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PotW Showdown: Cross Game vs. InuYasha

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David leads us off this week, in our second group Pick of the Week with the Manga Bookshelf gang & special guest Michelle Smith! This week comes down to a showdown between a new series and a long-running favorite. Who will come out on top?

From David: I’m very happy to go first this week, because I’m fairly sure I won’t be the only person to choose the second volume of Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game (Viz), and I don’t want to seem like a copycat. I was so pleasantly surprised by the first multi-volume collection, with its slice-of-life blend of comedy and drama. If the prospect of a story about sports (baseball, in this case) triggers your fight-or-flight instinct, and I would be very much in sympathy if it does, I urge you to try and suppress the response. Adachi is the real deal as a manga-ka: a versatile original who earns laughs and tears with equal facility and surprising subtlety. Come to think of it, I don’t care if I seem like a copycat. The more people who sing this book’s praises, the merrier. Looking at Cross Game‘s inclusion in Deb Aoki’s round-up of the Critics’ Choice: Best Manga of 2010, it seems like the merriment is off to a great start.

From MJ: I expect you’re right, David, though it won’t be me (only because I haven’t read the first volume!), and in fact, it’s a bit of a difficult week for me, with nothing from ComicList piquing my interest, though I did find an exciting item elsewhere. I took a peek at Comicopia’s list where they claim to be expecting the second volume of Yumemakura Baku and Jiro Taniguchi’s Summit of the Gods from Fanfare-Ponent Mon. The series’ first volume was stunningly beautiful, and despite the fact that it sometimes feels like an illustrated novel rather than a comic (I’ll point to Kate’s review for a thoughtful discussion of the series’ strengths and flaws), it’s definitely a must-read. This volume has been due out for quite a while, so I was surprised to see it on the list. I’ll definitely be looking to pick one up!

From Kate: Cross Game and Summit of the Gods are both on my must-read list, but I’m going with a sentimental favorite this week: InuYasha. The final volume — that’s number 56, for folks who are still keeping track after all these years — arrives in stores on Wednesday. After so many story arcs, villains, and recovered jewel shards, it will be interesting to see how Rumiko Takahashi brings the whole thing to a close. I suspect that many readers have expectations for how and with whom the characters ride off into the sunset, making it a sure bet that someone will be disappointed in the conclusion. (Look for a surge in InuYasha fan-fic in the coming weeks…) I’m confident, however, that Takahashi will deliver a satisfying finale. InuYasha gets kicked around a lot by manga cognescenti– “It’s not as good as Lum or Ranma or Maison Ikkoku,” they insist — but InuYasha represents Takahashi at the top of her game, not least for its terrific cast of characters. There are manga I like more than InuYasha, but there are few fictional characters — in comics, anyway — that have as strong a claim on my loyalty as InuYasha and Sango.

From Michelle: For me it’s a toss-up between Cross Game—the bittersweet first volume of which I truly loved—and the final volume of InuYasha, a series I’ve been following for years. Mitsuru Adachi versus Rumiko Takahashi… who will reign supreme? While I love both equally, I think in the end I’m also going to have to come down on the side of InuYasha. Like Kate, it’s the characters that have earned my loyalty here rather than ingenious plotting—indeed, the series is rather notoriously repetitive—but I am looking forward to the storyline actually coming to a point where the nefarious villain is finally unable to escape. Perhaps the best testament I can make in favor of this series is that, even though it’s 56 volumes long, I can still easily imagine the day when I will undertake a marathon reread and enjoy luxuriating in its comfy goodness.

Readers, what’s your Pick of the Week?

Natsume, Kurozakuro, Panda, Prince

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With the addition of new authors to the Manga Bookshelf family of blogs, it seemed like the right time to refresh this weekly feature with more diversity of opinion. To that end, both Kate and David will now be joining in offer up their weekly Picks. And as a bonus, we have a Pick from Soliloquy in Blue‘s Michelle Smith. So take your pick of the Picks below or stretch your pocketbook and pick up all four!

