A greedy warlord in feudal Japan makes a deal with 48 devils: in exchange for pledging pieces of his unborn child to them, he will achieve his goals of fortune and power. The child is born horribly deformed, little more than a torso and a head, then set adrift like Moses in a reed basket. The warlord’s life continues, and unknown to him… so does that of his child’s. Now, years later, Hyakkimaru roams Japan, searching for the demons in possession of his missing body parts, and reclaiming them as he slays them. Unfortunately for him, he’s about to gain an unwanted sidekick by the name of Dororo.
Tezuka’s artwork is very cartoony, and at times this works to a perhaps unintentional comical effect. Large scenes depicting wars are highly detailed, but all the soldiers bear that cartoonish look giving an oddly amusing look and feel to a fairly dramatic and serious moment. In fact, that’s the case with several moments throughout the volume, generally though the artwork works far better than one would think. Tezuka’s monsters and demons are freakish and weird, even a bit creepy and disturbing in some scenes. And while the artwork looks cartoony, it’s still quite capable of depicting emotional moments. The flashbacks to Dororo’s or Hyakkimaru’s pasts are both surprisingly powerful. Meanwhile the action sequences are lovely to behold. The fight sequences are fast paced and entertaining, with Hyakkimaru’s artificial limbs providing for some interesting moments in several of them.
The writing is light but suits the material. While Tezuka briefly plays with ideas like the exploitation of the poor or even the traumatic effects of warfare, most of the book, at least so far, has been a light adventure romp. The characters and their various back stories are interesting and engaging. A fair amount of room is given over to showing the backgrounds of both Hyakkimaru and Dororo. They’re slipped nicely into the story without getting in the way of any of the action sequences or other stories. Despite being a shonen book, Dororo manages to avoid extended pauses in the middle of a fight scene so someone can recite their life story. If that was enough, their respective histories do a lot to further the unlikely friendship that quickly forms between the two. Both have had endured a horrible event, and each one is the result of the warfare that ravages the land. The dialogue is as light as most of the material in the book. It’s also very informal and prone to anachronistic words, like Hyakkimaru describing himself as a cyborg in one scene, and with his father talking about space aliens in another.
Time to come clean, this is the first Tezuka manga I’ve ever read. I know, I know. For shame. But better late than never! While I can’t really compare this to his other work that’s made it to the US, I can safely say that Dororo is a really fun, really well executed action adventure story. The material should be easily followed and enjoyed by just about anyone, and it might even help serve as a gateway drug for some of his meatier works. Lord knows it’s having that affect on me.
When we launched Weekly Recon nearly one year ago (on June 20, 2007, to be exact), the goal was to highlight the best new manga arriving in stores each week with a mixture of off-the-cuff recommendations and brief reviews. The vagaries of the book distribution system, however, have frustrated our efforts to synchronize reviews and shipping lists. So this week, our column goes under the knife for a tummy tuck and a brow lift, with the goal of producing a leaner, meaner rundown of Wednesday’s new arrivals. You’ll still find the complete Midtown Comics shipping list here, as well as recommendations (now expressed as a top three or top five list) and, when appropriate, helpful hints for saving a buck or two. Reviews will be handled in a separate column, to be rolled later this month.
But enough about us—let’s talk about manga!
More than seventy new titles are appearing on store shelves this week, making this an especially onerous Wednesday for anyone with a serious manga habit. My top picks for the week:
CLAMP no Kiseki, Vol. 11 (Tokyopop): I’ll be honest: $19.99 seems a little steep for a beautifully produced thirty-two page magazine and three plastic chess pieces. But if you’re a rabid CLAMP fan, you’ll hate yourself in the morning if you pass up the opportunity to assemble a full run of CLAMP no Kiseki. And if you’ve just discovered this prolific, four-woman collective, you’ll be delighted to learn that volume eleven celebrates their current hit Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNICLES with artist interviews, full-color pin-ups, original manga, and exhaustive lists of tie-in products and publication milestones.
Color of Rage, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse) Does manga get any manlier than Kazuo Koike? This odd historical drama focuses on two slaves—one Japanese, one African-American—who escape from a transport ship, only to find themselves shackled together on the shores of Edo-era Japan. (No, this wasn’t conceived as a vehicle for Toshiro Mifune and Richard Pryor, though that pairing might have been sublime. Or sublimely awful—take your pick.) Expect plenty of sex, violence, and social commentary, as well as a few scenes that may strike American readers as naïve or misguided in their presentation of racial issues.
In the Starlight, Vol. 3 (NETCOMICS) Kyungok Kang’s unabashedly romantic sci-fi saga owes a considerable debt to Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya, both in terms of visuals—sparkling eyes! untamed manes! androgynously beautiful characters in tight pants!—and story—telekinesis! aliens! princesses switched at birth! The script is a bit tin-eared at times, but Kang’s artwork and richly layered characters more than offset a few clunky lines of dialogue. (Click here for our review.)
