Time Stranger Kyoko, Vol. 1

By Arina Tanemura
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (T+)

It’s the 30th century and all of the nations of Earth have united to form a single kingdom. The treasure of the people is their princess, Kyoko, but she’d rather attend school like a normal girl than fulfill any of her royal obligations. Her sixteenth birthday is approaching, however, and along with it the celebration at which Kyoko must finally appear before her subjects, putting an end to her incognito scholastic career.

Kyoko resigns herself to her fate, but her father offers her an alternative—if she can awaken her younger twin sister, who has been asleep since birth, and turn princess duties over to her, Kyoko can have her freedom. To do this, she must locate twelve godstones scattered around the planet and the twelve telepaths who can use them. When gathered, they can set into motion the giant clock upon which Princess Ui sleeps and use its power to awaken her.

I was pretty put off initially by the notion that Ui was to be awoken for the sole purpose of foisting princess duties upon her. Even though Kyoko intends to give her sister a choice in the matter, it’s still a thoroughly selfish aim. Quickly, though, Kyoko ends up revealing her identity anyway (to thwart a band of thieves who’re menacing her schoolmates) and her goal becomes simply meeting her sister.

Adventure ensues, with Kyoko gradually acquiring more powers and, eventually, locating the first of the telepaths. She’s often tempted to use her powers for selfish reasons, but usually ends up helping others in the end. Other hobbies include requiring rescue by her bodyguards and behaving irrationally.

There are some comedic elements to the story, though not all of them are a success. I giggled at the instructions for the issuance of a royal greeting (step 5: gesture flamboyantly!) and I like that Kyoko’s magic cane has a personality and dialogue, but I can’t stand the character of Chocola. She’s the King’s cat android pet, and I reckon I’m supposed to find her unbearably cute, but instead she just creeps me out.

As usual, Tanemura’s artwork features big eyes, lots of screentone, and a plethora of flowers. I was a little disappointed that she didn’t avail herself of the opportunity to draw the kirito—humans whose DNA has been combined with that of plants or animals—in a new and different style. Mostly, they just get things like pink hair or gold eyes. Kyoko herself has pointy ears, but no one has commented on them thus far, so I’m not sure if she’s supposed to a hybrid or not.

While I didn’t love this volume, I didn’t absolutely hate it, either. It’s true that neither the story nor the characters particularly engage me, but because the series is only three volumes long, it’s really not that much of a commitment to see it through to the end. I expect that I will do so.

As a final thought, I leave you with a topic: Arina Tanemura is the manga equivalent of Meg Cabot. Discuss.

Volume one of Time Stranger Kyoko is available now.

Isaac Hale proves he’s man enough to review girl’s manga by teaming up with me to post a new edition of On the Shojo Beat. In this installment, we look at three books: the final volume of Absolute Boyfriend, the first volume of B.O.D.Y., and the final volume of Yurara. –Katherine Dacey

Absolute Boyfriend, Vol. 6

By Yuu Watase
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

The great temptation I have faced in reviewing the sixth and final volume of Absolute Boyfriend is to not simply quote it and let it speak for itself. Trust me; any review I could have made is not as damning, or as unwittingly hilarious, as Absolute Boyfriend itself. Now don’t get me wrong, I dig Yuu Watase. She’s made some of my favorite series, namely Fushigi Yuugi and Ceres: Celestial Legend. When I picked up volume one of Absolute Boyfriend, I went in with high hopes: maybe it would be awesome! Maybe the characters would have personality, and Riiko wouldn’t be a self-loathing doormat. But alas, a decent manga was not to be.

To bring you up to speed with the series I bring you volume six’s “Story so far” segment word for word: “Lonely Riiko got more than she bargained for when she bought a lover figure from a mysterious website. Turned out to be a walking, talking (and kissing) android named Night. But when he gets recalled, Riiko suddenly realizes how much she cares for him. Night manages to escape Kronos Heaven and returns to Riiko, but the company sends another 01 model to bring him back. A superhuman battle ensues, and night emerges triumphant. He and Riiko embrace in the rain, promising to stay together forever”. To summarize: 1. Sex robot romances girl. 2. Sex robot leaves her. 3. Girl has multiple self-loathing episodes. 4. Robot battle ensues. 5. Random, yet obligatory, romance scene ensues. Yes. That’s the five volumes there. One part Chobits, one part all-male Bubblegum Crisis and one part Her Majesty’s Dog, with generous amounts of pure suck.

The plot of volume six is no better. For absolutely no reason, Riiko and Night finally consummate their relationship (yes, keeping it T-rated). Why they have sex now and had refrained earlier, is beyond even shojo logic. Like everything else in this series, the sex gets twisted into a pathetic plot device, and it magically repairs Night from his robot fight. “You’re back to normal!! But how?” Riiko exclaims. “Hmm, maybe it’s because we made love? Maybe my system registered me as your lover…and reset my inner circuits?” Night coyly responds to Riiko’s bulging doe eyes. Their sex reset his inner circuits and fixed his broken arm. Then they get “married.” Then in the next page the romantic competition, Soshi decides to go to Spain. Forever. After five volumes without a significant plot development, those five volumes of plot are shoved into the first 26 pages of volume six. Oh yeah, and the ending is the most stinking pile of contrived BS since Kare Kano.

The upside? Night is the hottest incarnation of Watase’s quintessential and recycled male romantic lead yet—though of course he looks 99% like Tamahome from Fushigi Yuugi. Shocker.

This volume also has a fairly mediocre short story to fill it out. Yawn.

All in all, Absolute Boyfriend has been a remarkably terrific example of just how bad shojo can be. The lessons learned within? 1. There’s no problem with middle school girls have sex with adult men 2. It’s okay to renege on the entire plot and conclusion in the last chapter 3. As long as your men are hot, who cares if they have no personality whatsoever?! If you’ve followed this series so far out of morbid fascination, check out this last volume from the library for a horror fest of epic proportions. Depending on your strength of your will you may or may not be able to actually trudge your way through it. Good bye to Absolute Boyfriend, and good riddance.

–Reviewed by Isaac Hale

B.O.D.Y., Vol. 1

By Ao Mimori
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

In the first chapter of B.O.D.Y., sixteen-year-old Ryoko, a good girl who likes nice boys, declares her undying love for Ryunosuke, a seemingly reserved young man in her class. A chance run-in with Ryunosuke after school reveals that this quietly smoldering hottie is, in fact, a gigolo with an extensive clientele of beautiful older women. Though Ryoko loudly disavows him, Ryunosuke views her indignant bluster as a challenge and announces his intent to win her heart. Sounds like Dynasty for the Fruits Basket set, no? Alas, B.O.D.Y. quickly devolves into a run-of-the-mill romance in which a good girl discovers that the bad boy she thinks she hates is actually worthy of her interest. Manga-ka Ao Mimori attempts a few curveballs—introducing a second boy into the mix, for example—but is so determined to get to the Big Confession of Love scene that she forgets to develop her characters into something more than stereotypes. (She also seems to forget about Ryunosuke’s rather unsavory after school job—it’s as if she began writing a juicy blackmail story and then suffered complete amnesia mid-script.) The artwork, like the paint-by-numbers plot, leaves something to be desired. True, Mimori draws pretty boys—a skill that her core audience will not doubt appreciate—but all of her characters have the same basic face, complete with beestung lips; were it not for his glasses and artfully tousled ‘do, I might not have been able to distinguish Ryunosuke from Ryoko. The bottom line: B.O.D.Y. isn’t terrible, but it lacks the courage of its trashy convictions, settling for sappy romance instead something edgier and more fun.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey.

