Because Matthew gave no indication that he's read any manga at all I decided to offer recommendations of fairly well known titles to help him get his feet "wet" with stories I feel are very friendly to the American comic book reader.

1.  Slam Dunk, by Takehike Inoue, published by Viz.

Description by publisher: Basketball. The court, the ball, the hoop. The hopes, the dreams, the sweat. It takes dedication and discipline to be the best, and the Shohoku High hoops team wants to be just that—the best. They have one last year to make their captain's dream of reaching the finals come true—will they do it? Takehiko Inoue's legendary basketball manga is finally here, and the tale of a lifetime is in your hands!

Sakuragi Hanamichi's got no game with girls—none at all! It doesn't help that he's known for throwing down at a moment's notice and always coming out on top. A hopeless bruiser, he's been rejected by 50 girls in a row! All that changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, Haruko, and she's actually not afraid of him! When she introduces him to the game of basketball, his life is changed forever...

2.  Planetes, Makoto Yukimura, published by Tokyopop.

Description by publishers: In the 2070's, mankind has established a mining base on the moon and dispatched men to explore Mars. The first manned mission to Jupiter is also in progress. As a result of this interplanetary activity, space debris is increasing and its collection has become a new profession.

In the 1st volume of Makoto Yukimura's Planetes, we meet Yuri, Hachimaki, and Fee. Hachimaki's dream is to buy his own spaceship. He thinks he can earn money quickly by joining the crew of the first expedition to Jupiter. Yuri lost his wife in a space travel accident, and became a debris collector out of a desperate desire to discover some remembrance of her. Fee takes great pride in her profession and works very hard, having left behind her husband and young son on earth.

In a dark and cruel universe, each of these space junkers grapples with his or her own personal problems.

3.  Bleach, by Tite Kubo, published by Viz.

Description by publisher: Bleach tells the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, who is just like any other ordinary 15-year-old high school student -- except for his special ability to see ghosts. So when a teenage girl materializes through his bedroom wall, it should be no call for alarm. However, this girl, named Rukia, is a shinigami (Soul Reaper) who is hunting a Hollow (an evil spirit that consumes souls). The Hollow proceeds to attack Ichigo's family and Rukia is badly wounded. In order to defeat the evil spirit, Rukia must let Ichigo temporarily become a Soul Reaper by absorbing some of her energy. However, Ichigo inadvertently ends up with all of Rukia's powers and after defeating the Hollow, she informs Ichigo that since she has relinquished all her powers, he must now take on all the responsibilities of a Soul Reaper until she can figure out how to get her powers back. Now this 15-year-old high school student begins a brand new vocation as a hyperkinetic, all-purpose ghost buster. With enough attitude to make a grown demon blush, Ichigo and crew are cleaning up the afterlife, one ghoul at a time.

25 Comments

• At November 19, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  Matthew E. (who might hate me just a little)

  I might?

  Matthew gave no indication that he's read any manga at all ...

• At November 19, 2009, Jordan wrote:

  I'd also suggest H2 (a good manga about baseball) and even Hunter x Hunter (which has definitely faded a bit ...

• At November 19, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Matthew -- sorry, I just was having a little fun at your expense because you gave me three such different ...

• At November 19, 2009, JimYung wrote:

  Is there a baseball manga being published in the US? Thanks for bringing Big Windup to my attention. I'll move ...

• At November 19, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  JimYung -- As far as I know there are no manga about baseball being published in the U.S. (the only ...

• At November 19, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  When I think baseball manga I think Mitsuru Adachi, but the only manga of his to be published in the ...

• At November 19, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Ohhhh good catch, Michelle! For those reading the comments that means this manga will be available, free, online for ...

• At November 19, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  And, if reader interest is enough, eventually published in a print edition! :)

  Here's the update calendar that confirms its appearance ...

• At November 19, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Aaaaand here it is!

• At November 19, 2009, JimYung wrote:

  Wow, that was bad! It seems like a baseball manga about American baseball without any knowledge of American baseball.

• At November 19, 2009, rocket_yaourt wrote:

  i could recommand a lot of mangas, i'm french so i don't really know how much different mangas you have ...

• At November 19, 2009, T. wrote:

  If he likes Legion of Super-Heroes, I'd think you'd be better off going with Naruto and One Piece rather than ...

• At November 19, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Actually, I think of Bleach as the most basic kind of superhero-esque type book out there! (That was my ...

• At November 19, 2009, Okman wrote:

  It's a real shame there's no Mitsuru Adachi stuff in America yet. Honestly, I remember reading H2 a couple years ...

• At November 19, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  I'm hoping that, with the recent trend towards omnibus editions, someone will license Adachi's Touch and put it out, like, ...

• At November 19, 2009, Ryan wrote:

  When someone hasn't read Manga you should either recommend the absolute, slam bang, no miss classics like Lone Wolf and ...

• At November 20, 2009, Joe wrote:

  You'd be foolish to disregard Japan's love of baseball, Ryan. High school baseball over in Japan is as big as ...

• At November 20, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Yeah, I'm with Joe on this one.

  The shonen/action story is a huge field in Japan, it makes sense to recommend ...

• At November 20, 2009, Love, terror, Jaws « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Leigh has more customized manga recommendations at Comics Should Be [...]

• At November 20, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  I realize these picks don't really correspond to his interests, but his interests are uniquely American. Looking to a foreign ...

• At November 20, 2009, Digit wrote:

  If it wasn't for the specific criteria mentioned, I'd have recommend "Monster" by Naoki Urasawa for the new-to-manga.

  it's intelligent, it's ...

• At November 20, 2009, Digit wrote:

  (Well, depending on how you define Arthurian, anyway!)

• At November 20, 2009, CriticalFel wrote:

  I also agree with T. that One Piece and Naruto represent the "huge ensemble cast" better.

  Unlike Bleach, both have an ...

• At November 20, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  I'm taking notes.

  (Just so I don't come off as unreasonable, I'd like to mention that the criteria I mentioned were ...

• At November 22, 2009, Ahavah wrote:

  Just wanted to point out that "Ninja Baseball Kuyuma!" Is a baseball manga currently coming out in the US, published ...

Crimson Shell by Jun Mochizuki.  Crimson Shell is a single volume release that tries to cram about 5 volumes of plot into one.  Ambition in storytelling isn't a bad thing but in this fantasy story -- about a girl who has a special power planted in her body in the form of a "red rose seed" -- the reader is bombarded with plot-twist after plot-twist.  The heroine, Claudia, is betrayed by the dark swordsman who once rescued her from an isolated existence and had helped her to draw on her powers to fight those who have been contaminated by the deadly Black Rose.  Her only thought after the betrayal is to save him, a task made more complicated by the fact she constantly finds herself among people who are always revealed to have hidden motivations for getting close to her.

In a way, Crimson Shell draws on fairy tale-esque imagery (red roses, girl "woken" from a kind of slumber by a knight), while not actually trying to reproduce any particular fairy tale.   One thing that surprised me is that in spite of feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of the plot in this manga, I never wanted to stop reading the volume.  The art -- while still in what I think of as a Square-Enix "house style" -- integrates the imagery of roses to offer a distinctive twist on that style.  It is hard to see a beautiful rose and not be reminded of the thorns lurking there, which is exactly the kind of tone Mochizuki manages to maintain throughout the volume.

This is a flawed comic but it should be noted it is also Jun Mochizuki's very first collected work.  As such, it actually bodes well that the book is overwhelming rather than underwhelming, which means I am looking forward to checking out the upcoming December release of Pandora Hearts (also by Mochizuki) to see how she develops as a creator.

Review Copy provided by Yen Press.

Jormungand volume 1, by Keitario Takahashi.  In many ways, Jormungand -- an action tale detailing the dangerous missions of a group of arms dealers -- feels unfinished.  It has sketchy art, somewhat shallow characterization, and plots that lack a certain level of coherence.  The book hangs on the figure of Jonah, a young West Asian boy who has lost his parents to a war (I don't believe any particular war is identified as the culprit) and as a result has become a child soldier.  The book opens when he joins the gung-ho Koko's crew of mercenaries (i.e. "M.O.D." or Merchants of Death).  Jonah, therefore, becomes a peddler of the very thing he claims to hate the most -- guns.  In other words, from the start his characterization is rather cloudy, but then there's a lot that doesn't make much sense in this book.  Admittedly, there is a purposeful sense of perversity instilled in book -- after all, a boy who hates guns decides to sell them and a group that sells weapons claims to be working "to promote world peace."

Koko -- the leader who is a bit reminiscent of Revy from Black Lagoon -- is clearly the figure (or should I use the more offensive, but descriptive, phrase "hot chick"?) in this book who has a thing for both madness and violence (and, of course, seems the most hyped when those things are all tangled up together) but she lacks the charismatic pull Revy has.   And as a whole that is what the book suffers from the most -- more than just a sense of consistent characterization, these characters lack the hook that makes us care about what happens to them and why they got in the weapons business in the first place.  In a violent action story it helps immensely if we care about whether or not the characters are going to live to see tomorrow, particularly in order to interest us in the dangerous games they are playing in each chapter, but this first volume wasn't able to inspire either emotion in me.

Review Copy provided by Viz.

2 Comments

• At November 18, 2009, 4thletter! » Blog Archive » Jormungand 1: Peace Through Superior Firepower wrote:

  [...] reading it. The second was the fact that Kate Dacey (review on MangaCritic) and Danielle Leigh (review on CSBG) ...

• At November 19, 2009, Astro Boy and some giveaways « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Novel Reporter) Connie on vol. 3 of Arm of Kannon (Slightly Biased Manga) Danielle Leigh on Crimson Shell and ...

Am I up to the challenge?

1.  Solanin, by Inio Asano, published by Viz.

Description: Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Naruo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.

2.  Astral Project, by marginal and Syuji Takeya, published by CMX.

Description: A modern tale of the supernatural by the author of the Eisner Award-winning Old Boy. ("marginal" is one of several aliases by creator Garon Tsuchiya.) Masahiko is estranged from his family and lives a dead-end life in Tokyo, working as a chauffeur for high-class call girls. When his sister dies under mysterious circumstances, he inherits an unlabeled CD from her possessions. Listening to the jazz music it contains, he is propelled into an out-of-body experience. As he repeats the experience, he begins to wonder if this was how his sister died. Masahiko is determined to find the cause of her death, and the mystery behind the CD.