King of Thorn, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop): Jurassic-sized lizards and killer plants terrorize a group of seemingly ordinary souls who waited out a pandemic in cryogenic sleep. The plot has a paint-by-numbers feel, but Yuji Iwahara’s knack for staging scary chases makes this monster mash an entertaining read.
Sand Chronicles, Vol. 2 (Viz): This lovely, understated story about a teenager coping with the fallout from her mother’s suicide is proof positive that “shojo” is not a catch-all term for “cheesy romances about boy-crazy girls.” Yes, it touches on such perennial coming-of-age topics as first love and fitting in, but manga-ka Hinako Ashihara’s gift for finding truthful nuance in everyday situations makes Sand Chronicles an engrossing read whether you’re thirteen or thirty-three.
Look for the complete shipping list after the cut.
Manga publisher Go! Comi announced today that they will be publishing one of the most hotly-anticipated new manga series, 07-Ghost.
Set in a gothic fantasy world, 07-Ghost tells the story of Teito, a former slave who is now pursued by the forces of the Barsburg Empire because of his exceptional ability to use a form of magic called Zaiphon. Teito’s discovery of his true nature and his subsequent quest for revenge involve him in the affairs of the Gods themselves, as he finds himself at the center of the conflict between Verloren, the God of Death, and the mysterious “beings of light” sent by Heaven to oppose him: the Seven Ghosts.
By Jiro Taniguchi
Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 240 pp.
Rating: 16+
Do you ever find yourself thinking, “I wish I could read something like Jiro Taniguchi’s The Walking Man but with more wolf fighting and bear hunting?”
The Ice Wanderer was my introduction to Taniguchi’s work, very little of which has reached our shores. An anthology of short stories thematically centered around man and nature, the first short features Jack London as a character, and the second is based on London’s notes for an early draft of White Fang.
The best shorts in The Ice Wanderer are not Jack London tributes; the highlight of the anthology is “Return to the Sea,” the tale of a marine biologist who follows a whale to a legendary whale cemetery. I was also very impressed by “Shokaro,” a short about an aspiring manga artist recounting his time living in an eclectic boarding house.
“The Ice Wanderer” and “White Wilderness” boast the kind of impressive, breathtaking natural backgrounds required for Jack London adaptations. However, between the Yukon mountains and attacks by hungry wolves, the Fanfare/Ponent dialog is a rough read. The dialects spoken don’t flow smoothly. I also found the character designs off-putting in the first and last shorts, since the natives have identical face structures to the white settlers. (Maybe I’m just racist…? I’m not sure what race the marine biologist is, other than non-Inuit.)
“Shokaro” uses setting as character as much as the other stories, but this time the setting is indoors (in Japan). A young manga-ka living in a communal dorm-style apartment observes the lives of his neighbors while he completes a comic for a contest. The story is set years ago, pre-internet, as the artist draws alone in his small, undecorated room. The tenants of the building are slightly haunted by the structure’s past as a prewar brothel. The setting and characters ring true to life.
“Return to the Sea” is so sincere it was hard for me to take seriously (I had to use “The New Sincerity” to get through it). In a very predictable plotline, a scientist follows a whale who once saved his life as the creature swims off to die. The natives tell him not to go, but he’s driven to find out if the whale graveyard is real. The lyrical splash page as the unnamed protagonist loses consciousness deep below the northern sea is well-worth the book’s Eisner nomination.
I’d like to think Fanfare/Ponent Mon is to manga what the Criterion Collection is to DVDs - but then, where does Vertical fit in to my metaphor? And what about Drawn & Quarterly?
The Ice Wanderer is available now.
Disappearance Diary
By Hideo Azuma
Fanfare/Ponent Mon, 200 pp.
Rating: NR (Older Readers)
Reading Hideo Azuma’s Disappearance Diary is the comic equivalent of watching a foreign film at a film festival alone; afterwards you desperately want to discuss the film/book with someone else, only to find none of your friends have seen/read it yet.
Disappearance Diary is an autobiographical work by manga artist Hideo Azuma. The book covers three periods in Azuma’s life when he stopped creating manga: in his first disappearance a failed suicide attempt ends in Azuma living homeless in the woods for months; in his second disappearance, Azuma becomes a gas pipe fitter under an assumed name; in the final third of the book Azuma’s lifelong history of alcoholism ends in a long-term hospitalization.
The book won Grand Prize in the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival and was the Grand Prize winner at the 2006 Osama Tezuka Cultural Awards - although, I would have purchased it even without all the accolades. All you had to do was say “homeless” and “autobiography”.
The first panel reads:
“This manga has a positive outlook on life, and so it has been made with as much realism removed as possible.”
As advertised, Azuma’s suicide attempt is drawn as a gag panel. His struggles living in the woods read like a food blog. His misogynist co-worker at the gas company is a character played up for laughs. The artwork is exceedingly cute, even when the alcoholic Azuma is puking in his his sleep. (Azuma helpfully notes, “Warning: This will kill you.”)
