Monthly Archives: January 2011

Review: Kurozakuro, Vol. 1

Posted on by
Reply

Last week, we talked about Itsuwaribito, one of Viz Media‘s new Shonen Sunday offerings.Their second Shonen Sunday piece to gain stride in 2011 is not about interpersonal communications, but rather, about eating people. Or, well, something like that. The series is called Kurozakuro, and is a combination of suspense, horror, and action that has a surprisingly philosophical twist.

One of my favorite shonen lead characters is what I like to call the “anti-shonen” character. He isn’t rough and tumble. He doesn’t have big dreams. He doesn’t have special abilities (at least, not any to begin with), and he isn’t really that interesting. Kurozakuro‘s main character Mikito is the definition of the anti-shonen hero, but other series have them too, like MAOH: Juvenile Remix and Arata: The Legend. Why is this character my favorite? Because it’s pretty easy to connect with him, and when things get weird, we get to see him deal with issues in a more realistic fashion.

Mikito is constantly getting roughed up. When bullies want his money, he caves. When his friend in school accuses him of not standing up for himself, he just smiles. Mikito puts other people ahead of himself, and for that, he is constantly tread upon. However, one night out on a river bank, a strange orb hides itself in Mikito’s bag, and during his sleep, Mikito swallows it. How strange!

Strange, because when Mikito wakes up, he no longer needs his glasses, has cat-like reflexes, super strength, and is very… hungry. His temper is unstable. He wants to commit violent acts against his family and eat raw meat. Not only that, but this once placid student is being hunted by members of an elite squad. What is going on?!?

The orb Mikito swallowed turns out to be an Ogre Seed, a powerful artifact that changes humans into a demon-like ogre. Now Mikito has to focus hard to control his rage and powers, lest he be hunted down and killed, or worse, attack his friends and loved ones. Pretty heavy, huh?

If taken at face value, Kurozakuro is a horror/suspense manga that involves a character who essentially has a psychotic breakdown due to a supernatural force, and now has to control himself or die. While it is a neat little concept, I like a more philosophical view of the series.

Kurozakuro essentially details the sins of freewheeling emotion. Mikito is told by Kurozakuro, his ogre self, that he should just let himself go, feel what he wants to feel, eat what he wants to eat, and do what he wants to do. If Mikito does these things, he will surely hurt the ones that he loves, and will probably end up dying for it. In a way, Yoshinori Natsume, the author of the series, is talking about the dangers of excess in human society. The ogre-like tendencies of Mikito could just as easily be Mikito’s gambling problem, his alcoholism or recreational drug use, his gluttony and poor diet, or any number or avarice-based vices.  The message, though, is clear. Base animalistic greed and impulse is something that needs to be controlled, or else dire consequences are sure to arise.

The series spends a lot of time in Mikito’s head, and I like that. As a psychological thriller, it is interesting to see what Mikito is thinking about certain situations. I also liked the way Mikito works through his problem. He wonders how he should deal with his problem, and while some of the answers to his question are a bit unsavory, they are realistic, and mirror what happens many times in the real world.

Another pleasant surprise was the dark art. Originally I was turned off by the rather humdrum character designs, uninspired backgrounds, and average screen tone. Natsume’s thick line-work and heavily shaded panels really emphasize the dark nature of the subject matter in Kurozakuro, which I was impressed by. I especially liked the scenes where the demon part of Mikito’s personality shows up with his tree of vice. The mixed media feel of those pages gives them an otherworldly quality, which is exactly on target with the way that I think they should be portrayed.

Although I like Kurozakuro, I cannot give a blanket recommendation for the series. The mystery of how Mikito will deal with his new personal demon is intriguing, but this is a series that could easily become far to heavy-handed, or descend into mediocrity if Mikito finds a way to permanently control his inner demon. Certainly this is not a book for younger children. Its frank discussions of murder and suicide are a sure indicator of why the series is rated OT. That and the whole “eating people” thing. However, if you like a good bit of suspense with your horror, like the philosophical parallels that Natsume creates with his storytelling, and can deal with some of the more “average” artwork I have seen from a Shonen Sunday release, then I whole-heartedly suggest you try out Kurozakuro.

This review is based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.

