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.

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.

(Continued)

That clinking sound you hear? That’s me trying to extract enough pennies from my piggy bank to afford all the great manga arriving in stores this Wednesday! My shopping list is ridiculously long, running the gamut from tights-and-capes parody to Victorian romance. Among the manga most likely to find their way into my shopping basket: A Wise Man Sleeps (Go! Comi), a new shojo title from the creator of Her Majesty’s Dog; Switch (Viz), a mystery-thriller from the strangely named duo Naked Ape; volume two of A.I. Revolution (Go! Comi), a sci-fi romance about a girl and her handsome android companion; volumes five and six of Barefoot Gen (Last Gasp), a depressing but fascinating depiction of postwar Japan; volume three of Empowered (Dark Horse), a goofy series about costume failure and other perils of modern superhero life; and volume ten of Yakitate!! Japan (Viz), a tasty confection that’s equal parts cheese, cornpone, and heart. But if you’re an old soul like me, there are really only two books that you ought to buy this week: the seventh volume of Emma (CMX) and the second volume of Suppli (Tokyopop). Both series prove that manga can offer readers all the things we love about novels—complex characters, compelling drama, penetrating social commentary—with the added bonus of beautiful artwork.

UPDATE: The always reliable David Welsh and Lori Henderson both describe Switch as DOA, all style and no substance. Follow the links for the full scoop.

This week’s column looks at three brand new arrivals: volume three of In the Starlight (NETCOMICS), a sci-fi manhwa with a seventies shojo feel; volume one of J-Pop Idol (Tokyopop), a story of one girl’s struggle to become a singing sensation; and Your and My Secret (Tokyopop), a gender-bending shojo comedy that’s just a little bit naughty.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
A.I. Revolution, Vol. 2 (Go! Comi)
+Anima, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
Barefoot Gen, Vol. 5 (Last Gasp)
Barefoot Gen, Vol. 6 (Last Gasp)
Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword, Vol. 5 (DrMaster)
Don’t Blame Me (DMP)
Emma, Vol. 7 (CMX)
Empowered, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
Excel Saga, Vol. 17 (Viz)
GetBackers, Vol. 23 (Tokyopop)
Hanami: International Love Story, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
Hands Off: Don’t Call Us Angels, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Her Majesty’s Dog, Vol. 8 (Go! Comi)
J-Pop Idol. Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Kanna, Vol. 3 (Go! Comi)
Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Vol. 5 (DrMaster)
Mamotte Lollipop, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
Masume Shirow’s Orion Fourth Edition (Dark Horse)
Me & My Brothers, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
My Dearest Devil Princess, Vol. 2 (Broccoli Books)
Orfina, Vol. 2 (CMX)
Princess Ai: Rumors From the Other Side (Tokyopop)
Rave Master, Vol. 27 (Tokyopop)
Re:Play, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Someday’s Dreamers: Spellbound, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Suppli, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Switch, Vol. 1 (Viz)
The Third, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Togari, Vol. 5 (Viz)
Twilight X, Volume 2: Before Peace (Antarctic Press)
Welcome to the NHK, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
A Wise Man Sleeps, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi)
Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 10 (Viz)
Your and My Secret, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Yubisaki Milk Tea, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)

In the Starlight, Vol. 3

By Kyungok Kang
NETCOMICS, 224 pp.
Rating: Teen

If you’re a fan of old-school shojo—especially the sci-fi sagas of Keiko Takemiya and Moto Hagio—you might also enjoy In the Starlight, a Korean import with a Magnificent 49er vibe. Artist Kyungok Kang (Narration of Love at 17, Two Will Come) draws characters with the kind of fabulous hair and sparkling eyes characteristic of vintage shojo. Though she isn’t quite the peer of Takemiya or Hagio, Kang’s solid draftsmanship, beautiful character designs, and disciplined layouts serve her story well. That story, like A, A’ and Andromeda Stories, freely combines elements of fantasy, science fiction, romance, and Shakespearean tragedy to form a hybrid genre that emphasizes relationships over deep space dog fights and laser guns. Don’t get me wrong—volume three of In the Starlight has enough violence and political intrigue to suit the Bard himself. But much of the story focuses on the heroine’s state of mind after everyone she loves suffers a terrible fate (inflicted by psychic assassins from another planet, no less). Kang does a fine job of revealing her heroine’s inner turmoil through the artwork, avoiding the trap of telling too much instead of showing. The dialogue is a little stiff (an artifact of the original script, perhaps?), but doesn’t detract from the overall story. Highly recommended for shojo fans who prefer their angst with a side of spaceships and time travel.

Volume three of In the Starlight is available now.

J-Pop Idol, Vol. 1

Story by Millenni+M, Art by Toko Yashiro
Tokyopop,
Rating: Teen (13+)

Until Tokyopop releases a Glitter Cinemanga, otaku eager for overripe musical drama will have to content themselves with J-Pop Idol. But unlike Glitter, which is bad in a jaw-dropping, can’t-take-my-eyes-off-it way (read: awesomely bad), J-Pop Idol is just plain bad. A big part of the problem is the story, which has been hastily cobbled together from dozens of similar, Star Is Born narratives—so hastily, in fact, that many scenes feel like complete non-sequitors. One of the most egregious examples can be found in the very first pages, when the members of an up-and-coming girl group face a test of their friendship: after winning a major talent competition, only one of them is singled out for a recording contract. From the context, however, it’s impossible to see why producers chose Maki over band mates Kay and Naomi, as Maki lacks the charisma, talent, and sex appeal that distinguished Diana Ross from her fellow Supremes (or Beyonce from Destiny’s other children). The rest of volume one charts Maki’s attempt to build a recording career under the tutelage of handsome idol Ken, who motivates his protégé with tough talk and hard lessons learned on his way to the top. There’s also a subplot involving tuberculosis that might not seem out of place in a Joan Crawford weepie, but seems downright ludicrous in a manga aimed at a teenage audience. Like the choppy narrative, the artwork is abysmal. The characters resemble Bratz Dolls with enormous heads perched atop slender frames, while the backgrounds are a blotchy mess, defined primarily by large patches of screentone and traced architectural elements.

The bottom line: J-Pop Idol may have been a “#1 hit mobile manga in Japan” (according to the jacket copy), but that endorsement carries about as much weight as Paula Abdul’s enthusiastic cheerleading on American Idol. If you’re looking for an engrossing manga about the Japanese pop scene, why not try another title from the Tokyopop catalog: the criminally under-appreciated Dragon Voice?

Volume one of J-Pop Idol will be available on March 12th.

Your and My Secret, Vol. 1

By Ai Morinaga
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Thank God for small miracles! Tokyopop has rescued Ai Morinaga’s wickedly funny Your and My Secret from licensed manga limbo. I’m not sure why ADV retired this gem after just one volume back in 2004, but I’m willing to wager that shojo fans of all ages will enjoy this body-switching comedy and its sly mixture of romance, social commentary, and slightly naughty slapstick.

