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knights of sidonia

My Week in Manga: December 29, 2014-January 4, 2015

January 5, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Happy New Year, everyone! Things are already off to a good start at Experiments in Manga. The last manga giveaway of 2014 is currently underway and there’s still time to enter for a chance to win No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular!, Volume 1 by Nico Tanigawa. All you have to do is tell me a little about some of your favorite otaku. The honor of the first in-depth manga review of the year, and in fact the very first post of 2015, goes to Hiroaki Samura’s Vigilance, the thirtieth and penultimate volume of Blade of the Immortal. I still love the series after all this time, and this installment has some particularly nice fight sequences. Finally, December’s Bookshelf Overload was posted over the weekend as well.

There were a few interesting things from Vertical this week, including a roundup of the happenings of 2014 and what fans can look forward to from the publisher in 2015. Another enlightening read from Vertical’s Tumblr account tackles sports, sports fiction, and sports manga and the challenges it presents to the North American market. Also, in case you missed it, Vertical is now on ask.fm and is answering all sorts of questions there. Last but not least, thanks to the success of its release of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vertical is looking into publishing more Gundam manga. If you’re interested and haven’t already, be sure to take Vertical’s Gundam survey which will be open through the end of today.

Elsewhere online, Khursten has made a manga resolution for the year to feature josei more at Otaku Champloo. Organization Anti-Social Geniuses debuted a new feature, Inside the Industry, with Inside the Manga Industry with Lillian Diaz-Przybyl. The Hairpin has an excellent interview with Anne Ishii who, among other things, is the translator and one of the editors of the newly released Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It (which I recently reviewed; it’s great).

Quick Takes

Blue Morning, Volume 1Blue Morning, Volumes 1-5 by Shoko Hidaka. I’ve been meaning to read Blue Morning for a while but have only now gotten around to it. The benefit of this is that I had five volumes that I could read all at once. The drawback, of course, is the long wait until the sixth volume is released. I loved Blue Morning. It’s a moody, slow-burning boys’ love series with beautiful, elegant artwork and well-developed, subtly nuanced characters. A dramatic period piece, the manga takes place during Japan’s Meji era in which the country’s social, political, and economic structures underwent great change. The story focuses on Akihito Kuze who, after being orphaned, is suddenly thrust into Japan’s peerage as a viscount at the age of ten. Tomoyuki Katsuragi, the Kuze family steward, becomes his tutor and guardian. As he grows Akihito ends up developing feelings for Katsuragi and their relationship undergoes an intense evolution and power reversal. The romantic elements of Blue Morning are important, but much of the plot is actually focused on the political maneuverings of both Katsuragi and Akihito to raise the family’s status, though the each of the men have their own reasons for doing so.

KnightsSidonia10Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 10-12 by Tsutomu Nihei. I decided to save up a few volumes of Knights of Sidonia since they read so quickly and I wanted to enjoy a larger chunk of the story. But even though there are quite a few major developments in these particular volumes, including the introduction of an important new character, somehow it just feels like Nihei is stalling for time and that there wasn’t actually much forward movement in the series. Even so, it was still an enjoyable read and I still like the manga. Knights of Sidionia remains a rather peculiar series, a combination of horror, science fiction and, of all things, romantic comedy. Sidonia’s hero Tanikaze, despite being incredibly awkward socially, has managed capture the romantic interest of quite a few of the other characters, basically amassing one of the most unusual harems that I’ve ever come across in manga. And while he has all sorts of domestic challenges to deal with now that his house has five residents more or less living there, he’s also one of humanity’s best pilots in the fight for survival against the Gauna. The war is entering a new stage, new technology has been developed, and the Gauna continue to gain new abilities.

Say I Love You, Volume 4Say I Love You, Volume 4 by Kanae Hazuki. Four volumes in, Say I Love You continues to set itself apart from many of the other shoujo manga series that are currently being released with its very realistic approach to young adult relationships, romance, and sexuality. The characters show a believable mix of maturity and immaturity, at times handling themselves extraordinarily well and at other times ending up a mess of confused emotions. This volume also introduces a new character, Kai, whom I’m particularly looking forward to seeing more of. In the afterword Hazuki mentions that she believes that manga “isn’t just for showing the nice side of things,” a belief that I think comes through in Say I Love You. There are the wonderful moments between characters as they grow closer, but every relationship has its ups and downs and Hazuki isn’t afraid to show the emotional pain and turmoil experienced by her characters as part of that growth. Regret, jealousy, selfishness, and uncertainty all have a role to play as do happiness, affection, altruism, and confidence. None of the characters are perfect and they all make mistakes as they navigate new and sometimes surprising relationships.

Ping Pong: The AnimationPing Pong: The Animation directed by Masaaki Yuasa. Taiyō Matsumoto’s breakout manga was a five-volume series from the mid-1990s called Ping Pong. I’ve become a fan of Matsumoto’s work and would love to read Ping Pong, but it’s probably unlikely to ever be licensed. However, the eleven-episode anime adaptation made me very happy. The style of animation is somewhat unusual, reminiscent of Matsumoto’s loose but deliberate lines and uses a variety of palettes ranging from monochrome to pastel to vivid colors. I was particularly impressed by the series’ sound design and effective use of music. Smile and Peco are close friends and the strongest members of their school’s table tennis club but they both approach the game very differently. On its surface, Ping Pong is a fairly straightforward tale about competitive table tennis, but the series has prominent psychological elements and more depth than it might appear at first glance. Peco and Smile aren’t the only important players in Ping Pong; the protagonists and antagonists of the series are in constant flux. I enjoyed the Ping Pong anime immensely; I’ll definitely be picking up the physical release this summer.

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: anime, blue morning, Kanae Hazuki, knights of sidonia, manga, Ping Pong, Say I Love You, Shoko Hidaka, Tsutomu Nihei

My Week in Manga: July 7-July 13, 2014

July 14, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted at Experiments in Manga last week, though neither of them were actually for manga. First up was Yasutaka Tsutsui’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which collects two of his stories: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of Tsutsui’s most well-known and beloved novels and was the inspiration for Mamoru Hosoda’s 2006 anime by the same name, which happens to be one of my favorite animated films. I also reviewed Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner’s Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present. It’s an extremely informative volume and highly recommended for people who are interested in the history of comics, including manga. I wasn’t online much last week, but I did notice that Revealing and Concealing Identities: Cross-Dressing in Anime and Manga, Part 6 was posted at The Lobster Dance, focusing on Fumi Yoshinaga’s marvelous series Ōoku: The Inner Chambers. If there were any big announcements or other noteworthy news items that I missed, please do let me know!

