Blade of the Immortal 2
Posted: January 31, 2010 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 6 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 1998 – 25+ volumes
So, one of the things I loved about Dark Horse’s large-format flipped volumes for their old series, particularly Oh My Goddess and 3×3 Eyes, was the fact that each volume was a self-contained story arc. I knew I would miss it when Oh My Goddess switched over to regular manga format, and I really did, because it is super-nice to have a story contained in one volume. Blade of the Immortal reinforces my belief, since this volume contained a short story about a fellow immortal and a poison that kills blood worms.
On one hand, I was a little bummed when this new character showed up. I really liked BotI for not making a big deal out of Manji’s immortality. Usually people start showing up that are bigger and badder than the main character’s amazing-at-first superpower, and the only people that had heard of Manji in the first couple stories were those that knew he slew a hundred men as a samurai working for a government employee. But then I got to the second volume, and here’s another immortal who knows all about what Manji can offer, and also has a way to take him out of commission. Bah.
Despite that, it was an interesting story, and I liked the series a little better for exceeding my expectations when it came to that particular aspect of storytelling. The reason this person knows was because Manji let someone live. In a way, it’ll be Manji’s carelessness that will be his undoing. And yet, I was pleased that the person lived, because he didn’t strike me as evil. After Manji’s speech at the beginning about there being two sides to every story and being careful about who he kills, I was going to be sad if he was just going to start slaying people on the other side for no reason. The head of the sword school that killed Rin’s parents is certainly evil since he’s going around killing people, and the mutant henchman who sewed heads onto his shoulders was evil too, but the sword school has a solid philosophy behind it (aside from it requiring the death of all sword masters), so the people who follow it aren’t necessarily evil. This particular guy only stole a sword. Did he deserve to die for it? Well, if that’s all he did, probably not. Manji doesn’t kill him. He “kills” Manji though, and finds out his secret and tells others.
There was also some deception involving Yaobikuni that I liked, and I also liked the slow, horrible way in which the other immortal tried to kill Manji. I mean, killing an immortal is awful work, but this was… pretty painful-looking.
I did like that Manji is immortal without being completely invulnerable. He is clearly feeling pain every time he is stabbed, and his slow death here truly is an awful thing. There also is a method to kill the immortals… two methods, actually, as of the end of this volume.
I’m going to keep reading. I need to find the rest of the volumes and read them right now. I mean… I still don’t think the overall plot is that interesting (it tries to give up on its purpose once again when Rin says that revenge is a silly way to live and forbids Manji from retrieving her father’s stolen sword), but I did like the mini-storyline here, and I have a feeling things will only develop more from here. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Lovely Complex 17
Posted: January 31, 2010 Filed under: Lovely Complex 4 Comments »Aya Nakahara – Viz – 2010 – 17 volumes
Aw, crap. I figured this would be the finale, but that happened last volume and this is a collection of three short stories. In a way, I think I liked this better, though, since I can pretty well imagine how the end of this series went (school ended, Otani and Risa wound up where they needed to, everyone lived happily ever after). The first two stories in the volume were about Otani in his first year of junior high and Risa in her last year of junior high and stories about them meeting their mutual friend Yoshii. I liked the story of the two of them connecting to Yoshii despite his being difficult, connecting to him despite difficult friends, and making a connection through him that wasn’t realized fully until years later. These two stories wound up being the sweetest pair in what I’ve read of this series.
The last story was a bit lost on me. I’ve only read five of the seventeen volumes, and it was one of those final chapters that is like a huge side character reunion where you find out what everyone’s doing. Except there were a lot of side characters, only three or four of whom I recognized, and it sounded like they were all talking over each other about things I knew nothing about. That’s mostly my fault for not reading more of the series, though. The more important point of the chapter was about how people could grow apart and change, finding new interests, and yet still connect if they made an effort. There were only a handful of sad stories I’d run across in Lovely Complex, but they always ended so sweetly. This one only had a moment of sadness, but I still think it made quite a point with it.