If you ever wondered what Freaky Friday might have been like if Jody Foster had switched bodies with Leif Garrett instead of Barbara Harris, well, Morinaga’s bawdy antics provide a pretty good idea of the gender-bending weirdness that would have ensued. The story focuses on Nanako, a swaggering tomboy who lives with her mad scientist of a grandfather, and Akira, an effeminate boy who has the hots for Nanako. Akira becomes the unwitting test subject for the grandfather’s most recent invention, a gizmo designed to transfer personality from one body to another. With the flick of a switch, he finds himself trapped inside Nanako’s body (and vice versa). Let the hijinks begin!

The joke, of course, is that Nanako and Akira have found the ideal vessels for their gender-atypical personalities. Nanako revels in her newfound freedom as a boy, enjoying sudden popularity among classmates who marvel at Akira/Nanako’s cajones. Akira, on the other hand, quickly discovers that housework, cooking, and menstrual cycles can be a major drag. He struggles to feel comfortable in Nanako’s skin, feeling simultaneously disgusted and aroused by the sight of her body—not to mention insulted by the grandfather’s refusal to do chores and bewildered by his old buddy Senbongi’s growing attraction to him/her.

No, it isn’t Taming of the Shrew, but Your and My Secret manages to make some worthwhile points about gender roles (and gender norms) while serving up plenty of dopey slapstick and risque jokes. Frankly, I’d take a big helping of Morinaga’s un-PC humor over an earnest, socially responsible “girls’ comic” any day of the week.

Volume one of Your and My Secret will be released on March 12th. For a comparison of the original ADV release and the new Tokyopop edition, see David Welsh’s illuminating entry on the subject at Precocious Curmudgeon.

Two Will Come, Vols. 1-2

By Kyungok Kang
Published by NETCOMICS
Rating: 13+

Jina, the heroine of Two Will Come, is a high school student with typical teen preoccupations: earning good grades, getting into college, finding a boyfriend, staying out past her curfew. Jina’s life is irrevocably altered when she discovers that her family has harbored a secret for hundreds of years: Jina’s ancestors were tricked into killing an Imugi, or sacred serpent. In its final moments, the snake placed a curse on the family, dooming one member of each generation to die at the hands of two close relatives. Though Jina has lived in ignorance of the curse for most of her life, she is forced to confront its gruesome implications after a shaman reveals that Jina will be her generation’s sacrificial lamb—unless, that is, her cousin Myunghyun and his clairvoyant friend Yunjin can protect her.

Not much actually happens in volume one. Author Kyungok Kang devotes her opening chapters to explaining the curse’s origin and introducing us to a large cast that includes Jina’s schoolmates and extended family, as well as a shaman with less-than-holy motives for helping Jina’s clan. The leisurely pace suits the story well, however, as Kang allows us to spend some time with her characters in everyday situations, strengthening our attachment to them. As events begin unfolding at a more rapid pace in volume two, we feel a palpable sense of dread whenever Jina interacts with her family: who poses the greatest danger to her? Is the shaman’s prediction accurate—as her estranged aunt Junghee insists—or is he a fraud? And is it possible for Jina to pacify the Imugi’s vengeful spirit, or is she doomed to die?

Readers familiar with In the Starlight may be surprised to see how much Kang’s style has evolved from the 1980s, when her character designs and layouts bore a strong resemblance to the pioneering work of the Magnificent 49ers. Though Kang’s art is now more refined, and more likely to appeal to American shojo fans, I miss her sparkly-eyed heroines and rock-god heroes. One technique that Kang still uses to good effect, however, is the two-page spread, with simple images superimposed on a black background. Kang uses this type of layout as Keiko Takemiya did, to emphasize her story’s darker themes and suggest her principle character’s sense of isolation and despair. It’s an economical, elegant gesture that yields some beautiful sequences in both volumes.

Kang may not be a household name among manga (or manhwa) lovers. But if NETCOMICS continues to license her work—which encompasses a variety of genres from sci-fi to romance—she may find a well-deserved following among readers eager for compelling stories about ordinary teens in extraordinary circumstances.

Volume one of Two Will Come is available now; volume two will be released on March 20th. To read the first chapter at no charge, visit the NETCOMICS site. Additional chapters can be read for a modest fee.

Do Whatever You Want, Vol. 1

By Yeri Na
NETCOMICS, 196 pp.
Rating: 13+

Do Whatever You Want explores the friendship between two high school students, Jinwon and Hosoo. Both aspire to pop music stardom, vowing “to ignore girls until they make their big singing debut.” Though neither boy thinks of himself as gay, the intensity of their friendship inspires gossip among their classmates and alarms Jinwon’s mother, who takes a dim view of their frequent sleepovers. (Yaoi fans take note: it’s quite clear from context that these overnight stays did not lead to steamy, four-alarm encounters.) Jinwon, too, questions his feelings for Hosoo, wondering if he’s developed a romantic attachment to his pal. Further complicating emotional matters are Hosoo and Jinwon’s entanglements with two girls: Soomin, a loner with a defiant attitude, and Dana, a shy newcomer who longs for a close friend of her own.

Don’t be fooled by the cover art: Do Whatever You Want remains firmly grounded in reality, focusing on familial relationships, school bullies, and clique dynamics rather than the perils of celebrity or the challenges facing hot guys in love. The simplicity and naturalism of Na’s artwork suits the story’s matter-of-fact tone, though some readers—especially those accustomed to the heavy stylization found in many licensed yaoi titles—may find it too plain for their tastes. Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Na’s story is her depiction of Jinwon and Hosoo’s friendship. The tenor of the boys’ interactions and interior monologues reminded me of bishojo drama more than yaoi. We’re not sure if Jinwon’s feelings for Hosoo have shaded into the sexual, or if he’s just experiencing the excitement of making a friend who shares his dreams.

I had a few reservations about the first volume. The opening thirty pages are rather confusing, interrupted by periodic flashbacks to the beginning of Hosoo and Jinwon’s friendship. As a result, Soomin’s character isn’t so much as introduced as inserted into the story without much explanation of who she is or why she finds Hosoo intriguing. I also found the pace rather languid; not much of consequence happens until the final scenes in volume one.

That said, Do Whatever You Want is a welcome palate cleanser for readers tired of the forced hijinks, formulaic plots, and two-dimensional characters found in so many shojo and shonen-ai manga. Yeri Na’s low-key, conversation-driven approach to storytelling yields an honest, funny, and poignant look at high school friendships that dares to suggest that boys can form intense, emotional attachments to one another. Highly recommended for fans of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Flower of Life.

Volume one of Do Whatever You Want will be available on February 5th. To read the first chapter online, click here.

This month’s column looks at two titles from Hakase Mizuki, Asian Beat (Tokyopop), a collection of stories about alienated teens, and Baku (Tokyopop), an anthology with a demonic element. We also look at Smuggler (Tokyopop), a one-shot about a young actor who accepts a deadly job to pay the bills; Alice on Deadlines (Yen Press), a body-swapping comedy about a shinigami and busty schoolgirl; Operation Liberate Men (NETCOMICS), a manwha dramatizing the battle of the sexes in a novel fashion; and the second volume of Heroes Are Extinct!! (DMP), a sci-fi comedy spoofing the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. All of these titles are available in stores now.

