Unshelved

Wandering Son Volume 1 by Shimura Takako

I’d procrastinated reading Wandering Son when it first came out. I figured it would be good, just from reading other bloggers’ reviews, but I was wondering if the manga’s premise of a boy who wants to be a girl meeting a girl who wants to be a boy would be a bit ABC Afterschool Special in execution. Fortunately Shimura Takako is a master at portraying subtle events in a slice of life story about adolescence that never feels didactic.

Nitori’s shyness and manners cause him to be mistaken for a girl. He stars the school year by befriending the tomboyish girl Takatsuki. He visits her at her house and she notices his reaction to a dress she has hanging on her closet. She holds the dress up to him and says “It looks good on you. Your face says you want to wear it.” Nitori isn’t able to articulate what he wants and he makes a vague protest that the idea is crazy. Takatsuki says “Don’t you think buying your kid stuff she hates is some kind of harassment?” Nitori takes the dress home to his sister, but he’s left with a heightened awareness of feminine clothing and an idea in his head that he’s afraid to articulate.

One of the things I like about Wandering Son is the way many of the events in the book are simultaneously safe and filled with dramatic tension. As Nitori begins to take tentative steps to express himself, he’s met with acceptance for the most part. His parents seem supportive, but he’s being pushed to experiment with gender before he’s ready. A girl in his class named Chiba figures out Nitori’s attraction to feminine things and gives him an outfit he decides he can’t accept. She arranges for their class to do a gender-swapped class play. Weather she’s trying to help Nitori or merely attempting to collect and manage him as a curiosity is unclear. Takatsuki’s brash behavior causes her to be more bold with experiments as she attempts to pass as a boy in public, and she forces Nitori to go along with her. This might be a good thing, as he wouldn’t necessarily take steps like this on his own.

Like the storyline, Shimura’s art is simple but nuanced. Objects like a headband or a dress take on a symbolic weight for Nitori. His reserved but embarrassed body language portrays the way he’s not comfortable in his own skin, while Takatsuki’s more forthright mannerisms are the posturing of a girl who has to portray herself as outwardly self-assured no matter what she might be feeling on the inside. There’s a great scene of Nitori and Takatsuki getting haircuts together, which is one of the more memorable episodes of the book. He only wants a slight trim so his hair stays long, and Takatsuki demands a haircut as short as his. They end up with almost identical hair and the style that is slightly girlish on Nitori reads as manly on Takatsuki.

As you’d expect from Fantagraphics, the production quality for Wandering Son is excellent. I hope that more manga is on the horizon from them. While I’ll happily read more cheaply produced manga, it is nice to have a variety of options. Carefully curated manga like Wandering Son is a treat.

I know Black Bird is wildly popular, but I have a hard time getting into it. I read the first couple volumes and couldn’t get into all the weird wound licking, although I suppose demonic wound licking is at least a twist on the whole vampire romance trope. My main problem with this manga is that I find both of the main characters unappealing. Misao is basically the ultimate trophy bride, since she is a human girl who gives extra powers to whichever demon claims her. The demonic Kyo is just generally unsympathetic.

In Volume 9 Misao and Kyo deal with the aftermath of her allowing herself to be “claimed” by Kyo. Now that she’s Kyo’s woman officially, all the demon clans are on the prowl after her. Kyo’s clan wants Misao for the healing properties of her blood and the other demon clans are fighting back because they don’t want to support the sudden imbalance of power in the demon world. As a result other humans are targeted in the demonic civil war. Innocent humans are possessed by demons and sent after Misao, and Kyo has to fight them off. Misao is filled with guilt, but her response to the situation is to have a nervous breakdown instead of doing something more productive. Kyo is as contradictory as ever, as he orders Misao to “choose humanity” and throws her at demon hunter Raikoh only to suddenly appear and put on a big show by asking Raikoh if he wants to watch him rape her. Now, I’m pretty forgiving of the horrible sexual politics in manga just because I’m willing to forgive a lot for a story that is either humorous (Ai Ore, Butterflies, Flowers) or has a certain over the top soap opera tone (Hot Gimmick). But Black Bird doesn’t have this lighter touch which is why I find myself utterly unengaged in the story after scenes like that.

