Pokemon Adventures 3
Posted: January 31, 2011 Filed under: Pokemon Adventures Leave a comment »Hidenori Kusaka / MATO – Viz – 2009 – 35+ volumes
This is one of those times where I worry about the sequence of reviews I’ve just posted. Kaikan Phrase and Blade of the Immortal on the same night as Pokemon? I realized as I was pulling this out of my stack that I was probably going to have to leave my Kizuna and Ai no Kusabi reviews for some other time.
Anyway. You know, I still like this series a whole lot, and it’s books like this that make me think I shouldn’t have to make excuses for series aimed at kids. If a book is boring, it’s boring, and series like this one prove you can make a good all-ages series that’s readable by adults and kids alike. Do I think this would be of interest to a good number of adults? No, but it is a lot of fun to read, and I think it’s probably a good series to share with a younger child, as opposed to something they would read themselves. Plus, you know, there’s the Pokemon fan appeal. Can’t deny that. I’m a card-carrying member of the video game cult myself, which might also explain why I find this series so enjoyable.
But it stands on its own merits, anyway. Some of the plotlines are pretty simplistic (stop Team Rocket, find ways to work with your Pokemon team, be the best, be the champion, et cetera), but they all have just enough to them to make them enjoyable. During the fight with Team Rocket, both Red and Blue have to figure out a series of puzzles to first get into the city, then to defeat their respective opponents. Then there’s Green, the queen of outfoxing people, who’s running around on nobody’s side. She’s a good wildcard, and a strong female character to boot. She can be deceitful (that’s kind of her thing), but the fact she holds her own just as well as Red and Blue is something in what is usually a male-dominated series.
The Team Rocket Plotline finishes, then the story goes some strange places. It bounces around to the last gym leader, to the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo, and to the Pokemon Championship matches. It’s a strange mix of stories, and the leaping around is a little jarring, but I also liked the change of pace, and it wasn’t hard to follow since most of it is stuff that’s covered in the game. The Pokemon Championship in particular was cool, it reminded me a lot of the Budokai matches in Dragonball, with the anything-goes style of playful fighting and humor mixed in. Along with venerable mystery opponents.
I think the next volume… changes protagonists? I think the story switches over to the Yellow trainer, but we also have the Elite Four yet to meet, so… you know. Plenty more on the horizon. This is the type of series that I can’t see getting any more developed plot- or character-wise, but what’s here is still very engaging for a wide audience. It’s got a positive message and is a lot of fun, and has a lot of different storylines to enjoy across its long run, too.
Blade of the Immortal 12
Posted: January 31, 2011 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 2 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 2004 – 26+ volumes
Ah, this is more along the lines of what I was looking for. I love the partnership between Manji and Magatsu. It makes you wonder how many of the guys Manji slices and dices that he could eventually get along with. Magatsu, in addition to being an awesome tough guy, is a lot of fun to have around, and the banter between he and Manji cracked me up. It’s not quite friendly or familiar, but the way Manji takes on a mentor role, while Magatsu gives him grief about it, was just the right amount of levity. Especially after all the bad stuff that happened last volume.
Manji was in fine form this volume all around. It would be a shame to see him diced up so soon after the last time, and I was happy with the way the fight turned out this time around. Magatsu got to see the majority of the action, turns out, and he’s pretty great in a fight, too. The one thing about fights with Manji is that they can get overly ridiculous given his immortal status (not that I normally mind), whereas the fight with Magatsu has an edge to it, since he’s getting skewered pretty good and is likely to die from it.
His opponent has one of the most disgusting and terrifying weapons I think I’ve ever seen. That truly was insane. Let me not spoil it for you.
The one thing that surprised me was how long the Magatsu fight lasted. Since Magatsu had been a match for Manji, I assumed he was quite the superior fighter. And yet this opponent gave him a lot of trouble in simple ways, and Manji had to coach him through the first half. It was… odd, to say the least, and strange to see him struggle so much. Also, I do not believe that man is dead. He will most certainly be back, perhaps in Tenjho Tenge fashion as a zombie robot of some sort.
