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.

2 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 ...

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 ...

Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me to You, by Karuhi Shiina, volume 2.  Former social-pariah Sawako takes two steps back and one step forward in her quest to cement deep and enduring friendships with her peers.  This time the story takes a long, hard look at how teenagers can form healthy female friendships, making this volume a charming palette cleanser in the world of shojo manga.  Sure, I'm a fan of romance, but Kimi Ni Todoke seems to know that you first have to like yourself before you can maintain relationships of any kinds.  Poor Sawako has a long way to go, but she is starting to take important steps, one of which is actually expressing oneself.  Out loud.  To others.  Such a simple thing and so difficult for this sweet introvert.

Sawako's two potential friends, Yano and Yoshida, become the stars of volume 2 (they can be seen kissing her adorably on the cheek on the cover of volume 2 above).  Although they have been given ample reasons to distrust Sawako again, they display the patience of a saint as they wait to hear directly from her how she really feels about them.  In the high school world -- where backstabbing and vicious rumor-mongering seem to be the order of the day (at least in most shojo manga) -- it is a relief to see common sense and kindness win out in the end.

I think Sawako is about to develop a fully developed *community* of friends (the back cover hints that certain side characters are going to get more face time in the near future), and I look forward to seeing her juggle relationships with both girls and guys.  Somehow I suspect this is going to get hilariously awkward in the near future (not that fighting snarky chicks in the girls' bathroom isn't already awkward, but this may only be a taste of what's to come!).  Once again, it is absolutely refreshing to see a shojo manga tackle friendship and, therefore, what it ultimately means to a human being in a world of other humans.

Black Bird, by Kanoko Sakurakoji, volume 2.  Many manga reviewers did not care for the first volume of this series, but I found it to be the perfect guilty pleasure.   Significantly, two things happen in this volume to lessen a good deal of my "guilt": 1) the romantic "hero" Kyo is redeemed to a large degree, 2) the heroine Misao acknowledges her feelings for Kyo, which frees me from having to endure 9+ volumes of her fleeing from her "destined lover" who, of course, must know her own heart and desires better than she possibly ever could.

The first herculean task is accomplished by introducing a baddie who is very similar to Kyo, in looks and character, but revels in depravity and outright abuse of Misao.  This is a manipulative trick, of course, but it works because it allows both the reader and Misao to see Kyo from a very different perspective.  It is revealed he only becomes head of his clan in order to be in a position to love and protect Misao.  In other words, he's motivated by love even if he expressed that love in some fairly disturbing and perv-tastic ways.

The second accomplishment is more significant to me because I don't really care whether or not Kyo is "redeemed" as a "good boyfriend," so much as I don't want to see Misao dither around and pretend she hasn't really fallen in love with a jerk (*cough* the way another shojo protagonist does in another infamous guilty pleasure manga also published by Viz).  To put it another way, Misao embraces and trusts her own feelings which is a surprising and welcome turn.

Black Bird is very much a supernatural romance, emphasis on romance.  Short hand explanation: Misao's blood is catnip to demons.  Hence the emphasis on her bleeding in a sexualized manner on every. single. cover.  (I could certainly do without these covers, as they over-emphasize Misao's powerlessness.  On other hand...there is some truth in advertising).  Unlike my experience of other texts in this genre, the supernatural elements are not intended to distract us from the fact that these characters seem to have no other interest in life than romance.  Instead, the supernatural elements are actually are incorporated into the very fabric of the romantic relationship.  This suits my taste quite well since I'm more in favor the "romance" side of the equation than the "supernatural" side.

Review copies provided by Viz.

3 Comments

• At October 7, 2009, Journalista – the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Oct. 7, 2009: Full disclosure wrote:

  [...] [Review] Various titles Link: Danielle Leigh [...]

• At October 7, 2009, Beatrice wrote:

  Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate your opinions/insight. By "anothier infamously guilty pleasure manga also published by Viz", are ...

• At October 7, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Heh. Actually, it was Hot Gimmick. That girl was born waffler! (But maybe it isn't quite as ...

