Dawn of the Arcana 1
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Dawn of the Arcana Leave a comment »Rei Toma – Viz – 2011 – 8+ volumes
Ooh. I picked this up without knowing very much about it, but it’s exactly the type of shoujo fantasy I like to read. It’s got a fairly complex story, and volume one is obviously just the first step, giving us a taste of a potentially very sprawling and detailed world and complicated character relationships.
The series opens with a look at the arranged marriage between Nakaba and Caesar. Their marriage brings peace to their warring countries, though it becomes clear that there’s no love between Caesar and Nakaba. Nakaba is submissive in action, but her attitude is very defiant, and I loved that she did as she was told under a very stony protest. Caesar is portrayed as rather cruel. Not only does he have no interest in the marriage, he also berates Nakaba because of her hair color (royals in both countries have black hair, whereas Nakaba’s hair is a lower class red).
Nakaba has an ally in Loki, a servant and lifelong companion she brought with her from her own country. The trouble is that Loki is an Aijin, a kind of human with animal ears that is treated as the absolute lowest class in both kingdoms. Caesar doesn’t take kindly to having Loki under the same roof, and Loki doesn’t take kindly at all to the way Nakaba is treated.
There’s a lot of interesting directions for the story to take here, and I love that volume one only seems to have touched a little bit on the beginning of it all. By the end, we begin to see that Caesar may be softening his attitude towards Nakaba, that he may have reason to be jealous of Loki, and that Nakaba may possess some sort of precognitive ability. There’s a complex caste system at work, which will obviously play a big part in the story, and I suspect Nakaba will be revealed as yet another type of “special” class before too long. We also begin to see the barest hints at some complex politics and history in play between the two nations.
I can’t offer too much in-depth commentary because I feel like the story is just getting started, but again, I love fantasy stories like this that take their time at developing things. This one shows a lot of promise after volume one, and is worth a look if you enjoy something like Apothecarius Argentum or Story of Saiunkoku.
Strangely, this series runs in Cheese! magazine. I was under the impression that Cheese! only ran smutty romance series (hence the name). I’m not sure what to make of that. Perhaps there will be some unlooked-for spice later on as well, but it doesn’t seem to fit at the moment. Then again, this could be Cheese! magazine’s token fantasy series or something.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Please Save My Earth 21
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Please Save My Earth 2 Comments »Saki Hiwatari – Viz – 2007 – 21 volumes
The ending to Please Save My Earth… part of it was a little disappointing and anti-climatic, but it was mostly just really, really great. I could not read this fast enough. Tokyo Tower is the final stage, and it was mostly one non-stop action scene the entire volume. It was exciting, a little bittersweet, and beautiful. Just wonderful.
I don’t want to say too much to spoil it, but the scene where Rin is rattling off all the passwords was one of the most memorable in the series for me. Far better and more effectively maniacal than a simple psi battle would have been. It’s exciting because it balances on whether or not Rin will do the right thing with the passwords, but it is devastatingly effective at dredging up all the flashback history as well, since you recall the history and reasoning behind all the passwords as he’s reciting them. Such a good narrative device.
I also loved that Shion spent seven years trying to decode them, when two of them were simply the full names of the crew members. As if that wouldn’t have been one of the first things to try. He would have had three of them. I would like to think four, since Gyokuran’s password would have also been easy to guess.
Anyway, I’m going to cut for spoilers.
Dorohedoro 5
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Dorohedoro 1 Comment »Q Hayashida – Viz – 2011 – 16+ volumes
I LOVE THIS SERIES. It kills me that we’re only getting two volumes a year. The story is so enigmatic and compelling that I could probably sit and read all 16 volumes in one sitting if given the chance. I’m sure the bizarre twists and turns the story takes would be very rewarding.
Once again, the story takes a variety of strange and completely unexpected turns here that only serve to flesh out the setting even more. The focus this volume is a kind of sorcerer’s ball that takes place every four years, where sorcerers choose partners to enter into contracts with. Everyone, from Shin and Noi to En’s pet dog Judas’s Ear, is eligible for partnership, and apparently a valid method of recruitment is knocking your intended out and forcing them. As part of En’s inner circle, and very powerful sorcerers as well, Shin and Noi are highly sought after partners, and both are fending off attacks by the end of the volume.