Where All The Good Books At? My My Appraisal of Kodansha’s Release Slate

Posted on by
9

When Kodansha first announced their slate of series that would be released this summer, I was excited. Here was a new company taking over from Del Rey, and since the manga was coming straight from the publisher, it would be easier to get more obscure titles, more josei and seinen, and other manga oddities into print. I was excited to see some of the work from Morning and Afternoon, and I was hopeful that Kodansha would exceed my expectations of Del Rey acting in their stead.

They released their announcements list in mid-December, and since then I’ve been doing a fair bit of investigation into Kodansha‘s announced title list. There are a few titles that were getting reprinting (which I will get to in a minute), but there were a slew of new titles that I had never heard of. Let’s take a second to review what we know (and my first impressions).

Cage of Eden and Bloody Monday, (two series I’ve already done workups on) look to be some of the stereotypical manga that Del Rey is/was known for; overly complicated shonen titles with plenty of fan service (see Negima!, in comparison). Both Bloody Monday and Cage of Eden promise something other than the shonen stories that dominate Viz‘s Shonen Jump lineup, but that does not necessarily make them good reading.

Little information is available about two of Kodansha‘s other series, Deltora Quest and Mardock Scramble. Deltora Quest is a completed ten volume shonen fantasy about an Evil Shadow Lord, Seven Magic Seals, and the giant battle between GOOD AND EVIL, which honestly just sounds like a bad The Dark Is Rising. Mardock Scramble is a bit of an enigma, since its promise of cyberpunk noir seems at least a bit more interesting than a bad redo of a Susan Cooper novel, but information is scant. We do know that Viz‘s Haikasoru imprint printed the novel this manga is based on. However, my experience with adaptations of previous series seems to indicate that this will probably not be all that great.

Other titles are similarly uninteresting. Animal Land by Mokoto Raiku, the author of Zatch Bell, looks pretty poor. I wasn’t a fan of Zatch Bell, and I doubt that this series will get much traction in the shonen community. Another Pheonix Wright, Ace Attorney manga is also going to print. Weeeeeee.

Monster Hunter Orage is probably the most interesting of the series announced, but only because it is written by Hiro Mashima, the author of Fairy Tail.

Until the Full Moon, which is a boy/boy romance about a half vampire/half werewolf is getting a reprint. It was originally printed by Broccoli Books back in 2005, with excellent production values and a high price tag. I’m not sure what this reprint is supposed to represent, but it is one of the only shojo series that Kodansha announced in December. I am sure that some look at Broccoli‘s releases with fondness, but that was quite some time ago. Many new manga readers have never even heard of Broccoli Books. While I am happy to see Kodansha bring back this title, which is both bizarre and interesting, I don’t know how well its old-school art will be handled by a new audience.

Likewise, it is good to see Gon getting reprinted, but this will be the third time the series has been printed, and there’s only so much Gon a guy can take.

If you couldn’t tell already, I am not that impressed with Kodansha‘s announced releases. They all seem like fine titles for a certain crowd, and I’m sure that they will sell copies. I just don’t see a whole lot of value in them.

I haven’t read any of these announced series, and so I can’t doom them to mediocrity immediately. It is not as if these series are all going to be bad, but all of them are very… predictable. In a shrinking market where all series need to pay for their costs, printing “safe” series makes for an adequate return on investment, and I suppose that’s what the business of comics is all about. Unlike Viz, which has Pokemon, Naruto, and Bleach to give them some extra funds with which to print more experimental titles, Kodansha does not have that built up business. Theoretically, they don’t have as much financial room to work with. Realistically, Kodansha can publish whatever it pleases, but we are discussing business here, and Kodansha is not necessarily in the “make Alex happy” business.

Kodansha has time to develop its properties and generate some sales this summer. I think it’s probably a bit hasty to ask them for miracles as soon as they come out of the gates – at the same time, if Kodansha is going to just print the same old Del Rey manga, there’s no reason to get excited about them printing titles like Drops of God or Saint Young Men.

Note: Thankfully, we have publishers like Vertical Inc. to publish Drops of God! Check out my reaction here!

Still, comics like Saint Young Men are the reason why I was excited that Kodansha was starting its own imprint in the USA to begin with. I suppose my expectations are a bit too high. I wanted more complex, adult series to be released here in the States, and I am a bit disappointed that we don’t have any evidence of that yet from Kodansha.

