21 July 2014 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: July 14-July 20, 2014

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted at Experiments in Manga last week, one of a manga and one not. The first review was part of my Year of Yuri monthly review project. I took a look at Milk Morinaga’s Gakuen Polizi, Volume 1, which is quite different from her other work currently available in English. The first volume at least is less of a romance and more of a buddy cop story, but it’s still fairly entertaining. (She does promise that more of the drama in the second volume will be romance-related and less crime-related, though.)

My second review last week was of Tokyo Demons, Book 2: Add a little Chaos, a novel written by Lianne Sentar with illustrations by Rem. In case it isn’t clear from the review, I absolutely adore Tokyo Demons. It can get pretty dark and heavy, but it’s a fantastic series. The second volume should be available as an ebook later this month and the print edition is currently scheduled for release in October. (Tokyo Demons is one of Chromatic Press and flagship series, so in the meantime it can also be read online at Sparkler Monthly.)

Once again I wasn’t actually online much last week, but I did catch a few things that other people may be interested in: Over at Comics Forum, Martin de la Iglesia writes about Early manga translations in the West. Kate at Reverse Thieves explains How the Library Became My Go-to Place for Manga and Comics. (I posted a bit about finding manga at the library a little while back, too.) And on Twitter, manga scholar and translator Matt Thorn hints that a project with Moto Hagio is in the works. Let’s hope so!

Quick Takes

Honey DarlingHoney Darling by Norikazu Akira. After reading and enjoying Beast & Feast I decided to track down more manga by Akira available in English. This led me to picking up Honey Darling. The manga isn’t the most realistic or believable, but it is cute, delightful, funny, and very sweet. Chihiro is a young man without any real goals in his life until he takes in a stray kitten. When Shiro falls ill, Chihiro ends up working as the live-in housekeeper for Kumazawa, the vet who treats her, and helping out in the animal clinic. Honey Darling has a lot going for it: nice art, a sense of humor, adorable cats and dogs, amusing and ttractive leads, likeable side characters (including women!), and so on. Ultimately Honey Darling is a boys’ love manga, though. As might be expected, Chihiro and Kumazawa become more than just roommates by the time the manga ends, but the development feels more like Akira fulfilling a requirement of the genre rather than being something that was necessarily called for by story itself. Still, I did enjoy Honey Darling a great deal, the two of them made me happy as a couple, and the manga frequently made me smile.

Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibus 1Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibuses 1-2 (equivalent to Volumes 1-5) written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. One of the first manga to be translated into English, Lone Wolf and Cub wasn’t released in its entirety until Dark Horse picked up the license. Sadly, the first Dark Horse edition was tiny and, while extremely portable, was difficult to read because the text was so small and crowded. Additionally, those original twenty-eight volumes have steadily been going out of print. Thankfully, Dark Horse recently started releasing Lone Wolf and Cub in an omnibus format with a larger trim size. Though quite hefty (each omnibus is around 700 pages and collects about two and a half volumes or so), the reading experience is much improved overall. Lone Wolf and Cub is an excellent series, so I’m very glad that the manga will remain in print for a bit longer. The series is fairly episodic, following the titular Lone Wolf and Cub: Ogami Ittō, who once served as the Shogun’s executioner but who has become an assassin-for-hire out of revenge over the destruction of his family, and his young son Diagorō.

Mail, Volume 1Mail, Volumes 1-3 by Housui Yamazaki. Summer is the time for ghost stories in Japan, so I felt it was appropriate to finally get around to reading Mail. I came across this short series thanks to The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service which shares the same illustrator. Reiji Akiba—detective, exorcist, and the protagonist of Mail—actually briefly appears in the fourth volume of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service as well. One of the things that particularly struck me about Mail is how often the stories incorporated modern technology such as cell phones and computers. It’s as though traditional ghost stories and urban legends have been updated for a contemporary audience. Occasionally Akiba will present a sort of prologue to the individual chapters, giving the stories an almost Twilight Zone feel to them. Mail can be legitimately creepy and at times a bit bloody, but gore is not at all the focus of the series. In general Mail is episodic, although the final volume adds a recurring character who becomes Akiba’s assistant as a sort of homage to Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack.

