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6 March 2013 2 Comments

Manga Giveaway: Ayako Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the Ayako manga giveaway is…Charles!

As the winner, Charles will be receiving a copy of Vertical’s hardcover release of Osamu Tezuka’s Ayako. (Charles also runs the site Beneath the Tangles which explores the connections between anime, manga, and religion, specifically Christian spirituality.) For this giveaway I asked entrants to tell me about their favorite Tezuka manga. Check out the Ayako manga giveaway comments for the details. Because I like making lists, I’ve gathered together all of the Tezuka manga that I know of that has been licensed in English. Those marked with an asterisk were mentioned by more than one person as a personal favorite.

Tezuka’s manga in English:
Astro Boy
Atomcat
Apollo’s Song
Ayako
Barbara
*Black Jack
The Book of Human Insects 
*Buddha
Dororo 
Lost World
*Message to Adolf
Metropolis
MW
Mysterious Underground Men
Nextworld
*Ode to Kirihito
*Phoenix
*Princess Knight
Swallowing the Earth
Triton of the Sea
Twin Knight
Unico

More people than usual showed up for this giveaway; behold the power of Tezuka! Thank you all for sharing your favorite Tezuka manga with me. I hope to see you again for March’s giveaway. 

Filed Under: Giveaways, Lists Tagged: ,
2 March 2013 Leave a Comment

Library Love, Part 14

Support manga, support your library!

Here’s what I’ve been reading:

Emma, Volumes 7-10 by Kaoru Mori. I didn’t realize that the main story of Emma concludes in the seventh volume of the series and so was taken a little by surprise when the ending seemed to come along so suddenly. I like that Mori didn’t go for a trite “happily ever after”; the ending is much more complicated than that and realistically addresses the challenges that Emma and William will face due to their class differences. The final three volumes are actually a collection of short side stories, mostly featuring established characters although some simply feature the established locale and time period. Emma is a wonderful series; I really hope to see its license rescued. Thankfully, my library had a complete set.

Nana, Volume 5-8 by Ai Yazawa. I continue to be greatly impressed by Nana and Yazawa’s work in general. Her characters are marvelously complex and multi-faceted. In Nana, the assholes aren’t complete assholes and the angels aren’t complete angels, either. Yazawa eschews stereotypes and the results are naturally unpredictable. The readers and the characters might expect one thing only to be proven wrong. Because the characters are so complex their relationships are just as complicated if not more so. Selfishness and possessiveness create believable and often heartbreaking situations that the characters have to deal with either together or on their own. Life and relationships are messy and Yazawa doesn’t allow her characters to take the easy way out.

Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka. Ode to Kirihito is probably one of the stranger Tezuka manga that I have read. It’s a mix of medical drama and some sort of horror, with a bit of a revenge tale thrown in for good measure. Kirihito Osanai is a young doctor investigating Monmow, an incurable disease that causes a person’s body to take on dog-like characteristics. His theory is that it is an endemic condition while his superior is adamant that the disease is both viral and contagious. Osanai’s life is changed forever when he himself contracts Monmow. Ode to Kirihito is an engaging read with some real-life parallels to how people with various medical problems are treated and even shunned by others.

Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami. I did enjoy Stargazing Dog but I don’t seem to be quite as taken with it as so many other people are, although I can certainly understand its appeal. What impresses me the most about the manga is how Murakami captures the importance and significance that human-canine relationships can have. Stargazing Dog is about people and the dogs who love them. The manga collects two loosely related stories together, both of which are rather bittersweet. Because Stargazing Dog stands so well on its own and feels satisfyingly complete I was surprised to discover that there is actually a second volume. NBM only released the first volume of the series in print, but both volumes are available digitally from JManga under the title Star Protector Dog.

Filed Under: Library Love Tagged: , , , , , , ,
27 February 2013 24 Comments

Manga Giveaway: Ayako Giveaway

The end of February draws near as does Experiments in Manga’s monthly manga giveaway! In celebration of Vertical’s paperback release of Osamu Tezuka’s Ayako (which just came out a couple of weeks ago) I’m giving away a new copy of the original hardcover edition which will now be going out of print. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Even though only a small fraction of Osamu Tezuka’s total output is available in English, the “god of manga” is still very well represented. Vertical is one of Tezuka’s major publishers in English, but his works have also been released by Viz Media, Digital Manga, and Dark Horse. Later this year, PictureBox will also be joining the list of Tezuka’s English-language publishers. The range of Tezuka’s works available in English is also impressive: manga intended for children, manga for more mature audiences, science fiction, fantasy, horror, medical dramas, historical fiction…the list could go on for a while. Tezuka’s Adolf was my introduction to manga and so that series is very important to me, but at the moment Dororo is my personal favorite from the master.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a new copy of Ayako?

1) In the comments below, tell me about your favorite Tezuka manga. (Never read any Tezuka? You can simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

It’s as easy as that! Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. As usual, you have one week to get your entries in. If you have trouble leaving comments, or if you would prefer, entries can be submitted to me via e-mail at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. I will then post the comment in your name. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on March 6, 2013. Good luck to you all!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced—Manga Giveaway: Ayako Giveaway Winner

Filed Under: Giveaways Tagged: ,
2 February 2013 Leave a Comment

Message to Adolf, Part 2

Creator: Osamu Tezuka
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781935654445
Released: December 2012
Original run: 1983-1985
Awards: Kodansha Manga Award

Osamu Tezuka’s manga series Adorufu ni Tsugu was my introduction to Japanese comics. Initially published in English by Viz Media in five volumes under the title Adolf between 1996 and 1997, the series is now available from Vertical in two hardcover omnibuses under the title Message to Adolf. The second omnibus, Message to Adolf, Part 2, was published in 2012 and collects chapters eighteen through thirty-six of the manga. In Japan Adorufu ni Tsugu was first serialized between 1983 and 1985. Tezuka went on to win the Kodansha Manga Award for the series in 1986. I am absolutely thrilled that after being out of print for so long the series is once again available in English. I was also happy to discover after reading Message to Adolf, Part 1 that the series was just as good if not better than I remembered it being. I looked forward to re-reading its conclusion a great deal.

