Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews
In honor of the just-launched May Manga Moveable Feast discussing Mitsuru Adachi’s excellent Cross Game (Viz), what are your favorite sports manga?
I’m going with a fairly loose definition, so I’d peg mine as board-game epic Hikaru no Go (Viz), ballet battle Swan (CMX), and (obviously) Cross Game.
There’s just under a month left for eligible voters to cast their ballots for the 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, so I thought I’d take another stab at evaluating the odds of this year’s nominees in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia. First, here’s a list of winners in this category from the last few years:
And here are some manga titles that have won the Best U.S. of International Material before it split into two categories:
The last three years indicate a leaning towards stand-alone or shorter series, but looking at the history of the category shows that lengthy, sprawling series aren’t necessarily at a disadvantage. Voters have a perfectly understandable appreciation of the work of Tezuka. Given that all of the honored comics are by men and were originally published in magazines that targeted a male demographic, one might also indicate a certain leaning in that direction. One can also detect a leaning toward series that have loyal readerships in comic shops. It seems less true in recent years, perhaps partly because of a seeming contraction of manga sales in those venues.
Now, on to this year’s contenders:
Ayako, written and illustrated by Tezuka, Vertical: If we add the fondness for Tezuka with the recent leaning toward done-in-one titles, we would be very foolish indeed to discount the odds on Ayako. That said I don’t consider it one of Tezuka’s best works. I found it too bleak and too literal, but bleakness and literalism has never discouraged Eisner voters in the past, and the automatic (and deserved) prestige of a Tezuka title is considerable. Even voters who don’t read any comics from Asia likely know who Tezuka is, and name recognition is sometimes the voter’s best friend. Odds: 2 to 1.
Bunny Drop, written and illustrated by Yumi Unita, Yen Press: Marvelous as it is to see a josei title garner a nomination, I think the outcome here will be that it’s an honor just to be nominated. That’s in no way a qualitative evaluation of Bunny Drop, which is easily one of my favorite ongoing series currently in release. I just doubt that it has much of a crossover audience between readers who primarily enjoy comics from Japan or Asia and the Eisner voting pool at large. If the nomination has encouraged more people to read the series, then that’s as good as a win, in my opinion. Odds: 25 to 1.
A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, written and illustrated by Moto Hagio, Fantagraphics: Ask a pool of manga pundits which mangaka suffers most from a shortage of work in translation, and I would wager that Hagio would be very close to the top of the list that emerges from that discussion. Like Tezuka, I think there’s a general level of awareness of and reverence for Hagio, even among people who may not have read her work. She’s a quality brand, in other words, and that standing has a certain force. Fantagraphics is also a quality brand, even among people who don’t read much that they produce, so an endorsement of Hagio in the form of publishing a handsome collection of her work, combined with Hagio’s own qualities as a creator and her well-received 2010 visit to the home convention of the Eisners may well work in her favor. Odds: 5 to 1.
House of Five Leaves, written and illustrated by Natsume Ono, Viz: I’m never quite sure how much my assessment of Ono as an emerging presence among the comic cognoscenti is accurate and how much is an experiment in the power of positive thinking, but I’m very pleased to see her nominated in this category, even if I don’t think she’ll win. House of Five Leaves is one of those titles that are intriguing at their beginnings but really gain in strength and force as they go along. If a voter was basing his or her choice on the first volume, I don’t know how that sampling would hold up against the other nominees. It’s not a flashy or immediately arresting series, lovely as it is. As noted above, ongoing series shouldn’t be discounted, but ongoing series that rely on cumulative artistic effect may not fare as well. Odds: 20 to 1.
20th Century Boys, written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, Viz: Urasawa has three nominations this year (the others being in the Writer/Artist category and Best Ongoing Series for this title), which is about standard for him since Viz started releasing his work through its Signature imprint. He has yet to win. Perhaps the multiple nominations split the sentiment in his favor. Perhaps voters don’t like his work as much as nominating committees do. Given the sheer volume of nominations he’s received over the last five years or so, he should clearly have cemented standing as a quality brand by now, and his smart thrillers are as comic-shop friendly as anything in this year’s slate. I personally like 20th Century Boys best of any of Urasawa’s licensed works, so I would have no objection whatsoever to its winning. History suggests to me that it probably won’t. Odds: 10 to 1.
