I’ll Give it My All… Tomorrow 2
Posted: November 30, 2010 Filed under: I'll Give It My All... Tomorrow Leave a comment »Shunji Aono – Viz – 2010 – 4+ volumes
This is… this is a weird series. Much like the main character’s life, it seems a little aimless and happens across all the plot points it addresses, but it’s still very compelling. I’ve read criticisms of some slice-of-life stories along the lines of them being mundane to the point of making you want to put them down and live your own life. This one has that effect, but not because it’s uninteresting. No, I felt a little bad for staying in and reading a comic because I felt just one step closer to Shizuo that way.
Bizarrely, I think Shizuo’s lifestyle isn’t always criticized by the characters. He has certain outlooks that sound almost positive (living for the day, liking yourself, stuff like that), but on the other hand, he is terrible at what he does and doesn’t work very hard at achieving his dream of drawing a manga. If possible, that’s downplayed even more in this volume. He does visit editors twice to deliver scripts, but the characters have mostly ceased talking about it, including Shizuo himself. Usually, his lifestyle reads more negatively in the context of his father and daughter’s company and positively when he is in the company of Shuichi, the twenty-something he befriended last volume. Granted, he lives with Shuichi and sponges off him most of the volume. Shuichi is mostly stoic and gives off a somewhat angry air, but also seems fond of Shizuo, and Shizuo somehow gives him a lot of good advice. Most of which he needs to hear.
I love Shuichi, by the way. It’s almost impossible to get a bead on what he’s thinking or how he is reacting in any situation, but I love the way he contrasts so well with Shizuo’s situation. He’s got no direction and can’t hold a steady job, and neither can Shizuo’s situation. He can’t hold a steady job, and neither can Shizuo, but it bothers Shuichi that his life doesn’t have direction, whereas Shizuo sees this as a positive quality.
I couldn’t get a handle on the tone of the story, whether the portrayal of Shizuo was supposed to be positive or negative throughout (I think it’s neither, in the end, I don’t think the storytelling passes judgment on Shizuo, you’re meant to draw your own conclusions), but even among all the meandering, there are still genuinely touching moments. Shizuo and his father really don’t get along, and in a very clever transition (we see his father praying at an altar after Shizuo falls (?!) out a window), a flashback starts where we find out about both of them about 25 years ago, along with Shizuo’s mother. Their relationship was much the same, with both antagonizing one another, but the moments of love were pretty extraordinary. Between father and son the love is awkward and strange, but still there, and both clearly love Shizuo’s mother.
I like it. I like it a lot. It is strange beyond words, and I can see how a lot of people would read it and not know what to make of it, but I do love it for being a slice-of-life story, and also for leaving its themes ambiguous. It’s not something that leaves me with a burning desire to pick up the next volume immediately, but that’s not its nature. All the same, I’ll definitely keep coming back for it.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Deka Kyoshi 1
Posted: November 30, 2010 Filed under: Deka Kyoshi Leave a comment »Tamio Baba – CMX – 2009 – 3 volumes
It was the character designs that compelled me to read this. They have an old-school, mildly unattractive look to them, and something about the covers made me keep looking at this series. This was another I pounced on after CMX closed shop, but it’s yet another I found to be strangely appealing and charming in unexpected ways.
The main character, nicknamed Mr. Big by the students, is a police officer posing as a teacher for a year in order to solve the mystery of a teacher’s suicide, and to prevent any violence from spreading to members of the teacher’s former class. He’s a big, uncouth fellow that embarrasses himself immediately in front of the fifth graders, and has no problem standing up to the petty injustices at the school and for students who are getting a raw deal at the hands of others. His “sidekick” is a boy named Makoto who can “see” evil auras around people when something bad is about to happen, and is ostracized as a liar by the rest of the class. With Makoto’s power, Mr. Big helps stop all the bad stuff from happening.
It’s a simple formula, but it works. All the characters are likable, and it stays just on this side of the freshness line. It’s never stated that the students are necessarily going to commit suicide, but their bad auras cause them to act out in any number of ways – with violence, by skipping school and becoming someone else, by paralyzing them in dangerous situations, et cetera. The implication is that someone is somehow causing all these bad things to happen, usually by fanning the fires of bullying by playing pranks on the students. This person is not addressed in this volume, but we see him a few times.