And that was ultimately what I loved most about the series. It was a break from the usual back-and-forth high school drama, and it featured a steady couple that always managed to keep the mood silly and upbeat. I loved it for being positive. I’ll probably go back and start the series from the beginning sometime in the future, or at the very least pick up volume sixteen so I can read the conclusion. I wound up liking this quite a bit, though it makes me want to go back and pick up a little High School Debut to see how it compares to this one now. They’re similar upbeat series, but I liked High School Debut a bit better at first.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Electric Hands
Posted: January 31, 2010 Filed under: Electric Hands | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Taishi Zaou (Mikiyo Tsuda) – DokiDoki – 2009 – 1 volume
I reviewed this over at Manga Recon, so you can check it out over there.
…Yeah. A BL volume full of stuff I’m not a fan of, including shota. Ugh. Not even the hilarious hand fetish could save it. I gave it a C-, but only because I really love Mikiyo Tsuda’s side commentary and I thought all the insight was interesting. I wish she’d publish an essay volume like that, because that’s always my favorite part of her stories.
Blade of the Immortal 1
Posted: January 31, 2010 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 4 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 1995 – 25+ volumes
Since I liked Berserk and Vagabond so much, two series I had spurned for the longest time for being too manly, I decided I should probably try Blade of the Immortal as well. I mean, it’s a real classic among dudes who don’t really read manga, but read a few things they heard were good. It must be good if those guys are going to swallow their pride and read it.
And… it is. It took some getting used to. I’ve read Hiroaki Samura’s volume of short stories Ohikkoshi, but that wasn’t very action-oriented. The pencil art is detailed, unique, and almost a shock to the eyes in a series like this since you’re just not expecting it. But he’s much better at it, and it surprises me that it comes across as well as it does since it seems like a lot of detail would be lost in the printing process. I also had to get used to the weird flipping system they use (cutting up the page and re-composing it to read left-to-right rather than just mirroring the artwork), since sometimes the speech bubbles are in strange places and sometimes things aren’t where you’d expect, and sometimes the artwork is flipped so that Manji’s missing eye jumps around a little. I’d seen it before in Studio Ironcat’s books (off the top of my head, Futaba-kun Change, but I don’t know if the Miyu books and others use it too), but it’s been a number of years since I’d read a book that used it, and it is strange.
The story’s kind of weird, too. I didn’t like the plot after the first two or so chapters, and as of the end of the volume, I still don’t. There are some things that don’t add up. But the characters, action, and ideas and gimmicks at work are so amazing that I can ignore the strange revenge plot that’s going on. In fact, the first two chapters are strange since they seem to set up the overarching plot of the series (Manji protecting his sister, or Rin finding her mother), and then are abruptly ended and the characters go on something far less concrete. At this point, they are seeking revenge against the murderers of Rin’s parents, which is just as good a reason as any to go on a killing spree, I suppose. There will probably be a lot of these guys. Manji wants to kill some bad guys, so I guess that’s all in order.
But having a main character that’s literally immortal is a breath of fresh air. Usually the characters in these series take any injury you can throw at them and still live, but aren’t really “immortal.” Manji is, and by taking that extra step, it makes the fight scenes that much better, since he frequently receives a bullet through the brain, or a severed limb or torso. He’s good in a fight, but not invincible since that stuff happens to him. He lives though, and I love the vast array of weapons he uses along with his strange and well-translated anachronistic vernacular. I also really like his simple character motivations and somewhat aimless nature, though again, I can’t figure out why he decided to help Rin after giving that speech, unless he figured he really would find some bad guys if he followed her.
I also love the coup de grace at the end of every chapter, the elaborate full-page illustration with the enemy flying to pieces depending on who is doing the execution (thirds for a villain who uses spinning stars, a manji symbol for Manji, or a cross for that painter). They are confusing in the context of the sequential art, but as illustrations they are amazing, and it’s not like I don’t know what’s happening there.
I’ve got the second volume, but if the first was any indication, I’m going to go ahead and splurge on the rest of the series. It’s great. I’ve got nothing else to say about it, but I will be reading the second volume tonight.