Azuma’s negative experiences with his editors and the struggles that caused him to run away are glossed over in about 20 pages. I was left wondering if Azuma enjoyed laying pipes more than making manga. His opinion flies by in a single panel:
“When I was homeless I wanted to start working. When I did physical work I wanted to become an artist.”
Perhaps more alarming than Azuma’s personal story is the untold story of his wife, who also works as his assistant. How did Azuma’s wife feel about his disappearances? She rarely appears in the book she helped create. What did she do for money when her husband/employer failed to return home for months? At one point, she finished comics herself when Azuma was overtaken by delirium tremens.
Disappearance Diary is truly fierce as an autobiographical comic; boring details are made humorous, depressing subjects are amusing to read about, pipe laying technicalities are accompanied by cute chipmunk drawings, and the story so thought provoking it has hounded me for days.
I just wish more supplementary material was provided by the publisher, since little is known about Azuma in the English speaking world. A bibliography of Azuma’s other works would have been useful, or an essay explaining his significance in the world of manga could have rounded out the volume very nicely. This may be a faithful reprint of the Japanese edition, but it left me wanting more. For example, it is mentioned in the text that Azuma is the father of lolicon manga - but why? For what title? Azuma barely mentions it, recalling a 1976 attempt to drive yaoi out of Comiket. I want to hear more about that!
Azuma still attends Comiket on a regular basis, as Ed Chavez explained to me in conversation. Azuma is also renowned for his science fiction works, and he is a pioneer of autobiography comics. According to Chavez, Azuma is very successful in a few small sub-genres of manga, but his success is not financial. It is common for authors like Azuma who are successful in obscure genres to become alcoholics or disappear completely, with a life expectancy of 40. The Disappearance Diary itself was published by a very small label and would have gone unnoticed if it hadn’t won awards.
I hope more of Azuma’s works will be collected and translated for an international audience before he dies of liver failure. I would also like to see a comic by Mrs. Azuma!
By Nobuhiro Watsuki
Publisher, 584 pp.
Rating: T+ (Older Teens)
The first book to be released under the VIZBIG banner, Rurouni Kenshin contains the first three volumes of the standard edition releases along with some color pages, back-up stories and more.
In case you missed it the first time around, Rurouni Kenshin is the tale of a wandering swordsman, Himura Kenshin, a former assassin who fought to bring down the Shogunate and establish the Meiji Era. Now, several years later he’s all but vanished, taken to wandering from place to place accompanied only by his reverse blade sword.
Nobuhiro Watsuki’s artwork is fantastic. The art is clean and slick without looking overly stylized. The occasional comedic bits, complete with chibi art, work fine and doesn’t really break the flow or mood too badly. The action sequences are clear and dynamic, easy to follow without sacrificing any of their over-the-top energy or excitement. While Watsuki does use some toning, it mostly seems to be for clothing or occasional background effect. Instead he relies mostly on crosshatching for shading, and it looks absolutely lovely on the bright white paper used for this collection.
One of the things that I love about this series is the historical context. Unlike many of the shonen series that are currently available in the US, Kenshin takes place during an actual time period and makes use of the setting, issues, and troubles of the time to wonderful effect. It’s a manga that’s about more than being the best you can; Watsuki explores some of the good and bad things that came from the Meiji Restoration. While this doesn’t exactly reach the level of deep political discourse, it is the extra little something that helps Rurouni Kenshin stand out from the crowd and gives it a greater depth than series with similar plotlines. Watsuki comments on the historical aspects in some of the brief commentary pieces that are scattered throughout the volume, and it’s actually a little sad to hear that the story arcs that deal most with the ins and outs of the time seem to be those that were the least well received. The story arc introducing Sagara Sanosuke, for example, deals with an apparent little known incident in which the Meiji government slaughtered a group of its own supporters over taxation. Watsuki mentions that the editors were iffy about the arc and the fans didn’t react well to it either. Shame, because it’s just that level of historical fact mixing with fiction that makes the series the series really appeal to me.
The majority of the volume is devoted to assembling the supporting cast for the series. Almost every story introduces a new character who will become a regular for the rest of the run: Sanosuke, Kaoru, Yahiko. This gives the first three volumes a slightly disjointed feel; instead of one large arc, it’s several shorter stories. But it doesn’t take away from the enjoyability at all. The last third of the volume kicks off a slightly longer arc featuring a corrupt businessman and his bodyguards who were former oniwabanshu (ninja bodyguards). Most of the stories are pretty short and the villains are just there to move the characters into position for later.
For it’s price, this is a great buy. Three volumes in one, nice paper, nice cover, color pages, and more. It’s a durable package that contains some fun action adventure stories that might just be a tad educational to boot. What more could you ask for from a shonen series?
Volume one of Rurouni Kenshin: VIZBIG Edition is available now.