What do you think? If you could vote, which title would you choose? (In my perfect world, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories and Bunny Drop would tie.)
Genkaku Picasso Volumes 1-3 by Usamaru Furuya
Genkaku Picasso is an interesting series, because the author Usumaru Furuya came out of the alternative manga scene in Japan with his earlier work featured in Garo. Genkaku Picasso is a series about a misanthropic young artist who gains the power to change the people around him when he is possessed by the artistic inspiration to draw their inner souls. This series had incredibly interesting and surreal art, but it felt to me like it wasn’t ambitious enough. I’m probably being overly critical because Furuya is so clearly talented, but I thought the story aspects of Genkaku Picasso let down the art a little bit. The series is still very much worth reading for the visual elements alone.
The first volume shows the lonely life of Hikari Hamura, nicknamed “Picasso” by his classmates at school due to his relentless drawing habit. He doesn’t really have any friends, but a girl in his class named Chiaki who finds him interesting and makes an effort to hang out with him. As they sit by a riverbank while Hikari is sketching, a horrible helicopter crash takes place. Chiaki is killed, but Hikari survives. Chiaki is transformed into a mini-angel who lives in Hikari’s pocket and his talent at sketching takes on a mystical turn. Chiaki informs him that his arm is starting to rot and the only way that he can save himself is to start helping other people. Hikari can now sense when a classmate is troubled. A dark aura manifests itself around Hikari’s next subject and he becomes possessed by a strange muse, compulsively drawing a depiction of his classmate’s inner heart. Hikari then can leap into his own drawing and experience the surreal scene he created, and his actions inside the drawing can cause the tormented soul to change for the better.
Hikari’s first subject is Sugiura, whose inner landscape is dominated by a crumbling cliff, amusement park, and an angry giant clutching a bag of money. While Sugiura is outwardly popular, his family life is less than ideal. As Hikari learns more about his classmate, the surreal pictures shift and change until Hikari is able to arrive at the truth of what is tormenting Sugiura. One of the things I liked very much about this manga was the way the illustration style would change depending on the world Hikari inhabits. The real world has all the polish and screentone of a standard manga, but when Hikari is transported into one of his illustrations it becomes more unfinished, with crosshatching used for shading and a slightly grainy quality that evokes the idea of a pencil or charcoal sketch.
Hikari continues to help his classmates, but his erratic behavior (he looks like he’s talking to himself when he’s talking to Chiaki) and his habit of abruptly passing out (which happens when he disappears into a drawing) still causes most of his classmates to shun him. He does manage to inspire feelings of affection in the people he helps, and he’s soon surrounded by a circle of acquaintances who are now taking more of an active interest in him.
One of the things that bothered me about this manga throughout the first couple volumes was the fact that Chiaki doesn’t seem to mind at all her transformation into Hikari’s nagging Tinkerbell. Even though while she was alive she inexplicably supported Hikari, I thought it was odd that she didn’t have more of a reaction to her fate. Genkaku Picasso is fairly episodic, but I did like some of the stories where there would be a shift towards Hikari exploring the inner life of a character that appeared briefly before. Hikari helps a boy in his class named Mamba finally work through his feelings towards a girl named Ogura. Mamba’s images evoke a sinister tree binding the girl he likes. Later Hikari visits Ogura’s subconsciousness and sees that her inner life is filled with mecha and yaoi imagery.
Some of Hikari’s solutions sometimes seem a bit simplistic, and this was particularly the case when Hikari helped one of his classmates who happened to have gender identity issues. The story ends very happily, which is nicely affirming if unfortunately not very realistic. One of the rewarding things about Genkaku Picasso is seeing the differences in the inner lives of Hikari’s targets. Joan of Arc, a Disney take-off, pop idols, childhood toys, and surreal gardens form the mind landscapes of Hikari’s classmates.
