My Week in Manga: September 12-September 18, 2011

My News and Reviews

I’m pretty happy with my posts from last week. The first was the first in-depth manga review for September, Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte, Volume 1. I really like Parasyte and highly recommend it; I find it to be an engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking manga. You can find my quick take for the entire series from last year here. My second post last week was also manga related—Finding Manga: Akadot Retail. It’s part of a recurring feature here at Experiments in Manga where I focus and give suggestions on places to find and buy manga. If you don’t want to take the time to read the entire thing, just jump down to the bottom of the post and you’ll find some quick tips. Anyway, that’s it for now! I promise next week to start pointing out some interesting online reading again. I’ve gotten out of the habit of doing that.

Quick Takes

Black Lagoon, Volumes 6-9 by Rei Hiroe. With the publication of the ninth volume, the English edition has caught up with the Japanese releases. These four volumes include the longest story arc in Black Lagoon to date, “El Baile de la muerte,” which lasts for nearly three and a half volumes. I really enjoyed the first five books of Black Lagoon, but I found that this story arc tried my patience. The characters can never just come out and say what they’re trying to say, hiding everything in metaphors. I still like the manga, though. My favorite characters are the crew of the Black Lagoon. While they play an important role in this arc, they really aren’t seen that much which rather disappointed me. I want more Rock!

Bloody Monday, Volume 1 written by Ryou Ryumon and illustrated by Kouji Megumi. I really wanted to like Bloody Monday, but the first volume just didn’t work for me. It might be because I’m familiar with some of the capabilities of modern technology, but the bad guys come across as kind of stupid when they’re taken by surprise by what Takagi can do. (They’re like, “It cannot be!” while I’m like, “Well, duh.”) And they’re supposed to be the masterminds behind some nefarious plot. Even that plan isn’t clear yet, although it probably has to do with causing the deaths of a lot of people. But why, and who is involved, has still yet to be revealed. The creators also work in some inexplicable panty and cleavage shots without even really trying to make the fanservice a legitimate part of the story.

A Bride’s Story, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori. The first thing I noticed about A Bride’s Story was its art. Each panel is stunning in the amount of detail that Mori puts into it. And unlike some artists I’ve seen, the detail feels natural and isn’t overwhelming. It’s simply the way it should be. Mori’s ability to tell a story with art alone is also impressive; many scenes have little or no dialogue at all. I am enjoying getting to know the Eihon family along with Amir, who has just married into the group. She’s considered an old bride at the age of twenty. With gorgeous artwork and gorgeous storytelling, I’m really looking forward to reading more of A Bride’s Story. Additionally, Yen Press’ hardcover releases are beautiful.

Cruel to Be Kind by Guilt | Pleasure. Guilt | Pleasure is Jo Chen’s boys’ love circle. Cruel to Be Kind is a companion volume to the web-novel of the same name (which can be read here). This yaoi dōjinshi collects the illustrations for the web-novel (some, but not all, of which are available to view online), an illustrated side story (which I actually like better than the primary story, although it doesn’t make as much sense without it), a sketch journal from the original incarnation of Cruel to Be Kind which is very different from the current version, a brief interview with the creators, and a few guest illustrations. The printing is of very high quality and, of course, Chen’s artwork is, too.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Season 1, Part 2 (Episodes 17-28) directed by Seiji Mizushima. If an anime series makes me want to cry when one of the character dies, it must be doing something right. The plot and characters in Fullmetal Alchemist continue to develop nicely as new twists and characters are introduced. I’m particularly fond of Sheska, once a clerk at the First Branch of the state library but now an indispensable member of the military’s intelligence division and an absolute bookworm. The already established characters also have some fine moments, Maes Hughes in particular, and more is revealed about Roy Mustang’s motivations. The Elric brothers, too, continue to grow.

My Week in Manga: October 18-October 24, 2010

My News and Reviews

I currently have a manga giveaway going on that ends on Wednesday, October 27 (this week)—Mushishi Madness. No one has entered yet, which makes me very sad. Mushishi is a great series and I want to share the love! So, come on, get your free manga.

I haven’t updated the Resources page in a while, but I have been collecting links and have found some great new (to me) sites. I’ll try to get most of those added this week. I’ll also be creating a new section for podcasts, so if you know of any good ones, let me know.