I went to the cupboard in search of a snappy intro for this month’s Minis, but alas—I came up empty. So I’ll dispense with the opening gambit and simply say that this month’s column looks at two new Tokyopop titles, Dragon Sister! and eV, the second volumes of Love Master A (Go! Comi) and Sakura Ganbaru! (UDON), and the best-selling Naruto handbook (Viz), which has been flying off shelves since its release.
Dragon Sister!, Vol. 1
By Nini
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)
Buried beneath the slapstick, speedlines, and extreme mammary close-ups is an intriguing premise: what if ancient China’s greatest warriors were, in fact, women? Dragon Sister! begins around 184 AD, when three brothers—Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang—acquire a set of magical scrolls capable of granting any wish. In their desire to overthrow the Han Dynasty, the brothers pray that no more heroes will be born, only beautiful women. Their scheme backfires, however, transforming them into a cabal of power-hungry girls. As the country descends further into chaos, young nobleman Liu Bei forms a volunteer army to oppose the Zhang sisters (formerly brothers), recruiting two busty babes, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, to aid his cause. None of this is explained very clearly—we never have a sense of who the various factions are, or why Liu Bei remains faithful to a corrupt emperor. Instead, manga-ka Nini treats us to a seemingly endless parade of costume failures, crude jokes, and scenes of predatory lesbianism, all delivered in speech that vacillates between present-day dudespeak and wuxia film formality. Strictly for the fanservice crowd; others are advised to look elsewhere for more enlightened tales of female empowerment.
–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey
eV, Vol. 1
Created by Roger Mincheff, Written by James Farr, Art by Alfa Robbi and Papillon Studio
Published by Tokyopop, 192 pages
Rating: Teen (13 +)
From the mind that brought us The Covenant comes eV, the tale of a brilliant young woman, Evie, who finds herself injected with über-nanomachines that give her a vast array of physical and mental abilities. Once injected, Evie is taken to the far side of the universe to serve as Earth’s ambassador in a galactic federation.
Farr does a good job with the material and the characters, crafting a fairly fun and fast paced sci-fi adventure story. The whole thing has the feel of a summer blockbuster right down to certain stock characters: a workaholic father who will do anything for his daughter, the daughter who’s bitter and resentful at her father for being away all the time, and a mother who tries to hold the family together the best she can. On the other hand, the book also manages to translate the summer blockbuster feel to the story in terms of the size, scope, and set pieces. You can practically hear the pop rock songs playing at certain parts of the story. On top of that Farr manages to throw in some nifty tweaks to keep things interesting. Evie’s powers aren’t limited to simply amazing physical feats; her subconscious manifests itself in the form of a lil’ flying talking orb, which leads to some comical moments here and there.
Alfa Robbi has some solid story telling abilities but the art style itself just didn’t click. Something about it had me wishing the entire thing had been in color. Maybe it was the various alien life forms, or the moments towards the end when Evie utilizes some energy manipulation abilities, but I really felt that this was a story that would have benefited from some color. Ultimately eV is fluff, but sometimes fluff can be fun.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
Love Master A, Vol. 2
By Kyoko Hashimoto
Go!Comi, 200pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)
It’s hard to conjure words to describe Love Master A, and it’s certainly not because the title is breathtakingly brilliant. The second installment of Kyoko Hashimoto’s middling school-life romance is so achingly mediocre it’s hard to tell if there’s anything original at all in between all the clichés. The first year school council crew—each easily summed up in three word archetypes—finds itself faced with a healthy plethora of problems, ranging from romantic infighting to the imminent closure of the council itself.
The resolutions are, of course, vaguely heartwarming and grindingly endearing, and with bland shojo everygirl Aria helming the story, it’s hard to find any respite from the standard shojo drudgery. That said, Hashimoto’s attempt to refresh the central love story by reversing the primary perspective is at least moderately novel, and works well to prolong the romantic angst well into the last pages of the book. There’s nothing new here in terms of artistic invention, with Hashimoto bringing out plenty of flowery screentones, sometimes overly so, resulting in visuals that are sufficiently sparkling but occasionally overdone. The dialogue, however, is want to wander more freely into the realm of cheese, resulting in a love confession so unbelievably corny that most other shojo manga would only tackle the same material if they were parodying the genre. With so much else out there on the market, it’s hard to imagine recommending Love Master A to anyone—but if you’ve truly exhausted the offerings, feel free to bide your time with a copy.
–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson
Naruto: The Official Handbook
By Masashi Kishimoto
Viz, 288 pp.
Looking at ICv2, I can see that Naruto: The Official Fanbook has moved quite a few copies. In fact, it was number fifteen on the best-selling manga list in February. After taking a peek, I’m going to say there aren’t a lot of reasons why it should be selling. The vast majority of the content is plot summary, and the parts that aren’t are generally pretty mundane. There are a ton of quizzes in this, which I found to be inane or largely uninteresting; and even the interviews with Masashi Kishimoto are totally pointless. He reveals nothing, and answers no serious questions.