3.  Children of the Sea, by Daisuke Igarashi, published by Viz.

Description: When Ruka was younger, she saw a ghost in the water at the aquarium where her dad works. Now she feels drawn toward the aquarium and the two mysterious boys she meets there, Umi and Sora. They were raised by dugongs and hear the same strange calls from the sea as she does.

Ruka's dad and the other adults who work at the aquarium are only distantly aware of what the children are experiencing as they get caught up in the mystery of the worldwide disappearance of the oceans' fish.

19 Comments

• At November 16, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  I'm impressed with your ability to make good picks! I think I'd have been kind of stumped, but you ...

• At November 16, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Ohh. very kind praise! There are few requests coming up that are going to be very challenging, let me ...

• At November 16, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Solanin was the only title I could think of that fit this title. What a Wonderful World was a close ...

• At November 16, 2009, Joe wrote:

  "...title that fit the requirements." :P My bad.

• At November 17, 2009, Eric Rupe wrote:

  Good picks. I like all of the titles, love solanin, but I'm only halfway through Astral Project. I think What ...

• At November 17, 2009, Tezuka, Inoue, and thoughts on the Japanese model « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Leigh has more personalized recommendations in her latest Manga Before Flowers [...]

• At November 17, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  I'm gonna have to check out Solanin and Astral Project. Those both look pretty neat.

  Your description of Astral Project kind ...

• At November 17, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Tekende -- oh just a quick note, I'm being lazy and stealing descriptions from the publisher. Maybe I ...

• At November 17, 2009, JimYung wrote:

  I loved Solanin and the two What a Wonderful World collections. I hope Viz brings more of his work to ...

• At November 17, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  hi JimYung...I'll just be lazy and link to my review of the title:

  http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/06/30/danielle-leighs-reading-diary-children-of-the-sea-vol-1/

  It really is a lovely title and ...

• At November 17, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Oohhh, I don't like Negima, either. Perhaps you should ask Ed Sizemore for help there; he's a fan of ...

• At November 17, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Thanks, Danielle! I will check out all these titles!

  Solanin sounds like a real winner--a very grounded concept in contrast ...

• At November 17, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  It's funny you say "grounded" when one of your key words was "existential." heh.

  Children of the Sea -- amazing, ...

• At November 17, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  That helps!

  I think "grounded" and "existential" are part and parcel. It's "how" I live my life and "why" I ...

• At November 17, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  @Danielle - Oh no, I was one of the two people who mentioned Negima (!) - I almost feel ashamed ...

• At November 18, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Dane -- heh. No need to feel ashamed! Negima and I just don't match up well (I'll still ...

• At November 18, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  @Danielle - Awesome! Solanin is going on my Christmas list and I'll hope my woeful library system has Astral Project ...

• At November 18, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Hi Dane -- well, after two volumes there was no reason to continue to read something that just didn't appeal ...

• At November 18, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  I'm totally with you, Danielle. That's why I have a ton of first volumes of a lot of series. They ...

Step up for your personalized manga recommendations, JimYung!

1. Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, by Karuho Shiina, published by Viz.

Description: Sawako Kuronuma is the perfect heroine...for a horror movie. With striking similarities to a haunting movie character--jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor--she's mistakenly called Sadako by those around her. But behind her scary façade is a very misunderstood teenager. Too shy to fit in, all she wants to do is make some friends. But when the most popular boy in class befriends her, she's sure to make more than just that--she's about to make some enemies too!

2.  Venus Capriccio, by Mai Nishikata, published by CMX.

Description: Takami and Akira are childhood friends who took piano lessons together when they were little. Takami was a tomboy who grew up among four brothers, while Akira was a cute, quiet boy who was skilled in piano more so than Takami. They grew up like siblings -at least, that is how Takami felt. Years later, things began to change when Akira suddenly kisses and confesses his feelings for Takami. She is startled by Akira's unexpected affection and doesn't know how to react…until Takumi begins to realize that her feelings for Akira are beginning to change.

3.  Otomen, by Aya Kanno, published by Viz.

Description:  Asuka Masamune is a guy who loves girly things--sewing, knitting, making cute stuffed animals and reading shojo comics. But in a world where boys are expected to act manly, Asuka must hide his beloved hobbies and play the part of a masculine jock instead. Ryo Miyakozuka, on the other hand, is a girl who can't sew or bake a cake to save her life. Asuka finds himself drawn to Ryo, but she likes only the manliest of men! Can Asuka ever show his true self to anyone, much less to the girl that he's falling for?

15 Comments

• At November 13, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  I think the Kimi ni Todoke recommendation is spot-on because it, like both Love*Com and High School Debut ran in ...

• At November 13, 2009, JimYung wrote:

  Thanks for the recommendations! I see my library has Kimi ni Todoke and Otomen so I'll try them out.

• At November 13, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  *nods* Yeah, that was totally part of my logic there.

  I think Venus C. is a more traditional romance but I ...

• At November 13, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  You are quite welcome, JimYung! You must have one of those truly awesome libraries if it is already carrying ...

• At November 13, 2009, JimYung wrote:

  NYPL!

  Unfortunately, they only have 1 copy of Kimi Ni Todoke. They have the first 3 volumes of Otomen but ...

• At November 13, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  Kimi ni Todoke! I don't read too much shoujou manga, but I love this.

• At November 13, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Let's see...Crimson Hero (Viz, Sports Romance), Itazura na Kiss (Romantic Comedy, to be published this fall by DMP), The Devil ...

• At November 13, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I'm not real big into romance, but from the plot synopsis, these seem a bit more original than the normal ...

• At November 13, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Other Margaret titles include Boys Over Flowers, B.O.D.Y. (technically in the offshoot Bessatsu Margaret), Mixed Vegetables, and Tail of the ...

• At November 13, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  Otomen sounds pretty awesome to me. Actually they all do (despite the fact that the only one with art that ...

• At November 13, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Nope, none are finished yet! But Viz is a very stable company and their releases come out on a ...

• At November 14, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Venus Capriccio is complete in Japan, while Otomen and Kimi ni Todoke have both reached their ninth volumes there.

  Otomen is ...

• At November 16, 2009, Monday news roundup « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Leigh has another round of personalized manga recommendations at Comics Should Be [...]

• At November 17, 2009, lys wrote:

  Actually, quite a few of the Margaret titles mentioned are from Bessatsu Margaret (BODY, Crimson Hero, Devil Does Exist, LoveCom, ...

• At November 18, 2009, Ahavah wrote:

  Don't forget "Monkey High"! (It often gets lost in the shuffle). It feels *a lot* like Love*Com, in terms of ...

Today I offer three series for Nitz the Bloody.

Nitz the Bloody requested "closest manga equivalents of 'post-human superhero' stories, like WildStorm and the Ultimate Universe? If I like the kind of darkly humorous, culturally relevant takes on science fiction, what in manga would be the best?

Danielle's Recommendations:

1. Dogs, by Shirow Miwa, published by Viz.

Description: Boasting furious action, switchback plotting, magnetic characters and dazzling art, Dogs tells the story of four individuals struggling to survive a dystopian urban future by gun and sword and courage and luck.

2.  Eden: It's an Endless World, by Hiroki Endo, published by Dark Horse.

Description: Eden Volume One is both a brilliant love song to the post-apocalyptic survival genre and the beginning of a deep exploration on man's role in the natural order. In the near future, a large portion of humanity is wiped out by a brutal, new virus that hardens the skin while dissolving internal organs. Those who aren't immune are either severely crippled or allowed to live with cybernetically enhanced bodies. Taking advantage of a world in chaos, a paramilitary force known as the Propater topples the United Nations and seeks world domination. Elia, a young survivor searching for his mother, travels towards the Andes Mountains with an artificially intelligent combat robot. When he encounters a group of anti-Propater freedom fighters, a maelstrom of unique characters unfolds. Graphic, cyberpunk, and philosophical, Eden is a place where endearing heroes face a constant struggle for survival and violent surprises wait around every corner!

3.  Bokurano: Ours, by Mohiro Kito, published online by Viz here.

Description: One summer, fifteen kids innocently wander into a nearby seaside cave. There they meet a strange man who invites them to play an exciting new video game. This game, he explains, pits one lone giant robot against a horde of alien invaders. To play the game, all they have to do is sign a simple contract. The game stops being fun when the kids find out the true purpose of their pact.

15 Comments

• At November 12, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I had been interested in Eden for a while, but I'd never heard of Dogs or Bokurano.

• At November 12, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Well, Bokurano is still being published online so you can check it out (the collection will be out early next ...

• At November 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Eden is fantastic. How many volumes is it? I haven't seen a new one in Previews recently.

• At November 12, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Thank you, Danielle. Will definitely check out Bokurano online, and look into the other two in stores.

• At November 12, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  hi Greg, Eden is 18 volumes I believe. Dark Horse is probably only putting it out about once a ...

• At November 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Sheesh. That's annoying.

• At November 12, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  Hey Danielle, how many of these are published to completion in the U.S.? They all sound great, but I'm tired ...

• At November 12, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Hi Dane, none are complete yet. Unless someone specifically asks (like you) I'm not going to worry about complete ...

• At November 12, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  Thanks! Eden looks like its 2/3 complete. My only fear is that if I wait for its completion, by the ...

• At November 12, 2009, Sean G wrote:

  I'd also recommend Battle Angel Alita and its sequel, Battle Angel Alita: Last Orders if you like dystopian SF manga.

• At November 12, 2009, CriticalFel wrote:

  Just wanted to point, IMO, Bokurano's not really "darkly humorous"... It's more "darkly depressing". It's heavy stuff, and even ...

• At November 13, 2009, James Moar wrote:

  CriticalFel,

  It may depend on your sense of humour a bit -- there's certainly humour in Bokurano, even if it tends ...

• At November 13, 2009, Reading Over Shoulders | Extremely Graphic wrote:

  [...] Danielle Leigh has a few suggestions. [...]

• At November 13, 2009, Yuri chat, moe politics, and shoujo podcast « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Leigh posts her first round of manga recommendations at Comics Should Be [...]

• At November 13, 2009, CriticalFel wrote:

  Heh- I actually thought about how Dung Beetle may be funny sometimes after writing that post, but while I was ...

Since the whole conversation has come up again about getting your "special lady" to read the comics *you like* (based on the assumption only men read comics), instead of the comics women might like, I'd thought I'd turn the tables and see if I can make recommendations to folks who need a new manga title to read, or would simply like to try out manga out for the first time.   (See commentary by manga bloggers about this issue of "tricking" your girlfriend into liking your comics here, here, and here).

So, tell me anything -- you like stories that focus on x, you don't like stories that have y.   Actually, if you can, go ahead give me three key words.  And I'll try my best to give you a recommendation or two that suits your taste.  Or you can claim that you'll never like manga, EVER!!!!!, no matter what I do, get off my lawn you damn kid!, and I'll still try to find something for you.  Because I'm nothing if not singleminded when it comes to manga.

28 Comments

• At November 11, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Okay;

  Closest manga equivalents of " post-human superhero " stories, like WildStorm and the Ultimate Universe? If I like the kind ...

• At November 11, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Ohhhh.....very interesting. I'll pool together my answers in the next post but you've given me a nice challenge! ...

• At November 11, 2009, JimYung wrote:

  Are there any manga titles similar to Kindaichi Files and Detective Conan? Speaking of which, is Kindaichi Files officially no ...

• At November 11, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  JimYung -- some great questions! (I particularly like the second 'cause shojo is my strongest area).

  I'll be sure to ...

• At November 11, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Three key words:

  Thoughtful

  Existential

  Humorous (actually, if you feel like finding me a girlfriend with the same attributes, go ahead!)

  Speaking of ...

• At November 11, 2009, danielle leigh wrote:

  Dan --- ohhhh. I already thought of at least two manga I can recommend (I think the real challenge ...

• At November 11, 2009, Matthew E wrote:

  Hmm. Well, my favourite comic book is Legion of Super-Heroes. I like stuff that suggests that some intelligence went into ...

• At November 11, 2009, Tezuka goes to the Smithsonian « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Leigh has an interesting challenge in her latest Manga Before Flowers column: Tell her what you like, and she’ll ...

• At November 11, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Giant Robots

  Adventure

  Optimism

  I've seen and enjoyed a bit of anime involving giant robots but so far, I haven't been able to ...

• At November 11, 2009, Eric Rupe wrote:

  Some key words...

  Sci-Fi

  Fantasy

  Cyberpunk

  My favorite comic writer is Grant Morrison so anything similar to his work is also something I'd be ...

• At November 11, 2009, Timothy wrote:

  Ok well I've read quite a few manga and so far I've liked Comedy, Romance, and poetry type things

• At November 11, 2009, Rin wrote:

  I like josei/ shojo series that are not too romanti or smutty, my two favourites are Honey and Clover and ...

• At November 11, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Thanks, guys, some great challenges here....I'll probably start posting recommendations within the next few days, starting with first come, first ...

• At November 11, 2009, Da Fug wrote:

  I've gotten a bit of manga out from my library, but I haven't LOVED any of it unreservedly. I ...

• At November 11, 2009, Alex Scales wrote:

  I've always been a huge manga-ite (if that's even a real term); Back in high school i was in love ...

• At November 11, 2009, Birley wrote:

  Oh wow... I wish I came here earlier. ^_^

  If you have the time, mind recommending some manga?

  I'm looking for something ...

• At November 12, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  No worries -- I'll start today and keep on going till I reach the end! :-)

  Everyone keep watch the blog ...

• At November 12, 2009, Oliver wrote:

  Interesting challenge! Here are 3 points I would like a manga to have (I don't discriminate between Shojo and Shonen):

  1) ...

• At November 12, 2009, The Dane wrote:

  Okay, so here's my challenge to you:

  1) Romantic though not necessarily romance

  2) Crisp art

  3) Thought-provoking

  ________________

  Here's some of my manga ...

• At November 12, 2009, Sara K. wrote:

  Hey,

  Alright, I have two challenges for you.

  First of all, myself. I've read quite a bit of manga, but I'm ...

• At November 12, 2009, Linh wrote:

  Hey I like manga series that is not too cliche, has a strong female character is not smutty or overly ...

• At November 12, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Sara -- heh. Lots of challenges here. I'm going in order but for the people that have given ...

• At November 12, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Character-driven

  Intelligent

  Original

  I know that doesn't narrow the field a ton. If it helps, I'd be looking for the manga Love & ...

• At November 12, 2009, Marissa wrote:

  I want something with nice artwork, and a good storyline. I like comedy/cute romance. Some of the series I like ...

• At November 12, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  I'm an inspiration!

• At November 12, 2009, Avalon's Willow wrote:

  I would dearly love some reccs if you have the time and inclination towards a mostly lurker.

  In order of adoration:

  I ...

• At November 12, 2009, Avalon's Willow wrote:

  Ah. Not Corpse Princess. MURDER Princess.

  Corpse Princess gave me a headache.

• At November 13, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  MarkAndrew....you could say that. Um. Sure! Go ahead and say that! ;-)

Moyasimon follows the hilarious trials and often disgusting adventures of agriculture college freshmen Tadayasu.  The story opens on his first day of school, where his special talent -- the ability to see bacteria and other micro-organisms -- is exposed to an eccentric bacterial researcher when he accidentally uncovers the "corpse" of a dead seal by following the trail of "germs" he sees.  In fact, the Professor had buried the seal in order to induce fermentation of around 70-80 seagulls stuffed inside the dead rotting seal which is a "traditional fermented food of the Canadian Inuit."  Obviously, we have a more-than-slightly demented professor who is clearly down with the wacky -- his first, but not last, truly disturbing act in this volume is to rip open one of the birds and drink out its "insides."  Tadayasu's talent makes him a human scientific instrument without parallel according to the Professor, and therefore, means the poor boy is of special interest to this whack-job.

Tadayasu's strange "talent" really is extraordinary -- he can distinguish between different germs by sight and he can actually prove his ability by plucking a germ out of the air and placing it on a petree dish so that others can confirm its identification under a microscope.  However, he seems to lack even the most basic characteristics necessary to advance in the sciences -- an inquiring disposition.  Seeing little germs -- who are often shown as cute little circles comprised of only simplistic expressions and antennae of some form -- is simply a part of his everyday life.  While this vision can be useful -- such as his ability to recognize E. coli, saving the entire class from a case of food poisoning -- it is the Prof. and his snarky assistant Hasesgawa who have the grand (one might even say overblown) vision to imagine the possibilities of bacteria research.  (Let's just say, "Life on Mars" takes on an entirely new meaning in this manga).

Tadayasu struggles somewhat with the fact he can see the disgusting aspects of life that others can't -- such as two sophomore slacker's mold-infested dorm room, where the germs become an overwhelming cloud that blots out Tadayasu's vision.  Or athlete's foot on an otherwise attractive woman.  Or one of a million other ways bacteria finds its way into our daily lives.  It isn't just enough that Tadayasu can see these bacteria -- the creator also makes this story a kind of version of scientific!Oishinbo.  Instead of demonstrating how fish or vegetables should be prepared for maximum taste-awesomenss, these characters like to demonstrate to Tadayasu all the disgustingly significant ways bacteria informs so much of our lives, usually for the better (although the knowledge often isn't conducive to enjoying those aspects of our lives.  As Tadayasu seems to say, is his life really better for knowing that alcohol is really just "yeast poop"?).

The manga is full of quirky characters but the real stars of the show are the germs.  They are delightfully personable and love to communicate their cheerful, almost innocent, intentions with Tadayasu (basically they want reproduce.  Sometimes in your stomach!).  This manga manages to make practical science and modern (and even traditional) uses of bacteria novel and interesting.  More often than not, we are being educated right alongside Tadayasu but we get the pleasure and fun of seeing others wade through (and even ingest) bacteria in all its glorious forms.

Review copy provided by Del Rey.

3 Comments

• At November 11, 2009, Joe wrote:

  My first contact with Moyasimon was the internet, but I found a copy at Hastings and it was equally entertaining. ...

• At November 11, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  *nods* It takes a lot longer to read this series than your average volume of manga, but it is definitely ...

• At November 11, 2009, Tezuka goes to the Smithsonian « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Shoujo Manga Page) Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Moyasimon (Prospero’s Manga) Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Moyasimon: ...

In volume 2, we get to see main character, Shouzo, finally figure out one of the simplest truths of all -- the only thing standing in the way of him having a fulfilling love life is himself.  Returning from the big city to his small hometown to manage his father's construction company, Shouzo is shocked when he realizes how his every move is fodder for town gossip (even whether or not he went into the dollar store when he was running errands is up for phone tag debate).  No wonder the poor guy is rather paranoid as he's fallen in love with a town's resident spaz, Nanami, who hasn't the good sense to figure out that he also wants to embark upon a romantic relationship with Shouzo.  He only knows that he's incredibly jealous when other people get close to Shouzo and that being close to him is the most important thing in his life.  That leaves it up to Shouzo to steer the relationship by taking his cues from the rather inarticulate Nanami, who in many ways may never become the kind of calm, reasoned adult who can sort through his own emotions without a little outside direction.

So much the better, because once Shouzo realizes that Nanami is in love with him, it is almost like a switch is flipped inside his heart.  He decides to go after the love he wants, no matter what the consequences.  Luckily, his resolve is needed because Nanami, while a very kind soul, hasn't got the first clue about how to deceive or protect his new and sudden relationship with his adored childhood friend.  Their attempts to move forward while maintaining secrecy becomes a comedy of errors, as their relationships only stays a secret for about three minutes thanks to Nanami's open and trusting nature.   The majority of this volume focuses upon the two of them coming to terms with their new status as lovers as well as the sudden exposure of their relationship to both their families and the town as a whole (which, thankfully, isn't as traumatic a revelation as Shouzo expected).

I could have read story after story about Shouzo and Nanami's developing relationship but fortunately the book offers not only a satisfying resolution to their growing affection as well as hope for their chances of survival as a couple in the boondocks.  In addition, this volumes offers a lovely side story, in which a new character is introduced that allows the reader to see these why these two characters are so beloved by their small town.

As a whole, Brilliant Blue is a warm, funny portrait of two very different individuals who somehow fit together just perfectly.  I ended up rooting for this couple against all the odds they encountered -- even if some of those odds were self-imposed obstacles that they had created.