Just to recap the general plot of Narbari no Ou, I shamefully quote from my review of volume 1:

Nabari No Ou (or "King of the Hidden World") is not about a shonen hero who wants to get stronger and protect people and yadda, yadda, orange-jumpsuit, yadda, sealed nine-tailed fox, yadda, yadda and so forth, but a modern day young man who has unfortunately inherited a great power known as "Shinra Banshou," which allows someone with the requisite skills to control "all things in creation."  Middle schooler Miharu Rokujou is an unlikely candidate for ninja-hood as well as any form of traditional heroics.  He's a major smart ass, is incredibly lackadaisical about life in general, and has no interest in anything in particular.  Yet he's thrust into dangerous situations because sealed within him is the great potential for power -- which can be used for good or for ill -- and there are lot of pretty bad folks who have decided to take it.  Using whatever means necessary, of course.

Volume 2 shows that Miharu certainly has the makings of a hero within him.  Or at least a deeply hidden desire to be heroic that ultimately may be his undoing.  After a terrible attack -- assault, really -- perpetrated upon him and his fellow comrades by a ninja from another clan, Miharu comes face to face with the undeniable fact that his existence causes others pain.  As long as he exists, there is a power -- sealed within him, still untapped -- in the world that simply should not be.  At the end of volume 1, Miharu's little band of brothers comes up against Yoite, a rather terrifying young man who can cause others pain as easily as he can snap his fingers.  And, of course, he's after the hidden power within Miharu.

Yoite's path of destruction is both somehow casual and devastating as he forces Miharu to experience his true powerlessness as a ninja.  Miharu almost loses an eye and can only sit and watch while Yoite practically crushes the skull of his teacher / protector, (another great character in this manga I really love).  In the aftermath of this terrible experience -- the group is just barely saved by the head of another ninja clan -- Miharu continues to dissociate from his own life in order to not feel pain, but also to not cause others pain.  His decision to withdrawal from his close circle of companions in this volume is  less about emotional cowardice and perhaps more about sheer survival.  In short, Miharu's dilemma breaks my heart and makes this title a surprisingly compelling psychological drama.

Kamatani's characters are well-developed as people but most significantly they are interesting individuals.  They have well-developed psychologies that you can see constantly working beneath the surface and influencing their behavior and attitudes.  The art remains a real treat, with starkly beautiful contrasts between black and white spaces on the page.  Once again, the art and dark psychological underpinnings of the narrative gives the title a noir-ish feel, supported by the moral ambiguity the characters face in their decision to protect something which perhaps should not be protected at all.

Review copy provided by Yen Press.

9 Comments

• At October 1, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  Hurrah! Something I have already reviewed and can read immediately! :D

  Miharu continues to dissociate from his own life in ...

• At October 1, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Did I miss this?! Or have you not posted your review yet?

  (Also, thanks for the kind words!)

• At October 1, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  Oh, I posted it yesterday!

• At October 1, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  hmm...this week has been crazy but I can't believe I missed that!

• At October 1, 2009, Melinda Beasi wrote:

  It was late at night--I think it kind of flew under the radar. I really missed the chance to make ...

• At October 1, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  not at all! Of course the grass is greener and whatnot, but I really enjoyed your review (particularly how ...

• At October 1, 2009, Okman wrote:

  I like Nabari no Ou, but it's a bit of a slow burn for me. You're pretty spot on when ...

• At October 1, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Okman -- I'm curious about the anime because I've heard people describe it as "boring" so I wonder about that....

• At October 2, 2009, Reading Over Shoulders | Extremely Graphic wrote:

  [...] If you like ninjas then maybe you should check out Nabari No Ou – here’s the Comic Book Resources ...

20th Century Boys is about one's man struggle against a seemingly worldwide conspiracy to bring about the end of the world on December 31st, 1999.  Kenji Endo's life is pretty much an exercise in unfulfilled expectations -- fast approaching 40 he's never managed to reach any of his potential.  However, he may just be a born leader, a skill that comes in handy when he starts to uncover evidence of a mysterious plot to bring about terrifying incidents of death and devastation leading up to an apocalyptic finish at the dawn of the millennium.

