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4 April 2011 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: March 28-April 3, 2011

My News and Reviews

Things are always slow at Experiments in Manga towards the end of the month, and this week was no exception. I posted March’s Bookshelf Overload and then there’s the monthly manga giveaway. This month I have a brand new copy of Old Boy, Volume 1 that I’m giving away. The winner will be randomly selected this coming Wednesday and not many people have entered yet. Old Boy is an Eisner award winning series that’s definitely worth checking out. Enter Manga Giveaway: Omnivorous Old Boy before it’s too late!

This week’s interesting online finds include an interview with one of my favorite translators Alexander O. Smith on the podcast if you’re just joining us. He talks about Harmony, which is up for a Philip K. Dick Award, and translating video games, among other things. Apparently, he is currently working on the translation of Miyuki Miyabe’s Ico: Castle of Mist for Haikasoru. (Smith also translated Miyabe’s Brave Story and The Book of Heroes.) I also found an interview with Japantor Radio’s Zac Bentz on Nihongaku. I love Japanator Radio, so it was nice to read what Zac had to say about it. I only discovered the podcast recently, but it’s been airing for over three years now.

Two more things I want to bring attention to: Manga Bookshelf’s Don’t Fear the Adaptation feature recently focused on House of Five Leaves. I love, love, love this anime and really hope we get a DVD release of it. And finally, NPR’s Talk of the Nation had a segment last Monday with Donald Keene and Kimiko Hahn looking at Japanese literature with reading recommendations in light of the recent earthquakes and tsunami: Books to Help You Understand Japan. The recommendations primarily focus on traditional and classic works.

Actually, there’s one more thing I want to mention. Anime and Manga Bloggers for Japan is still going strong. We’ve almost raised $5,000 for Shelter Box and Doctors without Borders. It would be fantastic if we could reach that goal or more. If you are able, please consider donating.

Also, added to the Resources page: Ain’t It Cool News Anime, Blog of the North Star, Diary of a Bookworm, and Yaoi 911

Quick Takes

Trigun, Volumes 1-2 by Yasuhiro Nightow. The first few volumes of Immortal Rain share quite a few similarities with Trigun, which is the series that came first. Except that I adore Immortal Rain and can barely stand Trigun. I don’t really like the art at all (although there are some interesting character designs) and found both it and the story extremely difficult to follow. Things start to become a bit more coherent and interesting towards the end of the second volume, but then the series ends abruptly. I preferred the science fiction elements of the story over the more generic Western elements but ultimately Trigun just didn’t work for me.

Trigun Maximum, Volumes 1-7 by Yasuhiro Nightow. This series is such an improvement over the original manga. Trigun Maximum begins two years after the events Trigun. The story is clearer but still somewhat difficult to follow. The fight sequences are also difficult to follow, but at least the art looks a lot better than it did in the original series. I like Trigun Maximum much more than I did Trigun, but the manga still frustrates me. I felt that I had to put too much effort into trying to understand what was going on. But, I do like the characters and the story that I was able to figure out I did enjoy. I might give the anime a try.

Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition by Stan Sakai. I’ve never actually read any Usagi Yojimbo until now. The series began in 1987 and is still going. Fantagraphics’ The Special Edition is a marvelous collection of the first seven trade volumes plus a ton of great extras, including a cover gallery and interviews with Sakai. The influence of samurai films on Sakai’s work is obvious and the references and nods are delightful. (Lone Goat and Kid, anyone?) Usagi is inspired by Miyamoto Musashi and Sakai has put a lot of research into the creation of his anthropomorphic version of Edo era Japan. I really enjoyed Usagi Yojimbo and plan on reading more.

Ze, Volumes 3-4 by Yuki Shimizu. As adorable and awkward as Raizou and Kon’s relationship is in the first two volumes of Ze, Genma and Himi’s relationship in volumes three and four is just as dark and brutal. Genma really has some serious issues to work out, which is very unfortunate for his kami Himi. Granted, most people in the Mitou family have issues. More details are revealed regarding kami and their creation in these volumes. Additional characters are introduced, too, and lighten things back up a bit after Genma and Himi’s intensity. There’s even an honest to goodness threesome in volume four, something I haven’t seen much of in manga licensed in English.