Quick Takes

Andre the Giant: Life and LegendAndre the Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown. Growing up, I knew of Andre the Giant from his role as Fezzik in the film The Princess Bride, only later learning about his professional wrestling career. Andre Roussimoff was a literal giant of a man–at one point over seven feet tall and over six hundred pounds–who also suffered from acromegaly, though he wasn’t diagnosed with the condition until he reached his twenties. Brown’s thoroughly researched biographical comic captures Andre’s life and legacy, revealing just how human the legend really was. Like anyone else, he had his strengths and his flaws. Because of his size the life he led was an unusual one and he was treated differently, and not always kindly, by other people. Surprisingly, Andre the Giant: Life and Legend is actually one of the very few works devoted to Andre. It’s a collection of stories and anecdotes about the man beginning with his childhood in France and then following him through his globe-spanning career as a professional wrestler as well as his time on the set of The Princess Bride. The comic is very well done and includes a bibliography in addition to notes on the sources used.

Bokurano: Ours, Volume 1Bokurano: Ours, Volume 1 by Mohiro Kito. One summer, fourteen seventh graders and a fourth grader participating in a nature school program wander into a seaside cave where they discover a strange man holed away who invites them to play a game. They will be placed in charge of piloting a giant robot in order to fight massive alien invaders. Except that the game they’ve agreed to play turns out to be much more real than any of them counted on. This early in the series it’s a little difficult to get a good feel for all of the characters since there are so many of them, but it seems that as they each have their own opportunity to pilot the robot more will be revealed about them as individuals. It also looks like the series will have a fairly high death count, too, even when it comes to main, named characters. Bokurano: Ours has a dark ambiance as well strong psychological elements. Though there are grand battles, the real drama of the series revolves around how the children respond to being granted such enormous power. Some delight in the chance to wreak havoc while others are more hesitant, understandably concerned about the strange situation they’ve gotten themselves into.

Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls, Volume 2Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls, Volumes 2-3 by Okayado. At its heart, Monster Musume is an unapologetic, ecchi harem series. Readers looking for nuanced characters or plot from the manga will be sorely disappointed. And considering the amount of uninhibited fanservice, highly suggestive scenarios, partial nudity, and nipples on display, I continue to be surprised that Seven Seas is able to get away with calling Monster Musume a series for older teens. Initially, I wondered if monster boys existed in the manga since the series focuses almost entirely on monster girls. They actually do, but that fact isn’t confirmed until a bunch of otaku orcs appear in the third volume. In addition to the orcs, plenty of other liminal races have been introduced as well: slimes, mermaids, zombies, ogres, cyclops, shape-shifters, and so on. Not all of the liminal ladies become love interests for Kimihito, the series’ protagonist and host family for many of the visiting monster girls, which is a good thing. Monster Musume is an extraordinarily silly and trashy manga that can actually be a lot of fun for those who don’t mind its blatantly sexualized content. Its monster girl gimmick sets it apart from other harem manga, but probably won’t win anyone over who doesn’t already read the genre.

Soul Rescue, Volume 1Soul Rescue, Volumes 1-2 by Aya Kanno. I’ve really enjoyed Kanno’s other manga currently available in English (Blank Slate and Otomen), so when I discovered that Tokyopop had also published one of her series I made a point to track it down. I believe Soul Rescue was actually Kanno’s debut manga, too, which made me even more interested in reading it. Honestly, it’s a bit of a mess. The artwork is nice, even though the pages are very full, and I liked the characters and basic premise of the story, but it doesn’t quite pull together as a whole. Renji is an angel with a propensity towards being overly violent, and so he has been temporarily banished to Earth in order to mend his ways. Another angel, Kaito, has been sent along with Renji as his supervisor to keep him in check and prevent him from doing too much damage. Renji will be allowed to return to Heaven after rescuing the souls of 10,000 humans. (Kissing is somehow involved in all of this.) By the end of Soul Rescue, he’s only saved two, maybe three souls. Though there are recurring characters, the series is largely episodic with almost no overarching plot arc or real conclusion. Kanno doesn’t seem to be concerned with consistent time periods or settings in the manga, either. Modern cities, Medieval kingdoms, and fuedal Japan, all with their own anachronisms, exist simultaneously.

White GuardianWhite Guardian by Duo Brand. I’m fairly certain that White Guardian was Duo Brand’s first professional boys’ love manga; it was also their first manga to be released in English. White Guardian includes many elements found in the pair’s other manga that I’ve read, namely swords, sex, and fantasy. Granted, in the case of White Guardian, it seems to be more of a historical setting than it is strictly fantasy; there are no supernatural aspects or magic involved in the plot. The kingdom of Landa is suffering from internal conflict and corruption which the Crown Prince is determined to address with the aid of the famed General Sei. Prince Linth is a bit of an oddball, lighthearted and earnest if a bit naive. He’s also strangely accepting and forgiving of his own rape, which happens multiple times over the course of the short manga. Happily, there’s some consensual sex to be found in White Guardian, too. The manga has some actual plot to go along with its smut as well. I’ll admit to being fond of court intrigue, espionage, and battles, which are all present and play their own roles in the story. White Guardian is followed by its sequel Crimson Wind which was also released in English, though it’s a little more difficult to find at this point.

Knights of SidoniaKnights of Sidonia directed by Kobun Shizuno. I have been enjoying Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia manga a great deal, and so when the anime adaptation was announced I was immediately interested in watching it. Of all places, the series was exclusively made available for streaming in English through Netflix with both a dubbed version and a subbed version. Overall, the anime was a fantastic adaptation. It hits all the major plot points and highlights of the manga, and in some cases it was actually easier to follow what was going on. The anime is very faithful to the original without slavishly adapting the source material to a new medium. As should be expected, the pacing of the story is slightly changed and the visual impact of the anime is different from that of the manga. However, I was never completely sold on the 3D CG animation style. Though the backgrounds, environments, and many of the special effects looked great with it and were sometimes even stunning, the movements of the characters occasionally would feel just a little off. It did seem to improve as the series went along, but maybe it was just that I was finally getting used to it. I do look forward to seeing the second season.

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: anime, Aya Kanno, bokurano: ours, Box Brown, comics, Duo Brand, knights of sidonia, manga, Mohiro Kito, Monster Musume, Okayado, Soul Rescue

My Week in Manga: June 30-July 6, 2014

July 6, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

The first week of the month tends to be a little slow at Experiments in Manga (at least it feels slow to me). Granted, there were still three posts last week. The Juné Manga Giveaway Winner was announced, which also includes a list of some favorite Juné manga. June’s Bookshelf Overload was posted. (My wallet thanks me that June was a little less ridiculous than the last few month have been.) And finally, the first in-depth manga review of July goes to Battle Royale: Angels’ Border. Written by the author of the original Battle Royale novel, the volume collects two side stories about the girls who try to survive the death match by banding together at a lighthouse. Angels’ Border is surprisingly romantic, but if you know anything about Battle Royale, you know that things don’t end very well for almost anyone involved.