As unappealing as the characters look on the cover, inside the art works, and there are decent character designs that are unique enough from one another to make the story easy to read. I also liked the way the “auras” were depicted. The mystery of what’s happening to the class is an interesting one, the incidents in each of the chapters are unique enough that it doesn’t get repetitive (and it has thus far stayed clear of things like the school play or culture day, though bullying is usually the topic du jour), and it’s got a wonderful sense of humor. Its strengths are simple ones, and it makes for a relatively quick and uncomplicated read, but I did fall in love with it by the end of the volume. It’s rated T+, which seems like a pretty high rating for me, but other than a handful of dark topics (the teacher’s suicide, obviously, and a chapter with a cutter), it seems pretty kid-friendly to me, and best suited to a preteen-early teen audience. Then again, I’m not the best judge of content, so take that with a grain of salt.
Two of the three volumes were published, and I’m curious how far this little story gets in the second volume.
Breaking Down Banana Fish, vols 9-10
Posted: November 28, 2010 Filed under: Articles on Other Sites Leave a comment »Once again, I am part of the roundtable that discusses everything awesome about Banana Fish, and you can read our thoughts on volumes 9 and 10 over at The Manga Bookshelf.
I get more and more excited as these continue, because the action scenes just keep getting more insane, starting with this Arthur duel, it doesn’t stop until the end. There’s some wonderful discussion here, and I’m looking forward to the future, too. It’s worth tracking down volumes of this series, it really is all sorts of wonderful.
XxXholic 16
Posted: November 28, 2010 Filed under: XxXholic 6 Comments »CLAMP – 2010 – Del Rey – 18+ volumes
Wow. So the fallout from the last volume continues. Can’t say I’m surprised by Watanuki’s decision, but I didn’t realize he cared about the old witch so much. It’s quite touching that he’s decided to wait and… fulfill a role, as it were.
It’s even more touching to see Domeki stand by him while he decides to do this. All the others do too… Kohane, the Fortuneteller, and Himawari all know what’s up, but Domeki seems to more-or-less live in the shop. I’m not sure what his role is, other than guardian and company, but man is it adorable to see him there. The two of them fight a lot less, and there’s definitely more melancholy between them. It’s sad to see. It will kill me to find out when & where Domeki will use his egg. I feel like I was cheated out of a climax, so sitting through some of this from now on is going to be difficult. Despite the fact I love every page of it.
There’s an interesting customer that brings a shamisen by, saying that it has ceased to make music. Watanuki and the customer discuss the instrument as if it were a child, and the solution to the shamisen’s problem is both simple and very romantic. As one of the first customers we’ve seen Watanuki deal with personally, it was a very mysterious and beautiful problem he solved himself. I didn’t mind sitting through it at all, though again, if there are too many customers, I’ll begin to wonder what their bearing on the plot is and get impatient about my cheated climax again. But this one was very beautiful.
On the other hand, we do have a large flash forward between what we saw last volume and this customer, and in that time, apparently Watanuki had a lot of problems with… bodily injury. I would have liked to have seen a little of that. It will probably come up later anyway, but the desire to see more of this does conflict with my want of a speedy resolution.
I’m just so happy xxxHolic is still so great, especially after being royally disappointed by Tsubasa and Kobato. It is very nearly my favorite of their series, even with the Tsubasa crossover nonsense. I hope it doesn’t crash and burn before the end, like Tsubasa did.
Oh My Goddess 36
Posted: November 28, 2010 Filed under: Oh My Goddess! 4 Comments »Kosuke Fujishima – Dark Horse – 2010 – 41+ volumes
Yes, it is still one of my favorites. Not in any absolutely fantastic way, but because it’s comfortable to read after all this time. I say it every time, but it bears repeating. You really do fall in love with the characters.
This was an interesting story about everyone losing their memories due to a Skuld device blowing up, and how they would react to one another and feel each other out if they didn’t know who even they were. They maintain most of their personalities, but they don’t know anything about themselves or others. They use clues, like the fact that the Goddesses have marks on their foreheads that mean they are somehow related (I had forgotten those were even there), that Megumi and Keiichi were the only ones with shoes that entered and left the temple, that Keiichi was likely the owner since the only guys’ room was clearly a single guys’ room and not that of a married man, stuff like that. Velsper shows up at one point to throw a wrench in the works, telling everyone that Belldandy is his wife and that Urd and Keiichi are together, stuff like that.
This storyline can only go towards a cute scene between Keiichi and Belldandy. It gets there. It’s not anything we haven’t seen before, but any romantic scene between those two is a small victory. Amazing, considering they are as comfortable together as any married couple save when it comes to romance.
