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27 July 2012 Leave a Comment

Clover

Creator: CLAMP
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781595821966
Released: May 2009
Original release: 1997-1999

Technically, Clover is one of CLAMP’s incomplete works. Originally planned to be at least six volumes, the series prematurely ended at four when the magazine it was being serialized in, Amie, ceased publication. Clover was initially released in Japan between 1997 and 1999. Tokyopop first published the series in English in four volumes between 2001 and 2002 before Dark Horse released a deluxe omnibus edition of Clover, using the same translation but including additional color artwork, in 2009. CLAMP is an all-female creative group that had its beginnings as a dōjinshi circle in the 1980s before emerging as a highly successful professional group. It’s four main members, who are also the members who worked on Clover, include Satsuki Igarashi, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Nanase Ohkawa. (Ohkawa was primarily responsible for Clover‘s story while Mokona was primarily responsible for its artwork.) Clover happens to be one of my personal favorites of CLAMP’s works. Although there are things about the series that annoy me, I enjoy its futuristic and vaguely dystopic setting and its experimental artwork. I thought the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast was a great opportunity for me to give the manga a closer look.

After being court-martialed six times, ex-special operative Kazuhiko Fay Ryu is trying to lead a normal civilian life when the government calls him back to duty for one last mission—one that only he can complete. Charged with transporting a strange girl to an undisclosed location, there’s plenty about the mission that Kazuhiko doesn’t know. And what he doesn’t know may very well end up getting him killed. He isn’t even aware of the special connection that she shares with him. Sue, the girl, is a Clover—a child with extraordinary abilities far surpassing those of a normal psychic. Considered both extremely valuable and extremely dangerous, she has been kept alone in captivity by the government for most of her life. All she really wants is a moment of true happiness, no matter how fleeting. But now that the closely guarded secret of her existence is out, both Sue and Kazuhiko are being pursued by well-armed renegade forces who want her power for their own.

The most striking thing about Clover is its artwork. The style itself is similar to those used in other works by CLAMP, but what makes it stand out from other manga (and not just other CLAMP manga) is the group’s use of innovative and unusual panel layouts and page designs. The individual panels tend to focus closely in on a particular element; these fragments are then gathered together as a whole on the page in interesting and varied ways. CLAMP isn’t afraid of overlap or white space and relatively few panels are used on a page, giving the overall presentation of Clover a minimalist feel. CLAMP’s artwork revels in the small details, moments, and movements without becoming overly complicated. Less successful in Clover is CLAMP’s constant use of song lyrics. I can see this being used to good effect in another medium such as film, but it becomes tedious and repetitive in the manga. Eventually, I stopped reading them entirely. I suspect that the overused lyrics worked better in serialization than they do now that the manga has been collected.

The primary story is contained by the first two volumes of Clover. The third and fourth volumes serve as prequels, each going back a little further in time, which delve into the characters’ histories. Although there is still plenty of room for development, and I would love to see what CLAMP had in mind for the rest of Clover, the volumes that currently exist are more or less complete in and of themselves. In tone, Clover tends to be very melancholic bordering on and even crossing over into angst. However the future shown in Clover came to pass, it is not a particularly happy one. Very little is actually known about the world of Clover; many of the details of the setting and of the characters backstories and relationships are only hinted at or implied rather than being explicitly stated. CLAMP provides just enough information for readers to run with and to ignite their imaginations as they speculate on the series’ possibilities. Clover might not be the best of CLAMP’s works, but I think it is one of the most interesting. Even considering its faults, with an engaging setting and fantastic artwork, Clover remains a personal favorite of mine.

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23 July 2012 2 Comments

My Week in Manga: July 16-July 22, 2012

My News and Reviews

Quite unintentionally, last week’s reviews were full of immortals. To start with, I posted my latest in-depth Blade of the Immortal manga review—Blade of the Immortal, Volume11: Beasts. It’s a pretty brutal volume, but it also includes some very important plot and character developments. I also posted a review of Fumi Nakamura’s debut novel Enma the Immortal. I enjoyed the book immensely and easily count it as one of my favorites of the year. Historical fantasy, immortality, demons, tattoos, Shinsengumi, and even shadows of Jack the Ripper—Enma the Immortal is some seriously great stuff.