There were plenty of things that I found to read online last week. Here’s a quick list of a few of the posts that I thought were particularly interesting: Ryan Holmberg takes a look at Hayashi Seiichi’s pop music manga, specifically focusing on “Flowering Harbour” (which is now available in English!) Moyoco Anno was interviewed by Publishers Weekly. The Beautiful World has created a Transgender Manga Masterpost. J. R. Brown has a fascinating article about what can be gleaned by paying attention to the details of ukiyo-e prints. And Justin has a rant about the state of manga in translation that is worth reading. Also, Anime Expo was last week and there were a ton of announcements. Sean has a good roundup of the licenses at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Quick Takes

Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star, Volume 1Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star by Cain Kuga. Of the two Cowboy Bebop manga, Shooting Star was actually the first to be released in Japan although it was the second series to be published in English. Technically, it also preceded the Cowboy Bebop anime series, which I hadn’t previously realized. However, it’s still based on the anime. Kuga was given free rein with the characters and story, which makes Shooting Star not exactly a retelling but more like an alternate version or universe. The manga isn’t as dark as the anime (though there’s humor to be found there as well), and the story is somewhat different, but the basic premise of near-future bounty hunters in space remains. Frankly, though vaguely entertaining in places, Shooting Star just isn’t as good as the anime, the action can be difficult to follow, and the slapstick is a little too silly for my taste. Shooting Star will most likely be of interest to established fans of the Cowboy Bebop anime as a curiosity more than anything else. Even though Shooting Star mostly stands on its own, people who haven’t seen the anime probably won’t get much out of it.

I Shall Never Return, Volume 1I Shall Never Return, Volumes 1-5 by Kazuna Uchida. Although the first volume of I Shall Never Return is a little shaky at the start (and parts of Ken’s stepfather’s backstory seem to be unnecessary and superfluous), overall I was actually rather impressed with this short boys’ love series. Ken comes from a broken home and is a high school dropout. His best friend Ritsuro was the only stable thing in his life but now they’re having problems, too. I Shall Never Return is filled with drama and deals with some very mature themes, such as abuse, drug use, prostitution, and rape. Terrible things happen and I was constantly waiting for something even worse. But there are also some wonderful moments of support, love, and acceptance. One of the things that I found particularly interesting about I Shall Never Return is that while it’s definitely a romance, the two leads actually spend much of the series apart from each other. Ritsuro remains in Japan while Ken travels to Singapore and then to India, trying to find a new start and become a better person. They have to deal with a long-distance relationship at the same time they’re coming to terms with their feelings for each another. It’s a believable and difficult process.

Knights of Sidonia, Volume 8Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 8-9 by Tsutomu Nihei. Maybe it’s because the manga’s such a bizarrely quirky series–a strange mix of science fiction, horror, and romantic comedy–but I can’t help but love Knights of Sidonia a little more with each passing volume. Nagate, Tsumugi, and Izana make a marvelous and frequently awkward family unit. And even considering that Tsumugi is a monstrous human-Gauna hybrid, she manages to be endearingly charming, sweet, and adorable. Nagate continues to be socially inept, though certainly less so, and Izana has fallen more in love with him, which has triggered physical changes. The three of them together are simply delightful, forming a not quite love triangle. In direct contrast to the humor and cheerfulness surrounding the trio, humanity’s fight for survival against the Gauna remains terrifyingly intense and death tolls continue to rise. Sometimes the battles can be a little difficult to follow, but they’re always exhilarating. There are some definite sexual overtones to Knights of Sidonia in these two volumes, which are especially apparent in the artwork, but this appropriately adds to the series’ more disconcerting atmosphere.

This One SummerThis One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. The Tamakis are a pair of cousins who previously worked together on the award-winning graphic novel Skim. This One Summer is their second collaboration. The story follows Rose over the course of her family’s summer vacation at Awago Beach where they have always rented a cottage. Rose’s mother has become more distant over the last year and can’t seem to relax, creating a significant amount of tension. There are reasons for that, though, and Rose is more perceptive than her parents might realize. But because communication has broken down between them all, it may be a while before everything will be okay again. Meanwhile, Rose spends time with her friend Windy, enjoying the beach and bingeing on horror films that they probably shouldn’t be watching at their age. In the background another drama is unfolding among the local teenagers when one of the young women discovers that she might be pregnant. It’s heartbreaking to see how insidious sexism can be. In addition to the strong and effectively layered storytelling in This One Summer, the artwork is beautiful as well.

YowamushiPedalYowamushi Pedal, Episodes 15-26 directed by Osamu Nabeshima. This set of episodes finishes up the Sohoku racing club’s grueling training camp and then launches almost directly into the Inter-High race, following the competition up through the first section of the first day and ending with one heck of a dramatic plot development. Yowamushi Pedal manages to be incredibly exciting, mostly due the intensity and passion of the characters and because it includes just a touch of the ridiculous. More characters and teams are introduced, and more backstories and rivalries are revealed in this part of the series, too. The animation is sadly a bit inconsistent, sometimes impressively good while at other times lacking in finesse. Although I enjoy cycling, I’ve never really followed road racing closely. I was surprised to learn just how much teamwork can go into it; I’d always assumed it was more of an individual event. I’ve also enjoyed learning more about some of the strategies involved in racing. (And I’ll admit, now that the weather is finally decent where I live I really want to get my bike out again and hit the road! Who says watching anime can’t be good for you?)

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: anime, Cain Kuga, comics, Cowboy Bebop, I Shall Never Return, Jillian Tamaki, Kazuna Uchida, knights of sidonia, manga, Mariko Tamaki, Tsutomu Nihei, Yowamushi Pedal

My Week in Manga: February 24-March 2, 2014

March 3, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week ended up being surprisingly busy here at Experiments in Manga. The most recent manga giveaway was posted, and there’s still some time left to enter for a chance to win a copy of the new edition of Shohei Manabe’s Smuggler. All you have to do is tell about your favorite assassin in manga. Last week I also posted my review of Hinoki Kino’s manga No. 6, Volume 5. I already knew going into the series that I liked the characters and story, having seen the No. 6 anime, but each volume of the manga is progressively stronger than the last. Over the weekend, I posted February’s Bookshelf Overload for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing. Also over the weekend, I reviewed Real, Volume 1 by Takehiko Inoue. I honestly believe Real to be one of the best manga currently being released in English. The review is part of what I’m calling “Manga March Madness.” Each weekend in March I will be posting a review for another volume of Real. At least that’s the plan. We’ll see if I can pull it off or not.

On to other interesting thing online! The Guys with Pencils podcast posted the second part of their interview with TCAF-founder Chris Butcher. Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has some Advice on Manga Lettering, From Manga Letterers. Khursten Santos wrote about The Silence on Josei Manga on Otaku Champloo, and had some feedback and followup to the post show up on Tumblr. Finally, the Comics Book Legal Defense Fund has an interesting article about the impact government regulations can have on creative freedom–History Repeats Itself: How Korean Manwha Met the Same Fate as American Comics

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Volume 1Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Volume 1 written by Ryo Suzukaze and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki. Set some seventy years before the main events of Hajime Isayama’s original Attack on Titan manga, Before the Fall is based on a series of light novels by Ryo Suzukaze (which Vertical will begin releasing later this year). Despite having a different author than the original manga, Before the Fall fits right in with Isayama’s worldbuilding and the tone set by Attack on Titan–there is still plenty of fear and darkness. The most striking difference, which didn’t come at all as a surprise, is that the artwork in Before the Fall is much stronger overall. The story follows Kuklo, a young man who, due to the unusual circumstances of his birth, is feared, abused, and reviled by those around him. It’s not pretty. People who have read the original Attack on Titan will have a slightly better understanding of the world than those who haven’t, but so far Before the Fall seems to stand quite well on its own. Before the Fall has a lot of potential; I look forward to seeing how it develops.