On Friday I posted my personal response to the Gay for You? Yaoi and Yuri Manga for GBLTQ Readers panel held at NYAF/NYCC. Deb Aoki has posted the transcript of the event. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you should. I’m rather proud of myself and this post and am very happy to see the number of hits it’s been receiving. Thank you to David Welsh of The Manga Curmudgeon and Melinda Beasi of Manga Bookshelf for helping to get the link out there. I’d also like to thank everyone for the kind comments, support, and encouragement I received after posting it.

Quick Takes

Black Lagoon, Volumes 1-5 by Rei Hiroe. Black Lagoon opens with what has to be my favorite first panel ever—a close-up of a salaryman taking a hard punch to the face. From there, the action and mayhem hardly ever stop. It’s violent, over-the-top, sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes rather dark, but man is it a fun ride. I like this series best when either Revy or Rock are on the scene. Revy is a gun-toting badass with an extremely foul-mouth and viscous attitude. She’s kinda scary in a psychotically awesome sort of way. Rock on the other hand, the aforementioned salaryman, seems like he won’t last too long as part of the underworld but he’s a lot more reslient than he first appears.

Cat Paradise, Volumes1-2 by Yuji Iwahara. At Matabi Academy a small group of students, along with their cats, have been chosen to protect the school and the world against the evil demon Kaen and his minions. The superpowers granted to each pair is based on what suits them best, something that they can do better than anyone else. In the case of Yumi, that’s creating outfits for her cat Kansuke, much to his embarrassment and dismay. How can you not love magical knitting that gives a cat human form so that he can fight monsters? So it might be a little silly, but the series is extremely entertaining and I can’t wait to read more.

Embracing Love, Volumes 1-3 by Youka Nitta. Iwaki and Katou are rival porn stars that end up sleeping together as part of an audition for a mainstream film. Straight Iwaki, whose career is waning, at first can’t stand the younger, more successful Katou but ends up developing feelings for him. In addition to having to deal with career problems and media scandals, the two will also have to confront their families about their choices. Nitta includes plenty of sex scenes for the two, none of which feel out of place. Katou’s carefree nature plays nicely against Iwaki’s more restrained personality. This is seriously one of the best yaoi series that I’ve read and I really hope that someone rescues the license.

Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa has directed some brilliant films, including Seven Samurai, one of my personal favorites. A few years before that he directed Rashomon, which won an Oscar in 1951 for Best Foreign Language Film. A woman is raped and her husband murdered while traveling through the woods. Three days later the women, the assailant, the dead man (through a medium), and a woodcutter who happened across the scene give their testimony at the local court. But they each give a different version of the events and each has a reason to lie or hide truth of what actually happened.

Random Musings: 365 Days of Manga Loot

Jason Thompson, author of the hilarious King of RPGs, Manga: The Complete Guide, and reviewer for Otaku USA, is currently running a contest and review series called “365 Days of Manga” over at Suvudu (scroll down, the entry form is in the right most column—one winner is chosen per day and you can enter once a day until you win). The contest is getting close to it’s end, but if your entry is selected, you win five free manga from Jason’s collection along with the opportunity to receive five more by posting your picture with your loot. (Official rules)

I won without even knowing it. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to get an e-mail notification but instead, a package full of free manga just magically appeared on my doorstep. I was not going to complain.

So, what did I get?

The first thing I pulled out was Yuki Urushibara’s Mushishi, Volume 6 which really confused me since I already own the entire run of Mushishi—this was before I realized what was going on and that I had won. Mushishi is a fantastic series, by the way. Next out of the package was Koichi Ohata’s M.D. Geist, complete in one volume, and the first edition of No Need for Tenchi!, Volume 11: Ayeka’s Heart by Hitoshi Okuda. I wasn’t particularly familiar with either of those titles, although I vaguely remember a Tenchi anime airing on Cartoon Network at some point. I also received a volume from the notoriously bad .hack manga franchise, .hack//4koma by Koichi Sumimaru, which actually manages to be funny at times (at least if you’re a gamer and I more or less am). Finally, lurking in the depths of the package, I discovered  Kurohime, Volume 6 by Masanori Ookamigumi Katakura. It’s part of an highly episodic series rumored to be cheese-tastic, so I looked forward to trying it out.

Like a good little manga addict, I posted my photo online and wouldn’t you know it, another package full of free manga magically appeared on my doorstep, this time containing Love Hurts by Suzuki Tanaka and Black Lagoon, Volumes 2-5 by Rei Hiroe. I must admit, as excited as I was to win the first time, I was absolutely thrilled with my second package; I really wanted to read Black Lagoon but hadn’t coughed up the cash for it yet and I’ll certainly never turn down yaoi. So, yeah, very happy with my free manga.

Thanks, Jason!