The last few pages return to Rin. She’s not faring so well, but at least her situation has not degenerated as much as I’d feared. I’m looking forward to what happens.
There’s a lot of story dealing with Anotsu this time around, too… except his story segment is the least interesting at this point. Maybe it will go someplace later (most likely soon, it looks like he’s about to have some female trouble), but this is one of those cases where I find myself frustrated by the split in narrative, wishing the pages had been dedicated to another character.
Sensual Phrase 2
Posted: January 30, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase Leave a comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2004 – 18 volumes
I just finished this volume a few minutes ago, and the ridiculous situation at the end is so over-the-top and trashy that I can’t stop laughing. The storyline is taking it very seriously, but these terrible people doing terrible things to one another are so far out of left field that I can’t be mad at it the same way I get mad at B.O.D.Y. Sensual Phrase just has no basis in reality whatsoever. And that’s why I can enjoy it.
Sakuya’s half-brother is a powerful major record executive from the US with a chip on his shoulder who wants to steal Aine away. That’s the entire plot of this volume. Aine wavers back and forth, finally allowing herself to be taken by the brother for the good of Lucifer and all the fans. Of course, Sakuya does all sorts of outlandish things to keep her away from his sleazy but powerful brother Ralph, including making out with her on live television. Ralph gets back at him by buying out all the television stations and major concert venues in Japan and shutting out Lucifer… you see where all this is going.
And while that’s happening, things stay hot and heavy between Aine and Sakuya. Ridiculously so. Those two have so many terrible, sappy lines it makes my head spin. At one point, while doing the normal blushing shoujo heroine thing while she was being ambushed, Sakuya lets loose with a “I want you inside me… fuck me…” which is not something a nice shoujo heroine says. But that’s her deal, I suppose. She writes dirty lyrics, and everybody loves her for it.
There were lots of hilarious lines in this volume, but my favorite, and probably one of the best lines in any shoujo manga, comes when Ralph is rejecting some lyrics Aine wrote for him: “These are awful. My dog could’ve written better lyrics than these… and my dog is spayed, Aine.” Diss!
This series… is not good for anybody, but is so horrible and ridiculous that it comes off as a lot of dirty fun. It’s the type of series I would have loved as a teen, but would hate to think about teens reading now that I’m older. I can see the appeal. And again, I think this must’ve been hugely popular while it was coming out. I just took a tour of several used bookstores this weekend, and all of them had some or all of the run of Sensual Phrase among the 50 or so volumes of manga in the usually poor selection. That’s… pretty amazing. I think this must’ve made it into the hands of a lot of teen girls while it was running.
Kamisama Kiss 1
Posted: January 27, 2011 Filed under: Kamisama Kiss Leave a comment »Julietta Suzuki – Viz – 2010 – 8+ volumes
With all the recent talk about another Julietta Suzuki series (Karakuri Odette, the subject of a recent Moveable Manga Feast). I wanted to read something by this author, and while Karakuri Odette does sound wonderful, a plot about a girl stepping into the shoes of a rural nature deity is more my cup of tea.
So, Nanami isn’t doing so well. Within the first few pages, her deadbeat dad skips town and her house is repossessed as a result of his enormous debt. Destitute, Nanami has no place to go. After saving a random stranger from a dog, she spills her guts to him. He gives her a kiss and offers her a place to stay, which turns out to be a shrine. Of course, since this is a shoujo manga, it turns out the mysterious stranger was actually a kind of deity, and he, of course, ditched his shrine and passed the power onto Nanami. She has two servants who beg her to stay in the role and a surly fox assistant that could care less. She is, understandably, reluctant, seeing as how she’s never been a deity, and who is she to pretend? But her life’s such a mess… why not?
