29 May 2013 13 Comments

Manga Giveaway: Umineko Giveaway

It’s nearly the end of May, which means its time for another manga giveaway! This month you have the opportunity to win the first volume of Ryukishi07 and Kei Natsumi’s Umineko: When They Cry as published by Yen Press. The omnibus (equivalent to the first two volumes in the original Japanese release of the series) collects the first half of the Legend of the Golden Witch story arc. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

I’m not sure that it’s ever really come up here at Experiments in Manga before, but I’m a bit of a gamer. My “specialty” is Euro-style boardgames and abstract strategy games (and I like to pretend that I’m a decent mahjong player), but I enjoy games of all sorts, including video games. Recently I’ve noticed more and more manga being released in English that are based on or adaptations of video games, visual novels, and dating sims. I’m not sure if there has been an actual increase in these type of licenses or not; it may just be that I’m paying more attention to what’s being released nowadays. Either way, Umineko: When They Cry is one well-known example of a recent manga that is an adaptation of a game. Though to be honest, while I have read the manga, I haven’t actually played the original game myself.

So, you may be wondering, how can you the first omnibus of Umineko?

1) In the comments below, tell me about a manga that you’ve read that was based on a game. (If you’ve never read one, you can simply mention that.)
2) For a second entry, name another manga that is an adaptation of a game which hasn’t yet been mentioned by me or by someone else.
3) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

So there you have it! Each person can earn up to three entries for this giveaway. As usual, you will have one week to submit your entries. If you have trouble leaving comments, or if you would prefer, you can e-mail me your entry at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will post the comment in your name. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on June 5, 2013. Game on!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced—Manga Giveaway: Umineko Giveaway Winner

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27 May 2013 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: May 20-May 26, 2013

My News and Reviews

Last week was the Yumi Tamura Manga Moveable Feast, hosted at Tokyo Jupiter. For my contribution to the Feast, I reviewed Tamura’s Chicago, Volume 1: The Book of Self and Chicago, Volume 2: The Book of Justice. Chicago was the first of Tamura’s manga to be officially released in English. The series had great potential, so it was shame that Tamura prematurely ended it after only two volumes. Anna of Tokyo Jupiter also took a look at Beauty and Grit in Tamura’s Chicago, with a particular focus on the use of music in the series.

While paging through the August 2013 issue of Otaku USA I came across a review for Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices. I don’t know how I missed the fact that this book was being published; there currently seems to be very little information about it available. It’s being edited by Manga Bookshelf‘s Melinda Beasi for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Contributing authors include Katherine Dacey, Shaenon Garrity, Sean Gaffney, Ed Chavez, Erica Friedman, and Robin Brenner. The book is being funded by a gift to CBLDF from The Gaiman Foundation. I might have just heard about Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices, but I’m already very excited for its release.

I recently came across two manga review projects while wandering around on the Internet. The anime blog The Cart Driver has begun a series of Manga Driver posts focusing on, but not limited to, great manga series that haven’t yet been adapted into anime. The queer literature blog I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? has a new intern exploring LGTBQ Teen Manga. Aaron’s list of manga to review includes boys’ love and yuri as well as manga from other genres. (The reviews can be found by browsing the blog’s manga tag.)

I mentioned a few months ago that Vertical’s contract for Keiko Takemiya manga will soon come to an end, meaning that her two series To Terra… and Andromeda Stories will sadly be going out of print. (Additionally, any remaining stock that Vertical has after the cutoff dates will be destroyed.) Right Stuf has a little more information and is currently offering the manga at 40% off. To Terra… in particular is a fantastic series. If you haven’t already read Takemiya’s manga, this would be a good time to pick them up for a great price before they’re gone for good.

Finally, the manga blog Manga Weekend is hosting a Manga Olympics for Bloggers (MOB). Unfortunately, I won’t be able to participate due to my personal and work schedules. I’ll be doing a lot of traveling in June; it’ll be tough enough just to keep Experiments in Manga’s posts on schedule. I do plan on keeping my eye MOB, though, and hope to discover some new manga blogs in the process.

Quick Takes

Heroes Are Extinct!!, Volumes 1-3 by Ryoji Hido. I was taken completely by surprise by how entertaining and funny Heroes Are Extinct!! was. Sentai fans in particular will appreciate the series, but others should enjoy it, too. Heroes Are Extinct!! begins as a fairly standard parody but as it progresses Hido incorporates inter-galactic politics and court intrigue as well. Grand Galactic General Cassiel of the Bazue Empire has been charged with conquering Earth, but is disappointed by the lack of heroes. (He may have watched a little too much Earth television as a child.) With no suitable foe present, he begins training the Earth Force Terra Rangers to make his invasion a little more interesting.