Honey and Clover 8
Posted: January 30, 2010 Filed under: Honey and Clover 3 Comments »Chica Umino – Viz – 2009 – 10 volumes
Oooh! How aggravating! This volume was entirely focused on Ayu and Mayama. It takes a look at all aspects of both of their unrequieted love affairs, and shows lights at the end of the tunnel for both of them. It also reminds us of how much time has passed in-story. This is especially effective in Ayu’s case, who suddenly realizes she’d been smitten with no return for her feelings for years, and to give it up even knowing she had no chance would make it seem that somehow her feelings were less all that time. I can really, really sympathize with Ayu here. That struck some uncomfortable chords with me. Having easy-to-relate to characters is one of the strengths of the series, of course, and one of the reasons why this is the best, but it’s always a little uncomfortable when they hit too close to home. Uncomfortable, but even more the mark of a good series, I suppose.
The series is winding down, and has two volumes left. As of the end of this volume, there is very little left to resolve between Ayu and Mayama, and both are well on their way. The bigger question, and one left almost entirely unaddressed in this volume, is what happens between Morita, Hagu, and Takemoto. There are some peeks, but in addition to finding out how things will fall between them, we also are led to believe there is a method to the madness of the Morita brothers. I’m looking forward to that.
One thing I noticed is that the volumes have been very character-centric lately, whereas the earlier ones were more focused on the group of friends hanging out and helping each other. With the passage of time in this series, and following the characters after they’ve left school and moved on to their careers, I thought it might be an interesting commentary about how you may also grow out of your school friends as you move on in life. They all still seem pretty tight, and Mayama and Takemoto even still live in the same building, but they all have their own individual problems and lives now. They still intersect, but… you know. You never really have friends like you have them in college, I suppose. More points to Honey and Clover for that, too.
One Piece 35
Posted: January 30, 2010 Filed under: One Piece Leave a comment »Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 56+ volumes
Yeah, this is still one of the hardest volumes in the series to read, even knowing what’s coming. As I said before, I actually skipped Water 7 entirely and stopped reading right after the major sequence in this volume. I gave up the new end of the series for a long time and waited for the dust to settle to see if it actually turned out the way it seemed. On one hand, no manga would ever do what is implied in this volume. On the other hand, it was pretty serious stuff, and One Piece doesn’t seem to be afraid to rise above expectations. Even if its just little twists and variations. I mean, they left Vivi in Alabasta. Certainly that didn’t bode well for… this.
There are a lot of horrible things that happen here, actually. The crew has to make a decision about what to do concerning the Merry, which isn’t in good shape right now. Usopp is kidnapped and beaten up, and they have 200 million berries stolen from them, so the crew has to show up and basically slaughter the Franky Family, mostly in retribution for the cold-blooded way they treated Usopp (they beat him up once, but when Usopp showed up at their hideout to get the money back, they beat him within an inch of his life). The fight against the Franky Family is just… hard to watch. It’s bad.
Then something even worse happens afterwards. For all the terrible things that have happened in the series, all the sad flashbacks and hard turns some of the stories take, none of them compare to this. Again, even knowing this was coming, and knowing the eventual outcome, I had a hard time sitting through it a second time. There are very few manga scenes EVER that I felt such aversion to reading, and… I mean, there are worse things than what happens here, but in the context of the story, it’s one of the most horrible things imaginable. That doesn’t make it any less good, though.
Robin is AWOL, and while the crew is recovering from the huge serving of bad luck, something happens to the mayor and the city is led to believe Robin and the Straw Hats did it, so now they have the entirety of Water 7 and the Galley-La Company after them.
Oh, and Franky. He’s out for vengeance, too, for what happened to his family. Franky has every right to be ruthless when fighting Luffy, but his introduction, his unveiling, is one of the best in the series. There is a musical number. Poses. Enthusiasm. The entire city booing him off stage. A distinct lack of pants. Even in its darkest hour, there is still funny stuff to be had in One Piece. Genuine laughs, too, not just sad attempts at jokes.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
One Piece 34
Posted: January 29, 2010 Filed under: One Piece 1 Comment »Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 56+ volumes
I’ve got one more volume after this one, and then I promise I’ll be done. For at least a week. But I’m going to read new volumes as soon as I get them, because it’s impossible to put this series down when you’ve got this much to read. I’ll talk about other things though, I promise.
