.)

We’ve had our first go-round, and now Umineko begins its second arc. Surprisingly, for most of this volume Battler isn’t the protagonist, either. I was expecting, as with Higurashi, a few arcs that are simply “Battler is dumb” before things really got going. Here, though, we get a wider view of the cast. The fist half of this has the servants Shannon and Kanon as the dual protagonists, showing Shannon’s love for George and how she got a chance to make that love happen, as well as Kanon’s combination of jealousy and self-loathing that balance this out. Between the two of them, Beatrice has a lot to manipulate, and that’s exactly what she does here – though Shannon, at least, is starting to see through Beatrice’s motivations. Certainly more than Battler is.

The second half of the “island story” (more on the meta world later) focuses more on Maria and her mother Rosa, and oh dear I worry about the fandom just dropping this like a hot potato. Parental abuse is not unique to anime and manga, certainly, but it’s rare in a protagonist, and I think that’s what Ryukishi07 is trying to set Rosa up as here – particularly after the events of the first Twilight that remove the other potential adult protagonists. Her bipolar tendencies are simply hard to read, and we definitely see why Umineko fandom has sarcastically nicknamed her “BEST MOM EVER”. Maria’s not exactly helping her case, either – she’s just as hyper-annoying and creepy as she was in the first arc, and it’s easy to see (though not justify) why she would grate on every one of Rosa’s nerves. Basically, this is a horribly broken family, and putting them in a situation like this is just mean.

Which brings me to Battler and Beatrice. No, not the Battler who’s on the island, or the Beatrice who’s showing up doing magic things and dressing in stockings and short skirts; I’m talking about the Beatrice and Battler from the first arc, who are sitting over a gameboard watching as Battler tries to prove that the murders are human-caused, and Beatrice tries to prove they’re all due to magic. The arcs certainly tie together more than they do with Higurashi, and even more than that series, this one rewards re-reads – and is harsh to those who don’t pay attention. I have to say that I think Beatrice’s ‘move’ here is excellent – Battler could easily deny witches in the first arc when she was just portraits and butterflies, but now Beatrice is everywhere, flouting Battler by simply existing and doing supposed magic.

No one really reads this to identify with or bond over the characters, I hope – leaving aside the fact that they always die, these folks are simply far more unlikeable and broken than even Higurashi’s broken cast, and they’re explicitly compared to “game pieces”. No, we read this to try to figure out what’s actually happening here – particularly now that we have multiple realities stacking up with the ‘meta’ gameboard. I’m pretty sure that this arc isn’t going to give us any answers – in fact, as with Higurashi, I’m not expecting anything concrete till at least the 5th arc – but it does have a lot of pointing and shouting, and over the top faces (sometimes too over the top – I think the artists overdo it in Umineko based on the fan reaction to Higurashi’s faces), and grand guignol horror.

A manga that requires you to think about everything that’s happening, while also trying not to overthink things, seems very contradictory. But that’s Umineko in a nutshell, and if you don’t mind horrible things happening to horrible people, it’s still a great deal of fun. Especially now that Beatrice, who is pure evil on a stick, has made her grand debut.

(By the way, for those curious, Yen didn’t leave out any extras – the 2nd volume in Japan also lacked the extras Vol. 1 had.)

By Hajime Isayama. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

(There may be spoilers in this review for people who are only following the anime.)

In general, I tend to do a lot of reviews for this blog. But sometimes, I don’t have as much to say. So I am very grateful to the Manga Bookshelf team, who allow me, with their Bookshelf Briefs column, to do quick reviews of titles I can’t really spend 500+ words talking about. That said, I have my pet series, which will always get full reviews no matter what. Sailor Moon. Excel Saga. Higurashi. And now, after a few briefs, I’ve decided that Attack on Titan is going to join that crowd. Because guys, this is seriously one of the best manga out there. Its popularity is very much on the rise, helped by the release of the anime, but also by its compelling plot and fantastic characterization, which has been helped by greatly improved facial art. The art is still the weak point, but it’s not enough to make this any less gripping.

Things pick up right where last volume left off, as we’re dealing with the fallout from Eren’s Titan reveal. Eren is not quite sure about it himself, and that’s the wrong answer to give to a city that’s very much had enough of its family and friends being eaten by Titans. The military trial that follows is great, showing off the “kill him before he kills us all” folks (who are more than one group, and for different reasons) and contrasting him with the Survey Team group, who think Eren may be the best way to help them gain ground and learn about the other Titans. Levi in particular makes an instant impression (that’s him in the foreground on the cover), being that sort of commanding officer who appears cold and unfeeling but has your best interests at heart.

Eren is thus taken to a new squad, and for a moment we worry that we may not see our other main heroes again. Fear not, though: their training is over and they’re all given the opportunity to join the Survey Team themselves. The speech inspiring this is stark and depressing, deliberately so, and it’s no surprise that the majority of those who’ve been through basic training walk away. We then get a great montage of the decisions the others make to join the team. Mikasa and Armin are givens, and I’m not surprised by Reiner and Bartolt either, as they’re the strong stoic types. But Jean, Connie and Sasha are genuinely worried and scared. Sasha, in fact, is absolutely terrified, having almost been taken out by a Titan in Volume 2, to the point where she begged for her life. We get a horrific image of what it would be like for those three to be assaulted and eaten by Titans. Connie recalls his mom back home would love him to be safe with the military police. And yet, in the end, they stay and join the Team, even if Sasha and Krista are crying. (Annie leaves, though. I’m sure she’ll pop up again, though, if only to beat up more guys.)

(Note that we also have some cast who have been around, but aren’t named yet. Gosh, who is that freckled girl next to Krista, and why is she so grumpy and yet always next to her? On a completely different note, there was a somewhat depressing side story at the start of the volume, where a survey team member tries to take notes regarding the Titans before she is brutally eaten. We later see her notebook is rescued, so it’s not all for naught. This chapter was far more important in retrospect, but I think a lot of people may have been spoiled about something or other, so it’s an odd case where those spoiled go “Oh my God!” more than those who haven’t.)

So yes, we now get a merging of the two casts, as Levi and Eren’s group (which also has Zoe Hange, who is marvelous and tortures Titans FOR SCIENCE and is a great reminder that Sasha is not the only weirdo in this series) merge with Mikasa and Armin’s crowd and go merrily off to train and capture Titans. And again we’re reminded how brutal this series is, as many of the people we’ve only just come to know are cut down by Titans who are simply too fast, too large, too homicidal, and (for a cliffhanger) too clever to go quietly. Armin, in fact, realizes what the rest of us may have not – if Eren can transform into a Titan, maybe the other Titans are actually humans as well? Does that mean that the entire Corps could be full of secret Titan spies?

Leaving aside the truly ludicrous “next time” page spread – the author allows himself to have fun with these – this is another very serious volume of Attack on Titan, and you really shouldn’t get too attached to many of the people in this cast. But man, it’s an amazing read, and I just can’t wait to find out what happens next.