Review copy provided by DMP.

1 Comments

• At November 9, 2009, Quick Monday roundup « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Henderson on vol. 1 of 07-Ghost (Manga Xanadu) Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 of Brilliant Blue (Comics Should Be ...

A number of Japanese manga, such as Fushigi Yugi and Saiunkoku Monogatari, have previously made use of Chinese cultural history and legends.  Hero Tales does so as well, but puts an intelligent shonen spin on its story.  Unlike Fushigi Yugi, which uses a framing device of a modern girl falling into the past by accident, Hero Tales focuses upon the fulfillment of a legend in which seven heroes -- who represent the seven stars of the Big Dipper -- have the power to throw the Empire into complete chaos or to save it.

On first glance, the title's main character -- Taitou -- appears to be your average shonen hero who wants to become strong, but on closer inspection he is much more interesting than that.  He seems unconcerned about the fact he has yet to complete his coming-of-age-ceremony, which is an event where a young man completes a fight with an older, skilled warrior.  Taitou hasn't completed the ceremony because he is bad at fighting, but because he yet to come across a fighter skilled enough to make him accept defeat.   This twisted logic just makes me like him more, I think.  When a disciplined martial arts master comes to town -- called for the express purpose of defeating Taitou -- a series of complicated events are set in motion.  Taitou's status as one of the heroes of legend is revealed but he isn't just any hero.  He is one of the two heroes who are destined to fight each other and draw the world into a state of destruction.

After Taitou accepts his defeat like a "man," an ancient sword is bestowed upon him that can only be drawn by a true hero.  Which means Taitou can't use it just yet...however, his untapped and alarmingly out-of-control powers are awakened when a warrior-for-hire steals his sacred sword and threatens his sister's life.  With power rushing unchecked through his body, Taitou practically destroys himself with the force of his anger and his lack of control.  With the sword is successfully stolen, and Taitou's identity as a "hero" of legend revealed, the manga heads quickly into the shonen quest narrative path.  Taitou, the skilled warrior who defeated him, and Taitou's sister, Laila, set out to retrieve the sword and track down the other "heroes" of legend.

Unlike a lot of shonen titles, however, once the main story is set in motion, there's no sense of stagnation or of drawing out an epic quest for the sake of a quest.  Instead, progress happens immediately, as the group comes across another "hero" (each of the seven heroes are marked by a special tattoo on their bodies) and more of the legend starts to unfold before the group's very eyes.  Taitou is a likable shonen lead who is rather emphatic about his designs on power -- not only as fighter but as a countryman.  He likes to begin sentences with the phrase, "When I become Emperor...."  While others like to laugh at his audacity, it is clear there are some very dangerous people who take him seriously as a rival, and one rather scary badass who actually sees Taitou as his fated rival.

Hero Tales is a rather excellent configuration of shonen tropes -- it tends to take the best of them and excises many of the excesses (such as fights that last forever, the emo-ness of the hero).  The art, of course, is quite excellent and while Arakawa offers many familiar character types (the main antagonist reminds me very strongly of Bradley from FMA), she excels in both her character work and in her fully realized representation of a powerful and potentially corrupt Empire.

Review copy provided by Yen Press.

4 Comments

• At November 5, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Sounds interesting. I've enjoyed FMA quite a bit, so I'll try this in the hopes that it will have all ...

• At November 5, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Definitely less wrist-splitting despair! This isn't a big investment because right now there are only 4 volumes and I ...

• At November 6, 2009, Reading Over Shoulders | Extremely Graphic wrote:

  [...] Danielle Leigh’s Reading Diary at Comics Should Be Good contains Hero Tales volume 1. [...]

• At November 7, 2009, Saturday sampler « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Kyoshi (Animanga Nation) Lissa Pattillo on Exotic and Delicious Fate (Kuriousity) Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Hero Tales ...

Although the title and even the cover image imply a preoccupation with both traditional forms of gender dominance and their inverse, in reality I found this comic to be much less trashy than its cover implies.  The protagonist is Yuiko, a fairly average high school girl whose primary outstanding characteristic is that she is an "overzealous animal-lover" (i.e. she loves them practically to death).  When a dangerous looking boy named Leo, who behaves like a wild animal, transfers into the school, Yuiko is the perfect person to "tame" him.  The school goes into rumor overdrive when it becomes apparent that Leo goes nutso when he sees blood and will lash out like a cornered dog that hasn't been entirely domesticated.  As a result, the entire student body is terrified of him and suspects him of terrible crimes, but Yuiko decides not to take his rather angry vibe and image at face value and investigate further.

Although this sounds like a Tarzan / Jane parallel, I was quite pleased to note how much strength and fortitude Yuiko demonstrates.  She strikes up an unlikely friendship with Leo, and is actually first interested in him because he demonstrates an affinity with animals of all kinds (which makes her incredibly jealous since that is a quality she has always wanted).  It doesn't take her very long to notice that at certain times his eyes are quite kind while at other times, they seem sunken and wild reflecting the danger he poses to those who incite the wrath of the beast within.  Becoming an expert at managing his many moods, Yuiko begins the process of rehabilitating the animal into a human.  While Yuiko starts out thinking of Leo as an animal, it doesn't take her long to think of him as a person and a rather good one at that.  At different moments in the first volume Yuiko saves him and he in return saves her.  As a result, the wild "beast" learns how to value Yuiko as a friend and not just the "trainer" who can calm him down when he goes off the rails.

In general, this is an entertaining series that nicely balances between sweetness and just the right amount of tartness in its depiction of Leo and Yuiko's growing bond.  On first glance, Leo seems  a rather pitiable figure (he also has a fairly unfortunate past that explains his behavior) but becomes ever more human under the firm direction of Yuiko.  As a whole, one of the strongest points in favor of picking this book up is seeing a strong male hero matched up with a strong female lead.  Leo may be crazy strong, but Yuiko can keep up with him and even stand with him as an equal.

Review Copy provided by Viz.

3 Comments

• At November 3, 2009, The Ugly American wrote:

  Chevy Chase did it better on the Halloween episode of Community last week.

• At November 3, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  I assume Chevy Chase was Tarzan for Halloween? (It took me a second to figure out what that comment ...

• At November 16, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  No, he was actually The Beast Master from the '80s film. :)

The set up to Boys Love is pretty much cookie cutter yaoi -- difficult, young and promiscuous male model with a troubled past makes trouble for older straight professional who gets sucked into his orbit.  Luckily the execution of this story avoids a lot of the problems that usually plagues these stories.  The story starts out with the chilly model Noeru being interviewed by straight-arrow magazine editor, Mamiya.  During their first meeting, poor, innocent Mamiya makes the mistake of commenting favorably upon a piece of Noeru's art-work, unintentionally causing difficult memories from Noeru's childhood, which had originally inspired the work, to surface.  Noeru is furious at Mamiya for blindly walking onto a very specific emotional landmine and decides to use his power of celebrity to punish the writer for having the misfortune to have accidentally seen into his heart.  Noeru who has shut his feelings away, while freely opening his body up to countless numbers of men, ends up fixated on Mamiya in his attempts to piss off, make trouble or just plain threaten the poor guy.

In most yaoi, Noeru would usually use his power of celebrity to blackmail Mamiya into sex and god knows what else, but here, Mamiya refuses to fall into these kinds of traps.  Instead, he asserts his own humanity as well as Noeru's by refusing to fall into the empty role of sexual conquest Noeru attempts to box him into.  In the end, Mamiya forces Noeru to get to know him and likewise, does his absolute best to get to know Noeru.  One of my favorite scenes in the book is the stubborn Mamiya forcing Noeru to teach him how to swim.  The most interesting part of this title is that the focus is not on the two developing a sexual relationship but instead how they come to develop a strong emotional bond in spite of their very different temperaments.

Noeru is a selfish prick for the most part, but Mamiya is one of those unbelievable "good guys" in manga who can somehow redeem anyone.  As the two grow closer, Kaim once again dives into the cliche bucket by having Noeru's classmate and childhood friend become possessive and dangerously protective of his bond with Noeru.  This classmate's intervention changes the two lovers' fates but not their strong bond, which does not end in spite of a sharp and unfortunate turn of the plot.

The art is attractive and clean, if a bit generic, particularly in the character work.  Mamiya and Noeru are both attractive types, although Mamiya looks too dewy and soft to be a fully-fledged adult (which is perhaps an intentional choice), while Noeru's sharp, cool look nicely reflects his character as a boy who seems to have grown up entirely too fast.

In the end, what I enjoyed most about this work was the focus upon the growing emotional bond between the main characters, and I ended up forgiving the over-use of yaoi tropes in order to position the characters so they can meet each other and develop a very strong bond that seemed to go beyond traditional notions of "romantic love."

Review copy provided by DMP.

4 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  On a funny note, when reading the "shipping next week" list on Diamond's web-site one day, I mistook Boys Love ...

• At November 1, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  *laughs* Oh dear. That would be one comic fan with very diverse tastes!

• At November 2, 2009, The Tyrant finds a home « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] of Aria (Comics Worth Reading) Clive Owen on vol. 28 of Bleach (Animanga Nation) Danielle Leigh on Boys Love ...

• At November 2, 2009, Manga reviews: Fake | upxy wrote:

  [...] Danielle Leigh’s Reading Diary — Boys Love (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com) [...]

Jack Frost, vol 2, by JinHo Ko.  As per the first volume, the creepy, evocative art trumps the convoluted story.  There often seem to be two different narratives competing for dominance in this title.  The first is the most interesting -- we learn that Noh-A Joo, seemingly just a regular high school student, was purposefully killed and brought to the world of the un-dead because she has a special power as the "Mirror Image" to bring people back to life.   The second story, which I originally described in my review of volume 1 as "Undead!Battle Royale," where everyone wants to fight Jack Frost and claim the title of the most powerful fighter in Amityville, continues although it isn't clear yet to what end.

This two stories only appear to be connected right now because Jack and Noh-A are connected (he's the one who seems to have brought her forcibly into Amityville, i.e. he killed her), but Ko needs to figure out what story he's telling exactly, and try to develop the plot more coherently.  There's still a lot of potential here but too many obscure references to the history of this strange world end up detracting from the otherwise spectacularly creepy revelations concerning both Jack Frost and Noh-A's respective histories.