Stone Collector, Book 2Stone Collector, Book 2 written by Kevin Han and illustrated by Zom-J. I want to like Stone Collector more than I actually do, but at this point I can’t really say that I’ve been enjoying the manhwa much at all. It’s not all bad. The artwork in particular has moments when it can be impressively dynamic. The character’s facial expressions are great. Even the basic premise of the story isn’t terrible. As a whole though, Stone Collector just isn’t working for me. Though it moves along quickly, the plot is thin and the characters are underdeveloped, almost as if it’s an outline or draft than a finished product. The second half of the second volume of Stone Collector of is devoted to a side story, “Land of Ice.” I was more interested in “Land of Ice” than the main story more because of its tundra setting than anything else, but it still frustrated me and had many of the same problems that Stone Collector proper has. November 2013 was the last time there was a Stone Collector update. I’m not sure if there are plans to release more (it may simply be that “more” doesn’t exist yet), but the story clearly hasn’t reached its conclusion yet.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai KingsSengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, Season 2 directed by Kazuya Nomura. While I was entertained by the first season of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, I really enjoyed the second season. While there are still fantastically outrageous fights and action sequences, there’s also more focus on the characters and their characterization and on battle strategies and tactics. Personally, I appreciate the added context this gives the series. The characters, who continue to be magnificently and ridiculously overpowered, come across as a bit more human since their pasts and motivations are clearer. Their confrontations carry more emotional weight because of this as well. Miyamoto Musashi makes an appearance in this season, too. I was greatly amused by the fact that he fights with a giant oar. (Legend has it that Musashi once forgot to bring a sword with him to a duel and so carved a bokken out of the oar he used to get there; this why his weapon choice in Samurai Kings is simply perfect.) Samurai Kings is a tremendous amount of fun. Based on a video game that’s nominally based on actual events and historic figures, it’s wonderfully absurd and irreverent.

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18 July 2014 Leave a Comment

Tokyo Demons, Book 2: Add a Little Chaos

Tokyo Demons, Book 2: Add a Little ChaosAuthor: Lianne Sentar
Illustrator: Rem
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9780993861109
Released: December 2014

For some very silly reasons, most of which are now unclear to me, initially I was hesitant to read Tokyo Demons, a trilogy of novels written by Lianne Sentar and illustrated by Rem. But after finishing the first volume, You’re Never Alone, I was hooked. I immediately went out and devoured all of the bonus content and side stories that I could find. Honestly, I hadn’t been so excited and captivated by a series in a very long time. Soon after, Tokyo Demons became one of the flagship titles for Chromatic Press. Tokyo Demons, Book 2: Add a Little Chaos was originally serialized online between 2012 and 2014. Later in 2014 it underwent final revisions and was collected into a single volume along with two additional side stories which delve further into the pasts of some of the characters. Despite my obsession with the series, for the most part I was able to restrain myself from reading Add a Little Chaos until the novel was completed. It was a difficult wait, and so I was thrilled when the second book was finished so that I could read it.

Kiyoshi has been rescued and Core’s attack on the Byakko gang at Kiseki was able to be fended off, albeit not without casualties. The survivors who have taken refuge with the Church and sided against Core are still in danger though. Under the influence of Pitch, a powerful and highly addictive drug that he was forced to take, and due to the trauma of his kidnapping, Kiyoshi is no longer the person he once was physically, mentally, or emotionally. In fact, after being caught up in something with even graver implications than the simple drug war it initially seemed to be, everyone has changed. Ayase, Jo, Sachi, and all of their friends and allies are fighting for their lives and none of them are unaffected by the violence surrounding them. They are doing all that they can with the limited information that they have to fight against Core and save the others of their group who are still caught within its grasp. Working with the Church’s resources, members of Byakko, and contacts within the police force, as well as with some unexpected aid from within Core itself, they may have a chance. But everyone has their own agendas and it’s becoming more and more difficult to know who and what can be trusted.