Why is Kenji the hero of this tale?  Because all the death and destruction happening in the last years of this fictional version of the 1990's was originally conceived as a childish fantasy he called "The Book of Prophecy."  Yes, Kenji imagined a great evil that would in turn inspire great courage, with he and his circle of childhood friends stepping up as the world's saviors.  Now that the events he once dreamed up are actually happening, his attempts at adult heroism become a much more complicated endeavor than he could have ever imagined.  To be something akin to a "hero" in a modern world is a difficult path, particularly when people rely on you.  Particularly when you are all they have, as is the case with Kenji's niece Kanna, who knows no other parent than him.

In volumes 4 and 5 Urasawa upends the path of his narrative in surprising, even shocking, ways.  Volume 4 shifts away from Kenji to focus on his childhood friend Otcho, now a kind of Japanese exile living in Bangkok.  Otcho is almost like an escapee from the Black Lagoon universe who has somehow slipped into the world of 20th Century Boys.  An outcast from his former life as Japanese salaryman, Otcho has lost everything he once made the mistake of not treasuring enough, but still finds the will to keep living and helping others in the crime and drug-infested cess-pit that is Urasawa's Bangkok.  Like all good heroes, Otcho returns to the fold to help Kenji but his back story and current life are a rich addition to the manga's cast of characters.  Otcho and Kenji are nothing alike except for the deep reserves of heroism they somehow shared as children and both draw upon as adults.  Doing nothing is not an option for these two and they inspire the somewhat less competent around them to join the effort to stop evil.

Volume 5 returns to the focus to Japan and charts the rapid-fire events that lead up to what is supposed to be the climactic moment of December 31st, 1999 but instead ends up being one of the biggest mysteries of the story.  Urasawa very deftly defies convention by not showing the reader what happens. Instead the second half the volume reveals the aftermath of the confrontation between Kenji's rag-tag group of resisters and the big evil afoot, but not the "why."  It's a gutsy move that works and if I'm being exceptionally vague about what happens that is because I refuse to spoil the excitement and surprise of this volume.

These volumes are full of surprises but these twists and turns always seemed earned and that is a testament to Urasawa's skill as a story teller and an artist.  His art style is always transparent and hooks us through a strong sense of flow and organization of panels, even when the development of the plot itself is shrouded in mystery.  Together these elements of story and art are perfectly paired, giving the reader an anchor when the entire world -- his world -- has been turned upside down.

Review copies provided by Viz Media.

9 Comments

• At September 29, 2009, Okman wrote:

  I love how Naoki Urasawa tells his story. I think he really does some amazingly creative stuff and isn't afraid ...

• At September 29, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  All-Star Superman has got nothing on this.

  heh. Them's fighting words on this blog, but yes, I know what you ...

• At September 29, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I loooove 20th Century Boys. I ended up giving it a chance after getting the first volume of Pluto, and ...

• At September 30, 2009, Yen mystery solve, NYAF wrapups, new things to read « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Leigh on vols. 4 and 5 of 20th Century Boys (Comics Should Be Good) Connie on vol. 2 of ...

• At September 30, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Joe -- the monthly schedule is very, very addictive. I'm collecting volumes of Monster and just waiting for the ...

• At September 30, 2009, Sara K. wrote:

  I've only seen the movies, but I agree that it's a great story. I do have quibbles about the ...

• At September 30, 2009, James Moar wrote:

  I've read the first four volumes and seen the first movie. The film's quite good, but it's pretty compressed, and ...

• At September 30, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  James -- it seems there a lot of anime / manga references that I'm probably not getting but I do ...

• At September 30, 2009, danielle leigh wrote:

  whoops! And that "anon" comment above is from me!

The joy of Detroit Metal City is seeing all decency and common sense thrown out the window without so much as a "how do you do."  Our "hero" of this tale -- Soichi Negishi -- thinks he wants to make beautiful love songs, but something in this otherwise gentle young man actually likes to sing about raping your mother.  In volume 2, Negishi finds himself inspiring his followers through his absurdly crass performance stunts, almost in spite of himself.  Does Negishi have a split personality?  Are there really two personalities inside of him vying for control?  Or can he just not admit to himself that he really loves running around as Krauser II, scaring the shit out of people and basically making everyone his bitch?