Monster, Episodes 61-74 directed by Masayuki Kojima. I finally got around to finishing the anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. It wasn’t a terrible adaptation, and I’m happy to see just about any version of Urasawa’s work, but it doesn’t have much life of its own. I think it tried to be too true to the original manga and it simply didn’t work as well. The pacing needed for a television series is not the same that is needed for a written series and the anime comes across as being slow and unfocused. Ultimately, and perhaps not too surprisingly, I prefer the manga over the anime. But, I am glad that I took time to watch the anime. It’s not bad, it’s just not as good as I wanted it to be.

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21 February 2011 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: February 15-February 20, 2011

My News and Reviews

This past week was the February 2011 Manga Moveable Feast, hosted by Sam Kusek over at A Life in Panels. It was a great feast featuring Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen; even Last Gasp, the publishers for the series in English, participated. I had three related posts, including reviews of Nakazawa’s autobiography Hiroshima: The Autobiography of Barefoot Gen and my first in-depth manga review for February for Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima.

I really need to updated the Resources page—I’ve a bunch of new sites to add—so I’ll try to get around to that this week. Also coming up this week: Wednesday will start my monthly manga giveaway. I haven’t quite decided which manga it will be yet, so you’ll just have to drop by on Wednesday to find out. I’m also excited for Wednesday to roll around since Kodo will be in town for a performance, and I have tickets!

Quick Takes

Dog Style, Volumes 1-3 by Modoru Motoni. The first volume of Dog Style is a bit sporadic and difficult to follow at times, but by the end of the third volume Motoni had completely won me over. As the series progresses, both Motoni’s art (which was pretty good to begin with) and writing improves greatly. The story gets a bit angsty at times, and it’s not exactly romantic, but I enjoyed seeing Teru and Miki’s relationship develop. Teru and his friends are delinquents, so he tends to get involved in violent fights, and Miki has his own problems and past to deal with. The two start out as strangers but come to rely on each other; complete with some killer kisses and more. (Also, bonus points for use of condoms.)

Japan written by Buronson and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. The primary reason I picked up Japan was that Berserk‘s creator, Kentaro Miura, worked on it. Also, the setting interested me since post-apocalyptic fiction is one of my favorite sub-genres. There were some nice story elements in Japan that could have made a great short series. Unfortunately, in this one-shot they’re overshadowed by the constant and unnecessary, semi-political commentary on what it really means to be “Japanese.” I think Miura’s art works best in the post-apocalyptic setting; I wasn’t quite as convinced by his modern environments.

K-ON!, Volume 1 by Kakifly. This may just be the best yonkoma manga that I’ve read so far. I laughed so much. Granted, as a musician, I felt a particular fondness for the girls in the pop music club as they try to put together their own band. I found Yui, the accidental guitarist, particularly amusing since she doesn’t know a thing about music but she’s still very enthusiastic about the whole thing. Actually, I like all of the characters that have been introduced up to this point. K-ON! makes me very happy and I can easily see why this series is so popular. I’ll definitely be reading future volumes as they are released in English.

Chi’s Sweet Home: Chi’s New Address, Episodes 1-52 directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara. Chi’s New Address is the second Chi’s Sweet Home anime. I’ve never seen the first, but I have been reading and loving the original manga series. And I’m loving the anime, too. The season is 104 episodes long, but each episode is under three minutes long. At first, the baby noises that Chi makes annoyed me, but I soon got over it. The anime is every bit as cute and adorable as the manga. The animation is simply delightful and almost every episode made me laugh. And it didn’t matter how many times I watched the opening—I giggled every single time.

