Manga Minis, January 2008

Welcome to the first 2008 edition of Manga Minis! This month, Ken looks at the final volumes of two old-school classics, Shirow Masamune’s Appleseed (Dark Horse) and Junji Ito’s Uzumaki (Viz), while I look at the second volume of Keiko Takemiya’s Andromeda Stories (Vertical, Inc.), the sixth volume of La Corda d’Oro (Viz), and the first volume of Short Sunzen! (Tokyopop). Andromeda Stories, Appleseed I/D, La Corda d’Oro and Short Sunzen! are available now; volume three of Uzumaki will be available on February 12th… just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Andromeda Stories, Vol. 2

Story by Ryu Mitsuse, Art by Keiko Takemiya
Vertical, Inc., 208 pp.
Rating: 13+

Ah, Keiko Takemiya, how I love your sci-fi extravaganzas! The psychic twins. The giant spiderbots. The evil, omniscient computers. The sand dragons. The fantastic hairdos. Just think how much more entertaining The Matrix might have been if you’d been at the helm instead of the dour, self-indulgent Wachowski Brothers! But wait… you did create your very own version of The Matrix: Andromeda Stories. I wasn’t sold on the comparison between the two franchises after reading the first volume, but now that I’ve seen what’s befallen the good citizens of Cosmoralia, I’m a believer. (See the final pages of volume two for the shocking details.) Takemiya’s story may not be as slickly presented as the Wachowski Brothers’, but she and collaborator Ryu Mitsuse engage the mind and heart with their tragic tale of doomed love, lost siblings, and machines so insidious that they’ll remake anything in their image—including the fish. Whatever reservations I might have had about this series have been dispelled by the second installment, which moves briskly through a decade’s worth of events while taking the time to address the deeper philosophical questions the story raises about identity and free will. And c’mon… what’s not to like about a manga that looks like a 1979 cover of Heavy Metal magazine?!

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Appleseed I/D

By Shirow Masamune
Dark Horse, 144 pp.
Rating: 16+

Only about half of Appleseed I/D is an actual story; the other half is supplemental material exploring the Appleseed universe. The story, “Game,” is a short one involving a terrorist attempt to bomb the Elder Council and Deunan and Briarios’ short investigation into the incident. It felt like set-up to a much longer arc that probably would have filled volume five, had Masamune ever written it. The supplemental material is actually quite cool, consisting of rough page layouts, a full color pin up gallery, organizational flow charts, character guides, a in-depth time line for the series from the twentieth to the twenty-second centuries, and other random musings from Shirow about the Appleseed world. If you’re an Appleseed or Shirow fan, then I/D is a must own. Newcomers should wait on picking it up until they’ve read the previous four Appleseed books; otherwise, large chunks of the story will be ruined.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

La Corda d’Oro, Vol. 6

By Yuki Kure
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

If you ever needed proof that a dating simulation game might not be the best source material for a manga, look no further than volume six of La Corda d’Oro. The series is quickly running out of gas with its repetitive story lines, lack of overarching plot, and easy listening repertory. (Take it from a classically trained musician: Van Cliburn didn’t win the Tchaikovsky Competition by playing Schubert’s Ave Maria or Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.) In the opening chapters, evil bishie Azuma browbeats Kahoko into posing as his fiancée. His motives are honorable—uncertain that he’s ready to get engaged, Azuma doesn’t want to hurt the fiancée his parents have chosen for him. His character’s sudden about-face, however, makes no dramatic sense considering Azuma spent the previous four volumes tormenting Kahoko whenever they were alone. (Kahoko’s willingness to participate in this lame-brained scheme also defies common sense.) Such abrupt and illogical plot twists point to the biggest problem with the later volumes of La Corda d’Oro: they seem to have been written by someone with a very short attention span. Yuki Kure never lingers on any plot development for more than a chapter, unceremoniously dropping characters who can’t be shoehorned into latest storyline—remember the female clarinetist from volume one?—and skimping on the musical shop-talk. (In previous volumes, the characters at least feigned interest in making music.) The most I can say for volume six is that La Corda d’Oro is still one of the best-looking titles in the Shojo Beat line, with a cast of beautifully drawn characters occasionally playing beautifully drawn instruments.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Short Sunzen!, Vol. 1

By Susagi Sakurai
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Reading Short Sunzen! left me with a powerful sense of déjà vu: didn’t I just review another manga about a tomboy who discovers her inner girly-girl through the magic of love? The answer turned out to be no, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Short Sunzen! was a kind of Frankenmanga assembled from the pieces of other shojo comedies, with its obligatory cultural festival chapter and its karate-chopping heroine, who delivers a powerful blow at the slightest provocation. I don’t mean to denigrate formula—after all, there are plenty of excellent shojo series that faithfully observe the genre’s conventions while offering surprising plot twists and character developments: Bring It On!, Love*Com, Ouran High School Host Club,, and Your and My Secret all come to mind. Common to these manga are memorable characters who, despite their sometimes outlandish behavior, seem like real individuals. And it’s here that Short Sunzen! falls, well, short. Satsuki and Sendo, the lead couple, seem like pale imitations of the tough cookies and sensitive boys found in Ai Morinaga’s work, minus the inner lives of Morinaga’s characters. Susagi Sakurai’s busy layouts and highly stylized faces only reinforce the sense of familiarity; one could easily confuse Short Sunzen! with, say, I Hate You More Than Anyone. It’s too bad that this manga struck me as ho-hum fare, as its underlying message—boys like you best when you’re being yourself—is one that more girls ought to hear.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Uzumaki, Vol. 3

By Junji Ito
Viz, 264 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

The climax to Junji Ito’s horror masterpiece is at hand! Kurozu-Cho is literally being swallowed up by the curse of the Spiral, as constant battering by huge hurricanes devastates the small village. The outside world remains cut off by bizarre whirlpools, tornados, and other odd phenomena. The beleaguered citizens struggle to survive as the situations spirals (pun intended) out of control. Ito’s art remains strong and detailed, giving an immensely creepy look to things such as giant snails and twisting mounds of human bodies. Ito never quite reaches the squick-inducing moments of the second volume; instead, he heavily focuses on developing our sense of dread. He still occasionally makes use of an idea that leans more towards goofy than frightening. Still, despite his strange decision to include gangs of tornado riders, the final volume still manages to be a wonderfully creepy, edge-of-your-seat read. Many of the questions that readers have will be answered with the fantastic conclusion, but Ito doesn’t over-explain anything here. He gives you just enough to leave you satisfied, but not so much that it becomes boring and mundane. It’s a tactic that one of his favorite authors, H.P. Lovecraft, had down pat and this volume of Uzumaki certainly has some very Lovecraftian moments to it. This entire series has been fantastic and I highly recommended to any and all horror fans. Top notch work!

–Reviewed by Ken Haley