I Give to YouI Give to You by Ebishi Maki. As far as I can tell, I Give to You is Maki’s first and currently only boys’ love manga. It’s not a typical boys’ love story, either. The focus is very much on the characters themselves and their personal struggles and less on romance. The manga addresses what it means to be normal and lead a normal life, which isn’t an option for either of the leads. Ryoichi is being pursued by debt collectors after his ex-boyfriend defaults on a loan they co-signed together. He takes shelter from a storm in a teahouse run by Ren, another young man with a past he’d like to put behind him. The two are very different–despite his financial worries, Ryoichi tends to be fairly warm and happy-go-lucky while Ren is cooler and much more reserved. In the beginning, it’s Ryoichi who needs help and acceptance from Ren, but by the end of I Give to You their roles have almost completely reversed. The evolution of their relationship happens so slowly and naturally over the course of the manga that I was quite impressed with how it was handled. I would definitely be interested in reading more of Maki’s manga.

Knights of Sidonia, Volume 6Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 6-7 by Tsutomu Nihei. For most of Knights of Sidonia, it has been the Gauna who have been adapting and evolving by adopting human strategies, techniques, and even form. In these volumes, it’s the humans who have begun to apply the abilities and characteristics of the Gauna to their own technologies, creating terrifying and powerful human-Guana hybrids in the process. Understandably, not everyone is comfortable with these developments, but humanity is running out of options if it wants to survive. Knights of Sidonia has this odd mix of comedy and creepiness that somehow works. Although by this point in the series he has largely been accepted by the rest of the population of Sidonia and even has a few romantic interests, Nagate continues to be incredibly awkward socially. Because of this he still has a tendency to unintentionally create quite a commotion, often with humorous results. At the same time, Knights of Sidonia is also a horror manga. The Gauna, and now the hybrids as well, have very disconcerting designs that can be both grotesque and beautiful.

Ral Ω Grad, Volume 1Ral Ω Grad, Volumes 1-4 written by Tsuneo Takano and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The primary reason I decided to read Ral Ω Grad was because I’m a fan of Obata’s artwork. Ral Ω Grad is a loose adaptation of the 2006 video game Blue Dragon. The manga definitely has a fantasy RPG feel to it–a young hero with special abilities fights against the destruction of the world by gathering together a party of other gifted individuals around him–but familiarity with Blue Dragon isn’t at all necessary to understand what’s going on. Generally, Ral Ω Grad manages to be vaguely entertaining even though it’s breaking no new ground. I found that I enjoyed the series more when I approached it as a parody rather taking it too seriously. (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t intended to be a parody, though…) Ral’s motivation for saving the world? Because he loves women. And boobs. Consequently, there’s fanservice and groping aplenty, but Ral spends quite a bit of his time running around mostly naked, too. In the end, the series’ highlight really is Obata’s artwork, which is consistently excellent. The story, sadly, is less engaging.

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: attack on titan, Ebishi Maki, knights of sidonia, manga, Ral Ω Grad, Ryo Suzukaze, Satoshi Shiki, Takeshi Obata, Tsuneo Takano, Tsutomu Nihei

Pick of the Year – 2013

December 30, 2013 by MJ, Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown and Anna N 2 Comments

MJ: 2013 was a pretty dramatic year for manga in many ways, both good and bad. I can’t help but feel pangs of sadness and regret when I look back at last year’s column, in which I named now-defunct digital publisher JManga as my Pick of the Year. Their titles dominated both my BL and digital “best of” lists as well.

heartofthomasDespite that tragedy, I gaze fondly back at 2013, as the year that brought me new favorites like Knights of Sidonia and Sunny. When thinking about my final Pick this year, however, I guess I’ve little choice but to sound like a broken record, because for me, there can be no other than Moto Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas. When Michelle and I discussed this book back in January, I wrote:

“In case it isn’t obvious to anyone reading this, I loved this manga with my whole heart. And I’ll admit that’s not exactly what I expected. I expected to find it visually beautiful and worthy as a classic, but I also expected it to be very dated and I thought the story might not appeal to my tastes as a modern fan. Instead, I found it to be both beautiful and emotionally resonant to an extent I’ve rarely experienced—especially in BL manga. This is a book I’d wholeheartedly recommend to any comics fan, without reservation. It’s an absolute treasure.”

We were working from digital review copies at the time, and though I’d clearly fallen in love, it wasn’t until my own print copy finally shipped later that month that I realized just how much of a treasure this book truly is. It is glorious to behold. As the year passed, nothing else has come close.

gundamoriginSEAN: There was a lot of great manga released in 2013, even if you just stick with titles that began this year. My mind keeps drifting over to one title in particular, and that’s the deluxe hardcover release of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin from Vertical. Leaving aside the fact that it looks expensive and fantastic with lovely paper and color and everything, it’s a terrific story. Gundam wouldn’t be what it is today without that original story, and reading about the slow maturation (very slow at times) of Amuro Ray, the increasing leadership abilities of Bright Noah, and the political backstabbing of everyone on the Zeon side (but particularly Char Aznable) is as addicting as anything.

With 4 hardcover volumes out so far this year and more on the way, this has to be the Pick of the Year for me.

knights1MICHELLE: I am finding this profoundly difficult. I picked Taiyo Matsumoto’s Sunny for our gift-giving edition last week, so I obviously love it a great deal and think it’s something every manga fan should check out. But if we’re talking about the new-for-2013 manga that pushes my personal buttons the most, it would have to be Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia. Quite simply, I love everything about it, especially Nihei’s art and how the interior nooks and crannies of Sidonia are depicted. It’s also the most accessible of his works that I’ve read, with an endearing cast thrown into a desperate, seemingly impossible conflict.

I very much want to read more Sunny, but I’m kind of desperate to read more Knights of Sidonia, and so it gets the edge and becomes my official Pick of the Year.

seiichi-hayashi-gold-pollen-and-other-stories-3ASH: Oh, this really is difficult! I always have a hard time choosing bests or favorites, but I did recently manage to write about some of the manga from the last year that were particularly notable for me. As for my selection for Pick of the Year, I’m actually going to cheat a little and choose the publisher PictureBox. Sadly, PictureBox will not be releasing any new titles, but I was greatly impressed and intrigued by all of the manga it published in 2013.

PictureBox was taking manga publishing in some very exciting directions. The releases were high-quality, too. I was especially interested in the two series helmed and edited by Ryan Holmberg: Ten-Cent Manga (which brought us The Last of the Mohicans by Shigeru Sugiura and The Mysterious Undergound Men by Osamu Tezuka) and Masters of Alternative Manga (which brought us Gold Pollen and Other Stories, an anthology of short manga by Seiichi Hayashi). Plus, PictureBox actually had the guts to release The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: The Master of Gay Erotic Manga. So, while PictureBox may not be releasing any more manga, I’m very grateful for the risks it took in 2013.

helterskelter
ANNA: I’m relieved that Sean picked Gundam: The Origin because that gives me room to pick something else. And I’m happy that Ash decided to cheat a little, because I’m going to do that too!

My pick of the year isn’t a manga volume or series, but a genre. I want to highlight josei manga! Just when I was about to give up hope of seeing much more josei manga published in English, 2013 ended up being a great year for manga targeted at older female readers. Viz Media had the commercial but incredibly addictive Midnight Secretary and Happy Marriage, Vertical highlighted more challenging and edgy fare by translating works of Kyoko Okazaki, and Digital Manga Publishing released a ton of Harlequin manga on emanga.com. This makes me a very happy reader! I hope for more josei in 2014.

Readers, what manga made your year?

Filed Under: PICK OF THE WEEK Tagged With: Josei, knights of sidonia, mobile suit gundam, picture box, the heart of thomas

My Week in Manga: October 21-October 27, 2013

October 28, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I reviewed Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son, Volume 5. The series is personally very important to me, so I’m always happy when a new volume is released. Sadly, we probably won’t see the next volume until next year. Last week I also posted Discovering Manga: Podcasts Redux. It’s a quick update on some of the podcasts that I’ve listened to and written about in the past. It also outlines my plan to write more podcast posts since my previous ones seem to have been fairly popular. If you have a manga podcast that you think I should check out, do let me know!

On to good stuff found online! A commenter on my recent post Random Musings: Queer Theory, Japanese Literature, and Translation linked to a fascinating article from earlier this year: Talking about (a)sexuality in Japanese. Over at Publishers Weekly, Deb Aoki has a great recap of Manga at New York Comic Con. Misaki C. Kido gives seven reasons Why Felipe Smith Is the Only Mangaka from America (So Far). And some of the most interesting news from last week: Crunchyroll will begin to digitally distribute Kodansha manga, providing access to new chapters the same day they are released in Japan. (Including some titles not previously available in English!) It should be interesting to see how this venture develops.

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan, Volume 8Attack on Titan, Volume 8 by Hajime Isayama. The mystery of the Female Titan has been solved! Or, at least one of the mysteries–the identity of the person is who is controlling it. The reasons behind why and for what purpose are still unknown. For every question that is answered in Attack on Titan it seems as though there are even more to be asked. This particular volume includes a huge (dare I say titanic?) plot reveal which ends with a fantastic confrontation between Hanji and Minister Nick. (As an aside, I love that Hanji is a canonically gender ambiguous character.) One of the major secrets dealing with the walls is literally uncovered, but has yet to be fully explained. Attack on Titan continues to get stranger and stranger. For those who have been watching the Attack on Titan anime but who have thus far been avoiding the manga for one reason or another (I know plenty of people who can’t get past the terribly inconsistent artwork), the eighth volume is where you’ll want to pick the series up if you want to see any more of the story any time soon.

Knights of Sidonia, Volume 4Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 4-5 by Tsutomu Nihei. I am still enjoying Knights of Sidonia, but it frequently strikes me as a peculiar mix of science fiction horror and romantic comedy. But whatever genre it falls into at any given time, I do think the manga is Nihei’s most accessible work to date. Occasionally I still miss his grittier style of illustration, but the cleaner and somewhat simpler artwork in Knights of Sidonia has really grown on me. One of the things that amuses me tremendously is that Nagate is frequently seen stuffing food into his face. This emphasizes how much of an oddity he is compared to the rest of society on the Sidonia. And he is rather odd. His social interactions can be very awkward and often he is completely oblivious to his faux pas until it’s too late. (Let’s just say that it’s fortunate that he heals quickly.) The Gauna continue to be daunting adversaries. While at first they were terrifying enigmas, over the course of the series they have adapted and evolved and have even adopted (or at least mimicked) human technology and tactics, making them even more frightening.

Monster Musume, Volume 1Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls, Volume 1 by Okayado. Monster Musume is a harem series that attempts to distinguish itself by featuring monster girls. There is absolutely no question that Monster Musume is an ecchi manga, so unsurprisingly there are a lot of boobs and other bits. (I’m still trying to figure out how a snake can have a camel toe.) Kurusu Kimihito is an average guy who was “volunteered” for an exchange program between human and part-human species. He has become the host family for Miia, a lamia who is overly fond of him (inter-species canoodling is forbidden). Overwhelmed, he is constantly in a state of near-panic. As the first volume of Monster Musume progresses, bad puns and groan-inducing wordplay become increasingly prominent. (I’m one of those odd people who actually appreciates this sort of intentionally and ridiculously terrible dialogue, though.) It’s not at all a deep story–and I do wonder where all the monster boys are–but Monster Musume can actually be rather entertaining on occasion.

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: attack on titan, Hajime Isayama, knights of sidonia, manga, Monster Musume, Okayado, Tsutomu Nihei

Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 2

June 13, 2013 by Anna N

Knights of Sidonia, Volume 2 by Tsutomu Nihei

As I was reading the second volume of Knights of Sidonia, it occurred to me that Nihei ably manages a narrative balancing act of giving the reader just a little bit more information in each volume, but not so much that everything feels completely filled in. My curiosity about the history of Sidonia was fulfilled with a bit of backstory about why the massive ship seems to be moving through space alone, isolated except for occasional attacks by the Guana. I’m still intrigued to learn more about Nagate Tanikaze and why he happens to be so good (in a somewhat bumbling way) at piloting the Tsugumori. He also seems to be continually singled out by those in command.

I enjoy the general sense of scale expressed with the illustrations of interior of the giant spaceship – it does really seem massive. The human cost that occurs when it has to maneuver itself suddenly makes it clear that even safely inside a spaceship death can come at any instant. Reading this manga, I get the sense that Nihei plans out all the details of his worlds very meticulously. One negative thing is that generally the characters in this manga suffer a bit from samefaceitius, making it sometimes difficult to sort out who is who absent any extreme differences in hairstyle. However, this is a minor quibble next to the general awesomeness of seeing the Guarde units fly through space in their ringed locked arm formation.

This is not a happy manga about giant space robots fighting aliens. The evolutionary capabilities of the Guana give some scenes a horror comic vibe, and bad things certainly happen to good people. But there’s enough humor in the strained interpersonal interactions of the people aboard the Sidonia that when finishing up a volume of this manga, I’m not feeling oppressed by tragedy but very interested to see what happens next.

Also, for those of you reading this manga solely for talking bear appearances, there is some talking bear in this volume!

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: knights of sidonia, vertical

Pick of the Week: Pepita, Dorohedoro, Sidonia

April 15, 2013 by Michelle Smith, MJ, Sean Gaffney and Anna N 1 Comment

potw2MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be picking up a few things on this list, and am particularly eager for the second volume of Knights of Sidonia. However, it’s not often that two of my interests—architecture and Inoue Takehiko—come together, so I am going to have to vote for Pepita: Takehiko Inoue Meets Gaudi. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect from this book but I have no doubt that it’ll be gorgeous.

