5 July 2013 Leave a Comment

Bookshelf Overload: June 2013

There were a lot of great manga released in June. But what was I particularly excited for this month? Vertical released the second volume of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. I loved the first volume, so I’m really looking forward to reading (and reviewing) the second one as well. Vertical also released the omnibus of Asumiko Nakamura’s Ustubora: The Story of a Novelist, one of the few 18+ manga that it has published, and it is marvelous.

The new omnibus edition of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub from Dark Horse made its debut in May, but I didn’t receive my copy until June. The trim size of this edition is larger than Dark Horse’s previous release of the series, which means I’ll have a better chance of being able to actually read it with my bad eyesight. Even though my copy didn’t arrive until June, Thermae Romae, Omnibus 2 by Mari Yamazaki was also officially in May. Yen Press just recently revealed that the third and final omnibus is currently scheduled to be released in February. It’s a great series and a great release, so I’m glad that Yen Press will be able to finish it.

Most of what I picked up during June were preorders, but a few things were nice out-of-print finds. In particular, I was extremely pleased to come across copies of the two volumes of Taiyo Matsumoto’s No. 5 that were released in print in English. They were in great condition and I even managed to snag them for just a little more than cover price, which made me even happier. I was also very happy to receive my copies of Jen Lee Quick’s Off*Beat, volumes one and two. Long out of print from Tokyopop, the new edition from Chromatic Pres is lovely and contains additional bonus content, too.

Manga!
Children of the Sea, Volume 5 by Daisuke Igarashi
Crimson Wind by Duo Brand
The Dawn of Love by Kazuho Hirokawa
I’ve Seen It All, Volumes 1-2 by Shoko Takaku
Kiss All the Boys, Volumes 1-3 by Shiuko Kano
Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossoms Pink by Milk Morinaga
Knights of Sidonia, Volume 3 by Tsutomu Nihei
Limit, Volume 5 by Keiko Suenobu
Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibus 1 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Goseki Kojima
A Love Song for the Miserable by Yukimura
Loveless, Volume 11 by Yun Kouga
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 2: Garma by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
No. 5, Volumes 1-2 by Taiyo Matsumoto
Punch Up!, Volumes 1-4 by Shiuko Kano
Same Difference by Nozomu Hiiragi
Sleeping Moon, Volume 1 by Kano Miyamoto
Thermae Romae, Omnibus 2 by Mari Yamazaki
Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura
Mardock Scramble, Volumes 5-6 by Yoshitoki Oima
Vagabond, Omnibus 9 by Takehiko Inoue
Wounded Man, Volumes 1, 3-9 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami
Yakuza in Love, Volumes 1-3 by Shiuko Kano

Comics!
Godzilla: The Half-Century War by James Stokoe
Love Lens: Comic Anthology by Love Love Hill
Mangaman written by Barry Lyga, illustrated by Colleen Doran
Off*Beat, Volumes 1-2 by Jen Lee Quick

Anime!
Fist of the North Star: The TV Series, Collection 2 directed by Toyoo Ashida
Fist of the North Star: The Movie directed by Toyoo Ashida
Rose of Versailles,  Part 2 directed by Tadao Nagahama and Osamu Dezaki

Filed Under: Bookshelf Overload
3 July 2013 Leave a Comment

Manga Giveaway: Dystopian Duo Winner

And the winner of the Dystopian Duo manga giveaway is…ShadowOtakuGal!

As the winner, ShadowOtakuGal will be receiving a copy of Hinoki Kino’s No. 6, Volume 1 and Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan, Volume 5—the most recent volumes of two very different dystopian-flavored manga to be released by Kodansha Comics. For this giveaway, I asked entrants to tell me which of the two series interested them the most and why. I was also curious to know about other dystopian manga that people had read. There were some fantastic responses, so do check out the giveaway comments. I enjoyed everything everyone had to say, so thank you to all who participated!

And now for your manga-reading pleasure, a selected list of dystopian and dystopian-esque manga licensed in English!

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
Animal Land by Makoto Raiku
Apollo’s Song by Osamu Tezuka
Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
Basara by Yumi Tamura
Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order by Yukito Kishiro
Battle Royale written by Koushun Takami, illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi
Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei
Clover by CLAMP
Deadman Wonderland written by Jinsei Kataoka, illustrated by Kazuma Kondou
Death Note written by Tsugumi Ohba, illustrated by Takeshi Obata
Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida
The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu
Eden: It’s an Endless World by Hiroki Endo
Fist of the North Star written by Buronson, illustrated by Tetsuo Hara
From Far Away by Kyouko Hikawa
From the New World by Tōru Oikawa
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit by Motoro Mase
Japan written by Buronson, illustrated by Kentaro Miura
Knights of Sidonia by Tsutomu Nihei
Mother Sarah by Katsuhiro Otomo
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
Neon Genesis Evangelion by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
No. 6 by Hinoki Kino
Noise by Tsutomu Nihei
Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka
Psyren by Toshiaki Iwashiro
Silver Diamond by Shiho Sugiura
Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee by Hiroyuki Asada
Tsubasa: Those with Wings by Natsuki Takaya

Thank you again to everyone who shared with me; I hope to see you again for the next giveaway!