Well, I honestly didn’t expect it to happen, but Digital Manga’s most recent Kickstarter project managed to exceed it’s final stretch goal. As a result, Digital Manga will be publishing three of Osamu Tezuka’s works in English: Unico, Atomcat, and Triton of the Sea. Granted, before the project closed Digital Manga announced that even if the goal was not met Triton would still be published. Digital Manga’s use of Kickstarter to fund publishing has been somewhat controversial in the manga blogging community. The most recent Manga Out Loud podcast episode takes another look at Digital Manga and Kickstarter (among other things). I haven’t had the chance to listen to it yet, but the featured guests include both critics and supporters. And speaking of Kickstarter, another project deserving of some attention is an alternative comics tribute anthology to the alternative and influential manga magazine Garo.

Today marks the beginning of CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast hosted by Manga Bookshelf! Melinda Beasi has written a phenomenal introductory post, so do check it out. In honor of the feast, my quick takes for this week all feature works by CLAMP. I’ll also be posting an in-depth manga review of the Clover omnibus later in the week.

Quick Takes

Cardcaptor Sakura, Omnibus 3 (equivalent to Volumes 7-9) by CLAMP. There is something about Cardcaptor Sakura that I find utterly delightful and charming. Despite it’s adorable surface, CLAMP somehow avoids making the series too sickeningly sweet. The artwork and characters are cute but are balanced by a story with ominous overtones. I was wondering where CLAMP would be taking the series since by the end of the second omnibus Sakura had found and gained mastery of all of the missing Clow cards. The story goes off in a slightly different direction, but the second half of the series continues to challenge Sakura and her skills while introducing new characters. I’m looking forward to the final omnibus.

Gate 7, Volumes 1-2 by CLAMP. Gate 7 is such a frustrating series for me. The artwork is simply gorgeous. However, the story (once CLAMP finally remembers to get around to it) isn’t able to stand up to it. The male lead, Chikahito, doesn’t seem to serve any purpose at this point in the manga despite the cryptic comments made by the other characters which would seem to imply otherwise. Underneath the narrative mess there are some cool elements that CLAMP is playing around with. I’m particularly interested in the reincarnations of historical figures from the Sengoku era (who, thanks to CLAMP, all have very attractive character designs) and the roles played by the oni. But, as badly as I want to like Gate 7,  it’s just not coming together yet.

X, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-3) by CLAMP. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy X as much as I did; a few years ago, I gave the first volume a try and wasn’t particularly impressed by it. I decided to give the series another chance when the omnibus editions began to be released. Although I had been warned, I was still surprised by how bloody and graphic the manga gets. X has its quirks: the dialogue is completely unrealistic; a lot of the esoteric imagery seems to be a stylistic choice rather than being used for actual symbolism; and although appropriate for an end-of-the-world scenario, the unfolding drama is very much over the top. But even considering all of this, I found the manga strangely addictive. I’ll definitely be reading more of X.

Chobits directed by Morio Asaka. My introduction to CLAMP’s work was through the Chobits manga series. If I hadn’t already read the manga, I might have enjoyed the anime adaptation more. As it was, I found the anime a chore to get through. The anime switched the story’s focus too much for my liking. Or maybe there was just too much filler and not enough attention given to the actual plot. The series now mostly seems to be about Chi being cute and doing cute things, which for me are the least interesting aspects of Chobits. I much prefer the more serious explorations of human-persocom relations and what it means to love someone. These elements still exist in the anime, but they aren’t emphasized as much as the romantic comedy is.

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29 June 2012 2 Comments

Vagabond, Omnibus 2

Creator: Takehiko Inoue
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421522449
Released: December 2008
Original release: 1999-2000
Awards: Japan Media Arts Award, Kodansha Manga Award, Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize

The second Vagabond omnibus, published by Viz Media in 2008, collects the fourth through sixth volumes of Takehiko Inoue’s award-winning manga series Vagabond. These three volumes were originally released in Japan between 1999 and 2000 and were published in English by Viz Media as individual volumes between 2002 and 2003 before being collected into an omnibus. Inoue’s Vagabond is based on Eiji Yoshikawa’s epic historical novel Musashi, which I made a point to read before delving into the manga series. So far, I have really been enjoying Inoue’s version of Japan’s legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. And I’m not the only one. Vagabond received both a Japan Media Arts Award and a Kodansha Manga Award in 2000 and then a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002. Because June 2012’s Manga Moveable Feast focused on the work of Takehiko Inoue, I figured it was a good opportunity to look at Vagabond again.