MJ: I’m with Michelle all the way, this week. I, too, am looking forward to volume two of Knights of Sidonia (and the latest volume of Flowers of Evil as well) but my most-anticipated release is Pepita: Takehiko Meets Gaudi. It promises to be beautiful and fascinating.

SEAN: I’m not as hyped up about it as Excel Saga, but that’s because I’m not as hyped up about anythng as I am about Excel Saga. But those who follow my reviews have likely guessed my pick this week is Vol. 9 of Dorohedoro. The plot really picked up last time, which can be a problem with a series as dense as this one is—it’s another title that rewards multiple re-readings. Will Caiman finally discover his past? And does he really want to?

ANNA: I also agree with Michelle and MJ. I’m interested in both Pepita and Knights of Sidonia, but I’ll probably wait a little bit to pick up Pepita. I’m going to be reading Knights of Sidonia much sooner, so that gets my pick.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Filed Under: PICK OF THE WEEK Tagged With: dorohedoro, knights of sidonia, pepita

3 Things Thursday: First Quarter Favorites

April 11, 2013 by MJ 5 Comments

Now that we’re getting into April, it seems natural to look back at the first three months of the year with a view towards understanding the year to come. And despite some real tragedy in the English-translated manga industry, I am surprised to note just how good things look from here. Brigid Alverson posted a great article on the state of the industry at Publishers Weekly—a must-read if any of you missed it—but as usual, I’m better equipped to offer a personal take.

When I looked back at the first quarter of the year, what I mainly notice is just how many new and continuing manga being currently released (and re-released!) are truly catering to my tastes. So with that in mind, let’s talk about…


3 beloved first quarter manga releases

heartofthomas1. The Heart of Thomas | By Moto Hagio | Fantagraphics – The Heart of Thomas was my most eagerly anticipated manga of the year, and while its January release date set the bar perhaps unfairly high for the year to come, I can’t bring myself to be sad about that. Michelle and I discussed the book at length in our first BL Bookrack column of the year, and every moment spent with it was a true pleasure. My concluding thoughts from that column: “In case it isn’t obvious to anyone reading this, I loved this manga with my whole heart. And I’ll admit that’s not exactly what I expected. I expected to find it visually beautiful and worthy as a classic, but I also expected it to be very dated and I thought the story might not appeal to my tastes as a modern fan. Instead, I found it to be both beautiful and emotionally resonant to an extent I’ve rarely experienced—especially in BL manga. This is a book I’d wholeheartedly recommend to any comics fan, without reservation. It’s an absolute treasure.” Yeah. That.

tokyobabylon12. Tokyo Babylon | By CLAMP | Dark Horse Comics – 2013’s first quarter was incredibly strong for MJ-friendly re-releases, the most spectacular of these being Dark Horse’s new edition of CLAMP’s Tokyo Babylon, a long-time favorite now back in print with a fresh English adaptation and gorgeous print production. I previewed the first omnibus for Off the Shelf in March, and I couldn’t be happier. From that column: “… Dark Horse’s English adaptation is noticeably different, presumably thanks to the hand of its new editor, Carl Horn. Carl has a gift for making English dialogue really come alive, and his influence is apparent immediately … I really do recommend the new adaptation. Plus, if the trim size is as promised, it’s going to be gorgeous. I’m hoping they’ve used really nice paper, too.” And yeah, they have. It’s beautiful. Don’t miss it.

knights13. Knights of Sidonia | By Tsutomu Nihei | Vertical, Inc. – One new favorite that really snuck up on me is Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia, the first volume of which appeared in early February. Never having read the author’s well-known title Blame!, I didn’t know what to expect from this series. But apparently it’s just my thing! Michelle and I took at look at it for Off the Shelf, and it easily charmed us both with its intriguing characters and wonderfully detailed artwork. From that column: “… while there is still a lot of mystery still for readers (as well as for Nagate) at the end of the first volume, that sense of the unknown is far from overwhelming. I’ll admit that I had to read the book twice in order to feel that I really understood it, but I honestly don’t consider that a negative in any way. I’m a fast reader, but it’s not too often that a single volume captures me so easily that I’m really happy to re-read it immediately afterwards, just to catch more of its details.” I’ve re-read it again since, too. It’s that interesting.


Special shout-outs too, to Viz Media’s new digital re-release of From Far Away and Archie Comics’ charming OEL series Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Magic Within. It’s a great year so far, really.

Readers, any special favorites in the first quarter of 2013?

Filed Under: 3 Things Thursday Tagged With: knights of sidonia, the heart of thomas, tokyo babylon

Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1

March 17, 2013 by Anna N

Knights of Sidonia, Vol 1 by Tsutomu Nihei

I was excited to see that Vertical was releasing Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia, because I greatly enjoyed Biomega. As I was reading this manga, I realized that there really is a dearth of giant mecha manga being published in English. One viewing of the Evangelion anime was enough for me, so I haven’t been following the various manga spinoffs. Most shonen seems to be more of the monster of the week/fantasy variety now, and it wasn’t until I was reading Knights of Sidonia that I realized how much I missed GIANT ROBOTS FIGHTING IN SPACE!

Nihei’s manga centers on Nagate Tanikaze, a human on the seed spaceship Sidonia which is carrying humanity away from the destruction of the solar system by aliens called Guana. Nagate lives in an underground area, sharing his cramped apartment with his grandfather’s corpse and spending his time training in an alien combat simulation fighter. The human race has been split to an extent, with most opting for a procedure that allows them to photosynthesize. Nagate still needs regular human food and he is captured by others on the spaceship when he ventures out for rice. Nagate begins to assimilate into current human society, and he gets signed up to pilot a Garde – the mecha who fight the Guana that attack the Sidonia. Nagate is socially awkward but seems to have an odd ability to tolerate pain and heals up very quickly. Being a regular human might give him a bit of an edge over his modified compatriots?

As Nagate trains to fight he meets Izana, a human who can be both genders. He also meets a variety of photosynthesizing clones. Nagate’s isolation causes him to be several years behind with recent developments, but he throws himself into piloting the Tsugumori, the Guarde unit he is assigned to. There isn’t anything else going on with his life. The space battles are where a horror element comes in as the semi-sentient Guana can shift their shapes, even taking on the outward appearance of a human that they’ve killed. They’re blobby and somewhat fetus-like, if a fetus was a giant shifting alien.

One of the things I like about Nihei’s work is that he tells a compelling story without over-explaining everything. I’m getting to the point where having an origin spelled out in the first couple chapters of a manga starts making my eyes glaze over, but Knights of Sidonia manages to be intriguing without being frustrating. I’m interested to find out more about the human society on the Sidonia, the reasons for Nagate’s previous exile, and to learn more about his progress as a Guarde pilot. Knights of Sidonia doesn’t yet have some of the great desolate scenes of beauty that I enjoyed so much in Biomega, but one of the things I enjoy about Nihei’s art is his ability to convey scale and space in his backgrounds. When Nagate falls through a hole into an enormous rice storage bin, it is easy to get a sense of just how massive the Sidonia is.