His performance stunts and the audience's slobbering reactions to them really make the book.  They also give Negishi an almost superhuman aura to his death metal persona, as opposed to his weak, mamma's boy identity he reverts to when he is without his make-up and Krauser II costume.   Seriously, it is almost like we've got a Clark Kent / Superman thing going on here, especially considering Krauser's superhuman strength which often accompanies his costumed persona.  After all, what kind of "human" can claim to have "raped" Tokyo Tower or torn his tongue by scream-singing the word "rape" 11 times in 1 second?  Only a devil whose powers come from singing about raping your mother, of course!  (None of this yellow sun bullshit for Krauser.)

If Krauser II is the "superhero" of this book, he seems to be fighting hypocrisy and injustice (I'm not even kidding about this), and even manages to save lives, pop zits, and punish douche-baggery wherever he finds it.  His weapons are his "flaming cock" (really his wig on fire), his shockingly firm phlegm (gross, yet quite hilarious), and his disembodied head.   Oh Krauser.  What will you think of next?

For those of us who enjoy our humor gross, crass, vulgar, offensive, completely non-PC, or, you know, good, I can't recommend Detroit Metal City highly enough.  Join the hordes who worship at the feet of our death metal super-villain Krauser II and GO TO DMC!

Review copy provided by Viz Media.

4 Comments

• At September 22, 2009, dreamweaver wrote:

  i love DMC. :)

  note: if i remember correctly, he said "rape" 11 times in just 1 second! only Krauser could ...

• At September 22, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Yes, you are correct! Will go fix that right now!

• At September 22, 2009, Okman wrote:

  DMC is one of the funniest things I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Good stuff all around.

• At September 22, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Okman -- and I completely forget to mention how AMAZING the Viz adaption is. Seriously, just completely brilliant, it ...

I always think of Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&! as a comic where "nothing happens" (kind of like a kid's version of Seinfeld, or in manga genre terms "slice of life"), but volume 6 reminds us that a child's world can be very large and sometimes a little scary.  In this volume Yotsuba learns about the joy of recycling, becomes an advocate for the deliciousness of milk, and most importantly is initiated into a significant childhood rite of passage when her dad buys her a bike.

As per usual, Yotsuba is always adorable and gets the best lines of the book but I think it is her eyes that are the real story.  They go saucer-like when she makes a strange discovery (KIDS WORK TOO?).  They sparkle like diamonds when they see an eclair for the first time (That looks yummy!).  Her pupils turn into cat's slits when defensive (I won't eat Daddy's treat!).  Or they grow transparent with tears when she discovers the bittersweet nature of parent's love -- Yotsuba wasn't supposed to bike without her daddy to deliver milk to the neighbor at her school?

I laughed a lot through this entire volume but for the first time this was laughter of recognition -- suddenly I remembered what it was like to test the boundaries of my childhood world and experience parental displeasure at my solitary "adventure" out there in grown up land.  Yes, Yotsuba is still having adventures but somehow those adventures now seem almost to be leaving a mark of experience on our young protagonist.  Or at least gaining the very little wisdom all five year old children should have.

Hats off to Yen Press for not only picking up the title, but also for releasing the first five volumes with a new translation (which is lucky move for us since a number of the later volumes have gone out of print under ADV, I believe).  The scripts flows beautifully, and cultural notes are integrated into the page instead of compiled as endnotes at the back of the book (a smart choice that allows for a smooth reading experience).  As always, Yotsuba is rendered for maximum adorability with her triumphant, cheerful, attentive expressions, but Azuma also gives us tired, confused, anxious, determined, and brave Yotsuba as well.  There a million Yotsubas and the joy of the book is watching her cycle through all those emotions in a single chapter and still come out the other side ready to do it all over again the next day.

Review copy provided by Yen Press.

11 Comments

• At September 21, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  YOTSUBA!

  I didn't know the last part. Are the new translations better?

• At September 21, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I've said before here that I'm more into action/adventure types of comics and manga, but after not seeing a single ...

• At September 21, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Mark -- I *think* so. Yen Press is pretty serious about cultural accuracy and readability. (but everyone ...

• At September 21, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Yeah, I figured if The Internet was that consistent in its praise then it would at least be worth checking ...