The third volume moves away from the more episodic storytelling of the first two volumes, finally providing some answers to questions readers may be forming about Hikari’s strange behavior, and if he’s ever going to turn his powers of artistic observation on himself. In his final journey, Hikari delves into his own psyche but he finds himself absolutely alone, without Chiaki. Hikari’s classmates begin to get worried about where he might be and they decide to go on their own rescue mission. We finally see some of the back story of the accident where Chiaki was killed, and there are some incredibly arresting images of Hikari trying to peer out of his own eyeball as though he were separating out the slats of a window shade that are going to stay in my memory for a long time.
The ending is heartwarming, with a dash of fake-out. While the story was concluded in an emotionally affecting manner, it seemed a bit too easy for me somehow. This goes along with my earlier reaction of the basic premise of the book. I think that there are some problems that just can’t be solved nicely with some surreal sketching and psychological intervention from a socially maladjusted teenager. I’m glad I read Genkaku Picasso, because it is so visually innovative and serves as a great contrast to the usual type of shonen series that get translated here. My frustration with the series remains because I think Furuya’s artistic talent is so great that he’s clearly capable of producing a classic work, but Genkaku Picasso isn’t it. Maybe I’d be better off reading some of his manga where he’s adapting another writer’s work. I still enjoyed Genkaku Picasso and would recommend it to anyone wanting to read visually striking manga.
Review copies of volumes 2 and 3 provided by the publisher.
The current Pick of the Week was a tough one, as there are three titles I like very much in the Midtown mix. Fortunately, Kate and Michelle had my back. As for the rest of the ComicList, well, let’s see what looms on the horizon, shall we?
Sticking to the Viz Signature neighborhood, the second volume of March Story ships through Diamond. I was unimpressed with the first half of the first volume of this latest display of comeuppance theatre, but the back half was more interesting. Kate’s review of the second volume indicates that my reservations about the series may stay in place:
For all the skill with which March Story is executed, I haven’t yet fallen under its spell. It’s certainly one of the best-looking titles in the VIZ Signature line, but it has a slick, synthetic quality that prevents the reader from feeling the characters’ pain or appreciating their peril — something that no amount of blood-soaked flashbacks or tearful confessions can solve.
Elsewhere, Oni Press offers up more work by Ted Naifeh, which is always welcome. In this case, it’s Courtney Crumrin Tales: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen #2. Now, when is that Polly and the Pirates sequel coming out? I’m not getting any younger.
On an unrelated but very exciting note, the next Manga Moveable Feast is right around the corner. The Panelists will be hosting a sure-to-be-lively-and-enthusiastic discussion of Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game (Viz), a series about which I’m always happy to rave at possibly counter-productive length.
I’ve continued on with watching Hanasakeru Seishonen, and as one would expect from an anime adaptation of a Natsumi Itsuki series, it grows more more complex as the series progresses. The first four episodes seemed like an engaging and slightly quirky reverse harem scenario, with all the wealthy industrialists and leopard reincarnation talk going on, but after watching a good chunk of the series I can now see why someone would describe Hanasakeru Seishonen as being mostly about politics.
The political aspects of the series are introduced along with Prince Rumaty, who is second in line to the throne for Raginei, a vaguely Asian/Middle Eastern country with a penchant for sun worship. Rumaty is as arrogant as you might expect a prince to be, but he soon finds himself charmed by Kajika despite himself. Their friendship is cemented when they have to go on the run together after a failed assassination attempt on the prince’s life. They end up spending some quality time playing cards with the local mafia before returning to the Burnsworth compound. It soon becomes clear that Kajika’s family has ties to the country of Raginei that go beyond her father’s business interests. There’s an extended flashback that details the adventures of Rumaty’s grandfather on his first visit to America, where he meets Kajika’s grandparents. Just when the series might be getting a little bogged down by all of the cross general angst and political machinations, there’s a break when Kajika returns to Japan and visits her friend Yui. Everyone that Kajika knows abruptly converges on Yui’s house, and the family’s reaction to Eugene and Li-Ren adds a welcome element of humor.