This is not to say that there weren’t some pleasant surprises in the volume. After opening the book, I found a nifty two-sided color pinup. It’s one of Kishimoto’s more whimsical pictures to, so I was quite pleased to see it. Also, if you don’t feel like picking up the issue of Shonen Jump, this volume has the bonus Naruto pilot story. Despite this material, I don’t recommend buying this volume unless you’re a hardcore completist. If you want the good material (e.g. the full-color art and the pilot story), grab the issue of Shonen Jump which contains it, and grab the Naruto artbook out right now, Uzumaki. You’ll be much more pleased with your purchases.
–Reviewed by Isaac Hale
Sakura Ganbaru!, Vol. 2
By Masahiko Nakahira
UDON Entertainment, 200 pp.
Following the events of the first volume and the conclusion of Kairin’s street fighting tournament, Sakura Ganbaru! continues along the lines of a paint-by-numbers shonen, but with everything compressed into two volumes. The results are wonderful as the fights are fast paced and exciting, and plots aren’t dragged out for dozens upon dozens of volumes. Much like other shonen protagonists (or Ryu from the Street Fighter Alpha manga), Sakura grows and learns more about herself, the nature of fighting and even attempts to discover what it means to be a true fighter. Her encounters with various other characters such as Gen, Chun Li or Zangief serve to illuminate different aspects of her quest and growth, and show the pitfalls of it as well.
Nakahira’s art is as clean and strong as ever, and he does a fantastic job with the various characters and their signature abilities and fighting styles. Unlike the previous volume, this one clearly alludes to the events in the Street Fighter Alpha manga, making some of the character interactions seem a bit odd. I suppose it’s best to think of them as loosely connected. Still, you won’t need to have read the Alpha manga to understand or enjoy Sakura Ganbaru! and doing so might actually leave you scratching your head a few times. At any rate, it’s still a fun and enjoyable series, and it’s great to see a young girl who’s capable of kicking butt and not in need of rescue.
Sometimes the shortest shipping lists pose the greatest hazard to one’s fiscal well-being. Take this week, for example: of the twelve titles below, I fully intend to purchase eight. Whoever decided that Gon, Dororo and the Dayan Collection should be released on the same date clearly intended to send me to my financial doom. David Welsh has already urged readers to check out these three titles (as well another solid sci-fi thriller, Alive: The Final Evolution), so I’ll simply point you to Precocious Curmudgeon with a hearty endorsement: What he said!
This week’s column focuses on three brand-new series from Yen Press: Kaze no Hana, a story about an amnesiac teen who may possess extraordinary powers—if only she could remember her past; Kieli, a manga about a girl who sees ghosts; and Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro, a story about a mysterious pilgrim who travels with a coffin strapped to her back.
By Ushio Mizta and Akiyoshi Ohta
Yen Press, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen
Kaze no Hana is a textbook example of that most basic of shonen genres: seemingly ordinary teen discovers that he or she is, in fact, the only one capable of saving the world. The ordinary teen in question is Momoka, a high school student who suffers from amnesia after losing her parents in a fiery car crash. When Momoka is summoned to her relatives’ home in the distant city of Mitsurugi, she makes an incredible discovery: she is one of eight guardians chosen to protect Mitsurugi from Kishimi, a vengeful demon sealed beneath the local temple. If Momoka fails to master her powers, said demon will break free and upset the balance between the real and the shadow worlds. Making her dilemma more acute is her own ineptitude; try as she might, she can’t even remove her sword from its sheath, let alone dispatch the susami (petty demons) that prey on Mitsurugi’s citizens.
Though much of the backstory is related through conversations, the narrative unfurls at a decent clip, seldom bogging down in the kind of minutiae that can make shonen series such a chore to read. The story never settles into an interesting groove, however, as the wafer-thin characterizations and so-so artwork do little to make the basic premise more interesting. None of the characters rise above the level of type: the klutzy heroine, the rude but tender-hearted male love interest, the humorless female authority figure. The characters are awkwardly drawn, with razor-sharp chins and oversized limbs; they seem almost crude in comparison with the backdrops and the monsters, which are rendered in considerable detail. Furthermore, there’s an oddly flat quality to the artwork, despite the cinematic use of perspective; all of the characters appear to float above the picture plane, rather than occupy three-dimensional space. The bottom line: Kaze no Hana is OK, but nothing special.
Volume one of Kaze no Hana is available now.
Kieli, Vol. 1
Story by Yukako Kabei, Art by Shiori Teshirogi
Yen Press, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen
As I read the promotional copy for Kieli, which explained that its title character “sees ghosts,” an ability that makes this fourteen-year-old girl “a bit of an outcast at her boarding school,” I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to sing:
People,
People who see dead people,
Are the luckiest people in the world.
Kieli sounded like just another manga about a teen who communes with spirits. Thankfully, Kieli proved far more interesting than its all-too-familiar set-up suggested.
