My News and Reviews

Last week I posted my review for Yoshitoki Oima’s Mardock Scramble, Volume 1 which begins the manga adaptation of Tow Ubukata’s SF Taisho award-winning series Mardock Scramble. Having read Haikasoru’s omnibus edition when it was released earlier this year, I can safely say that Oima’s version is a pretty good adaptation of the original so far. And because it was the end of the month, I also posted the most recent manga giveaway: Hikaru no Go Giveaway. The winner will be announced this Wednesday, so there’s still time to get your entries in!

And now onto the good stuff I’ve found online recently. To start off with, Deb Aoki has a great article/rant from a manga fan’s perspective responding to the DC Comics kerfuffle surrounding the portrayal of women in some of their recent reboots—Femme Fan Fury at DC 52: Confessions of a Former Superhero Comics Fan. Jason Thompson’s most recent House of 1000 Manga post features Oishinbo. I always enjoy this column, but I was particularly pleased to see Thompson write about Oishinbo since I happen to really like the series. (So far, I’ve reviewed the A la Carte volumes for Japanese Cuisine and Sake.) Oishinbo and food manga in general is currently scheduled for the Manga Moveable Feast to be held in February.

And speaking of the Manga Moveable Feast! September’s Feast, featuring Ken Akamatsu’s Love Hina, will actually be taking place beginning this week on October 5 and will run until October 12. This change in scheduling is in part due to  Kodansha Comics pushing back the release for the new edition of the series. Jason Green will be hosting at PLAYBACK:stl; more information can be found here. Don’t worry, October’s Feast is still happening, too! Lori Henderson at Manga Xanadu will be hosting the Horror Manga Moveable Feast from October 24 to October 31. I haven’t quite yet decided on what I’ll be doing, but I’ll definitely be participating.

Quick Takes

In These Words, Chapters 1-4 by Guilt | Pleasure. In These Words has actually been picked up by Libre Publishing in Japan and will be premiering in the October 2011 issue of BeBoy Gold. The story begins with a prose prologue (an extra scene that follows immediately after can be found online here) before the manga picks it up. It’s dark, and disturbing, and very well done. Katsuya has helped the police to profile and capture Shinohara, a sadist and serial murderer. The dialogue occasionally feels a bit awkward, but I absolutely adore Jo Chen’s artwork. She has a gorgeous sense of aesthetic. Her figure work and tones are marvelous. Warning: In These Words includes both torture and rape.

Yōkaiden, Volumes 1-2 by Nina Matsumoto. Yōkaiden was one of Del Rey’s ventures into original English-language manga. Only two volumes have been published, but they’re worth picking up. The series is delightfully charming and funny. The humor often breaks the fourth wall or introduces unexpected references or anachronistic elements. The story follows Hamachi, a nine-year-old boy who loves and is obsessed with yōkai. He’s a guileless and likeable protagonist who humans and yōkai alike think is just a little weird. The series is a fun introduction to yōkai and kami for audiences that aren’t well versed in the lore and it’s still a lot of fun for readers that are. I enjoyed the second volume even more than the first, so I certainly hope to see more of Yōkaiden published in the future.

Your & My Secret, Volumes 4-7 by Ai Morinaga. I believe Your & My Secret was completed at eight volumes, but only the first seven are available in English. I’d like to see how it ends, but I’m still torn as to whether or not I actually like the series. The character interactions are interesting and fortunately slightly less cruel than they were earlier. I still feel terrible for Akira, but was happy to see him start to stand up for himself a bit. The seventh volume has a flashback chapter where Akira and Nanako are in their original, “mismatched” bodies—maybe that’s the story that I really wanted to read. One thing that does impress me is how Morinaga takes the same character designs and makes the personalities so obviously different.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo directed by Mahiro Maeda. I have never seen anything like Gankutsuou. The unusual animation style won’t suit everyone; it’s disconcerting at first, and occasionally a bit overwhelming, but I loved it. It’s hard for me to describe, but it’s almost like a collage mixed with the paintings Gustav Klimt (I’m particularly thinking of “The Kiss”). The atmosphere of the series is ominous and intense; appropriate for a revenge tale. I’ll admit, I even cried at times. At first Albert is so naive and trusting that it’s almost painful, but he’s forced to change as his world falls apart around him. The twenty-four episodes are incredibly engaging and each and every one of them counts. Gankutsuou is easily one of my top anime series.

Tiger & Bunny, Episodes 21-25 directed by Keiichi Satou. The main reason I watch Tiger & Bunny is because I like Kotetsu so much. It’s a fun show with a great visual style, even if the CGI doesn’t always mesh very well with the hand drawn material. Unfortunately, the series seems to be plagued with lazy writing, inconsistencies in the NEXT powers and how exactly they work, villains with ambiguous motivations that make stupid mistakes, and missed opportunities to let the support cast shine. Okay, that just made it sound terrible, but it’s not all bad; the series has good stuff going for it, too. Even with its problems, I like Tiger & Bunny well enough that I’d seriously consider picking up the DVDs if we get them.