The better insight is, once again, into the strange social structures and customs in the sorcerer world. It’s just… completely bizarre. The whole Blue Night event is completely unlooked-for, and Hayashida goes all out with the details, creating many different types of events, styles of dress, and all sorts of other little things for the characters to do and get sidetracked with. They are never simply sitting and having a conversation. They are always doing something, usually an inconsequential and unrelated activity, while the exposition is happening. And these things are always wonderful, stuff that you wouldn’t mind seeing or getting a full explanation of (including the boring speeches and plays that seem to make up the formal aspects of Blue Night). I very much appreciate this level of detail.
Meanwhile, Caiman is still running around, doing what he can to keep a low profile, while trying to find Risu and discover who he used to me. En is also closing in on Nikaido, who may possess a type of powerful magic he would very much like to have control of. Neither En nor Caiman makes very much process, but the Nikaido situation may be front and center next time.
My absolute favorite part of this volume, however, was the story of how Shin and Noi met and became partners, which is told for absolutely no reason in the middle of Blue Night. I won’t spoil it, but it’s a wonderful story, and again, Hayashida’s level of detail is incredible. I’ve read a few comments that suggest her art is “sloppy,” but I strenuously disagree. She puts a lot of thought into the design of everything, and watching her reveal the reason behind something is always a little astonishing. This story, for instance, reveals why Noi wears tape on her mask. Except it doesn’t state this explicitly, nor can it really be called the “reason” behind the tape. The mask was simply designed with Noi’s past in mind, and we are only now finding that out. I only realized the reason for the design after I finished the volume and was looking at the cover. Hayashida doesn’t even bother to comment on it. It’s just not important. Yet one more reason to love Dorohedoro to pieces.
It’s probably worth mentioning that the messy, nonsensical, over-the-top violence is still present, if that’s your thing. It’s simply a part of the series, and I love that we can’t go one volume without someone being messily disemboweled at least twice. Johnson is also still around, for some reason, if you’re a fan of man-sized cockroaches that utter the phrase “shocking!” Which I am.
Blade of the Immortal 21
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Blade of the Immortal 1 Comment »Hiroaki Samura – Dark Horse – 2009 – 28+ volumes
I loved every page of the finale to the prison arc. I can’t think of a single thing I would change about it. It does absolutely everything, from characters and relationships to the over-the-top actions scenes, pretty much perfectly.
First and foremost, one of the best things that happens here is that the tunnels are flooding at a rapid rate. That detail alone adds so much to the story, since now all the fights have an urgency, and even when there are no fights happening, the situation with Manji stuck in his cell is very much life-threatening. Well, life-threatening in theory, considering Manji can’t be killed. But you know what I mean.
The rising water levels don’t seem to bother any of the participants, though. In addition to a handful of castle goons that are easily dispatched, the real fight here is with Asaemon, the executioner, and the good doctor’s immortality experiments gone wrong. The doctor has created his perfect and immortal warriors, but they are completely mindless, and for whatever reason, the soldier is more than willing to attack Manji mercilessly. Not only is the soldier’s flesh immortal, but the doctor has also modified his body so that the methods for actually killing him don’t work. The fight is ugly, especially since the solider is merely a victim of a series of awful experiments. The story doesn’t let you forget this.
Isaku and Doa are also present, and engage the monster soldier and some of the goons in various fights. Their participation is definitely a big part of the story, but the fight that steals the show here is the one between Manji and Asaemon. It’s a fight in two parts, and Asaemon is a spectacular opponent. He’s a victim of circumstance, and the story reveals that his profession as executioner has left him with no respect from anyone. But he’s still a master swordsman, and he doesn’t let the disrespect get him down. He always takes advantage of his position, and circumstance, to further his own goals. For instance, he wants Manji and his immortality for his own reasons, and his position as executioner gives him access even when everything about this immortality experiment comes crumbling down. And his knowledge of human anatomy, from cutting necks, saves him more than once during the duel with Manji.