The crew finishes up the Davy Back Fight, and I love that the outcome is not at all what you would expect. For as goofy as Luffy is, I always love it when you see what makes other people follow him with such devotion. It’s not just the end of the Davy Back Fight here, Luffy also gets to act like a hero in fromt of Aokiji, one of the three strongest men the Marine force can boast. He’s got frightening powers and a vendetta against Robin, and Luffy fights him so that the others don’t have to. The fight is very serious. Aokiji… not so much. I like him. It’s a shame he has to be against the Straw Hats. He also broaches the subject of Luffy’s grandpa, who will put in an appearance at the very end of Water 7.
After this, the Merry runs across a train that runs on tracks submerged in the sea and a frog that throws itself in front of it every day, and later, the city of Water 7 and the fantastic Galley-La company. The Galley-La company boasts the best shipwrights on the entire Grand Line, and the Straw Hats go to the company with the hopes that the treasure they… absconded with in Skypiea will cover the extensive repairs necessary for the Merry. We also meet the Franky Family and several of the Galley-La shipwrights, including the head of the company and the mayor of Water 7.
Water 7 is cool, and I love the idea of a town that is equal opportunity towards both pirates and marines. I also like the design of the water-based town, which is like Venice save for the fact you ride around on mooing sea horses with saddles. It’s not nearly as comedic and quirky as some of the other in-between parts, but then again, we did just have the whole quirky Davy Back Fight. There are still some good jokes though, mostly at Luffy’s expense. I love that he seems to take such genuine insult that the crew doesn’t trust him with simple things like money and getting necessities.
If I recall, there’s nothing nice about the next volume, and it broke my heart and made me stop reading the entire arc the first time through. Let’s see.
Also, there’s a neat map in the back that lays out all the story arcs of the series. For the curious: East Blue (1-12), Baroque Works (12-24), Skypiea (24-32), Water Seven (32-46), Thriller Bark (46-50), Sabaody (50-54), and Impel Down (54+). Impel Down is scheduled to start running in July. I’m a little surprised that Sabaody and Impel Down are separate since so many other smaller story arcs are included in some of the other sets, but they are very different stories. And I’m similarly mystified by Thriller Bark, which is only four volumes long, but they are four volumes of solid gold, so my guess is that it just couldn’t be contained under another name. And was also just thematically unrelated to anything else.
On to the next!
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Detective Conan 31
Posted: January 27, 2010 Filed under: Case Closed 1 Comment »Gosho Aoyama – Viz – 2009 – 66+ volumes
Detective Conan=Case Closed, I just like the way Detective Conan sounds a little better
Ehh… meh. I like this series an awful lot, but this volume didn’t stand out too much.
There were two okay cases. The best case was probably the murder case at Harley’s kendo tournament, where he has to rush around in order to solve it before Conan arrives so he can take the credit. I just like the fact he turns solving a murder into a game of pride. The other was a rather clever case at a beach that I actually figured out right away for a change (which is probably why I think it’s clever, but still, I never figure them out). This chapter dealt a little with Anita and her jealousy towards Rachael. I like her little crush on Conan, but it’s sort of sad considering how tight he and Rachael are.
The rest were kinda… yeah. There’s the very end of the potter case from last volume that’s unremarkable, a case where a man impersonates Detective Moore and is killed while interfering with an investigation from an apparent suicide from several years ago (in Kashiragami Forest, which has appeared in Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and elsewhere as a famous suicide location), and the beginning of another case in Osaka that sort of carries over from the kendo tournament and has Harley and his girlfriend investigating some history nerds and what is likely a dead friend of theirs.
Some volumes are better than others. I’m still not tired of the series, and thoroughly enjoy every volume the same way I would enjoy a favorite TV show. It’s hard to hold an interest in really episodic series like this, but when the chapters are as interesting and clever plot-wise as they are in Case Closed, or the characters are as good as they are here or in Oh My Goddess. It takes a special kind of bravery to admit that about either of those two series, but I’ve read both from the beginning and grown quite attached to the characters. It’s just the truth.
