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.