It’s another diverse crop of reviews this week. Ken is left feeling confused by the third volume of Croquis Pop (Yen Press), but has praise for the fifth volume of Parasyte (Del Rey); Melinda is pretty underwhelmed by Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn (TOKYOPOP), despite its pretty packaging; Michelle is pleasantly surprised by a few things in FreshMen (Aurora/Deux) and finds volume two of With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child (Yen Press) to be both rewarding and flawed; and Sam weighs in on the conclusion to Train + Train (Go! Comi).
Story by KwangHyun Seo, Art by JinHo Ko
Yen Press, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen
You know, we’re three volumes in and I’m still not clear on how Da-Il’s abilities work or on what exactly is going on. Da-Il’s powers seemingly change from volume to volume with no clear-cut rules governing them, and there are some cryptic hints of big things afoot, but exactly what those are or how they involve Da-Il is left up in the air at this point. In the second half of the volume Da-Il spends a fair amount of time in a dead zone without Mu-Huk and his female guardian spirit, and not once does he question their absence. While it did happen in the last volume, they at least allowed Da-Il to pay lip service and make note of their absence. This time around they’re simply not there and he doesn’t even bat an eye. On the upside we do get some more information regarding Da-Il and his late mother, and we’re also introduced to another croquis who apparently uses photography as his medium of choice.
Visually the art’s ok. It’s fairly easy to tell everyone apart, and there’s nothing offensively bad about it, but at the same time there’s nothing that really blew me away about it either. The action scenes are a bit hard to follow, due in part to the art and due in part to not having a proper understanding of what’s happening during them. I generally found myself shrugging my shoulders and simply accepting that stuff was blowing up and things were happening. That kind of sums up how I’ve been reacting to the entire series—shrugging in confusion.
Volume three of Croquis Pop is available now.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
By Yuuya
Aurora Publishing, 176 pp.
Rating: Mature (18+)
In the title story, Takeyuki Saito and Hitoshi Sato are both studying art at the same university. At the entrance ceremony, Saito, who’d been up drinking the night before, momentarily slumps into Sato’s arms, giving the impression that he’s weak and needs looking after. In the weeks that follow, Saito takes advantage of Sato’s kindness to some degree, and eventually realizes that Sato has feelings for him.
“FreshMen” surprised me in a couple of ways. First, take a look at the cover image up there. Which one is the uke? In nearly every other yaoi manga, it’d be the smaller-looking blond. “FreshMen” switches things around by having Saito, the younger and shorter of the pair, be the seme while serious, dark-haired Sato is the uke. Second, Sato really struggles with his homosexuality, expressing the desire to just be “normal” and worrying a lot about exposure. There are some plot points I’m not fond of, but these atypical traits put me in a kindly frame of mind toward “FreshMen.”
The latter half of the volume is made up of three short stories featuring Chomaru and Shiina—characters from Yuuya’s doujinshi—which I don’t like nearly as well. Particularly distasteful is a story called “memory of,” which recounts the story of how, after Chomaru has been living with Shiina rent free for six months, the latter comes home drunk and extorts the former into exchanging sex for rent. This particular episode is a flashback, but the rest of their relationship is also kinda cold and weird.
Speaking of weird, the art also has its strange moments. Each couple has its blond and its brunette and the blonds (Saito and Chomaru) look very much alike. Mouths are also drawn oddly at times, with very red, poofy lips. I amused myself by imagining the characters sneaking sips of Kool-Aid between panels.
FreshMen is available now.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
By Hitoshi Iwaaki
Del Rey, 304 pp.
Rating: OT (16 +)
The cast and plot cleaning that took place in the last volume may have been for the best as the story really picks up the pace here as several of the major stories move forward. The most notable one comes in the form of the parasyte organization—that was only hinted at in previous volumes—stepping into the limelight here. While their exact plans and goals aren’t revealed it’s made obvious that they’re vastly different from any of the other parasytes that Shinichi and Migi have encountered before. That’s not all, though, as there’s plenty going on in this volume, including more on Tamiya’s interest and desire to experiment upon her child, the Japanese government’s continuing investigation into the parasytes themselves, and, of course, Shinichi’s continual questioning of how his bond with Migi is affecting his grasp on humanity. Hell, even Uda shows up again!
Iwaaki’s art maintains the deceptive blandness that it’s had throughout the series, but that’s nothing new though and if you’re still reading the series at this point then it really shouldn’t matter anyway. His imaginative parasyte designs really get showcased in the end of the volume in as the freakish Mr. Goto appears and, well… he’s certainly an interesting fellow and let’s leave it at that.
All in all it’s a very good volume in what’s been a consistently strong series.