This has a lot of good ideas, but hasn’t quite clicked with me yet. I’m having problems with story logic, of all things. It bothered me that Nanami’s school life disappeared and the time frame became unclear after she entered the shrine. We saw some schoolmates at the very beginning, and school comes up infrequently after that, but being the kami seems to mean that she can’t go to school, and this isn’t something that’s addressed directly. There’s also a lot of things going on at once in this first volume. Nanami gets her powers, uses some power, grows her power, has a lot of off and on moments with Tomoe, the assistant, some crossing over into the spiritual world and issues with that, and there’s even time for a one-shot or two. All of it is good, but it’s too much at once.
It’s clear that Tomoe, a fox spirit and Nanami’s intended assistant at the shrine, is being set up as a love interest, and his fickle nature is a lot of fun so far. I also love the detail that goes into the telling of the story. I’m fond of stories that lean heavily on Japanese folklore, and we see a lot of spiritual creatures and learn about how shrine prayers work in the world of the series. One of the shrine clients so far is a kind of fishwoman/spirit that Nanami has to help find love. We pick this story back up in volume two, but I wonder if the shrine will have many such supernatural clients. Nanami’s powers as a kami are also a lot of fun (it has to be an ability she has, and she executes them by writing them down on a piece of paper), and that can turn into something spectacular. There are issues with mortality versus being a kami in the spiritual realm, too, and that might also be something that is pursued later.
Nanami herself is showing a lot of promise in this first volume, too. She’s got a lot of backbone, and I liked that she had moral quandaries about acting as kami, that it even came up, rather than her just “accepting” her new powers. She does have a messy life at the beginning of the book, and I like that she just does her best… not with a whole lot of optimism, but she does her best anyway.
The first volume is messy, but has a lot of great ideas and shows promise. If it focuses and develops its ideas, I think it could go wonderful places, and I’m looking forward to the second volume.
Kingyo Used Books 2
Posted: January 27, 2011 Filed under: Kingyo Used Books 1 Comment »Seimu Yoshizaki – Viz – 2010 – 11+ volumes
I may have said this last time, but 11 volumes? Yikes.
This volume continues to have a smattering of short stories that share Kingyo Used Books in common. Some are about customers who visit the store and how manga affects their lives, and some are about the employees and the store itself. All feature one particular manga series prominently, with the series profiled in the back.
My impression hasn’t really changed from last volume, which is a shame because I really want to like this series. I do like it, and I love all that it has to teach about its various featured manga series. But the stories and characters are just… not that interesting. I think the Kingyo employees, including the buyers that frequent the store and the relationship that seems to be heavily implied between Naoaki and Natsuki, could be interesting with a little more development, and I think the one-shots involving manga could be a lot of fun, too. But the stories that we get are lukewarm. A hostess reading manga stories to an abandoned child? A boy standing up to a bully because he read Adolf? Troubled young boys ride a train because there’s one that takes you to the ends of the galaxy in Galaxy Express 999? All the one-shots are pretty heavy-handed and feelgood, and that’s a shame. There are a hundred stories you could write about people reading manga. Maybe these will get more interesting as the series progresses. The main characters are mostly a framing device for the one-shots, but when the spotlight is turned on them? We get a story about Natsuki’s troubled parents and one about her working hard at the store. Hmm.
There were a couple cute moments in the volume, though. One of the one-shots was about burly men buying girly manga. The story was, again, pretty lukewarm, but it was such a cute idea, and I loved watching the manly ouendan member (ooh, second time in a week, Dragon Girl) talk about how much he liked Chichi. I also liked the short story at the end about Natsuki’s grandfather. He faked a knowledge about clovers and flowers on the spines of some manga. He spun a wonderful yarn that was even better when we found out what the real story was.
