Blade of the Immortal 19
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 2 Comments »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 2008 – 27+ volumes
This was a short volume, and also a transitional one. It was all Rin and Doa sneaking into the underground tunnels to try and infiltrate Edo castle to rescue Manji.
It’s obvious by the scope of what they’re doing that this is a dry run (plus Rin mentions it just before they go in), so even though there’s some danger of being caught, it was less dramatic than I liked since I knew there would be another, better sneak attack coming after this.
What else? There’s some more character development for Hyakurin. I like that she is sticking around. She’s playing a less active role in the story due to her injury, but she’s still got an interesting part to play. I liked her talk with Anotsu last volume, and a very serious issue comes up in this one that… it’s a tough call to make indeed. Giichi helps her with it. She also gets to fuel the flames of unrest among the women of Edo, hoping that it helps draw the terrible experiments to light and leads to Manji’s freedom.
But nothing’s that easy, of course. The next volume should be amazing after all this exposition.
Sensual Phrase 9
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase Leave a comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2005 – 18 volumes
Well, Sakuya finds himself in another situation where he starts to have sex with a woman, and then needs to find a way to politely decline. Good thing he knows what to say in every situation. “When you have what I’ve got, you don’t trade it for a quick fuck from a hired hand. Even if you are a beast.”
More class from Sensual Phrase, this time from a Lucifer MD Player ad that shows up in the story for no good reason: “Sony MD Player. Turn it on… and get off.” You see… because Sakuya is so hot, and his song lyrics are dirty. That one’s borderline bad out of context, but in the context of the story, it is mind-blowing. There are dozens more that lose their magic outside the book
I feel like I need a little pocket reference guide, full of Sensual Phrase quotes for every situation.
Anyway, the story begins to venture into uncomfortable territory here as Sakuya and a new character engage in a silly fight over Aine. The new character, a photographer named Kyo, wants to capture Aine’s smile, but she only smiles like that for Sakuya. So… he just needs her to fall in love with him, of course. Good thing his personality is exactly like Sakuya in every way. Sakuya invites the challenge. He’s not giving up on Aine so easily.
Okay, so this is ugly, even in Sensual Phrase. Sakuya is possessive of Aine, which could be bad, but he’s so much a white knight, and the two are clearly a solid couple, so it’s easy to forgive. There are other faux pas about things that Aine says and does that are easy to overlook because… well, Aine isn’t a particularly weak character. She frequently says her mind. And she doesn’t quite fall into the doormat trap, since Sakuya will always defend whatever Aine wants and she doesn’t have to fail at doing it herself. She is a doormat as far as Sakuya is concerned, but again, his white knight nature means that he doesn’t really take advantage of her, so it’s… mostly okay, sort of.
Except here. Kyo takes Aine’s picture and uses it in an ad campaign without her knowledge or permission. Kyo is determined to capture her smile again, and wants to make her a big star. Kyo is also a horrible creep, that slides comments about her falling in love with him and the need to disrobe her into most of his conversations. Sakuya does this a lot too, and Aine realizes that Kyo’s pushy, dominant nature is identical to Sakuya. But the reason Sakuya can pull it off is that Aine has always been in love with Sakuya, whereas Kyo’s affections are unwanted.
Anyway, Sakuya challenges Kyo to capture Aine’s smile one more time, the catch being that Aine only smiles for Sakuya. Both men decide this without Aine’s approval, though Aine does want to be a model. Sakuya knows Kyo won’t succeed, and basically guilts Aine out of her dream, saying that he can’t protect her if they are both famous. At the photo shoot with Kyo, Kyo doesn’t have much success until he begins to tear Aine’s clothes off and plays Lucifer music, which of course makes her think of Sakuya and gets her all… bothered. But apparently she needs to think of Kyo, not Sakuya, and the photos won’t be good enough unless Aine is in love with Kyo. After kidnappings, drinks laced with aphrodisiacs (that result in a 5-hour sex marathon), and several arguments, Sakuya challenges Kyo to make Aine his, saying he won’t give her up easily.