Yurara, Vol. 5

By Chika Shiomi
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen

In the final volume of Yurara, the titular character is forced to choose between the dark-haired Mei—who prefers Yurara in mousy schoolgirl mode—and the fair-haired Yako—who prefers Yurara as a sassy, butt-kicking ghostbuster. (For the record, I prefer Yurara in her latter incarnation as well; in regular-teen mode, she spends a lot of time weeping and running away from boys, i.e. being a lame-ass.) It’s not hard to understand why so many readers voiced a preference for Yako in their letters to manga-ka Chika Shiomi, as the brooding medium is less possessive and cocky than his romantic rival. But Shiomi makes a persuasive case for Mei as well, demonstrating the character’s capacity for selfless behavior. (In the previous volume, Mei earned some serious demerit points in this reader’s book for talking about Yurara as if she were a prized possession. Granted, my thirteen-year-old self would have found it Terribly Romantic that he vowed to “never let anyone else have Yurara,” but my thirty-something self… not so much.) The conclusion feels a little hasty, but ties up loose threads in a fashion that will satisfy Mei and Yako partisans alike as well as readers who view unabashedly happy endings as an affront to good gothic storytelling.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Welcome to the May edition of Manga Minis! This month’s crack team of reviewers includes our anime expert Carlos Alexandre, fellow manga maniacs Chloe Ferguson and Isaac Hale, and yours truly. Our survey runs the gamut from angst-ridden shojo to fanservice comedy and includes volume seven of After School Nightmare (Go!Comi), volume one of Foxy Lady (Tokyopop), volume nine of Kaze Hikaru (Viz), and the one-volume Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-Chan (Media Blasters).

After School Nightmare, Vol. 7

By Setona Mizushiro
Go!Comi, 200 pp.
Rating: 16+

Forget gender bending—the latest installment of Setona Mizushiro’s surreal horror masterpiece snaps gender in half and throws it out the window. Girl/boy protagonist Mashiro continues to grapple with his identity in the midst of drama so thick you could practically take a knife to it. On the rocks with onetime admirer Sou and ex-girlfriend Kureha, Mashiro is shocked to see the two begin a relationship—and to realize that his interest in Sou might just be called jealousy. Mizushiro in turn sends everyone into varying bouts of angst and self-reflection, choosing to plumb the depths of character backstory in place of nightmare-world action.

It’s clear that something funky is going on just about everywhere, but with every revelation comes a new, more twisted batch of questions. Mizushiro’s evidently gunning for the slow reveal, and even has the moxie to throw a serious new romantic player into the game this late. There’s the usual dose of metaphorical blood, violence and killing in the dream world, but the action this time around remains firmly rooted in the real, determined to pressure the characters into exhibiting just what they’ve learned from six volumes of nightmares. The result is a newly invigorated series that promises a strong end—and a maddeningly engrossing journey getting there.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson

Foxy Lady, Vol. 1

By Ayun Tachibana
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Foxy Lady is the by-the-numbers story of a boy named Jin and an attractive, skimpily dressed half-demon named Kogane, where the latter must mate with the former in order for the latter to turn human. Between Jin’s inexperience with women, Kogane’s superhuman powers, and the supporting cast’s various quirks creating a multitude of misunderstandings, Jin looks to have his proverbial hands full for quite some time. Hilarity and hjinx supposedly ensues.

What’s that genre called, the one that is all about magical girls wanting to get it on with ordinary teenage boys, that piles on layers and layers of fanservice at the expense of little extraneous things like characterization and plot? Because Foxy Lady is a textbook example of that genre. And just like pretty much every other anime and manga that falls under that genre, it is targeted at a very specific audience. Foxy Lady will likely satiate that audience, while leaving the rest of us yearning for something with a bit more depth.

–Reviewed by Carlos Alexandre

The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-Chan

By Ai Morinaga
Anime Works, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Despite the arm-flapping, shouting, and profuse shedding of crocodile tears, not much actually happens in The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-Chan, an odd collection of short stories about a talking frog who lives at an all-boys boarding school. Calling the thirty-odd chapters that comprise Gorgeous Life “stories” exaggerates their length and coherence; each chapter is really just a vehicle for risqué humor (e.g. boys in drag, boys in compromising positions) and violent slapstick. The yaoi japes are mildly amusing, but the frogsploitation is not. Morinaga clearly intended these scenes to be funny in an Itchy-and-Scratchy sort of way—see Strawberry-Chan’s owner flatten him with a shoe! see Strawberry-Chan’s owner bury him alive!—but the cumulative effect of so much sadistic behavior is exhaustion, not amusement. Making matters worse is the art. Morinaga’s fondness for busy backdrops (e.g., psychedelic swirls, pulsing plaids), extreme facial close-ups, and dark, indeterminate patches of screentone yield something akin to a manga migraine: hard on the eyes and the frontal lobes. Perhaps the editorial staff at Anime Works shared my reservations about Gorgeous Life, as their efforts seem half-hearted at best. Typos crop up throughout the text, as do awkward sentences and grammatical errors. The layout department chose an especially ugly font for the dialogue, adding another element of visual chaos to Morinaga’s cluttered layouts. In sum, The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-Chan may not be the worst manga of 2008, but it certainly is a contender for the short list.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Kaze Hikaru, Vol. 9

By Taeko Watanabe
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Volume nine of Kaze Hikaru offers more of the same gender-bending shojo drama of previous volumes. Don’t be deceived by the swords and samurai outfits—this series is all about the shojo drama. Fortunately, the samurai action is hardly the main attraction of Kaze Hikaru. The true testament to Kaze Hikaru’s quality as a manga is that the gender-bending keeps a lot of the original humor it had at the beginning of the run. Even though many of the main characters are perfectly aware of the protagonist’s female identity, many of the Shinsengumi do not, resulting in humurous homosexual under/overtones. The strange gender interactions and running inside-joke is really what keeps this series at its running high quality. The series’ art is another high point. Even with the traditional hair cuts and period outfits, the character designs are still fairly attractive and unique.

Unfortunately, the gender-bending that makes Kaze Hikaru so fun is its main flaw as well. After nine volumes and lots of time passing, it seems a little silly that Sei is unclear on which characters know about her gender and which don’t. This is kind of confusing, and makes it especially difficult for readers trying to jump into the story now. Also in true romantic shojo style, not a whole lot happens in this volume. As is often frustrating in manga romances, the relationship buildup is full of self-doubt and constant backpedaling. If Sei weren’t such an entertaining character, this series would fall easily into mediocrity. Fortunately, Kaze Hikaru’s fine-tuned sense of style and character depth make it a comic worth reading.

–Reviewed by Isaac Hale

The latest installment of On the Shojo Beat looks at three new additions to the Shojo Beat line-up: Kaori Yuki’s Gothic Fairy Cube, Tohko Mizuno’s magical girl manga Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, and Arina Tanemura’s debut work I.O.N.

Fairy Cube, Vol. 1

By Kaori Yuki
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

No one will ever accuse Kaori Yuki of writing boring manga. All of her work—Angel Sanctuary, The Cain Saga, Godchild—has the feverish quality of a Hieronymous Bosch painting, complete with tormented souls, grotesque creatures, and all manner of taboo-busting behavior on display. I’m happy to report that Fairy Cube, her newest series (in English, anyway), is as gloriously overripe as the best volumes of Godchild but considerably more coherent.