While Hanasakeru Seishonen might not have the almost operatic levels of craziness of the manga series by Itsuki that I’ve sampled, there’s still something enjoyable about the way the story slowly unfolds, with the different characters, flashbacks, and world building all combining to create a series that’s much more intelligent than you’d expect from a reverse harem series. Itsuki always seems to make some of the cliches and story conventions of manga much more interesting than they have a right to be and it is nice to see that this pattern continues in the Hanasakeru Seishonen anime.
One of the fun things about romance novels in general is the way they are often arranged in linked series, where the relationships of different couples are introduced but you still get a chance to peek in on the previous couples when they show up as supporting characters in subsequent books. Often these series will be linked by siblings, so there just happen to be three unmarried sisters or brothers who all find connubial bliss by the time the trilogy is over. The Stanbury Crown series focuses on an imaginary country called Edenbourg, and here’s a look at the first two volumes in this four volume series.
The Expectant Princess by Rin Ogata and Stella Bagwell
Princess Dominique has a hopeless crush on the lawyer for her family, Marcus Kent. She confessed her love for him and was rejected so she decided to throw herself into her studies by moving abroad. Dominique hides her identity while she’s in America. She returns to her family for a royal gathering. There’s plenty of drama in the first few pages of this manga. Dominique’s father the King goes missing under suspicious circumstances. His car crashes but his body isn’t found. Dominique is confused and anxious because she had an affair with a married man while she was in school, and she’s pregnant. Marcus is newly divorced. When Dominique and Marcus come together to investigate her father’s death, he makes it clear that he still sees Dominique as a child and any relationship between them would be in appropriate. Dominique tells Marcus about her condition and he promptly proposes in order to protect the royal family. Dominique rejects him because she doesn’t want a loveless marriage but Marcus begins to realize that he’s been lying to himself about his true feelings. The art and adaptation for this volume were fine, nothing spectacular but perfectly fine for a Harlequin manga.
The Blacksheep Prince’s Bride by Miho Tomoi and Martha Shields
The mystery of the King’s disappearance continues on in the next volume as Rowena goes undercover as a nanny in the royal household. Jake is forth in line for the throne and in need of domestic help because he’s divorced with a toddler son. Jake is the son of the King’s estranged and possibly evil brother, and thus a prime suspect for the kidnapping of the king. While Rowena struggles with an unearned reputation as a fast woman and Jake is trying to clear his name they grow closer. There were a few awkward poses and a little stiffness in the art, but this was offset by some cute character interactions. When Jake finds out that Rowena is a spy he’s annoyed not because she lied to him, but because he’s worried about how she views her own safety – what if he’d turned out to be an evil kidnapper and she went into his house unprotected? Everyone comments that while Jake may be a suspect he couldn’t possibly be guilty because he likes children and puppies. So, if you might find yourself suspected of kidnapping obscure European royalty, be sure to accessorize yourself with an adorable moppet and some wee doggies. Overall, I thought this volume was pretty much right in the average in terms of Harlequin manga quality. I’m still amused by the idea of finishing up this series by different authors and illustrators and I have to admit that my hopes are higher for the next book in the series, Codename: Prince because that title just seems intrinsically entertaining.
Access to electronic copies provided by the publisher.
This may be in kind of poor taste, but I realize I’ve never asked this or discussed it much. In light of this week’s gross attempt to take advantage of fans of much-missed manga publisher Go! Comi, I was wondering which of their unfinished titles you’d most like to see rescued by another imprint?
For me, it would have to be Crown, written by Shinji (Sukeban Deka) Wada and illustrated by You (Cantarella, Ludwig II) Higuri. It was such a pleasantly ridiculously surprise, and it displayed a real gift for the sneaky tease. (I wonder if Kodansha Comics is going to pick up Night Head Genesis, which Higuri drew for George Iida?)
After last week’s bonanza and Free Comic Book Day over the weekend, it’s tumbleweed time on the Comic List. This drove the Manga Bookshelf crew to an alternative approach to our Pick of the Week, but there are tons of relatively recent books under the microscope in the current Bookshelf Briefs.