When even I can spot misogyny, there’s a problem. And it’s on, like, every page of this volume. The only thing that makes this less horrible is that Aine seems okay with everything (she is outspoken enough to say when she’s not cool with something), and again, the fact that she and Sakuya are such a tight couple. She’s not being beaten or abused, and her “dream” that’s being stepped on is to be a supermodel. The fact that it’s being stepped on by her famous rockstar boyfriend somehow makes that even less of a tragedy.
Sakuya does turn a little scary possessive towards Aine in this volume, though. I’m worried this will turn into a thing.
Pine Kiss 1
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: Pine Kiss Leave a comment »Eunhye Lee – Netcomics – 2006 – 8 volumes
Here’s a blast from the past for you: I think this was one of the series Netcomics launched with. Sadly, it was also one of the first that they dropped, and we saw only 5 of the 8 volumes in English. A shame, since Eunhye Lee is apparently a rather famous manhwa artist.
Unfortunately, this book has a word salad translation. Bad translations are passable for me, because bad translations usually just stumble over grammar and poor word choices, but the meaning still gets across. Word salad translations are different. I had a hard time following this book at all through the first half. It’s a romantic drama, similar in feeling to Let Dai, so a lot of what’s happening is that people are discussing their emotions metaphorically. With the metaphors scrambled, most of what’s happening is useless.
The intro to the book is also hilariously abstract. It features three people at the end of their rope, and after a monologue, they come to a billboard with a man’s face and narration that states “I will help. It’s pine kiss!” No further explanation.
Actually, here’s one of the three opening scenes. A boy is reprimanded by his teacher (who doesn’t appear again) for listening to headphones in class. The dialogue is as follows: “You rascal – Take those out of your earholes, right now!” “Huh? Class started already? I didn’t hear the b…” -WHACK- “Son of a bitch! You think I can’t hit you because they banned physical punishment? Why don’t you call the cops, huh?” “Until when… do I have to live with getting beaten when attacked, studying if told to, not even knowing what I’m doing. Laughing like a dementia patient locked inside they walls they built?” “I will help.” “It’s pine kiss!”
Those are the first three pages. They didn’t make the best impression, and I struggled to understand what was going on as the narrative jumped around in time a little at first, then introduced several characters at once.
It is very Let Dai-ish, though, and I tend to love these very modern-feeling Korean romantic dramas. The shoujo equivalents tend to use a lot of humor, exaggeration, or more melodrama then necessary. It’s not a bad thing, and I love shoujo manga. It’s just a different approach. These Korean series feel a little more connected to reality, no matter how outlandish the circumstances.
So far, the series seems to be about a very charismatic teacher named Orion starting at a new school. Several students immediately fall into his orbit. Sebin Jo is the selfish daughter of a rich mob boss (this is heavily implied, but not very clear), and she falls for Orion almost immediately. At odds with Sebin is a girl named Dali, who believes Orion is her long lost love, the high school student she gave a marimba mallet to when she was very young. There’s also a boy named Sanghyung, who is completely smitten with Sebin and winds up spending time with Orion because Sebin is always around him.
Sebin is featured most heavily so far, and she is irritating. She is selfish and snobbish, not caring about anybody except herself, and of course Orion is the one thing she absolutely must have, and she uses all sorts of evil tricks to land him. And this is just the first volume. It’s especially difficult to take here, because there is no humor involved. When she nails women in the face for walking with Orion, it’s not a joke, she really is just doing it to get them away from him. Dali fights with her a lot, primarily over issues like doing her school chores, but Dali often loses these fights because everybody thinks Sebin shouldn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to. Incredibly, Dali is shown in a poor light several times for not thinking of Sebin’s feelings, while Sebin racks up reader sympathy because she can’t help her gangster family background. She is kidnapped before the end of the volume, but not because of her background, and her bodyguard and Orion help her before anything can happen. Mysteriously, as she cries while her bodyguard beats up her kidnappers, Orion comforts her. I… I don’t know why I should care, or ever sympathize with her.
I might have pegged the kidnapping scene a little wrong here (again, a lot of the details of what’s happening are lost in metaphorical monologues that are lost in translation), but there’s still plenty to object to.