Alice on Deadlines, Vol. 1

By Shiro Ihara
Yen Press, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

A shinigami named Lapan is sent to earth to collect the soul of a dead man who’s somehow managed to overstay his welcome. Things go horribly wrong, however, and Lapan ends up in the body of a busty and beautiful teenage girl named Alice. Alice, unfortunately, ends up in the body intended for Lapan: a skeleton. Hijinks ensue. The book is full of panty shots, fan service, over the top humor and pervy situations. It turns out that Lapan is a bit of a hornball who spends most of his time trying to grope, look up the skirts of, and otherwise sexually harass Alice’s friends. Alice chases him around and tries to stop him. Occasionally something else happens, like a short battle with a dead soul turned monster, or a failed attempt at a date. The art is kind of pretty, but that’s about it, as the non-stop pervy humor wears thin after about ten pages.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Asian Beat, Vol. 1

By Hakase Mizuki
Tokyopop, 208 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)

The four stories comprising Asian Beat explore the same themes found in Hakase Mizuki’s supernatural dramas. (See Erin F.’s review below.) Like Chiaki of The Demon Ororon and Takeshi of Baku, the principal characters in Asian Beat are teenagers bearing the scars of parental abandonment and neglect. The first story, “The Town Where Snow Falls,” focuses on the relationship between Koji, an angry, self-destructive girl who clashes with her stepmother, and Maria, a delinquent torn between his attraction to Koji and his loyalty to Yoko, a married woman with whom he’s been having an affair. The artwork is stunning, capturing the young couple’s sense of estrangement from their peers and families with wordless scenes of empty, snow-filled streets, sterile classrooms, and shabby apartments. The other three chapters—“Asian Beat,” “The Grey Town,” and “The Scar”—focus on a different trio of characters: Mushi and Jam, whose alcoholic father disappears for months at a time, and their housemate Yuki, the illegitimate son of a yakuza boss. There are a few well-observed moments in these stories. Mushi’s relationship with Jam repeats the abusive dynamic between him and his father, for example, while Jam masks her loneliness with a fierce, don’t-tread-on-me demeanor. But the frenetic pace and busy layouts compare unfavorably with the poignant, understated lyricism of “The Town Where Snow Falls,” to the overall detriment of the anthology.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

Baku

By Hakase Mizuki
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Baku is a one-shot volume by Hakase Mizuki, the author of The Demon Ororon and Demon Flowers. Mizuki’s obsession with demons continues here in Baku, a one-shot volume featuring two stories about demons. In the first, perfume ad model Takeshi discovers he is a super-natural creature called “Baku”, an eater of nightmares. Takeshi had suspected something was wrong with him ever since his mother was institutionalized for calling him a changeling. (The crazy-abusive-mother thing is similar to Loveless, while the reincarnation element may remind readers of Daniel’s transformation in The Kindly Ones.) The former Baku’s supernatural adopted children, Fukyuko, a snow woman, and Nekomata, the Prince of Cats, are looking for their reborn father. Makes sense, doesn’t it? No, of course not. Baku is actually about skinny demons in sharp suits with big hair, and if you’re not into the art, you won’t be into the book. This is a book best appreciated by high school girls who read Sandman and admire Dream’s hair. Fortunately I once fell into that demographic, so I found Baku enjoyable. The Prince of Cats! How charming!

The other story in the book, “Mephisto”, reads like the pilot of a failed TV show—it’s the author’s earlier, crappier work. Mephisto, like Baku, is a tall skinny half-demon in a suit. He lives with a pixie named Nana, his creepy twin sisters, and Mika, a hot, gloomy teenage friend of the family. Mephisto acts as a supernatural problem solver. In one chapter, he hangs out with the ghost of a suicidal schoolgirl until she’s ready for the next world. In the next chapter, it’s Mephisto to the rescue of a discarded doll searching for her owner. Mephisto’s hamster, named Creamtea, rides on his hat. Unfortunately, Creamtea is the highlight of “Mephisto.” The supernatural detective agency story has been done better elsewhere in both manga and anime. The stories aren’t creepy enough and the supporting characters are clichés. It’s a lot like the chapters of Bisco Hatori’s “Love Egoist” stories which appear at the end of Ouran High School Host Club.

Baku is probably only worth it if you’re really into Hakase Mizuki, or if you’re a high school girl, in which case I would check it out at a bookstore first or opt for a used copy.

–Reviewed by Erin F.

Heroes are Extinct!!, Vol. 2

By Ryoji Hido
DMP, 200 pp.
Rating: 13+

You can read Katherine’s review of volume one here, and my further thoughts on it here.

Volume two of Heroes Are Extinct!! introduces us to Cassiel’s brother Jude, who shows up claiming to be engaged to the less-than-thrilled Lady Velvet. Cassiel continues to play Earth against the Bazue Empire leading both sides himself. Jude and Cassiel create “monsters” for the Earth Rangers to fight. Cassiel is too afraid of a giant spider so they opt for a giant adorable kitten instead. It’s quite funny, despite the art shortcomings. Cassiel’s past is fleshed out from Jude’s point of view, and we are introduced to the boys’ foster father, Drart, who snuck off to Earth to help out LASA (obviously NASA) in the distant past. Drart’s story is totally heartwarming–he sacrificed everything so Cassiel and Jude could play Power Rangers on Earth, for real.

The character art is perfectly adequate, and the story is well written. Particularly in volume two, the characters’ emotions are handled quite well. If I were watching this as an anime series or a J-drama, I’m sure I could really get into it. (The author’s note in volume one mentioned this idea was originally pitched as anime.) However, the backgrounds are so poorly rendered I am reminded of a Far Side cartoon featuring pith helmeted explorers in a jungle stopped by diagonal lines: “We can’t go this way either Simmons… See those lines? That’s the international cartoon symbol for glass! …he got us good, the dirty bugger.” My suspension of disbelief was interrupted many times as I tried to distinguish the minimalist scenes on board the spaceship: is that a door? is that someone’s foot? I enjoyed the story enough, but the art is distractingly bad, at least in the first half of the book. Towards the end, Hido manages a few actual backgrounds and the shot composition improves significantly. It may be too little too late for this three volume series. The author apologizes in his note, saying he expected the series to be canceled after chapter 15. I would give this a “C” but Hido’s apology is so sincere I bumped him up a grade. It’s probably a good thing I’m not a teacher.

–Reviewed by Erin F.

Operation Liberate Men, Vol. 1

By Mira Lee
NETCOMICS, 198 pp.
Rating: 13+

Imagine, if you can, a world in which men not only perform heavy manual labor, but also do all the housework, child-rearing, and cooking while women serve in the military, run the government, create artistic masterpieces, and keep male concubines. Sooha Jung stumbles into just such a universe after a beautiful young man implores the Korean teenager to help him liberate “the beta gender” (a.k.a. males) from the oppressive yoke of empress Mahapara. Though Sooha fully expects Para to be heavenly—what girl wouldn’t prefer to outsource the dishes and diapers to someone else?—she’s horrified to discover that women routinely subject men to violence and emotional cruelty, disposing of unwanted husbands with the casual indifference most of us show for ill-fitting clothes and ancient TV sets. The androgynous-looking Sooha then faces a choice: should she reveal that she is, in fact, a girl—and enjoy the privileges of a Para woman—or should she join the resistance?