Filed Under: Giveaways, Lists Tagged: , , , ,
1 July 2013 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: June 24-June 30, 2013

My News and Reviews

As I’m posting this I am at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago and have been for the last several days. I was hoping to pick up an early copy of Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund while I was here, but unfortunately the books were lost in the mail and never made it to the conference center. Even though I kept very busy in Chicago, I still somehow managed to post two reviews last week. The first was for Yoshitaka Amano’s debut novel Deva Zan: The Chosen Path, which for me worked better as an artbook than as a novel. I’m a long-time fan of Amano’s artwork. I also reviewed Takako Shimura’s long-delayed Wandering Son, Volume 4 from Fantagraphics. I was sad to see some of the editing errors that made it through even after the delay (scattered typos and the description on the back cover is actually for volume five), but I am glad to finally have the book in my hands. And Shimura’s work is as wonderful as always. I should also mention that Experiments in Manga’s June manga giveaway is currently under way. There’s still time to enter for a chance to win both a copy of No. 6, Volume 1 and Attack on Titan, Volume 5!

Quick Takes

Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 2-3 by Tsutomu Nihei. While I thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of Knights of Sidonia, I wasn’t really blown away by it. Still, I was interested enough in the series to stick it out for a least a couple more volumes to see how things would develop. And now after reading the next two volumes I can honestly say I can’t wait for more of Knights of Sidonia. Nihei is pulling things together very nicely; there were some great twists and worldbuilding in these two volumes. The Gauna are marvelously creepy adversaries and the human society on the Sidonia has its own mysteries and secrets. I’m also starting to really dig the cleaner, more simplified artstyle that Nihei uses for this series.

Mardock Scramble, Volumes 2-4 by Yoshitoki Oima. When I read Tow Ubukata’s Mardock Scramble, a trilogy of strange cyberpunk-ish novels, I was convinced that a visual adaptation of the story would be fantastic. The original Mardock Scramble is a massive work, so I am actually quite surprised and impressed by how coherent Oima’s manga adaptation manages to be. She sticks to the story’s highlights, particularly focusing on the more action-oriented sequences and battles. After four volumes, the manga adaptation is about halfway through the original work. Due to the constraints of the medium, some of the elements found in the novels have been glossed over, but the major themes are still there. The world of Mardock Scramble is an odd one, but I like Oima’s interpretation of it.

Words of Devotion, Volumes 1-2 by Keiko Konno. Although they are extremely close, Tachibana and Otani aren’t always the best at communicating with each other. Some of their acquaintances joke around and suspect that they might actually be more than just friends, but the two young men can’t quite admit their own feelings aloud to each other let alone tell anyone else. Tachibana and Otani’s rocky relationship is already established before the first volume begins. They have trust and control issues, insecurities and jealousies, but there is no question that they care about each other. The second volume actually serves as a prequel, largely exploring Tachibana and Otani’s highschool days.

Filed Under: My Week in Manga Tagged: , , , , , ,
29 June 2013 Leave a Comment

Wandering Son, Volume 4

Creator: Takako Shimura
U.S. publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 9781606996058
Released: April 2013
Original release: 2006

Wandering Son, Volume 4 by Takako Shimura was originally released in Japan in 2005. After several delays, the English-language edition of the volume from Fantagraphics was published in 2013. It was a long wait between the third and fourth volumes and, unfortunately, a scattering of editing errors still made their way into the manga. However, I am extremely happy to finally have it in my hands. Fantagraphics began releasing Wandering Son in 2011 in a beautiful oversized hardcover edition. I have been reading Wandering Son since the beginning. It’s an incredibly important series to me personally; I would not be exaggerating to call it life-changing. I am thrilled and terrified by each volume that Fantagraphics releases because the manga hits so close to home for me. Wandering Son is a wonderful series exploring many aspects of personal identity, including gender and sexuality, with great sincerity and sensitivity.