I do like Orion, however (he is quite charismatic, and I love the way he handles the students), and even though I hate Sebin, I like this series so far. Again, I’m partial to this type of story, so I’m willing to wait out the silly bits to get to the good stuff. Apparently the benevolent Orion has a tragic past full of death and gangs, and I’d love to learn about it. I also want to see all this romantic drama resolve itself, and one hopes that Sebin will eventually get a reality check. The translation can only get better with each volume (the quality vastly improved in Netcomics’ second year of existence), so I’m willing to wait for it to get better. I’ve got one more volume of this, but I’ll probably go ahead and track down the other three, now that I know it matches my tastes.
Sensual Phrase 8
Posted: June 9, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase 2 Comments »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2005 – 18 volumes
Okay, so I’m going to read the rest of this series all at once. Expect a lot of these reviews, mostly consisting of me simultaneously making fun of and relentlessly praising each volume. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of plot or character development to talk about, and I have to say something about why each volume is a special little treasure.
I love the essays by Kelly Sue DeConnick whenever they appear. Not only do they do a good job of highlighting some of what makes Sensual Phrase bad and/or good, but they’re there for me. When I’m filled with shame for tearing through yet another volume of Sensual Phrase and loving it for no good reason, there’s Kelly Sue DeConnick, a sister-in-arms who clearly loves the book and rises above her shame by mocking the campiest parts. This book’s essay is about some of the worst shoujo plot devices Sensual Phrase engages in. Evil siblings, dos and don’ts of drinking, and taking your licks when your boyfriend is angry (to be fair, Sakuya isn’t actually violent with Aine, but he can be… you know, a smidge misogynistic in his white knight-ness). It has them all. Thankfully, we’ve been spared the school play and the hot springs visit, the school trip and the final exam business.
My fears about drama from the last volume don’t come to pass. Surprisingly, infidelity doesn’t even come to pass. Though, for no good reason I can fathom, after getting Sakuya hooked on smack several volumes ago and getting Aine drunk and nearly raped less than a few days ago in story-time, apparently Ralph Grazer isn’t such a bad guy, and Aine almost decides to become his fiancee on a whim. WHAT. That didn’t even make Sensual Phrase sense. She and Sakuya were riding out a fight that lasted ten pages (a long time for the two of them), and the “engagement” was at the tail end of this, but Aine wasn’t angry enough to… hate Sakuya or anything. I didn’t really understand the logic there. There may not be any.
Mostly, this volume is an awful lot of Sakuya and Aine having sex and confirming how much they love each other over and over and over again. Ralph Grazer and Mizuki try to break the couple up, which of course doesn’t work at all. It just gives them reasons to have sex in the hallway.
I love this series so much it’s ridiculous.
My dialogue moment of zen: during a particularly sexy scene where it looks like Mizuki will get her wish with a turned-on Sakuya, Sakuya comes out of left field to break the mood in as polite and classy a manner as possible: “I don’t just fuck any piece of ass I’m offered.”
There are other gems, but their true awful nature can only be experienced in context. Out of context, they sound stupid. In context, they are stupid and a special kind of magic.
With the Light… 7
Posted: June 9, 2011 Filed under: With the Light Leave a comment »Keiko Tobe – Yen Press – 2010 – 15 volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols 13-14
Mmmm… again, this isn’t the type of series that the average manga reader is going to be interested in. At all. The continued trials and tribulations of Sachiko and her autistic son Hikaru, now in junior high, are fairly mundane for anybody that’s looking… well, for anything that comics usually deliver. This even falls short in the more obscure slice-of-life category, since the activities are fairly mundane. Especially in this volume. The major complication here is that Masato is transferred at work, and Sachiko must move both her children in with her mother-in-law, who is ashamed of Hikaru. There are plenty of pressing concerns when that happens, mostly in the second half of the book, but the first half is truly episodic. Sachiko has to find ways to prevent Hikaru from saying and doing rude things, such as telling people not using a basket in a store that not paying for something is stealing. One chapter is about Kanon, Hikaru’s younger sister, and how her schoolmates react to Hikaru. Another chapter features Kanon acting out against a boy who was making fun of her brother. The first chapter of the book has Sachiko searching for ways to keep Hikaru from touching himself in public.
