05 Oct, 2009
Manga Minis, 10/5/09
By: Chloe Ferguson, Sam Kusek, Ken Haley, Grant Goodman and Connie C.
We’ve got a disparate crop of titles on tap for this week with a pretty good range of scores, as well. Grant starts us off with a look at volume thirteen of Air Gear (Del Rey); Ken contributes two reviews, one of the sixth and final volume of Croquis Pop (Yen Press) and the other of volume six of Gantz (Dark Horse), a series that has finally begun to win him over; Sam’s also good for two this week, first singing the praises of Detroit Metal City’s second volume and later reviewing volume thirteen of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (both from VIZ); Connie continues to enjoy the over-the-top antics in volume three of Gakuen Prince (Del Rey); and Chloe is less enamored with the plot twists in volume 26 of Red River (VIZ).
By Oh!Great
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Rating: Older Teen
Most of volume thirteen is filled with useless, distracting babble about Regalias, Trophaeum, and Nine Fall. It almost reads like a high schooler’s creative writing piece at times, in which everything has to have a cool-sounding name. In fact, it’s enough to make a reader want to skip past it all and get straight to the action—which, unfortunately, is almost nonexistent until the final chapters.
Lots of characters pop up, but never take the story anywhere. Two “tuners” get a lot of face time: Canon and Kururu. From the ridiculously named team Tool Toul To, both characters are tasked with “tuning” a rider. While never stated outright (instead, through copious amounts of innuendo) it is implied that tuners are meant to establish a sexual relationship with a Keeper. There is no explanation as to why this is beneficial or necessary in the first place. Even worse is the admission that neither the tuner nor the Keeper has a choice in the matter.
Toward the end of the volume, a mysterious man wearing air trecks and plenty of skulls appears and starts attacking other riders, resulting in a breathtaking chase sequence. Ruining this otherwise highlight is the realization that this new rider’s motives are completely unclear, as everything about air treck riding seems to be about proving worth through organized competition, not assassination.
There’s very little energy or fun to be found in this volume of Air Gear. Hopefully volume fourteen will turns things around.
Volume thirteen of Air Gear is available now.
–Reviewed by Grant Goodman
Story by KwangHyun Seo, Art by JinHo Ko
Yen Press, 192 pp
Rating: Teen
The climatic volume of Croquis Pop is at hand and… I’m completely lost. The volume kicks off with the semi-finals of a Croquis tournament, beginning with the finale of a match between Arthur Pendragon and Isaac Newton. Did I mention that the tournament was being held by Snow White? Yeah, apparently volumes four and five represented some kind of key shift in the story; this becomes even more evident with the complete absence of Mu-Huk throughout the volume with not even an offhand mention of his name.
At any rate, despite my confusion I did find this surprising turn of events to be fairly interesting, thanks in no small part to the amazing visuals by JinHo Ko. His art really takes off here and the manic energy that permeates Jack Frost is evident here as well. The action sequences are incredibly kinetic, though at the times the raw energy can make them a bit difficult to follow.
Honestly, this volume was so divorced from the first three that I’m half tempted to hunt down four and five just to fill in the blanks. It’s an interesting and energetic conclusion to what was a rather confusing series from the get go, but the madness in this volume was definitely of the “Wow, that’s cool” sort.
Volume six of Croquis Pop will be available on October 27, 2009.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
By Kiminori Wakasugi
VIZ, 200 pp.
Rating: Mature (18+)
Talk about a series that keeps rising to the top. Volume two of Detroit Metal City is out and it has been worth the wait! Chock full of more laughs and lewd language, this volume features Negishi continuing to deny his true self in hopes of breaking out of the metal scene and pursuing a new horror-free life. Like the past few chapters we’ve seen, however, he continues to fall into his old ways. This volume focuses mostly on rivalry, with DMC fighting off punks and rappers out to thwart their rising fame as well as some unforeseen advances on Negishi’s dreams of the future, mainly with Aikawa.
I liked this volume not only for the comedic value (there were some really funny scenes concerning Krauser taking care of his fans and sexually assaulting Tokyo Tower) but for how much it revealed about Negishi’s psyche and how much he really needs this personality as a way to release his true feelings. During a bout with his former childhood friend, Riva, who has thrown away his old, sweet self in order to become a rap artist with a vendetta against DMC, Negishi uses his Krauser guise to criticize Riva’s actions. Eventually, Krauser completely takes over, feeding further and further into the darkness that is Negishi and ultimately, DMC. It’s pretty fascinating stuff.
Volume two of Detroit Metal City is available now.
–Reviewed by Sam Kusek
By Jun Yuzuki
Del Rey, 194 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)
Things are still not going well for Rise. Now that she has the girls at school off her back, she still has to worry about making friends and a few lingering enemies among the female population. A more pressing concern, however, is the interest the rather scary Akamaru takes in her. Akamaru may not be a bad guy, but Nobunaga is, and Nobunaga seems to want to split Rise and Azusa in order to get a rise out of Akamaru.
