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9 December 2013 3 Comments

My Week in Manga: December 2-December 8, 2013

My News and Reviews

I posted two reviews here at Experiments in Manga last week. The honor of the first in-depth manga review for December goes to Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 3: Ramba Ral. The fourth volume in the series is scheduled to be released this month, so I wanted to make sure to catch up with my reviews. Though I wouldn’t call myself a Gundam fan, I’m still really enjoying The Origin manga. The second review was for Ivan Morris’ The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan. Originally published in 1975, the work was recently brought back into print by Kurodahan Press. It’s an extremely illuminating and fascinating volume. I also announced the Fairy Tail Feast Winner last week. In case you’re looking for some epic manga to read, the post also includes a list of series that have had at least thirty volumes published in English.

I’ve come across quite a few manga-related things online recently. Sadly, that includes the news that PictureBox will no longer be releasing any new titles. PictureBox had some fantastic manga releases this year, including the start of the Ten-Cent Manga and Masters of Alternative Manga series. It also released The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame. PictureBox’s closing means that the previously announced anthology Massive: Gay Erotic Manga And The Men Who Make It, originally scheduled for release in 2014, is now in limbo.

In happier news, Manga Bookshelf’s Melinda Beasi was interviewed at Diamond Bookshelf—Understanding Manga: Editor Melinda Beasi Discusses CBLDF Presents Manga. I thought that Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices was a great resource when I read it, so it was interesting to hear about some of the behind-the-scenes work that went into it.

And speaking of interesting interviews, Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has been Talkin’ Seven Seas and Manga Business With Conner Crooks. Crooks is the Social Media Manager at Seven Seas, which has been having a very good year. Part 1 and Part 2 of the interview series are currently available. Part 3 should be posted on Tuesday.

Continuing on with the Seven Seas theme, Sean Gaffney took a look at the publisher’s recently announced licenses over at A Case Suitable for Treatment. And if you’re interested in all of the anime, manga, artbook, and light novels that were licensed in 2013 (as well as related successful crowdfunding projects), Reverse Thieves has you covered with All the Titles Fit to License, 2013 Edition.

Quick Takes

Hero Heel, Volume 2Hero Heel, Volumes 2-3 by Makoto Tateno. Out of the boys’ love manga by Tateno that I have so far read, I think that Hero Heel is probably one of her better works. At least it has some of the most interesting and believable character development. Although that being said, I’m not sure that I’m entirely convinced by the ending, but that might just be because I feel bad for Katagiri. Minami in particular goes through a lot of change as the series progresses. In the first volume he’s almost the villain of the story, blackmailing and forcing his feelings on Sawada. By the end of Hero Heel he’s a much more sympathetic character and has matured significantly. As for Sawada, he comes across as rather harsh from the start, though how much of an asshole he really is isn’t revealed until later. The themes of hero and villain and what it means to be a good person are very prominent in Hero Heel. It’s interesting to see the parallels between the characters that Minami and Sawada play on the superhero show they costar in and their lives off the set.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Short Stories, Volume 2Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Short Stories, Volume 2 by Naoko Takeuchi. For the most part, I think I probably enjoyed the second (and final) volume of Sailor Moon short stories more than I did the first. In general, they don’t rely as heavily on knowledge of the main series; a basic understanding of the Sailor Moon universe is sufficient to follow the short manga in the second collection of stories. Well, at least that’s true for the first two stories. The third short manga “Parallel Sailor Moon” requires a bit more, and even then it’s a really strange, almost nonsensical piece. I much preferred the first two stories in the collection. “Princess Kaguya’s Lover” is the longest and most involved, basically amounting to a one-sided love story between Luna and Dr. Ohzora, an astronomy professor. It has space and astronauts, which I’ll admit to having a fondness for, so that made me happy. (Takeuchi even visited the Kennedy Space Center on a research trip for the story.) “Casa Blanca Memory” is a shorter work featuring Rei, which also made me pretty happy.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends, Omnibus 2Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends, Omnibus 2 (equivalent to Volumes 3-4) by Yak Haibara. I get a huge kick out of the Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends manga. I’ve never played Sengoku Basara 2—the video game on which it is directly based (it hasn’t been released in North America)—nor have I seen any of the Sengoku Basara anime (though I may make a point to check it out now), but I do have some familiarity with the Warring States period. Because of the number of characters, battles, alliances, castles and such to keep track of in Samurai Legends, which are all based on historical figures and events, that familiarity has come in handy. Overall, I think the first omnibus of Samurai Legends was a little stronger than the second omnibus. The last half of the series has a few continuity problems in the artwork, and there are some characters who are introduced more because they are a part of the franchise than because they had an important role to play in the manga, but it was still a lot of fun. I really enjoy the series’ over-the-top fights, characters, and dialogue.

