My Week in Manga: November 29-December 5, 2010

My News and Reviews

Last week was the One Piece Manga Moveable Feast. This was the first time I was able to participate in the Manga Moveable Feast and for my part I wrote a review of One Piece, Volume 1: Romance Dawn. This also counts as my second in-depth manga review for the month of November, meeting my goal! Now let’s see if I can do it again for December. January’s Manga Moveable Feast will be hosted by Anna of Manga Report and focuses on Karakuri Odette by Julietta Suzuki. I’m really looking forward to reading the series and participating in the Manga Moveable Feast again. My other posts for this week included the Bookshelf Overload for November and the announcement of the Feast of Firsts manga giveaway winner.

Quick Takes

Eerie Queerie, Volumes 1-4 by Shuri Shiozu. The first volume of this series is definitely the strongest. Mitsuo is supernaturally sensitive and discovers to his dismay that ghosts can easily take advantage of him and possess his body. This can be a bit awkward when the spirits are women who want to make a few last memories with his male classmates before moving on. After the first volume though, things kinda fall apart and Shiozu tends to lose focus on the supernatural aspects of the story. The manga is goofy and amusing, but I wasn’t really convinced by most of the relationships or romance. And then it just ends and I was left wondering what the point of it all was.

House of Five Leaves, Volume 1 by Natsume Ono. I absolutely adored the anime adaptation of House of Five Leaves (I really hope it gets a DVD release) and I was very excited to discover that the manga had been licensed. The manga is also very good. Ono’s artwork is a bit unusual but the droopy lines seem fitting and are effective in conveying the emotions of the story. Most of the time I just want to give Masa a huge hug (which would probably freak him out, the poor guy). He’s a rōnin, a masterless samurai, that due to his timid nature and odd personality finds it difficult to hold down a job. Masa ends up falling in with a group of kidnappers that go by the name of House of Five Leaves, fascinated by the mysterious and charismatic leader Yaichi.

Lupin III, Volumes 1-5 by Monkey Punch. Lupin really is a cocky bastard. The humor is lewd and crude, the characters are foul-mouthed, and Monkey Punch frequently breaks the fourth wall—I quite enjoyed the humor. Unfortunately, I found the manga itself somewhat difficult to follow and the characters, especially the women, hard to tell apart most of the time. There isn’t so much of a coherent plot to Lupin III in these first few volumes, instead each of the short chapters is more of a vignette. Occasionally an episode might continue over several chapters and there are several recurring characters in addition to Lupin although their roles might change significantly from story to story. The more I read of Lupin III the more I liked it.

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s Lupin is a much more noble, family-friendly character than the Lupin from the original manga (although some of the strong language still remains). With marvelous visual gags and plenty of humor, The Castle of Cagliostro is a fantastic anime and a lot of fun. It’s definitely a movie that I would watch again, probably repeatedly. After it turns out the huge haul they lifted from a casino was completely counterfeit, master thief Lupin and his right-hand man Jigen search for its source in Cagliostro hoping to strike it big. Things get a bit complicated when Lupin gets involved with the Lady Clarisse, though.

Monster, Episodes 12-27 directed by Masayuki Kojima. The anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster continues to follow the manga very closely although some scenes have been abbreviated or lengthened. The anime does lack some of the subtlety of the manga and some of the more dramatic scenes come across as too overly dramatic. Overall though, it’s still quite good. I particularly appreciate the efforts gone into the casting of the voice actors for the English dub—even the secondary characters that only show up in one episode have been chosen well. As far as I can tell, only the first fifteen episodes have been released on DVD, but the full series is available streaming through Hulu.

Manga Giveaway: Feast of Firsts Winner

And the winner of the Feast of Firsts manga giveaway is…Katherine Dacey of The Manga Critic!

As the winner, Katherine will be receiving the first volume of Eerie Queerie!, Gravitation, Love Mode, and Shout Out Loud! Oh, and if you haven’t already visited Katherine’s site The Manga Critic, you should really check it out; it’s a great one.

For the Feast of Firsts giveaway, I had people tell me a little about the first manga they read and the first shōnen-ai/boys’ love/yaoi/whatever you want to call it manga that they read. I’ll briefly mention them here because I like making lists, but if you’ve got a moment and are interested you should read the Feast of Firsts comments, too. So, here we go!