• At September 21, 2009, James Moar wrote:

  From a few side-by-side pages I've seen posted up, the Yen Press translations look just a bit more literal. But ...

• At September 22, 2009, Journalista – the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Sept. 22, 2009: An even worse case wrote:

  [...] [Review] Yotsuba&! Vol. 6 Link: Danielle Leigh [...]

• At September 22, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  I started reading Yotsuba&! because of this column. I'm pleased as punch that the new volumes are getting released!

• At September 22, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Yea! more converts make me so happy! :-)

• At September 23, 2009, Q:? wrote:

  Best comic ever made.

• At September 24, 2009, Sydney wrote:

  This is absolutely my favorite manga. I'm soooo thrilled that another company picked up the license. I mean, seriously, what ...

• At September 30, 2009, Chargone wrote:

  Yen's translation's more literal, so combined with their notes, some of the cultural jokes come through better

  on the other hand, ...

I'm going to quote liberally from my review of volume 1, both to remind myself what originally defined Gestalt's epic quest but also because volumes 2 and 3 don't do a particularly good job of reminding the reader why these folks got started on their journey in the first place:

Gestalt's plot is set into motion when a priest, Father Olivier, abandons his holy order to search out the mysterious island "G."  The island G is actually the refuge of a former god who waged war against the ultimate God, Salsaroa, the one who ruled over the other original seven gods.  "G" (or "Gestalt") lost his war against Salsaroa, but like Father Olivier, we are left to wonder why he rebelled and if rebellion against the ultimate God makes him "evil."  Likewise, if "G" (the island, named after the fallen god) is such an evil place why is Father Olivier -- a good, compassionate man -- seeking such a place out?  Of course, all good pilgrims must be tested and since this is a fighting comic, emissaries are deployed to stop Olivier to slow him down by any means necessary (but not stop him since then there would be no comic).

On his dangerous quest Father Olivier picks up an important and truly flamboyant companion -- Ouri is first introduced as a mute and powerless slave, but in short order it is revealed she is much more than she appears to be.  After Father Olivier uses his limited powers to free Ouri and her voice, she openly flaunts her voluptuous body and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of power.  It is hinted that Ouri has significant connections to the original 8 gods -- perhaps even being one herself? -- and the mystery of why she deigns to accompany and protect the rather innocent and comparatively weak Father Olivier deepens.

Volume 2 strays from these original concerns by introducing an almost inexhaustible supply of random obstacles that the main travelers -- Father Olivier, his "discipline" Ouri, an elf originally sent to stop them but then turned to their side, and finally, a "holy warrior," who is quite useful for when the group somehow gets sucked into fighting tournaments (just in case you forgot this was an RPG-ish comic and whatnot).  The problem is that volume 2 lacks narrative coherence, which volume 3 rectifies to a great degree.

Once the story returns to Father Olivier and Ouri's plot (and their character development), it becomes much easier to follow the story because there is an emotional core to the title once again.  Father Olivier is one interesting fellow as he has another personality -- Ouri calls him "Black Olivier" -- who appears to grow stronger the further Olivier travels away from his order and Father Messiah, who took Oliver in as a child and was responsible for keeping Olivier's dark half in check.  When "Black Olivier" is unleashed he threatens to shake Ouri's faith in her "master," not because she loses faith in Olivier himself but because she has lost conviction in herself.

Kouga, like Fujiyama, can't help but have a bit of fun with the RPG concept, but because she is also trying to play it "straight," so to speak, her playfulness is contained in short interludes called "Gestalt Theater."  In these chapters, Kouga takes a break from the primary quest of the book, but unfortunately, while amusing, these episodes also undercut any momentum that plot might be gaining in the main story.  In spite of my difficulty following the plot in volume 2, Kouga's delicately detailed, almost wispy art is surprisingly powerful in volume 3, as Ouri's pain and Olivier's sacrifice are rendered to great effect.  I'll return to Gestalt for Ouri and Olivier's probable reconciliation in volume 4 and in the hopes that their story will give much needed purpose to the title's central quest.

Review copies provided by Viz.