Like the male leads in Angel Sanctuary and Cain, the hero of Fairy Cube is filled with angst. Ian’s affliction stems, in part, from his ability to see spirits—but not just ghosts or demons. Ian sees fairies. And malevolent ones, at that—the kind that impersonate humans, enslave the weak-minded, and occasionally snack on a person or two. Making matters worse is Tokage, a sprite who stalks Ian, manipulating his family and friends against him with the skill of a puppeteer. When Tokage takes visible form, Ian finds himself banished to another realm where he incurs the wrath of a bloodthirsty fairy. And when I say “bloodthirsty,” I mean it—though Ainsel has a dainty appearance, her appetite for revenge outstrips Don Corleone’s. After the two are thrown together, 39 Steps style, in a forest filled with hungry critters, Ainsel grudgingly agrees to help Ian take on Tokage before it harms the people Ian loves best: his father and his childhood sweetheart Rin.

My summary barely skims the surface of Yuki’s intricately plotted story, which manages to touch on child abuse, schoolyard bullying, and matricide, all in its first thirty or so pages. (Oh, and fairy magic—but doesn’t that go without saying? And did I forget to mention the hot guys in eye patches? My bad.) The richly detailed artwork has a delirious, almost hysterical, quality to it that suits the manga’s luridly romantic tone. The sheer density of the images combined with the breakneck pacing can be a little overwhelming; at times, I wished Yuki would pause to savor some of her lovelier images. Yet the story hangs together, in spite of its outré moments. In fact, I’d argue that it succeeds because of these outlandish touches—in another manga-ka’s hands, the story would be desperately twee, a sentimental tale about a gentle boy who befriends a winged sprite. Not so with Fairy Cube, an intoxicating—if occasionally ridiculous—mix of horror, romance, and revenge.

Volume one of Fairy Cube is available now.

Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, Vol. 1

By Tohko Mizuno
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Like the heroines of Fushigi Yugi and Red River, Akane is an ordinary schoolgirl who discovers that she is, in fact, a powerful priestess from an alternate realm. In Haruka, that alternate realm is a sexed-up version of Heian-era Japan, where two clans—one human, one demon—vie for control of the capital city. Though the demon lord Akram works his mojo on her—apparently he’s quite the dreamboat, though his mask and jaunty cap conceal his rakish good looks—Akane casts her lot with the humans, acquiring a team of eight smokin’ guardians to protect her from harm and help her defeat Akram’s minions. What this ho-hum story has going for it is elegant artwork. Tohko Mizuno’s sensuous lines yield some arresting images: a nobleman in his ceremonial robes, a ravenous merman with a trace of blood on his lips. The artwork isn’t stunning enough to offset the cumulative effect of paper-thin characterizations, wooden dialogue, and been-there, done-that plot twists, but it at least offers readers a little eye candy as they plow through yet another tale of an average jane who learns—surprise!—that she’s really a goddess.

Volume one of Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time is available now.

I.O.N.

By Arina Tanemura
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

Ion Tsuburagi is a superstitious ditz who chants the letters of her name whenever she needs Lady Luck on her side—say, before a math test or a student council election. Through a plot contrivance too creaky for Three’s Company, she meets Mikado Hourai, a hyper-serious hottie who chairs their school’s psychic powers club. Ion is instantly smitten with Hourai, insinuating herself into the club and accidentally exposing herself to one of his experiments. The substance gives her telekinetic powers that are activated by her old ritual of chanting “I – O – N.” Not surprisingly, her new-found abilities prove a blessing and a curse, enabling her to perform some life-saving maneuvers while jeopardizing her budding romance with Hourai, who views Ion as a test subject.

Most of I.O.N.’s problems can be chalked up to inexperience, as it was Arina Tanemura’s first published work. The art has a frenzied quality, with too many facial close-ups, busy backdrops, and panels within panels, preventing the story from unfolding smoothly across the page. Tanemura’s wide-eyed character designs are especially unappealing; like the titular character of Miyuki Eto’s Hell Girl, Ion and Hourai have the kind of saucer eyes that seem more suitable on a giant squid than a middle school student. Equally unsatisfying are the characters themselves, who behave foolishly and unnaturally. Ion, in particular, is so boy crazy that she barely seems to notice that her abilities would qualify her for full-fledged membership in the Justice League.

About the best I can say for I.O.N. is that Tanemura’s heart is in the right place. The underlying message of her work seems to be one of self-awareness and respect: make sure your boyfriend likes you for who you are, and not what you represent. Too bad that worthwhile message gets lost amid the wacky hijinks and tearful discussions about feelings.

I.O.N. is available now.

When I first posted a “Manga Minis” column in March 2007, I envisioned it as a kind of dead letter office where older titles and later volumes of previously reviewed manga would see the light in the form of brief reviews. As the column has evolved, however, it’s become something altogether different: a showcase for the talented and ever-growing Manga Recon crew. I confess that I like the newer incarnation of the column better than the older, as it allows our readers to enjoy a variety of writing styles and critical perspectives in a sitting—not unlike a Whitman’s sampler, or a Kellogg’s Variety Pak. To celebrate the column’s one-year anniversary, Chloe, Isaac, Ken, and I look at four very different titles: volume four of Vampire Knight (Viz ), volume one of Fever (Tokyopop), volume thirteen of Black Cat (Viz), and volume one of Crayon Shinchan (CMX).

Black Cat, Vol. 13

By Kentaro Yabuki
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

I seem to be lucking out with Shonen Jump mangas lately. Volume twenty-eight of Naruto was a fairly good jumping on-point for that long-running series, and that seems to be the case with this volume of Black Cat as well. Most of the volume is a flashback explaining the events that led to the titular character’s decision to leave the criminal organization Chronos and become a bounty hunter. The rest of the volume is spent kicking off what seems to be a new arc with Train Heartnet and his allies preparing to track down Creed Diskenth, a man with whom Train has a long history. Their preparations range from information gathering to dodging cannonballs for practice. Despite the contemporary feel of the setting, the guns, and Heartnet’s former career as an assassin, Black Cat is still a Shonen Jump title, so these kind of over-the-top training sessions are to be expected. On the upside, there’s a fairly cool sequence towards the end where a new character punches a bullet out of the air.

The art didn’t really blow me away, but it got the job done. The character designs are a mixed bag, but none of them jumped out at me as being amazingly cool or eye-catching, though Train’s design left me wondering why he has four doughnuts attached to his shirt. The action scenes are slick and easy to follow, and full of characters demonstrating some crazy abilities or skills. Writing and characterization-wise, well, it’s more or less your standard shonen fare: the heroes are shocked at how cruel and heartless villains can be, people have dark pasts they must overcome, duels are fought in exchange for information simply because one person wants to test himself against the other. Nothing really new here. At any rate, I wasn’t really in love with the title, but at the same time I’d have a hard time saying anything particularly negative about it. The contemporary setting is a nice change of pace from the fantasy worlds that many shonen series take place in, so that earned it a few points and helped make it a bit more palatable. Overall, it’s a decent shonen title and is worth a look for, well, fans of shonen books.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 1

By Yoshito Usui
CMX, 122 pp.
Rating: Mature

Move over, Eric Cartman—there’s a ruder, cruder, more poorly drawn little boy vying for our attention: Shinnosuke Nohara, a.k.a. Crayon Shinchan. Like South Park’s flatulent, foul-mouthed connoisseur of Cheezy Poofs, Shinchan craves junk food (his preferred treat: Chocobees), obsesses over bodily functions, and treats his mother with complete disdain, making her life a living hell with his destructive antics, inappropriate comments, and penchant for dropping trou at the slightest provocation. His offenses run the gamut from the innocent—trying to pay for a hamburger with play money—to the obscene—peeking up his mother’s skirt in public.