My Reaction to the Princess Knight, Kami no Shizuku Licenses

Posted on by
1

Last night, during the Anime News Network’s podcast, Ed Chavez announced that Vertical Inc. had acquired the licenses to translate and publish two manga that have been on many fans’ license request lists. The two series announced last night were:

Princess Knight, by Osamu Tezuka

Princess Knight is probably the manga that was the genesis for what we now know as shojo manga, and was printed three different collections in Japan. The series is three volumes long, which seems fairly standard for Vertical‘s boutique size and schedule. Amazon already has a preorder page up for the first volume, which says it will be released in October of 2011.

and;

Kami no Shizuku (The Drops of God), by Yuko and Shin Kibayashi (under the pseudonym of Tadashi Agi).

Kami no Shizuku merges my two favorite hobbies, wine making and manga, so I have been anxious to read and own this manga since I learned about it three years ago. Because of its subject matter (wine in general, but more importantly, its wine suggestions and evaluations) Kami no Shizuku has been used to increase sales of wine in Japan and has already been published in France. Vertical will release the 25+ volume series in two-volume ominbuses which will retail for around $14.95 apiece, a good value for manga. This publishing structure is similar to that of other omnibus style published series like Cross Game.

—

I have become more impressed with boutique publishing in recent months; big publications companies, like Viz Media and Kodansha are linked to a specific parent company and have to serve a higher power concerned with margins and turnover. While this is important for any publisher, small boutique publishing has more creative liberty to develop and publish unique, sometimes niche content. Vertical Inc. has shown that it is willing to take a chance on Drops of God, and that is something I never really expected one of the larger publishers to release. Because of their unique stance on publishing, they have released manga that other publishers probably wouldn’t touch, which is overall a positive thing for readers and fans.

Last night, when the license announcements were made, I literally jumped for joy. I have been waiting and requesting these series from publishers since the earliest parts of my blogging experience.  Vertical Inc. is a company that knows its products, and is very intent on creating books that have a good niche appeal. Taking what I thought would always just be a pipe dream of a manga and turning it into an actual English title has me extremely impressed, and ultimately, extremely appreciative to Vertical for taking the time to listen to readers. Their dedication to their product and fans will hopefully be rightfully rewarded.

Manga Widget Investigates: Bloody Monday

Posted on by
2

In this episode of MWI, we are back to looking at series Kodansha has announced it will  publish during the summer of 2011. Last time, we looked at Cage of Eden, a shonen survival thriller with lots of fan-service. This time, let’s take a look at another manga that started its print run in Weekly Shonen Magazine, and will be part of Kodansha‘s arrival to stores in the summer of 2011 – Bloody Monday.

Bloody Monday is shonen crime thriller – the main character is a young hacker who uses his talents to bring down unsavory people and criminals in the underworld. His father is an agent of an elite anti-terrorist government agency, and occasionally the main character gets to work on hacking and decrypting jobs for them. Because, you know, this shit actually happens in the real world, and junior-high and high school kids get consult work from shadowy government agencies.

The plot focuses on a terrorist organization that is trying to apparently destroy all of Japan, using biological warfare. This organization is both covert and overt in its actions, and concurrently frames our young hero’s father for murder and places a female operative into the student’s school as his new teacher to keep an eye on him. This is an interesting plot point, because while we can see the main character working to track down these terrorists, we also get to see him interact with the antagonist of the series as if she is an ally. Depending on the writing, this could be very interesting plot construction, or it could be absolutely awful.

This series will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Death Note, a very successful manga from Viz Media, and this is almost assuredly why Kodansha has decided to bring this title along with its first batch of new manga series. The idea is almost exactly the same, although in Death Note, the main character was actually the terrorist, which is the opposite of Bloody Monday. What made Death Note interesting was the way that Tsugumi Ohba wrote her intelligent characters. The major reason why Death Note was a good read was the way that these intelligent characters were put into situations where they could be intelligent and do some creative problem-solving. Whether or not Bloody Monday catches fire like Death Note did in the US will be up to the first volume and whether or not the authors of this series can create interesting space in which intelligent characters can interact.

One of the problems I have with manga like these is that the intelligent main character needs to remain the same intelligence throughout the manga. It is one thing if he or she gets stumped by some various problem, but it is another thing entirely if the character is brilliant in one moment and mind-blowingly stupid in the next. While Death Note was good about this in the beginning of the series, there were some instances, especially near the end, that made me wonder why Light was so… dumb. I’ve seen rumblings about Bloody Monday that this sort of thing is a frequent occurrence, which could spell doom for the series if its major fans are those who like smart mysteries.