Sickness Unto Death, Volume 2Sickness Unto Death, Volume 2 written by Hikari Asada and illustrated by Takahiro Seguchi. Probably because it doesn’t employ nearly as many clichés, the second volume of Sickness Unto Death is much better than the first. Granted, the first volume was needed to set it up the whole scenario; I just think it could have been handled better. But the payoff is mostly satisfying. Even so, the manga still makes me vaguely uncomfortable, and not in the way I think it was intended to. The problem I have with the story of Sickness Unto Death stems from the way Emiru’s case is handled. That Kazuma wants to help and treat her I’m fine with. In fact, there’s some really interesting conflicts of interest and ethical and philosophical questions that arise because of it. At its best, Sickness Unto Death has some marvelously dark psychological elements to it. What particularly bothers me about the series is that Kazuma’s continued “treatment” of Emiru is actually encouraged by his professor, which is highly irresponsible not to mention unprofessional.

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5 December 2011 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: November 28-December 4, 2011

My News and Reviews

It took two weeks, but it looks like I’m nearly completely recovered from my headache of doom. I still wasn’t able to read for very long periods of time last week, but at least I could start to watch things again. Subtitles are still a bit of a strain though, as I discovered while watching Toward the Terra. Last week I posted the November 2011 Bookshelf Overload as well as a review of Osamu Dazai’s breakthrough novella Schoolgirl. Also, don’t forget about my latest manga giveaway, Give Me Some Gin Tama! Enter for a chance to win the first three volumes of Gin Tama.

And now, I am absolutely thrilled to report that the House of Five Leaves anime has finally been licensed for a Region 1 DVD release! I cannot begin to express how incredibly happy this makes me—NIS America News. And other news that I’m happy about—Jen Lee Quick to Resume OffBeat. This news is actually a bit old, but I just recently found out about it. I’m really looking forward to seeing the final volume of this series. Also of note, Brigid Alverson of MangaBlog (as well many, many other awesome sites) has been named as one of the judges for this year’s Eisner Awards—Judging time! And finally, Deb Aoki has a post on 12 Cooking Manga Good Enough to Eat. It’ a great list with some great manga on it. And if you like food manga (like I do), keep an eye out for the February 2012 Manga Moveable Feast to be hosted by Khursten Santos of Otaku Champloo which will feature Oishinbo and other food manga.

Quick Takes

Cardcaptor Sakura, Omnibus 2 (equivalent to Volumes 3-6) by CLAMP. There is definite potential that Cardcaptor Sakura could be too sugary sweet, but CLAMP skillfully balances the adorably cute with more serious themes of love and loss. I find Cardcaptor Sakura to be an incredibly enjoyable series to read. The characters are all very likeable. Even the secondary characters play important roles in the story and have very distinct personalities. I’m particularly fond of Yamazaki and his delightful tendency to make up completely ridiculous origin stories for just about anything. This omnibus marks the halfway point for the series and I’m eagerly awaiting Dark Horse’s next omnibus release scheduled for next year.