The most compelling aspect of this volume is watching Noh-A come face to face with some pretty ugly aspects of her existence.  It is possible that her special status as the "Mirror Image" not only caused her own death but might have also caused innocents around her to die simply because they were in proximity to her while she was still alive.  Haunted by a former friend who lost their life, Noh-A, starts to look less and less like your average high school girl and more and more like a disturbance that could set this particular underworld ablaze.

Rosario + Vampire, vol 10, by Akihisa Ikeda.  This is my first experience with the harem comedy but I found it to be mainly inoffensive and rather playful.  In spite of the silly and frequent excuses for one girl in particular to get naked and paw the "hero."  The shonen protagonist, Tsukune, attends Monster High as the lone human in a sea of well-disguised witches, vampires and other supernatural types.  While Tsukune is a rather average guy -- i.e. why are all these hot girls all over him? -- one supposes as an average human might be "exotic" to those on the other side.  In particular, I did like his relationship with the obvious queen of the harem, the vampire Moka, who has two personalities -- the shy, sweet girl whose powers are kept in check with a "rosario" and then the freed vampire whose affections run much less freely for her personal human blood bank, Tsukune.

Volume 10 is comprised of a few unrelated stories, my favorite being when all of Tsukune's new "monster" friends follow him home on vacation giving his mother the shock of her life.  Not because they're not human, but because she can't imagine her rather ordinary boy has inspired such devotion from one girl, much less a whole harem of them.  The supernatural factor is mainly used to spice up the shonen harem genre and as a whole the title is a nice diversion that gives fanservice a relatively good name.  (One again, I'm not sure why one girl in particular can't keep her shirt on but that seems to be her strange personality "quirk").

Volume 10 is the end of the first "season" of the manga, but basically that just means that the title moved manga magazines between volume 10 and 11.  Otherwise, there is nothing that particularly marks this as an "ending" and one assumes that the Monster High student body will be back in all their glory when season two (aka volume 11) returns next spring.

Zombie-Loan, volume 7, by Peach-Pit.  As per my experience with other Peach-Pit manga, I find the art far easier to follow than the writing.  The primary concept driving Zombie-Loan is fairly interesting -- people can voluntarily become created-zombies after they die by agreeing to hunt the other kind of Zombie (i.e. mindless, likes to munch on human flesh, etc).  These people are literally taking out a "loan" in order to remain on Earth in their original body.  The heroine of this story, Michiru, gets caught up in this arrangement because she can actually read people's "lifeline" by seeing a ring around their neck, that gradually grows darker until it becomes black (black = death).  Since she can see the undead up and walking around amongst the otherwise breathing student body she ends up as the side-kick of two attractive "Z-loan" zombies, who have both loaned out their bodies in order to remain alive.

By volume 7, things have gotten extraordinarily complicated -- this volume finds two groups of zombie-loaners trapped in a school environment which has become a kind of "closed space" in which they are cut off from reality and will probably starve / go mad / go zombie on each other (the threat of cannibalism can jump start any manga!).  In this environment one of the handsome Z-loaners starts to revert to his baser zombie instincts -- i.e. he tries to eat the heroine -- and in order to save him, Michiru uses her power to dive into his memories.  In doing so she learns exactly how and why he came to loan his body out.  However, Michiru finds that she isn't just in his memories...her power also means that she is actually intervening his past and any action she takes could forever alter his past, present and future.  I admit this isn't a new storytelling tactic but it is a compelling aspect to an otherwise overly-populated narrative which contains multiplicity of supernatural elements and mythologies (this story has zombies, shinigamis and god knows what else), not to mention a boatload of side characters, who are all featured for a short time in this volume.

Review copies provided by the publisher.

4 Comments

• At October 29, 2009, Joe wrote:

  One of the first anime I saw was Tenchi Muyo, so harem stories have a special place in my heart. ...

• At October 30, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  I've never read / watched Tenchi -- eventually I'm sure I should just to see one of the earlier versions ...

• At October 30, 2009, Halloween Eve blogging « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Danielle Leigh discusses three Halloween-friendly manga at Comics Should Be Good. Kate Dacey checks out three more spooky titles ...

• At November 1, 2009, DenzelWS wrote:

  Hey , HAPPY HALOWEEN!

These stories feature entirely too young drunks, orphaned teenagers, purposeless young adults, lonely sell outs, and those who even lack the wherewithal to sell out.  No one seems understands what it means to be happy or even how to wish for happiness.  Life, as we all know it, can kind of suck.  But Asano, in showing us the various whys and wherefores of that universal truth, also points out the small ways in which getting through the day -- no matter how horrible a day it was, no matter if it was only horrible because it was like every other day which is what makes it so horrible -- is its own kind of reward.   The only way to get one's head straight is finally being able to see this tiny victory of getting through the day as such.  Because the next day might not suck so much.  That might be a small consolation, but watching these characters overcome themselves in order to locate some aspect of their lives they can hold onto as good or even healthy gave most stories some much needed softening.  However, not every character gets that particular moment of consolation, but as a whole characters in these stories do find relief in the form of small moments of possibility we might simply recognize as "hope."

Perhaps I feel overly connected to Asano and his work considering he was born the same year I was and has similar preoccupations with the figure of the twenty-something slacker.  My life isn't half as bad as these folks, nor am I confused and directionless, but there is no doubt that these characters often express the kind of bewildered dissatisfaction with life we all share to some degree at some point.  In many ways, this feeling is part of what makes us all human, whether we struggle with it on a daily basis or only once in a season.  While yes, this means the subject of these stories may seem like kind of a "downer," I found I identified very strongly with the emotional-connective thread running through of these narratives and similarly found solace in the possibility for redemption the title (i.e. maybe it can be a "wonderful world" even if only for a brief moment) gives to the work and the individual stories' conclusions as a whole.  In spite of life often being a chore, or worse a burden, as long as one is alive there is hope that something "good is bound to happen."

What makes these short stories quite excellent is how well-constructed they are.  Asano gives us exactly the right amount of information -- through dialogue, internal monologue, and setting -- the reader will need to gain almost immediate footing within each individual story.   Yes, the topic of the stories may feel kind of "indie" -- the majority are about 20-something slackers whose lives are all kinds of messed up -- but Asano's handling of the material is accessible.  This is incredibly important, particularly in short stories, because it is too easy to fall out of pace with the flow of the narrative, considering the limitations of the form.  I almost never experienced that kind of disconnection while reading these volumes -- I found myself right there with the random convenience store worker who accidentally stalks his former girlfriend, or the former punk who traded his mohawk for the salaryman's uniform.  And while to some degree these figures are "types," allowing for easy reader recognition, they are also distinct characters who often find themselves pulled in unexpected (yet never completely random) directions.

Asano's art style also helps make these stories compulsively readable.  He balances extreme close-ups and fragmented glimpses of characters' expressions with full body views, often situated within detailed cityscapes, which consistently frame characters in real world settings.  As a whole, his art style is a nice twist on seinen style, as he incorporates a strong element of realism -- particularly in detail in city spaces, clothing, generally the "things" that place the characters so concretely in recognizably real spaces -- in order to ground the stories when they verve suddenly toward either the fantastic or the poetic.

Review copies provided by Viz.

3 Comments

• At October 26, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I've been super excited for this manga since I had heard about it, and will be receiving it in the ...

• At October 27, 2009, Food and monsters « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] (Soliloquy in Blue) Kris on Utahime – The Songstress (Manic About Manga) Danielle Leigh on vols. 1 and 2 ...

• At October 27, 2009, Journalista – the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Oct. 27, 2009: Raw materials wrote:

  [...] [Review] What a Wonderful World Vol. 1-2 Link: Danielle Leigh [...]

Alex's sister has disappeared and she is forced to enroll in the "Nightschool," i.e. a training ground for those with supernatural powers, in order to gain access and opportunity she needs to investigate what happened to Sarah.  This is a very strong volume, particularly in Chmakova's portrait of the school as a fully-developed society entirely onto itself.  From the first moment she's detected on the grounds, Alex makes quite an impression upon both faculty and students.  Not necessarily a "good" impression, although she certainly is good at making waves.  There is a great sequence where Alex knocks the socks off a cranky professor with her surprisingly skilled use of her astral projection.  Equally important is her impressive ability at alienating the stuck-up student body through the power of snark.   (Her response to crossing paths with the "queen bee" of the school is hilariously mouthy and on point).  The further she wades into these waters, though, the more dangerous her mission becomes since she has become a person of interest to some very angry hungers (who she had a terrible run-in with in volume 1) who have connections inside the school.

The darker elements of the first volume have receded slightly to the background, along with the hunter storyline.  My one critique of this volume is that there a few too many characters to keep track of, particularly in the number of hunter characters.  I found my attention wandering when the focus is upon their various conflicts with other figures from this night-world that don't appear to directly involve Alex.  In general, their (small) part of this volume simply lacks the sheer entertainment factor of her story.   This problem will probably be solved when Alex comes face to face with the hunters once again, and come to terms with the possibly irreparable damage she caused three of their members back in the first volume.

In spite of my issues with the hunter aspect of the narrative, as a whole this is a particularly enjoyable take on the instruction for supernaturally-inclined teenagers.  One reason the book works so well is that Chmakova never seems to forget that her main characters are in fact teenagers and, therefore, act as such.  Witty dialogue, interesting characterization, and the creator's distinct take on shojo style all make this work an excellent example of how Japanese manga has inspired North-American comic book creators to develop compelling entertainment for teenage readers.

Review copy provided by Yen Press.

2 Comments

• At October 23, 2009, Takahashi interviewed, Dragon Ball books pulled « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Bleach (Slightly Biased Manga) Erica Friedman on vol. 4 of Hayate x Blade (Okazu) Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 ...

• At November 2, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Great review! I agree about the hunter characters being both too plentiful and not as interesting as Alex. I ...

With this volume, creator Hino re-works the manga's original recipe by finally having Yuki's lost memories forcibly revealed to her through Kaname's intervention.  Her back-story is shocking enough in and of itself but now that the cat is out the bag, her major relationships in the manga -- specifically with Zero and Kaname -- are shaken to their core.  Now that she knows the truth about herself, how will she feel about the relationships she's formed and the person she has become in the past 10 years?  In many ways, the sweet, considerate Yuki is gone, replaced by a stranger who has much more insight into the nature of vampires, but this insight is only gained through a great sacrifice.