Most of these stories are fairly repetitive. Something happens, Sachiko finds a solution to the problem, apologizes, and the issue is dropped. None of these problems persist, and it almost seems like Sachiko is phoning it in. It’s unfortunate that the fact her problems don’t persist make me think her quick and easy solutions aren’t effective, but nothing is ever as easy for her as it is in these early chapters.
But the thing that continues to impress me the most about this series is how thoroughly researched everything is. The first chapter, about developmentally disabled children reaching puberty, features several stories about several different types of children and ways to counteract typical adolescent behavior. These stories were likely all gathered from other people and included in the manga. All the problems that Sachiko has are also obviously the result of a lot of research into common behavior issues that autistic children have, and possible solutions or ways to help the children adapt. There are few manga that have this much work put into accuracy, and I do admire it for that. While it’s not at all what manga readers want or desire, I do hope that it can serve to help those connected with autism.
I also have to appreciate the way she’s made her characters age throughout the run of the series. While Sachiko and Masato don’t really look any different, I like the way she’s slowly aged Hikaru and Kanon. It’s something you don’t often see.
Sensual Phrase 7
Posted: June 9, 2011 Filed under: Sensual Phrase 1 Comment »Mayu Shinjo – Viz – 2005 – 18 volumes
There’s an essay by the English Adaptation writer Kelly Sue DeConnick in the back of the book that pretty much says all there is to say about this book: Blackmail! Gender Bending! Evil twins! Sex! Jealousy! But mostly it’s an essay about T.M. Revolution, the inspiration behind the new character in this book.
And… yeah, all those things happen. At one point, a big deal is made about Sakuya and the rest of Lucifer performing in drag, which I thought was pretty great, but I think my moment of zen for this book was the Sakuya line, said with a perfectly straight face, “Aine, yours are the only boobies for me.” It was supposed to be a joke, but that doesn’t make it any less of a slap in the face when it comes. A so-terrible-it’s-funny slap in the face. I mean, Mayu Shinjo’s dialogue is cheesy. Some of the cheesiest I’ve read, in fact. But I find that addictive, in a way. It’s like these characters have bad-dialogue Tourette’s. I desperately need to know what horrible thing will come out of their mouths next. And I love it.
Anyway, there’s a new rival band in town, called D-Revolution. D-Revolution wants Lucifer’s lyricist as their own. And they put Aine in a compromising situation (think Peach Girl) in order to blackmail her into going along with it. She complies, and of course Sakuya knows something is up and gets horribly protective. Later, there’s a romantic rival for Sakuya’s affections, and even though Sakuya promises again and again that he will not stray, Aine can’t help but worry.
And then infidelity happens. And the thing I love about Sensual Phrase is that Aine and Sakuya will most likely forgive one another and everything will be back to normal in a half volume.
Maybe.
Part of me wants this to last a little longer. Maybe. But then again, the unshakable fidelity is what I love most about the series.
Black Bird 8
Posted: June 8, 2011 Filed under: Black Bird Leave a comment »Kanoko Sakurakojo – Viz – 2011 – 13+ volumes
This is such a horrible guilty pleasure, but I enjoy every volume so much! It pours the bittersweet doomed romance on thick every time, and I just can’t resist. Again, one of my weaknesses is the devoted couple together through thick and thin, and Kyo and Misao fit the bill nicely. Especially in this volume.
Misao is growing increasingly sure that she wants Kyo to make her his bride 100%. And by that, I mean she wants to have sex. The only reason they haven’t had it yet is that they’re not sure what will happen to Misao when Kyo takes all her demon bride essence or whatever, so they’ve abstained. Kyo continues to do so, even when Misao pressures him at the beginning of this volume.
But the two have more to worry about than that when Raikoh, the demon slayer, starts living with Misao. Through a long series of events and trickery on both sides, Kyo winds up in a position where he has to take Misao’s demon bride essence in order to survive.
I can’t say anything more than that without spoiling it, and I can’t really… get more critical than that, either. Black Bird is what it is, and it’s quite good at melodramatic romance and action. Is there more to the plot than meets the eye? Not really, but it’s a wonderful ride for those who like that sort of thing. And I definitely do.
What I will say, in its defense, is that the scene at the end of this volume is one of the most artfully done of its type I’ve ever seen in a shoujo manga. It was honestly beautiful.