Hero Heel, Volume 1 by Makoto Tateno. Works by Tateno tend to be fairly hit-or-miss with me, and so I was somewhat surprised by how much I liked this first volume of Hero Heel. Minami has been working as an actor for three years and has yet to really make a name for himself. Although he’s not particularly enthusiastic about it, his agent convinces him to audition for a superhero show and he lands the heroic lead. His attitude starts to change when he realizes how talented and serious his openly gay coworker Sawada is about his work. Unfortunately, Minami’s admiration and curiosity turn into unwelcome infatuation. Tateno creates an interesting dynamic between Sawada and Minami and I’d like to see where things might go next.

King of Wolves written by Buronson and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. I wasn’t particularly impressed by Japan, another manga that Miura and Buronson worked on together, so I didn’t have high expectations for King of Wolves. The manga turned out to be kind of fun though, even if I couldn’t bring myself to take it too seriously and it was fairly predictable. The narrative does have some issues, particularly with pacing and flow. Some plot developments, like Iba’s domination of the north, are done and over so quickly that it makes me wonder why they were even included to begin with. It feels like the creators were simply shoving too much story into a single volume.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Season 2, Part 2 (Episodes 41-51) directed by Seiji Mizushima. Fullmetal Alchemist really is a fantastic series. I was very glad to see the Elric brother’s father finally introduced and all the disparate story elements are tied together nicely by the final episodes. Fullmetal Alchemist has a complex, engaging story and great, well-rounded characters. The good guys have their flaws and the bad guys have their admirable points. The series does a wonderful job exploring the grey areas of science, religion, morality, ethics, philosophy, war, revenge, and more. The characters are forced to repeatedly confront and take responsibility for their past mistakes.

Hetalia: Axis Powers, Season 2 directed by Bob Shirohata. Hetalia is probably not for the easily offended. Fortunately, I’m not at all easily offended so I quite often find it to be hilarious. I think the second season of Hetalia is even more consistently funny than the first. Even though the accents can sometimes be shaky, I really love the English dub of the series. The second season features more antagonism between Britain and France and other repeat appearances from the established cast. And Canada, oh Canada! finally gets a bit of screen time. One of the things I like best about Hetalia is that I actually do learn a bit of world history along the way in spite of (and sometimes because of) all the crazy antics.

Toward the Terra directed by Hideo Onchi. Toward the Terra is based on Keiko Takemiya’s award-winning manga series, published in English as To Terra… I was actually impressed by how much of the original story was able to be included in the anime adaptation. Granted, there were some plot developments in the movie that I only understood because I had already read Takemiya’s manga series. But, I do like the story and the anime catches most of the highlights. A utopian society has been established in order to protect the Earth but a new race of humans with psychic powers, known as the Mu, have evolved, posing a danger to the system. Also, Nozomi Entertainment’s remastered version of the film both looks and sounds great.

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20 December 2010 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: December 13-December 19, 2010

My News and Reviews

Some of you lovely readers are already aware of my glasses frame crisis, but I’ve been using a very old prescription for the last week (I think it’s from 2002, if not before). Because of this, I didn’t do as much reading as I would have liked because my eyesight is terrible and it gives me a headache. Also, apparently all the manga I read had to have a pink cover this week. However, I did discover that watching TV didn’t cause too much of a problem as long as I wasn’t expected to read subtitles. So, I ended up watching a lot of English dubbed anime. And speaking of anime: Crunchyroll is now available on the Roku player, woohoo!

This past week I posted my first in-depth manga review for December—I was very excited to see the publication of Yaya Sakuragi’s Stay Close to Me and hope more of her work is licensed in English. I also posted my first entry in my Finding Manga series where I gave some tips on finding and buying manga through Half.com—Finding Manga: Half.com.Over on All About Manga, Daniella Orihuela-Gruber has been gathering together the 2010 Great Manga Gift Guides. It’s a great list of great lists, so you should check it out.