As with many second volumes in a trilogy, the situation the characters find themselves in quickly escalates from bad to worse in Add a Little Chaos. Tokyo Demons has always been fairly hard-hitting, dealing with heavy themes like psychological and physical abuse and violence, but Add a Little Chaos goes to some very dark places. I have come to care about all of the characters in Tokyo Demons immensely, many of whom are broken and damaged people with tragic pasts, horrible presents, and grim futures. They are all so incredibly desperate to be strong and to protect themselves and the ones that they care about the most. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see them go about it in the wrong ways, even when they’re doing the best that they can and what they believe to be right. Some of them are able to find a few brief moments of comfort with one another that they cling to only to have them ripped away by the chaos enveloping them. With layers upon layers of loyalty and betrayal, each revelation in Tokyo Demons is shocking and gut-wrenching, not only for the characters who have to deal with the immediate consequences, but also for the readers who can do nothing but witness it all happen.

Tokyo Demons is a complex and multilayered series; many of the seemingly independent storylines which were introduced in the first volume are now beginning to crash together in Add a Little Chaos and additional plot developments have been set into motion. Tokyo Demons also features a large and diverse cast of extremely complicated characters. Their even more complicated connections to one another are critical to the story as well. How they deal with their own personal struggles impacts the people around them as well as the larger conflict in which they find themselves. Even considering all of the superhuman elements and psychic abilities involved in Tokyo Demons, what make the series so compelling and engaging are its believably flawed, exceptionally nuanced, and constantly evolving characters and the constantly shifting dynamics of their relationships. From the beginning of the series alone I could tell that the scope of Tokyo Demons was going to be huge. If anything the story only continues to expand with Add a Little Chaos and increase in its intensity. I am still absolutely loving Tokyo Demons and am both looking forward to and dreading its conclusion.

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16 July 2014 Leave a Comment

Gakuen Polizi, Volume 1

Gakuen Polizi, Volume 1Creator: Milk Morinaga
U.S. publisher: Seven Seas
ISBN: 9781626920309
Released: June 2014
Original release: 2013

I greatly enjoyed the first two manga series by Milk Morinaga to be released in English—Girl Friends and Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink—and so was happy to see Seven Seas license one of her most recent series: Gakuen Polizi. The first volume of Gakuen Polizi was originally published in Japan in 2013 while Seven Seas’ edition was published in 2014. Currently, Morinaga is likely the best-represented yuri creator in English in that she now has the most titles available in translation. Granted, considering how few yuri manga have been released, especially when compared to other genres, that really isn’t too difficult. Still, her work has generally been well-received. Gakuen Polizi is a bit different from Morinaga’s other manga in English. She describes it as a “high school police drama” which is more or less accurate. The series has more of a buddy cop feel to it than it does romance or drama and is inherently more comedic as well.

Ever since she was young, Sasami Aoba has wanted to be a champion of justice, dreaming of crushing evil and helping the weak, and now she finally has her chance as an assistant police officer. Specifically, Sasami has been assigned to Hanagaki Girls’ High School as one of its polizi—a young undercover cop sent to investigate issues at problem schools. The only thing is Hanagaki doesn’t actually seem to have any problems. There’s no bullying, the students and staff are all very pleasant, and even the school’s newspaper has difficulty finding juicy material to report on. Hanagaki is actually the second assignment for Sasami’s partner Sakuraba Midori. Before Sasami’s arrival, and because the school is so peaceful, Sakuraba has had plenty of time on her hands, quite a bit of which she would spend distracting herself by drawing yaoi manga. But now with the less-experienced and overly eager Sasami constantly on the verge of blowing their cover as polizi, Sakuraba has more than enough to worry about.