The story is set on a distant planet that looks suspiciously like fin-de-siecle Paris or Vienna with its elegant cathedrals and petticoat-clad schoolgirls. Eighty years ago, this unnamed planet’s inhabitants created the ultimate weapon: The Undying, a race of nearly indestructible soldiers fashioned from the corpses of fallen comrades. These undead soldiers played a pivotal role in ending decades of warfare, only to find themselves the object of an extermination campaign spearheaded by the Church. After a brief prologue explaining the plight of The Undying, we meet Kieli, a plucky schoolgirl who sees (and keeps company with) ghosts. While wandering off-campus, she bumps into Harvey, a brusque young man who also has the same ability. Kieli attempts to befriend him without realizing that Harvey is, in fact, one of the few Undying to have escaped detection by the Church. As she begins to piece together his story, she faces a choice: should she join Harvey on his quest to honor a fellow soldier’s dying wish, or remain at her boarding school?
True, the Spirit Seer and the Sole Survivor of a Persecuted Race are stock manga characters. But Yukako Kabei and Shiori Teshirogi have fleshed out Kieli and Harvey into fully realized players in a compelling, beautifully illustrated sci-fi drama. Each page is masterfully composed, striking the right balance between atmospheric detail and clarity. I had two minor reservations about volume one: first, the lengthy recaps at the beginning of every chapter, which stall the narrative momentum, and second, the rather sophomoric musings about organized religion. Granted, these voiceovers are meant to help us understand Kieli better, but they read like freshman glosses on Nietzsche rather than genuine interior monologues, and might have been cut. Still, these are minor criticisms of a very promising series—one that I intend to continue reading.
Volume one of Kieli is available now.
Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro, Vol. 1
By Satoko Kiyuduki
Yen Press, 124 pp.
Rating: Teen
Don’t be fooled by the kawaii cover: Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro is a melancholy little book. The story focuses on Kuro, a somewhat masculine young woman on a pilgrimage to find the witch who inflicted a mysterious curse on her. Everywhere she goes, Kuro cuts a dramatic figure, wearing heavy black clothing, a Pilgrim hat, and a custom-sized coffin, which she straps to her back. Though she begins her journey with only a talking bat for a companion, she soon adds two members to her traveling “family”: Nijuku and Sanju, a pair of genetically engineered nekomimi whose creator was brutally murdered.
Kuro’s pilgrimage is related in 4-koma (four panel) style. Most of the images are black and white, with full-color pages marking the beginning of each chapter. The four-panel format imposes a certain rhythm on the material that occasionally makes Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro a little too talky; I found myself wishing that Satoko Kiyuduki had allowed her spiky, expressive artwork to play a more prominent role in the storytelling. But the format also frees her from the constraints of a linear narrative, allowing the story to unfold in a less schematic, more relaxed fashion. The predominant mood is wistful bordering on elegiac; Kuro is always mindful that Nijuku and Sanju are too naïve to understand what befell their creator, and worries what will happen to them at the end of their journey. She, too, faces an uncertain future, as her body is slowly consumed by a unexplained illness.
The jacket copy promises “all the whimsy of the most memorable fairy tales,” but I think that misses the point—if anything, Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro explores some of the darker, more psychologically complex issues raised by the uncensored versions of “Cinderella” and “Little Red Riding Hood” rather than their more whimsical aspects. To be sure, the somber mood is lightened by plenty of broad comedy as various characters mistake Kuro for a vampire, a demon, a gravedigger, or, worse still, a boy. But even these comedic moments are tinged with sadness: Kuro often finds herself cast out of towns, even after rendering their citizens valuable services.
Ultimately, it’s this mixture of melancholy and humor that makes Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro such a compelling read. The story never succumbs to mawkishness or easy sentiment, yet at the same time, it dares to tug a little at the heartstrings. Not everyone will find the book’s odd tone to their liking, especially those in search of a breezy riff on Western fairy tales. But for those in search of something a little more thought-provoking–the kind of story that lingers in your mind after you’ve finished reading it–I highly recommend Kuro.
Volume one of Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro will be available on May 6th.
Story by Terry Brooks, Illustrations by Edwin David
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen
The Shannara canon comprises a long-ongoing series of fantasy fiction novels written by Terry Brooks. The story is set far in Earth’s future, where man’s technology has majorly messed up the planet, resulting in dwarves, gnomes, and a whole bunch of fantasy races, creatures, and trappings. And elves, who supposedly have always been around, but just didn’t interfere.
Dark Wraith of Shannara is Brooks’s latest work, and a first in the series: a graphic novel, written by Brooks and illustrated by Edwin David. It takes place after the events of the Wishsong story arc, and sees protagonist Jair, a young man with the power to create illusions, sabotaging the efforts of some humanoid lizard folk who are attempting to summon a long sealed druid castle. Which, I guess, is Very Bad™. Anyhow, Jair’s power, called the Wishsong, is starting to do some disturbing things, like turning the young man into other people for real, instead of just creating an illusion. His sister makes him promise not to use the power again, for fear of losing his identity. But when two friends, Kimber and Cogline, are abducted by the lizard people, Jair finds his options more and more limited, and the temptation to use the Wishsong grows.