The cliffhanger it leaves in its wake, however, is wicked. Do I think anything bad will come of it? Not with another 6+ volumes available after this. And I’m hoping for… unusual repercussions. I’m guessing that won’t happen, either. But I still want to know very badly what happens after the end of this volume. And that’s why I keep coming back for more. That, plus the fact that Black Bird is now like a goth version of Sensual Phrase for me.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Alice in the Country of Hearts 5
Posted: June 8, 2011 Filed under: Alice in the Country of Hearts 2 Comments »QuinRose / Soumei Hoshino – Tokyopop – 2011 – 6 volumes
I read this some time ago, but I put off talking about it because I’m so utterly depressed that I will never get to read the last volume. THE LAST VOLUME! This was my favorite of the handful of series Tokyopop had started in the last couple years, and the one that made me more willing to try out some of the others in their line. I thought this one would be horrible, based on the description, but it’s a fascinating read, and every volume is maddening with the way it continues to deepen the mystery in the utterly fascinating world that’s been created. I’m dying to know how this whole thing was resolved in just one volume, and I was really hoping that the series was popular enough that Tokyopop would publish some of the numerous spin-offs. Maybe… maybe Vertical? Please?
For a harem series, I do like that the female characters tend to be fairly strong. When the harem focus is a male, it tends to be a wimpy guy that makes you wonder why all the women would bother. In this series, I like that all the affection towards Alice is unlooked-for and politely declined in most cases, and I like that Alice is a strong enough character to deal with the strangeness of all the men herself (who are, admittedly, much stranger than the usual harem manga cast), and that Vivaldi, the other female and a role model, is also strong enough to stand up to even the most difficult of the men and to be her own person. She’s supposed to be the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, which makes her sorta dominant anyway, and she does slip into some rather unfortunate idiosyncracies (she hates on men in almost every other panel, for instance), she’s still an interesting character, and I like that she’s featured enough in this volume that Alice can look up to her.
I also liked that Alice confronted the only person who decided to hate her in the Country of Hearts, Blood Dupree. He mostly talks down to her and taunts her, accusing her of manipulating everybody into liking her, which she of course denies. She has it out with him, and after an interesting talk, they settle things. There’s nothing unusual or over-the-top about it, they simply settle their differences and start with a blank slate. Again, with a manga so unusual, I keep expecting situations like that to escalate. They…. never quite do, and I’m always a little pleased by the outcomes.
There’s other things going on in this volume, too. The Queen’s ball, for instance, and Peter lets on that he knows about Alice’s true nature, to which an outside entity remarks that Alice is nearly out of time. And again, Blood and Vivaldi discuss how they were “assigned roles” in the Country of Hearts. This makes me think the ultimate outcome is that Alice will wake up, with some characters corresponding to real life and others not (which would parallel the original book), or that she will somehow become part of the Country of Hearts.
But now we’ll never know. Seriously. This was one of the most interesting and unusual books that Tokyopop had published in the past couple years (well, this and Demon Sacred, but they’re different… er, beasts), and now I can’t read the last volume. It’s good though, worth picking up the five that are available if you can stomach the heartbreak.
Goong 11
Posted: June 8, 2011 Filed under: Goong 1 Comment »So Hee Park – Yen Press – 2011 – 26+ volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols 13-14
Okay, I won’t lie. These ceased to be reviews around volume 9 and started turning into pure fangirl ramblings. I love this series a lot, and other than saying that it tends to move at glacial speed and reuse the same issues over and over again, but that the romance is ridiculously addictive… there’s nothing critical here. I’m just going to squeal for the next several paragraphs. Because this volume was the absolute best yet.
There were several bombshells here. The first one drops early on, and comes from no less than the King of Korea (the story points out here that the Korea in their reality is unified, which I don’t think I realized before). He tells the truth of why he wants to depose Shin and make Yul Crown Prince, and it apparently has something to do with the dying wish of the former king. The current King selfishly overrode this for the benefit of his own son. I’m not quite sure if the issue is the King’s selfishness, or the fact that the dying wish of a former King can’t be denied, or that if the former King wished it so while he was still alive, that makes it an order to follow… I don’t know. There’s some big cry thing here, and both the Queen and Yul hear about it. Yul decides to use it as blackmail to set Chae-Kyung free.