Most importantly for fans of Biomega, there is a talking bear in Knights of Sidonia. She doesn’t have a machine gun yet, but she does have an artificial arm. Seriously, a talking bear in outer space with an artificial arm is reason enough to buy this manga, and all the great mecha/alien battle scenes and Nagate’s journey are really just a bonus.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: knights of sidonia, talking bears, vertical

Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1

February 20, 2013 by Sean Gaffney

By Tsutomo Nihei. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in the United States by Vertical, Inc.

I will admit to being one of the few people reviewing this title who has not read either Biomega or Blame, the author’s previous series released here. As a result, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into, except that the series looked vaguely Gundam-ey. And I have to admit, after finishing the first volume, I’m still not quite sure what’s going on. That said, it’s the sort of manga that rewards trying to find out, and there’s lots of little things here and there that make this well worth a read.

sidonia1

This takes place somewhere in the future on a World Spaceship, a la Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky. Much of the plot is not told to us via exposition or narrative, but simply by immersing us in our hero’s day-to-day life and expecting us to figure it out as we go along. Our hero, Nagate, has been living secretly underground for years with his grandfather (I think), practicing blowing things up in a flight simulator. When he runs out of food (is his grandfather dead? And for how long?), Nagate goes to find some, and accidentally falls into the processing machine (one of the more morbidly funny scenes in the entire volume). After being discovered, he’s quickly indoctrinated into the military and added to a team whose mission is to battle the Gaunas, alien life forces intent on destruction.

Our hero is not much for words (or indeed facial expressions), so getting some battle scenes almost feels like a relief. My favorite part of the entire manga is probably the cruelest: we meet a new girl, Eiko, who is standoffish and avoiding all the superstition that the other pilots perform. Given she’s in the chapter title, we naturally assume she’ll be like Izana and come to befriend our hero, though given how prickly she seems it may require him to show initiative. But no! They go out to battle Gaunas, and she’s not only killed off immediately but her form is used to become a hideous monstrosity that almost kills off Nagate too. This fakeout was well-played, and I applaud the author for it.

Towards the end of the volume we get a few more new characters, who are a bit too new to really grasp on to, as well as an indication that Izana seems to have fallen hard for our hero. Clearly this is meant to be a series with a few volumes to it, and I imagine all will become clearer as I go along. I’m left, however, with a sense of distance about the whole thing. Nagate has difficulty emoting due to his upbringing (at least, that’s what I imagine), Izana seems naturally repressed, and through most of the volume I kept wishing that I could get closer to our heroes’ mindset while being unable to. I did enjoy Nagate defending Izana against a hotshot egotistical jerk pilot (who then breaks Nagate’s arm), and hope that we’ll see more elements like this. Knights of Sidonia as a series is cool rather than warm, but it’s still fascinating, and I look forward to working out what’s going on in future volumes.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: knights of sidonia

My Week in Manga, Episode 8

February 10, 2013 by MJ Leave a Comment

MJshares what she’s reading this week, including a look at volume five of Hotaru Odagiri’s The Betrayal Knows My Name. In other news, she really needs a haircut.

Manga this week:
Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 1 (Vertical, Inc.)
BTOOOM!, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
The Betrayal Knows My Name, Vol. 5 (Yen Press)
Awkward Silence, Vols. 2-3 (SuBLime Manga)
His Favorite, Vols. 2-3 (SuBLime Manga)

Links:
Off the Shelf: Explosions, Missions, & Mecha
Manga Bookshelf Book Club: The Betrayal Knows My Name

Edited by MJ
Music (“Stickybee,” “20/20,” “Stars Collide,” & “Swansong”) by Josh Woodward

Filed Under: My Week in Manga Tagged With: awkward silence, btooom!, his favorite, knights of sidonia, the betrayal knows my name, yaoi/boys' love

Off the Shelf: Explosions, Missions, & Mecha

February 9, 2013 by MJ and Michelle Smith 3 Comments

MICHELLE: Hey, MJ! I’d make a joke here, but after viewing various pictures of startling amounts of snowfall, I just hope you’re staying warm!

MJ: I am! We may be buried in snow, but at least we have electricity! We’re very lucky.

MICHELLE: That’s good! I presume having some electricity means that you’re up for talking about some manga this morning!

btooom1MJ: I am indeed! Though it’s possible that the snowstorm is at least partly responsible for today’s choice of reading. As I perused my stack of books to review this morning, I was immediately drawn to Junya Inoue’s BTOOOM!, a debut series from Yen Press with a decidedly survivalist feel.

Ryouta is a “loser,” according to the book’s marketing materials, and while I think that characterization may be a little harsh, for the moment we’ll go with it. He’s an avid gamer with dreams of working in the video game industry, but with these dreams yet to be fulfilled, he’s essentially a freeloader living off his mom while rejecting her efforts to secure him some kind of paying job. He’s especially skilled at an online game called “BTOOOM!,” in which players fight each other only with a variety of small explosive devices. Having defeated the game’s entire pool of Japanese players, he’s ready to move on to world domination, but the world apparently has other plans.

One morning, Ryouta wakes up to find himself hanging from a parachute on a remote tropical island. He doesn’t know where he is or how he got there, but through a series of (occasionally deadly) encounters, soon discovers that he’s been placed into a sort of real-world rendering of “BTOOOM,” in which he must kill other real-life players in order to escape the “game.” As other players help him put the pieces together (or try to blow him to pieces, depending on their dedication), Ryouta battles his own conscience and sense of humanity as he struggles to survive.

As you may have already determined from reading my description, there’s nothing remotely original about BTOOOM! or its hero’s inner struggle, at least not so far. Stories like these are so common and so evenly spread across every storytelling medium in existence, that it’s impossible for me to even identify Inoue’s specific influences. That said, I can’t deny that I had a good time. Setups like these become cliches for a reason—when done well (or even passably), they work, and BTOOOM! is no exception. Even as I rolled my eyes at the series’ premise, I found myself becoming engaged in Ryouta’s story, and chances are I’ll tune in for more.

MICHELLE: Yeah, as I was reading your description there were various other stories that kept springing to mind, but I agree—this one looks potentially interesting. I like the cover, too. I’m not sure why little boxes with timers on them look cool, but they do, so just go with it, I suppose!

MJ: Exactly! Sometimes familiar-but-fun is exactly enough to satisfy, and I feel like the cover conveys the truth of that pretty well.

So what have you got for us today?

missions1MICHELLE: This week I decided to check out the first two volumes of Ema Toyama’s Missions of Love (published by Kodansha Comics). Despite generally enjoying Toyama’s I Am Here!, I was fairly skeptical about this one, largely due to its Japanese title (Watashi ni XX Shinasai!) translating more or less to “Do XX to me!” I was expecting something smutty, an impression that the cover images seem to wish to reinforce. As it turns out, though, there’s really no smut in sight.