After Shuichi and Maho were accepted as a pair for a modeling project, the two siblings have grown closer; both were subject to direct and indirect bullying and pressure from the other models and they had to look out for each other. But now that Maho is starting to get along with the other girls, she and Shuichi have started to drift apart. Feeling abandoned and uncomfortable with Maho’s new friends, Shuichi even goes as far as to stop modeling. At school things are a little better—at least for a time. After a brief falling out Shuichi and Takatsuki have made up and have started their exchange diary again with a renewed fervor. Shuichi has also become very close with Makoto, another classmate. But while some friendships flourish, others start to wither. Add to all that burgeoning feelings of love and romantic interest and suddenly sixth grade becomes even more complicated.

Makoto probably states it best when he declares “feelings are such difficult things.” That is a major theme in Wandering Son, Volume 4. Shuichi, Takatsuki, and their friends and classmates are beginning to grapple not only with who they are as individuals but who they are in relation to other people. Shimura captures the constantly shifting dynamics of their relationships in a very convincing and realistic way. Friendships are tested and strained as the characters begin to try to figure out just who means what to whom. It’s heartbreaking to see those friendships, which are so incredibly important to them, falling apart as jealousy and sheer awkwardness put them in jeopardy. At the same time, there are some characters who are able to forge even stronger bonds with one another due to all the turmoil.

Takatsuki and Shuichi are still clearly the protagonists of Wandering Son but Shimura doesn’t forget any of the young people in the fourth volume. Even the classroom bullies are shown to have their own problems and issues to work through. All of the characters have their strengths and weaknesses. This includes Shuichi, with whom everyone seems to fall in love, who exhibits a willingness to wallow in self-pity. As nostalgic as Wandering Son can be, the middle school years haven’t been idealized in the series. With all of the romantic entanglements introduced in Wandering Son, Volume 4 the manga is building up to the next volume in which the characters enter seventh grade and puberty. Middle school is challenging and difficult enough, but junior high promises to be even more so. Wandering Son is more about characters than a linear plot, but the fourth volume is an important setup for what comes next in the series.

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28 June 2013 Leave a Comment

Deva Zan: The Chosen Path

Creator: Yoshitaka Amano
Translator: John Thomas
Publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781616550301
Released: January 2013

Deva Zan: The Chosen Path is Yoshitaka Amano’s debut novel. Amano is known across the globe for his illustrative work and character designs, and in the West particularly for his involvement with Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D, and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: The Dream Hunters. At one time or another, Amano has lent his skills to novels, comics and manga, video games, and animation. Deva Zan is a project that he has been working on for more than a decade. The novel, which includes more than two hundred previously unpublished illustrations and paintings, is the first incarnation of the story to be released. Deva Zan was first and originally published in English by Dark Horse with a translation by John Thomas in 2013. Deva Zan is the first time that Amano has been completely responsible for both a work’s story and art.

At the end of the Edo period lived a hero, a young samurai by the name of Yoshitsugu Kamishiro. While engaged in battle he slips into another world where he discovers his true identity. Though he has no memory of it he is Zan, one of the Twelve Divine Generals and servant to Lady Mariu, the guardian deity of light. The Army of Light fights for creation against the forces of darkness—the Dark Corp—lead by the demon Moma. While Zan was warring in Japan, the battle between darkness and light, order and chaos continued without him. But now that Zan is aware of who he is, he embarks upon a journey of self-discovery through space and time, searching for the other lost generals in an attempt to remember his past. As the Army of Light gathers again, so does the Dark Corps—two sides of an endless conflict which will determine the fate of the world and universe.

Deva Zan isn’t so much an illustrated novel as it is an artbook with accompanying text. The narrative and writing style is impressionistic, consisting of dream-like sequences. Amano seems to have focused on creating an atmosphere rather than establishing a detailed or overly coherent plot. While the story of Deva Zan is interesting, incorporating Hindu and Buddhist elements with philosophical and cosmological implications, on its own it doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression. However, alongside Amano’s illustrations, it does create a nice effect overall. But even so, the story always feels secondary to the artwork. And in fact that was how Amano approached the Deva Zan novel—developing the textual narrative to fit the themes of the artwork rather than the other way around.

For me, Deva Zan works much better as an artbook than as a novel. I’ll admit, I have always enjoyed Amano’s illustrations. Deva Zan is a great and varied collection presented nicely as an oversized, hardcover volume. The individual pieces exhibit a range of styles and techniques. Some are complete, finished works while others, though no less arresting, seem to be concept sketches and designs. Amano is just as skilled working in vibrant, almost garish color palettes as he is in more muted and monochromatic schemes. His illustrations are striking and ethereal, whether he is portraying a stylized fantasy world or dealing in the abstract. Although reading Deva Zan was intriguing and I appreciate Amano’s involvement in all aspects of the work, I find that I’m just as happy flipping through the volume to linger on the artwork alone.

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