Weekly Recon, 8/29/07

26 Aug, 2007

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

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

REVIEWED THIS WEEK:

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

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:

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

Love*Com, Vol. 2

By Aya Nakahara
Viz, 182 pp.
Rating: Teen

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

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

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

Shiki Tsukai, Vol. 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yume Kira Dream Shoppe

By Aqua Mizuto
Viz, 184 pp.
Rating: Teen

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