Monster, Episodes 40-60 directed by Masayuki Kojima. While I’m still enjoying the anime adaptation of Monster, I think I can safely say at this point that I prefer the manga. The slow, deliberate plot development that worked so well in the original comes across as tedious and ponderous in the anime. It’s a problem of the anime trying too faithfully to recreate the manga. It probably would make a better series if the story was trimmed and focused a bit more. However, it’s not all bad. Grimmer, probably my favorite character in the entire series, makes his first appearance in these episodes. And Nina and Johan’s backstory, the truth behind everything that is going on, begins to be revealed.

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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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6 December 2010 Leave a Comment

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.

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29 November 2010 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: November 22-November 28, 2010

My News and Reviews

Last week was Thanksgiving vacation for me which means that I didn’t have to work but did have to do much more driving than usual. I did still find time to get some manga reading in and raided my youngest sister’s bookshelves in between visiting with my family. I even found time to post my review of the second Spice & Wolf light novel; I’m enjoying this series so far and will definitely be picking up the third volume when it’s released in December. And as a reminder, I’m currently running a boys’ love/yaoi manga giveaway, Feast of Firsts. The winner will be randomly selected on Wednesday, so you still have a couple days to enter.

It’s also time for the most recent Manga Moveable Feast, featuring Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece. David Welsh of The Manga Curmudgeon is hosting, so check out his post Setting Sail and the updating index. I’ll be posting a review of the first volume, Romance Dawn, later this week. This will be the first Manga Movable Feast that I will have participated in, so I’m particularly looking forward to it.

Quick Takes

Case Closed, Volume 1 by Gosho Aoyama. After being caught sticking his nose into a crime in progress, the teenage detective prodigy Jimmy Kudo is poisoned by mysterious men in black. Instead of killing him as intended, the untested poison instead transforms Jimmy’s body into that of a grade schooler. (And quite an adorable one at that.) As cute as Jimmy, now going by the name Conan Edogawa, and the art is, there is still a substantial amount of blood and gore. The manga vaguely reminds me of Encyclopedia Brown. The mysteries aren’t particularly complex yet, but watching Jimmy/Conan’s deductions is fun.

Fake, Volumes 1-7 by Sanami Matoh. Fake was the the first boys’ love series that I ever read. I often see it listed among people’s favorites, but I’ve never been quite as taken with it as others seem to be. Which is not to say I don’t enjoy the manga, because I do. Ignoring the fact that realistic police procedure is completely thrown out the window, particularly in the early volumes, the series has a decent plot and a fair amount of humor to go along with its sexual tension. Occasionally the recurring story elements and gags can get a little tedious. I really do like the relationship between Dee and Ryo though, and the secondary characters are pretty great, too.

Sand Chronicles, Volumes 1-9 by Hinako Ashihara. After borrowing and reading the first volume of Sand Chronicles from the library, I knew it was a series that I needed to own. I also knew it was going to break my heart and it did, repeatedly—this manga is so good it hurts. The characters must find balance between love and loneliness and selfishness and selflessness. None of them are bad people, but they do have issues to work through. The main story is completed in eight volumes while volumes nine and ten consist of bonus and side stories. Sand Chronicles won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2004 and it’s seriously one of the best shoujo manga that I’ve read.

Twin Spica, Volumes 2-4 by Kou Yaginuma. I’m really enjoying this manga so far. It’s a quiet series and a bit melancholy at times, but very touching. The art is also lovely and quite good, although its cuteness sometimes seems at odds with the seriousness of the story. The students of the newly instated astronaut training program all face mental, emotional, and physical challenges as they strive to accomplish their dream of traveling to space. Twin Spica is very realistic science fiction, which I appreciate. I like all of the characters, but I think Mr. Lion is probably my favorite. I’m looking forward to reading future volumes as they are released.

Monster, Episodes 1-11 directed by Masayuki Kojima. So far the Monster anime series has been extremely faithful to Naoki Urasawa’s source material. And because the original manga is fantastic, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Both the animation and the voice acting is solid. Although a few of the voices in the English dub annoy me from time to time, the casting is very well done overall. The soundtrack is also good and I particularly like the opening theme. The anime runs for seventy-four episodes, and I’m interested in seeing how the complex, one-hundred-sixty-two chapter manga will be adapted.

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