Forced to join the Hitler Youth and forced to kill, Adolf Kaufmann is no longer the innocent boy he once was. Despite being half-Japanese, he has quickly climbed the ranks of the Nazi elite, even becoming the personal secretary of Adolf Hitler for a time. Although his indoctrination is nearly complete, he is still plagued by guilt over the deaths he has caused. Back in Japan his best friend Adolf Kamil, a Jew, has come into possession of documents proving Hitler’s Jewish heritage. Guarding the information with his life, the time has come to try to find a way to reveal the secret to the world in an attempt to take the Nazi party down. Those documents will bring Adolf Kamil and Adolf Kaufmann together once again, along with the Japanese journalist Sohei Toge.

One of the things that makes Message to Adolf work so well is that Tezuka expertly combines his historical fiction with historical fact. Placing his story within the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II (and eventually the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well) emphasizes the realism of the tale. Tezuka’s message in Message to Adolf is not a subtle one: the manga is inherently anti-war and anti-prejudice. A major theme is that war, hate, and extreme ideology are not only destructive but ultimately pointless. This is poignantly captured in the development of the character of Adolf Kaufmann who loses everything—his friends, his family, and even himself—as he strives to achieve the ideal that he has been taught is right. His downfall and undoing and the atrocities he and others commit in the name of justice and patriotism are as tragic as they are harrowing.

Message to Adolf is an impressively complex and layered narrative with several storylines that weave in and out of one another, sometimes overlapping and sometimes standing alone. Plot threads and characters introduced early on in the series return again in the second half, often in unexpected ways. Events that at first appear tangential are later pulled back into the main narrative. But as complicated as the structure of Message to Adolf is, Tezuka is in complete control the entire time. It is easy to follow and easy to be swept up in the epic tale. Message to Adolf is understandably bleak; it does deal with a dark period in history after all. Moments of light appear only to be repeatedly crushed. But ultimately, Message to Adolf leaves a hope that human beings can change and can do better. It’s not free of problems, but I honestly believe Message to Adolf is one of Tezuka’s best and most compelling series.

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7 December 2012 Leave a Comment

Dororo, Volume 2

Creator: Osamu Tezuka
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781934287170
Released: June 2008
Original run: 1967-1968
Awards: Eisner Award

Although I’ve read quite a few of the works by Osamu Tezuka that are available English, Dororo remains one of my personal favorites. Dororo is one of Tezuka’s transitional manga, bridging between his earlier, brighter works and his later, more mature stories. Dororo strikes a great balance between its darker elements and its action-adventure leanings. I particularly enjoy Dororo‘s mix of historical fantasy and legend. The manga was originally serialized in Japan between 1967 and 1968. The English-language edition of Dororo was initially published as three individual volumes in 2008 by Vertical, winning an Eisner Award in 2009. That particular edition is now out of print, but fortunately Vertical re-released the series as a single-volume omnibus in 2012. It makes me very happy that the series is still readily available. I’ve read Dororo several times now and am glad that others will still have the opportunity to do the same.

Dororo, Volume 2 continues to follow companions Hyakkimaru and Dororo as they travel across Japan. Outcasts of society, they have no choice but to move from one place to another; they are repeatedly driven out of the villages that they happen across along their way. The two travelers don’t have much, but at least they have each other. Although they might be reluctant to admit it, Hyakkimaru and Dororo make a good team as they face the trials and tribulations encountered on their journey across the war-torn country. Ultimately, Hyakkimaru wants to find happiness and a palace where he can live in peace, but his more immediate concern is to hunt and destroy the demons to which his body was sacrificed by his father. Little does he know that this goal will lead him back to the very family which abandoned him as a newborn, only to result in further tragedy.

Although Hyakkimaru and Dororo must repeatedly confront demons, it is often the humans they encounter who are the true monsters of the story. People can be very cruel to one another and war often brings out the worst. Some of the most horrifying acts committed in Dororo, Volume 2 have nothing to do with ghouls and demons and everything to do with individuals who lust for power and people’s propensity towards violence. Some of the most benevolent characters in Dororo, Volume 2 are actually the inhuman creatures. Even the more kindly people simply can’t bring themselves to accept Hyakkimaru, regardless of the fact that he is often the one who has saved them from the spirits and demons that plague them. Hyakkimaru has come to expect this from others, but the younger Dororo is still frustrated by the situation’s inherent unfairness. Dororo is one of the very few people who is able to completely accept Hyakkimaru for who he is.

One of the things that I enjoy the most about Dororo is the relationship between Hyakkimaru and Dororo. Dororo is a bright kid and is surprisingly optimistic despite having a tragic past. Hyakkimaru, who has certainly seen his own fair share of tragedy, is significantly darker and more world-weary. Their personalities balance each other nicely; both Dororo and Hyakkimaru provide something that the other needs. The human companionship they share is important, especially when living in a world that has rejected them. The two outcasts, even though unrelated by blood, are close enough to be siblings. Hyakkimaru and Dororo have grown quite attached to each other. They have their fights and spats and there’s plenty of good-natured teasing, but they truly seem to care for and look out for the other. Even after several rereads Dororo is still a series that I appreciate and enjoy immensely, especially for its lead characters.

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