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Reviews

Crimson Hero 11 by Mitsuba Takanashi: B

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crimson11The Crimson High girls’ volleyball team has made it to the third round of the Newcomers’ Tournament and is facing its first serious challenge. Things are going well and they win the first set, but when the opposing team intentionally wounds Crimson High’s star setter, there’s no one who can fill in. Instead, the Crimson High girls rearrange their strategy to protect their injured teammate and refuse to give up. Their spirit of camaraderie and teamwork inspires their rivals, who are, of course, actually sympathetic girls being led astray by an unaccountably obnoxious coach.

Okay, yes, I completely admit that Crimson Hero can be sappy at times. This whole volume seems calculated to make one verklempt, be it the way that the most inexperienced member of the team demonstrates her growth by scoring the winning point or how the girls from the other team come to regret the way they’ve abandoned their friendships in pursuit of the number one spot on the team. Transparent manipulation like this would usually annoy me, but it just works so well in a sports manga that I can forgive it.

There’s also a little progress on the romantic front. It seems that one of the boys who likes Nobara might still have feelings for his ex-girlfriend, but it’s really nothing to get excited about. I’m just here for the volleyball.

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

Fairy Tail 7 by Hiro Mashima: B+

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From the back cover:
Fairy Tail’s rival guild, Phantom Lord, has taken the competition to dangerous levels by smashing the Fairy Tail building and nearly killing three wizards. What is Fairy Tail’s response? A full-frontal assault on Phantom Lord! But this clash is all part of the Phantom Lord’s evil plot to capture a coveted prize.

Review:
Volume seven of Fairy Tail is a lot of fun. The battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord continues on, and not only are some nifty villains introduced on the Phantom Lord side, we also learn more about some members of Fairy Tail who’ve remained in the background thus far. True, a couple of the chapters could be summarized as “Mirajane and Elfman have angst,” but it’s about time some of these folks got some attention.

Showcasing the new faces on both sides means Mashima gets to show off his talent for devising interesting new magical abilities. The most devastating new power to be introduced in this volume is called “drain,” wielded by a wind magic user, which essentially blows a person’s powers right out of them. Elfman turns out to have a pretty cool ability too, and now that he’s overcome his angst enough to use it, I wonder whether he’ll figure more prominently in the story from now on.

Lastly, I must commend Mashima for not taking this in the exact direction I was expecting. I was dreading another entry into the “our heroine is kidnapped by the enemy and our heroes bravely battle to retrieve her” school of shounen plotting, but Lucy surprised me by escaping her confinement pretty quickly. Everyone does still battle because they refuse to hand her over, but at least she wasn’t wholly passive about it.

Jyu-Oh-Sei, Vols. 1-3

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In the year 2346 A.D., humans have colonized the Vulcan solar system, a region so inhospitable that the average life span is a mere thirty years. Rai and Thor, whose parents belong to Vulcan’s ruling elite, enjoy a life of rare privilege — that is, until a political rival executes their parents and exiles the boys to Kimaera, a penal colony reserved for violent criminals. To say Kimaera’s climate is harsh understates the case: daylight lasts for 181 days, producing extreme desert conditions and water shortages, while nighttime plunges Kimaera into arctic darkness for an equal length of time. Making the place even more treacherous is the flora, as Kimaera’s jungles team with carnivorous plants capable of eating men whole.

On the planet’s surface, Rai and Thor discover a tribal society based on physical strength and skin color. Four tribes, or “rings,” as they’re known, provide their members food and protection from the extreme climate, but there’s a catch: each person must prove himself strong enough to defend the ring from encroachment by rival factions. The strife within rings is mirrored in the uneasy relationship among the tribal leaders, a motley assortment of criminals, ex-military men, and native Kimaeran women. The ring leaders compete to become the Beast King, Kimaera’s official representative in the Vulcan government and the only person allowed to leave the planet’s surface.

Sensing an opportunity to upset the uneasy truce that exists among the Blanc, Noir, Ochre, and Sun Rings, several unscrupulous figures encourage Thor to fight his way up the ranks to become the Beast King — his best (and perhaps only) opportunity for escaping Kimaera and finding out why his parents were murdered. Aiding him is Tiz, a tough, resourceful Kimaeran girl who wants Thor for a mate. (In a nice change of pace, women choose their partners, a request men can’t decline.)