But I’m going to continue picking it up simply because it has such detailed information about obscure manga in it. I am a huge geek, and while I can get better characters and stories elsewhere, there’s no other series in English that will teach me as much as this one. The Rose and the Ring, by Fujiko Fujio, is an adaptation of a Thackeray story (!!!) and is also one of the rarest books floating around – it was only published as a supplement in Shoujo Club, and only twelve copies are known to exist. There’s also better-known works spotlighted, such as Tezuka’s Adolf and Matsumoto’s Galaxy Express 999, and popular but unknown in English series such as Jarinko Chie (67 volumes) and Chiisana Koi no Monogatari (40 volumes, but at one volume a year since 1970, it’s one of the longest-running manga time-wise). It’s interesting stuff, and really, it’s why this series is worth reading.
Again, I can’t see anybody but manga geeks really getting into this, but I do hope it continues. I’d love to see it touch on other work, and I do learn a lot with every volume even if I’m still not warming up to the stories. And again, it’s worth sampling for free on Viz’s Ikki site. You don’t have to read the chapters in order, and it will give you an idea just how much manga is discussed and what a broad range it has in that respect.
Crown of Love 4
Posted: January 27, 2011 Filed under: Crown of Love Leave a comment »Yun Kouga – Viz – 2009 – 4 volumes
I liked this series in all of its melodrama, simply because I loved the way it wore its heart on its sleeve all the way through. It started out as an exercise in closely examining the feelings that Hisayoshi has for Rima. It followed the ups and downs of his pursuit, and not much else. It’s been a rough road, and I can’t say that it comes to an overly-dramatic conclusion here, but I did like the way everything worked itself out. I loved following the characters in their gentle relationship dance through all four volumes.
This volume… focuses more on Rima, actually. She comes to terms with her feelings for her teacher/sempai, and realizes that she may have squandered her last and best chance with Hisayoshi. Hisayoshi feels more or less the same, since she turned down his ultimatum, and both are too afraid to contact the other. We get to see a lot of eloquent moping on both sides. In most other series, this would be boring, but both Rima and Hisayoshi make for interesting studies, and you really get caught up in their hand-wringing and soul-searching.
I was surprised I wound up liking Rima as much as I did. It’s hard to get behind her in this final volume since she’s been rejecting Hisayoshi rather directly and cruelly through all four volumes, so why should the reader feel bad when she finally decides she might like to give him a chance, after she’s been more-or-less rejected by her first choice? But the way Kouga takes us into her head really works, and getting to see her side of the story helps a lot, too. It keeps her from being a simple, one-dimensional frigid type.
I also like the rather sparse artwork and wonderful compositions, which maintain their quality through all four volumes. Sometimes the character designs make it difficult to tell genders and characters apart, but the spareness also seems to go well with the intense dialogue. It makes things more empty and earnest.
While the fact that the series is mostly just a character/relationship study without much going on might turn a lot of people off, I thought it did a wonderful job with what it set out to accomplish, and might be worth a look for people looking for a bit of shoujo melodrama. I’d also suggest it to fans of Loveless, Kouga’s other and more popular series. I find Loveless to be too creepy for my taste, but this takes some of the things I like about it and makes it into a significantly less creepy series.
Sarasah 2
Posted: January 27, 2011 Filed under: Sarasah 1 Comment »Ryu Ryang – Yen Press – 2009 – 5+ volumes
If I pretend the first volume doesn’t exist, this isn’t so bad. Ji-Hae is nowhere near as infuriating with her blatant disregard for everybody else’s feelings. If you forget that being a creepy stalker is what got her into this mess, her steady drive towards hooking up with her “soulmate” is fairly straightforward here, made even better by the fact that Ji-Hae is a strong character that is willing to stand up for herself to get what she wants.
She’s also not shy about meeting new people and trying out new experiences. Bub-Min, the future king, helps her out quite a bit, and puts her on the path to making things right with her parents and posing as a male in order to get closer to and train with Ja-Yun. While Ji-Hae still only has eyes for Ja-Yun, it seems like there’s a possible future connection between she and Bub-Min. That’s always exciting, especially given Bub-Min’s future. And Ji-Hae is acting more like a real person, not so selfish, covering for unusual behavior patterns, and trying to fit in.