From MJ: There isn’t a lot of excitement to be found for me in this week’s batch of incoming manga, though there are a couple of bright spots. A new volume of Sand Chronicles is always welcome, of course, but my eye is especially drawn to volume five of Natsume’s Book of Friends, one of my favorite new shoujo series last year. I got a bit bogged down with it during volume three, but here’s a snippet from my thoughts on volume four: “The volume begins on a strong note, by introducing a troubled yokai who ends up inhabiting the body of a snow bunny (not the kind found on ski slopes, but in children’s back yards) in order to try to reunite with his one-time companion who had been driven to the dark side by the cruelty of humanity. While that concept sounds at once unbearably cutesy and melodramatic, its execution is anything but. It’s subtle and moving, and in that moment, the series won me back completely.”

The emotional content of this series has really refined itself beautifully over the course of its run so far, and I’m really looking forward to picking up the this week’s volume.

From David: I missed the first volume of this series, and I have no idea if it’s particularly good or not, but I was very struck by the style of the covers of Kurozakuro (Viz), written and illustrated by Yoshinori Natsume. I tend not to be a big shounen fan, but I’ve done pretty well with the titles in Viz’s Shonen Sunday imprint. This one is about a boy who finds that he’s turning into an ogre and wants to eat people, which isn’t your standard young-man-with-a-dream problem. The preview on the Shonen Sunday site looks kind of promising, particularly in terms of the style of the illustrations.

From Kate: I’m going to put on my Good Comics for Kids hat and champion Panda Man and the Treasure Hunt, the second installment of a new graphic novel/activity book/chapter book series from VIZ Kids. The first volume of Panda Man was perfect for seven- or eight-year-olds: it had stylish artwork, plenty of slapstick, and enough bathroom humor to satisfy the most discerning fart joke connoisseur. Oh, and mazes, connect-the-dot exercises, and drawing tips, making it a great choice for keeping kids busy on a car ride or a plane trip. The second volume finds Panda Man going mano-a-mano with pirates in search of treasure. I’m guessing the plot may be a little disjointed — the first volume was more a collection of gags than a story — but I can’t imagine it will be anything less than entertaining. Even an adult can appreciate a hero whose primary weapons are smelly feet and an overactive GI tract; as someone who rode the NYC subway for years, I can attest to the awesome, crippling power of stinky toes!

From Michelle: For me, the automatic purchase this week is volume 40 of Takeshi Konomi’s The Prince of Tennis. I recently completed a marathon read to get current on the series, and though many ridiculous elements offer themselves up as reasons for mockery—chief among them Konomi’s decision to depict the pinnacle of tennis achievement with glowing auras and sparkles (both visible to spectators)—I would never for a moment dream of giving up on it before its completion, even though the product description warns me to expect “a wicked case of amnesia” in this latest volume. That’s my Prince of Tennis: incredibly silly and yet so irresistible.

So, readers, what’s your Pick this week?

Pick of the Week: Lady Kanoko

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Having spent much of 2010 championing comics for women and girls here at Manga Bookshelf, it gives me a lot of pleasure to be able to choose a new shoujo title for the year’s final Pick of the Week. It’s a title that I think holds appeal for both teens and adults, and may very well qualify as one of my favorite shoujo debuts of the year, along with a number of Shojo Beat series, including Natsume’s Book of Friends, The Story of Saiunkoku, and Seiho Boys’ High School!, as well as TOKYOPOP’s Demon Sacred.

This title, too, comes from TOKYOPOP. I’m speaking, of course, of The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko, created by Ririko Tsujita. Here’s some of what I had to say about its debut volume in a recent installment of Off the Shelf:

The series’ title refers to Kanoko, a third year junior high school student who prides herself on perfect objectivity. To maintain this emotional purity, she spurns any kind of social interaction with her classmates, preferring to simply observe (and, of course, take copious notes). When her interest is piqued by a classroom love triangle, Kanoko is shocked to find herself somehow drawn into the fray by each of the parties involved, and even more so to find herself accidentally befriending them.