Natsumi Itsuki does a superb job of world-building in volume one, striking the right balance between exposition and action. The plot twists come fast and furious, but they feel like a natural outgrowth of the situations the characters find themselves in, rather than an arbitrary decision to move the story in a particular direction. Only in the third and final volume do things begin to fall apart; the first hundred pages are filled with talking heads explaining Kimaera’s true purpose (hint: it involves evil scientists), revealing Thor’s identity, and waxing philosophic about whether mankind should be allowed to become extinct. Perhaps sensing that the story was beginning to sag under the weight of its own pretentiousness, Itsuki then stages a lengthy, exciting battle that pits Thor against those infamous, man-eating plants and a super-computer of HAL-like malevolence.

9781427810168-1Though the story is well-executed, the artwork is something of a disappointment. Itsuki goes to great pains to create a diverse cast — a task at which she’s generally successful — but her character designs are generic and dated; I’d be hard-pressed to distinguish the Kimaerans from, say, the cast of RG Veda or Basara. Itsuki also struggles with skin color; her dark-skinned women bear an unfortunate resemblance to kogals, thanks to Itsuki’s clumsy application of screentone.

More disappointing are Itsuki’s fight scenes: they register as scratchy messes, thanks to her over-reliance on speedlines and trapezoidal panels. The third volume, for example, consists of several lengthy scenes of hand-to-hand combat in which all of the action is suggested by superimposing horizontal lines on close-ups of contorted faces; we never get a clear sense of where the characters are standing in relation to one another, nor do we always have a clear sense of where the action is unfolding.

Tokyopop has done a good job of presenting Jyu-Oh-Sei. The manga was originally released in five volumes; Tokyopop wisely repackaged the story in omnibus format to allow Jyu-Oh-Sei‘s lengthy and complicated story arcs to unfold without significant interruption. The translation is clear and idiomatic, even when the characters are called upon to speak in unadulterated Science Fiction. The only downside to Tokyopop’s presentation is the paperstock: as many readers have observed, it’s thin and greyish, like newsprint, and allows images to bleed through the page.

Aside from a third-act detour into sci-fi pomposity, Jyu-Oh-Sei is a solid, entertaining read: think B-movie in manga form. Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and District 9, Jyu-Oh-Sei addresses social taboos — race, gender roles — and scientific issues — genetic engineering, environmental devastation — while serving up generous portions of what audiences crave: action, romance, monsters, explosions. Best of all, Jyu-Oh-Sei comes in a neat, three-volume package that’s long enough to allow for world-building and character development but short enough to stay fresh and surprising until the end. It’s the perfect summer escape, minus the sticky floors, endless previews, and seven dollar buckets of popcorn.

This review is an expanded version of an earlier review posted at PopCultureShock. My original review of volume one can be found here.

Review copy of volume one provided by Tokyopop.

JYU-OH-SEI, VOLS. 1-3 • BY NATSUMI ITSUKI • TOKYOPOP • RATING: TEEN

Bleach, Volume 28

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Bleach, Vol. 28
By Tite Kubo
Published by Viz Media

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Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad face their first foes since their arrival in Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime, but more importantly, they meet the comic relief, appearing in the form of a group of rag-tag Arrancar (considered “garbage bugs” by the higher-ranked types) seemingly led by a noisy toddler named Nel. Also joining the fight are Rukia and Renji, who arrive wearing capes provided by austere older brother Byakuya–an unusual gesture of kindness (not to mention insubordination) from him. Meanwhile, Orihime’s grim Espada guardian, Ulquiorra, explains how his apparent sympathy for Orihime (allowing her to put her affairs in order and make her secret goodbye to Ichigo) was a technique intended to break her will, which he arrogantly assumes has occurred. Orihime has other ideas, however, as she bides her time and makes plans to sabotage Aizen’s most dangerous tool.