Finally, I meant to mention this last week but forgot. Over on Experiments in Reading I have a review posted for the anthology Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories about People Who Know How They Will Die. It’s a great collection and worth a read. Machine of Death includes the story “Prison Knife Fight” by Shaenon K. Garrity who is a freelance manga editor for Viz among other very cool things. The only explicitly Japan-related story (yakuza!) is “Improperly Prepared Blowfish” by speculative fiction author Gord Sellar who is currently living South Korea. 

Quick Takes

Cardcaptor Sakura, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-3) by CLAMP. Dark Horse’s omnibus reprints of CLAMP’s work have been of extremely high quality and the first gorgeous volume of Cardcaptor Sakura is no exception. Once upon a time I had seen a few episodes of the anime adaptation that I really enjoyed, so I was excited to finally get a chance to read the original story. So far, the manga is utterly delightful. I was afraid the cuteness might be overwhelming, but it’s balanced nicely against the more serious elements of the story. There is also plenty of humor, and I enjoy watching the interactions and the developing relationships between the characters. I’ll definitely be following this series.

Hate to Love You, by Makoto Tateno. In the United States, Tateno is primarily known for her boys’ love works and Hate to Love You was her first foray into the genre. Despite being the sons of rival real estate agencies, Masaya and Yuma became childhood friends although by the time they reach high school they’ve grown apart. But their constant fighting about their fathers’ businesses, which they stand to inherit, can’t hide the fact they still harbor feelings for one another. “Hate to Love You” wasn’t bad, but I found the unrelated bonus story “You Can’t Call It Love” to be more memorable. It’s not a pleasant story, in fact it’s rather dark and disturbing, but it is more emotionally potent.

Hayate X Blade, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-3) by Shizuru Hayashiya. Hayate X Blade is one of the few yuri-ish manga that I’m familiar with in English translation. It’s a bombastic action comedy that doesn’t always make a lot of sense but it is a lot of fun. I’m not entirely sure what the point of the Sword Bearer program is, other than being an excuse to have cute girls fight one another, but I’m okay with that. Not to mention the fact that I’ve developed a huge crush on Ayana (as well as a few others). I’m really enjoying this manga. It may be a bit ridiculous at times, which in this case is not a bad thing. It’s funny, has great art, and the girls are all unique in looks and personalities.

The Lily and the Rose, by Dany & Dany. The Lily and the Rose is the first work that Dany & Dany, a pair of Italian manga creators, wrote specifically with a United States audience in mind. Their artwork is quite accomplished and distinctive; I’ve never confused their style for anyone else’s. Christophe and Alain fell in love as schoolmates, but Christophe chose the priesthood over his friend. With Christophe gone, Alain is left with nothing but a burning desire to kill the man who murdered his mother. Seven years later the two meet again under less than ideal circumstances—Alain has been charged with catching Christophe in a scandal, creating one if necessary.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Second Season directed by Tatsuya Ishihara. I read and thoroughly enjoyed the first Haruhi Suzumiya light novel so I figured I’d give the anime a try as well. The second season is based on some of the later books. The animation team does some really cool things with color and lighting, especially in the “Endless Eight” sequence of episodes. Although the speculative fiction elements of the story are marvelous, Kyon is really what makes this series work for me. Although outwardly resigned to being the only “normal” person in the SOS Brigade, his inner dialogue and griping is hilarious.

Monster, Episodes 28-39 directed by Masayuki Kojima. These episodes include the University of Munich Library arc which has some of the most epic scenes in the entire story. I was really looking forward to seeing this part, and was not disappointed. At this point, the story also reveals quite a bit more about Johan and just how disconcerting he really is. Some plot threads are introduced in this section that don’t really go very far (this was the case in the manga as well), so I was surprised to see them included while some of the arguably more pertinent scenes were significantly compressed or dropped entirely. Had I not previously read the manga, I think I may have been confused by some of what was going on, but overall this is still an excellent adaptation.