1 Comments

• At September 17, 2009, Jason gives away his manga, JuYoun explains Yotsuba&! changes « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] 6) Melinda Beasi on vol. 2 of Detroit Metal City (There it is, Plain as Daylight) Danielle Leigh on ...

Fujiyama sets up the (purposefully flimsy) premise of the book in a few pages -- Ryuka's been dumped by his girlfriend for someone with more money, and after boozing it up he gets up on a random hill and under a bright starry sky wishes for a love that won't leave or betray him.  Well, this poor heartbroken bastard happens to have made his wish on a hill enchanted by the trickster-ish spirit of the quarter of the last moon, Ixto, who offers Ryuka his choice of lovers on fated cards.  Ryuka is displeased to discover that all the cards have men on them, not to mention, one's kind of old and another pretty macho looking!  And, oh yeah, he's not gay! and so rejects them all.  In response, Ixto decides he'll become Ryuka's fated love in place of the men on the cards and so decides to "seal the deal" right then and there.

Ryuka's heart and body however aren't really into men and so Ixto casts a kind of spell on him that compels Ryuka's body to seek out Ixto, which starts him off on his journey.  His heart, however, isn't moved quite that easily, so Ryuka's journey is one bizarre misstep after another.  Ixto is "kind" (or "evil") enough to give Ryuka a companion to help him along, a small "catboy" named Coon who Ryuka picks out of two possible options because he is supposedly obedient but then rejects immediately upon the discovery he's got a disgustingly cute factor -- he says "nyan" (a cat's meow sound in Japanese) after every. single. sentence.  However, it's too late and now he's stuck with the cutest thing on earth as his helper.

So let's recap, shall we?  Ryuka's body is compelled on a journey that will end when his heart and body have entirely accepted Ixto.  In the meantime, he's got a sickenly cute companion and he keeps on running into his "rejected" potential lovers from the cards of fate.  He also keeps ending up in predictably non-consensual gay situations from which he often needs to be rescued -- who knew fantasy worlds had their own versions of Tokyo's ni-chrome (i.e. gay district)?  The rub is that all he has to do is call Ixto's name and he'll be saved, but the individual missions succeed and fail in relation to the constant emotional and physical push-and-pull between these two.  While Ryuka starts to fall for Ixto in spite of himself, Ixto continues to watch over Ryuka's progress with some degree of smugness and some degree of real worry (particularly when Ryuka refuses to call Ixto's name, preferring to save himself, thank you very much).

Tale of the Waning Moon is hilarious because Fujiyama cheerfully implodes the conventions of real player games by sending "an ordinary guy" -- as Ryuka introduces himself to others in the book -- on a mission in a world defined by its queer and campy sensibilities.  To fulfill his tasks, Ryuka must open his heart to the mercurial spirit of the waning moon and finally come to terms with the waning and waxing of his very human heart.  Fujiyama's art is always a treat and here she offers a range of different masculine types, everything from the "exotic" desert prince, to the twenty-something hipster, to the "cool" office worker, all adapted to roles and personalities appropriate for this unusual fantasy world.  In the end, this book is a delightfully strange little trifle with enough charm to smooth away some of its questionable representations of non-consensual encounters (i.e. plot) as spurring very consensual relations (i.e. romance).

Review copy provided by Yen Press.

1 Comments

• At September 14, 2009, All good things must come to an end « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] Dunk (Comics Village) Bill Sherman on A Tale of an Unknown Country (Blogcritics) Danielle Leigh on vol. 1 of ...

"El Baile De La Muerte" arc (aka "The Dance of Death" in English) started in volume 6 and continues to expand and somehow involve almost every major character who has ever shown their face in Roanapur.  Young Garcia Lovelace returns to town with a new maid, who is almost as handy with deadly weaponry as his old one, to try to stop his beloved caretaker Roberta from painting the town red.  And my "red," I do mean literally red with blood.  Roberta's after the people responsible for Lovelace Sr.'s assassination and now that she is without her former master, she is a mad and dangerous dog who thirsts for bloody vengeance.  She's also fueling this trek on both drugs and madness and it is doubtful that anything but a bullet to the head can really "save" her from herself.