Operation Liberate Men has the potential to be an engaging read, blending comedy, suspense, and social allegory to highlight real-world gender disparities between men and women, but Mira Lee doesn’t quite have the storytelling chops to pull off her ambitious project. Though she excels at drawing androgynously beautiful men and exotic costumes, she executes other characters’ proportions poorly; Sooha’s head and hands frequently seem too large for her slender frame. Lee also struggles to set an appropriate tone for her story, toggling back and forth between broad, fish-out-of-water comedy and dark scenes of domestic violence. By the end of volume one, however, Lee’s command of the material seems more assured. She ends with a surprising cliffhanger that will leave even more frustrated readers with a keen desire to find out what happens next.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

Smuggler

By Shoei Manabe
Tokyopop, 248 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Kinuta is a young, would-be actor who’s fallen on hard times. After ringing up a high bill with the local gangsters, he finds himself working with a crew of body disposal specialists to work off his debt. Unfortunately for him, their current job—transporting a captured assassin by the name of Spine—goes wrong, and he finds himself stuck impersonating Spine to cover for the mistake. Smuggler is a dark and gritty single-volume crime manga with interesting characters and a surprisingly complex story. The art, on the other hand, is horrible. It’s ugly and, early on, it’s actually quite amateurish. There are a few panels where characters with hair suddenly go bald, and the action scenes are just a mess. As the story progresses, so does the art; at times, the rough aesthetic actually enhances the mood of the story. (Some more polish wouldn’t hurt it though.) Notwithstanding the ugly artwork, I enjoyed Smuggler enough to want to track down other works by Manabe.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Hmmmm… I’m having difficulty mustering enthusiasm for this week’s crop of manga, light novels, and commemorative editions. The real standouts—and the books most likely to find their way into my shopping basket—are two long-running titles from CMX: Kaoru Mori’s Emma, a mangafied mash-up of Upstairs, Downstairs and The Forsyte Saga, and Yasuko Aoike’s From Eroica With Love, a spy thriller whose leads look like members of a Led Zeppelin tribute band. I might also pick up a copy of Demon Flowers (Tokyopop), a new series from the creator of The Demon Ororon. Though I’m not always sold on Mizuki Hakase’s storytelling, I love her sharply stylized character designs; her bad boys look like Carnaby Street regulars with their skinny black pants, shoestring ties, and artfully disheveled hair. And for a butt-kicking chaser to all that girly goodness, I’ll probably buy the latest issue of Blade of the Immortal (Dark Horse).

REVIEWED THIS WEEK:

• Brave Story (Viz)
• The Cute Book (Vertical, Inc.)
• Kanna, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi)
• Narration of Love at 17, Vol. 4 (NETCOMICS)

SHIPPING THIS WEEK

• The Bad Book (Vertical, Inc.)
• Blade of the Immortal, #129 (Dark Horse)
• Cherry Juice, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Chibi Vampire Novel, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• The Cute Book (Vertical, Inc.)
• Dark Moon Diary, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Demon Flowers, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Emma, Vol. 5 (CMX)
• Eureka Seven, Vol. 6 (Bandai)
• Fantamir, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• From Eroica With Love, Vol. 10 (CMX)
• Full Metal Panic Novel, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Hibiki’s Magic, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
• I Luv Halloween, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• I.N.V.U., Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
• Kamen Tantei, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
• Karma Club Novel, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Kilala Princess, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• Ordinary Crush, Vol. 1 (DMP)
• Path of the Assassin HC, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse)
• Path of the Assassin, Vol. 7 (Dark Horse)
• Pearl Pink, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• Phantom, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• Poison Candy, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol. 24 (Tokyopop)
• Star Trek, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
• Takumi-Kun, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Welcome to NHK, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)

Brave Story (novel)

By Miyuki Miyabe
Viz Media, 824 pp.

Brave Story begins in present-day Tokyo, where eleven-year-old Wataru Mitani lives with his parents. Though they appear to be an ideal family, Wataru’s father is deeply unhappy and abandons his wife and son for a mistress. Wataru is left to cope both with his own feelings and with his unstable mother, who vacillates between rage and suicidal depression. Just as he’s about to succumb to despair himself, Wataru is transported to the magical realm of Vision. There, Wataru learns that he can change his fate by finding the Tower of Destiny and pleading his case before Vision’s creator, a.k.a. the Goddess. Determined to salvage his broken family, Wataru embarks on a punishing journey through Vision, acquiring, in the process, a powerful sword and fiercely devoted posse of fanciful creatures.

Miyabe may shamelessly pilfer scenes from other sources, but she populates her tale with sympathetic characters, putting them in situations that reflect the complexities of adult life. Her heroes and villains alike are motivated by selfish desires; even Wataru, whose rationale for seeking the Goddess is to reunite his parents, comes to see that his dearest wish is really a fearful, self-interested one. The artlessness of the prose, however, undermines the subtlety of Miyabe’s observations. In chapter sixteen, for example, Wataru arrives in the city-state of Lyris to discover that its non-human members are confined to shantytowns and subjected to harassment. Just in case we didn’t see parallels between Lyris and, say, 1980s Johannesburg (or 1960s Birmingham, for that matter), Miyabe includes this helpful exchange:

It sounded like South Africa during apartheid. “Are there other kinds of discrimination in daily life here? Like separate facilities for different races?” Wataru asked.
Toni’s eyes opened wide. “There sure is. How did you know?”
“I know of a similar situation in another place,” Wataru replied. I saw it in a movie once.

Long as it may be, passages like this one give ample evidence that Brave Story won’t be confused with War and Peace any time soon. (For the record, the English edition of Tolstoy’s book clocks in at 1,472 pages, nearly 450 more than Brave Story.) Miyabe’s dark fantasy is best described as a Frankenbook, stitched together from pieces of EverQuest, The Guin Saga, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and The Wizard of Oz to create an entertaining, surprisingly adult adventure story whose seams sometime show.

Brave Story is available now.

The Cute Book

By Aranzi Aronzo
Vertical, Inc., 48 pp.

OK, OK… technically speaking, The Cute Book, Vertical’s first Aranzi Aronzo release, made its bookstore debut in February. But this is the first time it’s shown up on the Midtown shipping list, so I’m including The Cute Book in this week’s column for those of you who missed it the first time around.

Who are Aranzi Aronzo? Contrary to their website’s introductory page, they are not globetrotting, tambourine-playing salarymen of Norwegian and Vietnamese extraction, but two sisters from Osaka who have made careers of peddling cute-but-edgy products. Their empire includes retail stores in Tokyo and Taipei, a booming online business, and a series of craft books that are equal parts manga and DIY manifesto. The Cute Book, one of seven Aranzi titles that Vertical has licensed for the US market, features step-by-step instructions for fashioning critters out of materials easily obtained at your local art supply store. Sounds straightforward enough, but there’s an undercurrent of weirdness running through the text that’s almost impossible to describe. Imagine a Hello, Kitty! craft book penned by Junko Mizuno, and you have some idea of the tone.