The duel is definitely weighted in Asaemon’s favor, since Manji is still chained hand and foot when they fight. In that way, it’s a little disappointing. But it’s still an interesting one, since Manji has to use all the resources at his disposal, including his chains, to stay out of Asaemon’s clutches. And Asaemon is a very respectful opponent. He wants to win, but he doesn’t disrespect or cheat Manji. It’s an amazing fight, even better than the completely ridiculous one against the immortal, unkillable monster.
And the actual escape at the end is a wonderful thing. Rin and Manji’s escape is downplayed, but the story spends a lot of time showing the gates of the castle being thrown open and all the prisoners being reunited with their families. It drives home the fact that Rin did a good thing, despite her selfish intentions behind the actions.
There’s one event that links the story to past events and sets up a path for the plot to follow into the next story arc. I’m a little sad that it affects Manji so directly, but it’s not such an important thing, and I’m sure it will be easily fixed.
This is such a good stopping place, I almost don’t want to start the next story arc, though.
Finder Series 3: One Wing in the Finder
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Finder Series | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Ayano Yamane – Be Beautiful – 2007 – 7+ volumes
“Please look forward to all the action Akihito’s butt will get!”
I will, thanks! <3 THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
More Asami and Takaba. I love that Be Beautiful has dropped all pretense, and now the character introductions are just a series of sex panels. In particular, each character profile image for Asami and Takaba features one going down on the other. I miss CPM books. They have a very distinctive presentation. They all have lengthy, well-illustrated character information pages, story so far segments, generous extras in the back, and wonderful endpapers that are often something hilariously inappropriate, even when it’s not a Be Beautiful book.
This time, Fei Long is back, and he’s using Takaba’s friends to blackmail him into getting information from Asami. Except all this does is drive Takaba into Asami’s arms, and they have sex for awhile while Fei Long calls and periodically listens. Takaba’s friends remain bound and gagged until, for some reason, Fei Long lets them go. There’s an altercation involving Asami, Fei Long, and a third party. I’m not too clear on what’s happening here, or who is where when the action goes down. But the storyline carries over into the next volume, and Takaba has fallen hard for Asami, though he still won’t admit it to himself.
Aaaah. The cover of the book tells me this is the “most controversial yaoi saga ever!” I’m not sure about that, but I am glad that June is re-releasing the whole thing. I’ve got volume 4 and 5 handy for reading, and will probably indulge in both as soon as I finish writing this.
It’s romantic stuff, to be sure. Asami is a pretty typical stoic seme, but he guards Takaba quite jealously, and Takaba needs guarding from the variety of bad guys that are after Asami and whatever bad-guy stuff he does. I like that Takaba also seems to have a knack for snooping and taking pictures, and takes a more active role in getting abducted than the usual scenario… as in, he actually deserves it for apparently trying to blackmail these guys with photos. Not that he deserves what Fei Long actually does to him (there’s lots of non-con in this series… really brutal non-con, at that, and I hate hate HATE that it’s in all these books). But he does walk into the kidnapping part, at least. Literally. Like, walks into it more than once, and doesn’t learn his lesson after the first time.
Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes 1
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Man Who Doesn't Take Off His Clothes | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Narise Konohara – June – 2006 – 2 volumes
this is a novel
I always thought this was a silly name for a BL novel, because of course he takes off his clothes, and I was willing to bet it happened relatively quickly. Fujiwara lasts all the way until the end of the book, though.
Actually, a better name for this would be “Deformed Genitalia, part 2.” June calls it part two of the “Don’t Worry Mama” series, though it has very little in common with the first book aside from occasional appearances by the seme as a side character (he’s friends with the seme in this book). The other thing they have in common is that both the ukes seem to have abnormal genitalia, for some reason, and both times it’s blown off as a minor plot point. I have no idea why it’s part of the story in either case. In Don’t Worry Mama, it was an uncircumcised phimotic micropenis, which is a difficult thing to get around in sex scenes, especially when it’s very often described in great detail. In The Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes, turns out Fujiwara doesn’t take off his clothes during sex because he doesn’t want anyone to know a dog bit off half of his scrotum when he was younger. This is less of a problem in the context of a BL novel, and kind of hilarious since it leads to lots of dirty talk about Fujiwara’s singular scrotum.