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Paradise Kiss, Volumes 1-5 (Full Series)

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As my final offering for Girls Only Week, I’m going to finally write about a series I’ve been planning to talk about for some time: Ai Yazawa’s Paradise Kiss. This isn’t my first time reading the series though it is my first attempt at putting something down in words about it. I was surprised, however, how differently it read for me this time around. I expect it’s a series that will continue to change over time for me, as my own perspective on life changes, something that I think very clearly demonstrates its universal appeal. So on we go.

parakiss1Paradise Kiss, Vols. 1-5 (Full Series)
By Ai Yazawa
Published by Tokyopop

Yukari Hayasaka is a student at an elite high school whose only clear goal is to get into the right college, spurred on by her parents’ wishes. As noble as it appears on the surface, this half-hearted ambition can’t possibly hold up when confronted head-on by a group of students from Yazawa School for the Arts (shortened as “Yaza Arts”) who spot Yukari in the street and beg her to act as model for their entry into the school’s upcoming fashion show. Representing their own indie label (“Paradise Kiss”) with great passion and ambition, the students finally manage to persuade Yukari to participate. As they open her mind up to a world beyond good grades and college entrance exams, designer George Koizumi also opens her heart to love and sexual desire. As the series continues, Yukari’s life is transformed completely thanks to charismatic George, adorable, Lolita-styled Miwako, punk rocker Arashi, and elegant, transgender pattern-maker Isabella, each of whom comes to care for her in his or her own fashion. Eventually deciding to pursue a career as a model, Yukari must face her parents’ opposition and her own personal obstacles in order to make her own way.

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Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 19

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Here on the penultimate evening of Girls Only Week, I talk about the most recent volume of my favorite long-running shonen series which just happens to be written and drawn by a woman. Is this a coincidence? One must wonder. Meanwhile, enjoy:

Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 19
By Hiromu Arakawa
Published by Viz Media

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In this volume, Hawkeye reveals the truth about President Bradley’s son to Mustang, though he finds it impossible to believe. Ed is badly injured in the attempt to take down Kimblee and ends up purposefully disappearing along with a couple of Kimblee’s men. Finally, Al is discovered by Scar and Winry’s group in time to warn them away from Fort Briggs, though it isn’t long before he suffers a repeat of last volume’s experience in which he begins to feel pulled out of his body. All of this feels almost trivial, however, compared to this volume’s real story, which reveals the origins of Father and the homunculi (down to their names), as well as the distant past of Ed and Al’s father, Von Hohenheim, and the dark history they share.

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Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, Vol. 1

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Tegami Bachi has all the right ingredients to be a great shonen series: a dark, futuristic setting; rad monsters; cool weapons powered by mysterious energy sources; characters with goofy names (how’s “Gauche Suede” grab you?); and smart, stylish artwork. Unfortunately, volume one seems a little underdone, like a piping-hot shepherd’s pie filled with rock-hard carrots.

The problem lies with the story: manga-ka Hiroyuki Asada takes a simple premise and gussies it up with fussy, poorly explained details. The story itself may remind readers of Banya the Explosive Delivery Man or The Postman, as Tegami Bachi‘s principal characters are also mail carriers — or, in the series’ parlance, Letter Bees — who traverse dark wastelands to deliver letters and packages to the far-flung residents of their homeworld. In the case of Tegami Bachi, that homeworld is Amberground, a planet illuminated by a single, man-made star that hovers above its capital city, Akatsuki, where the wealthiest, most powerful citizens live. Amberground’s cities are separated by country inhabited only by Gaichuu, giant insects whose metal exoskeletons are impervious to most weapons, save the shindanjuu, or heart gun, the preferred sidearm of Letter Bees.

How, exactly, the shindanjuu works is never satisfactorily explained, despite its prominent role in the story. I had to consult the appendix, which defines “heart” as a magical, omnipresent energy that penetrates and surrounds most living beings, not unlike The Force. (The Gaichuu, lacking heart, are vulnerable to its awesome power, especially when it takes the form of hollow bullets). The shindanjuu also enables Letter Bees to experience other people’s memories in a vivid, almost hallucinatory fashion. As with the magic bullets, the gun’s dream-sharing capacity gets only a cursory explanation; the dream sequences are hella confusing, requiring several readings to figure out whose memories we’re seeing.

Tegami Bachi‘s other shortcoming is its two principal characters. Gauche Suede, the older, more experienced Letter Bee, is a stock shonen hero: a confident, tough-talking loner who turns out to be a softie under his cool, competent exterior. Lag Seeing, the younger one, begins his journey as a package — he’s one of Gauche’s deliveries — and decides to become a Letter Bee after Gauche safely guides them through Gaichuu-infested territory. Lag, too, is a familiar type, the slightly dim but very sincere Kid on a Mission who views mail delivery as his true calling. Both characters have sad back stories involving female relatives — again, a standard shonen trope that does little to enrich the story.