Of course, if you depend on Diamond for your manga needs, there is a piece of good news: the seventh volume of Kou Yaginuma’s Twin Spica arrives from Vertical. This series gets better and deeper as it goes along, and it was pretty darn good to start. As a bonus, this volume is about a hundred pages longer than average, and it’s fairly packed with character development and event. Highlights include a summer visit to heroine Asumi’s home town, a training exercise set in a prison, and lots of little revelations about our quintet of would-be astronauts. If forced to identify a failing in this series, I would have to say that Kei (the gung-ho, “energetic” girl of the group) is overdue for some serious examination. She’s still functioning as bossy, easily flustered comic relief, and she needs some nuance.
Oh, and I’ve been meaning to tell you the results of my latest boys’-love blind date: like so many of us sometimes do, I’ve cast aside my usual standards in favor of looks. Yes, in spite of my aversion to BL where the “boys” is literal, I’ve cast my lot with Puku Okuyama’s Warning! Whispers of Love (DMP) based almost entirely on its lively, attractive cover. Thanks to everyone who put in their two cents!
Gente Volume Three by Natsume Ono
More than anyone else, Natsume Ono’s manga excel in creating an atmosphere and sense of place. While I love reading manga set in many different places, there are few that I’d actually want to visit in real life. If it was possible to visit Natusme Ono’s Italy, I’d love to go there. With Gente‘s emphasis on good food, friendship, complicated relationships, and quirky bespectacled gentlemen, it easily inspires the reader to start packing for an imaginary vacation. The final volume of Gente continues in the slice of life trajectory established in the previous volumes. There aren’t any resounding conclusions, just the chance to visit the people of Casetta dell’Orso once again and see that their lives continue as always.
The first story in the volume focuses on a politician and restaurant customer who has an unusual way of ordering his day. He listens to fortunes told by his little granddaughter because they always seem to come true. He comes to a crossroads in his life and makes a decision, helped along by a prediction and a good meal. A darker side of love is explored in “Singore Rizzo’s Fancy,” where the womanizing half of an estranged couple finds himself hopelessly attracted to a woman who is uninterested in him. Rizzo decides to try to arrange for the happiness of the woman who has inspired his affection, even as he continues his relationship with his wife where passionate love has changed into a combination of hostility and familial feelings. The closing image is of Rizzo and his wife sitting in different chairs, smoking and looking off in different directions. Nicoletta observes all these relationships play out at the restaurant while still nursing her love for the waiter Claudio. In some ways, this volume does feel like a closing volume for Nicoletta’s story that began in Ristorante Paradisio. She talks with her stepfather Lorenzo about the ways he serves as a father for her and for the family of workers at the restaurant. He’s starting to grow older, and might be turning into a bespectacled older gentleman himself. The mysterious Gigi supports Nicoletta and then goes off to make an unexpected acquaintance. While the ending might not be a Hollywood style conclusion where Nicoletta takes her relationship with Claudio to the next level, it is nice to see her in such an emotionally supportive environment (perhaps because her mother is absent). The bonus story at the end shows the staff getting together to celebrate young Franc’s birthday, which provides a nice festive way to conclude the series.
As always, I enjoyed Ono’s loose and unfinished drawing style. Just as the subject matter of her manga provides place where I’d want to visit to relax, her illustrations manage to be both lively and restful, with just the essential details portrayed.
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Review copy provided by the publisher
This weekend, Natsume Ono is taking the Toronto Comic Arts Festival by storm. (So is Usumaru Furuya, but I’m shamelessly partisan, and it’s my blog.) Which of Ono’s licensed titles — Gente, House of Five Leaves, not simple, or Ristorante Paradiso — is your favorite? And which of Ono’s unlicensed titles would you most like to see picked up for release in English? I realize this leaves two titles — La Quinta Camera and Tesoro — out in the cold, as they’ve been announced but not yet published, but if you have particularly strong feelings for either, don’t hold back.
Not so long ago on Twitter, Deb Aoki asked, is Shounen Jump manga the gateway drug for yaoi? I expect that’s true for quite a number of people, and as you know, fanservice for girls in shounen manga is kind of a pet interest of mine.
