Gen 2

Shige Nakamura / Yu Suzuki / Gunya Mihara / Arisa Karino – Gen Manga Entertainment – 2011 – 3+ volumes

Yay, the second issue! Actually, the third issue is out at this point, too, so you can grab the digital copy for cheap by going here. Only $1.99 an issue, which is a pretty sweet deal. I still really like the idea of a doujinshi-style underground anthology, and am still finding the stories pretty intriguing. All four of the stories from the first issue continue in this installment.

It’s still mostly the first three stories I’m fond of at this point. “Wolf” is still the strongest in my mind, something like a cross between the styles Yoshihiro Tatsumi (for being somewhat bleak and depressing) and Mitsuru Adachi (sports-oriented, and starting to focus on family a lot more). Naoto and his father continue to hash out their differences in the ring, but both find it slightly more uplifting this time. We also get the full story about why Naoto’s father left Tokyo, and learn that there might be some romantic interest afoot with one of the trainers at the gym. There’s a lot of meat to this one, though the pace is still fairly slow and the art a little rough.

I’m still partial to “VS Aliens,” though even I have to admit the endearing randomness from the last installment is getting a bit complicated. Whereas last time we had a girl who thought a classmate was an alien, the so-called alien classmate, and a boy who wants to help both girls… this time a kernel of truth to the story throws the charming dynamic off-balance and turns this into more of an X-Files kind of story, with the trio fleeing in the night, clutching a mysterious note and… well, other things. I’m a little afraid the charm will be gone completely in another installment or two, but maybe it will have turned into something else by then. I do like stories that can pull off a change in direction successfully.

Kamen is also shaping up to be a pretty strong story. The most interesting element, and the part I wanted to hear more about, is the silent warrior wearing the mask, the mask communicating with this man telepathically and letting him know of great powers. This man is taken into the middle of a city that’s about to execute all its prisoners, so I’m pretty sure we’ll find out exactly what the mask does in another issue or two. Unfortunately, the latter half of this chapter gets bogged down in somewhat uninteresting politics, but without that explanation, there would be no executions, so it was a necessary evil.

And… I’m still lost with “Souls.” I like the idea. A grieving mother coming to terms with the death of her daughter. I think. At this point, however, I can’t tell if the mother drove the daughter to suicide, if the mother murdered the daughter, or if the daughter is actually still alive. We get insight into the sad life of the mother, and that’s something, but it’s still hard for me to tell what’s going on here. Perhaps it will become more clear next time, though.

I’m a bit more critical this time, but honestly, I’m still pretty interested in all these stories, even Souls. These are fairly different than any other commercially available manga, and I love that they’ve been translated in English. Give them a try, because I’d love to see more of this in English, and that can only happen if you support it now.

This was a review copy provided by Gen Manga.