With her icy glare, third-year junior high student Yukina Himuro is known to her classmates as the “Absolute Zero Snow Woman.” Little do they know that she’s actually the famous cell phone novelist, Yupina, and the reason she always seems to be staring at them is that she’s gathering material for her stories. One student who has never been able to inspire her is the most popular boy in class, Shigure Kitami, who always maintains the same smiling, pleasant demeanor. When Yukina learns that her fans would prefer more love scenes, she’s troubled, since she’s convinced she’ll never be able to experience love herself and will therefore not be able to write about it convincingly. Luckily, she promptly stumbles upon proof that Kitami is not what he seems and uses this to blackmail him into doing things like holding her hand, clutching her to his manly bosom, etc. so that she can produce updates to her story that make her fans’ hearts skip a beat.

By the end of volume two, Yukina and Kitami seem to be on the path to developing real feelings for each other, but there’s still a lot of contention and distrust in their relationship. He has discovered her secret weakness—it’s pretty dumb—and uses this against her, but feels bad when she ends up hurt by what happens. Meanwhile, Yukina’s cousin and only friend, Akira, reveals that he loves her and wishes she’d use him for boyfriend experience instead of Kitami the creep.

Honestly, I am not sure what I think about Missions of Love at this point. The leads are struggling between their real selves and their facades, and as a result, sometimes they’re likeable and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes Yukina is smart—she skillfully deflects several of Kitami’s attempts to trip her up—and sometimes quite dense, especially when pondering such shoujoriffic concepts as “This pounding in my chest… what does it mean?” Akira has potential to stir things up, but so far his primary character trait is that he’s always snacking. There must be something to this series—after all, it won a Kodansha Award last year (for best children’s manga, while here it’s rated for older teens)—but so far the only things tempting me to continue are the brief glimpses of the story Yukina’s writing and the idea that eventually Kitami is going to give up his disguise (which has already begun to slip) and face the consequences.

MJ: Hm. Well, so far it sounds like it possibly could benefit from some of that smut its title promised. Well, maybe not for you, but I’m feeling the tediousness of the heart-pounding revelation pretty keenly here. Also, I’m already anticipating the pain of Guy #2. Am I way off-base on that?

MICHELLE: Not even a little. This is about as clear-cut a case of Guy #2 as there could ever be. Kitami might be a jerk, but he’s the one. Here’s a scene in which Yukina describes why Akira’s not suitable for her experiment:

Yukina: Akira is my cousin; he means a lot to me. I could never do to him what I’m doing to you.
Kitami: So you can’t use him, but you can use me?!
Yukina: Of course I can use you!! You’re the one that makes my heart skip a beat!

Of course this is said while clutching the back of his jacket in the way shoujo heroines do.

MJ: Poor Guy #2… sigh.

MICHELLE: Yep.

But now for something completely different! I am really eager to talk about this one, but I’m curious to see how you’d describe it, so you wanna introduce it for us?

knights1MJ: Sure! So, our mutual read this week is volume one of Knights of Sidonia, a new science fiction series from Vertical, created by Tsutomu Nihei, the author of Blame! I’ve never read Blame! nor seen the anime adaptation, but after getting this taste of Nihei’s work, I can’t deny that I now want to.

Nagate has lived his whole life in the “underground” of an enormous space ship, with only his now-deceased grandfather for company. Though it was grandpa’s wish that Nagate never leave their isolated environment, hunger sends Nagate on a quest for rice that ultimately brings him to the attention of the ship’s larger human society. Things have changed drastically since grandpa’s days, with most humans now possessing the ability to photosynthesize for sustenance and some bred from both human and animal species. Humans have also officially developed beyond the gender binary to include people who are neither male nor female and who can reproduce with either (or even just by themselves).

Human evolution aside, however, there is at least one aspect of Nagate’s lifelong isolation that has made him a real asset to his new human community. With little else to occupy him, Nagate logged an enormous number of hours in a battle simulator designed to train humans to operate a type of mecha known as “Garde”—the humans’ only defense against the alien Gauna who wiped out human life on Earth centuries ago. Nagate’s skill earns him the right to pilot Tsugumori, an older Garde with legendary status, much to the dismay of at least one other young trainee. Though piloting mecha and fighting the Gauna are the focus of Knights of Sidonia‘s plot, the story’s real drama so far really comes out of Nagate’s attempts to navigate a new social environment that still holds a lot of mystery for him.

MICHELLE: I am not going to be coy. I pretty much loved Knights of Sidonia with every fiber of my being.

I have read BLAME! (and really liked it), so I can’t help but approach Knights of Sidonia with an eye for comparison. It’s true that BLAME! had many story elements that weren’t fully explained to the reader, but so far, there is less of that with Sidonia. On a few occasions, readers are propelled into scenes without explanation, but Nihei’s very good about filling in the details in a timely fashion. The characters are more accessible—more human, despite whatever evolution they’ve undergone—and the overall tone and look is lighter.

But oh, that look. I’m not the greatest connoisseur of manga art, but there’s just something about Tsutomu Nihei’s style that pushes my buttons in a big way. I LOVE the labyrinthine feel of the place, which reinforces Sidonia’s immensity. Doors, pipes, tubes, stairs, deep dark abysses… I simply cannot get enough. I even love the mecha, and the fact that the chapter title page illustrations constitute a gallery of random spots around the ship is just icing on the cake.

I feel like I should probably comment on Nagate’s attempts to adapt—and don’t get me wrong, I loved all of that, too—but I’m so rarely bowled over by art that I’m taking advantage of the opportunity to wallow in it a bit.

MJ: Wallow away! This manga earns it. I can get right on board with your admiration of Nihei’s artwork, too. It’s detailed and mysterious—much like the story itself. But while there is still a lot of mystery still for readers (as well as for Nagate) at the end of the first volume, that sense of the unknown is far from overwhelming. I’ll admit that I had to read the book twice in order to feel that I really understood it, but I honestly don’t consider that a negative in any way. I’m a fast reader, but it’s not too often that a single volume captures me so easily that I’m really happy to re-read it immediately afterwards, just to catch more of its details.

I’m also really anxious to find out more about some of the series’ mysteries, both in terms of the sci-fi plotline (What are the Gauna? What really happened back on Earth? Why does Nagate seem to possess inhuman skill?) as well as the already-complicated human relationships (What’s Izana’s story? And what’s the deal with Kunato?). I’m very much on the edge of my seat at this point.

MICHELLE: Me, too! And that’s why it delights me to report that this series is at nine volumes in Japan and still ongoing. This is longer than Nihei’s six-volume Biomega (recently released by VIZ and which I now feel an urgent need to finally read) and likely to be longer than BLAME!, which has ten volumes. A story like this needs as much time as possible to really unfurl its layers. Happily, it looks like Vertical has scheduled volume two for April, so maybe we’ll get regular bimonthly releases!

I did want to note… even though mecha stories certainly aren’t new, and even though there were a few scenes (like the assembly wherein the awesome and capable captain informs everyone about the threat) that reminded me of Battlestar Galactica, Knights of Sidonia never once felt derivative to me. I think the details and careful world-building are largely responsible for that.

MJ: Agreed all-around! Knights of Sidonia is a real treat, and I’m anxious for more!

Filed Under: OFF THE SHELF Tagged With: btooom!, knights of sidonia, missions of love

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