MPD-Psycho, Volume 10 written by Eiji Otsuka and illustrated by Shou Tajima. At the end of 2011 the tenth volume of MPD-Psycho was released by Dark Horse after a two year hiatus. Since then there has been no word if any later volumes will be published. There were some pretty big plot reveals in volume ten, so I sincerely hope that more of the series will be seen in English. The manga isn’t without its problems, but I do find it engaging overall. MPD-Psycho is a graphic, violent, and dark series with an increasingly strange and convoluted plot. Clones, bizarre murders, cults, eugenics, and secret organizations all play important roles even when it’s not immediately clear what those roles are. Tajima’s creepy art style suits the disconcerting story nicely.

Only Serious About You, Volumes 1-2 by Kai Asou. Although Only Serious About You is a boys’ love series, it’s just as much about Nao trying to raise his young daughter Chizu as a single parent as it is about his developing relationship with Yoshi, an openly gay man who freqents the restaurant where Nao works. The initial circumstances surrounding the two men getting together seemed a little forced to me. (Coming down with a fever seems to be a really big deal in Japan.) However, their bond develops very realistically from there. Only Serious About You is a charming and sweet manga. With its emphasis on family and cooking, it’s also one of the most domestic boys’ love stories that I’ve read.

Sunny, Volume 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto. I have become rather fond of Matsumoto’s work and so was excited when Viz announced it would be publishing his most recent manga series Sunny, and in a beautiful hardcover edition no less. The manga follows a group of kids living in a children’s home who either don’t have families or have been separated from them for one reason or another. The narrative isn’t straightforward; instead, Sunny is more a collection of impressions. Many of the vignettes are rather melancholic—none of the kids’ situations are anywhere close to being ideal. But there are moments of cheerfulness and genuine caring as well. Although some might find it ugly, I really enjoy Matsumoto’s artwork. His color pages in particular are lovely.

Dear Brother, Episodes 1-20 directed by Osamu Dezaki. Dear Brother is a thirty-nine episode anime adaptation from the early 1990s based on Riyoko Ikeda’s classic yuri manga. Nanako Misonoo is a first year at Seiran Academy, an elite all-girls school. There she is caught up in the drama surrounding three of the most popular girls in the school. As the series progresses the relationships between the characters are revealed to be incredibly complicated. They can also be very tragic, angst-ridden, and twisted. At times the Dear Brother anime is almost ponderous in its pacing while at other times it’s marvelously melodramatic. I’m really looking forward to watching the second half of the series.

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24 May 2013 Leave a Comment

Chicago, Volume 2: The Book of Justice

Creator: Yumi Tamura
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781569318294
Released: May 2003
Original release: 2001

As part of the Yumi Tamura Manga Moveable Feast, I decided to take a look at the first of her works to be released in English—a short, two-volume series called Chicago. The second volume of Chicago, The Book of Justice, was initially serialized by Viz Media between 2002 and 2003 in its monthly shoujo manga magazine Animerica Extra and was subsequently released as a trade collection later in 2003. The volume was first published in Japan in 2001. Tamura is probably best known for her series Basara; I have seen almost nothing written about Chicago despite the work being her first official introduction to English-reading audiences. The two volumes of the series are now also out of print in English. I read the first volume of Chicago, The Book of Self and was intrigued enough by it to track down the second volume as well.

Operating out of a bar called Chicago in south Shinjuku is a privately organized team of agents who take on rescue missions that the police won’t or are afraid to touch. Originally Rei and Uozumi were a part of the Self-Defense Force’s Rescue Squad Four, a rescue team that was wiped out after the Great Tokyo Earthquake. The only survivors of the squad, Rei and Uozumi have been recruited by Chicago, joining the reserved but talented gunman Shin and Zion, a pilot who seems happier making gyoza than he does flying. The members of Chicago’s rescue squad might need to work a bit on their teamwork, but there is no denying that they are all very good at what they do. As the team takes on more rescue missions a troubling pattern emerges: they all appear to somehow be connected to the demise of Squad Four and Rei and Uozumi’s pasts. Rei and Uozumi are determined to uncover the truth, but digging any deeper may very well end up costing more than just their lives.