As it so happens, my path was roughly the opposite. It was slash fandom that introduced me to Shounen Jump manga, by way of the series Hikaru no Go. In fact, it was a specific slash fanfic, carefully selected and presented to me with the purpose of selling me on a specific romantic pairing, that piqued my interest in the series. As a result, I first began reading Hikaru no Go not just as a ready target for this particular type of fanservice, but actually expecting it, and to some extent, already embracing it as canon.
Epic male rivalry is classic slash fodder, so it’s not like this is anything new, but I’ve rarely seen it done with the same level of intimacy that is generally inherent to the love-you-like-a-brother flavor of male bonding in fiction. The deep obsession is there, but it’s alongside deep trust, genuine warmth, and a overwhelming acknowledgement between the characters that nobody understands them as well as they understand each other.
It’s not all obsessive rivalry and closer-than-brothers soul bonding, of course, We’re also offered up out-and-out jealousy and emotional insecurity of the “but you’re only thinking of him!” variety. It’s kind of stunning, really.
Theirs is an eager, emotionally fraught rivalry, with as many shades as such a thing could possibly have. Furthermore, it’s been going on for quite some time.
Not that rival-slash fodder is the only service Hikaru no Go has to offer up to girls. Takeshi Obata draws some of the prettiest and most distinctively detailed male characters in shounen manga, with carefully chosen clothing, hairstyles, and attitude to match. For my money, most shoujo manga can’t compare to Obata when it comes to drawing men in clothes. This isn’t the kind of fantasy-based outfitting I’ve raved about before. These costumes are crisp, modern, and carefully suited to the nuances of each character. And does anyone draw prettier faces?
With all this in place, it’s not incredibly surprising to note that my entire experience with Hikaru no Go fandom has been heavily female-dominated (as is, I expect, the comment section of this post), even outside slash fandom circles. And though I once sent my nephew the first disk of the anime series as a gift, I admit it’s his little sister I expect will eventually latch on to it, sometime down the line.
So talk to me, readers. What’s your favorite example of fanservice in Hikaru no Go?
I wasn’t going to write about Ai Ore again so soon after posting my initial review, but I got into a conversation on twitter the other night that is causing me to rethink my initial reaction.
Jason Thomson posted: Dear Internet: Ai Ore is a comedy. I think it’s meant to be more like DMC than an actual romance. You can still find it offensive of course.
I was a little disappointed that Ai Ore didn’t completely follow through with the promise of its gender switching premise. I didn’t really react to the threat of rape at the end of the volume, other than to note that it was a disappointing way for the manga to end. I honestly am not surprised to see rape threats or coercive sex in a Mayu Shinjo series, I was actually a little bummed out that there was no bondage, amnesia, or evil hypnosis on display the way it was in Sensual Phrase. Other manga bloggers reacted more strongly to the rape scenes and cliched plot elements, and I can certainly understand why. When Jason compared Ai Ore to DMC I started thinking about this manga some more to see if I could find more evidence of parody. All the rape references in DMC are much funnier and easier to take, because they tend to involve inanimate objects like the Tokyo Tower or extremely improbable targets like sweet elderly grandparents. Nancy Thistlethwaite, who edits Ai Ore, said “…if Shinjo is subverting anything, it is how women are portrayed in ero manga. & she’s having fun with it.”
Is Shinjo ever really trying to be taken seriously? I don’t have most of my issues of Sensual Phrase, but I did pick up volume 3 where rock star hero Sakuya has been shot up with drugs and chained to a wall while his brother tells the heroine Aine that she has to have sex with him or Sakuya will be killed. Later Sakuya shows up after surviving withdrawl through sheer willpower. He splits up his band in order to become an incredibly successful businessman in three months so he can bargain for Aine. He gets her and his band back, and then tells her that he’s going to withhold sex from her because she’s so happy she isn’t writing good song lyrics anymore. Does someone who writes a manga where events like that take place in the first 3 chapters turn around and write another manga without their tongue firmly in cheek?