Writing books with that plot device in common almost makes me want to meet Konohara, because she is clearly taking pleasure in writing BL novels around that theme, and it makes me laugh. But the other thing I like about her writing is that she appears to avoid non-con (in all three of the novels I read here as well as in About Love), something I very truly appreciate in the work of a BL writer. In the novels I read, there are definitely some situations that come close to crossing the line, but in every instance the uke is undoubtedly consenting. Here, Fujiwara only agrees to sex because he’s drugged by a third party, but he is consenting when he begs a reluctant Kaitani to help him get off to avoid the pain.
I was actually a little baffled by this book, because the plot goes to great lengths to set up situations where Kaitani and Fujiwara despise one another all the way up through the end. Fujiwara is Kaitani’s high and mighty boss, and the two simply do not see eye to eye. Kaitani has a very casual attitude towards work and dress, and Fujiwara can’t help but take him to task severely for what he perceives as a bad attitude and slovenly manner of dress. Kaitani is generally shamed in front of an audience, and when Fujiwara takes him to task in the restroom one day for washing his hands improperly, Kaitani decides to put a plan into action to get blackmail material from Fujiwara.
The blackmail is ugly, but I did like the fact that what would have turned into a rape scene in any other BL novel merely stayed as an ugly chapter of character development for Kaitani. I know that’s sort of faint praise, but seriously. I hate that plot device, and I appreciate seeing it avoided.
The blackmail turns all sorts of wrong when Fujiwara starts fighting back and one of Kaitani’s coworker friends witnesses what he assumes is bondage play between Kaitani and Fujiwara. From that point on, Kaitani has to blackmail Fujiwara into faking his way through several awkward social situations in order to cover his bad behavior, one of which ends poorly when a third party “helps” Kaitani by drugging Fujiwara in order to get him to finally agree to sex.
Actually, yes, lots of ugly and terrible things happen to Fujiwara here. But Fujiwara is definitely not portrayed as sympathetic, or even very accessible, until towards the end of the book. Strangely, Kaitani is written as sympathetic, but it’s difficult to really feel bad for him when he goes to such criminal lengths to get his revenge. Still, the writing keeps Kaitani fairly sympathetic, and Fujiwara inexplicably complicit with his blackmailing, so it stays readable all the way through, and I wound up really enjoying it. It sidesteps yet another BL plot device at the very end, too, and an unfulfilled love story carries over into the second volume. It’s sort of an unusual book in its approach, and it has all the things you would expect in these novels, so it’s worth reading for anyone who enjoys these as much as I do.
Slam Dunk 16
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Slam Dunk Leave a comment »Takehiko Inoue – Viz – 2011 – 31 volumes
On one hand, I breezed through this volume pretty quickly, since the majority of the content is a game between two schools that are not Shohoku. I was a little surprised that the story spent so much time setting up the skills and personalities for characters that we will meet in the “future,” as if I should memorize all the members of both teams right now, since I’m going to have to watch them play Shohoku later.
Amazingly, Shohoku does play a game, but it lasts only one chapter, and Sakuragi doesn’t play in it. The tournament is a four-team tournament. By the end of the volume, one team is 0-2, two teams are 1-1, and the fourth team is 2-0. I suspect the rest of the series will be two more games for Shohoku, and it blows my mind that this will probably take all 15 of the remaining volumes.
In addition to the brief Shohoku game and the game between Kainan and Ryonan, there are a few chapters at the beginning of the volume covering a Shohoku scrimmage between upper and underclassman, and some shooting drills Gori forces on Sakuragi. The shooting drills are neat, because Sakuragi has resisted all the special training forced on him up to now, but the shooting drills are a pleasure to him compared to the running practice and other fundamental drills.