Bloody Monday is obviously at least a bit successful in Japan, so it must be doing something right. The series started publication in 2007, and ended at volume 11, and has now started a second season, much in the same way that Rosario + Vampire started a new season after ten volumes. Bloody Monday Season 2 is up to three volumes, and is currently serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine.

Whether or not Bloody Monday makes it to a second season in the US depends largely on how well this first run does, and we will find that out when Kodansha releases the first volume in August.

Review: Itsuwaribito, Vol. 1

Posted on by
1

Viz Media rolled out a few great new shonen series under their Shonen Sunday imprint in 2010. One Shonen Sunday imprint, Cross Game, a baseball manga by Mitsuru Adachi, made my Best of 2010 list for its excellent pacing and natural slice-of-life storytelling. In addition to the new series released in 2010, The Shonen Sunday imprint looks to continue putting out new work in 2011. Two new series recently were released as part of the Shonen Sunday imprint – the horror/action/suspense manga Kurozakuro (which I will review next week), and the historical action manga Itsuwaribito.

Itsuwaribito is a manga about lying, or more appropriately, about a chronic liar named Utsuho. After telling a group of bandits the truth about where he lived, one of those stereotypical “great shonen tragedies” occurs, and Utsuho vows never to tell the truth ever again. After an introduction to Utsuho and his background, he sets out on a journey to help people with his lying.

There are a few things that separate Itsuwaribito from other shonen manga currently on the market. The most recognizable is its penchant for violent action. Other shonen manga have a tendency to have violence, blood, and gore; series like D.Grey-man thrive on this sort of content. Most of these series are more serious in tone than Itsuwaribito, though. When Utsuho throws a bomb at a group of bandits, their deaths are shown pretty graphically as he shouts out a chipper, “I was lying!” to the dying fools. I am not necessarily saying the violence is over the top, but the depictions of violence in this book are at an extreme contrast with the personality of the main character, which makes the violence a little more unsettling.

Another interesting trait of Itsuwaribito is its use of companion characters for Utsuho. Although things aren’t very far along in the first volume, Utsuho only has a single companion, a fluffy talking raccoon-like pup called a tanuki named Pochi. He is adorable and his trusting attitude and naivety are a good foil for the jaded Utsuho. He is the star of multiple scenes, and his little side observations about what is going on in the story are funny and cute.

For a shonen story, Itsuwaribito holds its own fairly well in the first volume. Its introduction seems a little standard, but for a comic that has to make its name in a busy anthology like Shonen Sunday, you can expect things to be more or less the same in most introductions. Itsuwaribito delineates itself from other shonen manga quickly with its use of the lying theme and Utusho’s penchant for poisons, explosives, and other trickery make it more interesting than it really seemed like it would be at the beginning.

The art is fairly standard shonen fair. Yuuki Iinuma has an affinity for extra screen tone in his action sequences and panelling, but the result isn’t unpleasant like it could be. The line-work is pretty thin, which give Iinuma’s characters a sort of slender look, and also makes his villains a little creepier. The panel composition is also fairly good, and the book reads fairly easily.

One of the things I do not like about Itsuwaribito is Utusho’s constant confessions. He pulls off these grand fibs and deceits, only at the last second to say, “I was lying!” or, “I was lying about lying.” Part of what is interesting about a character that is a compulsive liar is that you never truly understand if what he says is true or not. A confession here or there will help keep you on the level with the character and give you a sense of his morals, but constantly seeing him confess takes a little wind out of his sail. Hopefully, as the series progresses, this will stop. I’d prefer the ambiguity.

While Itsuwaribito isn’t perfect, it is a fun comic, and it is easy to enjoy the convoluted tales that Utusho spins, and the cute fluffy woodland creature he befriends. If Iinuma adds a few other cast members, or introduces some sort of idealistic crisis to Utusho and his resolve to continue to lie, I think this could be a pretty regular read for me. As it stands, I am ready to pick up volume two when it is released in April of 2011.

Or maybe I’m just lying.

This review is based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.

Talking Points: Why Do You Like Fumi Yoshinaga?