My experience with this manga was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. I was immediately drawn in by Kanoko and the gloriously idiosyncratic friendships she develops against her will. Then, amidst a deep sigh of contentment, I was jerked right out of my shoujo-induced bliss by the volume’s second chapter, which begins with Kanoko having transferred to a new school, leaving everything I’d just learned to care about abruptly behind. My dissatisfaction continued through at least two more chapters before I finally realized that this is actually the premise of the series. That’s also when I realized that it’s brilliant.

Using Kanoko’s impossibly frequent school transfers as a structural conceit, Tsujita sets herself free from the bothersome constraints of reality, while also weaving in some of the most wonderfully real characterization I’ve seen in a manga comedy. It’s as though some sleep-deprived manga editor spliced together pages of Kimi ni Todoke with Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, absent-mindedly inventing a new and delicious flavor of shoujo satire that manages to consistently maintain the gag while telling an unexpectedly heartwarming story at the same time …

The real secret to the story’s success, however, is Kanoko herself. She’s smart, hilarious, and even kind of heroic, like a super-hero version of Harriet the Spy. She wards off bullies by genuinely not caring what they think of her, and blows off “friendly” saboteurs with little more than a sneer. I seriously wanted to applaud several times during the first chapter alone. She’s also deeply damaged and a complete mess, but even that’s not overplayed. It’s astonishingly well done.

Kanoko is smart, funny, and a whole lot of fun. Buy the first volume and see for yourself!

Pick of the Week: Ooku

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It’s an incredibly rewarding week for fans of Viz’s Signature line, with new volumes of Children of the Sea, Gente, former Pick House of Five Leaves, I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow, and 20th Century Boys. Vertical has a winning week as well, with new volumes of former Picks Chi’s Sweet Home and Peepo Choo. It’s a week when one can hardly choose a single favorite, and it honestly pains me to do so.

But choose I must, so out of all that wealth, my Pick this week goes to the fifth volume of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku, also from Viz’s Signature imprint.

Here’s a bit of what I had to say about the first three volumes:

In this alternate history of Edo-period Japan, an incurable disease has wiped out much of the nation’s male population, leaving women to take up traditional men’s roles, including that of shogun.

As this series is structured, its first volume begins eighty years after the disease’s initial outbreak, at which point the male population has declined by 75% and women have become firmly fixed in their new roles. The second and third volumes then return to the beginning of the outbreak, which finds the nation in a panic–desperate to maintain male rule, even to the point of delusion, if that is what is required.

This structural choice is, frankly, brilliant. By removing any real question about the outcome of events that occur during the second and third volumes, Yoshinaga allows herself (and the reader) to focus on the process, which really shows her off to her greatest advantage. Though the universe is dense and the language even more so (needlessly, to some extent, thanks to an unfortunate choice in its English adaptation), this arrangement allows for a great deal of slow, masterful character development and an emphasis on human relationships and the psychology of political theory …

As a fan of Fumi Yoshinaga, josei manga, and the Viz Signature imprint, there is no question that a series like this, even just in theory, is a very exciting work. Fortunately, this truth extends beyond the theoretical and into the actual. Ooku is beautiful, engaging, and a very exciting work indeed. It is also challenging and ambitious enough to garner some real respect for josei manga in western fandom at last. And for that, I’m truly grateful.

I have some thoughts about volume four for your perusal as well, and though I haven’t yet written up the fifth volume, I can tell you that I’m only loving this series more and more. Check it out for yourself!

Pick of the Week: Not Love But Delicious Foods

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There’s quite a wealth of new manga and manhwa releases this week, according to Midtown Comics, but despite my love for things like Yotsuba&!, Goong, and Seiho Boys High School!, my vote must absolutely go to Fumi Yoshinaga’s Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!, released in English by Yen Press.

From my recent discussion at Off the Shelf:

The book is essentially a tour of several of the author’s favorite Tokyo restaurants, highlighting each establishment’s specialties, and including details ranging all the way from atmosphere to parking recommendations. What makes it especially rewarding for Yoshinaga fans, however, is that Yoshinaga herself stars as the main character, surrounded by her circle of friends. How much of this is fictionalized, of course we can’t know, but it feels so authentic, the overwhelming sense for readers is that we’re getting a peek into Yoshinaga’s private world, with a delightful view of her real-life quirks, hopes, desires, and of course, her obsessive love of food.