By the end of the volume, there are also hints that Shohoku’s biggest weakness is that they don’t play as a team. It’s true that all of them are definitely unique personalities that don’t work well together, and I’m curious to see how this weakness will be overcome. I just can’t see Sakuragi and Rukawa playing nice together.
On one final note, I couldn’t stop laughing at the first chapter’s title page, which was an illustration of “Slam Dunk” shaved into the back of Sakuragi’s head. That’s so early 90s it’s almost not funny, and I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t a trend that appeared anywhere outside America. The rest of the volume had a Boyz II Men accompaniment running through my head after that.
13th Boy 9
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: 13th Boy Leave a comment »SangEun Lee – Yen Press – 2011 – 12+ volumes
This volume has two distinct halves. We know that Won-Jun is stepping out of the story for the time being, so the first half focuses on making some nice memories between Won-Jun and Hee-So, having Hee-So deal with the parting, and the parting itself. Hee-So is surprisingly mature about all of this, and it might be more than a little telling that she wasn’t as broken up about being separated from Won-Jun as she was when Beatrice was missing. I don’t want to spoil too much of this part of the story (I’ve probably already said too much), so I’ll just leave things at that.
The second half of the volume addresses the awkward situation between Hee-So and Beatrice. Hee-So just can’t see Beatrice as anything but her cactus and childhood friend, whereas Beatrice is crazy in love with Hee-So. He makes no secret of this, and does all he can to be with Hee-So while living his life at Whie-Young’s place as, more or less, a maid. You can get to feeling pretty badly for Beatrice. Since he has no identity, he can’t go to school, and living with Hee-So as a cactus in her room for so long means he’s more than a little socially awkward, and doesn’t really interact with anyone outside Whie-Young and Hee-So. All he can do is stay quietly and fruitlessly in love with Hee-So and do Whie-Young’s chores for him soas to earn his keep. It’s a really sad existence, though Beatrice is surprisingly positive about it, saying he’s doing things he always wanted to do while he was a cactus trapped in Hee-So’s room.
Part of the story here is also about Hee-So’s classmates begging her to introduce them to her “cousin.” What seems like a good opportunity to get Beatrice out into the world is more or less quashed by Hee-So. She doesn’t want to explain the awkward relationship between she and Beatrice, and more importantly, she doesn’t seem comfortable with him going out with other girls. She also still selfishly depends on him for emotional support, especially after Won-Jun’s departure. And yet, she herself seems put off by the thought of romantic feelings for Beatrice, who is simply hers. He was, until very recently, literally her possession in the form of an anthropomorphic cactus. You can’t really blame her for being uncomfortable with the sudden shift from friendly cactus to brooding teenage boy.
I think it will only be a matter of time before she falls in love with Beatrice, though. And yet there are still other factors in play. Won-Jun is clearly punishing himself more than a little by staying by Sae-Bom’s side. Sae-Bom doesn’t love him, and he falls more than a little in love with Hee-So before he has to go. His former feelings for Sae-Bom seem to only exist as a sense of duty now, and he says himself that he’s only going with Sae-Bom because she has no one else. This leaves things open for a reunion between Won-Jun and Hee-So, though I think this is more than a little unlikely. Or, if it does happen, it will be part of the climax, where Hee-So has to choose between Won-Jun and Beatrice or something.
Also interesting is Whie-Young. He’s a bizarre and very misanthropic character at this point. What I thought was an inevitable relationship between him and Hee-So seems extraordinarily unlikely at this point, though the fact remains he keeps using his life-threatening magic whenever Hee-So asks for it. Still, as boyfriend #1, I suspect he is not the titular 13th Boy of the title. His role at this point seems to be as a mentor for Beatrice, but he’s a fairly lousy one.