Whether or not you find Crayon Shinchan funny depends on where your sympathy lies. My inner feminist pitied Shinchan’s long-suffering mom too much to find humor in most of these scenarios, which usually result in Mitzi’s abject humiliation. I also found the jokes too repetitive; almost every gag felt like a variation on the same basic gross-out theme. A few chapters, however, stood out for their sheer inventiveness. Early in the volume, for example, Shinchan visits the adult magazine section of a book store, prompting a hilarious “conversation” in hand signals between the manager and a clerk that wouldn’t be out of place at a major league baseball game. And there are a few inspired scenes towards the end of the volume, when Shinchan finally meets a sparring partner equal to the task: the principal of his kindergarten, a kindly man with a face so terrifying everyone assumes he’s a reformed yakuza. Adaptor Sheldon Drzka made the wise decision to substitute American cultural references for Japanese, resulting in a script that’s fluid and funny, and avoids sending readers scrambling to an appendix for a gloss on the jokes. All in all, a mixed bag—not unlike the very first season of South Park.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Fever, Vol. 1

By Hee Jung Park
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

After reading about Hee Jung Park’s Hotel Africa, and now actually reading her newly released in the US manhwa Fever, I totally understand why Tokyopop is trying to turn her into a name brand (though why they tout it as “from the creator of Hotel Africa, a not-yet published title, I don’t quite understand). Admittedly, that didn’t work to well with the Erica Sakurazawa manga, which I liked, but it looks like Tokyopop is ready to push the fold again with Hee Jung Park. With the vast quantity of “safe” and relatively tame shoujo manga coming out of every pore of the manga industry right now, it’s awesome to see a title like Fever that reminds me why the Tokyopop logo still gives me the warm fuzzies.

In its first volume we are introduced to two concurrent and ultimately intersecting storylines. In the first arc we meet Hyung-In, a high school girl torn apart by her friend’s recent suicide. Racked with guilt and seeking direction in her now lonely life, Hyung-In meets a stranger on the bus, Kang-Dae who comforts who and directs her to a mysterious place known only as “Fever”. At an another high school, orphan Ji-Jun never seems to have any luck with the ladies, though not due to lack of trying. His best friend Ah-In supports him through each foolhardy romantic enterprise, even though it hurts him more and more each time. Throughout this section we are supplied with hints that Ah-In’s feelings for Ji-Jun , and I’m pleased to say that this is the classiest and most believable homosexual tension I’ve seen in comics in a long time. When Ah-In’s sister, Ah-Rip gets involved, the potential for disaster is palpable, and begins to loom over the scene like a cloud. Eventually, the stories converge as Hyung-In seeks out Fever and reunites with Kang-Dae, who is connected to Ji-Jun through the still mysterious entity of Fever.

The art is enjoyable, and a clean break from stereotypical manhwa stylization. The landscapes are beautiful, and the character designs for Hyung-In and Ji-Jun are particularly attractive. The only thing that would make me drop this series like a rock is if Ah-Hin “sees the light” and just lets go of his attraction to Ji-Jun. Happens way too often in shoujo (ahem, Please Save My Earth). All in all, I’m stoked to get my greedy paws on more Hee Jung Park ASAP, and urge you to do the same! Highly recommended.

–Reviewed by Isaac Hale

Vampire Knight, Vol. 4

By Matsuri Hino
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

The mysterious maneuverings of transfer student Maria Kurenai has set the scene abuzz as Vampire Knight plods onward into fourth volume territory. This volume is primarily Zero’s scene, as the complicated bit of angsty backstory leading up to his present day status is explained through flashbacks and healthy doses of monologuing-in-empty-rooms. Character development is measured at best; Yuki and Zero descend deeper into their strange little symbiotic relationship while Kaname remains an unlikable block of ice, albeit with Anton Chigurh-esque inclinations to show up, moralize a bit and then kill. It all feels a bit over the top, with everything from memory loss to long-lost brothers to body swapping, all coated with plenty of blood and angst. (Matsuri Hino, just a hint: chess metaphors automatically lend an air of cheese to supposedly serious scenes.) The art, however, remains as sharp as ever, and it’s hard to argue with Hino’s striking gothic-shoujo sensibilites. Her side characters could use a bit of differentiation though; with a crew as big as Vampire Knight’s, it’s hard to keep things straight if every member of the Night Dorm is the obligatory tall, attractive light haired bishounen. The teenage girl crowd will love it; others may find themselves looking for a little less melodrama and a little more grounding.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson

The big story this week is Fairy Tail, a giddy, fast-paced adventure about a female wizard-in-training who travels in the company of a brash boy and a talking cat. Del Rey made the unusual decision to release the first two volumes simultaneously—all the better to get readers hooked, I suspect. Initial reviews have been positive, with About.Manga’s Deb Aoki and Newsarama’s Chris Mautner both declaring it a winner. (Actually, Mautner calls it a “puppy dog of a manga, that only wants to play fetch and have its ears scratched every now and then.”) Our own Chloe Ferguson will be posting her four cents shortly, so stay tuned.

Given the serious shortage of good titles this week, I dedicated today’s column to two manga-cum-movies: Love*Com and Nana, both distributed by Viz Pictures. Though the two films cover roughly the same amount of material—six volumes of Love*Com and five of Nana—the results are utterly different. Read on for the full scoop.

One final note for the budget-conscious otaku: Manga Xanadu blogger Lori Henderson has unearthed a great sale at BookCloseouts.com. From now until March 31st, all Tokyopop titles are discounted 75%. As she points out, you won’t be able to snag the most recent or most popular titles at this enticing $2.49 rate (sorry, Gakuen Alice fans), but you will find plenty of crowd-pleasers—+ANIMA, Chronicles of the Cursed Sword, Dragon Voice, Fruits Basket, Immortal Rain, Initial D, Magic Knight Rayearth, Peach Girl, Rebirth—a few rarities—CLAMP School Paranormal Investigators, Dolis—and even some books from their POP Fiction line. Thanks for the tip, Lori!

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Berserk, Vol. 22 (Dark Horse)
Blood Alone, Vol. 3 (Infinity Studios)
The Dark Wraith of Shannara (Del Rey)
Eiken, Vol. 9 (Anime Works)
Empty Empire, Vol. 7 (CMX)
Fairy Tale, Vols. 1-2 (Del Rey)
High School Girls, Vol. 9 (DrMaster)
MPD Psycho, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
Nightmares for Sale, Vol. 2 (Aurora)
Strawberry Panic, Vol. 2 (Seven Seas)
Venus vs. Virus, Vol. 3 (Seven Seas)

Lovely Complex

Distributed by Viz Pictures
Running time: 100 minutes

Nana

Distributed by Viz Pictures
Running time: 113 minutes

As anyone who’s seen Batman Begins or Spiderman can attest, adapting a long-running comic for the silver screen is an art in itself. Done poorly, such films alienate devoted fans with the omission of favorite characters and glossing of seminal plotlines, or confuse newcomers with their in-jokes and choppy storytelling. Done well, however, comic book movies bring a fresh perspective to the material—adding shades of nuance to a principal character, perhaps, or fleshing out an element of the story that had previously been left to the imagination—while hooking a new audience. Viz Pictures has begun licensing such manga-cum-movies, including adaptations of two popular titles from their Shojo Beat imprint: Aya Nakahara’s Love*Com (a.k.a. Lovely Complex) and Ai Yazawa’s Nana. These two films make an instructive case study, as they illustrate the pitfalls and potentials of bridging the gap between page and screen.

Love*Complex is the weaker of the two adaptations. The premise remains intact: Risa, the tallest girl in the seventh grade, develops a crush on Otani, the shortest boy in her class. Though superficial opposites, the two are really kindred spirits, sharing an enthusiasm for Umibozu (a Japanese rap artist that their classmates detest), swapping good-natured insults, and bonding over memories of rejection for being too tall and too short, respectively.

The movie’s problems begin as soon as the story calls for obstacles to prevent Risa and Otani from making a love connection. The scriptwriter conjures two romantic rivals—Otani’s ex-girlfriend and Risa’s handsome homeroom teacher—from different volumes in the series’ run, but only succeeds in making the homeroom hottie an integral part of the story. Even then, Mr. “Mighty” Maitake’s arrival is a bolt from the blue, and is never satisfactorily explained; he’s simply inserted into the final act of the story so that he and Otani can compete for Risa’s affections—literally . (The two play a pick-up basketball game in front of the entire school.) The other major drawback to Love*Com is its superficial treatment of the principal characters. Though Aya Nakahara’s manga charts the ups and downs of Risa and Otani’s friendship in minute detail, the movie’s frantic pace never allows us to get to know the characters or understand why they’re drawn to each other; we simply see them walk through a variety of stock scenes—cultural festivals, school trips—without actually seeing the evolution of their feelings dramatized.

It’s a pity that the Love*Com script feels so hastily assembled, as the film has the potential to appeal to both long-time fans and newcomers. The button-cute leads have some chemistry, even if the script doesn’t give them much to do. And the script shows flashes of inspiration; a “director” surrogate periodically interrupts the proceedings to explain certain peculiar-to-manga conventions (most notably the nosebleed-as-sign-of-arousal), intoning this information over strains of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. These digressions occur just a few times, but add some much-needed humor to a generally lackluster film.

The Nana movie, on the other hand, is proof that one can adhere faithfully to the source material and still produce something fresh and original. The movie offers a somewhat streamlined account of the series’ first five volumes, beginning with the two Nanas’ fateful encounter on a Tokyo-bound train and ending with Trapnest’s first visit to the girls’ apartment. Most of the dramatic juice is supplied by Hachi’s relationship with the feckless art student Shoji, and by Nana O.’s relationship with Trapnest bassist Ren.

Though I’ve enjoyed the manga immensely, I always found Hachi’s relentless enthusiasm and boy-crazy antics rather irritating and couldn’t imagine why Nana O. didn’t feel the same way about her. As portrayed by Aoi Miyazaki, however, the character made more sense. Miyazaki does a superb job of showing us why Nana O. takes a shine to someone who seems too ditzy, too dependent, and too femme to hang with an up-and-coming punk act, revealing Hachi’s inherent sweetness and decency as well as her fragility, her immaturity, and her selfishness. Mika Nakashima, as Nana O., also turns in a solid performance, playing her character as a believable mixture of belligerence, determination, and vulnerability.

The other great advantage of the movie is its soundtrack. All of the rock-n-roll shoptalk and song lyrics seemed a little preposterous on the page; I had a hard time imaging why Trapnest or Black Stones commanded loyal followings. Seeing and hearing these acts in the film, however, transported me back to my college years, reminding me how passionately I felt about certain musicians, and how much their songs felt like an expression of my own identity. (Or, in the immortal words of Roberta Flack, “He was strumming my pain with his fingers/singing my words with his song…”) The film’s two lengthy concert scenes are highpoints of the film, offering us a window into both girls’ complicated emotional lives—their dreams, their disappointments, their improbably close relationship.

I had a few small bones to pick with the scriptwriters—what happened to Junko and Kyosuke?—but on the whole, I found Nana immensely entertaining. The true measure of the film’s appeal, however, is that my sister, who isn’t a manga maven, loved it too, and wanted to know if there was a sequel. Thank goodness the answer is yes—and Viz Pictures will release Nana II in July.

A viewing tip: if you enjoyed Nana, you might want to rent Hula Girls, a heartwarming comedy that may remind you of The Full Monty (with no naked middle-aged British men, thankfully); Kamikaze Girls, an adaptation of Novala Takemoto’s bitingly funny novel; and Ping Pong, a manga-cum-movie based on a five-volume series by Taiyo “Tekkonkinkreet” Masamoto. All are available through Viz Pictures.

Love*Com is available now; Nana will be available on April 8th.

Here’s the scoop on VIZ Media’s big spring releases, including an example of comeuppance theater, a new series from Kaori “Godchild” Yuki, an old-school classic from Kazuo “Drifting Classroom” Umezu, and two series starring vampires. Yes folks, this spring… THERE WILL BE BLOOD! (Hah! Take that, Daniel Day-Lewis!)

From the VIZ Press Release:
The new releases are aimed primarily at Teen and Older Teen readers, which form the core of the manga market, and encompass a unique selection of genres ranging from action/adventure and shojo romance stories to darker, more twisted tales that exemplify the gothic and horror genres that have become extremely popular. The new series will include GUN BLAZE WEST, HARUKA: BEYOND THE STEAM OF TIME, NIGHTMARE INSPECTOR: YUMEKUI KENBUN, B.O.D.Y, FAIRY CUBE, THE RECORD OF A FALLEN VAMPIRE, ROSARIO+VAMPIRE, GIMMICK! and CAT EYED BOY…

GUN BLAZE WEST
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $7.99 • Available April 1, 2008
A brand new addition to the SHONEN JUMP imprint from Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator of the successful samurai manga series RUROUNI KENSHIN and BUSO RENKIN (both published domestically by VIZ Media), GUN BLAZE WEST puts a new twist on the genre as it is set in 19th century America. Legend has it that in the far West lies a sacred land called Gun Blaze West, where only the strong can set foot. Viu Bannes, a cheerful and persistent boy, aspires to become a great gunslinger and yearns to travel to the West and test his strength. He befriends a vagabond, Marcus Homer, and they both decide to set off on a journey to find Gun Blaze West. The new title is VIZ Media’s first Western/Wild West series and will also be previewed in SHONEN JUMP magazine. Nobuhiro Watsuki’s critically acclaimed previous series RUROUNI KENSHIN is a fan favorite that has sold more than 1.1 million copies in North America and his BUSO RENKIN series likewise enjoys a wide and growing following.

HARUKA: BEYOND THE STREAM OF TIME
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $8.99 • Available April 1, 2008
HARUKA: BEYOND THE STREAM OF TIME is a highly anticipated new series based on a popular PS2 and Nintendo DS video game that is hugely popular in Japan. Akane is your typical teenage girl, until she swallows eight Dragon Jewels and is transported to the Heian period of ancient Japan! There in the Capital City, Akane learns that she has been preordained to lead the people as the Priestess of the Dragon God. But all is not well: Akram, the head of the Demon Clan, has sworn death and destruction on the Capital. So Akane is appointed Eight Guardians to stand by her side as she faces the danger that waits. HARUKA: BEYOND THE STREAM OF TIME is a new addition to VIZ Media’s SHOJO BEAT imprint and is currently being serialized in SHOJO BEAT magazine. The original Haruka video game was created by Ruby Party (aka Ruby Patty), the same group that designed the wildly popular Neoromance video game Angelique, and helped to define the modern Neoromance dating RPG format. Bandai Visual USA is also releasing the anime in April 2008.

NIGHTMARE INSPECTOR: YUMEKUI KENBUN
Rated “T” for Teens • MSRP: $9.99 • Available April 8, 2008
For those who suffer nightmares, help awaits at the Silver Star Tea House, where patrons can order much more than just Darjeeling. Hiruko is a special kind of private investigator, he’s a dream eater, and he’ll rid you of your darkest vision – for a price. Each chapter of NIGHMARE INSPECTOR is a self-contained story that offers a glimpse of mankind’s folly and gradually reveals a little more about Hiruko and his dark past. A highly anticipated new series with a gothic edge, NIGHTMARE INSPECTOR was published in Japan by Square Enix, the publisher of the first manga series from Shin Mashiba. Fan-buzz has abounded on this series and comparisons have been made to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and DC’s classic House of Mystery/House of Secrets.

B.O.D.Y.
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $9.99 • Available April 8, 2008
Everyone thinks 16-year-old Sakura has weird taste in guys because she can’t stop drooling over Ryunosuke, the strong silent type who sits next to her in class. When she discovers he works for a host club, where women actually pay men to date them, will she finally wise up? Will he leave his job to be with her? Or will she take a job at the club so he can quit so she can be with him so…? Only one thing’s for sure in B.O.D.Y. - you can’t put a price on love! B.O.D.Y. originally appeared in the Japanese shojo monthly Bessatsu Margaret was created by Ao Mimori. It is her third shojo manga series and is also currently serialized in SHOJO BEAT magazine.

FAIRY CUBE
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $8.99 • Available May 6, 2008
Ian and Rin used to just see spirits. Now Ian is one. Using the Fairy Cube, Ian must figure out how to stop the lizard spirit Tokage from taking over his life and destroying any chance he has of resurrection. FAIRY CUBE is the long-awaited new series from gothic manga mastermind Kaori Yuki, who created ANGEL SANCTUARY, GODCHILD, and THE CAIN SAGA (all published by VIZ Media). A new addition to VIZ Media’s SHOJO BEAT imprint, FAIRY CUBE will be previewed in the April 2008 issue of SHOJO BEAT magazine.

THE RECORD OF A FALLEN VAMPIRE
Rated “T” for Teens • MSRP: $9.99 • Available May 13, 2008
Thousands of years ago, Vampire King Akabara Rosered Strauss lost both his kingdom and his queen. Since humans were unable to kill the queen, they sealed her away, erecting thousands of fake seals so that the king would never find her true location. Despite being pursued by relentless humans and half-vampires alike, Akabara continues to search for his queen to this day. Akabara’s quest takes a sinister turn when an entity called the Black Swan appears. The Black Swan inhabits the body of a young human girl every 50 years, giving her the power to destroy the Vampire King and his queen. With each incarnation the Black Swan grows stronger –will the 49th Black Swan mean the end of Akabara? THE RECORD OF A FALLEN VAMIRE is illustrated by Yuri Kimura and written by Kyo Shirodaira, the award-winning writer behind the popular mystery manga and animated series SPIRAL – BONDS OF REASONING.

ROSARIO + VAMPIRE
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $9.99 • Available May 13, 2008
All-around average teenager Tsukune can’t get accepted to any high school save one, but on his first day, he finds the rest of the student body doesn’t appear average in the least. Best of all, the cutest girl on campus can’t wait to fling her arms around his neck! Wait a sec’, are those her teeth around his neck too? Tsukune’s going to have one heck of a hickey when he gets home from Monster High! But does he have a chance in hell of raising his grades at a school where the turf war isn’t between the jocks and the nerds but between vampires and the werewolves? Find out in the new series from Akihisa Ikeda.

GIMMICK!
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $9.99 • Available June 10, 2008
Gimmick! is an interesting new series by Youzaburou Kanari and focuses on Kohei Nagase, a genius in the realm of movie make-up and special effects. With his stuntman buddy Kannazuki, Kohei helps various people in need get out of tough situations through the use of his brilliant make-up skills. This series has action, mystery, and lots of insights about the technical aspects that go into doing really cool movie make-up.

CAT EYED BOY
Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $24.99 • Available June 17, 2008
Cat Eyed Boy is a half-human, half-monster child whose mostly human appearance bans him from the demon world. He lives hidden in the shadows of the human world, hated by humans and demons alike. Wherever he goes, awful events occur as the humans and demons interact. In 11 stories of revenge and retribution full of disturbing images, Cat Eyed Boy acts as a trickster, saving the innocent and helping the wicked receive the punishment that fate metes out. The first volume contains four stories and the first part of a fifth and longer story. CAT EYED BOY was created by Kazuo Umezu, the undisputed master of Japanese horror manga and creator of the critically acclaimed DRIFTING CLASSROOM (also published by VIZ Media). Cat Eyed Boy offers up a concoction of dark vignettes dripping with the macabre and the absurd.

Torrance, Calif. March 7, 2008 – Celebrating the HARUKA: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians Premier and Director Aki Tsunaki’s attendance, Bandai Visual USA announces the details of HARUKA related events, activities and show exclusives at Sakura-Con 2008.

Saturday, March 29
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Haruka Panel (Room 611-614)
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Autograph Session (Room 4B)

Sunday, March 30
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Director Panel (Room 611-614)

For the Haruka Panel (Q & A) on March 29th, VIZ Media Manga Editor Carol Fox and Director Aki Tsunaki are both scheduled to participate in the discussion, which will explore both the anime and manga incarnations of HARUKA.

Also, authentic reproduction cels made by Yumeta Company, the studio that created the anime, will be on display and will be first made available for purchase at Sakura-Con 2008 and will then be sold on dot-anime.us beginning late March. Hand crafted traditional Japanese animation cels are increasingly becoming a rare collector’s item and are available in strictly limited quantities only. There are nine different designs, eight featuring each of the Eight Guardians and one more, which feature Akram and Akane.

Along with cels, Bandai Visual USA will also sell advance copies of HARUKA Vol. 1 DVD and the manga Vol.1, published domestically by VIZ Media, at the Broccoli/Bandai Visual Booths #314, 316, 415, and 417. A specially made HARUKA Japanese style fan will be the exclusive gift for those who purchase HARUKA DVD at Sakura-Con.

For more information on HARUKA DVD please visit our official website at http://www.bandaivisual.us/haruka/

HARUKA manga, rated T+ (for Older teens) is serialized in VIZ Media’s SHOJO BEAT Magazine reaching over 130,000 readers each month via subscription and on newsstands nationwide. For more information please visit www.shojobeat.com or www.viz.com.

BANDAI VISUAL USA INC. was established in 2005 as a wholly owned subsidiary of BANDAI VISUAL CO., LTD. with a mission to facilitate stronger, more active involvement in positioning, marketing and distribution of BANDAI VISUAL programs in North America. From its base in Torrance, California, BANDAI VISUAL USA seeks to form new alliances and reinforce existing ties in an effort to strengthen BANDAI VISUAL’s international presence as a producer and content provider in the ever expanding and diversified specialty programs market.

