My Week in Manga: January 3-January 9, 2011

My News and Reviews

Not much news from me this week, but I did post my first in-depth manga review for January—Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 2. I enjoyed the first volume of the series, but the second volume is even better. I also posted the Bookshelf Overload for December 2010 which features my New Year’s resolution in addition to the absurd amount of manga I’ve recently managed to acquire. Finally, I’m getting ready for next week’s Manga Moveable Feast hosted by Anna at Manga Report and featuring Karakuri Odette by Julietta Suzuki. I plan on writing an in-depth review for the first volume as well as posting some random musings about androids because, well, I like androids. I’m looking forward to seeing what others have to say about the series, too.

Quick Takes

Cat Paradise, Volumes 3-5 by Yuji Iwahara. So, the plot might get a little convoluted and difficult to follow, and there are plenty of info dumps, but Cat Paradise is still great fun and I really enjoyed it. One of the greatest things about the manga are the cats. Each one is an individual and has their own unique look and personality. Their owners/partners, too, have some great character designs. Most of the pairs have some interesting backstories that are at least hinted at if not fully explored, but the plot gets caught up pretty quickly in the action and fighting. I did see some of the plot twists coming long before they were revealed, but there were some nice surprises as well.

From Up Above by Sakuya Kurekoshi. From Up Above was originally intended to be an ongoing series, but as far as I can tell only this first volume was ever published. It’s a nice setup, but unfortunately it doesn’t work very well on its own; many of the story elements introduced simply don’t have enough time to be thoroughly developed. I found that I was filling in a lot of the plot on my own rather than strictly depending on the information Kurekoshi was providing. I like the supernatural components of the story and I’ve always been fond of human incarnations of natural forces, but From Up Above isn’t quite able to pull it off in one volume.

Old Boy, Volumes 1-8 written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi. I watched the film adaptation of Old Boy before I even knew it was based on a manga series. I was very excited when Dark Horse licensed the series which then went on to win an Eisner Award in 2007. Very little violence is actually seen, instead the intense mood comes from the psychological anguish the characters experience. Minegishi’s art fits the tone of the story fantastically well. Much of the story is the characters internally confronting and searching their minds, so panel after panel may pass by without even a hint of dialogue but the art is engaging and up to the task. 

Planetes, Volumes 1-4 by Makoto Yukimura. While technically a four volume series, the fourth collection was actually split into two books for the English edition. The realism and research put into the writing of Planetes is fantastic and it extends beyond technology to the human elements of living and working in space as well. I’m a big fan of science fiction to begin with, but I particularly enjoyed Yukimura’s approach in presenting a feasible near future. I did find the storytelling to be a bit disjointed moving from chapter to chapter but I really liked the characters even if their development was a bit bumpy. Although Planetes is hard science fiction, the family and interpersonal relationships are critical to the story.

You and Harujion by Keiko Kinoshita. There’s a sort of melancholy feel to most of the story and the light, scratchy artwork captures the mood well. However, the ending seems forced to me and the sudden change in the characters’ relationship was abrupt, almost as if Kinoshita suddenly remembered that it was supposed to be a boys’ love work after all. But before that, Senoh working through his thoughts a feelings regarding Harujion was actually handled quite well. He wants to be an important person in the teen’s life and is honestly and genuinely concerned for the boy’s well-being. Harujion, who has lost both of his parents and is faced with his father’s debts after his death, needs someone close.

GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Episodes 35-43 directed by Noriyuki Abe and Naoyasu Hanyu. I have now read through the GTO manga series once and watched the anime twice. While I ultimately probably prefer the manga, I really enjoy the anime as well. Some stories are unique to the anime and others have been modified from the original, but they all exhibit the spirit of GTO. Granted, some of the more extreme antics from the manga have been toned down for the anime. The final two episodes of the series seem to come out of nowhere but they tie up everything pretty nicely. The story ends in an entirely different way than the manga but it works even if it is a bit sudden.

Oldboy directed by Park Chan-wook. While Oldboy isn’t my favorite of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, it is still a fantastic film. I had seen the movie once before, so I wasn’t taken by surprise by some of the major plot twists that are thrown in. However, I was still able to thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the work. The basic premise is the same as that of the manga, although the ultimate reason behind the protagonist’s imprisonment is different. Despite the amount of action and violence involved in the film adaptation, the story is still primarily one huge mind game that is slowly and methodically revealed.

My Week in Manga: October 18-October 24, 2010

My News and Reviews

I currently have a manga giveaway going on that ends on Wednesday, October 27 (this week)—Mushishi Madness. No one has entered yet, which makes me very sad. Mushishi is a great series and I want to share the love! So, come on, get your free manga.

I haven’t updated the Resources page in a while, but I have been collecting links and have found some great new (to me) sites. I’ll try to get most of those added this week. I’ll also be creating a new section for podcasts, so if you know of any good ones, let me know.

On Friday I posted my personal response to the Gay for You? Yaoi and Yuri Manga for GBLTQ Readers panel held at NYAF/NYCC. Deb Aoki has posted the transcript of the event. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you should. I’m rather proud of myself and this post and am very happy to see the number of hits it’s been receiving. Thank you to David Welsh of The Manga Curmudgeon and Melinda Beasi of Manga Bookshelf for helping to get the link out there. I’d also like to thank everyone for the kind comments, support, and encouragement I received after posting it.

Quick Takes

Black Lagoon, Volumes 1-5 by Rei Hiroe. Black Lagoon opens with what has to be my favorite first panel ever—a close-up of a salaryman taking a hard punch to the face. From there, the action and mayhem hardly ever stop. It’s violent, over-the-top, sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes rather dark, but man is it a fun ride. I like this series best when either Revy or Rock are on the scene. Revy is a gun-toting badass with an extremely foul-mouth and viscous attitude. She’s kinda scary in a psychotically awesome sort of way. Rock on the other hand, the aforementioned salaryman, seems like he won’t last too long as part of the underworld but he’s a lot more reslient than he first appears.

Cat Paradise, Volumes1-2 by Yuji Iwahara. At Matabi Academy a small group of students, along with their cats, have been chosen to protect the school and the world against the evil demon Kaen and his minions. The superpowers granted to each pair is based on what suits them best, something that they can do better than anyone else. In the case of Yumi, that’s creating outfits for her cat Kansuke, much to his embarrassment and dismay. How can you not love magical knitting that gives a cat human form so that he can fight monsters? So it might be a little silly, but the series is extremely entertaining and I can’t wait to read more.

Embracing Love, Volumes 1-3 by Youka Nitta. Iwaki and Katou are rival porn stars that end up sleeping together as part of an audition for a mainstream film. Straight Iwaki, whose career is waning, at first can’t stand the younger, more successful Katou but ends up developing feelings for him. In addition to having to deal with career problems and media scandals, the two will also have to confront their families about their choices. Nitta includes plenty of sex scenes for the two, none of which feel out of place. Katou’s carefree nature plays nicely against Iwaki’s more restrained personality. This is seriously one of the best yaoi series that I’ve read and I really hope that someone rescues the license.

Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa has directed some brilliant films, including Seven Samurai, one of my personal favorites. A few years before that he directed Rashomon, which won an Oscar in 1951 for Best Foreign Language Film. A woman is raped and her husband murdered while traveling through the woods. Three days later the women, the assailant, the dead man (through a medium), and a woodcutter who happened across the scene give their testimony at the local court. But they each give a different version of the events and each has a reason to lie or hide truth of what actually happened.