Posted on by
6

I recently decided to go ahead and purchase Fumi Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters.  A review will be forthcoming once the backlog I’ve already written get published (I like the once weekly schedule, so we’re looking into the middle of February already). Once I finished the first chapter, I was amazed by the quality of the character writing. This book mixes up family and interpersonal psychology with some really powerful storytelling.

Yoshinaga was a tough nut for me to crack. The first few times I read her stories, I wondered why I liked them so much. The first volume of Ooku was especially telling, since I hated (and still do hate), the Fakespeare translation that the book has been saddled with, but I couldn’t put the books down. I have not been on the Yoshinaga train for all that long, but for a time I was puzzled by how much her work resonated with me.

After reading All My Darling Daughters, I decided to take things public and ask everyone. What is it that you like most about Fumi Yoshinaga?

For me, it comes down to characters. Only Mitsuru Adachi can come close to Yoshinaga’s ability to construct characters, and even he falls short in places. Yoshinaga has an irreplaceable spark for developing complex, interesting, and sometimes broken characters that readers can identify with or cheer for. In the first chapter of All My Darling Daughters, even the supposed antagonist, Ohashi, turns out to be a really wonderful character. The main character, Yukiko, although prickly and demanding, is both a great stand-in for readers and a well written woman.

I could go on all day about the characters of All My Darling Daughters, the subtlety of their construction and development, but these people that Yoshinaga creates are what make her manga such a wonderful experience for me.

What makes Yoshinaga a good read for you?

Manga Widget Investigates: Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu

Posted on by
11

The Manga Taishou executive committee announced 13 nominees for the 4th annual Manga Taishou awards, and while every entry in the list interested me in some way, none of them made me perk up like Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu (also known as Shitsuren Chocolatier or Heartbroken Chocolatier). Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu initially started print in 2008, and is currently at 3 printed volumes.

Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu is a series by Setona Mizushiro, an author known best in the U.S. for two series, X-Day, published by TokyoPop back in 2003, and After School Nightmare, published by the now defunct Go!Comi.  After School Nightmare was nominated for the Eisner award for “Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Japan” in 2007, and was named one of the best 10 graphic novels for teens in 2008 by the Young Adult Library Services Association. She is a fairly accomplished writer, and recently has been writing comics almost exclusively for Shueisha and Shogakukan. She seems to be simultaneously working on a two different series; Shitsuren Chocolatier which I will explain later, and Nounai Poison Berry, a piece being published currently in Shueisha‘s Chorus josei anthology.

EDIT: I have also been informed that Setona Mizushiro is also writing a third series called Kuro Bara Alice. It is currently at its fifth volume, and is published in Akita Shoten‘s Princess anthology. Thanks to Arya for pointing this out!

Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu is written for Shogakukan‘s Flowers anthology, which is a monthly josei publication that has been home to a few other award nominees, such as Umimachi Diary by Akimi Yoshida, which was nominated for the 3rd Manga Taishou awards, as well as the 12th and 13th Osama Tezuka Cultural Awards. Flowers is also the home of Kaze Hikaru, a series I’m desperately trying to find and read thanks to some well written praise from Kate Dacey, and an ongoing piece by Moto Hagio, Anywhere But Here. Clearly this anthology isn’t fooling around.

What I find most interesting about Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu is its natural bilingual state.  The main character, Souta, trying to impress a girl he likes, travels to Paris to learn the better points of becoming a pâtissier. On this journey, he must speak French in order to communicate with some characters, and there are multiple panels where we find Souta and another character speaking in French (along with Japanese subtitles, which was something I thought wonderfully bizarre, coming from a culture that’s used to English subtitles). In the panel above, Souta enters a pâtisserie in France, and essentially says that he wants to work at the pâtisserie. I love the startled look on the shop manager’s face.

Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu seems to be a tale of unrequited love. Souta desires to impress this girl he loves by making her lovely cakes and chocolate, but after returning from France, she has already become engaged to another man. Naturally, since he is now an accomplished pâtissier, and they are still friends, she asks him to make her wedding cake. Whammy!

I think that the combination of heartbreak, chocolate, and unrequited love would make for an excellent bit of reading, and so, for my first license request of 2011, I’m asking for Un Chocolatier de L’amour Perdu. It seems like it would be an excellent addition to either Viz Media‘s Signature line, or their Shojo Beat lineup, which is stealthily adding more josei to its rosters.