Yoshinaga portrays herself as an aging, neurotic slacker who eats like a horse, routinely spills food on her clothing, and has a thing for cute, chubby men, all of which makes her even more appealing to an older female reader like me. She strikes exactly the right balance between self-deprecation and self-love, warding off any danger of approaching either desperation or narcissism. She’s neurotic, sure, but also keenly self-aware, and her affection for her friends (be they real or fictional) is palpable …

And then there’s the food. Oh, the food, Michelle. It took about five pages of this book to get my mouth watering, and it didn’t stop until the end. Even things like “liver sashimi” and “stewed beef tendon” manage to sound appetizing in this context.

You can also find it featured in my 2010 Gift Guide.

This single-volume manga could not possibly be more charming. Go pick one up for yourself!

Pick of the Week: Rasetsu

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With the December holidays rapidly approaching, I find myself drifting backwards in time, recalling the places I’ve been, the people I’ve loved, and the many variations of myself that have existed over the course of forty-something Decembers.

It’s no small joy, then, that one of this week’s new releases brings me vividly back to my early teens, when I would have loved nothing more than to be a girl with great spiritual powers, a terrifying foe to fight, and two dreamy love interests to distract me from my fate. I’m speaking, of course, of Rasetsu, from mangaka Chika Shiomi, available in English from Viz Media’s Shojo Beat imprint.

Here’s what I said about volume six:

What keeps this series compelling is that it is profoundly unsettled, and this applies to both the hearts of its characters and to their individual circumstances. There’s more to everyone than meets the eye. Furthermore, though each of the story’s characters is deeply conflicted, they still manage to band together into an unexpectedly warm, self-made family unit.

The love triangle between Kuryu, Rasetsu, and Yako may not be anything new to shojo manga, but it is played out in an unusually poignant manner. Each party’s strengths and weaknesses is being brought painfully to the fore, with no obvious resolution in sight.

Though this series gets off to a lukewarm start, over the course of six volumes it has become one of my favorite of Viz’s shojo series currently in release. Recommended.

It’s easy for a slow-burning series like Rasetsu to get lost in a market full of showier shoujo manga, but this would be a terrible shame. I’ve had a peek at volume seven, and things are definitely ramping up! Feed your hungry inner teen. Check out Rasetsu!

Pick of the Week: Ayako

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Normally I wouldn’t recommend a manga completely sight-unseen, but it’s hard to ignore a new release of anything from Osamu Tezuka, even if my own copy hasn’t reached me yet.

I’m speaking of course, of Ayako, the latest of Vertical, Inc.’s Tezuka acquisitions, released in one gigantic volume (seriously, it’s 740 pages) just in time for the holidays. Not that this is a particularly festive tale. Here’s the description from Vertical’s website:

Opening a few years after the end of World War II and covering almost a quarter-century, here is comics master Osamu Tezuka’s most direct and sustained critique of Japan’s fate in the aftermath of total defeat. Unusually devoid of cartoon premises yet shot through with dark voyeuristic humor, Ayako looms as a pinnacle of Naturalist literature in Japan with few peers even in prose, the striking heroine a potent emblem of things left unseen following the war.

The year is 1949. Crushed by the Allied Powers, occupied by General MacArthur’s armies, Japan has been experiencing massive change. Agricultural reform is dissolving large estates and redistributing plots to tenant farmers—terrible news, if you’re landowners like the archconservative Tenge family. For patriarch Sakuemon, the chagrin of one of his sons coming home alive from a P.O.W. camp instead of having died for the Emperor is topped only by the revelation that another of his is consorting with “the reds.” What solace does he have but his youngest Ayako, apple of his eye, at once daughter and granddaughter?