Gakuen Polizi is kind of a strange mashup of genres. Since nothing much happens in the way of crime at Hanagaki, there’s not much for Sasami and Sakuraba to be doing in regards to police work. The series is generally lighthearted and often silly, especially towards its beginning. At first the cases at the school are fairly inconsequential—a dog with a penchant for stealing things, small squabbles between classmates, and so on. The second half takes a more serious turn, dealing with gropers and stalkers, but even then the humor in Gakuen Polizi is a prominent feature. Most of the comedy revolves around Sasami. She is very enthusiastic and passionate, but somewhat lacking in common sense. Sakuraba, in stark contrast, is more serious and reserved. According to the afterword, readers should expect more romance-related drama to come in the series, but there is very little of that to be seen in the first volume of Gakuen Polizi, though a chemistry between Sasami and Sakuraba has begun to develop.

It is fairly obvious that Morinaga is personally having a lot of fun with Gakuen Polizi. I found the first volume to be entertaining, but readers approaching the manga hoping for a series similar to Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink or Girl Friends will most likely be disappointed. Though Gakuen Polizi has the potential for some drama and romance, so far the series tends towards the absurd and ridiculous. Morinaga’s artwork and character designs are cute, with particularly dynamic facial expressions that add to the series’ silliness. While I like the characters in Gakuen Polizi, I’m not attached to them in the same way that I was to the characters in Morinaga’s other manga. I do find Sasami, Sakuraba, and their friends to be amusing though. Gakuen Polizi isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. The emphasis is definitely more on the series’ comedy than it is on its believability. Overall, Gakuen Poilizi, Volume 1 was largely an enjoyable, fluffy read. Although I may not be desperate for more, I do look forward to reading the next volume.

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14 July 2014 8 Comments

My Week in Manga: July 7-July 13, 2014

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted at Experiments in Manga last week, though neither of them were actually for manga. First up was Yasutaka Tsutsui’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which collects two of his stories: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of Tsutsui’s most well-known and beloved novels and was the inspiration for Mamoru Hosoda’s 2006 anime by the same name, which happens to be one of my favorite animated films. I also reviewed Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner’s Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present. It’s an extremely informative volume and highly recommended for people who are interested in the history of comics, including manga. I wasn’t online much last week, but I did notice that Revealing and Concealing Identities: Cross-Dressing in Anime and Manga, Part 6 was posted at The Lobster Dance, focusing on Fumi Yoshinaga’s marvelous series Ōoku: The Inner Chambers. If there were any big announcements or other noteworthy news items that I missed, please do let me know!

Quick Takes

Andre the Giant: Life and LegendAndre the Giant: Life and Legend by Box Brown. Growing up, I knew of Andre the Giant from his role as Fezzik in the film The Princess Bride, only later learning about his professional wrestling career. Andre Roussimoff was a literal giant of a man—at one point over seven feet tall and over six hundred pounds—who also suffered from acromegaly, though he wasn’t diagnosed with the condition until he reached his twenties. Brown’s thoroughly researched biographical comic captures Andre’s life and legacy, revealing just how human the legend really was. Like anyone else, he had his strengths and his flaws. Because of his size the life he led was an unusual one and he was treated differently, and not always kindly, by other people. Surprisingly, Andre the Giant: Life and Legend is actually one of the very few works devoted to Andre. It’s a collection of stories and anecdotes about the man beginning with his childhood in France and then following him through his globe-spanning career as a professional wrestler as well as his time on the set of The Princess Bride. The comic is very well done and includes a bibliography in addition to notes on the sources used.

Bokurano: Ours, Volume 1Bokurano: Ours, Volume 1 by Mohiro Kito. One summer, fourteen seventh graders and a fourth grader participating in a nature school program wander into a seaside cave where they discover a strange man holed away who invites them to play a game. They will be placed in charge of piloting a giant robot in order to fight massive alien invaders. Except that the game they’ve agreed to play turns out to be much more real than any of them counted on. This early in the series it’s a little difficult to get a good feel for all of the characters since there are so many of them, but it seems that as they each have their own opportunity to pilot the robot more will be revealed about them as individuals. It also looks like the series will have a fairly high death count, too, even when it comes to main, named characters. Bokurano: Ours has a dark ambiance as well strong psychological elements. Though there are grand battles, the real drama of the series revolves around how the children respond to being granted such enormous power. Some delight in the chance to wreak havoc while others are more hesitant, understandably concerned about the strange situation they’ve gotten themselves into.

Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls, Volume 2Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls, Volumes 2-3 by Okayado. At its heart, Monster Musume is an unapologetic, ecchi harem series. Readers looking for nuanced characters or plot from the manga will be sorely disappointed. And considering the amount of uninhibited fanservice, highly suggestive scenarios, partial nudity, and nipples on display, I continue to be surprised that Seven Seas is able to get away with calling Monster Musume a series for older teens. Initially, I wondered if monster boys existed in the manga since the series focuses almost entirely on monster girls. They actually do, but that fact isn’t confirmed until a bunch of otaku orcs appear in the third volume. In addition to the orcs, plenty of other liminal races have been introduced as well: slimes, mermaids, zombies, ogres, cyclops, shape-shifters, and so on. Not all of the liminal ladies become love interests for Kimihito, the series’ protagonist and host family for many of the visiting monster girls, which is a good thing. Monster Musume is an extraordinarily silly and trashy manga that can actually be a lot of fun for those who don’t mind its blatantly sexualized content. Its monster girl gimmick sets it apart from other harem manga, but probably won’t win anyone over who doesn’t already read the genre.

Soul Rescue, Volume 1Soul Rescue, Volumes 1-2 by Aya Kanno. I’ve really enjoyed Kanno’s other manga currently available in English (Blank Slate and Otomen), so when I discovered that Tokyopop had also published one of her series I made a point to track it down. I believe Soul Rescue was actually Kanno’s debut manga, too, which made me even more interested in reading it. Honestly, it’s a bit of a mess. The artwork is nice, even though the pages are very full, and I liked the characters and basic premise of the story, but it doesn’t quite pull together as a whole. Renji is an angel with a propensity towards being overly violent, and so he has been temporarily banished to Earth in order to mend his ways. Another angel, Kaito, has been sent along with Renji as his supervisor to keep him in check and prevent him from doing too much damage. Renji will be allowed to return to Heaven after rescuing the souls of 10,000 humans. (Kissing is somehow involved in all of this.) By the end of Soul Rescue, he’s only saved two, maybe three souls. Though there are recurring characters, the series is largely episodic with almost no overarching plot arc or real conclusion. Kanno doesn’t seem to be concerned with consistent time periods or settings in the manga, either. Modern cities, Medieval kingdoms, and fuedal Japan, all with their own anachronisms, exist simultaneously.

White GuardianWhite Guardian by Duo Brand. I’m fairly certain that White Guardian was Duo Brand’s first professional boys’ love manga; it was also their first manga to be released in English. White Guardian includes many elements found in the pair’s other manga that I’ve read, namely swords, sex, and fantasy. Granted, in the case of White Guardian, it seems to be more of a historical setting than it is strictly fantasy; there are no supernatural aspects or magic involved in the plot. The kingdom of Landa is suffering from internal conflict and corruption which the Crown Prince is determined to address with the aid of the famed General Sei. Prince Linth is a bit of an oddball, lighthearted and earnest if a bit naive. He’s also strangely accepting and forgiving of his own rape, which happens multiple times over the course of the short manga. Happily, there’s some consensual sex to be found in White Guardian, too. The manga has some actual plot to go along with its smut as well. I’ll admit to being fond of court intrigue, espionage, and battles, which are all present and play their own roles in the story. White Guardian is followed by its sequel Crimson Wind which was also released in English, though it’s a little more difficult to find at this point.

