Human Club 1

As promised, I broke down and started reading one of the web-only releases at Netcomics.com. Instead of doing the sensible thing and reading one of the many decent josei/romance titles they have available, I rode the Let Dai wave and chose the angsty shounen ai-ish crime drama.

At the first volume, it’s a little disorganized and a bit hard to follow through the first chapter or two. The first volume seems like a collection of one-shots starring a depraved main character who is kin to the insane lead in Osamu Tezuka’s MW. The first two chapters feature a father and daughter who become involved with the main character, whose name is Shinobu. Shinobu was apparently lovers with both the father and his second wife, possibly without either of them knowing. It is implied that he administered a heroin overdose that killed the second wife. Later, he engineers an opium hallucination that causes a… rather unpleasant scene between the father and daughter. Later, the father kills himself and the daughter is driven insane.

The stories are REALLY messed up in Human Club. I don’t mind this so much, actually, but I would rather there be a plot instead of a collection of stories. I assume a plot emerges eventually since the story is… 17 volumes long, so I’ll probably read at least one or two volumes to see how that goes.

I do like the art. I have no idea when the story was written, but it’s got really retro-looking art. My guess would be early 90s, since that seems to be when all the stories are taking place. I also like the setting, which is mostly China/Hong Kong, though one story does take place in New York City’s Chinatown. I haven’t actually read that many manga that take place in China. This is before Hong Kong reverted back to China, and the story seems to dwell heavily on what it means to live in Hong Kong, do business as a member of Hong Kong society (though Shinobu is Japanese?), and what the seedier side of Hong Kong is like, at least in the story.

I don’t like the lack of a solid plot, but I like the setting and art well enough to try another volume or so. Also, the depravity is such that I’ve got train wreck syndrome, where I know it’s really horrible but I can’t look away. Well, I’ll see where it goes.