Whether you’re a rabid Ai Yazawa fan or a sucker for three-hankie drama, you’ll want to check out the live-action Nana movie, coming soon to screens in New York and Los Angeles. I just watched Nana this weekend and loved it. The movie captures the look and feel of the manga, telescoping the first six volumes into a coherent, compelling story without trimming too many characters or important plot details. Scandalous though it may be, I developed a slight preference for the movie over the manga, largely on the strength of Aoi Miyazaki’s sympathetic portrayal of Hachi (a.k.a. Nana Komatsu). Her sweet, enthusiastic demeanor seems more plausible and endearing on screen than in the manga. (Hachi’s fecklessness frequently annoyed the hell out of me when I was reading the early volumes of the series.) Read on for more details!

VIZ PICTURES ANNOUNCES THEATRICAL SCREENINGS OF MANGA INSPIRED FILM - NANA IN LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK

San Francisco, CA, February 26, 2008 – VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced a pair of new theatrical runs scheduled for New York and Los Angeles of NANA, a live action film directed by Ootani Kentarou and based on the best-selling shojo manga (graphic novel) series by Ai Yazawa…

NANA follows the adventures of two girls both named Nana. While they share the same name, they couldn’t be more different. Nana “Hachi” Komatsu follows her boyfriend to Tokyo and hopes to make a new start, while Nana Osaki, who arrives in the city at the same time, is a punk rock beauty who has the ambition to make it big in the world of rock and roll. Although these two young women come from vastly different backgrounds, they quickly become best friends. What sets them apart, however, is the stark difference between their lives. One Nana comes from a small town, following her friends and boyfriend but ultimately looking for her own goal to obtain, while the other Nana has a single-minded aim to make her dream and band, the Black Stones, among the best in Japan.

NANA performed well at the Japanese box office upon its release in 2006, grossing more than 4 billion yen and staying in the Top 10 for several weeks. The main theme from the film, “Glamorous Sky,” took the number 1 spot on Japan’s Oricon charts in its first two weeks of sales and quickly sold over 450,000 copies. Another song from the film, “Endless Story,” took the number 2 spot on the same chart in its first week of release and sold over 300,000 copies. The English version of the manga series, rated ‘M’ for Mature readers has sold over 22 million copies in Japan, is published domestically by VIZ Media under its SHOJO BEAT imprint.

“NANA presents a realistic and sometimes gritty portrayal of two modern women searching for love, careers and a sense of purpose amidst the urban bustle of Tokyo,” says Manami Iboshi, Director, Marketing, VIZ Pictures. “The manga series on which the film is based has been critically acclaimed and demonstrates the versatility of manga-inspired plots to transition from print to film in such a compelling way. NANA was warmly received at its U.S. premiere at the 2007 New York Anime Festival, and we look forward to audiences in Los Angeles and New York enjoying the film.”

LOS ANGELES
Imaginasian Center, March 21-27
251 South Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-1033

NEW YORK
Imaginasian Theater, April 4-10
239 East 59th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Ave.)
New York 10022
(212) 371-6682

Dreading the thought of Lent—of giving up chocolate cake, Project Runway re-runs, or martinis for forty days? Then celebrate Shrove Tuesday by going on a manga-buying binge! This week’s shipping list is among the strongest I’ve seen in months, with an assortment of long-running favorites, critical darlings, and much-anticipated debuts. My top picks include volume six of After School Nightmare (Go! Comi), a trippy series that might have appealed to Carl Gustav Jung, had he lived to see the manga revolution; volume four of Black Sun Silver Moon (Go! Comi), a zombie story with heart; volume one of Blood+ (Dark Horse), an intelligent, stylish adaptation of the popular anime; volume two of Bride of the Water God (Dark Horse), a lushly illustrated romance with a folkloric bent; and volume twelve of Swan (CMX), a vintage shojo manga that my colleague Erin F. described as “so girly it goes all the way around the circle and into the realm of manliness. If Dark Horse had a ballet title, it would Swan.”

The book with the strongest claim on my affections, however, is the final volume of Yayoi Ogawa’s Tramps Like Us (Tokyopop). No matter how preposterous some of the storylines were—remember Sumire’s undercover assignment at a Tokyo amusement park?—Ogawa’s entertaining dramedy remained squarely focused on Sumire’s difficult journey from repressed salary lady to phenomenal woman. If you haven’t yet tried Tramps Like Us, I encourage you to pick up the first volume. It’s the perfect introduction to josei, demonstrating that chick lit doesn’t need to be self-deprecating or male-disparaging to be funny and compelling.

On a personal note, I wanted to express my sadness that David Welsh just posted his final Flipped! column at Comic World News, which will be shutting down operations in the next few weeks. David is one of the best reviewers I know. He’s consistently fair, funny, and wise, couching his criticisms in prose that’s always elegant but never flashy. Case in point: his final essay on Osamu Tezuka’s entertaining potboiler MW, in which he thoughtfully deconstructs Tezuka’s humane approach to batshit crazy material. The review is filled with sentences I’d wish I’d written, including this eloquent defense of Tezuka against charges of being the Japanese Walt Disney:

Tezuka is often described as Japan’s answer to Walt Disney, which implies that he’s a canny purveyor of stodgy, rather saccharine family fare. But while Disney was dedicated to producing wholesome family entertainment, Tezuka wanted to prove that comics could be for everyone. Even in his work specifically for kids, there are seeds – challenging themes and deep questions. When you get to Tezuka’s work for adults, those seeds have become a virtual forest as he tears into sex, religion, politics, media, environmentalism, and just about any other subject that crosses his mind. They’re no less humane, though, even in a melodrama as outré as MW. The cultural is fueled by the personal – lust, greed, hope, fear, ambition, faith, love… all that good stuff.

You can find more of David’s excellent comic book commentary—as well as pop culture musings and the occasional recipe—at his blog Precocious Curmudgeon.

REVIEWED LAST WEEK:
Andromeda Stories, Vol. 2 (Vertical, Inc.); Appleseed I/D (Dark Horse); La Corda d’Oro, Vol. 6 (Viz); NOiSE (Tokyopop); Short Sunzen!, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop); Uzumaki, Vol. 3 (Viz)

REVIEWED THIS WEEK:
I Wish, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop); Love Master A, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi); Red String, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse); Tail of the Moon, Vol. 9 (Viz)

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
After School Nightmare, Vol. 6 (Go! Comi)
Aqua, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Black God, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
Black Sun Silver Moon, Vol. 4 (Go! Comi)
Blood+, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse)
Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Boys Be, Vol. 16 (Tokyopop)
Brave Story, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Bride of the Water God, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
Chunchu the Genocide Fiend, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
Divalicious, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Dragon Voice, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Flock of Angels, Vol. 2 (Aurora Publishing)
GTO: The Early Years Shonan Junai Gumi, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Gunsmith Cats Burst, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
Gyakushu!, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Hanami: International Love Story, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
I Wish, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop; reviewed below)
Id Entity, Vol. 11 (Tokyopop)
Initial D, Vol. 29 (Tokyopop)
Junjo Romantica, Vol. 5 (BLU Manga)
Kare Kano Ultimate Edition, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
King of Cards, Vol. 3 (CMX)
King of Thorn, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Little Queen, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Missile Happy, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Night of the Beasts, Vol. 6 (Go! Comi)
Puri Puri, Vol. 4 (DrMaster)
Recast, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Red String, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse; reviewed below)
Rure, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Satisfaction Guaranteed, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos, Vol. 8 (UDON)
Swan, Vol. 12 (CMX)
Threads of Time, Vol. 11 (Tokyopop)
Tough Love Baby, Vol. 1 (Aurora/Deux)
Train + Train, Vol. 5 (Go! Comi)
Tramps Like Us, Vol. 14 (Tokyopop)
Zombie Loan, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)