The artwork, on the other hand, is genuinely striking; Tegami Bachi is one of the best-looking titles in the Shonen Jump catalog. Hiroyuki Asada’s landscapes are beautifully rendered, giving a clear sense of Amberground’s geography, technology (they’re in the nineteenth-century Bavarian phase of development, to judge from the architecture), fauna, and flora. And man, what flora! In one amusing sequence, Lag fights Gaichuu in a forest of giant broccoli. Does make you wonder, though: how do those florets get so big without sunlight?

Asada makes effective use of screentone to capture Amberground’s perpetual night, reserving true black for the sky and for a few important details: Gauche’s jacket, the Gaichuu’s carapaces. He incorporates star imagery into almost every scene without it ever seeming cheesy or heavy-handed; the stars have symbolic importance, to be sure, but they also serve an artistic purpose, bringing light and contrast to a layout that might otherwise be a murky mess.

If I seem unduly harsh in my assessment of Tegami Bachi, it’s only because it has the potential to be good — really good, if Asada focuses more on character development and less on mystical hoo-ha. The premise lends itself to both a Delivery of the Week format, in which each chapter functions as a stand-alone story, and to a more traditional Boy on a Quest narrative, in which Gauche, Lag, or both set out to rescue the people they love. Either way, I’ll be picking up volume two to see if the storytelling rises to the level of the artwork.

Review copy provided by VIZ Media, LLC. Volume one will be available on September 1, 2009.

TEGAMI BACHI, VOL. 1 • BY HIROYUKI ASADA • VIZ • 200 pp. • RATING: TEEN

We Were There, Volume 5

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We Were There, Vol. 5
By Yuki Obata
Published by Viz Media

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It’s been a week since Nana broke up with Yano and though Nana’s trying very hard to move on, Yano is really not doing well at all. A friend’s attempt to bring him on a group date is a complete failure, resulting in a drunken, late-night visit to best friend Takeuchi’s and a close brush with drunk dialing (or at least drunk texting). Things for Yano really don’t improve over the course of the volume either, as Nana is visibly irritated with his (admittedly weak) attempts to win her back, and Takeuchi takes advantage of Yano’s uncertainty over his feelings for his deceased ex in order to pursue Nana himself. Meanwhile, Nana is simply trying to get over her own heartbreak against all odds. The volume ends with a cruel cliffhanger, softened somewhat by an enlightening side story featuring a younger Yano and Takeuchi and the perils of unrequited love.

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Children of the Sea, Vol. 1

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The ocean occupies a special place in the artistic imagination, inspiring a mixture of awe, terror, and fascination. Watson and the Shark, for example, depicts the ocean as the mouth of Hell, a dark void filled with demons and tormented souls, while The Birth of Venus offers a more benign vision of the ocean as a life-giving force. In Children of the Sea, Daisuke Igarashi imagines the ocean as a giant portal between the terrestrial world and deep space, as is suggested by a refrain that echoes throughout volume one:

From the star.
From the stars.
The sea is the mother.
The people are the breasts
Heaven is the playground.

How, exactly, sea and sky are connected is the central mystery of Children of the Sea. The story begins in the present day, as a woman promises to tell her son “about a giant shark that lives deep beneath the waves,” “the ghosts that cross the sea,” and “the path that connects the sea to space.” We then jump back to a defining moment in Ruka’s childhood when, on a visit to the local aquarium, she saw a fish disappear in a bright flash of light – what she describes as “a ghost in the water.” Ruka doesn’t think much of the incident until she meets Umi and Sora, two humans whose bodies are better adapted to life in the ocean than on land. Under the watchful eye of her father and his assistant Jim, the boys live at the aquarium, venturing out into daylight only to visit the hospital and swim in the open ocean. Eager to know more about Umi and Sora, Ruka sets out to sea with them, where she watches the boys swim with a second “ghost in the water”: a luminescent whale shark that leaves a starry wake in its trail.

