kaiju

Mahou Josei Chimaka

January 22, 2016 by Ash Brown

Creator: KaiJu
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9781987988017
Released: December 2015
Original run: 2014-2015

Mahou Josei Chimaka, or Magical Woman Chimaka, is the second long-form comic by KaiJu, a creative team made up of Kate Rhodes and Jennifer Xu, that I’ve had the opportunity to read. The three-chapter comic was originally serialized online in Sparkler Monthly between 2014 and 2015 before being collected and released in both digital and print book editions by Chromatic Press later in 2015. I love everything that Chromatic Press is involved with, but I was especially looking forward to Mahou Josei Chimaka for a number of reasons. Most notably, I was greatly impressed by KaiJu’s previous comic The Ring of Saturn (which also released by Chromatic Press) and have been closely following the team’s work ever since. It also didn’t hurt that in large part Mahou Josei Chimaka is a loving homage to and parody of the magical girl genre. That and it also it ends up being a sweet romance between two women.

Fifteen years ago Shimmer Shimmer Skypatcher Chimaka faced her greatest nemesis and lost, failing to protect her city. While Chimaka was able to temporarily repel the threat, a large portion of the city was laid to waste and left a giant, lifeless crater. Now her enemy has returned, intending to finish the job, only Chimaka isn’t a magical girl anymore. Her life fell apart after that fateful, disastrous encounter and, although she’s back on her feet again, the magic is gone. Chimaka now spends her days working as a scientist at Squid Petroleum and nights drinking with her colleague Pippa with whom she has become very close. But with the return of her old enemy, along with the persistence of a certain government agency which uncovered her past, Chimaka needs to find a way to regain her powers. The ever cheerful Pippa is determined to do all that she can to help Chimaka, but the task that the two of them face is a difficult and daunting one—Chimaka must once more become Shimmer Shimmer Skypatcher if she wants to save the world.

Mahou Josei Chimaka is crafted to especially appeal to readers who are fans of the magical girl genre (or, in this particular case, the magical woman genre) and who are interested in a slightly different approach than is often seen. While it’s not absolutely necessary to be familiar with the common tropes and themes of the genre—Mahou Josei Chimaka is completely enjoyable as a story in its own right—readers who are will be in a better position to truly appreciate the entirety of the comic and its satire. The elements one would expect to see in a magical girl story are all present in Mahou Josei Chimaka, including but certainly not limited to animal companions, transformation sequences, dazzling accessories, and an emphasis on the power of love. But these have all been slightly skewed through the lens of Chimaka’s growth into cynical adulthood. And yet, while KaiJu’s interpretation of the magical girl genre is honest and mature, it doesn’t become dark and depressing.

Mahou Josei Chimaka is a delightfully funny and charming comic. Much of this comes from the contrasting but complimentary personalities of the comics’ two leading women and the sweetness of their blossoming relationship, but as a whole Mahou Josei Chimaka is very playful. KaiJu has a great sense of humor which comes through not only in the story and characters, but in the artwork as well. The artists alternate between using more realistic illustrations and those that are exaggerated for great comedic effect. The final chapter does perhaps rush the story’s climax a bit as the creators pull out all the stops for the epic final battle, but it’s a sort of intentional ridiculousness that’s highly entertaining. Although preventing the end of the world is serious business, Mahou Josei Chimaka mixes in silliness in the best sort of way. I enjoyed the comic on my first read but I find that I like it even more after reading it again; Mahou Josei Chimaka is a great deal of fun.

The Ring of Saturn

June 10, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: KaiJu
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9780993861178
Released: May 2015
Original run: 2014

The Ring of Saturn was the first work that I read by KaiJu, a creative team made up of animator Jennifer Xu and cartoonist Kate Rhodes. A short three-part comic, The Ring of Saturn was first serialized online in Chromatic Press’ multimedia magazine Sparkler Monthly in 2014. The comic was collected as an ebook soon after and then in 2015 the print edition was released. I initially read The Ring of Saturn online as it was being serialized and was very impressed by the comic, so I was looking forward owning a physical copy. The gorgeous cover artwork was what first caught my attention, but the comic’s musical elements and historical drama immediately appealed to me as well. Although The Ring of Saturn stands completely on its own, the comic is actually a side story, a pilot of sorts, for a much larger work pitched by KaiJu to Chromatic Press. Based on the strength of The Ring of Saturn alone, I hope to one day see that project come to fruition. In the meantime, I’m very happy to have The Ring of Saturn.

Miriam Frayne is a student of Gustav Holst, the Director of Music at the prestigious St. Paul’s Girls’ School. Although a skilled pianist with a passion for music, she is confounded by the solo arrangement of Holst’s “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age.” She simply can’t seem to grasp its meaning or feeling, much preferring the rousing “Jupiter” movement of the suite which better suits her exuberant temperament and style of playing. It’s that energy that captures the attention of Rasim Rahal, a young astronomer who is intrigued by Holst’s work. At first Miriam is annoyed by Raz, but she soon finds herself warming up to him. Although he’s not the only one to express enjoyment of Miriam’s performance of “The Bringer of Old Age,” she herself continues to be dissatisfied and frustrated with it. And while Miriam continues to struggle with “Saturn” her country is locked in a struggle of its own—The Great War. Though seemingly far removed from her quiet life at school, the war is something that will affect everyone, including Miriam.