My understanding, from the material that came with my review copy of the book, is that Dark Wraith of Shannara is supposed to be a starting point for new readers to get into the Shannaraseries. That suits me fine: I did some research to prep for the book, but for the most part I’m a Shannara newbie. I’m the perfect test subject for this experiment, and experiment that, unfortunately, was not very well thought out. Dark Wraith uses characters already established in a prior Shannara story arc, and the story pretty much builds upon said prior arc. Reading Dark Wraith is like watching Return of the Jedi without having first seen A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Who is that guy frozen in “carbonite?” Why is that woman kissing him? Who’s the dude with Zero’s beam saber? Brooks would have done better by either a) going with new characters that aren’t so heavily connected to established canonical events in past novels, or, preferably, b) telling the story in such a way that it isn’t using its “prequels” as a crutch.
That said, Brooks is really an amazing writer, with a remarkable command of the English language. The dialog comes across as natural given the context, and does a superb job of guiding the reader through the story and immersing said reader in this fantasy universe. It is really a shame that I had to do Google searches in order to catch up to where the book starts. Otherwise, I’m sure I would have been able to better appreciate the story and the characters. Speaking of characters, only protagonist Jair is characterized in any meaningful way. It is clear that whatever his past adventures were, he is still quite conflicted, and it is easy to see why he would want to become anybody other than who he is. Everybody else is one-dimensional at best, though none of the characters grated at my nerves.
Edwin David’s artwork is neither over the top nor underwhelming. It is modest, clean artwork, sometimes guilty of looking amateurish, but more than passable. Which makes me wonder how devoted fans of Shannara will deal with Dark Wraith interpreting characters and environments for them. I can already hear the anguished moans of angry nerds upset that they no longer have the privilege of interpreting Brooks’s words as they see fit, as if somehow the impact and outcome of the story would change in any significant way if they pictured Jair’s sister an inch shorter than the graphic novel does. Rest assured that the artwork fits the story well enough.
All in all, Dark Wraith of Shannara was an entertaining story about characters I really don’t know anything about, and didn’t end up learning too much about. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the book better had I known what the hell was going on. I’m also that had it done a better job of familiarizing me with these characters, I might just have been interested in learning more about the Shannara books. As an introduction to the world of Shannara for new readers, Dark Wraith fails. I can’t really compare it to other Shannara stories but, by its own merits, Dark Wraith is a decent piece of work, though one that is better suited for long-time fans of the series.
There is only one place in North America to buy Uniqlo’s manga T-shirts, and I work and live just a short subway ride away! These T-shirts combine my love of classic manga with my love of screen-printed T-shirts, and with a price point at a very reasonable $15.50 (about $16.50 after taxes)… well… let’s just say I’ve spent my manga budget for the month on T-shirts. It’s a good thing I can wear them to work!
Very few of the images I’ve seen on the web correspond to the designs at the Uniqlo NYC location. Here are some of the properties featured on T-shirts I’ve seen:
Ashita No Joe(Tomorrow’s Joe) Cutey Honey Cyborg 009 Devil Man Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro (new this week) Golgo 13 Hajime No Ippo Star of the Giants (Kyojin No Hoshi new this week) Tekkon Kinkreet Touch Urusei Yatsura
The Astro Boy and Gundam T-shirts were also available in children’s sizes, but the adult Astro Boy T-shirts had sold out by my third visit, and I didn’t notice any Gundam shirts at all today. One of my coworkers claims there were Ranma 1/2 shirts, but all of them sold out immediately.
Each T-shirt has a tag with a little blurb in both English and Japanese about the artist and/or the title featured on the shirt. The text on the tags is written with a lot of heart, but the translations are a little awkward. From the Ashita No Joe tag:
“Joe Yabuki is a tender-hearted boxer who is clumsy in life. Joe bulldozing through in pursuit of fiercely burning moments was depicted first in comic, then in TV animation and in a movie, and stirred the hearts of millions of people. His fire and passion, which still live on today, are now featured in this T-shirt.”
Note that the fire and passion are not just on the front of the T-shirt, but in the 100% cotton garment.
The titles chosen for the T-shirts are classic manga by Japanese standards - many of the featured titles are not available in English, and totally unfamiliar to the U.S. anime fanbase - thus, the Ranma Shirts sold out while UY designs are still available. A giant Detective Conan decal on the front windows welcomes customers into the store - but Detective Conan bombed on Adult Swim in this country. I think the Cyborg 009 shopping bags are really, really cool, but the Cyborg 009 manga was one of the biggest flops ever in the U.S.
The manga T-shirts are located on the mezzanine level. A note on the sizes: I usually wear Medium T-shirts, but the extra-small shirts fit.