I can understand why this series isn’t very well-liked, but I give it high marks for the depths of depravity to which it continues to sink. I mean, this is the first shojo manga I have ever seen with an orgy scene. That alone is worth some notice. How about the public execution at the very end of the volume, where Azusa is knocked out and it looks like he is tied up and is about to be beaten with riding crops in front of the entire school? Aside from that, the romantic entanglements continue to be addictive in the way that the best trashy shojo manga are. Azusa has become increasingly selfish and inconsiderate and far less likable as a result, and I currently favor Akamaru for his interesting mix of threatening and considerate. I also like the fact Rise has no clue how to react to Akamaru since he is the source of horrible rumors and does not often speak.
The incidents I brought up earlier aren’t nearly as bad as they sound. The orgy is less of a sexual thing and more of a one-panel demonstration of just how evil Nobunaga is. The public execution is a punishment for cheating in a relationship. I won’t enjoy it if it actually happens, but I like that the extreme school has such extreme methods for backing up its rules.
Volume three of Gakuen Prince is available now.
–Reviewed by Connie C.
By Hiroya Oku
Dark Horse, 192 pp
Rating: 18 +
Hey, I actually liked this volume! What a twist! Once again, the book kicks off with the survivors of the last mission meeting the newest group of recruits; the usual attempt to explain and make them believe things ensues before they’re all promptly ported off to the next mission. Unlike previous missions, however, this time their targets are massive statues that bring to mind boss battles from the video games of yore. Oh, and Kei gets laid in the opening pages. That’s actually important since having sex apparently flips a switch in his head and he’s suddenly a killing machine on the field. I suppose it could be due to events in the previous volumes, but it’s still fairly obvious that the sex scene is a turning point for him.
The art continues to have that almost too clean and flat look to it, and the action sequences still don’t really light me on fire, but at least the characters are learning and trying new things. In addition to the boss battle, the newcomers, and Kei’s change in attitude, we also get a new twist towards the end that may add a whole new dimension to their battles. For the first time, I’m actually tempted to spend money on the subsequent volume.
Volume six of Gantz is available now.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 13
By Yoshiyuki Nishi
VIZ, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)
The more I read Muhyo and Roji, the more intrigued I get about the series. Maybe it is the slightly goofy depictions of envoys (demons) of Hell that help the practitioners, but there is something magical (pun intended) about this series. Volume thirteen finds Muhyo powerless, left with only a scrap of paper to summon an envoy as he waits for a new book, and Roji is comforting a ghost, still caught up in his past, who may not be as friendly as he seems. To make matters worse, a rampant, crown-wearing haunt is turning the M.L.S students to stone as she searches for what she believes to be her son. In the second half, a vengeful practitioner comes to the M.L.S to save her family name, only to be met in opposition by Muhyo and Roji’s rivals, Goryo and Ebisu, an adorable parody of our title heroes.
Sounds slightly confusing, right? Actually, all these different storylines come together rather cohesively; though the new plot points move relatively fast, the pace never feels chopped up or rough; it feels like a good RPG that keeps you moving towards the goal. I like the writing because it keeps you guessing how far the characters can actually go in terms of abilities. You certainly see this in other shonen series like Naruto and Bleach, but Muhyo and Roji seem to be about saving other people rather than their own self interests. All the stories found in this volume are about helping others, which makes me wonder if the rest of the volumes are like this. I’ll let you know.
Volume thirteen of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation will be available on October 6, 2009.
–Reviewed by Sam Kusek
By Chie Shinohara
VIZ, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen
Suicide! Murder! Sex! Illegitimate children! The only dynasty Red River’s twenty-sixth installment can even come close to is the padded shoulders and ’80s production values kind. As Chie Shinohara’s long running Hittite soap opera closes in on the finish line, things begin to wander out of the realm of the melodramatic and into the realm of the just plain crazy. It’s not hard to see why the series has a particular kind of polarizing draw to many shojo fans, as thickly layered drama and frequently recurring side characters demand both working knowledge of the previous twenty-five volumes and deep character involvement. With all the makings of a guilty pleasure read, it’s not surprising that the series sells quite well despite not being folded in under Viz’s Shojo Beat branding umbrella.
While a love of the same drama tropes may be timeless, the art of Red River certainly isn’t. Ever so slightly retro character designs and a distinct lack of midrange tones may leave Red River unchanged from its inception, but for a twenty-plus volume monster, this also means some of the art is beginning to show its age. It’s not an enormous detractor from the series’ appeal, but for fans raised on crisp lines and slick toning, it may take some getting used to. Twenty-six volumes in, it seems petty to fault Red River’s art for its constancy and grounding—particularly in a series whose plot is seems to have forgotten what “grounding” is.
Volume 26 of Red River is available now.
–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson
Review copies provided by the publishers.
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