My News and Reviews
Experiments in Manga celebrated its second year anniversary over the past weekend. Thank you to everyone who took a moment to congratulate me here, on Twitter, and elsewhere. And thank you to everyone who reads Experiments in Manga! Last week I posted two new reviews. First was for Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal, Volume 12: Autumn Frost. The volume features a showdown between Magatsu and Shira which I think is one of the best fights in the series. I also reviewed Isuna Hasekura’s light novel Spice & Wolf, Volume 6. Even though the sixth volume isn’t my favorite book in the series, I have been pleasantly surprised by Spice & Wolf and look forward to the next installment.
As a reminder, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Manga Moveable Feast will begin this Saturday and will end on Friday, August 31. In order to coordinate with the Feast, I’ll be pushing this week’s Friday post back one day. I’ll be reviewing the first volume of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. Next week I’ll be posting some random musings for the Feast, too.
Quick Takes
12 Days by June Kim. Loosely based on a true account, Kim’s debut graphic novel 12 Days tells the story of Jackie Yuen who is trying to come to terms with the death of her ex-girlfriend Noah. Over the course of twelve days she plans to drink Noah’s ashes in a ritual effort to move on and forget. Noah’s younger half-brother Nick becomes Jackie’s co-conspirator of sorts. Despite the constant progression of days, the narrative isn’t told linearly. Flashbacks, dreams, and memories interrupt and invade Jackie and Nick’s lives as they deal with their grief over the loss of Noah together. Noah’s death is a tragedy, but so were the circumstances surrounding her and Jackie’s initial parting. 12 Days is a meditation on love and loss.
Gen, Issues 7-13 by Various. I’ve been enjoying Gen, but I’m still getting used to reading a monthly anthology. Some of the stories are well suited for the format, while others seem to lose a bit of their oomph in short installments. One of the things I like best about Gen is the variety of stories that are included; stories that would probably never have found their way into English otherwise. Of the more recent issues, I’m particularly fond of Isora Azumi’s “Stones of Power” and hope to see it continue for a while longer. Nagumo’s “Let’s Eat Ramen” was another personal favorite. The stories in Gen have been introducing all sorts of elements to the anthology that I enjoy: boys’ love, yokai, androids, slice-of-life, comedy, suspense, and more. I look forward to future installments.
The Legend of Kamui, Volumes 1-2 by Sanpei Shirato. The original Legend of Kamui was a highly influential manga from the 1960s that was one of the first stories to be serialized in the underground manga anthology Garo. The Legend of Kamui available in English is actually a side story to Shirato’s original manga, focusing on the eponymous Kamui’s exploits on the island of Sugaru. Viz only published two of the twelve Japanese volumes, although more of the series was also released as monthly comics. Kamui is a renegade ninja who has left his clan. Hunted as a traitor, a peaceful life will be impossible for him. The second volume gets a little shark-happy, but overall it’s an exciting and well-executed story.
The Monkey King, Volumes 1-2 by Katsuya Terada. To fully appreciate and understand what Terada is doing with The Monkey King requires a familiarity with the Chinese classic Journey to the West. Having previously read it in its entirety, I didn’t have a problem. If you haven’t, I would highly recommend starting the series by reading the beginning of the editor’s afterword in the first volume. The Monkey King is like a collection of “best hits” from Journey to the West with Terada’s own twists on the tale. The scenes are certainly memorable, but don’t necessarily flow very well. However, the narrative in the second volume is more coherent than in the first. If nothing else, The Monkey King is worth checking out for Terada’s phenomenal painted, full-color artwork.
This Boy Can Fight Aliens directed by Soubi Yamamoto. This Boy Can Fight Aliens is a rather unusual anime, about thirty minutes long, with art film sensibilities. Yamamoto had complete control over the project’s creation, writing, direction, and animation. Her style of digital animation is visually interesting but at times crude; it certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste. The story itself is rather surreal but takes advantage of common tropes. I particularly enjoyed the more comedic aspects of the anime. Sentai’s release also includes three of Yamamoto’s early short works which share similar themes (personal relationships, aliens, the destruction of the world, etc.) and visual elements with the longer feature.