One of the things that I love about The Ring of Saturn is how the music forms a parallel to the narrative of the comic and to Miriam’s development as a character. The music serves as a metaphor for growth and change in a way that is remarkably effective and which never comes across as trite. “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” is a flashy piece with a sense of brilliance. As Miriam describes it, it steadily moves forward with purpose. “The Bringer of Jollity” captures Miriam as she is at the beginning of the comic—youthful and fervent, though perhaps a little naive when it comes to some of the harsher realities of life and of war. But by the end of The Ring of Saturn, Miriam is finally able to understand and even identify with “The Bringer of Old Age.” She has had to grow up, and with that maturity she is able to approach the music and her life more fully. She is no longer the person she once was, which can be seen in both how she acts and in how she plays. Miriam has become wiser with age and with experience.

Music, which is beautifully conveyed visually throughout The Ring of Saturn, is a critical component of the work. The Ring of Saturn also one of the few comics that I know of in which a composer, and a historical one at that, plays an important role. And it’s certainly the only one that I’m aware of that features Holst. While the details in The Ring of Saturn aren’t quite as intricate, KaiJu’s work in the comic reminds me of some of the manga by Kaoru Mori in both its artwork and in how history is incorporated into its setting and story. The Ring of Saturn is historical fiction and so some freedom has been taken with historical fact, but the feeling of era is there. I also enjoyed the comic’s witty and poetic dialogue. The Ring of Saturn is a short comic, well under a hundred pages, but it is also satisfyingly complete. Reading it again I love it just as much as I did the first time and have perhaps come to appreciate even more what KaiJu has accomplished with The Ring of Saturn.

The Ring of Saturn

January 31, 2015 by MJ 1 Comment

The Ring of Saturn | by Kaiju | Chromatic Press – “Sometimes it is not about forcing something to work… it is about simply learning to absorb what is beautiful.” These words come from the mouth of English composer Gustav Holst—not the actual historical man, perhaps, but a compelling portrait indeed as envisioned by cartoonist Kate Rhodes and animator Jennifer Xu, credited here collectively as “Kaiju.”

Set during Holst’s tenure as director of music at West London’s St. Paul’s Girls’ School during the First World War, Kaiju’s short comic “The Ring of Saturn” tells the story of Miriam Frayne, a promising young pianist studying with Holst at St. Paul’s. After performing a solo piano arrangement of Holst’s “Saturn: The Bringer of Old Age” (part of his famous orchestral suite, The Planets, which Holst is in the process of orchestrating over the course of the comic), Miriam is approached by a young astronomer, Rasim Rahal, who expresses his appreciation of her performance. Visibly distraught, Miriam forces a polite response and flees as quickly as possible.

Unhappy with her own playing, and doubtful of her ability to do justice to “Saturn,” Miriam begs Holst to be allowed to play something more “appropriate,” and it soon becomes clear what that means to her. Young and filled with the verve of nationalist pride, Miriam is vastly more comfortable with the decidedly uplifting character of Holst’s “Jupiter” (“The Bringer of Jollity”) than she is with the haunting ambiguity of “Saturn.” It is only when wartime tragedy hits close to home that Miriam finds herself beginning to understand what is beautiful and even necessary about “Saturn’s” relentless uncertainty.

It is admittedly difficult to discuss a short comic like The Ring of Saturn without giving away its entire plot, but rest assured that any developments revealed here are not remotely the point. Yes, you may assume that Miriam’s wartime tragedy involves the death of someone close to her (and you’ll know who that is likely to be within the comic’s first twenty pages), but these specifics are important only on the surface. Even Rahal, who seems perfectly poised to be Miriam’s love interest, is ultimately significant only for the ways in which his greater life experience helps to shatter Miriam’s patriotic innocence.

Kaiju’s visual storytelling is stunning—expressive and visceral, particularly towards the end of the comic, where the crux of Miriam’s emotional journey plays out over the course of eleven dialogue-free pages. This sequence, enhanced only by a few crucial sound-effects, is as beautifully envisioned as the best classic shoujo manga, and similarly well-executed. If these were the only eleven pages in the entire comic, they could stand alone as an eloquent expression of one young musician’s moment of truth. That’s how powerful they are.

Enamoring artwork aside, it would be remiss to minimize this comic’s most brilliant element, which is its grounding in the real-life history of Gustav Holst and his music. Though some historical details may be altered for the sake of the story (Holst’s original arrangements were for two pianos, not one, for instance), Holst’s essence remains intact. That he valued himself more as a teacher than as a composer is felt keenly here, and to my mind, deepens the reading of his musical output as much as it does the story at hand. Like many children of musical households in the 20th century, I was brought up on The Planets, and though I rather thoughtlessly abandoned them in later years in favor of the more overtly complex works of composers like Prokofiev and Stravinsky, my appreciation of them in context of Holst’s commitment to teaching and the beginning of World War I has been decidedly enhanced by this comic. Holst notably approached each planet not from an astronomical viewpoint, but an astrological one—specifically in terms of its emotional and psychological associations rather than its mythological namesake—an approach that works exceptionally well as the premise for a character-driven comic.

But perhaps most significantly, what Kaiju has proven here is that it really is possible to craft a wholly satisfying, emotionally resonant comic in under 100 pages—and to do it without resorting to wordy exposition, over-crowded panels, or excessive dialogue. The Ring of Saturn is an elegantly crafted comic that should draw attention not only to its talented, artistically mature creative team, but also to Sparkler Monthly and Chromatic Press’ output as a whole. This is exactly the kind of comic we need more of.