Once more unto the breach, dear otakus, once more; gird yourself for another round of Manga Shakespeare. This time, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and The Tempest get the graphic novel treatment from the folks at SelfMadeHero, as they attempt to sex up the Bard with chibis and sound effects. I found SelfMadeHero’s first efforts wanting; too much attention was focused on plot and setting—one took place in modern-day Tokyo, the other in a future ravaged by global warming, for reasons never satisfactorily addressed—but too little on language, the stumbling block for most modern readers. Of all Shakespeare’s plays, however, A Midsummer’s Night Dream seems most suited to mangafication, as its magical transformations and ensuing mix-ups lend themselves to the deformations, flapping arms, and sweat drops employed by manga-ka to convey extreme comic emotion.
If yaoi be your food of love, read on; DMP is releasing four new one-shots this week covering every phase of a relationship from Loving Gaze to New Beginnings. The cream of the crop? Hard Rock, a soap opera chronicling the romantic entanglements within a four-member boy band. Also arriving on store shelves this week are the latest volumes of long-running series Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (Tokyopop), Blade of the Immortal (Dark Horse), Boys Over Flowers (Viz), and Negima (Del Rey); the first installments of Forget About Love (Tokyopop) and You’re So Cool (Yen Press), two manhwa aimed squarely at the teenage market; and the all-ages title Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai (Viz), which Lori Henderson’s daughter Jenny pronounces “pure funny.”
Being something of an elderly curmudgeon, my top choices this week skew a little older:
Gimmick!, Vol. 1 (Viz): I hadn’t planned to pick up a copy of Gimmick! until I read Phil’s enthusiastic review. Equal parts F/X and MacGuyver, the story focuses on a special effects guru who uses his considerable talents to aid actors and actresses in distress. Though the series “boasts cool characters, fast-paced plots, and stylized artwork,” Phil explains, what distinguishes Gimmick! from dozens of other action-adventures is its “reliance on human ingenuity over strength or swordplay.” No word on whether the hero makes a bomb out of chewing gum, baling wire, and an old alarm clock, but something tells me Richard Dean Anderson would whole-heartedly approve of the concept.
One Pound Gospel, Vol. 1 (Viz): After twenty years, Rumiko Takahashi finally completed this delightful four-volume series about a boxer torn between two loves: food and Sister Angela, a pretty noviate who takes an interest in his foundering career. After allowing the first three volumes to go out of print, Viz is reissuing the series in a new, unflipped format with a “refreshed” translation and new cover art. If your primary exposure to Takahashi has been Ranma ˝ or InuYasha, One Pound Gospel makes a fine introduction to the quieter observational humor characteristic of her masterpiece Maison Ikkoku. A must for every serious manga fan’s collection!
Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 1 (Yen Press): Imagine, for a moment, that Chika Umino and Kiyohiko Azuma collaborated on a 4-koma series about life in an art-school dormitory. The resulting series might look a lot like Sunshine Sketch, a gentle, slice-of-life comedy about a quartet of teenagers attending a prestigious art school. As in Azumanga Daioh, there’s no real plot to speak of; the four-panel strips focus on the interactions among the teens, each of whom embodies a certain type, from the tall, athletic Sae (who’s a bossy tomboy) to the spastic genius Miyako (who paints a mean picture but can’t sit still for five minutes). A small cast of supporting characters—a cosplaying teacher, an unnamed principal, a rival from another class—round out the cast.
HEY, BIG SPENDER…
Speaking of Lori, she’s directing readers to a great sale on Tokyopop books at Bookcloseouts.com. The selection is decent, the titles attractively priced (between $3.00 and $6.00), and the service good. Though the sale runs until the end of June, don’t dally—the good stuff goes fast.
Over at Sporadic Sequential, John Jakala notes that DiscountAnimeDVD is offering the first ten volumes of the hard-to-find Firefighter Daigo of Company M for the wallet-friendly price of $70. Click here for details.
Have a money-saving tip you’d like to share with other manga maniacs? Send me an email and I’ll post it in the next edition of the Weekly Recon.
SHIPPING THIS WEEK
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Vol. 12 (Tokyopop)
Black God, Vol. 3 (Yen Press)
Blade of the Immortal, Vol. 19 (Dark Horse)
Blood Sucker: Legend of Zipangu, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
Boys Over Flowers, Vol. 30 (Viz)
Dorothy of Oz, Vol. 3 (UDON Entertainment)
Dragon Hunter, Vol. 18 (Tokyopop)
Dragon Knights, Vol. 26 (Tokyopop)
Faeries Landing, Vol. 19 (Tokyopop)
Forget About Love, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Gimmick!, Vol. 1 (Viz; click here for the PCS review)
Gold Digger II: Pocket Manga, Vol. 4 (Antarctic Press)
Hard Rock (DMP)
I Wish, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
InuYasha Ani-Manga, Vol. 27 (Viz)
Law of Ueki, Vol. 12 (Viz)
Life, Vol. 9 (Tokyopop)
Loving Gaze (DMP)
Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Abrams Books)
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest (Abrams Books)
Missile Happy, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Negima, Vol. 18 (Del Rey)
New Beginnings (DMP)
O-Parts Hunter, Vol. 10 (Viz)
One Pound Gospel, Vol. 1 (Viz)
Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai (Viz)
The Rising Stars of Manga UK and Ireland, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Recast, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Red Angel, Vol. 1 (DMP)
Restart (DMP)
Roadsong, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Rure, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)
Shakugan no Shana, Vol. 3 (Viz)
Strawberry Marshmellow, Vol. 5 (Seven Seas)
Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
Tactics, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Teru Teru X Shonen, Vol. 2 (CMX)
Utopia’s Avenger, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
You’re So Cool, Vol. 1 (Yen Press)
Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector, Vol. 2 (Viz)
Zatch Bell, Vol. 19 (Viz)
Zombie-Loan, Vol. 3 (Yen Press)
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