The true measure of any how-to book is the ease of the instructions, and The Cute Book scores big points for its user-friendliness. Throughout the book, directions are supplemented with traceable patterns, photographs, and clear illustrations demonstrating a variety of useful knots and stitches. For those of us who find the typical Better Homes and Gardens craft project daunting (”Spruce up a picture frame with some old wrapping paper and a glue gun!”), the authors have included needle-less shortcuts. I’m not 100% certain what I’ll do with the flock of felt sheep I’ve begun making—at my age, festooning gloves and hats with googly-eyed animals is bound to raise a few eyebrows—but perhaps I can give them to my Australian shepherd. She needs a job, after all!

Portions of this review appeared in the July issue of Chopsticks. The Cute Book is available now. A tip: to post pictures of your handiwork or preview other books from the Aranzi Aronzo series, visit Vertical’s Aranzi homepage.

Kanna, Vol. 1

By Takeru Kirishima
Go! Comi, 180 pp.
Rating: OT (16+)

It’s a safe bet that Kagura, the slacker-protagonist of Kanna, won’t be adding a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug to his collection anytime soon. At the beginning of the story, Kagura can barely take care of himself as he works a part-time job and attends cram school. His life takes an unexpected detour into fatherhood, however, when he finds a seven-year-old girl asleep in his bed. Much to his frustration, the poor moppet doesn’t speak enough Japanese to explain who she is, how she arrived in Kagura’s apartment, or why she refers to him as “Daddy.” It doesn’t take long for Kagura to realize that Kanna (said moppet) is in imminent danger from powerful, supernatural forces. (The high body count at the diner where he busses tables provides an important clue.) With a demon hot on their trail, the two set out for Kagura’s hometown to seek assistance from his former girlfriend, now a priestess at the local shrine.

The most disturbing scenes in Kanna don’t involve monsters or flying body parts, as one might imagine, but some loli-flavored interactions between Kanna and one of Kagura’s acquaintances, who has an unhealthy interest in cute little girls. I’m with David Welsh on this one: I find these scenes just plain icky. Equally off-putting is volume one’s choppy execution. Takeru Kirishima makes little effort to connect his scenes with smooth transitions. Instead, the book reads like a series of hyperlinked web pages: Click here to learn who Kanna’s real parents are. Click here for a scene of gratuitous kiddie cosplay. And so forth. Minus the loli slapstick, Kanna might be guilty pleasure—think Yotsuba&! meets Kami-Kaze—but as written, this moppet vs. monster manga is about as much fun to read as a Linux manual.

Volume one of Kanna is available now.

Narration of Love at 17, Vol. 4

By Kyungok Kang
NETCOMICS, 184 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Narration of Love at 17 is a refreshingly honest soong-juhn (shojo) story about one high schooler’s struggle to make friends and make sense of complicated feelings for a childhood playmate. Seyoung, the heroine, is a normal seventeen year old. She’s bright, but not exceptional; pretty, but not a head-turner; and talented, but not outstanding. For several years, Seyoung has been a member of the drama club, relegated to backstage roles while the beautiful Hyemi lands the plum parts. Seyoung views Hyemi as a threat to her friendship with Hyunwoo, Seyoung’s neighbor and confidante. As Hyunwoo and Hyemi grow closer, Seyoung is forced to make a choice: will she continue to rely on Hyunwoo, and hope that he will eventually reciprocate her romantic feelings, or will she forge new friendships and assert her independence?

Good shojo depends on the “truthiness” (to borrow a word from Stephen Colbert) of its characterizations, and on that front author Kyungok Kang succeeds beautifully. Her primary characters seem like flesh-and-blood teenagers with their quicksilver moods, intense passions, deep insecurities, and ever-changing social allegiances. On the strength of Kang’s storytelling, I’d give Narration of Love at 17 an A minus, but the dated artwork may hamper some readers’ enjoyment of the series. The characters’ eyes, hairstyles, and elongated bodies owe a debt to shojo pioneers Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya—not necessarily a bad thing, as both Hagio and Takemiya are accomplished draftsmen. But Kang’s character designs lack the elegant refinement of Hagio’s and Takemiya’s; the cast of Narration looks awkward and snouty, especially when viewed in profile, and have such androgynous faces that I found certain characters hard to distinguish from one another when viewed up close. If you’re willing to forgive some clumsy art, however, you may well find Narration of Love at 17 an engaging antidote to the numerous harem comedies and vampire love stories aimed at teenage manga fans.

The fourth and final volume of Narration of Love at 17 is available now. To read the first chapter online for free, click here.

If you’ve checked the Manga Recon blog this week, you may have noticed that we’ve added two new reviewers to the PCS roll.

Carlos Alexandre began writing anime reviews for PopCultureShock in June. Carlos may be a new name for Manga Recon readers, but he’s no stranger to PCS: he wrote an anime colume for Buzzscope, the first incarnation of this website. Our second new reviewer is Ken Haley, who will be joining me and Erin F. in writing about manga. Ken shares Erin’s fondness for the manly man stuff (no word on whether he owns an OBEY CARL HORN button), so expect the body count to rise with each new review. Welcome aboard, Carlos and Ken! Here’s a quick index to their first postings:

• Afro-Samurai: Director’s Cut (reviewed 7/8/07)
• Bleach, Vol. 1 (reviewed 7/30/07)
• Golgo 13, Vols. 1-6 (reviewed 9/5/07)
• MÄR (Märchen Awakens Romance): Gateway to MÄR, Vol. 1 (reviewed 6/22/07)
• Mushi-Shi, Vol. 1 (reviewed 8/20/07)
• Naruto OVA: The Lost Story (reviewed 7/16/07)
• Samurai 7, Vol. 1 (reviewed 9/4/07)

I also thought I’d take this opportunity to plug Erin’s contribution to the most recent issue of Otaku USA, a hefty, six-page review-essay of the Tekkon Kinkreet anime. Buy it, read it, then check out her forthcoming review of the new omnibus edition of the manga, scheduled for release on September 25th.

Finally, I thought I’d remind readers about our Weekly Recon feature. Posted on Sunday evenings, the column lists the manga that will actually be arriving at Midtown Comics on the following Wednesday. It also highlights the most promising new arrivals and offers an assortment of brief reviews perfect for those of us with a touch of the ADD. This week’s column will look at two recent arrivals—Kanna (Go! Comi) and Narration of Love at 17 (NETCOMICS)—as well as the Brave Story novel. Hope you’ll tune in!

Katherine Dacey-Tsuei
Senior Manga Editor

Visit the comic book store this week, and you’re bound to meet some characters, from a chainsaw-wielding zombie slayer to a guitarist with a Frankendog for a pet. Among the many new arrivals are the second volume of Princess Resurrection (Del Rey), the ninth volume of Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (Tokyopop), the second volume of Gin Tama (Viz), the second volume of My Heavenly Hockey Club (Del Rey), the fourth volume of Shaman Warrior (Dark Horse), and the final volumes of Immortal Rain (Tokyopop), I”S (Viz), Narration of Love at 17 (NETCOMICS), and Kat & Mouse (Tokyopop), an OEL title with a truly subversive premise: girls like science. (Take that, Lawrence Summers!) Three new series make their bookstore debut: Kurohime (Viz), a Western with supernatural elements; Shiki Tsukai (Del Rey; reviewed below), a story about a boy with extreme Seasonal Affective Disorder; and Walkin’ Butterfly (Aurora), a josei title about pizza delivery girl-cum-model. And mangadom’s most beloved ninja begins his frontal assault on the USA Today Bestseller list, as Viz releases volumes sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen of its wildly popular cash cow series.