Also, Keiichi is wearing a very unfortunate outfit through the entire volume.
It brought out the best in a lot of characters, and even a little bit of the worst in Belldandy. It was a lot of fun to read, and an unusual story in the context of the series despite the gimmick being such a cliche elsewhere. Again, not earth-shattering great, but wonderful when done with these characters. I miss Peorth.
Also, because I don’t review the other new volumes of the series (since I’ve already talked about them in the old format), volume 16 has the wonderful World of Elegance story, and also namedrops Judge Dredd in the back. Since catching up on years of the good Judge’s exploits is one of the reasons I haven’t been updating lately, I was happy to see his name come up for about the first and only time in the editor’s notes of a manga. And it was Oh My Goddess. YES. Though I would disagree about Urd making a good Judge. Romance is kind of her thing.
Wild Adapter 1
Posted: November 28, 2010 Filed under: Wild Adapter | Tags: BL 1 Comment »Kazuya Minekura – Tokyopop – 2007 – 6+ volumes
Okay, okay. I’ve read enough of these BL/vaguely BL action series to know these have exactly what I want. Fantastic action coupled with vague romantic hints. Wild Adapter isn’t very BL at this point, but I don’t mind too much. The comraderie is tinged with hints and one or two scenes worth of kissing and vague implications, but the strong friendship element appeals to me quite a bit here, even without the romance.
I like this one because this is probably the first yakuza story I’ve read that is both sympathetic and not full of gross old men. The moral question about whether one should sympathize with yakuza is valid, but considering heroes can be all sorts of bloodthirsty monsters, the mild-mannered kid that gets pulled into mob activities here isn’t so bad. So that we know these are bad people, the main character (Kubota) splatters someone’s brains across a wall without a second thought as part of his initiation, but after that very little yakuza-like activity takes place. In fact, the plot revolves around the fact that Kubota is so ill-suited for his new leadership position. He’s lazy, frequently doesn’t show up for work, and doesn’t seem to get involved in any of the syndicate’s business. But he’s also an absolute shark when it comes to mahjong, and doesn’t take a second thought when it comes to violence.
Most of the volume is spent fleshing out this incredibly strange character. A great leader despite not really doing anything yakuza-like, carefree and somewhat lighthearted despite being a killer, and even somewhat charismatic despite the fact that the rumors circulate about what a terrible leader he is. There are also hints of politics about a rival yakuza group and a new drug called “W.A.” that seems to turn people into beast men. Mostly it’s about Kubota, and most of what we see is through the eyes of Komiya, his second-in-command that starts out hating them, then grows to respect and even admire him. There is an implied romance, but it is more about camaraderie, as I said.
The volume finishes up at the end of what is probably a very major story line, and it looks like we pick up next time with a new character, a “stray” that Kubota takes in off the street. I’m interested to see more of the action-packed bright side of the underworld. It was definitely a page turner, and most everything about it was quite excellent. Can’t wait to read more.
Vagabond 8 (VizBig ed.)
Posted: November 28, 2010 Filed under: Vagabond Leave a comment »Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2010 – 33+ volumes
this omnibus contains volumes 22-24
Once again, I am going to have a hard time talking about this series because it is superb in every way, and reading it in these 3-in-1 volumes is a pretty special treat. More than the other omnibus volumes I read, this series flies by, and I just cannot imagine reading it on even a bimonthly schedule.
For instance, this volume starts with the resolution to the duel between Musashi and Seijuro. After this, you know that Musashi will duel Denshichiro. The duel with Denshichiro doesn’t actually come until the very end of volume 24, and they are still dueling after the volume finishes. The implication is that Musashi is no match for Denshichiro, but all the same, that’s some cliffhanger, and it had a lengthy prelude, too.
With that duel hanging over the heads of the characters (the Yoshioka school does its best to prevent it, in order to keep their honor intact, since they assume that Denshichiro will lose), there is another interesting development. Musashi recuperates in the home of Hon’ami, a famous sword sharpener. Who else is staying with Hon’ami’s family? Sasaki Kojiro.