Garcia appeals to Rock, who may seem like a normal putz in a town that runs on violence and criminal activity, but somehow has the special superpower of higher reasoning / scheming skills.  (Rock, a former Japanese salaryman,  is just one member of the "Black Lagoon Company," a group of modern pirates who will smuggle whatever you want if you've got the cash).  Rock makes up his mind to help Garcia even though the odds are stacked against them.  Roberta's off the leash and she is about to blow the criminal underbelly status quo of Roanapur sky high as she's got everyone from South-American terrorists to American intelligence officers in her sights.  That means those that like the way things work in Roanapur -- such as Chang the mobster and Hotel Moscow -- have a stake in cleaning up this mess as quickly as possible as to not incur the wrath of the so-called "greatest nation on Earth," the good old U.S. of A.

It remains to be seen, however, if there is anything Rock can really do to help Garcia get Roberta back in any form that might resemble "safe."  Finding that he's getting nowhere running around town with just him, the kid and the new maid, volume 7 reaches an emotional climax when he tells Revy that if he's the "bullet," she's the "gun," and without her he's pretty much useless.  But when you put a gun and a bullet together...well, that is quite a deadly and intoxicating combination.  This is a fascinating scene that almost makes the rest of the (somewhat convoluted) arc worth it...so long as there is some payoff where character development is concerned.  And by "character," I really just mean Rock.

Most of these volumes follow a series of very violent and dangerous gunfights between various factions who have their own particular motives and methods of dealing with problems like Roberta.  As fond as I am of this title as a whole, in general I felt the fight scenes lacked a distinct emotional punch.   Perhaps there are too many chess pieces on the board and the one Garcia's placed his faith in -- Rock -- hasn't seemed to have figured out how he can move on the board...or even if can possibly move the board itself.

In spite of my obvious interest in Rock's character arc, it should be noted that Roberta's personality disintegration does become a tragic loss through the eyes of Garcia in volume 8.  The person he loved is so far gone she's about to bite the jugular of her master's son -- metaphorically speaking -- and she does not even realize that she's doing it.   His pain and suffering at losing yet another person he loves brought me emotionally back into the book, when the endless gun fights had lost me to a degree.

Significantly, Rock's motivation for getting involves remains the intellectual mystery of both volumes 7 and 8.  We are starting to get the sense he's not helping Garcia because he "feels" for him particularly (unlike in the Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise arc, where Rock was still able to convince himself that he just wanted to "help" someone in need), but because it interests him to do "good" in an environment as messed up as Roanapur.  In other words, Rock seems to accepted that he is playing a game and that often the stakes are other people's lives.  Even Revy's.  I'm curious to see how he reconciles that with his "good guy" persona and how conscious he is of how much he's changed since he joined the Black Lagoon company.

While I have mixed feelings about the length of this arc, there is still plenty to keep the reader engaged with these volumes.  I have high hopes for the considerable payoff Hiroe is planning for future volumes.  Sadly, we've pretty much caught up to the Japanese releases but I look forward to seeing more of Rock 'n Revy next year.  As well as how anyone can possibly get out of this mess alive.

Review Copies provided by Viz Media.

9 Comments

• At September 8, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  Where Season 3 of the anime, damnit!?

• At September 8, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  YES! Well have you heard there will be a new OVA in 2010? Not sure what it will ...

• At September 8, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  Oh yeah, I hard about the new OVA, but the new story arc in the manga are apparently just as ...

• At September 9, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Danielle, you've made me want to read this and I did not need another series to be collecting! :)

• At September 9, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  heh. I blame the anime. It really got me into the title and then I found the manga ...

• At September 9, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  I might pressure you to lend it to me one of these days. :)

• At September 9, 2009, Danielle Leigh wrote:

  Sounds good! The covers are fan-service central (I writhe a little in shame when I buy them at B&N) ...

• At September 9, 2009, Michelle Smith wrote:

  Actually, I kind of dig the covers. I think vol. 6 had the maid girl with long braids, and ...

• At September 10, 2009, Consider the possibilities « MangaBlog wrote:

  [...] (Slightly Biased Manga) Clive Owen on vol. 5 of Black Lagoon (Animanga Nation) Danielle Leigh on vols. 7 and ...