For those of us who prefer our heroes and heroines to be of voting age, if not old enough to run for president, Fanfare/Ponent Mon offers the perfect bit of counter-programming. A joint collaboration between Frederic Boilet and Benoit Peeters (with additional contributions from Jiro “Times of Botchan” Taniguchi), Tokyo Is My Garden follows the misadventures of a cognac salesman who spends more time sampling Tokyo’s nightlife than hawking his alcoholic wares—that is, until his boss announces a field visit. I hate it when that happens.

REVIEWED THIS WEEK:

• Love*Com, Vol. 2 (Viz)
• Shiki Tsukai, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
• Yume Kira Dream Shoppe (Viz)

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:

• 100% Perfect Girl, Vol. 3 (NETCOMICS)
• ANIMA+, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
• Battle Club, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
• Beauty Pop, Vol. 5 (Viz)
• Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Vol. 9 (Tokyopop)
• Black Cat, Vol. 10 (Viz)
• Blazin’ Barrels, Vol. 9 (Tokyopop)
• Boy Princess, Vol. 8 (NETCOMICS)
• Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword, Vol. 1 (DR Master)
• Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword, Vol. 2 (DR Master)
• Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, Vol. 19 (Tokyopop)
• Click, Vol. 3 (NETCOMICS)
• Dazzle, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
• Dr. Slump, Vol. 13 (Viz)
• Empty Empire, Vol. 5 (CMX)
• ES: Eternal Sabbath, Vol. 6 (Del Rey)
• Faeries Landing, Vol. 17 (Tokyopop)
• Gentleman’s Alliance, Vol. 3 (Viz)
• Get Backers, Vol. 20 (Tokyopop)
• Gin Tama, Vol. 2 (Viz)
• Girls Bravo, Vol. 9 (Tokyopop)
• Good Luck, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• Good Witch of the West, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
• Gothic Sports, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
• Hunter X Hunter, Vol. 16 (Viz)
• I Luv Halloween, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
• I”S, Vol. 15 (Viz)
• Immortal Rain, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
• Innocent W, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• June, Vol. 2 (NETCOMICS)
• Kat & Mouse, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
• Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo, Vol. 4 (DrMaster)
• Kurohime, Vol. 1 (Viz)
• Let Dai, Vol. 8 (NETCOMICS)
• Life, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
• Love*Com, Vol. 2 (Viz; reviewed below)
• Mamotte Lollipop, Vol. 3 (Del Rey)
• MAR, Vol. 15 (Viz)
• My Heavenly Hockey Club, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
• Narration of Love at 17, Vol. 4 (NETCOMICS)
• Naruto, Vol. 16 (Viz)
• Naruto, Vol. 17 (Viz)
• Naruto, Vol. 18 (Viz)
• Negima, Vol. 15 (Del Rey)
• Neck and Neck, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
• Newtype, September 2007
• Ninja High School Hawaii Pocket Manga, Vol. 4 (Antarctic Press)
• PhD: Phantasy Degree, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
• Prince of Tennis, Vol. 21 (Viz)
• Princess Resurrection, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
• Rave Master, Vol. 25 (Tokyopop)
• RG Veda, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
• Shaman King, Vol. 13 (Viz)
• Shaman Warrior, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
• Shiki Tsukai, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
• Shugo Chara, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
• Shutterbox, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
• Skip Beat!, Vol. 8 (Viz)
• Sorcerer Hunters, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
• Soul to Seoul, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
• Spell (DMP)
• Stolen Heart (DMP)
• Sunflower (DMP)
• Suzuka, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
• Tokyo Is My Garden (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
• Tsukoyumi Moon Phase, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
• Walkin’ Butterfly, Vol. 1 (Aurora)
• Whistle!, Vol. 17 (Viz)
• Witchblade Takeru Manga, No. 7 (Top Cow)
• Your Lover, Vol. 3 (NETCOMICS)
• Yume Kira Dream Shoppe (Viz; reviewed below)
• Yurara, Vol. 2 (Viz; click here to read a review of volume one)

Love*Com, Vol. 2

By Aya Nakahara
Viz, 182 pp.
Rating: Teen

Napoleon and Josephine. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Kermit and Miss Piggy. Some of the world’s most memorable couples have comprised a short man and a tall woman. High schoolers Otani (5’1”) and Risa (5’7”), the central characters of Love*Com, might fall into this category, if they could stop insulting each other long enough to recognize their shared interests and similar personal histories. By the end of volume one, Otani and Risa had taken steps in that direction. This being a manga, however, their budding romance doesn’t make it out of the starting gate in volume two. A series of obstacles—mostly in the form of romantic rivals—complicate the picture, culminating in a funny Valentine’s Day scene that perfectly captures Risa’s ambivalence about Otani. My only complaint about the series remains the same: Nakahara never allows the artwork to speak for itself, adding unnecessary voice-overs and bits of dialogue that underscore the obvious. But when the story boasts such well-rounded characters and finely observed moments (both funny and excruciating), it’s easy to forgive a few heavy-handed touches.

One final note: if you’ve enjoyed the manga, you’ll be happy to hear that Viz Pictures plans to release the Lovely Complex movie in the spring of 2008.

Volume two of Love*Com will be available on August 29th. Click here to read a review of volume one.

Shiki Tsukai, Vol. 1

Story by To-Ru Zekuu, Art by Yuman Takanagi
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

The jacket copy for Shiki Tsukai promises a straightforward, action-oriented series with a dash of romance:

On the day he turns fourteen, Akira discovers his destiny: he’s a shiki tsukai, a warrior with the magical power to control the seasons. He also meets the beautiful Koyomi, another warrior, who is sworn to protect him. For there are evil forces intent on destroying Akira—and the entire universe!

Even with the generous assortment of charts, appendices, and sidebars clarifying the nuances of its underlying “power to control the seasons” premise, however, I found this book fiendishly hard to follow, thanks to the characters’ jargon-heavy dialogue. (The choppy, hectic layout doesn’t clarify matters, either.) As best I can tell, each shiki tsukai employs a variety of spells and weapons—some involving cards—to recreate the weather associated with a particular season. The community is split between those who use their power to protect mankind, and those who use it to protect Earth from mankind’s global-warming ways. Koyomi, a shiki tsukai from the first camp, is dispatched by a mysterious organization to help Akira master his newly-manifested powers. Such is Koyomi’s dedication that she moves into Akira’s house and enrolls at his school, the better to supervise him. (No one finds this arrangement odd or inappropriate, even though the comely Koyomi is a mere fifteen years old.) Under the tutelage of Koyomi and the slightly older Rei—who poses, rather unconvincingly, as one of Akira’s teachers—Akira discovers that he isn’t just a winter warrior; he has dominion over all four seasons, making him a pivotal player in the coming struggle to save the Earth.