But, truth is, she’s doing just fine now that Shin has mostly stopped being an awful human being. After what appears to be a disastrous address at parliament, Shin decides he would rather run away than face his father again. Chae-Kyung comes with him, and the next volume and some is basically just a romantic getaway for the two of them. It’s great. Shin finally clears the air between the two of them, and they are free to be a loving, care-free couple free of the constraints of being prince and princess. It’s a wonderful piece of story, other than the fact Ms. Park teases with possible sex scenes so often that it’s not even funny anymore.
The story is blown to pieces when Yul lets it slip that Shin may have known abut Chae-Kyung’s grandfather dying and not told her. This is in revenge for something else that blew the story apart, the fact that he confessed his undying love for her once again, and right in front of his fiancee. She turned him down flat and said plainly she didn’t want to associate with him anymore if he was going to continue to act that way.
At the end, the Queen decides that the story hasn’t been interesting enough lately and forces Chae-Kyung to divorce Prince Shin. This point was driven home earlier, when the Queen discussed the necessity of this with Chae-Kyung’s mother, but not before Chae-Kyung said a long piece about how much she loved Shin, the Queen, and had turned around on palace life.
Seriously. The drama in this series is ridiculous. And it’s annoying how people always happen to be standing in just the right place to overhear something important. Always the same things, too. That Prince Shin might not be crown prince anymore. Yul hitting on Chae-Kyung. Hyo-Rin and Shin in a compromising position. Bah.
It continues to bring the funny, though. The Shin/Chae-Kyung vacation presents many opportunities for Shin to be humiliated by the author, and there’s nothing better than seeing that boy humbled. Also, I loved seeing him open up to Chae-Kyung. That was pretty much all he did throughout the volume, and after mistreating her for so long, it felt great.
I hate myself a little for praising such a nasty character, but really. He’s better now.
Knights 2
Posted: June 8, 2011 Filed under: Knights 1 Comment »Minoru Murao – Digital Manga Publishing – 2010 – 5 volumes
There was a two-year gap between volume 1 and 2 of this series, which is bizarre. I have no idea what the delay was, but I’m happy we got to see volume two after it was cancelled initially. Volume one had some interesting themes going for it, including racism (the main character is black, and wears a mask to avoid comment) and anti-religious themes (the church is burning innocent women as “witches” mostly so that priests can be promoted to sainthood). The main character, Mist, usually intervenes at the burnings in several episodic stories in the first volume. The second volume is a little different.
I was a little disoriented, at first, because I had a hard time remembering the details of the group that Mist is currently working with, the identity of the girl that is apparently after Mist but falls into the hands of the Dominicans (who are, hilariously, the bad guys), or what the politics behind the Dominicans vs. the other group was. It doesn’t matter too much, because after a chapter or so we get a straight-out fight between a former enemy and the Black Knight, along with some amusing background and face time with a new ally, the “carpet knight,” so named because he is usually on the carpet talking up the ladies. The Carpet Knight is an interesting character, someone who used to serve the church, but suddenly realized he was killing innocent girls for political gain and decided to put a stop to it. He’s also some much-needed occasional comic relief.
Mist’s companion (a self-proclaimed real witch) still puzzles me. She’s on the cover, wearing an outfit made out of what appear to be cloth arms that are covering her less than any costume I’ve ever seen. It’s kind of impressive, actually, given that this series has so little fanservice otherwise. She’s a neat character save for the costume and also the fact that she appears to have an orgy with the bad guys here in order to distract them from Mist. I don’t even know what to make of that.
The scattered bits of the story collect themselves by the end of the volume, when we get to see Mist debate over whether or not to compete in a jousting tournament.
I do like the European setting and the traditional fantasy themes of the story. This volume was a little more bland and scattered than the last one, but I’d love to see more, because I think once the story stabilizes, it’ll do fine as a 5-volume story. It’s kinda like a lite version of Berserk, in a way, except not quite as impressive as that sounds. There are similarities in tone and theme, though, that’s for sure. It’s definitely an unusual story, and I do hope that DMP finds a way to release the other three volumes. I’d like to think someone at the company is a fan, given the fact that the second volume came out at all.