Delving into some of the period’s true mysteries, which remain murky to this day, Tezuka’s Zolaesque tapestry delivers thrill and satisfaction in spades. Another page-turning classic from an irreplaceable artist who was as astute an admirer of the Russian masters and Nordic playwrights as of Walt Disney, Ayako is a must-read for comics connoisseurs and curious literati.

Sounds like a must-read to me! If you agree, buy this book!

Pick of the Week: Time and Again

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It’s an especially rough week for choosing a Pick, with new volumes of a number of my favorite series hitting shelves at Midtown Comics. Yen Press delivers big this week, with volume five of ninja manga Nabari no Ou, as well as the final volume of the aptly named manhwa Very! Very! Sweet. Tokyopop brings us volume three of previous Pick Demon Sacred, and though it’s not on Midtown Comics’ list, David Welsh reports that we’ll be seeing volume two of previous Pick 7 Billion Needles.

One stand-out title that has not previously turned up here at Pick of the Week, however, is my favorite ghost-hunting manhwa, Time and Again, written by JiUn Yun, published in English by Yen Press, which sees the release of its fourth volume this week.

Here’s some of what I had to say about volume four:

Though both the last two volumes have delved a bit into these characters’ rather tragic pasts, this volume really gets to the heart of Ho-Yeon’s history and the events that led to the deep regret he’s carried with him all this time. It’s extremely moving, and I have to laugh now when I look back at my review of the series’ first volume, where I complained that its main characters were both “underdeveloped.” That’s certainly turned around over the past few volumes.

This volume also shows us Baek-On and Ho-Yeon’s introduction to each other, which manages to be tragic and a little bit funny at the same time. You know, I don’t think it’s everyone’s cup of tea, but JiUn-Yun’s sense of humor just really works for me. I am always delighted by it. Baek-On is such an… unfortunately honest character. He’s got no delicacy at all, but that’s really part of his charm.
Possibly the best thing about this volume, however, is that it also contains the first meeting between Ho-Yeon and Shin-Wal, the spirit-sword we’ve seen him with since the series’ first volume. It’s kinda beautiful, I have to say.

This is an especially warm volume, despite all its tragedy, and though the series’ original, episodic flavor has mostly flown out the window, I think the story is better for it. Don’t get me wrong, this volume still follows the two of them along on a few cases, but they’re far from the focus of the story anymore, which has just increased its interest for me.

With just four volumes published to date, it’s a great time to dig into this increasingly engaging manhwa. Buy these books!

Pick of the Week: Real

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Okay, I’ll admit that when I looked at this week’s new manga, I was quite tempted to name volume two of Kiss Blue, the long-awaited continuation of a lovely little BL story that premiered here back in 2008. And It indeed might have happened, if not for…

Real. This week brings us the ninth volume of this gritty, moving series about young men in the world of wheelchair basketball. It was repeated recommendations from Manga Curmudgeon David Welsh that compelled me to try this series, and I’ve been grateful for it ever since.

Here’s a glimpse of what I had to say about volume nine in a recent installment of Off the Shelf:

The volume focuses exclusively on Nomiya and Takahashi, each of whom is facing a particularly difficult task. Nomiya, a bumbling high-school dropout who has never really played serious ball, has determined to go pro, and Takahashi, a fierce high-school athlete now paralyzed from the chest down, is struggling to find meaning in a body he can barely pull off the floor.

… Nomiya’s journey, especially… creates the volume’s shonen-like tone, with emotionally escalating scenes driven by a level of brazen determination and raw inspiration that could rival that of any WSJ title. You can almost hear the power rock if you listen hard enough, as Nomiya firmly declares his goals, undeterred by detractors or doubt.

Fortunately, Takahashi’s story provides a nicely ambiguous contrast. The character’s constant need for external comparison–the way he compulsively ranks himself against other rehabilitation patients as though his entire self-worth relies on superiority to others–is pushed front and center, so much so that even he begins to see the impossibility of his system. The realization is subtle, but brutal, and his subsequent struggle to determine even a single, realistic goal for himself is genuinely painful to watch. His story is so compelling, I barely missed the wheelchair basketball, which is saying quite a lot … It’s an uncommonly moving manga, really. I can’t recommend it enough.