Much like the first volume of Chicago, The Book of Justice is filled with outrageous but entertaining and engaging action sequences as the team members carry out their rescue missions. It’s great fun even when it’s not particularly believable. What is more believable are the characters themselves and their complicated and frequently antagonistic relationships with one another. I enjoyed watching them interact (and get on each other’s nerves) a great deal. Sadly, since not much is revealed about Shin other than a few ominous comments and implications, he largely remains a mysterious, handsome stranger. However, The Book of Justice does reveal more of Rei and Uozumi’s history, including how they met and came to work together and why they’re so close. Even Mika, Uozumi’s boyfriend, is given a chance to briefly take center stage in The Book of Justice.

Because Chicago has so much going for it—an intriguing mystery, great action scenes, interesting character dynamics—it’s particularly disappointing and frustrating that Tamura ended the series just as things were pulling together so nicely. The second volume of Chicago is much more even and focused than the first; Tamura seemed to be hitting her groove with the story and characters. Unlike in the first volume, all of the character and plot elements serve a distinct purpose and the more awkward attempts at humor are missing. Tamura ties up most of the major plot points in The Book of Justice, but the series is still brought to an abrupt and rushed close. She assures readers that Chicago wasn’t cancelled—she just felt that it was time to move on, which I find almost worse. It’s a shame Tamura decided to end the series after only two volumes. Chicago had great potential and I would have liked to have seen more.

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22 May 2013 Leave a Comment

Chicago, Volume 1: The Book of Self

Creator: Yumi Tamura
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781591160410
Released: November 2002
Original release: 2001

Although Yumi Tamura is probably best known for her post-apocalyptic epic Basara, her later two-volume manga series Chicago was her first work to be officially released in English. Chicago, Volume 1: The Book of Self was released in 2002 by Viz Media after serializing the manga in the monthly shoujo magazine Animerica Extra between 2001 and 2002. The collected volume was originally published in Japan in 2001. Chicago is now out of print in English but still fairly easy to find at reasonable prices. Because May 2013’s Manga Moveable Feast focused on Tamura and her work, I decide to track down the short series. I’ve actually been meaning to read Basara for what seems like ages now, but I thought it would be interesting if my introduction to Tamura’s manga would be through her introduction to English-reading audiences.

Rei and Uozumi are the only remaining survivors of the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s Rescue Squad Four. The rest of their team members died in Bay District D while on a rescue mission after the Great Tokyo Earthquake. The official press release described the deaths as an accident, claiming that the squad was caught in a fire after the quake. Rei and Uozumi know differently and because of that their lives are still in danger. Down on their luck and barely scraping by, the two partners are approached by a mysterious man looking to recruit them for a rescue mission of a different kind. A young, aspiring photojournalist has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. At first it appears to be a case of mistaken identity but it may in fact have ties to the annihilation of Squad Four in Bay District D. Looking for answers, Rei and Uozumi agree to take on the job despite their misgivings.

Rei is a pretty kick-ass heroine. She’s a competent fighter with top-notch knife skills that are more than a match for those who would try to do her harm. She doesn’t take crap from anyone except maybe for some good-natured ribbing from Uozumi. Rei also seems to have some vague supernatural powers, such as the ability to sense danger and an odd intuition that leads her to be in the right place at the right time, allowing her to prevent several tragedies in The Book of Self before they can happen. She and Uozumi also share a very strong bond with each other that borders on ESP. Rei is actually in love with Uozumi and he obviously cares for her as well. However, he already has a lover and as is revealed towards the end of The Book of Self, there are other reasons why Rei has no chance with him. That doesn’t make the pain and frustration of her heartbreak any less, though.

So far, Chicago is a rather odd series even if it does have some great action scenes and a quirky charm to it. Much of the story relies on convenient coincidences, but these incidents may be attributed to Rei’s intuition or some other sort of fate. Tamura does include some seemingly strange character details in The Book of Self. Some, like fellow rescue agent Shin’s apparent abhorrence of celery, add a weird bit of humor to the story. Others, like Rei’s work as a model, seem an unnecessary distraction. Still others appear to be innocuous at first only to play an important role later on—Uozumi’s extensive knowledge of classical music actually ends up saving his life. Chicago can be a little over-the-top, ridiculous, and unbelievable, but ultimately I found the first volume to be a fun read. I have no idea what’s in store for the second volume, The Book of Justice, but I look forward to finding out.

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20 May 2013 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: May 13-May 19, 2013

My News and Reviews

Last week I posted my monthly Blade of the Immortal review. This month I took a look at Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal, Volume 21: Demon Lair II, which is the second and final volume of the finale of the fourth and penultimate major story arc of the series. It’s a great conclusion; I’m really looking forward to the next volume. As promised, I also posted about my first time attending the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. The article ended up being longer than I really intended, but there was a lot that I wanted to talk about: my general experience, Taiyo Matsumoto, Gengoroh Tagame, IKKI magazine, queer comics, and more. If you don’t feel like reading the entire thing, the take away is that TCAF is an amazing festival and I’m already making plans to go again next year.