Knights of SidoniaKnights of Sidonia directed by Kobun Shizuno. I have been enjoying Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia manga a great deal, and so when the anime adaptation was announced I was immediately interested in watching it. Of all places, the series was exclusively made available for streaming in English through Netflix with both a dubbed version and a subbed version. Overall, the anime was a fantastic adaptation. It hits all the major plot points and highlights of the manga, and in some cases it was actually easier to follow what was going on. The anime is very faithful to the original without slavishly adapting the source material to a new medium. As should be expected, the pacing of the story is slightly changed and the visual impact of the anime is different from that of the manga. However, I was never completely sold on the 3D CG animation style. Though the backgrounds, environments, and many of the special effects looked great with it and were sometimes even stunning, the movements of the characters occasionally would feel just a little off. It did seem to improve as the series went along, but maybe it was just that I was finally getting used to it. I do look forward to seeing the second season.

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11 July 2014 Leave a Comment

Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present

Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the PresentAuthor: Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 9780500290965
Released: June 2014

Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present was published by Thames & Hudson in 2014. Written by Dan Mazur and Alexander Danner, both of whom are involved in comics as creators, educators, and scholars, the volume is one of the few works that attempts to outline a comprehensive history of the comics medium on a global scale, though it has a particular emphasis on the comics traditions from North America, Japan, and Western Europe. I first learned about Comics: A Global History when I came across an essay by Mazur on early shoujo manga, which excerpted and expanded sections from the book. My curiosity was piqued. Although I now have a particular interest in manga, I first started out and still enjoy reading American comics. My experience with comics from other regions of the world is somewhat limited, but those that I have read I have liked. I simply enjoy comics, regardless from where they originate. That being said, I’m not actually very familiar with much of their history, and so Comics: A Global History appealed to me immensely, especially considering that it is heavily illustrated as well.

Comics : Global History is divided into three parts (“1968-1978”, “1978-1990”, and “1990 Onward”) and nineteen chapters in addition to a preface, introduction, notes, bibliography, index of creatives, and index of comics. The preface puts the volume into context and notes its limitations, though the authors have tried to present as comprehensive a history as possible of comics from the three major comics cultures. They identify 1968 as the year in which “a number of creators in Japan, America, and Europe began to aggressively demonstrate that comics could be more than an ephemeral vehicle for children’s entertainment” and the year in which a rise in comics-as-expression was seen. It was for those reasons that 1968 was selected as the starting point for their modern history of comics. The introduction provides a brief overview of the state of comics worldwide in the postwar era and of the development of comics for an adult audience. Five chapters in Comics: A Global History are specifically devoted to American comics, five address manga (including an entire chapter on Osamu Tezuka), four present European comics, and four take a more general, border-crossing approach.

No matter how thorough it would be impossible for a single volume to address every single detail of something as complex and wide-reaching as the history of the comics art form, but from what I can tell, Mazur and Danner have done an excellent job covering the major trends, noteworthy movements, critical events and developments, influential creators, and important works in Comics: A Global History, paying attention to both mainstream and alternative comics and markets. The individual chapters can largely be read separately and follow a loose chronology rather than adhering to a strict timeline, allowing the authors to address related topics in a more thematic fashion and logical progression. There is some analysis, criticism, and review to be found in Comics: A Global History, but the volume focuses more on chronicling what was happening where, when, and by whom than it does on in-depth critique. What Comics: A Global History may lack in minute detail it makes up for in its wide breadth.

Comics: A Global History is an impressively informative and valuable text. My only real complaint is that it’s lacking a topical index. However, the chapters are presented and formatted in such a way that, combined with the two existing indices, makes the volume fairly easy to browse or search for a particular subject. I learned a tremendous amount by reading Comics: A Global History. While the volume doesn’t go into extreme detail, it does provide an excellent overview of the history of modern comics and presents enough information that readers could pursue anything that particularly captured their interest. At least I know that my reading list has certainly grown substantially as a result. Comics truly are a global art form. Though different geographical regions each have their own histories and traditions, over time they have also influenced one another. Comics: A Global History is a fantastic introduction to comics and how they have developed over the last several decades and how they continue to evolve internationally as a medium of expression.

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