And from my review of volumes 5-8:

What’s most impressive about this series … is Inoue’s ability to get inside his characters’ heads and transform their thoughts and feelings into compelling narrative … Yet, through all this, Inoue deftly steers clear of allowing his story become mired in its own weight. Even the series’ heaviest sequences are a true pleasure to read.

Something that seems important to note, and possibly why Real is able to avoid becoming intolerably dark, is that it’s clear from the beginning that Inoue genuinely likes people. Despite the fact that each of his characters has endured terrible heartbreak, pain, and various levels of personal misery (not to mention that most of them have also been responsible for causing significant pain to others), Real is far from cynical. There is no overarching disappointment in humanity here, no deep bitterness, no long-winded speeches about the unavoidable fallibility of the species. Even his characters’ most bitter reflections are directed toward individuals rather than humanity as a whole.

Inoue’s artwork in this series is impressively mature … the world of Real is unpolished and gritty. Inoue’s early expressiveness is even more pronounced in this series, and much more detailed. Also, despite some great dialogue, Inoue lets his artwork do the bulk of the storytelling. Important moments are played out visually, panel-to-panel, without the need for any narration or extraneous dialogue to pick up the slack.

Both heart-wrenching and down-to-earth, this series makes the most of its human drama, both on and off the court, without ever sinking into melodrama. Simply put, Real is real. Highly recommended.

If you haven’t ever picked up this fantastic seinen sports manga, now’s the time to start.

Pick of the Week: Twin Spica

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I like to avoid repeating series here at Pick of the Week, but this week’s somewhat lackluster showing at Midtown Comics contains just one standout item that I can’t rightfully ignore.

I doubt if anyone still needs me to tell them to buy Twin Spica, but just in case, I’ll shout it far and wide.

I haven’t got my own copy of volume four yet (for shame, MJ, shame!) but here’s what I had to say about volume three:

I’ve already named this as my favorite new series this year, so my expectations were pretty high, but this volume managed to exceed them anyway.

Volume two ended with some drama that I expected would overwhelm the series for a while, but though it was certainly the focus of the first chapter or so here, the way it worked itself out was fresher and more poignant than I could have imagined.

Everyone in this series has suffered loss of some kind, but what is rare in a story with a teenaged protagonist is that the pain and loss of the story’s adult characters is given the same weight as the pain of its teens. And though the series is being marketed heavily to YA audiences here in the US, I think this is one of the aspects of the series that most reveals its originally intended demographic.

“I wonder why all grown-ups smile so sadly,” Asumi ponders, though she nearly answers her own question as she goes on, “I wish Miss Suzunari, Mr. Lion, Dad, Mr. Sano… I wish everyone could go up there.” That so many before her have already failed to achieve the very dream she now pursues may be a realization that still eludes Asumi, but it is not at all lost on readers, who are struck with this painful reality with the same force as the story’s ambitious teens put into trying to ignore it.

That said, there is just as much here for teen readers as there is for adults. The devotion the students in this story demonstrate toward each other, even as they compete for seats on the same spacecraft, is beautiful to behold. By the end of this volume, I had tears running down my face, and I challenge any reader to avoid the same fate, adult or teen.

Tears RUNNING DOWN MY FACE, people. What I mean to say here is BUY TWIN SPICA. You won’t regret it.

Pick of the Week: The Story of Saiunkoku

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Looking at this week’s manga arrivals at Midtown Comics, it’s a week filled with new volumes of great series, including Hikaru no Go, Crown of Love, Kimi ni Todoke… the list goes on. It’s even bigger if you consider what’s expected at Comicopia, where they have previous Pick Twin Spica on the docket.

Still, this week’s choice was a fairly easy one to make, as it’s the first volume of a new shojo series that charmed me significantly from the start. This week’s Pick is The Story of Saiunkoku, based on the light novels by Sai Yukino, adapted by Kairi Yura, published in English by Viz Media.