This… may have been a review copy provided by Viz. I can’t remember anymore, this is the only series I shelve immediately since I like the running story on the spines. The next one was definitely one I bought, for my reference.
Bride of the Water God 4
Posted: January 27, 2010 Filed under: Bride of the Water God 3 Comments »Mi-Kyung Yun – Dark Horse – 2009 – 9+ volumes
Oh, Bride of the Water God, I can’t stay mad at you. I wasn’t fond of the early volumes because of the ethereal mood and confusing cast of characters, but I found myself quite taken by this volume. This is probably because the romance ramps up quite a bit, and the roles of everyone in both the human and heavenly worlds are much clearer now.
Soah is engaged to be married, and we see once again the true face of her greedy father, her passive mother, her unconcerned sister, and apparently even the fiancee who doesn’t care whether or not Soah actually loves him. Habaek keeps watch on the situation, and finally driven to the edge in a plot by one of his friendly, but more mysterious acquaintances, he goes down to Earth to take action.
The gods call Soah spirited, which was hard to see in the first few volumes since she seemed shocked into silence by what was going on and only occasionally stumbled into faux pas. In this volume, however, Habaek flirts with her a little and Miu flirts with her A LOT, and after some heroics, it feels like we are getting closer and closer to Habaek telling Soah the truth, especially since now Soah seems committed to stay true, more or less, to Habaek.
There’s some business with his old lover being a bad person and possibly some other stuff. I’m not too interested in these plot threads, but I suppose the gods need something to do.
It’s still very, very pretty. There are still some problems with people and places, and it’s hard to tell where the characters are in relation to one another and who’s who sometimes, but it’s not such a problem anymore now that the roles have become more clear. It is one of the prettier series you can lay hands on right now, and I do give it high marks for that. Now that the story is getting better, I’m pretty excited to get my hands on volume 5 and am hoping that Dark Horse decides to continue the series. Pick up all 4 volumes together and have a go at it, if you are so inclined, because I think a lot of the confusion that I experienced will probably be allieviated with back-to-back volumes.
One Piece 33
Posted: January 26, 2010 Filed under: One Piece 3 Comments »Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 56+ volumes
This volume asks the important questions. Questions like “Do champions wear afros, or do afros wear champions?”
We get almost the entire Davy Back fight in this volume, with only the conclusion to Luffy and Foxy’s fight as holdover to the next volume. It’s filler, but it’s very entertaining filler. The Davy Back Fight itself, a kind of pirate game you win new crewmates with, is well-constructed and has the proper pirate spirit and history behind it. Cheating is not allowed, but it happens anyway on the sly, interference is allowed during certain matches, beating each other up when you aren’t participating is not against the rules, stuff like that. Of course devil fruit powers enter into the picture, but I was pretty bummed that Foxy knew Luffy’s devil fruit power before the fight. It’s entirely possible that Luffy used it last volume and I’ve completely forgotten, but I assume that it’s mostly because Luffy’s reputation is more known at this time. They are, of course, completely oblivious to Foxy’s power until it’s too late.
There are lots of good scenes, and lots of good jokes. One of my favorites involves Zoro making the most sincere face he’s ever had when trying to convince Sanji to wear a ball hat. But… you know, it’s always better to read the book rather than have me explain. It’s totally worth it for all the afro jokes alone. I mean, afro Luffy. Come on.
Basically, Davy Back Fight is good stuff, but there’s not much to discuss since it’s just a game played for one volume. More serious stuff will be coming up, and since I haven’t read the Water 7 arc and know nothing of Buster Calls and whatnot, I’m excited to get started next volume.
This whole Davy Back Fight and the conclusion to Skypiea and rereading the beginning and the awesome stuff that’s going on in the current chapters caused me to re-read quite a bit of it over the weekend. One Piece really is one of the greats, and I’m still totally pumped for all these volumes coming out. I will never complain about anything again now that Alabasta is over. I think.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