But If Ai Ore is satirical, it doesn’t do a fabulous job of signaling this in the first volume. Perhaps it would have been easier to take if the masculine female lead Mizuki was a national landmark like Tokyo Tower or Nagoya Castle. If Ai Ore is more like DMC than a more straightforward gender switching shojo manga like Hana Kimi, how can we look at the characters and situations it portrays?
Is it commenting on stereotypical characters portrayed in Yaoi and ero manga? I’ve never been entirely comfortable with some of the rigid roles and forced sex in yaoi manga. The roles of seme and uke are taken on by Mizuki and Akira, with their appearances and gender serving as a start contrast to their roles. Mizuki’s masculine swagger is a mask for an insecure girl, and Akira’s feminine exterior is at odds with his alpha male/stalker/macho personality. The way the characters are drawn, it was impossible for me to read any scenes of Akira physically dominating Mizuki without thinking that something was seriously off. It might be a reflection of her confidence in her physical prowess, but I thought it was more than a little odd that a girl with Mizuki’s build was constantly getting into situations where she didn’t seem to be capable of using her advantages of strength and height to escape. But if Mizuki is a stand in for a uke who happens to be trapped in the body that resembles a male supermodel when she’s dressed up, maybe Shinjo is setting up these situations to make the reader uncomfortable deliberately. If some readers may accept these roles without question in other genres, perhaps the squicky elements that are introduced in Ai Ore when Shinjo plays out her gender-flipped scenario are a deliberate statement. If these roles are acceptable to some readers when presented in a yaoi context and unacceptable when presented in a heterosexual relationship, maybe Shinjo is being deliberately satirical. Ai Ore does seem like it could be read multiple ways. I’ve seen comments from readers that refer to it as being enjoyably trashy, a deliberate parody, and deeply offensive to feminists. Maybe it is all three things. In any case, I’m willing to sick around for the next few volumes of the series to try and figure it out.
Viz is celebrating will celebrate its 25th anniversary this summer, which is quite an accomplishment. Given how many English-language manga publishers have fallen away over time, you have to give Viz credit for sticking around, no matter how well resourced they may be. They’ve always struck me as grown-ups and professionals, which certainly helps. Beyond that, I appreciate the range of material they’ve published over time and that they continue to try and publish.
So, in preparation for the milestone, I thought I’d list 25 of my favorite Viz manga. It’s impressive that it was actually difficult to limit this list to 25, and I ended up having to institute a one-title-per-creator rule to make it possible. Here they are in alphabetical order:
What are your favorite Viz series? If you’d rather post a similar list at your own blog, I’d love to read it (and link to it). Otherwise, let loose in the comments.
Black Bird Volume 8
I read the first couple volumes of Black Bird and decided that the romance between a young girl and a dominating demon just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t all that thrilled with all the wound licking going on, and for whatever reason in my tawdry manga I prefer the flat out trashiness of something like Ai Ore to the more romanticized Black Bird although both titles display the same type of troubling and stereotypical gender roles in their main couples. At least Ai Ore is more open in its commitment to crazy plot elements, with all the rape threats, etc. right there on the page. In contrast, Black Bird tends to coyly hide elements of sexual coercion with all the accidental wounds and subsequent licking going on, along with a heroine who would happily sacrifice her existence for her demon boyfriend. This volume of Black Bird marks a bit of a turning point, as Misao and Kyo may finally have to get it on. Not because they mutually decide to take their relationship to the next level as an expression of their love, but because Kyo is afflicted by a horrible curse (which manifests in the form of exhaustion and tribal tattoos) and only Misao’s becoming his demonic bride can heal his affliction. I enjoyed this volume more than I expected but for a large section of the book I was really hoping that bad guy Raiko would prevail with his demon hunting mission and actually kill Kyo. I have a feeling I’m not supposed to be rooting for the death of the romantic lead in this manga.