Volume 10 starts off a little more promising as Kyo’s estranged father pops up to give Misao the lowdown on Kyo’s tragic family past. The wars between the demon clans start to get more serious and it turns out that Kyo’s evil brother is alive and wearing an eyepatch (so you know he is extra evil). Kyo continues to act weirdly schizophrenic as he brings Misao to tears by telling her that she can’t come with him on his mission to restore order to the demon village only to suddenly change his mind and say “Just kidding….silly.” Seriously, Ryoki “You are my slave!” from Hot Gimmick seems like Prince Charming compared to Kyo.

Sakurkoji’s art is fine, with distinct character designs and interesting yet easy to follow panel layouts. I actually liked her short two volume series Backstage Prince, so I just wish that she’s hit it big with a series featuring characters that aren’t acting like jerks or spineless wimps all the time.

You all know how much I love Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece (Viz), but I have to admit that I’m finding the current arc a bit of a chore. Now, you should know that I’m sort of working at the series from two directions, reading current volumes and catching up on middle arcs at the same time. And I’m wondering: is there a story arc in that middle part that will make me care about what does or doesn’t happen to Luffy’s brother, Ace, which I don’t currently care about, or should I just ride it out until this overlong bombast is over? Even the fact that Luffy cares what happens to him isn’t enough for me.

I sure do love Ivankov, at least.

 

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 2 by Clamp

I finished this volume and I immediately felt frustrated that the third Cardcaptor Sakura omnibus from Dark Horse doesn’t seem to be scheduled to be released anytime soon. I’m feeling a little frustrated with some of the more modern Clamp series – they just seem to either go on for far to many volumes (Tsubasa) or lean towards the insipid (Kobato). But since I’ve only read a couple scattered volumes of Cardcaptor Sakura I am happy to enjoy it from the beginning in all of its pink magical girl glory.

The opening storyline of this omnibus shows Sakura struggling to master the Clow card “The Maze.” She’s aided by her enigmatic Mizuki, who has an alarmingly direct way of dealing with her students being trapped in a maze that automatically adjusts itself to create more confusion. Syaoran is immediately suspicious of Mizuki, but it turns out that she used to know Sakura’s older brother. The question of Mizuki being helpful or having some other agenda runs through much of this omnibus, because she seems determined to remain mysterious. Sakura doesn’t really care because Mizuki makes her feel “floaty inside,” but Syaoran is constantly trying to figure out what Mizuki is up to. Other episodes include a scary class trip and a class play put on by selecting roles without considering gender, with the result that Sakura ends up playing the Prince and Syaoran the Princess. Crossdressing Syaoran is pretty hilarious in the way his dialog is portrayed at being flatly shouted and peppered with exclamation points.

While magical girl activities are the general focus of the book, there’s also a nice summer vacation episode when Sakura and her father go on vacation and she befriends the old man next door who turns out to be her estranged great-grandfather. Having the card battles interrupted by occasional school event or family interaction helps keep Cardcaptor Sakura from feeling too quest-focused. The end of this omnibus is a giant battle as Sakura has to prove herself worthy of the cards she’s collected. One thing I was surprised about was that by the end of this omnibus Sakura has collected all of the Clow cards, so in six volumes the first stage of her quest is complete. I somehow thought the card collecting aspect of the manga went on for much longer, but as you might expect when Sakura masters one challenge she is set up to face new tests in the next volume.

As always from Dark Horse, this omnibus features plenty of color pages and nice paper quality. It might take them forever to release these volumes but they are a treat for Clamp fans. Now, when is volume 3 coming out?

Otomen Volume 11 by Aya Kanno

I’d collected a fair amount of Otomen when I stopped feeling the need to keep preordering it. I like it, but the episodic nature of the book means that most of the volumes revolve around the same conflict – will Asuka’s secret talents for feminine pursuits like knitting and baking be revealed and destroy his facade of manliness? The 11th volume is pretty much the same, but it wasn’t very hard for me to pick up on what was going on after skipping several volumes and Otomen is consistently funny.

Asuka is on a class trip/feudal Japan reenactment when he and his friends find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Asuka’s enigmatic and tomboyish girlfriend Ryo promptly starts foraging, while Asuka decides to lift everybody’s spirits by constructing lovely origami flowers. Ryo gets stranded in the woods and ends up cheerfully and capably rescuing Tonomine, who comments to Asuka “She may be a girl…but she’s a true samurai.” Other episodes in this volume includes Asuka attending secret baking lessons for men and a showdown at school over Valentine’s chocolate between Asuka and “Pheromone Prince” Suzaku Oji, the school nurse. Kanno’s sense of humor really comes through in her character designs, as Oji is drawn with flowing hair and a ruffled shirt worn under his white labcoat. He makes pronouncements like “come to me, my kittens,” and all the teenage girls swoon.