Waiting for those two to meet over the course of about three volumes was excruciating. To make matters worse, Matahachi appears and acts as a kind of spokesman for the deaf Kojiro. I was waiting for all three characters to meet up. Far from being the tense affair that Matahachi seemed to expect, I think that Musashi would have simply been a little surprised to run into Matachi. As for the meeting between Musashi and Kojiro… well, that didn’t go at all like I imagined. The Yoshioka swordsman made plans the whole volume to replace Denshichiro with Kojiro in the duel, so I was expecting something really spectacular. Of course, a confrontation the likes of what I imagined… neither character would walk away, so I can see how that might not work.
I still think Matahachi is an interesting character. He is mortal, following in the path of Musashi, who isn’t quite. He’s a regular guy that loves sex, booze, and not working. He can’t really do anything well. In this volume, we learn about his friendship with Musashi and what it still means to him, and that is used to contextualize his new relationship with Kojiro. It’s easy to hate Matahachi, but he doesn’t really deserve it, and I think it’s neat to see him ground the story from time to time.
I also love seeing Musashi develop. Far from the battle-crazed beast of early volumes, he’s calmed down, and almost has a sense of humor as he’s waiting for his duel with Denshichiro to start. He’s still trying to perfect his craft, and with his somewhat looser state of mind, he taps into a oneness with nature he experienced as a boy. The state of mind helps him immensely, and the way he brings himself to this new awareness is drawn absolutely beautifully. I mention this every time, but I really do love Takehiko Inoue’s art. It’s amazing, and such a huge part of why this series is magical.
I am one behind on these big volumes, so now I have the privilege of reading another set of three volumes. The omnibuses should be all caught up by the time Inoue finishes the series, which will reportedly be very soon. I think I will adore every page as I slowly catch myself up to the present events.
Beast Master 2
Posted: November 27, 2010 Filed under: Beast Master Leave a comment »Kyousuke Motomi – Viz – 2010 – 2 volumes
I am easy to please when it comes to light shoujo, and I tend to be fond of the type of story that can be told in two volumes. Usually my expectation isn’t too high, and they have everything I’m looking for in a quick shoujo fix.
Beast Master isn’t quite as good as, say, Backstage Prince, but it still has a lot of fun stuff going on. I remember the first volume being somewhat episodic, but this one kicks the plot into high gear as we learn all the details of Leo’s background and learn that there’s a serious threat to his life afoot. Leo and Yuiko grow closer in the embarrassed shoujo manga way, things work out, and there’s even a little epilogue chapter that resolves any final doubts you may have had about their relationship. Leo beasts out one last time, and even gets Yuiko in on the act.
Yuiko’s “beast” moment was one of the highlights of the volume, since it was so unexpected coming from the nice, polite girl. The slap across the face was very welcome, honestly, and I was a little surprised to see such a variation in the character. I was also surprised by the attempts on Leo’s life. While the reason is pretty silly, the attempt is very serious-minded. Otherwise, everything pretty much maintains shoujo status quo. The characters remain a little silly and very likable, the romance is cute, there’s a great balance between humor, action, and love scenes, and the epilogue puts everything in a nice package for you. It was nothing spectacular, but it was fun all the same. I am looking forward to Dengeki Daisy, I’m curious to see what the author does with a longer format series. There are a lot of good things here, and I’d like to see them in a less restrictive form.
The last 80 pages is an unrelated story, and one that I liked better than the main story, for a change. The filler material in the back of shoujo manga volumes is usually unremarkable and often terrible, but not so here. The story was called “Cactus Summer Surprise,” and was about a pair of feuding childhood friends, a cactus, a ghost, and a nice story that brought all three of them together. I suppose I liked it better since it had all the things that made Beast Master great (likable characters, the right mix of good shoujo manga stuff) plus a premise that appealed to me slightly more. The length was good too, since it would be hard to stretch an idea like that out any longer.
In short, Beast Master wasn’t spectacular, but it was a cute short read with likable characters, and I even liked the filler story in the back. On to Dengeki Daisy!
Inu-Yasha 5 (big ed.)
Posted: November 24, 2010 Filed under: Inu-Yasha Leave a comment »Rumiko Takahashi – Viz – 2010 – 56 volumes
this omnibus contains vols. 13-15
As I’ve said before, there is something completely addictive about Inu-Yasha. It is polished and manufactured, certainly a popular Shounen Sunday series through and through, but even so, it is also addictive and I genuinely like reading about the characters and the demons they cross paths with. I love reading the 3-in-1 volumes especially, because I fly through even these. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I can’t imagine reading this a volume at a time, or even a chapter a week.
I was surprised by how character-centric this volume was. I mean, it usually is, but this blew me away with how much it revealed. It almost makes me worry for the content of the future volumes, because here it seems to move awfully fast. Volume 13 was about the Tetsusaiga, Sesshomaru, and his sword the Tenseiga. We find out the true power, why it won’t go to Sesshomaru, why it is better suited to Inu-Yasha, and why Sesshoumaru was left a seemingly ill-suited sword of his own by his father. The Tenseiga makes for an interesting bit of future development. While Sesshomaru isn’t as unrepentantly evil as Naraku, he’s still a bad guy, and there might be some evil versus good fun down the road with a sword like that.
Volume 13 also had the second half of a story from last volume, where Inu-Yasha attempts to slay a demon miasma, Kikyo has questionable loyalties, and we try and figure out if Inu-Yasha is really “over” Kikyo. I’m always surprised when these relationship conversations and jealousy plots come up between Kagome and Inu-Yasha. There’s no romance between them whatsoever, but all the same they are the strongest couple that I’ve ever seen in a Takahashi series, not counting Maison Ikkoku. Also, this story made my confusion surrounding Kikyo even worse, if that’s possible. In theory, she is a soulless demon monster, but she’s just like Kikyo was alive, and has no alliance to good or evil. What is her role? Observer? Why does she interfere the way she does, then?
Volume 14 is almost all about a not-so-evil demon wolf tribe that kidnaps Kagome in order to use her ability to see Shikon shards to stop a rival tribe of harpies. In this case, the enemy was sympathetic and also completely smitten with Kagome. She eventually forgives him the kidnapping and begins to defend him, which rankles Inu-Yasha. This whole story then becomes, again, about Kagome and Inu-Yasha, with things spilling out into the real world. I still like that Kagome worries about exams and her friends while saving the supernatural world from the threat of powered-up demons, and I love that Inu-Yasha can still come for her. They are touching, in their way, but again, they lack romance, and it’s a little odd that they are so close this early in the series. I suspect this will never grow or change, but that’s okay. I do like the way things are now, and I love that the story can lapse into these action-less breaks every now and again.
After the romance, the action starts again with a new Naraku villain and the Wolf Clan making a comeback. Lots of action, lots of jealousy, some soul stealing, some re-animation of the dead. I like pretty much everything that went on in these three volumes, and as always, it went by in the blink of an eye and I want more. I still think there isn’t much extraordinary about it, but it does do everything right. I like it a lot better than Rin-Ne so far, too. Rin-Ne’s characters are a little bland for my taste, and the battles feel a little pointless. In theory, Inu-Yasha’s success over it rests on the fact that their creature fights are dire and the characters are identically angry and stubborn, but what can I say, it’s a little more interesting that way.
Also, Takahashi’s monster designs are great. I don’t care who says different. How great are they? Well, the harpies that the characters fight re-appeared in the volume of Berserk I read after this. And I consider Kentaro Miura the forever king of monster design, so there you go.
Berserk 34
Posted: November 23, 2010 Filed under: Berserk Leave a comment »Kentaro Miura – Dark Horse – 2010 – 34+ volumes
What.
So, I didn’t really read this. Noone did, I think, because it contains almost no words or dialogue. With the exception of a short speech from Sonia, some confused babbling from Ganishka, and a little narration about his background, there are no words. Only pictures. Many that take up both pages.
Miura’s art is certainly something to behold. This is another climax in the story. It is not nearly as powerful as the scene where the first Band of the Hawk was slaughtered, but the fact it is portrayed as a wordless battle between gargantuan, writhing, horrible nightmare creatures is interesting. Dialogue is not needed for this climax that the story has worked through over ten volumes to reach. There is something to be said about art that fantastic, and a major decision that can be conveyed in that way.
On the other hand, this volume doesn’t have any damn words in it.
I mean, it’s not lazy, not at all. The art is meticulous. I don’t eve want to think about how long some of that took to draw, and that’s even on some of the more mundane spreads, like landscapes. The monster fights make me break out into a cold sweat when I think about their creation. But man. I could’ve gone for some Guts, or something in this volume. He appeared on all of two pages.
But the final sequence, where fantasy and reality merge, where all the good and the bad mix and come forth and humanity has to deal with it, that was kind of worth it. Especially since it was introduced with a scene where an enormous multi-headed serpent chows down on a unicorn.
Berserk really is something. Here’s hoping the next story arc tries to wrap things out in a bit more timely and less abstract fashion.