Here are some excerpts from my review of the first volume:

“The story revolves around a young woman named Shurei Hong, whose family, despite their noble bloodline, has fallen destitute. Shurei lives with her father (and their sole remaining retainer) and spends most of her time trying to earn money for the family, so when the opportunity to make 500 gold comes around, there’s no way she can say no, even if it means becoming consort to the country’s famously ineffective emperor. The emperor is a slacker with no interest in government and even less in women–two points that Shurei is tasked with remedying with by way of her civil responsibility and feminine wiles.

Despite the fact that I’d heard positive buzz about this series… based on that premise, I admit I was more than skeptical. The manga’s opening chapter didn’t do much to sway me, either, with its gag sensibility and creepy romantic overtones, all of which seemed contrary to the gravity of Shurei’s actual circumstances.

Fortunately, it quickly became clear that my first impressions were just wrong. While the series’ premise, as stated, is absolutely correct, its execution is thoughtful and unexpectedly nuanced.”

As I mentioned in a recent 3 Things Thursday, with just one volume, The Story of Saiunkoku has become one of my favorite currently running shojo series. Buy this book!

Pick of the Week: xxxHolic

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Once again, there are a number of fine choices for a Pick this week, as reported by Midtown Comics, notably the second volume of Code: Breaker, a series that surprised me a lot, as well as the second volume of In the Walnut, which Michelle reviewed favorably in this week’s BL Bookrack.

But this week is a no-brainer for me, as it marks the release of the latest volume of xxxHolic, a series I’ve discussed, reviewed, and proselytized over pretty vigorously ever since I began talking about manga to begin with. It was one of the first series I read and loved, and certainly the series that got me interested in CLAMP’s work overall. Also, with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle no longer in the picture, readers can continue on with ease, confident that CLAMP will be divulging all important information in one place.

From some of my discussion of volume 14:

“Though this volume proceeds more quietly than the last, it is filled with wry humor and thoughtful revelation, two of the series’ best qualities. Also notable in this volume is a strong sense of warmth, something that has increasingly become a part of the series. This is particularly evident in each character’s relationship with Watanuki—from Yuuko to the fortune-teller—including even dry-humored characters like Doumeki and Mokona (with whom Watanuki shares an especially sweet moment in this volume). It is the connection between people that makes this series feel so rich, a point made stronger in this volume when Watanuki reveals that it is these connections that have inspired him to continue his own existence. ”

“What read as cold philosophy at the beginning of this series has become intimate personal drama fourteen volumes in, and even Yuuko can’t pretend to be detached from the story’s outcome…”

If you have yet to enter the world of xxxHolic, there’s no time like the present. And if you’re already a fan, you’ll want to run out and buy this book!

Pick of the Week: Pandora Hearts

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Wow, it’s a tough week here for choosing a Pick, though for a much different reason than last time around. Looking at this week’s new manga from Midtown Comics, we’ve got the new omnibus of Cardcaptor Sakura, a second volume of Alice the 101st, Double Cast, 13th Boy (one of my favorite manhwa series), the adorable third volume of previous Pick Chi’s Sweet Home, new Nightschool, new 20th Century Boys… it’s a great week for manga.

All that said, I’m going to go with the third volume of one of my favorite current shonen series, Pandora Hearts from Yen Press. Here are a few bits from my review of volume one:

That’s a lot of plot to spell out in a single review, though it really only scratches the surface of this whirlwind shonen fantasy. Impressively, though the story races along at an exceptionally fast pace, it is very easy to follow and its characters immediately take shape, evoking both sympathy and great interest from the beginning. Both Oz, whose carefree attitude hides significant intelligence and compassion, and Alice, whose aggressive, fearsome persona seems crafted to protect the psyche of a very damaged young girl, are immediately compelling …

Mochozuki’s art is central to the atmosphere of this manga, with its detailed character designs and settings. Much inspiration is taken from John Tennial’s vision of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, with the addition of Mochizuki’s own style which excels particularly in the story’s creepiest moments, such as Oz’s adventure in The Abyss … The story’s action sequences are unusually coherent and easy to follow, with a very dramatic use of contrast and paneling, matching its surreal setting beautifully.