One Piece, Season One: First Voyage directed by Kōnosuke Uda. I wasn’t particularly taken by Romance Dawn, the first volume of the One Piece manga, but I saw so much love for the series during the Manga Moveable Feast that I haven’t given up on it yet. It only took me a few episodes of the anime to get me hooked. Oda’s manga works fantastically well in adaptation and his artwork was just asking to be animated. (Although almost everyone seems to have bizarrely long arms. Luffy, okay that makes sense, but Nami, too?) The English voice cast is simply perfect and I loved the use of music for dramatic purposes, especially in the early episodes.

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18 October 2010 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: October 11-October 17, 2010

My News and Reviews

Finally, I have posted my first in-depth manga review in over a month—Brilliant Blue, Volume 2. I’m really going to try to post more manga reviews in addition to all of the reviews I post for novels and nonfiction. My goal right now is two in-depth manga reviews per month. Eventually I’d like to do one a week, but that would be pushing it for me right now.

In other news, I also reviewed the first Haruhi Suzumiya light novel, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Although it has a few issues, overall I found the book to hilarious and quite enjoyable. Also, be on the lookout for my next manga giveaway starting later this week. Enter for a chance to win a nice copy of Mushishi, Volume 6.

Quick Takes

Chi’s Sweet Home, Volumes 1-2 by Konami Kanata. This series is just so incredibly cute and adorable. Kanata has perfectly captured the felineness of Chi and the loving cluelessness of her adopted human family. The artwork, while simple, is marvelous. I’m very glad that Vertical chose to keep it in color—I think it would have lost some of its effectiveness otherwise. Chi’s babytalk really annoyed me at first, but I eventually grew used to it or was at least able to ignore it for the most part. I’m not sure how much this series will appeal to those who aren’t cat people, but I absolutely love it.

Love Hurts: Aishiatteru Futari by Suzuki Tanaka. Love Hurts is a collection of four stories, three of which are vaguely boys’ love and all of which are slightly on the dark side. The first two stories are very loosely related to each other while the others are completely separate. It’s kind of a strange collection with murderers, superheros, and aliens all playing their part. It’s not great but it’s certainly not horrible and I did enjoy reading it. Plus Koharu has simply got to be one of the cutest manga guys I’ve seen in a while and fortunately for me, he shows up in two of the stories.

MPD-Psycho, Volumes 4-6 written by Eiji Otsuka and illustrated by Shou Tajima. This series is turning out to be quite different than what I was expecting, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. From the first few volumes I thought it would be mostly about Kazuhiko Amamiya, but it turns out he’s a very small part in a very big picture that has yet to be complete revealed. Although the story is becoming more complex and convoluted, it is still utterly fascinating and I can’t help but want to read more. Tajima’s artwork continues to be fantastically unsettling, as does Otsuka’s story.

Song of the Hanging Sky, Volumes 1-2 by Toriko Gin. Published by the now defunct Go! Comi, only the first two volumes of what I believe is a four volume series have been released in English. Toriko’s character designs, which appear to be heavily influenced by Native American cultures, are simply beautiful. The story can be a little confusing at times, but things become more clear as the series progresses. The first volume introduces the characters while the second volume looks more closely at the tragic history of the ancient race of bird-people. I really hope someone picks up this license—it’s very different from most of the other manga I’ve read so far and quite lovely.

Yellow, Omnibus Editions 1-2 by Makoto Tateno. I had previously read the first omnibus edition but had forgotten how funny it was. The second volume takes a much darker turn, although some of the humor remains. Yellow is by far my favorite work by Tateno that I’ve read so far. Taki and Goh are simply marvelous together and the secondary characters are great as well. It’s starts off rather episodic, but by the end there’s a solid plotline going on. Sometimes the solutions to the riddles posed are rather ridiculous, and the drama can be over the top and completely unrealistic, but the series is a lot of fun to read. I’ll definitely be looking into Yellow 2.