As Ruka struggles to understand Umi and Sora’s connection to the shark, she begins to realize that a profound change is taking place at sea. Thousands of common fish are disappearing from aquariums around the world; rarely seen deep-water species are washing ashore on Japanese beaches; and dugongs are visiting waters normally too cold for such tropical creatures. What these events mean is not yet clear, though they all seem like manifestations of the same phenomenon.

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Daisuke Igarashi is a masterful storyteller, liberally mixing genres – the coming-of-age story, the scientific mystery – to create a unique drama that’s eerie and compelling. As fanciful as the story’s details may be, Children of the Sea maintains a firm grip on reality, thanks to its memorable, true-to-life characters. Ruka, in particular, is a fine creation, a strong, independent girl who reacts with her fists instead of her mouth, has trouble making friends, and burns with curiosity about the things she’s seen. Umi and Sora, too, both have distinctive personalities; whatever their role in the story’s eventual denouement, neither are portrayed as innocents or naifs but as smart, worldly, and sometimes prickly individuals who are in a desperate race against time.

Igarashi’s expert storytelling is beautifully complemented by his artwork. He favors a naturalistic style, rendering every element of the layout in his own hand rather than relying on tracings or prefabricated backgrounds. As a result, his pages are visually complex but thoroughly organic; every element of the design feels essential to establishing the story’s location in space and time. His characters are realistic, though their proportions are slightly awkward. Their large heads and big hands make them seem otherworldly and fragile, especially when contrasted with the large, powerful animals they encounter at sea.

If you’re not yet sold on Children of the Sea, I strongly encourage you to visit Viz’s IKKI website, where all eight chapters of volume one are available for free online browsing. Be warned, however, that this poetic, graceful, and thought-provoking story may cast a spell on you, too, making you reflect on the truth of Jacques Cousteau’s comment that “The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.”

Review copy provided by VIZ Media, LLC.

CHILDREN OF THE SEA, VOL. 1 • BY DAISUKE IGARASHI • VIZ • 320 pp. • RATING: OLDER TEEN (16+)

Click 6-8 by Youngran Lee: B-

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I’ve decided to absolve myself from the entirely self-imposed edict that I review each volume of a series separately and start offering multi-volume reviews on this site. The final three volumes of Click seemed like an ideal place to start, since it was getting to be challenge coming up with new things to say about each volume when taken individually.

The romantic angst ramps up as we approach the conclusion, with Jinhoo realizing he has feelings for Joonha (and, believing Joonha is male, proceeding to be melodramatic and tortured about it) and Heewon being depressed because of her own pathetic behavior regarding same. (Meanwhile, Taehyun’s family resolves to learn the true gender of the person who has captivated his heart. I hesitate to include that in the angst category, though, since it’s pretty pointless and boring.) One has to wonder why all of these characters are in love with Joonha, since she’s only somewhat less of an ass now than she used to be.

In any case, Joonha seems to feel about equal affection for them all (judging by a conversation with her father at the beginning of the seventh volume) and they all know about each other too, resulting in fisticuffs between Taehyun and Jinhoo at one point. Jinhoo, the presumed favorite, breaks up with his girlfriend, Hyejin (whom he realizes he cares for but has never truly loved), and finally, finally comes out and asks Joonha, “Why does everyone say you’re a girl?” Alas, it’s here where the series takes a turn for the dramatastic, for as Joonha begins to respond to the question, Jinhoo’s phone rings with news that Hyejin’s entire family has been in a car accident. Dun dun dunnnn.

From that point on, the kooky just keeps on coming, with two of the contenders for Joonha’s affection removing themselves from the picture for pretty much unnecessary reasons. The way the two scenes parallel each other is kind of interesting, though, and I finally have some sympathy for (okay, this is a spoiler, but did anyone really think this person would be the one?) Heewon who was feeling like a dupe for ever falling in love, but who now seems to be more at peace with the way things happened. There’s also an entirely random kidnapping that made me laugh out loud, it was so ridiculous.

I’ve seen where some have found the ending of this series to be unsatisfying, and I can see where they’re coming from. My problem’s not with the ultimate pairing, though, but rather with how it was carried out. Like Beauty Pop, instead of actually showing the protagonist confessing her feelings to the person of her choice, the story instead jumps forward in time a few years to a point where they’re a recognized couple already. What a cheat! Plus, they’re not acting much differently than they ever did, and it seems to have taken four years for any kissing to transpire!