Review: 20th Century Boys, Vols. 8-9

Posted on by
4

Life is always about patterns. In the pharmacy world, we look at physician prescribing patterns, dispensing patterns by geographical location, and pricing patterns based on trending legal proceedings. In manga, we see patterns in various genres – the shonen fighting manga, the shojo school-girl manga, all have similar formats that we know sell well, and work well in the Japanese market. Some series attempt to subvert or modify these patterns, which is part of their appeal (or the reason we don’t like them). Even authors follow patterns based on what they are interested in, or what they like to discuss.

Naoki Urasawa has a pattern that manifests itself all too frequently in his suspense and thriller manga – when he gets stuck, or doesn’t know how to work his way out of a problem that he has written himself in, he introduces new characters to his stories.

In 20th Century Boys, Volume 7, we see Urasawa flounder to produce a backstory for the Bloody New Years, and so he introduces a student Koizumi who looks too closely at the history books, and after consulting a homeless man, finds out that what she has been taught is all a sham put on by the Friends, as part of their work to control Japan and most likely the rest of the world.

Volume 8 continues this storyline by having Koizumi sent to a brainwashing camp for the Friends because she’s been poking around too much. Urasawa uses this detour to give out some more information about the surviving members of the “terrorist plot” against the Friends, but eventually he winds his way back to the main storyline, where Kana tries to unite the Chinese and Thai mafia against the Friends. It is an interesting development, and we learn more about Kenji’s original “Book of Prophecy” and another book, “The New Book of Prophecy,” as well as some hints about Kana’s mother.

It is hard to find bad things to say about Urasawa, but it is worth mentioning that 20th Century Boys is not as gripping a tale for me as was his earlier series, Monster. After the 7th volume, I fell off the band wagon, having only just read volumes 8 and 9. Still, when it is in my hands, 20th Century Boys reads so easily, and far too often, so quickly. His ability to pace his stories and hold out on key information makes his stories at times maddening, and I think that’s a great trait to have as a suspense writer. I want to be wowed, and if I immediately want to buy the next volume to see how things play out, I think that’s a sign that he’s a fine writer.

I also appreciate Viz and the production values for its Signature line of manga. The larger size and higher quality paper and inks make these volumes stand out on a bookshelf, and they are a real joy to read. The price point feels fair, and oftentimes these books are available from major retailers at a nice discount, so the price point is nearly the same between these books and their regularly priced $9.99 volumes.

Overall, things are going well in 20th Century Boys, and I don’t think that my opinion is going to change much as the series progresses. Still, Urasawa has a chance to mess up. I’ve heard that 20th Century Boys ends poorly, so I am waiting with trepidation for that train-wreck. For now though, things are still running smoothly down the tracks. There is no reason to not be reading 20th Century Boys; it is a solid thriller backed with a well-constructed dystopian framework, and with the 9th volume ending in such an interesting direction, it is possible that the series could get a lot weirder very quickly. I’m looking forward to find out if that is the case.

Life is always about patterns. In the pharmacy world, we look at physician prescribing patterns, dispensing patterns by geographical location, and pricing patterns based on trending legal proceedings. In manga, we see patterns in various genres – the shonen fighting manga, the shojo school-girl manga, all have similar formats that we know sell well, and work well in the Japanese market. Some series attempt to subvert or modify these patterns, which is part of their appeal (or the reason we don’t like them). Even authors follow patterns based on what they are interested in, or what they like to discuss. 

Naoki Urasawa has a pattern that manifests itself all too frequently in his suspense and thriller manga – when he gets stuck, or doesn’t know how to work his way out of a problem that he has written himself in, he introduces new characters to his stories.

In 20th Century Boys, Volume 7, we see Urasawa flounder to produce a backstory for the Bloody New Years, and so he introduces a student (GIRL NAME HERE PLZ) who looks too closely at the history books and finds out that what she has been taught is all a sham put on by the Friends, as part of their work to control Japan and most likely the rest of the world.

Volume 8 continues this storyline by having (GIRL NAME HERE PLZ) sent to a brainwashing camp for the Friends because she’s been poking around too much. Urasawa uses this detour to give out some more information about the surviving members of the “terrorist plot” against the Friends, but eventually he winds his way back to the main storyline, where Kana tries to unite the Chinese and Thai mafia against the Friends. It is an interesting development, and we learn more about Kenji’s original “Book of Prophecy” and another book, “The New Book of Prophecy,” as well as some hints about Kana’s mother.