If you’re feeling a pang of déjà vu right now, you’re not alone. Shiki Tsukai’s environmental themes borrow heavily from series like X/1999, while the stale comic bits—of the “Whoops! I didn’t mean to walk in on you while you were changing” variety—echo similarly unfunny scenes in dozens of shonen manga. (I could also do without the images of Akira activating Koyomi’s powers by pressing her chest like a giant “on” switch.) Given the series’ ecological overtones, I’d like to attribute the manga-kas’ recycling efforts to a heightened sense of environmental responsibility, though I think that’s putting a wishful, postmodern spin on this uninspired series. Strictly for fan service junkies and Weather Channel aficionados.

Volume one of Shiki Tsukai will be available on August 29th. Click here to view the trailer.

Yume Kira Dream Shoppe

By Aqua Mizuto
Viz, 184 pp.
Rating: Teen

In this short, four-story anthology, a young alchemist named Rin runs an unusual emporium: she sells dreams. Like the wish peddlers of Time Guardian and xxxHolic, Rin charges a steep commission, demanding something precious from each client in exchange for her services. Those clients run the gamut from an amnesiac girl in search of her memories to a tree that wishes to become human and a stuffed animal that wants to speak. The stories explore rather dark themes—loss, loneliness, self-sacrifice—though Aqua Mizuto is too tender-hearted—some might say sentimental—to resolve her stories on a blue note or to demand Pyrrhic prices from the shop’s clientele. Add to the mix a talking bunny and a pirate ship helmed by two cute boys, and you have a pleasant if sugary-sweet confection that’s likely to appeal to younger teens. Older readers are advised to inject themselves with insulin first to inoculate against the more saccharine moments in this nicely illustrated book.

The Yume Kira Dreame Shoppe arrives in stores on August 29th.

The “new arrivals” rack at your local comic book store will be as empty as a bachelor’s refrigerator this week, as fewer than twenty titles are scheduled for shipment. The cream of the crop is 10, 20, and 30 (NETCOMICS), a slice-of-life comedy documenting the professional and romantic travails of three women. With a distinctive visual style and an appealing cast of characters, 10, 20 and 30 offers readers something not found too often in the teen-centric American market: a story with a grown-up sensibility. (Click here for our full review and sample pages; click here to read the first chapter at NETCOMICS free of charge.)

Two other noteworthy arrivals this week are Aurora Publishing’s new series Flock of Angels, about humans who sprout wings (no word on whether Red Bull consumption is to blame), and the September issue of Shojo Beat. If you’ve let your subscription lapse, this month is a must-have, as Honey and Clover replaces Nana, and Baby & Me ends its run in the magazine. (Never fear: Viz will continue to publish Nana and Baby & Me in tankubon format.) The September issue is also noteworthy for its extras—fans will get a sneak peek at new series Fall in Love Like a Comic—and for the original cover art by Absolute Boyfriend manga-ka Yuu Watase.

One final tip for the bargain-conscious otaku about a Barnes & Noble promotion. From now until September 5th, use PayPal for a transaction worth $40 or more and receive a $10 discount. The coupon code is D9U3D3W. Click here for the fine print. Pssst… don’t tell the guys at Midtown Comics I mentioned this!

REVIEWED THIS WEEK:

• Fumi Yoshinaga’s Truly, Kindly (BLU Manga)
• Heroes Are Extinct!, Vol. 1 (DMP)
• Pine Kiss, Vol. 5 (NETCOMICS)

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:

• 10, 20, and 30, Vol. 1 (NETCOMICS)
• Akira Club (Dark Horse)
• Biowulf Pocket Manga, Vol. 1 (Antarctic Press)
• Boogiepop Novel Volume 3: Boogiepop Returns vs. Imaginator Part 2 (Seven Seas; click here for a review of another novel from the series, Boogiepop and Others)
• Can’t Lose You, Volume 6 (NETCOMICS)
• Final Girl, #4 (Antarctic Press)
• Flock of Angels, Vol. 1 (Aurora Publishing)
• The Great Catsby, Vol. 5 (NETCOMICS)
• Gunslinger Girl, Vol. 5 (ADV Manga)
• In the Starlight, Vol. 2 (NETCOMICS; click here for a review of volume one)
• Land of Silver Rain, Vol. 6 (NETCOMICS)
• Oyayubahime Infinity, Vol. 6 (CMX)
• Pine Kiss, Vol. 5 (NETCOMICS; reviewed below)
• Shojo Beat, Vol. 6, No. 3 (September 2007)
• Sky Sharks, #1 (Antarctic Press)
• Spring Fever (Aurora Publishing)
• Street Fighter Sakura Ganbaru, Vol. 1 (UDON)
• Vampire Hunter D Novel Volume 8: Mysterious Journey to the Dark Sea Part 2 (Dark Horse)
• The Young Magician, Vol. 9 (CMX)
• Yu-Gi-Oh Millenium World, Vol. 6 (Viz)

Fumi Yoshinaga’s Truly, Kindly

By Fumi Yoshinaga
BLU Manga, 192 pp.
Rating: Mature (18+)

Though I’m an enthusiastic champion of The Antique Bakery and Flower of Life, I’m less excited about Fumi Yoshinaga’s straight-up yaoi. Gerard and Jacques, for example, struck me as an ungainly hybrid of not-very-sexy sex scenes and speeches cribbed from Rosseau for Dummies, while Ichigenme: The First Class Is Civil Law seemed like a poor girl’s Paper Chase. Truly, Kindly falls somewhere in between Antique Bakery and Ichingenme on the steaminess scale, but suffers from many of the same problems found in Yoshinaga’s more explicit titles.

Her most recent publication (in English, anyway) is an is an anthology of seven stories, from a coming out tale set in present-day Seattle to a going-straight (as in abandoning a criminal past… ahem) story set in Meiji-era Japan. Despite the diverse array of historical backdrops and storylines, Truly, Kindly induces déjà vu with its recycled character designs, clumsy socio-political lectures masquerading as conversation, and the “I didn’t realize how much I liked you until you forced yourself on me!” epiphanies that her uke characters experience. The last three stories—all of which take place in the years leading up to the French Revolution—exhibit another of Yoshinaga’s shortcomings: her inability to integrate tidbits on Versailles and Voltaire into a narrative without stopping it dead in its tracks. Still, there’s something endearing about her insistence on creating characters with real emotional lives and realistically handsome faces in a genre known primarily for its man-on-man action—it’s as if someone forgot to tell her she was writing porn, for pete’s sake.

Fumi Yoshinaga’s Truly, Kindly is available now.

Heroes Are Extinct!!, Vol. 1

By Ryoji Hido
DMP, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Imagine, for a moment, that you live in the far reaches of space with no first-hand knowledge of Earth. What might you conclude about its inhabitants from watching stray television broadcasts? For Great Galactic General Cassiel, leader of the Imperial Bazue Army, the answer is obvious: Earthlings are a race of noble warriors that look suspiciously like the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Cassiel salivates at the prospect of meeting these heroes in combat, and readies an invasion force. But when he arrives, he’s deeply affronted by the Earthlings’ meek acquiescence. Determined to level the playing field, he gang presses a reluctant group of teens into service as the new Earth Terra Force, teaching them the superhero ropes from action poses to catch phrases in preparation for their showdown with the Bazue.