Click continues to be a fast read through to the end, and while the endless drama is part of it, the art’s another big factor. The page layouts tend to be pretty simple, with large panels and not a lot of backgrounds to stall the eye. This presents a problem, though, because without any pace-slowing, transitional panels, one can be zipping through a brief scene with Taehyun’s family and suddenly, disconcertingly, turn to a page on which Jinhoo is dramatically announcing that he’s postponing his return trip to New York. It happens fairly often and is jarring each time, like zooming along the interstate then suddenly slamming on the brakes.

Ultimately, I’m glad I read Click. Yes, it could be cheaply manipulative and ridiculous, and no, I didn’t much like any of the characters, but it was a fun ride all the same.

March on Earth, Volumes 1 & 2

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We are now three days in to Girls Only Week here at There it is, Plain as Daylight! Today I review Mikase Hayashi’s March on Earth, a sweet two-volume series about a young teen raising her nephew alone after her older sister’s death. Don’t forget to check out this week’s earlier reviews, for volume six of Peach-Pit’s emotionally rich magical girl series Shugo Chara! and volume two of Yun Kouga’s shonen fantasy series Gestalt!

March on Earth, Vols. 1 & 2
By Mikase Hayashi
Published by CMX

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When Yuzu’s parents died, it was up to her older sister to take care of her. Now that her sister has been killed in a car crash, only Yuzu is left to care for her sister’s two-year-old son, Shou. Determined to do for her sister’s young son what her sister did for her, Yuzu takes on this responsibility with her whole heart. Fortunately, she’s got a kind landlady with two sons, each of whom dotes on Yuzu and Shou (particularly the older son, Seita, who harbors a not-so-secret crush on Yuzu) so she is far from alone, no matter how bleak things might seem to Yuzu in the loneliness of night. Over the course of the story, Yuzu pieces together a family for herself and Shou, first with the discovery of the man who is Shou’s father and finally including the family who already loves her, regardless of the lack of blood relation. She also faces questions about her own future and whether or not her own dreams can exist alongside her commitment to Shou.

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Gestalt, Volume 2

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Gestalt, Volume 2
By Yun Kouga
Published by Viz Media

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This volume begins on a fairly dramatic note, as Father Olivier is possessed by something clearly unfriendly and very powerful. Ouri manages to drive out the intruder (using a pretty interesting tactic involving an incubus whose usual role is as “the monster that gives you wet dreams”) and the group’s quest continues after a short break in which more background is given about Ouri’s personal mission and how she acquired female form. The real drama of this volume, however, involves fortune-teller Shazan, whose participation in a local tournament (the prize for which is an item needed for the group’s transport) causes his true identity to be revealed. The volume ends with both Ouri and stray elf Suzu facing dangerous foes who also happen to be their siblings.

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Shugo Chara! Volume 6

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shugochara6Shugo Chara! Vol. 6
By Peach-Pit
Published by Del Rey

As volume six opens, Kairi is becoming more troubled over his role as Easter’s spy within the Guardians and especially his mission to distribute the “Wishing CD” to students at Seiyo Academy. Rima is struggling as well, both with her parents’ constant fighting and their overprotective behavior, particularly their insistence that she quit the Guardians. It doesn’t take long for either of these issues to be resolved, for better or worse. Meanwhile, Amu faces demons of her own as she finds herself once again forced into battling teen pop idol Utau (still working as a puppet for the evil corporation, Easter) who is now character transforming with Amu’s wayward guardian character, Diamond. Winding up to a final battle involving all the Guardians, Utau, and Ikuto, several new character transformations, and at least one unexpected guest, you’d think that was enough for one volume, but there is yet another surprise in store for Amu by the end.