As with any story as elaborately set up as this one, the real question at the end of a strong first volume is whether or not the author can effectively follow through with what’s been put into play. The series has offered more questions than answers at this point, relying mainly on the strength of its characters to hold the reader’s attention through the din. That said, there is enough promise in this fun, mysterious fantasy to ease all doubts for the moment and simply anticipate. Fast-paced, enigmatic, and attractive to the eye, Pandora Hearts is easy to recommend.

For reviews of volumes two and three, check out the tag, pandora hearts. All three volumes are available now.

Pick of the Week: Full House

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With little to excite me in this week’s comics shipment, and with so many publishers at New York Comic Con turning their focus to digital comics, I’ve decided this week to highlight a manhwa title that can currently be read in English only in digital form. That title is Sooyeon Won’s romantic comedy Full House, available online from NETCOMICS.

Though the Full House‘s early volumes were published by now-defunct Central Park Media, they are obviously now out of print. Thankfully, NETCOMICS rebooted the series from the beginning, providing fresh translations and regular chapter updates at their online store. And though many of us may far prefer to read our comics in print, without the pressure of generating print sales, it seems more likely that NETCOMICS will stick out this 16-volume series over the long haul.

Though NETCOMICS’ updates have been increasingly slow for all their series over the past few months, Full House, at least, is getting some attention from its publisher, with its most recent update just a few weeks old. I’ve reviewed both of the first two volumes here at Manga Bookshelf (one | two) and after my weekend at NYCC, I feel quite inspired to dig into later chapters, so look for more on this series (and others) over the next few weeks.

Here’s an excerpt from my review of the series’ second volume:

Though this series is, frankly, stunningly predictable, to leave it at that would be a grave oversimplification. Manhwa-ga Sooyeon Won has an extraordinary talent for turning romantic cliché into storytelling gold, a skill she would later refine to perfection in her outrageously poetic boys’ love epic, Let Dai. Her secret to this is brazen excess, which in this case applies to the series’ endless stream of classic screwball comedy banter—precisely the thing that makes the story so much fun in the first place. Will Ellie and Ryder get together? Of course. Will they face numerous rivals, career obstacles, and ridiculous misunderstandings along the way? Sure! Frankly, none of it matters as long as they keep talking … and talking and talking.

So head on over to NETCOMICS and check out the series’ first chapter for free!

Pick of the Week: Demon Sacred

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It’s tough pickings for me this week, even taking into account the last two weeks’ worth of new arrivals at Boston’s Comicopia. Dark Horse’s second Chobits omnibus is tempting, though I haven’t yet taken a look at their new (reportedly awesome) translation. The second volume of Seiho Boys High School! is an outside possibility, too (reviewed here in a recent installment of Off the Shelf).

Yet, after much indecision, I’m going with volumes one and two of Demon Sacred, just out from TOKYOPOP. I haven’t read either volume yet (they’ve just barely arrived on my doorstep!) but here’s a taste of what Manga Critic Kate Dacey has to say about them in her recent review:

Demon Sacred is shojo manga’s answer to the everything bagel, substituting hot scientists, dragons, pop idols, twins, secret government research facilities, and time-traveling aliens for garlic chips and sesame seeds … the opening pages of the series involve a stampede of unicorns emerging from the aurora borealis and trampling a group of tourists in the Finnish countryside. Even Madeline L’Engle didn’t have the guts to try that.

It’s hard to guess how Itsuki will resolve the myriad subplots introduced in the first two volumes, but the story unfolds in such a feverish, urgent fashion that it’s easy to forgive the occasional narrative shortcuts or capitulations to shojo convention. (See “hot young scientist” and “pop idols,” above.) Demon Sacred may not be the best new manga of 2010, but it’s a strong contender for most addictive.

Time traveling aliens? Dragons? Stampede of unicorns? SIGN ME UP.

Look for my take on this series before the month is out. In the meantime, buy these books.