Significantly, with Yuki regaining her memories under the direction of Kaname, Hino also threads two unwieldy plots together -- Yuki's past and the current vampire society politics surrounding the resurrection of Rido, Kaname's uncle.  Just as Yuki isn't exactly who she thought she was, we learn that neither is the handsome, chilly prince of the vampire world exactly who we thought he was either.  Although a bit confusing, bringing these two plots together is an important move, as it brings the various machinations of outsiders (i.e. outside the character trinity of Zero-Yuki-Kaname) to bear upon the emotional center of the book.

Now it is Zero who stands on the outside, which only increases his isolation and rather pitiful attempt to inhabit the role of the tragic hero.  He's ready and willing to sacrifice everything -- his heart, his life, his truth -- to keep Yuki as the person he's always known but if he does so he may only appease himself.  Yuki may not need Zero's brand of heroics anymore, which may be his greatest tragedy.

As always, the manga's core relationships and its gothic, atmospheric art style make Vampire Knight a compelling read.  Now in its eighth volume, the story has started to clearly distinguish itself from the pack of supernatural stories with attractive, but morally dubious heroes.   Even if you've think you've seen it all, there are enough twists and turns in this title to make it a worthwhile addition to anyone's shojo library.

Review copy provided by Viz Media.

2 Comments

• At October 21, 2009, New shoujo mag in the works « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Village) Danica Davidson on vols. 1-3 of Peach Fuzz (Graphic Novel Reporter) Danielle Leigh on vol. 8 of Vampire ...

• At November 2, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  I've finally read this volume myself and have come to read your review! I think perhaps I didn't think ...

In the third volume, Darren, his mentor Mr. Crepsley and his friend Evra depart from the circus -- which is we learn Crepsley thinks of as just a convenient cover for their identities as vampires, while Darren has come to  think of it as "home" -- for a kind of "holiday."  Darren and Evra get a chance to goof off and enjoy activities that "normal" boys get to do, such as playing video games, watching tv, exploring the busy city, even developing a crush on a girl.  The primary difference between them and other people, as Evra points out, is that other people also have to go to a job or school....or in other words, those people have purpose.

With too much time on their hands Darren and Evra start to become suspicious about Crepsley's strange behavior, as their strange guardian goes out every night with a haunted look in his eye and returns at dawn, never giving any indication what he's been doing or why he's chosen this particular city for their vacation.  When Darren learns about a bunch of bodies -- drained of blood -- have been left for dead in the city he immediately suspects his mentor.

I'm a sucker for conflicted mentor-mentee relationships and this volume of Cirque du Freak tests the already stretched-thin bonds of trust between Darren and Crepsley.  Once Darren consciously breaks those bonds he is immediately regretful and he devises dangerous tests of trust and courage that he must pass in order to repair what has been broken.  This volume allows Darren (& the reader) to learn more about who his mentor really is, and, therefore, more about what it means to be a "vampire" in this particular version of the mythology.

Cirque du Freak avoids cliched representations of vampires and things that go bump in the night in favor of interesting characterization that drives the plot.  I always sense that these characters are people, even if they aren't necessarily "human" anymore.

Review copy provided by Yen Press.

2 Comments

• At October 15, 2009, Me wrote:

  Just pointing out that Cirque Du Freak is actually a series of books. I guess it was also adapted ...

• At October 16, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  yup I know, I'm just pointing out the synergy of the manga and film being released right now in the ...

Danielle: With volumes 5 and 6, Yazawa essentially doubles not only the cast of NANA, she also expands the story to include twice as many relationships (and therefore complications) than were there before.  Of course, Trapnest has always been lurking in the shadows of NANA but now they've suddenly got distinct personalities and conflicts that are starting to bleed into the formerly cozy world of Nana O. + Hachi and Blast.  Looking back, how does this sudden expansion of the NANA universe feel to you?

Melinda: Great question, Danielle!  You know, I think I went through phases. At first it was exciting. I loved all these new, complicated, glamorous characters arriving on the scene, stirring things up. Then somewhere around Nobu and Shin's confrontation with Takumi at the Trapnest after-party, I started to feel like they were really in the way. Then as things got even more complicated, I got swept up in all the fabulous drama all over again.  I do love to have my heart kicked around, after all. Basically, I think I experienced these two volumes very much like Hachi does.  As I was re-reading the volumes for this discussion, I was really struck at the end of volume six by Hachi's realization that somehow it is Takumi, who approaches their relationship in the most shallow way possible, who can understand and even revel in the emptiness in her that seems invisible to everyone else. The new characters come in to make a mess of things, that much is certain, but Yazawa could never have told such an emotionally complex story without them. Blast is such a nice group. Sure, they're deeply scarred just like the others, but between the lot of them, they could be simply and truly happy. I think the story needs the sickly-sweet poison Trapnest carries with it in order to go as deep as it does.

Michelle: I have mixed feelings about the arrival of Trapnest. On the one hand, the relationship between Hachi and Takumi is utterly fascinating, because only with him can she shed her cheery facade and show just how empty she feels inside. Without his presence, would we ever see this darker side of her? Even adorable Nobu, when he confesses her love to her, is seeing an idealized version of her, so it makes sense why she'd be drawn to someone with whom there's no need to pretend. And, too, the addition of the added complications has the retroactive effect of making the first few volumes seem like halcyon days in comparison, which is kind of nice, too.

Melinda: Michelle, (and I hope I'm not getting ahead of things here) your comment about Nobu reminded me of how much I appreciate Shin's view of Hachi in these two volumes. Though Shin sees Hachi differently than Takumi does (mainly because he actually cares for her) he is also free of Nobu's need to idealize her,and I truly love the talking-to he gives Nobu on the subject. Though his love for Hachi is not romantic in nature, I think actually he may be the person who sees her the most clearly during this period, regardless of what Hachi thinks. He not only admires her strengths but also recognizes and understands her weaknesses, and he still loves her. That's something neither Takumi or Nobu (or Nana, for that matter)  is prepared to offer her at this time.

Danielle: Melinda's pretty much put her finger on how I first experienced these volumes -- I identified so strongly with Hachi that it really was exciting to be involved a little more deeply in Nana's world.  This perhaps points to this early stage where we identify with Hachi but we may "desire" Nana, since she still seems somehow distinct from the trivial and dulling nature of everyday existence.  This will change over time as we get to know her more and see her more as a flawed individual but early on she still has this mystery about her.

Looking back, though, these volumes now seem almost chilling to me -- I'm trying not to get ahead of myself as well, there is still a sense that anything could happen and that there is nothing particular holding these folks down.  That makes for fairly easy reading since the worst that can happen is that one might get caught up in a "non-relationship" with a selfish guy.  Towards the end of volume 6, however, we start to get the distinct impression that Hachi is suffering because her inability to show Takumi the door.  This is also the volume where I believe Hachi starts to address a Nana who very obviously is not around anymore (but no concrete information about death versus absence is offered) in the opening and closing monologues, which reveal a bleak future on the horizon.

Michelle: I know what you mean by chilling.  I had forgotten that it's actually Nana who arranges for Takumi and Hachi to meet as a kind of "thank you" gift for Hachi's help in bringing her back together with Ren, which only makes it worse for her when they hook up and she begins to feel that Takumi's taking something precious away from her.

Melinda: "Towards the end of volume 6, however, we start to get the distinct impression that Hachi is suffering because of her inability to show Takumi the door."  How true and how deeply unfortunate. Again, I don't want to rush ahead, but you're right, Danielle, these volumes do read as chilling on the second read, with more knowledge of what's to come.

Melinda: Michelle, It's interesting to look at Nana's reaction to Takumi's new place in Hachi's life, isn't it? She liked bringing him to Hachi as a gift as long as he remained just something for Hachi to admire from a distance. And though Hachi fears telling Nana about her relationship with Takumi because she thinks Nana will think she's being stupid, Nana passes up the opportunity to try to save Hachi from being hurt by letting her believe she's okay with it. Hachi's feelings are actually not her concern at all.  It's pure jealousy--a jealousy that perhaps even turns to spite. I'm not trying to rag on Nana here--I understand her feelings. But it's so deeply selfish. I think of that often when fans complain about how selfish Hachi is.

Michelle: But in Nana, who has seemed so strong up 'til now, this flaw kind of manifests more as vulnerability than selfishness, in a way.  I'm thinking of her conversation with Yasu, after she flees the apartment when Takumi comes back from tour, in which she says that she knows people aren't possessions, and she knows that she can't make them hers, but that admitting makes her feel so lonely. She knows she's not being fair to Hachi, but can't seem to help herself.

Melinda: Oh, you're absolutely right, it is vulnerability.  As are all of Hachi's moments of selfishness. Pretty much everyone's are, really.  This is a great truth in life.  I just get irritated with the fan double-standard.

Michelle: Yeah. I guess it's more squee-making to see a cool person finally display a vulnerability than to sympathize with someone who constantly wears her heart on her sleeve.

Danielle: I'm really curious about Yazawa's view on what it means to love someone.  There is this whole thread running through these volumes about wanting to possess the person you love and how in reality that is a flawed and troubled way of looking at love and other people in the first place.  Nana seems so scared because she wants to hold on -- to Ren and to Hachi -- but can't seem to find a way to do it that won't ultimately undermine her sense of self.

Melinda: I think Yazawa makes a similar point about placing someone you love on a pedestal here as well.  I admit I'm really hoping she'll follow this through to the end and show us what she sees as real, healthy love.

Danielle: Okay, one significant effect of the increased page count for Trapnest we should probably address is the introduction of a new and fairly central female character, Reira.

Michelle: I have zero interest in Reira and her angst and resent the "page time" devoted to her. It's not so much in these two volumes, but it starts here.

Melinda: Heh, I was wondering when we'd get to something like this with Reira. I, too, feel a bit cold towards her, though I do have sympathy for her feelings of doubt and anxiety about herself as anything more than a valuable talent and her wish to be able to shed her humanity and really be only that. Also, since she's so intimately involved with Shin (which begins here), who is one of my favorite characters, I'm interested in her role in that relationship.

