In our first Otaku Bookshelf column of the new year, Phil and Chloe take a look at two novels with tie-ins to existing series—the novelization of Fafner: Dead Aggressor and the lushly-produced xxxHOLiC: Another HOLiC—while Erin reviews Lala Pipo, an unglamorized look at the sex industry in Japan.

Fafner: Dead Aggressor

By Tow Ubukata
DMP, 251 pp

In evaluating the novelization of Fafner: Dead Aggressor, the first thing I considered was whether it works as a novel. The answer to that is yes. The author, Tow Ubukata, doesn’t just describe events as they happen; he also wants to explore the emotions and feelings of the main character. It’s exactly this kind of highly-internalized narrative that might have proven difficult to tell using pictures. After all, why come up with elaborate images to say, “There was something inside him that simply wouldn’t forgive the act of losing without exhibiting the best of one’s ability. And that thing inside him was always there, telling him why he couldn’t lose,” when words alone will suffice?

However, there are moments when one reads about Fafner mechas cutting loose with elaborate weapons, or city streets being overturned by underground tunnels, and there’s this unshakable thought: “This would be a whole lot better as a comic book.” In the end, maybe I just can’t appreciate visual media sans most of the visual element, or maybe it’s Ubukata, whose prose parcels out information efficiently, but gets clunky with nearly anything resembling human drama. Some of the author’s nuance may have gotten lost in translation, but it’s hard not to long for pictures over passages like: “Her face was a never-before-trodden shade of red that pushed the boundaries of human face-redness, and her eyes were wide-open, perfect circles, like the eyes of a kitten being sniffed by a Doberman.”

Ultimately, this is a competent novel at best, and may only be worthwhile to diehard Fafner: Dead Aggressor fans tired of re-watching the series.

Fafner: Dead Aggressor is available now.

–Reviewed by Phil Guie

Lala Pipo

Written by Hideo Okuda, Translated by Marc Adler
Published by Vertical, Inc., 288 pp

“Sex in just fine if the story itself is controversial, say, or topical,” a book publisher explains to an author of erotica trying to make the jump to literary fiction in Lala Pipo. “…The book can be cover-to-cover humping, but it’s got to lift the rock on society’s contradictions, say, or question the modern institution of marriage.” This self-aware passage towards the end of Lala Pipo reveals the book’s not-so-subtle premise.

The title, which has a dirty meaning in Japanese, comes from one of the characters mishearing a tourist saying “a lot of people.” Out of Tokyo’s twelve million people, there are bound to be some losers. Okuda’s book focuses on the interconnecting lives of six Tokyo losers. Each character is hyper-aware of his or her bank account, which doubles as an often crippling measure of self worth. All of the characters end up using sex as a means of escape from their rapidly worsening employment conditions and bleak personal lives.

Because of all the deviant sex involved, Lala Pipo is never dull for a minute. All the morally repugnant cringe-worthy moments and grotesque coincidences make the book a real page-turner (arguably, a 12-point font also makes this a quick read). If you can make it through the ethically disgusting scenes, Okuda has a lot to say about money and the sex industry in modern Japan with a deft eye towards humor.

This black comedy is filled with voyeurs, eavesdroppers, amateur porn filmmakers banging unsuspecting postal workers, high school girls selling their gym shorts, deadbeat housewives turned porn stars, sleazy soapland recruiters, and tragic ordinary people who have trouble saying no. Almost none of the characters are likeable, but since the book is presented as a series of six short stories, we’re not stuck with any one despicable loser for very long.

Lala Pipo is of interest to Japanophiles looking for the another, less public side of Tokyo who may have enjoyed Speed Tribes: Days and Nights with Japan’s Next Generation, or, perhaps fans of A Confederacy of Dunces. Manga might make light of host clubs, NEETs and “water business,” but Okuda presents us with a raw, unglamorized look at ordinary people selling sex.

Lala Pipo is available now.

–Reviewed by Erin Finnegan

xxxHOLiC: AnotherHOLiC

Art by CLAMP, Story by NISIOISIN, Translated by Andrew Cunningham
Del Rey, 203 pp.

With lush, intricate production values (a gold-foiled hardcover, complete with CLAMP pullouts and novel-only art) this slickly packaged but decidedly disappointing xxxHOLiC spinoff is far more fun to ogle at than to actually sit down and read. More a short story compilation than novel, Japanese light novel kingpin NISIOISIN has taken the vibe of the manga and channeled it into a bizarre series of over-written fables, each seemingly weaker than the next. Though the book seems obviously geared towards those already familiar with the xxxHOLiC universe—there are frequent mentions of the supporting cast and previous episodes in the series—readers will find few new developments outside of regurgitation of the series’s basic premise. It’s a shame, too, since the light novel format by nature provides a non-canonical sandbox for third parties to come in and flesh out new approaches to already extant material.

What NISIOISIN opts for instead is a cluttered stream of consciousness meditation on the broader themes of (surprise!) human nature. It all reads like a transcript of some of the self-contained shorts found in the manga, and, if nothing else, will make you appreciate how far CLAMP’s art goes towards making the series palatable. The novel’s only high point may be its meticulously detailed translation, with Cunningham’s footnotes there to guide the reader through the plethora of cultural references that pepper the book. Fans of the series are advised to forego the novel and reread their favorite stories in manga form—the effect should be much the same.

xxxHOLiC: AnotherHOLiC is available now.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson