If you’re still solvent after last week’s tsunami of new manga, this week may send you straight for bankruptcy court, with dozens of great books headed your way. The list cants heavily towards continuing series like Basara (Viz), Flame of Recca (Viz), Samurai Deeper Kyo (Tokyopop) Sgt. Frog (Tokyopop) and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles (Del Rey), but also features such noteworthy newcomers as Kamisama Kozuko (Go! Comi) and Toto! The Wonderful Adventure (Del Rey).

My top picks for Wednesday:

Blood+, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse): This brooding vampire tale adopts a kitchen-sink approach to plotting, mixing military conspiracy theory with teen angst and a healthy dose of monster-slaying. The results are oddly compelling; if anything, Blood+ demonstrates that it’s entirely possible to fashion something new and exciting out of shopworn ideas. If you’re a fan of the anime, you’ll notice a few discrepancies between the manga and the TV show. The biggest difference is Saya herself. As depicted in the manga, Saya is feisty, loyal, and only a little hesitant to embrace her destiny as a human weapon—a big improvement over her shrill, conflicted persona in the anime.

Shoulder-A-Coffin, Kuro, Vol. 1 (Yen Press): The story is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition; some may find the art too cutesy for the rather serious subject, while others may find the story ill-suited to the set-up/punchline rhythms of 4-koma format. For the otaku in search of an offbeat read, however, Kuro offers a unique and satisfying blend of humor, whimsy, and melancholy.

Toto! The Wonderful Adventure, Vol. 1 (Del Rey): Yuko Osada’s boisterous romp reads like a mash-up of One Piece and Castle in the Sky, complete with a flying ship, a cute animal sidekick, a spunky heroine, and a band of pirates on the run from the authorities. The artwork has a loose, sketchy feel that nicely complements Toto’s breezy tone. And while the story is positively elemental when compared with many shonen series, its simplicity allows Osada to focus more on characters and plot and less on superpowers and backstory—a decided plus.

Ultimate Venus, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi): Like Ai Morinaga, Takako Shigematsu has a knack for spicing up a stock shojo premise—say, a showbiz melodrama—with liberal amounts of black humor and sexual tension. In Ultimate Venus, Shigematsu’s point of departure is the My Fair Lady makeover, in which a handsome Henry Higgins surrogate teaches a klutzy young woman how to comport herself among the rich and famous. Or in this case, two hot linguists teach a klutzy young woman how to talk and walk like a lady. Eliza Doolittle should be so lucky!

Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 11 (Viz): Every volume of Yakitate!! Japan doggedly adheres to the same basic recipe: one part competition, one part risqué humor, one part yeasty puns, and one part wacky hijinks. Kazuma Azuma and the Pantasia gang are always the underdogs at a world-renown bread-baking tournament, only to pull off a stunning victory on the strength of one of Kazuma’s more outlandish creations—but not before a new, ridiculous opponent (often in a mask or outré costume) announces his intent to outbake them. All of this amounts to predictably good fun, even if the fanservice gets a little out of hand at times. Haven’t tried Yakitate!! yet? Read the first two volumes, then sample at will—you won’t have difficulty figuring out what’s happening.

One final note: from now until May 18th, RightStuf is running a promotion on current and future Tokyopop manga, novels, and tie-in products (i.e. The Fruits Basket Sticker Book). Books are 33% off the cover price; click here for the coupon code. Full shipping list after the cut.

(Continued)

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)

Sometimes the shortest shipping lists pose the greatest hazard to one’s fiscal well-being. Take this week, for example: of the twelve titles below, I fully intend to purchase eight. Whoever decided that Gon, Dororo and the Dayan Collection should be released on the same date clearly intended to send me to my financial doom. David Welsh has already urged readers to check out these three titles (as well another solid sci-fi thriller, Alive: The Final Evolution), so I’ll simply point you to Precocious Curmudgeon with a hearty endorsement: What he said!

This week’s column focuses on three brand-new series from Yen Press: Kaze no Hana, a story about an amnesiac teen who may possess extraordinary powers—if only she could remember her past; Kieli, a manga about a girl who sees ghosts; and Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro, a story about a mysterious pilgrim who travels with a coffin strapped to her back.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Air Gear, Vol. 8 (Del Rey)
Alive: The Final Evolution, Vol. 4 (Del Rey)
Aventura, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
Cy-Believers, Vol. 1 (Go! Comi)
Dayan Collection Books: Dayan’s Birthday, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse)
Dayan Collection Books: Thursday Rainy Party, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)
Dayan Collection Books: White Eurocka, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse)
Dayan Collection Books: Chibikuro Party, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
Dororo, Vol. 1 (Vertical, Inc.)
Gon, Vol. 4 (CMX)
Warriors, Vol. 3: Warriors Return (Tokyopop/Harper Collins)
Witchblade Takeru Manga, Vol. 1 (Image/Top Cow)

Kaze no Hana, Vol. 1

By Ushio Mizta and Akiyoshi Ohta
Yen Press, 200 pp.
Rating: Teen

Kaze no Hana is a textbook example of that most basic of shonen genres: seemingly ordinary teen discovers that he or she is, in fact, the only one capable of saving the world. The ordinary teen in question is Momoka, a high school student who suffers from amnesia after losing her parents in a fiery car crash. When Momoka is summoned to her relatives’ home in the distant city of Mitsurugi, she makes an incredible discovery: she is one of eight guardians chosen to protect Mitsurugi from Kishimi, a vengeful demon sealed beneath the local temple. If Momoka fails to master her powers, said demon will break free and upset the balance between the real and the shadow worlds. Making her dilemma more acute is her own ineptitude; try as she might, she can’t even remove her sword from its sheath, let alone dispatch the susami (petty demons) that prey on Mitsurugi’s citizens.

Though much of the backstory is related through conversations, the narrative unfurls at a decent clip, seldom bogging down in the kind of minutiae that can make shonen series such a chore to read. The story never settles into an interesting groove, however, as the wafer-thin characterizations and so-so artwork do little to make the basic premise more interesting. None of the characters rise above the level of type: the klutzy heroine, the rude but tender-hearted male love interest, the humorless female authority figure. The characters are awkwardly drawn, with razor-sharp chins and oversized limbs; they seem almost crude in comparison with the backdrops and the monsters, which are rendered in considerable detail. Furthermore, there’s an oddly flat quality to the artwork, despite the cinematic use of perspective; all of the characters appear to float above the picture plane, rather than occupy three-dimensional space. The bottom line: Kaze no Hana is OK, but nothing special.

Volume one of Kaze no Hana is available now.

Kieli, Vol. 1

Story by Yukako Kabei, Art by Shiori Teshirogi
Yen Press, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

As I read the promotional copy for Kieli, which explained that its title character “sees ghosts,” an ability that makes this fourteen-year-old girl “a bit of an outcast at her boarding school,” I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to sing:

People,
People who see dead people,
Are the luckiest people in the world.

Kieli sounded like just another manga about a teen who communes with spirits. Thankfully, Kieli proved far more interesting than its all-too-familiar set-up suggested.

The story is set on a distant planet that looks suspiciously like fin-de-siecle Paris or Vienna with its elegant cathedrals and petticoat-clad schoolgirls. Eighty years ago, this unnamed planet’s inhabitants created the ultimate weapon: The Undying, a race of nearly indestructible soldiers fashioned from the corpses of fallen comrades. These undead soldiers played a pivotal role in ending decades of warfare, only to find themselves the object of an extermination campaign spearheaded by the Church. After a brief prologue explaining the plight of The Undying, we meet Kieli, a plucky schoolgirl who sees (and keeps company with) ghosts. While wandering off-campus, she bumps into Harvey, a brusque young man who also has the same ability. Kieli attempts to befriend him without realizing that Harvey is, in fact, one of the few Undying to have escaped detection by the Church. As she begins to piece together his story, she faces a choice: should she join Harvey on his quest to honor a fellow soldier’s dying wish, or remain at her boarding school?

True, the Spirit Seer and the Sole Survivor of a Persecuted Race are stock manga characters. But Yukako Kabei and Shiori Teshirogi have fleshed out Kieli and Harvey into fully realized players in a compelling, beautifully illustrated sci-fi drama. Each page is masterfully composed, striking the right balance between atmospheric detail and clarity. I had two minor reservations about volume one: first, the lengthy recaps at the beginning of every chapter, which stall the narrative momentum, and second, the rather sophomoric musings about organized religion. Granted, these voiceovers are meant to help us understand Kieli better, but they read like freshman glosses on Nietzsche rather than genuine interior monologues, and might have been cut. Still, these are minor criticisms of a very promising series—one that I intend to continue reading.

Volume one of Kieli is available now.

Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro, Vol. 1

By Satoko Kiyuduki
Yen Press, 124 pp.
Rating: Teen

Don’t be fooled by the kawaii cover: Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro is a melancholy little book. The story focuses on Kuro, a somewhat masculine young woman on a pilgrimage to find the witch who inflicted a mysterious curse on her. Everywhere she goes, Kuro cuts a dramatic figure, wearing heavy black clothing, a Pilgrim hat, and a custom-sized coffin, which she straps to her back. Though she begins her journey with only a talking bat for a companion, she soon adds two members to her traveling “family”: Nijuku and Sanju, a pair of genetically engineered nekomimi whose creator was brutally murdered.

Kuro’s pilgrimage is related in 4-koma (four panel) style. Most of the images are black and white, with full-color pages marking the beginning of each chapter. The four-panel format imposes a certain rhythm on the material that occasionally makes Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro a little too talky; I found myself wishing that Satoko Kiyuduki had allowed her spiky, expressive artwork to play a more prominent role in the storytelling. But the format also frees her from the constraints of a linear narrative, allowing the story to unfold in a less schematic, more relaxed fashion. The predominant mood is wistful bordering on elegiac; Kuro is always mindful that Nijuku and Sanju are too naïve to understand what befell their creator, and worries what will happen to them at the end of their journey. She, too, faces an uncertain future, as her body is slowly consumed by a unexplained illness.

The jacket copy promises “all the whimsy of the most memorable fairy tales,” but I think that misses the point—if anything, Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro explores some of the darker, more psychologically complex issues raised by the uncensored versions of “Cinderella” and “Little Red Riding Hood” rather than their more whimsical aspects. To be sure, the somber mood is lightened by plenty of broad comedy as various characters mistake Kuro for a vampire, a demon, a gravedigger, or, worse still, a boy. But even these comedic moments are tinged with sadness: Kuro often finds herself cast out of towns, even after rendering their citizens valuable services.

Ultimately, it’s this mixture of melancholy and humor that makes Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro such a compelling read. The story never succumbs to mawkishness or easy sentiment, yet at the same time, it dares to tug a little at the heartstrings. Not everyone will find the book’s odd tone to their liking, especially those in search of a breezy riff on Western fairy tales. But for those in search of something a little more thought-provoking–the kind of story that lingers in your mind after you’ve finished reading it–I highly recommend Kuro.

Volume one of Shoulder-a-Coffin, Kuro will be available on May 6th.

The big story this week: edu-manga. Korean company YKids released six new titles on Wednesday, all designed to trick reluctant readers into learning a little more about history and literature. (I’d say that YKids “carpet bombs,” “blitzes,” or “storms” the manga aisle, but two of the twentieth century’s most notable pacifists are profiled in this batch of books, making that martial imagery a little too… vehement.) Three are biographies of major historical figures—Leonardo da Vinci, Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela—while three are adaptations of kid-lit classics Daddy Long Legs, The Prince and the Pauper, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. While I’m a proponent of intelligent use of comics in the classroom, I’ve been a little underwhelmed by previous YKids titles which seemed, frankly, too cheesy to pass muster with the under-twelve set. I’d love to hear from parents or teachers who’ve had more experience with these series: do they pique kids’ interest in reading? What age group is best served by them? And how do the adaptations compare with the originals?

For those of us with more grown-up tastes, the pickings are much slimmer. Your best bets are DMP’s deluxe, two-volume Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go box set, which reprints the original series’ entire run, and the eighth volume of Viz’s Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs (Viz). Granted, I’m a little biased—I’d describe myself as a “dog otaku” if that didn’t sound so unsavory. (For the record, my dog does not own any sweaters, t-shirts, costumes, hats, goggles, or other accessories—she’s strictly a leash-and-collar girl.) But I’m not the only one in my household who enjoys this canine-centered soap opera:

I’ll be back next Monday with a super-sized edition of the Weekly Recon that includes reviews of Kaze no Hana and Kieli, as well as several other new and recent arrivals. Stay tuned!

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Cipher, Vol. 11 (CMX)
Hana-Kimi, Vol. 23 (Viz)
Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs, Vol. 8 (Viz)
Kaze no Hana, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
Kieli, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
Magical JXR, Vol. 2 (UDON)
Manga Great Figures in History: Leonarda da Vinci (YKids)
Manga Great Figures in History: Mother Teresa (YKids)
Manga Great Figures in History: Nelson Mandela (YKids)
Manga Literary Classics: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (YKids)
Manga Literary Classics: Daddy Long Legs (YKids)
Manga Literary Classics: The Prince and the Pauper (YKids)
Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go Box Set, Vols. 1-2 (DMP)
Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning, Vol. 3 (Yen Press)
Street Fighter III Ryu Final, Vol. 2 (UDON)
Variante, Vol. 3 (CMX)
The Wallflower, Vol. 15 (Del Rey)

Last week’s shipping list looked like a well-stocked buffet, with something for every taste, from the waistline-conscious to the unapologetic meat-eater. This week’s, however, inspires as much excitement as a high school cafeteria’s salad bar with its limited offerings: a few debut volumes—Element Line, Gosick, Hellgate London (Tokyopop), and Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector (Viz)—the latest installments of long-running favorites—InuYasha (manga and ani-manga) and Zatch Bell (Viz)—and a smattering of other titles—Dragon Eye, Princess Resurrection (Del Rey). Though the list is brief, there are two must-have manga mixed in with the sprouts and ranch dressing: volume two of The Other Side of the Mirror (Tokyopop), a gritty, beautifully illustrated drama from Jo Chen, and volume three of Presents (CMX), the title that inspired John Jakala to coin the best mangablogging term of 2007: comeuppance theater. I’m not normally a horror fan, but I found Kanako Inuki’s cute-grotesque illustrations, efficient set-ups, and surprise endings a welcome antidote to such wan examples of comeuppance theater as I Wish (Tokyopop) and Nightmares for Sale (Aurora). Though there’s a moral to every present, Inuki serves up plenty of black humor as she punishes the wicked, the vain, the selfish, and the downright stupid.

Intrepid newcomer Isaac Hale will be tackling Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector later this week, so I decided to focus my efforts on two new Tokyopop titles: Element Line, a fantasy-adventure that pits a plucky teen against toothy monsters, and Gosick, a light novel set in what might be described as a Japanese author’s idea of Jazz Age Europe. (Read: heavy on the petticoats and bustles, light on the flapper dresses and cigarette holders.) Also in the mix is A Wise Man Sleeps, the latest Go! Comi release from Mick Takeuchi, creator of Her Majesty’s Dog.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Dragon Eye, Vol. 4 (Del Rey)
Element Line, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Gosick, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Hellgate London, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
InuYasha, Vol. 33 (Viz)
InuYasha Ani-Manga, Vol. 26 (Viz)
O-Parts Hunter, Vol. 9 (Viz)
The Other Side of the Mirror, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Presents, Vol. 3 (CMX)
Princess Resurrection, Vol. 3 (Del Rey)
Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector, Vol. 1 (Viz)
Zatch Bell, Vol. 18 (Viz)

Element Line, Vol. 1

By Mamiya Takizaki
Tokyopop, 178 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Along the borders of a desert country, a mysterious warrior named Laolyth defends his fellow citizens from a race of man-eating monsters. No one has seen his face since the day Rizoms killed his wife and, presumably, his infant son, though numerous victories have been attributed to him in that fourteen-year interim. Laolyth’s feats of derring-do inspire Kam, a young orphan, to join the Guild, a band of soldiers who escort caravans between the country’s heavily fortified cities. There’s just one problem: Kam’s body is undergoing a hideous metamorphosis that he must hide from his fellow recruits, lest they mistake him for the enemy. Sounds like a promising mixture of “politics and high fantasy,” to borrow a phrase from Element Line’s back cover, but bad dialogue and poor pacing conspire against the story’s more interesting elements to produce an indigestible stew of protracted battles, long-winded speeches, and bolt-from-the-blue scenes that make little to no dramatic sense. The most disappointing aspect of the story, however, is the artwork. Manga-ka Mamiya Takizaki obscures the action in screentone and speed lines, making it difficult to follow the story. The character designs are flat-out ugly and betray a certain ignorance of basic anatomy; the adults would benefit from Botox treatments to iron out the odd, unnatural wrinkles that have been superimposed on their faces. Even the Rizoms are rather uninspired, looking like the unwanted progeny of kudzu and caterpillars. Not recommended unless you’re a hardcore fantasy fan.

Volume one of Element Line will be available on April 9th.

Gosick, Vol. 1 (Novel)

By Kazuki Sakuraba; Illustrations by Hinata Takeba
Tokyopop, 232 pp.

Described as a “modern twist on Holmes and Watson,” this old-fashioned murder mystery adheres to a tried-and-true formula in which a cold but brilliant detective is paired with a sincere but slightly dim sidekick who’s always a few clues behind the audience. In the case of Gosick, the Holmes stand-in is Victorique, the resident eccentric at the Saint Marguerite Academy in Sauville (a fictional European country, just in case you were about to visit the Wikipedia), while the Watson surrogate is Kazuya Kujo, the school’s sole Japanese student. Victorique is a little less degenerate than Conan Doyle’s greatest creation, favoring a pipe over a glass of absinthe; nonetheless, she shares Holmes’s contempt for small minds, superstitions, and emotionally driven decision-making. Her reputation for deductive reasoning leads the nearby town’s pretty-boy inspector to seek her advice whenever there’s a murder—which, given the size and geographical remoteness of the town, occurs with rather alarming frequency.

In the course of investigating a fortune teller’s death, Victorique and Kazuya board the Queen Berry, a ship which supposedly sank ten years earlier with a cargo of murdered children. The two endure a night of extreme violence and seemingly supernatural events as they comb the ship for clues about the old woman’s past. These scenes play like Ten Little Indians crossed with Battle Royale: the ship’s other passengers visit horrific deaths on one another, usually with sharp objects or booby traps. Interspersed with the carnage—which, despite my description, is pretty tame—are numerous conversations in which Victorique patiently debunks the notion that the Queen Berry is haunted, culminating in the kind of “if it wasn’t for those meddling kids I would have had my revenge!” ending familiar to Scooby Doo fans.

Adults may find all of this just a little too familiar to be truly satisfying. Tweens, however, should find plenty to like about Gosick, from the flamboyant characters to the over-the-top plot twists. Manga-ka Hinata Takeda’s illustrations are appealing, and actually reflect what’s happening in the story—something I can’t say for the images in many light novels I’ve read. And Tokyopop has done a great job packaging Gosick, adding an attractive floral border on every page that’s echoed in the cover design. A great book for the reluctant reader in your household.

Volume one of Gosick will be available on April 9th.

A Wise Man Sleeps, Vol. 1

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

While walking through the streets of Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Miharu is accosted by a handsome but clumsy stranger who pronounces her “unlucky,” and declares the “source of her misfortune” to be a ring that belonged to her mother. Miharu initially dismisses him as a quack. But when she examines her situation—her mother’s recent death, her father’s crushing debts—she begins to wonder if this odd fellow might be on to something. Rintaro promises to pay her a fortune for the seemingly worthless ring, which, he explains, contains a “wise man’s stone,” a necessary tool for a practicing alchemist. Through a series of mishaps—some comic, some serious—Miharu ingests the ring to prevent it from falling into a loan shark’s hands, only to discover she has the power to see dead people. She and Rintaro then team up to exorcise spirits who are unwilling to cross over. Yes, the premise is familiar, but the true pleasure of A Wise Man Sleeps lies with the characters. Rintaro, for example, can transform himself into a powerful, flirtacious sorcerer—for three minutes at a time. (He also goes blonde for the duration.) He keeps company with a blood-thirsty doll named Beatrice who dishes out tart one-liners with enviable timing. Even Miharu feels like a fresh creation, outwitting yakuza thugs and angry spirits with a mixture of sass and smarts that’s all too rare among shojo heroines. The artwork is clean and crisp, with plenty of atmospheric detail; in fact, I preferred it to the more minimalist approach Takeuchi uses in Her Majesty’s Dog. And speaking of Her Majesty’s Dog, A Wise Man Sleeps offers a more light-hearted gloss on themes found in the later work, and sometimes seems a little glib in comparison. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the first volume of Wise Man and hope that Go! Comi licenses more of Takeuchi’s work.

Volume one of A Wise Man Sleeps is available now.

The sheer quantity and variety of titles shipping this Wednesday list makes it nearly impossible to single out one or two as must-reads; there’s truly something for every taste, from Shakespearean manga to mermaid man-love. (The latter would be Selfish Mr. Mermaid, a DMP series that just begs to be read, if only for the title.) I’m going to let the list speak for itself and skip to the reviews. This week’s column examines two new shonen arrivals: Gun Blaze West (Viz), an oater by Rurouni Kenshin creator Nobuhiro Watsuki, and Mamotte Shugogetten (Tokyopop), a harem fantasy in the not-so-proud tradition of I Dream of Jeanie. Guess which one I liked better?

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Arcana, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
Baby & Me, Vol. 7 (Viz)
Blazin Barrels, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Can’t Win With You, Vol. 3 (DMP)
Color of Love (DMP)
Dazzle, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
Dragon Drive, Vol. 7 (Viz)
Dragon Head, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
EV (Tokyopop)
Eyeshield 21, Vol. 19 (Viz)
First Stage of Love (DMP)
Genju no Seiza, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Grenadier, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Gun Blaze West, Vol. 1 (Viz)
Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, Vol. 1 (Viz)
Heaven, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Hoshin Engi, Vol. 6 (Viz)
Hot Steamy Glasses (DMP)
Hotel Africa, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
I-Doll, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
I-O-N (Viz)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Vol. 10 (Viz)
La Corda d’Oro, Vol. 7 (Viz)
Lagoon Engine, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Le Chevalier d’Eon, Vol. 4 (Del Rey)
Leader’s High, Vol. 1 (CMX)
Liling Po, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
Love Lesson (DMP)
Mamotte Shugogetten, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Missing: Kamikakushi no Monogatari, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Mobile Suit Gundam Ecole du Ciel, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
Mujyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 4 (Viz)
Necratoholic (DMP)
Nosatsu Junkie, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Oh! My Goddess, Vol. 8 (Dark Horse)
Path of the Assassin, Vol. 10 (Dark Horse)
Phantom, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Pick of the Litter, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Planet Blood, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Adventure, Vol. 1 (Viz)
Pretty Face, Vol. 5 (Viz)
Reborn!, Vol. 7 (Viz)
Saver, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Selfish Mr. Mermaid, Vol. 1 (DMP)
Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The Manga Edition (John Wiley & Sons)
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: The Manga Edition (John Wiley & Sons)
Shakespeare’s Macbeth: The Manga Edition (John Wiley & Sons)
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: The Manga Edition (John Wiley & Sons)
Sky Sharks, Vol. 1 (Antarctic Press)
Sorcerer Hunters, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Strawberry 100%, Vol. 4 (Viz)
Tail of the Moon, Vol. 10
Takumi-Kun Series, Vol. 3: Tales Out of Season (BLU Manga)
Tower of the Future, Vol. 10 (CMX)
Tsukoyumi Moon Phase, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Vampire Knight, Vol. 4 (Viz)

Gun Blaze West, Vol. 1

By Nobuhiro Watsuki
Viz, 186 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Let me begin ths review with a disclaimer: Ken Burns would not approve of the historical liberties taken by Gun Blaze West creator Nobuhiro Watsuki. The dialogue, for example—the characters speak in a distinctly modern patois, filled with phrases never uttered by Sitting Bull or General Custer. The scenery, for another—verdant Eastern forests abut rugged desert canyons, even though the story begins in Illinois. (I particularly liked Watsuki’s rendering of Saint Louis as a kind of Budapest on the Mississippi. But I’m getting ahead of myself.) Even the saloon names feel a little off-kilter, as one group of outlaws patronize a joint called… Bella Donna. Such incongruities may offend Mr. Burns, but they’re just part of this boisterous series’ charm.

Gun Blaze West focuses on a brash young boy named Viu Bannes. Though he lives in a small Midwestern town, Viu dreams of visiting Gun Blaze West, a mythical city populated by the West’s greatest gunslingers. (On the map, it appears to be located in Seattle, making me wonder if Gun Blaze West is, in fact, populated by the West’s most caffeinated gunslingers.) Viu’s life is transformed by the arrival of Marcus Homer, a genial drifter with a checkered past. Marcus reluctantly agrees to show Viu the gunslinging ropes, and the two begin the kind of over-the-top training regimen that, as my colleague Ken pointed out in his recent review of Black Cat, is found only in the pages of Shonen Jump. Before Viu can complete his training, however, the notorious Kenbrown gang arrives in Winston Town, terrorizing the citizens and threatening Viu’s older sister. Viu and Marcus’s standoff with the Kenbrown gang ends with an unexpected turn of events—and one that sets the stage for Viu’s subsequent cross-country odyssey.

If you’re a fan of Buso Renkin or Rurouni Kenshin, you know what to expect from Watsuki’s art: crisp draftsmanship, dynamic fight scenes, villains with memorable mugs and nonstop sight gags. The art’s relentless, antic quality wears a little thin towards the end of volume one; I found myself wishing that Watsuki would pause to savor the landscape or linger at the sight of a lonely gunslinger’s tombstone. That said, Gun Blaze West is solid addition to the Shonen Jump lineup, promising plenty of laughs and gunplay in future volumes.

Volume one of Gun Blaze West will be available on April 2nd.

Mamotte Shugogetten, Vol. 1

By Minene Sakurano
Tokyopop, 440 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

I’ve always found I Dream of Jeanie a rather creepy show, and reading Mamotte Shugogetten helped me realize why: there’s something fundamentally disconcerting about a comedy in which an innocent young women is released from prolonged confinement, only to be enslaved by a loser fan boy. In the case of Mamotte Shugogetten, that LFB is Tasuke, a lonely teen whose globe-trotting dad leaves him for months at a time. (No word on what happened to mom, though my guess is that she ran off with the mailman.) While traveling in China, Tasuke’s father mails him a strange gift: a ring with a large black stone. Tasuke peers into the stone and pow! a beautiful young woman in an exotic costume appears, calls him “master,” and vows to protect him from harm. You don’t need to be a genius—or an astronaut, for that matter—to guess what happens over the next four hundred pages: Shaorin the shugogetten turns Tasuke’s world upside down with her kind-hearted but woefully misguided efforts to defend him from perceived threats and cheer him up, all while wearing an assortment of cosplay-friendly outfits. The scenarios are painfully predictable and unfunny, right down to the introduction of a second, trampier shugogetten who dresses like a distant cousin of Elvira, Mistress of the Night. Even the artwork feels tired; though Shaorin and her super-kawaii minions are drawn with loving attention to detail, the rest of the cast is not. Nor are the backgrounds, which are so hastily rendered that every scene appears to take place in the same location. Only the dialogue makes it clear that the characters are, in fact, going to the store or visiting a temple.

I’m not sure why Tokyopop felt this mediocre manga deserved the omnibus treatment (volume one collects the first two volumes of the Japanese edition), as the second half of the story isn’t any more engrossing than the first. If you’re an avid cosplayer, you might find Shaorin’s numerous outfits a source of inspiration for your next con outing. Readers in search of other things—great characters, nifty art, original plotlines—are advised to proceed with caution.

Volume one of Mamotte Shugogetten will be available on April 2nd.

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.

For those of us who aren’t breathlessly anticipating the nineteenth volume of Fruits Basket—and I count myself among that tiny number—there are a few choice titles competing for space in your LCS’s new arrival rack. My top pick: volume twelve of Phoenix (Viz). Written shortly after he completed Princess Knight, these early Phoenix stories have a kinder, gentler feel than the rest of the series, betraying a strong Disney influence in both the character designs and the characters themselves; the heroine boasts a posse of talking animals reminiscent of Cinderella’s own rat pack. Other noteworthy arrivals include the final volume of ES: Eternal Sabbath (Del Rey), a psychological thriller in the truest sense; volume ten of Moonchild (CMX), a vintage shojo title with enough gender-bending weirdness for three Moto Hagio manga; volume four of My Heavenly Hockey Club (Del Rey), a comedy best described as a mash-up of The Bad News Bears and Ouran High School Host Club; and volume two of With the Light (Yen Press), a josei series documenting one family’s struggle to raise their autistic son.

In the review queue this week are volume one of Metro Survive (DrMaster), yet another tale from the Tokyo subway system, and the final volume of Phoenix. For additional perspective on Phoenix, I encourage you to visit MangaCast, where PCS reviewer and Ninja Consultant Erin F. has posted her ten cents on volume twelve.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
Alice on Deadlines, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
Blood Alone, Vol. 4 (Infinity Studios)
Case Closed, Vol. 22 (Viz)
ES: Eternal Sabbath, Vol. 8 (Del Rey)
Fruits Basket, Vol. 19 (Tokyopop)
Full Metal Alchemist, Vol. 16 (Viz)
Gacha Gacha: The Next Revolution, Vol. 6 (Del Rey)
Gakuen Alice, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Moon Child, Vol. 10 (CMX)
Musashi #9, Vol. 14 (CMX)
My Heavenly Hockey Club, Vol. 4 (Del Rey)
Ninin Ga Shinobuden, Vol. 3 (Infinity Studios)
Nodame Cantabile, Vol. 12 (Del Rey)
Phoenix, Vol. 12 (Viz; reviewed below)
Psycho Busters, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
Suzuka, Vol. 7 (Del Rey)
Vagabond, Vol. 27 (Viz)
With the Light, Vol. 2 (Yen Press)
Young Magician, Vol. 11 (CMX)

Metro Survive, Vol. 1

By Yuki Fujisawa
DrMaster Publications, 206 pp.
Rating: 15+

Shogo Mishima works hard for the money—unfortunately, no one treats him right. His boss is a cigar-chomping slave driver, his wife is a harridan, and his clients are white-collar stiffs who blame him and his fellow maintenance men for the shoddy construction at Exopolis, the huge office tower/shopping complex where he works. While returning home from a grueling overtime assignment, a magnitude seven earthquake traps Mishima and nine other passengers in a subway car. Though they free themselves from the wreckage, they discover their escape routes have been cut off, trapping them in the bowels of the now-collapsed Exopolis. Mishima proves adept at surmounting a few early obstacles, but as the situation becomes dire—and the group stumbles across a more ruthless, mercenary band of survivors who have ensconced themselves in an underground convenience store—his leadership skills are sorely tested.

What I liked best about Metro Survive was its seventies disaster-movie vibe. In the proud tradition of Earthquake, The Poseidon Adventure, and The Towering Inferno (and, I’m assuming, dozens of similar Japanese flicks), manga-ka Yuki Fujisawa assembles a motley cast that includes yuppies, college students, club kids, salarymen, bouncers, and retirees. (And these are no ordinary retirees, I might add; they demonstrate uncommon strength and serious cajones in the face of adversity. Shelly Winters would be beaming her approval!) The conflicts that play out among them—like the conflicts that erupt among the Poseidon’s passengers or the inferno’s survivors—are meant to underscore A Big Thesis; in this case, Fujisawa is intent on revealing just how cutthroat and soulless a place Tokyo has become, a place where making a yen outweighs all other concerns. It’s not exactly a profound insight, but the class-based tension that fuels these exchanges adds an interesting dimension to a very familiar story.

The artwork is serviceable, if not elegant. Fujisawa creates a distinctive look for each character, lavishing considerable detail on body type, facial features, clothing, and posture. If anything, he relies too heavily on the art to convey personality, rendering the most repellent characters as sweaty, grotesque figures with comically exaggerated mouths and piggy little eyes; it’s as if he pinned small “kick me” signs to their shirts to remind the reader that our sympathies should lie with Mishima. Some of the text has been superimposed on heavily toned panels, making it hard to read; the thick, bold font only compounds the problem. My biggest complaint, however, is the book’s strange odor. I’d like to think this petroleum smell was a deliberate attempt to bring Odorama to the printed page, to help the reader experience the horror of being trapped in an underground parking garage or subway station, and not an accident of the printing process. Whatever the cause, I hope future volumes are a little less pungent, as this efficient, B-movie of a manga shows considerable promise.

Volume one of Metro Survive is available now.

Phoenix, Vol. 12: Early Works

By Osamu Tezuka
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

Perhaps a better subtitle for volume twelve of Phoenix would be I Lost It At the Movies, as these four stories reveal just how passionately Osamu Tezuka loved American cinema. These early works date to the late 1950s, shortly after he completed work on Princess Knight. As Tezuka explained in a 1980 essay, watching “American big-screen spectacle movies such as Helen of Troy and Land of the Pharaohs… made me want to create a similar sort of romantic epic for young girls’ comics.” He continued:

When I had the opportunity to serialize Phoenix, I first thought of creating an epic involving European history, but then I came up with the idea of doing a grand romance in the style of American cinema. And this lead me to create the “Egypt-Greece” volume of Phoenix for girls. From the start, I was very conscious of the young female fans of my Princess Knight series, and that is the reason that this Phoenix is so different from the stories I drew in young boys’ comics and so much sweeter and more romantic.

Looking at this collection, the sword-and-sandal influence manifests itself in almost every aspect of Tezuka’s storytelling, from the costumes and settings to the grand pageants that unfold in almost every chapter. The principal characters declaim their thoughts in the manner of Charlton Heston or Kirk Douglas, uttering every line as if it were of Biblical consequence. What makes this 1950s Hollywood pomposity bearable—even charming—is the other major influence on these early Phoenix stories: Walt Disney. The character designs reveal an obvious debt to Disney’s earliest films (especially Snow White), while the supporting cast of talking critters (including the Phoenix herself) could easily belong to Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty’s entourage of animal friends. Tezuka even borrows one of Disney’s most time-honored tropes—the heroine with a singing voice so pure she can tame animals—and incorporates it into several scenes.

Anyone looking for the moral complexity of later Phoenix stories—especially the powerful, multi-volume Civil War and Sun—will be disappointed in these early tales, as Tezuka, like Disney, creates cartoonishly villainous villains and chastely noble heroes. If one approaches this collection in the spirit of, say, a musicologist flipping through Beethoven’s pre-Eroica manuscripts or a film historian reviewing an early Hitchcock thriller, however, the rewards are more palpable. In these early stories we see Tezuka developing his comedic chops with pop culture references and physical slapstick; we see him experimenting with layout, as he renders the battlefields of Troy and Rome in sweeping, full-page panels; and we see him creating his first cycle of interconnected stories, introducing some of the themes that will unify the most disparate elements of the Phoenix saga. In short, we see Tezuka’s first attempts to find his own voice as he pays tribute to the artists who influenced his own style, learning more about his exuberant, unique artistry in the process.

Volume twelve of Phoenix will be available on March 19th.

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.

Paging Helen Mirren! This week’s shipping list includes several titles worthy of The Queen herself, as well as a healthy selection of manhwa and shonen series. I haven’t had an opportunity to read Queens or The Queen’s Knight (Tokyopop), however, so my top pick is Keiko Takemiya’s Andromeda Stories (Vertical, Inc.), a totally awesome mixture of sci-fi paranoia—the machines are taking over!—shocking plot twists, and taboo-busting romance. Takemiya’s artwork is flat-out gorgeous; her gloriously old-school character designs, dynamic layouts, and meticulous attention to detail put her on equal footing with manga gods Osamu Tezuka and Hiroshi Hinata. If you’re not a fan of sparkly-eyed shojo, fear not—there are plenty of other titles worth adding to your shopping basket, including the second volume of Dororthy of Oz (UDON Entertainment), a Korean update of the Frank L. Baum classic; the second volume of Pumpkin Scissors (Del Rey), a military drama with so-so artwork but a timely premise; the first volume of A Seduction More Beautiful Than Love (Tokyopop), a new manhwa in a josei vein; and the eleventh volume of xxxHolic (Del Rey), a series that proves just how versatile the CLAMP collective really is.

Beginning today, the Weekly Recon moves permanently to Mondays. To mark the occasion, I’ve taken a page from the network television playbook and staged an event worthy of sweeps week: a shojo spectacular of super-sized proportions. This week’s column focuses on six recent releases: A.I. Revolution (Go! Comi), Black Sun, Silver Moon (Go! Comi), Minima (Del Rey), Monkey High! (Viz), and Be With You (Viz), which Viz has released in both its original form—a light novel—and its subsequent manga adaptation.

One final note for the budget-conscious otaku: from now until March 5th, Right Stuf! is discounting all CMX titles by 33%. Click here for the coupon code.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK
Andromeda Stories, Vol. 3 (Vertical, Inc.)
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Vol. 11 (Tokyopop)
The Devil’s Bride, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Dorothy of Oz, Vol. 2 (UDON Entertainment)
Fever, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Go Go Heaven, Vol. 5 (CMX)
Guin Saga Manga: The Seven Magi, Vol. 3 (Vertical, Inc.)
King of Hell, Vol. 18 (Tokyopop)
Kung Fu Klutz & Karate Cool, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Life, Vol. 8 (Tokyopop)
MPD Psycho, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
Negima, Vol. 17 (Del Rey)
Never Give Up, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
Psychic Power Nanaki, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Pumpkin Scissors, Vol. 2 (Del Rey)
Queens, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
The Queen’s Knight, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol. 27 (Tokyopop)
A Seduction More Beautiful Than Love, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Spy Goddess, Volume 1: The Chase for the Chalice (Tokyopop)
Star Project Chiro, Vol. 2 (UDON Entertainment)
Tactics, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
Teru Teru X Shonen, Vol. 1 (CMX)
Voice or Noise, Vol. 2 (BLU Manga)
xxxHolic, Vol. 11 (Del Rey)
Zig Zag, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)

A.I. Revolution, Vol. 1

By Yuu Asami
Go! Comi, 206 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

David Welsh beat me to the punch with his excellent review of A.I. Revolution, noting the fluid script and elegant artwork. I haven’t seen too many other bloggers tackle this title, however, so I decided to post my two cents in the hopes of inspiring more readers to try it. The story itself isn’t anything remarkable; fans of Isaac Asimov or even Yuu Watase have encountered similar tales of human-robot relationships. What makes Asami’s drama so compelling is its marriage of familiar sci-fi themes—what differentiates man from machine? can robots have a theory of the mind? do ethics govern human/robot interactions?—and shojo drama. The human protagonist, Sui, initially view robots as household appliances, not unlike vacuum cleaners or toasters. But when her father builds a companion for her, Sui develops a strong bond with Vermillion, discovering that he has a capacity for feeling that far outstrips her expectations. (In a neat twist, Vermillion proves more sensitive than Sui’s human fiancé.) Asami doesn’t shy away from action scenes, but the emphasis remains squarely on relationships. In Vermillion’s interactions with Sui and her father, we see different types of love dramatized; Sui’s father, for example, has modeled Vermillion in the image of a colleague that he admired, leading to a few funny, awkward moments of human-robot homoeroticism, while Sui seesaws between sisterly protectiveness and romantic attachment to her handsome companion. (Really, is there any other kind of robot in shojo manga?) Asami’s art reminds me of Keiko Nishi’s with its slightly stylized character designs, delicate linework, and sparing use of screentone. It’s a little dated perhaps, but a welcome change of pace from the slicker, busier layouts characteristic of the titles licensed by CMX, Tokyopop, and Viz. Highly recommended for fans of old-school shojo.

Volume one of A.I. Revolution is available now.

Be With You (Manga)

Written by Takuji Ichikawa, Art by Sai Kawashima, Script by Yoko Iino
Viz, 216 pp.
Rating: Teen

Be With You (Novel)

By Takuji Ichikawa, Translated by Terry Gallagher
Viz, 268 pp.

First published in 2003, Be With You enthralled millions of Japanese readers before enjoying even greater popularity as a movie, television show, and manga. The story focuses on Takumi, a widower struggling to raise his six-year-old son Yuji. While strolling through a forest, Takumi encounters a young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mio, his recently deceased wife. This woman suffers from complete amnesia, however, and doesn’t recognize Takumi or Yuji. Takumi brings her home knowing that he faces a difficult choice: should he inform this woman that she’s a ghost, or should he convince her that she’s his wife and carry on as if she’d never died?

As portrayed in the novel, Takumi is a neurotic whose grief and crippling anxiety make him a less-than-ideal parent to his fragile son. The manga, however, offers a kinder, gentler Takumi whose chief fault is his inability to keep a clean house. Yuji, too, morphs from odd, morose little boy to energetic, resourceful character who demonstrates maturity well beyond his years. In softening their personalities, script writer Yoko Iino may have made the manga more teen-friendly, but she’s also eliminated the novel’s chief source of interest: Takumi’s tartly self-aware narrative. Throughout the novel, Takumi acknowledges his failings as a parent and a husband, revealing himself to be a difficult, selfish, and awkward man whose wife was his salvation. His blunt voice adds some badly needed edges to a story that grows increasingly sentimental in its third act, culminating in an ending that ties up all the narrative threads into an overly neat little package.