After Miyamoto Musashi’s duel with Yoshioka Denshichirō is forced to a draw, the walls of the Yoshioka dōjō in flames around them, the injured young swordsman takes the opportunity to leave Kyoto. It is agreed that he and Denshichirō will meet to fight again in a year’s time, allowing them both to recover and improve their swordsmanship, assuming they can survive that long. Denshichirō might not have much of a problem in that regard, but there are several people after Musashi’s life, including Gion Tōji, a highly skilled swordsman from the Yoshioka school who blames Musashi for its destruction. Now more than ever Musashi is determined to become invincible, deliberately seeking out talented martial artists and challenging them to fight. Musashi is a natural-born fighter but when he confronts Inshun, a prodigy of the Hōzōin spear technique, he is forced to realize that brute power and blood-thirst may not be where true strength lies.

As Vagabond progresses, Musashi is slowly growing and developing not only as a swordsman, but as a person. Takuan Sōhō, the monk who in many ways is responsible for saving Musashi’s life when Musashi was still known as Takezō, advises the younger man that he needs to truly understand and accept himself before he will be able to accomplish anything else, something that Musashi hasn’t yet been able to do. Much of Musashi’s drive to fight and defeat strong opponents is due to the fact that he can’t see his own strength. The only way he can prove his worth to himself is by directly comparing his skills to those of others through battle. While Musashi may be naturally talented when it comes to fighting, he is still young, immature, and rough around the edges. He puts his entire self into and behind his sword; his fights not only forge and hone his physical skills but his very soul.

One of the things I love most about Vagabond is Inoue’s phenomenal art. It tends towards the realistic and his figure work is fantastic. The artwork also helps to emphasize and enhance Inoue’s storytelling. As might be expected from a story about a legendary swordsman and his rivals, there are plenty of fights in Vagabond. However, these confrontations don’t occur just to be forgotten. The characters learn from each other and their battles. Wounds, both physical and mental, aren’t sustained just to simply disappear after the fight is over. People have to recover from their injuries and that takes time. A bruised face may take several chapters to heal while graver injuries take significantly longer. They may even leave a person more vulnerable in later fights. How the different characters choose to deal with these consequences is fascinating; all of the prodigies, while intense, come across as just a little strange. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of Vagabond.

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25 June 2012 2 Comments

My Week in Manga: June 18-June 24, 2012

My News and Reviews

I posted two reviews last week, neither of which have anything to do with manga whatsoever. As I’ve mentioned before in passing, I study traditional Okinawan karate kobudō. Because of this I was interested in learning more about Okinawan history. George H. Kerr’s study Okinawa: The History of an Island People was exactly what I was looking for. It is the first and one of the only comprehensive histories of Okinawa available in English. My second review was for Todd Shimoda’s novel Subduction with artwork by his wife L. J. C. Shimoda. The illustrations and overall design of the book were some of my favorite parts of the novel.

Digital Manga has launched their latest Kickstarter project. The company hopes to publish Osamu Tezuka’s Unico in English and in full color. The project already has a ton of support and I’m expecting it to be successful. Plus, if the project meets it’s goal quickly, Digital Manga will announce yet another Tezuka manga to be licensed. As much as I love seeing Tezuka available in English, I hope that Digital Manga will consider other titles to fund through Kickstarter, too. Another project I’d like to draw your attention to is for Laurianne Uy’s Polterguys, Volume 1, a fun manga-inspired comic. You can learn more about Laurianne and read Polterguys at her website Laurbits.com.

This week is the Takehiko Inoue Manga Moveable Feast! Anna and Michelle, the co-hosts for this month’s Feast, have a nice kickoff post. Below, I have a quick take for the first couple of volumes of Inoue’s series Slam Dunk. I previously reviewed the first Vagabond omnibus and later this week I’ll be reviewing the second. Buried in some of my past Library Love posts, I have a couple of quick thoughts on Real, which is probably my favorite series by Inoue. Happy Feasting, everyone!

Quick Takes

Calling by Miu Otsuki. Calling was a really nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting much out of the manga, but it turned out to be an excellent boys’ love one shot. One of the best things about Calling is that Otsuki avoids many of the unfortunate and often used tropes of the genre, especially those dealing with rape. When Kazuaki tells Kira to stop, Kira stops. (Seriously, consent is hot.) The story is much better for it, too. The men’s relationship deepens and matures more naturally than it would have otherwise. The two obviously care for each other and make for a very affectionate couple. There are conflicts and misunderstandings in Calling, but it is a very sweet manga with well-developed characters.

Sanctuary, Volumes 1-4 written by Sho Fumimura (Buronson) and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. Akira Hojo and Chiaki Asami are two ambitious young men who are determined to transform Japan together, Hojo working through the underground and Asami working through the political system. Their struggle to rise to power is fraught with challenges as they confront corruption and very real danger. They have literally put their lives on the line to reach their goal. Sanctuary is thrilling. Hojo and Asami advance only to be pushed back again. They just barely manage to hang on to control of the situation. One wrong move and all of their efforts will come to nothing. This series is fantastic and I’m really looking forward to reading the rest.

Slam Dunk, Volumes 1-2 by Takehiko Inoue. Slam Dunk was the first of Inoue’s manga to be translated into English. Initially published by Raijin Comics, the license was later rescued Viz Media. Slam Dunk was Inoue’s breakthrough manga. The story follows Hanamichi Sakuragi, a big guy and high school delinquent who joins the basketball team in order to win the affection of a girl. Except, he doesn’t really know much about basketball. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how funny the series is. It was also interesting to see Inoue’s earlier, more simple (but still dynamic) style of drawing. Although I don’t feel compelled to rush out to find out what happens next, I enjoyed these first two volumes and would like to read more.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Episodes 14-26 directed by Kenji Kamiyama. It’s been a while since I’ve watched any Stand Alone Complex, but because so many of the episodes stand on their own, I found myself falling back into the series fairly easily. Unfortunately, some of those episodes can be rather tedious; although there’s some good world building, there’s a lot of talk and not much action. I would find my attention wandering, making it difficult to follow some of the political machinations that become important later on. But when the series actually gets around to kicking into gear, it’s great. The animation quality is excellent, too. And I’m never going to complain about a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno.

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25 May 2012 Leave a Comment

Random Musings: Oishinbo and the Romance of Food

Way back in my undergraduate days, I took an anthropology class that was simply called “Food and Culture.” It ended up being one of my favorite courses (pun entirely intended), and not just because we ate in class almost every week. I found the subject matter to be absolutely fascinating. I became more consciously aware of how important food is. Certainly, we all have to eat in order to survive, but the symbolic and ceremonial uses of food are an essential part of culture and society. Almost every major life event or celebration has food associated with it in some way. Sharing food is a way of bringing people together, creating ties and developing relationships among individuals and communities, and it can strengthen connections and traditions that already exist.

Of course, as can be seen in Oishinbo, food can also drive people apart. Yamaoka and his father are barely on speaking terms because of Kaibara’s demanding palate. But at the same time, it’s because of food that they still have any interaction at all. So far, I have only read three of the Oishinbo, A la Carte manga collections: Japanese Cuisine, Sake, and Ramen & Gyōza. While rereading the volumes for the Oishinbo and Food Manga Moveable Feast, I noticed something—there are an awful lot of couples in Oishinbo who a hook up, and in some cases are even married, either directly or indirectly because of food. Granted, Oishinbo is first and foremost a food manga, so it’s not at all surprising that significant story and relationship developments are going to have something to do with what people are eating.

Although at first there may seem to be an overabundance of romantic intrigue surrounding the cuisine in Oishinbo, and as a plot element it almost becomes expected in the many of the stories, the more I thought about it the more I realized that it was a fairly realistic addition. (Even if Oishinbo can be a little over-the-top with it on occasion.) Eating a meal or having a drink together is an extremely common aspect of a date and frequently occurs when pursuing a relationship. A specific example of this in Oishinbo is “French Food and Ramen Rice,” which is collected in Ramen & Gyōza. What I like about this particular story is that it shows that while planning an elaborate dinner will help form a connection with another person, the sharing of common and familiar food may be even more meaningful.

In fact, out of all of the stories in Ramen & Gyōza, only one doesn’t include a couple that has been brought together or has otherwise had their relationship saved because of food. I find this particularly appropriate for a volume that largely focuses on what basically amounts to comfort food. Sharing a fancy meal with a potential partner is all well and good, but establishing more casual fare that is mutually acceptable is also important for a successful, long-term relationship. I know that personally I am much happier when I am well fed. I’m confident that is true for most people.

At its very core, eating is a matter of survival. It may not be a particularly romantic way of thinking about it, but by sharing food and drink with someone else those involved prove (even if it is subconsciously) that they can help to provide sustenance, that they have enough that they can share, or that they are willing to sacrifice some of their own resources. Any of these things can be a very welcome characteristic in a prospective match. Because of this, it makes sense that such a basic need as food would be incorporated into the rituals involved in courting another person. Food may be a practical necessity, but there’s still room for a little bit of romance, too.

This post is a part of the Oishinbo and Food Manga Moveable Feast.

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