Stepping on Roses Volume 5
I originally felt a little resentful towards this title because I thought it was more superficial than Ueda’s other series Tail of the Moon, which is one of my favorite historical shoujo manga. After reading a couple volumes I think the Perils of Pauline troubles that beset Sumi are starting to be more amusing than annoying, just because Ueda manages to pack so many problems into a single volume of manga. In the fifth volume Sumi is still in her marriage of convenience with wealthy businessman Soichiro. The evil Natsuki has succeeded in driving away Soichiro’s faithful butler and inserting a spying maid into Sumi’s household. Soichiro’s best friend Nozomu is still in love with Sumi but that didn’t stop him from marrying a random rich girl, who is not pleased that her husband is in love with someone else. So! Sumi and Soichiro are growing closer, but when he asks her if she loves him she replies no. He conveniently has forgotten that when they married he instructed her not to fall in love with him and he walks out in the rain. Sumi goes after him and gets soaked. Nozomo has moved out of his house, leaving his wife alone after she caused a scene at a party by attacking Sumi with a bouquet of flowers. Nozomo spends his time alone creepily working on an epic naked painting of Sumi, and when he finds her outside his house he decides to finagle her into posing for him. In the meantime Sumi’s hapless brother with a gambling addiction is trying to go straight by working at Soichiro’s company, and Soichiro’s long lost butler has moved in with Sumi’s poverty stricken family. Whew! I do wish that Sumi had a bit more of a personality, as her main function seems to be making futile attempts to ward off the attentions of almost every man who stumbles across her.
Seiho Boys High School! Volume 5
This volume was my favorite in this mini-batch of manga. I enjoy the self-contained short stories in each volume, but since the series uses the same rotating cast of characters, the reader still gets plenty of character development. Having the stories written more from a male point of view also provides a nice contrast to more conventional shoujo titles. The first couple stories explore Maki’s situation as he remembers his dead girlfriend and struggles on a first date with his new girlfriend. A ghostly image starts appearing to many of the guys at the dorm, and Maki wonders if his girlfriend Erika is trying to signal something to him. The ghost ends up being a hermit-like male student, but Maki has an unexpectedly touching dream triggered by the episode that may be a signal that he’s truly ready to let go and move on with his life. Unfortunately moving on can be difficult, as he attempts to go on a date with his current love interest and starts tensing up and making the situation even more awkward. Stories about relationships are balanced out by more comedic episodes, as Hanai accidentally finds his photographic ambitions recognized when he starts getting besieged by girls from other schools who want pictures of his classmates. The ongoing storyline about ordinary girl Miyaji and extraordinary male specimen Kamiki gets a little bit of progression as well. This manga strikes me as a good series to have around to reread. The episodic nature of Seiho Boys High School makes it easy to pick up a random volume to read, and the short stories provide plenty of humor and emotion.
Review copies provided by the publisher.
It’s ComicList time! First, go take a look at the Manga Bookshelf crew’s Picks of the Week, then peruse the latest installment of Bookshelf Briefs, in which I gush about an arriving shôjo volume that makes me as happy as another makes me sad.
This week also brings the fourth and final volume of Nobuaki Tadano’s Eisner-nominated 7 Billion Needles (Vertical). I’ve enjoyed this series throughout its run, mostly for the evolution of its heroine, Hikaru, a grieving teen who’s forced out of her isolated state by the arrival of warring interstellar entities Horizon and Maelstrom. Their destructive, survival-of-the-fittest squabbling puts the people around Hikaru in danger and forces her to acknowledge the fact that she cares about them. Emotionally speaking, the conclusion is essentially Hikaru’s victory lap, her chance to prove how far out of her shell she’s come. In an odd way, that lowers the finale’s stakes and forces Tadano to inflate the science-fiction mayhem to almost incoherent levels.
It’s easy enough to ignore the twaddle about weaponized evolution, though, as Hikaru is still compelling, even though her personal journey is pretty much over before the story begins. She’s held the series together this long, and it’s nice to see her put the things she’s learned into action, even if that action doesn’t make much sense at all.
The only thing not covered above that I look forward to reading is the eighth volume of Karuho Shiina’s consistently delightful Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (Viz). The good shôjo arriving this week certainly overpowers the bad.
What looks enticing to you?