As a Japanophile planning a trip to Soho, you might want to check out the nearby Kid Robot store, Anna Sui and Muji.
A greedy warlord in feudal Japan makes a deal with 48 devils: in exchange for pledging pieces of his unborn child to them, he will achieve his goals of fortune and power. The child is born horribly deformed, little more than a torso and a head, then set adrift like Moses in a reed basket. The warlord’s life continues, and unknown to him… so does that of his child’s. Now, years later, Hyakkimaru roams Japan, searching for the demons in possession of his missing body parts, and reclaiming them as he slays them. Unfortunately for him, he’s about to gain an unwanted sidekick by the name of Dororo.
When we launched Weekly Recon nearly one year ago (on 
Do you ever find yourself thinking, “I wish I could read something like Jiro Taniguchi’s 
Reading Hideo Azuma’s Disappearance Diary is the comic equivalent of watching a foreign film at a film festival alone; afterwards you desperately want to discuss the film/book with someone else, only to find none of your friends have seen/read it yet.
The first book to be released under the VIZBIG banner, Rurouni Kenshin contains the first three volumes of the standard edition releases along with some color pages, back-up stories and more. 
Buried beneath the slapstick, speedlines, and extreme mammary close-ups is an intriguing premise: what if ancient China’s greatest warriors were, in fact, women? Dragon Sister! begins around 184 AD, when three brothers—Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang—acquire a set of magical scrolls capable of granting any wish. In their desire to overthrow the Han Dynasty, the brothers pray that no more heroes will be born, only beautiful women. Their scheme backfires, however, transforming them into a cabal of power-hungry girls. As the country descends further into chaos, young nobleman Liu Bei forms a volunteer army to oppose the Zhang sisters (formerly brothers), recruiting two busty babes, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, to aid his cause. None of this is explained very clearly—we never have a sense of who the various factions are, or why Liu Bei remains faithful to a corrupt emperor. Instead, manga-ka Nini treats us to a seemingly endless parade of costume failures, crude jokes, and scenes of predatory lesbianism, all delivered in speech that vacillates between present-day dudespeak and wuxia film formality. Strictly for the fanservice crowd; others are advised to look elsewhere for more enlightened tales of female empowerment.
From the mind that brought us The Covenant comes eV, the tale of a brilliant young woman, Evie, who finds herself injected with über-nanomachines that give her a vast array of physical and mental abilities. Once injected, Evie is taken to the far side of the universe to serve as Earth’s ambassador in a galactic federation.
It’s hard to conjure words to describe 
Looking at ICv2, I can see that Naruto: The Official Fanbook has moved quite a few copies. In fact, it was number fifteen on the best-selling manga list in February. After taking a peek, I’m going to say there aren’t a lot of reasons why it should be selling. The vast majority of the content is plot summary, and the parts that aren’t are generally pretty mundane. There are a ton of quizzes in this, which I found to be inane or largely uninteresting; and even the interviews with Masashi Kishimoto are totally pointless. He reveals nothing, and answers no serious questions. 
Following the events of the first volume and the conclusion of Kairin’s street fighting tournament, 
Kaze no Hana is a textbook example of that most basic of shonen genres: seemingly ordinary teen discovers that he or she is, in fact, the only one capable of saving the world. The ordinary teen in question is Momoka, a high school student who suffers from amnesia after losing her parents in a fiery car crash. When Momoka is summoned to her relatives’ home in the distant city of Mitsurugi, she makes an incredible discovery: she is one of eight guardians chosen to protect Mitsurugi from Kishimi, a vengeful demon sealed beneath the local temple. If Momoka fails to master her powers, said demon will break free and upset the balance between the real and the shadow worlds. Making her dilemma more acute is her own ineptitude; try as she might, she can’t even remove her sword from its sheath, let alone dispatch the susami (petty demons) that prey on Mitsurugi’s citizens.
As I read the promotional copy for Kieli, which explained that its title character “sees ghosts,” an ability that makes this fourteen-year-old girl “a bit of an outcast at her boarding school,” I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to sing:
Don’t be fooled by the kawaii cover: Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro is a melancholy little book. The story focuses on Kuro, a somewhat masculine young woman on a pilgrimage to find the witch who inflicted a mysterious curse on her. Everywhere she goes, Kuro cuts a dramatic figure, wearing heavy black clothing, a Pilgrim hat, and a custom-sized coffin, which she straps to her back. Though she begins her journey with only a talking bat for a companion, she soon adds two members to her traveling “family”: Nijuku and Sanju, a pair of genetically engineered nekomimi whose creator was brutally murdered. 
The Shannara canon comprises a long-ongoing series of fantasy fiction novels written by Terry Brooks. The story is set far in Earth’s future, where man’s technology has majorly messed up the planet, resulting in dwarves, gnomes, and a whole bunch of fantasy races, creatures, and trappings. And elves, who supposedly have always been around, but just didn’t interfere. 