This second volume was… just all right, though. I hated the first volume so much that it’s almost like the series is starting from scratch here, and what we get here is a good starting point, but there’s still nothing terribly engaging. I feel like I need one more volume to see how the characters develop, whether the supernatural will or won’t play a role, and how history factors into the character’s decisions. There are many interesting things in play here, but seeing all of the potential wasted in the first volume makes me a little weary of the future.
Yurara 1
Posted: January 22, 2011 Filed under: Yurara 2 Comments »Chika Shiomi – Viz – 2007 – 5 volumes
Here’s another older shoujo series, but this is a short one, and I’m dipping into this because I can’t get enough Rasetsu, a sort of spin-off of this series that has some characters in common.
I think I was imagining more of a proto-Rasetsu, but this is… different. It’s set in a high school, and the sweet and shy Yurara along with two boys named Yako (who later appears in Rasetsu) and Mei act as the school’s ghostbusters. Yurara has a spirit that takes over her body and exorcises the spirits when Yurara is in trouble, Yako has a supernatural barrier he can make from water, and Mei has a spirit fire he can use to harm spirits. There are some wacky romantic hijinx thrown in for good measure.
I was disappointed, but I realize it’s not terribly fair to this series to judge it based on Rasetsu. Rasetsu came after, has older characters, and isn’t set in high school, so it’s slightly more sophisticated story-wise. The ghostbusting is the same, but the situations in Yurara are tame compared to the dangerous house-sized ghosts out to claim as many souls as possible in Rasetsu. And Yurara lacks the charming Kuryu, though smooth-talking Mei would give him a run for his money. And Mei seems to have a dark past, much like Kuryu, but so far, I am… thinking that Mei’s past isn’t nearly as dark as Kuryu’s.
I also, unfortunately, know which of the two male leads is chosen at the end. The choice in this series… doesn’t bode well for Kuryu in Rasetsu, and I am rooting for him there. But that is a minor point.
Other than that… so far, Yurara seems like a pretty regular, shy, timid girl that’s easily embarrassed by the constant bickering between Mei and Yako. I do like both of the boys, though. Yako, of course, I already know (although it could be argued he gained many of his more mature personality traits in this series and is thus different here), and Mei seems like a fun stand-in for Kuryu. He’s fairly easy to like. I also like that Yurara gains both a physical and personality transformation when her guardian spirit takes over. Seeing her stand up to the boys, especially Mei, is satisfying after seeing her take so much.
It’s cute, and I’m still going to give it a chance based on the strength of Rasetsu. Rasetsu took a few volumes to grow on me, so maybe the rather mundane beginnings in this volume will build up into a wonderful conclusion four volumes from now.
Sensual Phrase 1
Posted: January 22, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase Leave a comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2004 – 18 volumes
I have three long shoujo series in their entirety right now. I chose to start this one first since I was looking forward to it the least, but I still do want to read it. Mayu Shinjo is very popular, and I’ve never read any of her work (this is all that has been translated into English at the moment, but still). Also, we get this series in more often, by far, than any other shoujo manga at my used bookstore. Usually the entire run. I don’t know if that’s because people are holding onto their volumes of Fruits Basket, or what, but while this was running, it must’ve been very popular. Also, that’s why I wound up with it. I wouldn’t have bought it online (especially since some of the volumes seem to have climbed in price), but $40 for the set from work? Done.
I wasn’t looking forward to it, that is, until I read the first ten pages. I laughed. Then I laughed through the entire rest of the volume. This qualifies as “trashy,” basically because it’s very smutty and because it’s almost entirely emotional back-and-forth without much of a plot driving it, and what plot is there is showbusiness, which is inherently trashy most of the time. But this is so far over the trashy line… it exaggerates everything so much that it is no longer trashy, just laughable. I still think there’s merit in that, don’t get me wrong. Let me explain.