It is hard to find bad things to say about Urasawa, but it is worth mentioning that 20th Century Boys is not as gripping a tale for me as was his earlier series, Monster. After the 7th volume, I fell off the band wagon, having only just read volumes 8 and 9. Still, when it is in my hands, 20th Century Boys reads so easily, and far too often, so quickly. His ability to pace his stories and hold out on key information makes his stories at times maddening, and I think that’s a great trait to have as a suspense writer. I want to be wowed, and if I immediately want to buy the next volume to see how things play out, I think that’s a sign that he’s a fine writer.

I also appreciate Viz and the production values for its Signature line of manga. The larger size and higher quality paper and inks make these volumes stand out on a bookshelf, and they are a real joy to read. The price point feels fair, and oftentimes these books are available from major retailers at a nice discount, so the price point is nearly the same between these books and their regularly priced $9.99 volumes.

Overall, things are going well in 20th Century Boys, and I don’t think that my opinion is going to change much as the series progresses. Still, Urasawa has a chance to mess up. I’ve heard that 20th Century Boys ends poorly, so I am waiting with trepidation for that train-wreck. For now though, things are still running smoothly down the tracks. There is no reason to not be reading 20th Century Boys; it is a solid thriller backed with a well-constructed dystopian framework, and with the 9th volume ending in such an interesting direction, it is possible that the series could get a lot weirder very quickly. I’m looking forward to find out if that is the case.

Review: Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy

Posted on by
1

When it comes to Fumi Yoshinaga, I’m fairly used to excellent manga. You could make a convincing argument that Ooku: the Hidden Chambers is one of the best titles, if not the best title in Viz Media’s Sig IKKI line (I might argue that Children of the Sea is better, but I digress). Likewise All My Darling Daughters and Antique Bakery offer a lot of great stories from one of the best mangaka currently in print in English.

Yoshinaga is also one of the few writers that is licensed by multiple publishers here in the US. Digital Manga Publishing was the first to pick up her work, while Viz followed shortly behind. Even TokyoPop is in on the game, having published some of her BL work in their Blu Line. Now, Yen Press has joined the crowd to bring us a one-shot volume of foodie manga titled Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy.

Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy is part autobiography, part restaurant review.The main character, Y-naga (yes, really) is a mangaka who draws BL comics, and spends almost all the time she isn’t sleeping or working out eating food with friends. Her fellow mangaka, foodie friends, assistants, and previous roommates all meet at nice restaurants and eat while Y-naga expounds on the virtues of young gizzard shad or shira-yaki.

One of the things I found most interesting about Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy was that it functions as a restaurant guide. It gives you practical advice about places to eat in Tokyo, and tells you what to expect when you eat there. The afterwards to each chapter give you a little map to help you find the restaurant, along with directions, parking availability, and operating hours. Yoshinaga also gives advice about portions, select foods to eat, and whether or not the restaurant takes reservations.

While this book might be a helpful English guide to cuisine in Tokyo, that portion of the book is almost useless to the non-traveling manga reader. Still, that portion of this book is definitely a nice showcase for Yoshinaga’s ability to illustrate food, although at some places, that ability seems varied. Her depictions of foods in chapters #9 and #12 are very well illustrated, but the sushi in chapter #4 is a bit lacking. This is fairly nit-picky, but important in a food-based manga.

On Twitter, a few manga reviewers said that they didn’t care at all about the food portion of the manga, and focused solely on the character interactions. For readers not interested in foods, this is where any enjoyment, and perhaps the sole enjoyment, of Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy comes from. Yoshinaga, as always, is adept at portraying characters that interact in a way that seems natural and polished without meaning to. It was very easy to move through this manga, even when people were spouting off about the true wonder of the food they were enjoying.

I do have issues with Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy. First, I am not at all pleased by the way Y-naga and other characters talk about food. Almost every character in Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy has moments when they fill an entire panel full of food text. This happens a bit in Oishinbo, another foodie manga, but in this case, Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy has taken the act of the monologue to a new extreme.

Another thing I noticed is that it feels as if Yoshinaga wants to talk about her favorite foods, has written a manga to detail them, but she doesn’t want to feel like she’s teaching students or talking down to people. She spends the rest of her time drawing herself as an ugly, frumpy cartoonist or writes insults into her friends dialogue. This is… bizarrely psychological, and not necessarily pleasant.