Asuka’s better nature begins to make inroads against the strict gender roles enforced by his school, but things are about to take a turn for the worse when his mother comes back from overseas. My major complaint with this volume was that there wasn’t enough focus on Ryo and mangaka Juta Tachibana. A bonus story of “Love Chick” the manga Juta wrote based on Asuka and Ryo with their genders swapped was included in the back of the volume. This was fun to see, since Kanno drew it in a deliberately more simple and insipid style.

Review copy provided by the publisher

Butterflies, Flowers Volume 8 by Yuki Yoshihara

This is the final volume! I’ve enjoyed this series, which I tend to think of as “stealth josei” because even though it was released under the Shojo Beat imprint it skews a lot older. This series about a rich woman working in an office under the direction of a former servant to her family who she winds up dating might seem incredibly frivolous, but it ends up being enlivened by Yoshihara’s offbeat sense of humor and the caring exhibited in the relationship between Choko and Masayuki.

After dating for some time, Choko and Masayuki face the ultimate test when Choko goes on an arranged marriage meeting and Masayuki appears to be doing nothing to stop it. Of course he reveals his objections in a dramatic and hilariously crude manner, but will this odd couple be able to take the next step in their relationship? Choko resorts to hiding marriage registration papers around the office, trying to get Masayuki to sign the documents in a moment of distraction. When Masayuki finally comes around and asks her to marry him, he’s unable to call her by her first name because he’s so fully internalized their master/servant relationship. Choko wants a relationship of equals, and wants to move forward but Masayuki seems pathologically unable to see her as his equal. There isn’t really any doubt that the couple will get together, but despite all the weird master servant jokes, otaku Gundam references, and random crossdressers, there’s a certain level of sweetness present when Choko and Masayuki are able to move on from their roles as lady and servant.

I wish more series like Butterflies, Flowers would be published over here. I don’t mind plenty of high school romance shojo, but it is nice to have a little bit of variety in the settings of romance manga. I hope Viz licenses more Yoshihara manga because her quirky sensibility makes this series unique and weirdly endearing.

Review copy provided by the publisher

Dengeki Daisy Volume 6 by Kyousuke Motomi

I have to admit after six volumes, the storylines in Dengeki Daisy are getting a bit predictable. Fortunately Motomi is such a skilled author that I don’t really care! The slowly developing relationship between plucky orphan high school student Teru and grumpy janitor/hacker Kurosaki is still moving forward at a glacial pace. Teru and Kurosaki are both pretending that she hasn’t discovered that he’s her mysterious guardian known as Daisy. I think one of the reasons why I tolerate the slower plot developments in Dengeki Daisy is that Teru and Kurosaki’s inaction about their relationship is tied in to their emotional states. In more predicatable shoujo manga, there would be plenty of outside forces popping up to prevent a couple getting together such as the sudden appearance of a long-lost fiance or an evil male model. Teru and Kurosaki both aren’t in an emotional place to deal with being honest with their feelings, so everything goes unsaid even as they face danger yet again.

I have learned now through this manga that school nurses are even more dangerous than male models. Teru investigates the possible guilt of Arai in a stabbing incident centered around the ex-school nurse Ms. Mori. It turns out that while Arai is guilty of some things, he’s really being set up as a patsy. Teru places herself in danger yet again, but she trusts that Daisy will be able to save her. While this scenario might make it seem like Teru’s a typical captive heroine, she does actually fight back and continues to use her cell phone strategically in summoning help. When I was reading this I was struck again by how well Motomi conveys the vastly different moods of the characters. There’s cynicism, playfulness, repressed emotion, and gloom. Teru and Kurosaki seem to go through so much in this volume, but their relationship is summed up in a scene where she’s perched on the monkey bars at school and he coaxes her to jump down in to his arms. Kurosaki thinks about the guilt he bears over her brother’s death and how much better off his life is with Teru in it. She thinks he’s acting strangely and wonders if he’s drunk, and he makes a crude joke about her youthfulness. So in just a few panels we go from reflection and intimacy to reinforcement of the teasing that keeps a safe distance between the couple. Scenes like this, with so much packed into a few panels are why I continue to enjoy reading Dengeki Daisy.

Review copy provided by the publisher.