First manga:
Emma by Kaoru Mori. I have heard a lot of good things about this manga, and know a lot of people who really enjoy it.

Hellsing by Kohta Hirano. The tenth and last volume of this manga was published by Dark Horse this past May.

Hot Gimmick by Miki Aihara. I haven’t read this one yet although I do have the first omnibus volume. It’s despised by many and a complete guilty pleasure for others.

Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi. I’ve seen a bit of the anime but haven’t had the chance to read the manga. I am a huge fan of Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2, though.

The Wallflower by Tomoko Hayakawa. I keep seeing this manga mentioned, so I guess it’s about time I pick it up. My library has it, so I have no excuse.

First boys’ love manga:
Fumi Yoshinaga is a creator of many excellent manga, several of which feature gay characters or are specifically boys’ love manga.

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese by Setona Mizushiro. I would really like to see this one available in English and I’m not alone.

Crimson Spell by Ayano Yamane is getting a little hard to find, especially the second volume, but rumor has it Media Blasters plans on printing more.

Gorgeous Carat by You Higuri was actually mentioned by two different people. I haven’t read it (yet) but I have read Higuri’s Cantarella.

Room Share by Sakyou Yozakura isn’t currently licensed in English, but Tokyopop’s Blu Manga imprint recently published Yozakura’s Blood Honey.

Tokyo Babylon by Clamp is sitting on my shelf at home; I should probably get around to reading it at some point.

X-Kai- by Asami Tohjoh. I’ll admit, I hadn’t even heard of this manga before this giveaway; I’ll have to check it out.

Manga Giveaway: Feast of Firsts

Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving here in the United States, probably my absolute favorite holiday seeing as it centers around food. So, I’m feeling particularly giving this month and am giving away a set of four, count them, four boys’ love/yaoi first volumes to one lucky winner. The giveaway is open world-wide but you must be over the age of 18 to enter. (Also, please don’t be asking me to be doing something illegal by sending this to your country.) So, if you’re interested in a chance to win some free manga, read on!

First, a little about of the books. Love Mode is brand new, Shout Out Loud! is used but still in good condition, and both Eerie Queerie! and Gravitation are library discards that I rescued. All of the books are quite different and should give you an opportunity to sample some of the variety of boys’ love that’s out there.

Shuri Shiozu’s Eerie Queerie! was nominated for a Gaylactic Spectrum award in 2005 and then again in 2007 when it was shortlisted. Other than Sanami Matoh’s Until the Full Moon, Eerie Queerie! is the only manga that I know of that has been nominated for this award so far.

Maki Murakami’s Gravitation is a pretty substantial property with both light novels and an anime adaptation in addition to the manga. It’s a ridiculous series and makes me laugh and has quite a following. I believe the individual volumes of Gravitation are actually no longer being printed but the series is being republished in omnibuses as Gravitation Collection.

Of the four manga being offered in this sampler, Yuki Shimizu’s Love Mode is the most explicit, and I promise the art is better than what the cover might make you think. At eleven volumes, Love Mode is one of the longest yaoi series that I’m familiar with available in English.

Last month I posted my response to the NYAF/NYCC panel Gay for You? Yaoi and Yuri Manga for GBLTQ Readers. Satosumi Takaguchi’s Shout Out Loud! was included in the panelists’ list of recommended titles and is well worth checking out.

Since I’m giving away a bunch of first volumes, I thought I’d share a few of my manga firsts. (There’s some sort of logic there, I swear.) For the longest time, I thought that Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal was the first manga that I had read and it remains one of my favorites. However, in the process of setting up Experiments in Manga, I realized that the honor in fact goes to either Osamu Tezuka’s Adolf or Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell. As for yaoi, my introduction to the genre was Yaya Sakuragi’s Hey, Sensei? which I’m still fond of. Around the same time I randomly picked up Sanami Matoh’s Fake from the library without realizing it was a boys’ love title.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a sampler of boys’ love first volumes?

1) In the comments section below, tell me about one of the first manga that you read.
2) For a second entry, tell me about the first boys’ love/yaoi manga you read, OR if you’ve never read boys’ love before just mention that.
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).

Pretty easy? One person can earn up to three entries for the giveaway. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on December 1, 2010 (hey, another first!)—so you’ve only got one week to get your entries in this time. Good luck!

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: Feast of Firsts Winner