Let me be perfectly up-front from the beginning. I love Shugo Chara! It is one of my very favorite series for younger girls and a great example of the way a talented team like Peach-Pit can take all the trappings of a standard shojo formula (in this case, the “magical girl” genre) and use it to tell a rich, thoughtful story that successfully explores the dreams and fears of children and adults alike. Its core concept–that all children have a “Heart’s Egg” that holds the potential for their most personal dreams–is honestly adorable, but more than that, it allows the story to delve into questions of desire, ability, hope, hopelessness, insecurity, self-awareness, and even gender identification (yes, really) as the series goes on. Its heroine, Amu, whose outward persona and inward personality are constantly at odds, begins the story by making a heartfelt wish to find “the courage to be reborn as the person I want to be.” Her wish brings her heart’s egg into the world to hatch as a shugo chara (guardian character)–a tiny, human-like representation of her would-be self. Where the story gets brilliant, however, is that Amu ends up giving “birth” to four different guardian characters over the course of these six volumes, representing all the many aspects of who she might be, making it clear that there is no one future self for any of us–but rather a wide array of potential selves, any of whom we may become or destroy, depending on our choices and desires.

This concept looms large in the series’ sixth volume, as Amu finds herself facing her own would-be self in battle. Yes, these mangaka have managed to create a literal fight between their heroine and a single piece of her inner self that is not only clever but actually quite stunning to behold. The children’s “character transformations”–magical incarnations of their would-be selves created by a bonding between them and their guardian characters–are a highlight of the series, and Amu’s transformation here is an enormous step forward for her. In the end, she discovers that believing in herself is what is truly important, even if she doesn’t yet understand who that is.

What draws me so to this aspect of the story’s premise, is that it contradicts the too-common idea that there is just a single destiny possible for any one person and that we must each choose one future for ourselves, no more, no less. Children these days are encouraged to make “permanent” decisions about their lives or careers earlier all the time, which is something I’ve found quite disturbing over the years. As someone who has already experienced several major career shifts in my life and explored many different versions of my would-be self, I suppose I feel akin to Amu, but my feelings about this go far beyond the personal. I really believe it is important to encourage children to acknowledge all their varied potential when they are young, and to make it clear to them that there is always possibility beyond what is right in front of them, even as adults. This series embraces that kind of thinking and that definitely contributes to my affection for it. It also doesn’t hurt that Amu’s would-be selves demonstrate that there is more to any girl than can be portrayed by a single stereotype. Between cheerful, athletic Ran, outspoken, artistic Miki, and girlish, nurturing Su, Amu can’t be placed into any neat shojo category (nor would she ever stand for such a thing) and that’s the kind of message I think young girls need to be getting from their fiction.

Another major theme in this series is cooperation, and that comes strongly into play in this volume as well. Just as Tadase finally achieved his first character transformation (“Platinum Royale”) in volume five, here the two remaining transformation-less Guardians achieve theirs as well, which is not only exciting but also frankly awesome (in the case of Kairi, whose “Samurai Soul” is beyond cool) and surprisingly cute (Yaya’s “Dearest Baby” uses a flock of rubber duckies as a weapon). Though Amu remains the most powerful of the group, as their enemies become more formidable, the children discover quickly that they always fight more effectively if they work as a team. This volume is quite action-heavy, containing at least two major battles. While this means that there is not as much page time given to thoughtful characterization in this volume, these battles are the culmination of all the careful plotting and character development the mangaka put into the first five volumes, and they provide quite a nice payoff. On a quieter note, something I mentioned in my review of volume five was how telling I thought it was that, despite his obvious personal conflict, Kairi was the one boy of the group able to appreciate and admire Amu for who she actually is (rather than who she might be), and this volume offers a major payoff in that area as well. Lastly, look for a subtle hint at the return of a beloved character who has been gone far too long!

As always, the art is a real highlight of this volume. Though this series adheres to the usual sensibilities of shojo for young girls–big eyes, sparkles, flowery backgrounds, and ornate paneling–it is done so cleanly and so well that it’s impossible not to admire it, even as a jaded adult. The style always adjusts to fit the character’s moods as well, as is most evident in an early scene with Rima, which is drawn in an uncharacteristically subdued manner, appropriate to her deep sadness at the time. The final chapter of the volume is honestly stunning, as both Amu and Utau achieve new character transformations, ending with a desolate look at Ikuto’s position that evokes true loneliness.

As this review becomes quite obviously over-long, I think it’s clear that I have a lot to say about this series, and I think my level of admiration probably comes dangerously close to hyperbole. It’s really satisfying, however, to read a series that makes me want to go on and on like this in praise. For those who think manga like Shugo Chara! is kids’ stuff (or perhaps more to the point, “girls’ stuff”) I urge you to set those preconceptions aside and give it a try. This series nicely demonstrates just how emotionally complex and genuinely moving sparkly, girly manga can be.