Early last week I tweeted about a note in the RightStuf catalog indicating that Yaya Sakuragi’s boys’ love series Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love was being seized by Canadian customs. Lissa Pattillo at Kuriousity saw the tweet and wrote an article on the subject (RightStuf Warns of Boys’ Love Book Seizing at Canada Customs) and the story was subsequently picked up by Anime News Network (BL Manga Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love Sold in Canada Despite Seizure) and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (Online Retailer Won’t Send Some Manga to Canada Because of Customs Seizures). It was kind of neat to see the ripple effect of the tweet.

Elsewhere online, Kathryn Hemmann of Contemporary Japanese Literature (which is one of my favorite blogs) posted the article In Defense of Fujoshi. As Kathryn warns at the beginning of the post, it is not safe for work. However, it is definitely worth reading and is an excellent and  engaging look at some of the controversies surrounding bara and boys’ love manga. About a month ago I mentioned Kansai Club Publishing. Well, their Kickstarter project to release Osamu Tezuka’s short story collection The Crater has now launched.

Also, the Yumi Tamura Manga Moveable Feast is this week! Keep an eye on Tokyo Jupiter for updates. For my contribution to this month’s Feast, I’ll be reviewing at least the first volume of Tamura’s Chicago (and hopefully the second as well!)

Quick Takes

21st Century Boys, Volumes 1-2 by Naoki Urasawa. Although the title has changed to 21st Century Boys, these two volumes are actually the ending to 20th Century Boys. I thought they were a decent conclusion to a good series, but ultimately I enjoyed the earlier volumes much more than the later volumes. Even though I liked the manga, after twenty-four volumes of twists and turns and convoluted storytelling, I feel like Urasawa was somehow cheating. I’m not convinced he had a clear idea when he began 20th Century Boys where he was going with the story and where it would end up. However, most of the plot threads he introduced are at least addressed if not completely tied up in 21st Century Boys.

Hetalia: Axis Powers, Volume 3 by Hidekaz Himaruya. Despite the fact that the manga and the anime cover the same material, the manga seems to be less inherently offensive. I’ll admit though, I do prefer the Hetalia anime over the original. For some reason, the manga is more difficult for me to follow. Not that there’s a complicated story or anything—Hetalia tends to be more a series of gags than anything else. Hetalia works best for me when the focus of the manga is on actual history rather than the countries acting as characters. The third volume introduces even more countries with a particular emphasis on medieval history, Poland and Lithuania, and the Nordic States. The artwork, or perhaps just the reproduction of the artwork, seems improved over previous volumes, too.

This Night’s Everything by Akira Minazuki. After enjoying Minazuki’s collection of boys’ love manga Tonight’s Take-Out, I decided to pick up This Night’s Everything, her only other work currently available in English. Although I was left with an overall favorable impression of This Night’s Everything, I didn’t enjoy it quite as well. In fact, I wasn’t sure I even liked it at all until after finishing the entire manga. But in the end, and after a few key plot revelations, I was satisfied with it as a whole. There is a deliberate coldness to the characters which is somewhat unpleasant but eventually explained. The world-building is such that This Night’s Everything actually feels like it could be part of a much larger work.

X, Omnibus 5 (equivalent to Volumes 13-15) by CLAMP. For as much action, death, and destruction as there is in X, the plot itself doesn’t seem to be moving along very quickly. Even so, I’m completely addicted to the series and its over-the-top epic-ness. The dialogue does seem to have gotten better, or at least it doesn’t seem quite as ridiculous as it did in earlier volumes. The cast of characters in X is fairly large and they all have their own tragic backstory. But because there are so many of them, only a few are able to be developed in depth. Because of this, the impact of some of the deaths in X is lessened. Out of all of the characters, Subaru is one of the most fully realized, but then he had the entirety of Tokyo Babylon, the predecessor to X, to evolve.

Kids on the Slope directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. I adore Yoko Kanno and her music and was very excited to learn that she was working with Watanabe on Kids on the Slope, an adaptation of Yuki Kodama’s award-winning manga. I was not disappointed at all by the music in the series. The anime’s pacing is a little on the slow side, especially in the beginning, but I did like the story. The ending, however, ties everything up a bit too neatly and nicely (even if it did make me smile.) For me, the real draw of Kids on the Slope (apart from Watanabe and Kanno’s involvement) was its emphasis on music, how people express themselves through it, and the bonds people forge because of it.

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