Volume five of Parasyte is available now.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn, Vol. 1
Created by Courtney Love & Stuart “D.J. Milky” Levy
Story by Stuart “D.J. Milky” Levy
Written by Christine Boylan, Art by Misaho Kujiradou
TOKYOPOP, 192 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)
Set after the original Princess Ai series, this story begins back in Ai-land, where Princess Ai is performing in a “prism-cast” concert, simulcast to both Ai-land and Earth, thanks to the power of the magical and mysterious “Prism of Midnight Dawn.” Unfortunately, as the concert begins, the prism (along with prophet Sir Edwin See) is stolen away from Ai-land by a huge vulture, presumably taken to the other side. Princess Ai uses a second prism to transport herself and her bodyguards, the three Furies, back to Earth to rescue Sir Edwin and return the Prism of Midnight Dawn to Ai-land. All is not well on Earth, and Ai soon discovers that much of the population has become addicted to a substance called “Tank,” including her old flame, Kent Kawa Scott.
Like many sequels, Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn feels more like merchandising than fiction. The plot and dialogue move along predictably in this first volume. There are a few moments that could be dramatic, if only they were a bit more hard-won. Kent too easily throws aside his Tank addiction in order to make a televised plea to recapture Ai’s heart, and Ai is quickly lured into a trap, leaving her captive at the end of the volume.
The volume contains onstage performances by both Ai and Kent’s band, The Rebel Paupers, but unlike in Ai Yazawa’s NANA, where music provides the soul of the story, here it works as a clunky plot device, with too much time being spent on watery lyrics like, “How far away is never, How soon yesterday. Tomorrow waits forever, And ever three more days.” That said, probably the most enjoyable piece of this volume is the attached Ai-Tunes CD, which offers up songs from various artists such as Skye (who provided the voice of Ai on TOKYOPOP’s Princess Ai Soundtrack) and California bands Divine Madness and Intercept.
Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn’s first volume is prettily packaged and presented, with attractive art and fashions, and may offer fans of the original series more of what drew them there in the first place. On its own, however, it lacks any real drama or substance to bring in new readers.
Volume one of Princess Ai: The Prism of Midnight Dawn is available now.
–Reviewed by Melinda Beasi
By Hideyuki Kurata and Tomomasa Takuma
Published by Go! Comi
Rating: Teen (13+)
Surprisingly, Train + Train did not fall flat on its face as I expected it to. The story revolves around the students of a Train School that takes them from place to place, to learn from experience rather than in a classroom. Of course, there is a crazy batch of characters including an heiress searching for her own life, an alien dealing with his clan’s wishes, a cute robot girl struggling to be human, and the all around loser hero who turns out to affect them all in some way.
Though it sounds a tad stereotypical and tired, Train + Train was able to wrap itself up in a very calm nature. The thing I liked most about this book was its simplicity. None of the battles were overly intense like others, and none of the characters’ struggles were unrelatable in any sense. It was very straightforward and to the point, which I enjoyed the most. I would suggest buying it if you are looking for a quick and short read; however, Train + Train is nothing to write home about.
Volumes five and six of Train + Train are available now.
–Reviewed by Sam Kusek
With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child, Vol. 2
By Keiko Tobe
Yen Press, 528 pp.
Rating: 13+
With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child is the story of the Azuma family. Eldest son Hikaru has autism, and the series chronicles the struggles and satisfactions that his parents and teachers experience as Hikaru gradually learns to function in the world. This chunky volume from Yen Press, equivalent to volumes three and four of the original Japanese release, focuses on Hikaru’s fourth and fifth grade years and features many different challenging situations in the school setting as well as in broader society.
Though attention is certainly paid to the misunderstandings and problems that result from Hikaru’s lack of understanding of social nuances and situations, the series also takes care to show things that Hikaru is exceptionally good at because of his disability, like putting puzzles together with all of the pieces upside down (since he was never relying on the image to begin with), and mixing paints to perfectly match colors occurring in nature. Seeing Hikaru succeed is very rewarding, and is the aspect of this series that I enjoy most.
As was pointed out in the review of volume one, the series falters in the resolution of complex issues or conflicts. Cruel students and angry shopkeepers are likely to experience swift changes of heart, and a mother who had previously been at a loss on how to handle her autistic daughter has dialogue like, “Wow, she’s learning things faster now than with me yelling at her.” It just doesn’t seem genuine.
One last thing I wish to point out is that Yen Press has clearly taken steps to make this series approachable for readers new to manga. The size of each volume is equivalent to a large paperback book and the Readings Tips section tackles matters from a first-time manga reader’s perspective. I’d be interested to learn how many such readers there are.
Volume two of With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child is available now.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
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