On the first page, the main character, Aine, is entering a lyrics contest. She thinks her lyrics are good, but fears they are too “sensual.” While on her way to school, she is hit by a car, and a handsome man jumps out and begins to fawn over her. He makes sure she is okay, gives her a backstage pass to a Lucifer show (the hottest band du jour), steals her lyrics, then drives off. Aine simply thinks she’s lost the lyrics, and goes to the show. Turns out the mysterious hit-and-run driver was the lead singer for Lucifer, named Sakuya. He sings her song, then takes a dive into the audience and grabs Aine. He fawns some more, compliments her sensual lyrics, and asks her to become the lyricist for Lucifer.
It only gets better from there. Inexplicably, Sakuya moves Aine into her own apartment (what about Aine’s parents? I’ve never seen such blatant disregard for this), and the two fawn over each other plenty, with lots and lots of talk about “sensual phrases.” And, of course, there’s plenty of drama when Sakuya’s fans start to think that Aine’s dating Sakuya and begin to take vengeance, which only gets worse at school when Sakuya enrolls with Aine for no reason.
I mean… it takes what most shoujo manga do in five volumes and crams it into one. And emphasizes smut. No wonder it was popular with teenage girls.
I can’t really add anything else constructive at this point. What do I think of Aine and Sakuya? They are, so far, a shoujo couple, and that’s all we know, there’s nothing to like or dislike. The plot is pretty hilarious, considering it’s about Aine writing sensual lyrics for a pop band. Apparently her lyrics are good because she is a virgin, though she is divested of clothing several times by Sakuya to “motivate” her, and at one point some savage fans that catch wind of this try to rape her to steal her special virgin lyric capabilities.
I suspect she will not remain a virgin for long. I cheated a little bit, though, because I remember running across this site years ago, which has a running tally per volume of how many times Aine and Sakuya have sex, when Aine is kidnapped, attacked, who kisses someone else, et cetera. I know what I’m in for.
It’s silly, it’s ridiculous, it’s shoujo turned up to 11 and made way cheesier and more smutty than you can imagine. I liked it more than I thought I would. I don’t know if the novelty will get me through 18 volumes, so I’m hoping I… get drawn into a possible plot or something. I’m at least very much looking forward to volume 2.
Blade of the Immortal 11
Posted: January 22, 2011 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 5 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 2002 – 27+ volumes
Here’s a volume with Manji on the cover, yet no Manji in it at all. Not even a panel. I don’t think anyone even uttered his name (although I think I know what that one man has in mind for his Tegata). No, I’m sorry, they did mention his name once. More distressing, there was no Rin. She was left in a terrible spot, and I want to see how she handles it.
This volume, instead, focused on Hyakurin and the terrible vengeance of the Itto-Ryu. A comrade warns her never to leave a man alive, but only minutes before turning her over to the enemy. What follows is… very difficult to read. I don’t have much stomach for torture. There are worse scenes in Tenjho Tenge, but this is still pretty bad, and Hyakurin is tortured for the entire volume. We are saved the rape scenes, but there’s still some pretty brutal stuff, and they discuss things that are worse still (apparently one was a man who tortured Christians, something I am unfamiliar with in the context of Japanese history, if it is true). The vengeance at the end of the book is interesting, if only because of duration.
I don’t really have that much else to say. Hyakurin is an interesting character, but other than the fact she can take torture, the nature of her relationship with her young apprentice/ward/servant, and what she was originally drafted into the Mugai-Ryu for doing, we don’t learn a whole lot about her. We’ve already seen she’s got her hard and soft sides, and what was provided wasn’t the kind of information that would change my opinion of her. She’s a hard woman, though, and it’s likely this experience will make her harder still. I’m curious to see how this affects her role in the series.
Maybe next time, we’ll see a little bit of Manji and Rin. While Manji has his new, fun partnership to explore, I am dreading what happens to Rin.