My favorite scene in this volume takes place over the course of two appearances. The first time, Hee-So is on a bridge with Won-Jun, and after an extremely pleasant and exciting date between them, she begins describing how much she likes the bridge they’re on, and that they should come back in the fall when the area is swarming with dragonflies. Won-Jun then takes that comment to sour the good mood, telling Hee-So he won’t be around in the fall, and breaks up with her. Later, in the second half of the volume, Hee-So returns to the bridge with Beatrice while the two are still trying to figure out their place in each other’s lives. It is fall, and Hee-So gets to experience the swarms of dragonflies with Beatrice instead of Won-Jun, but she still lets herself revel in her good memories of her last date. It’s a wonderful scene, and not only is the moment extremely romantic both times, it shows just how much balance the author gives to all the characters.
Basically, if it wasn’t totally obvious, I am still all kinds of addicted to this series. It’s still really fun, and a nice mix of humor, romance, and bittersweetness. It manages to be a fairly realistic romance while still containing elements of bizarre magic, and that only makes it more unique. This relatively new wrinkle with human-Beatrice still hasn’t lost its novelty for me, and I can’t wait to see how things shape up between Hee-So and Beatrice. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ve once again caught up to the Korean release, and the next three volumes appear to have a six-month gap between them.
Mars 6
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: Mars Leave a comment »Fuyumi Soryo – Tokyopop – 2003 – 15 volumes
This volume is all about Yuji, the new guy. Here, we really see how good Soryo is at character development. She comes at it from all sides, not just developing Yuji, but slowly developing and changing Yuji’s relationships with Rei and Kira as more and more is revealed about him. It’s great stuff.
Yuji starts out as a rather sympathetic character. A new student, he comes out of the closet and admits he has feelings for Rei. Rei takes this badly, and Kira gets upset until all three of them begin hanging out. But slowly, very slowly, we find out that Yuji acts and reacts in order to garner maximum sympathy, especially in Kira. By the end of the book, we find out that Yuji is a bonafide psychopath, and his interest in Rei isn’t romantic, but rather because he sees the same type of unsympathetic, cruel personality as himself in Rei.
His disturbing personality is revealed slowly. Both Rei and Kira begin to suspect something is up with him when they begin to suspect the sincerity of his words. It becomes obvious Yuji is playing both Rei and Kira fairly early on, and he reveals himself to Rei before Kira. Kira goes from feeling sorry for him, to genuinely liking him as a friend, to sympathizing with him over a trauma in his past, to almost being frightened of him when he reveals to her again and again bad aspects of Rei’s personality. And Rei parries Yuji’s direct challenges a few times in this volume, whether it’s an admission or two about Yuji’s terrible past, direct comparisons to Rei’s own behavior, and other things.
Again, this is a wonderful bit of storytelling, and throwing a disturbing and unpredictable character like Yuji into the mix is an interesting move, plot-wise. He’s got no link romantically with either character, so I like that his presence will inevitably involve a very different kind of danger for Rei and Kira.
Artbook Spotlight: Alice Addict
Posted: December 9, 2011 Filed under: Artbooks Leave a comment »Mitsukazu Mihara – 2003 – 103 pgs – ISBN 4-86048-068-6
Here’s a more unusual book. Mitsukazu Mihara might be more well-known for her illustrations than she is her manga series. She was the main illustrator for the Gothic & Lolita Bible, a fashion publication that focused on those two styles and was primarily photos and articles, with some of Mihara’s illustrations featured.
Tokyopop published 4 issues of Gothic & Lolita Bible in English, but I’ve never seen one myself. Tokyopop also published about a dozen volumes of Mitsukazu Mihara’s manga, and those are all worth checking out. All of them are josei, as far as I can tell, so are of interest for that reason alone since very little josei work has been published in English. Her most famous manga is probably Doll, a 6-volume series that examines the relationships between humans and very sophisticated robot servants in a somewhat more grown-up way than, say, Chobits.
This book, published only in Japan, is a collection of the illustrations that appeared in The Gothic & Lolita Bible and Doll (in Feel Young Magazine), with illustrations from a manga called Happy Family and a few other sources (mostly fashion magazines) spread throughout. Alice Addict is only 100 pages long, it doesn’t really tie into the content of any of her series, and I’m no fashion expert. All I offer is a look at a very strange fashion/josei hybrid artbook.
Some of these illustrations are NSFW.