Readers unfamiliar with the original novel may find the manga’s introductory pages confusing, as Yoko Iino has compressed several chapters’ worth of material into a mere twenty pages. These first scenes have a choppy, hectic feel, introducing several characters who play little role in the main story and giving us a brief (and irrelevant) peek at Takumi’s job. The art has a bland quality to it that conveys little of the novel’s bittersweet tone, a problem reflected in the generic character designs and clip-and-paste backgrounds. My suggestion to fans of the “Pure Love” genre: read the novel or wait for Viz Pictures to acquire the movie rights.

Both the Be With You novel and manga are available now.

Black Sun, Silver Moon, Vol. 4

By Tomo Maeda
Go! Comi, 194 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

The first two volumes of Black Sun Silver Moon were an agreeable mess, notable for their button-cute character designs, faint whiff of shonen-ai, and abrupt shifts between scenes of domestic comedy and scenes of zombie slaying. Midway through volume three, however, manga-ka Tomo Maeda found her footing with the material, moving away from the Odd Couple squabbling of volumes one and two (Shikimi, the priest, is a slob, while Taki, his demon-slaying apprentice, is a neat freak) and beginning a longer story arc of surprising emotional depth. Volume four picks up where volume three left off, revealing the devastating events that transformed Shikimi from mere mortal to lethal demon. Maeda creates an atmosphere of palpable dread, decluttering her once busy layouts and using a dark palette to underscore the parishioner’s growing sense of fear and suspicion that Shikimi is, in fact, the cause of the mysterious illness that’s thinning their ranks. There are a few slightly confusing moments in the narrative; it’s never entirely clear if Shikimi’s helpmate and friend Eva turns on him or remains loyal, nor is it clear whether Shikimi’s love interest is, in fact, the cause of the town’s misfortune. That said, volume four of Black Sun Silver Moon is a solid, entertaining exercise in psychological terror. And if Maeda can figure out how to reintroduce Taki and his ridiculously cute undead dog without spoiling the mood, I’m upgrading this series to an A.

Volume four of Black Sun Silver Moon is available now.

Minima!, Vol. 1

By Machiko Sakurai
Del Rey, 182 pp.
Rating: 13+

If you’ve ever thought that the basic premise of The Velveteen Rabbit was nifty, but found its passive hero too much of a sad sack, have I got the manga for you: Minima!. Nicori, the stuffed mouse who comes to life in this tale, is a feisty, media-savvy fellow who’d never allow real rodents to mock him. Nicori’s story begins when he’s rescued from a discount bin by Ame, a lonely girl with an unreliable group of friends. In a display of gratitude, Nicori punishes Ame’s classmates for their unkind words with a stinging rebuke and some perfectly timed karate chops. Word of Nicori’s incredible feat quickly reaches the press, forcing him to choose between a life of celebrity (and probable exploitation by unscrupulous handlers) and a life with Ame, who isn’t certain that she wants to be in the spotlight with her talking toy.

Machiko Sakurai’s artwork is bit unsatisfying; she has a limited repertoire of character designs, and a tendency to draw vaguely alien faces with bulging eyes and foreheads. Still, she delivers the goods when the story calls for real displays of emotion, conveying Ame’s frustration at being ostracized by her peers through simple but effective close-ups of Ame’s tearful face. Sakurai also does a good job of revealing Nicori’s character through the artwork; though crudely rendered, his body language and huge eyes speak volumes about his true nature, a mixture of selfish desire to be famous and selfless interest in Ame’s welfare. Throughout volume one, Sakurai strikes a good balance between broad physical comedy, showbiz intrigue, and romantic drama, crafting a funny, engaging story that should appeal to teens who’ve outgrown their favorite stuffed animal.

Volume one of Minima is available now.

Monkey High!, Vol. 1

By Shouko Akira
Viz, 186 pp.
Rating: Teen

Haruna Aizawa, the prickly protagonist of Monkey High!, is the daughter of an ambitious politician. After her father is implicated in a scandal, Haruna transfers from an elite private school to a decidedly less fancy public school. In her mind, however, not much has changed; as she explains in the early pages of chapter one,

School life is like being on a monkey mountain. Monkeys in the same gang constantly fight and get back together again and a hierarchy gets established. There may be slight differences, but it’s pretty much the same anywhere you go.

As one might infer from Haruna’s comments, she views herself as a kind of anthropologist, watching her classmates pair off, squabble, and form new alliances from a safe distance. Her efforts to remain invisible to her classmates are quickly thwarted by two boys, Kido and Macharu, both of whom take a shine to her. Though Macharu is the shorter and less suave of the two, his sincerity and enthusiasm crack Haruna’s cool façade. Is romance in the cards for this improbable pair? (Is the Pope Catholic? C’mon, people, this is Shojo Beat—the question isn’t if, but when!)

Though the monkey mountain metaphor isn’t terribly profound—and may remind you of a similar motif in Mean Girls—it proves an effective gambit for revealing what kind of girl Haruna is: intellectual, aloof, and deeply afraid of being rejected. Shouko Akira tries, with varying degrees of success, to extend the analogy to other characters, even chibi-fying Macharu by giving him a tail and a Curious George grin in several panels. Her character designs are cute and appealing (if a little two-dimensional), and her layouts clean and unfussy—a rarity in shojo comedies, which are often a riot of muttered asides, in-jokes, and panels-within-panels. But what really puts Monkey High! at the head of the class is Akira’s ability to depict ordinary moments—awkward conversations, jokes, classroom banter—and make them a compelling part of the drama instead of weigh stations between comic misunderstandings and tearful confessions of love. Her story is a potent (and amusing) reminder that life is what happens when you least expect it.

Volume one of Monkey High! is available now.