Danielle: Reira has a lot of potential when she is first introduced -- particularly when she takes Takumi down a peg at the Trapnest part after Shin throws a drink in his face (not to mention her immediate come on to Shin and Nobu is funny, rather than creepy).  However, I don't think it is an accident that when Shin and Reira first "hook up" (as the young people like to say) we are witness to a voice over about one of the two lovers' past.  After a few lines it becomes clear that it is Reira speaking but when the reader probably is dying to know more about Shin (since we get very little concrete information about him, even by volume 6), we instead get Reira.  Talking about herself.  Which.  Well.  Says it all, as far as I'm concerned.

Michelle: I remember that bit. One cool thing is that, as she's talking, Shin's in the panel, but is completely in shadow. The focus is all on her and we only know he's there because of the smoke wafting up from his cigarette.  It is, as you say, telling.

Danielle:  New Question: One thing I noticed this time around is how incestuous the relationship between Blast and Trapnest becomes (and perhaps has always been).  This is probably where NANA branches out into serious soap opera territory rather than being a story about two girls named Nana.  Romantically speaking, we've got Nana-Ren, former relationship between Yasu-Reira, Shin-Reira, Takumi-Hachi, possibility of Nobu-Hachi, hints of Yasu-Nana....not to mention flat out antagonistic relationships, i.e. Nobu-Takumi.  (And then there are the friendships.  And the relationships I can't even mention yet because I would be spoiling later volumes. But I could go on for days....some days I think Noaki is the only sane one of the bunch for not boinking a co-worker or rival bandmember).  Does entangling the bands to this degree draw the reader further into the world of NANA?  Or does it just put poor Hachi in a miserable position of trying to "sleep" her way into the inner circle?

Michelle: You left out Hachi's short-lived crush on Yasu! And Naoki may not be boinking anyone, but he has some fanboy tendencies, which may show up more later on. I'm not sure it draws the reader further into the world of NANA, but it does play into something Nana says: "Why does Trapnest take over everything important in my life?”  Trapnest is suddenly everywhere and completely, possibly inextricably entangled with the band that was Nana's dream. Of course, she doesn't realize that Yasu is in essentially the same position she is until he points it out.

I also don't see Hachi as trying to sleep her way into the inner circle. True, she's attracted by Nana's glittering life, but ultimately, she does want love. She just encounters Takumi at a particularly low moment and then can't break free. It's not as if she's going around indiscriminately boffing the fellas.

Danielle: No, not at all!  But the "short-lived" crush on Yasu, the attraction to Nobu....I don't think it is an accident Hachi is scoping out potential mates in Nana's universe.  But I don't want to imply that this says anything bad about her or that she is scheming in anyway.  I think this is just how she operates -- she, just like Nobu, is looking for "accessible" partners.  And at this point in her life, accessible is inextricably bound up with Nana's world.

Melinda: What an interesting pair of questions. I admit I've never thought about Hachi's situation that way. I agree with Michelle--I don't think Hachi is in the position of having to sleep her way into the inner circle. I don't even think her string of crushes is a very unusual thing. I think when you're young and unattached, it is very natural to evaluate your immediate circle (whatever that might be at the time) as potential material for love, even if you end up actually pursuing few or none of them.  I certainly did when I was her age. More to the point, though, I don't think Hachi needs to do this to be part of the crowd, whether she realizes that or not. I think what she may fail to appreciate is just how refreshing she is for everyone in that group (Blast, in particular) mainly because she's not a part of their incestuous history.

To address your first question, Danielle, yes, I do think the complicated mess of relationships (past and present) between the two bands draws the reader in further, partly because this is one of the aspects of the story that is so easy to relate to, especially for readers from small towns (or small communities within huge cities), where everyone knows everyone and the older you get, the more tangled that web becomes.  The mutual history these characters share brings them down to earth and closer to the reader, just as it brings them each closer to Hachi, one way or another.

Poor Naoki. I feel sad that he doesn't get any. Though I suppose an argument could be made that he's better off for it.

Danielle: “It's not as if she's going around indiscriminately boffing the fellas.” Once again I return this because I think I didn't express myself very well the first time around. I used value-laden and judgmental language (i.e. Hachi "sleeping her way to the inner circle"), when I didn't mean to judge the character at all.  Instead, I think I wanted to stress the emotional state that leads to Hachi sleeping with Takumi.  I don't think just any guy would have done that fateful day -- I don't even think "Takumi" as an individual would have done.  She accepted his advances because he was "Takumi from Trapnest" and that is really all she knew about him.  She accepted his advances because for one disastrous and fleeting moment she somehow thought it was bring her closer to Nana's "glittering world."

Melinda notes that it is natural to evaluate one's immediate circle of friends for partners and I agree...to a degree.  There are two catalysts that effect Hachi emotionally that lead to her accepting Takumi's advances.  The first is obvious -- the loss of job that undermines her confidence and literally makes her available to Takumi.  The second is less obvious, but I think quite significant -- the night before at the Blast-Trapnest party she discovers Yasu had once dated Reira -- a beautiful and talented women who goes on to become famous after their break-up.  In that moment she starts to feel very distant from Nana's world, as if she really can't compete.  Of course, Nana has no idea this is going on in Hachi's head, and if she did she would set Hachi straight, but I think my point is that these particular insecurities of Hachi's ultimately lead to some really bad decisions and serious consequences.

Now, the regret that comes afterward is both immediate (hell, she regrets it even before they've even had sex) and three-fold -- 1) this action has nothing to do with getting closer to Nana, 2) after she's slept with Takumi once, she returns to him in order to "justify" that first action, and finally, 3) Hachi is a young woman who can't easily distinguish between love and sex.  In other words, she's signed up for some serious heartbreak by continuing to see Takumi.

Melinda: I don't disagree with anything you've said here, Danielle, though I think another factor we shouldn't forget is that Hachi idolized Takumi long before she met Nana. It's not just a reaction to Yasu's past with Reira and the loss of her job, or even just a way to get closer to Nana's world. It's also this sort of surreal, warped version of a dream come true that she isn't quite able to pass up even after it's clear to her that the reality is so far removed from what her fantasy would have been. Most of us will never find ourselves in a situation where we are faced with a real, flesh-and-blood opportunity to go to bed with a celebrity we've fantasized about on any level, so we'll (thankfully, in my opinion) never be in her shoes.  I find Hachi's reaction here to be stunningly real (at least as I would imagine it) and it makes a lot of sense to me that even after she's been awakened to the true reality of the situation (which I think happens for her pretty fast) she still goes through with it.

Michelle: You make some excellent points, Danielle, particularly about the two catalysts that lead Hachi to sleep with Takumi.

I disagree somewhat with your final point, though. I think Hachi does initially distinguish between love and sex, and realizes she's just another "dumb girl" who's all over him.  "As long as I admit it, it's okay, right?"  But afterward, when it becomes known, it's clear that everyone except Shin (who, as Melinda pointed out earlier, is the only one to get that maybe she just wanted to sleep with a hot guy) believes she did it because she loves him. I wonder if this doesn't start to affect the way she thinks about what happened. She starts getting confused when she'd still choose Takumi even after Nobu's confession, and wonders if she really does love him after all, which ties in with your point about continuing to see him as a way to rationalize/justify having slept with him.

Melinda: Ah ha! I think both your points together have helped crystallize something for me. I think Hachi's main confusion here is less about distinguishing between love and sex and more about distinguishing between love and infatuation. She's infatuated with her image of "Takumi from Trapnest" and has been for some time. Her feelings for Takumi the man (whom she's barely met) are unformed and vaguely negative, which makes her feel ashamed of her infatuation, but it doesn't actually stop the infatuation which she is able to convince herself (with help from everyone around her, whether they intend it or not) might be the same thing as love. It's a justification, certainly, but also a point of genuine confusion for her.

Danielle: I think it is quite amazing that we’ve been able to analyze so many complex motivating factors leading up to a single act – i.e. Hachi sleeping with Takumi.  This really speaks to Yazawa’s skill in developing extraordinary characters and compelling situations.  I get the feeling we could keep on going but I suspect there are many more debates we’re going to have about why these characters do the things they do as Trapnest and Blast grow ever more entangled in each others’ lives in future volumes.

Thanks to Melinda and Michelle for being such great partners in the project!  We’ll see you all in about a month or so for the next installment.

12 Comments

• At October 15, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I only read Nana when it appeared in Shojo Beat, which I think left off right about where this part ...

• At October 15, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  I think the difference between Hachi and Reira is that Reira always expects others to support her (which is why ...

• At October 15, 2009, Ahavah wrote:

  That was a really absorbing discussion. You are helping me see Hachi in a whole new light. When I first ...

• At October 15, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Ahavah -- I always remind myself Hachi was around 17 when that first affair happened (or just turned 18? ...

• At October 16, 2009, Why are there no women ukes? « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Danielle Leigh, and Michelle Smith post the latest entry in The NANA Project, their review of vols. 5 and ...

• At October 16, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Ahavah, I had a similar reaction to Hachi. In my reviews of early volumes, I was dismissive of her and ...

• At October 16, 2009, NANA Project #3! | Manga Bookshelf wrote:

  [...] the Salt Lake City airport waiting for my flight home. First of all, the third installment of the NANA ...

• At October 17, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  Mary: I'd love to hear elaboration on your point regarding Reira and Hachi. I tend to think that Reira is ...

• At October 17, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Maybe it's just been too long since I watched the anime. (Although it's only been a few months.) ...

• At October 18, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  Hi Mary: Ooooh I think Reira is a complete mess, and in a way that makes it much harder for ...

• At October 20, 2009, Ahavah wrote:

  Shin's relationship with Hachi is probably my favorite in the series. It's the most beneficial for both parties.

  I'm actually glad ...

• At October 23, 2009, Sara K. wrote:

  Thanks for the engaging discussion.

  I think around volume 5, when Hachi/Takumi began to vaguely look like something which could actually ...

In the Soul Eater universe, a pair of individuals work together to reap souls.  One individual is the "weapon meister," while the other is a "living scythe" that is wielded by the weapon meister.  The first three chapters of the book are prologues, each introducing a different master and scythe pair who are still in training (we later find out they all attend the "Death Weapon Meister Academy").  The pair introduced in the first chapter appear to be the title's main protagonists.   Maka (Meister) and Soul Eater (Scythe) are on the verge of turning Soul into a powerful death scythe by completing his mission of "eating" 99 human souls and the soul of 1 witch.