Stepping away from the content for bit, Yen Press has shown that it has what it takes to deliver high-quality comics. Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy is excellently produced, and has high ink and paper quality. The color insert at the front of the book was a nice touch which I enjoyed.

Overall, I think that Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy is a fine showcase of Yoshinaga’s ability to write and create good manga, but because of the narrow way that its subject matter is presented, I can’t give this book two thumbs up. If you are looking for a comic that can show you a few good places to eat in Tokyo, then Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy is a must-have. For everyone else, this book delivers a brief look into the world of Fumi Yoshinaga, and her food escapades, but doesn’t deliver excellence.

This review is based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.

Manga Widget Investigates: Cage of Eden

Posted on by
3

Generally, I use this blog as a way to showcase my reviews and opinions on the manga publishing business in the United States. One of my new year’s resolutions for this blog was to get a more in-depth look at the publishing business from both sides of the Pacific, to learn more about manga as it appears in its native format, and most importantly, to blog more often. This post (and any future posts like it) are an attempt to roll all these goals together. Let me know what you think in the comments!

I want to start the inaugural edition of Manga Widget Investigates with something that I have been thinking about for awhile now; Kodansha‘s arrival in the USA. The announcement that Kodansha was starting business as a solo venture in the USA was big news originally, but it seemed like all they did originally  was take back their licenses from Dark Horse and TokyoPop and reprint Dark Horse‘s translations of Ghost in the Shell and Akira. This obviously was met with some consternation from manga fans – surely they weren’t just going to try to reprint previous books, were they? Things got even worse when Del Rey lost all its licenses to Kodansha. For a time, I wondered whether or not I would ever get to read the 29th volume of Negima!

Now with Kodansha USA finally revealing some of its 2011 plans late last year, we have a chance to see what the company has been working on since Kodansha split with Del Rey as its publishing partner. As is to be expected, most of Del Rey‘s profitable line-up has been adopted for publication at Kodansha USA, but they did also announce a few new licenses that were being printed along with Del Rey‘s catalog. A subset of their shonen release announcements come from Weekly Shonen Magazine, Kodansha‘s equivalent to Shonen Jump.

The reason for this seems fairly simple; Weekly Shonen Magazine is the source for a lot of the previously published manga through Del Rey: Fairy Tail, Mahou Sensei Negima!, Code: Breaker, and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle are all series from Weekly Shonen Magazine that have done well in North America. Additional notable series to grace the pages of Weekly Shonen Magazine include Love Hina, Akita no Joe, Rave Master, GetBackers, and Samurai Deeper Kyo. When Del Rey‘s biggest financial hitters were all published in the same magazine, it seems intuitive to try to get the next big hit with another series from Weekly Shonen Magazine. Enter stage left: Cage of Eden.

Cage of Eden (or Eden no Ori) is a survival-themed manga that is currently running in Weekly Shonen Magazine, The book focuses on a group of students on an airplane back to Japan from a field trip to Guam. Due to some mysterious cause, the plane crashes, and although the emergency landing leaves most of the people on board alive, the island they land on is full of strange, prehistoric beasts, all willing to prey on unsuspecting humans.

Cage of Eden has been described by some as a mix between Lord of the Flies and Land of the Lost, which sounds like pretty good fiction, provided it is done right. Representatives from Kodansha also said at its license announcement that the series had a bit of a Negima! flavor to it, which, translated into regular English, means the series is going to have unabashed fan service mixed in with the trials and tribulations of survival fiction. Whatever Cage of Eden is doing, it is doing it right; the series started in 2008 and is still being serialized. Currently Cage of Eden is up to ten volumes in print in Japan.

Yoshinobu Yamada, the writer of Cage of Eden, seems like he’s done the survival genre before. His first series, EX-Shounen Hyouryuu (Young Castaways) ran for five volumes for the same anthology. His other work includes a Kendo shonen piece called Chanbara which ran for two volumes in 2003.

Cage of Eden isn’t the only manga coming from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The new series Bloody Monday, which began publication in 2007, is currently in its “second season” in the magazine (much like Season Two of Rosario + Vampire).

However good or bad Cage of Eden is, we can expect to see it hit shelves in August of 2011. Whether or not people like boobs, butts, and panty shots with their Lord of the Flies remains to be seen.