I Wish, Vol. 1

By Hyun-Joo Seo
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

I Wish is a series of loosely connected stories united by a common moral: be careful what you wish for, as the cost may be too steep for you to pay. The volume opens with teenager Jin Ryu sulking in her bedroom after her family has decamped to Hawaii for vacation, leaving her to fend for herself. In a moment of spite, Jin wishes that their plane would crash and presto! it explodes mid-air. Racked with guilt, Jin seeks out K, a wish-granting wizard, and pleads with him to resurrect her brother and parents, but to no avail. (“I can’t grant any wishes related to the restoring of life,” he explains. “That is God’s domain.”) K then enlists—enslaves, really—Rin as his assistant so that she might pay off her considerable moral debts. What follows are three lengthy, rather convoluted stories about the clients who patronize K’s shop: a wealthy man who disapproves of his son’s fiancée, a young woman whose boyfriend suffers acute memory loss, and a teenager whose friend is ostracized for being gay.

Part of the problem is that Seo never clarifies what, exactly, Jin is supposed to do in her capacity as K’s gal Friday. In the first story, for example, Jin stages an intervention to prevent the robber baron from destroying his son’s happiness, while in the other stories she’s reduced to grouchy factotum. Another serious shortcoming of Seo’s storytelling is that she doesn’t bother to define parameters for her universe, save for K’s “no resurrection” rule. Most of K’s clients seem like ordinary, run-of-the-mill folk, but mid-way through the second story, Seo reveals that the memory-challenged young man is, in fact, a soldier from another dimension who’s being pursued by violent memories—literally. (His experiences have a nasty way of manifesting themselves as hungry, flesh-and-blood monsters.) It’s a clever conceit, but Seo offers no rationale this detour into the Twilight Zone; it’s as if she tried to squeeze a pre-existing story into her careful-what-you-wish-for mold. The biggest problem with I Wish, however, is that Seo never really punishes her characters for their selfish wishes. Early in volume one, we’re told that customers must surrender what’s “most precious” to them in exchange for K’s services. Yet K never seems to collect anything especially dear to his clients, allowing Seo to back away from the unsavory implications of her characters’ wishes and offering happy endings to her stories—think Presents with half the calories and none of the fat.

Volume one of I Wish will be available on February 6th.

Love Master A, Vol. 1

By Kyoko Hashimoto
Go! Comi, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Aria, the easily flustered heroine of Love Master A, is unlucky in love. Really unlucky: the poor girl has declared her undying devotion to more than sixty boys, only to be rebuffed every time. Determined to make a fresh start, she swears off romance and transfers to a new school, where she’s named president of the First Year Student Council—and on her first day, no less. Her fellow council members are a motley crew, from secretary Mizuki, “a chick who hates chicks,” to treasurer Kurusu, a fop who dresses like a member of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. When students mistakenly assume that Aria is a “love master,” her compatriots concoct schemes—some sensible, some inane—to help their classmates make romantic connections, leading to the usual assortment of misunderstandings, misplaced feelings, and wacky hijinks characteristic of shojo comedies. Despite those wacky hijinks, Love Master A fails to make a lasting impression. Few of the plot twists make sense; the story jumps from moment to moment without much regard for logic or continuity. The artwork, too, leaves something to be desired. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t memorable either; I’d have a hard time picking Aria and her pals out of a line-up, as they strongly resemble the denizens of Ouran High School Host Club. My suggestion for anyone yearning for a juicy shojo comedy is to try the sweetly raunchy King of the Lamp or the ridiculously entertaining Tenshi Ja Nai!! and skip this blandly familiar comedy.

Volume one of Love Master A is available now.

Red String, Vol. 2

By Gina Biggs
Dark Horse, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

Reading Red String reminded me a bit of watching David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago—not because any of the characters wore ushankas or resembled the young Omar Sharif, but because it induced a similar feeling of falseness, of looking at a meticulously crafted Potemkin village in which every storefront and house was stamped with the phrase “Made in the USA.” The problem lies with the setting: American artist Gina Biggs attempts the difficult task of writing a shojo romance set in Japan, starring Japanese characters. Biggs clearly did her homework, researching everything from honorifics to school uniforms to marriage customs. Yet Red String feels like an act of cultural ventriloquism as unconvincing as Julie Christy’s attempt to portray a passionate Slav. I never believed that any of the cast were Japanese—least of all the outspoken heroine Mihara Ogawa, who delivers the kind of speeches on individualism that are de rigueur in John Hughes movies but not very common in shojo manga. Biggs’ clumsy attempts to fold information about Japanese culture into the dialogue compounds the problem, as does her awkward artwork. (Her characters look like stiffly posed paper dolls, not three-dimensional figures occupying real space.) And while I admire Biggs for taking such a big risk with her story, I wish she’d used the visual grammar of shojo to tell an American story in an American setting. The results would have been much more satisfying, showcasing Biggs’ storytelling chops to much better effect and giving her a sturdier platform for a debate pitting free will against fate.

Volume two of Red String will be available on February 6th. To read a short excerpt, click here.

Tail of the Moon, Vol. 9

By Rinko Ueda
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Tail of the Moon is perhaps the girliest manga ever written about ninjas. (Exhibit A: the cover of volume nine, which features a cute little boy, an even cuter doggie, a female ninja in a pink outfit with matching wrist-warmers, and a rainbow.) The series documents the misadventures of klutzy herbalist Usagi, whose family betroths her to an impossibly handsome ninja named Hanzo. Hanzo is less thrilled about the match than Usagi, so he sets a condition for their marriage: no nuptials until Usagi demonstrates her worth as a ninja. Frankly, I’d have done the same thing if I were in Hanzo’s getas, as Usagi is the kind of ditzy, inept character who tests the reader’s patience with her tearful outbursts, impulsive acts, and inability to remember simple instructions.

For this kind of romantic drama to succeed, the reader needs to believe the heroine worthy of her McDreamy, even if her flaws are obvious. I don’t doubt that many of Tail of the Moon’s fans sympathize with Usagi, and may even identify with her struggles. But from the standpoint of an older, more critical reader, Usagi seems far too immature for the stern, responsible Hanzo; about the best I can say for her is that she’s steadfast in her resolve to impress him. Tail of the Moon does have two things going for it, however: great artwork and crackerjack pacing. Rinko Ueda fills her manga with beautifully drawn characters, from achingly pretty men in lavish period costumes to piglets and puppies so kawaii they’d make the most curmudgeonly gekiga fan dissolve into a puddle of mero-mero joy. The story moves briskly without ever feeling hurried or choppy; it’s to Ueda’s credit that a reader could pick up any volume of the series and find it intelligible and—depending on one’s tolerance for sweetly dim shojo heroines—compelling.

Volume nine of Tail of the Moon is available now.