The second and third prologue each introduce a pair of reapers who appear to function primarily as comic relief.  The other two weapon meisters in these prologues are both boys -- the first a would be assassin who doesn't understand the concept of "stealth" (he sees himself as a "Star" and desires to be in the spotlight), and the second an OCD-son of Death...known as Death the Kid.  The very idea of an OCD-soul reaper is hilarious and Death the Kid was probably my favorite character in the manga.

In each chapter, the pair of soul reapers work together to vanquish a renegade soul, leading to expansive and humorous battle scenes.  However, returning to the first prologue, and Maka and Soul's mission to reap the soul of a witch, sends the manga to fanservice-overdrive with the perv-meter turned up to 11.  The witch is first introduced in the bath, with only a barest film of bubbles covering up...nothing.  The bubbles really cover up nothing. Unfortunately, the excessive nudity and emphasis on the witch's ridiculous figure took me right out of the story and this kind of distraction was not contained to that one character or chapter.  Each chapter has a similar moment when I find myself annoyed and offended by the sheer inappropriateness of the level of nudity and sexualization of a female characters.  (For example, Death the kid has a pair of very, urm, bouncy twins as his scythe and his OCD manifests when he freaks out because their breasts are different sizes).

This is a shame because the book is quite stylish and fun otherwise -- except for these absurdly-voluptuous figures, Ohkubo draws in an angular, flat style, reminiscent of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride, which is paired quite well with references to Anglo-American spooks and horror legends (such as Jack the Ripper and Frankenstein).  Importantly, the end of the volume also kicks off an on-going plot development as the first official chapter finds Maka, Soul and another reaper pair, on a mission to reap the soul of their former teacher who has been turned into a zombie.  The question of who turned him into a zombie becomes an interesting cliffhanger that certainly made me want to keep reading.

My frustration with the fanservice is that it keeps a work that would otherwise be appropriate for younger teens out of their hands.  I also think the predominant art style -- pattern oriented, with very little depth -- clashes terribly with the fanservice presentation, which is very fleshy and round (which makes sense since the emphasis is literally flesh).  I admit, I'm not ready to give up on Soul Eater just yet, but hold hope that the humor, plot and general stylishness of the entire project can make up for the overdone t&a that otherwise can overwhelm the fun for me.

Review Copy provided by Yen Press.

11 Comments

• At October 13, 2009, Joe wrote:

  How are the backgrounds handled in this? One of my pet peeves in comics is a fantasy comic with very ...

• At October 13, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Yup, the backgrounds are mainly "atmospheric." This is a very different kind of comic than FMA or BPRD -- ...

• At October 13, 2009, Fanboy wrote:

  It does get better, I assure you. The prologues and first few chapters are pretty fanservice-heavy, but once they get ...

• At October 13, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Hmmm. While I can appreciate the appeal of "atmospheric" I much prefer my comics to feel more grounded.

  The cover caught ...

• At October 14, 2009, Okman wrote:

  I don't think Soul Eater is as clever as Fanboy thinks it is. It's definitely step-up from most shounen manga, ...

• At October 14, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Thanks, guys! I appreciate the input...I'll be sure to check out volume 2 when it is released early next ...

• At October 14, 2009, Tully wrote:

  Soul Eater gets better later, even toning down the fan service... But then it gets worse, IMO. It's a monthly ...

• At October 14, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  I feel like such a manga failure, but... what on earth is BPRD?

  Black Panda's Racy Diary?

  Bishounen Prettyboy Receives Declarations?

  Or, my ...

• At October 14, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  heh. Don't worry -- It isn't manga. It is a spin-off of the Hellboy comic -- BPRD stands ...

• At October 14, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Ohhhhhh. Well, Hellboy, at least, I have heard of. :)

• At October 15, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I suppose I should have given another manga example but BPRD was one of the first that popped in my ...

I should note one of the things I enjoy most about RIN-NE is the two main characters' rather practical take on their "supernatural" abilities.  As a child, Sakura Mamiya was spirited away by a "bad" shinigami and upon her safe return to the human world she discovers she has gained the ability to see ghosts.  This doesn't seem to cause her much emotional stress, as she grows to become a rather easy-going teenager who tends to avoid the ghosts who like to strike up conversations with her.  Nor is she ostracized by her classmates for occasionally seeming to have a conversation with the air.

Her life changes when shes sees Rinne Rokudo -- a perpetually absent classmate -- in his role as a shinigami, as he's sending spirits off into the next world...and when regular humans shouldn't be able to see him at all.  Rinne is a rather serious and strange shinigami -- upon their first meeting he demands (well.  Extorts might be a better way to put it) a fairly cheap fee from Sakura, in order to follow through putting a difficult spirit's soul to rest.  Amusingly, he keeps trying to extract insanely paltry amounts for doing his job incrementally, which Sakura exasperatedly pays.

Since Sakura's a human she's not supposed to be involved in these kinds of supernatural activities but Rinne's attempts to hypnotize her into forgetting her trip back to the "wheel of reincarnation" -- which she first saw as a child -- fail.  His shock at this discovery -- and the realization one of his classmates has his number -- is rather muted as are almost all of his emotional responses.  There's a flatness to his affect that is probably influenced by the fact he really doesn't seem to belong entirely to the human world or the shinigami world.  He's only "sort of" a shinigami and throughout volume 1, Sakura learns more and more about his difficult personal circumstances and the reasons behind his odd behaviors (including blackmailing his classmates for small amounts of food and money in his shinigami guise so they won't be "cursed"....by him).

One of the things I particularly like about this series is that it is very character focused so far -- there isn't a sense that there is just a "spirit of the week" that they have to help out every chapter.  Instead, Sakura is slowly learning more and more about Rinne's world and, of course, getting drawn into his life and work.  Once again I return to the characters' absurd levels of practicality -- they accept their circumstances in life a little too easily, which considering Rinne's rather paltry existence in the human world seems rather sad.  I'm looking forward to seeing how these two continue to influence and change each other through their association...which perhaps one day will develop into a real friendship.

Review copy provided by Viz Media.

4 Comments

• At October 12, 2009, Dean wrote:

  Nor is she ostracized by her classmates for occasionally seeming to have a conversation with the air.

  In this age of ...

• At October 12, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  *snicker* Good point. Takahashi's settings always seem very technology-deficient though....

• At October 14, 2009, Hassler, Taniguchi, Miyazaki « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Oh My Brother (About.com) Kinukitty on Prince Charming (The Hooded Utilitarian) Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Rin-ne (Comics ...

• At October 15, 2009, Danielle Leigh’s Reading Diary — Cirque du Freak vol 3 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources wrote:

  [...] to cover manga with "supernatural" themes as we start the countdown to Halloween (see reviews of RIN-NE and Soul ...

Now let's get this out of the way.  Ninja Girls is ridiculous.  And more fun than it should be.  The so-called "ninja girls" are wearing insanely anachronistic outfits even though the manga takes place during Japan's Warring States period and the protagonist is a boy with a horn on his head.  In spite of this, there is a steady thread of rather dumb, but almost sweetly goofy, humor running throughout the entire volume.

The basic plot is a young teenager with a horn on his head has been an outcast his entire life.  Alone and trying to make ends meet by doing services here and there for local townspeople, he only has his mother's funeral statue to keep him company.  But luckily she manages to communicate with him by falling off the mantle at curiously odd times....and often boinking him on the head whenever he's about to do something stupid (I honestly think this was both the funniest and strangest part of the book).

One day, horn-boy's loneliness comes to end when he discovers a voluptuous  girl drowning in the river.  Being the stand-up gentlemen that he is, he rescues her (which involves too many modern attempts at reviving her -- seriously, why would he know CPR for god's sake?).  This is all very cliche as clothes are removed, of course, and she wakes up thinking she's been violated (ur, not so hilarious), but the story moves past that pretty quickly.  Eventually they discover that she's actually been looking for him.  His horn is proof that he's the heir to some important household in Japan and there are some nasty ninjas who want to eliminate him.

So horn-boy needs protection and now he's got it in a surprisingly demure and innocent female ninja whose random power is great strength when the one she loves is looking at her (she turns to stone basically).  Now, that the basic story is set up the rest of the volume involves the collection of two other ninja "girls" (*cough* there's a reason I'm putting "girls" in quotation marks, but the fun is learning why) in his "harem."  Essentially they are there to protect him and help him take his rightful inheritance.  I'm pretty sure he's there to make sure they don't bitch slap each other into oblivion.

Each girl has a distinct personality and interacts with our young master quite differently.  If the first ninja girl is a stereotype of the willing young maiden, the second is pure Tsundere (& she's got an eye patch, which natch, makes her cool).  The third is a manipulative schemer, but the surprising part of this book is that the characterization is consistent and not willfully shallow.  The fanservice ends up being mainly backdrop and in spite of the fact the girls look like they've been put on earth to be leered at, nobody in the manga pays much mind to it.  Even the "horny" boy (god, what an awful pun) develops a crush on stone-girl, it isn't just because he's horny but because he does care for her.  Each individual chapter plays a bit with cliche situations we've probably seen in every shonen harem manga (example: horn-boy gets sick, has to be nursed to health...but then they go so crazy nursing him, he gets sicker), but I think the point is that the creator is having fun with tropes of the genre, not merely mindlessly reproducing them.

Review Copy provided by Del Rey.

7 Comments

• At October 10, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Huh. I'd been pretty sure I'd dislike Ninja Girls, too, but it doesn't sound bad. Certainly better than Samurai Harem ...

• At October 10, 2009, Okman wrote:

  Wow, they actually make a manga called Samurai Harem???

• At October 10, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Yes, its even shrink-wrapped which indicates an even higher level of fanservice.

• At October 10, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Michelle -- no one was more shocked than I. That's for sure!

• At October 10, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I find it suprising that the girls in this thread are more optimistic towards this series than me. Heaven knows ...

• At October 11, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  I don't know, Joe. I guess I was expecting pure stupidity and when I didn't get it I was ...

• At October 14, 2009, Hassler, Taniguchi, Miyazaki « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Random Shoujo Manga Page) David Welsh on Mail (Precocious Curmudgeon) Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of Ninja Girls (Comics ...