Mushishi, Episodes 1-26. I love Yuki Urushibara’s manga series Mushishi and was excited to learn that an anime series of the story was also made. This has to be one of the most literal anime adaptations that I’ve seen—it’s like reading the manga except it has sound and color. The backgrounds and landscapes are absolutely gorgeous and the music lovely and atmospheric. Although the stories appear in a slightly different order, they’re all original to the manga. It’s not a series for everyone—it’s slow and episodic, and rather strange at times, but I love it.

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20 September 2010 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: September 13-September 19, 2010

My News and Reviews

I am so incredibly excited—Experiments in Manga got a brief mention in Katherine Dacey’s Friday Procrastination Aides, 9/17/10 over on The Manga Critic.

There aren’t any in-depth reviews from this past week, but I am running my first ever contest/giveaway. Head over to Manga Giveaways: Crazy Karate Contest for a chance to win a free copy of Ranma 1/2, Volume 11: Creative Cures. I also posted my second Library Love installment, and another should be coming very soon.

Only two additions to the resource page this week. The first, Genji Press, is run by Serdar Yegulalp who was recently hired as the anime guide for About.com: Anime. He reviews books, manga, movies, and anime at his site among other interesting things. The second resource that has been added is Comics Village, the home of Manga Village.

Quick Takes

Don’t Say Any More, Darling by Fumi Yoshinaga. This is the first short story collection of Yoshinaga’s that I’ve read. The five stories include “Don’t Say Any More, Darling,” “My Eternal Sweetheart,” “Fairyland,” “One May Day,” and “Pianist.” The first and last stories were by far my favorite (as a bonus, both were music related) although the others certainly held my interest as well. Three of the stories are distinctly yaoi, one is definitely not, and the other may have overtones depending on how you read it. It’s a rather odd collection and like most story collections some are stronger than others, but I enjoyed most of it.

Hikkatsu!: Strike a Blow to Vivify, Volumes 2-3 by Yu Yagami. I enjoyed the first volume of Hikkatsu and so decided to pick up the rest of the series. The second volume feels mostly like filler to me, a way to spend the time until we can get back to the “real” plot in the third volume. Not that there’s really much of a plot. Shota has perfected his repair blow and but also learns its limitations. This is a rather silly manga series but I found it to be amusing. It’s short and sweet and I think it ended up being just the right length at three volumes.

How to Control a Sidecar by Makoto Tateno. How to Control a Sidecar is the sort-of sequel to Tateno’s How to Capture a Martini. This time, the focus is on straight and oblivious but brilliant bartender Kousaka, who didn’t even realize he was working at a gay bar for quite a while. It was only a matter of time before someone started hitting on him and he’s caught the eye of the not quite couple of Fumi and Kanashiro who used to share a boyfriend. I was happy to see Tateno deal with rape in a realistic way for the first half of the book, although unfortunately she doesn’t carry it through to the end. I’ll admit, I was also a little disappointed there weren’t any threesomes involved—the story’s premise was just asking for it.

Iron Wok Jan!, Volumes 1-4 by Shinji Saijyo. I love manga, I love food, and so yes, I love manga about food. Jan Akiyama has undergone the fiercest training since a young age, his grandfather molding him to become the best chef in Japan of Chinese cuisine. After his grandfather’s death he’s hired at the Gobancho restaurant. Jan is a cocky, arrogant bastard and doesn’t really get along with anyone. Everyone is extremely serious about their cooking and Jan’s competitive nature brings out the best and worst in people. Who would think cooking could be this intense?

Suggestive Eyes by Momoko Tenzen. This one-shot yaoi manga actually features two main couples—graduate student Megumu and his younger classmate Kina, and two of their professors, Shibata and Kikugawa. Kina reminds Megumu of his ex and after a night of drunkenness, the two end up sleeping together. Kina’s feelings are authentic, but Megumu doesn’t love him in return and wants to call off the affair. But Megumu’s feelings for Kina end up being more complicated than he expected. Elsewere on campus, Shibata and Kikugawa have been together for fifteen years; it’s nice to see an established and successful couple.

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