We’ve got a slew of shonen on tap this week! Grant starts us off with a look at volume twelve of Air Gear (Del Rey) and also weighs in on volume 6 of Princess Resurrection (also by Del Rey); Michelle revisits Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho (TOKYOPOP) with a review of its second volume; Connie contributes a review of Color (DMP); and Sam gives his take on volume seventeen of O-Parts Hunter (VIZ).
By Oh!Great
Del Rey, 224 pp.
Rating: Older Teen
Air Gear is a title that, to me, is driven more by its style than its plot. Volume twelve is packed full of art that really pops out of the pages, even when compared to some of the more renowned shonen titles out there. Oh!Great is also very creative when it comes to playing around with panel placement, stuffing every page with art and really blowing the reader away when he finally chooses to use a full-page spread.
Plot-wise, there’s a lot to juggle. Between discussing Regalias, Infinity Atmosphere, Roads, the Sky Keeper, air particle theory, and Ringo’s crush on Ikki, there’s a quagmire of plot points and a ton of jargon to juggle. Ikki is challenged by the leaders of Trident, Agito puts on a wedding dress, and something strange is happening with a bunch of Catholic school girls and their cigarette-smoking nurse. There is also a flashback to Ikki and Ringo as young orphans that doesn’t quite provide a satisfying explanation as to why she refers to him as her “no. 1 hero.”
You may not really care about what is going on, or who ends up victorious, but it all looks good so you will keep turning the page. It all adds up to a pretty nice ride, even though it hits the occasional speed bump.
Volume twelve of Air Gear is available now.
–Reviewed by Grant Goodman
Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho, Vol. 2
By Moyamu Fujino
TOKYOPOP, 192 pp.
Rating: Youth (10+)
The second volume of Animal Academy is much the same as the first. Neko Fukuta and her shapeshifting animal classmates engage in low-key adventures like searching for a lost camera or deciding which club to join. There’s one chapter entitled “Hunt for the Hair Clip,” which should give you an idea of what kind of stories to expect. Some imparting of lessons about friendship is also involved—nominally for the animals attempting to pass as human but presumably for the readers as well—but is handled with some subtlety.
The transition between these everyday moments and some darker aspects of the tale is handled less well, however, making for some jerky segues. I’m actually kind of interested in the bigger mystery that seems to be brewing, but I lack confidence that it’s going to escalate in any kind of meaningful way. Still, it’s early days yet and Animal Academy might just surprise me. I certainly like it more than I’d expected to based on the premise alone.
Volume two of Animal Academy will be available on September 1, 2009.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
By Taishi Zaou and Eiki Eiki
Digital Manga Publishing, 223 pp.
Rating: 16+ (Young Adult)
Takashiro is surprised when, during an exhibition featuring one of his paintings, he finds an identically-named work (”Color”) hanging next to his own that seems to reflect his exact same thoughts and emotions. Takashiro finds a kindred spirit in Sakae, his fellow artist, and the story goes through the stages of their relationship through high school.
Now, in this case, the story itself isn’t all that remarkable. The book is composed of five chapters. Each chapter is a decent story, and I liked the dynamics of the relationship between Takashiro and Sakae, but the chapters didn’t connect well as a whole, and the last chapter in particular felt like an obligatory dramatic predicament that served only to end the book with excitement. Things like descriptions of the first kiss between the two are done quite well, but there’s nothing here that you won’t see in a thousand other yaoi volumes.
The reason I graded it so high is because it’s based on the story of how Eiki Eiki and Taishi Zaou met. They tell the events as they actually happened in the back, but that made me re-analyze the plot of the manga and compare it to the true story to find the similarities. It made the collaboration between the two artists a little more touching and meaningful. It also helped that the creative process was detailed in a number of Taishi Zaou’s hilarious 4-panel comics, which I look forward to more than the stories themselves in her manga.
Color is available now.
–Reviewed by Connie C.
By Seishi Kishimoto
Viz, 190 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
The seventeenth volume of O-Parts Hunter continues to follow Jio and the gang, as they have been split up and now have to try and find their way out of a giant whale that has swallowed them whole. It sounds a bit outlandish, but the whale is actually one of the demon recipes, Nehema, who represents materialism. Apparently, this whale is a glutton, eating everything and anything in its path. For instance, he ate some ancient ruins that hold the final piece of an artifact… that everyone is looking for. How convenient.
Despite the disappointing development, volume seventeen is still a good book. The story starts off with all the characters dealing with the trials and traps of the ruins, bringing forth their wit and some interesting skills. After these tasks are tackled, the Zenom Big Four (a mercenary group of one of the warring factions) shows up to make sure our heroes never leave. Kirin, resident goofball and pickle lover, is met with the challenge of fighting his brother, and a gigantic backstory ensues. This part was good, fleshing out two of the more mysterious characters in the series.
All in all, I would still recommend this series to anyone who likes shonen. The evolution of characters is strong, as is the artwork. Kishimoto’s style really separates him from a lot of what you see in mainstream manga today.
Volume seventeen of O-Parts Hunter is available now.
–Reviewed by Sam Kusek
By Yasunori Mitsunaga
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Rating: Older Teen
Volume six of Princess Resurrection is, at best, a mess. The stories do very little to provide any sort of development, the characters are as bland as can be, and the artwork is nothing more than mundane. You would figure that a werewolf girl, a vampiress, and a chainsaw-wielding princess would act with a little flair or house some personality, but you could easily swap any of them out for the other in any story and it would not make a difference. Each one is just as lifeless as the stock characters.
A prison tale starts things off, with Hiro and Riza locked up underground. Princess Hime is in another cell, sitting back and acting helpless, despite being billed on the back cover as “a monster slaying, butt-kicking beauty.” Riza gets picked on for being a half-breed werewolf, a fight breaks out, and all of the sudden she is elected to brawl with a vampiress. For some reason, the vampiress wears dress clothes when everyone else has to wear the traditional barred black-and-white uniforms. And she also has a knife. There’s a scheme to kill Hime that ends as quickly as it starts, and then that’s it.
The next story takes place above ground without a single reference to their time in the slammer, while jumping back and forth between two timelines for no significant reason. Then there is a clone story in which copies of Riza and Hime are made from a mysterious plant. The Riza clones attack everyone, while the Hime clone simply wants to talk. It is completely inexplicable.
Reading this volume of Princess Resurrection, just like encountering a vampire, may suck the life out of you.
Volume six of Princess Resurrection is available now.
–Reviewed by Grant Goodman
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