I can’t decide if the staleness of the target is a sign of an impoverished imagination or of scientific inspiration—after all, those MMPR reruns take a long time to reach neighboring galaxies—but Ryoji Hido manages to wring a surprising number of laughs from his thin premise, poking fun at the costumes, gadgetry, and forced camaraderie that were the show’s hallmarks. The artwork is crudely serviceable in a B-movie sort of way, with a cheesy-looking spaceship, a scantily clad princess (in a bikini, no less—paging Captain Kirk!), and a hero whose sole “alien” characteristic is his exceptional stature. (A cynic might conclude that Hido ran afoul of the same financial problems that bedeviled Roger Corman and Ed Wood, forcing him to skimp on the backdrops and props to save a few dollars.) Planetes it’s not. But if you’re looking for the comic book equivalent to Spaceballs or still own a pair of Power Rangers Underoos, you might just cotton to this goofy, three-volume series.

Volume one of Heroes Are Extinct! is available now; volume two will be released in October.

Pine Kiss, Vol. 5

By Eunhye Lee
NETCOMICS, 192 pp.
Rating: 13+

Reading Pine Kiss reminded me why I’ve never been an avid General Hospital fan. I’ve always found soap operas’ admixture of dead-serious dialogue and over-the-top storylines tough to swallow. To be sure, murders, kidnappings, unwanted pregnancies, and eleventh-hour reprieves from terminal cancer provide the grist for countless serial dramas, from Battlestar Galactica to Bones. But in the world of daytime television, no one ever sees these events as extraordinary or even noteworthy, as if having an amnesiac identical twin was as common an experience as, say, being Catholic or liking Twinkies.

Pine Kiss unfolds in this same alternate universe of Guiding Lights and Passions, with a cast of beautiful characters whose enormous eyes, long lashes, and snub noses make them look like American Girl dolls (at least when viewed front-on). Its central character, Orion, is a charismatic young math teacher whose flowing locks and warm smile camouflage a tragic past. He attracts the attention of two very different students: Sebin Jo, the angry, entitled daughter of a powerful gangster, and Dali Nam, a fiercely principled girl whose poverty forced her to abandon dreams of becoming a professional marimba player. (No, that’s not a typo.) Sebin and Dali both have more age-appropriate suitors in the form of Sanghyung and Rocky, two friends who never seem to be in love with the right girl at the right time. Further complicating matters are the characters’ deeply intertwined histories (of the “my uncle used to date your mother before he was killed by yakuza thugs” variety) and close ties to the Korean underworld.

All of this would be much easier to take if Pine Kiss wasn’t so earnest. I longed for a character to break the fourth wall and admit to being a little embarrassed by the melodramatic storylines, or for Sebin to embrace her inner Alexis Carrington and do something truly trashy. (The one fist fight between Sebin and Dali is disappointingly tame—no fur flies, no mud splatters.) Heck, I would have settled for a voice of common sense among the series’ many cast members, as no one seems to think Orion’s interactions with Sebin or Dali are the least bit unprofessional, nor does anyone wonder how Sanghyung, a clean-cut honor student, ended up in the hospital with life-threatening injuries from a baseball bat. Pine Kiss is at its best when artist Eunhye Lee focuses on her teenage characters’ romantic lives, revealing their insecurities and hopes with beautifully restrained artwork and fervent voice-overs that sound like something a real sixteen-year-old might commit to her diary. These brief interludes provide a welcome respite from the As the World Turns plot developments, and suggest that with a less sensational topic, Eunhye Lee might be a graceful storyteller.

Volume five of Pine Kiss will be available on August 22. For a preview of the series, click here.

10, 20, and 30, Vol. 1

By Morim Kang
NETCOMICS, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

The interlocking vignettes in 10, 20, and 30 focus on three women: sixteen-year-old Rok Na Lee, her 26-year-old cousin Belle Woo, and Rok’s 36-year-old mother Krumb. Krumb, widowed at 32, works full-time as a clothing designer for a large retailer. The stress of reporting to a shrill, mean-spirited superior has reduced Krumb to a permanent state of absent-mindedness, forcing Rok to become the de facto parent in the household. Temperamentally, too, the two women are utterly different. Rok is fierce and judgmental, quick to lash out at family members and hapless male admirers who, in her estimation, are weak. Krumb, on the other hand, is timid, avoiding confrontations with her ball-busting boss and frequently bursting into tears when criticized. (She’s also a spectacular klutz.) Belle, Rok’s cousin, falls somewhere in the middle: she’s feisty and assertive, but mindful of the fact that her more traditional parents are eager to find her a husband. While assuring her parents that she’s a respectable, marriage-minded girl, Belle has been dating a reporter on the down-low.

As one might guess from the set-up, the story lines in 10, 20, and 30 explore some oft-traveled terrain as Rok, Krumb, and Belle fumble their way toward self-knowledge and—naturally—Mr. Right. There’s a dash of Much Ado About Nothing in Rok’s uneasy friendship with her neighbor (and ardent admirer) Dawoon, a hint of Sex in the City in Belle’s sexcapades, and a bit of Stella Dallas in Krumb’s budding romance with her company’s president. What distinguishes 10, 20 and 30 from, say, Sex in the City, however, is that the series’ humor remains firmly rooted in the everyday. Mundane moments are never the jumping off point for outrageous plotlines, implausible mix-ups, or over-the-top slapstick. (Well, I should qualify that remark by noting that there is a rather crude running gag involving Belle. I won’t spoil the joke, but suffice to say that Belle could solve the problem by (a) locking her door (b) limiting the number of keys she distributes to family members or (c) moving to a doorman building.) Instead, these scenes liberally mix humor with darker emotions. That’s not to say that 10, 20, and 30 doesn’t have its share of goofy moments, just that there’s often an undercurrent of melancholy or loneliness in stories that, on the surface, have plenty of pratfalls and punchlines.

For many readers, the primary obstacle to enjoying 10, 20 and 30 will be the artwork: you’ll either find it charming—as I did—or crude. The layout and character designs reminded me more of a comic strip than the kind of manga/manwha that’s been licensed for the American market. Yet I found the boldness and simplicity of Kang’s style to be a perfect fit with the stories. Those deformations, oversized sweat drops, and flapping arms capture the way we really experience embarrassment, fear, betrayal, and attraction: in the moment, one’s own sense of self is grossly—even cartoonishly—exaggerated, even if that moment seems trivial in hindsight.

Much as I liked the artwork, what I liked best about 10, 20, and 30 is Kang’s knack for creating compelling characters that, at first glance, might not seem particularly remarkable or, at times, likeable. They make mistakes; they overreact; they misjudge the men in their lives; they sometimes hurt loved ones with selfish behavior. To be sure, these kind of flawed women populate the pages of chick-lit titles like Bridget Jones’ Diary and TV shows like Ally McBeal. But there’s a qualitative difference between Bridget and Ally and the ladies of 10, 20, and 30: Rok, Belle, and Krumb aren’t neurotic. Beneath their quirks and anxieties, all three women display genuine strength and self-determination, even if they don’t always make smart choices about the men in their lives. And that makes them the kind of sympathetic, appealing characters that readers like to root for.

Volume 1 of 10, 20, and 30 will be published in July. The first three chapters are currently available online through NETCOMICS’ pay-per-view system.

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