Sugarholic, Volume 1

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Sugarholic, Vol. 1
By Gong GooGoo
Published by Yen Press

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After the house she lives in with her mother and grandmother is destroyed in a landslide, twenty-year-old slacker Jae-Gyu is sent away from her rural hometown to live with her older brother in Seoul. With little money and even less optimism, she gets off the bus in the big city, only to lose her money and make an enemy (a good-looking but arrogant guy whose shirt she accidentally tears) right off the bat. Things get no better once she finds her brother, who is obviously engaged in shady business and really doesn’t want her around. She does find some refuge in her best friend, Hyun-Ah, whose family moved to the city a few years back, but even that is marred by the re-emergence of Hee-do, a childhood playmate Jae-Gyu bullied repeatedly, who is now an up-and-coming pop star harboring a long-held crush on her. Then to top things off, she gets embroiled in the middle of some kind of dangerous family trouble involving the torn-shirt guy (a martial artist named Whie-Hwan) who insists they pretend they are in love with each other in order to save himself from being sent out of the country.

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Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess, Vol. 1

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By Atsushi Suzumi
Del Rey, 240 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

Gimmy is a teen boy living in a a desert town that gets its much-needed water by making offerings to the Amefurashi (rain goddess) living in a nearby nimbus tree. When the Amefurashi sends a request (usually asking for a doll) someone in the town must fulfill it or the rain will not come. When Gimmy is asked by the town’s wise man to make a doll for offering, he sets in to the task gamely, but as the appointed time approaches he begins to panic that he can’t finish it in time. Determined to get their older brother off the hook, young twins Mil and Mel dress up as dolls and place themselves on the wise man’s doorstep in a wooden toy box, pretending to be the offering. The wise man has the “dolls” sent to the altar and Mil and Mel are ready to celebrate their victory, but of course the Amefurashi comes along too soon and whisks them away.

When he realizes what’s happened, Gimmy climbs the tree to rescue them, but is himself captured by the Amefurashi, who turns out to be a cute little girl brandishing a whip. Gimmy tries various tricks to get his brother and sister back, including promising more dolls to the Amefurashi (who follows him back to town), but nothing goes as planned and ultimately the Amefurashi is so weakened by her excursion that her tree and the town come under threat from a rival rain goddess who wishes to gain control of the town’s rain for herself.

Though Amefurashi‘s premise on its own sounds like great folklore, the execution is so light and breezy, all the things that could have been truly compelling about it—the missing children, the weakening of the tree, the disastrous consequences for the townsfolk, even the Amefurashi’s obsession with dolls—are shunted to the side in favor of wacky action scenes (like the kids attempting to fight a giant flying caterpillar invading the tree), dull jokes (like Gimmy being taken for a “pest” and later an “ant”), and shots of the Amefurashi (who goes by the name “Sora”) looking feisty with her whip. There’s a lot of potential buried in this story, but most of it is brazenly ignored over the course of this volume.

Sora is alternately arrogant and bratty, powerful and helpless—childish to the extreme though her calling is so serious. The rival rain goddess later explains that Sora (and her tree) are yet immature, but it still seems odd that someone so much a part of nature would be so ignorant of the ramifications of her own actions throughout the volume. She is, at least, genuinely distraught over the fate of her tree which leads her to contemplating her purpose in life. Gimmy is a typical nerd hero, good at making things (including an experimental skateboard he loses to Sora early on) and somewhat bashful, but with a hero’s heart underneath. The twins, Mil and Mel, are just plain adorable.

By the end of the volume, it appears that Sora, Gimmy, Mil, and Mel are going to be heading off to save Sora’s tree (and ultimately the town) together, which has potential to create something almost as compelling as the folklore aspects might have been had they been truly explored. This may bring a little more cohesiveness to the story and should deepen the characterization somewhat.

Suzumi’s art is fun, expressive, and easy to follow, providing one of the highlights of the series so far. The visual storytelling shows off the mangaka’s strengths nicely, though the story itself lacks the same depth of skill. Though at this point, Amefurashi is nothing special, it does show potential for growth.

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